As it turned out, the “welcoming ceremony” my parents mentioned this morning was for Timothy.

A welcoming ceremony when Connecticut and Boston aren’t even that far apart?

I reluctantly got into Timothy’s sports car and arrived at some restaurant.

“What’s with this course meal?”

The place we arrived at was a French restaurant specializing in course meals.

Usually, when we dine out, we go to a cheap restaurant nearby or to Koreatown after I nag them.

Timothy pushed me into a French restaurant that looked fancy and expensive at first glance. After checking the reservation list and going inside, my parents were already there.

“Timothy! Our son!”

My parents stood up abruptly and took turns hugging Timothy.

I watched the three of them with a bored expression and interjected.

“Why are you acting like this when you haven’t been apart that long? It’s only been a few months since elder brother started college.”

“This child, your elder brother came all this way. Let’s sit down first. We’ll talk while we eat.”

As I said, the neighborhood where we live and Boston, where Harvard is, aren’t that far apart.

There’s nothing special to celebrate, so why this excessive affection? Anyway, their family love is extraordinary. Is this worry-free and harmonious family also a characteristic of teen dramas?

I continued to complain as I sat down.

“By the way, this place looks too expensive, is it okay? It seems too much just for a mood boost. French course meals, really?”

Juno’s family isn’t in a very good financial situation.

They’re an ordinary middle-class family where both parents work.

So I assumed that Timothy’s Harvard tuition was probably all paid through loans.

In such a situation, this high-end cuisine? I was secretly worried that my parents might be overextending themselves.

However, contrary to my expectations, the two of them waved their hands with bright smiles, without a trace of concern.

“We’ll talk about that later. Timothy will explain everything later. Let’s eat first. We’ll talk after we eat.”

“Well, okay…”

What else could I do when they said that?

So our family nibbled on the course dishes that came out in tiny portions, one by one.

As the two-hour course was coming to an end, and the terrible dessert made from raw eggs was about to be served, I spoke up again.

“By the way, isn’t today a weekday? Don’t you have classes? What brings you here? Did you come just for the day?”

As I glanced at him and asked, Timothy smiled annoyingly, as if he found my questioning adorable.

“No, the school decided to close for about a week due to circumstances. The Harvard College building partially collapsed, so it needs to be repaired.”

“What? Why? Was there an earthquake or something?”

“It’s because of the Gate.”

I blinked my eyes rapidly. The words that followed were shocking.

“Monsters came out of the Gate.”

“What?!”

But I hadn’t seen any such news articles.

Surely when I checked this morning, there were only articles about the Connecticut high school team…

By the way, this was the first time monsters had appeared from a Gate in the United States.

Unlike other countries that experienced monster waves, monsters either didn’t appear or were successfully suppressed in the early stages, so nothing like this had happened before.

Timothy spoke with a slightly serious expression.

“Detailed articles probably haven’t come out yet. It’s unprecedented for monsters to appear from a Gate in our country. The news is likely being controlled. It’s confidential information that only military-related personnel or awakened ones would know right now. But it can’t be kept secret forever. The military will make an announcement soon.”

“Oh my, it’s more serious than we thought? This Gate business.”

My parents muttered as if sighing.

Military control of the media. It was indeed a serious matter.

To think that monsters came out and destroyed a building at a school considered one of the best universities.

Then I suddenly came to my senses and looked at Timothy.

“…But how do you know this? Only military-related people or hunters should know. How do you know in advance about something the military is controlling in the media? Did you see the monsters coming out with your own eyes?”

“I closed it.”

“What?”

Timothy stirred the pudding made from raw eggs, ignoring my stiff expression, and then held out a spoonful.

“My little sister, aren’t you happy to see your elder brother after so long? Ah~”

“Stop joking around!”

I won’t eat that kind of thing! And what do you mean ‘after so long’!

“Forget it, put it away.”

At that moment, a status window appeared before my eyes.

As a possessed person with the privilege of viewing others’ stats, I hurriedly opened his information instead of waiting for Timothy’s answer.

Timothy just kept smiling and holding out the pudding even as I opened his information window.

And as I feared… sure enough.

[Character Information]

Name: Timothy Huntington

Rank: S

Skill: Attribute Bullet

Exclusive Skill: Barrage (S)

Traits: Lucky Guy, Dual Gun

I couldn’t help but be shocked at the character information I viewed.

‘…Timothy is S-rank? How is this possible?’

There are dozens of S-rank individuals in this world.

