It was that afternoon when the call came from Cheon Sa-yeon. Kim Woo-jin, who followed me to the front of the elevator going to the top floor, asked me with worried eyes, "Is it really okay if you go alone?"
"Why wouldn't it be okay?"
I had always met him alone. You were asking me all sorts of questions.
Kim Woo-jin's changed attitude caught my eye.
When I first possessed Han Yi-gyeol's body, regardless that there was a wound on my arm, he pushed me into the room where Cheon Sa-yeon was, and the second time I met him, he cursed me and made it obvious that he hated me.
"You've changed a lot."
"I've changed? Me?"
"You didn't care this much about me."
At my words, he had a flustered expression. "That…"
"You didn't care whether things were hard on me or not, right?"
Suddenly, I remembered what Kim Woo-jin had said to me before.
「What's up with you today? You usually come out crying.」
That was how Kim Woo-jin dealt with Han Yi-gyeol. When I possessed Han Yi-gyeol, Kim Woo-jin also changed.
If it wasn't for me, Kim Woo-jin would still hate Han Yi-gyeol and would have tailed Ha Tae-heon as ordered by Cheon Sa-yeon.
The future changed when he became kind to me. Cheon Sa-yeon did not have Kim Woo-jin by his side anymore.
"…I—" Kim Woo-jin's complexion, who understood what I meant, instantly turned pale. "Back then…"
With a distorted face, he licked his lips several times and grabbed my wrist with a trembling hand.
"W-what should I do to…"
"It's fine. You can stop."
Just then, the elevator arrived. I let go of Kim Woo-jin's hand and said calmly, "You don't have to talk nonsense now. I don't want to hear it."
I know what Kim Woo-jin was trying to say. But it wasn't me who should be listening to it.
Even if I became Han Yi-gyeol, I couldn't handle those feelings and take responsibility for it. I didn't even want to.
I got on the elevator.
"See you later."
Before the elevator door closed, Kim Woo-jin's face was so miserable that it could not be described in words. I looked away from him and sighed.
When I arrived at the top floor, the attendant opened the door for me. When I entered the representative room, Cheon Sa-yeon, who was sitting on the reception sofa and looking at his tablet PC, greeted me.
"Welcome, Han Yi-gyeol."
Faced with that bright smile, I frowned as if I had swallowed something bitter.
What was this? It was incredibly ominous.
"If you put on that kind of expression as soon as you arrive, I can't help but feel sad."
"Speaking nonsense."
I trudged over and sat across from him. Cheon Sa-yeon, who put down his tablet PC, said in a relaxed tone, "I'm guessing you already saw the news."
"…ah, that."
Even if I didn't, there was still something to be said.
"What was the reason for the broadcast?"
"Hm?"
"Don't pretend. You could have stopped it if you wanted to."
Cheon Sa-yeon had a strange face. "Did you want me to stop it?"
"Also… If you were to use me in the future, you should have blocked it."
In the original novel, in order to do what Cheon Sa-yeon ordered as an independent, Han Yi-gyeol's face must not have been known. So, I thought that everything broadcast- and media-related would be blocked if possible.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean?"
Cheon Sa-yeon continued with a smile. "There's nothing complicated about it. It's just a waste of time to get rid of trash. An important person has a job worthy of their importance."
… Since I was more useful than you thought, you decided to use me to the fullest extent*?
"So you decided to sell my face?"
"I didn't see any need to stop them. Since you're only A-rank, the public can change interests at any time. You don't have to be sensitive."
That was funny. If it was Han Yi-gyeol, Cheon Sa-yeon would have done his best to keep him from being known to the public until the end.
"The situation's become bothersome."
"Don't worry. It'll be quite fun."
I didn't like it. The 'fun' Cheon Sa-yeon mentioned was far from normal fun, I was very anxious.
'More than that, I can't proceed like in the novel if this happens.'
The problem was that there were too many things that had already changed.
Had it already changed so much that I didn't even have time to try following it? I couldn't measure how wide the margin of error was due to my actions.
It was also necessary to find out why the gates in C13 Area burst. It concerned me since the incident did not exist in the original story.
I went to check it myself, but there was no information I could find, so it was very frustrating for me.
"There are three gates scheduled to be cleared next week."
Cheon Sa-yeon tapped the tablet PC a few times and held it out to me. Three gate photos were floating on the screen.
Area C32, Area C18, and Area N42.
"The two gates in Area C are the gates passed over by the Blun Guild, and N42 is our guild gate…"
Cheon Sa-yeon, who stopped explaining for a moment, looked at me and said, "In the case of C32 Area and C18 Area, they are both B-grade, so other guild members are enough. The problem is the N42 Area gate, which is S-grade. The original plan was to send Park Geon-ho, but I changed my mind."
"No way…"
"You'll need to go to the N42 Area gate, Han Yi-gyeol." Cheon Sa-yeon smiled brightly. "Of course, I'll go with you."
"I absolutely don't want to."
