Bang! Rude slammed his fist on the cafe table to get their attention.

At his words, the two who were arguing shut their mouths. Rude gritted his teeth.

“When I say stop, you stop…”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes!”

At Rude’s words, the two stood up straight with renewed discipline. Min Jaeyun grabbed a chair and spoke to Rude.

“Anyway, elder sister! I’ll get going! I’ll tell the police honestly, so don’t worry about the statement! And I’m really sorry about our grandfather. Our elder brother is unexpectedly uninterested in other people.”

“Hey, you…”

“What? Are you fighting now?”

“No, we’re not.”

Just before the brothers’ second round of fighting began, Rude glared at them. Kang Ihyeon looked at Min Jaeyun with the expression of seeing his younger brother sticking his tongue out while hiding behind his mother, then soon turned his gaze away.

“I’ll talk to Grandfather well. And please think carefully about the proposal I mentioned. I’m graduating in a few months. See you later then. Bye~!”

Min Jaeyun blew an exaggerated air kiss as he moved away from the two. Finally, he left, and Rude, who was sighing deeply in relief, said,

“I guess they did grow up like real brothers? Seeing them childishly arguing.”

“Childish?! No, we’re not?! Did you see how he was totally getting on my nerves?! Saying I’m uninterested in other people?! I have max level social skills as a passive ability!”

Kang Ihyeon was getting excited in a way Rude had never seen before. Seeing that, Rude chuckled and got up from his seat, arranging the glasses.

“It’s not completely wrong. You didn’t know Jaeyun was talking nonsense to me. But he noticed it as soon as he heard the story.”

“Still, it’s a bit much to say my words have no effect.”

“Then would it work if you say it?”

Kang Ihyeon, who was muttering, turned around sharply while putting a straw in the trash can next to Rude. Seeing his hurt expression, Rude hastily added an explanation.

“From what I heard from Min Jaeyun, it seems your uncle has severe trauma. Do you think that can be solved by approaching it with social skills? Even I faint when I see a camera.”

Unable to find words to refute, Kang Ihyeon just pouted his lips and followed Rude out of the cafe.

“Then it’s useless no matter who says it. Even if Jaeyun says it, it’ll stay the same.”

Seeing Kang Ihyeon mumbling in a sulky tone, unable to hide his upset expression, Rude giggled.

He was much more skilled than Nari in many ways, taking good care of Nari’s emotions and having max level social skills, but in the end, it seemed he was also around Nari’s age.

Rude, who thought there was a quite cute side to him, got into Kang Ihyeon’s car parked outside. They had driven here early in the morning in Kang Ihyeon’s car to meet Min Jaeyun.

“…Those who haven’t experienced it wouldn’t know. Your values in life change in an instant.”

“I know that feeling too. I met Nari, and also…”

“You’re optimistic, but Min Jaewon and Min Jaeyun aren’t. They both clearly have related status abnormalities. Then Min Jaeyun would communicate better with them than you.”

Kang Ihyeon couldn’t answer as he fastened his seat belt along with Rude who was speaking while buckling up. He waited for the engine to start and the navigation to turn on, then grabbed the steering wheel. Rude spoke in a cold voice.

“But I’m not forgiving your uncle. I’m just giving that man one more chance for your sake. If he throws this away too, there won’t be another chance.”

“…Yes, I know. I’ll mediate well between you two.”

“Really, thinking about it again, this is absurd. Is this something you should have to mediate? Min Jaewon isn’t my father-in-law or anything. It’s like a trial version of a hopeless marriage.”

“…”

Rude sighed deeply without a word and turned his gaze to the car window. Even after the navigation was on and the engine had been running for a while, the car didn’t move, so Rude turned his head sharply.

“What are you doing? Not going?”

“I, I, I’ll go!! I’ll… I, I’ll do well! Yes! I’ll do well!”

Kang Ihyeon was awkwardly smiling while tightly gripping the steering wheel. Seeing his expression, Nari immediately frowned.

