A ringtone trilled from the smartwatch.
“Ah, hold on, I need to take this. Hello?”
She answered the call nonchalantly, and the conversation continued.
“Huh? Ah, yes. That’s right, I’m Chae Nayun.”
I could overhear the voice coming from her smartwatch.
“…Huh?”
In that instant, she dropped her chopsticks.
The longer the conversation went on, the more her hands trembled, her breathing quickened, and shock spread across her eyes.
“His consciousness….”
Her words stopped there.
—Yes! Patient Chae Jinyun has regained consciousness!
A shout that felt like it could stop one’s breath the moment it was heard.
I quietly closed my eyes.
But before long, Chae Nayun grabbed my sleeve.
“Hey, hey.”
Looking up at me with a face already on the verge of tears, Chae Nayun spoke.
“Drive me there.”
11:30 PM.
The domestic portals had already closed thirty minutes ago.
End
The call from the hospital was hard to believe.
But the doctor’s voice, brimming with hope, was neither a lie nor a dream.
My mind went blank.
I was simply dazed.
The reason I couldn’t be happy immediately, even at that vivid, lifeful news of joy, was because this was a miracle I had half-given up on after too long in despair.
“…”
The doctor’s voice in my ear gradually faded.
My head throbbed, and my vision blurred white.
I only turned my gaze to the side.
I saw Kim Hajin standing next to me.
His face, neither flawed nor particularly outstanding, was unusually vivid today.
“Hey, hey.”
Right now, even I don’t know what I’m thinking.
But one thing was clear—I had to get to the hospital immediately—and this man seemed like the only one who could help me.
“Drive me there.”
Kim Hajin’s eyes, meeting mine, were sunken heavily.
Had he heard my call?
Soon, he let out a deep sigh.
But before his answer came, Yu Yeonha asked first.
“Why driving? What happened?”
“Huh? Uh…”
When I was fumbling, unable to answer even that simple question, Kim Hajin spoke.
“Let’s go. Whatever model the bike is, twenty minutes is enough.”
So he had heard.
Somehow, that felt reliable, and even in this situation, I could manage a small smile.
“…I thought you only had good eyes, but your ears are good too.”
“Cut it out. Where’d you park?”
“Follow me.”
“What is it? What’s going on?”
Shin Jonghak sprang to his feet and asked.
Lee Yeonghan, Yu Yeonha, and Kim Sooho each wore serious expressions.
I couldn’t say a word to them and dashed to the parking lot.
Kim Hajin followed behind me.
We soon arrived in front of the bike parked in the lot.
Kim Hajin asked.
“The key.”
“Key? Ah, right…”
“…”
Kim Hajin shook his head.
Like an idiot, I couldn’t remember where I’d put the key.
Even at a time like this, I’m such a fool.
“Ah, am I really an idiot….”
But Kim Hajin examined the bike closely and let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew. Hey, it’s fine. This one has a smart key.”
“Smart key?”
“They exist.”
Kim Hajin tapped at his smartwatch, and the engine suddenly roared to life.
Before I could even be surprised, Kim Hajin pulled me onto the back seat.
An explosive exhaust roar shook the parking lot.
“Hold on tight.”
“O-okay.”
But where was I supposed to hold?
Not knowing, I gently grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“Recognize.”
The moment Kim Hajin muttered that in a very faint voice.
Braaaang—
The bike shot upward.
Afterward, it escaped the parking lot at a staggering speed and began racing along the road as if sliding.
But the air resistance was so fierce that I, in the back seat, was helpless.
This feels like four hundred kilometers per hour.
“Hey, I’m gonna fall—.”
Even if I spoke, the speed was too fast for my words to carry forward.
So, it couldn’t be helped.
At this rate, I felt like I’d fall off.
This was force majeure, force majeure….
I slowly moved my body.
I rested my head against his back and wrapped my arms around his waist.
That my face turned red even in this situation was simply because I had never done this in my entire life.
I rationalized it that way, but….
Kim Hajin’s back was unexpectedly firm and broad.
And strangely comfortable.
“Uwah.”
Just then, the bike suddenly swerved sideways.
Overwhelming cornering.
I had no choice.
