CH 269

Hearing my answer, Min Ah-rin looked surprised and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Re, really? I thought you were 28 at most… so you’re older than me?”

“…as for my true age, yes…”

“Healer Min Ah-rin isn’t only the one who is getting younger, isn’t all of us getting younger than him here?”

“That… that’s true…”

Going crazy. I was far more embarrassed than expected and had nowhere to turn my eyes. The heat that rose from my neck suddenly covered my face.

“Then… shall I call you Se-hyun-ssi or Se-hyun-oppa now?”

“No, you shall not!”

Min Ah-rin blinked her eyes as I shook my head urgently at her question.

Oppa, I was so embarrassed just hearing it, I got goosebumps all over my body.

“Everyone, just do what you’ve been doing. That’s comfortable for me.”

Kwon Jeong-han intervened with a sign that he didn’t understand why I was refusing.

“Why? Isn’t it better to call you Se-hyun-hyung?”

“What’s good about that.”

I didn’t know how to explain this. I stroked the nape of my neck with a complicated mind and opened my mouth.

“I got used to being called Han Yi-gyeol and there are people around me, so being called Kwon Se-hyun-hyung or oppa is a bit burdensome.”

“Umm, I guess that’s true. Others will know about Han Yi-gyeol for sure.”

“Yes. So, please call me like you always did. I’m comfortable with that too. And…”

After hesitating for a while, I continued speaking as calmly as possible.

“Kwon Se-hyun… is dead. Now I have no intention of going back there.”

“……”

“So, I hope you all aren’t too conscious of Kwon Se-hyun.”

I smiled bitterly, hoping that everyone would understand my heart, and Park Geon-ho, who had been listening quietly, raised the corners of his lips with a frown.

“I’m glad you think so. To be honest, even if you wanted to go back, I didn’t want to let you go.”

“You’re very honest.”

Anyway, the answer that I needed made me feel a little more comfortable. Elohim, noticing that the conversations related to me had been sorted out to some extent, spoke again.

“Se-hyun’s intervention is an ability that should be hidden as much as possible. If the Praus Cult finds out, the future will be more complicated.”

“I agree with that.”

Listening to Elohim, I remembered the collision with Doctor again.

Intervention ability that was able to break Samael’s mental control at once. If I used it well, they wouldn’t be swayed by mental control anymore, but if this was caught by the cult…

“El. In the last battle… did Samael feel something?”

“It’s as if his ability was forcibly cut off, so there’s a high chance that he would. To know for sure, he must at least have a human corpse called Doctor.”

Doctor’s body…

The space where the battle took place was immediately closed and disappeared when we walked out with the faint producers. Killing Doctor was successful, but we didn’t get any other information.

It was fortunate that none of the cult members who saw me transform into Kwon Se-hyun and used my intervention abilities survived.

“It would be better to finish the rest of the story when we get back to Korea.”

“All right.”

“Of course, it takes a price to open a passage to Korea.”

“Pardon?”

Surprised by the sudden word ‘price’, Elohim smiled brightly when I asked.

“I need a price to do something for you.”

“Well…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t take it from you.”

Elohim, who added as if teasingly, raised his eyes and looked at Cheon Sa-yeon.

“You will pay for it, Cheon Sa-yeon.”

“You’ve become quite brazen when I haven’t seen you.”

“You’re the only one who can do it? And there’s a reason.”

Elohim continued his explanation, not paying attention to Cheon Sa-yeon’s actions.

“We have to move to a safe place where Se-hyun will be staying for a few days. In order to enter the place where I and Elahah are staying, for any purpose, there must be a high price… Cheon Sa-yeon, the house you live in looks suitable.”

“What? Wait… Cheon Sa-yeon’s house?”

“Yeah. It happens to be Korea too, so isn’t it good in this situation?”

“Oh. Master, are you giving us a tour of the house?”

“Do you know it, Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk?”

“No, I don’t know the details.”

Park Geon-ho, Min Ah-rin, and Woo Seo-hyuk began to chatter excitedly at the word ‘Cheon Sa-yeon’s house’. Among them, Ha Tae-heon, who wrinkled his eyebrows harshly, asked.

“Why it should be there?”

“Because it’s nothing but a hideout I made. Cheon Sa-yeon is also an important child to me and Elahah.”

“Ah, I’ve never seen anyone call Master a child.”

“You’re all children to me.”

To Min Ah-rin’s bright question, Elohim also answered brightly.

“Can we go right away?”

“We can leave at any time. So, if you have something to organize, do so first.”

It was a bit awkward to say that the destination was Cheon Sa-yeon’s house, but it was very nice to be able to go to Korea right away.

“All right. Let’s say goodbye to Deputy Master Chloe and Edward-ssi and then leave right away.”

* * *

With Chloe’s consideration, we were able to go straight to Korea from the widest drawing-room, so we thanked Chloe and Edward for coming to see us off.

“Thank you so much for taking care of everything.”

“I can do this much for you. Don’t worry too much, Producer Li Wei will be well protected until he returns.”

Li Wei decided to stay in Athena until he regained his stamina and moved on to the Korean red market.

He was a well-known producer, so it wasn’t a bad decision from Athena’s point of view.

“Go home safely, Han Yi-gyeol-ssi.”

“Yes. I hope Edward-ssi is doing well, too.”

