A Resignation and an Unwelcome Reunion
Having submitted her resignation, she left the office without hesitation. The colleagues she glimpsed had expressions that said the inevitable had finally arrived. If they were going to look at her like that, she wished they had at least helped her, but she decided not to hold it against them. After all, if someone in the company had fallen out of favor, she wasn’t confident she would have helped them either.
As she was leaving the building, a voice called out behind her.
“Wait a moment! Mina!”
Manager Oh came bursting out of his office and caught up to her.
“I know you’re upset. But this came directly from the higher-ups.”
When Mina glanced back, he was sweating coldly, clearly uncomfortable. She didn’t feel entirely guiltless toward him; she had received quite a bit of personal help from him in the past.
“Even after I transferred to this department, all I did for a month was paperwork.”
“That was—”
“Yes. Let’s consider this the handover and move on.”
The handover had already been completed long ago when she changed departments. Even that had only happened because the person responsible for the original work couldn’t handle it properly, so she had done it instead. If they wanted to call it a handover, they could. At this point she was in a position where she might not even receive her proper salary if things dragged on.
“But a personal request? Aren’t these usually handled by smaller guilds?”
“I was told it was accepted separately from above…”
Mina knew none of this was his fault. He was simply delivering the order that had come down from the top. Even so, she had reached her limit.
“You know my salary is far lower than what the other team members receive, right?”
In hunter guilds, daily pay was one thing, but monthly salaries adjusted according to team performance were only natural. Yet Mina received even less than the person with the lowest results. As a large corporation, the amount was still decent, but it was nowhere near what an average A-grade hunter typically earned. Since she had spent her time organizing documents, her pay would have been no different from before if not for her recent participation in the A-grade gate subjugation. That too was due to the company’s circumstances, and since she had done little actual work, she could accept it.
“Hanshin wasn’t a guild that focused primarily on gates, was it?”
“That’s true, but…”
It was highly unusual for a place like Hanshin to accept this kind of request. After all, there was no more profitable work than mobilizing every available hunter to secure national gate contracts and clear them quickly. The shocked faces of the detectives and hunters at the scene, along with Seok-jun’s expression, had made that perfectly clear.
“Is it because of what happened last time?”
But assigning her two consecutive personal requests with relatively low compensation felt far too obvious.
“….”
In the end, Manager Oh simply closed his mouth, at a loss for words.
“Haa, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you, sir.”
“No, you had every right to be angry.”
“Thank you for looking after me all this time, short as it was.”
Mina bowed politely, turned, and walked out of the company. Processing her resignation would take some time, but given the nature of guilds, leaving immediately posed no issue.
“Manager Oh? And even Team Lead Lee? What’s going on that you’re both in the hallway at this hour…”
Just as Department Head Kim appeared and Mina’s mood threatened to sink even further, Manager Oh—unlike his usual self—stepped forward first.
“D-Department Head Kim!”
“Oh? What brings you here, Manager Oh?”
“Well, you see…”
To the slightly startled woman, Manager Oh seemed to be explaining the situation regarding Mina.
“Team Lead Lee?”
Department Head Kim raised an eyebrow, clearly displeased, but said nothing more to her. After all, it was an unchanging truth that there was nothing to gain from bothering someone who had already submitted their resignation.
“What?! You quit?”
“Given everything that happened, it’s not surprising.”
“But what are you going to do now that you’ve left Hanshin? It’s one of the top hunter guilds. Will other places even satisfy you?”
“Then how about coming to the class reunion tomorrow?”
“Jeong Su-ji is coming too.”
When she returned home, Mina was on the phone with Min-ji. She listened quietly to the whole story and let out a groan.
“Did I pick a bad time? Should I call you later?”
“Ah, no! It’s not that! Keep going.”
She had asked because Min-ji sounded troubled, and she could clearly picture her friend waving her hands in a panic.
“For the time being, I want to rest a little.”
