152 – We all meet here (End)

Mina and I walked together to a quiet place.

And so, naturally, I arrived at Hanbit Park.

It was a park full of bad memories, but I felt like I unconsciously stepped into it because it was a park I visited almost all the time.

I really thought maybe he had some kind of homing instinct.

Anyway, I went to the beverage vending machine, bought a warm can of coffee, and quietly handed it to Mina.

Mina sat down on a bench placed nearby, quietly accepted her canned coffee, and bowed her head in thanks.

“… …Thank you, oppa.”

I also walked over quietly, holding the canned coffee tightly, and sat down next to Mina. Mina fiddled with the canned coffee without saying a word. I stared at her and opened the lid. Then I took a sip of the canned coffee. After gulping down the canned coffee, I looked up into the sky. It was a pretty sunny day.

“I… …brother.”

Mina, who had been silent for a while, slowly raised her head and looked at me blankly, and then soon began to move her lips.

“I will return the money you donated to me.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? You don’t have to do that.”

She smiled slightly and declined. I wondered what she was going to say. Mina’s eyebrows flinched and trembled once. Her face looked a little burdened.

“But I can’t receive this much money… … .”

“I know it’s weird to say this in front of you, but I have a lot of money. I gave it to you because I had enough money to give you more.”

Oh, was that a bit of an unlucky remark?

But what if you really have a lot of money?

If you live a normal life, you probably have enough money saved up in your bank account to never have to work. That’s why you were able to give Mina tens of millions of won.

“But there are still too many… … .”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Just think of it as some pocket money from your close friend.”

“Pocket money? Isn’t that too much for pocket money…?”

“Yeah. It was a bit much, wasn’t it? But it’s a bit uncool to get it back now.”

I sipped my coffee and muttered something nonchalant.

“Seo, oppa, could it be that you are telling me… … .”

Mina hesitated, biting her lips with a strangely trembling look in her eyes. But soon she gathered her composure and cautiously spoke strange words while glancing around.

“… … Are you interested in me?”

“what?”

I frowned and asked back.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“No! It’s nothing! It’s nothing!”

Mina quickly waved her hands in denial, her face reddening, but I could guess exactly what she was going to say, so I let out a deep sigh inwardly.

“I, I said something weird, aha, haha. Just in case, just in case. Sometimes viewers pay money to dig up a secret room or something.”

“What? Mina, is that what you thought of me?”

“No, it’s just… … I just feel a little strange because you’re suddenly giving me tens of millions of won… … Even if you’re close to someone, you wouldn’t normally give them this much money.”

Mina smiled awkwardly and avoided eye contact. She let out an embarrassed ‘Ugh’ groan.

“Yes, actually. It was a bribe.”

“Huh? A bribe?”

I threw out a joke with a smiling face to clear up Mina’s misunderstanding.

“It’s a bribe to be friends with Yerin from now on.”

“ah.”

“As you know, Yerin’s personality is no joke. It seems like you’ve had a hard time because of Yerin. And you don’t have many friends, Yerin. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re my friend.”

“No, oppa. Yerin is really kind.”

Mina shook her head and smiled.

“And I really received a lot of help from Yerin.”

“okay?”

“Yes. Whenever you have time, you help me with my training a little. Now that I think about it, it’s really amazing that I can get help from someone as skilled as Yerin.”

“Oh, well. I guess so.”

Because Yerin is the successor to the Seong family.

It is not often that one gets the opportunity to be mentored by a successor to one of the four great clans.

If it were a normal person, they wouldn’t have even exchanged a single word. For Mina, it might have been a coincidence.

“… … .”

“… … .”

There was a pause.

The wind blew with a whoosh.

“… … Mina.”

“Yes, brother.”

I moved my lips cautiously.

By the way, I have something to say to Mina.

“… … To be honest, aren’t you a little disappointed?”

“yes?”

Is it because I spoke incoherently?

Mina reacted slightly puzzled.

It seemed like he had no idea what I was talking about.

“You’ve been hiding things about Yerin all this time.”

“ah.”

Only then does Mina let out a short sigh.

Mina clutched the coffee can tightly.

He briefly raised his head.

“It’s a shame. No, oppa.”

Mina answered with a slight smile, but for some reason, a bittersweet smile crossed my mind.

“The illegitimate child of the Seong family… … The successor… … These are things you can’t talk about so carelessly.”

After clearing the 4th floor secret battle.

