Chapter 218

“You came all the way out here just to eat?”

“And where is ‘out here’?”

I asked back simply and slid the neatly printed menu over to Joo Seowon.

“You’ve got a lot you like.”

“What.”

“Expensive stuff.”

At my words, Seowon’s expression twisted instantly. He opened his mouth like he was about to argue right away, so I tapped the menu lightly with my fingers and urged him on.

“Pick already.”

“I should pick what I’m eating. Why are you telling me to pick....”

Even while grumbling, Joo Seowon obediently started reading the menu closely. I watched him for a moment, then lifted my head and slowly looked around the restaurant once.

‘Hmm.’

The restaurant I’d come to with Seowon was inside a hotel that was pretty far from the SH Guild building—way too far to be considered “stepping out for a quick meal.”

The reason I’d bothered coming all the way here was basically an impulse.

The closer the end of the fifth-round grace period got, the more the big strokes converged on the original novel’s flow. But the “original novel” was, at the end of the day, a story written from Kwon Taehan’s perspective, so from my standpoint, there were always going to be gaps.

For example, the circumstances around my “family.”

Right then, it looked like Seowon had decided what to order, because he held the menu back out toward me.

“We can just order two of this, can’t we? Duck steak and....”

“If we only order two things, I don’t think that’ll be enough.”

“I’m not, like, insanely hungry?”

God, you eat like a bird.

Without taking Seowon’s appetite into account, I just ordered on my own, then took a sip of water. Seowon glanced around once and asked,

“So why the hell did we come here?”

“To eat.”

“To eat, all the way out here? What kind of bullshit is that.”

Whether it sounded like bullshit or not, that was the truth.

‘What, you think I came here with some grand intention?’

After all, I’d already done a decent amount of digging into my family. I didn’t even need to use Seowon. Most of it popped up just from combing through articles.

Seongmu Group—currently run by my father, Choi Museok, as CEO—had been expanding its business aggressively since the upheaval.

Starting with guild support, it had gotten involved in everything from the artifact industry to public auctions to Hunter support programs. Maybe because they jumped in fast with an investment mindset, Seongmu Group’s position had become pretty massive, even though only five years had passed since the upheaval.

Of course, it wasn’t like they’d abandoned their original businesses. Even this hotel I was sitting in right now was part of Seongmu Group’s affiliates.

I answered like it was nothing.

“Because it’s a hotel run by someone I know.”

“Someone you know? Who?”

But Seowon’s reaction was unexpectedly odd.

‘What?’

I thought he’d just go, “Oh, really,” and move on, but Seowon’s eyes widened like he couldn’t believe it.

“Hey, I know what group this hotel’s under. But you’re saying it’s someone you know?”

“Oh....”

Well, I could understand why he reacted like that. I’d said someone I knew ran it.

“So you’re saying an acquaintance runs this hotel?”

“I don’t know if ‘acquaintance’ is the word.”

“What? What are you talking about? No, before that—an acquaintance... you have one?”

What kind of bullshit is this?

When I stared at Seowon without even trying to hide how dumbfounded I was, Seowon hurriedly opened his mouth like he was making an excuse.

“No, I mean.... You act like you don’t have anything except your goals. Have you ever... talked about having acquaintances?”

“.......”

‘Ah. So that’s the point.’

He ended on a question, but it was basically the same as fishing with certainty.

In this world, most traces of me were gone, and there were even fewer «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» people who knew “Seo Jehyun.” And the same went for my “family.”

I let my gaze rest briefly on the dish that had been set on the table, then answered.

“We’re not that close.”

“Then why....”

“Why did we come? I was just curious.”

“.......”

I portioned out some food and took a bite, then gave a small, genuine reaction.

“Mm. It’s good.”

“What were you curious about?”

“Just whether things were running smoothly.”

Then Seowon—who’d been staring at me with his arms crossed—opened his mouth.

“When Hunters come in from overseas, they usually stay at this hotel.”

“Do they?”

“If a high-grade Gate breaks out here and overseas support comes in, Seongmu sponsors most of it. Lodging, and... basically everything. And when it comes to sponsoring a guild one-on-one, Seongmu Group is the biggest in Korea.”

“Mm.”

When I nodded, Seowon’s mouth shut, then opened again.

“...What are you going to do now?”

“What.”

“You didn’t bring me here for nothing. You brought me because you’re about to do something, aren’t you?”

“Seowon, stop suspecting people.”

“Does it look like I can stop?”

Even when I drag him out just to feed him, he’s like this. I stared at Seowon for a moment, then sighed and shook my head.

That was when Seowon suddenly said something out of nowhere.

“SH Guild got its initial capital from Seongmu Group, too.”

“Really?”

I didn’t know SH Guild had ties that deep with them. Then again, outside Korea’s top five guilds, there were barely any that could keep a guild running purely on their own. In the first place, guilds were basically structures where the guild master’s power carried the rest.

In that sense, it wasn’t really surprising information.

“Didn’t know.”

“Are you interested in Seongmu Group?”

“No.”

“.......”

Since the records were gone anyway, even if I told Seowon the details, he wouldn’t be able to understand. I stared at him silently, then let out a quiet chuckle.

“It’s related to my family.”

“...Family?”

“It’s nothing serious.”

