Chapter 91

As Baeksan looked back and forth between Siho and Seolhyang, he turned his body.

“Well, anyway, while you’re worrying about it, they’ll probably figure it out among themselves soon enough. They’ve done it before.”

What kind of nonsense is that?

When I glared at Baeksan, urging him to explain further, he slipped into the wall and disappeared.

That guy left nothing but questions behind.

“Phew, Miss Ha Siho, you should talk to Juk-sim, right? Come inside first.”

“Okay.”

It seemed the power struggle had ended as the two spoke.

What exactly did Baeksan mean by “it’ll be resolved”?

As I was about to follow them inside, my phone started ringing again.

It was none other than Ayu.

For some reason, a bad feeling washed over me.

“…Hello?”

[Ah, Domi Oppa, I’m on my way up now that work’s done! Did the meeting go well?]

“Ah, yeah.”

[Huh? What’s wrong? You sound down, Oppa.]

How does everyone notice things just from my voice?

[What is it? Should I hurry over and give you a kiss? That’ll cheer you up, right?]

“Ayu, can you listen without getting mad?”

[I’m definitely going to get mad.]

Ayu’s tone changed instantly.

With a growling sound that felt like a beast roaring, I rubbed my forehead and spoke again.

“Are you going to hit me?”

[See.]

“I might die if you hit me.”

[Then make it up to me with something else. Like, you know, a kiss or something! Then maybe I’ll forgive you!]

“Cheonma, stop talking nonsense and come over here.”

At that moment, Seolhyang, who I thought had entered the room, poked her head out and spoke into my phone.

[Huh?! Cheolhyeol, what?! Why are you next to Domi Oppa?!]

“Well, Ha-chan is at our house.”

[What, what?! House, house?! Domi Oppa, what’s going on?! I’m going to cry! I’m really going to cry!]

I stared at Seolhyang standing beyond the door.

She met my gaze and stuck out her pink tongue.

Should I just pull her in?

[Sniff, hmph, what’s going on, Domi Oppa. I hate this.]

Meanwhile, Ayu started sniffling for real.

Flustered, I quickly tried to calm her down and explain the situation.

It was clear she had misunderstood Seolhyang’s prank.

“Ayu, I’m serious. Everyone’s gathered at Seolhyang’s place because of Eva Unnie’s situation.”

[Sniff, hmph, hmph.]

“You still don’t believe me? Should I let someone else talk to you?”

[No. Keep talking to me.]

Hearing her voice, I half-opened my eyes.

“You stopped crying halfway through, didn’t you?”

No response came from Ayu.

Instead, I heard a tongue-clicking sound from the other end of the call.

“I’m hanging up.”

[Sniff, you’re so mean! I’ll come over there tonight. Wait for me. I’ll be there soon, for real.]

She should rest after work, but…

I was a little worried, but I said okay.

It was clear she wouldn’t listen even if I told her to rest.

[By the way, Domi Oppa, I have a question.]

“What is it?”

[Didn’t you mention Seolhyang earlier? And that Cheolhyeol girl also called you Oppa, and Ha-chan…]

“We’ll talk about it when you get here.”

I quickly pressed the end call button.

At that moment, I realized something.

Once she latches onto something, she’ll keep digging deeper and deeper.

‘I’ll leave it to future me.’

I’m supposed to die at 30, but I decided to leave it to future me and escape this mess for now.

7

After that, Siho and Juk-sim had a conversation.

Juk-sim answered Siho’s questions immediately, and after a long discussion, Siho had to make a vague expression.

The reason was that while the coordinates were fine, moving the body directly would be too risky.

This was something Hyuk-seo and I had been concerned about.

Because the dimensional rifts are so chaotic, even if Siho found the body, using spatial movement would likely twist the coordinates and send it somewhere else.

“It’s not easy.”

“Yeah, if your skill level improves, Siho might be able to do it. But honestly, it’s difficult right now.”

Siho also couldn’t give a confident answer and seemed to be considering other methods with Juk-sim.

It was a problem that wouldn’t be solved immediately.

“Is it impossible to open a dimensional door in front of where the Spirit Lord’s body is?”

At that moment, Seolhyang, who had gone to talk to Eun-hyeon, opened the door and suggested.

“That might be possible.”

“Then someone can go in and bring them out while the door is open.”

Everyone looked at Siho, who seemed to ponder for a moment.

“…Honestly, it’s a bit dangerous.”

“How dangerous?”

“Even when Siho uses spatial movement, she steps through the dimensional rifts that exist between spaces. But sometimes there are dangerous rifts. Places that pull you in like black holes.”

“It’s similar to dimensional movement. And there’s also the risk of dimensional exposure.”

“Right. Even just considering the distance between dimensional rifts, it’s dangerous.”

A rather complicated discussion began.

Thud-

“Then I’ll go.”

At that moment, Ayu appeared through the open door.

