Broken Promise
In a private hospital room on the second floor of the BOND Emergency Center, Moon Chaeyoung scratched the back of her head as she quietly gazed down at the figure sleeping peacefully in the bed.
The Bada Kindergarten teacher who had bled from the nose and passed out at the theme park.
Is it because it's been a while? This feels oddly nostalgic.
It had truly been ages since she'd watched anyone collapse and hemorrhage right in front of her. Which made sense—her team members, Lee Seohyeok included, had barely sustained anything worse than scrapes and bruises for nearly two years running.
Not that I haven't handpicked them to be exactly that way.
People who wouldn't get hurt.
People who wouldn't die.
People who would survive without her monitoring their every breath, every second of every minute.
Those were the only ones she kept at her side and allowed into her team. The A-rank comrades surrounding her hadn't been assembled out of any misplaced sense of superiority.
This is purely a matter of keeping my own head on my shoulders.
Ever since a piece of rebar had lodged itself in her skull on a job back in her second year of high school, a handful of the emotions a normal human being was supposed to feel had simply been blown away. She'd recognized the problem in her amygdala, and through steady emotional training and perceptual drills, she'd believed she now thought and acted more or less like an ordinary person.
"...This is awkward."
So where exactly had she slipped up this time?
Moon Chaeyoung had done her level best—at least by her own standards—to keep Na Hwiyeon calm inside the dungeon. With her options limited in the moment, she had held her position steadily and even walked him through the situation step by step, alternating her watch between the clearance progress feed and their surroundings.
Had her teammates witnessed it, the courtesy would have been shocking enough to make headlines.
Besides, honestly, nothing about it looked dangerous.
Compared to the perils of request sites and dungeon expeditions, the atmosphere had been almost comically peaceful, and Moon Chaeyoung had felt nothing in particular about it.
A candy-coated glass window, a cathedral built out of crackers, and so on.
She was aware that the EX classification demanded heightened vigilance toward her surroundings. But her whole impression amounted to: kind of quirky, huh?
Candy syrup filling a glass tank in real time was, at worst, mildly interesting.
"I just figured it was a light challenge, all things considered."
Click.
"I've lost my mind. I've genuinely lost it. And it's your fault. You did this to me."
Following her small mutter, the curtain sagged, and a familiar face appeared. Moon Chaeyoung nodded at it with a listless expression.
"Sit."
"Team Leader, be honest with me. You secretly dreamed of being a superstar, didn't you? Because otherwise, there's no way this situation balloons into something this big..."
Kang Howon clutched his forehead and let out a stream of dramatic groans.
What a performance.
"Howon, your mouth's gotten way too long."
"For once, I need to take the lead and say my piece."
"?"
"Why, why did you go off to Neverland alone and get dragged into a dungeon? And with our Bada Kindergarten teacher—the hottest person at the company right now, no less?"
"Is that my fault?"
"At this point I'm starting to suspect this entire situation was staged for the sole purpose of satisfying your dopamine craving."
"It's a misunderstanding."
"Yes, and I sincerely hope it's mine."
"Your preamble is too long."
Moon Chaeyoung stared at Kang Howon as he spouted his nonsense, her eyes gone cold and stale. At that, he squawked and made a show of retreating a step.
"So. How's the situation looking?"
Since the teacher had abruptly passed out, Moon Chaeyoung—who had planned to stay behind and conduct the on-site survey—had been forced to hurry back to the company.
Which is why I sent this clown.
She'd lured Kang Howon out with the promise of premium beef, coaxing him off his precious day off with considerable effort.
"So hurry up and report. You owe me at least one round."
"I'm going to eat a LOT, just so you know. The 'Mugang' people were there too—I swear I nearly shriveled up and died from the pressure."
"You lay it on thick."
"I'm serious... Anyway, to summarize."
"..."
"EX-rank or not, the dungeon was cleared, so the government and the hunter corporations have reached an agreement—as long as enough research data gets extracted, that's the end of it."
"And on our end?"
"Ours too. Though... Mugang's stance, I can't say. And thankfully, the matter of investigating the Dolphin teacher and Noah has been settled—it'll be handled by you alone, Team Leader."
"Good."
"See? Aren't you glad you listened to me? Taking someone who faints on a dime to do a survey, honestly... Tsk. If the government comes sniffing around, you won't even have a leg to stand on."
"What about the media?"
"The higher-ups say they'll spin it as favorably as possible."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Moon Chaeyoung tilted her head, uncomprehending.
"It means you, Team Leader—the one whose article already blew up—get image rehabilitation, while the Dolphin teacher and Noah get their identities completely locked down under the pretext of personal protection."
