As soon as the rank assessment ended, the official spoke in a trembling voice, fumbling in the air.
"We will contact you again later. For this matter, you'll need to go directly to the Korean Association headquarters."
Namhyeon gave a short reply that he understood and approached Jia, who stood frozen in a daze.
"Hyun, what happened to you? What on earth happened?"
Jia asked, her face pale as death, grabbing Namhyeon's collar tightly. Namhyeon nonchalantly trotted out the lie he had prepared in advance.
"I think I had a Second Awakening during the accident."
A phenomenon uncommon in this world but one that definitely existed—the Second Awakening. It was a phenomenon where one broke through their limits at a certain catalyst or a life-or-death crossroads, becoming far stronger than before. To hide the truth that he had spent decades in another world mastering illusion magic, there was no more perfect or realistic excuse than this.
"Really? I see... Ahaha..."
The corners of Jia's mouth trembled as she forced a bizarre smile. Her expression was severely contorted. The fact that the fragile Hyun, whom she had to protect for her entire life, now possessed strength equal to, or perhaps even greater than, her own—it was tantamount to her very reason for existence being denied.
"Let's go."
"Ah... Yeah. Let's go together."
At Namhyeon's indifferent call, Jia staggered after him. Instead of walking as if embracing and protecting him like before, she merely chased his footsteps anxiously, like someone crushed by a massive shadow.
Not long after, contact came immediately from the Association headquarters.
Namhyeon rode in the top-class VIP vehicle urgently dispatched by the Association and headed to the Seoul Association headquarters.
As soon as he arrived at the headquarters, high-ranking officials came out in unison to greet him, attending to him with extreme courtesy. After explaining all manner of special treatment and benefits in the spacious, lavish VIP reception room, the official rose from his seat and bowed his head politely.
"Congratulations, Hunter Kim Namhyeon. You have now become Korea's 11th S-Rank."
There wasn't even a need to undergo separate, complicated precision examinations. The S-Rank judgment was already a foregone conclusion based solely on the Academy's simulation data.
"Yes. Then please renew my license."
"Yes, please wait just a moment!"
What the official held out respectfully with both hands was the dazzling golden Hunter's license, the symbol of an S-Rank.
Namhyeon traced the heavy golden license with his fingers, smiling leisurely to himself.
'With this, she'll leave me alone too.'
Since he, too, had become an S-Rank, an apex predator, he figured Jia could no longer bind him under the pretext of "protecting a weak childhood friend." It was a rational, yet naive, calculation that her pathological obsession would now come to an end as well.
But that was Namhyeon's complete delusion.
Namhyeon had yet to realize that when the little bird one is meant to protect becomes a beast of prey and tries to fly away on its own, the owner of a twisted cage chooses not 'release,' but 'breaking its wings.'
Having officially become an S-Rank Hunter, Namhyeon began to swiftly and decisively clean up his surroundings according to the plan he had laid out.
The first place he visited was the Academy professor's office. Having already demonstrated immeasurable power, taking the remaining classes was a waste of time. After a brief consultation with his advisor, he neatly wrapped up his academic schedule on the condition that he would only show his face briefly at the graduation ceremony.
Passing through the Academy's main gate, Namhyeon headed toward an old building in a quiet back alley not far from the downtown area. A small guild whose signboard wasn't even properly maintained—'Windy Guild.'
"Ah, w-welcome! Hunter Namhyeon!"
Inside the shabby office, the B-Rank Guild Master who had been waiting anxiously hurried out and bowed at a 90-degree angle. There was only one reason Namhyeon had come to this shabby guild: solely to borrow its 'name.'
Namhyeon had no desire to waste energy on troublesome administrative procedures or factional struggles, so he needed a puppet guild that he could keep perfectly under his control. Windy Guild, which had finished prior negotiations, fit those conditions perfectly.
"I don't need a contract fee, as I mentioned beforehand. However, all spoils of war, by-products, and profits from Dungeons that I am assigned to or clear unilaterally—one hundred percent go to me. You remember the terms clearly, right?"
"Oh, of course! Absolutely!"
The Guild Master's grin split from ear to ear. Though he would get no share of the profits, the prestige and support funds Windy Guild would gain from the mere title of 'the guild affiliated with Korea's 11th S-Rank Hunter' were enormous. For Namhyeon as well, it was a perfect win-win structure, dumping all bothersome affairs onto the small guild while he focused solely on hunting magical beasts to procure food for his subspace.
Namhyeon quickly finished signing the contract, and on his way back, stopped by a high-end dessert shop to buy cakes, cookies, and plenty of light groceries before returning to his room in the dormitory. Locking the door behind him, he opened the subspace door with practiced familiarity.
"Master! You've come!"
Cherina, who sensed his presence first, walked lightly out of the darkness and greeted him as if clinging to his chest. Namhyeon shook the bags he held in both hands to show her.
"I bought some real-world groceries and sweets for you all."
"Oh my! I'll prepare refreshments right away. Miria, come here and help!"
Soon after, all six Dragon Maids gathered in the grand mansion's drawing room, and a warm tea party began. The maids' eyes sparkled at the high-end desserts from the real world that they were tasting for the first time.
"Wow, it's delicious! How do they make this soft texture?"
