Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
As Sang-hyeok stepped off onto the floor housing the hotel restaurant, a staff member approached him.
"Mr. Kim Sang-hyeok? Your companion is already here."
The staff member turned.
Yun Chae-rin, who had been seated by the lounge window, rose from her seat.
A beige jacket and neatly tied-back long hair.
Aside from a small ornament on her ear, there were no conspicuous accessories.
Even so, people around her naturally found their eyes drawn to her.
The staff member walking ahead also slowed half a beat after spotting Yun Chae-rin.
Yun Chae-rin was, by anyone's standards, a beautiful woman.
Sang-hyeok had no intention of denying that fact either.
Before the regression, Sang-hyeok hadn't even been able to look Yun Chae-rin in the face.
When she smiled and called his name, his face—and even his earlobes—would flush red, and if she came even one step closer, he would subtly avert his gaze.
Still, when she asked him something, he would end up sharing even personal details she hadn't asked about, wanting to look good in her eyes.
It had been the same even after he'd been judged a Conditional Awakener.
That he was searching for his Awakening Condition.
That he'd failed the test again.
Even that he would definitely become a player someday, no matter what.
Yun Chae-rin knew that if she just smiled a little and asked, Sang-hyeok would tell her anything.
"You're here?"
Yun Chae-rin smiled faintly.
That smile alone would have made the old Sang-hyeok slow to answer.
"Yeah."
Sang-hyeok answered shortly.
Yun Chae-rin gazed for a moment at Sang-hyeok's face, composed unlike before, then followed the staff member farther inside.
The two entered the room the staff member opened for them and sat facing each other across a table.
The staff member set a menu in front of each of them and quietly left.
Click.
As the door closed, the clatter of dishes and piano music from the outer hall grew faint.
Yun Chae-rin opened her menu.
"As I said last time, let's start by talking about us while we eat today."
"Sure."
"There's nothing you can't eat, right?"
"You decide, Chae-rin."
"You're just the same as before."
The smile at the corner of Yun Chae-rin's lips deepened slightly.
"Whenever I chose for you, you'd eat without a word."
"I did."
Sang-hyeok lifted his water glass and took a sip.
Yun Chae-rin waited for him to continue, but even after setting the glass down, Sang-hyeok didn't open his mouth.
After a brief silence, Yun Chae-rin lowered her gaze to the menu.
After choosing the food, she pressed the call button.
Once the staff member who took the order left the room, Yun Chae-rin looked at Sang-hyeok again.
"Your face looks much better."
"Does it?"
"Yes. I was a little surprised at the verification hall too."
Yun Chae-rin looked straight into Sang-hyeok's eyes.
There was a warmth in her voice that hadn't been there when she usually spoke to Sang-hyeok.
"You seem very different from the Sang-hyeok I knew."
"I quit drinking."
"That doesn't seem to be the only reason."
She folded her hands neatly on the table.
As she leaned forward, the distance between them closed.
In the past too, Yun Chae-rin would lean in close and smile like this whenever she wanted to ask something.
Faced with that smile, Sang-hyeok would avert his gaze but ultimately give her the answer she wanted.
"Are you helping with Ilseong work these days too?"
"Only what's necessary."
"Is that why you were in the technical section of the verification hall?"
"There was something I needed to help with."
"I didn't know you were interested in equipment."
Yun Chae-rin didn't press the question.
She lifted her water glass as if waiting for Sang-hyeok to add more on his own.
But Sang-hyeok didn't explain further.
A brief silence passed.
Yun Chae-rin set her glass down.
"By any chance..."
Her voice softened a little more.
"Did you find your Awakening Condition?"
Rumors that Sang-hyeok had recently awakened were already spreading by word of mouth.
Denying that fact now would only deepen suspicion.
What needed to be hidden was the nature of his Trait and the fact that he was the Undisclosed player who had achieved the impossible feat.
"I found it."
Yun Chae-rin's eyes widened slightly.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I awakened."
"Congratulations."
A bright smile spread across her face.
It was an expression the pre-regression Sang-hyeok had wanted to see many times.
But now it stirred nothing in him.
Sang-hyeok also remembered the look in Yun Chae-rin's eyes as she watched him for the last time after Ilseong collapsed.
There was no reason to attach any other meaning to that smile now.
"What kind of Trait is it?"
The expected question followed.
"I have no intention of telling you that."
Yun Chae-rin's smile paused ever so slightly.
"Not even to me?"
She smiled again and added.
"We're engaged, after all."
