Nymph Oinoi # 12
I was never the type to enjoy eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
To put it plainly, I was actually afraid of it.
The reason was simple enough.
Back in the day, I'd eavesdropped on a group of women talking, and it had ended in absolute disaster.
Thanks to that experience, I did my best to avoid listening in on anyone's private business.
After all, an arrow no one had even fired yet could still end up lodged in my heart.
Which is why, when voices started drifting out of Yoo Ari's break room, I was about to turn right back around. If two people were having a private conversation, eavesdropping was out of the question.
━Just give me five minutes! I'll pay you whatever you want!
━Sir, it's not about the money. I get off at six. I have plans.
━Then cancel them. What could possibly be more important than seeing me?
What was I supposed to do in a situation like this?
What if the people inside were in the middle of some kind of standoff?
While I stood there torn, a crash sounded from inside the break room.
Then came a woman's shriek.
My hesitation lasted exactly zero seconds longer. I flung the door open.
The hinges squealed.
Inside, I saw a man gripping the wrist of Yoo Ari, who was dressed in a white lab coat.
"…Sunbae?"
Yoo Ari's round eyes went wide when she spotted me. A moment later, the man — Lee Jeonghun — released her wrist and frowned. "Who's this? This is a private space."
I was stunned.
Lee Jeonghun. Had he forgotten me?
We'd gone into a rift together. I'd covered his back.
Then again, it was more than understandable.
Lee Jeonghun was a third-generation chaebol heir. One of only three S-rank awakeners in all of South Korea. It was hardly a crime for a man like him to forget the face and name of a D-rank nobody he'd known for less than a year. The man was impossibly busy.
He met hundreds, thousands of people a year, exchanging pleasantries and small talk with every one of them. How was he supposed to remember my face?
Pap—
Yoo Ari yanked her arm free of his grip and came straight over to me.
"Sunbae, were you waiting long? There was just… a small issue. But it's all wrapped up now, so let's go. You do like offal, right? I know a place that does it really well!"
Slip—
Without so much as a by-your-leave, she looped her arm through mine.
Just as I was starting to panic about a woman latching onto me like this, Yoo Ari leaned in and murmured, in a voice pitched for my ears alone, "Just play along for a minute."
I considered myself a reasonably tactful person, so I decided to go along with this bizarre little theater. It didn't hurt that the apple scent of her shampoo, mixed with something floral, smelled genuinely pleasant.
Perfume, maybe?
Either way, it smelled nice.
A promising B-rank turned public health physician — she'd surely made good money, which meant expensive perfume. I was just thinking I might as well breathe it in for all it was worth when we managed to make our escape from the building.
Yoo Ari didn't let go of my arm until we'd slipped into an empty back alley, well away from the crowd.
Walking arm-in-arm with a woman in a white lab coat, it turned out, drew a lot more stares than I'd anticipated. I was starting to feel vaguely embarrassed and completely at a loss.
"Isn't this far enough?"
When I asked in the quiet alley, Yoo Ari glanced around, let out a long whew, and finally detached herself from me.
Then she pressed her palms together in front of her, those big eyes of hers going just a little watery, and bowed her head.
"I'm so sorry. That must have thrown you. That Lee Jeonghun bastard just barged into the break room and started making demands, and… honestly, you saved me. I was about to be stuck dealing with him."
She took a few steadying breaths, as if shaking off the awkwardness from every angle at once. My curiosity, ordinary and unremarkable as it was, got the better of me.
"Sounds like you two keep in touch? Were you close? Because from what I remember, you and Lee Jeonghun never really ran in the same circles…."
I replayed the old memories in my head.
Back then, Yoo Ari had been a high school girl and a fairly passive one at that, while Lee Jeonghun had already been one of the golden boys.
A quiet schoolgirl, and a chaebol heir who'd been handed everything he'd ever wanted from the day he was born.
Aside from being on the same squad, the only things their lives had in common were that they were both pretty, I supposed. Well — good-looking.
But then again….
While I'd been stuck treading water at D-rank, the two of them had been riding high, climbing all the way to C and B. I figured their paths must have crossed plenty of times since.
Yoo Ari, of course, acted like I'd suggested something scandalous.
"Me and Lee Jeonghun? We're not like that! Please don't get the wrong idea! I'm not even dating anyone! Guys like him make my skin crawl!"
"Really? No, no — I wasn't asking if you were dating. I was asking whether you two normally kept in touch. So why is one of the most famous men in Korea hassling you…?"
She vehemently denied any romance between them, but honestly?
Yoo Ari was a cute, guileless beauty. Back in her high school days, she'd still had some baby fat on her, all soft and round and adorable.
