Chapter 69: Ha-chan and Eunnamu
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 69: Ha-chan and Eunnamu
While I was lost in such serious contemplation, Si-ho approached me.
“Manager.”
“Ah, Si-ho. What about Lee Su-ho?”
“I sent him flying.”
She works fast.
When I told her she’d done well, Si-ho took another step toward me, her expression clearly wanting something more.
“Si-ho?”
“Si-ho, did a good job, right?”
“Uh, yeah, you did?”
As I answered with a hint of bewilderment, Si-ho took another step.
“Si-ho, I think my head is hurt.”
I stared at her for a moment, then blinked.
I’m not an idiot.
Realizing what Si-ho wanted, I gave an awkward smile and raised my hand to start stroking her hair.
As I felt the soft texture of her hair, Si-ho smiled faintly, clearly enjoying my touch.
Watching her, I thought to myself quietly.
‘So Si-ho likes me.’
The affection in her eyes as she looked at me was finally becoming clear.
「She likes you, Ha-chan.」
Eunnamu’s words echoed in my head once more.
It was so obvious that a third party could notice, so why hadn't I?
The answer was simple.
Because Si-ho—an S-rank hunter with spatial abilities that even Girasung coveted—seemed so far out of my league.
The moment I realized that, I started to feel ashamed of myself.
As I retraced my memories one by one, I became aware of how many times I had acted disrespectfully toward her.
‘And to think I noticed Ji-eun’s feelings so quickly.’
At this rate, my behavior toward Si-ho was just as rude as it had been toward Ji-eun.
It was as if I had been subconsciously judging people based on their worth.
The thought made me feel pathetic.
“This bastard, he finally noticed.”
And Baeksan, who looked at me with the most contempt, spoke up.
Yeah, you son of a bitch, I noticed.
‘Was my trauma from Kwak Sa-yeon buried deeper than I thought?’
I sighed, realizing I had been subconsciously avoiding people with money, power, and influence.
My gaze fell upon Si-ho.
How should I treat her from now on, this girl who found joy in the smallest things I did?
More importantly, if Si-ho liked me, that meant both members of my hunter team liked me.
Two high school girls, at that.
‘My head is suddenly starting to ache.’
What I had suspected after hearing Eunnamu’s story had turned out to be true, and my mind became a mess of thoughts.
Should I draw a line with Si-ho, just as I had with Ji-eun?
The problem was, I knew her situation all too well.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was currently in rehabilitation, trying to stand on her own two feet and move on from her past self.
She had told me herself that she was preparing to say goodbye to her mother.
And I also knew that she was leaning on me heavily in that process.
That day, Si-ho had likely seen her mother in me, and I had returned to her without dying.
That fact must have had a huge impact on her.
That’s why I couldn’t just rashly put up a wall between us.
‘Haha, my life.’
There was nothing more miraculous than someone liking me, yet here I was, agonizing over it even though it had happened twice in a row. What a pathetic guy I was.
‘Wait a minute, if that’s the case…’
Just then, another thought crossed my mind.
Eunnamu’s advice hadn’t just been about Si-ho.
There was one more person, wasn’t there?
The fact that she noticed Si-ho’s feelings meant her judgment was quite accurate. If so, then…
‘Does Baek Seol-hyang also like me…?’
No way.
Really?
19
With my thoughts in a tangle, Si-ho’s teleportation quickly brought us to the park entrance.
Si-ho seemed to have overexerted herself slightly, as her nose started bleeding again, but she wiped it away with a familiar expression.
Somehow, it felt like Si-ho was getting tougher by the day.
“Seo-a!”
At that moment, Lee Su-ho’s voice echoed as he ran toward us.
Seeing his girlfriend being supported by my hand, he shot his arm out and snatched her away.
When I let her go without a fight, he glared at me with burning eyes.
“Who the hell are you to touch Seo-a?”
Is this guy insane?