Tiara, in charge of cooking, dug into the cake with a fork, her eyes gleaming. She looked completely captivated by this new world of taste, different from the other world's cooking methods. Watching them eat with delight, Namhyeon smiled lightly.
"Wait just a bit. Soon, even if it's not as much as in the other world, the food supply will be properly secured without shortage. I've finished the contract with Windy Guild."
At Namhyeon's words, Hatsune set down her teacup and opened her mouth with her characteristic calm and worried voice.
"Please don't overdo it, Master. Without the filth of the outside world, just having what we do now and being by your side is enough to make us happy."
"No. This is something I must do as the one who took you in. And..."
Namhyeon set down his empty teacup and dropped a bombshell.
"Soon I'll wrap up my life in reality and come back fully into this mansion to live and eat with you all."
At those words, the maids' eyes widened before filling with joy. Namhyeon, too, felt lighthearted at the thought of escaping Jia's suffocating shadow and enjoying perfect freedom.
"U-Um! Master!"
Para, cream smeared thickly around her mouth, wagged her tail furiously and clung close to Namhyeon.
"I want to go out and play in that world where Master lives someday! Is that okay?"
"Para. Don't trouble Master."
Hatsune admonished her in a cold voice and stopped her. However, Para pouted her lips in disappointment and dragged out her words, "But Sister..."
Namhyeon lightly patted Para's head and chuckled.
"Once the guild funds stabilize a bit and we have some leeway, shall we all go outside together for an outing?"
At those words, Pana, Miria, Cherina, Tiara, and Flora, excluding Hatsune, all burst into cheers.
For the girls who had been confined to the subspace, an 'outside date with Master' was thrilling enough to imagine.
"Master, there's no need to go that far..."
Hatsune tried to dissuade him, flustered, but Namhyeon gave her a gentle smile.
"This much is the least I can do for my maids. Don't worry, Hatsune."
At her master's kind words, a faint, entranced red blush spread across the face of Hatsune, who had been a cold controller.
When he opened the dormitory door and entered, Jia, who had been sitting upright on the living room sofa, snapped her head up. Her eyes, glowing fiercely in the darkness, trapped Namhyeon.
"Hyun, you seem busy lately?"
Though her voice was soft as she asked, the end of each word trembled faintly. Anxiety toward Namhyeon, who only went outside, seeped through.
"Yeah, because of some guild contract matters."
"Really? Then... don't do that and join the same guild as me."
Jia desperately tried to drag Namhyeon under her influence, into a guild within her sight. But Namhyeon answered without looking back, taking off his shoes.
"Forget it. I hate being dragged around by anyone."
"Then I'll go to the same place as you, Hyun..."
"I like being alone. That's the condition under which I joined that small guild."
It was an iron wall. At the bone-chilling refusal that didn't permit even an inch of leeway, Jia's expression crumbled in an instant.
"Hyun, what's with you lately?"
Seeing how he had changed, Jia felt like she was going mad. The old Namhyeon would never have pushed her away this cruelly.
"What about me?"
"You seem like a completely different person after your Second Awakening. Of course, I get that it's because you got stronger, but...."
Anxiety flooding up to her throat, Jia grabbed Namhyeon's arm and pleaded.
"Don't leave me. Stay by my side."
Namhyeon stared down at that desperate clinging and opened his mouth indifferently.
"What relationship do you and I have?"
"What...?"
Jia stared blankly at Namhyeon. Her mind went blank. They had lived under one roof for four years, and she believed they were closer than anyone without a doubt. But if one thought about it calmly, there was no justification whatsoever between them. They were neither lovers nor family. They were merely strange cohabitants maintained solely by Jia's one-sided obsession.
"I asked what relationship we have."
"That's, well..."
Jia couldn't answer right away and only moved her lips.
"Th-Then let's date starting today! I'll do anything you want, Hyun. So please...!"
"The things 'we' did were all things you wanted and did unilaterally."
"I-I'm sorry about that! Even so, I...!"
"Jia."
Namhyeon cut her off and drew a cold line.
"I want to be alone. I don't need your help anymore."
I don't need you. Leaving behind those words, Namhyeon slipped into his room. Left alone, the words "I don't need you" echoed like tinnitus in Jia's ears.
"No... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!"
Her mind crumbling to dust, Jia let out a scream and violently flung open Namhyeon's door. Inside the room, Namhyeon was already packing.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving this place now."
As Namhyeon shouldered his bag and approached, Jia ran like a madwoman and stood before the door, spreading her arms to block him.
"Don't go!"
"Move."
"Don't go, Hyun! I can't live without you! I—I love you! I really can't do it without you!!"
As Namhyeon, her universe and everything, tried to leave, Jia wailed desperately.
"I'm sorry, I should've been the one to ask you out first and treated you better... I'll do better! Hmm? So please...!"
Watching her cling on desperately, Namhyeon spat out coldly and briefly.
"You don't have to."
Namhyeon simply pushed Jia aside and walked out of the room. As Jia, pushed away by the shoulder, stared blankly at the floor, the sound of the front door closing rang out.
"Hyun...?"
Like someone who had lost her mind, Jia dashed to the entrance. She flung the door open and ran out into the hallway, but only silence lingered there. His trace was nowhere to be seen.
"Hyun? Where are you? Hyun... Hyun!!! Hyunaaaaaa!!!"
In the hallway of the Academy dormitory, the desperate scream of a beast who had lost its master resounded.