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Chapter Text

It ha d been a long busy day of receiving new customer orders and packing up the ones ready to be delivered , b ut Park Ha-Neul was at least thankful that there wa s only one more package to be delivered and then she c ould close the store.

"Just a little more..."

She s aid to herself, letting out a long loud sigh of exhaustion as she looked around the newly swept pottery store . The young woman ran her hand over her neck, trying to massage the muscles at the back of her neck and shoulders. By this time, the shop wa s technically closed, and even the small sign on the door ha d been turned around. Despite this, she resist ed leaving when there wa s still so much work to be done. Instead, the young woman decide d to get as much work done as she c ould in the next hour so to earn a couple of extra hours to lounge around tomorrow morning.

The day's earnings had already been counted and put away in the safe and all the products on display by the shelves and windows have been cleaned and organized. Despite the owner's absence, she has still managed to teach pottery classes the past few days and clean the room designated for the pottery workshop.

"Just a bit more."

At this point Park Ha-Neul c ould not help but feel lazy about the last errand she still ha d to run for the day before leaving. It's not that it bother ed her to do so, despite the distance she w ould have to driv e, t he problem wa s that if she d id so, there wa s a possibility of having an uncomfortable encounter with that person.

She momentarily close d her chocolate colored eyes and contemplate d her options on whether to go rest for the day or finish her work. In the end, she let out a small sigh and went to fetch the bubble wrap and the box where she w ould be storing the pot. As she wrap ped it in the plastic, the brunette c ould n't help but admire the color of the material and the height of the pot. The owner himself handcrafted the decoration, giving it an elegant air with the exquisite design of ebony mountains and sapphire waterfalls, as well as the blend of emerald and moss colors to bring more life to the vegetation he painted at the foot of the mountains. There we re small huts by the banks of a river where birds dr a nk water, while others fl ew through the sky in flocks.

"There, that should do it."

After wrapping the pot in bubble wrap, she place d the roll of plastic wrap on the countertop and step ped back to admire her work. Ha-Neul reache d for the clipboard on the counter to check if everything wa s in order, and when it wa s, she nod ded in satisfaction. Now all that wa s left to do was put the vase in a box filled with foam, take it to the van, and drop it off at the customer's house.

"After this, I can finally relax." She whisper ed to herself as she lift ed and carrie d the box very, very carefully even after having made sure it was well sealed.

Although she wa s young, she wa s no beginner at this job and already had many accidents, which ha d taught her to avoid doing them again. Therefore, she made sure that the door latch was on and that the door would not close o n her face again , she also made sure that the pot was very well protected, carrying it with both arms and against her chest. Stepping out onto the street, the brunette linger ed for a few moments, watching the afternoon sun cast a soft light on the plaza. It wa s a quiet afternoon with little traffic even though it wa s the time when most people left their jobs to be on their way home.

She walked with careful steps to the parking lot at the back of the store, but despite this Ha-Neul can't help but feel nervous , after all this wa s an errand for a very important customer.

"I wonder what I should cook for dinner tonight." To calm down, she decided to distract herself with meal preparations to calm her nerves, h owever upon reflection, she realized she didn't have many ingredients at home to cook with, and she wasn't in the mood to cook anyway m aybe the most convenient thing to do would be to order some fried chicken.

However, as a saying went , ’ man plans and God laughs ’ , she hardly turned to her right when she ended up colliding with another person. She always found it unrealistic how people in movies would often fall or drop whatever they were carrying when they bumped into someone or something. Perhaps if they were running, it would be more believable, but while walking? Such scenes seemed a bit cringe-inducing to her, but this day ended up confirming that such incidents could happen in real life.

An exclamation of surprise escaped her lips and her eyes widened with fright as the sudden shock caused her to take a couple steps back and lose her balance, dropping the box which she thought the vase was tightly secured. Her entire life flashed before her like a cinematic film, causing her stomach to drop with the falling box till it came in contact with the pavement . The whole scene looked like something out of a silly, cheap comedy movie with how the stupid box went flying.

Ha-Neul and the other perosn stood stiffly in their places, blood running cold, panicking for different reasons , breath held t hey were even afraid to breathe as they tried to take in what the heck had happened.

"What...the heck..."

The young potter was certain that she secured the vase quite well with the bubble wrap, she also swore that the box was in good condition and yet t he broken wooden box and the pieces of ceramic shards scattered into the middle of the street proved her wrong, t o top it all off, a couple of cars ended up running over them.

On the other hand, standing next to her , in a condition equal to or worse than the young potter was Sung Jin-Woo, a E-rank hunter for almost a year, who was in a state of shock, his heart beating a thousand times per second, afraid to move after what had just happened.

In that moment, not even the birds seemed willing to sing, leaving the place in an uncomfortable and heavy silence—a silence soon broken by the hunter’s constant apologies. However, these apologies were obviously the last thing the young potter, who refused to believe whatever had just happened, wanted to hear.

"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry!" Jin-Woo continued to exclaim in desperation, uttering a thousand apologies. He even bowed and clenched his fists tightly to the point where his knuckles turned white and his fingernails dug into the palms of his hands.

I'm sorry?

Those two simple and innocent words ignited something inside her, a small flame sparked by a cigarette carelessly discarded on the ground, she haphazardly turned to look at the young man who continued bowing and apologizing repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry ! Do you think you can fix this just by apologizing? ! " Ha-Neul exclaimed , her voice uncontrollably loud and hands frantic - carried away by her emotions - almost like a thrown lit cigarette, still able to grow its flames until it created a huge fire capable of wiping out an entire forest. "The old man is going to kill me, and it's all because of you!"

Sung Jin-Woo instinctively step ped back , gaze widen ing as he grasped the idea of how serious the matter wa s , basing on the young woman's reaction, he kn ew he has gotten himself into huge trouble. He suddenly felt faint as his gaze change d from panic to terror, realizing that n o one would react in such a frantic way unless it was something out of their abilities , thus n othing but babble s c a me out of his mouth, which only ma de him look like a complete fool.

"I-I... I'm sorry! I'll pay for it! I swear, I'll pay for it!"

"This costs more than you and I put together!" She angrily glare d at him before turning her gaze to what was left of the vase ’s pieces scattered along the street and sidewalk.

The young woman tried to deny , hoping that this wa s a bad dream, as she pledged to have followed the steps that Mr. Lee had taught her , s he had made sure the box was securely fastened to prevent any accidents or falls, then why?

"Not even by working all your life could you afford something like this..."

Jin-Woo's eyes widened at her words, and his stomach dropped as he tried to imagine the price of that piece of pottery. His brain began to work a mile per second, thinking of some solution and all the things he could do to gather the money. But even if he had three jobs, surely it would n't help him out of the debt he was in. But in any case, how could he pay for such a product when he didn't even have enough money for it?

"I..."

Desperation and nervousness began to run through him, like an anaconda coiling around his body and cutting off his breath ing, i n his desperation, he longed - for the first time in his life - for something or someone to take pity on him.

"I... I'm really sorry; I swear I didn't mean to...!"

Ha-Neul paced like a caged lioness, ignoring him , s he wore a troubled expression as she roughly ran her hand over her tired, haggard face, pushing back the fringe of her brown hair , when her gaze landed on the outstretched hand of the young man who was offering her 5,000 won, barely enough to pay for a decent street meal.

Her expression quickly turned deadly serious, and with one swipe, she sent the money he had offered her flying.

"Are you stupid?" Her gaze and voice felt as sharp as a pair of daggers against his neck. "Do you really think this is going to help me? You think five thousand won will do me any good?"

The young man watched her with a dumbfounded expression, then looked to where his money fell , t hat same one he was going to use tomorrow for lunch; he wanted to pick it up, but the embarrassment of only having so little money was something that overpowered him in the end. His cheeks began to blush from the embarrassment he was feeling at this moment, wishing it was all over and he could go home where he could forget about his problems for just a moment.

"Do you even have any idea who this vase was for?"

With a tinge of mockery and anger, she ask ed the black-haired man, stepping back a couple of steps between them. Despite the small height difference of ten centimeters, the girl appeared much more intimidating.

"This assignment was for Mr. Go Gun-Hee, Go Gun-Hee a very kn own S-rank hunter and president of the Korean Hunters Association!"

Of all the names out there, this was indeed one that Sung Jin-Woo had not expected to hear. His gaze returned to the broken vase, then back to the girl , a t this point, his heart was beating so hard against his chest that it even felt painful , h e felt lost and uncertain about what to do , h is hands and legs were shaking, he cursed his luck.

"I..."

On her side, the young woman continued to stare at Sung Jin-Woo, both of them in that heavy silence, until she cut eye contact with him and stepped back a couple more steps, nervously biting her thumb ’s nail while thinking of some way to solve this problem. Fortunately, some benevolent deity decided to take pity on them and enlighten ed her with a brilliant idea.

Her brown gaze took on a gleam when she remembered an important piece of information.

"The old man..."

She paused before turning to Jin-Woo , looking at him from head to toe.

"The old man won't be back for another two months. Perhaps I can replicate the vase."

While her teacher had given her the thumbs up and complimented her several times on her tremendous progress and talent as well as calling her a prodigy, she always denied it to death because she worked for the purpose of earning money and eating, not because she saw pottery as something she wanted to do; that and the old man had forced her to learn. Despite the countless compliments from him and others who have bought her creations, she couldn’t help but feel insecure. She wa s aware that her idea wa s crazy, but right now it wa s her only hope, and she ha d two months to try again and again. Even if she ha d to work day and night, "but I can't do it alone..."

She now looked at Jin-Woo in the eye, a disgruntled and weary gleam in her eyes.

"However, you can help me fix this problem."

 "...?"

Those words immediately made him look up, his voice to tremble d from nervousness as he trie d to ask her what she was talking about—will he have to sell a kidney to pay for the pot? Hundreds of scenarios r a n through his head, as he d id n't know what the future holds.

"But I don't think I can start today; I'm too tired to even try." A small silence came between them as the girl look ed at him dissatisfied . "Come tomorrow morning at seven o'clock."

Did he hear her right?

Despite his attempts to calm himself, he remain ed in a daze but the opportunity to fix th e problem wa s slowly calming his irregular heartbeat. The E-rank hunter look ed at her with relief and nod ded a couple of times.

"Y-yes... I'll be here at seven tomorrow!"

The girl took it upon herself then to not only to get his phone number but his address, almost threatening to look for him under rocks and in the afterlife if he fail ed her.

"Again, I am so sorry for what I did!" Embarrassed and fearful, he told her, but she just sigh ed and walk ed back to the store to get the dustpan and broom, sweeping up the ceramic debris from the street to avoid fines.

Sung Jin-Woo just watched her walk away, not knowing what to do or what to say, so he opted to take a long bow before apologizing for the umpteenth time but before leaving, he picked up the money that was still lying on the street; it might be a mere five thousand won, but at least with that money he could buy himself a decent meal and split it into his lunch and dinner.

Now that the adrenaline had passed, his steps felt heavy he could feel pain begin to throb in his side right where an unhealed wound left by a goblin was. Jin-Woo knew he couldn't afford the luxury of going to the hospital, not when his salary and medical insurance as a hunter were used for his mother. He swallowed the pain and began the long, torturous walk to the apartment complex where he live , at least when he reached home he could take a bath to wash off the dirt and dried blood from his body, bandage himself and finally take pain medications

Although he knew it would take him a while to recover, “Why do these things only happen to me…?” .

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

His heart pounded with a mixture of dread and despair as he reached home. He wanted to cry from earning still a meager income and /now/ being buried further into a new debt.

"Why me?"

Was all he could whisper, exhaustion and disappointment filling him. He couldn't understand why his life continued /down/ the drain. He was tired of the debts, of every financial problem; although he knew it wasn't his responsibility carrying all this weight, if not him who would? Who would take care of his sibling, Jin-ah? His mother's treatment? As he gripped the doorknob tightly, uncertainties filled him.

Jin-Woo closed his eyes, let out a long, deep sigh, and repeated the action a couple more times until he managed to calm down a bit and change his expression to a carefree, fake-smiling one.

He knew his sister would be home by now and he didn't want to burden Jin-Ah with another problem caused by his own foolishness.

"...."

He still d id n't understand why his life wa s filled with so much misfortune, from losing his loved ones to leaving him in debt, which he ’d just end up passing on to his descendants.

"I don't think I'll ever get married at this rate," he mutter ed to himself listlessly. Not that he did n't want to form a family in the future, but what kind of life would they have by his side?

Surely one full of unpleasantness.

If he now struggle d to give his sister and himself a better life, in addition to taking care of his mother, who has been in the hospital for two years, he d id n't even want to imagine what it would be like to get married. W ould he even manage to get a girlfriend? He doubt ed it , or to have a partner, there were important factors to consider such as looks and status which he had none but debts to offer .

"Maybe the single life isn't so bad," he sa id to himself, although deep down i t wasn’t something he desire d .

In any case, he must focus ed on the present, and for a moment, the only thing he wishe d was that for once things went well for him and he c ould get home with a genuine smile on his face, no wounds on his body and without that suffocating feeling that attack ed him at night and rob bed him of sleep. He yearn ed to return home, listening to his mother's voice, whether it wa s her typical scolding laced with concealed concern or the comfort of her embrace.

Unfortunately, he could only dream...

After calming down, he insert ed the key into the lock open ed the door and heard his sister demand to cook something delicious.

"It's about time you came!" Jin-Ah exclaimed. She noticed the injuries and dried blood on his clothes but chose not to mention them, not wanting to bother him with something she couldn't help with. "Oppa! I'm hungry! I want to eat something yummy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he said faintly, closing the door behind him.

Sung Jin-Woo had sworn to himself that he would endure all troubles, no matter how big or difficult, if it meant he could keep Jin-Ah safe, sound, and happy.

Chapter Text

The following morning, a couple of groans were heard along with the alarm of her cell phone that kept ringing. It was around five o'clock, and the young woman was reluctant to get up. Lazily, she just pulled her hand out of her little nest of sheets and searched blindly for her cell phone, that kept ringing on the nightstand. When she finally found it and turned off the alarm, the young woman lay there for a couple of minutes staring at the white ceiling, her hands resting on her abdomen, and remembering the rude and absurd way she had behaved yesterday.

That made her shudder with distaste at herself, and although surely anyone in her situation would have reacted the same way or even worse, she felt that nothing justified the way she treated that poor guy, and she hadn't even bothered to remember his name!

"Agh, I'm the worst..."

Surely her parents would feel embarrassed at her behavior, and even the old man would give her a smack on the head for acting so impulsively.

"Why did I do that?" It was as if a bucket of cold water had fallen on her, not only because she had yelled at him and made him feel guilty, but because she had gone so far as to threaten him and go after him all the way home if he failed her.

Another groan escaped from her mouth, and she went back to hiding under the covers.

"I have to apologize to him..." She quickly got out of bed and tidied it up. Then she ran to the bathroom to take a cold shower to wake herself up. Although she was eventually absorbed in her own thoughts, there was something that made her uneasy, not knowing if she had imagined it or really seen it. "Was that blood on his clothes?"

She shook her head a couple of times and continued with her shower, making sure there was no clay residue left on her hair or skin. When she got out of the bath, she dried off and hurried to get dressed in her clothes for the day, which was something simple and more for the work she would have to do today. She then combed her hair and stylish it in a messy bun with a couple of strands of hair falling to the sides.

Before leaving her small room, she made sure to take everything, from her small bag to her cell phone and her room keys. On her way to the studio, she kept thinking about how she will apologize to him, besides asking Sung Jin-Woo nicely if he could help her with the vase problem. While it was an accident caused by the two of them, deep down, she feels sorry to ask him for such a favor.

"At least it's nice weather..." she whispers to herself and takes a glance at the sky.

The morning is a bit cloudy, but cool and pleasant with the smell of wet soil after the sudden little drizzle that happened around dawn; for this reason, she decides to go the long way where she will cross through the park, thus reveling in the pleasant smell of wet dirt and the comforting silence. But instead of calming down and enjoying the walk, her thoughts come back to attack her and increase the guilt in her heart.

Although the vase is very expensive as well as being an exclusive order for an important client, she never imagined going to the extreme of threatening another person, nor did she feel that she had the right to demand that he help her; she felt that would be going too far, especially when it was her responsibility to do so.

'I could even get in legal problems,' she thought.

"Mother, father, forgive this daughter who has acted so stupidly..." she murmured.

The wind blew kindly, giving her face a gentle caress and rustling the treetops. When she looked up, a couple of leaves fell delicately. Fortunately, no one in that area of the park could see how red her face was, burning with embarrassment.

"But I'll fix this."

Snapping out of her musings, she continued on her way to the studio, but in the middle of it, a delicious aroma made her stop in front of a coffeeshop. Her gaze widened curiously at the establishment, and her stomach growled slightly, reminding her that she still hadn't had any breakfast.

"Uhm, what if..." For a few moments, she hesitated, but in the end, she went in to see if anything catches her eye.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

After nearly twenty minutes, the teen came out of the establishment smiling and carrying a few bags with sweet and savory fresh pastries, plus the one with three hot drinks, two chocolates, and a coffee in his other hand, not knowing what the black-haired man's tastes were.

'I hope he likes some of what I bought.'

It took another twenty or twenty-five minutes to get to the studio, and by now the sun was casting its rays over the entire plaza.

The young woman had to maneuver with the hot drinks she was carrying in one hand and open the door with the other. After she succeeded and entered, the bell hanging on the threshold gave a slight tinkling sound, and the door closed by itself behind her. She walked to the counter, where she set down the bag with the pastries and the disposable tray with the drinks.

"Alright, let's get started!"

With her spirits restored, she goes to the employee's room to leave her bag, and later the snacks and drinks to avoid any accidents. When she leaves the staff's room she's already with her apron on and finishes tying it at the back, she takes a look at the time on the wall clock and realize that it is almost seven in the morning. Again, she can't help but feel nervous as she mentally rehearses the apology she is going to give Sung Jin-Woo, she then tries to ease her mind by cleaning up the place a bit and succeeds for a couple of minutes, until the tinkling of the bell startles her and she sees him standing under the doorway.

The two stare at each other for long seconds without saying anything, both are equally nervous, they are adept at hiding it from each other.

"Good morning," the young man says, scratching the back of his neck in a feigned attempt to keep one of his hands busy and calm his uneasiness. He hasn't the slightest idea how he could help and solve the problem he's caused. What if it's a very difficult job? "I've come to help you, just as I promised!" He says it with one of those fake smiles that customer service people greet you with, and despite how uncomfortable he feels in the same way, he tries to sound confident and then asks, "How can I help you?"

Seeing him standing there, the young woman's cheeks turn bright red with embarrassment, and she stops arranging the shelves and marches over to where Jin-Woo is patiently waiting to receive some order from her, although from his point of view, it seems like the girl might hit him with the feather duster she is holding in her hand.

"H-hey! Wait! I-I just!"

The young woman looked so serious, and despite her small stature, Jin-Woo could feel a huge determination coming from her. Was she going to hit him? He instinctively closed his eyes and shrank back to receive the impact. It's not like something like that was going to seriously hurt him either; a hit from that girl would never compare to receiving an injury from any monster from the 'Gates', but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less.

However, what happened next was something he never imagined. When he opened his eyes slowly, he realized that the brunette was a couple of steps away from him and leaning in a seventy-degree arc. 

"I want to apologize for the way I treated you yesterday! I know it's not an excuse, but I'm really sorry. I hadn't been able to rest for several days, and I had too much work on my shoulders, and then when the vase broke..." The girl spoke in a rushed way, and still, without standing up or opening her eyes, she had to be completely honest with him and show him that she was truly sorry for her horrible act. "I'm so sorry!" 

Despite the sincerity of her words, she didn't feel brave enough to look him in the eye and face him. In the end, it didn't matter if Sung Jin-Woo decided to help her or not; after all, he had every right not to accept her apology and leave, but at least he wanted to apologize.

Sung Jin-Woo stood watching her with a genuinely stupefied expression, plunging the studio into a long and deep silence.

He had no idea how to respond, as he honestly wasn't expecting to receive an apology; in fact, seconds before he thought the girl was going to attack him with the duster, and all the way to the studio, he had been mentally preparing himself for more reprimands and even insults, but never for something like this.

"Hmm..." he blinked in confusion and took a quick glance around. Was he dreaming?

But the teen was still in front of him, not moving. Jin-Woo didn't know what to say in reply to her apology, at least not until he heard her soft voice again.

"I really hope you can accept my apology."

For that matter, he hardly has any memory of other people apologizing to him, not even when the altercation had been with other hunters of the same rank as him and who had wanted to take advantage of his submissive and non-confrontational nature.

But he won't deny that, deep down, he feels a little calmer and happier to hear her say those words. However, that does not mean he let his guard down. "It's all right. I understand why you were angry. It was a natural reaction." He said it with a falsely calm expression, scratching the back of his head, his smile just as nervous, though his cheeks were beginning to acquire a slight blush from embarrassment.

The poor guy was trying to think of something else to say, but his mind seemed to be completely blank.

The young woman slowly straightened up and mustered her courage to meet his eyes with a surprised expression, caught off guard by the quick and calm acceptance of her apology.

"I really feel very guilty for the way I acted." She looks back at the wooden floor and plays nervously with her fingers; this does not go unnoticed by Sung Jin-Woo, or even less by the girl's noticeable dark circles under her eyes. "I yelled at you; I was too rude. I am not like that. I would never, in my life, dare treat someone like that. I am very sorry, and I sincerely hope you will forgive me."

Once again, she apologizes, and this time she focuses her brown eyes on his gray ones.

"It's okay," Sung Jin-Woo says, truly surprised by how many times she has apologized to him, now with a soft and sincere smile forming on his lips. "I forgive you. I totally understand that everyone can have a bad day from time to time, and yesterday was just a bad day for the both of us. But today is a new day and, fortunately, a good one for us both; we just have to make the most of it, don't we?" 

Words as simple as those manage to stir something inside her, making him one of the few people who have been able to understand that she had made a mistake and accept her apologies so kindly. The brunette turns quickly to discreetly wipe away a tear that managed to escape and slip unabashedly down her cheek, smiling and making her voice more cheerful.

