Lately, I found myself spending more time talking with Ban Eunhyeol.
We started calling each other at night and texting more frequently than before.
Having someone to share things I couldn’t tell anyone else before made me seek out Ban Eunhyeol even more.
Before I got possessed, I never really felt lonely or the frustration of not being able to tell someone my story.
But having someone who actually listens to me—it felt better than I ever imagined.
Today, on the way home, what was supposed to be a quick chat turned into me spilling everything about the incident with the hallucination-type monster.
I told him what kind of hallucinations I saw, the feelings I experienced, and the decisions I made, pacing back and forth in the same spot in the park.
“Should I be thanking that monster…?”
Ban Eunhyeol, who was listening so intently, muttered with a look that was caught somewhere between whether he should be happy or worried about me having been attacked by a monster.
“If you want to say thanks, you can do it later when we go into the dungeon together. Tebeo’s too big to summon here.”
“Oh, so that monster was made with a summon?”
“Hallucination-type monsters are useful, you know. When you’re struggling in the dungeon, even casting a hallucination can buy you some time.”
“That’s basically a broken skill. How did you end up with such a good skill?”
Seeing Ban Eunhyeol genuinely admiring and envying me made me shrug my shoulders a little.
I really enjoyed having these kinds of conversations with him these days.
In my previous world, my rank was high enough that hallucination skills didn’t work on me, so experiencing it here for the first time brought all kinds of complex feelings—and fear.
Talking about it like this made me feel relieved, as if everything inside me was being sorted out.
I was just about to tell him about the dream where Dana appeared and whether I should have studied hard in my senior year of high school.
“Let’s go in there.”
“What kind of place is that?”
“It’s a café run by a barista Awakener. Since the Awakener’s rank is high, the coffee there has better effects than other cafés run by Awakeners. I heard it works like a proper potion.”
Looking at the café, it was shabby enough on the outside that no one would think it’s famous.
The building was old, and it didn’t look like it could hold many people.
“Isn’t that exactly what we need right now?”
“Totally. Let’s go in.”
Though the exterior was run-down, since they sold coffee with great effects, I couldn’t resist going inside.
Ban Eunhyeol and I had both been exhausted from closing gates together lately, so this was perfect timing.
“Welcome!”
Inside the café, a loud voice greeted us.
A big, muscular man wearing an apron welcomed us.
The interior was much bigger than I expected.
As we looked for seats, it was already crowded, and empty spots were hard to find.
“Looks like there’s no seats. Should we try over there?”
While looking around for seats further inside, I suddenly heard someone call out to us familiarly.
“Dana! Eunhyeol!”
Turning my head, I saw James drinking coffee with some foreigner.
‘He looks kind of like the number one in the American ranks.’
The foreigner next to James reminded me of the top-ranked American Awakener, so my eyes were drawn to him.
“No seats, right? Sit with us.”
At James’s suggestion, I ended up sharing a table with the foreigner I didn’t know.
I was already stressing over how I would respond if he spoke in English.
“Hello?”
At that moment, the foreigner greeted me in Korean with a smile.
“Hello! You can speak Korean?”
“Hmm?”
Happy, I asked in Korean, but he shrugged as if he didn’t understand.
James translated for him, and only then did the foreigner understand and shake his head.
“You’re not going to greet him?”
I lightly tapped Ban Eunhyeol’s arm, who looked bored despite not having done anything.
“You two know each other?”
Before I could answer, James jumped in.
“You two go way back, right? This is my friend Mark! He was my next-door neighbor for about five years when I lived in Hawaii.”
“He’s the number one in the American ranks.”
“James’s friend is the number one in the American ranks?”
Ban Eunhyeol added shortly with a look of displeasure.
“You’d be grateful if you couldn’t speak English.”
I didn’t understand what he meant at the time.
‘Wow… he really talks a lot.’
I stuck my tongue out at Mark, who kept pouring out new stories nonstop.
Even with James and Ban Eunhyeol busy translating, I was having trouble keeping up with the conversation.
‘Does he have a motor in his mouth? How does he talk non-stop like that?’
Curious, I kept watching Mark.
Ban Eunhyeol, listening to Mark’s words, leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“Everyone here is a fan of Nada. There’s some event going on—Nada’s Descending Commemoration Café.”
Before I knew it, I was surrounded by my own fans, sipping coffee.
My eyes widened as I looked around, now noticing details I hadn’t before.
Like merchandise with my image on it.
On tables filled with people chatting, there were hooded-girl goods.
Phone cases with my hooded portrait, small acrylic keychains.
“I think I’m going to choke.”
