Brother Complex
There's a line people toss out without thinking twice.
It's the kind of thing they say to the absolute bottom-rung washouts at the Awoken Academy.
Why head into dungeons when you don't even have the skill? Looks like that, I'd go be a celebrity.
That body, that face—grinding F-rank and E-rank dungeons forever? Streaming would pay better.
You're pretty enough. Just marry well. Why are you so desperate to throw yourself into dungeons? In an age with hundreds of thousands of Awoken, who even notices a hunter who can't crack the top hundred thousand?
But people only say that because they don't understand.
Awoken grow by entering dungeons. They earn cheers by going in, make money by killing monsters, and only then win the public's support. The ones who tasted the very bottom of the Academy want strength and recognition more desperately than anyone.
Celebrity, streamer, model—those jobs aren't something you just walk into because you're pretty. Suppose the girls on my team ditched dungeon runs, slapped the Awoken title on themselves, and tried to go showbiz on looks alone. Their faces and figures would sit at the absolute top tier. But the moment they abandoned the dungeons, the backlash would be inevitable and vicious.
Victims of gate overflows and their families, ordinary civilians—everyone would say the same thing: You have power. Why aren't you using it properly?
In a world that already rips Olympic stars and professionals apart for quitting their real jobs to play celebrity, civilians will never tolerate Awoken who are supposed to protect lives clowning around on TV. Going into dungeons is treated as the natural order of things. Every welfare benefit and support package for Awoken is paid for with taxes collected so ordinary people can stay safe.
So how does Jang Ahra appear on television and work as a model?
The answer is obvious. She has already fulfilled—and continues to fulfill—exactly the role the public wants from an Awoken. She risks her life in unknown dungeons, kills monsters, and clears bosses. Even if she never wanted the spotlight, the public started supporting her, loving her, cheering for her. As long as she keeps heading into dungeons, that support will never run dry.
In other words, the ones who already have everything get more of it—and praise on top. The ones with no power and nothing to their name do the exact same work and still get cursed for it. Even if the gap is pure natural talent, they're treated like they never tried.
Of course, that rule isn't limited to the world of Awoken.
"From now on, answer only the questions I ask."
Jang Ahra sat at the absolute top tier of Awoken, looking like she already owned the world. So what the hell was she thinking, tormenting her own little brother?
From the way things were going, the odds were high she'd been deeply involved in everything Jang Yong suffered at the Academy. Remembering my conversation with the Deputy Head, it was practically a hundred percent certain.
"Name?"
"Hello. I'm Kang Junghyeok, manager of F-Team. The team Jang Yong is on—"
"And you?"
"Kim Isol."
"Why were you tailing me?"
"We were tailing Deputy Head Park. You were never—"
"Why were you eavesdropping?"
"Because it looked suspicious."
My heart clenched. The fear that washed over me was worse than anything I'd felt facing anyone else. That extremely calm voice only made her strength more obvious. I had the power to nullify her strength with a thought, and still the atmosphere she radiated crushed me. Honestly, putting a hand on this woman's body in a situation like this felt almost impossible.
"Hmm... Maybe I should just kill you after all."
"May I say one thing?"
"Go ahead."
"Did you hear that I wanted to meet with Jang Yong?"
I needed to map out the relationship between Jang Yong and this woman. I already knew they were blood siblings, but I had to know whether they got along or hated each other. Only then would I have any chance—words, leverage, anything—to get out of this alive.
Jang Ahra was wearing sunglasses. Reading her thoughts was nearly impossible.
"I heard. But why should I bother meeting you?"
"I wanted to offer counseling for Jang Yong's growth."
"Unnecessary. You're not even Awoken. This isn't your business."
The woman was ice. Cold as a frozen lake. And yet she was one of the people who received the public's love in bulk. Even her relationship with her own brother Jang Yong didn't look particularly warm.
So what was the goal? With her level of wealth, there was no reason to torment her brother over family inheritance. Then why the hell was she making his life hell?
I started seriously weighing what question to ask next. While I was thinking, Jang Ahra turned to Kim Isol.
"You're on the same team, right?"
"So what if I am?"