"Oh, you're very kind." 

She nods and gestures for him to follow her into the back room, where the bag of pastries and hot drinks she'd bought was waiting for them on the table.

"By the way, I'm sorry for making you come in so early. I probably didn't even give you time for breakfast, so..." She turns to look at him and makes a gesture for him to follow her. "Well, I took the liberty of buying breakfast."

For the second time in the day, Sung Jin-Woo is again surprised by the gesture; it was definitely not something he expected, and he was actually looking surprised from where he was standing.

"Oh, thank you, but you shouldn't have." For a second, a fleeting thought comes into his head, and he fears that later the girl will charge him for spending money on him; she wouldn't dare, would she?

The young brunette shook her head and gestured again for him to come over to the table and take a seat.

Despite feeling relieved and surprised by her kindness, he also feels uncomfortable since he is not used to receiving this kind of treatment. He has some difficulty accepting it, although in the end he ends up taking a seat across from her, mostly to avoid making the moment more awkward.

His gray gaze wanders curiously over the hot drinks and the bag of buns, and this gesture does not go unnoticed by Park Ha-Neul, who, already more relieved, gets up and goes to the small cupboard that she and her teacher use to store dishes and utensils. She then returns to the table and then takes out the sweet and savory-filled buns from the bags and places them separately on the ceramic plates; these were her first works, and despite their notorious imperfections, her teacher decided to keep them as a small keepsake, which they both use every day for snacking.

"Wow..." 

Sung Jin-Woo can't help but be surprised by the great variety, not to mention that the logo on the bag is from the GRAINSEOUL café, famous for its delicious desserts and drinks, as well as having an "aesthetic" decoration, or at least that's what he remembers Jin-Ah telling him about the place one afternoon when she kept mentioning how much she wanted to go there with Song-Yi. Of course, the only thing that stopped her was the somewhat high price of their products.

After a deep sigh, Jin-Woo scans all the pastries and buns without knowing what to do or which one to grab first. He also doubts for a moment the quality of these because he has heard many times that such establishments are based more on the appearance of the place, while their products leave much to be desired. Anyway, there are always people who go to such places to show off, but at the girl's insistence, he has no choice but to grab the first one he has within reach.

Again, the young woman's laughter brings him out of his musings, and he sees her take a small sip of her hot drink.

"Sorry, I think I ended up buying too many, but at least this way there is more to choose from. I also bought hot chocolate and coffee, as I didn't know which one you might like better." She paused a little as she handed him the two drinks she had bought. "Or maybe I should have bought some tea..."

"No! This is fine, really." He quickly shook his head and smiled a little nervously as he noticed her expression, then picked up the cup of hot chocolate and took a small sip without even realizing how hot the drink was. "Agh!"

Poor Jin-Woo ended up hurt in some way and making a fool of himself in front of someone else, but instead of hearing a mocking laugh as he suffered the momentary burning on his tongue, he only heard an exclamation from the potter, who immediately got up and went to get a bottle of cold water from the mini fridge they kept in the staff room.

Jin-Woo immediately grabbed it, uncorked it, and took a deep gulp, allowing the cold water to remain in his mouth and relieve some of the sting. On the other hand, the young woman looked at him with some concern and even apologized for not having warned him that the drink was still hot.

"Don't worry, it was my fault," he replied with a carefree smile, and then took another chug from the water bottle.

As they both sipped their respective drinks, he couldn't help but look at the young brown-haired girl and find her features a bit curious— 'could' she be a foreigner?' he thought to himself. Her eyes were almond shaped, a bit bigger, and she had a double eyelid, unlike a common Asian. Her hair color seemed natural too.

'But what the heck am I thinking...'

He immediately regretted where his thoughts were leading him, all because of his silly curiosity, but it was a bit weird to see a foreigner speaking such fluent Korean.

'Or maybe...'

"...Is that right?"

Sung Jin-Woo jumped in his seat when he heard those words, and his expression showed that he hadn't been paying attention to what she was saying, but far from being annoyed, she simply smiled and repeated her words.

"To tell you the truth, I bought too many, and I don't think I can finish them by myself. I wouldn't want them to get wasted, so I was asking you if you'd like to take some with you."

It was surprising when she offered him to take them, and although he hesitated for long seconds because he had dignity, there was something, someone, who he couldn't help thinking about, and that was Jin-Ah. When their father disappeared in that 'Gate' after saving civilians, it was his turn to assume the role of the man of the house. It was when he began to do all kinds of jobs, even if they were poorly paid, that he had to accept with a smile and bow his head while receiving scolding and even humiliations; not even when he woke up as a hunter, his life got to improve as much as he expected. But at least he had made peace with himself, knowing that no matter what came in his way, what mattered was the well-being of his mother and sister.

Plus, he was sure this would surprise Jin-Ah.

"I'll have to apologize once again because I think I ended up buying more sweets than savory, but I have a weakness for sweet things."

"Hehe, well, I admit that I have a weakness for sweet things too," confessed the young man, and at this revelation, the girl blinked in surprise before smiling.

"I'm glad to meet another person with a sweet tooth!"

They both laughed at his comment, and for a couple of minutes, they enjoyed the morning and breakfast, though somewhat awkwardly, not knowing what to talk about and letting the silence consume them.

From the looks of it, they were a pair of introverts in an unfamiliar habitat, and the only way to cope was to keep eating. However, the black-haired man couldn't help but glance at her from time to time.

"And what do I have to do to help you, Miss... Uh...?"

The girl tilted her head slightly and waited for the other to finish asking his question. It seemed strange to see him gesturing. Was he nervous? But it wasn't until after several attempts on Jin-Woo's part that she realized he was trying to indicate that he didn't know her name. The young woman's cheeks blushed with embarrassment, and she palmed her forehead.

"I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself!"

Sung Jin-Woo smiled faintly and curiously watched the young woman bow slightly. My name is Park Ha-Neul. Nice to meet you."

He also imitated her, and this time he introduced himself in a formal way, unlike how he did yesterday. "And my name is Sung Jin-Woo, although you already knew that. It's a pleasure to meet you, Haneul-ssi."

Park Ha-Neul smiled nervously and scratched her cheek with her index finger.

"As for how you will help me, I'd like to know if you know how to drive. And if so, do you have your driver's license with you right now?"

At this question, the jet-haired man looked at her in confusion because he didn't understand what that had to do with the vase problem, but decided to answer her anyway.

"I do know how to drive, and I do have my license with me; why do you ask?"

"The truth is that at the moment I'm on my own working in the studio, and I have a lot of orders to deliver." As she pauses, Park Ha-Neul points to the shelves full of packages of all sizes, some on the floor and scattered almost everywhere in the store. "However, if I make the deliveries, I won't have time to work on the vase, so I'd like you to be the one to help me with the deliveries."

The young woman paused and clenched her fists tightly, and her gaze was filled with determination.

"The owner is out of the country, and we have two months to get it done, so please help me while I try to recreate my master's work." 

Sung Jin-Woo nodded his head in understanding, and despite having part-time jobs delivering food and other things, as well as working as a hunter, he has never delivered overpriced objects made of clay, but he is still willing to help.

"I'll do my best to get them to their respective destinations," he says with a confident smile.

"Perfect. Thank you so much, Jinwoo-ssi!"

Once again, Park Ha-Neul smiles warmly, and after finishing with breakfast, they both return to the front of the store. From the counter area, she grabs the van keys that they keep in one of the drawers; she also grabs the clipboard and a brown apron, then returns to Sung Jin-Woo and hands them to him.

"In this case, you will be using the store's van, so please put this apron on, or else they will end up slamming the door in your face." Her face grimaced as she said this. "Most of them are customers who live in big residences, so you have to look like you work here."

His grayish gaze widened with surprise, and he laughed nervously as he pulled on his apron.

"Really?"

"Believe me, on more than one occasion, I forgot my apron while making deliveries and ended up with the door on my face."

Park Ha-Neul sighed at the memory but then smiled again.

"On the clipboard, you have today's customers' names and addresses, and likewise, each package has the customer's name and number on it. The orders are already paid for, so you don't need to worry about them.

The young hunter nodded in response to each of her instructions. He took a deep breath before grabbing the clipboard and vehicle keys.

"Understood, I'll do my best to deliver them as soon as possible."

"Thank you very much, Jinwoo-ssi!"

The question was, will he do a good job or will he end up getting into more trouble?

Chapter Text

Even though his job seemed simple by just having to deliver packages, he was well aware that it was an important task that was entrusted to him, not to mention the great -blind- trust that Miss Park was placing on him, who hadn't even known him for more than a day and was now transporting goods that could even exceed a billion won as they were all Mr. Lee Seo-joon's original goods.

If her master ever found out what she did, he would surely give her a well-deserved smack for being so naïve in taking such a risk, and it wouldn't be the first time she had done something stupid.

More than once, she has ended up in trouble for trusting people too much, only to return disillusioned and find old man Lee ready to scold her.

"See, I told you!" The first time it happened, Mr. Lee's voice sounded extremely disappointed in her but also worried about her foolish act. "You can't just go around trusting people, Ha-Neul. Not all of them are as nice as you are. Most humans are all fucking bastards who would do anything to get what they want. Even if that means hurting others in the process."

"But... why?"

Old man Lee sighed in defeat and ruffled his silvery gray hair. "Because humans are greedy, Ha-Neul. Sadly, not all people see things the way you do, especially now with all these weirdos that look like they came out of one of those American movies."

The teenager gave him a confused look in return as she didn't understand what exactly he was talking about, it was for reasons like these that she was always nagging old man Lee to quit smoking. 

"The one where there's a guy who shoots beams out of his eyes and a blue woman who changes her appearance."

A deep silence filled the studio, where apprentice and master stared at each other as if they were engaged in a staring contest. 

"Are you talking about the X-Men?"

Old man Lee shrugged and turned around to continue working on the potter's wheel, but not before scolding her once again. "So much kindness, while it may open doors for you and help you create good karma, can also lead you to your doom. Ha-Neul, remember my words. Not all humans are to be trusted, just as not all are to be doubted." 

Such words were ones that she didn't like to hear, but the old man didn't care and kept repeating them, hoping that she would learn her lesson and finally understand that the vast majority of people are dishonest and scumbags. However, despite his warnings and past experiences, there is something inside her that tells her to trust Sung Jin-Woo and believe that he is an honest person. And is confident that he'll do a good job, plus there are security cameras on every corner in the store, so she has nothing to worry about.

"Be careful!"

Sung Jin-Woo seems a bit clumsy but sweet to her, and she even swears to have seen him stumble but acts as if nothing has happened. She waits a couple of minutes until she sees him get into the vehicle, start the engine, and drive off seconds later. Park Ha-Neul prays in her heart that all will go well for him and there won't be any incidents, and once she has lost sight of him, she goes back inside the studio to get the material she will need for her mission.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

As he drives, Sung Jin-Woo can't help but ponder everything that has happened since yesterday and the task he has been given. His eyes are on the road and his hands are firmly gripping the steering wheel as he follows the GPS directions, but the poor hunter can't help emitting a long, deep sigh as he heads towards his first destination, worried about the fact that he's transporting goods with six-figure or higher prices.

"How come I always end up getting into more and more trouble?" He asks to the nothingness and then slows down until he stops at a red light.

In any case, there's no point in complaining, and instead, he should be thankful that Ms. Park didn't end up calling the police on him about the vase or demanding that he pay for it. For that, he would have to sell at least one kidney.

"Or maybe both..." Just thinking about it made him shiver with fear.

With the light finally changing color again, he put the vehicle in gear and continued driving through the streets of Seoul and through some familiar ones that he had come to previously to participate in raids; none of them brought back good memories.

He notices that there is a lot more advertising on this side of the city about the five main guilds that, over the years, have been growing and almost dominating the country. There are billboards everywhere in the city, and they don't stop broadcasting them on television or in magazines, including on the radio, where they keep announcing the heroic deeds that the hunters do to keep the country safe. One can only dream of being part of them, but the only ones who usually have that opportunity are exceptional hunters of B rank and above.   

"I wonder, what would it feel like to be part of one of those guilds?" He would be lying if he said he never fantasized about how cool it would be to have a "Second Awakening" and have the opportunity to rise. 

Sung Jin-Woo quickly shakes those ideas out of his head and cringes at having been fantasizing about something he knows will never happen.

"It most be nice," he laughs at his own naivety, but when he makes another stop in front of a red light and his gaze falls on a billboard on one of the buildings to his right, it seems that they are broadcasting an interview with Choi Jong-In, better known as "The Last Soldier." A nickname that was spreading after he formed his own guild and began recruiting the best hunters in the whole of South Korea since he's the Guild Master of the Hunters Guild, a man that the whole nation trusts and admires for his prowess at controlling fire magic. 

On the other hand, he has been named "the weakest of all mankind," someone uncapable of even killing a simple E-grade monster.

In the end, he is forced to come abruptly out of his reverie after the driver behind him starts honking repeatedly and yelling at him.

"Are you fucking blind!? The light's already changed; move away, you asshole!"

If he were someone else, he would surely have answered him back, but he prefers to avoid an argument and a possible fine; therefore, he hurries to put the car in motion, forgetting about his silly reverie and following the GPS indications on his cell phone.

The constant publicity of the flourishing guilds and country-protecting heroes lingers behind him. He simply ignores the images of those heroes plastered everywhere, unwilling to go back to daydreaming about something that would never happen to him.

"With my luck, there's more chance of me losing a leg than having a second awakening." He doesn't let himself get carried away with dreams that will never come true, "although I wouldn't mind knowing what it feels like to be an S-rank hunter."

He says this to himself and laughs at his silly wish. It's not like it's going to come true one of these days, but it's not bad to laugh at your own fantasies either, right? He forgets about it anyway and turns the radio up a bit, surprised that they're playing American music, but decides to leave it there.

When your legs don't work like they used to before

He doesn't understand much of what the lyrics say, but the melody is pleasant.

And I can't sweep you off your feet.

"I wonder if someday I'll be able to take English classes again." The idea seems tempting to him, but he will end up doing it when Jin-Ah no longer needs his support. Meanwhile, he will use all his resources to make sure his sister lacks nothing and achieves her dream of becoming a doctor.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

"At least a quarter of the orders are from this residential" he says to himself after checking the clipboard. "That'll make things a little easier for me."

After arriving at his destination he couldn't help but be surprised at the design of the metal fences and at the height of the gates. After all, he had not expected such a place to exist in the Seongbuk district. He continued driving a couple more meters and at a slower speed until he reached the entrance where a security personnel communicated with him.

"Reason for visit?"

Sung Jin-Woo immediately plucked up his courage and rolled down the window to answer, and although his voice didn't tremble and he looked calm on the outside, he felt nervous. After all, he wasn't an employee of Mr. Lee's studio and he also didn't have any identification with him in case they asked for one.

"W-Well, I..."

But as he did so, he heard some noise on the other end of the communicator; it sounded as if he were flipping pages, and then an audible whistling sound: "Oh! I see. More orders from Lee's studio?"

"Uh... Yes?" His answer sounded more like a question, and he mentally slapped himself for how dumb he had sounded.

Fortunately, the security guy didn't seem to notice and simply opened the metal gates for him to continue on his way. After coming out of his momentary stupor, he put the vehicle back in gear and maintained the same speed.

"He didn't even ask me for identification," he thought aloud, not believing that someone from security could trust someone with a van, just like that, and only because it had someone's important logo on it. "Still, they should have better control."

When he finally reached his first destination, he marveled at how huge the house, or rather, mansion, was. At least that's how it looks from his point of view.

"Oh, wow..."

For someone like him, it would be hard to know which of all those houses is the most modest, as, in his humble opinion, they all dazzle with their size and luxury compared to the small and insignificant apartment where he has lived with his sister since they were little. But if he is honest, he is not very fond of that modern and lifeless architectural style; in his opinion, he has seen better western-style houses as shown in American movies.

"Better safe than sorry," he exclaims in a low voice and with a nervous smile after turning off the engine and carrying the key with him in his pants pocket, because after seeing how security works in this place, he doesn't feel so confident about leaving the key in the ignition switch. "I don't want to end up in a much bigger debt that even three generations in a row won't be able to finish paying off."

With that negative thought, he heads to the back of the van, carefully opening it to get in and pull out the first package, which, ironically, is a vase.

"It's like life itself is laughing at me." He shakes his head a couple of times and, with a tired smile, makes sure to push it to a distance close to the edge, where he can grab it more easily once he gets out. As he gets out of the vehicle and grabs it, he takes care to lift it up and bring it against his chest. He does so with due care and carries it at a slow pace to the door.

Jin-Woo puts it back on the floor momentarily to press the doorbell a couple of times and wait for someone to come and open the door; fortunately, it doesn't take long, and after a few minutes, the door opens, giving way to the figure of an older man, probably middle-aged and dressed in a butler's uniform. White gloves cover his hands, and his black shoes shine much brighter than Jin-Woo's future due to their impeccable polish.

The gentleman looks at him with a slight frown and an air of seriousness that, for some strange reason, reminds him of his old history teacher, Mr. Kang.

The butler continues to watch him silently, keeping his hand on the shiny doorknob with the intention of closing it in case Jin-Woo doesn't say anything in the next few seconds.

"Good afternoon, sir. I am here to make a delivery on behalf of Lee's studio."

He says in a soft and polite voice, surprised that he hasn't trembled at all and sounded more or less professional while looking at the gentleman, who, by the way, remains unchanged in his stoic expression and only looks down at him to observe with a critical eye the attire he is dressed in, and then stops at the logo printed on his apron.

At that instant, he couldn't help but have a fleeting memory of the words Miss Park mentioned to him.

˚✧₊⁎"᷀ົ⁎⁺˳✧༚

"Most of them are patrons who live in large residences, so you have to wear it and prove that you work here."

His grayish gaze widened with surprise, and he laughed nervously as he put on his apron.

"Really?"

"Believe me, on more than one occasion, I forgot it while making deliveries and ended up with the door slammed in my face."

˚✧₊⁎"᷀ົ⁎⁺˳✧༚

At the time, he didn't believe her, but now he realizes she wasn't exaggerating as the butler keeps scanning the logo printed on the apron and the box.

"Please follow me." Without changing his expression, the older man nods and opens the door a little wider to let him through and guide him inside the house.

"Oh! Thank you!"

There is no response other than the door closing behind them and the butler silently leading him down the hallway.

While walking, he can't help but marvel at the exquisite décor that he has only been able to see briefly in the dramas that Jin-Ah loves to watch so much. The situation is so impressive and surreal that he even feels overwhelmed to be breathing the same oxygen as the rich, and he only firms his grip against the box he is carrying.

Fortunately, it doesn't take them long, and the butler stops in front of a large room and indicates where he should leave the vase.

"You can place it there," he says quietly, and with that apathetic tone as he points to a corner next to a tall window, Sung Jin-Woo does as instructed, setting the package down with due care before returning his gaze with a kind expression.

The eye contact between the two lasts for a long time, during which they remain silent and unsure of the protocol to follow, but after a couple of seconds more, he makes a slight bow and heads towards the door with the intention of leaving and continuing with the rest of the errands. That same stoic voice stops him as soon as he steps outside, causing him to turn around and spot the butler a few steps away.

"Is there a problem with the order?" he asks with a hint of nervousness, worried that there is one, but, contrary to what he thought, the gentleman simply takes out a manila envelope from his jacket pocket and hands it to him.

Sung Jin-Woo's brain froze as everything happened so fast, only reacting when the door was slammed in his face. The young man blinked in confusion a couple of times, wondering what the heck had happened, then returned his gaze to the heavy envelope that the butler gave him.

"This..."

He saw what was in his hands, then the door, and then the envelope again. In his days as a food delivery man, he had grown accustomed to being treated poorly or not even addressed after dropping off the order and simply slamming the door in his face, but this interaction turned out to be stranger than he had imagined.

"What the heck was that?" He saw the envelope again and shrugged, then turned back to the van, curious about what had been handed to him. The envelope felt somewhat heavy, and although he sensed what it was, his brain refused to assimilate it.

Once inside the van, the hunter felt his heart beating fast and hard against his rib cage. He took a quick glance through the windows and rearview mirror to make sure the street was empty. After confirming it, he opened the envelope, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the sight of what it contained.

"This is a lot of money," he muttered to himself, and with his hands shaking, he asked, Why had they given him so much money? "Miss Park said that all the products are paid for."

He immediately took his cell phone out of his pocket and called her to make sure.

"Come on, pick up the phone, please..." After the third ring, she finally answered the call.

"Jinwoo-ssi, did something happen?"

"Ah! Haneul-ssi, you see..."

After catching his breath, he calmly and briefly explained what had just happened in his first delivery, eager to dispel the doubt that had his pulse racing despite the genuine congratulations he received.

"Miss Park, you informed me that the orders had already been cancelled, so I am confused as to why they handed me an envelope with money in it. "What... what should I do?"

"Oh, Jinwoo-ssi, you have nothing to worry about, although I admit it was my fault for not warning you."

Her words caught his attention, and he kept silent to listen as, on the other end of the line, Miss Park calmly and slowly explained to him that those types of customers like to tip generously.

"But this is a lot of money," he says as he takes a quick glance at the envelope he hasn't released from his grasp yet.

Park Ha-Neul just sighs with a hint of amusement, and then explains:

"For these types of people, it's not only enough to buy unique products made by important people, but it also becomes some sort of competition to see who spends the most money, and that also includes tipping." There is a short pause, accompanied by noise in the background. "Look at it this way; to them, it's like pocket money that they need to get rid of."

"But this is too much money to be just a tip."

"It's normal for them to spend amounts like that, but for normal people like us, it's a lot and very welcome, isn't it?"

Sung Jin-Woo nods at her words even though she can't see him, and he remains thoughtful while listening to the sound of the potter's wheel in the background, most likely still working on recreating the vase.

"I understand."

After this, Park Ha-Neul ends the call, informing him that a customer has arrived and that she needs to assist him, but not before assuring him again that all the products have been canceled and that he shouldn't panic if another customer hands him another envelope with money inside. With these words, Sung Jin-Woo can continue working a bit more relaxed, but the poor guy is not sure where to leave the money and wonders if he should carry it in his pocket or if he should leave it in the glove compartment.