Sang-hyeok's gaze dropped to her left hand.
An engagement ring was on her slender finger.
Following Sang-hyeok's gaze, Yun Chae-rin also looked down at her ring.
Her finger slowly traced the smooth surface of the ring.
"Thinking about it, I think I was quite indifferent."
"All of a sudden?"
"Even after our families arranged the engagement, we've barely ever met properly."
She paused briefly, as if choosing her words.
"I rarely contacted you first, and I never really tried to find out how you were doing."
"That's true."
"And we barely had time to get to know each other."
Yun Chae-rin's voice grew even softer.
"How about we gradually increase the time we spend together from now on?"
"Time we spend together?"
"Having meals sometimes, talking about what each of us is doing."
She looked at Sang-hyeok and smiled faintly.
"I want to properly learn what kind of person you are too."
Instead of answering, Sang-hyeok quietly watched her smile.
From the moment she'd brought that up, her true intentions were plainly visible.
It was right after she'd confirmed he had awakened and probed whether he'd been involved in fixing the Ilseong equipment.
"For that, I'd like you to open up a little too."
"You want me to open up?"
"Yes. We should start by reducing what we hide from each other, little by little."
It was something the pre-regression Sang-hyeok couldn't even have imagined hearing.
Sang-hyeok asked.
"Before you knew I'd awakened."
Yun Chae-rin's finger stopped on the engagement ring.
"Did you want to get to know me better?"
The smile lingering at her lips froze for an instant.
Yun Chae-rin looked at Sang-hyeok without a word, then soon smiled faintly again.
"Isn't getting to know each other from now on more important than how things were before?"
"You're dodging the question."
"You can't divide someone's feelings that cleanly."
"What I asked is simple."
Sang-hyeok looked into her eyes.
"Whether you had any interest in me even before I awakened."
Yun Chae-rin's hand moved from the engagement ring to the water glass.
"Back then, you wouldn't let anyone get close to you."
"Did you ever try to get close?"
Yun Chae-rin's fingers around the glass stiffened.
Sang-hyeok didn't press for an answer.
Looking back, the number of times Yun Chae-rin had contacted him first could be counted on one hand.
Even when he'd failed the awakening test time and again, drowning in alcohol and shutting himself in his room, she had never once come to see him.
"That was my fault."
Yun Chae-rin was the one who broke the silence first.
"So I'm saying I'll try, starting now."
"Because I've changed?"
"As much as you've changed, our relationship can change too."
"I'm the only one who's changed."
Yun Chae-rin's lips pressed shut for a moment.
"I can change too."
The pre-regression Sang-hyeok would have been shaken by that single sentence.
He would have believed Yun Chae-rin's words about making an effort for their relationship at face value, and thought the two of them still had a chance.
But the current Sang-hyeok already knew how this relationship would end.
He clearly remembered whose side Yun Chae-rin had stood by after Ilseong collapsed.
"There's no need."
Sang-hyeok looked down at his own left hand.
An engagement ring of the same design as Yun Chae-rin's was on his finger.
He pushed the ring off with his thumb.
Clack.
The ring was set down between them.
"Because I have no intention of continuing this relationship."
Yun Chae-rin's gaze, which had lingered on the ring, slowly turned to Sang-hyeok.
"Sang-hyeok."
"Let's break off the engagement."
The smile vanished from Yun Chae-rin's face.
Her grip tightened around the water glass.
"Are you serious right now?"
"Yeah."
"I came here today intending for us to start getting to know each other properly."
"I know."
"And knowing that, you still want to end it?"
"Even if you say you'll try now, my feelings won't change."
Yun Chae-rin couldn't answer right away.
She studied his face for a while, as if trying to determine whether he was testing her.
But Sang-hyeok's expression didn't waver in the slightest.
Only then did Yun Chae-rin set down the water glass.
"What's the reason?"
"I no longer have any desire to continue this relationship."
"Is that all?"
"If I have no intention of getting married, do I need another reason?"
Yun Chae-rin closed her lips for a moment.
"Did you decide this before coming here today?"
"Yeah."
"So you came here planning to break off the engagement from the start."
"That's right."
At the short answer, Yun Chae-rin's expression hardened.
"This isn't just a matter between the two of us. This engagement was decided by both families."
"Still, we're the ones getting married. If I have no intention of marrying, then the engagement has to end too."
"How do you plan to explain it to both families?"
"We can just say we mutually agreed due to personality differences."
"I never agreed to anything."
