S-Rank is My Side Character - Chapter 70

“…How long are you going to slouch here?”

“I’m just going to watch this and leave. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Geez, really. I can’t live my life properly because of you.”

“Can you stop acting like a mother looking at her unemployed daughter all the time?”

A few days later, Nari, dressed in black mourning clothes, was lying on the sofa in Nan’s room watching TV.

The TV was broadcasting the state funeral of Kang Ihyeon’s parents.

“…Grandma Nahan isn’t having a funeral?”

Nari looked around the quiet room. After Grandma passed away, Nan quietly reported her death.

Her life had already been extinguished a few years ago, but she was living in the memorial Nan had created, consuming his spiritual energy.

It was common for hunters to experience such things, so they could only confirm her death after seeing the system settle with Nahan missing and only five S-ranks remaining.

The funeral was held as a quiet family affair. Of course, Nari was also wearing mourning clothes.

“Still, she’s an S-rank. Won’t many people come?”

“Our mother insisted on having a family funeral while she was alive. But from others’ perspectives, they can’t not pay tribute to the S-rank who had been protecting Korea until now, so they expressed their condolences by postponing the state funeral of the Saints by a few days.”

Seeing Kang Ihyeon calmly reciting a tribute to his parents in a neat appearance on TV, Nari munched on some shrimp chips.

‘…It must be tough.’

No matter how much he didn’t care about his grandfather, Kang Ihyeon said he couldn’t avoid attending the state funeral.

The night he spent with Nari, he slept with Nan at Mago’s dormitory, and the next day, he headed back to his studio apartment through a crack in Nari’s dimension.

“I really like Mr. Kang Ihyeon. At first, I disliked him because he seemed quite flaky, but the more I talk to him, the more substance he has.”

“Stop acting like a mother trying to marry off her daughter all the time.”

“I was quite impressed that he neatly spread out my bedding, went to sleep right away without using his phone, and as soon as he woke up at 6 o’clock, he crisply folded the bedding at right angles and went out for a jog.”

“Ah, are you praising me now? Ah, forget it. I can’t even say anything.”

Nan watched TV together with a serious face. Nari, who was picking at the shrimp chips, scratched her other leg with her toenails.

“Then I’ll get going. Miss Nari!”

“Ah, really!”

Nari, who sat up abruptly at the excessive nagging, let out a big sigh. Then she spoke firmly to Nan.

“Ah, please, stop it! If I don’t wake up at 7 in the morning, you knock on my dormitory door to wake me up. Even if I sleep, you tell me to eat breakfast before sleeping. If I get up and eat breakfast forcibly, you tell me not to sleep until it’s digested. By the time it’s all digested, it’s time for lunch! Then I can’t sleep again!”

“It’s stranger for you to take a nap. The problem is that you should just go to bed early at night in the first place.”

“Look at this too!!”

Nari showed her phone messenger. Nan’s messages sent at night were lined up.

Uncle Nan

[Miss Nari, please go to bed early today] 10:55 PM

[Miss Nari, turn off your phone] 11:55 PM

[Miss Nari, please go to bed before 1 o’clock] 12:55 AM

[Miss Nari, I’ll wake you up at 7 o’clock tomorrow morning as usual. Go to bed] 1:55 AM

[The Ruler of Chaos giggles, saying what kind of person is an alarm clock.]

“What kind of person is an alarm clock?!”

Nari, who stole the words of the Ruler of Chaos, shouted. Nan looked at Nari with a dumbfounded expression.

“Don’t you read it right away as soon as I send a message, Miss Nari? If you didn’t read it and went to sleep, I would have no reason to send such messages.”

Unable to find a retort, Nari just avoided her gaze with a groan.

Nari, who was mumbling complaints, handed something to Nan.

“Here, take this. It’s a memorial stone.”

“You’re not going to place it directly at your mother’s spot yourself?”

“My mother’s keepsake is my uncle, so I have to give it to my uncle.”

Hearing those words, Nan meekly received the small tombstone.

The tombstone contained a memorial inscription, and on the back was written ‘Kang Hana’. He blinked at the tombstone, which was clearly made by the Saints.

“…I thought you would hate the Saints. And Kang Ihyeon too.”

“Those two didn’t do anything to me. The people who were mean to me are someone else. Rather, Kang Ihyeon helped me a lot. The Saints guild leader seemed like a good person too.”

“Miss Kang Sujin’s character is indeed trustworthy.”

Nan, who simply summarized it like that, looked at Nari. Sometimes she seemed like a child, but when he saw this side of her, she had a broad capacity for understanding.

“…You can stay here without joining the Saints.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“It means you can work as Shin Binnari, not Rude. Of course, it would be closer to an office job than being a hunter here. Isn’t it painful to wear someone else’s shell and work? No one will know it’s you.”

“…Hmm.”

Nari sprawled on the sofa again and ate shrimp chips. The TV was showing memorial stones. The names of the sacrificed people filled the screen.