Eventually, he decides to leave it in his backpack, hide it under the passenger seat, and cover it with his hoodie.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

He was grateful that his day unfolded smoothly, although occasionally a customer, or even the butler or housekeeper, would kindly offer him a drink. But the curious thing was that at the end of the deliveries, he ended up receiving either an envelope with a good tip or, if not, boxes with different types of fruits of excellent quality, like one of those melons that cost around $200 or boxes of imported chocolate.

By the time he finished delivering the last package, the sky was already tinted in beautiful autumn-like hues, and the back of the van was now packed with a couple of bags of various edible and high-quality gifts that were handed to him.

"Rich people are scary..."

Today's experience had turned out to be one of the strangest because some of the homes he'd been to ended up astounding him with their taste in décor, from the more normal and classic to the modern with a modern twist to those that had monster remains on display. He finished his day's work and took a moment to relax before exiting the van, but his attention was drawn back to his backpack, brimming with envelopes of cash.

"Good thing no one stole it while he was making deliveries," he sighed, relieved, and made sure to turn off the engine before carefully getting out of the vehicle and taking a look around as if he were an agent on a top secret mission.

Although more than an agent, he looked like a thief on his first day of robbery who happened to get lucky and kept all the money, but now he fears that it was all a ploy by the police to catch him in front of his secret base.

Sung Jin-Woo looks back inside his backpack and then closes it as tightly as he can and hangs it over his chest. He then closes the door and walks to the back of the truck, where he uses all his superhuman strength to take out the other gifts that all those strange people gave him as a tip for his work, carrying three bags in each hand since he was not going to make more than one trip to get them out of the van.

This reminded him of the times when his mother would come home from the supermarket and call him to help her get the stuff out of the car. It was always at the worst of times where he would end up wearing whoever's shoes he could get his hands on, many times his mother's shoes.

Fortunately, thanks to his strength as a hunter (which is only slightly above normal), he didn't find it difficult to carry everything. As he reached the front door of the study, he noticed that the "Closed" sign was already in place, but the door was unlocked just as Miss Park had previously told him.

The bell tinkled softly as he opened and closed the door behind him, and only the sound of his footsteps, accompanied by the sound of the potter's wheel, rang throughout the studio.

"Haneul-ssi, I'm here."

The sound stops, and now it is Park Ha-Neul's footsteps that fill the silence. The young woman finds herself not only with her uniform and hands stained with clay, but also with traces on her forehead and one of her cheeks.

"Ah, welcome back, Jinwoo-ssi!"

He is greeted by the young woman, and she quickly goes to wash her hands while asking him about his day, to which Jin-Woo is a bit fascinated by the bubbly and friendly attitude of the brunet, confirming that yesterday's behavior was only due to stress and tiredness.

"Well, you could say it was good, hehe."

Park Ha-Neul raises an eyebrow as she helps him with the bags, sensing that the experience must have been out of this world for him.

"By the way, this is all the money they gave me; I swear I didn't touch anything!" He says this nervously, leaving his backpack open on the counter with at least a dozen envelopes and a few small boxes of chocolates that he couldn't stuff inside the bags anymore. Confusion and curiosity wash over the young woman as she picks up the first envelope, revealing it as the tip Sung Jin-Woo received for his hard work.

She bites the inside of her left cheek in an attempt to contain her laughter.

"Jinwoo-ssi, you can keep the money."

The jet-black-haired man almost choked on his saliva when he heard the young woman say those words and shook his head quickly. "What? But this is too much money!"

Ha-Neul folded her arms and slightly tilted her head to one side. "And I can't let you do free work for me."

"Yes, but it's what you do; it's your job! Besides, I agreed to help pay off my debt by helping you." As he says this, a part of his heart wants to accept all the money being offered to him; it's tempting, all right! His hands feel like they are twitching with anxiety, and the little voice in his head keeps nagging him to accept it, already making a list of all the things he could use it for. It's hard not to fantasize when he could pay a good chunk of the hospital fee where his mother is, buy food, and buy any school supplies Jin-Ah needs. He could also smoothly pay the bills and even pay a couple of months' rent in advance.

Damn, it might even give him a break! He dreams of buying something for himself without needing to feel pressured about not having enough money to pay next month's rent! But despite his desire and hunger for money, there's another inner voice telling him not to be greedy and take the money.

However, it's hard when that money can free you from your worries for a long time.

"Anyway, I don't think it's fair." Again, she turns him down, this time with a slight pout and her arms crossed over her chest, obviously unwilling to give in and let Sung Jin-Woo work for her for free.

And it's the sincerity in her words and the selfless way she acts that make him realize he's being selfish; he hasn't even stopped to consider the other girl's situation and is only thinking of himself. Moreover, they are both stubborn and spend about fifteen minutes arguing over who should get to keep the money. It is not until Park Ha-Neul finally decides to split the winnings equally.

"But..."

"Jinwoo-ssi, please.... It's obvious that neither of us is going to give in, so I think this is the only way to come to an agreement, don't you think?"

The older male watches her with the same posture until he finally gives in and accepts the other's condition.

"Okay..."

That's how they both ended up in the staff room, sitting across from each other at the same table they used that morning for breakfast.  This time, they took their time to count the money and divide it equally. In the end, the amount turned out to be impressive, something Sung Jin-Woo never imagined earning even with his other part-time jobs, let alone as a hunter.  And if he thought about it, this amount could even be considered the price of a dozen essence stones, all without having to risk his life.

"You're so stubborn."

Park Ha-Neul breaks the silence as she takes her share of the winnings, making Jin-Woo look up and stare at her.

"And I see I'm not the only one."

This time they both laughed more comfortably, unlike the small awkward moment they shared during the morning.

"Thank you so much for helping me today. "It was very helpful, as I took advantage of every hour to continue practicing on the vase replica."

Jin-Woo sensed that she hadn't managed to make it, so it was redundant to ask her about her progress based on her words and depressed tone. He zipped up his backpack and lightly bit the inside of his lower lip, thinking of the right words to say.

"I know you'll make it, and in the meantime, don't worry; I'll come every morning at the time we agreed upon."

These were simple words that anyone could have said to her, but there was something about them that moved her. Maybe it was his grayish gaze, full of assurance, and the gentle way in which he spoke to her that made her trust him. Those few words were enough to soften the girl's expression and accept them with a genuine smile.

"Thank you very much, Jinwoo-ssi."

The two young adults exchanged brief glances until Ha-Neul interrupted him and went to get something, taking only a few seconds until she came back with the same paper bag full of the pastries they hadn't finished in the morning, and that's when the two engaged in another debate about who should keep them in addition to the little boxes of expensive fruit and chocolate he'd received that day.

"Jinwoo-ssi, don't be stubborn; keep them all! Share them with your sister!"

"I can't do that; it's too much!"

Maybe it was a mistake to have made a fleeting little comment about having a younger sister who dreamed of wanting to try them, and he even swore that she didn't hear him since normally people don't pay that much attention when he speaks. However, it appeared that Park Ha-Neul wasn't like that and was now using that little piece of information against him.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept the girl's generous action, and on the way home, he couldn't help but think that his day seemed like something out of his wildest dreams. He even found it a bit bizarre to make a stop at the nearest ATM to deposit most of the money he had earned.

"This looks like a dream..." He found it strange to see those figures in his account, as well as to be holding the bag with the delicious pastries, chocolates, and even top-quality fruit.

But what really got to his heart was when he made a stop at the supermarket to buy a couple of things they would need for the week. They weren't extremely poor, but with his meager income, they had to make ends meet and hopefully save a little for Jin-Ah's college.

It was always stressful when payment deadlines were approaching or when he had to do mental math at the supermarket, always taking what was strictly necessary and, in some cases, having to feel embarrassed if he had to return more than a couple of items in order not to be short of money at the end of the month. For that reason, he only makes the most of his purchases when there are discounts or coupons. Despite having the necessary funds today, he still mentally tallied up his cart items to ensure they stayed within his account balance. He was surprised by his generous payment, considering he had anticipated working without pay.

"This looks like something out of a movie," he said to himself, holding out a bag of 'Honey Butter Chips, even though a little voice in the back of his mind was telling him not to, to hold off the temptation. Finally, he threw the bag of chips that he had not eaten for almost two years into the cart, along with a couple of drinks and a bottle of soju.

It was like this until it was time to go to the cashier because, curiously, none of the self-check-out machines were working that night.

"Isn't there ever a day when things don't work out for me?" Jin-Woo murmurs in a tone somewhere between joking and pessimistic, but he still faces it and walks up to the cashier, who only gives him a short glance and starts scanning all the products.

"ID" is the only thing he asks for when it's the clerk's turn to scan the bottle of soju, and Jin-Woo immediately takes his license out of his wallet, but due to his nervousness, it ends up falling out of his hands a couple of times. The cashier just laughs somewhat derisively and mumbles something between his teeth that Jin-Woo manages to hear as the cashier calls him an 'idiot' but decides to act as if he didn't hear anything.

It's not until he pays and leaves the supermarket that he can breathe easier, as he carries in both hands all the bags of his purchases and gifts, plus he still has money in both his bank account and wallet.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt to go out for the weekend to do the month's grocery shopping and have fried chicken for dinner."

On his walk back, he chuckled as he imagined Jin-Ah's expression when he came to tell him they could have fried chicken.

"This... is really happening?"

He couldn't credit anything he had experienced all day, let alone the weight of the bags he was carrying.

"..."

He felt like he was floating on a cloud the whole way back home, but his reverie was abruptly interrupted by Jin-Ah's shrill shout, questioning him about the source of the money for his purchases.

"Oppa, tell me now!"

"Jin-Ah, go wash your hands and help me peel the potatoes instead."

"Ugh! Oppa!"

The teenager kept grumbling and nagging him to talk about how he had managed to buy everything he brought, especially those boxes with delicious fruit.

"Did you buy strawberries?" the teenager asked.

Sung Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow and nagged at her again to help him peel the potatoes, since they would be using them for tonight's stew.

"Yah! Why won't you tell me, huh? What are you hiding from me?"

The eldest of the two siblings played it cool and continued to wash the rice, and once the water came out clear, he dumped it into the rice cooker. Of course Jin-Ah wasn't going to be left in doubt and continued to annoy him, but at least she was already peeling the potatoes and, after having hidden the boxes with strawberries, which she planned to eat later by herself.

After three years, they could afford to have a relaxed dinner that was a little livelier than the previous ones. The meal tasted much better than on other occasions, despite the absence of their parents, where they all would laugh or listen attentively to their father's heroic deeds as a firefighter. 

For the first time in three years, he felt at peace and hoped, from the bottom of his heart, that this peace would not be taken away from him so soon. And he was even able to fall asleep much more quickly.

Chapter Text

From that day on, things began to improve and flow peacefully in the Sung's home; everything was going too quiet to the point of being too odd. That's why Jin-Ah did not miss the opportunity to bother her brother with the hopes that he would tell her once and for all why he was in such a good mood. Yes, it is true that she didn't take it seriously the first days, and by the second week her curiosity began to arise, but by the third week she couldn't help wondering what was the reason for her big brother's change of mood.

"My oppa is a fool; I don't understand what's the need to hide things from me," she mumbled one afternoon as she was leaving school with Song-Yi. Her friend just shrugged and looked at her with a bored expression.

"Surely it's a guys' thing" was her short answer before dragging her to the mall to distract her for a while, and... eventually it worked out, and she ended up forgetting all about her brother.

At least for an hour.

"It's just that you don't understand, SongYi-ya. You don't understand!" She repeats with her arms raised dramatically, almost dropping the ice cream she's holding in her right "That night, he brought a bag of GrainSeoul pastries! GrainSeoul!"

The other teen just watches and nods without interrupting Jin-Ah for every single thing she keeps talking about her brother, whether it's from how early she's seen him wake up these past few days to his sudden good mood, plus every night when he comes back home, he comes early and always with some bag full of goodies.

"Chocolates imported from Belgium!"

Like any good friend, all Song-Yi can do is listen to Jin-Ah's crazy theories; after all, she is her friend. As she does so and enjoys her ice cream, she can't help but wonder if it's possible for a rank-E hunter to indulge in that kind of luxury.

'It must be great,' she thought.

While enjoying their ice cream, both girls continued chatting about everything and anything, sometimes talking about how hard the English test was or how rumors are still going around that the math and science teacher seem to be in a relationship.

"Let's go over there," Song-Yi suggests, pointing to a clothing store where both girls end up going to see what's new in the place.

Since it's Friday afternoon, they have nothing to worry about and can enjoy a little more before the day is over, but again, the talk returns to the main topic, which is the sudden change in her best friend's brother.

Song-Yi answers with a soft hum. She is somewhat distracted looking at two blouses, not knowing which one to choose, but after thinking it over and seeing the prices, she decides to put them where she found them.

"What if his good mood is because he has a girlfriend?" She finally asks, then turns around to see Jin-Ah, who is rigid and wide-eyed.

"Impossible!" she squeals in disbelief. She doesn't want to sound rude, but she can't picture her oppa in a relationship.

'Maybe I shouldn't have said that...' she thinks after seeing her friend immersed in a deep silence and a thoughtful expression.

On the other hand, Jin-Ah is unable to avoid seeing things from a sister's point of view, and as for her oppa, he is not a bad match; he is a hard worker with a good heart, and he can cook delicious food. But for how old he is, she has never heard of him being interested in girls or boys. She doesn't judge. The tricky thing is that her oppa is too innocent, and she fears that some witch might just want to get his hopes up and take advantage of him.

At the end of the day, both girls say goodbye at a bus stop and go their separate ways, but on her way back, Jin-Ah spends the whole time sulking and thinking of a way to get the truth out of him as soon as she gets home, but unfortunately, it backfires on her. The delicious aroma of Sogogi doenjang-jjigae stew greets her as she opens the door.

"Ah, Jin-Ah, you're just in time," her brother greets her as he finishes arranging the dishes on the table, ranging from freshly made white rice and radish kimchi to some japchae and fish, among other side dishes.

"What is all this?"

"Food," Jin-Woo replies, but his sister is not amused and just mocks and scoffs at him.

 The teenager curiously approaches the table, ready to grab some Japchae with her fingers, but her brother lightly smacks her hand, stopping her. 

"Hey! Why are you hitting me?"

"Because you are touching the food with dirty hands, go and wash your hands."

Wanting to talk back, she ends up keeping quiet and goes to wash her hands after hearing her brother threaten to eat the chocolate-covered strawberries he brought in today.

"Don't you dare!" the teenager shouted from her room and almost slammed the door as she hurriedly went to wash and change her clothes.

In the meantime, Jin-Woo stayed alone in the kitchen, finishing some cleaning and tidying up so that it wouldn't become harder for him later, but every now and then he couldn't help checking his cell phone that kept vibrating in his pocket, and by the time Jin-Ah came back from her room, she found him busy typing a message and laughing quietly.

She wanted to ask him what he was laughing about, but as soon as Jin-Woo noticed her presence, he immediately put his cell phone back in his pants pocket and called for her to have a seat so they could have dinner.

'What the hell was that?!'  

During the whole dinner the older male remained secretive and evading her questions, though in the end the teenager gave up in her quest not because she was no longer interested, but because her brother used the chocolate-covered strawberries to get out of the situation.

'For today you got away with it, but soon I will find out what you are hiding from me' and with that thought she continued munching on her delicious strawberries while continuing watching Mr. Queen.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

By the fourth week, the teenager decided to change her strategy, and rather than importune him so often, she decided to throw out here and there mild comments about the pastries that he had brought that day from the GrainSeoul café, flattering him about being the best oppa in the whole world for fulfilling such a whim for her.

"I'm glad you liked them, Jin-Ah," he said. "Too bad you ate them too fast, and you even ate the one I was saving for me. You're going to gain weight if you keep going like that." He joked heartily.

"...." The young girl waited expectantly for her brother to say something about the prices or at least give her a clue as to how he had gotten them, but he turned back to the kitchen to concentrate on the breakfast he was preparing.

"Damn it..." the teen mumbled under her breath and went back to his room to change into her school uniform.

Sung Jin-Woo chuckled softly and shook his head. He found it funny how much his sister was trying so hard to make him confess, and even if he wanted to tell her, he didn't want to get her hopes up with something that wouldn't work out in the long run. He decided to continue savoring the small moments of joy they were permitted, at least until the two-month deadline passed.

"Although there is not much time left..." It made him uneasy since there was only a month left and then he would have to return to his job as a hunter. He didn't want to get hurt again, but at least the pay was a little better than an ordinary job, and the most important thing was the benefit of having medical insurance to treat his mother.

'I also have my savings' he thought.

He had been dividing all the tips he had earned for the expenses of the house, the hospital, and Jin-Ah's college savings; the rest he was keeping in case of any emergency.

"At least with that, I'll be able to afford things for a few months; I just hope nothing unexpected comes up."

When he looked at the time on the wall clock and saw that it was ten to seven, it was getting late, and he hadn't even noticed!

"Jin-Ah, I have to go now!"

"Huh? Oppa wait!"

However, Jin-Woo didn't wait; he just grabbed his keys and backpack to run out of there and see if he could catch the bus. On the way, he was dodging and apologizing to people for bumping into them as he ran and maneuvered to get his cell phone out of his pocket and call Miss Park.

"Jinwo-ssi, is everything alright?"

"Haneul-ssi, I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to be a little late!"

All he heard on the other end of the line was the young woman's soft laughter and reassurance that he had nothing to worry about, and with that, he slowed his pace a bit.

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter if you're late for a couple of minutes or half an hour."

There was a small silence, but it was not awkward like before. Sung Jin-Woo let out a chuckle that sounded more like an exhale of relief and thanked the young woman before ending the call. After informing Ha-Neul about his tardiness, he could now walk more at ease; in situations like these, he had been tempted to use his father's car, but he usually did it only for emergencies or when the raids were far away from his home and where public transportation didn't offer service to those areas. Rather than spend money on gas unless it was really necessary, he preferred to save it for when he needed it.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

"Don't you have to go to work today?"

"No, not today."

Jin-Ah followed him from behind and let out a hmm, but decided to leave the issue aside. At least in the meantime, she was thinking about how to make him admit that the meat they had for dinner yesterday was premium and not the one they always used to buy. It was too good and soft to be their usual meal. She vividly remembered how their father used to treat them to premium meat for their birthdays during BBQ dinners. Therefore, she was confident that what she had eaten was indeed the premium meat, despite her brother's insistence.

"Silly oppa," she mumbled through her teeth.

Usually they both took turns doing the grocery shopping, but that weekend the two siblings decided to do it together as well as run an errand or two in the surrounding area.

Since it was the weekend, the supermarket was a little more crowded than usual, and as expected, the same ten songs kept playing randomly through the speakers in every corner of the store: two by Black Pink, three by BTS, two by TXT, one by Seventeen, and two by ATEEZ. This took place from opening time until closing time. Not that it bothered him, but at this point he had already memorized the lyrics of those songs without even being a fan of any of the groups. 

At least the music helped to fill the silence between both of them and to distract Jin-Ah, who was humming "DDU-DU DDU-DU DDU-DU," but when he saw her already doing the choreography in the middle of the cereal aisle, he decided to speed up the pace, he didn't want people to associate him with her.

"Oppa!"

"Get away from me; I don't even know you!" the eldest of the siblings said back, not holding back his laughter when his sister pouted and ran towards him.

"You're so mean!"

He laughed as his sister walked behind him with her arms crossed, still grumbling and claiming that he was being mean to her for leaving her behind. However, after about ten minutes of pacing back and forth through the aisles, the teenager began to pay more attention to how focused her brother was as he pushed the cart with his left hand and held the long shopping list with his right.

And the amazing thing about all of this was how in every aisle they went into, he always ended up grabbing something to put in the cart, either from what he had written down on the list or some extra little things that they could need or indulge in now. He would also turn every now and then to ask her if she needed anything specific from her basic necessities.

"Don't say that out loud!" She scolded him in a low voice and red-faced with embarrassment because Jin-Woo was critically analyzing the sanitary pads and seeing which ones were most beneficial and fit a good price.

"Why? This is a normal thing, Jin-Ah, you shouldn't be embarrassed."

It wasn't that she was ashamed of the product, but rather the natural way in which her brother talked about feminine products; in fact, she was thankful that Jin-Woo wasn't the typical man who was embarrassed or disgusted by something so natural; besides, he was the best older brother anyone could have, and he knew which products she needed when she couldn't go on her own to buy them.

"Tch, but at least don't say it out loud!" 

She grabbed them both and threw them into the cart, and then continued walking ahead of him. The black-haired man shook his head and sighed, but decided not to argue with his sister and continue with their shopping.

Sung Jin-Ah found this trip to the supermarket completely fascinating and could almost associate it with a trip to the zoo, where the center of attraction was her own brother, and every time he stopped for a few seconds to inspect the products he was interested in buying, although he still chose some generic brands or those listed in the coupons and discounts section, this time he seemed not to be refraining from grabbing the ones he really wanted, regardless of the cost.

'Weird, this is very weird...' 

Jin-Ah felt the growing urge to ask him if they would have enough money for all the stuff he was throwing into the cart, especially when she saw him putting in the biggest sack of rice that the supermarket had for sale.

"Oppa, are you sure you want to take that one?" She pointed to the sack he had put in the cart and then turned to see a medium-sized one, almost questioning him with her gaze as to why they weren't taking the usual one.

"Of course, besides, this way we won't have to come and buy rice for a couple of months!" he replied gleefully, then continued on his way to the noodle area. 

The coppery brown-haired girl stood there analyzing the bags of rice, thinking of some clever answer to give, but nothing came to her mind. Sure, it didn't bother her that her brother was buying more, and they didn't have to keep coming back until they had coupons or sales, but she couldn't deny that it worried her how much the cart was filling up.

"Will he even have enough to pay for all that?" She muttered under her breath and shook her head. "Oppa, you're a fool." 

They both continued their tour through the dairy and other refrigerated products area; it was like Christmas, but for adults, where she could see him going back and forth showing her certain products he had wanted to buy before but refrained from doing so. It's not like Jin-Woo was wasting money either, and he was also taking items that were equally beneficial and were either on sale or he had coupons to afford them.

