A Phone Call and a Protection Request
“Protection?”
I had gamed for about thirty minutes straight, filling my dopamine tank completely, so I jumped out of bed and headed to find Yeo-ul, who had almost finished moving in.
But right then, my phone vibrated with an incoming call.
[Restricted Number]
“Number? Who is it?”
Since it wasn’t saved, I was momentarily puzzled, but the moment I answered and heard the voice, I instantly knew who it was.
“Ye… Hello? Is this the benefactor?”
“Huh? Choi Harin unnie? Called faster than I thought?”
“Yes… After wrapping up the situation and reward settlement and all those interviews, I immediately contacted the benefactor.”
“I see. Ah, before that, my name is Ha Yuna, not the benefactor. Anyway, why did you call so soon?”
“Um… I thought it might be too heartless for me to swallow all this money, items, and monster remains without sharing, so I wanted to come find Ha Yuna-nim and take them all…”
“Oh wow.”
I hadn’t thought that Choi Harin would be so heartless as to swallow everything without sharing with me.
I didn’t expect her to call so quickly and want to meet.
It seemed like Korea hadn’t completely collapsed yet.
“Yeah, still near Gungduk? Go straight from the halmeoni gukbap restaurant, you’ll see a 20-floor officetel building, go to 2003 and knock.”
“Understood. I’ll come quickly.”
I hung up and lay back on the bed staring at the ceiling, still in the position of getting up.
And I recalled a shocking fact.
“Such crazy!! The house is a mess right now.”
On the floor: snack crumbs + Kim Gunwoo’s hunter knee pads + Alkerniman’s weird potion bottle from experiments + Lily’s flower petals she scattered saying “to make the atmosphere cute~”.
Bringing someone into this room mess? First visit? To a celebrity-level famous person?
“This won’t do.”
I jumped up from the bed again and snapped my fingers.
“Ggumuli! Come out!”
In less than five seconds, with space distortion and teleportation magic, Ggumuli appeared.
“You called, Master? But… why do you always appear only indoors?”
“I don’t know, man. The important thing is that a guest is visiting our house soon.”
“Are you trying to make me your housekeeper? I’m capable, but I’m still the greatest archmage of Barzena…”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll swap with Alkerniman?”
“I’ll handle the housework.”
Wise old mage.
I immediately called another home protector.
“Ibella!!”
Ibella, who had been rolling around somewhere, heard my voice and rolled all the way from far away.
“You called, Master?”
“You… what do you call it, ah yeah, trash sorting. Clean this up and do trash sorting.”
“Understood.”
“Come on, everyone!! Hurry and clean the house!! A celebrity is coming to our house!!”
The two undead started cleaning the house earnestly without proper explanation.
And ten minutes later.
Ding—dong.
The doorbell rang.
Ibella glanced at me.
I nodded once, signaling to open the door.
Click—the door opened.
In front of the door was Choi Harin, who had the same expression from the gate, without the black cap and mask, hair naturally tied back.
Choi Harin entered carefully and said.
“… Hello. Ha Yuna-nim.”
I sat comfortably on the sofa and gestured for her to sit.
“Since we’re close, drop the honorifics. Call me Ha Yuna, Harin unnie.”
“… Yes.”
“Call me casually too!”
“……”
Choi Harin, without much response, carefully took off her shoes and knelt in front of me.
And from the bag that looked like a spatial pocket, she took out all the items, gems, and monster remains obtained from today’s gate raid and pushed them toward me.
“The System appraisal says about 580 billion… this.”
“Wow, you said call casually. Kneeling? Besides, 580 billion? I heard S-rank gates average 3000 billion.”
“Rare monsters like Basilisk, value more. Plus it’s a deformed Basilisk, sold at higher price…”
Choi Harin continued explaining, slowly looking up at me.
“Eh?”
“OK, casual talk needs to get closer, huh? Whatever, let’s move on. So, the reason I came is to divide the rewards?”
“Yes… but more precisely…”
She hesitated for a moment whether to say something or not.
Then, taking a sharp breath, she shouted.
