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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: He Remembers Me
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In the end, a secretary, drawn by the commotion, came and cleaned up the entire chief’s office.
“Kang Ha-ra, have you suddenly lost your mind?”
As Chief Jeong Yu-jin scolded her, Kwon Wook let out a laugh. In the midst of it all, a meeting was announced in the branch chief’s office, and Ha-ra was abruptly kicked out. All the way down to the first floor of the Mapo branch building.
“What in the world is happening…”
“I know, right? What in the world is happening?”
“Aaaah!”
Ha-ra screamed involuntarily at the voice beside her. Kwon Wook. The S-class Hunter and former idol who had been kicked out with her was standing there, laughing.
“S-Since when…”
“Since you were kicked out, Ms. Kang Ha-ra. Anyway.”
Ha-ra quickly hid her face with her long, messy hair, terrified that Kwon Wook might recognize her. Sure, it was ten years ago, but still. There was always that one-in-a-million chance. One in a million…
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
One in a…
“Have you been well?”
Ha-ra swallowed hard. Peeking through the curtain of her hair, she studied Kwon Wook’s face and asked cautiously.
“Do you know me?”
“Haha.”
Through Ha-ra’s thick glasses, Kwon Wook’s bright smile was radiant. His dyed red hair suited him incredibly well.
“So you don’t know me?”
“…”
“Top score on the mock exam.”
*Hiccup.* A hiccup escaped her. Kwon Wook crossed his arms and spoke again.
“You said you’d come right after the college entrance exam. I was waiting.”
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ screams. Oh my god, what is happening? This is amazing!]
Words couldn’t describe how hot her face felt. Blushing to the roots of her hair, Ha-ra stammered, “H-H-How…”
Kwon Wook shrugged.
“How could I not recognize you?”
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ waves a light stick.]
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ laments. I should have picked her as my designated user!]
She couldn’t believe it, but he really did recognize her. A hundred different questions flashed through Ha-ra’s mind. *How do you remember me? Since when?* But not a single word made it past her lips.
As Ha-ra stood there sputtering, Kwon Wook smiled warmly and said.
“It’s a little hard to forget you.”
“Ah…”
Of course, Kwon Wook hadn’t actually recognized Kang Ha-ra from the very beginning. He had been in the same place when Ha-ra came out of the dungeon, but he had simply walked past her.
However, when Ha-ra had yelled “Hyaaah!” in front of Chief Jeong Yu-jin and snapped the light stick, Kwon Wook’s S-class senses had caught her shoving the broken pieces into the sofa.
*What is she hiding?* Taking advantage of the chaos in the chief’s office, Kwon Wook had retrieved the fragments of the light stick. And he had seen it clearly. The words written on it.
Mandolin 1st Fan meeting for Wooki
There was no way Kwon Wook could forget that name. ‘Mandolin’ was the name of the group he had once belonged to, the one he had debuted with so ambitiously. Later on, it became better known by the nickname “flop-dol.”
In any case, this light stick was unofficial merchandise that Kwon Wook’s personal fans had collectively bought for Mandolin’s first fan meeting and had included in the gifts they’d sent him.
The reason Kwon Wook knew about the light stick was that one was still stashed away somewhere in his own house.
‘What’s this? Is she a fan of mine? An old one, at that?’
Her frantic attempts to hide her face seemed strangely familiar. She wouldn’t be acting like that unless she was sure he might recognize her.
He’d spent four years in a failed group, followed by ten years as an S-class Hunter doing promotional work for the Seoul Central Office. Naturally, his intuition was off the charts, and it had been a long time since he’d been flustered by any of his fans’ shenanigans.
He’d even memorized all the acrostic poem repertoires his fans used. He could handle a fan saying, “Oppa, let me do a poem for you, starting with ‘marry’…” with a smooth laugh and a “...me? I’d love to!” Kwon Wook figured it out in an instant.
‘So she was a fan who came to the events. A real veteran.’
As Ha-ra bowed repeatedly to the chief’s secretary, apologizing profusely while sneaking glances at him, Kwon Wook observed her quietly. And then he realized.
[Waaaaah, mister, is our Ugi Oppa safe? Huh?]
She was the fan who had clung to a reporter, crying her eyes out.
The day he returned as an S-class, the whole world had shown him the video of that crying high school girl.
Watching it, thinking he’d had at least one fan who liked him that much, another memory surfaced. She was the fan who had bragged about getting the top score on her mock exam that day. That day had been significant for him in many ways, so he remembered it faintly.
A veteran fan he’d seen somewhere before. The name Kang Ha-ra. A familiar face. He put two and two together. But setting all those thoughts aside, Kwon Wook smiled.
“Are you doing this because you’re afraid I’ll see the light stick with my name on it? Trying to hide that you’re a fan?”
“…Ah…”
Her face, flushed red with shame, was all the answer he needed. But this wasn’t the place for a long conversation.
