NOVEL NEXT 28. Light and Debt (3)
At that moment, Chae Jiseok had a thought.
‘Hyun Habin is a fan of our nuna?’
If so, wouldn’t it be easier to recruit Habin into the Solaris guild?
‘It seems she’d be more tempted if someone she likes asked her to work together.’
If Chae Jise, whom Habin admired, directly tried to recruit her into the guild.
……There’s a good chance it could work.
It seemed Chae Jiseok wasn’t the only one who had this thought, as his sister Chae Jise, who was right beside him, made a proposal to Habin.
“Oh, come to think of it, you have no idea how much we’ve been wanting to recruit you, Habin-yang. Would you like to join Solaris? We’ll treat you well!”
“Unni…….”
Chae Jise’s gentle eye-smile.
Habin knew she was beautiful from photos and media, but seeing her in person, her beauty was truly dazzling. Faced with that surreal visage, Habin wore a hesitant expression.
‘Good. Nuna’s doing well!’
To see the usually resolute Hyun Habin wearing such a conflicted expression was already a huge achievement.
‘Even when I chased after her so much, she rejected everything flatly, but when nuna asks, she’s actually considering it.’
See the difference?
[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ cheers you on with sympathetic eyes!]
‘That kind of encouragement isn’t helpful at all, you know?’
[The constellation ‘Nearest Light’ looks dejected.]
‘Anyway, if it was going to be like this, maybe nuna should have made the proposal from the start.’
As Chae Jiseok wore a sullen expression, Libe toddled over to comfort him.
-Beep beep
Having secretly eaten some of Habin’s cheesecake, Libe had white crumbs around its mouth.
“Is it because you take after your owner? You go around with food on your face too. Come here.”
-Beep
Just as Jiseok was wiping Libe’s mouth clean, Habin, who had finished her deliberation, opened her mouth.
“Unni. You know I really like you, right? Plus, making a proposal with that face of yours, isn’t that cheating?”
“My, listen to how she talks. She says it’s cheating to make a proposal with my face. She speaks so cutely.”
“But that’s precisely why I can’t join.”
“Huh?”
Chae Jiseok, who had been looking at Libe, turned to Habin with a puzzled expression.
“What do you mean you can’t join precisely because of that?”
“They say you shouldn’t make the person you like your boss.”
Habin nodded resolutely.
It was one of the few pieces of wisdom she had learned in life.
It’s troublesome to get entangled in business with someone you like. Whether it’s a hobby or a person.
‘I was so naive. The very act of getting a job at a café because I liked Starlinus coffee.’
Park Wondu, a friend Hyun Habin met while working as a porter long ago. His sincere advice came to mind.
‘At first, I loved Starlinus coffee so much that I thought the job would be fun too, so I applied. I thought I’d be happy making the menu items I liked and eating them myself.’
Holding a can of coffee and staring into the distance, Park Wondu had reminisced wistfully.
‘The reality was cleaning toilets and endless dishwashing, various injuries from work, and a collaboration with incredibly annoying customers… Haha.’
‘…….’
‘Now I get trauma just seeing the Starlinus logo, ugh!’
Park Wondu had murmured sadly that he could no longer love Starlinus with the same pure heart as before.
‘I’ve lost one of my life’s reasons. Starlinus coffee, which I drank even more often than meals…… I loved you.’
And another person, Lee Ayeon, whom she had briefly met during her porter days.
She worked at a shop frequented by celebrities on weekdays and did porter work on weekends, and whenever she had the chance, she would spill stories about what happened at the shop.
‘Ah…… There was a celebrity I really liked, you know? But when I actually met them for work, it was stressful. The styling I did this time, it wasn’t to their taste, and they seemed really upset!’
‘I got scolded by the director after they left, too!’
‘Anyway, I don’t think they’ll let me do their hair next time. And they were my favorite! Argh! It’s so frustrating!’
The image of her stomping her feet in stress and vigorously lifting monster byproducts was unforgettable.
‘So, never mix what you like with business.’
‘Never make someone you like your boss, client, or customer. This is my sincere, real-life advice.’
One lost a reason for living,
The other lost their favorite celebrity.
[Bah, making such a fuss over trivial things like that! These humans these days, tsk tsk.]
‘Jaljal, why are you angry again?’
[Giving advice over such insignificant matters, these wet-behind-the-ears youngsters! In my day, we’d fight and clash even when we didn’t get along, and that’s how we became close!]
‘What didn’t you get along about?’
[Well, they picked a fight saying I solved everything with force, so we had a big brawl! If not with strength, how else would one resolve matters, tsk tsk.]
‘Maybe they meant you should use money or brains?’
[A true warrior should face challenges head-on with strength, not rely on cunning schemes!]
‘Ah, I see. No wonder you two didn’t get along.’
[Still, Neaiba was a good friend!]
“……”
What to do with this stubborn Kim Jaljal.
Hyun Habin turned her gaze back to Chae Jise. She spoke in a serious voice.
“Anyway, I don’t want it to be like that. I want to keep you as just unni.”
No matter how great the treatment, hunter work is still work.
In the end, it’s a job where you have to fight monsters even when you don’t want to, and deal with company life. Even if they make exceptions or give special treatment, there are limits. Eventually, you’ll get stressed and inevitably clash.
That’s why she firmly rejected Solaris from the start. It’s also why she was troubled when she first recognized Chae Jiseok.
“I don’t want to meet you as a workplace boss.”
At Habin’s answer, Jise’s expression brightened.
“……If that’s the reason, I’m rather touched?”
Jise seemed quite pleased with Habin’s answer. She smiled happily.
“Alright, if that’s the reason, I can’t ask you to join our guild anymore.”