"They'll actually do that?"
Strange. Those director types never sign off on things this easily just because we ask.
"It came from the CEO's office, apparently?"
"The CEO?"
"Yes. The one who took office recently."
Blip. Her brain booted up sluggishly, then retrieved a memory like pulling a memory card out of a box where it had been shelved as unnecessary.
"Ah."
The word left her with a sigh, carrying a trace of something like nausea.
"The eldest son?"
"Some people do call him that, yes."
"His name was..."
"Baek Cheonhyeong."
Right. Baek Cheonhyeong.
Eldest son of Baek Gwanghyeon, the disgraced former CEO of BOND.
Moon Chaeyoung recalled the boy in his school uniform from years ago and let out a soft snort.
"Ah, the bigwigs really do have fascinating personalities."
"You're one to talk, Team Leader."
Whatever his motives, there was no denying it was a good outcome.
Well, that saves me the headache of figuring out how to handle it.
Moon Chaeyoung stretched comfortably and studied Na Hwiyeon once more, his eyes still closed.
"By the way, what did they say he collapsed from?"
At Kang Howon's question, she recalled what the doctor had said an hour earlier.
"We'll know for certain once the test results come in, but it appears to be fainting brought on by severe stress."
"He lost a lot of blood, though."
"That's... actually, strange as it sounds given the volume, we couldn't find any abnormal symptoms to account for it. As you can see, he's recovering well."
It was a diagnosis she struggled to wrap her head around, but she wasn't the doctor, so she'd simply said she understood.
"Something about fainting from severe stress."
"Huh? Don't tell me..."
"What."
"Did you bully him inside the dungeon, Team Leader?"
"...Want me to treat you the same way?"
"I'll shut up."
...Still, surely it wasn't because of me that he collapsed.
It did seem like every time I opened my mouth, the man got more stressed, but...
Moon Chaeyoung turned her head toward Na Hwiyeon. As she picked apart his features one by one, something seemed to surface in her mind.
Something like a very faint, very deep afterimage...
I felt it the first time I saw him too—I really have seen him somewhere before.
Of course, there was something weighing on her more than such potentially sleazy speculation.
"How can one person have this many secrets?"
"...You mean the kindergarten teacher with the harmless face?"
"...Exactly."
That kindergarten teacher with the harmless face.
The underground dungeon incident, and now this EX-rank dungeon—it was as if he were stubbornly, desperately hiding something.
And it wasn't just because he'd been carrying a jelly with a suspiciously elongated nose, either.
"My gut is telling me."
Something about this man doesn't add up.
Through flickering, blinking vision, an unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
What...? This isn't my place.
When I tilted my head slightly, I could make out what looked like a long human silhouette beneath a soft orange glow.
"...!"
Oh, hell no.
I thought it was a ghost.
As I focused my eyes, I could tell it was a tall man seated in a chair. I rose awkwardly, leaned back against the headboard, and surveyed my surroundings.
An IV needle tucked into my left arm, and a place that was refined and immaculate in the way only certain places are—unmistakably expensive.
Right, this is a hospital room...
A private one, at that.
"You're awake?"
Deciding I'd come to my senses, the man rose from his chair and approached slowly. The orange light settled gently over his face as he drew near.
...Baek Cheonhyeong?
Why is the CEO here?
While I stood dazed by this entirely unexpected arrival, Baek Cheonhyeong spoke first.
"How are you feeling? This is an inpatient room on the second floor of our company's Emergency Center."
"Ah... yes."
...So I ended up getting carried here after all.
Reflexively, I ran my hand around my nose—mercifully, nothing had leaked out.
I replayed the moments right before I'd passed out.
That phone wasn't discarded for nothing, huh.
If it was going to make you bleed that much, shouldn't it have come plastered with a warning sign the size of a barn door?
Two calls on that thing and I'd have crossed the river to the afterlife from blood loss.
"I'm glad you're all right. Still, please do get the tests done."
At Baek Cheonhyeong's gentle smile, I gave a half-hearted nod.
"I had some overtime this weekend, so I came into work—and that's when I heard about you. Well, strictly speaking, the news was that an EX-rank dungeon had appeared at Neverland."
He calmly laid out the situation as he settled back into his chair. The dark shadows under his tired eyes stood out even in the dimly lit room.
"Speed is everything with a rare dungeon discovery, so I sent the field team that was still on-site—and wouldn't you know it, the names coming back over the line were all people I recognized."
"..."
He massaged the area above his slightly narrowed eyes, then fixed his gaze on me.
...But seriously.
