Chapter 40

A mysterious girl with amethyst eyes lounged on the bed, munching on potato chips.

In truth, it was Mala-nim in her Incarnation, chewing on Forneus’s scales.

“Crunch!”

“……”

“Crun—ch!”

“Please eat a little quieter.”

Maybe it was because she had taken a full quarter of what I’d worked so hard to gather.

As if voicing displeasure, Mala-nim kept crunching as she popped the scales into her mouth.

They were sizable, so it looked like it would take quite a while for her to fully absorb them.

I might as well browse the Special Unit Bamboo Forest while I waited.

When I checked the trending posts, more than half of them were about the Saint of Salvation.

On top of that, the “Bounty” tab at the very top had Patel’s name—he’d run off—listed as well.

They’d said patrols would be increased anyway, so I figured I should drop by the Prayer House side as soon as possible.

Now that I had started fully using a black mage identity, I had to be that much more careful.

Days would begin where I chased demons by day, then ran from Awakened by night, barely managing to eat on time.

“A double life, huh…”

Just saying it out loud had a cool ring to it, like “classified mission.”

“I still don’t get why you keep eating that. Is it truly your little sister’s remedy?”

“Of course. It’s a new medicine shaped like potato chips.”

“To the eye, it looks exactly like one of those Seeds of Calamity the black mage mentioned in the conference room—and that he ran off with.”

“It’s the trendy design these days.”

I pulled the blanket over Mala-nim so she could enjoy the Star Scar comfortably.

It wasn’t to avoid suspicion.

Alexei had smashed the door, and people passing outside could see right into the room.

“More importantly, what is it, brother? You were in such a hurry to find me.”

“Because of a summons from the Deputy Commander.”

“Deputy Commander Yoo Se-byeol?”

“Mm. There was a commendation ceremony just now for everyone who took part in the central assault team, but Hayan was the only one missing.”

Ah, probably because I’d just slipped out halfway through.

I came down from the second floor and asked carefully.

“Is she angry by any chance?”
“No. She said to come by her office later and pick it up.”

“In that case, I’ll go now.”

Perfect timing, since I had nothing to do while Mala-nim ate.

I headed straight to Yoo Se-byeol’s office inside the Bureau headquarters.

I knocked twice and entered to find her waiting.

Even though we were in the same division, we’d been dispatched all over for a while and hadn’t met properly; hair that had barely brushed her neck was now down to her shoulders.

She had been smoothing her ebony hair in the mirror, but stood up quickly when I arrived.

“Y-you’re here? Where did you go earlier?”

“I was in the restroom for a moment.”

“Even so, you should’ve answered the call. I had to trouble Alexei at the training ground for nothing.”

“My apologies.”

Truth was, I had seen the message from Yoo Se-byeol when I was checking the Bamboo Forest a little earlier.

But…

[Even if she’s the Saint of Salvation, getting one-shot by a White Tower alum means that black mage wasn’t that big a deal after all, right?]

The moment I read that trending post, the evil little Patel inside me popped out and I ended up leaving a spicy comment, so I missed my chance to reply.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t urgent anyway. Here, take this. It’s from the Bureau.”

“Thank you.”

From a tall stack of paperwork, Yoo Se-byeol pulled out a commendation certificate, a bonus leave pass, and a notice that my life allowance had been raised by 150 won.

A very Special Unit–style reward—a mishmash of military, guild, and public-sector perks.

Tiny, considering the effort.

Would it at least nudge my personnel score?

Not that I had any complaint; she hadn’t decided the reward herself.

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Ahem, about that… Hayan!”

I was just stepping out with the certificate when Yoo Se-byeol suddenly cleared her throat and called me back.

“Was there something else?”

“Good work! It was dangerous, but you came back safe, and what you told Commander Ha Yeri right before departure… it was… ex-exemplary.”

“Ah. Right.”

Exemplary, huh.

It wasn’t like I’d chosen to stay on the assault team to look good in front of anyone.

So… could I leave now?

Hesitating between the door and her desk, I met Yoo Se-byeol’s eyes.

She quickly flicked her gaze away, shhkt, but it looked like she had more to say.

“S-so, the thing is!”

“Yes?”

“Th-the promise…”

Only then did I realize why she had stopped me.

It was because of the Oath.

After all, I had proven myself in this mission. Instead of a flimsy piece of paper, this was the chance to claim the reward she had promised me.

But the timing couldn’t have been worse.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I need it for now.”

Mala-nim was already consuming another Star Scar.

It was such a massive amount that it would take her days to fully digest it.

A pity to miss the chance, but I decided I’d ask again later.

“Deputy Commander?”

“Wh-what did you just…?”

“I don’t need it right this moment. So, later…”

At my reply, Yoo Se-byeol stammered, repeating my words.

“N-no longer… need it?”

As if struck by a heavy blow.

“So? What happened? What did our Deputy Commander Se-byeol do?”

“What do you think? I just let him go.”

That evening, in a pub in Seoul.

At a Division 3 gathering, Yoo Se-byeol poured out her frustrations to a friend.

Lee Sohyun.

A Middle Level Awakened who had quit the Special Unit after being injured by a monster during an irregular Gate incident.

