Sword Saint Yeo Seon-hui
In the Hunter Association president's office, a familiar guest had taken her usual spot on the sofa today as well. Yeo Seon-hui sat there, staring blankly at the ceiling as if it were her rightful place.
Hunter Association President Jeong Beom-ho glanced at her sidelong while tirelessly reading and processing the documents piled in front of him. She looked utterly spaced out. He'd specially replaced the glass window she'd shattered before with a sliding glass door that only she could open and close, yet today she'd come in quietly through the building lobby. It made him wonder if the sun would rise in the west tomorrow.
"So... you met him?"
"Yeah... I did meet him, but..."
Yeo Seon-hui's response carried a note of bewilderment. Normally, the moment she laid eyes on him, she'd chatter endlessly about the new guy—how he was, what kind of person he seemed like. Jeong Beom-ho swallowed his questions. Even after he spoke, she didn't glance his way, still counting invisible stars on the ceiling. No matter how he looked at it, she didn't seem normal.
Finally, he set down his pen, rose from his chair, and connected his communicator to ask his secretary for coffee before sitting directly in front of her.
"You seem really off today... Is the new S-rank some kind of lunatic or what?"
"Lunatic... doesn't seem like it."
Yeo Seon-hui tilted her head at his words.
"He's either a lunatic or he's not. What's with the 'doesn't seem like'?"
"Well, he doesn't seem like one..."
"...Then did he turn out to have a personality from hell?"
"Hmm... He might actually be decent...?"
"Then what's the problem?"
"Argh... I don't know either, old man..."
As she clutched her head with both hands and shook it, Jeong Beom-ho could only stare at her with eyes full of puzzlement. Savoring the aroma of the coffee his secretary had brought, he spoke up.
"What on earth happened?"
Yeo Seon-hui gave him a brief glance before turning back to the ceiling, lost in recollection of that morning's events at the mansion...
The chaotic storm of morning events had finally settled with Shin Ye-hwa's arrival and apparent approval.
Yeo Seon-hui slumped on the sofa, feeling utterly drained of strength. Seong Ye-han and the bob-cut woman ignored her and headed upstairs together, clearly intent on resuming their sticky, lewd activities from moments before.
Even now, some time later, Yeo Seon-hui couldn't fathom how such a relationship was possible, but she decided to set it aside for the moment. In a way, she was just an outsider, and human relationships could seem bizarre from the outside but persist as long as the parties involved consented.
As she calmed her mind, how much time passed? She hadn't noticed amid the bewilderment, but objectively, quite a bit had gone by when the pair returned downstairs—Seong Ye-han and Shin Ye-hwa.
The lewd bob-cut woman they'd gone up with was nowhere in sight, and seeing Seong Ye-han with Shin Ye-hwa tucked under his arm left Yeo Seon-hui dumbfounded, though she held back from voicing it. Their appearances screamed that they'd just had a steamy romp, proving Shin Ye-hwa's morning embrace hadn't been a fluke. Shin Ye-hwa's sweat-dampened hair was tied back haphazardly, her skin plump and dewy, cheeks still flushed peach-like with lingering heat as she clung to his arm. Seong Ye-han exuded the satisfied air of a well-fed predator, lounging in his chair like a lion in the shade.
This is insane... Yeo Seon-hui gave up on thinking or understanding.
Then his voice reached her.
"Alright, time to settle up then, right? Senior."
"Senior...?"
Caught off guard by the unexpected address, Yeo Seon-hui's mind reeled just as Seong Ye-han continued.
"Well... you came at me first yesterday, so that's that. Let's just wrap this up clean—no hard feelings, no grudges."
His words were far more straightforward and tidy than she'd expected, and she nodded. Given the morning's chaos, she'd half-braced for some harsh demand, but this was harmless and concise. He'd brought her collapsed form home instead of dumping her on the street, even fed her a potion to recover—not to mention this clean closure now. Minus the promiscuity she'd witnessed, he seemed decent enough. Apologizing felt natural.
"Right... I'm sorry for yesterday. No, I apologize. I was rude to a stranger. Please forgive me. It won't happen again."
