Chapter 18: Sky Fortress

I lifted my heavy eyelids and opened my eyes.

“…Ugh, what time is it?”

I meant to sleep after making money, but I ended up doing it until 6 AM.

I turned on my phone to check the time.

12:00

“……!”

Seeing the time, my mind cleared instantly.

There was less than 30 minutes left until my lunch appointment with Rona.

I clearly set an alarm, but?

‘Time is too precious to think…!’

I quickly got up, washed, and got dressed.

After getting ready, I complained to Mrs. Kim, who was watching a drama on the sofa.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?!”

Then Mrs. Kim made an angry face and walked towards me.

“This girl has gone crazy! I woke you up five times, but you didn’t wake up!”

“Ah! Don’t hit me!”

Our Mrs. Kim hit my back mercilessly.

But I also felt wronged.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to wake up!

Before I knew it, Mrs. Kim’s sharp gaze, which had been hitting my back, turned towards my skirt.

“And also, oh, why are you wearing such a short skirt? Go change quickly!”

“Change? My appointment is soon!”

“Oh dear, someone like that takes a shower in 10 minutes?”

In addition, she nagged me to wash more.

I never thought I’d hear such nagging at the age of 24.

“Oh my, you showered in just 10 minutes, but why is your hair so soft?”

Mrs. Kim stopped nagging for a moment and fiddled with my hair that reached my waist.

“Do you use a special shampoo or conditioner?”

“No, I just use what’s in the bathroom, I don’t use conditioner.”

The nagging started again at the mention of not using conditioner.

“If you live like that, your hair will be ruined!”

‘That’s strange, even without conditioner, washing in 10 minutes was enough to keep it well-maintained.’

Ding!

An alarm went off in my pocket.

It was a text message from Rona.

[Unnie, where are you now? I’m waiting.]

‘Ah, right. I’m late right now.’

This is all Mrs. Kim’s fault.

I quickly sent a text message to reassure her.

[I’m almost there too, just wait a little^^]

Thinking that I might be even later, I quickly ran towards the front door and put on my shoes.

“I’m leaving now. Take care!”

***

Rona waited for a long time for Seonga at a nearby gukbap restaurant.

‘Why isn’t she coming?’

She checked the time again.

30 minutes had passed, and she still hadn’t arrived.

Didn’t she say she was almost there?

At this point, she started to worry if something had gone wrong.

‘Could it be that something didn’t sit well with her during the last collaboration stream?’

It wasn’t entirely impossible.

Rona pondered deeply, searching through her memories.

‘Was the chat the problem?’

She had filmed an explanation video while broadcasting together, but there were occasionally chatters calling her a hacker.

Of course, she banned them without mercy, but no one knew what was in people’s hearts.

Ding-a-ling!

As the door opened, a pleasant bell sound echoed throughout the gukbap restaurant.

The person who stepped into the gukbap restaurant was a beautiful woman with charming black hair.

The other customers in the gukbap restaurant were surprised.

They couldn’t believe such an elegant woman had come to an ordinary gukbap restaurant instead of a fancy restaurant.

“Unnie!”

Rona waved her arm when she saw me.

I quickly ran to Rona’s table and sat down in a chair.

“Unnie, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

“Haha, I’m sorry, the traffic was bad….”

Actually, there was no traffic, and I came comfortably by taxi.

However, I couldn’t honestly say that I overslept because I was making money, so I lied a little.

We sat at the table and talked.

“I’m sorry. I should have made the appointment, but I made Unnie do it.”

“Aw, it’s nothing like that. You said you were my sister’s friend, so I wanted to meet you.”

Haim would be surprised if she heard this, but I made this appointment first.

Let’s not mind that the host was late.

‘There was something I needed to find out, you see…’

Just in time, the menu I had ordered earlier arrived.

We both picked up our spoons and put gukbap into our mouths.

It was nice to see her eating well.

Now I should ask what I’m curious about.

“…Did you perhaps lie to me?”

“…Yes?”

Rona blinked her eyes and faced Seonga.

It was as if she was trying to read her inner thoughts.

‘Could she be talking about me being a Returnee?’

Since that was hiding my identity, it was to pretend I didn’t know.

I even coordinated with Haim beforehand, so how did she know?

Since it’s come to this, I’ll pretend I don’t know until the end.

“A lie? What kind of lie?”

“Hmm, never mind. Looks like you don’t know.”

“What is it? You stopped talking mid-sentence.”

Rona sighed with relief inwardly.

She wasn’t caught, so shall we try the gukbap again?

Munch munch

“Wow, you lied.”

“……!”

While chewing the gukbap, my body flinched for a moment at Seonga’s words, but I laughed nonchalantly so as not to be caught.

