Because She Had Promised
Because she had promised.
The kidnapping of Lee Ha-yeon — prodigy, genius huntress, and successor to the Angel Guild — sent the entire nation of Korea into an uproar.
"She was snatched on the road from Incheon to Seoul!"
"An SSS-class villain is on the move? This is a disaster!"
The assault by Gye Un-jik, an SSS-class villain, struck the South like a bolt from a clear sky. For nearly nine years, no SSS-class villain had dared attack the southern territories, and the people had grown comfortable in their peace. That the victim was none other than the Angel Guild's successor only deepened the dread. The fear that SSS-class villains might be stirring once more swept across the entire South.
But that terror did not last long.
Less than an hour after the kidnapping, news broke.
The moment word spread that Gye Un-jik had been put down in less than an hour, the public's panic flipped on a dime. Cheers erupted across the nation.
"I knew it!"
"Even an SSS-class villain couldn't last a single hour!"
"Don't you dare set foot here unless you've got a death wish! Hahaha!"
And so, while the country celebrated, the two young women who had been rescued were not, despite the official story, under the protection of the Kangin Guild. They were staying at Baek Seo-jun's home.
"Thank you. Truly. For saving us."
The moment she stepped through the door, Lee Ha-yeon bowed her head toward Baek Seo-jun and offered her gratitude all over again.
"That's enough thanks. Pull yourself together first and go out looking like yourself. If the Angel Guild's successor appears in front of the cameras looking like a wreck, the rumor mill will invent every ugly story it can think of."
"Yes…"
Gye Un-jik had been a fanatic. He had not laid a hand on them — he had intended to offer them up as virgin sacrifices. That did not stop a certain breed of person from watching with dark, hungry interest, wondering whether the two of them had been defiled. To starve that speculation, they would have to appear without a single hair out of place.
"Ho-jun, I can do that, you know."
"You just fought your heart out. Sit down and rest."
"I'm not even tired…"
Seomun Ye-jin watched Baek Seo-jun brew the tea and let her lower lip push out in a small pout. He finished, and set three cups on the table. One for Seomun Ye-jin. The other two for Han Se-hee and Lee Ha-yeon.
"Thank you."
"Thank you very much."
Han Se-hee and Lee Ha-yeon accepted theirs with polite gratitude. Seomun Ye-jin, looking at the cup placed in front of her, smiled with unmistakable meaning.
"There's only one cup! Ho-jun, that means the two of us are sharing, doesn't it?"
With that, she pressed herself openly against Baek Seo-jun, who was seated right beside her, leaning her whole body into his without the slightest hesitation — flaunting their intimacy for anyone to see.
It was hardly the first time Han Se-hee had witnessed this particular display of affection, and still her face went red as she dropped her gaze. As for Lee Ha-yeon, watching the two of them…
Why does this rub me the wrong way?
It felt like she was being shown off to. Like she was losing at something. The feeling sat badly with her. She lifted her cup and took a sip — and her eyes widened, just slightly.
The fragrance, the mana that bloomed across her tongue the instant she drank—
Did he put an elixir in this?
It did not seem like a particularly high-grade elixir, but it had enough potency to soothe the body and settle the mind.
"Is this… elixir tea?"
"Nothing that impressive. Don't worry about it."
Baek Seo-jun spoke as if it were nothing at all. That only made Lee Ha-yeon more conscious of it.
We only met today.
A kindness like this, offered so casually — did he want something from the Angel Guild? The suspicion surfaced unbidden. If that were the case, he need not have gone to the trouble. The life debt she already owed him was more than enough. Unless the request was a crime so vile it would actually ruin the Angel Guild, she was prepared to grant him anything.
Then Han Se-hee spoke from beside her, and the suspicion crumbled.
"You're the same as ever, Ho-jun oppa. You still love looking after people on the sly. That hasn't changed at all."
"You two have talent, so of course I'm interested… but bringing it up out of nowhere like that — you want to train under me?"
"Yes. If I can… would that be all right?"
Lee Ha-yeon did not interrupt. She listened.
"Today and tomorrow are no good. I'll think it over within the month."
"Okay. Thank you, Ho-jun oppa."
Han Se-hee beamed, offered her thanks, then bowed her head and clenched her fists in her lap.