But now, past twenty and a proper member of the working world, Yoo Ari was beautiful by anyone's standards. If Seo Yerim's beauty was sharp and urbane, Yoo Ari's was its polar opposite.
Their styles were so completely different that their fandoms had split down perfectly opposing lines, and I remembered just how ferociously the two camps used to tear each other apart online.
Soon Yoo Ari spoke up.
"It's just… Lee Jeonghun's a celebrity, you know? Every now and then he comes by and insists on getting some kind of examination that can never be made public. Something a famous face can't let the press find out about. I guess today was one of those days."
A drug screening, maybe?
Or, hmm… an azoospermia test?
With my imagination stretched to its limit, those were the only "confidential examinations" I could come up with.
"Anyway — sunbae! Let's go! Oh, did you drive here by any chance?"
A car?
The question stung a little.
Yoo Ari had probably just assumed I'd have one. After all, I was twenty-seven, and I'd been working as an awakener since I was barely out of my teens.
But the truth was, I didn't have a car. I didn't even have a house — I was renting.
"I'm a pedestrian."
Yoo Ari flinched like she'd been genuinely startled.
Then she laughed and said, "Sunbae, you don't have a car either? Me neither! We're so alike!" with a playful grin.
Of course, her "pedestrian" and my "pedestrian" existed under very different circumstances.
I couldn't own a car. Yoo Ari simply didn't.
"When you were a B-rank hunter, the pay was incredible, wasn't it? And your work as a public health examiner must bring in a fair amount too. Why never bought one?"
"Oh, I just… never really liked driving."
We flagged a taxi and made our way to a tucked-away alley where office workers usually held their after-work dinners. Wandering down the street, we came across a modest, well-worn barbecue joint — the kind of place that specialized in offal cuts.
Sizzle—
Yoo Ari handled the grill with practiced ease.
I'd have expected a woman like her — the type to go on dates with wealthy men and slice up premium beef somewhere with a skyline view — to look surreal flipping pig offal over a greasy tabletop grill, fanning away the smoke. But somehow, she didn't.
"Want me to do that?"
"Nope. I never eat meat anyone else grills. Do you have any idea how sharp my five senses got after my mana awakened? I can nail the exact moment for the most perfect sear."
Sizzle—
Her technique flipping the meat was honestly impressive.
It was only then that I remembered Yoo Ari's special ability was called Super-Sense.
Where Seo Yerim commanded flames, Yoo Ari had been a type who relied on extraordinary physical prowess to read and navigate any situation.
Completely different types.
Both phenomenal prospects.
So why had she quit fieldwork to become a public health examiner?
Had her growth stalled, like mine did?
I was curious about a dozen things, but none of them felt like questions I could just ask.
"Sunbae, look — everything's done cooking."
Yoo Ari slid the finished meat onto an empty dish and held it out to me. Swallowing my embarrassment at being served by a junior, I dunked a piece in the ssamjang and popped it into my mouth — and my eyes flew wide open.
"Wow. You really did cook this perfectly."
This wasn't me being polite about someone who'd grilled for me. The meat was genuinely, remarkably well done. How was that even possible?
When I asked, Yoo Ari looked positively proud of herself.
"See? I told you I'm good at this. Nobody else can make it taste like this. My senses are just too sensitive — I'm honestly a little picky when it comes to food!"
Regardless.
And so, in that spirit, I happily stuffed my face with everything she grilled, devouring piece after piece.
Neither of us was much of a drinker, but whether it was the heat of the charcoal smoke or something else, by the time both our faces had flushed a deep red, Yoo Ari spoke up.
"Congratulations, sunbae. On making C-rank. I'd heard you never gave up, even all this time…. So I suppose now you'll be training even harder, and pushing into T-rank rifts more and more?"
"Probably? It's just… things are different from back in the day. Honestly, I have no idea how C-rank and B-rank hunters live these days. I wonder how much I'll actually make…."
I'd be able to take on far more work than I could at D-rank, which meant my rate should jump considerably too.
While I was smacking my lips over that thought all by myself, Yoo Ari spoke up.
"Personally? I'd rather you didn't go back to fieldwork. The higher you climb, the more of the ugly, cutthroat underside you end up seeing. Every job that pays a fortune has a reason behind it."
"Is that so?"
As she said it, Yoo Ari's expression was faintly tearful — and yet dead serious underneath. I suspected she wasn't just talking about me. That this was really her own story creeping out.
Had Yoo Ari really stalled at B-rank because the world above had been too dirty and underhanded for her?
