Liberation
Yoo Han sighed deeply. “Hye-rin… you’re not a child anymore. You know this isn’t right, don’t you? I can let it slide once or twice, but if you keep doing this, it puts me in a difficult position too.”
The two of them sat alone in a private reception room after everything had been settled. Yoo Han was the first to speak. He stared at the woman before him, his discomfort plain on his face after the sudden turn of events. Yet she simply kept her sulky expression, deliberately avoiding his gaze. She showed no sign of listening.
Yoo Han exhaled another heavy sigh. She was clearly still angry about what had just happened and refused to acknowledge anything he said. From his perspective, the whole situation was deeply unfair. How could he have known she would be in the house he thought was empty, especially right after he had finished bathing? If anything, the root cause lay with her—she had sneaked into the house without any warning. He understood why she had done it, but her actions still created serious problems. The bigger issue was that this wasn’t the first time. He had scolded her each time, but her stubbornness was just as strong.
As if waiting for the perfect opening, she spoke the moment he finished. “Do you think I do this because I want to? You know Master hasn’t shown his face lately! If something’s going on, at least explain it to me. Then I might be able to accept it.”
There it was. Instead of showing any remorse, she was only making excuses. Yoo Han felt like he was going to lose his mind. She was nearly an adult now, yet while her body had grown, her mind clearly hadn’t matured much. The moment the topic of the team leader came up, she turned completely unreasonable. It gave him a headache.
“I told you this last time too. The team leader’s been buried under work lately. Besides, the academy has plenty of excellent instructors. Stop clinging to him every time and try looking elsewhere—”
“Do you honestly think those people can compare to Master? I attend classes to earn credits, but my true mentor is only Master!”
He tried speaking kindly once more, mentally drawing the character for patience on his forehead, but the response was the same sharp refusal. For a moment, Yoo Han genuinely wanted to flee the room. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t find a way to handle this headstrong girl.
Stuck in the frustrating situation, he recalled her profile. Her real name was Yoo Hye-rin. She was nineteen this year. Born as the only daughter of the Yoo family, famous for producing outstanding hunters, she herself was an Awakener with considerable potential. She had even passed the academy’s entrance exam, which rejected anyone without exceptional skill. She was the very image of a privileged young lady straight out of a drama.
With such a background, her personality was arrogant and extremely self-centered. Since they had known each other for a long time and she somewhat respected the team leader, she listened to him to a degree—but only when he was around. If he disappeared for a while, she became exactly like this. Normally, Yoo Han would step in and say a word, but because of something that happened to her when she was young, he was unusually soft on her. That meant he always ended up cleaning up after these incidents.
He had planned to enjoy a rare day off after hard work, but this situation felt like a bolt from the blue. Just as he was resigning himself to being tormented for several more hours, an unexpected topic slipped from her lips.
“…Is that piled-up work related to the child I saw earlier?”
“Huh? …Oh, I suppose you could say that.”
Yoo Han was briefly flustered by the sudden mention of Seo-ah, but he soon nodded. Indirectly, the matter had affected his schedule. While he had handled most things related to the girl himself, several important issues had required the team leader’s direct attention. That had delayed his original work, leaving him stuck at headquarters.
But that wasn’t what she was really curious about. She stared at him with clear curiosity in her eyes. The meaning was obvious. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. Since the girl would now be living in this house, the two of them would naturally run into each other often. It would be better to explain everything clearly before any misunderstandings formed. Besides, all the paperwork was already complete.
Yoo Han explained about the girl who would now be living here, carefully omitting sensitive details like her unclear past. He focused on the fact that the team leader had adopted her and that she would be staying from now on. Her eyes widened to their limit. Her expression held both shock and disbelief.
“M-Master… adopted her? That tiny child?”
Her voice trembled as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Given the team leader’s intimidating appearance, it was understandable that adoption seemed impossible for him. Yoo Han himself had been shocked when he first heard the news. A man who looked like a mafia boss adopting a child… it really didn’t suit him. Still, it was already reality. The team leader had accepted it, and despite his looks, his heart was decent enough. Considering the suspicious circumstances surrounding the girl, this was clearly the safest option.