I realized I had to be careful about what I said here.
These were truly grateful people, but since my identity was still hidden, everything felt delicate.
“Then stop drinking coffee. Let’s leave later.”
I expected him to say “let’s leave now,” but surprisingly, Ban Eunhyeol said to leave later.
He seemed to want to listen to everything James was saying before leaving.
“They say you received great treatment from the Dungeon Management Bureau after coming to Korea. They even bought all your merchandise there.”
“Really? Do people usually get that kind of treatment when they go to other countries?”
I’d visited other countries for work, but I was always too busy to feel any special treatment.
Since Mark came to Korea as a tourist, he could actually experience it.
“He says he’s a Tamer and wants to see cute monsters. He’s basically flirting with you.”
Ban Eunhyeol translated the sudden topic change with a disapproving tone.
Judging by the confident smile on Mark’s face, it didn’t seem like flirting but more like bragging.
Wanting to show off, Mark summoned a monster before I could even reply.
“Huh? I haven’t seen this one before.”
James looked puzzled, watching the cute monster Mark had summoned.
The monster looked equally confused by James’s expression and tilted its head, prompting gasps in the café.
“So cute!”
“Is it really a monster? It looks so adorable.”
Seeing the reactions, Mark smiled proudly and lifted the monster like a baby lion as he introduced it.
It was a mental-type monster, specializing in showing hallucinations.
Since this was Nada’s fan meeting, everyone in the café was an Awakener interested in skills.
Plus, since monsters are rarely seen unless you’re an Awakener, and this cute monster had an amazing skill, most people just thought it was awesome.
“A hallucination? I want to try it!”
Someone called out with curiosity, wanting to experience hallucinations.
Everyone seemed fearless—or maybe just enchanted by how cute the monster was—and shared the same thought.
Mark seemed to think for a moment and said he’d let us try a brief hallucination experience since he had something he wanted to test.
…Wait, did he just use a hallucination skill?
Suddenly, all the non-Awakeners sitting around us collapsed onto the table.
Only James, Ban Eunhyeol, and I remained sitting upright.
“As expected, it takes a while for high-ranking Awakeners to collapse.”
James translated Mark’s words as if they were his own. I started glancing around nervously.
‘When am I supposed to collapse?’
If this went on, I’d be the only one left at the table, and James, who still thought I was an A-rank, would definitely find that strange.
At that moment, Ban Eunhyeol subtly tapped my foot under the table.
Taking it as a signal, I quickly buried my face into the table.
“I think it’s about time to stop.”
“No, not yet. I’m curious if you’ll fall for the hallucination or not. Let’s have a pride battle between the number ones!”
James said something so childish. Is that really something an adult would say?
Mark seemed stubborn, too, and didn’t stop halfway through.
I ended up burying my head in the table the whole time.
‘But I’m kind of curious.’
I was wondering if Ban Eunhyeol would fall for it or not.
Then I saw his eyebrows twitch slightly, and his upper body slowly slump forward.
“Yes! Good job, Jack!”
That must be the monster’s name—Jack. As Ban Eunhyeol fell forward, Mark excitedly praised the monster.
“Ugh…”
At that moment, I heard someone groaning in pain somewhere.
It sounded like someone was experiencing a terrifying hallucination.
Startled by the noise, Mark quickly ended the hallucination skill.
After a moment, people twitched as they came back to their senses.
Pretending to regain consciousness among them, I sat up right behind Ban Eunhyeol.
I had no idea what kind of experience we had at the café.
Was it really okay to use skills so freely?
But since there was no ill intent, maybe it was fine.
I had many thoughts.
As we left the café and walked, I talked with Ban Eunhyeol about the earlier hallucination.
“Did you really see a hallucination?”
“Do you think I did? I just played along. Otherwise, he’d have dragged it out forever.”
“Oh, strong mental strength not to fall for the number one American’s hallucination attack?”
“What do you mean ‘strong’? You didn’t fall for it either.”
Ban Eunhyeol raised the corners of his mouth in a small smile but pretended to be indifferent as he spoke.
“Of course I didn’t fall for it.”
Then, after a moment of thought, he added,
“If I had more time, maybe I would’ve fallen. I did feel a little dazed. But…”
“It felt more like a brief dream.”
I thought he wouldn’t react at all, so this was unexpected.
The number one really was on another level.
The Ban Eunhyeol I always thought was strong almost got taken down by the attack.
“But what did he mean by having something to test?
Did he want to see if hallucinations would affect you?”
I became curious about why Mark said that and why he purposely showed hallucinations to everyone.
Two days later, I found out what Mark’s real purpose was.