62
After having lunch at an unusually late hour, Baek Woo-jin returned to his assigned room.
Until the time of the exchange meeting, he planned to contact his acquaintances in Korea and recover his condition.
"Let's go get our clothes fitted."
"……."
Baek Woo-jin, who had been composing a message to send to Madam Jang, tilted his head back against the sofa's backrest. Then, he stared intently at Hong Yeon-ha, who had naturally followed him into the room and was rummaging through the kitchen.
"What clothes?"
"We need to match the dress code."
At her red gaze looking at him as if asking something so obvious, Baek Woo-jin blinked once and spoke honestly.
"It's a bother."
"It'll only take a moment. And if you get it fitted now, it'll be more comfortable for you too. You'll be busy attending events like this for years to come."
"I don't think so."
"……."
This time, it was Hong Yeon-ha who glared at Baek Woo-jin once. However, knowing her own position well, she only glared and didn't retort any further.
"Alright. If you hate it, it can't be helped."
In the end, Hong Yeon-ha was the first to raise the white flag.
It was because she had learned from her experiences so far that Baek Woo-jin was a man who stuck to his words extremely firmly once spoken.
"Do we really have to match that?"
"Not necessarily. But still, wouldn't it be better to match the colors since we're at it?"
Baek Woo-jin, who had been staring at Hong Yeon-ha continuously rummaging through the fridge even though she couldn't have put anything in it, raised his head and stood up from the sofa.
"Are you going?"
"No."
Baek Woo-jin had only stood up because he needed to use the bathroom. He casually brushed off Hong Yeon-ha's glare—which made her look like an angered pufferfish—and walked off to the bathroom.
**
"Well, it's better than I thought."
At Hong Yeon-ha's reaction of scanning him, who had changed into the formal dress he brought just in case, and nodding in satisfaction, Baek Woo-jin let out a small sigh.
It was because, ever since she followed him in after lunch, she had been constantly tailing him except for the very brief moment he went to change his clothes.
Of course, she maintained a minimum distance, but resting was originally something you couldn't do properly if you were conscious of someone next to you.
"We're meeting at a set time tomorrow."
"If I win at the shell game today, we will."
He had intended to play along properly since he was going to play along anyway, but Hong Yeon-ha's answer further spiked Baek Woo-jin's motivation.
"But I don't see Hunter Lee Da-young. I think she said she'd see you yesterday."
"I told her to play alone because she's annoying."
"You did well."
If Hong Yeon-ha was the type to subtly make you care, Lee Da-young was the type to annoy people with words. If asked which was more annoying, it was naturally the latter, Lee Da-young.
The elevator doors opened, and Hong Yeon-ha got on while linking arms with Baek Woo-jin.
"I'm sorry. And thank you."
"Then you should have gone to your room."
"...I really hate that."
A slightly excessive force came into the linked arm, but since she was a mage by nature, Baek Woo-jin, who was actually on the receiving end, didn't feel anything.
The elevator, which had been going down quietly for a long time, stopped at the second basement floor. And when the doors opened, a place that looked like a calm bar, directly inheriting the antique atmosphere from above, greeted the two.
"Welcome."
As they got off the elevator, a middle-aged man who looked like a staff member waiting in front of it greeted them with a soft smile.
He seemed to be standing there to check something, but the middle-aged man demanded nothing from Hong Yeon-ha or me, who was participating as her partner, and let us inside.
Inside, a large number of young men and women were already forming groups and conversing.
"Oh my, Yeon-ha?"
Just as Hong Yeon-ha and I were looking for empty seats, a woman's voice from behind stopped us in our tracks.
"Hello."
"Yeah. It's been a while."
As a woman with dark black hair reaching her waist approached, Hong Yeon-ha exchanged light greetings with her.
'Shin Hye-ri.'
If Hong Yeon-ha was the gold of the most prominent large guild in Busan, Shin Hye-ri, who had just exchanged greetings with her, was the jewel of 'Milky Way', the second most prominent guild in Seoul.
"I thought you'd never come."
Shin Hye-ri's gaze headed toward Baek Woo-jin, who was linking arms with Hong Yeon-ha. It was a gaze asking for an introduction.
"But it's funny that I kept avoiding it because of that dog-like bastard. So I just attended."
However, Hong Yeon-ha didn't introduce Baek Woo-jin, even though she knew the meaning contained in Shin Hye-ri's gaze.
"Yeah. You thought well. There aren't many kids I can talk to, so it was boring. I have someone I want to introduce too, do you want to sit together?"
"Must be Shin Hye-ji."
"As expected, your information is fast."
Baek Woo-jin's head spun quickly.
If it was Shin Hye-ji, she was definitely Shin Hye-ri's younger sister and the same age as Hong Yeon-ha.
The older sister, Shin Hye-ri, was born with a historic talent, having inherited her parents' talents exactly and being able to freely handle the four major attribute magics.
On the other hand, the younger sister Shin Hye-ji's magic power at the time of awakening clearly surpassed that of a commoner, but for some reason, she had no aptitude for magic at all.
However, as if proving that a golden spoon of talent is indeed different, Shin Hye-ji showed a genius talent in handling the sword.
"Is it okay?"
Baek Woo-jin, who hadn't known what conversation the two women had because he was briefly rummaging through his pre-regression memories, lightly swallowed his saliva and nodded for now.
"Hehe, let's do the introductions after we sit down, come this way first."
Fortunately, the conversation he missed seemed to be about sitting together.
While moving following Shin Hye-ri, what was a bit unexpected was that not many people were interested in this side. And looking around, I could quickly figure out the reason.
'It's colorful.'
In the Republic of Korea, where people are basically born with black or dark brown hair, Hong Yeon-ha's red hair was a very noticeable and special color, but it was different in this place across the sea, which we reached after a full half-day flight.
