Chapter 13: Turns Out The Kid Is S Class

He pronounced the word ‘S-class’ very quietly, conscious of it.

The planner did the same.

“I wonder why they haven’t announced it to the public?

The fifth S-class to appear in years…”

“How could I possibly know what’s going on inside his head?

Ugh, maybe I should just quit the company.

Honestly, I feel like I’m wronging Cha Jin-yeop-ssi.”

“Me too.”

It was true that multiple circumstances had overlapped, but surprisingly, the match itself wasn’t a manipulated result.

Even they couldn’t believe it, but the match rate was indeed a percentage derived from the two people’s actual information.

Even so, it was problematic.

They didn’t know why he was divorcing Kang Jung-hoon, and even if everything was as Jung-hoon’s press conference claimed—that Cha Jin-yeop was a bastard—they wondered if it was right to connect him with an S-class Guide whose inner thoughts were unknowable.

Honestly, even if rumors spread that Cha Jin-yeop, contrary to his public image, was apparently a complete jerk in married life, Guides wanting to be matched with him would be more than plentiful.

For the director and planner, who had personally experienced Lee Eun-ru’s duplicitous nature, the fact that he had deliberately arranged this meeting while hiding his S-class status weighed heavily on their minds.

Somehow knowing that Cha Jin-yeop had been contacted, Lee Eun-ru had immediately made proceeding with his own match one of the conditions for the acquisition.

Until then, they’d thought of him as merely a young man with a black heart, but after speaking with him, even that assessment felt like excessive praise.

At only twenty years old, he had the financial power to acquire a company.

A greenhorn who had awakened relatively recently and hadn’t even entered a dungeon yet.

Where did that much money come from?

The question suddenly occurred to them, but they didn’t want to know.

No, more precisely, they felt they shouldn’t know.

It must be because he’s S-class.

They could just dismiss it as him belonging to a species that ordinary people like themselves couldn’t possibly understand from the start.

“Forget it.

What can we do when the company orders it?

If the acquisition falls through, we might not even get severance pay.

The financial situation is a mess.”

“Ha, should I change jobs?

The company’s in this state, and those so-called executives just give orders left and right with their smooth talk, while only innocent people like us are busy bowing our heads everywhere.”

Whether the director was in front of her or not, the planner blurted out whatever was on her mind and started groaning, clutching her head.

The director, seemingly with no intention of scolding her, soothed her and muttered quietly.

“Just endure and work a little harder.

If things go well, we’ll live as before, and if things go wrong, well… we’ll just burn to death.”

“Director-nim, did you know?

They say the number one pain humans can feel is the pain of burning.”

The planner said this and laughed like a crazy person.

***

Jin-yeop’s face was haggard from a sleepless night due to his troubled mind.

The items he’d thoughtlessly bought at the department store yesterday were scattered everywhere in shopping bags, on the sofa, and across the living room floor.

Coming out to the living room with a tired face to drink water, Jin-yeop saw the mess and let out an involuntary sigh.

“Useless stuff, why did I even buy it all?”

It felt good at the time.

Swiping his card freely and spending money recklessly couldn’t possibly feel bad.

But the regret washing over him was unavoidable.

Not the regret of ‘Why did I spend so much money?

Did I really?’ but rather the regret of ‘When am I ever going to unpack and use all this?’

But he couldn’t just leave it like that, so Jin-yeop staggered to the living room, plopped down on the floor, and began roughly tearing open packages that someone had carefully wrapped.

He thought about calling someone to organize it, but then wondered if he should really call someone just to clean up this mess, so he chose to do it himself.

Like a machine, he repeated taking boxes out of paper bags and untying ribbons, and then unpleasant memories started creeping out and tormenting him again.

Kang Jung-hoon loved luxury goods.

So in the early days of their relationship, Jin-yeop had gifted him so many things.

Each time, he liked seeing Jung-hoon’s expression as he tore open the packages like a child receiving Christmas presents.

When he bought him something, Jung-hoon would act overjoyed, so at first, there was some satisfaction in giving gifts.

But that completely disappeared after some time passed following their marriage.

[Just leave it anywhere.]

[You picked this out?

You expect me to wear this?]

[From now on, ask me before buying anything, and only bring what I tell you to.]

At Kang Jung-hoon’s voice buzzing in his ears, strength flooded into his hands.

Crackle—the box crumpled easily in his grip, but Jin-yeop didn’t care, throwing the box aside and tossing its contents carelessly onto the sofa.

“Crazy bastard.

From head to toe, it was all bought with my money.”

He had lavished luxury goods on Jung-hoon, while Jin-yeop himself, finding it bothersome, would just grab any of the piled-up paper bags plastered with luxury brand logos instead of a proper bag.

Voluntarily acting the pushover without being asked, living believing he was the happiest person in the world.

It wasn’t just because of Jung-hoon’s looks.

Yes, back then, he had been unstable.

Jin-yeop shook his head, pushing away the irritating memories.

Then, instead of cleaning the living room, now an even bigger mess from the roughly opened boxes and trash, he sprawled out on the floor.

“Fine.

