“Huh?”

“Since it happened within the guild, sufficient compensation will be needed… And you lost your phone too, I heard.”

“…I was going to buy a new one today…”

“Reporters will be coming too.”

“Reporters? For me?”

“You’re the only non-awakened among the victims. …And a returnee, right?”

“What?! And how did you know I’m non-awakened…?”

“An irregular non-awakened returnee, and an irregular gate. That’s more than enough reason to be hounded by reporters… Ah. If you’re asking how I know, even for short-term hires, we do basic background checks. Even if you don’t write it on your resume…?”

I was dumbfounded by Cheon Shin Woo’s bold admission of investigating my background.

Is it okay to say that so confidently? No, more than that, saying it like that makes it sound like I’m some kind of singularity causing gate syncs!

As I swallowed a silent scream, Min Young unni took a step forward.

“That’s a sudden development, so Ha Young will need time to think about it. Hoho, why don’t we let her discharge today and give her plenty of time to consider?”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

“…But it’s her opinion that matters first, isn’t it?”

Min Young unni said through gritted teeth. I had thought this before, but this unni had incredible guts. To be able to stand up so confidently even to the #1 ranked hunter, anyone else would have crumbled long ago.

Regardless of what unni was saying, Cheon Shin Woo’s gaze remained fixed on me.

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it… I’m just not sure.”

“Why?”

“…”

Why, he asks. Words I couldn’t speak out loud swirled in my throat.

If the president suddenly offered you a house, would you just say “Yes!” and take it? Ah, maybe you would. Because you’re Cheon Shin Woo. But I’m not.

“…I’ll just gratefully accept your goodwill.”

“You’re refusing?”

“Um, for now, I guess?”

“Why?”

“…”

“You won’t lose anything, Ms. Ha Young.”

That was true. Maybe I would regret this for a long time. But I was too uneasy to just accept it readily.

If he really wanted to take care of the victims, it would be right to do more for the families of those who died.

There’s no such thing as kindness without reason.

As I fidgeted with my fingers without answering, a voice tinged with laughter came.

“…Don’t you know to take things when they’re offered?”

His eyes curved. It’s even scarier when he smiles while saying it.

I glanced to the side and saw Min Young unni with an expression like she’d seen a goblin. This unni isn’t managing her expressions at all.

“Well, I understand for now. I’ll contact you if I change my mind…”

Cheon Shin Woo’s eyes followed mine to the side. The eyes that seemed kind just moments ago had now sunk.

He spoke in a slightly lowered voice, looking at Min Young unni.

“What about transportation costs to get back?”

“Ah, this unni said she’d give me a ride.”

“Unni? She’s not your real sister, I assume.”

“…She’s a close unni I know. I’m always indebted to her.”

“A returnee and an association employee… I see.”

Finally, the searching gaze fell away completely. Only then could I let out a long breath as the tension eased.

I peeked to the side and saw Min Young unni’s expression had hardened. Rather than looking scared, it was closer to an expression of dissatisfaction, as if she was thinking about something.

Just as I was wondering why she looked like that, Cheon Shin Woo, who had been heading for the door, suddenly turned around and strode back to me. Then he held out something to me. It was a business card.

“This is my personal contact information.”

“Huh?”

“It’s only for private use, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t spread it around to other people.”

“Thank… you? But why are you giving this to me…?”

“Why do you think?”

“…”

It’s not to research the anomaly of a non-awakened returnee, is it? As I didn’t answer, he raised his hand. I unconsciously took a step back, but he went ahead and pinched my cheek.

“Ow…”

“You seem to be thinking something stupid, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“…”

“You’re not very good-looking…”

“W-why are you suddenly talking about that!”

“…”

Are you saying you’re handsome then?! When I shouted in indignation, Cheon Shin Woo’s expression went blank. As I took another step back in sudden fear, he roughly ruffled my hair, messing it up…

“Excuse me?”

“Park Ha Young.”

“Yes?”

“No, never mind. Call me if you need anything.”

There are two ways to anger someone, and one of them is to start saying something and then stop…

Cheon Shin Woo gave me a strange look, as if expecting some kind of answer from me despite being the one who called my name first. An uneasy feeling rose up.

What exactly does this person want from me? I wish he would just say it directly.

“Contact me if you change your mind.”

Leaving those words tinged with laughter, Cheon Shin Woo finally headed for the door. Only after confirming that he had completely left the room did all the tension truly drain away.

It felt like a storm had passed.

“Phew…”

As I sat down with a sigh, Min Young unni spoke to me in a serious voice.

“Ha Young.”

“Yeah?”

“Be honest. What’s your relationship with Cheon Shin Woo?”

“…That’s what I want to know. Unni, am I going to be dragged off to a lab as a test subject? Does Cheonrang have some secret research facility where they’ll open up my head?”

