EFME 75

Seeing the owner of the hand that had suddenly appeared, Jinseo turned to look at Sunyul with a face that looked like he was about to faint.

“M-Mr. Sunyul.”

“Ugh…”

The two were much more surprised than he had expected, so Sunyul was a little flustered.

“I’m sorry, during your meal… I came because I heard you wanted to see me.”

“Uwaaah!”

“…”

Seeing the two of them covering their mouths and practically wailing, Sunyul reflected a little, wondering if he had startled them too much.

“I’m sorry. Should I come back a little later after you’ve finished eating?”

“N-No!”

“We’re done eating!”

The two lied, leaving their untouched meals.

“…We’ll just go get our food. Let’s talk while we eat.”

“T-Together?!”

“Yes, yes, yessir!”

Sunyul brought his food over with Dakyung and Seoyeon and sat across from Choi Jinseo. Choi Jinseo, sitting across from Sunyul, didn’t know what to do with himself, he was so happy.

“His face is so red.”

“He must be a real fan.”

“Yes, yes! I’m a real, real fan. Ah, it would be nice if an official fan club was launched, but since you’re a civil servant… I can’t even do support projects.”

Jinseo spoke as if he held a bit of a grudge. Sunyul couldn’t understand everything he was saying, so he just smiled.

It seemed Jinseo wanted to talk about the old days. But Sunyul didn’t want that, and Jinseo keenly sensed Sunyul’s feelings and began to ask about other things.

There were also ordinary questions like his favorite food and preferences.

“I think you’re more of a rabbit than a puppy, Mr. Sunyul.”

“…What did you say?”

“I’ll send you a doll once I make one. I’m waiting for the sample now.”

“Ah, yes… Thank you.”

In between, he would say things Sunyul couldn’t understand, or get worked up over things that seemed trivial to Sunyul. In any case, Jinseo was truly passionate.

“…Ha, I got a little excited, didn’t I?”

“No, it’s alright. Thank you for liking me.”

“Whew, still, I’m a fan with a pure heart. Unlike the perverts.”

“How do the perverts act as fans?”

“…”

No one there could answer that question.

The fan of Sunyul who had been talking with Jinseo at first remained silent with a rather pale face. It seemed that one of the perverts being referred to there might include himself, who, just yesterday, had written a post expressing various desires for Sunyul.

Choi Jinseo, who simply enjoyed being a fan purely, belatedly shook his head.

“It’s better that you don’t know.”

“But…”

“I must protect Mr. Sunyul…”

Unable to ask further, Sunyul eventually nodded. After finishing their meal, Sunyul gave his autograph to Choi Jinseo, the fan next to him, and a few others who had been cautiously watching. With tears welling in his eyes, Jinseo bowed his head deeply to Sunyul.

“Then I’ll be on my way, Mr. Sunyul.”

“Ah, yes. Take care.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

Jinseo disappeared quickly. The fan who had been with Jinseo shrugged his shoulders.

“Looks like he’s going to work on his art. It seems meeting you gave him some inspiration, Mr. Sunyul.”

He didn’t know what inspiration could have been gained from their conversation just now… but if he was satisfied, that was good enough. Sunyul parted ways with Dakyung and returned to the research lab.

Sunyul worked hard all afternoon. He didn’t even notice the time passing until Seoyeon told him it was time to go home.

After finishing work, Sunyul naturally went up to the guild master’s office. When he went inside, Muyoung looked at him as if he had been waiting.

“How was it.”

When he first came, he thought he would never be able to give a positive response to those words… but in the end, Sunyul smiled at Muyoung’s words.

“It was fun.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes.”

Sunyul readily nodded. Muyoung handed something to him. It was a white envelope.

“Take this.”

“What is this?”

“Your daily wage.”

Slightly surprised, Sunyul’s eyes widened.

“Wasn’t today’s work for rent?”

“Because you worked more than the rent was worth.”

It was unexpected money. He wasn’t greedy for money, but the feeling of holding money he had earned by working wasn’t bad. He felt proud.

This was better than being cooped up in his room. Even though he wasn’t supposed to regain his memories by continuously building up experiences.

[The ‘Traveler of the Eternal Night’ asks if it isn’t nice to feel alive.]

Yes, it was nice.

As expected, Sunyul didn’t want to live as if he were dead. He shouldn’t have tasted any of it from the beginning. Because he already knew what it felt like to be with people.

“If you want to do it tomorrow, you can.”

In the morning, he had spoken with no room for compromise, but this time, it was a suggestion. After hesitating for a moment, Sunyul answered.

“Yes.”

He wanted to. Anything was fine, he just didn’t want to live as if he were dead. Because that wasn’t living.

Yes, it would be fine. It was fine today, after all. There was no rule that memories would necessarily surface just because he did something. If it seemed like they were about to, he could just quickly quit.

Sunyul compromised with himself and, in the end, prepared to step out into the world again.

⊹₊｡ꕤ˚₊⊹

Sunyul got ready for work today with his usual familiarity.

