If you want to help, I can just help alone.

If I just help people evacuate and then leave, there shouldn’t be a big problem, and I have items that block presence and identity, so it should be fine.

As I took out a staff from my inventory, Cheon Shin Woo grabbed me.

“Where are you trying to go?”

I was caught immediately.

“Let me go.”

Didn’t you say we were unrelated strangers?

For him, other people were only of that much importance. It probably didn’t matter to him what stories were in their lives, how they had lived, and how they wanted to live.

Unlike him, ignoring the people in front of me was not to my taste.

“…”

Cheon Shin Woo did not release my nape. He was so strong that I couldn’t break free no matter how much I struggled.

“Hey, I said let go!”

I know it’s ridiculous to act like this after telling Silence I wouldn’t try to save the world or anything.

‘Isn’t there any support from other guilds? Damn it, what’s going on! If Se Jin dies at this rate…’

‘We really can’t hold on any longer! Were there really no orders?’

Isn’t it better than being a bystander?

A sigh was heard from behind.

“…You. Do you know what your skill and job are?”

“I roughly know I’m a supporter and since I’m B-rank, monsters won’t even come at me anyway! So let me go. I won’t ask for help…”

Suddenly the force holding me disappeared. I fell forward.

“Ack! What are you doing…!”

“You told me to let go, didn’t you?”

Is this person really my elder brother? No, the way he’s handling me, he probably is.

Feeling wronged, I glared back to see Cheon Shin Woo indifferently looking at the sky while holding a weapon that was a mix of gun and sword.

“Well, this is something. To think the guild master would step in for something like this.”

Min Yu Shin, who had been watching, said as if surprised. Cheon Shin Woo smiled after briefly inspecting his gun and leaped.

“I thought it wouldn’t be bad to owe the association a favor.”

A blue afterimage remained behind his disappearing figure. Only I, who had yet to fully grasp the situation, blankly watched the scene.

Soon the warning number became 0, and as a reddish-black hole opened in the sky, countless monsters could be seen falling to the ground, looking like maggots swarming.

Lightning strikes, followed by thunder, and half of them are swept away.

People who hadn’t come to their senses due to the collision accident screamed for a moment at the appearance of the monsters, then everyone let out exclamations at the following scene.

“Well done, Shin A.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s complicated to explain the details, but… it’s not bad to leave a good story in Cheon Shin Woo’s name. Now, let’s go. We need to get to a safe place until this is over or I’ll get scolded.”

As I got up holding Min Yu Shin’s hand, I mulled over what he had said.

Does Cheon Shin Woo really step up like that because of me? Because he doesn’t want me to step up? Really because of what I said?

The disgruntlement hadn’t quite faded. I stood there blankly, not even realizing that my surroundings were being dyed pitch black.

“Don’t you think it’s strange?”

A voice both familiar and unfamiliar.

“Why gates appear wherever you go. As if you were the focal point.”

Darkness filling the surroundings.

“…?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange enough to wonder about at least once?”

A face both familiar and unfamiliar. A man with black eyes and skin so white it contrasted.

He reached out and embraced me.

“Let go…!”

“I came to say hello briefly. Someone was trying to forcibly open a fragment of destruction, so I came to check, and this is the situation.”

Soon after, he detached me from his body and stepped back with a smile.

“Hello, Shin A. We meet again.”

Without even time to gather my thoughts, I took out my staff and swung it at him. The staff, which I was told could be used as a blunt weapon, was swung with weight.

“Ah, dangerous. Do you dislike me that much?”

“…Where did the secretary go?”

“I separated the space for a bit. From the outside, it’ll look like you’re just standing still… Though Jeok Cheon might notice quickly.”

“…Why did you appear here?”

“I just explained the reason, but… that’s not the answer you want to hear, is it?”

With a smile so tender it was suffocating, he approached me again.

“I am everywhere and nowhere.”

“…”

“And I have always been by your side.”

The thought of using a skill didn’t occur to me.

Would such things work on this man? It was an almost instinctive realization.

One who could plunge a person into an abyss just by facing them, to the point where an ordinary person couldn’t even stand.

He reached out to me.

“…!”

“From now on, whether you intend it or not, various problems will be entangled around you.”

Were the words whispered in a sweet voice for my sake?

“Because of you.”

Or were they words cursing me?

“Because of you, that is.”

Just standing was all I could manage.

The immense pressure from his existence was hostility and a curse towards this world.

“…What do you want to say?”

And so my mind became rather calm.

The goodwill shown to me by one who could crush me as easily as an insect. Some sort of certainty that he wouldn’t kill me.

That, as if reading my certainty, said this:

“Right, there’s no way I could hurt you. How… how could I ever hurt you.”