Even if that were the case, it hadn’t been long since she and Seok-jun had parted ways. Contacting him right away felt wrong. Her heart wanted to reach out immediately, but she worried it might seem too forward. She had saved up quite a bit while working, so there wouldn’t be any major problems for now.
Min-ji’s voice came back sounding somewhat relieved.
Mina had never installed the app called BubbleStar, but when she checked, a message about the Anam High School reunion was waiting. The last post on her account was from three years ago.
“How is it? Will you be okay? I have time tomorrow too.”
“Huh? What do you mean? I have plenty of free time anyway.”
“No, not that. Jeong Su-ji is coming.”
Mina thought hard.
“Who?”
“That Su-ji bitch! She used to pick fights with you all the time!”
Try as she might to recall her high school days, nothing came to mind. From the other end of the line came the sound of a forehead being slapped.
“Ha, you really… Anyway, there’s this annoying girl. You’ll remember when you see her.”
“But I don’t even remember anyone’s name except yours.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll drive you, so let’s meet up. I’ll escort you there.”
“What do you mean, escort? I’m the one who could last longer in a fight.”
Min-ji was, after all, an ordinary civilian.
“That’s because you’re so clueless.”
Tsk, clueless? Mina grumbled but still let out a small giggle.
The next day, however, Mina was walking alone toward the subway station. Min-ji, who had promised to pick her up, had suddenly gotten tied up with work.
“I’ll head there first. Finish quickly and come.”
She spoke casually because it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Even though she had quit her job, she understood better than anyone how difficult it was for both of them to make time.
“Okay! At the very least, I’ll come get you by the time the reunion ends!”
“Then what’s the point?”
It wasn’t as if he were her boyfriend. Seok-jun’s face immediately came to mind, but Mina decided against asking him. She knew he was busy too; contacting him carelessly would only be a burden.
“If anything happens, call me right away! Everyone going there is either showing off how much money they need or looking for someone to hook up with.”
“Ew, then why did you suggest such a tiring place?”
“I suggested it because I thought we could go together! Anyway, be careful! There’s not a single person there without some kind of scheme.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
If she was that worried, she shouldn’t have mentioned the reunion at all. Mina headed toward the venue, listening to her friend nag like a mother.
“Is this the place?”
She approached the building with the Inhang Buffet sign as the map indicated. Somehow she felt eyes on her from every direction. Thinking it was her imagination, she looked around and noticed people in the parking lot and those walking from outside were staring at her. The gazes were intense but not so different from usual, so she entered the reunion hall.
What could it be?
Before long the reunion began with some sort of speech, but Mina sat alone at a table, sipping coffee from the buffet drinks and feeling bored. She had expected the place to be lively with old friends catching up, and the buzzing conversations around her proved her expectation wasn’t wrong. Yet the space around her remained strangely quiet.
She thought about eating her fill, but she wasn’t hungry. After tasting a few dishes, even moving felt like too much effort. Nothing really suited her palate except the coffee. A few people seemed to approach her only to give up and turn away. No one spoke to her at all. Mina felt like she was floating alone in the middle of the reunion.
Just as she was beginning to think she was wasting her time—
“Hey? Isn’t that Su-ji!”
A commotion rose from the entrance, and the name Min-ji had mentioned reached her ears. Mina turned her head.
A woman stood surrounded by people. Shoulder-length black hair, fair skin, and dark eyes were common features, yet she was the kind of beauty who drew the eye at once. Normally Mina would have thought nothing of it, but because of what Min-ji had said, she looked more closely. Still, no memory surfaced.
The woman smiled familiarly as she chatted with the crowd. Their eyes met. Hers widened in surprise, then she walked over with leisurely steps, trailing the group behind her like a tail.
“Hi? You’re Lee Mina, right?”
Su-ji greeted her with a bright smile, but Mina could only wear a troubled expression.
“I’m sorry. Who were you again?”
She felt the woman freeze solid. The entire atmosphere of the reunion seemed to ice over. Inside, Mina screamed.
They’re all complete strangers to meeee!
The only classmate and friend Mina truly remembered was, as expected, only Min-ji.