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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: A Thank-You Visit
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“I should have come sooner, but I was just discharged yesterday myself. I'm sorry.”

“Oh, no, no. I'm sorry. Oh my...”

Ha-ra, embarrassed, glanced at her mother. Her mother, as if nothing had happened, was beaming as she welcomed Yoon Se-heon.

“Oh dear, you were sick. Of course, that's understandable. What is all this?”

“Ah, this is just a small token of my gratitude...”

Se-heon, dressed in a suit, was holding a bouquet so large it was, with a little exaggeration, the size of Ha-ra herself. In his other hand, he carried a fruit basket and even coffee.

Unlike the mortified Ha-ra, Hyeon-sook immediately and graciously took the fruit basket Se-heon was holding.

“You shouldn't have. Please, come in.”

“Thank you.”

Se-heon bowed his head as he entered. Ha-ra hesitated, looking at her mother. Her mother looked back at her with a ‘What? What is it?’ expression.

Ignoring them, Se-heon placed the bouquet he'd brought on the hospital room's side table. Ha-ra hesitated before speaking.

“Thank you. Are you feeling... better?”

“Ah, I'm fine. I survived thanks to you.”

“Oh, yes...”

Ms. Hyeon-sook narrowed her eyes at Ha-ra, then walked over and lightly smacked her on the back.

“You're a young woman. Stand up straight.”

She seemed displeased with Ha-ra for constantly slouching in front of Se-heon. Then, smiling, she showered Se-heon with compliments.

“Goodness, I always thought you were handsome on TV, but you're even more so in person. What a pleasant surprise. You must be feeling much better, being discharged so soon.”

“Ah, yes. Thanks to your daughter.”

“Our Ha-ra is still stuck here; they say she needs more tests. Still, it's a relief that you were able to leave so quickly.”

Ha-ra's mouth fell slightly open. Though her words sounded like a relief, her mother's true meaning was obvious. She was blaming Se-heon, as if to say, ‘Must be nice for you, getting discharged first. My daughter is still hospitalized because she saved your life!’

Hyeon-sook had always had a habit of criticizing others in such a roundabout way. It was a habit she'd picked up while serving as the neighborhood chief, and most people couldn't easily grasp her intent. That was because whenever she did it, Ms. Hyeon-sook's tone would become uncharacteristically elegant and affectionate.

However, upon hearing her words, Se-heon raised an eyebrow. Then, he bowed his head to Hyeon-sook once more.

“Your daughter saved my life, and I am ashamed for not coming sooner. I'm truly sorry. We were even in the same hospital, but with so many reporters snooping around, I thought visiting earlier would only be a disturbance.”

At his polite apology, Hyeon-sook laughed, “Oh my.”

“Oh, I wasn't saying it to get an apology, not at all.”

*That's exactly why you said it, Mom...* While thinking this, Ha-ra quickly pushed her mother.

“Mom, could you give us a moment?”

“Alright, alright. And I'm telling you, stand up straight!”

Hyeon-sook smacked Ha-ra's back one more time and grabbed her wallet.

“I was just about to go get something to eat anyway. And Mr. Yoon Se-heon? Have some of the apple over there. I just peeled it, and it's delicious. It's a Gamhong apple...”

After another lengthy spiel about the apple, Hyeon-sook added, just before leaving, “Oh, and don't take what I said earlier to heart, okay?” before finally disappearing.

Ha-ra, feeling needlessly embarrassed, wiped her face with her hands and adjusted her glasses.

“I'm sorry.”

“Ah, not at all.”

Se-heon, who had been standing, smiled kindly.

“I came back alive thanks to her, so it's understandable that her mother would be upset I didn't come to greet her until now. I was too late.”

“Ah, yes...”

Se-heon pulled a coffee from the carrier he'd brought and offered it to her.

“I bought some coffee. Would you like one?”

“Oh, yes...”

The carrier held one hot coffee and one cold coffee. The one Se-heon offered was the hot one.

When Ha-ra's gaze wandered, Se-heon paused for a moment, then smiled and offered her the cold coffee instead.

“You can have the cold one.”

“Oh... yes... Thank you.”

Ha-ra, who had secretly been craving the iced coffee, was startled and bowed her head as she took it. She immediately took a long sip through the straw and felt herself come back to life. She'd forgotten, but it seemed she had really missed her morning coffee.

“The coffee is delicious...”

“I'm glad.”

An awkward silence fell between them for a moment. Ha-ra belatedly offered him a seat on the hospital room sofa. After Se-heon expressed his thanks and sat down, silence returned.

She didn't know what to say. It was clear he hadn't come just to express his gratitude.

Ha-ra snuck a glance at Se-heon. She had originally intended to gauge his expression, but she found herself inwardly marveling. *Wow, he's incredible.*

The man's legs, as he sat on the slightly low sofa, were astonishingly long. Inside the dungeon, she'd been too preoccupied to think about whether he was handsome or not. But the man who visited her today was, truly, remarkably good-looking.

A tall, handsome face and broad, sturdy shoulders. Neatly combed-back hair. A hand resting on his crossed leg.

Shoulders, hands, feet, legs, torso. Everything about him was large. Except for his face, which was small, making him look better than most models.

