After that, Joo Seowon threw a light fit asking what the hell I ant. I soothed the bastard roughly and got up from my seat to deal with what I had left to do.
“Anyway, it’s better to get your Awakening Rank asured again. Having to explain it to other Hunters every ti you use a Skill is fucking annoying, too.”
“Then you really had it written down as F-rank?”
“It’s not like I wrote it down that way—it was F-rank to begin with. Seowon, before you tell not to lie to you, maybe think again about whether you’re taking even true things like they’re lies.”
“No, that makes no sense! I watched you use Skills and your physical ability right next to you! No, in the first place, what kind of F-rank is like you?!”
“I can’t tell if this is you having a ton of prejudice, or you having not a fucking shred of prejudice.”
I talked while ignoring the nonstop bullshit Joo Seowon kept spewing.
“Soti soon, I’ll either go to the Center and get asured again, or get asured at the guild and submit the data. I’m more tempted by the second one. Seems more convenient, too?”
“.......”
Only then, after listening to in silence, did Joo Seowon ask, a long while later.
“If your Rank went up... how much did it go up?”
“To the point a total small fry like you can stand to look at . Check the data later.”
Judging by how Joo Seowon was acting, even if I told him now, it didn’t seem like he’d believe properly anyway. Well, it’s not like I have any obligation to convince him in the first place.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I walked toward the door. We’d finished the big talk, so I figured it was fine to head back now.
Right as I was about to leave the room, Joo Seowon suddenly called out to stop .
“Seo Jehyun.”
“Why?”
“...Never mind.”
Even though he had a face that looked like he had a lot to say, in the end Joo Seowon didn’t say anything.
Normally, if he had sothing to say, I would’ve pressed him to spit it out, but this ti I just nodded without saying much and quietly looked at him.
I don’t know what Joo Seowon was thinking as he looked at , but as I stared back at him, I fell into a few other thoughts.
For example, about Joo Seowon as a person in the original.
Maybe because I’d been shown that “deleted round” where he was with Kwon Taehan in the Dungeon, there was suddenly a lot more to think about regarding the original.
Joo Seowon. Kwon Taehan’s companion in the original, and a guy who did his job as an information source in full. It’s just that Kwon Taehan is the narrator, but Joo Seowon’s physical ability wasn’t completely pathetic either, and his tracking Skills were useful in a lot of ways. His sense of purpose—bringing his younger sister back—was also clear.
Of course, I also knew what he did after that. How Joo Seowon got close to Kwon Taehan, what he did after that, and even what kind of ending the character “Joo Seowon” t.
At first, it was a relationship they t for mutual dealings. Kwon Taehan guaranteed protection for Joo Seowon, who was being chased by a guild, and in return, Joo Seowon dug up information for Kwon Taehan. If needed, he’d even use his tracking Skills.
Up to that point, it was perfectly understandable.
Either way, each of them had sothing they needed, and if they could reliably supply it to each other, then accepting soone as a companion was always possible.
But the interesting part was that, the more rounds repeated, even though there shouldn’t be any new information Kwon Taehan could get through Joo Seowon, Kwon Taehan still brought Joo Seowon in as a companion every single ti. Like he was repeating a fixed behavior out of obligation.
That point was exactly where an explanation was needed. The psychology behind why Kwon Taehan traveled with Joo Seowon every ti wasn’t described in detail. If it was because even Kwon Taehan himself didn’t ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ know why he acted that way, would that be the realm of the unconscious rather than the conscious?
Maybe he didn’t not want to follow a routine because he had existing data based on a certain level of “success.”
Like repeating it because the rounds where he accepted Joo Seowon as a companion were closer to success, or maintaining the phenonon because it was tiring to calculate the possibility of a worldline where he didn’t accept Joo Seowon as a companion.
And I’d never thought about his psychology that deeply, but up until now, I’d more or less accepted it in that way and moved on. Probably because that was the easiest explanation.
But as I quietly watched Joo Seowon, another possibility ca to mind.
Before even judging success or failure, Kwon Taehan might have wanted so fixed sothing that didn’t change. For example, in a life full of variables, a constant that stayed the sa—soone who would always remain a companion and, in the end, affirm Kwon Taehan’s will.
Because Kwon Taehan is the kind of bastard who always thinks that sort of thing is important.
The fact he could get the back of his head smashed in like that and still think to co find every ti was proof he was already beyond saving.
And then, naturally, I started thinking about the relationship between in the original and Joo Seowon, too.
In the original, even if and Joo Seowon weren’t as close as we are now, we weren’t that distant, either. There were tis we greeted each other and got along under the na of being Kwon Taehan’s companions.
