What Exactly Is Your Identity? - 4
Elder! Without realizing it, I staggered backward.
Even running into one by chance would be enough to send my body trembling in fear. Yet here I was, having blocked another Elder’s path just days ago. And now this one had suddenly declared, “Found you”?
I’m screwed.
I glanced around. Was there anyone nearby who could help me? Of course not. This wasn’t the Academy; it was the middle of an ordinary street. Ma Hakjun, who had stopped Kwak Hyuk, and Han Jiyun, who had fought an Elder before, were nowhere to be found. In this place, I was utterly alone. I would have to handle the situation myself.
But how?
The Sole Exam Examiner trait had not activated. Even if it had, I could already sense the truth. There was no way my current self could defeat this woman. Like with Kwak Hyuk, I might manage some resistance, but that would be the limit.
“It’s you. The examiner that gloomy bastard found so interesting.”
Hyun Sujin fixed me with an eerily chilling gaze. Just meeting those eyes made me want to turn and run as fast as I could. But I endured. My instincts screamed that doing so would only make things worse.
“No need to look around like that.”
Had she noticed me searching for someone to call for help? I let out a low groan, and Hyun Sujin continued.
“I didn’t come to draw blood. You don’t need to worry about anyone else.”
What kind of nonsense was this all of a sudden? I had been looking for help, yet she was talking about not worrying for others. No, it was absurd for her to say such a thing in the first place. This was the same person who had attacked the Academy and taken dozens of innocent lives. And now she stood here calmly claiming she “hadn’t come to draw blood”?
It was so ridiculous I almost snapped back at her, but—
“If you keep losing focus, I might just start destroying the surroundings first, exactly as you seem to fear. If you don’t want to see human bodies rolling across the ground, then let’s just stand here quietly and pretend nothing is happening.”
Since the other party clearly wanted to talk, I decided to play along. If anything exploded here, I would be in danger, but so would everyone around me. The thought that their deaths would be my fault weighed heavily on my conscience.
“Your answer?”
“What do you want from me?”
“I have a question for you.”
Hyun Sujin took one more step forward. The motion felt like death itself drawing near.
“You. What exactly are you?”
Everyone seemed to be asking me the same thing lately. And for that kind of question, I had only one possible answer.
“I’m a Grade 9 civil servant. I’ve also been dispatched to the Academy as an examiner.”
Hyun Sujin blinked several times, then suddenly smiled. Yet somehow, that smile didn’t seem to carry any good intentions.
“You’re saying you don’t want to answer, but in such a strange way?”
Without thinking, I quickly sidestepped to the right. I couldn’t explain why. My body had simply moved on its own.
At my reaction, Hyun Sujin gave me an odd look.
“Hey, you…”
She cut herself off and whipped her head around. After staring intently in one direction, she clicked her tongue.
“Disgustingly quick senses. That crazy bitch, anyway.”
When she turned back to me, her voice had grown slightly more urgent.
“Fine. Then I’ll ask again. Do you plan to keep living like that?”
“Pardon?”
“Keep submitting, groveling, and simply accepting everything. Is that how you intend to live?”
What on earth was she talking about? A villain—an Elder, no less—had sought me out, only to ask if I had no complaints about reality?
Ah. Is this some kind of recruitment pitch?
The possibility was high. From their perspective, I could look like an attractive prospect. After all, I was the one who had blocked an Elder’s path and survived. It made sense.
“Honestly, I have thought that living this way isn’t quite right.”
A small part of me meant it. Civil servant life had been genuinely miserable. The time I received a formal complaint for speaking kindly to a child was still legendary. Having to use polite speech with a kid who looked no older than four… No wonder my heart still pounded whenever I tried to speak casually.
“You thought it wasn’t right? Truly?”
Interest flickered in Hyun Sujin’s eyes. Perhaps she believed I was open to the villain lifestyle. Maybe she thought she could recruit me, that she could gain such an entertaining subordinate.
But becoming a villain was something that would never happen, even if I died and came back to life. Was it because I loved justice? Of course I had no desire to get involved with people who did the things villains did. Yet that wasn’t the only reason I refused to even consider it.
There’s Lee Hyunwoo, Irina, and far too many other ability users on that side. The villains are destined to crash and burn later.
Knowing the stock would plummet, why would I buy in? Unless I wanted to dive headfirst into the Han River.
“But still, I don’t think that’s the path for me.”
So keep doing all the villain stuff yourself. In about a year, you’ll understand why I answered this way.
Hyun Sujin stared at me in silence. Her eyes practically radiated the message I have so much I want to say, but I’m holding back. It wasn’t my imagination. The way her lips kept twitching proved it.
“Next time. We’ll talk again next time.”
“Huh?”
