Trust Earned, Truth Revealed
After her conversation with Go Heejae wrapped up, Seoya had planned to chat with Jeong Sira the next day. But before that, Kwon Yooseok had beaten her to the punch by scheduling a meetup first.
The Kwon Yooseok who had declared, right before she entered the bonus dungeon, "From now on, I'll work to earn your trust," hadn't done anything particularly noteworthy since then. But just before Seoya drifted off to sleep, he sent her a chat message.
'Is that how it works?'
Seoya had never actually made a friend even once, so what did she know. In the end, she had no choice but to reply to Kwon Yooseok with an okay.
If her guild sisters could read her mind, they would've lectured her for hours on "proper friendships."
'What the...?'
Perplexed by the cryptic words, Seoya tilted her head. Still, she set up the meeting with Kwon Yooseok and went straight to bed.
"Here, take this."
"What's this?"
Seoya took the thick stack of papers Kwon Yooseok handed her and asked. They were meeting at a café near the Neverending Guild Building, and the guild members probably thought she was just there alone for some dessert. Unfortunately, they were dead wrong—Seoya was having a one-on-one with Kwon Yooseok, the number one watchlist suspect in Neverending.
"It's a list. Of people who tried to dig up info on you."
As he said, the documents were filled with personal details on people from various countries: photos, names, genders, ages, family relations, residences, contacts, education, jobs, friends, family workplaces... Seoya asked in a dazed voice,
"Why's there so much...?"
"Hunters who backed off after just Go Heejae's warning? Only their basic info. The ones we really need to watch are marked with asterisks, and I've added their weaknesses. To be precise, it wasn't individual hunters prying—it was guild-level ops."
Seoya flipped through the pages without responding, her face twisting at some of the entries that made her wonder if they were even legal to document.
"World Rank 6, the French hunter, is dating thirteen women at once? How the hell did you even find that out?"
"Ah, that one was tough to uncover~. Even our intel has limits, so it might be more than thirteen."
"The guild master and vice-master of Russia's biggest guild, Vaskreseni, are dating? Is that even a weakness?"
"Check below—it says the vice-master's ex-boyfriend is the guild master of rival guild Lev. We can use that to stir up a love triangle and pit them against each other."
"Doesn't seem like something worth fighting over..."
Feeling oddly shady herself just from reading it, Seoya made a disgusted face.
"Why are all the weaknesses about romance? Does that even count?"
Kwon Yooseok's pitch-black eyes gleamed as he smirked, curling just the corners of his mouth.
"Who knows~? You might not get it yet, Seoya, but love? It's a massive force in people's lives—a huge deal."
"Love's important. I get it. Probably."
After all, Ibin and Taesa's feelings for her had to be love, right? And the Neverending guild members loved her too, didn't they? That was Seoya's understanding of love.
"You'll figure it out soon enough. I'll make sure you see it with your own two eyes—what love really is."
Seoya brushed off the enigmatic words with a wave of her hand.
"Anyway, that it? I'm out."
"Aw, come on~ I made time in my busy schedule just to talk, and you won't even stay for one coffee?"
Kwon Yooseok clung on with a whiny tone, leaving Seoya stuck in her seat.
"You busy?"
"Right now, yeah. It's school time."
Seoya blinked at that. Kwon Yooseok and school? The combo felt all wrong.
'He's my age, so it makes sense he'd be in school...'
If So Euneung went to school? Perfect fit. Ji Sein or So Eunsu? They were past that age, but she'd buy it. But Kwon Yooseok in school? Utterly alien. Like smashing two genres that shouldn't mix...
Seoya pictured Kwon Yooseok popping up in one of those fresh high school dramas she'd seen on Earth.
'...Yeah, no. Still weird.'
She could only imagine him as a spy planted in the classroom to surveil or assassinate someone. Amid her sense of mismatch, something clicked, and she asked Kwon Yooseok,
"Hold up—are you actually studying hard?"
"Not school studying per se~, but why? Curious about something?"
