“Situation. ……A situation, huh.”

A sneer spread across his lips once more. Someone flinched.

“Sit down, Shin Ah.”

“Yes.”

I sat back down in my seat. Someone gasped. Based on the whispers of “Could that girl really be…?”, it seems there were some who truly didn’t know who I was.

Cheon Shin Woo rested his chin on his hand and spoke.

“Min Yu Shin.”

“Yes.”

“You explain the situation.”

Suddenly tasked with summarizing the situation in place of the guild leader, Min Yu Shin made a troubled expression. He soon let out a sigh.

“…Even if one may be dissatisfied with the guild leader’s unilateral decision and announcement, interfering with the gate conquest should not have been done. This is not simply harboring ill will towards the newly appointed vice guild leader Cheon Shin Ah, but also considering the survival of those trapped in the gate…”

As I listened to Min Yu Shin’s explanation, indescribable emotions swirled within me.

“…Therefore, disciplinary action will be taken against the 7 individuals who deliberately obstructed support for the erosion gate.”

So to summarize, it’s this: I, the sister of Cheon Shin Woo and vice guild master, was trapped in an erosion gate. Unhappy that I had luckily obtained the vice guild master position, they decided to leave me in danger. They even interfered to prevent support from being sent. After all, it was an S-rank gate, so a delayed entry shouldn’t matter, and so on.

It was truly petty. No, beyond petty, it was malicious.

It was an S-rank gate. An S-rank gate with death and darkness attributes, no less. Over 200 casualties. And all of that just to keep me in check.

Hoping that I would die there.

Still, I wondered if there might be some other circumstances I wasn’t aware of.

“…It didn’t make sense from the start for an unawakened nobody to take the position of vice guild master.”

Someone stubbornly argued back. Isn’t that not the issue right now? I held back the words I wanted to say.

“And to say we deliberately blocked support, S-rank gates are prohibited from entry until information is confirmed first!”

“Isn’t an advance team sent to confirm this?”

“It could be an unknown rank, rushing in recklessly would be nothing but going to die! We were simply being cautious!”

It was absurd to see them making excuses about such obvious facts. The clear malice was rather surprising.

Is the fact that I nearly died something that doesn’t matter since I survived? No, maybe the intention was to torment me a little, knowing they wouldn’t actually let me die.

But what if Baek Yi Hyun hadn’t come? Or if the advance team had rescued people earlier?

“That’s quite an exaggeration. We really didn’t have such intentions…!”

“Even if that wasn’t your intention, over 200 people actually died this time.”

The gazes of those arguing among themselves turned to me. Cheon Shin Woo looked at me too. His blue eyes held curiosity, as if wondering what I would say.

I had stood up at some point and was glaring at them.

“And you let those people die for such a petty reason?”

To those who cross the line between life and death daily and have seen death countless times, it may not seem like much, but the scene I witnessed was truly horrific.

Vividly watching someone you had just eaten with moments ago become neither dead nor alive, the sight of people unable to let go was truly terrible.

“Was that really not your intention?”

The blue aura that had filled the conference room gradually disappeared. Someone swallowed hard.

All because of just me.

I was angry. It was hard to control my emotions. Just as I was about to speak again.

“Shin Ah.”

Cheon Shin Woo grabbed my hand.

“…Sit down.”

And forcibly sat me down in the chair.

He ruffled and messed up my hair. What are you doing? As I was about to protest, I noticed the shocked faces of the people.

“Just now, what…”

Those who had remained silent were at least decent. Those who had rashly revealed their true thoughts were touching their mouths with disbelieving expressions.

Cheon Shin Woo, who had made me sit, smiled benevolently. His face was only gentle.

“I’ll take care of those things myself.”

However, the words that came out of his mouth were not gentle at all.

A vulgar word, too crude to come from the mouth of someone in the public position of guild leader, was heard, followed by Cheon Shin Woo speaking in a languid voice as he rested his chin on his hand.

“Choose.”

The people who had been entranced began to tense up again in a different way at the overwhelming aura.

“First, you die here.”

I pondered for a moment whether those words were serious or a joke.

“Second, you go out and die.”

It seems he’s serious after all. Min Yu Shin was now covering his face with both hands.

“Don’t think you’ll go easily either way.”

Is there no other option? He was nothing short of a tyrant. However, I felt no sympathy for them.

“…Guild leader.”

Someone spoke while trembling.

“You should properly understand why we’re doing this.”

And then they ran out of the conference room.

“……”

“…?”

I was dumbfounded.

Who was it that showed nothing but malice out of nowhere?

Regardless, the executives of Cheonrang continued to speak as if they had taken reasonable actions.