Mina, who realized Yerin’s true identity, couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

I explained it to her later, but I couldn’t forget Mina’s face as she nodded awkwardly at that time.

“Honestly, from your perspective, you must have felt disappointed in many ways. You’re one of Yerin’s few friends. You even live together.”

“Ah, haha… … .”

Mina smiled bitterly.

With the usual awkward laughter.

“Of course, it’s not like I’m completely dissatisfied like you said… … but I can fully understand Yerin’s situation… … and actually, I kind of expected it.”

“huh?”

Did you expect that?

I heard something unexpected.

“Ah. I didn’t expect that Yerin would be of the Seong family lineage… … Well, Yerin was special since her days at Hunter Academy.”

Mina began to tell a story slowly while opening the lid of a coffee can.

“Should I say the atmosphere was different? He acted as if he didn’t care about what other people thought.”

“I see.”

What was Yerin like during her Hunter Academy days?

Of course, I knew it to some extent just by eavesdropping.

“Yerin’s grades weren’t that good. But it wasn’t because she lacked skill; it just felt like she wasn’t obsessed with grades.”

“okay?”

“Yes. That’s why the kids didn’t like Yerin very much. Everyone was working hard, but Yerin was easygoing. And her quiet, blunt, and indifferent personality also played a part.”

“That’s true. Other people might have thought it was a bit unlucky.”

“There was a bit of that side to it.”

Mina slowly recalled the past as if reminiscing about old memories.

“Then one day, Yerin got into an argument with a girl. During the argument, she ended up cursing at Seojun oppa… … At that time, Yerin’s face was really… … .”

“No, wait a minute. Why are you talking about me there?”

“Yerin would sometimes take out her phone and look at her brother’s pictures. So some of the kids started talking about her brother and her relationship.”

“Oh, I see.”

I nodded and asked her to continue talking. By the way, Yerin, that girl was looking at my pictures even at the Academy? This is honestly a little creepy.

“Anyway, after that, Yerin challenged a girl to a ranking match, and Yerin, who usually fights carelessly, really harassed the girl without any mercy, right?”

“Bullying me… … .”

“That girl was ranked much higher than Yerin, but seeing her get hit without even being able to properly fight back made me think, ‘That’s right.’”

Mina tightly wrapped her can of coffee with both hands.

“Yerin is truly a one-of-a-kind scholar. You could tell at a glance that she was not ordinary. In fact, she was hiding some incredible skills.”

“That’s right.”

I quenched my thirst with a can of coffee.

“So when I heard that Yerin was the successor to the Seong family… … I wasn’t that surprised. Oh, I was definitely surprised, but somewhere in my heart, I was thinking, ‘It makes sense.’”

Mina, who had already finished her can of coffee, threw the empty can towards the trash can in the distance.

I stared at the sight silently and then quickly turned my head away.

“But Mina. Are you still at Yerin’s house?”

“Yes? Oh, yes. It’s not bad to spend time with Yerin. Of course, it’s hard to see Yerin’s face these days.”

“That’s right. I haven’t been able to contact you properly, let alone see you. I heard you’re doing closed-door training… … .”

“Is this closed-door training?”

Mina bit her lip for a moment.

“I see. Yerin is also working hard.”

The voice sounded a little lonely, so I let a question mark float above my head.

“I’ve heard a lot about Yerin since that day. She defeated all of her siblings. She’s already strong enough, but it seems like she’s thinking of getting even stronger.”

… … It’s all thanks to the compatibility of abilities.

Yerin’s awakening ability is limited to swords and is close to foul play.

No matter how skilled you are, you can’t win against someone who actually uses a sword.

In fact, Yerin’s physical ability is not very high.

I was superior to him because I used my physical enhancement abilities.

However, Yerin’s style was to compensate for her lack of physical ability with skills and equipment.

The combination of her innate fighting sense and her talent for imitating others at first sight created the Yerin she is today.

Thanks to that, he was able to show off truly incredible skills despite his low physical abilities.

‘What Yerin is lacking right now is physical ability… … Now that she’s started receiving full-fledged support from the Sung family, she must have become much stronger than before, right?’

I can only look forward to Yerin’s growth in the future.

Even though Yerin had grown up alone without much support, she still had this level of ability.

If we look at talent alone, I think Seo-yoon and Hwa-ryeon are better than him.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, oppa. You said you defeated the many monsters that appeared in the cafe? Without any casualties. I also heard there were level 5 monsters… … .”

“I was lucky.”