If you looked at it as fellow companions, maybe Joo Seowon trusted “” more than Kwon Taehan did. Kwon Taehan naturally lost trust in as he repeated rounds, but Joo Seowon stayed the sa.
As rounds piled up, at a certain point Kwon Taehan decided not to be with anymore. We did end up eting again anyway, but at least it ant we wouldn’t face each other again as companions.
And every ti they split, Joo Seowon chose Kwon Taehan. Even if, when he t again, he’d talk about this and that, and even try to persuade Kwon Taehan in his own way, in the end he always followed Kwon Taehan’s opinion. That was a kind of trait Joo Seowon had.
However, this ti will probably be different.
It was a relationship that started with a covenant I forced him into, but that wasn’t all. I knew Joo Seowon had trauma about Dungeons, and I knew that even though his family attachnt was big, it didn’t all co from a pure place. I knew he was more dependent than he looked, and that he liked being controlled in moderation.
It was the sa for a more private sphere. Favorite fashion brands, food preferences, habits, his voice and speaking style, how his expression changed depending on the situation—every little thing like that, I knew it all.
And, even if I couldn’t tell the degree, I also knew that Joo Seowon liked .
By now we’d strayed pretty far from the original, but it didn’t matter at all. If anything, it felt good. The fact that the original’s derailnt I’d made with my own hands was sitting right in front of like this...... it was satisfying.
But was it really true that we’d broken away from the original?
It was a question that ca up like a habit.
Even while Joo Seowon was facing with that kind of expression, no warning window appeared.
If so, did that an this level of variables was fine? Or, if not, did it an that even if it looked like we were deviating like this right now, as ti passed, things naturally returned to their original place?
I was curious whether, as ti went on, a day would co when Joo Seowon decided to remain Kwon Taehan’s companion, but this was also sothing I couldn’t know until I went through it.
Joo Seowon, who’d tried to speak and ended up unable to say it, just quietly stared at .
I didn’t know exactly what emotion he was feeling right now. But out of habit, observation naturally inferred a reason.
‘Worry?’
Whether it was Joo Seowon, Do Yehyun, or Kwon Taehan—when I looked at them, I kept wanting to take apart their emotions, the ones that kept getting violent, and understand them intuitively.
I grabbed the doorknob, then slowly let go, leaned my back against the door, and looked at Joo Seowon.
“Ti flowed differently inside the Dungeon and outside.”
“.......”
“I’m saying I didn’t know that much ti would’ve passed.”
Then, instead of nodding, Joo Seowon stared at in silence and asked.
“How long were you in the Dungeon?”
“Less than a week, I think.”
“...Yeah.”
After saying that, I finally left Joo Seowon’s room.
All the way to my room, I thought of a few things that were pointless and inefficient but fun, then stopped. Even in an uncomfortable Dungeon, and even in a cheap motel, my body hadn’t really felt tired, but when a comfortable ho and bed were right in front of , for so reason, I started feeling fatigue.
***
After Awakening, there were overwhelmingly more busy days than free days, but lately, it had reached a peak.
If you listed the reasons Im Haekyung was this busy, it would never end, but really, coincidentally, a large portion of those reasons were connected to one person. Now, they were at the point where, even with their eyes closed, they could draw that person’s face clearly.
And the Dungeon they’d visited because Seo Jehyun asked for help was also, unfortunately, a Dungeon where the flow of ti was completely different from the outside.
They’d thought they’d only carved out about a day, but when they ca out, three days and half of that had already passed. So, to make up for that absence, they spent double that ti reorganizing the guild and finished all outside schedules that had originally been planned.
That wasn’t all Im Haekyung had to pay attention to.
As soon as the guy who’d re-asured Seo Jehyun’s Rank ca back, Haekyung erased his mories to an appropriate degree, then ticulously checked the data he’d asured. And there were numbers printed there that, in theory, didn’t make sense.
‘Is it possible... for mana capacity to jump this much?’
Of course, there was no need for doubts like that about sothing that had already happened.
‘It must be because of the fiend rge.’
Even factoring that in, the numbers were spiking to a strange degree. Im Haekyung stared silently at the paper with Seo Jehyun’s data on it, then checked a ssage that had arrived earlier on their phone again.
There, along with a simple greeting, a file was attached. The file title was simple and intuitive.
[dical Certificate (Song Hwayoung).pdf]
‘Hm....’
With indifferent eyes, Im Haekyung flipped through the dical certificate and reached a simple conclusion.
‘The SH Guild ends here.’
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