She stood straight, bowing slowly but clearly to both of them. Her sincere, impeccable apology even surprised Seong Ye-han. Shin Ye-hwa, who'd eyed her sharply, said nothing. Since the fight stemmed from an insult to her, and she seemed satisfied, he decided to end things with Yeo Seon-hui here.
"Uh... yeah. Senior. Let's call it even then. We'll nod hello if we cross paths. Drop the formalities too..."
"Sure... no, yeah."
His flustered reaction struck her as cute, so she added,
"Call me noona."
"Pardon?"
"'Senior' feels so distant. We're two of the rare S-ranks in this country. We'll be seeing each other a lot."
"Hmm..."
"Enough."
As Seong Ye-han and Yeo Seon-hui teetered into a playful, oddly intimate vibe, Shin Ye-hwa cut in.
The sharp interruption made both flinch involuntarily. Watching their reactions, she spoke.
"Oppa, go upstairs for a bit."
"Huh?"
"The girls need to talk from here on."
At her firm gaze, Seong Ye-han shrugged and stood. Feud or not, some things the two women involved had to sort out themselves. He left hoping the house wouldn't collapse.
In the silence after he departed, Yeo Seon-hui frankly couldn't warm to Shin Ye-hwa, even if she'd made peace with Seong Ye-han. The morning's turmoil had only deepened her sense of the woman's bizarre mindset, so she couldn't speak first. With the duel terms and words exchanged, she wouldn't antagonize openly, but they had no closeness for chummy chat.
As she hesitated, Shin Ye-hwa spoke first.
"Auntie— no, unni."
"Huh? Unni?!"
Unni? Did I hear that right? Yeo Seon-hui stared, feeling more shocked in a day than in her whole life.
Shin Ye-hwa still eyed her sharply.
"Haa..."
She sighed deeply, eyes closing, then met Yeo Seon-hui's gaze again.
"I know full well how much of a trash bitch I used to be."
Another bombshell left Yeo Seon-hui's heart nearly stopping from sheer surprise.
"I get why you lost it at me... and what shitty thing I did back then..."
"R... really?"
Eyes darting in confusion, Yeo Seon-hui watched Shin Ye-hwa approach. Their eyes met—black and violet. The black ones clouded with unprecedented fluster, while the violet shone clear and vivid.
"My karma coming back to me? Fine. But dragging an innocent like oppa into it... that's just..."
Her words trailed off. Yeo Seon-hui clearly saw the faint sheen of tears in her eyes.
After a pause, Shin Ye-hwa continued.
"I know you hang out with that old guy a lot. Say what you want about me. But for oppa... judge him fairly, without bias."
"You..."
This whole scene felt alien to Yeo Seon-hui. Was this really her Shin Ye-hwa, or had she fallen victim to some mental ability herself? Yet the sincerity was undeniable—regret for past wrongs not harming others, anxiety, guilt, and clear affection.
"You've... changed."
That day, Yeo Seon-hui thought if any woman was truly smitten, it was the one before her. With Shin Ye-hwa like this, maybe reclaiming S-rank wouldn't be so bad? A ridiculous notion, but novels called love the world's strongest power—perhaps they were right.
"Haa... No need to worry. I'm not the type to hold a grudge over this. Never thought badly of him to begin with."
"Good to hear."
Seeing Shin Ye-hwa smile shyly, Yeo Seon-hui felt a heavy weight in her heart melt away. It was over. A woman in love was devastatingly beautiful, even to another woman.
One question lingered, though.
"Then what's with the bob-cut girl?"
Hesitant, Yeo Seon-hui asked. Shin Ye-hwa pressed a finger to her lips.
"That's... a secret."
With that, the women's talk ended.
After that, Yeo Seon-hui had no grounds as a third party to meddle, so she kept quiet about Seong Ye-han's relationships, chalking it up to some reason. But fate made a fool of her resolve soon enough.
"You... you!"
Not Shin Ye-hwa, not the bob-cut beauty, but a fresh, athletic beauty with healthy tanned skin tucked under his arm—Seong Ye-han again.
"Noona?"
"Don't call me noona, you playboy! Ye-hwa feels sorry for you! You jerk!"