The King's Cradle
Seo In-ah stared silently at his status window.
"......Do titles usually stack up this flashy?"
Constellation 'The One Who Holds the Scales' laughs, saying a proper returner deserves at least that much.
That proxy figure shrugs playfully, saying it'll be even more for them.
"Ah, that person's just......"
Putting everything else aside, world #1, planetary representative or whatever—it was an instant top-tier stamp of approval.
He closed his eyes and recalled her from his previous memories.
He remembered her exploits. He didn't know much about her as a person called Lee Seonjwa, but there was one thing.
'Her disposition...... He told me about that.'
Yul only kept people around who wouldn't abandon her.
Some said most got fed up with her characteristically indifferent attitude and left, leaving only those who could handle it.
But the truth was the opposite.
'She cherishes only those who will stay by her side until the end—a true, languid tyrant,' he had said.
'......Come to think of it. I wonder if those two arrived safely.'
Ryu Shin-ah, who had blocked Park Sa-ha's temporary registration info and followed Yul out.
It was obvious where those two were now.
* * *
"......General."
Busan's family home.
Yul and Ryu Shin-ah had rushed down to Busan the moment Seo In-ah's registration was done.
The urgent fire was out, and they couldn't hold back any longer.
Yul gazed at her sleeping mother.
She'd been dragged to the Hunter Management Bureau in the middle of the night without knowing why, so of course she was exhausted.
Ryu Shin-ah turned off the light and stared at Yul's back as she sat by the bedside in the dark room.
"I won't touch your family. Perfectly, safely."
"......I don't know what that guy's intentions were with those words, but for sure, Mom's memories never had him in the first place. No mana traces either."
"......"
"Too soon to trust, but...... maybe he never planned to touch her to begin with."
Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' coolly evaluates that it's not entirely false.
Tsks its tongue, saying those sorts always know which side benefits them more.
Yul's most sensitive spot.
Her one remaining family.
Her mother.
Kang Young-hwa.
Thud.
She silently drew out her staff.
The dull sound echoed through the room. Yul gripped it tight without taking her eyes off Kang Young-hwa.
The authority responded to her heart and will.
Shwaaa......
The staff glowed faintly.
Silver currents sparkled as they flowed toward Kang Young-hwa.
Ryu Shin-ah blinked.
That's......
Ding-!
System — You have created a new skill.
New Skill: Pioneering that Ignores Traits.
Skill 'King's Cradle' activated.
Protects the designated target's safety with utmost priority. Upon detecting threats, it now immediately reports anomalies to the king who has outgrown the cradle.
Protection power links to the caster (king)'s stamina. If stamina is insufficient, lifespan substitutes.
An upgraded extreme version of the hastily made skill she'd used on Seo In-ah.
"Don't let useless things crawl up."
Yul said quietly.
So she had to protect her.
Ryu Shin-ah closed his eyes silently.
Yul was apathetic and nonchalant about most things, sometimes brazen to a shocking degree.
But she had a conscience in unexpected corners.
That was Yul.
And the one remaining family she prioritized above all, without regard for front or back.
Not many knew that fact.
Because no one......
"I absolutely can't tell."
"......"
"Can't tell Mom. No, I won't."
Because they didn't know that the Kwon Yul who lost her father in a gate two years ago was the same as 'Lee Seonjwa Killer'.
* * *
Two years ago.
Around the time Yul awakened as a hunter, about two years prior.
Her peak activity period, no different from her heyday.
Her biggest worry back then was, naturally.
"......Still, I should probably tell them, right?"
Telling her parents about her awakening.
Yul muttered seriously from her cafe seat.
Ryu Shin-ah, sitting across from her, stared at her sullenly from behind his sunglasses.
"If you're gonna decide, decide quick. You've been saying that for 40 minutes straight, General."
"It's how I say it that's the problem!"
Bam.
Slamming the table made her iced Americano slosh in its cup.
"Calm down. Mess up your strength control and you'll smash the table."
"Then it's on you."
"General, you're really set on ruining my whole smooth-operator image."
"You got an image to ruin?"
"That's harsh. I'm popular, you know?"
Ryu Shin-ah sucked dramatically on his straw, stirring his drink. His lemonade, bright like his hair, had long since melted into lukewarm water after 40 minutes.
