Shinyeom (1)
"...First things first."
I let out a sigh and addressed the two of them.
"Don't start giving each other weird looks. Introduce yourselves."
"Oppa, first tell me who this girl even is. Ow."
"Quit the nonsense."
I gave her a light flick to the forehead, and only then did Han Yerim pout and bow her head.
"...Hello. I'm Han Yerim, Yeonwoo oppa's little sister."
"Little sister?"
"We grew up in the same orphanage. We're not actually blood-related."
Choi Jian's eyes trembled. Then, as if snapping back to her senses a beat too late, she hurriedly opened her mouth.
"Um, I'm Choi Jian — a member of Yeonwoo-ssi's guild!"
"...A guild member?"
Han Yerim tilted her head.
"Oppa, what's this about a guild member?"
"Ah."
I had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation. I sighed again and gestured at Han Yerim.
"Want to grab a drink? It's been a while — we can talk while we're at it."
"I'm in!"
"Ah...!"
For some reason, Choi Jian made a sound like she'd just been left behind.
"Jian-ssi, you're not coming?"
"C-can I come too?"
"...Of course you can?"
Had she actually thought I was going to ditch her and go drinking with Han Yerim alone?
"It's not like we have anywhere else to go. Were you planning to head home first and wait?"
"Hehe..."
"Oppa, what's this about a house?"
"You'd be better off not knowing."
"...I want to get hurt, oppa."
Han Yerim made a sulky face and started poking me in the side, over and over.
"Tell me already. Come on."
"...I'll tell you over drinks."
Now that it was already out in the open, hiding it any further would just be strange.
"Let's go. Jian-ssi, you too — hurry up."
"Yes, yes!"
"Hnn..."
I took the two of them to a bar, and once we'd sat down I gave Han Yerim a brief rundown of everything that had happened so far.
"Whoa. Wow......!"
And Han Yerim's reaction was, as expected, exactly what I'd predicted.
"I want in too!"
"No."
"Ah, why not?!"
I snorted a laugh and tipped back my glass. Why not? Well, obviously.
"You've still got time left on your contract. I can't pay the buyout. I'm broke."
"What if I pay it?"
"...Work it out with your guild yourself. That's not my problem."
"If I work it out, you'll let me in?"
At that, I looked at Han Yerim's status window once more.
...It'd be a gain if I brought her in, though.
Of course it would. She was a future SSS-Rank — if I could bring her over, I'd be more than happy to.
"But I can't pay you much. We'll have to settle it with guild shares and a profit split. Jian-ssi here did it the same way."
"That's fine! It's not like oppa would ever offer me a bad deal."
"...Aren't you trusting me a little too much?"
"Well, you're oppa, aren't you?"
Han Yerim blinked as she said it.
"It's not some stranger — it's you. There's no way I'd go anywhere else."
"Since when have you been this attached to me?"
"Hnn, I've always been like this, though?"
Had she? I couldn't quite remember. It was true that Han Yerim had always been particularly attached to me, but I didn't recall it being quite this intense.
"That's so mean. I've never had anyone but you from the start."
"And yet you didn't contact me for three years."
"I told you that's not trueee."
Han Yerim stuck out her lip and set her glass down with a clack.
"That part still doesn't make sense no matter how I think about it. I sent you letters every single day."
"Why didn't you just call or text?"
"They confiscated my phone. Said I wasn't allowed to go looking at other places."
"...There are still guilds like that these days?"
Han Yerim nodded, her face full of discontent.
"Honestly, I snuck out today too. I may not look it, but I'm B-Rank — this much is nothing."
"...What?"
"Hm? I said I'm B-Rank. Oh right, I never told you, did I? I just said I'd awakened."
"No, that's not what I—"
The rank written on Han Yerim's status window was unmistakably A-Rank.
"...Did you only take the rank evaluation once, at the very beginning?"
"Hm? No? I took one the day before yesterday?"
Han Yerim shrugged.
"I don't really get it either. My output goes all the way up to A-Rank, but they said I'm lacking in other areas so I'm B. That's what the guild told me."
The moment those words left her mouth, Choi Jian and I both made the same blank face.
And of course we did. Because the only thing that determined an Awakened's rank was output — nothing else.
The logic was simple. If you could produce A-Rank defensive output, you were an A-Rank tank. If your maximum attack output was B-Rank, you were a B-Rank damage dealer. Where was there any room for other factors to enter the evaluation?
A guild could certainly tack on its own internal criteria, of course. But that couldn't determine a hunter's official rank.
Which left me with only one conclusion.
"What's the name of your guild, by the way?"