“……Nuna?”
Surprised by Jise’s unexpected response, Chae Jiseok shot her an urgent look.
‘What are you saying? Didn’t you say we had to recruit Hyun Habin no matter what?’
‘That plan is canceled as of today. We’re changing course.’
‘Changing course?’
‘Just watch and learn from what I do, little brother.’
Jiseok and Jise exchanged glances.
Finally, having made a decision, Jise leaned forward slightly.
“Then Habin-yang, I’d like to change my proposal. How about we just be comfortable unni and dongsaeng?”
“Unni and dongsaeng?”
“Think of it casually. I know lots of fun movies too, like Jiseok? I know many good restaurants too. Would you like to… go to a strawberry buffet with unni?”
“……!”
Habin’s pupils shook violently. Not missing that moment, Jise smiled and held out her phone.
“Here, give me your number.”
◆◇◆◇◆
Habin returned home.
While exchanging numbers, Habin had also received Chae Jise’s business card and permission to visit her home anytime.
‘Jise-unni’s number!’
The Light of Korea, Solaris’ leader!
Plus, she said she wouldn’t try to recruit her into the guild anymore. Just Chae Jise’s direct number, given out of goodwill!
Habin rolled around on her bed with a satisfied expression.
“If the people I used to do Gate part-time work with knew about this, they’d go crazy.”
Park Wondu and Lee Ayeon, whom Habin had recalled earlier, were both fans of Chae Jise. They would all faint if they knew about this.
“Hmm, I wonder how they’re doing these days?”
Just as Habin was about to turn on her phone to check up on them, Ahezar interjected.
[I’ve been curious about this for a while…… Strawberry buffet? What is that?]
Ahezar was curious about what could have swayed Habin’s heart with just those words, when she hadn’t budged until now.
[Ah, o-of course I know what strawberries are and what a buffet is. But when you combine the two…….]
He hesitated. Afraid of being ignored again, Ahezar continued in an uncertain tone.
[……Is it a place where you can eat strawberries without limit?]
“Oh. Did you study in secret?”
[Huh…… Ahem. This much is child’s play for me! Back in my day…….]
‘You were so nervous about getting it wrong.’
Ahezar, excited about getting it right, started his latte talk again. Habin pretended not to notice and continued speaking.
“Anyway, it’s not just strawberries there. It’s a buffet with unlimited delicious desserts using all kinds of strawberries, like strawberry cake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry parfait, strawberry omelet, and so on.”
[Oh ho……. To think there was a human who came up with such an idea! What a brilliant concept.]
“I’ve wanted to go at least once for a long time. But it was too expensive, and I was too busy to even think about it.”
When she could barely afford living expenses, a dessert café was out of the question. It was a time when she didn’t have such luxuries.
Until now, Habin couldn’t even afford a single slice of strawberry cake, let alone worry about not falling behind on bank interest.
“……But now I have money and time. I’ll definitely go to a strawberry buffet. I even put it on my bucket list, you know?”
It might be a modest bucket list item for some, but a bucket list is a bucket list.
Tap tap, Habin scrolled through her KakaoTalk chat rooms cheerfully, then stopped abruptly at one chat room name.
[Hyun Siwoo New Number]
‘Ah, I still have this saved as a new number.’
[Hyun Siwoo]
Habin tilted her head as she changed the name.
“But where on earth is this guy and what is he doing that he hasn’t shown his face at home since that day?”
Hyun Siwoo, who had his collar grabbed by Habin and left after Ahezar checked if he was okay.
Surprisingly, he hadn’t returned home even once since then.
Even when Habin said she left clothes behind, it was the same.
Habin, who had said she’d borrow clothes for the class reunion. At that time, they had this conversation:
Can I borrow your clothes thx
Hyun Siwoo New Number
?
I left clothes at home
(Photo)
Aren’t these yours?
Hyun Siwoo New Number
Ah
Yeah
I’ll come get them later
“Come get them my foot. He must have forgotten again.”
Habin frowned as she tapped the screen.
[He might have had something urgent to do. Didn’t you say he was a high-ranking hunter?]
“Hmm, even so, that’s too much. How busy does he have to be to not come home even once? If he’s out there saving the world alone, I’ll understand! If not, what is he doing?”
Habin folded her arms.
On the day she first confirmed Hyun Siwoo’s survival, she had been relieved to know he wasn’t missing but alive and well.
But now that she had no chance to see his face at all, she felt like she was back to how she felt then.
Habin sat up on her bed.
Her room, which would have been completely quiet if not for Ahezar and Libe.
The living room across was silent. The kitchen beyond, and Hyun Siwoo’s room were the same.
At times like this, she sometimes wondered if all of this had been a dream.
Was it real that Hyun Siwoo had really returned alive?
Was he still safe now?
These baseless thoughts began to creep up again.
“But in times like these, there’s a way to confirm right away!”
Habin, who had been down for a moment, quickly pressed the bank app.
[Account Balance: 9,507,160,531 won]
9,5 billion won sitting quietly in her account! The magnificent amount left after paying off debts.
“Right. It’s not a dream. Hyun Siwoo really did give me money.”
[Of course it’s not a dream. I saw it clearly with my own two eyes. That human being slammed against the wall with his collar grabbed!]
“Yeah. But sometimes I worry because it’s hard to believe. I should leave him a message.”
Habin opened KakaoTalk and left a warm message of concern for Hyun Siwoo. It was a single phrase chosen after much deliberation.
Alive?
Unusually, the reply came immediately.
Alive?
Hyun Siwoo
Yeah
‘He’s alive and well, it seems.’
Having confirmed the message, Habin leaned back against her pillow.