Ch.164Dinner – 2

“…Oppa. Grandfather seems to be in an exceptionally good mood today?”

A-rank ability user Jisoo Kang tilts her head as she asks the question.

“Yeah. Seems like something good happened, but I have no idea what.”

Also an A-rank ability user, Dokyung Kang responds while thoughtfully touching his chin.

The grandfather the siblings are talking about is none other than Minseong Kang.

At the front, directly instructing the servants, his face is filled with smiles.

Normally, they would have heard some news coming and going from the family.

But lately, they’ve been so busy that going home after work was just a dream.

Either sleeping at the branch office where they were dispatched, or staying at hotels when possible.

No matter how prestigious the Kang family was, the sorrows of being ability users were unavoidable.

“Until recently, he looked really upset.”

“Well, we’ll find out what’s going on at dinner tonight.”

“Dad and Mom are coming too. And Uncle is also coming.”

Dokyung responds with a “Really?” to Jisoo’s words.

The person who’s always busy handling overseas work has returned to Korea.

This could be for reasons beyond just work or scheduling.

“Whatever it is, I’m happy. These past few weeks have been really tough. Couldn’t even go home after work.”

Recently, there have been endless incidents involving monsters and gates.

Under these circumstances where normal work hours were impossible, news came from the family home.

They said the family would explain the situation and insisted on having dinner together tonight.

Minseong Kang’s extreme love for family is already known to everyone.

His children, and his grandchildren Dokyung and Jisoo as well.

And they know that family dinners are truly important events for Minseong Kang.

When family dinners are scheduled, he drops everything and rushes over.

Anyway, being back at the family home after a long time was quite enjoyable.

It was true that they had been incredibly busy for almost two months.

The two continued conversations they hadn’t been able to have until now.

“…Oh, right. Speaking of which, have you heard the news, Oppa? About the new S-rank that appeared.”

“Of course I heard. It’s that person we visited in the hospital before.”

“Seojin Baek, was it? I thought he was impressive when we first met him, and now he’s reached that level.”

“No wonder Grandfather told us to go see him.”

Even though they’re called geniuses, despite grinding their teeth and working hard, A-rank is their limit.

While this is already an incredible level, Seojin Baek, who’s around their age, has reached S-rank.

It’s both fascinating and somewhat enviable.

But they don’t dwell on it or feel jealous beyond what’s necessary.

As members of the Kang family, they believe they too will reach that level someday.

This is possible because they have confidence in their abilities and belief in themselves.

Rather, knowing someone who has achieved that makes them burn with even more competitive spirit.

“I heard he’s the first to become S-rank in the Support Class.”

“Isn’t that wrong? I heard he uses both swords and spears. He must be in the Weaponry Class but was misclassified. That happens sometimes, Oppa. When someone has dual classes and people confuse the main and support classes. Just like Jiyoon Han and also…”

Even after entering the family compound, the siblings continued discussing Seojin Baek.

Naturally, the conversation flowed to his connections with Minseong Kang and Soohyun Kim.

“Sister Soohyun seemed close to that person. What did you think, Oppa?”

“There was definitely that feeling. Otherwise, Grandfather wouldn’t have taken Soohyun to visit him. And Soohyun didn’t show any reluctance; she seemed happy to go along.”

“I’d like to meet him when I get the chance. I’ll ask him for a sparring match!”

Dokyung suddenly bursts into laughter at Jisoo’s words.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No. I just remembered that rumor.”

“Rumor? What rumor… Oh. The Silver Gatekeeper?”

Indeed, such a rumor had been circulating. No, it’s still circulating.

A person so exceptional they could face The Elder. Someone who was ultimately classified as S-rank.

Yet oddly enough, they’re firmly positioned as a Silver rank examiner at the Academy.

And they say he blocks the path to Silver rank without giving anyone any breaks, no matter who comes.

At first, I heard there was a lot of talk about this.

That he was being too harsh on students who had just entered the world of ability users.

That he should be showing them dreams and hope, not walls from the beginning.

But then the students who hit that wall began to grow at an incredibly steep rate.

Students whose skills jumped dramatically gave positive evaluations of Seojin Baek’s somewhat harsh examinations.

Just as the gate crisis and monster cataclysm overlapped, “growth” became extremely important.

In this situation, such harsh examinations actually received good evaluations.

“What! Will I get demoted if I lose too?”

“What are you talking about? You already graduated from the Academy.”

“Hmm, then could I be demoted from A-rank? I wouldn’t have minded before, but now I want that. Honestly, I’ve been so busy lately I feel like I’m dying.”

“That’s exactly why it can’t happen. If you’re gone too, my workload increases.”

“Wow. Oppa, you’re really mean.”

The siblings look at each other, laugh, and head inside.

Until then, neither of them had imagined.

The reason Minseong Kang suddenly called for dinner today.