However, the number officially active is much smaller. Even if one awakens as S-rank and their stats become overpowered, unlocking S-rank skills is extremely difficult.

‘I helped Adrian and Victor, but how did Timothy manage this?’

Without me doing the proxy awakening quest, one has to complete a difficult quest where their life hangs in the balance for their skill to unlock.

But Timothy’s S-rank skill was already awakened before he met me.

How on earth did this happen?

‘Could there be another possessed person besides me?’

Or was Timothy’s quest relatively doable compared to the other two?

I quickly racked my brains.

Then, another window popped up.

It was Timothy’s S-rank skill awakening quest window. The status window seemed to collect past quests.

[‘Timothy Huntington’s’ S-rank Skill Awakening Quest] [Unlike awakened ones of other ranks, S-rank awakened ones must complete a ‘Skill Awakening Quest’ for their skill window to open.] [Complete the awakening quest to awaken your S-rank skill.] [※Condition: Keep the skill awakening quest confidential.] [Sniper ‘Timothy Huntington’s’ Skill Awakening Quest] [Catch an unnamed rare species of fish yourself and register its name with an academic society.] [Upon completing the awakening quest, the S-rank skill ‘Barrage (S)’ will be unlocked!]

No, how is a regular person supposed to do this, not a biologist? Is this even possible? How on earth did he do it?

At that moment, Timothy suddenly held out his phone to me and said,

“This is the fish I caught deep-sea fishing. Look at this protrusion. Daebak, right?”

‘Daebak’ was a Korean word I used habitually when I had just possessed this body, which I reluctantly taught him after he overheard me muttering it to myself.

On the screen of the phone Timothy handed me was a purple fish with a flat face as if it had been squashed, baring sharp protrusions and teeth.

Its name was Timo theus marina Jessica III.

Research revealed it to be a rare species, and it was even registered with an academic society.

Oh, by the way, the ‘marina’ in the middle of the name is the name of the parrot Timothy raises while living with Jessica.

“…”

I looked back and forth between Timothy and the ugly rare fish on the phone screen in disbelief.

Timothy Huntington.

His nickname is either the Sun or the Clear-eyed Madman.

For Timothy, who knows no giving up or adversity and is followed by luck wherever he goes, the S-rank awakening quest was like eating Nutella while lying down.

Timothy awakened as S-rank around the same time as me.

He also completed his S-rank skill quest by chance while on a sea date fishing with Jessica.

However, the difference from me is that while I cooperate with the military as a minor for college admission points, Timothy goes around closing Gates as an individual.

“Only those ranked C or higher. The Boston high school team should handle the ones below that.”

But this Gate that opened above the Harvard College building was B-rank.

Moreover, it started spewing out monsters as soon as it opened, and Timothy, who happened to be nearby, fought the monsters single-handedly and then closed the Gate.

‘What the heck, we barely closed a D-rank as a team.’

Of course, unlike Timothy who gained experience through individual activities, we were a ragtag group on our first outing. As we continue to gain experience, we’ll probably get better coordinated and improve.

It seems there are quite a few awakened ones who work alone in Massachusetts.

Timothy said he closed Gates appropriately along with his school life, sold dungeon by-products to the military to save money, and even paid off half of his tuition loan, not to mention living expenses. Wow.

The French course meal we ate today was also paid for by Timothy. My goodness.

Although Timothy sometimes acts childishly or seems annoyingly lucky with miracles that are on a different level from ordinary people, this news was quite heartwarming. I wanted to give him the title of ‘filial son’.

I suddenly asked my parents with a serious face.

“But why didn’t you tell me that elder brother had awakened? You both knew that I’m an A-rank awakened one, right?”

Then the three of them, including Timothy, stared at each other with wide eyes.

“Huh? Didn’t Timothy tell you?”

“Honey, didn’t you tell Juno?”

“Mom, Dad, didn’t you tell her?”

“Hey, you should have told her! It’s your business.”

“I thought Mom would have told her!”

“I thought Timothy had told you in advance. I’m sorry, Juno. I did hear that Timothy had awakened, but I must have forgotten to pass it on to you.”

In the end, both my parents and Timothy had assumed the other side would have told me and let it slide.

Even when I was training and closing Gates in cooperation with the military, my parents thought, ‘Timothy closes B-rank dungeons alone? D-rank must be playground level for him. Besides, she’s working with her school teachers too!’ and didn’t worry separately.

‘No wonder they acted so nonchalant even when news of a Gate opening in the neighborhood came out…’

Only then did I understand all the circumstances of the events that hadn’t made sense before.