Chapter 136: An Invitation No One Wanted

“After all this chaos, they’re still going to hold an awards ceremony?”

Seong Jiwoo, who had only just managed to grasp everything that had happened over the course of the previous day, found the sudden invitation baffling. Gu Min-ah, busy shaking every last aloe chunk out of her drink bottle, replied indifferently.

“They say it’s going to be bigger than usual this year.”

“Are they out of their minds? Or were they just waiting for the association president to get screwed?”

“As if. Do you have any idea how many legs that bastard had stretched out everywhere? Plenty of people were scrambling to stick themselves to those octopus legs like suction cups.”

Gu Min-ah screwed the cap back onto the bottle and tossed it toward the trash can. The bottle clipped the edge, clattered hollowly to the floor, and Seong Jiwoo sighed, bending down to pick it up.

“Exactly. So why do this now?”

“Because that’s what they do.”

Smacking her lips at the lingering sweetness, Gu Min-ah continued flatly.

“What do you think? They need to divert people’s attention. Just because one association president went down, are they supposed to let the whole association crash and burn? Of course not. Do you know how many livelihoods are tied to it? They’ve got to do some damage control, at least.”

“So they’re putting hunters out front as shields and putting on a show?”

“That’s about right. And yeah, this whole incident is blowing up right now—but there was also something this year you can’t just skip an awards ceremony over.”

“…Something?”

Seong Jiwoo frowned slightly, clearly unable to guess. Gu Min-ah looked exasperated.

“Your junior, obviously. He got rid of the X-Gate. How long has it been already—did you seriously forget?”

“Oh. Right. It just doesn’t feel real that all of this happened within the same year.”

“If your junior heard that, he’d be hurt.”

“He’s not the type to get hurt over that.”

Seong Jiwoo shook his head, then stopped.

“…No. Actually, he might.”

“What now?”

“He wouldn’t care about the X-Gate, but he’d probably be upset if I forgot the day we reunited.”

Yu Heero’s voice seemed to echo in his ears already—pouting, lips stuck out in complaint. The image floated vividly through his mind.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

Gu Min-ah’s face crumpled like she’d just heard something utterly absurd. Seong Jiwoo let out a hollow laugh.

“Yeah. I don’t even know why I’m saying something that stupid like it’s normal.”

“Does your head hurt a lot? Our guild leader said you were fine, but I guess not.”

Even as she asked, Gu Min-ah took a step back. Seong Jiwoo stared at her in disbelief.

“Why are you backing away?”

“I’m allergic to crazy people.”

“…Unbelievable.”

He snorted, then his expression turned serious.

“No. I think I might actually be a little crazy.”

“Can I go home now?”

“…I don’t even know if this is right.”

He muttered self-mockingly. Just then, Yu Heero opened the hospital room door and came in. After Seong Jiwoo complained that hospital food was awful, Yu Heero had gone out to a nearby restaurant.

Yu Heero set up the tray table over the bed and began arranging the food one dish at a time.

“You’re a patient—are you even allowed to eat this?”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“Then we should’ve just met outside.”

“I was going to, but—him.”

Seong Jiwoo pointed at Yu Heero. Yu Heero placed chopsticks into Seong Jiwoo’s hand, wearing a proud smile. Gu Min-ah’s gaze flicked over briefly, then away.

“He keeps telling me not to overdo it.”

“…Wow.”

A lot was left unsaid, but Seong Jiwoo and Gu Min-ah exchanged a look and dropped the subject. Seong Jiwoo nodded as if he’d heard enough.

“Alright, just eat. And you, junior—over here.”

Gu Min-ah clicked her tongue at Sunrye. Sunrye, who had been lying down resting, immediately sprang up and ran to her.

“I heard the explanation from the guild leader, but… looks like it really didn’t sink in at all.”

Unlike Yu Heero, who stood stiffly radiating reluctance, Sunrye looked nothing but excited.

“The only thing those two have in common is that they’re obsessed with Seong Jiwoo.”

At Gu Min-ah’s incredulous remark, Seong Jiwoo choked on his soft tofu stew.

“Why am I catching strays all of a sudden?!”

“It’s true.”

“……”

“Just eat.”

Unable to argue back, Seong Jiwoo shoveled another big spoonful of rice into his mouth.

“Hyung, chew properly.”

Yu Heero was looking at him like he was five years old. Gu Min-ah shuddered.

“H-He’s just being filial…! I’m getting older, my stomach’s weaker, and he’s worried about me….”

Seong Jiwoo protested weakly. His neck and ears were bright red, clearly embarrassed.

