Cha Dohui (2)

The luxuriously appointed lobby of The Central — Building 101, first floor, of that premium apartment complex.

A throng of people had gathered there.

The reason was simple enough.

Whoa, it's really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cha Dohui. Cha Dohui.

Ahhh! I never thought I'd actually get to see Cha Dohui in person!

Damn, she's even more stunning in real life.

They had come to see Cha Dohui.

Which, if you thought about it, was only natural. No matter how premium the construction, people still lived here — and people came with human curiosity. Of course, that curiosity was exercised with a certain amount of tact. It had to be. The men surrounding her looked, at a glance, like the sort you did not want to cross. These were not mere aides. These were people with real combat power, assembled to protect and assist a single woman: Cha Dohui, currently ranked number one among Korea's official Hunters and a name that cracked the global top ten.

Cha Dohui addressed them with her usual blank expression.

"I'll be heading in now. You're free to go."

"Understood."

They dispersed at once. She stepped into the elevator and rode it straight to the top floor where she lived.

— Ding.

The chime announced her arrival. Before her stood a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠single, firmly shut door. On the penthouse floor she occupied, there were no other units — just that one door, standing alone.

Cha Dohui punched in the passcode with practiced ease and stepped inside. The moment she was home, the composed mask she had worn loosened, just a fraction.

"Haa… finally home."

She shrugged off the coat she had been wearing and tossed it straight onto the floor. For reference, that coat cost roughly twice the annual salary of a senior executive at a major conglomerate. Anyone else would have recoiled in horror. She did not care in the slightest. And why would she? What mattered to her right now was not some coat.

"Finally. I can actually rest."

It was the supreme sense of security her home provided. Plenty of people saw her as lofty and untouchable. The reality was that she was half homebody — a woman who loved her corner of the house and hated going out. It was inevitable. Half her life had been spent fighting monsters and the other half earning money as a celebrity in the entertainment industry. Constant external activity. Time spent sprawled in her own space was precious beyond measure. Granted, "her room" was closer to a mansion than a bedroom — but from her perspective, it was still her corner of the world.

She sank into the sofa and let herself unwind for a while.

A roar from outside. She heaved a long sigh.

Fans or not, coming all the way here to pull this…

She knew her fanatics well enough. Mental patients who worshipped her as a god. She was pretty, yes, and capable — but she was not an omnipotent deity. They ignored that opinion entirely and followed her as if she were divine. There was no helping it. She had saved countless civilians during the great monster invasions that had struck Korea, and through disasters that deserved the name catastrophes. On top of that, her Awakened ability left a powerful impression. Still, she hated being treated that way. She understood that asking people to treat her like an ordinary person was a tall order — but the cult-like devotion made her skin crawl. She had asked them to restrain themselves more times than she could count. Every attempt had failed. She had sued the ones who worshipped her like a goddess, beaten them, told them to get lost. She had tried everything to escape that treatment. People only laughed at her efforts and kept following her all the same.

I'm not a god.

Just a person. One with slightly special abilities.

Of course—

—she was still the woman closest to godhood.

"Haa… seriously."

The stress was considerable. Cha Dohui pushed back the livestream she had originally planned to start right away. Going on air in this state was not going to produce a good reaction. Instead, she turned her attention to something more important — the real reason she had returned to Korea.

Right.

The enemy from outside.

News of the "enemy from outside" that had opened the Gates into this world.

"An Outer God really entered Korea?"

They liked to mess with her under ordinary circumstances, but the gods did not lie about something like this.

"Where is it?"

Of course they didn't know the location. That was only natural. The Constellations might not intervene directly in the mortal world, but they would never simply permit a fragment of those monsters to stroll in. It had clearly slipped through in a piece so small it defied detection.

"Haa. Not knowing the most important part is a problem."

So finding that fragment was her job now. An absolute nuisance — and at the same time—

I should ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠start by having the guild check the new rookies who've shown up.

—it was also the duty of Korea's number-one-ranked Hunter, and a junior member of the secret guardian organization known as the Guardians.

Cha Dohui's livestream had started, and those lunatics were finally beginning to disperse. A few guards stayed on to hold the perimeter just in case, and I—

"You worked hard today. Head in first."

"Is that all right?"

"You held the line against those maniacs. You've earned the rest."

"…Thank you."

As compensation for stopping the ones who had tried to force their way inside, I sent them off early. I was changing out of my uniform in the locker room when I noticed it — a tear in the sleeve of my security jacket, and a fairly deep cut underneath.

"Ah, damn. Must've gotten scraped in the middle of that."

Probably during the scuffle when they tried to push through.

"These people really are something else."

Wounds on top of everything else, thanks to those psychos. What a miserable day. And the bigger problem—

From now on, every single day, people are going to try to get inside the complex just because Cha Dohui might come out? Absolute legend.

Daily defense duty… no. Daily spy-hunting, apparently. The seniors said the good times were over.

"Haaaa…"

I couldn't help the sigh. I was about to head straight for the security dorms, but—

Just one cigarette first…

If I didn't smoke at least one right now, I was genuinely going to lose it. I made my way to the usual smoking area. And when I arrived, instead of the married men I usually saw there—

"Taejin-ssi. You're finally here."

—Jeon Sohee was waiting for me, for some reason.

"Huh? Sohee-ssi, why…"

I was still processing the fact that she had been waiting for me when she closed the distance in a few quick steps, took hold of my arm, and said—

"Why am I here? Obviously—"

"—to heal the Taejin-ssi who got hurt like this."

I didn't say anything for a moment. Then I let out a long breath.

"I told you last time. You don't have to do this."

"No. This is something I need to do."

"…I haven't done anything for you that warrants receiving your healing, Sohee-ssi. It was just part of the job."

She shook her head at my obligatory answer.

"To me, it was something significant. Even if it was just work."

Her eyes were far too sincere. I finally sighed and gave in.

"Haa… all right. If you're going to put it like that."

Only then did she break into a bright smile and begin to heal me. Under her power, the wound slowly closed. I watched it seal and thought: as expected of a top-tier B-class. No — of someone about to sit for the A-class evaluation. The healing power was extraordinary. And for the record, the ability to close a wound on the spot really was remarkable. Most healing stopped bleeding or prevented infection. Doing both while fully restoring the injury put you in the highest tier of healers. In other words—

This is still too much for someone like me.

It was healing I didn't deserve. Feeling a little burdened by it, I asked the woman tending my arm a question.

"…You're taking your medicine properly, right?"

An abrupt question. The kind most people would never ask. But with her, it was a question that had to be asked.

"Yes~ Thanks to you, I'm doing much better."

She nodded, still smiling. I felt a measure of relief.

"That's good to hear."

At that, Sohee tightened her grip on my arm a little.

"If it weren't for you, Taejin-ssi, I probably wouldn't have gotten the medicine at all."

"That's not true. Someone as strong as you, Sohee-ssi—"

She shook her head.

"I'm not that strong."

She held my arm even tighter. A dull ache pulsed through it, and I thought to myself—

If you weren't strong, you never would have been called the Saintess.

But I didn't say it out loud. Even if I had, Sohee would only have denied it.

So I sat there and let her heal me, a little uncomfortably, and killed some time. Maybe it was just my imagination, but dealing with those miserable people earlier felt a little less raw. I was able to spend the rest of the night in something close to peace.