“If your condition is off, don’t drive.”

“No, it’s fine! I’ll do well. Really!”

“I need to get my license soon. This is making me anxious.”

Nari grumbled, not considering that even if she gets her license, she would also be a novice driver for a while.

“Ah, and don’t worry about Min Jaeyun. He doesn’t know anything about me, but he just likes strong women, and among them, he has a preference for older women, so he likes me.”

“Actually, all the girlfriends he’s dated so far have been ace members of the martial arts club.”

Rude looked at Kang Ihyeon with wide eyes, as if to say, ‘That preference was real?!’, then soon regained his composure.

“But among the S-ranks, the female hunters are all older than him. Even the guild master of the guild he’s joining is older than him.”

“Uh, well. The master of the White Night guild is the same age as our guild master though.”

“…It means more people catch your eye when you become a hunter.”

Rude turned his gaze out the car window, putting aside the worry that this might lead to big trouble.

“Anyway, there won’t be any bothersome issues unless he really becomes something like the national rank 3!”

“Haha, that’s right! Becoming rank 3 isn’t easy either.”

“Right. There’s no way a high school student with no training will become rank 3.”

Unaware of what the future holds, they laughed peacefully and drove off to their respective homes to enjoy their sick leave.

And the next day, Min Jaeyun confidently secured the position of rank 3 as South Korea’s sixth S-rank hunter.

[This is the timeline separator]

And after the sweet sick leave ended.

‘Rude! You know I’m rank 3 now, right!! Now the only person stronger than me is really just you!! Kyaa!!’

After handing over Min Jaeyun, who was saying that, to the guild master with a dumbfounded expression, Rude rested at home all day and returned to the cathedral to find a mountain of work piled up.

“Is it only like this for Devourer types? Please tell me that’s the case.”

“…”

“Why aren’t you saying anything…”

“Well, even if it’s not a Devourer type, when a high-rank gate opens… it can’t be helped…”

At Ihyeon’s powerless answer, Rude scratched his head several times with a groan.

Papers were endlessly coming out of the printer that Kang Ihyeon had personally installed in the office because he was too lazy to even go to the hallway.

It was the result of the paperwork for the usual work piling up like a mountain. Fortunately, the cathedral was a company that diligently paid out the allowances, otherwise he would have quit long ago.

Kang Ihyeon, who had slurped down the last sip of coffee under the ice, shook his tumbler.

“I’ll go buy coffee.”

“Mine too.”

“Rude, you can’t have coffee. The doctor told you not to drink coffee, remember?”

“Can’t help it. I can’t live without coffee. If I can’t have coffee, I at least need to feel like I’m drinking it.”

“Then I’ll buy decaf.”

Kang Ihyeon left the office, taking Rude’s tumbler as well. Rude, who had hidden behind the partition so that his face couldn’t be seen, pouted his lips.

[The Lord of Chaos giggles saying our Nari is really whipped.]

Rude could deceive the doctor, but he couldn’t deceive Kang Ihyeon who stuck by his side every day to monitor him. Rude, who leaned his body against the back of the office chair to take a little break, looked up at the ceiling.

The public’s interest in the gate that appeared at the school during the two days was enormous.

Perhaps because the incident occurred at an educational institution, everyone’s attention was focused, and the investigation gained speed.

It was reported that the incident occurred due to a combination of factors: someone intentionally stole the school’s mana stones and sold them on the black market, the school building was severely deteriorated with a low safety rating, and even the installed devices failed to function properly.

On top of that, the birth of South Korea’s sixth S-rank hunter. The internet was buzzing. So much so that on the advice of the Lord of Chaos, he had turned off his cell phone and lived.

[The Lord of Chaos nods, saying the regulations will become even stricter in the future.]

“It should be. It’s not like there are hundreds or thousands of me and Kang Ihyeon.”

Rude frowned and focused on the documents again. At the knocking sound, Rude spoke without much thought.

“Come in. I’m here.”

