There was no time to properly admire the parfait, brimming with fresh fruit and topped with ice cream and cereal.
I quickly lowered my head to cover my face.
‘Did he see me?’
He seemed to have continued on his way.
There wasn’t really a reason to avoid Do Yihyeon.
However, with Baek Jiwoo already attracting attention in the cafe, adding Do Yihyeon was out of the question.
Besides, Do Yihyeon and Baek Jiwoo had the same objective, so they would surely bother me.
“Are you avoiding Do Yihyeon hyung right now?”
Just then, a voice laced with amusement came from beside me.
Baek Jiwoo, who had been observing my every move, chuckled and peered out the window.
“He’s gone.”
It seemed he had spotted Do Yihyeon at the same time I did.
Well, it would have been strange not to notice that striking silver hair.
Only then did I relax, take a large spoonful of parfait, and put it in my mouth.
Baek Jiwoo then dipped a piece of toast in whipped cream and offered it to me.
Just as I was about to take a bite:
“How did the two of you meet and end up together?”
Do Yihyeon’s uniquely languid yet slightly sharp voice came from behind me.
I nearly threw the toast in surprise. When I whipped my head around, Do Yihyeon’s face was right in front of mine, I didn’t even notice him arrive.
He had leaned down, so we were literally nose to nose.
“Oh, I thought he’d gone. He came up.”
Baek Jiwoo saw Do Yihyeon and grumbled regretfully.
He must have planned to talk to me alone about joining the Jizon Guild, but the appearance of this uninvited guest had disrupted his plans.
I felt a pang of guilt and excused myself to Do Yihyeon.
“I just had something to talk about briefly.”
“Ah, you met to talk about Jizon, then.”
Do Yihyeon, who instantly grasped the purpose of our meeting after hearing my words, looked down at the swing chair we were sitting on.
He seemed to be looking for a place to sit, but there wasn’t enough space for him.
Baek Jiwoo, watching Do Yihyeon’s eyes roll, spoke with a curious expression.
“Hyung, when did you become so proactive? You weren’t like this before.”
Baek Jiwoo mumbled, ‘Wasn’t he the epitome of shyness?’ as he diligently ate toast dipped in whipped cream.
I had been curious about this point for a while too, so I waited for Do Yihyeon’s answer.
Originally, Do Yihyeon disliked being in front of people and rarely spoke to anyone except his friends, who were known as the three VIPs of Iljinsang High.
Considering my memories from before possession and what I had seen and heard of Do Yihyeon after possession, he was definitely not the type of person to act like this.
Ever since he suddenly found me in Gwanak Mountain and spoke to me, Do Yihyeon had clearly been acting out of character.
In response to Baek Jiwoo’s question, Do Yihyeon silently stared at me instead of answering.
After a moment of bewilderment, I realized what he wanted to say.
‘Is he trying to recruit me into his guild now that he knows I’m rank 0?’
Thinking about it, Do Yihyeon, who hadn’t really caught my eye before, had been appearing frequently recently, and his proactive behavior was limited only to me.
He probably wouldn’t say it, but just in case he might mention me being rank 0, I hastily grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it into Do Yihyeon’s mouth.
While Do Yihyeon chewed on the toast he’d unexpectedly received, Baek Jiwoo looked at me with a bewildered expression and said,
“What is this atmosphere? Why are you guys feeding each other toast, leaving me out?”
“We’ve never fed each other. Here, you eat too.”
I said nonchalantly and kindly put toast into Baek Jiwoo’s mouth as well.
I shoved it roughly into what I assumed was his mouth, probably poking his uvula, but I didn’t have the luxury to care about that.
“Are you going to sit here?”
If Do Yihyeon were to sit, Baek Jiwoo and I would have to sit very close.
No, even if we sat close, I wondered if I could sit with these door-sized guys who were over 180cm tall.
When I spoke with a nuance that implied I wasn’t happy about him sitting, Do Yihyeon seemed to ponder a bit.
Then, he looked at Baek Jiwoo and said indifferently,
“Hmm, I don’t think I’ll be going to Jizon, so I’ll be heading off first.”
“Yeah, that would be good, wouldn’t it?”
“What’s good?! Noona, you weren’t even considering Jizon?”
Baek Jiwoo bounced beside me, making the swing chair shake, but Do Yihyeon and I ignored him, exchanging glances.
Do Yihyeon then turned and left the cafe.
I didn’t bother seeing him off and focused only on my parfait.
I could feel Baek Jiwoo looking at me with eyes wide in betrayal, so I deliberately didn’t turn my head.
I put down my spoon with a clatter and solemnly looked up at Baek Jiwoo.
Actually, I had given a lot of thought to which guild would be best to join, but there were only two candidates that made me ponder: Hyulhyang and Onsaemiro.