"This is the best day of my entire life," exclaimed the older man after tossing a couple of basic items into the cart.

"Do you even grow a beard?" Jin-Ah asked with a raised eyebrow at the sight of him tossing a bottle of shaving cream into the cart, causing Jin-Woo to turn beet red and start ignoring her. "Oppa, answer me! Are you growing a beard? Is that even possible?! And why are you carrying hair products?! Oppa, stop ignoring me!!"

"Jin-Ah, stop yelling!"     

A few people turned to look at the siblings, who were going back and forth and pestering each other like a pair of kids.

By the time they reached the cleaning aisle, the teen knew that Jin-Woo would take a little bit longer; even his expression was one of deep concentration as he scrutinized the prices and pros and cons of certain products, such as laundry detergent and fabric softener, as well as the one they used for mopping the floor. 

Jin-Ah pursed her lips and let him continue to contemplate whether to take 'Lavender' or 'Fresh Scent of Sunshine' scented fabric softener, or whatever that was. She simply stood behind him, watching him from a short distance, only to see how he ended up taking both products and pushing the cart into the next aisle. 

As for her, she went in a different direction and didn't show up until fifteen minutes later with a big smile on her face and her arms full of her favorite snacks and fried foods. Perhaps she couldn't understand the exact reason behind her brother's change or where he was getting the money to treat them to these little luxuries, but if she couldn't fight him, then she would join him. Asides from that, she was happy to see him more at ease.

"Oppa, can I take this?"

Sung Jin-Woo was placing the carton of eggs into the cart when he heard his sister's voice, and he turned around to see her with a curious expression and a cocked eyebrow raised.

"Jin-Ah..."

The coppery brown-haired teen made use of her best weapon, the famous puppy eyes, knowing damn well that her older brother would never deny her anything, at least not something as little as her snacks, right? Jin-Woo tried to be strong, but at his sister's insistence, he only closed his eyes briefly and let out an exhale. When he opened them again, he looked at her and, with a slight smile, indicated to her that she could have them.

"Just don't eat them all, ok?" He warned her with a tone between mocking and serious, knowing how weak her sister was and that she would probably eat them in less than a week, but right now Jin-Ah was busy celebrating with her happy dance after filling the cart with her favorite snacks rather than paying attention to her oppa.

Sung Jin-Woo just watched her with a satisfied expression before continuing with their grocery shopping. 

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

During their trip to the supermarket, they used their coupons but were surprised by a higher total. Her oppa calmly paid the full amount without attempting to return items or adjust to their budget, leaving her flabbergasted as he cheerfully continued on his way back home.

Now more than ever, she needed to find out the truth; therefore, she had to resume her investigation, even though Jin-Ah knew it would not be easy, not with how hard Jin-Woo was to crack.

That night they had fried chicken for dinner at her insistence, but during their meal she couldn't help but notice out of the corner of her eye that her brother was discreetly trying to text someone; unfortunately, she couldn't see the name, but she found it too strange because if it was about work or a friend, Jin-Woo wouldn't hide it.

"Does he even have any friends?"

After dinner, she headed back to her room with the excuse of studying a little for the math test she was supposed to take next week, but in fact, she was lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

"He should have, maybe from high school?" SongYi suggested letting the silence linger for a moment as Jin-Ah pondered the possibility.

"I remember seeing him hanging out with his friends, but that was three years ago, SongYi-ya. After my father's incident and oppa waking up as E-rank, many people grew distant from us..." Her voice grew smaller and was laden with some resentment, both toward said friends and family, who didn't hesitate to turn their backs on them when things became difficult for them.

People who were once close to Jin-Ah started talking about their misfortunes, from losing their father inside a 'Portal' after saving many people's lives to later losing their mother, who succumbed to the Eternal Slumber, leaving their older brother's future in ruins, and being left with a high school diploma that seemed useless except for landing a low-paying job, which caused Jin-Ah pain. And it was difficult to swallow the anger of listening to her uncles or aunts laugh at them and talk about their children's greatness while they had to figure out how to make it to the next month.

"Or maybe he's doing well as a hunter?" There was a brief pause, and an exhale was heard on the other end of the line. "I heard that hunters earn very well."

"I'd believe you if oppa wasn't E-rank, and I hadn't seen him coming in injured almost every day for almost two years." Jin-Ah paused. "There's no way he would suddenly do well out of nowhere..." 

Once more, a brief silence lingered between the two girls as they pondered a way to piece things together. It wasn't that she was dissatisfied with what was going on; it simply was too strange and more with everything they had been through in the past three years with her oppa having to carry so many responsibilities and stick to a tight budget. She knew he wasn't doing it because he was stingy, but because it was truly necessary, and they had no help from anyone other than themselves. So yes, even if it was a slight change, it was still too damn bizarre for her.

"What if he has a sugar mommy?" To say she hadn't been surprised would be lying; it was more like she almost choked on her own saliva and had to get up from bed because she wouldn't stop coughing.

So many experiences inside the Portals and being one step away from death have helped Sung Jin-Woo to react quickly, which is why at the first scream of his sister, he entered with a broom in hand and looking for the possible threat, asking repeatedly what was going on and who he should hit.

"Oppa, put that broom down; you're going to hit me!" Jin-Ah shrieked bewildered and abruptly ending the call by accident with Song-Yi.

Of course, their shouting and loud footsteps ended up getting them in trouble with the next-door neighbors and the downstairs neighbors, who were quick to come knocking on their door and complaining about the noise they were making late at night.

"We are so sorry," both exclaimed in embarrassed unison and with a slight bow.

"Don't you see what time it is?" said one of them, making Jin-Ah annoyed by the rude way Mr. Choi was talking to them, but mostly by the strong smell of alcohol impregnated in his breath.

"You should be more conscious," remarked Mrs. Hwang, who had come downstairs to complain, and without even removing her mud mask and curlers still on. "Don't you know that some people have to get up early in the morning and go to work?"

The siblings both nodded, and Jin-Woo was the one who took on the responsibility of reassuring the group of adults and apologizing again, at least until his sister interrupted him.

"I'm so sorry; it was my fault," she admitted with a tinge of embarrassment for not holding back and having to go through this moment. "It's just that I saw a spider in my room, and..."

Mrs. Hwang paled immediately, and she put a hand on her chest to cover herself more with her robe. "You said you saw a spider in your room?"

Sung Jin-Ah nodded and had to hold back the urge to laugh when she saw the adults arguing among themselves and with Mr. Kim, who swore in front of her and the other couple of neighbors that he too had seen a couple of spiders crawling out of the air vent a few days ago.

"I told you guys that I wasn't lying! Tch, and yet the bastard landlord dared to fucking deny it to my face about the spiders and even raise the rent."

The other neighbors exchanged worried glances, hoping that there wasn't an infestation of spiders or any other pest in the building.

She thought, 'At least that lie saved us,' as she watched the adults argue among themselves. Once they left, the noise they made was allowed to pass as "justified." However, the issue was far from settled. As soon as Jin-Woo closed the door, he headed to Jin-Ah's room with a broom in hand, ready to rid the room of the supposed spider.

"Are you sure you saw it around here?" asked the eldest of the siblings, holding said weapon while looking for the supposed spider under the desk.

Jin-Ah only affirmed and sustained the lie for a couple of minutes more, until she dismissed the search for the supposed arachnid by claiming that it probably crawled out of the window.

"Through... the window?"

Sung Jin-Woo slowly lowered the broom and turned to look at the window, which, for some weird reason, was closed.

"You say it climbed out of the window?" he asked again, turning his lips into a thin line.

Jin-Ah let out a nervous laugh but quickly composed herself and frowned, blaming him for surely getting the spider out of her room when he barged in.

"So now it's my fault?"

"Obviously!!"

"..."

"And now get out of my room; I wanna sleep!"

The teenager had no hesitation, pushing him out and slamming the door in his face. Sung Jin-Woo stood alone in the hallway and stared at the door in front of him, wondering what the heck happened but mentally tired of not wanting to ask.

"I just hope there really aren't any spiders," he mutters to himself, looking around while he goes back to the closet to put the broom inside. "I wouldn't want it to appear while I'm sleeping..."

For that night and the following ones, Jin-Woo slept with one eye open and with the fear of the arachnid appearing in the middle of the night, and while Jin-Ah might have lied about the said spider, it was never too much to be cautious.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Over the days, Jin-Ah insisted and continued with the intense interrogation in order to get him to confess, but no matter how much she insisted, Jin-Woo refused to give in, and because of his brother's foolishness, she became more worried, fearing that Song-Yi's words were true and that his dumb oppa might be involved in some illicit business. Or worse, with a sugar mommy!

"Oppa, just tell me the truth!"

"Jin-Ah, you're going to be late for school."

The teenager folded her arms and made a pout, clearly showing how unhappy she was, but even so, she didn't have it in her mind to give up. She continued to watch him intently and waited for at least a brief explanation, but it never came. Her brother, on the other hand, just kept browsing on his cell phone without even paying attention to her. Jin-Woo could be a tough nut to crack, a stubborn man despite his submissive attitude and penchant for always avoiding conflict.

"It's not fair..."

In the end, she closed her eyes and slumped against the edge of the sofa's backrest, hiding her face in her arms. It was beyond comprehension as to why her brother was incapable of being honest with her. Defeated, Jin-Ah walked to the door and sat down on the small step to put on her shoes. Sung Jin-Woo put her phone on the small coffee table and smiled slightly at her as he stood up and walked over to his sister.

"Come on, Jin-Ah, don't be upset," he said with a calm tone, placing a hand on her head and lightly tousling her hair.

"Oppa, you're messing up my hair!"

Sung Jin-Woo laughed as he watched his sister cover her head so he wouldn't keep ruffling her hair. He stopped laughing and reminded her again not to keep wasting time, or she would end up missing the bus and earning a mark on her attendance record for being late.

"Come on, you better hurry, or you'll miss the bus."

The teenager rolled her eyes and looked back at him with some annoyance. At times, Jin-Woo could be quite challenging when he set his mind to it, and only she was aware that beneath his meek exterior lay his true nature.

"And whose fault do you think it is?" She stuck her tongue out at him, then opened the door to rush out and hurry to catch the bus that would drop her off near the high school.

Or at least that's what Jin-Woo thought.

Chapter Text

The mystery surrounding her brother's actions has been plaguing Sung Jin-Ah for the past month, and he didn't even suspect that his sister had come up with a clever plan with Song-Yi during one afternoon of study at her friend's house. Sung Jin-Ah doubted that her oppa had had a second awakening and was still working as a hunter, as he would likely be too overjoyed to keep it as a secret. If he had awoken with a higher rank, he would probably not shut up about it and act all smug.

There was also the fact that during the whole month she hadn't noticed a single wound, not even a small scratch, plus he had been coming home early and always with a smile on his lips.

Another important point was the pay. What kind of job allowed him to work ten hours without causing him any stress, as well as little luxuries such as Hanwoo meat, premium fruit, or imported chocolates? The only plausible explanation was that he had secured another job, but, for an inexplicable reason, he was concealing it from her.

"This is all too good to be true..."

She is aware of their reality, and for that very same reason fears that the stress and heavy burden have forced her dumb brother into some illicit business.

"Are you sure about this, Jin-Ah?" Son-Yi asked. Her friend had arrived early to meet her outside the apartment complex where Jin-Ah lives, and they then headed to a nearby café. As they walked, Sung Jin-Ah kept silent for a couple of minutes and glanced at her with a resigned expression.

"SongYi-ya, I can’t keep acting like nothing it’s happening, all this is too weird; I need to know what the hell my stupid oppa has gotten himself into."

Song-Yi's expression remained with that slight seriousness, as if she were thinking of some other alternative that wouldn't end up affecting her friend's attendance record, because she knew how important it was for Jin-Ah to have excellent grades as well as an impeccable record, in the hopes that all her efforts would pay off and help her get a scholarship for college. And because of this she felt annoyed with the latter's brother; she just didn't understand what was the need for him to hide things from Jin-Ah and worry her more.

"Your brother is a fool," she mumbled lowly, making her friend smile.

"I know that, but I also know how much my oppa has sacrificed to give me a better future." Her face darkened.

It has been about three years since the incident with the "Portal" that appeared in the middle of the park, where her father disappeared after saving several civilians, and two years since her mother succumbed to the Eternal Slumber.

Throughout this time, she has watched her brother shoulder the responsibility of being the man of the house, abandon his aspirations to pursue further education, and even utilize the funds their parents had set aside for his college education to cover medical costs, rent, and food expenses. And how the stress has been consuming him as he has struggled to find a decent-paying job that wasn’t so far from home, just a precaution in case something happened.

Always working long hours and often without a break, only to come home after a tough day and suppress his fatigue. However, Jin-Ah has observed how her brother frequently juggles with two or three jobs at the same time, often to the point of exhaustion from lack of rest and improper eating, all in an effort to ensure she never lacks anything.

And while she's extremely grateful for her brother's efforts, she's not going to turn a blind eye and let him continue sacrificing himself to the point of endangering himself.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

After  reaching  the  cafe,  they  made  a  beeline  toward  the  far  end  of  the  hallway and avoiding  draw  any  unwanted  attention.

Jin-Ah hurriedly made her way to the restroom to change her uniform for a casual attire. After all, she didn't plan to draw attention to herself by wearing her school uniform while following her brother around the city; the least she wanted was for someone notifying her school and getting her in more trouble. In the meantime, Song-Yi waited outside for her, guarding the restroom and holding their bags.

A couple of minutes later, the teenager with coppery-brown hair emerged from the cubicle, fixing her ponytail a bit, while Song-Yi put the uniform inside her bag.

She  then  lifts  the  bag  and  adds,  "Don't  worry,  I'll  take  care  of  dropping  this  off  at  your  place.  I'll  also  inform  Mr.  Hwang  that  you  are  sick."

"Thank you, SongYi-ya."

The girl gave an offhand shrug, as if to dismiss the issue.

"I  hope  you'll  pay  me  back  with  ice  cream."

As  they  exit  the  shop,  the  two  girls  can't  help  but  chuckle  at  her  words;  luckily,  nobody  saw  that  only one of them was wearing her school uniform.

On their way back to the building, Song-Yi crossed the street and ducked behind some trees close to the complex's main entrance. From her hiding spot, she could easily spot the moment Sung Jin-Woo would come out, but he wouldn't be able to catch sight of her. Meanwhile, Sung Jin-Ah remained on her line and dashed into an alleyway that faced the apartment complex. 

"Oppa..."

Maybe she was wrong, but she couldn't just continue like this and ignore what was happening with her brother; she couldn't bear to lose another loved one just because she decided to stay in the dark. And knowing her older brother's nature, there was a possibility that he would do anything in order to give her a better life, even if it meant putting his own life at risk. Although the teen doesn't understand what could be more dangerous than working as a hunter and facing death at every step, that doesn't take away the restlessness in her heart and the fear of losing him, so she waits patiently for him to come out.

"This time, I'll make sure to discover the truth."

After what seemed like an  eternity from their respective positions, the teens finally saw their target leaving the complex. Jin-Ah messaged Song-Yi to let her know that they could proceed with their plan, and wasted no time, always keeping a safe distance to not raise suspicion. But despite her best efforts, some people stared at her oddly as she continued hiding behind trees or some store's signs; of course the teen was unaware of this and felt like she was making great progress.  Thankfully, nobody warned Sung Jin-Woo of the girl's weird behavior or even thought that she could be some crazy stalker for the way she had been following him for almost twenty minutes.

And while following him she also noticed him using his phone on their way to the bus stop, and while he might be reading a Webtoon, checking the weather, or even looking something up, she found it ironic that her brother was doing the very thing that he so loved to nag her about, but it was odd how he had become a bit more wary and dependent on his phone, especially after he started texting this mysterious person. 

But the reality was a hell of a lot different than whatever Sung Jin-Ah could be imagining right now.

"I wonder what I should cook tonight."

Sung Jin-Woo was just too distracted searching for a new recipe to try tonight, one that included the ingredients they already had at home.

Fortunately, the bus didn't take long to arrive, and the black-haired male had already put his phone away and taken his card out to pay the fare. He then headed off to his usual seat by the window. It was a relief to see the bus empty and not have to deal with people pushing him or talking loudly on the phone; while it was a very impolite action, there was always one or two exceptions who didn't seem to care. 

"Damn it..." 

Jin-Ah on the other hand stared for long seconds at her brother's figure until he disappeared inside the bus. The truth was that she hadn't thought very well about this part of her plan, as she could easily be discovered if she wasn't careful.

"Young lady, are you also boarding?"

The teen was a little startled by the kind voice of the driver, who was staring at her with a curious expression and waiting for some response from her. The driver was a middle-aged man with gentle aging marks on his face, snow-white hair, and beard, as well as having a friendly expression that reminded her of that old man who dresses in red and white and rides a sleigh once a year.

The teen quickly fixed her hoodie and white mask that covered half of her face; once ready, she hopped in and quietly apologized to the driver for keeping him waiting.

"Oh, no worries, miss," the driver said, making a friendly gesture, indicating to her that he wasn't upset and there was nothing to worry about.

The bus closed the door and waited for the teenager to take out her card and swipe it over the machine to pay the fare. Once done, Sung Jin-Ah walked with her head down and made her way to the seats at the back of the bus, but the tricky part came when she had to walk past her brother, and for a moment she thought that she was going to get caught.

She always thought that hunters had some special ability that made them alert to their surroundings and knew when they were in danger, like in Webtoons or video games, but contrary to her belief, nothing like that happened. Furthermore, her brother seemed more entertained by whatever he was watching on his cell phone than paying attention to his surroundings.

'Agh, what is he even watching on his phone?'

She honestly couldn't understand the person who kept nagging her about spending so much time on her cell phone, but now it was him who was doing it. Oh, the hypocrisy.

She muttered under her breath, "Tsk, oppa, you kimchi head," and crossed her arms. Though at least she felt proud of herself for her small accomplishment of not getting caught and was tempted to do a little victory dance, but at the end refrained from doing so.

At the same time, poor Sung Jin-Woo couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, but why? It's not like he was carrying anything of value, and he hadn't even seen any of the hunters he's worked with before. 

"Hmm, maybe I'm just imagining things again..." It wouldn't be the first or last time he'd felt this way, especially since he'd started working as a delivery man, and while on all those occasions had been false alarms, he wouldn't allow himself to let his guard down either. The least he wanted was for those hunters to catch wind where he works now.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

People were getting on and off the bus, but to her surprise, her older brother remained without moving from his seat, he was still distracted on his hone and for a moment Jin-Ah though they had already missed their stop. But knowing how responsible he was, it was hard for her to imagine such a thing happening. Another thing she noticed was the route the bus was taking, which she found curious because it was a bit far from her neighborhood. However, it was interesting that her brother had ventured out of his comfort zone by coming all the way to the other side of town.

What she never imagined was that they would then have to board a second bus that would take them a bit further until dropping them off at the corner of a plaza.

"Huh, at least we're not in a red-light district," the coppery-brown-haired teen muttered.

So far, none of this made any sense, but at least she was thankful she hadn't ended up in a strange neighborhood full of thugs with illicit businesses. Now all that was left was to venture out into the streets, and as she did so, she walked past various types of businesses that ranged from boutiques to beauty salons, a few street food stalls, and more, but none of them seemed to be the places where her brother worked, and the truth is that she was getting tired of walking so much.

Sung Jin-Ah grunted heavily as she realized that she had to keep walking and go through a shady alleyway. She has to admit that it was somewhat fun, and it made her feel like a spy in the middle of a top-secret mission that would lead her to discover the bad guys' lair, but at the same time, the teen felt a bit tired.

However, nothing she had imagined would have prepared her in advance for what lay ahead of her.

"Huh, a pottery studio?"

The teen blinked a couple of times with a confused expression and rubbed her eyes to make sure her eyesight wasn't failing her.

It was strange to think that her brother was interested in learning the art of working with clay, but what was most impressive was not that, but the logo imprinted on the establishment's door and windows.

"This place is..."

The teenager was aware that she was standing only a few meters away from the only studio in all of South Korea, owned by Lee Seo-joon, a potter whose works were exquisitely crafted and whose exclusive designs were recognized by the country's upper class. However, Mr. Lee's talent garnered recognition not only in Korea but also internationally, leading to invitations to showcase his works abroad, which commanded prices exceeding six figures.

At the very least, she had heard about him from his frequent mentions in the news, or perhaps because her art teacher was a fan of him and had compelled her class to learn about him. The frequent mention and fame of a potter's name were quite impressive, particularly in the contemporary world they were living in. And with this new information under her belt, she began to create hundreds of scenarios that could help her understand what was going on.

I mean, how did an E-ranked hunter get the chance to meet a famous potter?

It didn't make sense, especially since both of them were from different worlds. 

The teen had come all this way to resolve her worries and dispel her doubts, but only ended up with more questions than she had at the beginning.

"Jin-Ah, what are you doing here?"

Her brother's typical scolding tone startled the coppery-brown-haired teen who slowly stared nervously at her brother. The teen cursed at herself because maybe her plan would have worked out perfectly if she hadn't stood like a fool in front of the studio, where clearly anyone could see him from the store's window.

Meanwhile, the eldest of the siblings was silently staring at her, arms folded, and waiting for his sister to explain what the heck she was doing here instead of being at school.

"Oppa, you're a fool!" But instead of providing him with an explanation, Jin-Ah stomped her foot hard on the ground and frowned, mimicking his posture. Sung Jin-Woo was surprised, but also worried about his younger sister's behavior. "Can't you see that I was worried about you?"

Of course she was aware that it was a dirty tactic to inflict guilt on her brother; it was a low blow, and even more so when he had sacrificed so much for her over the past few years, but what else could she do, especially when he decided to hide things from her instead of being honest?

The truth is, Sung Jin-Ah is tired of her brother still considering her a little girl when she is mature enough to understand grown-up things.

"Jin-Ah?"

The alluded shook her head slightly and clenched her fists tightly until her knuckles turned pale.