I really had no choice but to put a little more strength into the arms wrapped around his waist.
* * *
It was something I had been putting off.
Something I had to do, yet something I hated to even keep in my heart.
Perhaps it was a weak-hearted thought—wondering why it had to be me who took on such a sordid task.
Maybe I had been escaping reality, pretending to rack my brain over whether there was truly no way to save Chae Jinyun without killing him.
But I couldn’t find a way to save Chae Jinyun.
And as the original author of this world, I had a duty to do this.
Swwwaaaah—
Wind rushed in as if it would stop one’s breath.
The bike, ‘recognized’ by my touch, raced far exceeding its original output.
Four hundred kilometers per hour, or perhaps more.
Even so, the sensation of Chae Nayun pressed tightly against my back and her breathing were vivid.
Because she was touching me too directly, I deliberately focused all my nerves on driving alone.
And so, from Gyeongpodae to Seoul, exactly twenty minutes.
Running literally like mad, we arrived in front of the VIP ward of Daehyeon Hospital.
“We’re here.”
I spoke to Chae Nayun, who was leaning against my back.
There was no reaction from Chae Nayun.
I tapped her with my back.
“Ung…”
Chae Nayun sniffled and opened her eyes.
Perhaps from the wind pressure, her eyes were full of tears.
I spoke once more.
“I said we’re here.”
“…Ah.”
As if she still couldn’t tell whether this was a dream or reality, Chae Nayun blankly stared at the ward.
I grabbed Chae Nayun’s wrist and pulled her off the bike.
“Aah.”
“It’s not a dream. The others will be coming too.”
The distance from Gyeongpodae to Seoul was one that no Hero could cover by running.
Even if they woke a driver urgently and came by limousine, it would take at least an hour and a half.
There was no time to wait for them.
“Hurry, let’s go.”
“Y-yeah.”
“But what about Father?”
“…He’s on a business trip overseas with Grandfather.”
Even the chairman of Daehyeon couldn’t force a closed portal open.
I walked with Chae Nayun toward the main gate of the VIP ward.
The guard at the main gate recognized Chae Nayun and hurriedly opened the door.
I stepped onto the grounds of the VIP ward.
A luxurious garden spread across the front yard leading to the ward.
The number of hidden cameras and security magic within it seemed to easily exceed three digits.
A commotion broke out in the distance.
Doctors and nurses were rushing out from the ward entrance.
“Miss Nayun…?”
They hurried over and called out to Chae Nayun, but hesitated upon noticing me beside her.
Chae Nayun scratched the back of her neck and introduced me.
“Ah, well, he’s a… guy I know. It’s fine if he comes with, right?”
But somehow that introduction felt strange.
What was with “a guy I know”?
“Ah, yes. Please come in for now.”
A middle-aged doctor with graying hair and glasses.
Someone who looked like the director of this ward at a glance guided us.
“Yes.”
The VIP ward I was entering for the first time in my life was noble and elegant, reminiscent of a temple.
Walking down the marble hallway of that ward, Chae Nayun asked.
“How exactly is his condition?”
At that, the doctor smiled.
“He hasn’t fully regained consciousness yet, but you’ll see when you look. He’s very well. Truly a miracle, a miracle.”
“I…”
The doctor looked at Chae Nayun and me beside her with a knowing expression.
“Ah. It’s fine, he… he brought me all the way here.”
“…Is that so?”
“Of course. Hey, right? You keep your mouth shut tight too.”
That trust from Chae Nayun pained my chest.
“Then let’s go.”
We took the escalator down.
Chae Jinyun’s hospital room occupied half an entire floor.
A magic barrier surrounded not just the door but the entire room, and the three mercenaries guarding the front were experts who wouldn’t pale in comparison to heavy-class Heroes.
“Congratulations, miss.”
A rugged-looking mercenary approached and gave a bright smile.
Chae Nayun nodded with a still-dazed face.
“Y-yes. Th-thank you, mister.”
“…But is this person going in too?”
The mercenary pointed at me.
Chae Nayun nodded.
“Yes.”
“Hmm. The chairman’s permission…”
“What permission? They’re too busy with work to even come today.”
“Ahem.”
Then the mercenary opened the door, and we entered with the doctor.
