“What if I am?”
Rather than telling a clumsy lie, I decided to be bold. I figured it was better to ask, “What if I am?” than to awkwardly deny it.
“It’d be fun if Noona was an outsider from another dimension.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I just think it’d be interesting if someone I knew was an outsider from another dimension.”
Baek Jiwoo seemed to naturally assume I wasn’t an outsider from another dimension.
I finally let out a sigh of relief, but for him to say it would be “fun” if someone he knew was an outsider from another dimension…
This was a reaction I had never considered.
When I first possessed this body, didn’t monsters appear and destroy houses along with the status window that said “gate activated by the possession of an outsider from another dimension”?
Until now, countless people have suffered due to gates and monsters, so for him to say it would be fun…
I wondered what kind of mindset he had to say such a thing.
I had thought that everyone here would see me as some villain who endangered the world.
But I heard something completely unexpected.
“Usually, outsiders from another dimension are treated as enemies or villains. What would be fun about that?”
“It’s a little different if someone you know is a villain. Wouldn’t an outsider from another dimension have special benefits or power?”
“Ah, so it’s like, ‘It’s reassuring when the villain is on my side,’ something like that?”
“Something similar. The opening of the gates is unavoidable. And I’m quite satisfied with my current life.”
Indeed, Awakened can substitute parts that even science and technology can’t handle with their skills, so they might be living satisfying lives.
Even I felt that getting stronger was a considerable merit, and I had quite a few skills that were good for daily life, even if they weren’t attack skills against monsters.
I was fully satisfied living as an Awakened too, but hearing this from someone else felt different.
I always felt guilty that people in this dimension suffered undue harm because of me opening the gates.
But Baek Jiwoo’s words made me feel a little comforted.
After receiving unexpected comfort and sending Baek Jiwoo off, I fell into thought for a moment while waiting at a crosswalk.
‘When I first possessed this body, I think I tried to go back as quickly as possible.’
It was frustrating to live hiding my personality, afraid of becoming the century’s traitor who created the gates, and I also felt guilty for causing harm.
If I returned to my original dimension, the gates would naturally disappear, so I tried to quickly unlock my skills, regain my power, and find a way to return as soon as possible.
But at some point, that firm resolve gradually began to fade.
Was it from the moment I became friends with Yeon Hayeon?
Or was it from when I rapidly grew closer to the Four Heavenly Kings after changing seats?
My goal of returning to my original dimension remains unchanged.
However, as time passed and I became more accustomed to this world, I kept postponing my goal.
I saw the traffic light turn green and walked across, looking around.
It was an ordinary street, not particularly different from the world I used to live in.
If I had fallen into a completely different world, perhaps I would have struggled even more to escape.
For example, if I had possessed a character in a novel set in medieval Europe, or something like that.
‘Just thinking about it is awful.’
As someone who could absolutely not give up modern conveniences, the thought of possessing a body in such a world was repulsive.
Before I knew it, I arrived home and entered my room, where I renewed my resolve after a long time.
No more procrastination.
Let’s quickly raise my rank and find a way back to my original dimension.
If an S-rank gate opens, I will definitely go in and explore every path.
As I nodded to myself, Bishafe flapped its black wings and flew next to my face.
Bishafe always revealed its small form as soon as we entered the room, so I instinctively picked Bishafe up and said, “Let’s go raid a gate at dawn.”
Bishafe rubbed its head against my arm, smiling cutely as if it liked the idea.
***
Late in the evening, James, the guild master of Star, one of the Seven Great Guilds, and Cha Hyeonseo, the guild master of Black, sat facing each other in an office within a building.
The furniture was arranged at precise, ruler-straight angles.
The owner of this breathtakingly neat office was Cha Hyeonseo.
Cha Hyeonseo, sitting cross-legged on a black sofa in the center of the spacious office, spoke first.
They were usually close friends and met occasionally, but today they met to discuss business.
Their main topic was Dana, who had recently been receiving love calls from various guilds, not just the Seven Great Guilds.
“I hear Jizon has already been rejected.”
“Really? Wasn’t it not long ago that news of her joining a guild spread?”
“I wonder if the Jizon Guild Master visiting her school made her feel pressured.”
“Ugh, why did he do that? You have to approach slowly, without being burdensome.”
“Isn’t that a bit rich coming from you?”
