60
A bizarre standoff that had suddenly developed.
The blonde young man directed his hostility toward Baek Woojin.
Hong Yeonha directed her hostility toward that young man.
"Ah."
Lee Dayoung, who had instantly become a non-existent person, showed a troubled expression.
"…."
Baek Woojin, who had been forced to wedge himself between these troublesome man and woman, stared at the blonde young man for a completely different reason.
"Seon, there was... medicine."
"Yeah. So fuck off already."
The corner of the young man's eye twitched once more.
It was Hong Yeonha who had cursed, but the more hostility Hong Yeonha displayed, the more the young man's growing negative emotions gathered not toward Hong Yeonha but toward Baek Woojin.
However, that only lasted a moment.
The young man quickly composed his expression and extended his hand with a good-natured smile.
"Nice to meet—"
Smack! Along with the sound, Hong Yeonha's palm struck the back of the young man's hand.
"Let's go."
Then, pulling the hand she had grabbed of Baek Woojin's, she moved to the elevator right next to them.
"I am Arthur Taylor. I will visit again tomorrow."
The young man briefly poked his head through the opening doors and rattled on before disappearing underground along with the closed elevator.
"…."
"…."
"…."
After Arthur Taylor left, what remained for Baek Woojin's group was an uncomfortable silence.
The slightly amusing thing was that Baek Woojin, who could be considered the actual victim, was so busy chewing over the name Arthur Taylor in his mind that he had already completely forgotten about the situation that had just occurred.
Hong Yeonha, who had no way of knowing that, glanced at Baek Woojin's indifferent face which couldn't be read at all, and Lee Dayoung sighed at her young master's thoughtless behavior before boarding the elevator together with them.
Ding.
The smoothly ascending elevator stopped, and the doors opened.
"Are you, angry?"
"…?"
Baek Woojin, who had been rummaging through his memories of where he had heard the name Arthur Taylor before the regression, finally returned to reality at Hong Yeonha's voice.
"What did you say?"
"I asked if you were angry."
"Ah."
Baek Woojin, who had wondered why he was suddenly being asked if he was angry, recalled what had happened in the lobby earlier.
"No. I'm not angry at all."
In the first place, during the standoff with Arthur Taylor, he had been so focused on trying to recall where he had heard that name that there was no question of being angry or not about the situation itself.
"Then why aren't you getting off?"
"I was thinking about something else."
Baek Woojin hurriedly stepped out of the elevator, and Hong Yeonha and Lee Dayoung were able to follow him out.
"It's room 1605."
"It's that way."
When he mentioned the room number, Hong Yeonha pulled him by the hand, and since Baek Woojin didn't need to find his own way, he trudged along behind her.
"Have a good time, Miss."
Lee Dayoung's room seemed to be in a different direction, as her figure quickly disappeared from sight.
"Here it is."
"Thank you."
When the card key was held against the door, it unlocked with a pleasant sound.
Pulling the doorknob normally and stepping inside, Hong Yeonha followed him into the hotel room entrance as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"…?"
"What, why."
At her extremely confident attitude, Baek Woojin blinked for a moment before slipping the card key into the entrance holder and walking further inside.
Pure white marble floors, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Light brown leather sofas, a digital fireplace for interior decoration.
A kitchen in the living room. And two bedrooms.
Naturally, each bedroom had its own separate shower room and bathroom.
"It's too spacious for one person."
"Don't get any weird ideas. I just came in for a moment because I have something to say."
He had only expressed his impression after looking around the room, but seeing her say something else made it clear she felt guilty about something.
"First, sit down."
"Yes."
The two sat on different sofas in an arrangement where they could face each other across a glass table.
"First of all, the auction starts in two days."
"Then wouldn't it have been fine to come tomorrow?"
"…."
He had asked purely out of curiosity, but for some reason Hong Yeonha, as if there was something that pricked her conscience, let out a small cough that was unlike her and briefly averted her gaze.
"W-well, you see."
"Well, what is it."
Her averted gaze only lasted a moment.
Hong Yeonha quickly frowned slightly and glared at Baek Woojin again.
"Ugh…."
However, as expected, since she had done something wrong, even her glaring didn't last long.
"There's a social gathering where promising talents from various countries build connections."
"A social gathering."
A social gathering to build connections.
Being called a day early despite having time to spare.
Arthur Taylor who said he would visit again tomorrow.
Hong Yeonha bringing up the social gathering while watching his reaction.
The fragments of information he had seen and heard started fitting together like puzzle pieces very quickly.
"You want me to accompany you tomorrow, don't you?"
"…."
Hong Yeonha's head moved up and down ever so slightly.
Honestly, it was bothersome.
He had requested the association to hide his information because he wanted to avoid getting entangled in such things as much as possible.
'However….'
Baek Woojin's thoughts spun rapidly.
"Does the Guild Master know about this as well?"
"I didn't tell Grandfather directly. But he knows that you were called a day early."
"Then it's safe to say he practically knows."
Hong Yeonha's head nodded once again.
"I heard that it's a rule not to disclose any incidents that occur during the auction period to the outside. Couldn't they use loopholes?"
"Loopholes? I'd like to think there aren't any lunatics who would commit such an act as to ignore the authority of Golden Bank unless they've lost their minds."
Naturally, Golden Bank was so famous that he had heard the name countless times even before the regression, and he also knew it was a bank trusted considerably by awakeners.
However.
"Is Golden Bank really at that level?"
"Ah, it's natural you wouldn't know."
