Sudden Passage

For the sake of a peaceful mealtime, he somehow managed to say he would think about the transfer and put it off for later.
He had already lost his appetite, but there was still a growing child here, so Ro-un picked his spoon back up.

“Ah.”

The pretty white child took neat bites of the pork cutlet, his mouth working busily.
Right. Let’s look only at good things and recover some peace of mind.
Looking at Yu-jeong, who combined all three things of child, animal, and prettyiness, soothed his insides.

“Eat without getting it all over yourself.”

Even if there was a terrifying dragon beside him pretending to be human.
Ro-un moved his spoon while pointedly ignoring the old dragon.

“Wow. This place makes good gukbap.”

This brat Joo Hee-jun had been going on about some politician who ate with the Baekdu chairman and wound up hospitalized the next day, and now he was scraping his bowl clean.
Weren’t you the one who was most scared of the Baekdu Academy chairman?

“Since I’m being treated on a first meeting, asking for another bowl would be a bit much.”
“Even you too, Cheon Su-ho. No, never mind. You worked hard taking the exam, so you should eat a lot too.”

Watching Cheon Su-ho building a tower of stone bowls, Ro-un fell silent.
I am peaceful right now.
I am eating delicious pork gukbap.
Ro-un fed food into his mouth mechanically while putting himself under self-suggestion.

“Student Lee Ro-un. When will you be heading back down to the academy?”

Ah.
In the end, Ro-un set his spoon down.
As expected, eating any more was impossible.

“I have something to do tomorrow, so I think I’ll head back down after I finish that.”
“What? Lee Ro-un, you’re not going back today?”
“Hmm. Then I suppose I’ll have to postpone my train reservation.”

And why are you two doing that?
Ro-un looked at the two, who were apparently trying to delay their reservations so they could go back with him, like he couldn’t understand them at all.

“It’s my business, so why are you delaying your reservations? Stop wandering off track and just go back first.”
“I can’t do that! If it’s your business, Lee Ro-un, then it’s our business too. I’m going with you!”
“Right! There’s loyalty, you know! How could we leave you behind and go back alone?”

Loyalty?
You two?
Why would you even have something like that?
Ro-un’s eyes narrowed.

“Why would I leave my business to you two? I’ll handle my own business myself.”
“Even so, Lee Ro-un, can’t we at least stay by your side? When I took the test today, having you two there made me feel very reassured.”

Cheon Su-ho said that with a downcast face.
Ugh. I said I’m not falling for that face anymore.
With effort, Ro-un tore his gaze away from Cheon Su-ho, who had taken on the look of a drenched puppy.

“R-right!”

Right. You were the most earnest of all.
Unlike Cheon Su-ho, who had business here, and himself, Joo Hee-jun was the one who had tagged along with absolutely nothing to do just because he insisted on cheering him on.
Doesn’t he have any friends?

‘Ah, maybe he doesn’t.’

Even before the regression, he had never seen the Bomb Freak hanging around with anyone.
That guy had been so focused on fixing his trait that he shut himself away, built no relationships with anyone, and buried himself in research alone.
I dragged that shut-in out under the pretense of helping him fix his trait and put him to work.

“But what are you doing tomorrow? I-is it something really difficult?”

To think he would one day step forward on his own and say he wanted to help.
Learning things he had not known before the regression felt a little strange.

“Lee Ro-un.”
“Hey, president!”

At the two calling out to him, Ro-un came back to himself.
…He couldn’t take these two along to a health checkup.

“It’s not something for you two to get involved in, and I’m doing it because someone else asked me to. I can’t just bring people along as I like.”
“Then I’ll wait nearby until it’s done.”
“M-me too!”
“…Do whatever you want.”

How was he supposed to stop those guys from his academy?
They were the sort who didn’t listen even when you followed them around, hit them, and lectured them.
How were you supposed to stop someone determined to do whatever they wanted?
When Ro-un answered like he had given up, Cheon Su-ho and Joo Hee-jun brightened.

Tuuug!

When Ro-un turned at the tug on his sleeve, Yu-jeong met his eyes, clutching at his clothes and beaming.

“Ro-uung! Ah!”
“Hm? Do you want some water?”
“Ah! Ah!”
“It seems he means he wants you to take him too.”

You too?
This was exactly why people said you couldn’t even drink cold water in front of children!
He glared at the culprits he was certain Yu-jeong had learned it from.

