The Cost of Breaking Curfew
The price for breaking curfew turned out to be steeper than expected. I tried pleading that I was late because of a request, but it was no use. According to our household rules, I was banned from the internet for a full day. As for Ha-im, well, since she loves working out so much, maybe they banned her from the gym? I lay on my bed, lost in thought. What should I do? I ended up using two unplanned days off in a row. For now, I’d posted a notice, so I could only hope the viewers would understand.
Ring ring~!
“……?”
My fully charged phone suddenly rang. The caller was none other than Rona. The moment I picked up, her voice came through the receiver.
“Unni, right?”
“What?”
“It’s about that thing where you said you’d come to the guild. I was wondering if we should just set a date.”
Set a date already? She must be in more of a hurry than I thought.
“When would be good for you?”
“Today?”
“…Haha, Unni, stop joking around.”
“I’m serious, though?”
“…….”
I still had one day-off ticket left, but I needed to save the last one for any unexpected future situations. Meeting her now was the better option.
“…I’ll arrange entry for this afternoon. Please come with Ha-im.”
“Oki.”
I hung up right away. A few minutes later, something felt off.
With Ha-im?
A skyscraper so tall it seemed to touch the clouds proudly displayed its elegant form. A gasp escaped me automatically.
“Whoa… Are all guilds like this?”
“Of course not. It’s because it’s the Haeyeon Guild.”
Haeyeon, the nation’s top conglomerate—its prestige was beyond imagination. Even foreigners who didn’t know Korea knew the name Haeyeon. Thanks to a chairman with a pioneering spirit and children who each excelled in their own fields, Korea had been able to rise again even after the monster attacks. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Korea had risen again because of Haeyeon.
I shot a glare at Ha-im, who worked as a freelancer.
“Why aren’t you joining a guild like this?”
How great would it be to join a guild like Rona’s? But Ha-im shot back.
“Sorry, but joining a guild isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are way too many restrictions.”
At the most basic level, once you belonged to a guild, you became a hunter and moved for profit. Naturally, you had to give up certain moral principles. That didn’t suit her. She preferred taking on various requests and helping people—it matched her aptitude better.
“Let’s hurry up and go in. Rona’s waiting.”
“Yeah, well, it’s your life, so do whatever you want.”
I shrugged and walked toward the guild with Ha-im. The automatic doors opened, and we stopped at the reception desk first.
“Hello. Rona called us over.”
“Rona-ssi did? May I have your names?”
“Lee Seong-a.”
When I gave Rona’s name, the staff looked surprised. After they finished searching, they gave me suspicious looks.
“I’m sorry, but there’s no name like that on the list.”
“What?”
No name? My face flushed red and my whole body grew hot. Don’t tell me this is a prank…
“Try looking under Lee Ha-im instead.”
“Yes.”
“……?”
Ha-im suddenly cut in. Using her own name wouldn’t help anyway. Rona had invited me, so for the polite Rona to have registered someone else…
“Confirmed. You’re the A-class Awakener Lee Ha-im, correct?”
“…….”
“Here’s my Awakener license.”
“Yes, confirmed. You may take the elevator up, but please wait a moment.”
The staff pulled out a sign-in sheet from under the desk. Their cold expression vanished instantly, replaced by the face of a girl in love for the first time.
“Um… I’m a fan. Could I get your autograph?”
“……?”
A fan? More importantly, why was there a sign-in sheet under the desk?
“Ah, thank you for being my fan! I’ll sign right away!”
“……?”
Autograph all of a sudden? More importantly, why did a sign-in sheet appear from under the reception desk?
“I really am a fan! How do you always show up whenever people are in danger? The news is always talking about Ha-im-ssi!”
“Haha, thank you. I guess my greed to help people ended up being useful.”
After the conversation, we got on the elevator. Ha-im casually kept staring at her phone like nothing had happened. Unable to hold back my curiosity, I asked,
“What was that just now?”
“Huh? What?”
“The autograph. You’re on the news and everything?”
“The reporters just film whatever they want.”
From the earlier conversation, it seemed Ha-im would rush to any monster appearance even without a request. I reached one conclusion.
“Don’t tell me you’re doing media play to aim for S-class?”
Ha-im’s face twisted in displeasure.
“…Sigh, your personality really is twisted. How can you interpret it like that?”
“Am I wrong?”
“Of course you are! I just can’t stand watching people get hurt, so I go!”
“…….”
I couldn’t understand it. Helping complete strangers? Well, maybe it’s not that hard to understand. Given this meddlesome kid’s personality, she wouldn’t just watch someone in danger—she’d jump in. So it wasn’t strange.
“Fine, just be careful. If you get scolded, I don’t know anything.”
“I’ll handle it myself, so mind your own business.”
