CH 8

It was a situation that he had somewhat anticipated.

‘Well…I didn’t think it would be this bad,’

Baron frowned and let out a deep sigh. He saw the figure of Lim seon-hee approaching from a distance.

After the Crewell incident, her visits began.

“I haven’t seen her for a while, and I was hoping to avoid her, but…”

After a moment had passed, she began to walk towards him, as if mocking him, and her persistence was truly remarkable.

This is getting a bit too much, She’s here again.

“Have you come again, mister? Are you doing well?”

As she approached, Baron frowned and opened his mouth.

“Yeah. Have you come again? You came yesterday and the day before, like every day… Aren’t you busy? Don’t you have school?”

“Again. You’re saying it again. I already told you, it’s summer vacation.”

In other words, it meant she had free time.

“Here’s chicken mayo and spicy stir-fried sauce that the mister likes.”

Without saying much, Lim seon-hee handed over a bag, and inside it was a triangular kimbap.

In fact, for the first few days, she packed lunchbox on her own.

[It’s a hassle. Convenience store kimbap is enough.]

Since she wouldn’t take no for an answer, he suggested a compromise like that and she has been packing triangular kimbap steadily since then.

“Ugh…”

He made a groaning sound and showed signs of discomfort, but his hand was diligently grabbing the bag.

“Gosh… really, aren’t you being too persistent?”

Despite his direct question and uncomfortable expression, Lim seon-hee just shrugged her shoulders.

“Please just teach me one thing, that’s all I’m asking for.” She even stuck closer and laughed with a wide smile.

‘Well, they say you can’t spit on a smiling face… ugh!’

Is this at least a slight improvement?

[Please take me as your disciple!]

It was the first thing she said when they met after the incident. In addition, she seemed to have watched some martial arts dramas, and she relentlessly pursued him as if she was going to bow down to him right away. He had to run away that day, fearing for his life.

“No, what’s with this idea of learning and teaching just because you saw something impressive? I’m just a tough old homeless guy, nothing more,”

In the meantime, Baron’s argument was always the same.

“ I’m nothing special. It’s just that he was terrible.”

Strictly speaking, Crewell had never shown any particular ability, and it was possible to fully accept Baron’s story.

For one thing, the barrier was not an ability, but rather an item of sorts, so if you had the money, you could use it as much as you wanted. Combat was also done through firearms, and situations where his skills could be highlighted practically did not exist, such as disorienting his vision with smoke.

However, Lim seon-hee didn’t agree with this.

‘I’ve experienced it myself.’

It was because she had faced the force that Crewell had shown, even though she was not an active duty member, she had experienced the force that professors at the university often imply.

‘Even the professors I’ve encountered were not at that level.’

In that sense, the momentum shown by Crewell was enough to be impressive and frightening. Of course, since this was not something that was shown on the surface, she didn’t bother to argue with that point. Besides, she had prepared a way to lower Baron’s voice even if she didn’t say that.

“Being strong like the old man is impressive. Plus, he can even dodge all the bullets. Isn’t that enough to prove his worth?”

“Huh?”

At the moment when Baron raised an uncertain expression and frowned, Lim seon-hee began her counterattack.

“Old man, it’s not just a regular gun. He blocked and deflected modified bullets.”

Perhaps sensing something odd in the repeated emphasis, Baron asked, “Is that…impressive?” as he swallowed his dry saliva.

“In addition to that, unlike monsters that require modifications due to dimensional rifts and physical resistance, regular firearms are already threatening enough for ability users, but the old man was able to block and deflect modified bullets.”

It was even the modified version of a handgun called Desert Eagle, which is known as a monster.

“As you may know, after awakening their powers, ability users steadily increase their physical endurance through the training of their force. However, they are still not comparable to monsters.”

‘….What do I know?’

Of course, it is known that there is not much difference between monsters and ability users, but this is just a false belief that has arisen because people’s perception is fixed on the amazing power of ability users.

The government and organizations used this to emphasize the safety of abilities users from the rifts and to elevate their status. As a result, the falsehood had become the truth and permeated society.

‘Huh? That’s what it was?’

Baron’s eyes widened.

He gathered information in his own way, but it was not to the level of delving deeply into one field with persistence. Instead, he searched the library whenever he thought of it and collected information from various fields.

Although the range of information was wide, the depth of it was shallow.

As a result, the information he had access to was based on commonly known and accepted knowledge in society. Due to his lack of focused research, he had only shallow knowledge despite having a broad range of information. Moreover, information about dimensional anomalies, the abilities of individuals, and measurement standards in this area was scarce and still unclear.

Lim seon-hee looked at Baron with shining eyes.

“With physical abilities like that, Mr. Baron is definitely capable of doing impressive things.”

From the perspective of a student and a learner, even though there were no clear measurement values yet, thinking from the perspective of someone with a lack of knowledge, Baron’s physical enhancement and acceleration abilities were impressive.

“I heard that even in the enhancement system, it’s difficult to improve physical abilities to that extent without substantial training.”

Therefore, the conclusion she came to was this.

“Are you some kind of special agent, mister?”

” …What?”

In the flow of the unexpected story, Baron, who was fully focused, was stunned and fell into silence with a blank expression.

Thinking that she might be right, Lim seon-hee started to weave a fantasy based on her own misinterpretation.

“The reason why the gentleman with such skills is living as a homeless person is…”

Lim seon-hee’s voice trailed off. The way she glanced around and brightened her eyes slightly was somehow amusing.