“Well, that’s how it turned out. Ask the team leader for details later. You’ll be seeing her often from now on, so as the older one, try to act like an older sister. She’ll probably feel lonely with so much time alone.”
He made the request sincerely. The team leader would likely feel awkward, and Yoo Han couldn’t stay here forever. This kind of thing was best handled by someone of the same gender. Their first meeting had been a little strange, but aside from that, the age gap was large enough that she could be a good older sister. Yoo Han imagined the two of them standing side by side. It would make a truly beautiful picture. Having grown up as an only child, perhaps gaining a younger sibling would help her mature a little. If that happened, it would be killing two birds with one stone—perfect.
Smiling at the pleasant thought, he gazed into the air. Because of that, he missed the subtle expression on her face. She hadn’t answered his request. A complicated mix of emotions crossed her features, and among them was a faint trace of jealousy—though she herself didn’t notice it.
The two of them remained there for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts.
-----
Once everything was settled, he brought my luggage to my new room, said he would explain everything later, and quickly left. I could roughly guess where he was going. He was probably heading to that unidentified woman who had been in the house. I had been too shocked to notice earlier, but it seemed he knew her. The fact that he spoke to her so casually suggested she wasn’t the lady of the house. If she really had been, and she looked that young, my good impression of the man who adopted me would have shattered instantly. I frowned and shook my head at the thought of the obvious age gap between them. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became about her identity, but I could ask later. Right now, something else was more important.
Left alone in the spacious room, I rolled my lifeless eyes and blankly looked around. The walls were covered in soft pink wallpaper. Various pieces of furniture filled the space: a massive wardrobe that took up one side, a bed several times larger than my body, a wide desk, a cute-looking chair, and a vanity with a large mirror. Everything a room should have was there. The careful arrangement and selection of furniture showed that someone had put real thought into it. Once I cleared away the boxes, the room would look even more perfect. Yet despite receiving this generous gift, my face was paler than ever.
The reason was simple. This room had been designed for a young girl. The soft pink and warm white colors, the whimsical atmosphere—it looked like something straight out of a fairy tale. A so-called “princess room.”
I looked up in a daze and saw an unusual light fixture. It was a luxurious chandelier of the kind you’d only see in a palace. I never expected to see one like this in real life. A hollow laugh escaped me. Compared to the room I used to live in, this place was on an entirely different level. The gap was so vast it felt rude to even compare them.
For a moment, I imagined what I must look like standing in this room. It really did suit me. A small girl with ashen hair belonged in a room like this. My invisible inner self was screaming at the image, but I ignored it. At least I was alone. If someone had come in with me, I would have had to pretend to be happy. Just imagining that made my skin crawl. The fact that I hadn’t immediately run out meant I had adapted to the situation to some degree. Or rather, I had simply given up.
Following the saying “if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it,” I began exploring the room in earnest. I opened the wardrobe that towered over me, sat in the desk chair and leaned back, and threw myself onto the giant bed, rolling around. With every movement, I could feel how luxurious the furniture was. Especially the bed—it felt like lying on a cloud and made me drowsy just from lying down. I was starting to get helplessly drawn in by the room’s charm, but since it was now “my” room too, maybe that wasn’t such a big problem.
While sprawled out on the bed, I suddenly felt something at my fingertips. Turning my head, I saw a box sitting on the mattress. Unlike the others, this one had been placed on the bed. Curious, I sat up and crawled closer. The sheets barely sank, so the box itself must be very light. Still, it was fairly large. I used Transform to sharpen my hand and cleanly cut the tape without hesitation.
Inside were giant stuffed animals—lion, bear, tiger, snake, and more. Cute animal designs. I reached deep into the box to check if there was anything else when my hand brushed against something that made me flinch. It felt completely different from the other toys. Something that didn’t belong here.
From past experience, I already had a rough idea what it was. I grabbed it and pulled it out in one motion. An all-too-familiar face met my eyes.
“……”
[……]
A black cat with round eyes stared straight at me. In the strange silence that followed, it opened its mouth with a pitiful look.
[Meow…?]
…It seemed a defective product had gotten mixed in.