#52 At Dawn (7)
#52 At Dawn (7)
Having successfully scattered the crowd with that threat, Hong Yuri planted her hands on her hips with a haughty air and spoke with the same brazen confidence as before.
"Hey. Follow me."
—In the complete wrong direction. The tip of her nose was still red. I stared, dumbfounded, and caught Baek So-yul wearing an awkward smile. No wonder. Hong Yuri was wearing sunglasses so black they looked like someone had slashed a meteor spell across each lens.
"......"
Baek So-yul gave her a signal before Hong Yuri finally turned to face my direction. Her face flushed, apparently embarrassed by her own blunder. The initial bravado nowhere to be seen, Hong Yuri swallowed dryly and tried again.
"Follow m..."
Just as the words were coming out, Perry tapped Hong Yuri on the shoulder, probably grateful for clearing the crowd. As if to praise her for a job well done... That was all it was, but Hong Yuri let out a bizarre, high-pitched shriek and shuddered violently. In the end, a sighing Baek So-yul spoke for her.
"...There's something we'd like to say. Would you please follow us?"
I nodded. Even with Hong Yuri chasing off the onlookers, people were still lingering outside the window. Acting as if nothing had happened, Hong Yuri let go of Baek So-yul's sleeve she'd been clutching and took off the sunglasses. She even rubbed her red-rimmed eyes to hide it. Determined to keep her composure in front of others... I felt a strange pang watching that.
A little urge to tease her— I shook my head. What was I, Kang Tae-ho?
The place Hong Yuri led us to was the sixth floor. Her personal room. I nodded when Baek So-yul said to come in, and the scent that hit me the moment I entered told me she'd already taken the elixir. Perry looked around with open curiosity at the new space. Considering Hong Yuri had done her harm before, resentment wouldn't have been strange... but Perry seemed utterly unconcerned. After a brief survey, Hong Yuri took a deep breath as though she'd steeled herself, then removed her sunglasses, crushed them, and scattered the pieces across the floor.
"...I won't say this twice."
Her voice was still trembling. Were her clenched fists from indignation? Or something else? I had no way of reading Hong Yuri's mind, but if she'd been looking to pick a fight, she wouldn't have gone to the trouble of bringing us to her room. Baek So-yul wouldn't have helped her either. It felt out of left field, but I had a guess at the reason. The flushed face even from behind. The faintly quivering hands. Even the declaration that once would be enough. Still, I couldn't quite believe it.
'Hong Yuri? Of all people?'
The avatar of ego. The stubborn, my-way-or-the-highway Hong Yuri, actually apologizing? That was harder to swallow than Kang Tae-jun bowing his head. At last, Hong Yuri turned around. Looking up at her, I saw the corners of her tight-shut eyes glistening with welling tears. Hard as it was to believe, she seemed sincere, and my jaw slackened against my will.
"S-s-sor...!"
Forcing her trembling eyelids up, Hong Yuri opened her eyes. Her gaze was angled upward, so I doubted she could actually see me, but this was surely as much as she could manage.
I hadn't imagined she would actually try to apologize... But it didn't end there. Hong Yuri, whom I thought had reached her limit, bent her head. Her line of sight dropped, and when at last her retinas registered my form, her expression crumpled as though she might cry any second.
'I already made her cry enough for a lifetime, I'd thought...'
Though, strictly speaking, it was the consequences of her own actions. Her bright-red pupils flickered back and forth, unable to focus. Hong Yuri flinched when Baek So-yul's hand touched her shoulder, then looked at me again. Face drained utterly pale, Hong Yuri's trembling lips quivered.
"......A-ap-polo-gize...!"
"Kyu-uuu...?"
With all three of us watching, Hong Yuri clenched her fists. At last, the color of her eyes deepened and the gathered tears spilled down her cheeks. A sure sign her emotions had surged. Choking back a sob and biting down on her lip, Hong Yuri finally summoned the courage.
"I'd... like you to accept it."
The hands gripping her clothes in clear anxiety, the eyes clamped shut again. I sighed inwardly. How agonizing must it have been for someone with her fiery temperament to apologize so meekly? To someone she was too terrified to even speak to? Someone who had witnessed her humiliation and disgrace time and again? How much effort had it taken just to squeeze out those words? The state she'd shown me these past few days had been pitiable, if nothing else.
—I glanced at Perry, but the little one was as nonchalant as ever. Actually, seeing Perry circling Hong Yuri as if wondering what the fuss was about, I nodded to myself. Though it'd be a lie to say this dispelled every bitter knot of feeling. The bad blood between us was fairly tangled. She probably didn't even know that she'd tried to kill me back at Waterfront Park, did she?
But there was no need to tell her. Accumulated resentment and stale grudges didn't have to be resolved only through revenge. Couldn't we just rebuild from here? If I helped Hong Yuri overcome her phobia so she could work as a hunter again, I could likewise receive help from Square.
"—All right."
Hong Yuri, who'd been on pins and needles, collapsed onto the floor as though her legs had given out. That must have been her absolute limit. Baek So-yul stroked the hair of a crying-and-laughing-at-once Hong Yuri, as if to say she'd done well, and I felt the same way. This apology of hers would surely be a turning point. Now we could build a proper relationship moving forward— The moment I thought that, Hong Yuri's body tilted sideways and fell backward.
"Ah."
...My mistake. I drew back the tentacle I'd extended and scratched beside my ear. For some reason, Baek So-yul's completely unimpressed stare felt prickly.
