“… How are we supposed to open this?” Yoo Yeonha grumbled while knocking on the igloo formed from aether at the center of the Han River Bridge.
“Hello? Can you open it from the inside? Hellooo?”
There was no response no matter how much she called out.
The barrier was gone and all of the monsters had been taken care of, but this thing alone hadn’t disappeared.
“Do we have to destroy it?”
Tomer and Loelle approached. The pair that was specially recruited by Essence of the Straits played a vital role today.
Yoo Yeonha immediately straightened her back and put on an air of authority befitting that of the guild heir, “Well done, you two. I’ve realized your worth today.”
“… Huh? Ah, well… sure…”
“Yeah… thanks…”
At that moment, Yoo Yeonha was about to deliver a speech when the aether igloo finally opened.
“Kyaaaak! Uwaaaah!”
The civilians inside the aether igloo screamed and trembled in fright, but all of them soon let out a sigh of relief after seeing the numerous heroes waiting for them outside.
“Ah… So it was as you expected?” Yoo Yeonha said after spotting Kim Hajin walking towards them from a short distance.
He smiled at her and asked, “How are things over here?”
Then, he slipped a piece of paper into her hand.
Yoo Yeonha discreetly glanced at the paper.
[Chae Jinyoon is awake.]
“The situation is under control and there are no casualties,” she replied.
Yoo Yeonha conjured her mana to burn the piece of paper after reading the good news.
Reporters started to flood onto the bridge.
Jain, who was disguised as Chae Nayun, approached the two and asked, “Ah, I’m so tired. Hey, is everyone alright?”
Kim Hajin smirked and replied, “Yeah, we’re fine.”
Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!
A continuous burst of camera flashes began.
Yoo Yeonha whispered to Kim Hajin, “Things turned out quite well…”
Kim Hajin nodded in response.
He previously divulged his [Hacking] ability and sought advice from Yoo Yeonha. She contemplated for a while before coming up with the idea to purposely leak that they were snooping around and digging dirt on Kim Sukho.
Kim Sukho would either tremble in fright or anger after finding out that fact. He would rush to silence them.
Things went exactly as Yoo Yeonha planned. Kim Sukho immediately caused a ruckus as soon as he heard that the Pharmacy Club was trying to cure Chae Jinyoon.
Of course, she didn’t expect him to get Destruction involved at one of the busiest bridges in the country, but he most certainly overlooked the fact that Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak became much stronger in a short period.
“I’ll send you the rest of the files,” Kim Hajin whispered back.
There was still work to be done. Their final objective was Kim Sukho’s complete destruction and the full cleansing of the association.
“Alright…” Yoo Yeonha replied while hiding her thoughts.
Truth be told, she wasn’t only aiming to eliminate Kim Sukho, but also to benefit her own family. She devised a grand ambition of absorbing everything Kim Sukho amassed into the coffers of Essence of the Straits.
“I’ll be waiting for those files,” she added.
However, she saw no benefit in divulging this part of her plan to Kim Hajin.
***
“Is this the right place?” a low voice asked Chae Nayun.
Chae Nayun looked around her surroundings before nodding in response.
They were currently behind the hanok[1] in Mount Baekdu where Chae Joochul resided.
“Yeah, it’s correct. By the way, what was your name…?” Chae Nayun asked.
“You can call me Blue.”
The Chameleon Troupe helped her teleport here. The member who helped her was none other than the one capable of opening a portal to anywhere as long as he possessed enough mana. He was known as Blue or also by his real name, Khalifa.
“Yeah, thanks Blue.”
“…”
The man didn’t say anything as he disappeared into his portal.
Chae Nayun glanced at Chae Jinyoon. He was soundly asleep on her back.
They crossed a bridge and walked between rows of trees before finally reaching the hut’s doorsteps.
Gulp…!
Chae Nayun nervously gulped as she walked inside the hut until she reached the doors of the master bedroom.
She could see Chae Joochul through the small opening in the door. He was sitting on the floor and silently observing the picturesque tranquility offered by the mountain.
“Grandfather…” Chae Nayun called out in a trembling voice.
Chae Joochul turned his head while holding a smoking pipe. He spotted Chae Nayun behind the door and walked over to open it wide.
“Oh, it’s Nayun and even Jinyoon is here,” he said with a smile.
Chae Joochul was not surprised by Chae Nayun and Chae Jinyoon’s sudden visit. That was the limit of his emotions.
Chae Nayun visiting with Chae Jinyoon was unimaginable, but Chae Joochul’s emotion was not capable of being surprised by such an unimaginable turn of events.