"Don't you understand?" There was a hint of pain and disappointment in her voice.

While she was grateful that the pantry was always full of food, the rent and utilities were paid on time, and in addition to crediting the hospital debt that grew daily and likewise each and every positive change that had come up during the entire month, her brother's attitude never ceased to worry her.

She may have been a naïve teenager with limited life experience, but she wasn't blind nor ignorant to ignore the fact that friends and family were quick to abandon them when circumstances became challenging, leaving them adrift. And she knows this because she has seen and heard the contemptuous tone with which her brother has been addressed and how he has always kept his head down, accepting everything with a dumb smile, and for that very reason she fears that all the pressure and responsibilities have led him to be now under the yoke of a loan shark.

"Oppa, you've been acting weird lately, and I'm not just saying that because you've been coming home early and... uninjured." There was a small pause, still refusing to meet his eyes, but after collecting some courage, she slowly raised her gaze until she fixed it on her brother's. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you don't come home hurt anymore, but lately you've been acting odd, and there's also the issue of money."

Sung Jin-Woo's expression was one of guilt, as he not only noticed but understood that his actions had led to worrying his younger sister to the point of making her miss school, something she had never done before.

Not even when she gets sick!

"Jin-Ah..." he calls her by her name again, but this time without that tone that signals a scolding, as when your parents are about to give you a lecture and tell you how disappointed they are with your behavior. The older man is aware that he acted bad in hiding from her about his "new job," but he also didn't want to get her hopes up about something that wasn't stable and that, after the two months, he'll be back to his old job as a hunter. "I'm sorry, I know I should have been honest with you from the beginning instead of keeping things from you and worrying you."

That's when he finally admits out loud that he acted wrong and shortened the distance between them, putting his right hand on the teenager's head and lightly ruffling her hair in a brotherly gesture.

"I'm really sorry, Jin-Ah. I shouldn't have worried you like that."

However, despite her outward displays of maturity and her insistence on facing the world, Jin-Ah remains a young girl in need of protection from the wickedness and indifferent treatment of others. But there's no father or mother to protect and guide her; she only has an introverted and silly older brother who does his best and will never let her lack anything.

Maybe this is the reason she doesn't remain still and quickly reaches out to embrace him, forgetting for a moment that the majority of their affectionate gestures equate to mutual bullying.

"Oppa, you a ramen head!"

And there was his adorable little sister again, demonstrating with reprimands and pulling his cheek how much she loves and worries about him.

After apologizing to her for the umpteenth time and silently accepting her scolding, Sung Jin-Woo allowed himself a couple of minutes to explain briefly (and omitting certain details) how he ended up working in Lee's ceramic studio. It was evident that he had concocted a lie on the spot, hoping Jin-Ah would accept it without further questioning.

It's not that he was lying to her; he was simply saving her from worrying her about a six-figure debt that he would take full responsibility for paying in the event that Ms. Park failed to replicate the vase.

"So you're telling me that you work as a delivery man for this place?" The coppery-brown girl paused and stared at him. "Really, oppa?"

"Why is it so hard for you to believe this, but not that I'm incapable of going to a loan shark?"

The teenager smiled cheekily at him and backed up a couple of steps to avoid her brother pinching her cheeks or getting a smack on the head.

"Hey, is it true that he's a grumpy ahjussi?" She asked in a mirthful voice, a grin on her lips.

"Jin-Ah, how many times have I told you to not...?"

But in that moment the teenager realized that someone was spying on them from the side of the window. This surprised her a bit, even more so when the other person quickly cut eye contact and ran away to hide. "Is that the owner?"

"!!!!"

Sung Jin-Woo's expression changed to a funny one as he stared wide-eyed at his sister running to the studio. The teenager snorted at her silly older brother's scowl; he was trying to look intimidating, but the truth is, he couldn't even scare a little chihuahua. "Jin-Ah, come back here!"

The teenager ignored him and she entered the studio, expecting to meet the renowned Lee Seo-joon and her brother's boss, but instead she found a young woman in the midst of fleeing to the employee's room. Park Ha-Neul stood still with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment as she was caught in the act. On the other hand, Sung Jin-Ah was watching her from the doorway with a curious expression, trying to decipher why the young woman seemed to be flustered.

"Um, would you like to come in?" With a gesture of her hand, Ha-Neul signaled that she was welcome into the studio as she tried to maintain a relaxed façade. She knew that it wasn't right to listen to other people's conversations, but she only did it after the abrupt way in which Sung Jin-Woo left the studio, fearing that something bad might have happened. It was only a short glance, and she did it to make sure he was okay.

Of course, the brunette didn't expect to meet a teenager with similar features as Sung Jin-Woo's under the studio's threshold.

Meanwhile, Sung Jin-Ah didn't know what to think; she was expecting to meet the famous grumpy ahjussi and studio owner, but instead she ran into a girl who curiously reminded her of a poor, scared bunny who had been cornered in the middle of her escape. Besides, her sisterly instincts began to tingle as she eyed the young woman and came to the conclusion that this unnie was, indeed, very cute. 

And this new discovery planted a crazy idea in her twisted little head.

The silence lasted little more than half a minute when the bell of the front door rang again. Under the threshold stood Sung Jin-Woo, staring at his sister, almost warning her with a stare, but she completely ignored it and smiled cheekily. While some might consider Jin-Ah to be a kind and even adorable girl, Jin-Woo knew her as well as the back of his hand, and just looking at that expression, he knew that his sister was probably having some weird ideas.

"Oppa, this place is great! Now I understand why you like working here~"

Her gray eyes, identical to her brother's, scanned the establishment and each unique item for sale. Occasionally, her gaze would stray back to the other young woman, who didn't seem to have noticed it, unlike her brother, who who had caught the meaning behind her words, causing him to blush from head to toe and almost combust on the spot.

His sister was crazy!

"Jin-Ah, I think it's time for you to go home."

At this point, he no longer cared that she had skipped school and earned a mark on his attendance record; all he wanted was for her to leave before she did or said something that would embarrass him.

"Huh? Why?"

The teenager refused and went from shelf to shelf, using her sudden interest in looking at every clay item as an excuse.

"I want to see the place where my oppa works. Can't I?" Her gaze shifted to the other girl, who was a little startled to find herself now included in the conversation.

Of course, the poor Park Ha-Neul didn't have the slightest idea of what was really going on and thought that the teenager was just curious about pottery and wanted to know more about what else her brother does. On top of that, she couldn't say no to those puppy eyes that Jin-Ah was giving her; she felt as if her heart was being squeezed.

"Jinwoo-ssi," The brunet turned to the black-haired man and assured him, with a serene expression, that she had no problem with Jin-Ah taking a look around the place.

Poor Park Ha-Neul, whose kind soul was unable to see the panic growing in Jin-Woo's grayish gaze, while Jin-Ah seemed to grow a pair of horns and a devilish tail.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

The morning was fortunately slow, and they could relax in the employee's room where Ha-Neul had invited the Sung siblings to enjoy a delicious hot chocolate with pastries. It was fortunate that there weren't that many deliveries for that day, and Jin-Ah felt that the stars had aligned to help her on her mission to learn a little more about this nice unnie and to find out if the excuse her brother had given her about how he started working there was true or not.

"This..."

Jin-Woo arched an eyebrow and smiled slightly at his sister's expression as she spotted on the table a pair of bags containing pastries from GRAINSEOUL's coffee shop, as well as discovering that it had been thanks to Park Ha-Neul that she had had the chance to try them. 

"I thought it was you!" the teenager exclaimed in a childish tone, pointing at her older brother.

"I never said I bought them!" the black-haired man replied, lifting his shoulders but not losing that slight teasing tone in his voice.

"Oppa!" The teen folded her arms and made a slight pout that made the pair laugh. "It's not funny."

Ha-Neul, for her part, was a bit amused as she watched the interaction of the Sung siblings and how funny they were.

"Unnie!"

"Huh?"

The teenager rushed up to her, fake crying and complaining that her older brother was mean and bullying her, which was obviously untrue, but Ha-Neul played along and gave a mild scolding to Sung Jin-Woo, who looked at her with feigned offense.

She, of course, never imagined hearing him grumble under his breath, and could have sworn she'd seen him pout a little, or perhaps her eyesight had tricked her, though the possibility was there. The brunet exhaled slightly, closed her eyes, and patted the teen on the back a few times without noticing that Jin-Ah had turned her head momentarily to stick her tongue at her oppa.

Sadly there wasn't much to do, and it would be childish for him to argue with his sister in front of Miss Park; he didn't want to look immature in front of her. Plus, it was for this reason that he didn't want his sister to stay around any longer; he knew that Jin-Ah could be a bit -very- annoying and childish, and she always ended up getting her way.

Despite this, he found comfort that Jin-Ah's antics didn't seem to bother Miss Park. On the contrary, both treated each other with as much familiarity as if they were lifelong friends. As for him, he was enjoying his hot chocolate while he listened to them talk about trivial things and, from time to time, added to the conversation.

At least that was the case until his sister touched on the subject of age.

"..."

"Huh...?"

"..."

A prolonged silence engulfed the employee room as Sung Jin-Ah frowned and folded her arms, her grayish gaze wandering from her brother and then to Ms. Park. She wanted to believe that she'd misheard, but just seeing the evasive gazes on both, the teen knew she was dealing with a pair of introverts who had a hard time stepping out of their comfort zone despite being in the same habitat.

"Let me see if I get this straight." The younger female paused again and pinched the bridge of her nose; her eyes remained closed as she tried to understand this pair. "You've been working together for nearly a month without knowing something as simple as each other's age? Do you even talk to each other?"

As she opened her eyes, she fixed them again, first on Park Ha-Neul, who only nodded somewhat apologetically, and then on her oppa, who had only folded his arms and seemed to be avoiding Jin-Ah's gaze, although he looked a bit annoyed, or perhaps he was just as embarrassed as well.

"The truth is that we've been so busy that we've hardly had time to chat..."

Although it was true, her brother's answer didn't seem to have satisfied the teenager at all.

"Understandable," she said with a slight nod; she couldn't blame them there. "But now you have time to get to know more about each other, don't you?"

It was at times like this that the jet-haired boy thought that his sister would have a better career as an investigator or any other career in the area of criminology and investigation, because despite being a fifteen-year-old brat, nothing got past her, and from afar she could sniff out lies. At least thanks to that little nudge from Jin-Ah, both of them allowed themselves to ask each other's age; of course, the young brown-haired woman didn't seem to believe what she had just heard.

"Huh?!"

Ha-Neul's expression said it all, and Jin-Woo didn't know where to hide because it was always the same thing whenever he reveled his age.

"Are you really twenty-two?" she asked, still in disbelief, and she'd even stood up from her seat and was staring with surprise and intensity at the older man. It was true that before he started helping her with the deliveries, she had asked him about his driver's license but never took the time to check it. So it was indeed somewhat shocking to know that Jin-Woo looked much younger than his age. "Oh, I... I'm sorry!"

Sung Jin-Woo, for his part, remained still and held his drink between both hands. His expression was calm, despite his bright red face.

"Don't worry, it's something that I hear quite often."

Of course, his words didn't make Ha-Neul feel any better, and she thought she had been disrespectful by the way she acted, so she tried to mend it with an innocent little comment.

"At least it's a plus."

The older man looked at her with mild confusion, and that's where his sister stepped in.

"It means that, unlike ordinary mortals like us, you won't age as fast."

But despite her words, he couldn't understand what good was to look younger than he was, especially with the problems it brought him in trying to get a job. And it wasn't just his age, but also his mediocre physique that played against him.

"Oppa, you should be grateful. Do you have any idea how many people would like to look this young?"

The older man just shrugged and said, "I don't see any good in it."

"For us, girls, it would be a blessing." Ha-Neul remarked with a jealous tone, making a small pout.

Jin-Ah nodded in agreement . "It would be a blessing to look young all the time.

The truth is that the topic of beauty and youth was something he didn't see in the same way, nor was interested since he considered it something superficial, but decided to keep it to himself. And it was better that way; he just continued listening to both girls talking to each other, and in one of them, he heard his sister ask Miss Park about her age.

"Oh! "You're four years younger than my oppa." Jin-Ah's gaze fleetingly searched his older brother's and then returned to the other girl's brown eyes. "Does that mean you're in your last year of high school?

"Hm, that's right."

Now he understood why both had hit it off so quickly, as they were only two years apart and shared similar tastes to which the older man had not paid much attention.

Now the dilemma was another...

"Impossible!"

The young girl with coppery brown hair pouted a little and insisted again.

"What's wrong with it? It's the right thing to do, unnie!"

Jin-Woo, who had been so busy enjoying his chocolate and muffin while reading a new chapter of a Webtoon he was following, interjected. "Who are you calling unnie?" He hadn't even noticed that his sister had been calling Ms. Park "unnie" for so long.

But with his brother's intervention, Jin-Ah knew that she had finally found the perfect match for him. Both of them were equally stubborn and introverted, and they seemed to get along well. She had even noticed a few other things, but perhaps it was still too early and needed more time to thoroughly investigate.

"Well, to the only unnie who's here with us, duh!"

The way the two siblings looked at each other was something Park Ha-Neul didn't know how to interpret, but she found it adorable how they could communicate through gestures and stares; so much affinity reminded her of someone.

"You don't mind me calling you unnie, do you?"

With a gentle nod of her head, the brunette indicated that there was no problem with them becoming more familiar with each other; she was even happy and excited to make a new friend. Now the problem lay in how she should address Sung Jin-Woo, and more so with the four-year gap between them.

'Should I call him sunbae?' The young woman pondered, but it felt a little odd given the fact that they were neither classmates nor he was an official employee from the studio. 'Or maybe I should call him oppa?'

Ha-Neul wasn't sure, and neither did she want to say something that would make him feel uncomfortable.

And if she was honest, it was a little embarrassing for her to address with the honorific "oppa" to an older man she'd only known for a month.

"Unnie, it's not that complicated; just call him oppa!"

The voice of her new friend jolted her out of her reverie and caused a gentle blush on the cheeks of both young adults, as Jin-Woo had never been called by that honorific from anyone other than his sister, and Ha-Neul had only ventured to do so with two individuals close to her.

"Er...."

"¡...!"

It was clear that both of them felt insecure, and the teenager knew it, which was exactly why she wasn't going to push them and let the waters flow on their own. But if she was honest, this scene looked like something out of one of her favorite dramas.

"Jinwoo-ssi!"

Sung Jin-Ah had only moved the pieces a little bit and was now silently watching the pair, trying to hold back a giggle at how funny they looked because of how tense and flustered they were, or the way they both stuttered.

"E-Eh? Yeah!"

'Why do I feel like they're such a pair?' Sipping her drink, she continued to enjoy her new romcom.

Ha-Neul's brown gaze shifted from her cup to fix it shyly on the older man's gray eyes. She heaved a deep sigh and plucked up the courage to finally speak.

"Is it okay if... if I call you oppa?"

Oppa?

Perhaps his reaction was silly when the subject had obviously already been discussed minutes before, but he still found it a bit embarrassing.

"Oh... w-well..."

With a nervous chuckle, Jin-Woo scratched his cheek with his index finger as he thought carefully and kept their gazes from meeting. There was something that made him feel strange every time those warm brown eyes met his, and he could swear they cause him a small tachycardia.

He bit the inside of his left cheek and eventually ended up giving a slight nod.

"Sure, I have no problem."

As a spectator, Jin-Ah just watched silently, although there was a moment where she couldn't help but let out a slight "kya," denoting all the emotion she felt at witnessing such a scene straight out of a rom-com drama and cursing her luck for not having commemorated such a moment with a photo, but if she had, surely the flash of her camera would have ruined the moment.

She hoped that this would be the catalyst for a blossoming relationship between her oppa and her new unnie. Given how introverted both of them were, they would undoubtedly need a helping hand or two in the future.

'Luckily, oppa has me to help him,' thought Jin-Ah with a mischievous smile dancing on her lips and creating hundreds of plans in her head. 'I can't wait to tell Songyi-Ya everything that happened today!'

But not only was she excited to tell her best friend, she was also excited to announce it through her social media when the time came, thus rubbing it in her relatives' faces that her oppa was no loser and wouldn't end up alone either.

'This is going to get good!'

The trio's voices broke the silence in the employees' room, igniting a small spark of excitement in the pair who were gradually overcoming their shyness and daring to ask questions they had never ventured to ask before.

Witnessing that scene and, more importantly, seeing his brother relax and reveal a side she had never seen in him, was somewhat amusing. Even though she may have been rushing and misinterpreting the situation, she was full aware that life and real people didn't act in the same way as in the series she liked to watch so much. But honestly, there was definitely something here that made her have a good hunch.

For some strange reason, Sung Jin-Woo felt a shiver run down his spine, and when he stared out of the corner of his eye at his sister, he noticed the strange expression with which she was watching him.

'Oppa, fighting! I know you'll be able to win this cute unnie's heart, even if it seems like an impossible mission for you!'

Poor Sung Jin-Woo didn't know for sure what the hell his sister was thinking, but from her expression, he could sense that it wasn't something good.

Chapter Text

Since that fateful day when Jin-Ah chose to skip classes and followed him to Mr. Lee's pottery studio, a daily routine has developed in their home, where the teenager eagerly inquires about his workday. However, Sung Jin-Woo knew her very well and was aware of the sudden interest in his sister was to know more about Miss Park, not to whom he had delivered a set of ceramic tableware made by Lee Seo-joon himself.

Although he had to admit that thanks to her meddling, the atmosphere at the studio became less awkward with Miss Pa... with Ha-Neul, where they went from sharing simple polite greetings to allowing each other a couple of minutes and chatting a bit more.

It was curious how the words flowed between them without feeling forced or awkward; on the contrary, it was fun to get to know little details about each other. And while anyone would think that the conversations would die at closing time, the reality wasn't like that, because either while making deliveries or at times when he had already gone home, it seemed to never end, and, for the first time in three years, his cell phone would buzz again and alert him that he had a new message from Park Ha-Neul, with the only difference that these were not only related to work but also where they shared memes or any other funny or curious thing they had found and thought it would be fun to share it with each other.

"Who are you texting?"

"Nobody, stop bothering me and go do your homework." the older man said to his sister and turned around to lay on his side with his back facing her.

Of course, Jin-Ah knew who this “nobody” was, and no matter how many times her brother kicked her out of his room, she always came back to annoy him for the umpteenth time in the day and try to steal his phone away.

"Oppa, you're a bad liar, don't you know?" she teased him. "How hard is it for you to tell me, hmm?"

Once again, she was ignored. The teenager pouted at him, yet he found greater amusement in reading the message he received from Ha-Neul, to the point where he even drew back the bedsheets to cocoon himself.

However, even if he felt comfortable talking a little more openly with her, Sung Jin-Woo was careful about sharing too much information about his private life. He didn't deny that he felt a little bad for tossing a little white lie here and there, but he couldn't really risk his situation becoming public. The last thing he wanted was to be pitied by others.

He was sick of having his circumstances and decisions scrutinized.

At this point in his life, he had already lost count of the number of times he had to listen to some hurtful comments from people who thought he was stupid for harboring the hope that his mother would wake up one day and that he was just wasting money by having her receive treatment at the hospital. Some had even advised him to stop taking care of Jin-Ah and live a quieter life without having to carry the weight of so many responsibilities.

But how could he do that? 

He didn't have the heart to simply abandon his family, and much less did he understand how someone could do such a cruel act as that.

How could he abandon Jin-Ah when she was only a fifteen-year-old teenager?

How could he simply stop paying for her mother's treatment when she was still alive and they held out hope that she would wake up one day?

He didn't comprehend how could people like them even exist, much less what exactly they expected of him when all they did was judge him without even understanding him or having a noble intention to fucking lend him a hand. However, regardless of the appearance of mockery or criticism, he had no intention of forsaking neither his mother nor his sister. They are both his family and the most important thing he has.

And although he senses that Miss Park is not the kind of person he has come across so many times in the past, he can't help but feel insecure about opening up to her completely.

At least one of the plus points he has is Ha-Neul's lack of interest in the world of monsters and hunters, and oh boy is he relieved.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

"If I'm honest, I don't really care about that," was what she told him one afternoon while helping her to clean outside.

"Really?"

The conversation stalled as Mrs. Jang's cat, who kept hissing at them and threatening to scratch them with her sharp claws, diverted her attention. Sadly, neither of them had the guts to go to Mrs. Jang's beauty salon and complain about her spawn of Satan; they were both scared of the woman.

"Believe me when I tell you that she's a witch!"

"Isn't she a shaman?"

"Same thing!" the brunette exclaimed with a fearful voice.

"It's not the same thing."

"Don't they contact and exorcist demons and spirits?" 

Sung Jin-Woo got silent and thought for a second for a good comeback.

The Norwegian Forest cat yowled at them and regained their attention. Balnim meowed in a warning tone from the tree branch where she was watching and hissing at them, preparing to attack them with her sharp claws.

"Ave María Purisima!" 

The black-haired man turned to look at her with a confused look after not having understood what she had said. Was that English? However, in that small moment of distraction, Dalnim took the opportunity to throw herself at them, her claws ready to scratch their faces. Or more like aiming only at him.

That afternoon, he also learned that Ha-Neul was superstitious and scared of ghosts or anything else that was paranormal, which reminded him of Jin-Ah.

"Stop moving!" she scold him for the fifth time, watching him with teary eyes while rubbing some alcohol on his face and disinfect the scratches that Dalnim left on his face for protecting her from the little devil.

"Hehe, sorry, sorry..." 

The older man apologized, and his shoulders shook a bit for his laughter, he couldn't deny that it was funny hearing Ha-Neul recite "Our Father" while swaying the broom from left to right in an attempt to scare Dalnim without hurting her. But his laughter didn't go unnoticed by the teenager, who pressed the cotton ball hard on Sung Jin-Woo's cheek, making him hiss from the stinging.

“Stop laughing at me!”

“I am sorry! I'm sorry! It's just that I didn't expect you to be afraid of ghosts,” he said with a tone somewhere between serious and teasing, patting the brown-haired girl on the head a couple of times in a brotherly gesture just like he used to do with Jin-Ah.