“I will visit Korea next time. Ple, please… see me again.”

I answered Edward as I stroked his head. Then he blinked his big eyes and hesitated to make the next appointment.

“Of course. Come and see me when you have time.”

“Yeees…”

Chloe, who was looking at me and Edward smiling happily, handed me the box she was holding.

“I picked up sweets and desserts that are popular in America. I heard that Talented Han Yi-gyeol likes sweet snacks. Please eat well.”

“Th, thank you.”

“Oh~ that would be nice, Han Yi-gyeol.”

“It seems that rumours have spread in the neighbourhood that you like snacks.”

“Ah, there are macarons, too. Yi-gyeol-ssi, you like macarons!”

“……”

After receiving the snack box, Park Geon-ho and Cheon Sa-yeon teased me as if they were waiting.

Min Ah-rin and everyone already knew that I was Kwon Se-hyun, but there was no change in attitude, so it felt strange.

“Can I connect the spaces now?”

Elohim, who was waiting for the greeting to end in the innermost part of the drawing-room, asked. Chloe, who met his eyes, made a complicated expression on her face.

Come to think of it, Chloe would be able to see the energy of the opponent. I wondered what Elohim would have looked like.

“Yes. Let’s go. Then see you next time.”

“Okay. Everyone, take care of yourself.”

As Edward and Chloe stepped back together, Elohim waved a hand in the air. Then, an oval-shaped, white entrance that I had seen before appeared.

“It was straight to the living room of Cheon Sa-yeon’s house.”

“Let’s get the landlord in first.”

When I pushed Cheon Sa-yeon’s back toward the entrance, he made a pitiful face and muttered as if he had been hurt.

“You always make me do this first… Isn’t it too discriminating against people?”

“When did I say that I discriminated against you?”

“Then let Ha Tae-heon do that, too.”

“If it was connected to Ha Tae-heon-ssi’s house, of course, it would have been.”

When Cheon Sa-yeon was pushed in and glanced at the others, Ha Tae-heon, who looked somewhat elated, Park Geon-ho, Woo Seo-hyuk, and Kim Woo-jin entered one after another.

Finally, when I entered the entrance with Min Ah-rin, Elohim followed me and closed the entrance.

“Oh…”

When Cheon Sa-yeon, who entered first, turned on the light, the inside was brightly lit and a spacious living room appeared.

The more I looked around to put down the snack box and luggage I was carrying, the more I opened my mouth at the huge size of it.

‘Are you living alone in a place like this?’

Are you crazy? It was a two-story house where an adult male lived alone, with a parking lot in the basement and a garden outside… How many rooms were here, in this one.

It was about the same size as Yoo Shi-hyuk’s house.

“Does the Requiem Guild Master position make so much money?”

“…I don’t know.”

I got tired of counting the endless number of rooms and when I asked Woo Seo-hyuk, Cheon Sa-yeon, who was following me, lamented with a smile on his face as if teasing me.

“I can see how much you have looked down on me.”

“You’re not even married, why do you live in such a big house?”

“Then will you marry me?”

The brazen question reminded me of what I had experienced at the airport before.

“You said that last time… don’t talk nonsense.”

“What nonsense, you’re too much. After promising to marry me when you turn 34… for leaving me coldly like this…”

This punk was doing this again. I glared at him with irritation, but suddenly I felt cold energy behind my back.

“…what does that mean?”

Ha Tae-heon, who asked in a deep voice, made me want to hide belatedly. I quickly shook my head and shouted.

“Master Cheon Sa-yeon is joking around. I never said anything like that!”

“If you’re going to get married at the age of 34, you can do it right away with me. ‘Cause you’re 34 now. Right, Hyung?”

“Be quiet, seriously…”

There was still a mess between Ha Tae-heon, who still looked suspiciously at Cheon Sa-yeon, and Park Geon-ho, who smiled wickedly and intervened.

I shouldn’t be in the middle of these damn guys. I escaped and ran to Elohim who was talking with Min Ah-rin.

“Did El-ssi get this house yourself?”

“El-ssi? That’s a funny name. The house was bought by the child himself. I mean hideout because I put something special here.”

“If something special…”

Elohim took us all up to the second floor and opened a room. In the room where nothing was displayed, a tree emitting a pure white light was placed in the centre.

“Did El make it?”

“Yeah. Due to the influence of that tree, the person’s energy inside this house can’t be sensed from the outside. Items with detection will lose their power. Above all, when someone related to the Praus Cult comes in, a signal is sent to the landlord immediately.”

The white tree with only empty branches without a single leaf exuded refreshing energy that could be felt from Elohim or Fox.

“It’s the minimum shield. Still, it’s definitely safer here than anywhere else. Se-hyun-ah, you will have to leave this place for a few days from now on.”

“Leave, what does that mean?”

Kim Woo-jin, who had been following me quietly the whole time, frowned for the first time and asked.

“To be precise, the body remains the same, only the mind leaves and returns.”

As Elohim raised his hand, a book that hadn’t just been there appeared.

A thick book covered in red leather. From the moment Elohim came to visit me, I had been guessing.

“It’s finished.”

It was a book about Cheon Sa-yeon’s past. When I turned my gaze away, I saw Cheon Sa-yeon staring at the book with an unknown face.