“He couldn’t do a damn thing and just ran away. Now that you, the guy he looked down on, saved his girlfriend, he’s trying to pin the blame on you out of resentment. Fucking trash.”
As Baeksan offered his advice, having seen right through Lee Su-ho, I let out a hollow laugh.
“Let go of me!”
Just then, his girlfriend shoved him away.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
As Lee Su-ho looked at her with a stunned expression, her eyes, welling with tears, turned red as she glared at him.
“After leaving me behind and running away, what right do you have to act like this? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Oppa?”
“Hey, Seo-a, it was dangerous back there!”
“And I wasn’t in danger? What am I to you, really?”
Her body trembled as she questioned him.
Lee Su-ho’s face contorted in anger, but seeing everyone glaring at him, he shut his mouth.
“And this person saved me. Don’t you dare speak to him like that.”
Pulling away from Lee Su-ho, she staggered over to my side.
From my perspective, I didn’t particularly welcome her either, but she paid me no mind, continuing to glare at him.
Seeing this, Lee Su-ho ground his teeth and turned his anger back on me.
“You bastard! This is all your fault!”
Overwhelmed by shame and rage, he lost control of his emotions and lunged at me.
Just as I was about to lift my foot, Si-ho and Eunhyeon were already in front of me.
“Ugh, gwak!”
In an instant, his body was teleported into the air, and Eunhyeon’s kick slammed into his back.
Lee Su-ho writhed on the ground, gasping for breath. His girlfriend looked down at him as if he were something disgusting.
“Fucking trash.”
It was a fitting end for him.
“Um, th-thank you.”
Just then, the girlfriend suddenly thanked me.
Come to think of it, with all the chaos earlier, I hadn't received her thanks.
“It’s nothing. More importantly, are you alright now?”
Since I was involved with the World Returnee Association, I felt a degree of responsibility for the Girasung incident. I asked the victim, and she nodded.
“And I’m not his girlfriend anymore. My name is Kim Seo-a.”
“Ah, yes. I’m Kang Ha-chan.”
As I replied calmly, she began to fidget.
“Um, I’d like to repay you for your help. Could I perhaps get your phone number…?”
“Manager.”
At that moment, Si-ho wrapped her arm around mine.
She positioned herself perfectly between me and Kim Seo-a, then looked up at me.
“We’re not done with work yet. Shouldn’t we get going?”
“Ah, right. Let’s go.”
I was worried about Ahyu, after all.
“We’ll be on our way then. Please get to a safe place.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
Watching Kim Seo-a speak with a look of deep disappointment, I turned away.
“Ms. Eunhyeon, what will you do?”
“I will handle the artificial dimensional gate. The remnants have been captured…”
She trailed off, suddenly stopping mid-sentence.
Then, she lifted her head and began to stare at something in the distance.
“Something bigger than expected has appeared.”
At that moment, camellia petals soared into the sky.
The instant I saw the massive cloud of petals, I knew it was Ahyu. My eyes widened, and I turned to Si-ho.
I felt sorry for pushing the already strained Si-ho, but the situation was urgent.
She seemed to understand my intent, immediately grabbing my collar and Ms. Eunhyeon’s clothes before activating her teleportation.
My vision shifted in an instant. Now accustomed to teleportation, I recognized we were on the rooftop of the academy’s main building.
I rushed to the railing. There, amidst the scattering camellia petals, the massive form of a wolf made of shadow was disappearing into the ground and bursting out again, leaping through the shower of flowers.
“Ahyu!”
The moment I shouted, I saw Ahyu among the camellia petals.
Her eyes were narrowed in concentration as she effortlessly parried the shadow wolf’s fierce attacks.
Thankfully, she was unharmed.
Her eyes seemed to find mine, and she offered me a slight smile.
I could sense a calm confidence in that smile, which allowed me to feel a small sense of relief.
“Ms. Eunhyeon, that is…”
“Asura. It is the shadow ability of the S-rank returnee, Song Hyeok-seo. It seems he has come here.”
An S-rank returnee.
