Inside the two-person ward, Haemalkum and Kang Yedam were each sitting on their beds, chatting excitedly with the visitors who had come to see them.
After the news broke last time that the two had been injured, a suggestion had popped up in the chatroom about going to visit them together.
Until now, Doi Hyun had never been the one to step forward; Haemalkum and Kang Yedam had been acting like de facto guild leaders in public affairs.
Some guild leaders even felt more comfortable dealing with Haemalkum and Kang Yedam than with Doi Hyun himself.
So, hearing that they were hurt naturally led to talk of visiting them in the hospital.
“I expected the difficulty to go up, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
Haemalkum shivered as if recalling the moment he got hurt. Kang Yedam, sitting beside him, nodded with a pale complexion.
Though both of them were still lively, their expressions darkened whenever they talked about that time—it seemed the pain they had endured was still fresh in their minds.
“We were originally supposed to handle that rank easily, but when it suddenly changed, it was hard to adjust.”
“I honestly thought Haemalkum was dead when I saw him get thrown by the boss monster.”
“He landed coolly, only broke his arm.”
“Rolling around pitifully, and you call that cool.”
“Hmm, hm.”
Haemalkum gave an embarrassed smile as he rubbed his broken arm.
Then, he shared every detail about how they got caught in the sudden gate, what they went through there, and how they managed to survive.
As the two finished their story, the faces of the visitors grew more somber.
The process of defeating the boss monster had been far more brutal than anyone had imagined.
“So, a sudden gate opened right in the middle of the city, and everyone on that street got swept up in it, causing chaos while trying to protect them? And the monsters were much stronger than expected?”
“Exactly. If it weren’t for us, everyone would’ve died.”
“Because we were the only two Awakened there.”
James furrowed his brows, summarizing the story and asking for confirmation.
Haemalkum nodded and agreed.
Though their wounds were severe, he said, compared to a human life, it was nothing, and the two puffed out their chests proudly.
“To be honest, we were a bit careless too. It wasn’t supposed to be this bad.”
Kang Yedam gave an awkward smile.
I had been listening with a serious expression the whole time, but those words gave me some relief.
If the dungeon difficulty had risen enough to injure them this badly, it really was a serious matter.
Whether Kang Yedam was trying to reassure us or genuinely admitting carelessness, I chose to believe her words.
‘Still, it’s good they’re recovering quickly.’
I’d been standing quietly in the back, listening, when suddenly my eyes met Doi Hyun’s.
I’d already received a text telling me it wasn’t my fault, but still, it was hard to keep eye contact, so I looked away first.
It was just as the guild leaders, the Four Heavenly Kings, Yeon Hyunggwang, and the rest of us were preparing to leave.
“You don’t look well.”
Doi Hyun approached, scrutinizing my face and raising his brows.
Seeing his rare change of expression, both Kang Yedam and Haemalkum’s eyes nearly popped out.
“But yeah, you really don’t look good.”
Haemalkum examined my face like Doi Hyun and spoke with some worry in his voice, while Kang Yedam just looked on with a content smile.
‘Why is she smiling like that?’
I’d thought Kang Yedam’s gaze toward me had changed before, but it seemed to be getting stronger by the day.
Feeling uneasy, I turned my eyes away from them.
That’s when I saw Ban Eunhyul glaring at us with a displeased look.
“Shouldn’t you be nursing your friends? We’re heading out first.”
As everyone surged toward the door, he quietly came over and led me outside.
Seeing that Doi Hyun wasn’t keen on this, I quickly took Ban Eunhyul and left, expecting another round of tension between them today.
The others had already grouped in threes and fives, crossing the corridor ahead.
We followed slowly behind them.
“What’s with that face? You could jump rope with those dark circles.”
Ban Eunhyul glanced at me with his usual dissatisfied expression, making a snide comment.
“Is it really that bad?”
“Yeah, no joke.”
Maybe it was because I saw my face every day, but it didn’t seem that severe to me.
However, everyone around me said the same thing, so I started to get self-conscious.
I fidgeted under my eyes, about to pull a hand mirror from my bag, but Ban Eunhyul stopped me.
He grabbed my hand, pulling it out of the bag, then snatched the bag away and said,
“Forget it, what are you going to look at?”
“Just curious. I want to see how bad it is.”
“Just think of it as a panda.”
