Chapter 112: Moving (1)
Chapter 112: Moving (1)
After clearing the final dungeon, Wolyeong wasted no time and immediately began her journey back to Korea.
The Japan Branch of the Awakener Association watched her depart after she had cleared ten dungeons single-handedly in just half a day. On the surface, they expressed their deepest gratitude, but in reality, their feelings were complicated.
Human greed knows no bounds; they were bitterly disappointed that not a single artifact had been recovered from the A-Rank dungeons.
The large clans in Japan were particularly vocal in their regret, even going so far as to curse Wolyeong behind her back, though they dared not show it openly.
No one could deny the immense profit they had gained thanks to Wolyeong over the past two years. Her help in clearing troublesome dungeons across Japan’s prefectures—excluding the Kanto region—had been invaluable. If they wanted her help in the future, they had to maintain a good relationship.
Furthermore, from Japan's perspective, they desperately wanted to recruit the mysterious Knight who had accompanied Wolyeong.
The problem was Wolyeong herself, who never gave them an opening.
Despite two years of providing her with top-tier treatment and assigning dedicated personnel to cater to her every need, there wasn't the slightest hint of her becoming more favorable toward them.
A year ago, when they offered her more money than Korea and suggested she work with the Japanese Association, she had rejected them flatly.
From their standpoint, it was impossible to understand why someone with such overwhelming power would operate the way she did.
These days, Awakeners were treated like celebrities and could practically sit on a throne of gold. Seeing as she demanded quite a bit of financial compensation for her contracts, they wondered why she didn't pursue even greater wealth when the opportunity was right there.
The same went for the Knight who came with her this time.
Both possessed such incredible strength, yet they refused to show their faces or live in the spotlight.
Many questioned this, but no one could guess the reason.
Since she was the world's only S-Rank Psychokinetic, it wasn't as if she was a criminal hiding her identity to operate in the shadows.
Moreover, she only performed the tasks she was commissioned for, never made unreasonable demands, and lived quietly. No matter how much they puzzled over her motivations, they simply couldn't grasp them.
Kang Yujin was well aware that outsiders had these questions.
However, she didn't care what they thought. Her only concern was keeping their identities a secret until Han Shin became strong enough.
Han Shin had already returned home, and since Yujin was traveling back alone as Wolyeong, she was desperate to see him as soon as possible.
Because of the public eye, she hadn't been able to have a single private conversation with Han Shin during their entire trip to Japan, which had been a grueling ordeal for her.
That was why she had stayed behind alone to clear the dungeons, told the staff to handle the rest, and immediately flew back to Korea.
Disembarking from the plane at the Association's airfield, Yujin spoke to the staff who had supported her.
"Good work, everyone. Please handle the rest as usual."
"Yes, ma'am. You worked hard, Wolyeong-nim."
Yujin immediately left the airfield and headed for the safe house to change her clothes.
As soon as Wolyeong vanished from sight, the tension finally bled out of the Association staff.
They had hoped for a pleasant atmosphere upon their return, but since that wasn't the case, they had spent the entire trip walking on eggshells around her.
The staff worried that Yujin’s mood had been soured by the Japanese Association's preposterous demands earlier that day.
When the Japanese Association had brought those demands up to Wolyeong in the early hours of the morning, the Korean staff had been absolutely aghast.
In the end, Wolyeong had radiated a chilling aura as she refused them. Then, the Knight had claimed he wasn't feeling well, opted out of the day's dungeon raids, and vanished, saying he would return to Korea separately. The atmosphere had been disastrous.
After the Knight disappeared, Wolyeong remained to clear the dungeons, but she had been strictly professional, not uttering a single word of small talk. The silence had been heavy.
Because the Japanese Association had provided the catalyst for this mess, the entire journey back had been uncomfortable.
"We should report this to the higher-ups first, right?"
"We have to."
For those in charge of supporting Wolyeong, this situation was extremely rare, and they were bracing themselves for a severe reprimand.
"Sigh... Seriously, those Japanese guys should be grateful when people help them."
"Exactly. They need to learn their place. If Wolyeong-nim hadn't helped, the damage would have been catastrophic."
Though the mission to help Japan had been a success, the staff were annoyed by the lingering bitterness of the situation.
As they expected, Park Min-woo’s face contorted with anger when he heard that Wolyeong’s mood had been ruined.
He was already stressed from being hounded by Korea's large clans until just moments ago, making him even more sensitive.
Thud!
In a rare display of temper, he slammed his right hand down on his desk.
"File a formal protest with Japan immediately."
"Yes, sir."
Unlike Park Min-woo’s reaction, Kang Yujin no longer cared about what had happened that morning.
"Shin-a! I'm home!"
Yujin announced her return as she swung the front door open.
"Welcome back, Noona. You really went through a lot."
Han Shin had also been waiting for her return, doing nothing much at home as he anticipated her arrival.
Yujin ran straight to him and threw herself into his arms.
Her black ponytail swayed as Han Shin caught Yujin’s soft, feminine form.
By now, he was used to her jumping into his arms like this.
Han Shin gently patted her back.
It was a simple, small gesture, but it felt as though all of Yujin’s fatigue was melting away.
Han Shin felt quite guilty about having to return to Korea first, so he didn't mind her affectionate behavior at all.
Grace and Laysia followed him out to welcome Yujin back.
"Welcome home, Yujin."
"You worked hard finishing up today by yourself."
They approached her with smiles and words of comfort, just like Han Shin. To him, it was a heartwarming sight to see them getting along so well.
The fact that these three women, laughing and chatting together, were all his made Han Shin feel incredibly content.
They hadn't eaten dinner yet, having waited for Yujin to arrive. The four of them sat down to a meal they had finished preparing together.
During dinner, Han Shin told Yujin all the things he hadn't been able to say properly while they were in Japan.
It was exactly what Yujin had wanted.
Because they had been forced to delay their conversations due to outside scrutiny, time flew by as they caught up on everything they hadn't been able to discuss in detail.
In particular, Yujin was very curious about the hunt for the Orc tribe.
Even though Grace and Laysia were with him, Yujin knew all too well how badly Han Shin had been injured by Orcs in the past, so she had been worried.
Han Shin had expected her to feel this way.
Two years ago, he had been severely injured while trying to stop an Orc, which had put a great burden on Yujin. He knew that one of her biggest fears was him fighting Orcs again.
Han Shin wanted to show her that he had overcome that trauma and that he was okay now. Though he tried to stay composed, he couldn't hide the excitement in his voice as he explained the battle.
As she listened to the details of the fight and how Han Shin had realized how to better control the Power of the Dragon, Yujin rejoiced as if it were her own achievement.
"Shin-a, then you must have gotten a lot stronger this time?"
"Yeah. After all that hard work, we're all Level 30 now. We're much stronger than before."
"I'm so glad."
Yujin didn't feel a single spark of jealousy toward Laysia or Grace for getting stronger.
Han Shin was always her top priority. And because of the Evil Gods lurking behind the portals, she never knew when even stronger enemies might appear on Earth. Knowing the three of them were growing stronger gave her peace of mind.
If she could have protected Han Shin all by herself, she might not have cared as much, but she was well aware of the reality that she couldn't.
Before going to Japan, they had expected it would take quite a while for the three of them to reach Level 30. However, because they had hunted so many A-Rank monsters and absorbed the mana from the Dungeon Cores, they had experienced a massive level jump, which was very encouraging.
And since Han Shin had promised to spend the next three days solely with her to make up for their time in Japan, Yujin began to happily ponder how she would enjoy her time with him.