Hyulhyang had Yeon Hayeon and Yeon Hyeonggwang, and Onsaemiro had Do Yihyeon, who knew my rank, but Jizon had nothing.
I had only met Baek Jiwoo once for a conversation before this meeting, so there was no particular reason to choose Jizon.
Still, since I had met him to at least hear him out, I intended to just listen to the conditions he would offer.
“What will you do if I join Jizon?”
At my question, Baek Jiwoo stirred his parfait with a spoon and grumbled in a mumbling tone,
“You’re not even interested in our guild anyway.”
“If the conditions are good, I might join Jizon.”
Then, Baek Jiwoo, who had been looking at me with suspicious eyes, rolled his eyeballs, then started counting on his fingers, listing the conditions he had thought of.
Among them was the condition of being specially included in the Gwanak District Western Alliance, but I casually ignored it.
“Huh? Usually, people get really excited when you say you’ll put them in the alliance.”
Baek Jiwoo, seeing my reaction, looked noticeably flustered and kept tilting his head.
‘That condition only works for students here.’
I swallowed the words I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud and waved my hand, motioning for him to continue.
Baek Jiwoo, with one leg now up on the chair, turned his body completely towards me and diligently listed the conditions.
Listening calmly, I simply nodded my head once he finished speaking.
Baek Jiwoo’s tense gaze was fixed on me, unwilling to drop.
‘I was going to ponder for a while if there was a condition that appealed to me, but I guess I don’t need to.’
The decision was made quickly. I firmly expressed my refusal.
“Actually, I’ve had a lot on my mind…”
“Wait!”
Then Baek Jiwoo suddenly put his index finger to my lips.
He could have just said ‘wait,’ but he specifically put his finger on my lips and urgently exclaimed,
“Just one week, if you give me just one week, I’m confident I can change your mind, Noona…!”
Wow, that’s a line just perfect for causing misunderstandings.
At his remark, which could easily be misinterpreted, the cafe’s attention turned towards us.
In addition to the problematic statement, Baek Jiwoo’s desperate expression was more than enough to cause a misunderstanding.
‘What’s wrong with him!’
I quickly put distance between Baek Jiwoo and myself, pressing my backside as far back as possible on the edge of the chair.
Then I firmly shook my head.
“I have no intention of joining Jizon.”
In situations like this, you shouldn’t give even a sliver of hope.
Thinking that, I cut him off cleanly, and Baek Jiwoo’s face filled with regret.
I worried he might persistently hold on even more, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.
Perhaps it was because I spoke so firmly.
Baek Jiwoo, with a regretful look, saw me off, telling me to be careful.
When our paths briefly overlapped and we walked together, I asked something I’d been curious about.
The question was whether all A-rank Awakened personally stepped forward to recruit like this.
Before my possession, when a capable Awakened was found, it was usually the guild member or staff in charge of Awakened recruitment who contacted the target.
But here, all the guilds that sent me love calls had their guild masters directly approach me.
Not just the Seven Great Guilds, but other guilds also contacted me quite a bit, and they were all the respective guild masters.
At my question, Baek Jiwoo answered with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Why are you asking such an obvious question?’
“How many A-ranks do you think there are in our country?”
“Still, aren’t there usually guild members or staff in charge of this kind of thing?”
“Ah, well. There are. But Noona, you’re a bit special.”
At the mention of me being special, I involuntarily flinched, feeling guilty.
I was living while hiding that I was an outsider from another dimension and had even been on the list of potential identities for Rank 0 ‘Nada,’ so I couldn’t help but twitch.
If I had opened my mouth and said something like, ‘Me?’, it felt like it would reveal that I was hiding something.
So, I just looked up at him with an expression asking for an explanation, as if to say, ‘What do you mean?’
“First of all, you’re the first unawakened person who came to the Hunter Association lounge as Hayeon Noona’s friend.”
Baek Jiwoo looked down at me as if seeing someone truly remarkable and continued speaking.
“Besides, you’re close with the Four Heavenly Kings hyungs, who only hang out among themselves, right? Not just anyone can do that.”
“Ah, so I’m special because I have impressive connections?”
My tension immediately eased, and I asked playfully as he made a circle with his thumb and index finger.
“No, normally, people would easily be overwhelmed by those connections. I’ve never seen anyone like Noona. At first, I even thought that maybe Noona was an outsider from another dimension and that the Rank 1s approached you with that in mind.”
“Oh, come on.”
If I said more, I’d just arouse suspicion.
Since I wasn’t good at lying, I denied it as briefly as possible.
I walked looking straight ahead, worried he might see my trembling pupils.
But Baek Jiwoo, who had been walking beside me, laughing comfortably, suddenly stopped and looked down at me with serious eyes, asking,
“But Noona, you’re really not an outsider from another dimension, are you?”
My heart plummeted in that instant, and my mind went blank.
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