The conversation was progressing on its own, without a chance to think about how to respond.

“Did you escape from a secret society or organization?”

‘She’s at the level of piling up dirt on the mountain instead of digging, because she’s just floundering around.’

A hollow laugh escaped him.

“Surely…well, you’re not a killer or something like that, right?”

When saying that, she also kept a distance and showed a sense of caution.

What should I say?

“…I do all sorts of things.”

That was all I could come up with after thinking for a while.

Then, he shook his head and collapsed onto the weed-covered field, and Lim seon-hee knew from past experience that he had no intention of continuing the conversation.

And she also knew how to solve this.

“Right. Come to think of it, I forgot to give you this.”

Baron’s head lifted slightly at Lim seon-hee’s words.

“Here’s a coupon for the café on the first floor of the library.”

As soon as she mentioned the coupon, Baron stood up from his seat.

The value of the coupon had extended their conversation time.

‘That’s too much trouble.’

As he didn’t want to receive a big reward for his troubles, they had to continue the conversation with small talk like this.

“Ugh~! You’re really so demanding.”

It was his own language play that explained how fed up he was with so much sincerity, but it didn’t quite land, perhaps because they were speaking in different codes.

Baron, who was discouraged by the lack of response, changed the subject and opened his mouth.

“You asked me to teach you a move, didn’t you?”

After observing for the past two weeks, he had come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be easy to get away with it. Therefore, he had no choice but to make a decision.

“Under the condition that I won’t be bothered anymore, just one move, neither more nor less. OK?”

His choice was to go along with her wishes.

“……”

Lim seon-hee, who had been staring blankly for a while, raised her arms high and shouted,

“Hooray~!”

She jumped up and down in joy, and Baron eventually couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the sight.

“However, let’s call it a day for today. The sun is nice, but I’m getting drowsy and need to take a nap.”

Lim seon-hee’s eyes narrowed, and Baron nudged her when he saw this.

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to trick you. Just go away for now.”

With a cold face, she turned her head away, and Baron continued talking, not caring if she understood or not.

“Since we need to think about what to teach, just go away for now. If you just want me to teach you anything, I can teach you right now.”

At last, Lim seon-hee took a step back.

“No. No, please think deeply and teach me something really proper and substantial.”

As she said that, she disappeared as if running away, and watching her running as if someone was chasing her, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

As soon as Lim seon-hee disappeared from sight, Baron, who was shaking his head, quietly stood up from his seat.

Should we say that his words and actions are different?

Just a moment ago, didn’t he push away Lim seon-hee, saying that he wanted enjoy a nap? Despite looking like he could lie down at any moment, he began to move around while standing up.

Is he looking for a spot where the sun shines better?

Avoiding the glances of people who were wandering around, he walked towards a deserted corner of the park. And when he thought that the surrounding eyes were blocked, he sat down on a bench and opened his mouth.

“Come out slowly.”

To whom is this message for?

At that moment, as if someone was waiting, a shadow approached from the other side.

“Baek Hwa-seon…”

I thought it would come someday, but still, I hoped it would pass without me knowing.

[I didn’t leak any information about the mister. I did well, right?]

After the incident, she said that the reason why Lim Sun-hee did not contact him for a while was possibly to avoid surveillance.

Although there was a part of him that held some expectations when nothing was reveal about him, it was still a disappointing reality to face.

‘Well… I guess it’s not a total letdown.’

As she smiled wryly, Baek Hwa-seon approached him. Seeing her hesitate for a moment, Baron spoke first.

“Stop standing there and hurting your legs. Sit down. My neck might also hurt from looking up.”

It seemed like he took the end seat on the bench out of consideration for her. Baek Hwa-seon nodded and sat on the opposite side.

And then, after taking a deep breath as if to compose herself, she opens her mouth and greets him.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Baek Hwa-seon of White Tiger Guild.”

“Oh, okay.”

Although his brief response interrupted the flow of the conversation and left her momentarily speechless, Baek Hwa-seon continued with determination.

“First of all… I want to express my gratitude. Thanks to you, we were able to catch a high-level hallucinator A-Rank criminal who had been causing a lot of headaches recently.”

‘A hallucinator… as expected, he was a criminal.’

It was also part of what I felt from the first uncomfortable gaze.

“As this is a case where the world-famous Crewell has been captured, there have been quite a few discussions here as well. The Union has already offered compensation and…”

“Hold on a moment.”

Suddenly, Baron raised his hand and interrupted her.

“Since the guest hasn’t arrived yet, let’s save the conversation for later,” interrupted Baron, raising his hand.

There was a reason why he had to hurriedly send Lim seon-hee away.

“…guest?”

Baek Hwa-seon’s eyes narrowed as tension rose. She began to scan the surroundings of the park with her gaze and senses.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but stiffen her expression.

‘Did I make a mistake?’

She chewed on her lips at the thought of making a mistake.

Baron was looking towards a corner of the park, unsure if he knew or not about her state.

“I caught you. Come out now.”

There was no response.

Amid the continuing silence, Baron lightly tapped the ground.

Pip-ing…

A pebble caught under his toe flew out like a bullet, and soon shadows began to emerge from all over the park.

There were five of them, and they landed as if they had promised, gathering together. Then one of the men stepped forward and spoke.

“It’s a rough greeting.”

Baron shrugged and spoke.

“It was an invitation sent to an uninvited guest. But it seems there are no proper recipients.”

A chill ran through the eyes of the man who had stepped forward.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the park as if trying to dispel the heat of summer.