Episode 609. The Culprit Was Lee Hoyeon.

A night with a cool breeze blowing.

Lee Hoyeon walked along the quiet academy’s night path.

His steps were leisurely, but as he walked while organizing his thoughts, he didn’t have the mental space to look around at his surroundings.

‘I was planning to stay the night… but I got kicked out.’

Lee Hoyeon clicked his tongue regretfully.

His plan was to wait until Moon Surin’s work was done, have another passionate night, and then fall asleep comfortably together in bed.

He had intended to fall asleep while holding Surin noona.

‘But who works overtime for 8 hours?’

He doubted his ears when he first heard that.

She said she was used to staying up all night, so she’d finish her overtime work and head straight to work afterward.

It was a bit baffling, but Lee Hoyeon was confident in his stamina.

He himself was used to staying up all night.

So, he had planned to stay awake with Surin noona until her overtime was finished.

[…Hoyeon-ah. Are you going to keep watching me from the side?]

[Yes. I’ll work hard alongside you, noona. Or is there anything I can help with?]

[No. It’s okay for you to go home and sleep, Hoyeon.]

[I can’t do that. I can’t just let you suffer alone, Surin noona. I’ll stay by your side until your work is finished.]

[….]

After quietly watching Moon Surin work for about an hour, he was suddenly kicked out of the house.

Her reason was that she couldn’t concentrate at all with him there.

“I wanted to stay with you all night, noona… Has she already recovered?”

He still felt uneasy.

He still remembered the image of Moon Surin crying while held by him.

He had intended to stay with Moon Surin today, thinking he should comfort her wounds a little more.

But thinking about how embarrassed she looked when she kicked him out, it seemed she couldn’t focus on work because he was watching.

Helping her work was a burden, and sleeping alone in bed bothered her just as much as him watching.

What else could he do? He had to leave.

If Surin noona felt that way, there was nothing he could do.

“It’s gotten quite late.”

Lee Hoyeon checked his smartwatch.

He had originally planned to visit Baek Ayeong tonight.

However, while accompanying Moon Surin to her dorm, he sent Baek Ayeong a message saying he had something to attend to and she should sleep first if she didn’t reply.

“Is her work still not finished?”

There was no reply to the message he sent.

Lee Hoyeon hesitated for a moment, then turned his steps away from heading home.

Although he wanted to go home and rest, he also wanted to see Baek Ayeong quickly.

Thinking about Baek Ayeong’s face from earlier made him want to take care of her even more.

Lee Hoyeon quickened his pace and headed towards the emergency room.

“…What? She already left?”

“About an hour? No, maybe two hours ago. The Saintess looked very tired, so she left early.”

“Ah… I see.”

He stopped an emergency room staff member to ask about Baek Ayeong, but his energy drained when he heard she had already left.

If she left, why didn’t she reply?

“Were you scheduled for treatment with the Saintess too, student Lee Hoyeon? As far as I know, appointments were postponed due to the influx of patients suffering from Underworld mana poisoning, unless they were critical cases. Shall I check your appointment time?”

“No, it’s fine. Keep up the good work.”

Lee Hoyeon gave a quick nod and left the emergency room.

If she wasn’t at the ER, she must be in her office.

Whenever the ER work gets hectic, Baek Ayeong often stays overnight in her office and starts work immediately upon waking.

She probably did the same today.

‘Everyone around me seems to be working so hard.’

Baek Ayeong, in particular, loves helping people, so she often pushes herself beyond her physical limits.

Since she looked extremely exhausted before leaving, he was even more worried.

He needed to at least see her face.

“…So the surge in patients was caused by Underworld mana.”

It seems they call patients who forcibly absorbed Underworld mana ‘Underworld mana poisoners’.

Actually, from Lee Hoyeon’s perspective, it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

The fact that even individuals close to ordinary people experienced side effects after contact with Underworld mana meant that many people were now aware of its existence.

Compared to a time when there was no awareness of Underworld mana at all, this was significant progress.

‘Starting tomorrow, I need to go around destroying the black pillars.’

Of course, his aching head hadn’t improved.

There were simply too many problems to solve.

First, he had to destroy all the black pillars in Korea before the Underworld monsters started moving.

He suspected the black pillars empowered the Underworld monsters, but he lacked concrete proof.

To gather proof, he had to demonstrate results.

If only Korea and France remained safe when the Underworld monsters attacked, it would prove his theory correct.

Since people wouldn’t listen even when the Iris Guild and the Wizard Association warned them of the threat, he had no choice but to wait until then.

‘I’ll try my best…. Right. I also need to meet with the higher-ups.’

Lost in thought about his schedule, he arrived in front of Baek Ayeong’s private office.

Knock knock knock.

There was no answer even after knocking.

Lee Hoyeon placed his ear against the door and channeled mana into it.

There was no sign of movement, but he could sense steady breathing from inside the office.

Click-clack-click-clack.

Lee Hoyeon entered the office’s password and opened the door.

As he entered the brightly lit office, the first thing he saw was a figure.

Baek Ayeong was fast asleep, face down on the reception table.

Seeing she hadn’t even taken off her outer coat suggested she hadn’t planned to sleep, but had apparently dozed off.

Lee Hoyeon let out a wry smile as he looked around the neatly organized office.

“I’m sorry. Honey.”

Knowing her personality, she wouldn’t fall asleep here no matter how tired she was.

She probably fell asleep waiting for me.

There were many things he felt sorry about.

There were so many people to care about and so much to do, one body wasn’t enough.

But he couldn’t complain.