First, clear air mixed with the scent of flowers filled my nose.
A hospital room where the mana concentration was always maintained at the level of an ‘auspicious site.’
A masterpiece hung to ward off desolation illuminated the interior brilliantly, and near the bedroom, photos of Chae Nayun and Chae Jinyun together were lined up.
“Ah…”
Chae Nayun let out a blank sound.
Inside the hospital room that felt like a cozy home, Chae Jinyun was catching his breath on a bed tilted at sixty degrees.
His body was emaciated and his pupils cloudy, yet… he was clearly awake.
“We explained to the patient that he had awakened after four years, but since it hasn’t even been two hours since he regained consciousness, his mind and memories are incomplete. However, his recovery is so pronounced that he should recover fully within a month.”
The doctor said.
But Chae Nayun couldn’t hear that voice.
Tears flowed from Chae Nayun’s eyes.
The doctor watched Chae Nayun briefly,
“Then, I will return shortly.”
closed the door, and went outside.
Silence filled the hospital room.
Afterward, Chae Nayun blankly stared at Chae Jinyun on the bed and offered a single word—one she had surely wanted to say all this time, or perhaps had said hundreds of times but had never once heard an answer to.
“…Oppa?”
Then Chae Jinyun’s head faintly turned.
Chae Jinyun.
The good person I had created, a kind and generous older brother.
He looked at Chae Nayun.
The two faced each other without a word.
Soon, a faint smile formed on Chae Jinyun’s lips… and the voice Chae Nayun had so longed for flowed out.
“Nayun.”
Four years had passed lying in a hospital bed, and even if part of his mind was damaged, he remembered his younger sister’s face.
That was the kind of man Chae Jinyun was.
“…You’ve grown a lot. I heard, it’s been four years, right?”
Even at those kind words, Chae Nayun only trembled, unable to move.
I had no choice but to grab her wrist and approach him.
Chae Jinyun looked at me with curious eyes.
“Your boyfriend?”
“W-what? W-what are you talking about. Absolutely not.”
Chae Nayun denied it strongly, then suddenly glanced at me and added.
“…W-well, not yet.”
“Not yet?”
This time, I was dumbfounded.
“W-what. What. What!”
Chae Jinyun watched Chae Nayun shove me with an outburst for no reason with fond eyes.
* * *
The next day.
A remote cave in Gangwon-do chosen as a temporary contact point.
There in that empty place, the Leader sat on a chair picked up from somewhere, reading a book.
Clack, clack.
Then, the clear sound of high heels.
Soon, Jane revealed herself from the darkness over there, but the Leader’s gaze remained focused solely on the book.
Jane’s footsteps stopped before the Leader.
“Leader, Chae Jinyun has regained consciousness.”
The Leader closed the book without a word.
“Do you really intend to go through with it?”
“…”
Staring fixedly at Jane, the Leader nodded.
“But I wonder if four of us can do it. Even if Kim Hajin is the one who carries it out.”
Jane muttered, intrigued.
The Leader had informed only a very small part of the Wisaekdan of this grand scheme.
Probably, whether this matter succeeded or failed, only Jane and himself.
And depending on necessity, perhaps one more assistant would know of it.
“Yes, I’m doing it.”
“Hmm… Well, it’s true there’s no better way to bring Kim Hajin over to our side, but…”
By helping Kim Hajin with his matter, the Chameleon Troupe would, in theory, gain both a “weakness” and a “debt of gratitude” from him at the same time.
Jane was satisfied with that much.
After all, Kim Hajin certainly possessed the qualities to become an extraordinary powerhouse.
“But don’t you think we’re losing too much? I don’t even know why he wants to kill Chae Jinyoon in the first place. And more than anything, we’ll be making an enemy out of that old geezer.”
“No.”
The Boss shook her head firmly.
She had checked Chae Jinyoon’s condition on the day Kim Hajin made his request.
Chae Jinyoon’s dantian, which contained his magic power, had been destroyed.
A Hero whose dantian had been destroyed.
Chae Joochul would never feel anything like pity for Chae Jinyoon, who had lived for years as neither a dead man nor a living one, but a vegetable.
Even if he was his own grandson… Chae Joochul was simply that kind of man.
