After that incident with Cheon Yeonju, she immediately fled to America to avoid Yeon Ha-yeon, who wanted to bury the matter right away, and the Four Heavenly Kings who treated me coldly.
Honestly, I wanted Cheon Yeonju—who had thrown me at the boss monster—to be punished, but it was more common than I thought for an unawakened person to recklessly attract an awakener out of fear.
Besides, Cheon Yeonju was a chaebol third generation heir.
In a situation where an unawakened person not from a chaebol family wouldn’t be punished harshly for such actions, what kind of punishment could she face when she had a powerful backer?
More than that, she had been despised by Ban Eunhyeol, whom she adored so much, ignored by Han Ji-bin, who had been close to her since childhood, and threatened by Yeon Ha-yeon to be buried for this incident.
That was enough.
‘The moment she woke up and immediately started looking for Ban Eunhyeol, only to get cursed at and shocked—that was something to see.’
Because Cheon Yeonju had passed out in the dungeon, she was immediately transported to the hospital as soon as the gate closed.
The moment she regained consciousness, muttering something like “Hmm, the smell of disinfectant…,” she fully opened her eyes and searched for Ban Eunhyeol.
We were waiting at the hospital, fearing she might have figured out my identity before passing out.
If she had known who I was, we would have had to silence her.
‘Good thing she passed out right after pulling me.’
Cheon Yeonju immediately sought out Ban Eunhyeol, but he coldly glanced at her and fiercely brushed aside her hand that tried to touch him.
Then he didn’t hold back on sharp insults.
Because she had almost gotten me seriously hurt and created a situation where our friends might discover my identity, there was no way Ban Eunhyeol would look kindly on her.
Receiving that level of harsh cursing and a look full of contempt from Ban Eunhyeol for the first time shocked Cheon Yeonju into silence.
Eventually, she caught on and apologized to me.
“Unnie, I’m sorry… I was just so scared…”
“Even now, you’re still making excuses? I can’t stand this anymore. Don’t ever think of seeing me again. Go hide in America and live like you’re dead. If you show your face again, who knows what you’ll do.”
Hearing her apology filled with excuses, Ban Eunhyeol warned her with an unbearably cold voice.
Startled by those words, Cheon Yeonju could say nothing further and lowered her head deeply.
After that, we never saw her again.
“Regardless of us finding out Dana’s identity, Cheon Yeonju is nothing but useless trash.”
Eunbad calmly criticized Cheon Yeonju.
From his standards, that was an extreme insult, so it was clear how much Eunbad disapproved of her.
We planned to come up with a backup plan in case there was no progress in my quest after the final exams.
“But was there anything unusual on the day you went to that other dimension in your dream?”
Eunbad asked sharply.
“Hmm, I was physically exhausted. At that time, I was obsessively closing gates a lot. I was searching for them every dawn.”
“Oh, that was when your complexion looked really bad.”
Instead of answering, I gave an awkward smile.
I had heard people say my complexion looked terrible no matter where I went back then.
Eunbad listened carefully and then proposed one idea.
“How about recreating that day as closely as possible? Including how tired you were from closing all those gates and eventually collapsing.”
“Dana would be really exhausted, but if you want to dream, I think it’s better to try it.”
Han Ji-bin chimed in, clearly thinking it was a good idea.
I hadn’t considered recreating that day so precisely, but maybe the key was to overexert myself closing gates until I fell asleep from exhaustion?
“Let’s try it that way first.”
“The Phantom Hunter will be back after a long time.”
Ji Kanghan said casually.
“Wow, I haven’t heard that title in ages.”
There was a time when news was buzzing about the Phantom Hunter, but not much time had passed, yet the situation felt very different now.
“…Are you going to be okay?”
Ban Eunhyeol asked with a worried look.
He knew how rough I looked back then, so he seemed reluctant for me to go through that ordeal again.
“I have to be. This much is nothing to me.”
I shrugged as if I really was fine. I was a bit tired then, but if it meant I could succeed in the quest, I didn’t mind being utterly drained.
“Alright, then let’s see if Dana dreams before the finals after spending a few days like that.”
“Okay.”
***
After that, I pushed myself to close many gates again like before.
Because I couldn’t sleep properly, I found myself dozing off at school more and more.
