Caught You

"Comrade, say that again."

"It appears a comrade who came up to South Korea is attacking a demon."

At his subordinate's report, Rim Hak-jin stroked his chin and fell deep into thought.

The truth was, for all his talk of human independence and national reunification, Rim Hak-jin couldn't have cared less about any of it.

If anything, he preferred that the current situation stayed exactly as it was.

"Have you looked into this comrade at all?"

"We inquired through the Chinese side, but there is no information whatsoever on him in South Korea."

With both the Korean government and the Awakener Association hiding him that thoroughly, obtaining intel was impossible.

But these two had no way of knowing that.

Either a complete novice, or deliberately lying low. Either way...

Rim Hak-jin placed the demon and Han Jin on opposite ends of a scale, weighing which side to attach himself to for his own benefit.

If the demon won, South Korea wouldn't escape unscathed either.

And he could use that as leverage to wring compensation out of the demon.

If he sided with Han Jin and Han Jin won, he'd receive rewards as well.

But it doesn't appeal to me quite as much as the demon.

The reward from plundering South Korea versus the reward after slaying a demon and reclaiming the land.

Thinking about which would taste sweeter, the answer was obvious.

"Comrade, send word to the demon's side."

"Yes, sir."

Rim Hak-jin — the leader of the largest group of survivors in North Korea — had decided to side with the demon.

Without knowing the first thing about Han Jin, the human who was the demon's enemy.

* * * ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ "Ugh..."

I opened my eyes, clutching my head.

My head throbbed so badly I could barely think.

"Ah, Lord Silver Wolf, you're awake!"

Just then, Won-ae came through the door.

The difference from before was that she wasn't wearing her rabbit mask.

Her dazzling beauty was on full display.

"What happened?"

"You don't remember anything?"

Holding my head, I tried to recall the last scene I could remember.

I had been performing breath regulation to purge her poison, and then...

I'm certain I finished removing every trace of poison from her body, and after that...

Nothing. My memory simply ended there.

Like a blackout after a night of drinking — I couldn't remember a thing.

"I definitely finished purging the poison in your body. What happened after that?"

"After that, I came to, gathered you and the survivors nearby, and returned to the DMZ."

"I see."

Thankfully, it seemed nothing had happened while I was out.

"How's your body feeling?"

"Oh, it's fine — you'd never guess I'd been poisoned."

"I see."

"Yes, if anything, I'm overflowing with strength."

Watching Won-ae swing her arms around wildly as she said it, an image from before my regression flashed through my mind.

That future no longer existed, but seeing her like this, so reminiscent of that time, left me with a strangely complicated feeling.

"And when I woke up, I'd gained a unique skill."

"A unique skill?"

"Yes, I'll show you right now."

With that, Won-ae visualized her unique skill's information and showed it to me.

After checking the skill's information, my head went numb.

Getting a unique skill was a good thing in itself.

But the conditions for actually using it were brutal.

One look and it's obvious who her "bonded target" is...

To use her unique skill, she'd have to keep traveling with me.

The problem was that she belonged to the Black Market.

If I wasn't going to join the Black Market, her skill was, honestly, a dish she could only look at, never eat.

It's not like I don't want to stay with Won-ae either, but...

I had my own circumstances, and Won-ae had hers.

I couldn't force her to stay at my side.

"Congratulations, for what it's worth."

"Thank you."

"Is this your first unique skill?"

"Yes."

For her very first unique skill to be a piece of dead weight like this — talk about unlucky.

Poor Won-ae.

At this rate, is she never going to get her original unique skill?

Her first unique skill had been changed.

I had no way of knowing how that would play out. Maybe she'd never obtain the unique skill she was supposed to get in the previous timeline.

Not that I'm in any position to talk.

While I was lost in that thought, Won-ae spoke up.

"There's no need to think like that."

"Hm?"

"You were thinking it's a useless skill and feeling sorry for me, weren't you? Well, don't. I'm not that pitiful."

"How did you—"

"I can see right through you, you know."

It wasn't that my poker face had cracked.

My expression had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been perfectly composed since the moment I woke up.

And yet Won-ae saw straight through it and read my thoughts anyway.

Does she have some kind of mind-reading skill?

Otherwise, there was no explaining how she'd read my mind.

"I don't have a skill like mind-reading."

"Huh?"

