episode_0109

109.

“Wow, what’s going on? Jinhyuk, did you buy all the Hanwoo beef?”

After successfully conquering the spider cave.

Jinhyuk took Soyeon to a high-end Hanwoo restaurant that he had reserved in advance.

There was an important matter to discuss about the future, and it was also to celebrate Soyeon’s successful clearance of the first dungeon.

I wanted to treat her a little bit because she had been traveling all over the country for the past few weeks because of me, so I wanted to give her some comfort.

I was relieved that we were able to finish the dungeon earlier than expected, as we might have had to cancel the reservation if the dungeon conquest had been delayed.

“Hey, look at that girl. She’s really pretty, isn’t she?”

“Wow, she’s stunning.”

“Should I try to get her number?”

“Seriously? With your face?”

“What’s wrong with my face?”

Chuckling.

As we entered the barbecue restaurant, the chatter of the men at a nearby table caught our ears.

Two young men were admiring Soyeon and expressing their admiration for her.

They were constantly muttering words of admiration, such as beautiful, like a celebrity, and stunning.

“Oh, I never even dreamed of eating Hanwoo because it’s so expensive, but thanks to you, I look like I’m living the high life, hehe.”

However, Soyeon seemed unfazed by the men’s admiration and was excited about eating the Hanwoo.

Was this kind of admiration too familiar to her?

Well, she must have been used to this kind of attention since she was young, so there was no need to react to it now.

‘Beautiful…’

I scratched my temple for a moment and sneakily stole a glance at Soyeon’s face.

Her lovely beauty captivated my sight.

She looked truly beautiful.

‘Recently… she started wearing makeup in earnest, and she looks really beautiful.’

I thought I had gotten used to her face since I had seen it since she was young, but I still couldn’t help but be surprised by Soyeon’s beauty from time to time.

Even when she rarely wore makeup before, there was admiration, but now that she was fully made up, her beauty was beyond admiration.

“Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I get something on my face?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head slightly and headed towards the small room we had reserved.

Unlike the bustling outside, the room was quite quiet.

We sat at the table, browsed through the menu, and eventually ordered the premium assorted set, sirloin, tenderloin, and more.

After a while, a staff member came and grilled the meat for us.

We started our meal, exchanging casual conversation.

“Soyeon.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you get along well with everyone else but always seem to fight with Yuseolhyun?”

“What’s wrong with you, Jinhyuk? You know why.”

Soyeon chewed on the sliced tenderloin and made a displeased expression as if she had heard something boring.

“You keep bothering me when I’m quiet. Ugh… it’s annoying.”

If it were the Yuseolhyun I knew, she wouldn’t unnecessarily pick fights with someone as great as Soyeon, but it seemed that the tension between them from the early days had not been resolved.

Anyway, Yuseolhyun was not someone to mess with.

“Yuseolhyun, that guy. It seems like he’s bothering me because he’s interested in you…”

“Hmm? I don’t know.”

Soyeon glanced at me subtly, and I shrugged my shoulders with a nonchalant expression.

Well, it’s possible that Yuseolhyun has an interest… but the interest Soyeon is thinking of is probably not romantic.

After all, that guy Yuseolhyun kept saying that my face wasn’t his type.

I also remember it because I have a subtle sense of resentment.

“Oh~ Must be nice to be so popular, huh?”

Soyeon took a sip of her cola, set the glass down a bit forcefully, and stretched out the end of her sentence.

Then, she quickly turned to me.

“These days, whether it’s Yuseolhyun, Roksan, or Baek Yurin… It’s exploding in popularity, right? Has spring finally come for our Jinhuk?”

She was joking with a smirk, but I noticed that her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

It seemed like she was subtly bothered by the presence of another woman near me.

Well, Soyeon did confess her feelings to me first, after all.

“Are you pretending like it’s not a big deal? Jinhuk, you’re quite the catch, huh? The popular Lee Jinhuk?”

“Popular? If you compare me to guys who are actually popular, I’m just a drop in the bucket.”

“….”

When I made a sarcastic remark about guys, Soyeon’s shoulders twitched and she shivered.

Then, she lowered her eyebrows in a frown and pursed her lips.

Since Soyeon had some history with guys, this kind of talk could be a bit uncomfortable.

I chuckled as I looked at Soyeon, shaking my cola playfully.

“Don’t worry about being jealous, Soyeon. I don’t plan on dating anytime soon.”

“Jealous? Who said I was jealous?”

“Really? Oh, so you’ve already changed your mind after confessing your feelings to me a few months ago? Planning to go to Ishiwoon now?”

“….Ugh, why do you keep doing this?”

Blushing, Soyeon fidgeted and glared at me resentfully.

It seemed like my teasing was a bit too much. I used to play these kinds of pranks a lot in the past.

If it were in the past, I would have brushed it off with a joke like, “Jealous of me? You have quite the imagination, Soyeon~”

But now that I realized she liked me, I couldn’t brush it off so easily.

“What do you mean?”

“Ugh, really….”

Soyeon let out a deep sigh.

Then, she glanced at me sneakily.

Blushing slightly, she mumbled something out of the blue.