Before, I had purposely stayed up to try dreaming, but this time I was just truly exhausted and falling asleep.
On the Sunday afternoon before the final exams, I was receiving specialized tutoring at Ban Eunhyeol’s house.
“…Aren’t you sleepy?”
The sofa felt so soft it was like sitting on a bed. I wanted to lie down immediately.
But I forced my eyes open, thinking I couldn’t fall asleep during this focused tutoring session, when suddenly a new worry popped up.
“You know…”
“Yeah?”
Ban Eunhyeol perked up and focused on my words after dozing off intermittently.
“That heretic in the other world probably wouldn’t want to switch souls, right? What should we do?”
Until now, I’d been so obsessed with stopping the coming disaster that I only thought, ‘We must switch souls no matter what,’ and hadn’t considered this.
“That heretic seemed happy living as me. She did modeling and even liked my body.”
“Even if the bodies are swapped, she’d still live in your identity in that world, but the fact she liked the body is a bit troubling.”
“Right? If the switch requires both sides to want it like last time, this could be a headache.”
The heretic was the one who stayed behind in that dimension after giving up on her parents.
But would asking these people from this dimension for help actually work?
‘Maybe if Ban Eunhyeol died, she’d consider it.’
If she still had feelings for him.
I didn’t really want to bring up Ban Eunhyeol myself and suggest switching souls, but if it meant no S-rank gates would appear, I could accept that.
Ban Eunhyeol sighed, rubbing his forehead as if the whole thing was already giving him a headache.
He had put down the mechanical pencil he’d been holding.
“Even if people say everyone will die, she won’t stubbornly resist, right?”
He seemed to want to have some hope in the heretic’s humanity.
“But even if she doesn’t switch, an S-rank gate will open and swap bodies anyway. Knowing that, would she hold out?”
“Yeah… you’re right.”
“Did you just say something random because you’re sleepy?”
When I admitted it was true, Ban Eunhyeol chuckled and grabbed my cheek, pulling it lightly.
“Geez.”
“Ah, why are you so cute?”
He smiled while fiddling with my cheek.
“Wh-what? Study now.”
Still not immune to cringy words like that, I quickly grabbed my pencil.
When I fanned myself because it suddenly got hot, Ban Eunhyeol fanned me with his notebook.
With the perfect air and humidity in the room and the gentle breeze, drowsiness overwhelmed me.
My tired body couldn’t resist the heavy eyelids, and I finally dozed off.
***
Ban Eunhyeol caught Dana’s forehead with his hand as she nodded off.
Holding her forehead firmly to prevent it from hitting the table, he picked up a cushion from the sofa.
Then he quietly placed the cushion between Dana’s forehead and the table so she could rest comfortably.
Watching Dana, who was sleeping so deeply that no one would notice if she were carried off, he laid down beside her and looked at her face.
‘Looks like there are dark circles under her eyes.’
He frowned as he tidied Dana’s hair flowing in the fan’s breeze.
Although friends who knew the future would certainly help, Dana was burdened with an immense responsibility.
To prevent an S-rank gate from occurring, she had to switch bodies with the heretic in the other dimension.
If only the system could just switch their bodies automatically and eliminate the gate without her having to do it through dreams.
‘Why on earth does Dana have to suffer like this?’
It made him uneasy how much the system was making Dana struggle.
Just watching her push herself lately was agonizing.
He disliked the system so much that if it were right in front of him, he’d want to smash it immediately.
‘It should be time for her to cross over to the other dimension in her dream by now.’
Ban Eunhyeol straightened up, hoping the exhausted Dana had met the heretic from that dimension in her dream.
At that moment, Dana smacked her lips as if tasting delicious food in her dream.
Ban Eunhyeol lowered the fan slightly so her hair wouldn’t blow everywhere, smiling softly.
Resting his chin on his hand, he gazed quietly at Dana and then leaned toward her.
His lips gently touched Dana’s cheek before pulling away.
‘I hope this gets resolved quickly.’
That Dana regains her original body, fully integrates into this world, and the gates disappear.
Then she wouldn’t have to spend her days in such chaos, but could date peacefully and live a normal life.
If only he could help her meet the heretic in her dream, no matter what it took, he would.
Feeling the frustration of the harsh reality, he patiently brushed Dana’s hair back again and again, silently waiting until she woke.