“You’ve got quite an imagination. Cheonrang doesn’t do that kind of thing. Probably.”

“…Probably?”

“I’m joking. Anyway, for Cheon Shin Woo to act like that, there must be something…”

“…Unni?”

“You don’t know this, do you? That. Cheon Shin Woo’s little sister.”

“Why is Cheon Shin Woo’s little sister suddenly being brought up…?”

“Think about it. You know Cheon Shin Woo’s personality, right? He’s killed more people than bounty hunters or villains. When he was just a middle schooler, he would come to the association almost every day and cause a ruckus, all because he wanted them to find his little sister.”

“That story is famous, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that famous. It’s only well-known within the association. Anyway, that old fart of an association chairman, every time he drinks he talks about it…”

Min Young unni let out a sigh. The gazes of guild members walking down the corridor suddenly lingered on us.

Despite being a ward where outsiders had relatively free access, the wary glances directed at us showed no signs of abating.

“Why is an association employee here…”

“Isn’t that the one next to her? You know, from the accounting team…”

No. They were just looking because unni was an association employee.

The sound of quiet murmuring reached my ears. Min Young unni either couldn’t hear it or was ignoring it, as she continued with what she was saying.

“Anyway, Cheon Shin Woo would throw all kinds of fits trying to find his little sister every day, but at some point he seemed to give up and just stopped completely. It was a bit strange at the time. If his sister had really died, he seemed like he would have tried to resurrect her, but he suddenly went quiet…”

Is it okay to say these things here in Cheon Shin Woo’s guild? It seemed I was the only one who noticed. Unni truly didn’t care at all.

“Come to think of it, that was right around the time you returned. Huh, could it be that Park Ha Young is really Cheon Shin Woo’s little sister?”

“There’s no way! And I didn’t tell anyone on the team that I’m a returnee. Unni, please…”

“Ah, sorry.”

When I protested in a lowered voice, startled, unni sheepishly scratched the back of her head. I guess you need nerves of steel like this to be an association employee who gets pushed around everywhere. I learned a new fact today.

Fortunately, no one seemed to be paying attention to the content of our conversation.

Min Young unni patted my back vigorously and said energetically:

“Alright. It might just be needless worrying. Let’s go get you a new phone for now. I took a half day off work using you as an excuse, so we need to have as much fun as possible today.”

It was quite an energetic voice.

“Let’s go, I’m treating you to meat today!”

“Unni, don’t you have work tomorrow?”

“I don’t care, I’m going to eat and die today. Damn that Cheon Shin Woo. Closing an irregular gate on his own, thinking he can do whatever he wants just because he’s ranked #1… He can.”

I could feel the tremendous resentment. It seems a lot of problems arose while I was unconscious and hospitalized.

“I’d rather die than suffer like this…”

Even up until the moment she started the car, she was agonizing over the numerous social problems that would arise due to the irregular gate.

I silently patted Min Young unni’s back.

It was only after spending the additional 3 days of leave I received that I was able to return to my place in daily life.

The business card I received from Cheon Shin Woo that day was still tucked away somewhere in my pocket. I had many thoughts about how to handle his number, but I ended up registering it for now.

There was a small expectation that he might contact me first, but nothing like that happened. Cheon Shin Woo immediately left on a business trip to assist with and attack an S-rank gate in China.

There was no talk about me within the guild. My teammates were still busy, and the hunters looked at non-combat awakened people like they were looking at cattle or chickens.

Of course, it wasn’t that there were no problems at all. The gate sync that was thought impossible to occur gave rise to numerous issues.

In the meantime, there were even people staging one-person protests, saying money isn’t everything and demanding we revive their family members.

Thanks to this, South Korea was noisy day after day. The news and media were full of lively debates and discussions about how something that ‘couldn’t happen’ had occurred. Conspiracy theories about a second doom coming spread all over the internet.

I too was secretly called in for questioning. It was because I was also an ‘irregular’ that shouldn’t exist. The investigation into the forgotten non-awakened returnee was carried out perfunctorily.

There were still no signs of awakening in me. The sensation that had dominated me that day had long since crumbled like smoke, and the test results were just disappointing.

I didn’t feel any new disappointment. The immediate problem facing me was the mountain of work.

“Ha Young, you’re here?”

“Yes. Everyone looks tired.”

“Haha, it’s because the guild master caused a big incident this time. This gate became a singularity so it needed to be investigated, but he closed it right away, so we got a notice from the association…”

She sighed heavily as she was speaking. Then she changed the subject entirely.

“Ah, right. There’s talk that you’ll become an official guild member. Among the fatalities this time, there were non-combat personnel too… They said it would be better to accept existing assistants as official members rather than interviewing and recruiting new people. I was going to suggest it anyway… In any case, congratulations.”