That meant he was on the same level as Ahyu.
“What should we do?”
“For now, I will provide support to the Heavenly Demon.”
With those words, Eunhyeon’s five tails flared as she leaped off the rooftop.
Still nothing more than a glass cannon, there was nothing I could do in a fight between returnees.
“Ha-chan.”
Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
Even Si-ho, who had been right beside me, noticed it a moment late, her eyes following mine to the figure standing there. It was Eunnamu.
My eyes went wide at the sight of her here, when she was supposed to have left for her interview.
“Eunnamu?”
“What are you staring at, you idiot!”
The moment Baeksan’s shout rang out, my body was flung into the air and thrown off the rooftop.
As I was suddenly plunged into a fall, I saw Eunnamu’s usual smile.
What was the meaning of her actions?
The answer was simple.
Crackle!
My body’s aura moved reflexively.
Instead of the usual 0.1%, my body was pushed to its absolute limit as my full power was unleashed, awakening every sense in my body.
Through the sparks of electricity, I could clearly see Eunnamu reaching a hand toward Si-ho.
Knowing what that meant, my hand shot out in an instant, grabbing the railing. With nothing but my arm strength, my body flew.
My soaring form and Eunnamu’s eyes met.
Flash!
A brilliant light followed.
I had moved faster than Eunnamu could reach, pulling Si-ho into my arms.
The entire action took a mere 0.5 seconds.
But my opponent was a returnee.
The moment she saw me embrace Si-ho, she succeeded in grabbing my collar as I tried to escape.
Realizing this, I threw Si-ho into the air and shouted.
“Si-ho, teleport!”
The moment my shout echoed, Si-ho, who hadn't been able to keep up with my and Eunnamu’s speed, belatedly activated her teleportation.
It was thanks to her knowing that Girasung was after them.
As I watched her disappear with a sense of relief, Eunnamu’s hand on my clothes twisted, and I was slammed into the ground.
“Keuk!”
A wave of exhaustion from the backlash of using my full aura washed over me. I let out a pained groan from the impact.
Following the Brain Thunder, this was the second time today I had used my full-power aura, and now there wasn’t a single drop left in my body.
The sparks that had erupted from my body must have been the cause, as part of Eunnamu’s face was torn.
She straddled me, pressing down on my chest as she scratched at the torn part of her face.
“Oh dear, this is ruined now.”
With those words, she tore off her own skin.
In that instant, her usual short hair was replaced by long, jet-black strands that fluttered in the wind.
Her true face, revealed for the first time, looked down at me with a languid smile.
“Ha-chan, it seems you were mistaken about one thing.”
“…That you were a woman?”
“Ahaha, no, not that.”
Finding something amusing, she smiled with her eyes and pressed her hand firmly against my chest.
“I don’t necessarily need to target just Ha Si-ho.”
“What?”
“The one I was after was you.”
The moment I heard those words, my eyes began to widen.
For a second, the question of ‘why’ arose, but the memory of my first conversation with Baeksan came to mind, and I was left speechless.
The linchpin of the returnees, and the most useful civilian to exploit.
Me.
Her actions just now had confirmed she was with Girasung.
And her words meant that Girasung was aware of my existence.
The one thing that should never have happened had just begun.
“You used up all your power just now, didn’t you? I don’t know why, but it seems you can’t control your own strength.”
Was that why she had infiltrated the Hunter Training Academy?
“I’m sorry. But I need Girasung.”
As my eyes met hers, which were smiling, I clicked my tongue.
Did she think it would be that easy?
“…Eunnamu, there’s one thing I haven’t told you either.”
No way.
As a confident smile spread across my face, a small flicker of doubt entered Eunnamu’s eyes.
“They say you were my ex-girlfriend in another world.”
“Huh?”
As she showed confusion at my out-of-place comment, I had already made eye contact with a certain someone.
With the most reliable regressor in the world.
“Damn bastard, using up all his aura and then leaving it to me.”
With that voice, my consciousness faded away.