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Chapter 24
Saebyeok’s eyes widened in shock.
Her steps faltered for a moment, then—realizing the situation—she broke into a run.
“You’re home?! Why?!”
She jabbed the elevator button but couldn’t wait and darted for the stairs instead.
Taking two, three steps at a time, she checked her phone. It was just past three in the afternoon.
Damn, I knew something was weird these past few days. Don’t tell me this is why?!
“No, seriously, why are you home?! It’s still daytime!”
Han Saejin always left early in the morning and came back late at night.
She had planned to explain everything when he returned in the evening.
She never imagined her brother would come home in broad daylight.
“Is it important why I came back from work? There’s a strange man inside the house—
and he’s got a kid with him?!”
“You didn’t say anything to him, did you? You didn’t throw him out, right?!”
“Forget worrying about that! Explain! Explain now!”
“I’m coming home right now. Keep him there!”
“What about the kid?!”
“If you lose that man, you’re dead to me!”
Saebyeok hung up and sprinted.
There was no time to wait for a bus.
Dodging the lunchtime crowd, she leapt across rooftops and walls, racing home.
Bang!
“Han Saejin!”
She burst through the door, nearly breaking it off its hinges.
Han Saejin sat on the living room sofa, arms folded, back ramrod straight.
Kang Suho was on the floor in front of him, kneeling like a man awaiting judgment.
Saebyeok rolled forward and smacked her brother on the back of his head.
“You crazy brat!”
“Ow! Why hit me?! You’re the one who messed up!”
“Do you not know how to count? That kid may be small,
but he’s clearly older than five!”
The little boy, Sihoo, nestled in Suho’s arms, whimpered at the sight of Saebyeok, as though seeing his savior.
She quickly scooped him up and soothed him before turning back to Suho.
“If he were my kid, I’d have had him when I was underage, idiot!”
“Holy— So that bastard—he… with my underage sister?!”
“That’s not what I said, you moron!”
Another smack to the back of his head.
The scene continued with comic tension—Saejin protesting, Saebyeok scolding—
until finally, she decided to reveal the truth.
She removed the hairpin from her head.
“Ignite.”
The hairpin flickered with fire at its tip.
Saejin’s eyes bulged.
“It’s not a lighter. It’s not a trick. Glimmer.”
Tiny white sparks bloomed from the hairpin, scattering softly across the living room,
dissolving into light as they touched skin and furniture.
“Holy…”
Saejin gaped, touching one of the lights with trembling fingers,
only to watch it dissolve.
“You… awakened? When?”
“Not long ago.”
They argued about her potential, her grade—
until Saebyeok finally said it out loud.
“S-Rank.”
Saejin shrieked in disbelief.
Finally, Saebyeok explained about the guild she planned to form and
how Suho would be co-founder—despite Saejin’s protests.
Kang Suho, however, seemed uncertain.
“…You meant that seriously?”
“Of course. We agreed. I even staked Sihoo’s name on it.”
Still skeptical, Saejin pointed at the boy, who was nestled against Saebyeok,
playing with her hair.
“Fine. Let’s say you’re S-Rank. Let’s say this guy is here to help with the guild.
Then what about him?!”
Saebyeok smiled faintly, stroking Sihoo’s hair.
“He’s our mascot.”
