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Chapter 21
Knock, knock.
Just as I was quietly watching Mimi sleeping soundly, I heard a knock.
I poked my head toward the shop entrance.
The lights in the lobby were off, making it dark, and it was already past 8 p.m.
It can’t be a customer. Is it Nara unni?
She might have come after hearing my tearful voice on the phone earlier.
I hurried toward the shop door.
The person knocking was someone I hadn’t expected.
“Sunbae?”
As I opened the door in surprise at his unannounced visit, Sunbae spoke.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course. Please come in.”
He was dressed casually—beige slacks and a black knit sweater. It was an ordinary outfit, but somehow it looked more expensive on him, giving him a model-like vibe.
“What brings you here?”
Without any preface, he held out a black plastic bag hanging from his wrist.
“What’s this?”
When I rustled it open, my eyes widened.
“These are cat treats?”
Churu, pouches, chicken breast treats—just about every kind of cat snack was inside.
But how did he know I had a cat?
Just as I was about to ask why he brought them, I remembered my phone call with Nara unni.
Judging by the noise earlier, she must have been at the alumni gathering.
“…You heard from Nara unni, didn’t you?”
He silently nodded.
“I didn’t know what was wrong with her, so there wasn’t much else I could buy.”
“…Thank you.”
Sunbae’s gaze moved to Mimi, sleeping by the window.
“Oh, please sit here!”
Only then did I realize I had left him standing in the middle of the shop. I pulled out a chair and gestured, and he obediently sat down.
It didn’t seem like he had come only to deliver cat treats.
“Um… I’m sorry. You invited me to the alumni gathering, but my cat suddenly got sick.”
After hearing my apology, Sunbae stared at me intently.
I blinked.
Why is he looking at me like that?
“It’s fine.”
An awkward silence flowed between us as we sat facing each other.
He seemed perfectly comfortable with silence since he was naturally quiet, but I certainly wasn’t.
Pretending to drink water while sneaking glances at him, I eventually spoke first.
“Ah, I was actually going to contact you anyway—about the next target country.”
“Yeah.”
“Have you decided where you’ll go? Since you’ll probably visit countries on the same continent consecutively, I thought it’d be better to prepare all the oil you’ll need at once.”
Instead of answering, he rummaged through his pocket again.
Why does he keep pulling things out?
What came out was simply a piece of paper.
A crumpled A4 sheet folded several times.
Wondering what it was, I unfolded it—and nearly fainted.
“Y-You can show me something like this?!”
The paper contained information that could practically be called state secrets. It listed the rewards offered by each country, benefits between nations, and the priority order of target countries—an extremely important document.
Was it really okay to carry something this important stuffed into a pants pocket? And folded up like this…?
My hands holding the paper began to sweat.
“I can’t decide this alone.”
“W-Why not? You can absolutely decide on your own…”
“This is something the boss should decide.”
Sunbae let out a small laugh at my stiff expression.
I kept glancing back and forth between the confidential information covering the paper and Sunbae. The document clearly explained why certain countries should be supported first, so I couldn’t understand why he was asking me.
“I’m just a chess piece. You’re the player.”
“A chess piece…”
From his perspective, maybe he really did see himself that way.
The wording didn’t feel good. It made me feel like a cruel boss exploiting him.
But it wasn’t entirely wrong either, so I could only purse my lips.
“Hmm.”
After thinking for a long time, I handed the sheet listing twenty countries back to him.
“We can’t ignore international interests… but I hope you’ll also look after smaller countries that don’t really have anything to offer.”
“Hmm.”
“But the most important thing is what you want, Sunbae. I’m just someone who hands you items and cheers from behind.”
“You cheer for me?”
“Of course! It’s dangerous, so I worry a lot, and the time limit is so tight… I feel sorry that cheering is the only thing I can do.”
“You worry too?”
“Yes. I keep worrying that you might get hurt because of me. I don’t think I’ll even be able to sleep until you come out of the gate.”
Strangely, the more I spoke, the more the corners of Sunbae’s lips curved upward.
The Sunbae I knew wasn’t someone who smiled this much.
My own awkward smile trembled pitifully as I faced him.
“You’ll wait until I come out of the gate?”
“I can’t follow you there myself, but I’ll watch the broadcast and wait…”
It felt like he wanted me to participate in the gate raid in this way—through support, worry, and waiting.
It wasn’t difficult, so I clearly said what he seemed to want to hear.
“I’ll definitely wait until you finish the gate raid. I’ll cheer hard too…”
“You will?”
“So… you can’t get hurt.”
After finishing, I watched his reaction carefully.
Is that really what he wanted to hear?
When I glanced at his face—
He was smiling wide enough for dimples to show.
It was an expression I had never seen before, and I could only stare at him blankly for a while.
It was a beautiful smile that was hard to look away from.
After leaving Bitna’s shop, Jinseo took out his phone for the first time in a while.
Hundreds of missed calls were displayed.
As if the caller hadn’t gotten tired despite calling that many times, Ian called again the moment he checked his phone.
This time, he didn’t ignore it and pressed accept.
“Yeah.”
—H-Hello? Are you insane?! Where are you?! Where?!
“On my way.”
—It’s late! You’re late! You know the press conference has already started, right?!
“Ah.”
—Ah? Don’t ‘ah’ me! They’re about to announce the next target country! What are we supposed to do if you’re not here?!
“Which one did you pick?”
—Germany! Germany! Germany!
“Change it to Mongolia.”
—What?! Not France, not the UK, not the US—Mongolia?! Have you been shot in the head? You know Mongolia’s ranked 15th, right?
“Yeah. We’ll start with Mongolia and then move through nearby countries in order. I’ll be there within an hour, so prepare the plane.”
—…At least tell me why you chose Mongolia.
Jinseo hung up without answering.
After putting his phone back into his pocket, Jinseo stared toward a shadow in the distant park.
Then he crushed the sand beneath his feet into dust, compressed it into a tiny ball, and flicked it toward the shadow.
“Ah, I’ve been caught—”
Before even fully realizing that the tailing had been discovered, she had no choice but to offer one cheek to the dust ball flying at the speed of light.
An S-class attack was on a completely different level.
He had merely thrown compressed dust.
Psssh—.
Where the dust ball grazed her cheek, a crater larger than her face had formed.
It was only this minor because the S-class hunter intentionally threw it to miss. If it had hit directly, her head would have already exploded.
“Whew, that’s one terrifying warning.”
Wiping the blood running down her cheek, the person who stepped out of the darkness was none other than A-class enchanter Shin Sohee.
Without her tracking item, it would have been impossible to locate Kang Jinseo.
He had used a skill to disappear completely, shaking off the many people chasing him.
Humming to herself, Sohee stopped in front of a shop called “Wihyang.”
Inside, a tall, slender woman was tying her long hair into a single ponytail.
“Girlfriend?”
Interest flickered in Sohee’s eyes.
Just like she had done outside the bar earlier, she formed a square camera frame with her fingers and captured the woman’s image.
“Huh? She’s not a hunter?”
Sohee tilted her head in confusion.
