Chapter 83

I got into a taxi.

We headed to a neighborhood with the largest mansion complex in Seoul.

At the first floor, I handed my ID to the security guard on duty and received a disposable keycard.

Inside the elevator, the moment I tapped the card, the 80th floor lit up automatically.

Other than the open and close buttons, nothing else responded. It seemed to be another security measure.

Exactly one minute and thirty seconds later.

When I arrived on the 80th floor and rang the doorbell, No Yeon-hwa answered from inside.

The moment she saw my face, she spoke.

“What kind of idiot leaves a perfectly good dorm without even looking for a place first?”

“Is this… No Yeon-hwa’s place?”

“Then what, do you think I’m illegally occupying someone else’s home?”

“……”

“What are you doing? Get in already.”

It was my first time seeing her outside of work, and the atmosphere felt completely different.

She wasn’t wearing a hoodie or a mask, and she wasn’t glaring like she could kill someone just with her eyes.

She was dressed casually in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts.

If there was one unexpected detail, it was that despite the late hour, she hadn’t removed her basic makeup yet.

The ends of her tied-back hair were still damp, as if she’d showered not long ago.

“Put these on.”

Wearing the guest slippers decorated with little cats, I carefully stepped inside.

I’d already expected it from the outside, but the interior was ridiculously luxurious.

Was No Yeon-hwa secretly from a rich family, and I just never knew?

As if she’d read my thoughts, she spoke first.

“I just earned a lot back when I was in a guild. And before joining the Special Unit, I also siphoned—received—my severance pay properly.”

“I see.”

“This place wasn’t even mine to begin with. It was my sister’s—ugh. Why am I telling you this?”

“Your sister?”

“Pretend you didn’t hear that. Pretend you didn’t, and sit on the sofa over there.”

Somehow, it felt like she didn’t really have siblings she talked about often.

Almost mesmerized, I sat down on the sofa and watched as No Yeon-hwa took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

Despite how spacious the house was, it didn’t look like she’d bothered furnishing it much. Most of it was left empty.

It seemed like it could easily accommodate one or two more people.

『It looks big enough for three people, doesn’t it?』

『Fear?』

『Oh, that spot in front of the air purifier is mine. Don’t even think about taking it. Even you, Mala-nim, are not allowed to encroach on that.』

『Fear not!』

“So why did you end up leaving, exactly?”

“It’s a truly long and complicated story…”

While arguing with Mala-nim over the channel about who got the better spot, I told No Yeon-hwa about the turbulent three days I’d just been through.

Aside from replacing the word “tentacle” with “cockroach,” I told her everything honestly.

Even as I spoke, my mind kept playing tentacle rock-paper-scissors against Mala-nim.

I threw out my chaotic scissors-rock-paper-bam, move a secret move that combined scissors, rock, and paper all at once, but Mala-nim responded with ‘zzzcrack-blorp-wham,’ and I lost miserably.

The spot in front of the air purifier, blowing out fresh, cool air, belonged to Mala-nim.

Just as I resigned myself to the idea of making the space under No Yeon-hwa’s bed my temporary shelter—

After listening to everything, she let out a deep sigh and asked,

“And your roommate?”

“Alexei?”

“You could’ve just left together from the start. Did you guys have a fight?”

“No, it’s just that…”

“Ah, never mind. Now that I think about it, your relationship isn’t any of my business anyway.”

Then why even ask?

No Yeon-hwa immediately changed the subject.

“So what are you planning to do now? You still have to go to work at the Special Unit, don’t you?”

“After work, I’ll look for a place. I plan on checking around wherever I can.”

“Then where are you staying until then?”

“Until then…”

A subtle silence settled over the table.

At some point, the robe I’d been wearing was already hanging on the rack.

The feel of smooth marble beneath my feet, and the way my eyes kept flicking toward the air purifier with lingering regret.

I hadn’t said it out loud, but every one of my actions was desperately expressing my desire to stay here for even one more second.

Still, what she was going to say next was painfully obvious.

“Get up. Follow me.”

“I sincerely apologize for my insolence! I won’t even ask for space under the bed—just the shoe cabinet, or at least the entryway where your shoes are piled up–”

“Shut up and follow me. And why the hell would it be the shoe cabinet?”

No Yeon-hwa promptly chased me out of her apartment.

But what she did next was something even I hadn’t expected.

She knocked on the door of the neighboring unit on the same floor.

A young couple came out after hearing the sound, and she spoke without hesitation.

“Ms. Yeon‑hwa, what brings you here at this late hour?”

“If we were making too much noise and bothering you…”

“Both of you are vacating this place for a month. I’ll manage it for you in the meantime, so take a train down to Busan and enjoy your honeymoon.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Let’s go, honey.”

After hearing the Word-Spirit command, the couple immediately packed their things and left.

They handed her their house keys and even the pet food for the animal they were raising.

Taking those items, No Yeon-hwa then shoved them straight into my hands and pointed at the wide-open door next door.

“You’ll use this place for now. That works, right?”

“……”

“What, did you think I was going to let you sleep in my place?”

“No, I was just wondering… why you’d go this far for me…?”

“Who said it was for you? I was already planning to kick them out anyway. They’re noisy every night.”

Now that I thought about it, it was pretty late, yet they’d still been awake.

Both of them had been breathing a little hard, too.

Apparently, they were a newlywed couple who’d moved in recently after their kite-surfing business took off. Seemed like they were so busy working they barely had time to enjoy married life.