That was the end. Hyun Sujin, who had been standing right in front of me, vanished in an instant. It was as if the thick shadow that had loomed over the area simply dissolved the moment light touched it. As if her very existence had never been real to begin with.
I stood there in a daze, wondering what the hell had just happened, when—
“What the? You’re a handsome but total solo oppa, huh?”
When I looked up, a woman in a black uniform stood atop a streetlight. That unpredictable energy, that overwhelming strength that could make even Lee Hyunwoo admit defeat.
“Irina?”
“Yup. It’s me! Ta-da!”
Irina leaped down from the streetlight and strode forward briskly. She scanned the area with a low hum, then spoke.
“By any chance, did you see a strange woman around here?”
“A strange woman?”
“Yeah. The creepy, eerie type. One who’s less pretty than me, fatter, and weaker.”
Irina was among the top tier of S-rank ability users. It was entirely possible she had sensed Hyun Sujin’s presence in that brief moment and come running.
Hyun Sujin, who had suddenly sought me out. And Irina, who had come looking for her.
What answer should I give? The question suddenly felt incredibly difficult.
Telling the truth is technically the best option. But what if Irina saw everything from the start—me talking with Hyun Sujin? She might grow suspicious.
An extremely dangerous Elder had approached, yet there had been no destruction, no terrorist act, just a conversation before she left. Anyone would find that suspicious as hell.
Besides, the moment you were suspected of having any connection to villains, an investigation would begin immediately. And if that connection involved an Elder? It wouldn’t end with a simple trip to the station.
I had only refused a recruitment offer, yet I would end up labeled a potential villain.
Who in their right mind would tell the truth?
If the S-rank standing before me had been Han Jiyun, I would have been honest. But this crazy yellow bitch… she was terrifying on the level of a villain herself. I was half-convinced she might smash my skull in while asking, “Handsome oppa, were you playing with an Elder?”
I made my decision. I would mix truth and lies in just the right amounts.
“If you’re talking about a woman, the only one was someone I bumped into earlier. When I apologized, she cursed me out. That’s all.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Um… Now that I think about it, she did seem to carry a strange aura.”
I answered the question of whether I had met Hyun Sujin with the nuance of “I might have.” Then I wrapped it up by saying there had been no special purpose behind it, only a coincidental clash while passing by.
“Hmmmm…”
Irina stroked her chin, looking deep in thought. My heart pounded for no reason at the sight, but I kept my expression calm.
“Handsome oppa.”
“It’s Baek Seojin.”
“Yeah. Handsome oppa. It really seems like you have a talent for attracting weird people wherever you go.”
Hey, if you put it that way, doesn’t that include you among the “weird people”?
“Was it yesterday? I was doing undercover stakeout work in the entertainment district to catch some villain underlings.”
“Sounds like you’ve been working hard.”
“Thanks. Anyway, while I was there, your name suddenly came up. Something about setting a trap, framing you for sexual harassment to bury you socially, that kind of talk.”
What the hell was this? A trap? Sexual harassment? Social burial?
“Me?”
“Yes. Handsome oppa. Baek Seojin, specifically.”
“What on earth is going on…”
“I was curious too. So I looked into it. Oh! Want to know how? Very quickly! And effectively! I asked those guys’ bodies directly. After giving them a little squeeze, they spilled everything.”
Irina grinned and slyly clenched her fist.
“Say hello. This is ‘Conversation.’ As expected, our ‘Conversation’ solves everything so smoothly!”
…The villains had been right. She really was a crazy woman.
Shadows gathered and scattered repeatedly until they finally took human form.
“Haa.”
After steadying her breath, Hyun Sujin sat down roughly wherever she happened to be. If she had been even a moment slower, she would have run straight into that crazy yellow bitch. No matter how confident she was, Irina was never easy to handle.
I needed more time to talk.
Anywhere she had visited, Irina monitored with terrifying vigilance. In other words, it would be extremely difficult for her and that man—Baek Seojin—to meet again.
As expected, he wasn’t ordinary.
When he had given that probing answer, she had unconsciously used her ability. An extremely stealthy shadow that slipped in without sound or presence. Yet Baek Seojin had sensed its exact direction. He had even calculated its path and attempted to evade.
He was no mediocre amateur. He was clearly someone who had undergone extreme training. The claim that he had survived Kwak Hyuk’s spear was no lie. Hyun Sujin had no choice but to acknowledge that Kwak Hyuk had not gone easy on him.
Perhaps he really… could be connected to the laboratory.
When she had asked if he planned to keep living that way, knowing he would be abandoned, Baek Seojin had answered with a self-mocking tone, as if he had no choice.
"You have no choice, do you, Sujin? This... this is the reason I'm here. The reason we're here."
As the memory of that fading breath and the smile he had once worn in her arms grew distant, Hyun Sujin bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood.