🔊 TTS Settings
Episode 18
When worn, access to [Atlas’s Safe House] is available.
It was morning by the time Saebyeok finally returned home.
Her younger sibling had already left for work.
On the way back, she laid the sleeping Sihoo on her bed, then checked the messages that had piled up on her phone.
“FamilyMate: You’ve really lost it this time.”
“FamilyMate: An overnight stay? Are you out of your mind?”
“FamilyMate: Seriously, what’s going on with you lately?”
“FamilyMate: Be honest. Are you sick?”
“FamilyMate: Did you borrow from loan sharks?”
The screen was filled with nagging messages full of worry and frustration.
“FamilyMate: I made soy-braised beef and pickled perilla leaves.”
“FamilyMate: They’re in the fridge, so eat if you want.”
It almost felt like she could hear her sibling’s grumbling voice through the screen. Yet, they still made all her favorite side dishes. That was just like them.
With a small smile, Saebyeok tossed her phone into her inventory and headed to the living room.
When she closed the bedroom door and came out, Kang Suho was sitting on the sofa.
He was sitting upright, watching the live news on TV. The towel she had given him earlier was neatly folded and resting on his knees.
As soon as Saebyeok stepped out of her room, his gaze shifted from the TV to her.
There was a slight crease between his brows, and his stiff expression made it seem like he was glaring at her.
“Want a beer?”
She pulled two cans from the fridge and handed him one before sitting down next to him.
Suho took it but didn’t open it. All his attention was focused on her, but he didn’t make a move. It felt like he was waiting for her to speak first.
Saebyeok simply opened her own can.
Psssh—!
The crisp sound was followed by bubbles of foam rising to the top. She took a deep drink, finishing half the can in one go.
“Haaah…”
Letting out a relieved sigh, she sank back into the sofa.
Then, silence returned.
She had managed to convince him to come to her house—using Sihoo as an excuse.
But how could she convince him to stay by her side? She couldn’t use the same excuse every day.
Unlike the bitter, twisted man who had lost everything in her past life, this Suho seemed cautious, even polite. That made things strangely awkward. She found herself being careful with her words.
The quiet was filled only by the sound of the news anchor’s voice.
[Newsroom]: “These are all videos taken just a few hours ago in Seoul.
Despite the distance, the lightning strike is clearly visible.”
The footage zoomed in on a distant mountainside.
The video was shaky and low-quality, but the lightning bolt striking near Bukhan Mountain was clear enough.
[Newsroom]: “Some people online claim they felt tremors even from their homes. Reporter Won, what’s the situation on site?”
[Anchor]: “As you can see, the sudden downpour has put out the fires. But most of the building collapsed, and many nearby trees were burned to ash.”
The camera showed the destroyed hideout of the villains. It was a wreck.
[Anchor]: “About one kilometer away, this massive crater marks where the leader was taken down. Even from the traces left, it’s clear how powerful that lightning strike must have been.”
[Newsroom]: “Is there still no information on the ‘mysterious helper’ who used this skill?”
[Anchor]: “None so far. Survivors all say it was a woman wielding a spear, but no one saw her face clearly, making it difficult for the Association to create a sketch.”
Next came short interviews with survivors—each of them wrapped in blankets or holding potions marked with the Glory Guild logo.
[Newsroom]: “Has Guildmaster Kim I-han from Glory Guild made any statements?”
[Anchor]: “Hunter Kim has refused all other media interviews. He says details will be revealed later through their channel GloryHanTV…”
“Are you from Glory Guild?”
Kang Suho finally spoke.
“No,” Saebyeok answered easily.
“I heard you’re not with the Association either. Then… are you a mercenary?”
As expected, he wanted to figure out who she was.
After all, she had saved his life twice now, with no sign of malice.
But he still didn’t know who she really was—or why she was helping him so much.
To someone like Suho, who had lived by the rule ‘nothing is free in this world,’ her kindness only felt suspicious.
“I’m not a mercenary either.”
Saebyeok leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.
Her deep red hair slid over her shoulder as she tilted her head toward him.
Her eyes were as clear as water flowing over ice.
“I haven’t even registered with the Association yet. I don’t have a Hunter’s license.”
His frown deepened.
“Not registered means…”
“I’m not a villain. And I didn’t come from overseas, either,” she added, cutting off his doubts.
“I only awakened three days ago.”
His gaze hardened.
“I may be unawakened, but even I know that doesn’t make sense.”
The can in his hand crumpled slightly as he squeezed it. He thought she was mocking him.
“It’s true. Seoul Station was my first battle. There were a lot of lizards that day, remember? Thanks to that, I leveled up my skills quickly.”
Saebyeok mixed just enough truth with her lies to make them believable.
“All my skills are elemental—water, fire, wind, lightning. They’re easy to understand and use.”
It wasn’t completely a lie. If she ignored her previous life, that day had indeed been her first day of awakening.
But Suho’s suspicious gaze didn’t soften.
“Really. I can give you my phone—you can check it yourself.”
Her confident tone left him thinking.
She had no reason to lie to him.
Yet, she had no proof to back up her words either.
She had claimed to be S-rank.
“An S-rank Hunter can’t even land properly?!”
There were only four officially recognized S-rank Hunters in South Korea.
Yoon Byung-geun, the Association President.
Ipado of the East Sea.
Kim I-han of the Glory Guild.
Hwang Tae-san of Black Dragon.
Her name was not on that list.
But if what she said was true—that she hadn’t registered yet—then she might be the fifth S-rank Hunter in Korea, waiting to be announced.
Still, the arrival of a new S-rank was a global event.
Could something that big really be brushed off with a simple, “I just haven’t registered yet”?Even so, her explanation didn’t make sense.
Saying that she had mastered her skills simply because there were a lot of lizards during the Seoul Station raid…? Impossible.Kang Suho, thanks to his father’s influence, knew more about Awakened Hunters than most unawakened people.
And he knew this much for sure—
No S-rank Hunter could possibly become that skilled in just three days.Lower-rank skills might be easy to study through information shared online.
But an S-rank? They weren’t even comparable to ordinary Hunters.Even Hwang Tae-san, whose skills were relatively simple and intuitive, had taken a full month to fully analyze and control his dragon.
But three days?
Impossible.Yet, when she said all her skills were elemental—water, fire, wind, lightning—requiring little analysis, it sounded… oddly reasonable.
Her entire story was like that.
Every claim she made seemed unbelievable on its own.
But when strung together, each one supported the other, creating a strange sense of plausibility.To believe one part meant having to believe it all.
And whether or not to believe—it was entirely Suho’s choice.
[Anchor]: “Breaking news! Among the rescued survivors was none other than the daughter of Hunter Ipado!
Last night, after finishing dinner with the Association President at a famous Korean restaurant in Cheongdam, Hunter Ipado was preparing to file a missing person’s report when the Glory Guild contacted him…”
The TV continued to play in the background as Kang Suho stared at the beer can in his hand, then at the towel folded neatly across his knees.
The truth was…
Not believing her seemed almost foolish.
“Follow me!”
“I’ll be right there. Just hide somewhere safe.”
How could he possibly not trust someone who had saved his life—not once, but twice—without asking for anything in return?
So why… why did it feel so hard to breathe?
Why did his chest ache as he desperately searched for a contradiction in her words?
Was it because she was a mystery to him?
Because he didn’t know who she really was?Was this some kind of self-defense? A survival instinct that made him doubt?
But no—his cool, rational mind had already decided.
He trusted her.His eyes drifted past the can and the towel to the cloak neatly folded on the floor—her cloak of concealment.
Everything around him screamed at him to believe her.
His nerves, crackling with tension.
The evidence before his eyes.So why… why did his instincts scream something else entirely?
Why did they cry out that he had to cut ties with her, right here, right now?
Why did his gut burn, his heart feel like it was being crushed?
No… it wasn’t his heart.
“If one of us has to—■■—then it should be—■■—you…”
This was what it must feel like for a soul to hurt.
“Are you—■■—crazy? Don’t—■■—say things—■■—like that!”
A sharp ringing filled Suho’s ears.
Beeeeep—
Static stabbed through his skull, making his thoughts scatter.
And within that static… voices.
“Choose—■■— stubborn—won’t help—■■—.”
“Don’t give up!—■■—not—■■—. Please—■■—!”
The words were broken, unclear, like overlapping radio signals.
It was as if he were overhearing spirits whispering to each other,
or dolphins speaking deep beneath the ocean.Pain exploded through his head, sharp enough to make him grit his teeth.
And yet—even through the haze—one thing was certain.
This wasn’t a memory.
He had never heard this before.But despite knowing it was just a hallucination… the conversation felt strangely real.
Dangerously real.And what unsettled him most—
“Kang Suho!!!”
Was that her voice—
crying his name—
cutting through it all.
