A moment ago, in the master bedroom.
"Uh… yeah. Got it. I'll handle that. Yeah… I'm heading to the office now. Okay, see you then."
The call ended. The smartphone screen went dark. Silence settled over the room.
"Haah……"
Jang-mi let out a sigh, but the knot of frustration in her chest refused to loosen.
"……"
Shin-woo was dead.
Her oldest friend. Her steadfast partner.
"……"
Close her eyes, and it still came back.
The moment her peaceful, ordinary life had crumbled.
The memory of when she'd heard the news of his… passing.
***
A few days earlier. Hongryeon Guild headquarters.
"……"
The glittering cityscape spread out below the window.
She, who had once been an orphan, had climbed all the way here.
*And the reason I was able to succeed like this…*
Jang-mi's gaze drifted naturally to the man slouched sideways on the sofa.
"You're really retiring me after this mission, right?"
*It was all possible because Shin-woo was there.*
An ordinary, languid afternoon.
He was at it again today, same as always — going on about retirement.
He'd had that word on his lips for years now, but today he looked particularly worn out.
*Right… it's about time I let him retire.*
She couldn't keep holding him back. Not after everything he'd been through.
*But…*
Jang-mi's fingers found the small box tucked inside her jacket. Inside it was a ring she'd agonized over choosing.
*That doesn't mean I'm letting him go.*
"Alright, alright. Just wrap it up quick and come back. I'll treat you to dinner as a retirement gift."
"Oh, somewhere expensive? Can I get my hopes up?"
"Yes, so hurry up and finish and get back here."
"For real this time? I'm actually retiring? I'm doing it?"
He'd laughed as he walked out of the office.
That was…
The last time she saw him.
***
Buzz— Buzz—
"……"
Jang-mi stopped reviewing the documents and pulled her phone from her pocket.
Something felt wrong. She couldn't say why.
The time when the raid should have been long finished had come and gone.
*Did something happen? He's late checking in…*
She pushed down the unease and looked at the screen.
"……"
It wasn't his name.
It was the name of a guild member who had gone in with him.
"……Hello?"
[Guild Master……]
The unease grew.
She prayed it was nothing.
But—
[Shin-woo hyung… at the gate… he didn't make it out……]
"……What?"
When she came back to herself, she was inside a funeral hall.
"……"
Other hunters around her, sobbing.
The association director, expression heavy, patting someone's shoulder.
She looked down at herself. She was wearing mourning clothes. A chief mourner's armband was fastened around her left wrist.
Her eyes burned.
She had no idea how long she'd been crying.
She couldn't tell what was happening, or whether any of this was real.
"Ah…… ah……"
Shin-woo was dead.
***
Throughout the funeral, the stream of visitors never stopped.
Watching the hall fill to overflowing, Jang-mi understood it again.
Shin-woo had truly been a good person.
He had always given of himself for others, never sparing himself for the guild and the people around him.
"……"
Just a B-rank dungeon.
For an S-rank like him, it should have been easy enough to clear with his eyes closed.
And yet—
*A double dungeon…?*
They'd cleared it in the end, but Shin-woo had been caught under the collapsing debris and couldn't get out?
*How does that make any sense?*
He'd told everyone else to go ahead and leave first? Shin-woo had…?
Jang-mi wiped at her reddened eyes and bit her lip.
The thing he'd always said.
Retirement…
"You said you were retiring… said you were quitting… you idiot… you fool…"
*All of it…*
"Because of me…"
Jang-mi's clenched fist trembled.
Even one year earlier. No — one month. At least…
Even just one day sooner.
"If I'd let you retire…"
It had all been her own selfishness.
He had been sacrificed to her greed.
She had…
She had killed Shin-woo.
***
When the funeral was over, Jang-mi found herself drawn to Shin-woo's apartment as if in a trance.
The moment the door opened, stale air rushed out — and with it, a familiar scent.
It felt like he might step out from the living room at any moment to greet her.
But…
The apartment was silent.
"……"
And yet, in that moment—
In his apartment, where there should have been no one—
"……?"
Something unfamiliar occupied the space.
***
Jang-mi stared blankly at the girl sitting on the living room floor.
Her heart lurched violently.
She couldn't help it.
The features so unmistakably like his. And the scent of Shin-woo that clung to the girl.
In that instant, Jang-mi's reason snapped.