“I don’t know. I think I need to continue being a hunter.”

“We’ll pay you the same salary as the Saints here, Miss Nari.”

For a moment, Nari rolled her eyes. Tapping the crumbs off her hands after eating shrimp chips, she looked ahead.

On the screen, people who had lost their families were wiping their tears with handkerchiefs.

While working as Rude, Nari saved many people. The elementary school kid who first thanked her.

Kang Ihyeon, who came to save her because she had saved him. And the students at Min Jaeyun’s school.

“Still… I think that would be better.”

Hearing those words, Nan blinked. Although she was still an emotionally volatile friend, she was a strong person.

Nan, who felt both relieved and sorry that she was growing up well on her own, spoke in a voice mixed with laughter.

“Oh my, I was going to give you a house if you said you’d stay here.”

“What? A house? Is it in Seoul?”

At the mention of a house, Nari’s eyes sparkled. Real estate was indeed an exciting factor for people anytime, anywhere.

“…What? Of course. Your mother’s house.”

“What?”

“Your mother’s house. The one you used to live in with her when you were young. At some point, it came on the market, so I bought it.”

“…What?! No, you should have told me that first!! Then I would have believed it without any of this!”

[Mom? Nari! Are we going to achieve our initial goal?! The Ruler of Chaos looks at Nari.]

“Wait! Then you’re the one who messed up the management of that house too?!”

“Ah, you saw it? That’s right.”

“Why?! Do you know how much my heart ached seeing that…!”

“I had to make it look abandoned so no one would contact me to sell the house. I apologize to you though.”

Nari looked at Nan with wide eyes. He shrugged his shoulders with an awkward face. Nari’s mouth gaped open.

Her goal of working and saving money suddenly seemed to be achieved overnight. Nan spoke to her, who had suddenly become serious.

“Ah, but I can’t give it to you right away.”

“What? Why, why?”

“Uh.”

Seeing Nari’s expression, Nan showed a slightly puzzled reaction.

‘Why… is she smiling when I say I can’t give her the house right now?’

The corners of Nari’s mouth were curiously turned up. Feeling an inexplicable creepiness at that sight, Nan cleared his throat with a cough.

“Shin Binnari is making money as Rude without reporting her income, right? In that situation, if Shin Binnari purchases an expensive house that doesn’t match her financial situation, the National Tax Service will investigate.”

“…Uh… t-then it wasn’t just giving it to me?”

“You have to pay the gift tax. That’s why.”

Nari, who thought that the National Tax Service was indeed the scariest institution in the world, gnashed her teeth. Nan crossed his arms and looked at the TV again. The state funeral was almost over now.

“If you buy it under the name ‘Rude’, it might be possible, but then the issue of Rude purchasing Kang Hana’s house would arise, so you wouldn’t like that. So I’ll think about a way to handle the house issue and let you know.”

“Okay. Then I’ll go home now. I need to clean my studio, and I want to rest at home.”

“Yes, you do that.”

“…See you next year.”

“Come often. You can come and vent whenever Kang Ihyeon annoys you. I’ll take your side.”

“Hmph! As if. I can only imagine a situation where you would say I was wrong because that kind person couldn’t have said such things lightly.”

Nari nodded and got up from the sofa.

Taking off the black hanbok mourning clothes, Nari neatly folded the hanbok over the short-sleeved shirt and black sweatpants she was wearing underneath and put on a hoodie.

“Miss Nari.”

“Ah, I folded it neatly. Stop nagging me.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you earlier.”

At those words, Nari blinked for a moment. She was about to laugh it off, saying it’s okay, but Nan spoke again.

“You shouldn’t have had such a relationship with your father. If I had assessed the situation a little more, your father wouldn’t have been wary of me, and if that had been the case, this wouldn’t have happened. I think I took my role too lightly.”

Hearing those words, Nari narrowed her eyes slightly. Nan clenched his fists at the occasional glimpse of her hollow gaze, which was eerily similar to his mother’s.

But soon Nari regained focus, smiled again, and waved her hand a few times.

“…Well. It can’t be helped. I don’t like dwelling on such things over and over. It only makes me feel powerless. I’d rather think that I’m fortunate you’re taking care of me now. Thank you.”

“And, and there’s something else I need to apologize for.”

“Ah, what is it now?”

“Well, um.”

Nari looked at Nan with annoyance. Nan fidgeted his fingers and mumbled.

“I’m sorry. A few weeks ago. The person who strongly insisted that you… I mean, Rude should be sent to the military…”

Nari’s eyes gradually widened. Come to think of it, come to think of it! Didn’t the guild leader go to the 4 Guild meeting and suddenly not give her the enlistment notice?!

And this person was the leader of the 4 Guilds!

Could it be!!

The culprit was!!

Nari raised her finger. Nan hesitated for a moment and then continued.

“…am sorry. I apologize.”

“Ah!! I really hate you!!”