“Are you sure they’re not calling someone else? Like Sa-yeon, or Sa-woon. Or maybe there’s someone with the same name.”

“They are definitely calling for Kwon Sa-yoon, so please stop denying it.”

As Sa-yoon kept refusing to accept reality, Jaehee admonished him. Apparently finding Sa-yoon’s stubbornness quite frustrating, he went so far as to show him the communication he had received.

“It seems they sent it to me because Night Rats’s executives weren’t answering their calls. Look here, isn’t your name clearly written?”

It was exactly as he said. Sa-yoon stared at his name in the message with unfamiliar eyes.

No, it really is me.

Even after receiving confirmation, he couldn’t believe it and searched for his phone. Jaehee handed him a much cleaner phone, apparently repaired, and spoke.

“Who are you going to call? Surely you’re not thinking of confronting the Association?”

His tone suggested he’d trust that Sa-yoon wouldn’t go that far, no matter how reckless he could be. Sa-yoon was momentarily taken aback, feeling as if Jaehee’s voice was being reinforced by his gaze, and shook the phone.

“Less confronting, more confirming. I know someone there.”

He had a connection with an administrative employee at the Hunter Association. Although it was a relationship forged through forced salvation, blackmail, and threats, in an era where even brushing sleeves constituted a connection, this level could be called fate. Of course, this was a thought Sa-yoon could have only because he was the one inflicting the threats, not receiving them.

But what does it matter?

The fact remained that he had saved the man from death once. Having received such a life-saving favor, shouldn’t one repay it?

Under that pretense, he’d been exploiting him for over three years, but a debt of gratitude was something that couldn’t be fully repaid even in a lifetime.

After about three rings, a gloomy voice that seemed truly reluctant to answer came through.

-Hello. This is Woo Jin-hae from the Domestic Hunter Association Administrative Support Team.

“Jin-hae.”

Sa-yoon called his name with affected sweetness. The person on the other end of the line silently paused.

“I’ve heard some strange things from the Association and the government.”

-Ah, the scouting offer?

“Yeah, that. From my perspective, it seems…”

-It’s not a mistake or an error. It’s a scouting offer sent because the Association deemed it necessary, so please take it at face value.

Before Sa-yoon could finish his sentence, Jin-hae had already read the flow and answered his question. Sa-yoon carefully reread the message still filling Jaehee’s phone screen.

“So this isn’t a message sent by someone who hacked into your system?”

-What do you take the Association for? Since its establishment, we have never been hacked even once…

“You were hacked by Gyeongjin, weren’t you?”

-Only that one time.

Well spoken.

Sa-yoon snorted before redirecting the topic that was trying to veer off course.

“So the Association really invited me? Having the leader of Night Rats Guild on a team created to prepare for disasters wouldn’t be good if it became known, would it?”

-I was told there’s a countermeasure for that.

“What is it?”

-Just a moment… Yes, team leader!

With those words, the call abruptly ended. Sa-yoon stared intently at the call-ended screen, facing someone who not only avoided his calls but now hung up on him outright.

This guy seems to have planned this.

It was as if he had been waiting for someone to call him, just so he could quickly escape. It was a reasonable suspicion, considering that the voice he heard just before being hung up sounded more energetic than ever—too energetic for someone who had to end a call due to a genuine emergency. While wondering if he’d been too lenient lately, a message soon arrived from Jin-hae. It said he would ask the team leader about the countermeasure and let Sa-yoon know once he received a definite answer.

Quite shrewd.

Even when Sa-yoon was about to get angry, his irritation subsided upon seeing how diligently the man handled his work. Clicking his tongue and muttering that the man was lucky, Sa-yoon showed his phone screen to Jaehee, who was approaching with curiosity.

“Like I said, if we wait a bit, we’ll get an answer.”

“I suppose so.”

He nodded and agreed with Sa-yoon’s opinion.

“Then I suggest you focus on recovery until we hear back. I’ve heard you have a lot of business to attend to and many people to see. I’ve just informed the executives that you’ve awakened, so they should be here soon.”

“What?”

He’d done something unnecessary. Sa-yoon, who had never asked for this, widened his eyes and frowned at the sound of someone knocking violently on the door, as if speaking of the devil. With a flick of his finger, a snake slithered toward the door. It moved stealthily and made a click, opening the door, and then four Night Rats executives poured into the room like water from a broken dam.

“Boss! I heard you woke up!”

“Boss!”

“Oh, boss’s face looks quite normal?”

“I told you to go to a festival, but you went to the afterlife and back.”

In order, those were the words of Chan-hee, Jongsik, Yan, and Gyeongjin. Sa-yoon faced them with a grimace, not pleased to see their faces even after a long time. They were always excessive, but today—his first day awake after being unconscious for three months—he expected their excessiveness to be even more pronounced. And his expectation was exactly right. Starting with Gyeongjin, the four took turns nagging and then handed over various tonics, claiming they were good for his health. From eel to soft-shelled turtle to snake—it was quite a scene.

“Are you crazy, bringing snake liquor?”

