CH 37

As soon as Kim Woo-jin entered my room, he went into the bathroom. Meanwhile, I found a first aid kit.

“Are there any more injuries?” I asked Kim Woo-jin, who had washed up. He shook his head with his cheeks stained red, probably because he was just in the shower.

“Didn’t you sprain your ankle?”

“It’s not serious.”

“Sit down.”

I pointed my chin at the sofa in front of me. I grabbed Kim Woo-jin’s ankle, who was sitting and staring blankly at me, and pulled it.

“Uwack!”

“I see. If it’s like this, with simple taping, it should subside tomorrow.”

If it was badly swollen, he would’ve had to go to the emergency room or wait impatiently for the hospital to open. I was relieved.

“…Hey, I’ll do it.”

“Do you know how to tape it?”

Kim Woo-jin looked at me fiercely with a face much redder than before, perhaps because it was quite embarrassing to be caught by someone else.

“Then why do you know how?”

Even though I was doing this for you, you were still making a fuss.

“Shut up and take it easy.”

If he grumbled one more time, I was going to just stop without hesitation, but maybe because he noticed my thoughts, Kim Woo-jin quietly shut his mouth and let me tape his foot.

After I finished taping him, I briefly washed up and changed into comfortable clothes. As I entered the bedroom yawning, I realized later that there was a message on my cell phone, which I’d not paid attention to since meeting Kim Woo-jin today.

“What is it?”

Rubbing my tired eyes, I turned on the phone to see message.

「Cheon Sa-yeon: Have you arrived?」

Why did this guy keep in touch with me like this…

The message came two hours ago.

“Umm.”

I brought back the one he sent home, so I should explain the situation to Cheon Sa-yeon, but I had no idea what to write.

Actually, I accidentally found Kim Woo-jin being chased by a thug and saved him, but when I heard about the situation, he seemed a bit pitiful, so I asked him to come back to my room… oh, that’s too long.

After staring at the cell phone screen for a long time, I carefully wrote a reply.

「Han Yi-gyeol: I brought back Kim Woo-jin」

「Han Yi-gyeol: That’s all」

If I got a reply, I would’ve explained more, but Cheon Sa-yeon did not read the message. Was he busy? I swept it to the back of my head and put my phone down.

I don’t know. Let’s think about it after I wake up.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up from a good night’s sleep and opened my eyes, refreshed.

As I left the bedroom, ruffling my hair with my hands, a delicious smell passed through my nose.

“What are you doing?”

When I went to the kitchen, I saw Kim Woo-jin standing with a frying pan. Kim Woo-jin, who was startled at the sound of my voice, turned around and said with a somewhat sullen expression, “Why are you up so late?”

“I’m late?”

I looked at the clock. 11:32 am. Wasn’t it okay to wake up late on a day off?

“You’re cooking? Did you make mine too?”

“What kind of person do you see me as? Of course I made yours too.”

“Oh.”

That was a bit surprising. You had more manners than I’d thought.

“What is it?”

“…omurice.”

“It looks delicious.”

Right. If you have been provided with a bed, you should cook. It was a very proper division of work in the household.

I took out cold water from the refrigerator, poured it in a cup, and moved out of the kitchen into the living room. I drank water, looked for the remote control, and turned on the TV.

[The criticism of the failure of the gate management in C13 Area is growing stronger. Master Cheon Sa-yeon, who attended the meeting held at the Guild Management Headquarters around 10 a.m., expressed deep regret for this incident and expressed his hope that Master Kang Seung-geon would take responsibility. The guild in charge of the gates in the C13 Area, Blun, will be severely disciplined…]

Kang Seung-geon, who entered the Management Headquarters to attend the meeting, appeared on the screen. Judging by his nervous face, he seemed to have been called out everywhere he went. I clicked my tongue and drank the water from the cup.

[Next news. He’s a person who became a hot topic when the video was released yesterday. He’s an A-rank ability user who neatly handled the monsters that appeared in C13 Area.]

I was surprised to see the picture next to the announcer and dropped the cup.

Crash!

The cup fell to the floor and broke into magnificent pieces, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the TV. At the sound of the cup breaking, Kim Woo-jin rushed out into the living room.

“What was that sound… Hell! Are you okay?”

“Shut up.”

That wasn’t important. I fixed my eyes on the news.

[The main characters in the video are Master Cheon Sa-yeon and an A-rank ability user. Experts presume that he has a wind ability and they expressed great surprise at his excellent chemistry with Master Cheon Sa-yeon.]

In a startled voice, like he only just understood the situation, Kim Woo-kin asked, “What is this? Is that you?”

[Surprisingly, the young man turned out to be an independent, not a member of the Requiem Guild. He has a personal relationship with Master Cheon Sa-yeon and it has been confirmed that he also participated in the SS-grade gate cleared a while ago.]

My face, as I was flying in the sky in Cheon Sa-yeon’s arms, appeared on the screen as wide as a door. I touched my forehead with complicated emotions.

Come to think of it, there were a few broadcast cameras among the spectators. It was quite a distance away, so I thought it wouldn’t matter if they took a picture.

‘Hey, how could you openly disclose the identity of an independent person in the news like that?’

I knew that people with abilities were treated very differently from ordinary people, but…

“This is ridiculous.”

“Hey, Han Yi-gyeol… are you all right?”

As I contorted my face and became annoyed, Kim Woo-jin, who was standing next to me, began to pay attention. I took a deep breath and moved carefully so as to not step on the broken glass.

