Chapter 52: Stalkers

“…What did you say?”

“Si-woo said he’s going on a date with someone. I’m thinking of following him.”

As Saria was stretching, preparing for her morning training, she was faced with an unexpected situation.

She stared blankly at Im So-yeon, who wasn’t in her usual academy uniform but instead in combat gear, and, only after a beat, processed that it was about a date.

She screamed out loud.

“With who?!”

“You probably won’t know them. It’s someone from before the academy.”

“Ugh…”

Once again, the depth of their connection got in her way.

Unlike other connections, Saria’s relationship with Si-woo had been formed at the academy.

No matter how much she wanted to, she didn’t know much about him yet.

Especially not after the engraving test a year ago.

She had no idea who he’d been living with or how he’d been living.

She had always been curious, but thought it was impolite to ask.

“Oh, wait! You’re actually planning on stalking him?! Didn’t you join the party to stop doing things like that?”

“…Well, you’re right.”

Im So-yeon’s expression remained eerily calm.

Her expression was so serene that it was hard to believe she was about to commit a crime.

Seeing her like this made Saria feel something was off. Had she misunderstood something?

“But Si-woo knows. He knows I’m stalking him.”

“What?”

“Si-woo told me that as long as I respect his minimal privacy, he doesn’t mind at all.”

The answer she received completely exceeded Saria’s expectations.

He allowed stalking?

Not only that, but he said she could do it as long as she respected his minimal privacy?!

“I had a bit of a problem with my engraving. I could fix it if I tried, but Si-woo just told me to go ahead and stalk him.”

At first, she had obviously rejected it.

She no longer wanted to see the person she loved suffer because of her selfishness.

She had decided that instead of expressing her twisted affection like a stalker, she would express her love confidently in front of him.

She had resolved to endure even if the process was tough.

She knew that one day, when she confessed her feelings, she couldn’t do it from the shadows.

She didn’t want to hide the love she had just been allowed to experience for the first time.

Going forward, she believed that if she could love Si-woo openly, rather than in the shadows, it would be enough.

Unlike others, she had fallen in love with Si-woo as a person, not merely because of his attraction.

She was familiar with controlling her emotions, and she believed it would be okay.

“I can’t think of any excuses either.”

However, Im So-yeon ultimately failed.

It wasn’t a matter of willpower.

The original engraving that Im So-yeon had carried brought about a kind of madness—one that made her want to kill the target she had set her sights on and keep hunting them down until the end.

It was a savage and relentless engraving that twisted its host’s mind, forcing them into the role of a killer, a relentless assassin, forever driven to murder to stay alive.

Luckily, the engraving had twisted during her awakening, and that madness had distorted as well.

‘I guess this is still a form of mental illness…’

The madness of the original engraving.

It would force the bearer to want to kill the one they had chosen as a target, torturing them with the need to kill until the very end.

This madness, too, had twisted during the transformation of the engraving.

It responded to her past desire to always be close to Si-woo, to watch his every move, to keep an eye on him.

When it was for Si-woo, she felt justified.

Even if she grew distant from him, it was an action only for his sake.

But when she tried to stop the stalking for her own desires and move into the light, the twisted emotions of the engraving wouldn’t allow it.

There was only one escape the engraving allowed.

Si-woo didn’t like it.

Si-woo was struggling.

If she could believe that, then the engraving’s madness wouldn’t rise.

“To put it simply, Si-woo let me do it because I’m struggling because of the side effects. He said he’d let me stop stalking if he sent a signal or if I stopped undressing around him.”

That was for Si-woo.

“…Hah, fine, I get it. This is just something that can’t be helped, huh?”

“That’s the feeling. And this date won’t be as warm and friendly as you think. For Si-woo, it’s more like going out with family than with a lover.”

“By the way, how old is this ‘family’ member?”

“They’re the same age as Baek Eun-seol.”

“Hmm, seems like it’s just a date after all.”

Im So-yeon had referred to their relationship as a family-like bond, but Saria didn’t believe in such relationships between men and women.

In her view, there were only two types of relationships that could exist between a man and a woman: lovers or potential lovers.

It might have been a bit of an extreme way to phrase it, but she didn’t think it was wrong.

Especially when the word “date” had been used.

‘This is a clear sign!!’

If Im So-yeon hadn’t mentioned stalking and just said she was going to follow Si-woo, Saria would’ve suppressed her curiosity and simply asked Si-woo how the date had gone when he returned.

Even though she was drunk on love, she still tried to hold on to her common sense and didn’t want to be disliked by Si-woo.

She decided to be patient, like everyone else.

“I’ll go too.”

But if she had been given permission, what was wrong with that?

She knew it was a selfish thought, but when someone you love says they’re going on a date, it was hard not to get selfish.

She quickly rationalized it and stood up, her red eyes burning with resolve.

Today’s training was a rest day.

“So, you couldn’t resist and ended up following him, huh?”

“Yes.”

Saria finished explaining everything to the two women as they sat in the café.

Her back was damp with cold sweat.

She hadn’t realized it at the time, but once she calmed down, she realized that from the beginning to the end, everything had been a mistake.

She anxiously looked around, glancing at Yu Ga-eun and Si-woo, but their attention was fixed on her mother instead.

“Wow, this cheesecake is surprisingly good.”

Saria understood, but Kang Hong-yeon couldn’t understand why they followed her.

“Sis, you don’t have anything to say?”

“Aren’t you curious? Of all the juniors I know, you’re one of the least connected with men. And now, I hear you’re going on a date this morning?”

“Where did you even hear that from?”

“Did you forget where the shop people belong? If they’re new Hunters, maybe, but anyone who’s worked in this industry even a little bit wouldn’t forget Yu Ga-eun’s face.”

“I guess I’ll have to change shops next time.”

With a sigh, Yu Ga-eun downed the rest of her Americano in one gulp and stood up from the table.

“Even if I tell you not to follow me, you’re not the kind of person who would listen, right?”

“You know me well?”

“Then at least hide well. I’m used to being stalked, and since it’s you, I’m sure you wouldn’t spread it online, so it doesn’t matter.”

“…Hmm, this is unexpected. I thought you’d tell me not to do it.”

“With your daughter following you, it’s not like you can’t come, right? Besides, even without you and your daughter, there are more than one or two people following me.”

Si-woo nodded as if he already knew.

Both Saria and Im So-yeon were taken aback by the unexpected answer.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Let’s see… I didn’t notice, but if you add Im So-yeon to the list, it makes four, right?”

Four?

At Yu Ga-eun’s answer, familiar faces began to form in Saria’s mind.

The number matched exactly, and if Kang Hong-yeon—her mother—hadn’t been focusing and using her senses, it would have been nearly impossible to detect them.

It could only be those people.

“Yeah.”

“Are the instructors here?”

At Si-woo’s confident reply, Saria couldn’t help but look at him in disbelief.

Well, maybe it made sense.

After all, this was the person who quit being a good Hunter to become an Academy instructor, all because of Si-woo.

There was no way they wouldn’t follow him if he was going out on a date.

“Just don’t get caught. If you don’t make your presence known in front of me, I’ll ignore it.”

With those words, the mother and daughter duo with the blue hair glanced at the two leaving the café.

After a moment of hesitation, they stood up from their seats.

A much more precise magic circle was deployed, incomparable to earlier.

The newly formed invisibility magic energy surrounded the mother and daughter, erasing their presence.

‘Did something just happen?’

‘Hah, this is unexpected.’

Sensing a faint killing intent, the mother and daughter quietly followed the two people’s trail, now trying not to be noticed by the ‘old Yu Ga-eun’.

They moved carefully, more cautiously than before.