He couldn’t believe they were taking out a snake right in front of him. The snake that had just opened the door for him crawled onto Sa-yoon’s shoulder and hissed along with him. With its triangular head looking as if it might get angry, Sa-yoon stroked it, and only then did it seem to calm down, stretching out comfortably on his shoulder. Yan ended up taking back the snake liquor he had brought.

“How are you feeling? You were unconscious for too long.”

“I thought I was a person trapped in a dream.”

Yan spoke glibly. Since it wasn’t entirely wrong, Sa-yoon didn’t deny it and watched the group chattering excitedly about meeting all five of them awake together after a long time, with tired eyes. He glanced at Jaehee, but he showed absolutely no intention of joining this commotion.

Yet he’s the one who called them.

One person calls them, another has to deal with them. Tsk, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue and pushed back his hair. It wasn’t that he disliked the executives, but he preferred peace and quiet during rest.

“Jongsik.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Did you finish all the work I assigned you before coming here?”

“……”

Dorureureuk, Jongsik rolled his eyes, avoiding Sa-yoon’s gaze. His mouth closed tightly as if it had never been open.

“Gyeongjin.”

“Ah, now that I think about it, I think I still have some reports to write.”

Gyeongjin stood up before Sa-yoon could point out the problem. He was a shrewd one.

“Chan-hee.”

“Yes!”

“You…”

Hmm.

Sa-yoon paused mid-sentence and looked at Chan-hee with bewilderment. The man’s eyes were sparkling too much. He had long known that the man harbored feelings akin to fan admiration for him, but today it seemed quite excessive. Was it because he had woken up after a long time? Trying to maintain composure despite the particularly burdensome gaze, Sa-yoon finally spoke his mind.

“Don’t look at me.”

“…Yes.”

Chan-hee replied, looking dejected.

“I can’t rest comfortably with you around, so get out of here.”

At these additional words, his shoulders slumped completely. Though he looked like a drenched puppy, what could Sa-yoon do? He was, after all, in a situation requiring stability.

Having dealt with three of them, only one remained. Just as Sa-yoon turned his head to chase away the most troublesome opponent—

“Hm?”

The person who should have been there wasn’t in sight. In the room that had six people including Jaehee, there were now only five, and Sa-yoon expressed his confusion. Gyeongjin noticed his look and pointed to the open door.

“If you’re looking for Yan, he left a while ago.”

“Only decisive when it suits him.”

Ghost-like speed. Sa-yoon had meant to ask him if he had finished his work too, but having missed the opportunity, he narrowed his brow before satisfying his empty feeling by sending the remaining three executives out of the room. As the commotion subsided, a pleasantly quiet calm returned.

I guess this is quite a mild reaction for someone who’s been lying down for three months.

It was fortunate that there was no one to grab him by the collar, worry needlessly, and end up buried in the ground.

“Finally, I can rest comfortably.”

“I thought you’d be happy to see them.”

Jaehee looked at Sa-yoon, who had chased away all the executives, as if surprised. Sa-yoon looked down beside his bed. Various tonics left by the executives were there, and because Yan had fled, the snake liquor remained there as well.

Tak-tak-tak!

The snake hit the bottle of snake liquor with its tail, as if in displeasure. Fearing it might break, Sa-yoon whistled to call the snake and stroked it as it climbed onto his neck, then gazed at Jaehee.

Their eyes met.

Sa-yoon smiled gently at the instigator of the recent commotion.

“Jaehee.”

“Yes.”

“You should leave too, what are you doing standing there?”

“……”

He had no desire to keep someone who consistently read divine secrets and saw through people by his side, especially when he wasn’t feeling well. Moreover, if that person had a habit of calling others with unnecessary kindness and making them tired—even less so.

Han Geon-joo would have been better at times like this.

Han Geon-joo was generally quiet when resting. Whether reading or sleeping, he was calm and rarely spoke, so he wasn’t bothersome. Except when he persistently asked why Sa-yoon had brought him along or tried to dig into Sa-yoon’s own past.

Inadvertently thinking this, Sa-yoon realized he was thinking about Geon-joo again and sighed, calling up the quest window. Originally, Sa-yoon was the type to remember where things were placed but not where they had gone, yet strangely, Han Geon-joo was an exception. Perhaps this was because he himself was an exception who had entered Sa-yoon’s life.

With this conjecture, he entered the quest list, and all the uncompleted quests he had received so far appeared. While carefully examining the activation quest among them, the phone he had placed on the bed suddenly rang. Unlocking it, he found a message from Jin-hae.

[Since you’re not coming as the leader of Night Rats, there won’t be any issues.]

“What?”

As he blinked in confusion, another message arrived.

[They’re asking you to create a formal guild instead of a criminal one and come as its leader. They also want you to get officially ranked while you’re at it. It seems like they’re asking you to operate as an official S-rank… Is the Association going crazy?]

[…Please forget the latter message. I sent it by mistake.]

At the consecutive messages, Sa-yoon let out a hollow laugh.

What is this nonsense now?