The Uninvited Guest
'What the hell is going on?'
In truth, Shin Seoa was nowhere near as composed as Ja Hayeon imagined her to be. Honestly, it had been a bolt from the blue — no, things had been off since before she ever set out for home: a job tangled up in duties she had zero appetite for, a workplace that was nothing but a source of stress. And then, right in the middle of it all, she'd happened to lay eyes on a recent article featuring Park Woochan in action.
Of course, she'd heard he'd found work. The Hunter Academy. News of the grand project the government and the Association had launched hand in hand was bound to reach the ears of someone running the industry's front lines — and hers were exactly those ears. She had no doubts about the appointment itself, since his disciple knew better than anyone what Park Woochan was capable of. If anything, she was more curious how the project's people had found out and gotten in touch with him at all.
If that had been all, she would have congratulated him and left it there. Maybe even teased him a little — a civil servant, of all things? As if that suited him.
At the same time, it had stung a little. 'He ignored me when I was the one asking to work together.'
Well, he'd tossed a few parting blessings her way at the end, but she'd never truly believed anything would come of it. This was Park Woochan, after all — the man who had worn the same gloomy face for years on end. Whatever wind had blown through, she'd assumed his interest was a passing whim that wouldn't last. Besides, he was never cut out for office life to begin with.
And yet the Park Woochan in the article was different. Against all her expectations, the face splashed across the front pages — the same papers that had prattled on about half-bloods this and half-bloods that — wore an expression that wasn't half bad.
That was exactly why she'd written her resignation in a fit of impulse. Well — there was also the cold calculation that a woman of her caliber could land on her feet anywhere.
The bald department manager who normally pushed her around clung to her, begging and pleading like he meant to lick her boots. He'd probably never imagined she'd actually submit the thing. Naturally, she didn't look back. If anything, when he genuinely did try to lick her leg, she'd smacked him before she could think.
"Consider it in lieu of severance pay."
A truly exhilarating experience.
Things were good up to that point. She'd seen her mother's face for the first time in ages, and her steps had felt lighter with every block at the thought of staying up all night trading stories with her master.
But. An uninvited guest had been waiting for her there.
That was Shin Seoa's first impression of Ja Hayeon — which made it only natural that she regarded the girl, the first she'd ever laid eyes on in her life, with wariness.
More than anything else, it was the age that was the problem. A high school girl with some unspoken connection to Park Woochan — and, at the same time, his student at the academy. The sight of her called Shin Seoa's own past self to mind, and that made the girl feel all the more like a stone that had rolled uninvited into her yard.
And cohabitation, of all things? 'The shameless little...''I was away for a while, but wasn't that my place?'
Her insides seethed and simmered. Even the cold night wind drifting across the veranda couldn't put out that fire.
They'd only talked for a short while, yet night had stolen over the sky before she knew it. The clouds that had been drenched in sunset only moments ago now hung a smoky shade, drowning the morning star in murk.
Hoo. A heavy sigh unfurled beneath the night sky. Only after steadying her breath like that could Shin Seoa finally open her mouth.
"I heard what happened. It must have been hard on you."
She had no intention of trading pleasantries at this point. Honestly, she wasn't in the mood for it anyway.
A tone gone flat and heavy. A voice rougher still beneath that. The delivery was so stiff it was hard to believe this was the same woman who'd been chattering away so lightly moments before — and Ja Hayeon's shoulders drew in despite herself.
Still, she had no intention of actually losing her temper. The light tone had been a mask all along; this was, if anything, closer to her real voice.
It wasn't that she lacked personal grievances. But her counterpart was, at the end of the day, a mere cadet — and Shin Seoa knew full well that if a serving hunter, a fairly famous one at that, blew up at her, it would amount to an order in all but name. Her master was not a man who would stand by and watch his disciple throw the hunter title around to grind other people down.
Throb. Suppressing the ache spreading through her chest, Shin Seoa went on calmly.
"I understand. I came close to that situation once myself. You must have been terrified."
It wasn't an empty platitude. If Park Woochan hadn't saved her that day, she and her parents would have been digested together — a family combo platter, swallowed whole.
That said, were these words offered out of pure, unselfish concern for the girl in front of her? Not exactly.
"But you do realize, don't you? A student and a teacher — a male teacher and a high school girl, no less — living under one roof isn't exactly the kind of arrangement ethics smiles on."
There was no rebuttal. No — there could be none. Before she knew it, Ja Hayeon was biting down hard on her lip.
In truth, it was only obvious. She knew it too, after all. Bluntly put, if the man in question had been anyone but Park Woochan, who could promise nothing would already have happened?
And so she couldn't stop Shin Seoa from raising her phone.
"Of course I understand. Finding a place at your age can't be easy. There'd be the money, too."
For a serving hunter like her, on the other hand, money was barely a consideration. Cold, hard cash. Even in an age where might sat closer than law, swinging your fists at the first sign of trouble made you nothing but an ignorant barbarian. And so hunters with any semblance of manners — Shin Seoa among them — made a habit of asking, when trouble came, whether it was something money could settle first.
It was often the cheaper route, for one thing — and in an era of violence like this one, flashing your bankroll around was common knowledge as a fool's errand.
The same logic applied to her scrolling through the area right now for a decent villa.
"Still, you really should get a proper room. My parents run this place, but it's no place for a girl to be staying. It's bad for you, emotionally..."
Truthfully, if not for the monsters, she would never have let the girl stay in a shabby villa like this in the first place.
When the thought got that far, she suddenly felt like sighing. It wasn't wrong, exactly — but laying it all out in words felt too embarrassing, so she shut her mouth instead.
