The chirping of birds naturally pulled me from sleep.

It’s morning.

Realizing this, my eyelids shot open. I checked the spot beside me in bed, only to find the space where a grown man could lie completely empty. I sprang up from the bed.

Fuck, not this bastard again.

Did he run away again?

From my own guild, of all places?

If it were a normal person, I’d assume they’d have been caught at the elevator or the entrance, but this was Han Geon-joo. I couldn’t be complacent. He had a history. I threw on a windbreaker and was about to open the door. Just then, the door to the adjacent bathroom swung open. A man, toweling his dripping wet hair, looked at me.

“…You’re up early.”

Where are you going?

At the sound of his voice, I shot my hand out. Snatch. I grabbed Geon-joo’s wrist, fumbled for his pulse, and only after confirming it did I know that he was real, that he was here in front of me, and not some kind of illusion.

“…What’s wrong?”

“…”

I ignored his question and remained dazed for a long moment before slowly releasing his throbbing wrist. A complex mix of self-pity, relief, and emptiness crept into the corner of my upturned lips.

What a pathetic sight.

“If you’re awake, you should be sticking by my side.”

I scowled and snapped at him, and Geon-joo looked baffled. He protested that a person has to wash up, but I just pushed him aside, told him to come out when he was done, and entered the bathroom he had just vacated. A splash of cold water on my face cleared my head. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes wide, and gripped the sink tightly.

Han Geon-joo was back. 

He was by my side, and the quest to activate ‘The Resistor’ was back on track.

Right. This is the first step. 

No, the second step.

Having organized my thoughts, I left the bathroom and saw him sitting in a chair, drying his hair. I sat on the bed and stared at him intently. Perhaps my gaze was too burdensome, because the sound of the hairdryer stopped before his hair was fully dry.

“Not going to dry it more?”

“Someone’s staring so hotly, I think it’s going to dry from the heat of their gaze alone.”

It was a strange way to tell me to stop staring.

“You’ll catch a cold, so dry it completely.”

“I’m an S-rank now.”

“So?”

“I don’t really catch colds. Besides, it’s not the season for… fine, I’ll dry it.”

As he kept talking back, I just raised an eyebrow at each new excuse. Geon-joo checked my expression, sat back down, and turned on the hairdryer. I had been thinking of testing whether S-ranks were truly immune to colds by unleashing my aura of frost, but he was quick on the uptake.

I sat there silently again, watching him dry his hair. I didn’t look away even once, afraid that if I did, he might vanish before my eyes. It was the first time I had ever looked at someone and felt they were a mirage.

His expressions, the emotions he shows me, they all feel so vivid. I can feel all of it, so why can’t I shake the feeling that he’s not really here?

“…You really are infuriating.”

Normally, the moment I woke up and realized Han Geon-joo was gone, I would have immediately expanded my senses to search for his presence. But this time, as if I had never even been an Awakened Hunter, I had acted based solely on what I could see. Geon-joo’s escape was what had wrecked my thoughts and senses like this. As I muttered this, the man who was drying his hair met my eyes in the mirror and turned off the hairdryer again.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that? Since earlier.”

“Like what?”

“You’re staring so intensely. Like I’m some kind of decorative object on display.”

He seemed to be in a bad mood. At his words, I took my time and observed him even more leisurely. As my eyes slowly scanned him from head to toe, Geon-joo’s nose wrinkled. Before he could say another word, I beat him to it.

“Geon-joo. I only keep my things in my room.”

“What kind of out-of-the-blue nonsense is that?”

“This bed is mine, the hairdryer you’re using is mine, and the chair you’re sitting on is also mine.”

As I calmly listed the items in the room, Geon-joo glanced at me, put down the hairdryer, and stood up. A deflated laugh escaped my lips. I hadn’t meant for him to get up, but it seemed he had interpreted my words as a passive-aggressive hint not to use someone else’s things without permission.

Does he really see me as that petty?

Of course, I was petty. Extremely so. It was a question that all four Night Rat executives would nod their heads to. After posing this internal question, I rested my arms on my knees and cupped my chin. My impassive gaze landed on Geon-joo.

“So if you’re in my room, that means you’re mine too. Do I need permission to look at my own things?”

As I justified my staring with this absurd logic, Geon-joo, who had been patting his damp hair with a towel, froze. The towel in his hand fell to the floor with a soft thud. A moment later, with a low “ah,” he picked up the fallen towel. His face was redder than usual. His expression was nonchalant, but his skin was a subtle shade of pink.

I stared at him, fascinated.

Was he embarrassed? About what?

…Ah, equals.