“Hm? Lee Ro-un. Why are you looking at us like that?”
“W-why! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Like hell you didn’t.
The kid saw you and copied you!

“Student Lee Ro-un, don’t worry. I can accompany you as a parent observer as well.”

Why is this dragon acting like this too?
Since he knew Baek Ho-yeon as well, Proprietress Gu So-ye might know Yong Chang-jin too.
Even so, that didn’t mean they could just bring Yong Chang-jin along as they pleased.

“Thank you for the offer, but it’s a request that came to me. I don’t even know whether it’s okay for me to bring someone else along, so I’ll just accept the thought.”

In the end, Ro-un chose to refuse Yong Chang-jin’s offer.
When Ro-un refused politely, Yu-jeong, who had been looking at him with shining eyes, drooped.

“Ro-uuung.”
“Sorry. Let’s go to the Night Market together next time.”
“Ro-uung!”

Yu-jeong brightened immediately and threw his arms around Ro-un’s neck.
He couldn’t reject Yu-jeong when he came hugging into him like that.
Princess In-woo had been the same yesterday.

‘Is it because they’re a tiger and a dragon? It’s hard to say no to them.’

Is this what it means to be prey?
Ro-un tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
Cheon Su-ho and Joo Hee-jun quietly exchanged glances.
While a wordless exchange passed between the two of them, Yong Chang-jin quietly watched Ro-un holding and soothing Yu-jeong.

“Proprietress Gu So-ye… writes some pretty cute mesages.”

She was different from that outdated tiger who couldn’t even make a proper phone call with his own hands.
More importantly, what was the thing Proprietress Gu So-ye had said she wanted to borrow his hands for?
What could it possibly be that a being who seemed on par with Baek Ho-yeon would want to borrow his help?

“Proprietress Gu So-ye can’t be just any ordinary fox either, so for someone like that to need help… is there a patient like Princess In-woo?”

Guessing at Gu So-ye’s true nature, Ro-un tried to estimate what today’s task would be.
A certain likely being came to mind, but Ro-un stopped his thoughts there.
I don’t want to know any more.
I really don’t want any more Divine Beast connections.

‘Let’s just take this one request, ask a few more questions while I’m at it, and then avoid contacting Proprietress Gu from then on if at all possible.’

This was getting way too burdensome!
From experience, he knew full well that drawing the attention of a being with that much power and that many years behind them was not simply a good thing.

‘The Saintess of Europe drew the interest of an angel from the Bible, but because of that, she practically lives half-confined in the Vatican and has to show her face at every event without fail.’

When Ro-un received his A-rank promotion, the Saintess had been surprised and envious that he didn’t draw the attention of the gods.
She wasn’t the only one.
Those who drew the interest of Constellations, gods, or great figures preserved in history had to become actors satisfying their curiosity.

‘Like the relationship between Earth and the stars, it’s most beautiful when there’s a proper distance.’

If they were lending him power to stop the Calamities, that was one thing, but otherwise, a relationship of moderate give-and-take was better.
There was a reason they were called Constellations.
As he waited for Gu So-ye, Ro-un placed a hand over the inner pocket where he had put the spirit egg.

‘If you keep it close, it will awaken soon.’

That had been In-woo’s answer when Ro-un asked when the egg would hatch.
Proprietress Gu So-ye had said the egg was ready to open its eyes, and she had supplied what it needed, so it really should be soon.

‘I want to see it soon.’

Thump!

As if it had read his thoughts, the egg resonated.
After Proprietress Gu So-ye took something from Ro-un and put it into the egg, he had felt connected to it.
That feeling of connection might not have been an illusion.

“But then just who is it that she wants treated so badly she’d pay in advance like this?”

For foxes active in human society, it should not have been hard to find a healer at Ro-un’s level.
As Ro-un recalled what had happened two nights earlier, he suddenly paused.

‘Huh? Did Proprietress Gu So-ye ever actually ask me to heal someone?’

Ro-un replayed the conversation from two days ago.

‘So what is it you want to hire me for?’
‘It’s nothing much. In two days, I’d like to borrow your hands.’
‘What exactly would I have to do?’
‘Something the Saint is good at.’
‘Then there must be someone who wants to ask me for treatment.’

And back then, Proprietress Gu So-ye never actually answered that!
Ro-un realized she had never confirmed that what she wanted was treatment.

“What is it? What could it be? What in the world could she want to borrow my hands for?”