*Is it because he's a broadcaster?* Ha-ra, who had been staring blankly at the man, suddenly snapped back to her senses. *Good grief, this is not the time.*

“...Um!”

“So!”

They spoke at the same time, followed by a few awkward exchanges of “You first,” and “Oh no, you go ahead.” In the end, it was Se-heon who spoke first.

“I came to thank you, but I also have a few things to ask.”

“Ah, yes...”

“As soon as I was discharged yesterday, I was questioned by the police and the Hunter Bureau. As you know.”

Typically, people caught up in a dungeon are investigated. It's partly for insurance, but mostly to get a statement of the events. Ha-ra had a rough idea why he was bringing this up.

Se-heon clasped his hands and spoke.

“But before the Hunter Bureau's investigation, two people contacted me.”

“Uh...”

Ha-ra's eyes shifted. Se-heon shrugged, his expression unreadable.

“One was the Chief of the Mapo Branch.”

“Ah, yes.”

She had expected as much. There was no way Chief Jeong Yu-jin would have silenced Ha-ra without doing the same to Se-heon.

Se-heon continued.

“And the other was the head of the Seoul Central Office.”

Ha-ra blinked. The head of the Seoul Central Office, Lee Eun-ju. Ha-ra had never met her.

But it was different for Se-heon.

“We have a personal connection, but it was still unexpected.”

At the words ‘personal connection,’ Ha-ra's mouth fell slightly open without her realizing.

There were several reasons for Yoon Se-heon's fame. Ha-ra may have been the start of it, but a series of incidents followed. One of them was the ‘Showdown with the Hunter Bureau Chief’ incident.

It was an incident that always came up if you searched his name online. The head of the Seoul Central Office was deeply involved in it. And yet he could just brush it off with those words.

“Ms. Kang Ha-ra?”

“Ah, yes.”

Ha-ra, who had been lost in thought, belatedly snapped out of it and nodded. Se-heon narrowed his eyes, but he didn't waste any time.

“The Mapo Branch Chief called me first. I used to be in the social affairs department, so I have a bit of a connection with her as well. She implored me not to say a word about the new things we learned inside the dungeon.”

“...”

*The new things we learned.* Ha-ra remained silent.

Being in the social affairs department meant he was a veteran when it came to dungeon-related incidents. Chief Jeong Yu-jin was probably alluding to Ha-ra's abilities.

“What... what did the Chief say?”

“Pardon?”

“I was just wondering how much she told you...”

At Ha-ra's words, Se-heon raised an eyebrow and stated firmly.

“She said nothing, only that she would explain later.”

“Ah...”

Only then did Ha-ra let out a sigh of relief. And for good reason.

[Constellation Contract Quest: Love and War]

[Objective: Start a romantic relationship with the designated user ‘Yoon Se-heon’]

She had been on edge, worried that Se-heon might know about that damned quest. The system message, which had been quiet for a while, flickered as if in protest.

[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ dislikes your thoughts.]

Ha-ra wiped her face with her hands. That damned system message. The color of a Constellation's message was completely different from a typical message.

A captivating purple. It was a color that seemed to scream, ‘Look at me! Look at me!’ so she couldn't help but notice it, even if she didn't want to.

*‘Be quiet for a minute. Let me hear what he has to say first.’*

[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ suspects you don't even use the internet.]

[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ protests, asking if you've never heard that romance isn't an assassination—it has to be discovered to begin.]

Ha-ra ignored the persistently appearing messages. Regardless, Se-heon, oblivious to her situation, continued speaking.

“So, I didn't say much to the head of the Seoul Central Office either. However, she seemed to guess that there was something I wasn't telling her.”

“Ah, yes...”

“Should I say it's thanks to that?”

Se-heon sighed softly and continued.

“The credit that should have gone to you, Ms. Kang Ha-ra, has come to me.”

“...Ah.”

Ha-ra's mouth fell open. It made sense. Right after the disciplinary committee meeting, the Seoul Central Office had briefed the press that the dungeon ‘hadn't been cleared, but had dissipated naturally.’

Since Chief Jeong Yu-jin refused to speak at the disciplinary committee, there was no other choice. Although all the Hunters present claimed to have seen the dungeon clear message, Chief Jeong stubbornly insisted she ‘knew nothing about it.’

In the end, not everyone was convinced, but the general public, who couldn't see system messages, just accepted it. As a result, it was Yoon Se-heon whose stock naturally rose.

It was only natural. The ones who came out of the dungeon that day were three girls who had just started middle school. The only other person was Ha-ra, an E-rank civil servant. It was also reported that Ha-ra was still in the ICU.

Circumstantially, it looked to the public as if Yoon Se-heon had saved the children.

In fact, one of the just-rescued girls had pointed at Se-heon and said, “I was with that man,” which led to Se-heon being mistakenly treated as a hero.

Of course, right after the rescue, the other girls had said, “Where's the lady?”, “The lady saved us!”, but Ha-ra was only an E-rank. So...

“So the benefits have mistakenly come to me.”

Finishing his words, Se-heon gestured toward the fruit basket. Ha-ra blinked.