As if to say look, he glanced sideways.
The cafe patrons were sneaking glances at him and whispering.
Unlike Yul, whose presence was faintly low-key even with her dedicated macro, Ryu Shin-ah was drawing the attention befitting his fame.
"See?"
"What am I seeing? My celebrity-obsessed buddy?"
"......Yeah, let's skip that."
Ryu Shin-ah took off his sunglasses and rubbed his face.
Without them, his face was as hollow-eyed as Yul's, dark circles heavy.
At twenty-two, juggling college and hunter work had piled up the fatigue.
Ryu Shin-ah asked seriously.
"You really wanna tell your parents like that?"
"......My conscience bugs me."
Yul scratched her head.
"Something this huge happens, and not saying anything doesn't sit right."
"And yet you've hidden it for two years now."
"I missed the timing......"
Yul made excuses.
She'd awakened two years ago, in June at twenty.
Normally, with her personality of spilling most things upfront, she would've told them ages ago—but the problem was......
"Fair enough. An S-rank gate popped right after you awakened."
The fact that that gate had burst the day after her awakening.
And Yul had stepped into it immediately, debuting in spectacular fashion.
Ryu Shin-ah nodded in acknowledgment.
"You caused a massive incident before you could even register properly...... So you, General."
"Shut it."
If she'd done nothing, it might've been different, but suddenly becoming the nation's hero and world's strongest made it......
'Impossible to say it myself.'
And so two years passed. And two years of awkwardness from hiding such a secret from her parents.
'Even if I imagine telling them......'
Yul pictured sitting her parents down and explaining (for the hundredth time).
Mom, Dad. I'm actually awakened. I'm a hunter. But Star-nim's so OP I snagged world #1. That gate? I closed it. The hunter who brought back the boss's head? Me. France? Oh, yeah, I went there too. Mom? Why'd you faint? Hey, Dad?
The imagination always ended there.
......Way too hard to say stone-cold sober.
Half embarrassment, half awkwardness.
"You're not planning to keep it secret forever just 'cause they'll worry, right?"
Ryu Shin-ah snorted, touching his mouth.
"I don't have anything to tell, so it didn't bug me, but for you, General......"
"No plans for that. I just don't get it. If it comes out later, won't they be even more hurt? Isn't that obvious?"
"Guess so?"
"Just spill it as it happens. Hiding when you're hurt or struggling—what's so 'mature' about that?"
Yul said flatly.
The constellations were cheering that their Yul was right, and Ryu Shin-ah nodded too.
If that's how you see it, General.
You're not the type to feel ashamed asking for help.
Quite the opposite—you boldly say when you're hurt or need something.
'When she says she's fine, she really is, by her standards.'
So he knew well that Yul couldn't grasp thoughts like 'Why tell people and make them worry?'
Ryu Shin-ah folded his sunglasses with a snap and set them down.
"Alright, answer's clear. Tell them."
"......Guess I should."
"You were already planning to. You were just agonizing over when, right, General?"
"You know me too well."
"Thanks. Anyway, try tonight or this weekend. So they don't get too shocked."
Let me know if you need backup. I'll go with.
Ryu Shin-ah added casually.
It was for Yul, who'd feel awkwardly exposed spilling everything, but also because his own fame as a hunter would reassure her parents she was safe.
Yul smiled soullessly.
"Thanks, but not tonight. Pulling an all-nighter."
"Assignment?"
"Group project."
"Ah."
"Fucking senior-year bastards......"
College life’s top villain and landmine: group assignments. Team projects.
Even the world's strongest, power-leveled to the max, wasn't exempt from that monster everyone faced at least once.
"Last semester, so no time? Then don't take classes with group work, show some effort, or announce you're busy and ghost......?"
"Don't kill 'em, General."
"Won't. But I'll drop their names."
"Ooh."
"Let's see 'em get held back from graduation."
Her hollow, dark-circled face looked drained, but her black eyes gleamed.
Senior, don't graduate.
A phrase that could sound worlds apart depending on the school, and with that, Yul prayed for her senior's academic probation.
And Ryu Shin-ah, who’d never endured such trials (hunter, A+ rank, current domestic #4, untouchable swagger), silently sipped his lemonade.