“I’m going to wash up first. I’m sorry, but please clean up the broken cup.”

I desperately needed a cold shower more than ever before. I walked behind Kim Woo-jin, who nodded his head, and entered the bathroom.

* * *

Someone violently opened the door to the conference room where silence had fallen.

“Are you all here?”

Clack, clack. The sound of heels filled the conference room.

Choi Mi-jin (최미진), the head of the gate management centre had a sharp look, dressed in a black suit. She put down the file she was holding and sat down.

Jayna Guild Master, Hong Si-ah (홍시아), who had a bored face, twisted her gorgeous blonde hair with her fingers and greeted Choi Mi-jin with curved eyes.

“Heh, heh. Long time no see, Centre Head Choi Mi-jin.”

Brushing her black bobbed hair, Choi Mi-jin said coldly, “Let’s move past useless greetings. Everyone knows why we’re here.”

“Ahem.” At those words, Kang Seung-geon, who looked around as if sitting on a cushion of thorns, was sweating and coughing in vain.

“Turn it on.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When the attendant operated the laptop at Choi Mi-jin’s command, a video was played through the conference room screen.

In the video, there was an image of a man and Cheon Sa-yeon, who killed the monster that burst out of the gate.

Ha Tae-heon, who attended the meeting as Roheon’s representative instead of Lee Joo-ha, frowned involuntarily.

‘Han Yi-gyeol?’

A pure white face with soft brown hair fluttering. No doubt the man in the arms of Cheon Sa-yeon was the man he knew.

“You know what I’m going to say, Master Kang Seung-geon?”

“Well, Centre Head Choi Mi-jin! There’s a misunderstanding here…”

“‘There’s a misunderstanding.’ It’s amazing that you broke the gate twice in three months. And Master Cheon Sa-yeon even took care of the follow-up?”

“No, listen, I happened to have an external schedule at that time.”

“External schedule*?”

Choi Mi-jin openly laughed at him.

“Playing golf with the children of a rich family? You want to make excuses for golf when the gate has been blown apart?”

“It was for my guild’s sake! Everyone gets the idea!”

“Haah.”

As Kang Seung-geon’s face turned red, Choi Mi-jin touched her forehead as if she was in pain and let out an annoyed sigh.

“I’m sorry, I’m frustrated. Master Kang Seung-geon. Guilds exist to facilitate the management of abilities and gates. I’m not saying you can’t gather funds**. You’re supposed to manage the gates diligently according to the position of a guild master. Why are you messing around with your schedule, just to play around?”

“W-what? Who’s playing around? Are you finished, Centre Head Choi Mi-jin?” Kang Seung-geon jumped up from his seat, huffing.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“That’s what business is all about! And, what’s wrong with the gate bursting for a moment? Even if Master Cheon Sa-yeon didn’t come, our guild was enough to block it! Even if there was some damage, I’d tell my father!”

“…now look here, Master Kang Seung-geon.” Choi Mi-jin cut off Kang Seung-geon’s words with an expression that said he was being absurd. “Speak clearly. What about this situation do you think is pretty enough that a legislator can fix it? All I see is a child-like man who just paints his father’s face with shit.”

“Centre Head Choi Mi-jin!”

“If you are so confident, call the senator now. ‘I had an accident and needed compensation, but I don’t have a penny because I was playing around.’”

“……”

“Try it.”

Kang Seung-geon, who was staring at Choi Mi-jin, let out a harsh breath at her cold words and stormed out of the conference room with abusive language.

Kwaang!

“Phew…”

Choi Mi-jin exhaled a tired breath at the sound of the conference room door closing. Looking at the scene, Hong Si-ah said in an amused tone, “You’re still the same as ever, Centre Head Choi Mi-jin.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

When Choi Mi-jin, who responded insincerely, beckoned, her attendants handed out each document to the guild masters.

“This is an explanation of the Blun Guild discipline and a guide to the redistribution of the gates. We’d like to ask you to divide 70% of the Blun Guild gates.”

“Urgh, it’s just trash,” Hong Si-ah, who turned over the document, pouted her lips and grumbled.

“And Master Cheon Sa-yeon. I’m sorry, but can you look over the entire sub-management of Area C?”

“Well, I can do it if you want,” Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been sitting quietly until now, answered in a relaxed tone. “Actually, the distribution ratio should be raised a little. Because of this incident, our guild’s image also suffered some damage.”

“…I understand. I’ll raise it to 12%.”

In return for taking over the entire sub-management of Area C, 10% of the revenue from the gate unconditionally went to the Requiem Guild. 10%, considering the number of gates in Area C, was not a bad deal.

Thanks to Kang Seung-geon’s accident, it had now gone from 10% to 12%, which was an added boost to fairness.

Still, it was an inevitable choice for Choi Mi-jin. Managing the entire area was not an easy task and Requiem was the only guild capable of that.

“That’s it for now…” Choi Mi-jin, who paused for a moment and pondered on something, looked at Cheon Sa-yeon and asked, “Master Cheon Sa-yeon. I have a question for you.”

Cheon Sa-yeon smiled as if to give his consent. He seemed to have already figured out what Choi Mi-jin Choi was going to ask.

“The A-rank ability user in the video—how do you know each other?”

“Right, right! I also saw it on the news yesterday and was very curious. Even at just a glance, it seemed like you were having a lot of fun. What’s going on? You’ve never looked like that before,” Hong Si-ah intervened, eyes sparkling with interest.

Ha Tae-heon, who had been concentrating on the documents the entire time, looked up at Cheon Sa-yeon.