***
"......!"
Hong Yuri woke and bolted upright. She was already back in her room. On the bed. A pleasant smell— the moment she stirred, her appetite sparked. While she was guessing what was bubbling away in the pot, Baek So-yul held out a cup of water.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah. But..."
Hong Yuri downed it in one go and returned the cup. Baek So-yul wore a knowing smile. Hong Yuri frowned, ran back the memory, let out a groan, then covered her face with both palms.
"Ah. Fuck..."
She'd apologized, sure... It did feel like the right call, but thinking about it again was mortifying. Her rumbling stomach announced that a fair amount of time had passed. Hong Yuri took a seat at the table, and Baek So-yul nodded.
"You did well."
Hong Yuri picked up her spoon and nodded. At last, she'd succeeded in facing him squarely......! The realization swelled her chest.
"――."
Her heart still thumped when she recalled the image of Alpha (the Jirisan Warg), but she'd grown a little more used to it. Bit by bit, she'd overcome it. She was confident she could now. She raised her spoon and scooped up some stew.
"Vice-Team Lead~!"
The door slammed open without warning and the food went down her windpipe. Coughing and sputtering, Hong Yuri whipped her head around with a violently twisted expression, only to find Lee Eun-ha there wearing a sheepish grin.
"Ah... you were eating?"
Watching Lee Eun-ha awkwardly scratch the back of her head, the energy to be angry seemed to drain right out of her. Hong Yuri sighed.
"No manners? Knock before you come in. Also. What?"
For a split second she thought she saw a baffled look cross Lee Eun-ha's face, but Hong Yuri paid it no mind.
"I came to tell you all the preparations are done..."
"Got it. I'll see you tomorrow. Now get lost."
"...Okay."
Lee Eun-ha, thoroughly deflated, was scurrying out of the room when she cocked her head.
"By the way... you changed your clothes?"
"Anyway, see you tomorrow~!"
A reaction that practically asked, "What's gotten into you?" As soon as Lee Eun-ha vanished, Hong Yuri's face shaded through a gradient of red before she started yelling at the top of her lungs.
***
"—Loud."
Kang Tae-jun set down his pen and heaved a sigh. The room and floor were soundproofed, of course. Even raucous singing wouldn't carry, but the issue was his own hearing.
"......Hoo."
Unlike the Wolf, who could regulate his hearing through a skill, Kang Tae-jun just passively picked up every stray noise. Little sounds, fine, but someone screaming like that... Shaking his head, Kang Tae-jun looked at the Wolf.
"...I hear you had a conversation with Hong Yuri."
The Wolf gave a rough nod at that.
"Glad that seems to have ended well. ...But can't you go stop her from screaming like that?"
At last the Wolf turned his head. The Wolf and the Fairy Dragon, who'd both been licking ice cream, tilted their heads in unison, and Kang Tae-jun let out a hollow laugh.
Cream smeared around the mouth. Who could look at that and picture a Demon Wolf? He seemed to have adapted entirely in just that short span of time. If the conversation ended well too, maybe he should pair the two of them up more. After all, if she couldn't overcome the phobia, she'd be useless as a hunter.
Whether he sensed Kang Tae-jun's serious deliberation or not, the Wolf went back to licking his ice cream. Ever since Lee Eun-ha's coffee, the Wolf had been fully absorbed in the pleasure of actual food for the first time in ages. Everything he'd eaten since reincarnation had tasted so abominable that he'd given up on the whole concept — but here, it was different.
"Kyuu-uu!"
And so the Wolf and the Fairy Dragon enjoyed their feast.
***
"...So I think I should be alone for a bit. Is that okay?"
"Is unnie okay?"
"Yeah~ I'm fine."
"You've barely been out of the dungeon..."
To the worried Eun-ah, Lee Eun-ha shook her head.
"This one isn't very dangerous, so no need to worry~"
"...Sure, 'not very dangerous.' Be careful and come back."
Lee Eun-ha nodded. Two more days— just two more days and she'd have to enter another dungeon. It could hardly compare to Neverland, but a dungeon was still a dungeon. She couldn't help the tension, but she made a point of finishing her meal as if it were nothing.
Lying in bed, Lee Eun-ha mussed her already-tangled hair.
It had been a hectic day, to say the least. Being told to prepare for another dungeon the moment she returned was one thing, but...
"Alpha..."
The fact that Alpha was inside the clan was the biggest shock of all. From the morning meeting with the Disciple of the Spear Saint to suddenly being summoned by the Clan Leader, and then out of nowhere running into Alpha...
"......."
She lay blankly, staring up at the unadorned ceiling. So we really met again, she thought. And she'd even received the elixir to drink...... even if it wasn't only given to her. Sensing her increased mana, Lee Eun-ha raised a hand and flexed it open and shut.
Abruptly an image surfaced in her mind. Him inexplicably asking her to buy him coffee, and then drinking it with such obvious relish. The sight of a puppy lapping up coffee, something she'd never imagined she'd see in her whole life...
"It was cute."
Now they called him the Demon Wolf, but what was imprinted on Lee Eun-ha was still the image of a slime, or a puppy. The mana he'd said originated from her, the unexpectedly low-pitched voice... A strange, almost ticklish feeling kept her from sleep no matter how she tried. Could she see him again when she went in tomorrow? Lee Eun-ha was unaware that the corners of her own mouth had slackened. It was only deep into the early morning that she finally managed to drift off.