I sucked in a breath.

She'd read my exact thoughts again — and now she claimed she had no mind-reading.

That made no sense at all.

"Really, I don't."

"Then how are you reading me?"

"That's... a secret."

Won-ae's cheeks were tinged slightly pink as she said it, but I, having just come to my senses, failed to notice.

"Anyway, enough of that. Did you check your rewards?"

"My rewards?"

"Judging by that reaction, you haven't. Check your messages."

I hadn't done anything to deserve a reward.

Still, thinking that, I pulled up my system messages.

"Wha—"

This alone was enormous.

An achievement, plus the unlocking of an entirely unexpected special ability.

I'd set out to save Won-ae, and grown stronger myself in the process.

But the messages didn't stop there.

That was the end of the messages.

I was pretty sure I'd glimpsed some alarming words in the middle of all that, but I did my best to ignore them.

"See? I told you. Stop feeling sorry for me." ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ "Uh..."

I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

She was right — there was no need to pity her.

According to the system messages, she was bound to me now.

But is this really okay?

Come to think of it, Won-ae wasn't a freelancer — she was an awakener with an affiliation.

And not just any affiliation: she was the daughter of the Black Market's Korean branch director.

Was it really all right for someone like that to suddenly enter my service?

My head hurts.

A different headache from the one I'd woken up with slammed into my skull.

And while I was clutching my head, Won-ae dropped another bombshell.

"I can't get away from you anyway, Lord Silver Wolf."

"Excuse me?"

What was that supposed to mean now?

As I was wondering, Won-ae answered my unspoken question.

"A trait called Enslaved appeared, and it activates whenever I'm away from you — it inflicts pain on me."

Enslaved.

The word I'd received earlier and so studiously ignored had just come out of her mouth.

"Out of curiosity, what's the range?"

"I tested it a bit earlier. Past one kilometer, I get a slight headache; past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two, the pain gets much worse. I stopped testing after that."

Summing up Won-ae's report: unless I stayed within 999 meters of her, it hurt her.

Which meant I had no choice but to take her with me.

"And besides... you have to take responsibility, Lord Silver Wolf."

"What? Responsibility?"

Where was this coming from now?

"Do you know why the Black Market's staff wear masks?"

"To keep their identities secret?"

"That's part of it, but the biggest reason is separation."

Separation? I couldn't follow.

Separating what from what, exactly?

"It's a way of splitting apart the me who wears the mask from the me who doesn't."

Some personal method of drawing a line between work and private life, presumably.

But she wouldn't have brought it up for no reason.

"And I, as the Black Market director's daughter, wear the mask even in daily life. And the only ones allowed to take it off me are my mother, or..."

"Your mother, or..."

I swallowed hard and waited for the rest of the sentence.

Because depending on what word came out of her mouth next, what I'd be responsible for would be decided.

And at last, Won-ae opened her mouth.

"My fiancé. Only."

"...What?"

I dug a finger into my ear.

A fiancé? In the twenty-first century? Impossible.

"I had a feeling you'd make that kind of joke."

"A joke? What—huk! Huk!"

"Huh?"

The moment I treated it as a joke, tears spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

Panicking, I flailed about helplessly.

"You took my mask off and now...! I'll never be able to get married...!"

Watching Won-ae weep like that, I couldn't get a single word out.

It sounded like she was saying that having her first kiss stolen meant she could never marry.

"Won-ae, let's just calm down for a second, okay?"

"Huk... huk... You took my mask off and now you won't even take responsibility..."

Her words flew at me like a knife and sank in.

Cold. Brutally cold.

My heart pounded with a chill.

Is it just me, or did I just become an absolute piece of garbage?

Thanks to Won-ae's heartbreaking sobs, I was completely cornered.

And in the end, I said the word.

"Fine! I'll take responsibility! I'll take responsibility, okay!"

"...Really...?"

Won-ae looked back at me with wide, sparkling eyes.

Who could possibly refuse a face like that?

First I accept, then I find a way to break the Enslaved trait.

That was what I resolved to do, silently.

"I'll take responsibility."

"Really, truly?"

"I said I would."

I gave the same answer to her repeated questioning.

"I'll take responsibility for you."

And the moment those words left my mouth—

A system message appeared.

The sudden system messages threw me off balance.

And what Won-ae said next hit far harder than any notification.

"Got you."