The situation was turning ugly. Knowing Isol's personality, she wouldn't bend an inch even if the other party was a powerhouse. If the two women actually started fighting, we were finished. No healer nearby.
"Got some fire in you."
"You're one to talk."
"No fear either? Do you even know who I am?"
The staring contest between the two women was no joke. Actual skill was completely one-sided, of course, but Isol wasn't the type to care about that—and there was a high chance she had no idea who she was talking to in the first place.
"Is there a reason I should?"
"Both of you, that's enough. Miss Jang Ahra! We need to get back. Let's stop here. I'll take good care of supporting Jang Yong, so—"
Someone came up the stairs from the floor below. Apparently word of the commotion upstairs had reached them—a person who looked like café staff appeared. The "commotion" wasn't our current standoff; it was the wooden table Jang Ahra had smashed.
"Sorry. How much for that table?"
The sudden politeness suggested Jang Ahra wasn't a complete lunatic. Which meant she was angry specifically because we'd eavesdropped on her conversation...
She told the staff she would pay ten times the original price of the table, and to go downstairs immediately. She was renting the entire second floor for the next hour, so take every customer down with them. And under no circumstances was anyone to be sent back up.
She had that much money? She was throwing it around like water.
What the hell was she planning to do to us?
Whether the staff member realized she was Awoken or simply recognized the Jang Ahra who appeared on TV all the time, they cheerfully agreed and headed downstairs. Wait—was that the owner, not staff? Making decisions that freely?
I felt the situation growing more serious by the second and my pulse sped up. I repeated the line the staff interruption had cut off: I needed to return to the company right now.
The answer I got was this:
"This isn't the time to be worrying about your company."
"I'm sorry, but aren't you the Jang Ahra who appears on television? Is this your normal personality?"
"What's wrong with my personality?"
"It's completely high-handed, isn't it? You don't seem to understand how terrifying internet comments can be."
"If I were scared of that, I never would have gone on TV in the first place. And what business is it of yours?"
"Jang Yong is on our team. You're Yong's older sister, right?"
I deliberately acted familiar with Jang Yong, just to see how she would react. The reaction I got was nothing like what I'd expected. It was more like a violently jealous girlfriend.
"Yong? Who gave you permission to call someone else's little brother by name so casually?!"
What?
They weren't on bad terms?
Had I completely misread this?
"He and I already agreed to call each other hyung and dongsaeng."
"Don't make me laugh! There's no way my Yong would ever say that!"
The thick scent of brother complex was practically rolling off her. I floated a few of the realizations I'd just made as casual questions.
"Doesn't it worry you at all, as his noona?"
"Why? What happened to my Yong?"
"It seemed like someone out there really hates him... Ah, never mind. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it myself."
"What is it? Spit it out! What happened to my Yong?"
The atmosphere was completely different from when she'd first grabbed us from behind. No—not just different. It was like she was a different person entirely. Isol clearly felt it too; she was staring at Jang Ahra with an expression of pure disbelief.
"Yes. From what I heard, someone deposited a large sum of money with our company and ordered them to keep Jang Yong locked on F-Team. You wouldn't pay that kind of money unless you truly hated him, right?"
"......"
The moment Jang Ahra realized the story was about her, her expression turned extremely serious. And then it was my turn to get serious—because this bitch suddenly decided she was going to kill us.
"That story can never reach Yong's ears. So the two of you are going to die right here."
"Um... Yong's noona. I'm sorry, but that joke is going a little too far..."
"Sorry. I'm serious. Yong can never know his noona is this kind of person."
What kind of person are you, exactly? Are you some kind of serial killer?
Watching Jang Ahra suddenly shift into combat stance, her face going cold and hard, every nerve in my body stood on end.
"This woman is that guy's sister?"
Why the hell was Isol jumping in at this exact moment? Just shut up for a second. I'll handle it—don't make this bigger than it already is. I shot Isol a look that screamed close your damn mouth while scanning her face with a scowl.
"Answer me. Is this woman Jang Yong's sister or not?!"
"Yes. She is."
"Oh. Is that all? I thought it was someone important. Completely different personality from her little brother."