Hong Yeonha realized only then that she had made a mistake and lightly swept her bangs up. For some reason, she felt an urge to flick his forehead.
"I'm sorry."
"It seems I don't have the qualifications yet to hear whatever is hidden."
"There is a way, though."
"I'm fine."
"…."
When he rejected it right away, seemingly knowing what that method was without even hearing it, Hong Yeonha, as expected, glared at him with a deep furrow between her brows.
"Well, let's move past that. Anyway, you're saying you want me to attend this social gathering tomorrow as your partner."
"…Right."
"Let's do that."
"Really?"
Listening to her, it seemed there was no need to worry about rumors spreading.
Unless he participated in some special event like this, it was safe to say he would have absolutely no reason to meet the attendees of this social gathering or whatever it was.
And Hong Ik-hyeon, Hong Yeonha's grandfather who was somewhere here, also knew about this fact.
'Since he roughly knows what kind of personality I have, he'll probably throw in something extra.'
It wasn't without risk, but he concluded that he could gain enough benefit from this, and that was why he accepted. There was no other reason.
"You're really going to come with me?"
At Hong Yeonha's question, Baek Woojin nodded and asked one thing.
"But why do you want to accompany me in particular? If it's a social gathering, you could go alone."
From the situation in the lobby earlier, he could tell that Arthur Taylor personally had feelings for Hong Yeonha. Of course, Hong Yeonha herself was completely repulsed by it.
However, as could be seen from this, Hong Yeonha could casually hurl profanity at Arthur Taylor, which showed that their relationship was a horizontal one, not tilted toward either side.
In other words, it meant she wasn't having him accompany her simply to play couple.
"Do I... really have to say it?"
"It doesn't matter to me, but wouldn't telling me help us maintain a better relationship for a bit longer?"
"…."
What on earth could be the reason that even Hong Yeonha was clenching and unclenching her fists as well as biting her lips multiple times.
"I…."
"I?"
As if she had finally made up her mind, Hong Yeonha's lips, which had been closed for a long time, parted.
"…Because of guys who are stronger than me."
"…?"
He had definitely heard it properly, but it was also an answer he couldn't understand at all, so his head naturally tilted to the side.
"Since you're still growing, isn't it natural for there to be stronger people?"
"It's not! It is not!"
Hong Yeonha continued speaking, her face turning as red as her hair.
"Articles were published not just domestically but overseas too, saying I surpassed Senior Isabel's record that hadn't been broken for decades!"
"Hmm."
Baek Woojin stroked his chin.
He seemed to recall such content being briefly mentioned when he was conversing with Manager Gwak Du-seok.
"You seem to think this social gathering is just about drinking tea or something and laughing and chatting away. It's not like that at all."
"Then what, do people beat each other up and fight?"
"Exactly."
Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to come.
Baek Woojin seriously considered whether he could retract his statement even now.
"If I had been promoted normally, it wouldn't matter. But I rode on your coattails in the final exam. So only my magic power was promoted to C-rank while the rest stayed at D-rank."
Hong Yeonha let out a small sigh.
"Of course, I'm not blaming you. If it weren't for you, I would have died in the first place. That was before Grandfather gave me this."
Hong Yeonha gently touched the earring-shaped artifact that had blocked the approach of the evil spirit in the linked dungeon.
"Ha, fine. I'll speak honestly. Like you said, since I'm still in my growth period, ups and downs are natural. But losing to that bastard is something I absolutely hate."
She had said 'that bastard' rather than a name, but strangely, he could tell who it was.
"He only saw me once when we were young, but from then on he acts like he's my fiancé or something!"
Hong Yeonha shuddered all over as if just recalling it made her sick to her stomach.
"Sending gifts every birthday... fine. I'll concede that a thousand times. But what's with sending gifts and letters every time that day we met following the adults around as if it's some anniversary?"
Hong Yeonha's red hair began to undulate.
"And getting bl... ha, when you're blocked on SNS, shouldn't you roughly get the hint? But why does he buy accounts with money and send them again and again and again—!!"
The moment he saw Hong Yeonha's hair, which had gone beyond red and was now brightly glowing with anger that seemed to be updating its peak in real-time, Baek Woojin realized he had been played by Hong Ik-hyeon.
However, it was already too late to retract his statement.
'I'll remember this, old man.'
Baek Woojin let out a small sigh, stood up from the sofa, and approached Hong Yeonha, who was trembling with anger, gently wrapping her shoulder and calling her name.
"Hong Yeonha."
"This f...?"
A very brutal profanity was about to be completed but fortunately failed to come to fruition.
The boiling anger had gone somewhere, and he properly met the gaze of Hong Yeonha's red eyes that were staring at him wide like a startled rabbit.
"The point is that you want me to beat the crap out of that bastard Arthur Taylor, right."
"Y-yeah."
When Hong Yeonha, having regained her reason, nodded timidly, Baek Woojin slightly bent down to match her eye level. And gently whispered as if coaxing his younger sister Baek A-yeon when she was very young.
"I'll do that for you. So don't get angry over that bastard anymore. I'll help you."
"…."
Hong Yeonha stared blankly at Baek Woojin for a long time without answering.
Seeing as her hair was no longer glowing or surging, it was clear her anger had subsided. But for some reason, her face was even redder than before, so heated it almost appeared bright crimson.
"Hong—"
"I, I'm going back…."
Springing up from her seat, Hong Yeonha dashed out of the room as if running away.
"…Should I wash up and sleep."
All he had done today was ride transportation all day, but Baek Woojin headed to the bathroom showing more fatigue than any other time.