I groaned and shook my head. You want me to go through a gate again with Cheon Sa-yeon? The things I experienced at the SS-grade gate came to mind like a nightmare.
"Isn't it unfair to say no before I'm done explaining?"
"Of course not. In the first place, I don't even belong to this guild."
Cheon Sa-yeon did not respond much to the fact that I even presented myself as an independent. He replied with a sour look on his face, "But I think that it'll be good if I follow along?"
"No matter what, I don't…"
"Don't you want to properly check the problem inside the gate?"
"..."
I frowned and shut my mouth.
"When I checked the C13 Area gate's clear record, there was something strange. The last time it was cleared was 58 days ago. For the sake of safety, all guilds use 50 days as the standard, but to be honest, 58 days is not enough for the gate to burst."
"…do you mean there's a reason?"
Cheon Sa-yeon blinked leisurely. "The Blun Guild did one thing wrong: if Kang Seung-geon had followed the 50-day standard, at the very least, the monsters wouldn't have burst out of the gate."
Well, I didn't expect much in the first place.
Cheon Sa-yeon added seriously, "It brings up the question if there's a problem inside the gate that caused the burst after only two months."
I recalled things that had happened before.
The gate in the D8 area where I woke up the boss after taking out the SS item with Ha Tae-heon. The C13 area where monsters suddenly burst out. Both were gates that have changed from the original plot.
"Do you want to double-check the C13 Area gate?"
"C13 has already been cleared since yesterday. Not just C13, but we need to see if other gates have the same problem."
That was true. If there was a problem with all the gates, we had to check it out as soon as possible and take measures.
I sighed and nodded my head. "If there was a reason for this, it would've been nice if you explained it first."
"I wanted to see your reaction." Cheon Sa-yeon curved his eyes and smiled brightly.
So you were still a jerk.
"When are we leaving?"
"Next Thursday."
"Don't tell me you want just the two of us to go."
"That would be great, but…" Cheon Sa-yeon shrugged his shoulders as if it were a pity. "Because it's been officially scheduled**, we have to fill in the minimum number of people. Let's move our date to a later time."
"What date are you talking about."
Judging from his useless comments, it seemed that the main point was over. I got up from my seat.
"I'll go if we're done talking."
"You're quick-tempered. I still have something to talk about, so sit down."
Was there anything else we had to decide on? Cheon Sa-yeon gave a deep smile as he looked at me slumping over. Somehow, the atmosphere seemed to have changed a bit.
"I have a question for you about the contents of the text."
"Text?"
What's this all of a sudden? I sat back down on the sofa and tilted my head.
"What do you mean you brought over Kim Woo-jin?"
"Ah, that."
I guess I texted too simply. I scratched the back of my head and briefly explained. "I went to see Kim Woo-jin and I happened to see him being threatened so I helped him… I beat up his opponent. I thought he was going to take his anger out on Kim Woo-jin, so I brought him to my room. It was difficult to leave him at his home."
"Hmm…"
"As you may know, Kim Woo-jin's abilities are a bit… like that. From what I've heard, he said that he's suffered from a number of other people besides the one I met. After all, he was helping me, so I said we could live together."
"Hm."
I tried hard to explain, but Cheon Sa-yeon's reaction was not good. He seemed to not like something.
"I thought you didn't like being with other people."
"Ah, that…"
I was speechless. It's definitely Han Yi-gyeol's personality. It doesn't matter to me because I've been living in the midst of people since I was so young.
I added hastily, "Now, uh, I think it's okay."
"It's possible to live with me then."
"What?"
…what did this bastard just say? Did I hear it wrong?
I rubbed my ears once and asked again, "What did you say?"
"Live with me."
Fuck off. Feeling goosebumps all over my body, I leaned my back against the back of the sofa. It was an instinctive act of wanting to get away from Cheon Sa-yeon as much as possible.
"Don't say crazy things."
"I was just about to get you a house. It wouldn't be a bad idea at all to come to my place."
Now that it has come to this, I was afraid.
Why were you like this, Cheon Sa-yeon? You were not like this.
"I was very considerate of you because you wanted to be alone, but I'm glad you're feeling better. You can come and live in my house right now."
"No, no! That's enough. I'm satisfied with my room now…"
Shaking my head in fright, I noticed that Cheon Sa-yeon was smiling very deeply.
"...?"
What's with this motherfucker again?
"Are you saying this because you knew I was going to refuse?"
"You got me," Cheon Sa-yeon admitted.
I left my seat and got up. "I'm going."
Of course. I couldn't believe I've been caught with this kind of prank. What a waste of time.
Cheon Sa-yeon held out the papers lying on the table, regardless of my cold gaze.
"This is the gate information for the N42 Area, which we will enter next week. Read it carefully and understand it."
I glared at him and took the documents roughly. Please, let's not meet again until we enter the gate.
"And Kim Woo-jin will be given another room, so let him know that."
Well done, really.
'Annoying bastard,' I muttered to myself and left the representative room.