“Now that I think about it, I remember the old days. A level 3 monster appeared here. I couldn’t defeat it… … and everyone around me died.”

“Minaya… … .”

Before she knew it, Mina had turned her face away with a complicated expression.

“… … My brother and Yerin too. Everyone is growing, but I feel like I’m the only one standing still.”

Mina lowered her head slightly sullenly.

“I’ve been active without joining a clan, but I think it would be better to join a clan to improve my skills. I’ve been avoiding joining clans because I don’t like being tied down by contracts, but when I see you and Yerin, my heart starts to flutter for no reason.”

“Do you have a clan in mind?”

Mina nodded to my question.

“I think I can join the Sephiroth Clan.”

“Ah. That’s right. You were a relative of the first team leader of the Sephiroth clan.”

“Yes… … Should we call it half a parachute?”

“No way. It’s all thanks to your skills.”

It’s not an empty phrase, Mina definitely had talent.

In the dream, Mina was treated as a key force of the Sephiroth Clan.

The ability to move at high speeds was further developed and used in a variety of ways.

Beyond simply moving, she could freely control the ‘acceleration’ and ‘deceleration’ of other objects. Mina was definitely a talented person.

“You easily dealt with a C-rank ability user last time, didn’t you?”

“ah.”

In the past, when we were conquering the 4th floor secret dungeon, there were several scavengers who attacked us.

At that time, Mina single-handedly defeated C-ranked users and skilled scavengers without suffering any serious injuries.

Mina, fully armed, was definitely strong.

“And also, when you graduated from the academy, there were many clans that tried to scout you?”

“It wasn’t much… … just a little, a little.”

“Anyway, in my opinion, Mina, you seem quite great. Honestly, if you fight without any ability, wouldn’t I lose?”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

Mina drew an awkward smile.

“Oh, by the way. I heard you got promoted a while ago?”

“yes…….”

“At that age, you’re already a C-rank hunter… … I’m still an E-rank… … .”

“If it’s you, Oppa, you’ll be able to become an A-rank Hunter in no time. You have enough skill. You just don’t have any achievements.”

“Yeah, thank you for saying that.”

Mina has reached the rank of C-rank Hunter on her own, but when will I ever be able to escape from being an E-rank Hunter?

… … Well, if I can successfully complete this top-floor secret dungeon raid, I think I’ll be able to get promoted.

If you get an A rank, you won’t be ignored wherever you go.

“Minaya. So you’ve definitely decided to join the Sephiroth Clan? Have you already signed the contract?”

“Huh? Not yet. But if there’s no other clan, I’m thinking of joining the Sephiroth clan.”

“You’re saying that you haven’t signed the contract yet?”

Hmm. Sephiroth Clan.

Not bad. It’s definitely one of the four major clans.

But I don’t like it a little. I don’t want to give Mina to the Sephiroth Clan. There are Jeong Se-yeon and Kang Han-seong there. Jeong Se-yeon, who caused Ji-hyeon’s death, and Kang Han-seong, who keeps nagging Ji-hyeon.

… … I feel so sorry for Mina.

Since it’s come to this, should I try to seduce him?

I’m talking about getting you into our clan.

“Minaya, by any chance. How is our clan?”

“Oh, yes? What did you say?”

Mina asked back with a slightly surprised look on her face, and I nodded vigorously and answered.

“Our clan’s facilities are on par with Sephiroth’s. No, maybe even better. Jihyun has installed the best facilities in the country, right? She even provides us with the most up-to-date training facilities and top-of-the-line equipment for free.”

“Oh, over there, oppa?”

“Besides, there are only three clan members. It may be a disadvantage, but if you think about it the other way around, it can be an advantage. There is no territoriality, and there are few people, so everyone gets along well. What do you think? Don’t you want a clan that is like a family?”

“Wait a minute, just a minute… … .”

I preached the merits of Jihyun’s clan diligently. I naturally leaned my face toward Mina and spoke.

“It’s a clan founded by Jihyun, the 10th generation. Yerin is also a member of it, and Seoyoon comes by sometimes. At this rate, it can’t fail even if it wants to, right? Right?”

“Oppa? Oh, your faces are a bit close… … .”

“If you join the Sephiroth Clan, you’ll probably get called a parachute, right? There’ll also be a lot of factional strife and power struggles. You’ll also get caught up in internal politics and end up losing a lot of money. But our clan is okay. There are only three of us, so there’s no factionalism or strife.”