It wasn’t for their uncle who returned after a long time, nor for their cousin Soohyun Kim.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Seojin Baek.”

“…Huh?”

“Eh?”

It was for the very person they had been talking about.

*

[I’m bored. Play with me. Stay with me like this.]

[Soohyun? Just let her be. She’s already had all the fun she could.]

[Where are you going? To the old man’s house? Why there?]

[The old man invited you to dinner? Did he invite all the family members too?]

[Wow… the old man is really setting things up.]

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

The vibration sound that keeps going without stopping.

Every single one is a message from Rina Lee.

This annoying woman. Doesn’t she ever get tired? Take it easy!

It started this morning with “what are you doing” and has continued until evening.

Even when I reply asking her to take it easy, she doesn’t listen.

Instead, she says she’s bored and asks me to talk to her, sending messages every minute.

It’s annoying, irritating, and I wonder why she’s doing this.

But in this situation, what worries me most is Soohyun’s reaction beside me.

Being together at home until afternoon, and throughout the journey to Minseong Kang’s family home.

She’s been directly observing Rina continuously sending me messages.

She might think Rina, who is usually so guarded, is trying to interfere.

Soohyun is the only one who stands up to Rina, whom others are too afraid to even speak to properly.

In this situation, if frustration builds up, it will inevitably explode.

‘…But she’s surprisingly quiet?’

While heading to Minseong Kang’s family home, I glanced at Soohyun.

I remember her expression wasn’t very good when Rina’s messages first started coming in.

It’s true that her face gradually hardened with the continuing message bombardment.

I was worried she might snatch the phone from my hand and curse at Rina.

But watching a bit longer, I realized such concerns were unfounded.

Even as time passed, Soohyun didn’t explode.

Instead, she would glance at the messages and even ask what Rina had sent.

It’s not a question asked with suspicion or interrogation.

That’s the demeanor only someone with composure can show.

It’s certain. Just look at that smile on her lips.

So when we reached Minseong Kang’s family home, I casually asked her.

If she was angry or annoyed that Rina kept doing this.

To my question, Soohyun smiled even more deeply and answered like this:

“She’s the one who’s anxious, not me.”

A judgment that there’s no need for unnecessary actions when she’s overwhelmingly advantaged.

If Rina had heard Soohyun’s words, wouldn’t she have flipped out?

Looking at it this way, while Rina is still overwhelmingly superior in terms of abilities and combat power,

In other aspects, Soohyun is strangely similar to or even above Rina.

Especially important is how she deals with Rina without any difficulty, unlike others.

She doesn’t get scared or humble herself. She just confronts head-on.

As a result, from Rina’s perspective, she’s constantly bewildered, thinking “What is this?”

‘Looking at it this way, the two of them seem to match well together… or not?’

Hmm. I wonder how they would react if I said this to them.

First, Rina would probably immediately shout “Don’t talk nonsense!”

And Soohyun… would she take it seriously, or consider it a compliment about getting along well?

“We’ve been waiting for you, Examiner Seojin Baek.”

As we enter, people who appear to be servants approach with greetings.

“The Chairman is waiting inside. Please come this way.”

I nodded at the servants’ guidance and followed them.

Then I came face to face with a middle-aged man up ahead.

‘Oh.’

I could tell immediately upon seeing him. This man is Soohyun’s father.

There’s a strange resemblance, and above all, didn’t he flinch when he saw Soohyun?

Anyone could see that was the look of a parent full of guilt toward their child.

“Soohyun. And you are…”

“Hello. I’m Seojin Baek. You’re Soohyun’s father, right?”

“Ah… yes. I’m Taejun Kim. Nice to meet you.”

Soohyun’s father, Taejun Kim, is someone I’ve heard about once before.

He’s in charge of importing monster byproducts, gate information, and items from abroad.

Naturally, he spends more time overseas than domestically.

And he was late not only for his wife’s deathbed but even for her funeral, wasn’t he?

‘He must have felt sorry. That’s why he avoided Soohyun even more.’

In his mind, he probably thought he had no right to show his face since he failed as a father.

It would have been good if they had cleared up the misunderstanding later, but Soohyun was captured and brainwashed by villains.

Of course, the father-daughter relationship became the worst and turned into a tragedy.

Even if it’s not that bad now, looking at them, it’s still not very positive.

A father who keeps glancing at Soohyun, and Soohyun avoiding her father’s gaze.

This isn’t good. The atmosphere is really not pleasant.

It would be nice if their relationship improved quickly, but it’s difficult right now.

They need a catalyst. A catalyst for the father-daughter relationship to improve…

…Hmm. Come to think of it, that catalyst is right here?

“Ah! Then I should call you father-in-law.”

At my words, both Soohyun and her father

Each let out exclamations of “Huh?” and “Uh?”

Like father, like daughter, even their reactions are similar.