Until he blocked the gates of the Underworld and defeated the Demon King, he’d have to live like this.

‘…Will things get better if I kill the Demon King?’

Although the perception of this world as a game had mostly faded, Lee Hoyeon was currently participating in a bet guaranteed by the God of Betting.

『Main Quest: Conquer all heroines and survive until the game’s ending. If you can. Failure Penalty: Death』

Every time he recalled the Main Quest, the status window visible before his eyes reminded him of that fact.

The game’s ending was to kill the Demon King.

So, what would happen if he killed the Demon King?

Lee Hoyeon muttered the words the God of Betting had told him.

“…Since I’ve conquered 11 heroines, he said that if I reach the ending, killing this world’s god and living here wouldn’t be just a dream.”

So, if he died by the Demon King’s hand, would he return to his original world?

What would have happened if he had only conquered 10 heroines?

“…Tsk.”

Lee Hoyeon clicked his tongue and hung his coat on the hanger.

Useless thoughts were filling his head again.

He had no intention of dying anyway, so it was better not to dwell on such thoughts.

Swish-

Lee Hoyeon channeled mana and gently lifted Baek Ayeong’s body.

Sleeping like that would hurt her back.

He needed to lay her down on the bed.

*

The next morning.

In a corner seat of a bustling cafe early in the morning.

Two women sat facing each other, sipping their coffee.

Both possessed beauty that would make any passing man glance their way at least once, but a high-level barrier enveloped them, preventing anyone from noticing.

It wasn’t difficult for someone like her, the Korean branch manager of the Iris Guild.

Kang Hyorin, the Korean branch manager of the Iris Guild.

She was also a guest professor at the academy, and until it was restored, she had little to do.

Sip-

Kang Hyorin glanced over her friend sitting before her.

Pale white skin, long blonde hair, and a neatly styled suit.

“Something seems to be bothering you lately? You don’t look happy.”

Scarlet.

She was a friend of the same age who worked as a freelancer after leaving the Iris Guild.

“It’s just personal stuff.”

Kang Hyorin studied Scarlet’s expression.

Despite her sharp impression, Scarlet was a friend with a surprisingly cute personality.

She was perceptive about others’ affairs but surprisingly bad at hiding her own.

Tap-

Kang Hyorin placed her coffee cup down and continued speaking.

“Your face alone is screaming ‘I’m having a hard time~’, ‘I have worries~’. Don’t brush it off like that, just tell me.”

“….”

Glare.

As Scarlet frowned, Kang Hyorin picked up her coffee cup again and turned her head.

Ahem. The weather’s nice today. She even added such pleasantries.

‘I can’t exactly hit her.’

Scarlet shook her head, glancing at Kang Hyorin who was subtly watching her.

Even though she sometimes acted crazy, she was still a friend who worried about her.

…And also an employer who paid well.

This matter wasn’t something she needed to hide, so she supposed she could talk about it.

Scarlet took a sip of coffee and continued.

“Underworld mana. You know about it, right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s all over the news lately. Aha, I get it now.”

Kang Hyorin seemed to finally understand, winking at her friend.

Scarlet’s worries probably had something to do with Lee Hoyeon.

“It’s because of student Lee Hoyeon, isn’t it? He’s been taking a lifetime’s worth of crap from the whole world for destroying the black pillars…. Oh, sorry. I’ll stop badmouthing your boyfriend. Don’t look at me like that.”

“No, it’s not that. Was the backlash really that severe?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I wonder if it’s really that controversial… Old folks hate change, you know. They hate it when their positions become unstable. It’s all over the news, but for the general public, it’s more like, ‘What’s that?'”

Scarlet frowned.

Something smells fishy.

It was just a hunch, but proposals that powerful figures unanimously agreed upon usually spelled trouble.

‘To think I missed this kind of information.’

Lately, she had been so focused on mastering Underworld mana that she’d become oblivious to information.

The world was changing that rapidly.

She definitely needed to relay this information to Lee Hoyeon.

“Sigh… Anyway, it’s similar, but that’s not it.”

Scarlet’s concern was her talent and the Underworld mana.

She had been striving every day to become accustomed to Underworld mana, but she still hadn’t grasped it.

Compared to Nam Daeun or Rebecca, who had already gotten used to it, her progress was far too slow.

“Why Underworld mana? Now that you’ve left the Iris Guild, you don’t need to anymore.”

Hearing Scarlet’s worries, Kang Hyorin tilted her head.

“Just because. It might be helpful somewhere, right?”

“What are you talking about? You wouldn’t just… Aha.”

Kang Hyorin’s lips curled upwards as she started to chuckle.

There was no way she would put in that much effort for no reason.

She pretended otherwise, but it was finally clear.

“Ahhh. So you left the guild for love after all….”

“…I should get going soon. I just remembered my schedule.”

“I know you have nothing planned today, where are you going! Sorry.”

“I’m really busy.”

Scarlet finished her coffee and stood up from her seat.

It seemed she wouldn’t gain much from talking further with Kang Hyorin, and she needed to train to get accustomed to Underworld mana during the time wasted on pointless conversation.

“All because of one man. Tsk.”

After Scarlet left, Kang Hyorin shook her head alone in the cafe.

Of course, that man was handsome, capable, and had a bright future…

“He really is handsome, though.”

He was the man who melted Scarlet’s cold heart.

Even if he had quite a few women around him, with a face like that, he could live comfortably for a lifetime.

“A handsome, capable younger man… I’m a bit envious.”

Kang Hyorin, left alone in the cafe, took another sip of her coffee, pointlessly.