Take one step back, and he takes one step forward.

“So, all of this is solely for your sake.”

Step back again, and he kneels before me with a smile.

“I will destroy this world for you.”

Pulling my palm, he kisses it as if pleading.

“So, don’t come to me too late.”

He spoke in such a desperate voice.

“Shin A!”

The next moment, as I came to my senses at Min Yu Shin’s voice calling my name, there was nothing in front of me.

“What have you been doing standing still all this time? I told you we should go because it’s dangerous.”

As if what just happened was a dream I had while standing.

A stupid word leaked out of my mouth.

“Pardon?”

“Shin Woo can handle that much on his own, so let’s get out of here. People will gather.”

“Just now, wasn’t there a strange person here?”

“Huh? There was no one… Did you see something?”

“…Yes, I must have seen things. More importantly, the car is ruined.”

“Yeah. It’s a car I just got not long ago… Anyway, waves are different from gates so escape stones are useless, we need to get out before it gets more chaotic.”

Saying there could be problems if more people gather, he soon slung me over his shoulder like a sack.

“Hey!”

“Haha, I feel like Shin Woo would scold me if I held you any other way. Well then, let’s go!”

Shadows gradually widened beneath his feet. What is this, another skill? Meanwhile, endless thunder sounds rumbled beyond the sky.

Cheon Shin Woo’s figure, slashing space with his sword and shooting lightning from the muzzle of his gun, seemed like something out of mythology.

“Are we really leaving him like that?!”

“Yeah, if we get close we’ll just be in the way. Now we’re really going. It might be a bit dizzying for a moment!”

Suddenly the world turned upside down.

Cheon Shin Woo really returned in perfect condition. Returning without a single disheveled appearance as if not even needing a warm-up, he clicked his tongue at the sight of Min Yu Shin sprawled out.

“Tsk.”

“The first thing you do when you see me is click your tongue?!”

Min Yu Shin’s skill was a short-distance movement skill called shadow movement. It couldn’t be used for long-distance movement and had many restrictions, so it wasn’t normally used for this kind of travel.

He attempted long-distance movement despite the exponentially increasing mana consumption. And this was the result.

“Ugh, my head. More importantly, what happened?”

“They were nothing special.”

“That’s not what I’m asking! Sigh, I’m the only one suffering because of the guild master who doesn’t care about image management at all.”

Min Yu Shin suddenly got up and manipulated something in the air. I quietly took a sip of water watching that scene.

The image Cheon Shin Woo showed that day spread quickly.

It was a speed contrary to the assault incident he had committed.

The reactions were all ‘That Cheon Shin Woo?’, but they weren’t bad overall. Some people who had liked Cheon Shin Woo from the beginning even put up nonsensical shields saying there was actually nothing wrong with his character.

Well, his image had been such a mess until now. Anyway, it was a good result.

Cheon Shin Woo, who had been responding with just two words to Min Yu Shin’s one-sided chatter, looked at me with an expression that said ‘Is this enough now?’

I was about to look at him anew, but that expression made me feel ambivalent.

In any case, I had something to talk to him about.

“Just continue what you were doing.”

Cheon Shin Woo said this to my saying I wanted to work. Honestly, I was surprised he gave permission.

He has a lot of money. Objectively a lot. Even if he spent it, he earned it back quickly.

Top-tier hunters always earn astronomical amounts of money and spend astronomical amounts of money.

As the number one ranked, he naturally had a lot of money.

But I didn’t want to use that money.

‘What if he suddenly kicks me out and tells me to pay back all the money?’

Of course, there was no guarantee he would do that. It was just my own anxiety.

I said I wanted to do what I could at least, because I didn’t like the feeling of using someone else’s money, of being in debt.

Some might call it foolish. That I should just enjoy the good fortune instead of going out of my way to struggle.

Someday I might get used to his support, but at least, not yet.

I asked if it was okay for me to comfortably go to work at Cheon Rang when I was openly known as Cheon Shin Woo’s younger sister. Min Yu Shin answered this instead:

“That information was only circulated among the executives anyway, so there’s no risk of someone from the office recognizing you. You also wore an item that blurs your impression during the meeting, so no one knows your exact face.”

I couldn’t say Yi Hyun also knew, and Baek Yi Hyun knew, and An Un knew, so I just said I see and moved on. They said I could keep using the alias Park Ha Young, and since I wasn’t used to the name Shin A yet, the accounting team’s youngest Park Ha Young was expected to continue for the time being.

Come to think of it, mentioning Park Ha Young reminded me of something.

‘But I’d like you to call me this.’
‘Ha Young. – Park Ha Young.’

I wonder what that guy’s identity is. Cheon Shin Woo seemed to know what he was. Would he answer if I asked?