"Today… watching Ye-jin unni fight, I felt more than ever how lacking I am. I know I'm a healer, but if I had been a better one — if I had been stronger in that role — the people who were there wouldn't have gone down to that villain so easily."
Gye Un-jik's attack had driven a spike of alarm through Han Se-hee as well. In a fight against villains, a healer's place was ordinarily in the rear, offering support. Han Se-hee, who also possessed auxiliary abilities of a defensive nature, was capable of more than that. And yet, when Gye Un-jik had come for them, protecting herself and Lee Ha-yeon had been the limit of what she could do. She had not even managed that perfectly.
The admission called up Lee Ha-yeon's own memory of the fight — of going down helplessly, able to do nothing at all.
It's infuriating.
The thought alone made her blood boil. SSS-class villain or not, to fall that pathetically…
From what Han Se-hee had said, Seomun Ye-jin's startling growth was thanks to Baek Seo-jun's help.
"Ho-jun, would it be all right if I taught Se-hee together with you?"
"That'd be perfect. If you help, I have a feeling it'll go much more smoothly."
"Right?"
To Lee Ha-yeon's eyes, Seomun Ye-jin seemed to light up in particular at the words if you help.
Could I… receive his teaching too?
The thought rose, but she could not bring herself to voice it. Far from repaying the man who had saved her life, she would be sinking even deeper into his debt. The idea sat heavily on her.
"Ho-jun."
Unlike Seomun Ye-jin, who was his lover, and Han Se-hee, who had known him for some time, Lee Ha-yeon had met him for the first time today. She opened her mouth with care, and under the weight of his gaze, asked her question just as carefully.
"Is there… anything the Angel Guild might assist you with?"
"No. There isn't."
The answer came at once, and Lee Ha-yeon felt a flush of embarrassment. Then Baek Seo-jun spoke again, looking at her.
"You want to get stronger, don't you? I can tell — getting taken down like that is eating you alive."
"Yes… but then I'd be even more in your debt. You saved my life. I want to give you something in return."
She stopped hiding it and said it plainly. Baek Seo-jun nodded.
"Repay me once you've gotten stronger. You never know — I might need something someday."
"All right. I understand. Whatever you want, when the time comes — I'll do anything. Anything at all."
Lee Ha-yeon made the promise without a trace of hesitation. Baek Seo-jun nodded.
"Good. Then that's enough."
"Yes. But… do you only teach people who have talent?"
"That's right. Aside from her, just the two of you here."
The words called up a face. Someone her own age — another genius who, like her, had risen to S-class. She had seen him only today.
"Then… would you teach someone talented like Baek Seo-jin, too?"
The instant the name left her mouth, the air in the room went rigid. Seomun Ye-jin's expression hardened, and even Han Se-hee's face tightened, just slightly. Lee Ha-yeon froze, realizing too late that she had said something she shouldn't have, and looked to Baek Seo-jun.
"I can call you Ha-yeon, right?"
"Pardon? Ah— yes…"
"I suppose Ha-yeon ought to know, too. First, I'll let you see my real face — not the one you're looking at now."
And then Lee Ha-yeon nearly jumped out of her skin.
The black-haired nineteen-year-old boy sitting across from her shifted. Blue hair. Eyes the color of rubies. And that face — if Baek Seo-jin aged another four years, he might have looked exactly like this.
"Baek Seo-jun…"
He had not told her much. Only his name, and the fact that he hated the Baekho Guild. For the successor of the Angel Guild, that was more than enough of a lead.
Lee Ha-yeon returned to the Angel Guild, presented herself briefly to the press looking perfectly composed, and turned her mind to investigating the Baekho Guild.
"Ha-yeon! Thank goodness you made it back safely!"
Her father, Lee Jeong-cheon, was visibly overjoyed at her return — and even that only tangled her feelings further. She could not quite manage to smile and answer him at once.
"Hm? What is it? D-don't tell me that villain did something terrible to you…"
"Nothing like that! I was just… thinking about the person who saved me."
"Ah, Kim Ho-jun, is it. Don't tell me that bastard laid a hand on my daughter—!"
"Dad!"
His face had gone pale, and the speculation was spiraling into something worse by the second. In the end, Lee Ha-yeon had no choice but to raise her voice.
But she had no intention of telling even her father about Baek Seo-jun.
Because she had promised.