[∑((주)으뜸(8) : Is it true Dana is joining Blood Scent?! -_-+]
I closed my eyes again at the chat I saw the moment I woke up.
I’d only told Yeon Ha Yeon, so I had no idea how Baek Ji-woo had already heard the news.
I remembered the cringe-worthy thing Baek Ji-woo said when I told her I wouldn’t join Supreme.
What if Baek Ji-woo comes looking for me, spouting easily misunderstood words, trying to keep me from leaving?
My worries were already piling up.
[뽀ᄃH미남(6) : Why ask the obvious LOL Dana was ours from the start! ^0^]
‘What’s wrong with her now…?’
Why were they both acting like this first thing in the morning?
Yeon Hyeong-gwang was busy teasing Baek Ji-woo, saying she knew I’d choose Blood Scent.
Watching my two childish siblings chat made my head throb.
I clutched my head and got out of bed.
Then, the slightly changed scene on my bed caught my eye.
Originally, only Bishap used to sleep with me on my bed, but now we had one more family member.
Two dragons, clearly with different art styles, were settled on either side of my hip.
[My Lord!]
[Why! What are you looking at!]
Unlike Bishap, whose true form is sharpness itself but becomes cute when small, Red’s fierce impression from his true form remained.
Comparing Bishap’s round eyes with Red’s sharply slit eyes was a bit strange.
‘Do their personalities follow their appearance when they shrink? Red is a bit more finicky than Bishap.’
I thought all dragons became round like Bishap when they shrank.
But Red’s face was only round, yet his features were incredibly sharp.
His wings and body size were the same as Bishap’s, like a lizard, but only his features were different.
“Red, go in now.”
Unlike Bishap, who would immediately hide if my parents seemed about to enter the room, Red didn’t quite understand such things yet.
As soon as I told him to go in, Red, who had slipped into my shadow, said,
[The bed is nice!]
The more I looked at him, he was quite cute, despite being finicky.
[You can come up on the bed anytime when Mom and Dad aren’t home.]
As soon as I got out of bed, I checked my appearance in the full-length mirror and got ready for a simple outing.
I opened the window to gauge the outside weather, put on thick clothes, and only then was I completely ready.
Looking at the clock, it was already lunchtime.
I had decided to have lunch with Yeon Ha Yeon and was walking to the bus stop to go to the neighborhood where the Blood Scent Guild was located.
My steps stopped as soon as I saw someone already waiting for the bus at the stop.
‘Wasn’t he nocturnal?’
I clearly knew he had a reversed day-night schedule.
Do Yi-hyun was waiting for the bus, hands in his pockets, with a face exhausted from fatigue.
I didn’t know where he was going, but it didn’t seem like he came out to find me after hearing I was going to Blood Scent.
“Where are you going at this hour?”
Usually, if you meet a friend on a weekend afternoon, you ask where they’re going, not where they’re going at this hour.
But Do Yi-hyun was an exception.
It was the time he’d usually be sound asleep on a weekend afternoon.
Do Yi-hyun, who turned to look at me with a still sleepy face, smoothed out his slightly frowned expression and said,
“Hae-geum called urgently. You?”
***
Upon seeing his reaction, it seemed he still didn’t know I was going to Blood Scent.
He probably hadn’t checked his chat since he seemed to have just woken up.
It was best to quickly tell Do Yi-hyun about my guild decision, so I immediately told him where I was going.
“To Blood Scent. I decided to join there.”
“Ah… so you did.”
I was surprised he didn’t seem too disappointed.
Or was he just hiding his regret?
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but outwardly he looked fine, which relieved me.
When Do Yi-hyun first spoke to me, I was honestly annoyed, thinking my identity had been exposed.
But as I continued to see him, I realized he was a good friend, and I wanted to maintain a good relationship.
Do Yi-hyun was silent for a moment, then looked at me with clearer eyes than before and said,
“I thought you might go to Blood Scent since you’re close with Yeon Ha Yeon and go to the same school.”
As Do Yi-hyun spoke calmly, the cold winter wind blew fiercely, as if to claw at my face.
I put my hands in my pockets and squeezed my eyes shut.
It was because the chilling wind made it impossible to keep my eyes open properly.
But the strong wind that had been blowing just moments ago no longer touched my face.
The sound of the wind was still there, though.
I opened my eyes and looked up at Do Yi-hyun, who was standing a step in front of me.
Do Yi-hyun was standing close, looking down at me with an unreadable expression.
‘Did he come to block the wind for me?’
Thanks to Do Yi-hyun standing with his back to the wind’s direction, the wind didn’t reach me.
Do Yi-hyun gazed at me idly, then abruptly extended his hand.
“I’ll give you my number. Let’s keep in touch.”
“Ah, okay.”
Until now, I had occasionally run into Do Yi-hyun by chance, but we had never contacted each other to meet.
For one, I didn’t know Do Yi-hyun’s contact information, and he hadn’t asked for my number either.
‘He’s probably asking now that there’s no chance of me joining Onsaemiro.’
If I had joined Onsaemiro, he could have slowly asked, but if I wasn’t joining, it was uncertain when we might run into each other again.