It’s my house.

Whether it’s dirty or not is my business.”

No husband to nag him about the house being dirty, and the trash and items were all his.

Whether they got crumpled or not didn’t matter.

What was this stuff anyway?

Trying to clean had only ruined his mood, reminding him of organizing that bastard’s things.

“Old habits die hard, Cha Jin-yeop, you s*ave.

You’re just itching to do housework, aren’t you?”

Jin-yeop mocked himself and fumbled in his pocket to pull out his phone.

It would be easy to just call someone to organize.

Because of Kang Jung-hoon, who disliked strangers visiting, Jin-yeop had always taken care of the housework.

“Crazy bastard, you won’t come to your senses until you die again.”

Jin-yeop glared at his own face reflected in his phone and spat out the harsh words.

Then he immediately called Director Im.

The signal didn’t ring long before the Director’s voice came through.

– Oh, I was just about to call you.

Hey, what have you been up to that Tifone sent someone over?

“Director Im.

Who was that housekeeper you mentioned before, the one who makes good side dishes?”

– I’m asking why Tifone sent someone!

I asked first, you bastard!

Despite Director Im’s huffy voice, Jin-yeop was busy only saying what he wanted to say.

“I don’t feel like lifting a finger.

Director, arrange a housekeeper for me.

Someone who makes side dishes and cleans well…”

– Are you raiding dungeons or providing materials to the legal team?

You do nothing at home, so do it yourself!

“What do you mean I do nothing at home?”

At the comment about doing nothing at home, Jin-yeop shot up, enraged, and started snapping fiercely.

“Do you know how hard it is to wash and feed one person?

Staying at home leisurely watching TV, reading books, listening to music while drinking tea—that’s only possible in vlogs.”

– …Did you eat poison or something?

Why are you getting angry?

“The idea that staying home means lazing around is a stereotype.

Do you think the house cleans itself and meals just appear?

After breakfast, you have to prepare lunch, and after lunch, you finally clean up and then prepare dinner again…

Do you have any idea how much work a homemaker does?”

As Jin-yeop passionately argued with a voice full of pent-up resentment, Director Im backed down first.

– Where did homemakers suddenly come from?

Fine, alright.

I’ll send someone, so just tell me why Tifone came looking for you.

Don’t tell me you went there and threatened to kill someone?

Why did they suddenly come crawling, making people uneasy?

“…Crawling?”

– Yeah, absolutely crawling on the floor.

You haven’t actually killed anyone, right?

“Why would I kill anyone?”

– “…..”

“I wouldn’t stop them if they said they were going to die, though.”

Jin-yeop said this and laughed.

***

Jin-yeop roughly picked out clothes from the packages he’d torn open as if they were his enemies, put on new shoes, and left the house.

On his wrist was the World Tree item he’d purchased at Tifone yesterday.

It felt very light and comfortable to wear.

Compared to metal, it even felt somehow warm, and his mind was strangely at ease.

But the more he focused on that feeling, the clearer yesterday’s memories became.

The memory of that moment when Lee Eun-ru held his hand and lightly brushed his fingertips over the back of it.

The sharply honed energy that had wounded even himself had violently surged, as if swept away into him, then returned in a very dull, rounded form and settled deeply inside.

At the same time, the lukewarm heat arising from the point of skin contact and that soft yet firm power felt as vivid as if it had continued until just now.

Jin-yeop, driving while lightly gripping the steering wheel, shook his head.

“Get a grip.”

Jin-yeop muttered the words ‘get a grip’ repeatedly, as if ruminating on them.

They hadn’t spent that long together, yet Eun-ru’s face, expressions, and voice kept replaying in his mind, tormenting him.

What he needed to think about now wasn’t Lee Eun-ru, whom he’d never meet again anyway, but the Tifone employee he’d have to face upon arriving at Vibes immediately.

Judging by how quickly they had rushed over, it seemed So-yeon, the Tifone store employee, had reported everything that happened that day to upper management as he’d intended.

Manager Lee Soo-hyuk would have wanted to buy time somehow, so he probably wouldn’t have reported to upper management right after Jin-yeop left.

The nail he’d driven in had done its job perfectly.

Did Kang Jung-hoon know about this?

If he found out, how would he react?

Imagining his face after taking that satisfying hit, his once-agitated heart became frighteningly calm.

Arriving at Vibes shortly after, Jin-yeop leisurely entered the building.

He took the elevator straight to the Director’s office on the top floor.

Employees he passed along the way, and Vibes-affiliated Awakeners, glanced at him with strange eyes.

If it were the Cha Jin-yeop of before, he would definitely have been intimidated by those looks.

He probably wouldn’t have even created a situation where Tifone employees would rush to Vibes.

He might have been shocked by the press conference, holed up at home, and disappeared.

But not the Cha Jin-yeop of now.

Ignoring the pouring glances was as easy as chewing gum.

With a brazen face, his eyes asked those he met, ‘So what?’

He had no time to make excuses or explanations to each human who couldn’t affect him at all.

The only human worthy of dedicating his emotions to was Kang Jung-hoon.