“Did you give birth to him or something? Filial my ass….”

“…Anyway!”

“I don’t care what kind of nonsense you two are up to. What pisses me off is that your overreaction just makes me more convinced I’m right. Got it?”

“…Yeah.”

Seong Jiwoo nodded gloomily and waved her off, signaling her to continue whatever she was doing. Gu Min-ah shot Yu Heero a look like she’d stepped in something unpleasant.

Yu Heero, meanwhile, was smiling at Seong Jiwoo with his guard completely down. Gu Min-ah deliberately unfocused her eyes.

“Divine beasts normally exist in a non-visible realm, but clones exist inside the caster,” she began explaining. Only then did Yu Heero turn his head. His expression was still dubious, but Gu Min-ah continued regardless.

“Either way, the similarity is that they can appear or disappear at the caster’s will. Unlike divine beasts that need to be tamed, clones are practically one body with the caster already, so it’s less work. That’s what a paper I read yesterday said.”

After rattling all that off, she looked at Yu Heero to see if he’d understood. He was just standing there, blinking blankly.

“Yeah. Totally went over your head.”

Sunrye—who wouldn’t have looked out of place glued to Yu Heero’s side—was instead busy acting cute next to Gu Min-ah, hoping for a snack.

“Is this really his ability?”

Unable to hold back, Gu Min-ah raised her voice at Seong Jiwoo. He froze mid-reach for a side dish.

“I think so…?”

There was zero confidence in his tone. Meanwhile, Sunrye switched targets and started clinging to Seong Jiwoo’s bed, tail wagging.

“Hey, hey, there’s nothing for you to eat here.”

“At this point, I’d believe it more if that thing were your clone.”

Gu Min-ah shook her head. Then Yu Heero quietly stepped behind Sunrye and suddenly scooped it up. Holding Sunrye back from approaching Seong Jiwoo, he retreated a step. Watching him, Gu Min-ah fell into thought.

After a moment, she spoke up, testing an idea.

“…For some reason, I feel like it’d go in if you told it to.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

Seong Jiwoo pointed at himself, bewildered. With Yu Heero and Gu Min-ah both looking at him, he tilted his head.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Tell it to go in.”

“That makes no sense. Why would it listen if I say ‘go in’? I mean—go in—what?”

The instant the words left Seong Jiwoo’s mouth, Sunrye’s body—cradled in Yu Heero’s arms—began to glow. Then it was absorbed into Yu Heero’s body as if being pulled inside.

“…Why did it go in?”

Yu Heero frowned, rubbing at his chest. The warmth he felt was deeply strange.

“Just let you be the owner. That’ll make training faster.”

Gu Min-ah threw her hands up, declaring there was nothing left for her to teach, and started packing to leave. Seong Jiwoo hurriedly grabbed her.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah, serious. It’s rare, but some people tame divine beasts for others. So it’s not completely impossible.”

“……”

“And you two are glued together anyway. Just use it however you want.”

At the suggestion that he should casually ‘use’ something that wasn’t even his ability, Seong Jiwoo stared at Yu Heero in horror. Yu Heero, however, simply nodded along, apparently agreeing.

Why are you nodding at that?

Leaving only that unspoken thought behind, Gu Min-ah departed. Yu Heero, looking oddly refreshed now that Sunrye was gone, sat on the edge of Seong Jiwoo’s bed.

“Awards ceremony? What’s that about?”

“Oh. This. You didn’t get one?”

Seong Jiwoo handed him the invitation. Yu Heero shook his head, genuinely clueless.

“No. First I’ve seen it.”

“That can’t be. You’re the main character.”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. You got rid of the X-Gate.”

“…Oh.”

It clearly hadn’t even crossed Yu Heero’s mind—his reaction came painfully late. Seong Jiwoo shrugged, as if he’d expected that.

“If I’d said we were the main characters, you’d have gotten it right away.”

“I didn’t even go into the X-Gate. What are you talking about?”

“Anyway.”

Anyway what? Seong Jiwoo looked dumbfounded, but Yu Heero just shrugged shamelessly.

“Are we going?”

“You?”

“Why ask something so obvious? If you go, I go. If you don’t, I don’t.”

Before he knew it, Yu Heero’s attendance was entirely up to him. Seong Jiwoo scratched his chin, thought for a long moment, then said,

“Let’s not go.”

Why bother, after all. The Hunter Association didn’t exactly look good to him right now.

So, just like in his previous life, Seong Jiwoo decided to skip the awards ceremony.

And the next day, staring at his phone as it rang like it had lost its mind, he realized just how wrong that decision had been.

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