Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Misunderstanding Brings Tears
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Black-uniformed men were rummaging through the narrow room in their shoes.
Black footprints smeared the floor, and her cherished belongings shattered one by one as they searched. Some even called out Lee Da-yoon's name, threatening that she should come out right now.
Tears welled up in Lee Da-yoon's eyes. Her tail drooped to the floor, and her wings hung limp, drained of strength.
While Kim Hwa-rin stood by and the management agency agents focused on their search, tears began falling from the girl sitting alone at the table—one drop, then two.
Soon, the sound of her tears shifted from plip, plip... to a steady patter-patter.
"Uu... uuugh..."
And then, the sorrowful wail of a dragon whose lair had been invaded filled the room.
"Waaahhh!"
The eyes of everyone searching inside and outside the room turned to Lee Da-yoon.
At the sudden burst of the girl's heartbreaking cry, Kim Hwa-rin judged it an emergency and immediately activated Fleet Step to leap through the window into the room.
"What happened?!"
What she found was a cooling cup of instant rice in the middle of the room, a winged girl wearing clothes torn at the back, and agents still obsessively searching amid it all.
"Hah... damn. This is frustrating."
She racked her brain, pulling together every bit of knowledge she had—useful or not—to figure out how to soothe the child. But to her, who always got annoyed and walked away at the sight of kids, this situation was tougher than facing an A-rank monster.
"Hey, um... you remember me, right? I took some stuff earlier."
"Uuugh..."
Lee Da-yoon nodded even as she cried.
"These agent uncles came because it seemed like you were in danger from some bad guys. Got it?"
"Waaang!"
But Lee Da-yoon's mind had long since shut down halfway.
A newly hatched dragon wyrmling needs an enormous amount of calories. Its stomach is small by comparison, so it has to eat six times a day.
And Lee Da-yoon hadn't eaten properly even before transforming, and had been completely starved from waking up until now.
A child's instincts, not an adult's mind, had taken control of her body.
In her head, Kim Hwa-rin's words came out garbled like this:
[You're in da□□ □□□ □□□ □□□ □□ □□ danger from bad guys, so these agent uncles came. Got it?]
"Gonna... gonna kill... kill you all..."
Kim Hwa-rin swallowed a curse inwardly, afraid the girl would cry even harder. If she didn't like cute things, she would've bolted right then.
"No, it's not that you did anything wrong... haa, this is driving me crazy."
After agonizing, she decided to take the girl out first. The golden horns, wings, and tail might draw attention, but she couldn't just leave a crying child among indifferent adults.
"I'm taking the kid out for now."
"Ah, yep! Thanks for your hard work!"
Kim Hwa-rin gently took the child's hand.
"L-Let's go out first. Don't you want to leave here?"
"N-No... I don't want to."
An unexpected reply came back.
"Huh?"
"Th-This is my home... I don't want to leave..."
Kim Hwa-rin scratched her head at the complicated situation.
'The kid's been totally gaslit.'
She recalled some advice she'd seen online: in times like these, you need to build rapport first.
"My name's Kim Hwa-rin. What's yours?"
"Lee Da-yoon..."
"We heard there might be bad peo—er, folks here. Just step out for a bit. Okay?"
"I-I live alone... There are no bad people..."
Even as she said it, Lee Da-yoon slowly let herself be led by Kim Hwa-rin's hand.
They left the studio apartment hallway and carefully descended the stairs. The moment they stepped off the final one and outside, Kim Hwa-rin felt a surge of irritation.
Onlookers had gathered around the building, pulling out their phones.
"Stick right by my side."
Kim Hwa-rin drew on her mana and murmured softly.
"Stealth Share."
The two figures blurred like mist and vanished. Hidden by stealth, Kim Hwa-rin led Lee Da-yoon to the prepared van.
"Let's go."
The van carrying them sped away from Lee Da-yoon's home toward a distant place.
Just as it merged onto a main road, a massive rumble echoed from Lee Da-yoon's stomach.
Groooowl...
"Hungry?"
Lee Da-yoon nodded stiffly without opening her mouth. Kim Hwa-rin pulled out some ion drinks and a few energy bars from her bag.
From the moment the food hit the seat beside her, Lee Da-yoon couldn't look away. Like a dog hearing "wait," she swallowed hard, staring only at the food.
"...You can eat."
At the permission, Lee Da-yoon snatched an energy bar. Her small hands gripped it tight, devouring it in seconds.
When her throat got sticky from the bar, she gulped ion drink, then another bar. Only after polishing off four did she snap back to herself.