“.......”

Now he was obviously going to get even more curious. After all, he’d already squeezed out everything there was to know about me, so a new piece of information dropping in front of him would naturally make him itch.

“Seongmu Group is?”

As expected, Seowon looked puzzled.

“It’s on my father’s side.”

“...Weren’t they dead?”

“Right?”

After a short silence, Seowon asked much more carefully than before.

“...Am I allowed to ask this?”

“Asking is fine.”

“...Really?”

“Answering is a separate issue.”

“.......”

His eyes sharpened again. Even if he dug deeper, it was obvious he wouldn’t believe it anyway. No—if the world’s “settings” were like this, then wasn’t the information I knew basically a kind of lie?

‘Hmm....’

Seowon relaxed his gaze and put his utensils down.

“...I have a guess, too.”

“What is it?”

“Now I....”

He got that far, then cut himself off abruptly and clamped his mouth shut.

“...I trust you.”

“Yeah.”

Was it really that hard to say?

Seowon continued like the hesitation had never happened.

“So if I assume everything you tell me is... real. Even though there are things you don’t say.”

“.......”

“I think you’re connected to something at least as big as a corporation. Those covenants you had, too.”

“Mm.... Yeah.”

“And it said your whole family died, but there was no information at all on your paternal side. If a big corporation was involved, you could think it was intentionally erased.”

It wasn’t something the corporation did, but the conclusion he reached wasn’t that different. Seowon quietly added,

“There were so many things deleted in a weird way, so it was just a guess. And what you just said, too.”

I listened to him and let out a short laugh. Even while acting like he was saying it casually, it was painfully obvious he was paying attention to me.

“Well, I’m cut off from my father, so there’s not much more to say.”

“Someone from Seongmu Group?”

“Yeah.”

“...Didn’t think you’d answer.”

Was it back in high school? There was a time I ate at this hotel with my father. Just the two of us.

I couldn’t remember why we’d eaten together, but the things we talked about back then came to mind sometimes.

“...So they weren’t dead? You said they were dead.”

“Who knows.”

“.......”

They were awkward questions to explain. I looked Seowon straight in the eye and said,

“Seowon.”

“.......”

“If the actual records and what I’m saying don’t match... you should trust me, right?”

Without waiting for an answer, I dropped my gaze to Seowon’s hand on the table. I reached out, took his hand, and rubbed his wrist with my thumb.

“You’re not wearing a watch. I gave you one as a gift.”

“Don’t... do stuff like this.”

“Isn’t it your type? Though, yeah, your type is kind of....”

“What? I’m not wearing it because it’s a hassle.”

Hmm.

I let go of his wrist, then said lightly,

“Song Hwayoung’s going to come back to Korea soon.”

“You heard something?”

“No. It’s just about time.”

“About time?”

Seowon echoed me, then after a moment slowly nodded. After confirming he understood, I continued.

“She’ll come back, and for a while she’ll focus on taking care of her body. But in the end, Song Hwayoung is going to die. There’s nothing we can do.”

“.......”

“And after that... we’ll end up meeting someone.”

“Who?”

“Someone. A guy you’ll probably like.”

When I answered vaguely, Seowon’s brows knit together. Well, what could I do—It was the truth. In the original, no matter what happened, Seowon stood on Kwon Taehan’s side to the end.

“What kind of bullshit.... Who is it?”

“I can’t tell you yet. But you’ll know soon.”

“What the....”

I looked at Seowon and smiled lightly.

“Seowon.”

“What.”

“I thought about it.”

“About what?”

If there was such a thing as a flow that could never change, then after Kwon Taehan’s fifth round started, a lot would change. The one thing I was most curious about was Joo Seowon.

Kwon Taehan would try to recruit Seowon while following the original flow, but I’d already taken him, so he’d have to find a new method.

But if Seowon ended up sticking to Kwon Taehan’s side....

‘Hmm.’

For a moment I thought maybe I should hide him away, but it didn’t really appeal to me. And it wasn’t like I wanted to drag in a high-grade covenant Seowon couldn’t break.

I wanted to secure a route where Seowon stayed by my side voluntarily.

‘I’m fairly sure, but....’

I do think it won’t be easy... well, yeah.

“You’re suspicious, and in the end you don’t fully trust me.”

“I trust you.”

“Really?”

“.......”

I asked back like it was nothing and went on.

“If you ever end up wanting to choose something else, I think the reason will be... that your distrust of me got bigger.”

“I don’t... know what you mean.”

“Why don’t you?”

I looked Seowon straight in the eye and pulled up the corner of my lips.

“Even if a day comes when you can’t trust me, you still have to trust me.”

“.......”

“Got it?”

After repeating the explanation “kindly” to Seowon, I stood up first.

Why did I keep repeating things whose reasons I couldn’t even explain to myself? It felt like a waste of time to obsess over things I couldn’t understand, but it also felt unpleasant to just leave them alone.

So things like the reason I went out of my way to stop Kwon Taehan from charging to his death, or the reason I went out of my way to come see traces of my “family” whose records were erased, or the reason I wanted a definite answer about a possibility that might never even happen.

The moment you learned the result, it wasn’t much different from the end, but I still wanted to see the end and step on that part myself.

Song Hwayoung returned to Korea two days after that.