“Number of blinks in 15 seconds: 13 times, number of times you chewed the gukbap: 40 times. That’s more than twice the difference compared to you earlier.

“Can you explain?”

“…….”

When her eyes met Seonga’s, Rona involuntarily trembled.

The beautiful eyes, like a night sky adorned with stars, instantly changed into the eyes of a snake eyeing its prey.

“Tell me quickly. Why did you lie?”

With a trembling body, she lowered her head to avoid her gaze.

“T-that, it’s just that Unnie seemed to be h-hiding it, so I-I just pretended not to know…”

“Hmm, you’re not going to sell my information somewhere else, are you? Then I think I’d be really disappointed in Rona.”

“Absol-absolutely not! I really just pretended not to know…”

Although she explained desperately, seeing me keep staring at her with a poker face seemed to make her even angrier.

Sniff!

“Sob… huff…”

She had never been this scared even when being scolded by her parents.

Without realizing it, her eyes became incredibly moist.

“What, you’re crying? Don’t cry.”

“……!”

Rona was surprised when Seonga wiped away her tears.

She never thought Unnie would have such a kind side.

“Why are you crying when you’re all grown up? Stop! Don’t cry.”

“I-I’m sorry…. I-I really just pretended not to know!”

Okay, okay, I understand.

The day has come when I wipe away the tears of a younger woman than myself.

It feels strangely like I’ve gained another younger sister.

‘It reminds me of when I was little…’

When I was little, my parents often came home late, so Haim often cried, and each time I was busy wiping away her tears.

The problem is that as time passed, my young sister grew into a gorilla, and now I live in the same house as that gorilla.

“Alright. I’ll stop being suspicious, so don’t cry, okay!”

“R-really? I r-really didn’t say anything. I even bet my parents…”

“Okay, okay, it’s my fault. Don’t bet your parents…”

What kid would casually bet their parents?

She must not be afraid of anything.

“Hmph, am I that scary?”

“…It’s separate from being scary, I guess. Normally, you’re not, but when Unnie has a poker face, you look angry, and it feels like a large snake is constricting my body, so I’m really scared.”

It felt as if she knew everything, and there was no point in lying.

It was like wandering in a maze with no escape route.

More than anything, when she had that unique look in her eyes, it felt scarier than being scolded by my parents when I was little.

Meanwhile, I focused on the word ‘snake’.

‘…Snake.’

This is the first time I’ve heard ‘snake’.

It was quite fresh.

That doesn’t mean I agree, though.

“What’s a snake? A snake. Couldn’t you say something a little cooler?”

“That’s so Unnie. Always arguing about things like that.”

We continued our meal, and Rona kept watching my reaction while eating.

I couldn’t stand it being so stifling.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“How did you know?!”

“If I didn’t know, I’d be even more of an idiot.”

Every time we made eye contact, she’d lower her gaze and focus on eating again, and then she’d keep looking at me, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.

“…Well, how about we do some work together?”

“Work? Collaboration stream?”

“No. Not a collaboration stream, but guild work. I investigated, and it seems I need Unnie’s help.”

‘My help…’

Unlike the Association guys, Rona is Haim’s friend and helped with the explanation broadcast, so I could help her.

However, there is a condition.

“Then can you turn on the broadcast?”

“The broadcast?”

“Yeah.”

If I turn on the broadcast and show myself fighting directly, I thought the viewers would like it too.

“I’m not sure about that.”

“Let me think about it for a moment.”

Rona pondered for a moment.

First of all, the Guild Leader Unnie she knew was someone who disliked broadcasting itself.

So, clearly…

“It’ll probably be fine?”

The saying that it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission didn’t come out of nowhere.

Let’s just do it and ask for forgiveness later.

“Alright, I’ll help.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Rona was genuinely happy.

To be honest, she expected me to refuse.

“I’ll buy you dinner next time. What do you like?”

‘Favorite food…’

I eat well without being picky, but my absolute favorite among them is the soul food of men…

“Jeyuk, donkkaseu, gukbap.”

“Oh, you like quite vigorous food.”

Looking at her appearance, I thought she would like expensive omakase or beef, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Surprisingly, she seems to like common Korean food.

“Yeah, it’s really delicious.”

That’s why I made the appointment at this gukbap restaurant.

This place does gukbap exceptionally well.

“Then how about we just do a cooking broadcast next time? As a collaboration stream.”

“Cooking broadcast? You’ll do the cooking, right?”

“Well, something like that.”

That’s a relief.

If I had to cook too, I would have refused.

“Okay. Then set the date and call me. I’ll be right there…”

Ding-a-ling

Again, the sound of bells echoed throughout the gukbap restaurant, and a handsome man waved at Rona.

“Noona, you were here?”

Although he was wearing a mask, I could tell who he was enough by his eyes and ears.

‘Why is that drug addict here?’