Chapter 55

Morae had settled into Jimin’s room and stared intensely at the numbers displayed on the clock.

220 million.

That was the amount of Pado’s remaining debt.

220 million.

Just a few days ago, it had been 290 million. In that short time, 70 million won had disappeared.

Pado had paid back 70 million won in three days.

It was an unbelievable amount.

Morae glared at Pado’s debt status.

“Sigh…”

At first, this system had been created to make Pado feel indebted so he would listen to her.

Seeing his debt displayed as an exact number was supposed to make him anxious.

But now that she could actually see the amount steadily decreasing, Morae’s feelings had become complicated.

It had the exact opposite effect of what she had expected.

“220 million…”

He had paid back 280 million out of the 500 million, leaving 220 million.

To an average person, 500 million won was an amount they might never even hold in their hands throughout their entire life.

But to Morae, it wasn’t money that her entire life depended on.

It wasn’t an amount she could casually spend, but if she seriously saved up, it wouldn’t be impossible.

With one or two years of effort, it was a sum she could reasonably collect.

Apparently, it was the same for Pado.

After learning how to make money, Pado quickly cleared his debt.

Well, he was a skilled Hunter. What would be difficult for him?

If he went through a few high-risk contamination zones, he could kill monsters and collect materials.

Then, huge amounts of money would fall into his hands almost instantly.

When he was tied down by the Association, money disappeared in chunks because of fees and taxes.

But in the back alleys, whatever he earned became entirely his.

In the past, Pado’s repayment speed had been slow because he was acting as Morae’s subordinate.

But lately, perhaps because he had started enjoying earning money, he had been rushing outside almost every day.

At this rate, he would probably clear the remaining 220 million and leave within three months.

Somehow, it felt like she was the only one losing.

Morae wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, her body drooping.

Hearing her sigh, Jimin tilted her head.

“Morae, why have you been so low-energy lately?”

“…I’m not.”

“You seriously look exhausted today. Are you still not fully recovered?”

“…No.”

She said no, but anyone could see she looked like someone who had lost all their energy.

Her voice and tone were full of discouragement.

After returning to her room last night, Morae had suddenly barged into Jimin’s room and stayed depressed until well past noon.

She had been so disappointed because her expectations had been so high that she couldn’t find any energy.

She couldn’t even describe how miserable it felt walking back to her room alone.

She had run away carrying embarrassing memories before.

She had also returned completely soaked in water before.

But last night hurt the most.

Then she had become shocked by the fact that she was actually heartbroken and spent a long time suffering over it.

The fact that she could feel such a strong sense of loss was surprising in itself.

She even felt embarrassed because it seemed like Pado had never thought that deeply about it while she alone had rushed ahead.

Simply having distance between them felt different from throwing out several hints and being rejected every time.

Could it be that her assumption that he liked her had all been a misunderstanding?

Could Pado have already gotten tired of her?

Maybe after doing it twice, he had decided he didn’t need to anymore.

Morae had gone to Jimin’s room to get rid of those depressing thoughts.

A sensitive mother would worry about her, so being next to Jimin, who was carefree and cheerful, was the perfect choice.

She had barged in without warning, insisted on staying, and even ended up sleeping there.

But even throughout the entire morning, her energy hadn’t returned.

Like a dog abandoned in the rain, Morae sat curled up in the corner and whimpered quietly.

Seeing Morae barely touch the breakfast she had prepared, Jimin tapped the refrigerator.

“Do you want Sweet Time madeleines? I have lemon custard, pistachio, red velvet, and salted caramel flavors too.”

“No.”

Just thinking about Sweet Time desserts reminded her of Pado, and it left an unpleasant feeling in her chest.

She remembered the Oreo cake she had only eaten two bites of before her stomach started hurting, so she had put it back in the refrigerator.

He had kindly given her something she liked as a gift.

And yet she was getting angry at him.

It was ridiculous.

She hated how her rationality couldn’t calm down her emotions.

“You like salted caramel flavor. I bought it yesterday with Pado after waiting two hours, so it’s still fresh.”

“With Pado?”

Morae’s voice turned sharp from the feeling of betrayal.

She couldn’t control her emotions after hearing that unexpected information.

Morae gritted her teeth and tightly shut her eyes.

She had come to Jimin because she was already sensitive and wanted to avoid thinking about Pado.

And now she had to hear about Jimin going out with Pado.

What a wonderful mood she was in.

“Yeah. I asked Pado to accompany me. I needed to investigate the upper Han River. It would have been dangerous for me to go to Seoul alone. Pado helped me a lot.”

Jimin, who didn’t know anything about Morae’s feelings, calmly continued looking through her data regardless of Morae’s sharp tone.

“There wasn’t anything particularly strange in the upper Han River. Ah, you know how the slime became huge recently? The seawater composition we used back then was strange, so I went to investigate. Since there weren’t any suspicious substances in the Shadow Knights’ warehouse, I thought maybe something had flowed from the Han River into the sea and changed the water. But I guess that wasn’t the case. The Han River’s water level had risen slightly, so—”

“And you went to buy desserts too?”

Morae abruptly cut off her rambling explanation.

She could check the Han River data later.

Jimin didn’t get offended at being interrupted and simply nodded.

“Yeah. What happened was, when we got there, one of the Han River bridge pillars looked like it was about to collapse. Something had built a nest under the pillar and eaten away at the structure.”