He had no idea if he was supposed to be angry, surprised, or sad.
“Yes…” Chae Nayun bitterly smiled and replied.
“But why did you bring Jinyoon here?” Chae Joochul asked while looking perplexed.
Chae Nayun first went inside the room and laid down her brother. Then she replied, “Oppa will soon wake up.”
“Wake up…?” Chae Joochul muttered while stroking his beard.
Chae Nayun slightly blushed before she replied, “Yes, it is a gift the person I love gave me…”
She looked down at Chae Jinyoon, who was currently breathing much livelier than before. Then she put on a serious face and gritted her teeth.
“So… I have a favor, Grandpa,” Chae Nayun said.
Chae Joochul identified the resolute look on her face and asked, “Oh, what is it?”
He was still smiling, but Chae Nayun knew that her grandfather’s smile did not look favorably on her. However, she couldn’t back out now.
“Go on. Say it,” Chae Joochul urged her.
Chae Nayun knew that such a thing as love for his granddaughter didn’t exist in her grandfather, but she knew that there was a strict scale inside of him that weighed things.
If she could only tilt that scale in her favor, then…
“Please help us,” she pleaded.
“As I said, what is it you need?” Chae Joochul replied.
***
Two weeks had passed since then.
None of us expected the operation to convince Chae Joochul would end soon, but I used that time to go over and polish our plans with Yoo Yeonha.
The entire plan was made under the premise that Chae Nayun managed to convince her grandfather, Chae Joochul.
— I miss you. I miss you so much. I miss you so much I cry every night.
On a side note, Chae Nayun was currently stuck in Mount Baekdu. Well, it was more like she would be there until Chae Jinyoon recovered and she managed to convince Chae Joochul rather than being stuck.
Allowing her to stay was the current extent of Chae Joochul’s permission.
“Me too…” I replied.
Talking over a call was probably better than messaging as this was the best way to convey our full emotions to each other.
Then, she replied.
— Really? You too? I’m not the only one?
“Of course.”
— Hey, hold on a minute… Are you sure you’re not cheating on me?
“Have you gone insane?”
— That’s good… Ah, I’ll go spar with Grandpa. That’s my daily activity these days.
“Yeah, make sure you win.”
— Yeah, I’ll never win.
Our call ended and I was busy stuffing my earphones into my pocket when Chae Nayun suddenly sat beside me.
“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked.
I knew it was Jain. Wait, it wasn’t Jain as I took a closer look.
“… Is it Boss?” I muttered.
Chae Nayun replied with a frown, “You’re really good at seeing through Jain’s disguise.”
“I have excellent eyes,” I shrugged in response.
“Is that so?”
We quietly sat as the award ceremony commenced. We were being awarded a certificate for our efforts at the bridge two weeks ago.
“… I heard that you already knew about the Kwang-Oh Incident,” Boss suddenly said.
I flinched and looked around my surroundings.
Boss whispered to me for reassurance, “It’s alright. Nobody can hear us.”
“…”
I nodded and said, “You’re quite stubborn. Yeah, I already knew about it. Nayun told me.”
Boss remained silent as if she was contemplating something while looking up in the air. She finally asked, “… Then, don’t you want to find out?”
“Find out what?”
“Who was behind that incident?”
“…”
I looked at her.
I had an idea why she was asking all these questions, but I no longer wanted to pry any further into Kim Chundong’s past.
I wasn’t Kim Chundong, but Kim Hajin.
“I already knew Kim Sukho was behind it, so what’s the point? Well, I’m sure someone else pulled the trigger. However, I’m satisfied knowing who the mastermind was. Besides, the mastermind is worse than the hitman, right?”
“…”
Boss fell silent again. It seemed like she had something she wanted to say, but she didn’t say anything as her lips continued squirming.
“Hey, what are you two doing?” Yi Yeonghan suddenly interrupted and leered at us with sleazy eyes.
I was about to shrug off his question when I suddenly felt mischievous.
“What else?” I said as I pinched Boss' cheek.
Boss froze on the spot. Even her heart stopped beating for a second. Her eyes shot wide open in surprise, but I gave no heed as I continued pinching her cheeks left and right.
“I’m bothering her,” I said.
“Oh, you guys look so sweet together,” Yi Yeonghan replied with a grin.
I had no idea what looked sweet to him.
“Shtap…”
I think I heard Boss saying something, but I ignored her and continued harassing her.
“I told you to shtap…”
I immediately took my hands off after sensing a hint of bloodlust in her voice.