Her eyes flashed red.
She closed the distance in an instant, lunging toward the girl's neck—
Thunk.
Sharp fangs sank into soft skin.
"……!"
His taste.
It was his taste.
Her friend.
Kim Shin-woo's taste.
"Shin-woo's… daughter?"
The small girl, trembling in her grip, managed to nod with great effort.
Shin-woo had…
a daughter he'd kept hidden.
***
Jang-mi stared intently at the girl across the dining table, who was working her chopsticks with practiced ease in her small, delicate hands.
Her name was Kim Shin-a.
A child he had been raising on his own, apparently.
"……"
She looked like him.
Uncannily so.
The face, the mannerisms, every small habit.
Glossy black hair that fell softly to her shoulders, and dark eyes like polished obsidian.
The sight of her — as though his childhood had been lifted and set down whole — made something ache in Jang-mi's chest.
And this girl who was the spitting image of him…
was quite cute.
No — considerably so.
Even by any objective measure, there was something about her that felt extraordinary.
"……"
After a long silence, Jang-mi spoke.
"Um… Shin-a."
The girl's dark eyes turned toward her.
"Would you… like to come stay with me?"
She had made up her mind.
His death.
As her penance for it.
She would take responsibility for this girl who had nowhere to go.
***
The girl accepted the offer and was gathering her things to leave when Jang-mi's gaze landed on the bag strapped to her small back — stuffed so full it looked ready to burst.
And the things poking out of it in every direction—
"Um… Shin-a…? What… what is all this?"
"Things I treasure."
The girl said it as if it were nothing, but Jang-mi could tell.
Just how dangerous those things were.
And then, a sudden question.
"Are you… Shin-a, are you an Awakened…?"
"Yes."
A short confirmation.
Yes.
The girl was Awakened.
***
And so, back to the present. The master bedroom.
Jang-mi sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought about Shin-a.
Shin-a had inherited his abilities intact.
It was already well-known that an Awakened's powers could sometimes pass to their children.
Shin-a probably fell into that category.
A heaven-sent gift.
But for some reason, Jang-mi felt no joy.
The image of the girl packing up Shin-woo's equipment with practiced hands before they left kept surfacing in her mind.
*That child might want to become a hunter someday.*
Jang-mi pressed her lips together.
She had lost him so senselessly — if his child walked the same path and got hurt, or lost her life, she wouldn't be able to bear it.
But she had no right to stop the girl either.
Even so…
*If Shin-a wants to become a hunter…*
She would raise her to be stronger than anyone.
She would keep her close and make sure she never got hurt.
"……"
She was sorting through those tangled feelings when she opened the door to check on her.
"……?"
Crackle. Crackle-snap—
Jang-mi's expression shifted to pure horror in an instant.
Because right in front of her, the girl was frying her own head with electricity.
"Sh— Shin-a!?"
Jang-mi screamed and threw herself toward the girl.
***
"……?"
Jang-mi clutched her chest like someone who'd just lost several years off her life, breathing in ragged gasps.
Why was she going this far…?
She barely managed to collect herself before approaching me carefully.
"Um… Shin-a. I have to step out for a bit… I'm not comfortable leaving you here alone. Come with me, okay?"
"What? I'm fine on my own—"
Before I could finish, Jang-mi grabbed my shoulders.
Her eyes looked like they were about to fill with tears at any moment.
"No… it's not that you're not fine. It's that I'm not fine. Please, okay?"
That look — desperate, bordering on anguished — left me with no choice but to nod.
"Okay…"
She was probably worried because I looked too young.
I'd actually be perfectly fine on my own, but…
It was a little disappointing that I hadn't managed to seem more capable. For now, though, I decided to go along with her.
Well… someday there'd be a moment to prove my worth.
If it came to it—
I pictured the scenario Jang-mi would love most.
In front of a massive gate, Jang-mi wails in despair.
"There's no hunter to clear this gate! Our guild is finished, we're done for! Waaah."
Then I appear, adjusting my bag with a resolute expression.
"I'll take care of it."
Jang-mi's eyes light up as she clasps my hands.
"Shin-a, you're so dependable…!"
"Mwahaha."
…Something like that, maybe?
Once or twice… yeah, just once or twice, it'd be worth pulling off.
I hid the silly grin spreading across my face and climbed into the back seat of her luxury sedan.