He should have realized it from the moment she summoned him to the middle of Seoul, but the phrase “something I’m good at” had made him think in that direction.
Jeans, a T-shirt, a light jumper, and a cap.
Did I come here way too carelessly?
If it turned out he was going into a passage, then even if it wouldn’t help much, he should at least have worn his uniform.

‘I got ahead of myself again. If Proprietress Gu hadn’t warned me, I’d have carelessly written the pigs and dogs off too.’

Ro-un rubbed his face and lamented his own immaturity.
Just as Ro-un, crouched down in self-reproach, thought he wanted to sink straight into the ground, a red sports car stopped in front of him.

“You came early, Saint.”

Gu So-ye, wearing sunglasses and a vivid red suit, said that as she got out of the car.

“How have you been? Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. Did you sleep well too, proprietress?”
“I slept very well. Beauties are sleepyheads, after all.”

Proprietress Gu So-ye was certainly beautiful, but he had not expected her to say it herself.
Then again, that confidence only doubled her charm.
Her boldness came from both her exceptional beauty and her certainty in herself.
Even if the world’s standard of beauty did not already point at her, she seemed confident she could bend that standard around until it did.
For a moment, Ro-un felt almost dazzled by her, but the sheer force of presence radiating from her snapped him back to his senses.

“Proprietress, what am I doing today?”
“It’s simple.”

Ro-un waited for the words that would fall from her lips.
Gu So-ye said with her eyes curving brightly,

“Go on a date with me.”
“…Huh?”

A blank, stupid sound escaped from Ro-un’s mouth.
This was not something he had expected in the slightest.

“Ahahaha! What is that expression?”
“Proprietress Gu….”
“Pfft. Hohohoho. Really, Saint. Of course I am a slender and alluring beauty, but I have no intention of romancing someone so much younger than I am.”
“Proprietress.”
“Hohohoho. You have a cuter side than I expected, Saint. On TV you seemed stern and expressionless, so I thought you’d be dull, but that was my mistake.”

Gu So-ye teased him for quite a while.
Faced with her reaction, Ro-un was pulled out of the dark place where he had just been berating his own immaturity and left instead with a complicated feeling.

‘Did she know and tease me on purpose?’

Ro-un looked at Gu So-ye with suspicion and a touch of reproach.
Gu So-ye lowered the hand covering her mouth and met his gaze.
She looked a little calmer, but a playful smile still lingered at the corners of her mouth.

“I’ll stop teasing you now, so cheer up.”
“I’ve cheered up.”
“Really? You still seem a little sulky.”
“Proprietress Gu.”
“Hohohoho. All right. I’ll stop.”

Gu So-ye tapped her cheekbones lightly and erased the smile from her face.

“So. What is it I actually have to do?”

She raised one long white hand and beckoned him closer.
When Ro-un stepped closer at her gesture, Gu So-ye leaned her face toward him.
As the distance between them narrowed, he caught a fragrant scent from her.

‘A scent? Be careful!’

Remembering how close he had come to being bewitched two days ago, Ro-un held his breath, and Gu So-ye came close to his ear and whispered in a voice that sounded almost seductive.

“A sudden passage may open here any moment now. And the moment it appears, it will collapse.”

What fell into his ear was not temptation, but a bomb.
Understanding her words, Ro-un’s eyes widened and he turned sharply to the side.

“What….”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it? I’m not completely certain yet either. But that’s what the information I gathered is telling me. You probably think something like that couldn’t happen, but please help me.”

No. Something like that will happen.
A few months from now.

The kind of passage Gu So-ye was talking about was something that had only happened in the early days of the <Otherworld Upheaval>.
In the early days of the upheaval, passages had opened at random and turned this land into something like hell.
The erosion level rose inside those randomly opened passages, the passages collapsed, and otherworld residents spilled out.
Back then, no one knew why such passages opened or that there was a pattern to them, so they had been called “sudden passages.”
Now, thanks to the great progress made in otherworld research and the improved measurement and management of erosion levels, even the term ‘sudden passage’ had fallen out of use.

‘But sudden passages returned. Even more severely than in the early days of the upheaval.’

The sudden passages that would appear in the future ignored all patterns and showed up in forms already almost fully collapsed.
Passages that appeared with their erosion level almost entirely filled from the moment of emergence brought yet another upheaval to humanity.

‘But that only starts happening after the first Calamity!’

The future had changed from what Ro-un knew!
It felt as though all the blood in his body had dropped straight to the floor.