Chapter 37
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: A Soap Opera (1)
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Instead of replying, Eun-young saved Han-gyeol's number.
A strange feeling washed over her once she'd saved it.
“I should have at least asked what kind of god he is.”
It wasn't as if she'd never met people who'd latched onto her before, offering to introduce the god they served.
Most of them—no, all of them—had been frauds.
Eun-young was a good judge of character.
Kang Han-gyeol was suspicious, no doubt, but he didn't seem like the type to lie.
That made her even more suspicious. Why her, of all people?
She couldn't accept the nonsensical reasons Han-gyeol had given her.
She hailed a passing taxi instead of taking the subway.
‘It’s too late.’
If she'd received such an offer a few years ago, she might have seriously considered it.
Choi Soo-hyun was right.
After six years of being rejected by every god, she knew she wasn't cut out to be a Hunter.
It had been over a century since Gates and the Awakened first appeared.
There was a time when people clamored about the end of the world, but it never came.
The world might have changed a lot since the days before the Gates, but life went on.
Those who weren't Awakened lived ordinary, day-to-day lives.
And Eun-young was no different.
The Song Eun-young of today wasn't a Hunter, but an ordinary office worker in her twenties.
‘I'm so sick of Hunters and all that nonsense.’
Eun-young just wanted to live a quiet life now.
Kang Han-gyeol didn't show up again after that day at the café.
* * *
Eun-young was swamped with work.
A week flew by in the blink of an eye.
As usual, she headed to work at the crack of dawn.
She yawned as she changed in the locker room.
As she was fixing her hair in the mirror on her locker, a junior colleague walked in.
“Hey, you're here early.”
“Morning. Couldn't sleep, so I just came in. Look at you, all made up.”
Tying her hair up, Eun-young glanced at her junior's face.
It was Han Ji-eun, a colleague two years her junior who'd just hit her one-year mark at the company.
“I put a little extra effort in. How do I look?”
“Looks great. Must've been a lot of work. Don't push yourself too hard this early.”
Once Ji-eun had changed, she and Eun-young left the locker room together.
“I have plans this evening.”
“Ooh. A guy?”
Ji-eun smiled and nodded in response.
The thought briefly crossed her mind: *Did Ji-eun have a boyfriend?*
‘Doesn't matter, I guess.’
Other people's love lives were none of her business.
Once they opened and began serving customers, time flew by.
When it was time for their break, she headed to the staff cafeteria for lunch.
Her colleagues, who had already gone down, spotted her and waved.
Eun-young joined them naturally.
Over lunch, they talked about difficult customers from the morning and other company gossip.
It was typical office chatter.
“So, get this. Section Chief Han told the manager…”
“Sorry, I need to take this.”
Eun-young turned slightly to answer the phone.
It was from her boyfriend of three years.
He'd asked her to call him around lunch, but she'd completely forgotten.
“Tonight? Isn't that a bit sudden? Okay, I understand. I'll call you back.”
Conscious of her colleagues watching, she quickly ended the call.
“Who was that?”
“My boyfriend. He wants to meet up tonight. Ugh, I have a feeling today's going to be rough.”
Swallowing a spoonful of seaweed soup, Eun-young thought about all the work still waiting for her.
The morning had been hectic, and the private rooms were booked solid with events for the evening.
As an Awakened One, she had more physical stamina than most, but mental exhaustion was another story.
Eun-young muttered, half-resigned.
“I should go. It's been a while since we've seen each other.”
“That's understandable. Your boyfriend works at the Hansung Group headquarters, right? I'm so jealous. I was about to suggest we all go for drinks after work, but I guess you're out, Eun-young. Oh, and Ji-eun, didn't you say you had plans tonight too?”
Ji-eun, who was sitting diagonally across from Eun-young, looked up from her meal.
As the youngest on the team, Ji-eun glanced around at the others at the table before answering a moment later.
“My plans got canceled.”
“Oh, really? Then you should come for a drink with us. How about it?”
The conversation instantly shifted to their post-work drinking plans.
Eun-young could have sworn she saw Ji-eun glance her way for a split second.
* * *
The restaurant for her date wasn't far from the hotel where she worked.
Her boyfriend's office was also in Gangnam, so they often met up for dinner in the area.
When she learned he'd booked a place more expensive than their usual spot, Eun-young wished she had dressed up a little more.
“I'll be right back, just heading to the restroom.”
After they finished their main course and before dessert arrived, Eun-young excused herself from the table.
The restrooms were at the far end of the restaurant.
She washed her hands and stepped out.
As she rounded a corner, Eun-young bumped into someone.
“Sorry.”
“It's fine… Hey. It's you.”
Choi Soo-hyun pulled his hands from his pockets and pointed at her.
‘What is *he* doing here?’
He was unmistakably Choi Soo-hyun.
He hadn't been in the media much since joining the Association, but anyone with even a passing interest in Hunters would have seen his name and photo at least once.
Kang Han-gyeol and Choi Soo-hyun knew each other.
In fact, they seemed quite close.
And Choi Soo-hyun was often spotted in Gangnam.
With so many guild headquarters concentrated in Gangnam, high-ranking Association officials like him often had business with the major guilds.
