Lee Han gritted his teeth. It was because of the patheticness he felt towards himself.
Then he heard the voice that he wanted to hear so much from afar.
“Oppa!”
“It’s me!”
Ina, who politely greeted the Hunter who saw her off, ran to Lee Han.
Lee Han hugged Ina as soon as he saw her.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You must have worried a lot.”
“That’s right!”
Lee Han’s arm trembled as he hugged her. Sensing how worried he was, Ina patted him on the back.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“……who is comforting who?”
Lee Han smiled despondently and let Ina go. Still, a smile hung around his mouth, perhaps of relief.
“It was really all right. Hunter Lee Si-hyeon saved me.”
“Hunter Lee Si-hyeon?”
“Yeah, the TV doesn’t compare to the real thing.”
To relieve the tension, Ina said half-jokingly, in mischief.
However, Lee Han’s expression changed strangely.
“Oppa?”
“……Nothing. Anyways, you must have been very surprised. Let’s go to my house for now.”
“My house is just around the corner…But I can’t make it there.”
The dungeon break exploded right in front of me.
Ina scratched her cheek awkwardly and got in the taxi Lee Han pulled over. The taxi that the two took headed straight to Lee Han’s house.
***
“……so I’d like to take a leave of absence for a while, would that be okay?”
[Of course. You must have been very surprised. I’ll tell the CEO as well, so take a good rest, Ina]
“Yes, thank you, Team Leader.”
When Ina hung up the phone, Lee Han approached.
“What did the company say?”
“Take a good rest.”
“That’s a relief.”
Lee Han smiled and handed over a cup of coffee. Ina picked up the cup and recalled last night.
Under the new law, ordinary people caught up in the dungeon breaks could take a stable vacation. Literally, it was a vacation from work to calm down from the surprise.
This was because there were sometimes people who had deep aftereffects of the dungeon break.
‘I’m fine, but it’s nice to be able to rest.’
No matter how good the job is, I wanted to take a rest.
I was drinking coffee, and suddenly I thought Lee Han was too relaxed. Lee Han asked with a smile as Ina looked still.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Aren’t you going to work?”
“I had a half day of work in the morning.”
“Why?”
“I almost lost you, so I’m going to have to calm down as well.”
Ina looked at him as if he was absurd, but Lee Han was relaxed as if it was all right to take the half day.
“Can you use your precious half-day to spend time with me?”
“It’s you.”
“What?”
“You are the most precious thing in the world to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, nothing is more important than spending time with you.”
Ina laughed awkwardly and said in a serious and determined tone.
“Sometimes you overprotect me.”
If Lee Han’s team members heard it, they would have shouted it was not overprotection, but rather over love, but Ina just said it like that.
“But that’s true. Sometimes things like this are good, too.’
A smile built it’s way around Ina’s mouth as she was spending time with her family after a long time. Lee Han also looked at her with satisfaction.
Ina thought as she ate the snack that her brother handed to her.
‘I hope nothing more happens.’
***
“Fortunately, there are no casualties. It’s all thanks to your quick response to come forward from the Celestial Guild.”
“I just did what I had to do.”
After answering politely, Si-hyeon looked around the scene where the dungeon break had occurred.
People from the Hunter Society were cleaning up the scene. Everyone was busy collecting monster bodies and repairing broken buildings.
There was nothing more for him and his guild members to do.
“Everyone did a good job. You can go back now.”
“Yes, then I’ll go first, sir.”
Guild members greeted him and went back to their respective workplaces and homes. Some even made gestures to drink with their fingers, perhaps to have an after party.
‘I’ll also head to the guild….’
Si-hyeon chose the guild over home because he had a lot of work to do as a guild leader. He set out at once.
But he suddenly heard the dragging of steps.
“Huh? This monster is kind of weird.”
Si-hyeon turned his head. An investigator investigating the monster bodies was staring at a particular body.
Another investigator approached him and asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“This monster’s body, cut by a sword but suffocated to death.”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
“I’ve been doing this for years. How can I be confused about that?’
The investigator, who was looking at the body, looked at his colleague with judgy eyes.
Then Si-hyeon approached and asked him.
“Is it suffocation?”
“Oh, Celestial Guild Leader. You haven’t gone yet?”
“I was just about to go. I heard that this monster died of suffocation. Can you elaborate?”
“Oh, yes. If you look at it, there’s a cut from a sword – the cut on the neck, but the cause of death is suffocation. It seems to me that he had already died of suffocation before he was cut by the sword.”
Si-hyeon stared at the monster body.
It was the monster he had cut.
“The Wizard of the He Guild must have done it.”
“……No, this time the wizard was not dispatched.”
“Ah… then another passing-by hunter probably did it.”