The teenager rolled her eyes and threw away the cotton ball she had used. “Hmm, I never imagined oppa was the type of person who liked to tease others.”

Jin-Woo felt somewhat embarrassed, but seeing her expression and how childish she looked pouting caused another light chuckle to slip out. 

At the end of the day, both ended up being scolded by Mrs. Jang, who went out to look for her beloved Dalnim and came across the scene of Ha-Neul pulling the said cat that had its claws embedded in Sung Jin-Woo's arm. The woman shouted out loud at such a scene and scolded them for hurting and scaring her poor Dalnim.

None of them was able to defend themselves or clarify that it was her cat who had attacked them. At the end, Dalnim was the one who won and left Jin-Woo with his arms and face scratched.

Furthermore, after Mrs. Jang left, carrying Balnim as if she were a baby, the brunette wasted no time in pouring holy water and putting salt on the doors and windows. The older man just watched her go back and forth, not understanding exactly what salt could do against a demon and ghosts.

“I saw it on Supernatural!”

“Eh?” he stared confused at her. "What's that?" 

The teenager pouted and continued to sprinkle salt on every window of the studio, even burning incense sticks.

“You know horror movies aren't real, right?” he asked. “It's not like they're going to appear in the middle of the night to move your bed or leave messages on the mirror while you're brushing your teeth.” However, with each word Jin-Woo spoke, the teen's complexion became paler.

And she was easy to bully, too. 

And it was clear that, despite her fear of occultism, she was a believer that such entities existed.

“Ha-Neul, do you really believe that Mrs. Jang is a...?”

The young woman interrupted him and pointed a stick of sandalwood incense at him. “Ten years ago, everyone believed that monsters only existed in video games and fantasy books; now, a fraction of humanity has powers, and dungeons appear in the middle of nowhere.”

Eventually he ended up helping her “clean and protect” the place and even saw her put a head of garlic with some leaves of who knows what in a cloth bag, tie it with a red ribbon, and place it behind the door.

Sung Jin-Woo watched her silently and wanted to ask what it was all for or where she had gotten the garlic and those leaves, but for some strange reason, he refrained from doing so as he saw her with an expression of complete concentration.

Maybe it was a bit crazy what they were doing, but he also couldn't deny that perhaps this was the kind of foolish thing he had missed in the last three years; he couldn't remember the last time he had talked so much with someone or even done anything with that person. Could he consider Ha-Neul his friend? 

The truth is that moments like this helped him to easily forget about monsters, portals, and hunters, especially the latter, since so far there had been no incidents in the area, and therefore there was no need for certain people to roam around this neighborhood.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

It had been like a mini-vacation that Sung Jin-Woo has been able to enjoy since no one in the vicinity seems to know him, and he can leisurely go to the tteokbokki stall that Mrs. Cho has located near the park. She is a nice ajumma who always gives him an extra portion of tteokbokki, triangular pieces of fish cake, and hard-boiled eggs every time he buys two orders from her. The first time she did this, he felt a great deal of embarrassment, but he couldn't resist the extra cup of food due to her persistent insistence and its delicious taste.

The black-haired man was definitely weak when elderly people were this kind to him, and the small touch of her already wrinkled fingers pinching his cheek only made him more flustered. Eventually, he ended up being very thankful for the extra portion of food. But even after returning to the pottery studio, his face was still red and burning with embarrassment, to the point of worrying Ha-Neul, who thought he was suffering from a heat stroke. 

The young man left the bag of food on the counter and tried to calm her down and reassure her that he was fine; the last thing he wanted was for her to drag him to the hospital.

"But you don't look fine!"

Sung Jin-Woo sighed and scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed gesture. After reassure her that he was fine, the older man started telling her what had happened; however, of all the reactions, he didn't expect for the teenager to burst out laughing in front of him. Ha-Neul's face was red, with tears already forming in her eyes.

"It's not funny," he said with a slight frown, walking back to the counter to take out two servings of tteokbokki.

Park Ha-Neul tried to control her laughter, and now only little giggles were coming out of her lips. "Oh, come on, don't get upset, oppa."

Once again, the older man sighed and rolled his eyes, but the truth is that he wasn't upset; on the contrary, he was curious about that strange fluttering in his stomach that came from hearing Ha-Neul's genuine laughter and how the poor brunette was now suffering from a little attack of hiccups.

"I'm not," he assured her calmly, turning his back to her. His cheeks had flushed again, and as he touched his chest, he could feel the strange beat that his heart was emitting.

It was weird.

Weird as Ha-Neul disliking tteokbokki, kimbap, or any other Korean food. They both stared at each other for long seconds, with his arm still outstretched, as he wanted to hand her the order of tteokbokki he had bought for her. 

"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" 

The teenager was still apologizing for making him spend money on something she couldn't and would never dare to eat. Sung Jin-Woo simply stared at her with a confused expression, then at the small disposable plate with food on it.

“You, are you not Korean?” He asked in a cautious manner, hoping he didn't sound rude. Although this was something he already imagined since her western features gave her away, to his surprise, this was not the case.

“Of course I am; it's just that...” 

The two of them spent the next few minutes in the employee's room after putting the sign over the window and announcing that the shop would be open again at one o'clock.

Sitting across from each other, Sung Jin-Woo was listening attentively to the brunette's story while eating his lunch and enjoying the Boba tea Ha-Neul had bought. His serene grayish gaze was attentive to every gesture of the young woman, as well as how she spoke so enthusiastically about her parents and how they met, given that her mother was a student on a university exchange that gave her the opportunity to travel to Korea.

“And if you ask me how my mom ended up working for old man Lee, I really don't know.” The teen gave a small sigh and grabbed her taro-flavored milk tea to take a sip. 

Jin-Woo just nodded.

“So, you also speak Spanish?”

“And English!” she added, her chest heaving with pride.

The older man chuckled softly and wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin before taking a sip of his matcha milk tea drink. 

This discovery fascinated Sung Jin-Woo as he listened to the brunette who spent the rest of the hour answering to his questions and even showing him a few pictures of her mother's homeland and some typical dishes as well as finally dispelled his doubts about Ha-Neul's origin.

“It's not that they didn't feed me Korean food when I was little; they did it; I just...” she shrugged it off, her expression looking a little troubled. “I don't know; I really don't know how to explain it.”

And maybe she would never find the right words to do it. 

In any case, it was entertaining to see images of the vast fauna and colorful flora of the country, as well as to have the opportunity to hear Ha-Neul speak both English and Spanish, although the latter was more beautiful. Maybe it was because he had no idea what she was saying, or maybe it was because of the tone she used when she spoke it.

“You are embarrassing me...” she murmured and slapped him on the shoulder to his surprise, but that gesture had been a friendly one, although because of the difference in both countries' cultures, he thought that the brunette had hit him because he had offended her in some way. 

These moments were the ones that helped him to enjoy a normal life and forget, at least for a few hours, all his responsibilities. It was fun to finally work and rest like a normal person, even ignoring the calls and notifications from the association for those hunters who wanted to participate in raids of different ranks.

Being able to get out of the house on weekends with his sister and even fulfill one or two of Jin-Ah's whims had been great, as had bringing fresh flowers to his mother every day they visited her at the hospital. Those short walks to the convenience store, where he usually buys his favorite samgak-gimbap filled with tuna and mayonnaise, along with a bottle of lemon iced tea, were also enjoyable.

Moments such as these have brought him peace, relieving him of the burden of recognition and mockery from others, as well as the discomfort of hearing them sneer behind his back and refer to him by that hated nickname.

“The weakest hunter in all of mankind.”

He harbored a deep-seated hatred for that nickname, even as he observed others feigning embarrassment. And wherever he went to participate in the raids, there was always someone who recognized him and called him by that nickname, intent on making sure everyone heard him.

But here he didn't have to worry about it, and he could go back to the studio for more packages, continue working quietly, and always be greeted with a warm and sincere smile.

Chapter Text

The sound of the bell echoed throughout the studio, announcing his arrival and attracting the attention of the teenager, who immediately stopped what she was working on and turned her head towards the door. She knew from the sound of the footsteps that it wasn't a client but a certain black-haired man, and she was intrigued as soon as she saw the figure of Sung Jin-Woo entering the room with a smile adorning his lips, which he was trying so hard to hide.

Ha-Neul raised an eyebrow and lifted the curvatures of her lips in a faint smile. “Did something good happen?”

Since he failed in his task, there was nothing left for him to do but give up. Sung Jin-Woo gave a slight nod and finally smiled at ease. It's peculiar to him that, no matter how hard he tries to refrain himself, he always ends up smiling when he finds himself in the brunette's company. It's a strange phenomenon where sometimes he ends up daydreaming during his deliveries, or at worst, where it has ended up stealing his sleep on more than one occasion.

"The thing is, I never imagined that customers could be so generous with their tips."

Park Ha-Neul nodded slightly at the older man's words.

"Uh-huh, and boy, they sure are. Sometimes, I think they take it as a competence to see who spends the most on banal things. Bad for them, but beneficial for us."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if they kept competing with each other,” he muttered under his breath, pulling out another green grape and popping it into his mouth, letting the sweet taste of the fruit quickly fill his palate.

As he enjoyed his small bag of fruit that he had brought from home, his gaze focused on the young woman's clay-covered hands and wandered slowly over every inch and movement, noticing too that the teen had stained her apron as well as her face, which was slightly dirty with small clay residues.

His curiosity grew stronger by the second, and he couldn't help but take a seat on a stool that was close to the young potter and continue watching her work. With each movement of Ha-Neul's hands, his eyes followed, observing in detail how she handled the material in a mixture of firmness and delicacy intertwined, shaping the vessel's neck. Little by little, he saw it changing shape and size. It was impossible to look away from such beautiful work, but gradually his gaze went up. For that instant, the vase subject took second place, and his grayish eyes focused on Ha-Neul's brown eyes.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

Only the barely audible purr of the air conditioner and the sound of the potter's wheel spinning interrupted the silence in the studio. And for a brief moment, he got immersed in a sensation he had never encountered before—a sense of peace and tranquility he had been yearning for for three years.

Sung Jin-Woo was so absorbed in his own little world, trying to decipher the meaning of that feeling, that he failed to catch the constant glances of the young woman, who had no idea how to get his attention.

Finally, Park Ha-Neul gathered the courage to do it, calling him with a soft and shy voice, "Oppa..." She still finds it a bit difficult to call him by that honorific, but at least the teen is trying to get out of that shell and be more confident with herself, since at this point they are a bit closer than they were at the beginning.

It's a bit comical, though, how neither of them can help but look away nervously and with a slight blush on their cheeks, as they both seem to struggle to start a conversation with anyone they've had little time to know. 

"You... you have helped me a lot today." Her hands continue on the clay, giving it the shape she wants; she feels very close to getting it. "I..." Unfortunately, today will not be the day she succeeds, and her brow furrows lightly after realizing that she had applied a little too much pressure to the neck of the vase and ended up ruining the process. The misshapen result made her feel frustrated, and didn't hesitate to smash the clay figure on the plate. “Damn it, no matter how hard I try, I can't get it right."

At her comment, Sung Jin-Woo stares at her with regret and feels somewhere between uncomfortable and guilty, knowing that it's because of him that they're both in this situation. "I know it seems impossible, but I'm sure you'll make it. After all, you must be very talented if your skills are recognized by Mr. Lee."

His words are few and simple, and, for a moment, he thinks he has done wrong by opening his mouth, but upon seeing the change in the brunette's expression, Jin-Woo realizes that his words were meant to achieve the effect he was looking for, to encourage Ha-Neul.

"Tomorrow at the same time?" she asks, even though she knows that he will come as they have agreed.

The older of the two nods his head slightly without taking his attention off the young woman, who is trying to wipe her hands as best as she can to avoid leaving any traces of clay on them.

"Sure, I'll be here tomorrow at the usual time."

The brown-haired teen sighs happily and once again thanks him for his help before informing him that he is free to go. They both rise from the stools with Ha-Neul accompanying him to the door, and as she watches him leave, she waves goodbye at him and then closes the door and changes the sign from “Open” to “Closed,” still watching him through the window and hiding the little disappointment in her heart and the coupon for a 2x1 boba drink at the store two blocks from there.

"Maybe another day," she says to herself, and she walks back to the counter to count the money and leave everything ready for tomorrow.

His return home is similar to the previous days since he started helping Ha-Neul with the deliveries, where he's able to walk without that feeling of exhaustion or even embarrassment, nor the burning and pain sensation in his body from those wounds that no one healed from him after participating in a raid. It's only now that he can experience a sense of relief and peace, free from the fear of injury or mockery from other hunters, and he's delighted that his wallet is brimming with today's earnings.

And while his pay is nothing compared to the pay of a civilian with a decent job, a B-rank hunter, and nowhere near an S-rank, at least it's enough to live on for a few months with everything he's been saving up. It's gratifying to return home without tattered clothes and have to put up with people's stares and murmurs; some even laughed at him for missing one shoe.

Sung Jin-Woo pauses in the middle of the sidewalk, and his gaze rises to contemplate the beautiful evening and its autumn colors tinging the landscape that little by little are giving way to the veil of night. In that moment, it is noticeable how the leaves have changed a little from their greenish color to a paler and yellowish one, where the summer seems to be slowly saying goodbye to the streets of Seoul.

The soft evening breeze gently caresses his youthful face and rocks his ebony locks, as if nature itself were bringing comfort to his wounded soul.

As he resumes his walk, he can't help but think about how much working together with Ms. Park has benefited him. While this was all due to a terrible accident, it ended up being a good thing for him.

It's almost like a blessing in disguise.

This is something he would never have been able to achieve if he continued working as a hunter.

"Maybe..."

Seeing birds so freely soar through the sky is like a sign of good omen, because even the smallest bird has wings that help it rise and fly to wherever its heart desires.

"Perhaps my luck has changed," he murmurs to himself, and with his gaze, he follows the flight of a small magpie, proving to him that even with its small size, it can reach the sky if he wants to. With the proof in front of him, he wants to believe again, and with that thought in mind, he walks back home, although at some point he can't help but make an extra stop, tempted by his desire to finally give in to one of his cravings. 

Almost half an hour later, he resumes his way home, now carrying a bag with different dishes and a few appetizers from a Chinese restaurant.

"I feel like I will never recover from this purchase," he jokingly says to himself as he stares at the bag with food in his right hand, but the delicious smell of jaozi and BBQ ribs makes him forget that for that instant he gave in to a silly desire.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Early in the morning, Jin-Ah feels movement in the apartment, and although she knows that for the past three years it has been a habit for her oppa to get up early, it always felt as if he was preparing to go to the battlefield. But now it was different, and from the sound of his footsteps, she knew that he was in high spirits, and it's obvious that the reason was a certain pretty unnie that she knows.

Meanwhile, the E-ranked hunter is going back and forth in his room; it's still early, around ten past six in the morning, when he goes straight to the shower. He feels so lively, unlike in the past. He even had his things ready since the night before. And maybe he hasn't noticed it, but lately he has been taking a couple of minutes to look more presentable, even though he is only wearing simple and comfortable clothes; he now sprays some cologne on his neck and wrists, just the right amount in a subtle way.

Poor Sung Jin-Woo, who is not even aware of these little changes, just thinks what he's doing is right, but then again, he never paid attention to these matters before.

By the time he leaves his room, it's already a quarter past six. As the jet-haired man struggles to fit his backpack over his shoulders, thankfully he didn't have to worry about Jin-Ah's breakfast because it was the first thing he made before he went to take a shower, and the night before, he had left her lunchbox ready for today. However, he stops in his tracks at the sound of his sister's voice, calling him from the hallway.

"Oppa, wait!" the teenager calls back at him, still in her pajamas and stopping a few feet away from him. "Tell unnie I said hi!"

"Since when are you two so close?" He can't help but ask with an amused yet curious smile.

The teenager just rolled her eyes in annoyance and folded her arms with a proud look on her face. "Since the day I decided to have her as my unnie," she says proudly, noticing a subtle fragrance coming from him. The coppery-haired teen smiled deviously at her older brother, almost like the Cheshire cat. "Are you wearing cologne?" she asked, waiting like a predator for the right moment to strike.

The older man stared at her for long seconds, blinking confused, but as the time ticked and her mischievous smile only grew, his face turned a bright red, burning with embarrassment. 

"I..."

"Yes, oppa?" Jin-Ah clearly enjoyed the moment and his silly expression. It was kind of adorable to see this side of her brother, who was so easy to bully. "Is there something you'd like to share with your cute and best little sister in the whole universe?"

The person in question was in a severe stuttering state, and his hands had begun to perspire. There was no time to waste, and after pretending to be calm, he hurried to the door to put on his shoes and leave, assuring her that he would give her greetings to Ha-Neul. The last thing the poor man heard after closing the door behind him was the thunderous laughter of his sister, who always seems to enjoy embarrassing him.

Once in the corridor, his back leans against the door, and it takes a few minutes to regain his composure. His heart is still beating strangely, and both his cheeks and ears are burning. Sung Jin-Woo then closed his eyes for a moment and took a couple of deep, long breaths, holding the oxygen for a second or two before letting it slowly leave his lips. When he reopened his eyes, he stood pensively, staring blankly at the floor.

The question keeps ringing insistently in his mind as he makes his way, with time to spare, to the bus stop. It is curious how, day by day, that bubbling sensation is becoming a bit more noticeable in his chest. 

The warm rays of the morning sun and a gentle breeze caress his hair as he exits the apartment complex. At this time of the morning, there are already people on their way to work, as well as one or two students who surely want to take advantage of the quiet minutes in the empty libraries.

His walk to the bus stop is silent, and he is still pondering over what happened. "Hmmp, what's so wrong with wearing a little bit of cologne?" 

He wanted to believe that his sister was acting weird again and was just looking to annoy him; after all, there was nothing wrong with wanting to take care of himself a bit, right? 

When he got to the bus stop, he noticed that there were already a couple of people waiting as well, and fortunately, they didn't have to wait long for the shuttle to arrive. The vehicle stopped and opened its doors in front of them so that they could enter one by one and pay the fare before going to their seats. It was customary for him to greet the driver as he paid his fare, then head to his usual seat by the window to distract himself from having weird thoughts by reading his favorite manhwa.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

When he arrives at his destination and walks for about ten minutes to the studio, he stops to spot a familiar figure from a distance. In that fleeting moment, he feels that strange sensation in his chest again, as well as how his cheeks warm up a little.

Sung Jin-Woo's grayish gaze focuses on Miss Park, who has already changed the store sign from "Closed" to "Open," a couple of meters away from him, and now is sweeping the sidewalk in front of the store. But it's funny because he still fails to comprehend or even assimilate what he is doing at that moment; he is so absorbed that he doesn't even notice the passing seconds transforming into minutes as he watches her finish sweeping and then watering the plants by the store's window. 

Only when their gazes meet and he finds that smile directed at him does he come to react and cut eye contact. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he tells himself, and he pats his cheeks a couple of times to wake himself up.

The young woman, for her part, watches him from the sidewalk of the shop, still with a broom in hand, and greets him cordially once he is at a short distance, though she can't help but observe him with some curiosity about how nervous he looks today, making her wonder if something good has happened for him to be so lively at this time of the morning.

"Good morning, Haneul-ssi."

The alluded-to one pouts a little at the formal way he addressed her, but she doesn't think much of it and instead gives him a small smile.

"Good morning for you too, oppa."

As she opens the door, they both enter the studio, and the bell hanging by the threshold chimes faintly. The young woman heads to the counter and sets the broom against the wall, then turns to pull out from under the counter two disposable cups of hot chocolate that she has bought that morning and hands him his. They both give each other a smile, and despite being in a small huge trouble, they can't help but savor the quiet morning with a nice hot drink. 

The remainder of the morning proceeds smoothly, with Jin-Woo's assistance ensuring the wrapping and packing of numerous orders.

But as time passes and they work in silence, she couldn’t help but notice how the older man assists her in sweeping up foam remnants or splinters that have fallen from the crates and how he moves some of the heavy pottery equipment with such ease, despite his scrawny complexion. It piques her curiosity.

"Oppa, are you a hunter too?"

While she was printing the labels for the boxes she planned to ship this week, the question unexpectedly arose. However, Park Ha-Neul didn't realize that her simple little question had caused a slight tremor in the older man's hands, who now nervously held the broom and prayed from the bottom of his heart that nothing of what he was imagining would happen.

"Cuz I'm too." Ha-Neul's voice sounded again in the studio, and she was glad that there were only a few labels left to print. "Well, nothing special. I'm a simple E-rank.

However, her tone of voice didn't seem to indicate that she suspected anything, and when he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, the teen was simply sorting through the labels that she had already printed.

"Oh! I see, I..." insecurity was gnawing at him once again, and his hands tightly gripped the roll of bubble wrap he had picked up from the table and tried to put it away. Would she recognize him if he said anything? Would he be judged? Sung Jin-Woo wasn't sure, and for some crazy reason, he decided to take a gamble and see what happened. He tried to sound calm and say, "I'm an E-rank too," but that silly, nervous laugh ultimately betrayed him. But when he turned again to look at the young woman out of the corner of his eye, she was still just as focused on her work and oblivious to the existential crisis he was going through.

This was a topic that he had hoped would never come up, and for a while he thought that would be the case with Ha-Neul's disinterest in the world of hunters and portals, but never in his wildest dreams did he expect that something would give away his nature as a hunter.

It seemed that his good luck was running out.

Maybe... I'm just being paranoid, he thought to himself and attempted to calm down, but even though his face showed zero disturbance, the reality was different. His heart was still beating hard against his chest as he clumsily wrapped the small ceramic goods that were left on the table. 

To his misfortune, the talk about the hunters and monsters continued with him responding with short answers or simply humming to let her know that he was paying attention, but as he had his back to her, Ha-Neul was oblivious to how anxious and pale the older man was, wishing for the conversation to take a different direction.

But why was he feeling this way?

He had never felt this before, and at some point, he even stopped caring about what others thought of him.

Then, why?

“If I'm honest, I'm not really interested at all, and I only got my license because my older brother dragged me to the evaluation center.” The teenager lightly scowled as she recalled her valiant efforts to conceal her awakening as a hunter, only to have a damn potato reveal the truth at the end.