Do Yi-hyun entered his number into my phone and handed it back.
“Do you like aquariums?”
Then he asked a sudden question.
Suddenly asking if I liked aquariums.
It was as hard to follow as when he suddenly asked to go see the giant octopus.
“I do like them, generally?”
I raised the end of my sentence with a look that asked, ‘But why?’ Do Yi-hyun then put his hands back in his pockets and replied casually,
“Then let’s go see one together.”
“You and me?”
“We couldn’t see it together on Jeju Island, remember?”
It was a simple yet fresh reason.
We went on separate school trips because we attended different schools, yet he wanted to go again because we couldn’t see the aquarium together on Jeju Island.
‘It would be awkward if it’s just the two of us.’
I imagined a scenario where I called all of Do Yi-hyun’s friends and my friends to go to the aquarium together.
The Four Heavenly Kings of Gamseong High and the Three Great VIPs of Iljinsang High meeting…
‘Ugh, just thinking about it gives me a headache.’
***
Let’s keep this to imagination.
If the Four Heavenly Kings and the Three Great VIPs went around together, they might drag a legion of female student followers behind them.
Just experiencing the Four Heavenly Kings’ followers already made my head spin, so I was terrified of what the Three Great VIPs’ followers would be like.
“Okay, let’s go see it later.”
I decided that Do Yi-hyun and I going to the aquarium alone was much better than going with the Four Heavenly Kings and the Three Great VIPs.
Do Yi-hyun was the only person who knew I was rank 0, so there was no harm in getting close to him.
In fact, there might be more good points if we became closer.
Just thinking that a high-ranking Awakener like Do Yi-hyun could help me hide my identity already made me feel secure.
Do Yi-hyun seemed a bit surprised when I readily agreed.
It seemed he had prepared himself for rejection, but there was no particular reason to refuse.
After exchanging a few more simple conversations, we parted ways when the bus I needed to take arrived first.
The bus headed to the neighborhood where the Blood Scent Guild was located.
[Lumos(Lumos..★)(10) : Dana, did you decide to join Blood Scent? What a shame. It would have been great if you joined our guild ã… ã… Blood(3) : As expected. Yeon Ha Yeon, congratulations on recruiting a good friend.]
As I was just getting off near the Blood Scent Guild, James and Cha Hyun-seo sent chats one after another, as if they had just seen the chat window.
James had never once hinted that he wanted me to join Star Guild, so I never imagined in my dreams that he would be disappointed.
Cha Hyun-seo simply offered Yeon Ha Yeon congratulations.
To call me a ‘good friend’ when she didn’t know I was in this chat room was a little touching.
[Sashimi(1) : Dana arriving in 5 minutes ^0^ Heartthrob(6) : She’s here!]
I looked around after seeing Yeon Ha Yeon and Yeon Hyeong-gwang’s chats.
It seemed Yeon Hyeong-gwang had spotted me nearby, but I couldn’t see him.
“Dana unnie! Over here!”
Just then, Yeon Hyeong-gwang’s voice was heard from somewhere in the tall building directly in front of me.
I looked up towards the sound and saw Yeon Hyeong-gwang waving at me from an open window.
I smiled brightly and waved back, then walked towards the Blood Scent Guild building.
It felt very different coming simply to look around versus coming to sign a contract to become a guild member.
Yeon Ha Yeon and Yeon Hyeong-gwang had already come down to the first floor and greeted me warmly.
“Welcome to Blood Scent, unnie!”
Pop!!
Yeon Hyeong-gwang set off a small firecracker, having prepared it who knows when, as a welcoming gesture.
“From now on, let’s have some awesome battles together.”
The Blood Scent guild members who saw Yeon Ha Yeon hugging me tightly also welcomed me, their new guild member, and each said a word.
“The Boss’s friend, a truly amazing friend has joined.”
“Please take care of us from now on!”
Other Blood Scent guild members on the first floor also showed interest in the new face being so enthusiastically welcomed by the Guild Master and his sibling.
Yeon Ha Yeon took my hand and led me to the Guild Master’s office.
Just by looking at her excited steps, I could tell how happy she was.
‘I’ve never received this level of welcome even in my original dimension.’
Of course, as the number one ranker, I always received basic welcomes wherever I went, but this was the first time I’d seen gestures filled with such genuine joy and affection for me.
Just looking at Yeon Ha Yeon’s delighted back made my heart feel gently softened.
The contract proceeded quickly.
Yeon Ha Yeon confidently presented a contract that anyone could see was favorable, and after calmly reviewing it, I happily signed.
“Congratulations on becoming a Blood Scent guild member! We’ll really treat you well!”
“That’s right, unnie. I’ll really take good care of you!”
Yeon Ha Yeon hugged me again in joy, showing how happy she was that I was now part of Blood Scent.
Yeon Hyeong-gwang also looked at us with satisfaction and triumphantly shouted,
“Alright, shall we talk business right away?”
I thought I was just signing the contract and leaving today, but Yeon Ha Yeon made me sit down again and suddenly changed the topic with a serious face.
“Huh? Uh-huh.”
In a daze, I had to listen to a lot of work-related talk right after signing the contract.