The guild had deliberately falsified her rank. The reason, most likely, was to beat down her price in the contract.
"Me? Shinyeom!"
At Han Yerim's answer, Choi Jian and I looked at each other.
Of all names, it had to be one we were far too familiar with.
......This.
I'd already found it suspicious with Choi Jian, but after hearing Han Yerim's story on top of that, it felt even worse. How was it that every story I heard about this place was some kind of nightmare?
"How did you end up joining Shinyeom Guild?"
"Back then, when I awakened, the director told me to go meet with them privately. The terms didn't seem bad, so I signed right away."
"Ah, is that so...?"
"Yeah. Is there a problem?"
"A problem..."
There was. Quite a few, actually. Where was I even supposed to start explaining this? I pressed a hand to my already-aching forehead and sighed.
"First, just in case — let me ask you something."
"Hm?"
"The contract Shinyeom gave you. Was it something like this?"
I pulled out the contract I'd received from Yoon Taehwan at the café earlier.
Han Yerim's eyes went round.
"Huh? Yeah! That's exactly it."
"...And you signed after reading these clauses?"
"Yeah. The director just told me to."
"That crazy old man, I swear..."
Apparently the place I'd grown up in had some kind of connection to all this as well.
"Haa. We'll deal with that later."
This actually worked out well. I'd been meaning to have this conversation anyway, if only because of Choi Jian.
"If you snuck out, does that mean you normally live in a dorm or something?"
"Yeah. So I can't go back tonight."
"...Alright. You can stay at our place too. We've got somewhere to go together tomorrow."
"Really?!"
Han Yerim's eyes lit up all of a sudden, and she plastered herself against my side.
"Really really really?!"
"...Yeah. Jian-ssi's staying over anyway. You two can share the bed."
"Hm?"
At that, the warmth drained from Han Yerim's eyes, leaving them cold.
"Why is this... person staying at oppa's house?"
"W-well... I'm a member of Yeonwoo-ssi's guild?"
"No, what does that have to do with sleeping at oppa's house..."
She seemed to choke on her own words, and started chugging beer in big swallows. Then, her face flushed with drink, she turned on me.
"Heeey, you can't just let girls into your house like that!"
"...I don't think you're in any position to say that. You used to sneak into my room at the drop of a hat."
"I-I'm allowed to, though!"
"From where I'm standing, you're both the same. Anyway, that's not the issue right now."
Tomorrow, I planned to take both of them to see a lawyer.
"A-a lawyer?"
"Oppa, why a lawyer?"
"I need to draw up a proper contract with Jian-ssi, and we need to look into your contract situation too, Yerim."
"Huh?"
Han Yerim looked bewildered.
"My contract situation?"
"The contract you signed with Shinyeom Guild. It seems way too shady."
"I-is it?"
"Yeah. Just look at this, for starters."
I spread Shinyeom Guild's contract out in front of her once more.
The Contractor shall render absolute obedience to all guild directives.
Any and all acts that could be construed as betrayal of the guild are strictly prohibited.
"Why would they even put this in?"
"...Doesn't that strike you as weird?"
"It does seem a little much, but from a guild's perspective, isn't this just standard?"
"Right, you never were much of a student."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
I barely managed to fend off the attack coming at my ribs.
"Anyway, these are bad for you. They're the kind of clauses that normally shouldn't exist at all."
"Ah, really?"
"Yeah. That's why I want to go see a lawyer."
Han Yerim thought it over for a moment, then grinned and nodded.
"Okay. I don't really get it, so I'll just trust oppa. That's enough, right?"
"I-I'll trust Yeonwoo-ssi too...!"
Choi Jian jumped in, her face flushed bright red — I had no idea when she'd drunk so much.
Han Yerim frowned at that and asked,
"...So how did this person even end up in oppa's guild? You're not the type to go by looks. And you're not the type to take someone in just because she's a girl, either."
"...There was a good reason. You've had enough to drink — let's get up."
I stood, taking the two of them with me, and headed for the register.
"Oppa, I'll pay!"
"You have money...? Ah, I guess you would."
Even if she'd been contracted at B-Rank rates, she'd still be earning far more than most unawakened people. More than me, obviously. I nodded without much concern.
"...Um, it says insufficient balance?"
"Huh?"
"What."
I hadn't seen this coming.
"O-oppa..."
"...I'll get it."
"Th-this has to be because of the guild too!"
"I wonder."
"I'm serious!"
Han Yerim looked genuinely aggrieved.
"Ugh. Today's the first time I've even been outside, so it's not like I've had anything to spend money on..."
"...Is that so?"
Huh. In that case, something really did seem to be wrong.