Isol's final remark must have hit a nerve. Jang Ahra's face twisted with rage. She looked ready to throw a fist straight at Isol. Realizing I was about to lose my slave, I scrambled for a solution.
"Huh? Yong? Weren't you supposed to go home?"
I said it while looking toward the stairs leading down to the first floor. Pure, desperate method acting meant to save Isol's life—Oscar-nomination-worthy performance.
Jang Ahra, startled and flustered, hurriedly hid her fist behind her hip and swept her gaze around searching for her little brother. Of course she couldn't find him. It was a bluff.
It took her less than five seconds to realize I was lying. Less than three seconds for her face to contort with the kind of rage that wanted to devour me whole. And less than one second for her attack to reach my face.
The time I needed to erase her mana: 0.1 seconds. More than enough.
She must have held back because she thought I was an ordinary civilian; the force was something my shield could fully absorb. I didn't take a single scratch. If she'd used her real power, my shield probably wouldn't have soaked all the damage—I might have been badly hurt or dead. The fact that she hadn't thrown that kind of attack suggested Jang Ahra wasn't as rotten as her mouth made her sound. She just had an extreme attachment to her little brother.
"Kyaa—!"
She screamed. Isol had told me recently that the sensation of suddenly losing your mana felt like standing naked in front of other people. If that was how it felt for Isol with F-rank mana, the shock for Jang Ahra had to be several times worse. The way she was clutching her chest with both arms told me everything I needed to know about her current state.
By the way—A-class mana at stage 9. Raid teams really weren't something just anyone could join. She had a whole collection of skills too.
"Wh-what did you just do? What did you do to me... Are you actually Awoken?"
"No. Please don't scream. You'll startle the people downstairs."
"H-how... my mana..."
"First, stand up and sit in a chair. If you listen carefully to what I say, I'll give your mana back."
Isol, hearing our exchange, finally seemed to grasp how the situation was turning. She must have figured Jang Ahra's mana had vanished because she'd attacked me. She'd heard the explanation—and experienced it herself—enough times by now.
"What, you lost your mana? Why don't you try throwing a tantrum like earlier?"
"Kim Isol. Could you please sit quietly? Do you want to lose your mana too?"
"Sorry..."
At last both women sat quietly in their chairs. Whether it was because she was Awoken or something else, no one came up from downstairs even after Jang Ahra's scream.
And so I was finally able to have a proper conversation with Jang Ahra.
"Miss Jang Ahra. Let me ask just one thing first. Why are you doing this to your little brother?"
"......"
"If you don't answer, you won't be getting your mana back."
"...Because I don't want him to be in danger."
"What?"
"I know better than anyone how dangerous dungeons are. It never made the news or the internet because it's classified, but I've already lost three teammates inside dungeons this year alone."
"Ah... I see."
"I just didn't want Yong going into dangerous places."
"So you manipulated his grades at the Academy too? Using your reputation as a raid team member?"
"Yes..."
Now the whole picture was coming together.
"Then why specifically try to move him to a different team at our company? Senior Kim Chan-il's team and mine are both F-Team—there's no real difference."
"......"
"Answer me. Are you planning to never get your mana back?"
"I never imagined a Transcendent would be in a place like this..."
Jang Ahra was mistaking me for a Transcendent. Transcendents—heroes who had broken past the limits of Awoken. I'd heard there were seven known Transcendents in South Korea. Rumors online claimed there were two or three more who stayed hidden.
"Just answer my question."
"Your team is all women. What if some fox of a girl seduces my Yong? That's why I asked them to move him to another team. That one's all male Awoken."
What?
This was a full-blown severe case...
Brother complex...
So it wasn't that she hated her little brother. She loved him so much she was trying to keep him out of dangerous places—and keep him away from women—by doing all of this?
Absurd.
But it didn't matter. The reason I'd come here today—the reason I'd tracked down the person sponsoring our company—was only one thing.
Money.
I'd followed the scent of money to this exact seat.
"Miss Jang Ahra. How about dropping the company sponsorship and sponsoring me personally instead? I'll handle Jang Yong exactly the way you want. I can even arrange things so he never sheds a single drop of blood—maximum safety. So... would you consider sponsoring me directly?"
Well? What are you going to do?