“By a potato?” Sung Jin-Woo inquired in confusion. Ha-Neul tilted her face in embarrassment and folded her arms; her cheeks immediately took on a pinkish hue.

“Hmm.”

Despite the raven-haired man's confusion, she remained silent and walked over to the plant hanging from the ceiling and beside the counter window. As her right hand rose, she closed her eyes and focused her mana on the small bush. Slowly, a halo of white light covered her hand and created small flickers of light, almost the size of a firefly. “My skill is nothing impressive or that could be of any help during a raid, which is why I hid it from my brother and old man Lee. I knew it wouldn't be useful at all, and the least I wanted to do was waste their time.” 

Sung Jin-Woo let out a small gasp and instinctively took a step back. His grayish gaze widened, and he was filled with wonder as he witnessed Ha-Neul's mana accelerating the growth process in the little bush and letting its buds open lazily, like a small child refusing to wake up from its nap.

Her warm mana was like the gentle touch of a mother encouraging her child to leave Morpheus' world.

“I can only make them grow,” the young woman mentioned with a somewhat disappointed tone after noticing the expression on Jin-Woo's face, who seemed inclined to ask her more about her ability. “The truth is, my brother found me in the little garden at the back of the store while I was experimenting with this ability and trying to grow a potato.”

Her gaze was still on the orchid bush, whose petals had already fully opened, and she was proudly displaying its vibrant colors. Ha-Neul smiled lightly and proudly, gently patting the pot where the beautiful bush rested.

She deactivated her ability, leaving only small, firefly-sized flashes of light to flutter delicately around. The teenager then turned to look at him with a slight grin on her lips, trying to hold back her laughter.

“I don't think my skill would be of any use in a dungeon; what could I do? Throw potatoes at the monsters?” 

They both laughed at her silly comment, but in the end, she was right. For them, it meant not only having awakened but also having some type of ability that would help them stand out and help them, or else they would be putting their lives and the lives of others in danger.

"But my brother pestered me a lot to go get my license and avoid trouble in the future." The young woman paused a little, hugging herself. "Besides, I would only be a burden; I have zero probabilities of surviving... So I'd rather stay here, where I’m safe.”

Sung Jin-Woo shared that sentiment of wanting to stay away from danger; it was not an easy task as one had to put one's life on the line every time they went into those "portals," with the high chances of never coming out alive or with a limb missing. But given his situation, that was a luxury he could not afford for two years.

"Besides, I heard that some hunters are very... agh! I know that not all of them are mean, but I have heard rumors that some tend to bully those who are weaker, even if they are in the same rank." Ha-Neul's complaints about the hierarchy among the hunters and the treatment between some of them elicited a smile from the older man.

And boy, how right she was; he had already been through many uncomfortable situations, even with other E-ranked hunters. At least she doesn't seem to recognize him or even have any clue about him, which is a good thing.

"Ah, what's this? Was oppa distracted?"

"It's... yeah, I was a bit distracted." Sung Jin-Woo's cheeks colored a bright crimson when she stood next to him and saw the poor way he had wrapped up some plates and cups. The teen saw him out of the corner of her eye and let out a small chuckle, and she assured him that he had nothing to worry about as she unwrapped the package of plates that had a very peculiar design.

Of course, now his heart was beating for a different reason, and his face felt not only red but also warm every time Ha-Neul called him "oppa." Was he getting sick? He hoped that wasn't the case; the last thing he wanted was to miss a day of work.

However, it would be best if someone showed him his reflection in a mirror and made him realize what kind of expression he was making.

"It's unfortunate that some individuals mistreat E-rank hunters, treating us as insignificant, even those of us who choose not to participate!" Tch, life is so unfair." She paused briefly, then turned to look at him with a small pout and her arms crossed. "There are even civilians who can get quite rude and feel privileged to demand that all of us should serve as cannon fodder."

That was something Sung Jin-Woo was all too familiar with, and it was absurd to think of people who felt they had the right to humiliate hunters who did not wish or intend to risk their lives when they themselves had no idea of the horror once inside the dungeons.

She exclaimed, "I'd like to see them standing in front of a goblin, haha!" after a brief pause. "Surely only then will they understand that it's not so easy to face one of those things."

The young, jet-haired man just nods silently and continues to listen attentively to her passionate speech. He's not going to deny it, but he finds the teen's actions somewhat adorable and, at the same time, comforting that people like her exist. After all, he, of all people, understands what it feels like to be looked down upon for being weak and below average.

Being the only hunter on earth with a mana level far below the minimum of 70 seemed like a joke.

Thus giving birth to that annoying nickname: "The weakest hunter of all mankind."

It has been frustrating to observe how much other hunters, even those of his own rank, have looked down on him since his early days as a hunter. However, it's not as if everyone falls into the same bag, as there has been the occasional person who has genuinely cared about him.

Or so he would like to think.

Although at certain times it was hard to tell if it was genuine concern or simple hypocrisy, it's something he's seen in his various jobs, even before he became a hunter.

It's not as if his appearance helped much either, because even though many deny it, yes, looks are of great importance, as is social status.

It's true that many people despise weaker hunters, believing they are only a nuisance and should serve as human shields. His mind wanders for a moment, and his gray gaze lingers on a nonexistent spot. Under his bangs, his expression turns somber as memories come back to him like a cinematographic film. 

However, this time that gesture did not go unnoticed by her, who watched him with curiosity and wanted to know what he was hiding behind that leaden gaze.

The studio was plunged into silence, and although Ha-Neul was tempted to want to know what it was that worried him so much, she also knew that they were not at the point of having such confidence where they could share intimate secrets.

The best she could do was to remain silent and not say something that would make him uncomfortable, but at the same time, it felt too overwhelming to stay silent and do nothing. But what could she do to help him get out of that abyss that had him trapped in his mind? Park Ha-Neul thought about it for long minutes about something to do or say.

Of course, in order to have a quick and effective solution, it was important to know the root of the problem. But there was no way for her to know about the weight of the bags of cement that Jin-Woo had to carry on his shoulders or about all those hours of hard labor for a young man whose body was not developed for that kind of work. But with the loss of his father, he could no longer act like someone of his age; he had to think and act more maturely, especially now that his mother and sister were unprotected and depended on him as the only man in the house. But that was not what caused him embarrassment, but rather being stuck at the bottom of the chain when his high school classmates and friends had a better life than his, far from great responsibilities and even a better social life where they had all managed to get into the universities of their dreams or have a stable job. Some of them had even managed to get married when, in his twenty-two years of life, he had not even had his first kiss.

However, neither pain, hunger, nor exhaustion were impediments to abandoning his family.

One way or another, he had to find a way to pay for his mother's treatment, and it was a blessing the day he felt a change in his being. It happened from one moment to the next, and his suspicions were confirmed the day he went to be evaluated and saw what effect he had awakened as a hunter.

"The worst thing is that there are those who think most do it for fame." Perhaps she was speaking ignorantly, but something in her heart dictated to let the words flow: "But I would bet my book collection that a vast majority of hunters risk their lives day in and day out not for fame and money, but out of a pure sense of justice and love for their own."

As she says this, the brunette continues wrapping the other goods, hoping that her words are not the wrong ones.

"Even with this new hierarchy, surely there must be those who do it to protect the lives of the innocent, or those who do it for better pay and to help their families."

Sung Jin-Woo turned to look at her and was a little startled at her words. Did she...?

"What makes you think that?"

The young woman with chestnut hair stopped and put down the pot already wrapped in bubble wrap, giving him a faint smile.

"Why else would someone of E and D rank risk their lives in that way?" There was a small pause. Both young adults stared at each other with curiosity to find out what the other was really thinking: "It's not like they become strong with every monster they kill, and yes, maybe they have some fame among them, but it's something that couldn't be compared to those of rank B and above."

Again, there is another small pause; this is where Ha-Neul starts picking up the materials after they have finished wrapping all the products, and Jin-Woo follows her with his eyes.

"Only someone who carries a huge responsibility on his shoulders is capable of risking his life so many times."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"I know someone who is a D-rank and yet has never participated in the raids since his awakening." This is when she turns and sees him with a little smile that seems to indicate that she knows, although in reality she doesn't.

It's impossible for her to know his story; she couldn't possibly read his mind, could she?

"She only did it when the need arose. Her grandmother fell down the stairs, and since she didn't have the money for the hospital payments, she started going on raids. This wasn't done for fame or money for herself; she did it to help someone she loves. That's where I think those hunters are the bravest out there."

In that fleeting moment, something seemed to stir in Sung Jin-Woo's heart; it was a sense of ease at feeling understood. Even though the truth is that he never imagined that this day would come or that he would even learn about someone else in a similar situation to his own, perhaps there must be many others going through the same situation as him. That thought helped him to not feel alone and even somewhat flattered to be considered a "brave man."

Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that such a term could apply to someone like him.

Sung Jin-Woo sighed deeply. He wiped away those tears; God knows at what point they formed in his eyes. Fortunately, when he saw Ha-Neul out of the corner of his eye, he realized that the young woman was distracted and had not witnessed that moment of weakness in him. 

Furthermore, he had found the teenager's little tantrum when she gave her little speech somewhat adorable; it was amusing her expression, and it reminded him of the gestures that his sister usually made when someone spoke ill of her idols. The truth was that sometimes he had to remind himself that Ha-Neul was still a high school student and that there was a four-year gap between them. Maybe that's why she and his sister hit it off quickly, with only a two-year difference.

"Nee, JinWoo-ssi."

Ha-Neul stopped in her tracks as she was interrupted by the chime of the bell announcing the arrival of a young man to drop off an order for Mr. Lee, leaving the conversation halfway through and going to receive the order.

After the young man leaves, they both look at each other, and the mischievous smile of the brunet peeks through her rosy lips. She doesn't hesitate for a second to open the box.

"Are you sure Mr. Lee won't be upset if you open it?"

"Of course not; besides, it's still a while before he comes back, and many of his regular customers would always send fruit or any other edibles to old m... I mean, Mr. Lee," she quickly corrects herself, but the black-haired man has been quick to pick up on what she meant to say; sometimes he found the confidence with which Ha-Neul refers to Mr. Lee to be funny.

As they open the box, they find a small note with the client's words of gratitude, and just as she had said, it was one of Mr. Lee's regular customers who, in gratitude for the set of teapots and cups he had made for her, sent him a box full of fruit, from Yubari King Melon to Sekai Ichi apples, among other fruits from the Land of the Rising Sun.

"Impressed?" The young woman asked with a sly little smile on her lips, pulling out the sets of different fruits that came in the box.

This sight seems to impress Jin-Woo, especially how well packaged the fruits are to prevent them from getting bumped and arriving spoiled.

"See, that's exactly why the old man... Mr. Lee, let me open the boxes. They always send him fruit, meat, and even sweets, and you've seen it yourself." A small sigh leaves her lips, and she takes a closer look at the fruit and then at Jin-Woo, to whom she smiles, "But since he's not here, that means we get to keep it!"

"I had seen that they were domestic shipping, but not that they were imported from Japan!" the black-haired man's eyes widened. "Wh-what...!"

"Do you think I'm going to eat this all by myself?" The brunette said she rolled her eyes and started dividing everything into equal parts in front of Jin-Woo's astonished gaze.

"B-But that's a lot! And besides that, it must be much more expensive than the one you gave me before!"

Ha-Neul disregarded his complaints and continued to do her thing.

"Jin-Ah likes strawberries, right?"

She continued to ignore him and attack him in his weak spot.

At least that day, he would return home with a bag full of delicious fruits, making his sister happy, who would surely devour the strawberries in the blink of an eye. But while they both shared their fruit, the young woman continued to watch him with a curious gesture and noticed that his good mood seemed to have returned... but she still didn't want to keep that feeling of asking him, so she tried again and hoped that no one would interrupt them this time.

Although this might not be her day as they were once again interrupted by a customer.

It seemed that at this rate she would not be able to make use of the coupon she had in her apron pocket for a 2x1 boba drink.

OMAKE

"Wait, you said you have an older brother?"

"Huh? Yes, he..."

Would it be wise to say anything? Ha-Neul debated it for a couple of seconds as she finished placing the fruit that she would give to Jin-Woo in a plastic bag.

"My brother is three years older than me, and he's an A-ranked hunter." There was a small pause, the curves of her lips lifting slightly in a proud smile that Jin-Woo noticed easily.

"If he's an A-rank, surely he must be part of a guild, right?"

Ha-Neul nodded and pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket to show him a photo from her gallery where she was standing next to a 6.5" tall, broad-shouldered man, leaving a clear height difference between them. He had short, fluffy silver hair, with a curtain-cut fringe falling over his forehead.

But what was impressive was not the way his clothes were clinging to his muscles or that he was frowning at the camera, but that Jin-Woo could recognize the man in the photo. On more than one occasion, he had seen his picture in the magazines that Jin-Ah left lying on the kitchen table or on the living room floor, or in the times when she would fight him for the remote control so that he wouldn't change the news channel where they showed short clips of Park Ijin's interviews. Not only had his fame grown exaggeratedly because of his idol-like appearance, but also because he is considered one of the strongest A-rank hunters and, in the past, was in dispute over which guild he would join.

Sung Jin-Woo held Ha-Neul's cell phone with trembling hands while the young woman could only smile nervously and scratch the back of her head. He had heard somewhere that the said hunter had a younger sister whom he loved dearly, but he hadn't expected it to be the same young woman in front of him.

"Your brother, he..."

Ha-Neul nodded her head, and Jin-Woo just returned his gaze to the cell phone screen to double check, although he had to admit that he found it a little hard to believe since at first glance they didn't seem related. But if he took his time and compared them with an old photo of them when they were little next to their mother, he could see how both siblings had inherited some of her features.

"She looks lovely," he said with a polite smile. His gaze roamed over the features of the beautiful woman with the caramel skin and beautiful smile.

She had big, round cocoa-colored eyes that, even through a picture, he could tell she was looking with love and warmth at whoever was taking the picture, possibly her husband. Jin-Woo could sense it because it was the same way he had noticed how his mother used to look at his father.

Yes, now he understood where Ha-Neul had inherited that warmth from.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous knowing that she was Park Ijin's younger sister, and more so when his awful temper was well known. Or at least that's what was rumored on Naver and in some gossip channels and magazines.

Both young adults shared a nervous laugh, almost as if their thoughts were in sync.

 'I just hope he doesn't show up here.'

Not far from there, a certain A-ranked hunter sneezed loudly, scaring his companions, who only looked at him with a curious gesture, believing that it was impossible for strong hunters like him to get sick. The silver-haired man simply ignored them and continued playing a new gacha game that he downloaded a few days ago.

"Hey, I think you should pay attention," his friend whispered in his ear when he saw that he kept his cell phone hidden to continue playing.

"Stop bothering me, Jinhyu."

Jinhyu saw him with an offended pout and was about to pull his ear when a shiver ran through him from head to toe, especially when a heavy hand rested on his shoulder and exerted a painful squeeze.

"Gentlemen, is there anything you would like to share with the others?" Baek Yoonho asked, placing a hand on their shoulders and giving them no room to escape. The other hunters present looked at each other and, one by one, left the room amid expressions of grief, smirking, and others praying to Buddha that their leader would show some compassion to them.

Chapter Text

September finally came to an end, and the autumn season has proudly dressed the streets of Seoul in warm colors. The leaves dance softly to the wind's gentle compass and show off their garments, which vary in shades of yellow, red, and orange. The weather is cooler than previous days, and with that, the nights have become a bit colder, to the point where Sung Jin-Woo keeps nagging at his sister to stop being stubborn and dress properly when she has to go out. But as usual, the teenager finds ways to not only annoy him but also worry him.

But in the face of his uneasiness about whether his sister wears a sweater or not and whether Mrs. Jang's persistent dirty looks every time they cross paths on the street while she sweeps the sidewalk of her beauty salon (presumably still upset from the previous incident where she caught them "mistreating" Dalnim), he finds solace in the fact that his financial situation has significantly improved. While he's happy, he also worries about the vase's slow progress and the short time they have before Mr. Lee returns.

On days when there aren't many deliveries to make, he also assists in organizing boxes, and while doing this, Jin-Woo can't help but notice Ha-Neul's stress due to the vase situation. He wishes he could do something to alleviate it, but is unsure of what would be beneficial in this specific situation. After giving it some thought, he ultimately decides to give it a try. During moments when they don't have many customers, they clean the counters or arrange the orders and products in front of the window. Alternatively, they would take a small walk together to the convenience store for a snack; this is the only way to help her relax and rest her worn hands.

Unfortunately, her stress gets the best of Ha-Neul during moments of solitude and silence, causing an overwhelming fear that makes her hands tremble and prevents her from breathing normally. Only when she hears the chime of the bell and the footsteps of Sung Jin-Woo does she slowly return to normal; she even feels her heartbeat slowing down at the sound of Jin-Woo's shy voice as he walks towards her.

"Good morning."

Ah, she definitely feels a slight change in her body as it starts to relax. 

It's strange and difficult to explain since she hasn't known him long and couldn't consider the older man a friend yet, or could she? Park Ha-Neul had always believed that friendships could only be formed after years of shared experiences and countless memories. But the moment their gazes connect, she feels a strange electric jolt throughout her body and an inner peace. There is no pressure, nor does she feel intimidated by him.

Only her brother, Jihyun-oppa, and ahjussi were the only ones who made her feel at ease and able to be herself. But meeting the Sung siblings has given her a new perspective, one where, despite being in a big mess, she could spare an hour or two to chat with Jin-Ah and have silly arguments about which Stray Kids member is the best, ask about her favorite TxT song or if she watched the latest drama. 

Yes, she really feels at peace with them.

But mainly because...

"I really admire your dedication and how you put in so much effort every day." His voice is subtle, with a warm lilt to it. Not like the other guys with a swaggering air, let alone someone looking to harass her, Sung Jin-Woo knows how to talk to her in times of stress and joke with her when he is looking to distract her for a bit. 

The young woman simply rolled her eyes and threw the apron at him, allowing him to put it on and begin working. "I can see we've grabbed more confidence; I like that!" Ha-Neul nodded in approval and let out a soft laugh, causing Sung Jin-Woo to become slightly embarrassed and avert his gaze for a few seconds.

"I was just mentioning how dedicated you are to pottery, and how much you seem to like it."

Park Ha-Neul stopped laughing and tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Huh? I don't like pottery." She exclaimed in confusion and crossed her arms, the studio was left in a brief silence. Although pottery entertained her and paid the bills, it wasn't something she wanted to do forever.

"Then...?"

Park Ha-Neul's brown gaze focused on a spot on the wall as she mentally debated whether it would be wise to speak or simply pretend she hadn't heard him. Her fingers caressing the smooth neck of a teapot she had received a commission for, while her gaze wandered over the finished brushwork she had done the night before. "Like I told you before, Mr. Lee himself ran a pottery course when my mother came to this country on a foreign exchange. She had no idea that Mr. Lee was a renowned artist or that this was his studio."

Upon recalling the memory, Park Ha-Neul couldn't help but chuckle a little, recalling the numerous instances when the old man Lee had praised her mother's dedication in the classroom, her patience in following his instructions during practice, and her perseverance despite not always achieving success. In that brief lapse, Sung Jin-Woo managed to notice how the corners of her lips turned into a small smile, an almost nostalgic one.

"He confessed to me that he saw great talent in her and was happy to have finally found someone in the youth course who worked with clay as passionately as he did."

As she continued speaking, the black-haired man listened intently, observing the smallest details in Ha-Neul's expressions and conveying how pleased Mr. Lee seemed to be to have finally found the perfect person to introduce to the world as his pupil and pass on all his knowledge. However, if he was honest, it was impressive and hard to believe it, especially with how often he had heard on the news about his bad temper and how nobody seemed to stand to be under his tutelage for more than an hour.

One time, a paparazzi managed to capture the moment when Mr. Lee threw a pot at one of his ex-pupils' heads. The photo was in every magazine and news channels.

In one of his interviews, he admitted that the only thing he regretted was not throwing another pot and seeing if he could knock some sense into that 'poor bastard'.

"Unfortunately, old man Lee didn't take it well at all when my mother met my father and decided to marry him."

"Huh?"

Ha-Neul's expression became somewhat serious and amusing. She lost her gaze at some non-existent point, her eyes slightly narrowed and her lips pursed in a thin line. She appeared not to be lying, but what she was saying didn't seem real either, and it looked as if she wished to laugh at her own words.

"Apparently old man Lee made a fuss when he found out my mother got married, and now he's holding me hostage."

Sung Jin-Woo stares at her with a terrified and worried expression, his hand on the young woman's left shoulder. "Should I call the police?" 

Park Ha-Neul only surprises him with a soft, relaxed laugh that fills the silence of the studio; her head rocks from side to side in a gesture of denial, and she quickly changes the subject by asking him if he's had breakfast yet, which only ends up heightening the black-haired man's concern and believing that this might be a rare case of Stockholm syndrome for the way the brunet didn't seem to be bothered to be working for Mr. Lee.

At first, Sung Jin-Wpo hesitated whether or not to join her, but after so much insistence from Ha-Neul, he ended up joining her as they do every morning and enjoyed their meal in the employee's room. Despite the peaceful morning and the lack of customers or orders, Sung Jin-Woo finds himself troubled by the revelation from a few minutes ago.

'Should I be worried?' he pondered as he consumed, in a single bite, a piece of rolled omelet, feeling somewhat stressed by the new information. Despite this, he couldn't help but enjoy the food and wonder why the omelet roll was so yellow. 'It looks perfect.''

"It was thanks to my mother that ahjussi gave me the opportunity to work here." She mutters softly, picking up on the previous conversation to ease the worry over the older man's head and how she was just a teenager in need for a part-time job. 

Her chocolaty gaze lingers briefly on her sandwich as she recalls the day Mr. Lee took her in. What is certain is that Ha-Neul will always feel grateful to him and has come to regard him as someone important in her life, and earning a permanent place in her heart.