“…We’ll admit our mistakes. If you want to punish us, we’ll gladly accept it. But we just want you to know that we were thinking of you, guild leader.”

Min Yu Shin let out an audible sigh. He had an expression that suggested he knew what Cheon Shin Woo would say next.

“Then I’ll take that as you wanting to die here…”

“Alright, dismissed! Everyone’s dismissed! I’ll issue a separate notice about the punishment, so for now, everyone’s dismissed. Until then, I hope you all think about what you did wrong and reflect on yourselves!”

“…Don’t decide on your own.”

Even as Cheon Shin Woo spoke in a low voice, there was someone who still didn’t take their hostile gaze off me.

Do they hate me that much?

The last person remaining spoke.

“…I know the purpose for which you founded Cheonrang, guild leader, but please don’t forget that we too are members of Cheonrang.”

He was the one who had claimed ‘I tried to stop them’.

In the desolate conference room, Cheon Shin Woo, who had finally punched Min Yu Shin in the stomach, glared at the outside of the conference room with a still angry expression. He looked like he was contemplating whether to chase after them and kill them.

But the punishment they receive shouldn’t simply end with a beating or disciplinary action.

And Cheon Shin Woo too needed to understand why they acted that way.

For this reason, I opened my mouth.

“Um.”

“……”

“Even though those people did wrong, treating them like this won’t be good for either side, so maybe we should calm down first…?”

“Shin Ah.”

Cheon Shin Woo approached me step by step.

With each step he took, the smile etched on his lips darkened uneasily.

“Who said you could wander around and get caught up in gates as you please?”

“……”

I realized. That I would be interrogated before they were.

Though less intense than in the conference room, the blue and ominous aura had not disappeared.

Cheon Shin Woo sat on the private office sofa with his legs crossed, looking angry to anyone who saw him. His appearance was refined and cold.

In the past, I would have been scared, but now the situation was different. Who does he think he is to set the mood like that?

“Who said you could wander around as you please like that?”

Cheon Shin Woo spoke, really setting an intimidating mood. At that moment, I looked at him in disbelief.

“Who was it that left without a word after saying they would explain?”

“……”

The sound of someone swallowing could be heard from the side.

“I left a letter.”

“You did. It only said that enemies were everywhere so you couldn’t find me earlier. So what?”

“……”

“I’m not even sure if I’m really your sister in the first place. Am I really your sister?”

“……”

“When did I say I wanted to be confined? Who said they wanted to become the number one ranked little sister, unable to take a single step outside because of danger everywhere?”

How is that any different from a bird trapped in a cage? While I was speaking, Cheon Shin Woo quietly listened to my words.

“And who asked for that? Even if enemies were everywhere, you could have come to meet me once. You said you knew from the day I returned, right? There must have been fewer enemies then than now. But you still didn’t come looking for me?”

“……”

“You judged it safer not to meet until you were fully established? Is that really true? Have you properly established yourself now? From what I just saw, it’s still a mess.”

“……”

Min Yu Shin burst out laughing with a “pfft” from the side. But I wasn’t done speaking yet.

“Everyone in Korea must know, right? That the number one ranked Cheon Shin Woo’s reverse scale is his little sister. But you knew where your precious little sister was and didn’t look for her even once in 9 years… Did you actually miss me? Or was it just too bothersome to come find me so you left me alone?”

“…Shin Ah.”

“You said you’d explain but just left. Was that really something only you had to do? Was it so urgent that you had to leave right away?”

“Shin Ah.”

The voice that penetrated my ears was calm. Each time I heard that voice calling my name, I got even angrier, and I ended up pulling out the black card I had and throwing it away.

“Who asked for something like this? I, I just…”

I just wanted to have someone who could be family to me, to myself.

Whether that person was a hunter or an ordinary person, someone barely getting by like me, it didn’t matter.

“You asked why I wandered around as I pleased, right? I’ve lived like that for 9 years. Did you think I would suddenly obey and stay confined because you now say it’s dangerous? If you didn’t look for me for 9 years because of that, have you still not sorted things out?”

“……”

Silence fell in the office. Even Min Yu Shin, who had burst out laughing earlier, fell silent while staring into space.

Meanwhile, Cheon Shin Woo changed his posture and let out a sigh as he rubbed his face. He looked somewhat troubled.

“Shin Ah.”

“What?”

“Have you said everything you wanted to say?”

“……”

“I see…”

Cheon Shin Woo, who had been looking at the floor with his fingers laced against his forehead, spoke in a troubled voice.

“First, to answer a few things, you are my sister. …If you want to do a DNA test, we can. You don’t need to worry about the possibility of us not being family, I’m certain.”