"Sunbae, if it's money you need, look into something else. Once you're C-rank, I could even introduce you to a place I know. What they do is…."
Yoo Ari pulled a business card wallet out of her bag and started thumbing through it.
I gently stopped her.
"I appreciate the thought, really. But… I want to throw myself at this as far as I can go. I only just made C-rank — if I don't even try for what's above it, that'd be a waste. You have to grab a chance when it's in front of you."
I was curious how far I could actually go.
And besides, I genuinely loved the thrill of exploring rifts, of putting myself on the line.
It made me an adventurer, didn't it? Adventuring through strange, unknown worlds.
Whatever else you said about rifts, they were danger, plain and simple.
And there was something deeply satisfying about snuffing out that danger and pulling people to safety.
"Still, Yoo Ari — you've really grown up. The girl who did nothing but cry and get scared back in high school is out here offering to introduce me to jobs. Time really does fly."
My admiration was completely genuine.
Yoo Ari covered her mouth with one hand and burst out laughing. Puhuhu—
"Of course. I'm an adult now. Do you have any idea how much of an adult I've become—"
Mid-sentence, Yoo Ari stopped.
Then she let out a long, quiet breath. "Hoo…."
About five seconds must have passed.
Then a man appeared in the doorway of the offal barbecue joint.
His crisp, immaculate suit stuck out against the greasy little restaurant like a peacock in a henhouse — he blended in not at all.
Lee Jeonghun dragged a chair back from our table with a scrape and sat down uninvited.
"Yoo Ari, you said you were busy — and here you are wasting time in a dump like this. I'm hurt. We talked about marriage once, you and I. Or have you forgotten?"
"Don't spout nonsense! That was something your people went ahead and talked about on their own! And if you cause a scene in a place like this, you're only humiliating yourselves, aren't you? Do everyone a favor and leave quietly."
Yoo Ari's voice was calm — but for some reason, a chill crawled up my spine. Lee Jeonghun seemed to feel it too; he tensed almost imperceptibly, licked his dry lips, and shifted his gaze to me.
Then he spoke.
"Now I remember you. Ha Ildo, D-rank, right? Sorry to interrupt your date. I just need to borrow the doctor here for about five minutes. That's all. It'll be quick. What do you say?"
His attitude was insufferably arrogant.
He'd been like this ever since the days when I was D-rank and he was F — no, even before that.
And now, with nothing left that I held over him, Lee Jeonghun looked at me like I was beneath him entirely.
"Five minutes is something you could concede, isn't it?"
"Why are you asking me? Ask the person it concerns."
"Five minutes! That's all! Yoo Ari's always listened to you, hasn't she!"
Lee Jeonghun suddenly roared.
People's eyes were already drifting toward us; now every head in the place turned. He was one of the most famous men in Korea — was it really all right for him to be shouting in a public restaurant like this?
And here I thought celebrities and public figures knew how to manage their image.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Lee Jeonghun added, his eyes bloodshot — from the smoke, perhaps:
"Ahem — it'll be over before you know it. Just five— cough… hahk? Haa, khhup, heuk… haak…!"
Lee Jeonghun clutched at his own throat. Like someone choking mid-meal, he coughed violently, and he looked to be in terrible distress.
Then he collapsed to the floor, his whole body trembling.
Just as I was wondering what on earth was happening, Yoo Ari reacted as if startled, seized Lee Jeonghun by the throat, checked his airway, and said:
"…What is this? It looks like an allergic reaction. We should get him to a hospital—"
"Damn it, no hospital! No hospitals…!"
Lee Jeonghun raged like an angry dokkaebi spirit.
And with those final words, he passed out.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and I stood there helplessly while Yoo Ari picked up a call from somewhere.
After listening to the voice on the other end for about a minute, Yoo Ari answered calmly, "Understood," then turned to me.
"Sunbae, I'm sorry, but I have to go ahead. And — I hate to ask, but could you help me support Lee Jeonghun out? There's a car waiting outside."
"Yeah."
I propped Lee Jeonghun up and hauled him out of the restaurant. A single black car sat waiting outside — an extraordinarily expensive-looking one.
Men in black suits materialized, took Lee Jeonghun off my hands, and loaded him into the car like they were stuffing luggage into a trunk.
And then Yoo Ari climbed into the passenger seat.
Vrooom—
At last, the car pulled away.
Watching it disappear, I found my feelings settling into something strange and murky.
What on earth had just happened?
An allergic reaction, out of nowhere?
━Keong-keong!
Just then, something shot out of my pocket.
Keongkeongi, with his brown striped fur.
"Wait, what — when did you even get here!"