He got in the car and was buckling his seatbelt when Muyoung said they were going somewhere else today.

“Where to?”

“The Melior Guild.”

“Ah…”

The two of them had been sending messages for quite some time, saying they wanted to see Sunyul. It seemed they were half-trapped in their guild due to some deadline and couldn’t come visit in person.

“They both seem very busy.”

“Well, they are.”

Muyoung clicked his tongue.

“They closed a pretty big deal this time, but the other party made it conditional on accepting a request instead of money. They normally wouldn’t have agreed, but it was a deal they absolutely needed, so it seems they gave in. I heard they can’t move an inch until March to meet the deadline for that request.”

“They have to suffer for another month…”

“Yeah. And they’re begging to see you at least once before then, so we’re going.”

“…”

“If it’s a burden, I’ll turn the car around.”

“N-No.”

He didn’t want to be cold to people who were deliberately making time to see him while they were busy. Besides, he had received help from the two of them.

As soon as they arrived at the Melior Guild and entered the building, Heena and Haemin ran toward Sunyul.

“Sunyul!”

“Lim Sunyul!”

Without either of them going first, they hugged Sunyul at the same time. Because of that, they seemed to feel bad about touching each other and bickered, saying ‘Let go,’ and ‘You let go,’ but in the end, neither let go and held Sunyul tightly.

For Sunyul, who was being hugged in the middle, it was slightly suffocating. Even though they weren’t combat types, they were both Awakeners, so they were very strong. How long were they planning on hugging him?

Only after Muyoung came over and pulled the two of them off Sunyul was he able to be free.

“That’s enough.”

Muyoung spoke coldly, but Heena and Haemin paid him no mind and clung to Sunyul again. Fortunately, this time they seemed to be mindful of the distance and strength, so it felt more comfortable than before, Sunyul thought.

“Sunyul, I really missed you…”

“Yeah, if it weren’t for this damn request, we would have been the first to come see you.”

“That’s because the request got delayed because of you.”

“What? Why is that my fault, it’s your fault!”

The two began to fight, blaming each other. Sunyul glanced between the two of them. Then, Heena slyly looked at Sunyul.

“Sunyul, should we not fight?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

“Tell us not to fight! Then we won’t.”

Haemin said, his eyes sparkling. Sunyul wondered why he had to tell them when they could just not fight, but… Sunyul went along with their suggestion.

“Yes. Please don’t fight.”

“Okay, okay.”

“We won’t fight.”

The two became docile, as if it were a lie. As if they had just wanted to hear Sunyul’s words.

Heena and Haemin exchanged glances. Then, they dropped to their knees in front of Sunyul. Startled, Sunyul unknowingly took a step back.

“Sunyul, scold us.”

“That’s right. Scold us.”

“Pardon?”

“When we went to the dungeon before, we asked them to lead the monster to attack you, saying it was a test…”

“That’s right. Park Heena said that. Though it’s not like I did anything good either.”

“And also, you got hurt at the auction we held.”

“If we had done it properly, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Tears welled up in Heena and Haemin’s eyes. Sunyul didn’t have any particular thoughts as he listened to Heena and Haemin’s words.

Even if they said they had led it, they would have assumed Muyoung or Jaehoon would step in if necessary, and getting hurt at the auction wasn’t their fault.

“I’m alright. Please don’t cry.”

“If you’re too nice, you’ll lose out.”

“Yeah. Just lie down and say you’re furious, that you’re dying of unfairness, and demand compensation money.”

“That’s right, tell them to squeeze money out of those petty bastards at the Ability Management Bureau…”

Heena and Haemin spoke well even while crying. Sunyul tried to stop them, but eventually gave up and left them alone. Only after crying their hearts out did the two barely stop.

“…Sunyul is too nice.”

“For real. You’re so nice it’s a problem.”

The two praised Sunyul with eyes slightly swollen from how much they had cried. Only after doing that for a while longer did the two calm down.

“So, Sunyul, what should we do for fun?”

“Deal with the request first.”

“Haaah…”

“Haaah…”

Heena and Haemin sighed heavily at Muyoung’s words.

Regardless of what they did, Muyoung took a box out of his inventory. Haemin, who received the rather large box, checked its contents.

“You’ve prepared some really good materials… Okay, confirmed.”

“What are you making?”

“The details of the client’s request are a secret.”

Haemin winked at Sunyul. Was it something related to work? Sunyul accepted that and nodded.

“And Sunyul, would you accept a request from us?”

“What is it?”

“This.”

Heena took out a wristwatch that looked like a smartwatch.

“It’s an item that measures magic power. We want to measure your magic power with this.”

“My magic power?”

“Yeah. We want to check how much magic power you emit, and in what way, when you’re just still normally.”

“…Why?”

“Um, it’s like a health check-up.”

“A health check-up?”

“Yeah. Since you went into a rift and disappeared for a long time before reappearing… Besides, before, um… the researcher’s results showed that your magic power wasn’t stable.”

“Ah…”

As soon as the researcher was mentioned, Sunyul’s expression darkened. Startled, Heena waved her hands.