The investigators seemed to be indifferent about it. Si-hyeon, on the other hand, did not take his eyes off the monster corpse.
‘I was the only hunter around back then.’
He was all the more sure because it happened right in front of the gate. I could assure you of that.
‘Then who the hell……?’
Si-hyeon, who was narrowing his eyebrows, let out a small exclamation.
“I wasn’t alone.”
“What?”
“Guild leader?”
Investigators looked at him in wonder, but Si-hyeon shook his head saying it was nothing and avoided them.
It wasn’t a Hunter, but there was one. Someone else.
‘Her…’
The one who was dragged by the monster, the person he saved
‘ I didn’t consider it because she didn’t seem to be capable of resisting the monster. Was she an awakened person?’
A glimpse of seeing her follow a guild member out of the scene came to him. I couldn’t remember the face exactly, but I think I could tell when I see it.
“I’ll have to look for it.”
It was a problem if you didn’t know if you were an awakened person, but to not be an awakened person, it was illegal. Si-hyeon left the scene trying to recall the image of Ina’s blurred face.
***
Lee Han didn’t think about going out even though it was time for work. He finally went to the association after Ina pushed him out on the back.
After doing the dishes, Ina was sprawling on the sofa.
[You’re not going out today?]
“Yeah, I’m on vacation for a while.”
[What’s vacation?]
“Break.”
[Then do you stay at home? Are you staying with us?]
“Well… yes.”
[Wow! So exciting!]
Two spirits twirled above Ina’s stomach.
“Lying down, you look like a mobile.”
Ina lay down in a comfortable position, thinking about foolish and trifle things.
I was going to spend my time with my cell phone in that position.
“Ah.”
[What’s wrong?]
Instead of answering the Spirit’s question, Ina narrowed her brows and raised her upper body.
“I forgot. I left the air conditioner on.”
[Air conditioner? The one where the cold wind comes out?]
“Yeah. If I keep it on, the electricity bill will be very high.”
Ina, who was agonizing for a long time, eventually got up from her seat.
“You don’t know how to operate the remote.…. I can’t have you guys do this. You guys wait here for a second. I’ll just turn off the air conditioner and come back, so don’t make any trouble.”
Ina, who had said so, thought about it for a while and corrected her words.
“No, let’s go together.”
[Are we going too?]
“It won’t happen, but it’ll be a problem if the dungeon explodes like yesterday. Back then, you… were helpful.”
Two spirits flew to her as Ina brushed her cheek with a shy face.
[Yes! I want to go with you!]
[Me too!]
“Okay, let’s go.”
With the intention of going back for a while, Ina roughly put on a cap and went out.
I arrived in front of the house by taxi, but Ina could not enter the house.
“For what reason, did you put up a barricade at my house?”
The police stood in front of the barricade and immediately blocked anyone like her from getting in.
Ina muttered, frowning.
“My money…”
[Why aren’t you going home?]
“The police are blocking it.”
[Can’t we sneak in?]
“Secretly?”
Ina turned her head to the tempting words.
Rika was flapping her wings. She was transparent, yet visible to Ina, a spirit messenger.
Ina, who was staring at Rika, exclaimed, “Ah!” And a wicked smile made its way around her mouth.
“That’s right, we can just sneak in, right?”
Ina went straight up to the roof of the next building. It was a building right next to her house and outside the barricade.
Looking at the roof of her house from across the street, Ina called to Rika.
“Rika, can you take me over there?”
Rika was the spirit of the wind. Moving to Rika’s house would have been a piece of cake if she took advantage of the power of the wind.
But Rika hesitated a little awkwardly.
[Um…well…….]
“Why? can’t you do it?”
[I don’t think I can do it with my current strength. If I fly, I’m going to lose my strength and crash down.]
that was difficult. I was sure to die if I fell from this tall building.
Ina, who was looking under the crowded building with Rika, rubbed her trembling arm.
“Why can’t you? Is it because there’s no mana?”
[Yes…]
“Then use my own mana.”
[What?]
Rika, who was tilting her head, suddenly asked with her eyes shining.
[Then are you signing a contract with me?]
“No way. Just use it for now.”
Even if she was not a contractor, she could give as much mana as she could if she was in contact with the spirit. Ina was going to take advantage of that.
Rika replied, climbing on her shoulder with a weak flap of her wings.
[Okay…]
“Instead, if you do well, I’ll give you the chocolate I promised before.”
Of course, you might be disappointed and say you won’t eat it again.
I deliberately skipped the last words. Then both Rika and Izu’s expressions brightened up.
[It’s a promise!]
“Yes, I promise.”
Ina’s conscience hurt a little, but she ignored it.
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