Despite living in such a nice place, they hadn’t had time to hire housekeeping either. The bedroom was fairly messy.

And just like that, I ended up living next door to No Yeon-hwa.

Of course, in a bleak world like this, neighborly interaction was rare.

After all, the person who came knocking with moving rice cakes out of simple curiosity might turn out to be a dangerous tentacle-wielding Awakened from Ground Zero who’d returned after fifteen years in the Demon Realm.

Even back in the dorms, I barely exchanged greetings with the people in the next room.

Still, maybe the world the wealthy lived in really was different.

Starting the very next morning, I woke up to No Yeon-hwa calling for me.

“What are you doing? Get up.”

“No Yeon-hwa?”

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“I’m off this morning… but why are you in my place?”

How did she get in?

I definitely hadn’t given her the passcode.

Just yesterday, after I’d lost to Mala-nim in rock-paper-scissors again and ended up sleeping in front of the entrance, she’d spoken to me as if it were completely natural.

“Obviously through Word-Spirit— I mean, these days neighbors sharing passcodes is just common sense.”

“I see. Then are you going to tell me the password to your place too?”

“Why would that— no, this won’t do. Come here for a second.”

Until it was time for her to leave for work, No Yeon-hwa leaned close and patiently explained ‘common sense’ between neighbors to me, starting from the very first thing.

That if she called, I had to come talk with her anytime.

That commuting to and from work should always be done together.

That I was supposed to personally make breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.

The common sense she taught me felt a little unfamiliar to someone like me, who was living outside on my own for the first time since becoming an adult, but strangely enough, I didn’t feel much suspicion about it.

About an hour after receiving all those warnings—

No Yeon-hwa, who had driven to Special Unit using Word-Spirit, clasped something around my wrist.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a bracelet with yesterday’s key and the first-floor card key built into it.”

“The design kind of looks like handcuffs.”

“Does that matter? I put it on so you won’t lose it, so don’t ever take it off.”

On the opposite wrist from the smart watch on my left hand, a silver bracelet clinked softly.

Between the collar Yoo Se-byeol had given me recently, and the ring I’d received from Flauros before that, it felt like my accessories were steadily increasing.

After she went in first—

I reclined the passenger seat and cleared my daily quests in Monster War before belatedly getting out of the car and heading into the Special Unit.

I didn’t have any official work until the afternoon, but something I needed to do suddenly came to mind.

It was a task Yoo Se-byeol had assigned me.

“Such nice sunshine this morning.”

The rooftop garden of the Special Unit.

Standing in the middle of a grassy patch where green weeds had sprouted, I spread my arms wide toward the rising sun.

It was to recharge the rubber fastened around my neck.

The band, equipped with real-time location tracking, voice recording, electric shock, and even an emergency self-destruction function, required two hours of charging per day.

After spending the last few days wandering through sewers, the battery must’ve been fully drained, so I had to top it up whenever I found a chance.

It was unsettling knowing Yoo Se-byeol could track my position in real time, but if it was the price to pay for gaining a Star Scar, then I supposed it was unavoidable.

When I worked as Patel, I could just let the battery run out, so it hadn’t been forcibly removed.

While the band was charging, I reopened ‘Magic Tower Realty’ and looked through listings again.

No Yeon-hwa’s Word-Spirit wasn’t permanent.

The fact that I had to find a new place within a month, before the neighboring couple returned from their delayed honeymoon, hadn’t changed.

Living off No Yeon-hwa would’ve been ideal, but judging by how she kicked me out the moment it was time to sleep, it was obvious she’d never allow cohabitation, tentacles or not.

Mala-nim said, ‘She’s just pretending to push you away. She’s a clever alley cat at heart, so if you seriously beg, she’ll curse you out but give in,’ but honestly…

Setting aside how hard that was to even understand, last time had probably just been luck.

I couldn’t fully trust the judgment of an Outer God who didn’t understand humans nearly well enough.

“I’m not asking for much. Just a place where we can live together peacefully…”

“Live together? With who?”

“Commander Cheon So-baek?”

Cheon So-baek appeared out of nowhere, as usual, striking up a conversation.

Her gentle smile made her look in a good mood today as well.

“What’s that weird pose?”

“It’s a stance for worshipping the sun. Want to join?”

“I’ll pass. Just looking at you like that already makes me laugh.”

They say the mana of a powerful Awakened can take on a unique nature even without using any abilities.

Maybe it was because this was nature in the middle of the city, or maybe because charm was practically overflowing from her.

As she giggled and drew closer, butterflies fluttered all around her.

Of course, something similar happened around me too—but in my case, it was more like a tentacle I happened to pass by giving me a greeting.

Compared to Cheon So-baek, who seemed beloved by all mana-infused creatures, there was no contest.

“What brings you up here?”

“Just enjoying the weather. You?”

“I’m waiting because I don’t feel like clocking in yet.”

The same friendly atmosphere as always.

The same pointless small talk.

She liked to play the occasional prank, but among the Special Unit commanders, Cheon So-baek was easy to deal with. I’d even thought we might be fairly close.

After all, we’d traveled together once.

Maybe that was why—

“That’s unusual. Aren’t you usually stuck in your dorm bed and refusing to come out? The Spear of Thundercloud complains about it every time.”

“Oh, I moved out of the dorm recently to look for a place. I’m living together with No Yeon-hwa for now, thanks to her help.”

“…What did you just say?”

At my thoughtless words, every single butterfly that had been floating around dropped straight down into the grass.