Sang-hyeok pushed the ring toward her.
"Then I'll have to state the actual reason."
"What reason?"
Sang-hyeok looked straight at Yun Chae-rin.
"Kang Tae-o."
Yun Chae-rin, who had been biting her lower lip, froze.
She looked at Sang-hyeok for a moment, then composed her expression.
"Why is Director Kang's name coming up here?"
"I'm talking about what kind of relationship you have with him."
"He's just a superior I work with in the same department."
"Is that really all?"
"Nothing more, nothing less."
"Then you can say that in front of both families, right?"
"Are you suspecting something between me and Director Kang right now?"
"Then let's call Kang Tae-o too. If necessary, we can have both legal teams present as well."
The remaining composure vanished from Yun Chae-rin's expression.
"Sang-hyeok, do you know what you're saying?"
"I do."
"If you link Director Kang and me without any basis, both families will be put in a difficult position. Ilseong and Taeseong could even become the subject of rumors."
"Whether there's any basis, we'll find out by checking the messages you two exchanged."
Yun Chae-rin couldn't immediately retort.
She studied Sang-hyeok's face as if trying to figure out how much he knew, but Sang-hyeok said nothing more.
"What do you gain by blowing this up?"
"Nothing. I want to end this quietly too."
"Then what are you proposing?"
"Outside, we say we mutually agreed due to personality differences."
Sang-hyeok continued calmly.
"Instead, we'll draw up a separate private settlement stating that you're responsible for the engagement's dissolution and will pay compensation accordingly. Only the legal representatives of both families need to see it."
"That's me admitting fault."
"Correct."
"Why should I sign such a settlement?"
"If you don't want to, we can reveal everything to both families."
Sang-hyeok leaned back in his chair.
"If you and Kang Tae-o really have nothing between you, there's nothing to hide."
Yun Chae-rin slowly straightened the corner of a crooked napkin, steadying her breathing.
When she spoke again, her voice had become calm.
"So how much do you want?"
That was the end of any explanation regarding Kang Tae-o.
The moment she asked about the amount, Yun Chae-rin's choice became clear.
She intended to quietly bury this matter.
"I don't need money."
At Sang-hyeok's unexpected answer, Yun Chae-rin's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Then what do you want?"
"The Spirit Vein Bracelet."
Yun Chae-rin's finger, which had been pressing the napkin, stopped.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Where I learned it isn't important."
"The fact that Taeseong possesses it has never been disclosed externally."
"Still, it's true that it's in the warehouse."
Yun Chae-rin's eyes narrowed.
"That's a cursed artifact. It drains all of the wearer's mana. Taeseong has attempted to remove the curse multiple times, but all attempts failed."
"I know."
"And you're asking for it knowing that?"
"Yeah."
"Are you planning to wear it yourself?"
"Once it's handed over, I'll handle it."
"If the curse can't be broken, calling it Heroic-grade means nothing. Right now, it's a failed product no one can use."
"Then Taeseong has nothing to lose by giving it up."
Sang-hyeok looked into her eyes.
"Hand over the Spirit Vein Bracelet, and this matter ends here."
Yun Chae-rin didn't answer right away.
If she just handed over one cursed artifact sealed in the warehouse, she could keep her relationship with Kang Tae-o from becoming known to both families.
It wasn't a losing proposition for her either.
"It's Taeseong's property. I can't decide this on my own."
"I know."
Sang-hyeok looked at her phone.
"Ask Kang Tae-o."
Yun Chae-rin's expression hardened again.
"Why Director Kang?"
"You're going to report what happened here to him anyway."
Yun Chae-rin looked at Sang-hyeok for a long moment.
"Are you telling me to contact him right now?"
"Yeah."
In the end, she picked up her phone and rose from her seat.
"I'll check with the company and come back."
Even then, she never said she was going to contact Kang Tae-o.
Sang-hyeok didn't bother pointing it out.
As Yun Chae-rin left, the door closed quietly.
Sang-hyeok looked at the engagement ring placed in front of her seat.
Before the regression, Yun Chae-rin had been the one to return the ring first.
Sang-hyeok had turned away empty-handed, unable to even properly ask why.
This time, Sang-hyeok had set the ring down first.
By the time he left this room, he intended to walk away with ownership of a Heroic-grade artifact as well.
Before long, the door opened.
Yun Chae-rin placed her phone face-down on the table and sat down.
"The transfer of the Spirit Vein Bracelet has been approved."
The initial softness was gone from her voice.
"But there's a condition."