As if to prove that Siho and Juk-sim’s conversation had gone on for a while, it had been some time since Ayu arrived.

“Ayu.”

“Ayu?”

When I called her by her nickname, Nae-ki’s eyes widened.

“What, Ayu wasn’t a guy?!”

This girl hadn’t noticed.

Eva Unnie already knew Ayu was a girl.

Though she didn’t know Ayu was Cheonma, she widened her eyes and then bowed her head in greeting.

“Long time no see, Cheonma.”

“Spirit Lord, no, here it’s Eva Unnie.”

“Right. Ayu.”

Ayu seemed to understand who they were just by their reactions.

It seemed Eva Unnie and Ayu had known each other for a long time.

“My cute little brother has turned into a cute and pretty little sister!”

“Right. I am pretty cute.”

“It really is Ayu.”

Why do they figure it out from that?

While they were greeting each other, I looked at Ayu and spoke.

“Ayu, what you just said…”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

I grabbed her arm.

Siho herself had said it was dangerous.

And there was the dimensional exposure Seolhyang mentioned.

Even Ayu would have to take risks.

When our eyes met, Ayu smiled faintly.

“What, Domi Oppa, are you worried about me?”

“No, I was going to tell you to come back safely.”

“I’m going to get mad.”

Seeing Ayu puff out her cheeks, I placed my hand on her head instead of her wrist.

“Just kidding. I’m worried sick. But if you’re saying that, it means you’re confident, right?”

“Of course. What do you take me for? I’m Cheonma. The greatest in the world.”

“Right, the most reliable little sister in the world.”

“How about as a girlfriend?”

“Who said you could decide that?”

When Seolhyang and Siho glared at Ayu, she laughed without caring about their stares.

“Ayu, I’m counting on you. Honestly, I can’t think of anyone else to ask for something like this.”

Even I think going there is too much.

“Hehe, right. Domi Oppa only thinks of me.”

I don’t know why this girl keeps saying things to provoke Seolhyang and Siho.

With Nae-ki and Eva Unnie watching the situation with amused expressions, my face was burning.

“So, who’s the person hiding behind the curtain over there?”

When Ayu pointed to the puffed-up curtain, I had to force a smile.

It was none other than Juk-sim, who hid and watched every time someone new appeared.

She had such a presence when showing the night sky, but now…

Her hikikomori tendencies seemed unavoidable.

“Alright. Then the plan is set. All that’s left is to try it after September 14th. By the way, Eun-hyeon called.”

At the mention of Eun-hyeon’s call, everyone’s attention turned to Seolhyang.

“She said Asura Song Hyuk-seo got away.”

And those words were enough to make Eva Unnie sigh.

Since the plan was set, if we informed Hyuk-seo, he might wait too.

Eva Unnie immediately tried calling him, but the call didn’t go through.

“We’ll keep chasing this lead. Let’s end the meeting here for today.”

With the plan set, there was nothing more to discuss.

Now it was just a matter of execution.

“Then let’s drink!”

As soon as the plan was finalized, Nae-ki excitedly shouted, holding a bottle of alcohol.

As if she had been waiting for this moment, I was dumbfounded, and Eva Unnie smiled.

“Right. After all, we have to wait until the 14th, right? No need to keep the mood heavy.”

“Eva Unnie, you’re so quick to catch on!”

As Nae-ki excitedly opened the bottle, Eva Unnie moved closer to her.

Returners are more accustomed to death than ordinary people.

That’s why they can be even brighter in situations like this.

Watching them, I sighed and turned to Ayu.

“Ayu, what about you?”

“I’ll drink too. I already slept a lot in the car.”

Seeing her willing to join despite being tired, I nodded.

“…Then Siho too.”

“No.”

I lightly pressed Siho’s head as she tried to sneak in and held her back.

Siho looked up at me with a pitiful expression, but I instead poured her a cup of juice from the table and handed it to her.

“Siho, this is for you.”

“Siho wants to try drinking too.”

“I’ll teach you properly when you become an adult. For now, bear with this.”

“Really? When Siho turns 20, will the Manager teach me about alcohol?”

As if she had planned this, Siho’s eyes sparkled, and I hesitated.

Was she leading me on?

“Yes, I’ll teach you ‘together’ as an adult.”

Then Seolhyang suddenly popped her head in next to us and spoke.

It was clearly a situation where they were about to fight, so I grabbed both their shoulders.

“If either of you do this one more time today, I’ll scold you.”

As I looked at them both, trying to ease the tension, they glanced at each other with guilty expressions.

I don’t care if I’m trash or whatever.

I absolutely can’t watch them fight anymore today.

We started drinking like that.

‘I wish Ggotbi were here too.’

Though there were some regrets, it was the first time so many guild members had gathered.

At the end of summer, in this place where guild members gathered.

I thought it would be nice if someday Hyuk-seo could join us and we could all talk together.