“Oh, your face… … is, so, close… … .”

Was it because we had gotten so close that our noses were almost touching? Mina’s face had turned bright red.

“Besides, Mina, you’ve already become acquainted with Jihyun. I think Jihyun secretly likes you too. These days, connections are considered qualifications, so wouldn’t it be better to become closer to Jihyun later on? There aren’t many people around right now, so I think it’ll be easy to talk to Jihyun… … .”

“Oh, brother! Wait a minute… … !”

I suddenly realized that it was right in front of my eyes. Oh no. I made a mistake.

“Oh, sorry.”

I quickly handed over an apple with an ‘Oops’ look on my face.

Then Mina lowered her face and squirmed.

“Oh, no, oppa. But… … .”

“huh.”

“Can someone like me join Jihyun’s clan? There are so many people who want to join the Shinjeong clan, but no one has been able to.”

I nodded and answered Mina, who asked me a question while glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

“I’ve been so busy that I intentionally didn’t select any clan members. But after this work is over, I think I’ll expand my clan. I think someone like you will be able to be selected. I’ll recommend you. Wouldn’t Yerin like it?”

“… … I don’t think Yerin will like it very much.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

I think he just talked to himself, but I couldn’t hear him clearly.

“Honestly, when I saw you, Mina, you were the perfect candidate for our clan.”

“Me… … huh?”

“Yeah. Jihyun said she wanted to raise some talented people.”

“Talent… … That’s for people like Yerin and Oppa… … .”

“Yerin and I are a bit of a special case, but usually, Mina and you are never inferior.”

Mina later grows up to be one of the high rankers in South Korea.

In that case, it wouldn’t be a bad choice to reserve it in advance.

If you train intensively with me, won’t you grow at a faster rate than in your future dreams?

“So, Mina. Do you have any thoughts? Or not?”

“Ah… … It’s a bit sudden, but if I could go in, I would really like it… … .”

“yes?”

I smiled slightly.

“I’ll tell Jihyun and Yerin about it.”

“Ah… … Oh, thank you, brother.”

“No. What do you mean by this? Rather, I should be grateful.”

“I feel like I’ve received too much today… … Wow, and you even gave me some money… … Why are you being so kind to me… … ?”

“Hey, what do you mean by doing good? Between us.”

“Are we together?”

It was Mina who hiccupped once.

Oh, did I act too friendly?

I have to be careful.

“Hey, brother, can I ask you something… …?”

“Hey, do you have any questions? Can you tell me a little bit about the Shinjeong Clan?”

“No, it’s not a clan thing, it’s a bit personal.”

Personal question?

“If you don’t mind, there’s something I’d like to ask you… … .”

“I’m a little curious now that you mention it like that. What is it?”

“Oh, oppa, that’s… … .”

Mina carefully opened her lips after checking to see if there was anyone around her.

“I, yes, I heard from Yerin… … that you’re dating other people… … Is that right?”

I scratched my cheek as I looked at Mina, who was blushing and looking around, asking questions.

“Uh… … That’s right.”

“ah.”

Mina let out a short sigh.

“It seems like no one is trying to hide it anymore, but would you mind keeping it a secret if possible?”

“Yes, that, that’s right, oppa. It was a sensitive topic, but thank you for telling me.”

I scratched the back of my neck with a troubled expression.

Do you think I’m a hooligan?

Well, it’s not wrong. Ugh. This is all my karma, karma.

‘Well, at least Mina won’t have any strange feelings for me. Should I say that’s fortunate?’

Common sense tells you that there are very few women who would be attracted to a man who straddles all fours.

… … Seo-yoon, Ye-rin, and Hwa-ryeon are special cases, so let’s make exceptions.

That would be the case, as their family was close to polygamy.

They were able to date like this because they grew up in a household close to polygamy since childhood, but Mina lived an ordinary life in an ordinary household.

I wouldn’t dare even imagine something like sharing a lover.

‘I guess your liking for me has waned a bit now?’

I know Mina thinks well of me.

But since I answered that I dated several women, his favorability toward me must have dropped significantly.

It seemed like I wouldn’t have to worry too much about Mina from now on.

‘By the way, do you think I can convince Jihyun? Isn’t she misunderstanding that I’m trying to seduce Mina again?’

I smiled bitterly in my heart.

“If I dated multiple people, I would… … but Yerin… … Ah… … .”

Mina was clenching her fists and mumbling something unintelligible to herself.