[You have arrived at the 9th floor. The doors are opening.]
While we were talking, the elevator had already reached the 9th floor. As expected of a major corporation, the interior was spotless and pleasant.
“Unni!”
Rona came running toward us from afar. She embarrassed me and now she shows up? As soon as she arrived, Rona started apologizing.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve come to meet you, but I was too busy…”
“Never mind that. Why was the reservation under this kid’s name? What’s going on?”
Honestly, my pride was hurt. Not my name, but the name of this timid girl. Rona awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
“Well, if I invited you under Unni’s name, the guild leader would’ve investigated one hundred percent…”
“…I see?”
Seong-a’s expression brightened for a moment. At least she wasn’t behind Ha-im.
“By the way, is this the research lab?”
Beyond the transparent glass walls, men and women in white lab coats were conducting research.
“Yes, please take a look at this.”
“……?”
Rona suddenly held out a bright yellow piece of amber. Embedded inside was a small piece of flesh.
“Yes. It’s the lizard you sealed, Unni.”
I held the amber up to the sunlight streaming through the window. The flesh twitched slightly.
“It’s moving a little?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s a monster, all right.”
How is it moving in there? I turned to Rona.
“You called me here to deal with this?”
“Yes. The researchers say it’ll break the amber and revive in at least a month. So we tried to remove the flesh piece by piece in this state, but…”
Rona trailed off. All their efforts had been in vain. The amber hadn’t melted even in magma over 1,200°C, and it showed no reaction even at absolute zero. But that was fine. Because the only hope stood before her.
“It might really revive at this rate! If it becomes like New York…!”
“Hmm, sorry, but I don’t have a method either.”
“What?”
The only hope vanished in the blink of an eye. Even Ha-im beside her looked flustered.
“Wait, you really don’t?”
“Normally, creatures in amber have their time stopped, so they can’t move.”
The art I used wasn’t a simple seal—it was one that sealed time itself. Unless the user released the art, it could never move or grow.
“But it’s moving?”
“That’s why I called it a monster.”
The diviner who defeated the Demon King had called it a monster. Those words carried no small weight. This insane lizard was evolving to move even within stopped time.
Rona’s face turned pale in an instant.
“W-what do we do? Is there really no way…”
“No, there is a way.”
At my answer, both of them focused on me. Ha-im gave me a look that said, Are you joking?
“Are you messing around right now?”
“I’m serious.”
“You just said there was no way…”
“That’s a method I can’t use. The Haeyeon Guild can.”
“……?”
Rona tilted her head. If even Unni couldn’t do it, how could the Haeyeon Guild?
“It’s simple. Send it to space.”
“……!”
Space—one of the places humanity had yet to fully conquer, an unknown realm. And once you got lost there, you could never escape. If we sent the lizard to space, it would wake up from the amber in a month and drift through the cosmos while adapting. It wouldn’t completely kill it, but we could at least expel it from Earth.
“Is there any country launching rockets or satellites within a month?”
“Uh… I haven’t checked, but there should be.”
“Great. Go ask.”
Who would refuse a request from the Haeyeon Guild?
“We’re done now, right? Then I’m heading out.”
“Ah, yes.”
Rona looked deflated. It was that simple? Just as I was heading for the elevator, the doors suddenly opened with an announcement chime. When the doors parted, my eyes met those of a middle-aged woman.
Who…?
“Guild Leader Unni?”
“……!”
The word “guild leader” startled me for a moment. This person is the Haeyeon Guild’s leader?First, greetings come before anything.
“Hello.”
I bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle from the waist. The guild leader also seemed quite surprised to see an unfamiliar face.
“Rona, who is this person?”
“Ah, she’s Ha-im’s unni. We came for a tour together today.”
The lie flowed naturally from Rona’s mouth.
“Oh, really?”
Kim Mi-hyang passed me by as if it were nothing and approached Ha-im.
“It’s been a while. Good to see you.”
“Yes, same here…”
Unlike usual, Ha-im shrank back like a mouse facing a lion.
“Did you develop an interest in the guild?”
“Haha, a little…”
“Good. If you ever want to join, contact me anytime. The door is always open for talent like you.”
“Yes!”
Ha-im answered hurriedly, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the elevator. Only after confirming the doors had closed did she relax.
“Phew, I thought I was going to die…”
“That scary?”
“Of course! She’s one of only eight S-class Awakeners in the country!”
And she was the eldest daughter of Haeyeon Corporation’s chairman. How could she not be scary? But the scariest part was something else.
“She looks so much like Mom, it’s even scarier!”
“Ah, I’ll give you that.”
I’d only seen her for a moment, but she resembled Mrs. Kim a lot. What a shame. If we’d had a little more time, I could’ve read her physiognomy too.