The sound of the door creaking open was heard. Rude, who had his eyes fixed on the monitor inside the partition, spoke immediately.

“You came back really fast? Just put it on the desk. I’ll buy next time.”

“Hunter Rude.”

And at the polite voice of a middle-aged man, Rude’s eyes widened and he pulled his body out from behind the partition.

Min Jaewon, the hunter with his hair pulled back and wearing glasses, stood there with a look of not knowing what to do.

“I have something to say, so I came to ask if you have a moment.”

“Ah, yes, well. I’m free now, but what brings you here?”

Rude stood up from his seat with a dazed expression. Min Jaewon, who was facing Rude inside the office, hesitated for a moment, then soon bowed his head. At a 90-degree angle, commonly known as a folder bow.

“I apologize. I am truly sorry.”

Rude blinked at Min Jaewon, who spoke in an earnest voice.

He had thought that after the gate subjugation, Min Jaewon would casually brush it off if they met, but he never imagined that he would come to apologize.

Min Jaewon’s words continued.

“I shouldn’t have, but whenever I saw Rude, who has an evil tendency, old memories came to mind and my blood boiled in reverse. I couldn’t control myself. At this age, I couldn’t hold back. I did something truly shameful.”

“Ah, no. Please get up first.”

Rude fumbled, seeing someone much older than him bowing before him for the first time.

Rude could respond to someone’s malice towards him, but he was clumsy at dealing with people approaching him with other intentions.

Moreover, he had never heard such a sincere apology before, so he didn’t know how to respond.

‘…He wasn’t a person who really couldn’t be reasoned with.’

After all, both Kang Ihyeon and Min Jaeyun, who grew up under Min Jaewon’s care, didn’t seem fundamentally bad people. Recalling that fact anew, Rude looked at Min Jaewon who was rambling in front of him.

“No. Even though you saved two of my grandsons without any benefit, I thoughtlessly disparaged and slandered you.”

‘Seeing as he referred to them as grandsons, I guess Kang Ihyeon is included in that too.’

Rude, who had unintentionally ended up in a position where he saved two of Min Jaewon’s family members, awkwardly touched his side hair. Min Jaewon lifted his head and looked Rude straight in the eye.

“You should have known in advance that you are the person who said such things to young master Ihyeon as well. I didn’t know because the young master didn’t tell me. I had too narrow a perspective…”

“Ah, right. About that.”

Rude, who had cut off the apology that was sure to continue on and on, rubbed the back of his head. Again, it was about “those words” he had supposedly said to Kang Ihyeon. Hearing it for the third time in this nuance, it was starting to bother him.

“I can’t remember what I said at all. Did he mention what it was?”

“The young master didn’t tell you?”

“He told me to remember it on my own, but I can’t, and I don’t think I will. But people around me keep reacting like this, so it’s bothering me.”

Min Jaewon, who was silently holding his chin, soon pushed up his glasses.

His eyes visible through the glasses narrowed, as if considering whether he could speak about Kang Ihyeon’s past as he pleased. Rude quickly added,

“Ihyeon told me all about his parents and his past, so don’t worry.”

“Ah! Then please keep it a secret from the young master that I told you.”

Nod nod! Rude widened his eyes and nodded his head a couple of times. Min Jaewon, who was watching Rude like that, chuckled and pushed up his glasses.

“One day, the young master came home and said he had met a benefactor. He was a person of few words and lacked self-confidence, so he was gloomy, but that day he looked unusually bright.”

“Him?”

“Yes, he didn’t receive such good treatment from the main family members. Now that I think about it, my educational policy of only imposing roles was also at fault. Anyway, when I asked what he meant, he said he was curious about why he should live, but he got an answer from his benefactor.”

Rude, who heard the story, turned his gaze to the side for a moment. An answer to why one should live, school. It felt like he was about to remember something. Min Jaewon’s words continued.

“He said he doesn’t know either.”

“Ah…”

At those words, Rude’s eyes flashed open. A flash of light went off in his head.