Kwon Wook glanced around. The first floor of the Hunter’s Agency Mapo branch. It was the middle of the workday, so it wasn’t crowded, but a few civil servants were walking past, stealing glances at them.
And that wasn’t all. Some civilians seeking services were now standing there, openly watching them.
“This won’t do. Should we move somewhere else for a bit?”
“Ah, ah, yes!”
Ha-ra hurriedly followed Kwon Wook. He smiled and led the way out of the building and down the steps.
Trailing behind him, Ha-ra was so embarrassed she wanted to die, wishing she could just cover her face. As if sensing her feelings, Kwon Wook walked ahead without looking back at her. For some reason, it made her heart flutter.
“It’s a little hard to forget you.”
The words he’d just said felt like a dream. Ha-ra pressed a hand to her pounding chest and gazed at his back.
Oppa remembered me!
She felt a pang of guilt for telling her friends he was her “ex-bias.” The memory of her cringeworthy appearance ten years ago still bothered her, but she was deeply touched that he had remembered and waited.
It was then.
“Ah, whose car is this, really!”
A middle-aged security guard was clicking his tongue at the main entrance of the Mapo branch office. It seemed someone had parked right in front and left without leaving a contact number.
It was a huge car. An expensive one, too, which made it difficult to just have it towed.
“And I can’t just yell for them to move it!”
To have the audacity to park like that at the Hunter’s Agency. Ha-ra was silently marveling at their nerve when…
“Haha, sir, I’m so sorry. I was in a hurry!”
Kwon Wook quickly ran over. The guard, who had been shouting with an angry expression, immediately changed his tune upon seeing him.
“Oh my, Mr. Kwon Wook, is this your car?”
“Yes, I’m so sorry. The branch chief called for me urgently, so I rushed inside.”
“Oh, well, you should have said so. If it were the white car you drove last time, I would have recognized it…”
“I should have, you’re right. That was thoughtless of me. I’m sorry. I’ll move it right away.”
Ha-ra’s eyes went wide. In the ten years she had worked at the Mapo branch, she had never once seen the security guard at the main entrance smile. But he was smiling at Kwon Wook.
“It’s just a habit of mine not to leave my number in the car. You understand, right?”
“Of course, of course. What if some weirdo stole your number and tried to contact you.”
In the next moment, Ha-ra thought she understood the mechanics behind the security guard’s smile. Kwon Wook had skillfully taken out his wallet and handed the guard two 50,000 won bills.
“Settle the parking fee, and please buy yourself a coffee with the rest. I should have brought you one.”
“Oh my, you really don’t have to.”
S-class agents normally get free parking at all agency branches and offices. So, the “parking fee” was just an excuse—it was, for all intents and purposes, a bribe to look the other way.
*That’s a violation of the anti-graft law…* But even Ha-ra had enough sense not to say that out loud.
“Ms. Ha-ra, get in.”
“Ah, yes!”
Having started the engine, Kwon Wook called to her. Ha-ra scrambled over and got into the passenger seat.
The car was so nice she felt awkward just sitting in it. It was an off-road model, but so expensive that if Ha-ra owned it, she would never dream of actually taking it off-road.
‘It smells nice…’
As soon as she sat down, a wonderfully unique scent she had never smelled before filled the air.
It was then. Kwon Wook leaned toward her. Ha-ra was so startled she almost screamed. His face was too close. She sucked in a sharp breath, and Kwon Wook laughed.
“Seatbelt.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Ha-ra realize he had reached over to buckle her seatbelt for her. Her face turned bright red as she needlessly tugged at the belt a couple of times.
“I-It’s sturdy.”
“What? The seatbelt? Haha, of course it has to be sturdy. We’re heading out.”
She just realized she didn’t even know where they were going. But Kwon Wook didn’t say a word about their destination as he pulled the car away from the curb.
*Vroom…* She expected a jolt from such a large vehicle, but the car moved with surprising smoothness. It must be because it’s expensive, she thought. Ha-ra admired the luxurious interior and the state-of-the-art navigation system before her gaze drifted outside.
In the side mirror, she could see the security guard bowing deeply. The same security guard who had never said a single word to her.
‘It must be because he’s S-class…’
It wasn’t that she had desperately wanted to chat with the security guard. Still, the feeling was strange. To see the man who had always stood there as expressionless as an NPC be so friendly and affable.
Ha-ra’s gaze returned to the car’s interior and to Kwon Wook, who was driving. An expensive-looking watch was fastened around his left wrist as he held the steering wheel. The earring in his ear looked expensive, too.
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ asks if you’re jealous. It tempts you, saying you can live like that too if you listen to it.]
That’s not it.
[The Constellation ‘Cupid’ retorts, what do you mean that’s not it.]
It’s because I’m proud to see my oppa, who was part of a flop-dol group that disbanded, doing so well, that’s why.
As Kwon Wook drove from the Mapo branch office onto the Gangbyeon Expressway toward Sangam-dong, Ha-ra bickered silently with her Constellation.
She was so absorbed that she didn’t even notice him glancing her way until after he had parked the car.