Besides, even before he'd brought Han-gyeol, he had occasionally stayed at the hotel where Eun-young worked or dined at its restaurant.
Seeing Choi Soo-hyun in passing wasn't all that surprising.
But in the dozen or so times Eun-young had passed him, he'd never once reacted like this.
Pretending not to recognize him, Eun-young ducked her head and turned away.
Choi Soo-hyun called after her, as if this was exactly what he'd been hoping for.
“Hold on. Hey. You and I need to talk.”
Running into Song Eun-young was a complete coincidence.
Ever since his talk with Kang Han-gyeol, she'd been on his mind.
But his pride had kept him from contacting her first.
And now he'd run into her, just when he was feeling uneasy about leaving things as they were.
With her back still to him, Eun-young said,
“I'm not interested in being a Hunter. I think I made that clear to your friend.”
“That's beside the point. Don't you think there's some kind of misunderstanding between us? It's been bothering me so much that I can't sleep at night.”
“What does your insomnia have to do with me? If you can't sleep, go see a doctor.”
Unaware of how much Han-gyeol had been hounding him, Eun-young was offended by Choi Soo-hyun's tone, which seemed to place the blame on her.
“And what misunderstanding? You telling me I wasn't cut out to be a Hunter? I don't think that was a misunderstanding at all.”
It would be a lie to say she hadn't been hurt. But there was some truth to his words.
A talentless hack trying to play Hunter would only end up dead for nothing.
No one would even remember her.
Better to just live an ordinary life than to end up like that.
Bringing up what he'd said about her qualifications had just been an excuse to get rid of Han-gyeol.
“That's the misunderstanding I'm talking about! When did I ever tell you not to be a Hunter?”
“You said I wasn't qualified. It's the same thing.”
“By that logic, do you have any idea how many unqualified bastards are in this line of work?”
“Is that all? I'm leaving.”
Choi Soo-hyun grabbed her arm as she turned to leave.
With her strength, she could have easily shaken off a normal person's grip, but Choi Soo-hyun was no ordinary man.
Soo-hyun adjusted his grip on her wrist, careful with his strength.
“Just five minutes.”
A few people coming out of the restroom recognized him and startled.
Eun-young didn't want to cause a scene.
“Fine.”
“Let's go outside.”
He gestured toward the windows.
Letting go of her arm, Choi Soo-hyun headed out of the restaurant.
“Just a minute.”
Eun-young went back to her table.
Phone in hand, Eun-young put on a nonchalant act.
“Sorry, I just got an urgent call. I need to step out for a moment.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Just some family stuff.”
Eun-young strode out of the restaurant.
She glanced around, and Choi Soo-hyun, tucked away around a corner, waved her over.
He was standing in an alcove between the main corridor and a staff hallway.
“I can't be long.”
“Your boyfriend?”
“That's none of your business.”
Eun-young crossed her arms and stared at Choi Soo-hyun.
An odd silence fell between them.
Choi Soo-hyun remembered the day he met her perfectly.
He had been dispatched to a B-rank fissure in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.
He'd found her there, fighting off a dozen monsters all by herself.
Her instincts were incredible for an unaffiliated Awakened.
Even he didn't know why the gods had turned their backs on her. But that was the extent of it.
Song Eun-young was like a bird without wings. A bird that was meant to fly, but couldn't.
“You weren't in your right mind back then. You know that, right?”
For the first few years after her Awakening, she had struggled desperately, trying not to forget that she was a bird.
But as time went on, reality set in.
Maybe she wasn't a bird at all, but a chicken staring longingly at the sky.
Kang Han-gyeol was right.
Eun-young had adored her parents.
She had been proud that they were Hunters.
When she heard they had died, she'd been heartbroken, but she believed they had held onto their convictions to the very end.
But constant failure had changed even that.
Her parents had spent their lives helping others, only to die a miserable death. It made Eun-young feel as if she'd gotten nothing from them.
No matter how skilled she was, it was impossible for her to take on a dozen B-rank monsters.
Choi Soo-hyun knew better than anyone why she had been there that day.
If he hadn't said what he did to her back then, she would have fought until she died.
“I admit I was a bit harsh back then, maybe I was going through a phase. If my words hurt you, I apologize.”
Eun-young was taken aback when Choi Soo-hyun bowed his head.
Choi Soo-hyun was a Hunter famous for his immense pride, a fact known even to the general public.
For him to bow his head over a complaint about something that happened years ago was unthinkable.
She didn't know him well, but she knew this was not normal.
“Take the chance while you have it.”
He wasn't trying to trick her with lies.
Eun-young was considering marrying her boyfriend, who wasn't an Awakened One.
She had no intention of asking him to understand her desire to become a Hunter.
The woman standing here now wasn't the Eun-young who'd wanted to be a Hunter, but the one who had given up on that dream.
“It's too late. I…”
“Hey! What do you think you're doing here?”
“I told you, I was just having dinner with a friend! I didn't know you'd be here. But more importantly, are you really going to marry her? What about all those times you said you loved me?”
“Who said anything about marriage? I told you we were just having dinner. How did you even find me…?”
Sensing something was off, Eun-young peeked around the corner in the direction of the voices.