More than anything, she stole a careful, sidelong look at the girl in front of her, from head to toe. Above pearl-colored eyes carrying a mysterious air, her hair rippled and swayed like waves, shimmering with a bluish light. Beyond the softness that draped her frame like a coat, the fresh innocence typical of girls her age — the kind the school uniform stood for — coexisted, half-apparent and half-elusive, with something unmistakably grown-up.
'Could this actually be Master's type?'
Certainly, her master had never once looked at her that way. It was an absurd flight of fancy — but with no way of knowing that Ja Hayeon had once agonized over the very same question, Shin Seoa couldn't help thinking it.
She'd never imagined herself kneeling before anyone, but there was no denying the girl had a rare, distinctive charm. And those gently winning eyes of hers, on top of everything else.
'W-was it because my eyes are too fierce?' Trying not to make it obvious, she brushed a fingertip along the corner of her own eye. Come to think of it, her look was maybe a little sharp.
Either way, perhaps she wasn't in any position to be handing out advice at this point.
"Um..."
"I'll get you a place."
"I'm sorry?"
She'd been thinking exactly that, so of course Ja Hayeon could only be taken aback. The woman who had summoned her out of nowhere and delivered an entire lecture about understanding and decency had abruptly gone silent — and now this.
But even she couldn't help reacting to what Shin Seoa suddenly came out with.
"I told you, didn't I? This arrangement doesn't look good. If you need a house, fine — I'll buy you one, whole and outright. You said you're Master's disciple, yes? Then that makes you my junior — a fellow disciple under the same master. You think I can't manage even this much for you?"
On the screen of the smartphone she had hastily thrust forward — desperate not to give away what she'd been thinking only moments ago — a tidy list of reasonably respectable villas scrolled past. Along with a gracious smile.
As the saying goes, you can't spit on a smiling face. Words dressed up as pure goodwill drove straight into Ja Hayeon's vitals. And to be fair, the terms really were generous.
Her feelings on the matter were somewhat mixed, but it was no offer she could lightly dismiss. Besides, Shin Seoa had no intention of running a con. If the girl nodded, she fully meant to find her a place — and by that point she might even be feeling a touch guilty, wondering whether she'd overreacted.
But.
The next moment, Ja Hayeon burst into a round of chuckles — and even Shin Seoa couldn't keep her brow from knotting.
'She's laughing?'
If Shin Seoa had opened her mouth just then, the air would have frozen solid on the spot. But she possessed a bare minimum of patience, and thanks to that, Ja Hayeon got her chance to defend what she'd just done.
"Ah — I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to laugh."
"...May I ask why, then? I didn't think any of this was funny."
"No, you're right. It's just... it brought back old memories."
"Old memories?"
"Oppa said the same thing once."
"Oppa?"
Shin Seoa nearly took issue with the pronoun that had dropped out of nowhere — though of course, it wasn't hard to guess who it pointed to. Park Woochan.
'Has she lost her mind?'
Which only made it more baffling. With that age gap — Oppa?
Not that Park Woochan looked particularly old, but still. Oppa, of all things. At the unfamiliar form of address — unfamiliar even to her — Shin Seoa let out a short, involuntary snort.
It felt like a belated reminder of something she'd known from the start: this girl was no pushover either.
"Oppa said the very same thing, too. 'Shall I buy you a house?' he asked. With the two of you saying such similar things, I couldn't help thinking — so that's what being master and disciple means, I suppose."
And then.
The words that followed struck Shin Seoa with a shock that turned her vision white.
'What? He offered to buy her a house?'
No — it was possible. It wasn't an impossible story. As she herself had said moments ago, the higher hunters climbed, the more they welcomed problems that money could solve. Park Woochan was surely no exception.
But Park Woochan had said otherwise — that for certain reasons, he was currently the one taking in and raising the girl in front of her.
'Then what is this? She turned down Master's offer to buy her a house... and moved in with him instead?'
Of course, any number of circumstances Shin Seoa couldn't begin to guess at were tangled up in the truth of it. But that was precisely why she had no choice but to misread it. And in the same breath, she reached her verdict.
'This one's a formidable opponent. Far more than I gave her credit for.'
Shin Seoa swallowed, hard and dry. In keeping with her rank among the top hunters, she had tried to settle this problem quickly with money too — and while she was at it, she hadn't forgotten to wrap the whole thing in goodwill by invoking their senior-and-junior-disciple bond. There had been parts that left a sour taste in her mouth, but she'd figured she could push it through under the banner of good intentions.
'I was wrong.'
The girl in front of her was no latecomer who had lucked, by sheer accident, into the empty seat she'd left behind. She was a snake — one hunting her master far more aggressively than she was...!!
"But I'm sorry."
...Though her answer had been built atop a mountain of misreadings, the conclusion itself was not wrong.
Beyond those pale-pink eyes, gleaming bright and clear, the emotion settled vividly within them was proof enough.
The apology that left Ja Hayeon's lips only fanned Shin Seoa's suspicions further. Watching the high school girl turn down the dream of a home of her own with such perfect composure, what else could Shin Seoa have thought?
Her water-colored hair billowed with the motion of her bow, deep and courteous. Yet even through it all, Ja Hayeon's voice stayed utterly, maddeningly even.
"I'm grateful for the offer, truly, but I'm afraid I can't accept. There are... circumstances."
Circumstances. Things that had happened between her and Oppa, in the time Shin Seoa had been away. And she had no intention of recounting them, one by one, to her. If she was so very curious — why not ask the party concerned, her master, herself?
Faced with Ja Hayeon, who might as well have been saying exactly that, Shin Seoa could only scrape together what little patience remained to her, down to the very last dregs.