What is up with this guy's eyes?
Did I do something wrong? I don't think I did?
At a glance, it was the look of a supervisor dressing down a subordinate.
But whether or not his own eyeballs were malfunctioning, Baek Cheonhyeong kept muttering away.
"You and the Field Team Na leader, of all people..."
"..."
"That's quite an unusual combination. How did the two of you meet?"
Why are you asking ME that?
Obviously I wouldn't know.
Ms. Chaeyoung and I are simply two adults who came to an amusement park on the weekend for some fun.
Ah, wait. Don't tell me...
With a sinking feeling, I dredged up a rumor I'd heard a while back.
"This might make you faint to hear it, but there's apparently a rumor going around that you're a spy for another hunter corporation, Teacher."
One of the rumors that had circulated right after the underground dungeon incident.
He can't seriously suspect me of being a spy?
He already reviewed my résumé and sat through my interview?
I answered, a note of tension creeping into my voice.
"Pure coincidence, I'd say."
"A coincidence. And here I thought you just happened to get tangled up in the first EX-rank dungeon in a year—alongside one of our own field team leaders."
Then yes, dammit, it's a coincidence! What, was it a staged encounter instead?
"Same with the underground dungeon incident. Honestly, Teacher, you do seem to... experience an awful lot of coincidences."
Would it be so strange to call that suspicious?
By my count, it's happened exactly twice.
"And something seems to be hidden, too."
While I could only blink wide-eyed at Baek Cheonhyeong's absurd logic...
He tapped the bedside table, raked me with a sharp look, and then... bowed his head deeply.
"?"
"...Ahem."
"..."
"Haha."
Then he suddenly lifted his head, and the corners of his eyes had curved down slyly, like a fox's.
Seeing Baek Cheonhyeong's rapid-fire expression change, I grasped the situation instantly.
This son of a bitch is teasing me?
Never mind that the man in front of me was the CEO of the company, or the guy who'd handed me a three-million-won bonus—none of that mattered. Not in this moment.
"...Are you making fun of me right now, sir?"
I swept my hair back and ground the words out through my teeth, mortified.
At that, Baek Cheonhyeong wiped the amusement from his face like a psychopath and stared straight ahead.
"Ah, well. You seemed so nervous at the sight of me."
What is he playing at?
Did it never occur to him that being suspected of espionage right after waking up in a hospital bed might be just a touch more nerve-wracking?
Sensing my withering glare, Baek Cheonhyeong gave a casual nod. Then he reached his hand toward my head, and—
[ My snack. ]
"...!!"
At the sudden gruff voice, I reflexively looked at the bag sitting on the table.
The little white dog plushie dangling from the bag's zipper... was sitting with its back turned to me.
Dammit.
[ You said you'd buy me a snack. ]
"Ah."
I started to open my mouth in a panic, then snapped it shut again.
Baek Cheonhyeong was right there, staring down at me with a puzzled look.
When I raised my eyes to meet his, hand still outstretched...
He tilted his head slightly sideways, flashed a grin, and stepped back.
?
"There was dust in your hair."
"Ah. Thank you."
Brush, brush. Lightly dusting off my hair, I glanced back and forth between Baek Cheonhyeong and the white dog plushie.
Baek Cheonhyeong, reading my expression with suspicious keenness, followed my gaze to the plushie and tilted his head at the exact same angle.
Then he said, in an airily indifferent tone:
"Cute plushie."
If you knew what was inside it, you wouldn't be saying that.
"Get some rest. I'll be going."
I made no particular effort to stop Baek Cheonhyeong as he abruptly turned away.
This really isn't the moment to be worrying about that.
Still, I figured I ought to ask.
"By the way, what brings you here, sir? I was wondering if perhaps there was something you needed to discuss about Cheonji?"
There was no way the CEO of the company would show up to visit a kindergarten teacher who'd only joined recently, so...
This EX-rank dungeon wasn't even BOND's fault, after all.
Baek Cheonhyeong, hand on the door handle, looked back at me and said:
"Nothing in particular. I was just bothered by what happened during the underground dungeon incident, and I wanted to see your face and talk."
Ah. So that's all it was?
Fine. The salary and the bonus you gave me are more than enough to cover that.
But his parting words as he opened the door and stepped out were, unexpectedly, quite ominous.
"You really are a fascinating person, Teacher."
—Screeech.
—Thud.
"Okay, I think he really was messing with me."
[ You broke your promise. ]
"...!"
Baek Cheonhyeong could wait—none of that mattered right now.
This was... a catastrophe in the making.
My monster friend was thoroughly, irreversibly sulking.