Seoya recalled the reward from yesterday's bonus dungeon clear: equations for calculating coordinates and distances between worlds, handwritten by Ibin herself.
Ibin had apparently tried her best to explain from Seoya's perspective.
'Sorry, sis. It's still kinda tough...'
Seoya had always sucked at math.
"You good at math too?"
"Within reason. Never really gotten stuck~."
Right. Maybe Kwon Yooseok could help.
Questioning if picking him of all people was smart, Seoya swallowed hard.
Candidate 1: Baek Yena and Ji Sein.
'Not sure those two could help with math.'
She pictured Baek Yena charging in fists-first and Ji Sein sprawled on the floor hammering her laptop.
Candidate 2: Park Haejun. She'd actually asked him before if he was good at math.
"...Truth is, before becoming a hunter, my life was pretty far from anything brainy."
Candidate 3: Lee Gayeon.
"Yes, hello~? Oh, Rank 0 Seoya? No interviews~. Park Haejun, what? Baek Yena totaled a car breaking a monster wave and wants reimbursement? Hold on. What? Here for hunter recruitment? Baby, take this one and grab a signup form!"
Lee Gayeon always looked swamped. No time to tutor.
Candidate 4: Na Seonghyeon. Never asked, but based on his track record:
"What? Seoya's rewriting math formulas from now on? You're right—if Seoya uses them, they'll be the new standard!
"Uh, I never said that...
"I'll make it scripture!"
Candidate 5: Go Heejae. Just no.
Candidate 6: So Eunsu and So Euneung. She'd already learned from their first chat at Neverending that they'd never touched studying.
"Oppa, what's an equation?"
"Euneung, don't say that anywhere embarrassing... Isn't it the one with x?"
"Then no y means not an equation?"
"Probably?..."
So, Kwon Yooseok seemed like the best—only—option. Last night, Seoya had watched a few online math lectures, and this morning, she'd skimmed a library math book. She could memorize after one read, so basics were down.
"Got an equation I wanna solve, but it's not clicking. If you get it, teach me? If you're cool with it."
Kwon Yooseok lit up, his voice turning silky.
"Can't say no to that. Opportunity's rolling right to me..."
He sipped his coffee and flashed his signature eye smile.
"Let's meet up more often."
"Gayeon sis, I... wanna meet Jeong Sira. Got stuff to talk about."
"Sure. At the Neverending Guild Building?"
"...Nah, just us two."
"Got it. I'll tell Sira."
As Seoya headed to her room after stating her business, Lee Gayeon called her back.
"Seoya, hold up."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you smell like freshly brewed café coffee?"
"Huh?"
"Park Haejun and I just do instant. This is different. Our Seoya sat across from someone at a café today, huh? Who?"
Lee Gayeon's voice was sweet, but her eyes were steely.
"Uh, that is..."
"Kwon Yooseok?"
"Uh...?"
"Your pupils shook. Gotta be him. Kwon Yooseok—now meeting one-on-one?"
The usually composed Lee Gayeon looked ready to murder Kwon Yooseok on the spot. Seoya seized the chance to bolt to her room.
'Kwon Yooseok, you didn't really do anything wrong to me, but sorry...'
A silent apology trailed after her.
A few days later, Seoya finally met Jeong Sira alone. For this talk, Jeong Sira had even invited her home—Seoya had insisted on total privacy.
"Seoya, what'd you wanna tell me?"
Jeong Sira's voice trembled slightly, unused to casual speech with her.
Seoya removed her white cape.
"Oh my."
Jeong Sira instinctively covered her mouth at the unexpectedly youthful, adorable face.
"I've been thinking—nothing should be hidden from you. You saw everything."
"You mean what I saw in the dungeon?"
Seoya nodded slowly. Lying to the Earthlings around her was wearing thin. She needed at least one ally who knew it all.
"I'm here to tell you everything. About the truth of this world."
With resolve etched on her face, Seoya opened her mouth.