"Ahjussi is just like what they depict of him in the news; he has a very bad temper, doesn't like technology, is too outspoken when it comes to expressing himself, and doesn't care who's in front of him," Ha-Neul said to a surprised Sung Jin-Woo. There are moments when the brunette can't help but laugh, particularly when mentioning how grumpy he is. "However, as much as he insists that I should be his apprentice, I know that he respects my decision. Besides, ahjussi would rather have someone who truly shares the same passion as he does, and not out of obligation."

As they had breakfast, the two of them continued enjoying their conversation, avoiding talking about anything related to work and instead learning a bit more about each other besides the basics, such as their favorite color or what they like to do, which they already did days ago. For an onlooker, it was quite entertaining to watch as both of them struggled with their nervousness and desire to come out of their shells, venturing and asking what they had done the past weekend or if Ha-Neul had already read the latest chapter of the manhwa that Jin-Woo had suggested, among others. However, Sung Jin-Woo is confident that if he persists, he may one day consider Ms. Park a friend. Not that he was getting his hopes up, either.

However, something inside him tells him that this time it won't be the case.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

The days passed without any mishaps which required meticulous packing and the completion of numerous forms to ensure their smooth arrival at their intended destinations.

The studio was completely silent, save for the constant ticking of the wall clock and the potter's wheel that Ha-Neul was using as she worked intensely on the next room. Occasionally, her gaze strayed to the door, catching a glimpse of Sung Jin-Woo, who was diligently filling out a large pile of forms on the counter. Her lips formed a small pout, and her gaze returned to the clay figure she was working on. The teen let out a loud sigh and squeezed down the clay figure until it became ruined.

The coupon for the 2X1 promotion at her favorite Boba store kept crumpling in the pocket of her apron, and as the days went by, she kept missing the opportunity to use it and invite him. This time, she directed her gaze to the wall to her right, where the clock indicated five o'clock in the afternoon; the studio remained clean and tidy, devoid of any interruptions, and she knew she could inform Sung Jin-Woo that he was free to leave and continue with the forms tomorrow, but in the face of her growing excitement about wanting to get a little closer to him and be his friend, she was still debating whether to ask him out or not.

"Agh, this so difficult," she murmured quietly, hating how her nerves would always betray her.

The brunette closed her eyes and took another deep sigh, hoping that this would help her calm her nerves and gain some courage.

"Jinwoo-ssi," her voice sounded almost like a whisper, and feared that the older man hadn't heard her. Almost discouraged, Park Ha-Neul was surprised when Sung Jin-Woo stopped working, raised his head, and moved his body to the side so he could see her from the counter.

"Um, you called me?"

The young woman was startled and peeked out the door to see the faint smile on his lips, her hands playing behind the mound of clay in an attempt to hide her nervousness. Her mind kept creating hundreds of scenarios with the excuse of taking a short break at the park while enjoying a Boba tea, but she knew that if she continued with this indecisive attitude, nothing was going to come of it. 

She had to be brave. 

Clearly, it was simpler to say it than to act.

On the other hand, Sung Jin-Woo was completely unaware of her brief mental monologue and the awkward way her mouth was opening and closing. For a few moments, the older man contemplated whether to head to the next room or to continue with his task of filling out the fifty-seventh form, at least until the sound of the bell interrupted his concentration. His gray eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw his younger sister walk through the front door, smirk at him, and walk over to greet him as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be there.

"Jin-Ah! What are you doing here?"

Sung Jin-Woo checked the time on his cell phone and then went back to his sister. Since classes ended an hour ago, his sister should be at home, not on the other side of town. However, the teenager pouted and ignored her older brother's request for an explanation. Her footsteps sounded through the studio as she searched for the reason for her visit, and her steps led her to the continuing room, where she found a surprised Ha-Neul, who had stood up to see the newcomer. 

"Unnie!"

"J-Jin-Ah?"

The older teen had to evade her hug and apologized before quickly heading to the staff room, leaving a bewildered Jin-Ah who didn't understand what had just happened.

Sung Jin-Woo, who witnessed the scene, simply shook his head, left the forgotten forms on the counter, and headed towards his sister. He pointed his thumb towards the continuous room, where one of the potter's wheels had a forgotten mound of clay on the disc, and excused Ha-Neul, who went to the bathroom to wash her hands and avoid soiling Jin-Ah's uniform. "And now, would you mind telling me what you are doing here?"

Sung Jin-Ah shrugged and, with a sly smile, replied, "Can't I, your charming little sister, come visit you at your job?" 

The jet-haired man sighed heavily, aware that no matter how much Jin-Ah used her puppy eyes, he knew it was only an act from her. And as soon as the Ha-Neul returned, all he could do was watch her practically pounced at Ha-Neul. He found it somewhat amusing to see Jin-Ah looking happy and bombarding Ha-Neul with hundreds of questions about her day.

"Jin-Ah, stop bothering her," but the teenager just looked back at him and pouted at the slight scolding.

It's not like he was upset with his sister; he just couldn't help but worry, knowing how overwhelming and annoying Jin-Ah can be at times, as well as how much she likes to talk and sometimes invade other people's personal space. Perhaps his insecurities and past experiences and lack of friends contribute to these thoughts, but one thing he could never tolerate was people's dislike for his sister's enthusiasm and sometimes childlike behavior.

"Ha-Neul unnie, help me!"

The brown-haired teen chuckle and gave her a few light pats on the back. Despite Sung Jin-Woo's concern, Park Ha-Neul didn't seem to be upset or even uncomfortable with Jin-Ah's enthusiastic hug and instead listened with due attention to all the teenager's complaints against her oppa and the alleged bullying to which Sung Jin-Woo had subjected her. At this point, the older girl raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him with a curious and questioning gesture. It was clear that she didn't believe the accusation but wanted to play along.

"Is that true, Jin-Woo oppa?"

The accused rolled his eyes at the false statement and folded his arms against his chest. His tone was one between teasing and sarcasm. "Sure, I'm the bad guy."  Sung Jin-Woo approached them both to affectionately ruffle his sister's hair, only for him to receive a light slap and warning from his sister.

"Come on, Jin-Woo oppa. Be nice to Jin-Ah."

Sung Jin-Woo returned his gaze to Ha-Neul; he knows she's playing along with them, though he can't help but think it's a little bit unfair that both girls teamed up to tease him. This caused Jin-Ah to earn a little smack on the head. 

"Oppa!"

Feeling disrespected, the teenager shrieked and turned around to face him, while her brother feigned innocence. As the two siblings argued, Park Ha-Neul watched them silently and thought that maybe today would not be the day; it was already late, and it was a school night. She couldn't just drag him along when Jin-Ah had to go to school the next day, and, as far as she knew, they both needed to catch two buses to get back home.

While disappointing, maybe things weren't as lost as she thought.

Her brown gaze remained fixed on both siblings, but then drifted to Jin-Ah, causing the light bulb above her head to light up.

'Maybe...' it was a risky thing to do, and more so with Jin-Ah here; she didn't want the teenager to get the wrong idea about her intentions, but she also didn't know how else to broach the subject without making a fool of herself. Park Ha-Neul's heart started to beat nervously, without any idea of how to interrupt the little discussion between the siblings and get Jin-Woo's attention.

Unaware of her mistake, she quickly removed her hand from his shoulder, hoping not to offend him by touching him without warning. However, her reaction seemed to mislead Sung Jin-Woo, leading him to believe that they were bothering her for being too loud. Park Ha-Neul hurriedly apologized and hoped that her careless action hadn't made him feel uncomfortable.

Jin-Ah, who was watching this scene unfold in front of her, had to suppress a small laugh.

This was too much for the poor brunette, who was starting to feel a bit dizzy. She couldn't stop stressing as she continued to repeat in her mind the dialogue she had been preparing from days ago, only to forget it as soon as she opened her mouth. Making friends proved to be more difficult than she had anticipated, but remembering her brother's and Jihyun-oppa's encouraging words gave her the courage to act: "Jinwoo-oppa, I have a coupon for a 2x1 promotion at the Boba store that is two blocks away from here, and... I wanted to know if Jin-Ah can come with me!"

'What the hell...?!'

Park Ha-Neul cursed at herself in her mind, but outside her expression remained calm; she was starting to believe that she was indeed an idiot. Yes, she intended to invite Jin-Ah as part of her plan, but she did not intend to stop mid-sentence and leave him out of her invitation.

Sung Jin-Woo's expression transitioned from surprise to embarrassment, culminating in a hint of disappointment, prompting Ha-Neul to mentally chastise herself for her mistake. This wasn't part of her plan!! The words hadn't come out the way she had thought minutes before. “O-Of course you're invited too; you both are!” She swiftly continued, trying to salvage the situation. "Not today, since it's too late, but perhaps this weekend?"

“This weekend?”

Sung Jin-Woo stared at the brunette; his voice sounded doubtful as he scratched his cheek with some uncertainty, given that he and Jin-Ah had planned to visit their mother at the hospital. However, the teenager was on the verge of tears when she noticed how her brother was about to reject her unnie's invitation. Despite never missing a visit to their mother except in extreme bad weather, she was certain that their mother would be delighted to know that a charming unnie had asked him out.

The teenager abruptly intervened, nudging at her brother's ribs and stopping him from making a mistake. "Sure, we can, unnie, don't worry!” This was a wonderful opportunity, and she wasn't going to let her foolish brother waste it!

Meanwhile, the older teen's worried gaze shifted from Jin-Ah back to the Jin-Woo, who appeared somewhat annoyed by the sudden jab, but Sung Jin-Ah didn't pay it any mind and instead assured the brunette that the two of them had the weekend off. 

“Um, are you sure? If you can't this weekend that's fine too, maybe we...” 

Sung Jin-Ah nodded and grabbed her by the hands. "Of course we can, unnie! In fact, we should go first to a hotpot restaurant and then for Boba," she suggested. Although deep down she wished to not be the third wheel between her brother and Ha-Neul unnie, beggars can't be choosers, and she was glad that this opportunity had presented itself.

Park Ha-Neul thought for a moment, and while it wasn't her original idea, she had to admit that Jin-Ah's sounded much better than she had previously thought. The older teen nodded contentedly and turned her gaze to Sung Jin-Woo to get his opinion. “What do you say, oppa?”

“I'm sure oppa will be happy to go, won't you?”

With both girls staring at him, poor Jin-Woo had no choice but to nod, fulfill their whims, and accompany them on their weekend outing. Furthermore, seeing his sister with a triumphant expression always made him happy, and maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to go despite feeling hesitant to accompany them when the invitation had been mainly for his sister. He still didn't dare express his insecurities, and he simply refrained from watching them as they both chatted and searched on Naver for the restaurant they would be going to.

Strangely, a slight shiver ran down both young adults' backs, but in light of the low temperatures, they associated it with a small gust of wind that had managed to infiltrate the studio. Both were unaware of the hundreds of evil plans that Jin-Ah was preparing in her little head.  

Unfortunately, and despite Jin-Ah's protests, they had to leave as soon as Jin-Woo noticed it was fifteen minutes to six o'clock. They had to hurry and catch the last bus that would take them to a stop near their home.

“Wouldn't it be easier to get an UT?” Jin-Ah wondered as she watched her brother run around the studio, looking for his backpack and cell phone.

Ha-Neul, who was standing next to her, was also observing him and occasionally glancing at the counter where he had left his cell phone. The young woman sighed as she headed to the counter to retrieve the phone and hand it over to him. She had to admit it was kind of cute to see him all flustered, and even more so when Jin-Woo realized there were still things to sort out in the study, plus he hadn't finished filling out all the forms.

"Don't worry, you can leave now."

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we can continue tomorrow. Besides, you'd better hurry up and get home before it starts raining."

The sky appeared to be clear except for a couple of clouds around the sun, but nothing out of the ordinary could indicate a storm, and there was no mention of rain during the morning weathercast. park Ha-Neul ignored the puzzled looks from both siblings, gently pushed them toward the door, and hurried them to catch the bus. The young woman stood by the door with a smile on her lips, waving goodbye to them.

“See you on Saturday, unnie!”

Ha-Neul watched as both siblings ran, while Jin-Ah urged her brother to hurry up, causing him to stumble multiple times. Only once they were out of sight, the brunette went back inside the store and closed the door behind her. Her only tasks was to store Sung Jin-Woo's forms, clean the potter's wheel she used in the afternoon, and reorganize the instruments and materials. She also ensured that she turned off all the lights and securely locked the doors before departing.

As soon as she stepped outside, the brunette held tightly to the bag hanging from across her shoulder, and her lips parted slightly to let out a small exhalation of white mist that drifted off into thin air. In a matter of seconds, a cumulus of black clouds covered the sky, turning it cloudy. Her cheeks and the tips of her ears quickly took on a slight blush, but the young woman paid it no mind and enjoyed the peace and quiet that the weather afforded her on her return home.

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

They arrived seconds before the bus left; thankfully, it wasn't that crowded. Sung Jin-Ah, who was walking in front of him, went to the very back, where the bus was mostly empty, and like the good sister she was, she let her oppa sit by the window. 

The ride was silent on both sides, although every now and then the teen looked away from her cell phone and glanced at her brother as if waiting for him to say anything. At the same time, Sung Jin-Woo continued to mentally scold himself for getting into this mess while trying to think of a way to get out of it, and only now, as they rode on the bus, did he begin to feel some uneasiness. He wasn't even aware of his leg continuing moving restlessly or the slight tapping sound he was emitting with the heel of his foot as he leaned close to the window, ignoring Jin-Ah, who, despite her attempts to hide it, was aware that she was still glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Oppa, are you mad at me?”

The question caught him off guard, especially the lack of mirth in his sister's tone and the way it seemed to be more filled with concern than anything else. Sung Jin-Woo sighed, leaned fully against the back of the seat, and tried to find a comfortable position, only to lean his shoulders against the window once more. He knew his sister hadn't done it with ill intentions, and it's not like he found himself annoyed with her either; he shouldn't have to be, as he knew that no matter how annoying Jin-Ah was at times, she would never do anything to make him uncomfortable. Yet he also couldn't deny that nagging feeling forming in the pit of his stomach at the thought that he had been invited more out of obligation than anything else. 

"I just don't understand," his voice sounded muffled as he held his jaw over his palm and rested his elbow on the edge of the window; his grayish gaze was still fixed on the scenery, and he was watching the cars pass by him. “Why did you do it, Jin-Ah?

“I just thought it would be a good idea.” The teenager hesitated momentarily, her eyes fixed on her lap as she fiddled nervously with her hands. “You usually don't go out unless it's work or running errands, and now that you and unnie seem closer, I thought it would be a good idea for the three of us to go out together.”

Sung Jin-Woo averted his gaze and felt like an idiot for behaving childishly when his sister had simply acted in good faith, all because of his pathetic persona that wasn't even capable of making a single friend. At this point, he could be considered an antisocial, even though all he had were unpleasant memories from the last time he hung out with those he thought were his friends, and he hadn't made any new friendships in the last three years. Now all he felt was anger and shame toward himself.

Sung Jin-Ah, for his part, had that slight suspicion. She didn't need to be a genius to understand the doubts and fears that plagued her brother, and it was precisely for this reason that she wished to assist him and provide some form of support. The teen smiled slightly at him and leaned back against the recliner's backrest.

“You shouldn't worry, oppa.” Sung Jin-Ah smiled widely at him and patted him on the shoulder. “This is Haneul-unnie; we're talking about.”

Yes. Park Ha-Neul definitely didn't seem like the type who would go so low as to invite him out of pure pity for an outing, and maybe he should start taking things slow and not be suspicious of her. Besides...

"Um?" 

Sung Jin-Woo gazed curiously at his sister before returning his attention to the window, where he saw the sky, which had been clear moments before, was now covered in dark clouds that soon released the first raindrops.

Passersby noticed the change in the weather and rushed to seek shelter from the rain in the nearest shops, while others preferred to not waste time and call a cab to take them home instead of staying stranded and waiting for the rain to pass. 

Sung Jin-Ah blinked shocked a couple of times as she watched how in a matter of minutes the rain began to turn into a thunderstorm with lightning brightening the sky, her lips let out an exclamation of amazement, "oppa, unnie was right!" 

They watched in awe, but the worst part was when the bus dropped them off at the bus stop, and they had to wait for the second bus to take them home. The minutes passed interminably as they waited, and a few drops of rain eventually reached them. After what felt like an eternity, they sighed with relief once they saw the bus coming closer to a stop and could finally hop on. 

However, the real struggle came when they had to run all the way to the building where they live. The rain continued to pour heavily, soaking them to the bone; they both entered the building, trembling like leaves and leaving a puddle of water under their feet. Sung Jin-Woo hurried his sister to head to their apartment, while he stayed behind to clean up the mess they had made and endure Mr. Choi's scolding.

It's not like we did it on purpose, he thought to himself as he mopped the floor and shivered.

"I swear to God, these kids never learn," the older man scoffed and went back to scroll on his phone while supervising Sung Jin-Woo's work. It wasn't until the floor was squeaky clean and his continuous sneezes that he was finally out of the hook. 

The poor hunter's heavy footsteps echoed down the desolate hallway until he reached the elevator, where he waited a couple of seconds for the doors to open. As he entered and the doors closed behind him, his sneezing echoed and made him feel even more pathetic every time he saw his image reflected on the metal elevator doors. His appearance resembled a frail branch on the verge of snapping in half, and the discomfort of his clothes and hair clinging to his body was palpable.

Something like this shouldn't even trouble a hunter. But here he was, shivering like a goddamn leaf. He hated to be considered the weakest hunter in all of mankind, but he couldn't even stand the cold from his wet clothes. 

The only good thing was that no one was there to see his pathetic self. 

Sung Jin-Woo sighed heavily and looked down, letting his mind wander for prolonged seconds until he heard the elevator ding and the doors open wide. Upon arriving at the apartment, he saw his sister sitting on the living room couch, freshly showered, dressed in her pajamas, her hair still damp, and a towel around her neck.

"Jin-Ah, how many times have I told you that you need to dry thoroughly your hair after bathing?"

The teenager frowned and ignored her brother's scolding to redirect her gaze back to the window where she could see how the lightning continued to illuminate the dark sky of Seoul and to keep on messaging, with whom Jin-Woo sensed, must be Ha-Neul. The older man shook his head and took off his shoes, then dropped his backpack on the side of the shoe rack. 

His worn feet dragged him to the bathroom, where he locked himself in and took his cell phone out of his pocket to leave it on the sink. "At least it's not ruined," he commented in a positive tone when he saw that his cell phone was still undamaged. After that, he went over to turn on the bathtub faucets and regulate the water, waiting for the tub to fill up. What he needed most at this moment was a warm shower, and maybe that would wash away the negative thoughts that were about to bombard him.

But the sudden buzzing of his cell phone against the sink made him stop taking his clothes off, surprised to see a message from Ha-Neul.

Ha-Neul:
Did you get home already?

A sticker of a shy bunny peeking through a wall accompanied Ha-Neul's text, bringing a slight smile to his face as he quickly typed a reply.

He was convinced that if he had stayed a few more minutes to help her organize the studio, chances were that not only would he and Jin-Ah have ended up missing the bus, but also that the rain would have left them stranded on the other side of the city, and they would have had to pay a high fare due to the demand for cabs.

Sung Jin-Woo was unaware of the power Ha-Neul held in her hands and how the conversation flowed smoothly as they exchanged messages, which must have ended when he decided to take a bathtub, but now he couldn't even hide his laughter when received a new text with the barrage of reactions from Ha-Neul, who at that moment was reading another manhwa he had recommended her. It was both adorable and entertaining the way she expressed her thoughts, and he even found impressive the variety of stickers she had on her Kakao. He couldn't resist inquiring about them.

Haneul:
I... huh... made them, actually...

When his cell phone vibrated again with Ha-Neul's response, he had already exited the bathroom, changed into fresh clothes, and was making his way to his bedroom. He was using his other hand to dry his hair with his towel as he read the message from Ha-Neul, who was trying to explain her little hobby of making stickers that she uploaded and sold on platforms such as KakaoTalk and other apps. Sung Jin-Woo couldn't resist the temptation to explore her other sticker creations, discovering that she had uploaded the first set three years ago, the second almost a year and a half ago, and the third just a few days ago. The various stickers depicted the mood and emotions of the adorable protagonist, characterized by sandy-colored fur and a white belly.

Haneul: I only made a few, and...
and the design is quite plain...

"Plain?" he muttered to himself, and with a thoughtful lilt, he sat on the edge of the bed, setting the damp towel aside.

He acknowledged the simplicity of the design, which featured a small bunny with a pink bow on its left ear, but he found it to be aesthetically pleasing and lovely compared to other designs that were not to his taste but were widely used and well-known on the platform. However, for some strange reason, Ha-Neul's message gave him the impression that she lacked confidence in her own work, a perception he would never have expected from someone who consistently exudes confidence and pride when working with ceramics. He assumed she would be equally confident in her own drawings.

Or maybe he was just overthinking. It could be that too.

In any case, he continued the conversation and acknowledged her talent.

Haneul: talented? 
Haneul: really?

For the first time in his life, Sung Jin-Woo forgot to finish drying his hair after his shower. He couldn't put his cell phone aside for a couple of minutes as he continued his attempts to send messages and pass through the shower of stickers of a blushing and embarrassed bunny that kept flooding his cell phone screen. He could almost imagine Ha-Neul being flustered and repeatedly denying his words. But it's not as if he wanted to stop either; on the contrary, he wanted to know more about her when she learned how to draw, or to give his honest opinion of how talented Ha-Neul really was after she showed him other drawings and designs she had stored in her folders.

For the first time in three years, he slept a few hours later than usual, as a result of both of them continuing to exchange messages more easily and trying to keep their laughter to themselves to avoid waking anyone up.

That night turned out to be very different from the others, but it also helped him to dispel his doubts about Ha-Neul's invitation for the three of them going out to a hotpot restaurant when Ha-Neul, half asleep, had confessed to him that she was looking forward to the weekend for their little get-together.

Sung Jin-Woo was silent as he read Ha-Neul's message over and over again in the darkness of his bedroom, feeling a strange emotion wash over his body.

"Maybe..." 

His voice was lost in the night's silence, yet not even the darkness would hide the small smile that threatened to bloom on his lips or the seed of hope now planted in his heart.