First of all, the basics were blonde, and from pink to purple, and even cobalt blue, which made me want to go and ask if it was natural or dyed, it was truly all kinds of colors.
"Over there."
At the seat Shin Hye-ri pointed to, two prior guests were already sitting.
One was naturally her younger sister, Shin Hye-ji, and the other was a man who looked about the same age as Shin Hye-ji. And this man was also a face in my memory.
"Darling~"
"Uh, hel... ugh!?"
The man, who was about to stand up and greet us, had his butt slammed back onto the sofa by Shin Hye-ri, who unhesitatingly dove into his embrace.
'So they were lovebirds even back then.'
The reason Shin Hye-ri was famous wasn't just because her skills were outstanding.
She was a lover who cherished her husband very much, just like her father and mother. Of course, her husband as well.
"Hye-ri. Th-that, at least greet the guests first..."
"Do you hate me?"
"N-no way!"
The man, if my memory served me right, would be named Jo Soo-hwan. And Jo Soo-hwan was definitely a non-awakener.
"Sis. Can I go?"
"Geez~ sit down first."
"Haa."
Hong Yeon-ha let out a small sigh as if she knew this would happen, gently pulled the linked Baek Woo-jin, and Baek Woo-jin sat down together with Hong Yeon-ha pulling him.
As we took our seats, Shin Hye-ri, who had been embraced by Jo Soo-hwan, only then detached herself and sat up straight.
"Honey, this is my close younger sister, Hong Yeon-ha."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jo Soo-hwan, Hye-ri's fiancé."
"I'm Hong Yeon-ha."
The two stood up and shook hands lightly.
"And this is my lovely younger sister, Shin Hye-ji."
"I'm Shin Hye-ji."
If the older sister Shin Hye-ri was a lively and energetic beauty, the younger sister Shin Hye-ji was a beauty with a very quiet impression.
"I'm Hong Yeon-ha."
"You guys are the same age. Why are you like that?"
"This is more comfortable."
"This is more comfortable for me too."
As Hong Yeon-ha and Shin Hye-ji answered almost at the same time, Shin Hye-ri, who had her head resting on her fiancé's shoulder, smacked her own forehead with a smack!
Jo Soo-hwan, who was watching that from the side, smiled awkwardly and carefully spoke to Baek Woo-jin, who was sitting next to Hong Yeon-ha.
"I'm Jo Soo-hwan."
"I'm Baek Woo-jin."
The two couldn't stand up because of their respective partners, so they exchanged greetings by just slightly nodding their heads.
"I'm Shin Hye-ji."
"I'm Baek Woo-jin."
And Shin Hye-ji treated Baek Woo-jin even more stiffly than she did Hong Yeon-ha.
"Did you really leave your social skills in your mother's womb?"
"That's not even possible."
"No? Looking at you, it really seems like it."
The older sister sighed, but the younger sister didn't even blink as if she was used to it.
Baek Woo-jin, who was watching such sisters, realized that compared to those two, his relationship with Baek Ah-yeon was really on the good side.
"Haa, if you do this, I can't go on a date with our darling."
"Just go. It's not like I'm a kid."
"At least you were cute when you were young."
Through their conversation, it could be seen that Shin Hye-ri's suggestion to sit together was purely for the sake of her younger sister, Shin Hye-ji.
"Then do as you please. I'll be going around greeting people with our darling."
"Hye-ri?"
Shin Hye-ri abruptly pulled her fiancé up to stand, and then smiled softly at Baek Woo-jin and Hong Yeon-ha sitting across from her.
"Please take good care of our sister just until the exchange meeting ends today, okay?"
Saying so, she left the seat in a flash with her fiancé Jo Soo-hwan without even listening to our answer.
"Don't mind me. I came because I'm interested in the event at the end today."
At that moment, something wriggled at the edges of his pre-regression memories, tickling his brain as if it were about to float to the surface.
"Still, the seat is quiet, so it's nice."
"It is."
The seat Shin Hye-ri had grabbed was the most corner seat, and seeing that the companions sitting around were also all conversing calmly, the corner seats seemed to be an area for people with such dispositions.
"How is it?"
At Hong Yeon-ha's question, Baek Woo-jin slightly turned his head behind the backrest and scanned the surroundings once.
"The atmosphere is different from what I thought."
"In what way?"
"Since it was an exchange meeting, I thought it would be a bit noisier with everyone mixed together."
However, the scenery of the exchange meeting he actually faced was very refined.
The side with the bartender was a bit noisy, but not enough to ruin the atmosphere. Rather, thanks to their noise, the voices of other surrounding people were buried, so it could be said that an atmosphere was formed where it was good to share more secret conversations within the groups.
"For your information, talking to someone sitting down is bad manners."
"I won't have any reason to talk to them, but I've still gained one piece of knowledge."
I thought it was strange that people wandering around only approached others who were also standing to talk to them, but it was an action with a reason.
However, the world is wide, and there are many crazy bastards.
Into the sensory domain he had spread to the maximum range, a presence he had encountered once before slipped in.
"Hong Yeon-ha."
"Why?"
Looking at Hong Yeon-ha, who was looking this way and gazing up at him, Baek Woo-jin casually spat out words that would make her freak out.
"That guy, it seems he really likes you."
It was exactly the moment Hong Yeon-ha's frown distorted fiercely.
"So you were in a place like this."
Arthur Taylor, who looked quite decent, stopped in front of the table where Baek Woo-jin's party was sitting with a smiling face.
*Stomp!!*
It was the moment Baek Woo-jin's instep, hidden under the table, was mercilessly crushed by Hong Yeon-ha's shoe.