He frowned at the corners of my eyes and muttered the words as if tossing them off. Still, he didn’t intend to return my bag.
“Give it back; I’m not going to look.”
“I’ll give it back when we get home.”
“You’re taking me home?”
“Yeah.”
Lately, Ban Eunhyul had been taking me home more often.
Before we got close, he wouldn’t even glance my way when I said goodbye after school.
Thinking back to those early days when I was possessed, this was a huge improvement.
“You look exhausted these days. Want me to cut back your work a bit?”
“Yeah, you should probably rest more at home.”
Before saying goodbye in front of the hospital, Yeon Ha-yeon grabbed my face with both hands, turning it around, while Yeon Hyunggwang looked at me with concern, especially under my eyes.
I had been pushing myself lately, but was I really in that bad a shape to make others worry this much?
I looked fine in the mirror at home, but maybe the face I saw and the one others saw were very different.
“Yeah, you should rest a bit.”
Even Ban Eunhyul agreed, and other Awakened who had been peeking at us gathered around.
“What’s wrong? Is Dana sick?”
“You don’t look so good.”
“Looks the same as always to me.”
It wasn’t that I saw myself differently from others—it was just that these guys were obsessing way too much over my appearance.
Eunhasu, who said it looked the same as always, stood at a distance with a completely uninterested face.
Maybe she was cautious about getting hives from touching Yeon Ha-yeon or me.
Still, wasn’t that over the top?
Hearing Eunhasu, who had no connection to me, I became sure my condition wasn’t that bad.
“Ah, no need to cut back work. I like going on dungeon runs.”
I said I was fine, worried that Yeon Ha-yeon might insist I reduce my workload.
She hesitated but stepped back for the moment.
Just when I thought I could finally relax and head home, Ban Eunhyul and I were in the car when the radio started talking about me.
[There have been a sharp drop in gate occurrences recently, right? We thought it was a natural result of the increased dungeon difficulty, but a new hypothesis has been proposed.]
[Yes, it’s that an external dimensional being named ‘Nada’ has been closing newly spawned gates. Considering Nada’s actions during the last S-rank gate incident, many find this hypothesis convincing.]
Ban Eunhyul and I were having light conversation, but as soon as the radio mentioned this, we both fell silent.
Ban Eunhyul, it seemed, was also quite interested in Nada and focused intently on the broadcast.
[There have even been sightings posted online. Although they can’t be verified, the story is intriguing. The overall image of Nada was blurry—almost as if facial recognition had failed to identify her face, which has drawn a lot of attention from netizens.]
I flinched at that.
Wearing the mask Ban Eunhyul had gifted me made it easier to move around, but hearing this made me worry that he might start suspecting me.
Fortunately, Ban Eunhyul showed no sign of suspicion.
As soon as they mentioned the face couldn’t be recognized, he leaned back in his seat, relaxed.
Watching Ban Eunhyul’s reaction closely, I struggled to calm my racing heart.
“You should participate in guild activities but rest whenever you can.”
Ban Eunhyul, who had been staring out the window, fixed his gaze on me.
“When else would I be pushing myself?”
He answered bluntly.
I couldn’t help but watch his face, wondering if he had figured something out.
Sensing my gaze, he turned and let out a faint sigh.
“Just… everything.”
With him worrying this much, I nodded in agreement, but no more words were exchanged.
The car smoothly drove on until we arrived at the gate of our apartment complex.
As soon as I got home, I looked up the radio story I had just heard.
The hypothesis that I was the one closing gates was actually being taken quite seriously by many people.
I skimmed the top search results, then, curious about fan and anti-fan communities, I checked those out too.
The Nada fan cafe mostly had comments like “I knew it.”
They argued that whether as the hooded girl or during the S-rank gate, Nada had always stepped up and must be a good person.
The anti-fan cafe mostly dismissed these claims, accusing the fan members of fabricating coincidences to improve Nada’s image.
With no concrete evidence either way, everyone was busy arguing based on assumptions.
‘What a mess…’
I threw my phone on the bed and flopped down on top of it like a jump.
‘Since it’s come to this, why not start openly? If it changes Nada’s image, that’s good.’
Suddenly, a courage I hadn’t felt before welled up inside me.
‘Should I really start officially acting while wearing the mask?’
I sat up on the bed and began seriously thinking about what to do next.