James had a history of actively and obnoxiously pursuing Awakened he wanted to recruit into his guild with his lively personality, and had been rejected multiple times.
At Cha Hyeonseo’s sharp remark, James clamped his mouth shut, then immediately narrowed his eyes prettily and said,
“So this time, I’m going to try something different from before.”
“You might lose her that way.”
There was only one reason they hadn’t actively tried to contact Dana from the beginning: her student status.
Even though it wasn’t intentionally divided, guilds were distinctly split into those composed of students and those composed of adults.
Students wanted to stick together, so they were unwilling to join guilds led by adults.
Therefore, naturally, guild members of guilds led by students were filled with students, and guilds led by adults were composed only of adults.
Currently, Hyulhyang, Onsaemiro, and Jizon are all vying for Dana, each trying to bring her into their guild.
This leaves James and Cha Hyeonseo with little to do.
They plan to step in only if Dana rejects all of their offers.
If she doesn’t join a student-led guild, it means there’s still hope for them.
The two had been biding their time, and as soon as the rumor of Jizon’s rejection spread among guild masters, they met to put their heads together.
James, pretending to ponder for a moment, suddenly sprang from the sofa and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window in the office, looking out.
While Jizon’s rejection gave them a glimmer of hope, Hyulhyang and Onsaemiro were still in the running, making his chest feel heavy with frustration.
“Since Hayeon and Dana are close, maybe we won’t even get a chance.”
Just as James was about to turn away, having voiced his thoughts while admiring the city lights outside, something caught his eye.
“Huh?!”
He pulled his hands from his pockets and pressed them against the window, pressing his nose so hard against the glass it was squashed, and shouted,
“There’s a gate open down there, and someone just went in alone!”
At his words, Cha Hyeonseo, who was about to pull James away from the window because he didn’t want fingerprints on the glass, shifted his gaze outside.
A gate had appeared in the sky in front of the Black Guild building the day before.
They hadn’t touched it yet, as it hadn’t been auctioned off, but someone had just slipped inside.
Cha Hyeonseo frowned, looking at the gate hovering in a spot perfectly visible from the office.
“What did they look like?”
Cha Hyeonseo asked, having missed seeing the person entering the gate.
James, whose wrist was grabbed and who was forcibly pulled away from the window, placed a finger on his temple, pretending to ponder deeply, and replied,
“They were all black, so it was hard to see well. At a glance, they seemed like a woman? Their build was small.”
“The Hyulhyang Guild Master, perhaps?”
Someone who often wore black, was female, and strong enough to enter a gate alone.
No matter how he thought about it, no one else came to mind besides Yeon Hayeon.
“There are a few other Awakened, besides Hayeon, who have a small build and can enter a gate alone.”
“But you said they were wearing black clothes.”
“You’re not seriously thinking it’s Hayeon based on just that, are you?”
“It’s just a gut feeling.”
A brief silence fell between the two immediately after Cha Hyeonseo’s reply.
James and Cha Hyeonseo were wrestling with the same dilemma: should they go to the gate, or should they wait in the office until the person who just entered came out?
“If it really is Hayeon, I don’t think we necessarily need to go.”
Then, breaking the silence, James offered his opinion.
If it was any other Awakened, perhaps, but if Yeon Hayeon had entered the gate alone, there was no need to worry.
That gate had already been classified as C-rank.
It probably wouldn’t take long for her to close the gate and come out.
Yet, a strange, uneasy feeling lingered.
“Wait a minute.”
Cha Hyeonseo thought of a new face they hadn’t immediately considered as a candidate for the black-clad person.
Someone who hadn’t come to mind immediately because they had only recently registered as an Awakened, and whom they had almost missed.
“Isn’t it possible that Dana entered?”
At Cha Hyeonseo’s deduction, James’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit, and he hurriedly turned to look at the gate outside the window.
An A-rank Awakened with no guild affiliation.
She met all the conditions for someone who would enter a gate alone.
The two men quietly met each other’s eyes.
They didn’t need to speak to understand. Both had expressions that seemed to say, “Doesn’t that make sense?” as they looked at each other.
“But why would she go in alone?”
James voiced the question that had popped into his mind. If she had decided to join a guild, she could have waited to join it before closing gates, so why would she go in alone at this late hour?
“I don’t know. I have no clue.”
Cha Hyeonseo said, looking down at the street where hardly anyone passed by due to the late hour.