“So?”

“I immediately negotiated with the people responsible and solved it for 50 million won. It was easy because Pado handled it. We received payment immediately in goods.”

Jimin proudly raised two fingers in a V sign.

“So we used that to buy delicious food, go shopping, and since we were already in Seoul, we stopped by Sweet Time too. Pado wanted to visit, so we waited, but the line was insanely long. It was a weekday. Don’t people work?”

“……”

So what this meant was that Jimin was the person who helped Pado earn tens of millions of won and even went shopping with him.

Morae squeezed her eyes shut and tried to suppress her sense of betrayal.

It wasn’t really Jimin’s fault.

It wasn’t.

But why did it still feel so painful?

Pado hadn’t done anything wrong either, but somehow it still bothered her.

Actually, it wasn’t strange.

Morae had always been someone overflowing with possessiveness and jealousy.

She knew herself well enough to understand that she became jealous when someone else received affection from someone she cared about.

It wasn’t just Pado who annoyed her.

She was also angry at Jimin for shopping with Pado without her.

After spending more than twenty years being the only person Jimin doted on, she had suddenly switched over to Pado?

“You’re mean.”

“I’m mean?”

“You went shopping and didn’t take me? You only took Yu Pado?”

“We didn’t go shopping. We went to investigate—”

“You could have investigated while going out around the Han River anyway. You could have taken me too.”

“Ehh, Morae, you were injured recently. We went by ourselves because we thought it would be difficult for you.”

Morae’s tongue froze when she was about to complain.

When she heard that they had done it out of consideration because she was injured, she couldn’t find anything to say.

Even Pado probably wouldn’t have been able to argue if Jimin said that to him.

Morae wasn’t actually hurt.

She just couldn’t show everyone that she was perfectly fine.

She couldn’t exactly say, “I got muscle pain from having sex with Pado while standing, and my parents misunderstood,” after all.

As a result, Jimin’s consideration had brought about the worst possible outcome.

Some people had noticed Morae’s situation and held back from saying anything, but Jimin couldn’t do that.

Thinking that her lack of awareness and terrible luck were the reasons she still didn’t have any proper friends at her age made Morae angry, but she also felt sorry for her.

“Ha, seriously… What did Pado buy?”

After calming herself down, Morae asked another question.

“Clothes and shoes. He bought some snacks to eat in his room too. He also bought toys and books. Pado said he wanted to learn sculpting.”

“Sculpting?”

“Yeah. Pado can make shapes with water, right? Making detailed forms doesn’t just require power. It also requires a sense of style and artistic perception, so I guess he isn’t satisfied with his current skills. He said his dream is to practice sculpting until someday he can create something that looks like a real person…”

“He’s wasting his time for no reason. He could just ask me to make sculptures.”

“He must be learning because he doesn’t want to ask you.”

Morae knew there was no ill intent behind those words, but she immediately felt annoyed.

She could understand why Pado didn’t want to ask her.

It was probably because he thought living independently without relying on Morae was better.

There was probably also some truth to what her mother had said about him not wanting to be “looked down on.”

Even so, she didn’t like the feeling that he was preparing for the day he would fly away on his own.

When Morae pouted, Jimin bent down to meet her eyes.

“Are you upset because of his debt? Because I helped him earn money and let Pado pay it off?”

Jimin pointed out a reason that missed the real point.

It wasn’t completely wrong, so Morae decided to go along with it.

“Seeing how Auntie noticed, I guess I was really obvious. Yeah, I hate it. He finally became an S-rank, but if he leaves, doesn’t it feel like we only worked hard for someone else’s benefit?”

“We can’t help it. S-ranks like Pado are difficult to handle. If too many of them gather together, they’ll just fight and eventually split apart. You know we should be grateful if he leaves quietly.”

Morae was hit with a logical argument and showed her displeasure.

Skilled Hunters often clashed with each other.

An S-rank Hunter could influence an entire city by themselves, so they naturally developed strong personalities.

Put positively, it was confidence and ambition.

Put negatively, it was arrogant stubbornness.

Since research had shown that ability and personality were somewhat connected, it was difficult for S-ranks to coexist.

In most organizations, having one or two S-rank Hunters was considered normal.

Even Han Nokyeong, who had one of the most cooperative personalities among them, stubbornly refused to leave White City.

There was no telling what kind of conviction lived inside Pado’s heart or what kind of conflict it might cause.

“Still, Pado gets along well with Mom…”

“We don’t know that. You have to be prepared.”

“Auntie, you’re being too cold about this.”

But since it wasn’t wrong, it weighed heavily on Morae’s heart.

Conflicts between S-ranks happened about as often as bands breaking up because “their musical styles don’t match.”

Strong people didn’t easily bend their own convictions.

But when Morae thought about what Pado’s conviction actually was, nothing came to mind.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know about his abilities or family history.

It was that understanding his emotions was difficult.

Even now, she couldn’t figure out what Pado had been thinking when he called her to his room last night.

He seemed like someone she could see right through, yet there were many parts of him that remained unclear.

Morae pushed away her worries and held onto an optimistic thought.

“Still, he’s not on bad terms with Dad either. It’s not like they’ll suddenly start fighting.”

“It’s not great.”

“It’s not bad.”

“It’s not great.”

“…Really?”

When Jimin firmly repeated it twice, Morae’s eyes widened.

This was genuinely the first time she had heard of it.