“….Fine, I admit it, I’m jealous. So what?”

“Oh? Admitting it all of a sudden?”

“Well, isn’t it a bit strange to be embarrassed about this when you already confessed your feelings? Hmph.”

It didn’t sound convincing with her slightly blushing face.

She looked quite embarrassed.

“You’ve become quite witty. You didn’t used to be like this.”

Giving me a sharp look, Soyeon shook her head.

“Anyway, Jinhuk, about you.”

“Hm?”

“By any chance… am I… bothering you with this?”

“Out of the blue? Suddenly?”

“No, it’s just… I’ve been thinking about it, and from your perspective, I’ve already rejected you, but I keep sticking around, so it might be a bit burdensome…”

Soyeon cautiously pursed her lips, looking at my reaction.

“Having someone you used to like keep bothering you might be annoying… and maybe you can’t easily cut ties because we were childhood friends…”

Honestly, I hope you meet a good guy other than me and live well, but it won’t be easy to change your mind.

Soyeon is quite stubborn, whether it’s for good or bad reasons.

“If you felt burdened from the start, we wouldn’t have been going around everywhere during summer vacation.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

The only thing that could have been burdensome while I was with you was avoiding Ishiwoon’s gaze.

However, these days, Lee Siwoon seemed quite quiet even when we were together, and he looked busy due to his training with Geomja, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.

“Since we’re already on the subject… Jinhyuk mentioned that there’s a girl you like.”

“Oh, right, he did.”

“Is it one of Yuseolhyun, Seonari, Roksanu, or Baek Yurin?”

“Well, for now, it’s a se…”

“Are you trying to keep it a secret again?”

I nodded silently. Soyeon stared at me for a moment, then twisted her hair into a bun.

“Well, I mean, it could be a secret… Do you have feelings for anyone to date?”

“Someday. But right now, I don’t feel that way.”

“Why?”

“I have some things to take care of.”

“Things to take care of?”

Looking at Soyeon, who was slightly tilting her head, I slowly opened my lips.

“In fact, I have something to tell you related to that conversation today… Soyeon, can you put up a soundproof barrier so that our conversation doesn’t leak outside?”

“Why? Why all of a sudden?”

“It’s important.”

“Uh, okay.”

Suddenly, Soyeon raised her magic and formed an opaque soundproof barrier.

A transparent barrier surrounded us and spread out.

“Done.”

“Thank you.”

“So… what’s this important thing you want to tell me?”

“Um.”

I hesitated for a moment.

I thought about how to say it.

After making a decision, I began to carefully choose my words.

“You know that our parents passed away in an accident, right?”

“Oh, yeah…”

When I suddenly brought up our deceased parents, Soyeon nodded her head with a sad expression.

As Soyeon’s family was a foster family, they had helped our parents a lot.

So she followed our parents just as well as I did.

“I found out who the villain related to that accident is.”

“What? Really? How?”

“Through my precognitive ability.”

It’s too easy to explain it as a precognitive ability, isn’t it? It’s just all-powerful.

“Do you remember the white-haired girl who attacked us during the midterms?”

“How could I forget the aura she emitted.”

All the Union trainees who met Yudahee at that time would have been shocked.

Geniuses, talents, and prodigies who were praised as such were overwhelmed by a single white-haired girl and couldn’t do anything.

“It seems that the organization that girl belongs to is related to the accident our parents had.”

It’s not a complete lie.

There was some truth to the fact that they were somewhat related.

“So I’m going after them. All of them.”

“Jinhyuk…”

By mentioning revenge directly like this, I was securing the possibility of chasing the Rebellion members and forming a bond of empathy with Soyeon.

Our parents’ death was a sad event for Soyeon as well.

When our parents passed away, Soyeon was just as sad and angry as I was.

If I asked her to help me catch the villain related to our parents’ death, she would surely nod her head.

For the future, I needed an active reason for Soyeon to chase the Rebellion members as well.

In the original work, Soyeon, who was angry at my death, fought alongside the male protagonists to catch the Rebellion members, but that’s not the case now, is it?

“It’s not just for personal revenge. I saw through my precognitive ability that if we don’t stop them in time, Korea will be in chaos.”

This is a fact.

If we don’t stop the Rebellion in time, Korea will be in ruins.

“In ten days, there will be a large auction in Busan.”

“…”

“It seems likely that they will show up there.”

“…”

Every year, the largest legal auction house in South Korea, Life and Auction.

Numerous items will fill the auction. Among them are various items such as rare items, artifacts, treasures, and more.

Of course, many are fakes, but occasionally genuine items appear.

And this summer, one precious item will be auctioned off at the auction.

An artifact called ‘Blessing of the Stars’.

A miraculous artifact that resurrects the user once if they die.

I plan to somehow acquire the Blessing of the Stars at this summer’s auction.

…Well, according to memories from my past life, the rogue Alex Kim will appear and sweep through the auction items, but I know the entire original content. I know exactly how Alex will try to snatch the auction items.

“I think it might be impossible for me to handle them alone. So, I’m saying this…”

Looking straight at Soyeon, I speak in a calm voice.

“…Soyeon, could you help me catch those guys?”