Back then, she had been the only mage in Division 3. After her retirement, the one who filled her spot was the man found wandering lost in the same dungeon.

Dropping by to see her old comrades again, she discovered her former superior endlessly talking about that same man.

“You don’t have to use my title anymore. You’re with the Blue Tower now.”

“Once Special Unit, forever Special Unit. But if it bothers you, I’ll call you casually.”

“How’s it there? Bearable?”

“Busy beyond words, thanks to all these Archduke appearances.”

The Sea of Decay’s disappearance had been fortunate for the Tower, but the frequency of Gates was still steadily climbing.

Especially with the Archduke of Flames, Flauros, leaving traces everywhere, the Blue Tower’s Astronomical Observation Wing was running its radars day and night, scanning the skies.

Under Professor Esma, even a grad student named Theresia hadn’t gone home in three months.

One of Sohyun’s duties was to check if the girl was still breathing whenever she collapsed on the couch for more than four hours.

“Forget boring Tower talk. Finish what you were saying. So this Agent Hayan, is he here?”

She glanced around the tables scattered throughout the pub.

A massive Awakened dismantling chicken bones with frightening speed, and the ever-unpleasant Kang Ha-neul.

A mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces, but none she could recognize as Hayan.

“No, he said he couldn’t make it since this gathering came up suddenly. Said he had somewhere important to be.”

“Where?”

“Ground Zero.”

No Special Unit member would wander Seoul’s most dangerous district without a mission.

To Se-byeol, it was just an excuse to avoid the gathering. She sighed heavily.

What she feared most was simple—that he might leave Division 3 for another.

“From the very beginning, everyone’s been trying to pull him this way or that. Now they’re acting like they want him living by their side! I barely see him except in mission reports!”

“Who’s been doing that?”

“Who hasn’t? The Red Tower’s Vice Master, No Yeon-hwa from Division 1. Even Commander Ha Yeri, recently.”

“Ah, sounds like he’s promising talent.”

In truth, skilled operatives weren’t tightly bound to their assigned divisions.

The stronger the ability, the more versatile the situations they could handle.

The Mission Board’s constellation matching system, pairing members based on peer evaluations, existed for that very reason.

Yet the more Se-byeol drank, the clearer it became—the ones seeking Hayan weren’t circling him just for his ability.

“Commander Cheon So-baek keeps calling him out to cafés. Smiling in front of everyone. Now there are rumors they share a research lab or that she’s trying to bring him into the Red Tower.”

“I can see why that’d bother you.”

“No Yeon-hwa’s just as bad. Posts on the Bamboo Forest say she tries to snipe missions to pair with him, even uses her Word-Spirit to fetch water just to keep him close.”

“R-really?”

“And that’s not all. Commander Ha Yeri used to scold him seriously about not teasing her height. But the other day, when he rigged the automatic door sensor above her office so he had to jump in place like a kid dangling from the ceiling, she just gave him a light rebuke and let it go!”

“You… sound awfully specific.”

Her tone suggested she’d witnessed the last incident herself.

No way the height-obsessed Ha Yeri would admit that to anyone.

“N-not at all! I just happened to overhear. I didn’t secretly follow them or anything.”

“……”

Regardless, it showed one thing: he was personable enough to joke around even with the Special Unit’s strictest commanders.

Cheon So-baek, cool and calculating beneath her smile. Ha Yeri, icy on the surface as well. Neither opened their hearts easily.

And No Yeon-hwa—infamous during her Wings of the Blue Sky days. Even she had drawn close.

Little wonder Se-byeol was anxious that someone so out of place in Division 3 might be snatched away.

“I even grew my hair out, and he didn’t notice…”

“Yikes.”

Sohyun decided to give her troubled friend some advice.

“If you don’t want to lose a valuable operative as Deputy Commander, there’s a good way.”

“What is it?”

“Make him your aide. You know how it works.”

“That…”

Se-byeol’s face darkened.

Her grip on her glass tightened.

“Division 3 was unstable even when I was there. People left easily, missions got sidelined… The reason’s obvious.”

“……”

“If you appointed him Deputy Commander, no other division could easily poach him. But for that, first…”

Se-byeol would have to become Commander.

And that meant erasing the name of her father—Yoo Cheol-jin, who once held the post and now lay bedridden.

“I can’t. Not now.”

“Why?”

“Because my father ended up like that because of me.”

“I can’t agree with that. I’ve watched him since before the Tragedy of the Eighth Night.”

“……”

At the mere mention of Yoo Cheol-jin, Se-byeol shut her lips tight.

Sohyun sighed softly.

Too soon, perhaps.

Even if she became Commander, appointing a zero-year recruit like Hayan as aide would be nearly impossible.

The Special Unit was still a strict hierarchy.

“Then the simplest solution’s out.”

“Is there another way?”

“There is, but not as Division 3’s Deputy Commander.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you just need to have some fun.”

From within her blue robe, Sohyun unfolded something onto the table.

“You haven’t used your annual leave this year, have you? Then why not try this for fun?”

The two slips of paper she pushed across read: Tower of Proof Admission Ticket.