Come to think of it, my claim that he was “my thing” went against the equality he had insisted on. It was something he could have found humiliating and insulting. Understanding his reaction, I kept my chin in my hand and pressed my palm firmly against my lips. I couldn’t take back the words I’d already said, so I just had to make sure not to say them again. Just then, Geon-joo asked in a low voice.

“Then I suppose that person is yours too, Guild Leader.”

“Who.”

“Lee Jaehee.”

“Hey, he’s several years older than you. Call him hyung.”

“How many years?”

“Who knows.”

How old was he? I think he was around thirty. Definitely over thirty. As I answered vaguely, the man’s expression turned bizarre.

“In that case, he’s older than you too, Guild Leader.”

“Hey, what do you know about my real age?” I said with a swagger, as if I’d heard the most ridiculous thing. “If you count the actual time I’ve lived and my mental age, I’m—huh?”

“Your mental age does seem quite young.”

“…”

He’s being a disrespectful brat again because it’s morning.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I snapped my fingers. Instantly, the snakes sleeping under the bed slithered out and into the bathroom. Geon-joo watched the scene with interest, but his expression turned to horror a moment later. The snakes came out holding the shower hose.

Click. A snake that had gone into the bathroom turned on the shower, and a stream of water shot out, striking Geon-joo.

“Ah, sh–”

“‘Sh–’?”

“…Seriously.”

Wincing, Geon-joo turned his head to avoid the water and stepped back, bumping into the bed and falling backward. Luckily, the bed caught him, so he was spared the indignity of landing flat on his ass. Thump. The mattress shook slightly as Geon-joo’s weight was added to it. I cackled as I looked at him, his freshly dried hair now completely soaked.

“Do you really want to be this childish?”

“Then you shouldn’t have ignored me when I was talking.”

A grin spread across my lips. I was about to launch into my “back in my day” speech again, a heroic tale about my real age and how many times I had regressed, when Geon-joo brought back the forgotten question.

“So, is that person, Lee Jaehee, yours?”

“Ah.”

Realizing what had spawned my tirade, I looked at Geon-joo.

Why has he been so interested in Lee Jaehee from the start? Just like with Jongsik. Does he have a thing for older guys?

“Lee Jaehee has a lover.” I added, just in case. 

Geon-joo gave me a look that said, ‘Why are you telling me something you already told me before?’ I just shrugged and said, “Just, you know,” as I rolled my neck.

“Just in case you were thinking of liking him.”

“…Don’t even think about opening a relationship counseling service.” Geon-joo advised with a serious expression. 

I had no intention of opening such a service, but his face was so earnest that I found myself nodding unconsciously. I felt like I had forgotten something. I searched my memory for a moment and then recalled his earlier question.

“About what you asked earlier, Lee Jaehee isn’t mine, but the summon he has is mine. Does that answer your question?”

“…”

Tsk.

Did he just tsk at me?

I casually said something that would make the summon’s owner faint, and the black-haired man clicked his tongue and sighed as if he found something displeasing.

“Of course, you would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

As I felt a bit sour at his subtle reaction, Geon-joo went back into the bathroom, changed his clothes, and came out. The noise of the hairdryer once again filled the silence that had fallen after our conversation abruptly ended.

“By the way, how long are you planning to stay here?”

I asked as I handed him a simple sandwich for breakfast and lunch that I’d had Jongsik get. The man, who immediately unwrapped the sandwich and started chewing, swallowed a mouthful and shrugged.

“Who knows. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“What about the place you were staying before?”

“That’s a guild building, so it’s a bit ambiguous to call it a home.”

I was about to nod in agreement, but then I realized something was off. This was a guild building too. As my eyes narrowed, the man who had eaten the sandwich explained, “This place has beds and a separate floor for living quarters.” It was a hard point to argue, and since some of the Night Rat guild members actually did treat this place as their home, I quickly conceded.

This building does feel a bit like a home. I was thinking that when Geon-joo, who had finished one piece in what felt like less than ten minutes, started on another. He was eating as if his life depended on it. I let out a sharp breath.

“Did someone not feed you?”

“Well…”

The lack of a detailed answer meant either he really hadn’t been fed, or he was too lazy to answer. After I fed you and housed you in the Field, you’ve been skipping meals? I was about to yell at him but held back, thinking it would be too much of an overreaction. I got up from my seat. Han Geon-joo had just taken a bite of his last piece of bread, so it seemed like a good time to head out.

“Ah.”

As I left the room and pressed the elevator button, something came to mind. I gave a wicked smile to Geon-joo, who was diligently finishing his water.

“Be careful when you go down later.”

“…Why?”

Why, you ask?

“You’ll find out when you get down there.”

‘Because my guild members are chomping at the bit to get a piece of you.’