“I want to request protection for Ha Yuna-nim!!”
“… Huh? Suddenly?”
I blinked at the unexpected statement.
Honestly, I didn’t predict this direction at all.
Naturally, come for money → thanks → fall for my cuteness and power → submit → but suddenly protection request?
I crossed my legs and tilted my head slightly.
“Why? What’s the matter.”
“……”
Choi Harin bit her lip and clenched her fists.
The professional tone was gone, just a scared person’s voice.
“Actually, after the interview, I overheard the manager… talking on separate call.”
“Manager?”
“From Cheonghwarang Guild… exactly, the guild master Lee Seung-cheol contacted him.”
Harin’s voice shook a little.
“He asked the manager what happened inside the gate.
Not just situation report, but who really killed the… wait, who killed the real one, did you see the face, was there a civilian girl? Something like that…”
“Hmm… I see.”
I tapped the sofa armrest with my finger.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Choi Harin looked at me for a moment, then continued more carefully.
“And… the manager offered money to Lee Seung-cheol.”
“How much.”
“10 billion if he tells all he knows.”
“Wow.”
I immediately let out a laugh.
“This bastard, after I saved him, wants to betray me for money?”
“He must have seen my power with his own eyes… didn’t think that if he opens his mouth wrong he’ll die? Or is his intelligence lacking?”
“Ye… yes. And he sent people thinking I would run. A few A-rank hunters from Cheonghwarang Guild were around…”
Her hand started trembling uncontrollably.
“Sc… suddenly too scary. And I realized it’s not something I can handle alone… so I contacted you right away.”
She tried to keep tone calm but eyes full of anxiety and fear.
I sighed long, said in normal tone.
“First…”
“… Yes.”
“Welcome, I’ll protect you.”
At those words, Choi Harin’s shoulders shook, tension left.
I sat up on the sofa, tapped the spatial bag on the table with finger.
“Money put aside for now, the first thing Harin unnie must do is one thing.”
“What… this?”
“I know you ran because you heard the call content, but no solid evidence, right? So go find Lee Seung-cheol and the manager, get solid evidence.”
I have to say this, but I feel bad.
This is Earth, Korea, not Barzena.
As long as I don’t go wild, I can’t just kill or interfere based on Choi Harin’s testimony alone.
So at least some motive and evidence.
Of course, separately, I plan to make the manager at least half a retard.
He was saved because he seemed smart, but wants to betray the savior for money?
Deserves to die.
“I know it would be scary to go meet him directly, but I have my own position too, unnie. Can you do it?”
“……”
Choi Harin hesitated in silence, then slowly nodded.
Then stood, showed confident professional expression like she sees in community.
“I understand. After calming down and thinking, I don’t think I was overly sensitive. I’ll meet the guild leader first.”
“Good, so confident! And you don’t need to worry about any situations.”
I snapped my fingers, instantly set up a magic circle on the floor where we were standing.
“Bodyguard and safety measure, right?”
The magic circle glowed with black light, a shadow of human form appeared.
It scanned around, then spotted me, spread arms and rushed.
“Kyuruk! Kyuk!!”
“Alright, I wanted to see you too. But since I commanded right after summoning, sorry. Do you see the unnie in front?
If you sense danger and hide in this unnie’s shadow, just suppress, not kill… not like this.”
“Kyururuk!!”
“Stop, don’t kill, Ggumuli listens well to master, so easy.”
Ggumuli nodded vigorously, quickly slipped into Choi Harin’s shadow.
Choi Harin, a bit surprised by the bizarre sight, looked around for Ggumuli.
Then snapped out, bowed to me.
“Th… then I’ll go…”
“Go and come back~ And don’t make that distrustful face, even though Ggumuli looks like that,
Among my subordinates, Ggumuli is top in combat power.
Originally, he sticks to my shadow to protect only me, but unnie, you should know you’re lucky.”
Ha Yuna comforts the distrustful Choi Harin, confirms she left the front door completely, then.
“Sigh… then shall I check if the move-in is almost done.”
Dressed casually, went to find Yeo-ul.