Luckily for me, a voice blasted through the speakers and interrupted her train of thought.
— We are now going to commence the award ceremony for the eight cadets!
The award ceremony commenced and the protagonist of this ceremony was none other than us, the ones who saved the civilians in the Han River Bridge Destruction Incident.
— I will now call the names of the brave cadets who protected the civilians from the djinns.
The events of that day made me realize something about this world. This world wasn’t a novel, but rather another reality with countless precious souls living in it.
— Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha, Kim Hajin, Yi Yeonghan…
That was also why I learned the joy of saving another person. Being able to save those people was probably the biggest joy I could attain in this world.
— The certificates of commendation will be awarded by the previous president of the Republic of Korea and the current chairman of the non-profit organization, UNGO, Chairman Kim Sukho.
Those words made all of us grimace.
An old man wearing a suit came up to the podium. It was Kim Sukho.
All of us stared at him dumbfounded for a moment, but he leisurely smiled at us.
“Haha…” I let out a laugh while looking at Kim Sukho.
Kim Sukho frowned for a split second after locking eyes with me.
— Now, please come up one by one as you are called…
I was curious. ‘I wonder how long you can keep that smug smile on your face?’
***
Time passed and our first year at Cube came to an end. Our winter vacation had started.
Chae Nayun was still at Mount Baekdu with Chae Jinyoon.
“Haa… Haa…”
That was the reason we were currently on our way up the mountain since we hadn’t seen her for a long time.
“Ugh… Ugh… Uwha…”
I was busy scaling the side of the mountain when I suddenly heard someone struggling. I looked back and saw Yoo Yeonha hanging by the rope.
“… What are you doing?”
“W-What else? Hurry up and pull me up!”
“…”
I extended aether and pulled her up.
“Phew… Haa… Hoo…”
“Just hurry up and keep climbing.”
“I’m weak against the cold. I think there’s something wrong with this heat vest…” Yoo Yeonha grumbled before she started climbing again.
We finally reached the top of the cliff and landed on flat ground, but a fierce blizzard hindered our vision.
We marched on without the luxury to catch our breaths.
“When will we reach it?” Yoo Yeonha asked.
“I have no idea,” I replied.
She closely followed behind while I followed Kim Suho, who was behind Yi Yeonghan and Shin Jonghak.
We walked in a single file line as the blizzard completely hindered our vision.
“Anyways, we’ll be able to obtain a concrete testimony and witness if Nayun managed to convince Sir Chae Joochul,” Yoo Yeonha said while walking. She added, “One cannot rule this world alone. That’s why Kim Sukho has a lot of underlings. However, those underlings will instantly turn on him at the first sight of danger. After all, tentacles with their own will are bound to struggle to save their own skin if they sensed that the head would get cut off.”
“Yeah…” I muttered.
Shin Jonghak, who was at the front, suddenly stopped. All of us stopped one by one after that and looked into the distance.
Our view was still hindered by the raging blizzard, but there was no way we couldn’t spot that hut brightly glowing in this storm.
“That’s the place…” Shin Jonghak muttered.
All of us gulped nervously as we felt Chae Nayun’s mana from the hut with a vast garden that resembled some kind of a dojo.
“Should we sneak in or should we go through the front?” Yoo Yeonha asked in a mischievous tone.
“What if only Hajin sneaks in?” Kim Suho said with a snicker. He added, “I’m curious… I wonder how Chae Nayun’s going to react? I mean, it’s been four months since you last saw each other, right? Do you think she’ll cry?”
“Ha… Retards…” Shin Jonghak grumbled under his breath.
That guy… He was obviously dating Seo Youngji now, but does he still have some lingering feelings towards Chae Nayun?
Kim Suho pouted and sulked after getting cursed at by Shin Jonghak. Then he retorted, “What? Do you still like Chae Nayun?”
“… Shut up. I’m going first,” Shin Jonghak said before he walked towards the hut and left behind the rest of us.
“We’re going to go too. You come later, okay Hajin?” Kim Suho said.
“Hmm… I guess it’s something like a surprise gift, right?” Yi Yeonghan added.
Kim Suho, Yi Yeonghan, and Yoo Yeonha chased after Shin Jonghak.
“… They’re doing whatever they like,” I grumbled.
I couldn’t help but feel that I wanted to see her for even a split second faster, but I was forced to stay behind and watch them grow farther away.
I tried to imagine what Chae Nayun would look like after we met. The sheer thought of seeing her made me smile against my will.
1. Traditional Korean house/hut. ?
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