"Haa..."
Turning into a girl out of nowhere, people bursting into her home—after all that chaos stuffing her empty stomach, her mind cleared a bit.
As she basked in the happy fullness of her stuffed belly, she finally grasped her situation.
'Wait. Am I in deep trouble?'
No idea how it happened, but the management agency seemed to think "she" was a vicious criminal. And "she" was the pitiful child victimized by that criminal.
They were treating her kindly as a victim for now, but if her true identity came out?
'Add identity fraud to the charges, and it's straight to jail.'
Maybe even a lifetime of having scales plucked while mashing a craft button every day.
The thought made her shiver involuntarily.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing."
Come to think of it, the name Kim Hwa-rin had rung a bell. Now she remembered: an A-rank hunter in the domestic top 10, specializing in assassination techniques, infamous for her fierce temper.
And such a hunter was sitting right next to her. She was deceiving that hunter.
In the knife-edge anxiety, the van pressed on toward Seoul's heart, where most domestic awakeners gathered—the Awakener Management Agency.
The van stopped in the staff parking lot behind the agency.
"We're here. Get out."
"Okay."
At Kim Hwa-rin's words, she stood. Stepping out, the agency's sight came into view: a massive building in a modern, geometric style.
Gulp.
Now she had to fool everyone here. She clenched her fists to fight the tension.
"Follow me."
Trotting after Kim Hwa-rin into the building, she saw throngs of people bustling with work.
The busy passersby fixed their gazes on her every time they neared. Probably because her whole body gleamed gold. She shrank, feeling like the odd one out.
Kim Hwa-rin walked briskly, clearly knowing the destination.
"Huff... huff..."
She barely kept up and arrived at a cute door.
"Ah, perfect timing. Do me a favor."
"Hunter Kim Hwa-rin. The child behind you...?"
"Rescued kid. The agents left her behind, so I brought her. Haven't ID'd her yet, so watch her for now. I'll send details later."
With that, Kim Hwa-rin slipped away down the opposite hall. Like stealth skill activated, she was nowhere to be seen.
Before she could process, another woman approached.
The brown-haired woman with a warm face crouched to eye level.
"Hi?"
From Kim Hwa-rin's "not identified yet," this woman was probably an interrogation expert. The agency might already suspect her.
From now on, hide all info. She was confident in acting, so she'd play the quiet type.
"I'm Jang Hee-yoon. There are snacks in that room—want to eat some with me?"
"Yes! I want snacks!"
...
When she came to, she was already in the cute room. Her body sat on an orange round chair, with Jang Hee-yoon across the desk.
'I got played!'
Never expected the lure tactic. Caught off-guard, she'd lost the first move.
No, she hadn't spilled any info yet—safe. Refusing might've looked more suspicious. Key was hiding info from here on.
Ding!
Jang Hee-yoon's phone chimed. She skimmed it quickly, closed it, and pulled a bag of chocolate snacks from a back drawer.
"Want to play a game with me? It's super fun."
"...What is it?"
"Every time you answer what I say, I'll give you one snack. Sound fun?"
Did they think she'd fall for such a cheap trick?
Underneath, she was an adult man who'd graduated college and done every odd job. Not simple enough for this.
"Let's try a practice round first. I'm Jang Hee-yoon—what's our friend's name?"
As she opened her mouth to refuse, the chocolate snacks on the desk caught her eye. Packaging torn open, luscious brown treats gleaming inside, waiting.
One bite, and sweet chocolate would flood her brain, the cookie melting smoothly. Expensive snacks she hadn't had in ages. Just one—just one—would be nice.
'Wait, she already knows my name from Kim Hwa-rin anyway.'
So this wasn't revealing info. Just rational looting of snacks.
"...Lee Da-yoon."
"Da-yoon's such a pretty name. Here, have one."
Jang Hee-yoon handed her a snack carefully, lest it fall. She snatched it and popped it in fast.
The moment it hit her mouth, rich sweetness and nuttiness exploded in her brain. The cookie melted on her tongue, chocolate satisfying with its aroma.
"Hee..."
Savoring to make it last without chewing, it vanished in seconds. ...Could she have just one more?
Then Jang Hee-yoon spoke again.
"Da-yoon, do you know what this place is?"
"A place that manages awakeners?"
"Yep, right! You know it well!"
Regrettably, no snack this time—it wasn't a qualifying question.
...No, snap out of it, Lee Da-yoon! Never give info. One slip, and it's lifetime slavery.
From now on, no answers. Absolutely. No matter what.