“He might even be pleased. In exchange for one grandchild, he’ll be able to buy sympathy from the entire world.”
The Boss said this through clenched teeth.
It was a rare surge of emotion from her.
That was how rotten and deep the ill-fated relationship between her and Chae Joochul was.
Though after the previous Boss died, Chae Joochul’s side must have decided they were no longer useful and unilaterally cut ties.
“Well, I don’t know about that much. But Boss, no matter how much I think about it, Kim Hajin is strange.”
Jane suddenly put on a meaningful expression, created a chair with magic power, and sat down on it.
“What do you mean?”
“That money-grubbing ghost says he won’t take the job even if I give him an extra three billion won.”
“Money-grubbing ghost… Yoo Jinhyuk?”
“Yeah.”
Yoo Jinhyuk.
He was an idle layabout who poured every penny he earned into gambling at places like Kangwon Land, Las Vegas, and Clancy Islet, but within the Korean Peninsula, he was the information broker with the greatest skill.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? That guy would dig up dirt on anyone, whether they were a chaebol or a Hero, as long as you paid him. So why is he refusing so stubbornly only when it comes to Kim Hajin?”
And yet that very Yoo Jinhyuk had refused the chance to earn five hundred million won just for investigating a single person.
Finding that suspicious, Jane had continued raising the amount, but even when she offered a staggering three billion won, Yoo Jinhyuk’s answer remained the same.
“At this point, I think it’s right to assume he’s already found out about Kim Hajin’s past.”
“But why?”
“Because if he reveals it, something might happen that threatens his own safety. That’s why he’s desperately refusing to talk. It seems like Kim Hajin has some sort of special past.”
It was a reasonable inference.
The Boss gave a small nod.
“What should I do? Keep prodding him?”
“…No. Look into another information guild.”
At the Boss’s words, Jane grinned.
As of today, Yoo Jinhyuk had lost one big client.
The Boss, unexpectedly, was the type to hold grudges, and once she got sulky, it lasted a long time.
“Well, information guilds these days have all been leveled downward so much that they’re all more or less the same… but there are one or two I’ve been keeping an eye on.”
“Where?”
Jane projected her smartwatch as a hologram herself.
===
[Falling Blossom]
—Naturally and gracefully, like a falling flower.
===
“One is called ‘Falling Blossom.’ They’re a rookie guild that’s been rising fast lately. It’s only been half a year since they were founded, but both their reputation and track record are solid.”
“Mm.”
The Boss let out a satisfied hum.
Falling Blossom. Even the name was quite refined and elegant.
“And the other one?”
“This one.”
===
[Truth Agency]
—We’ll tell you anything.
===
“…”
This time, the Boss’s brow furrowed.
It had exactly the kind of cheap-sounding name and slogan that the Boss hated.
“It does feel kind of tacky, but it has a pretty good reputation among civilians. Apparently, they’re incredibly good at finding people.”
“Go with ‘Falling Blossom.’”
The Boss, who rather liked luxury and vanity, made a clear decision.
“Okay. I’ll put in a request.”
“And after that?”
“I’ve prepared Chae Jinyoon’s matter perfectly. In terms of the plan alone, it’s flawless. Just ask Kim Hajin for the date of execution. That child will need to prepare himself mentally too, you know~?”
It was then.
Step, step.
Another set of footsteps echoed from the entrance of the cave.
Jane flinched and sharpened all five senses as she went on guard.
“…Who is it?”
“No need to be wary. I already called him.”
“Who… Kim Hajin? Already?”
“Yes. Your first meeting. Get ready.”
Jane looked over with an incredulous expression.
Sure enough.
A black coat that fell to his knees and neatly pomaded hair.
His style was good.
But because of his ordinary face, the man walking through the darkness didn’t look particularly cool.
His gait, however, was remarkably relaxed and upright.
“…He walks like a model, at least.”
Jane smirked and muttered.
End
After passing through the cave-like passage, I saw two women seated in chairs.
The Boss and Jane.
From the way the two of them looked at me, I could feel the mana unique to the strong. It was the rank of mana possessed by those who had surpassed ordinary realms.
I took one deep breath and stood before them. The Boss spoke to me.
“So the trainee has arrived.”