Chapter 26 – Target On

The interview was not long.

Yeo Soo-han talked about what the work of a Raider was like and why he risked danger. The celebrities sent cheers and applause, and regarding the hard and painful parts, they all nodded their heads with sorrowful expressions.

Thus, the celebrities’ raid experience ended.

During the short spare time, Se-min chatted with Lee So-jin.

“You were pretty good? Everyone acknowledged you.”

“It’s nothing new.”

When comedian Park Chul-woong asked a mischievous question about who was the strongest here, all the Raiders, including Yeo Soo-han, pointed to Se-min.

If they fight shoulder to shoulder, they can feel each other’s skill level.

Of course, Se-min also pointed to himself.

“How have you been doing all this time? There was no one who knew any news of you.”

The two walked together to Lee So-jin’s van.

“Going to the raid academy to train, becoming a Raider, and raiding. That’s how I spent my time. How did you end up here?”

“I always liked singing, you know. I won a prize in a singing contest, and then I got contacted to work together. While living as a trainee I only aged, and I was about to quit, but somehow I debuted.”

“That’s good. Don’t pretend you don’t know me when you succeed later.”

“You’re the one who shouldn’t do that. When you become a Black mark later, aren’t you going to say, ‘Who are you?’”

“Correct. I will pretend not to know starting from Platinum, so behave yourself.”

“You’re funny.”

They reached the front of the van.

The two stopped.

“Goodbye.”

Se-min greeted plainly.

“Yeah. You work hard too.”

Lee So-jin waved her hand.

While walking toward the van, she turned her body toward Se-min again. And after hesitating for a moment, she said.

“Next time you have time, shall we have a meal together or something?”

“Sure.”

The two exchanged contact information.

“Good luck with the filming.”

“You don’t get hurt either.”

Lee So-jin waved her hand and ran to the van. Yeo Soo-yeon and Yeo Soo-han were already seated. They greeted Se-min. Se-min also bowed his head.

Just before the van closed, Lee So-jin called Se-min, who was walking away with his back turned.

“Hey. Lee Se-min.”

When Se-min looked at her, she smiled and said.

“When you fought Ahn Seong-jun, you were cool.”

With her smile as the end, the van’s door closed. Se-min stared blankly at the closed door, then slowly walked away.

Mounting the scooter, he ruminated on those words.

At that time, he rolled miserably on the floor, and everyone saw that appearance.

The eyes, and Lee So-jin’s surprised face, had pushed him out of school.

He did not regret the fight.

However, he only hoped that that appearance was not too miserable.

“Good grief.”

Se-min smirked and started the engine.

She said he was cool.

“Having one son and one daughter will be enough, right?”

The junk scooter rattled forward.

***

People envy the glamorous life of Raiders, but their daily routine is actually monotonous.

Se-min also was the same.

He closed his day by roaming around raids all day and returning home to soak in a hot tub.

“This bastard Hyeon Jae-yeong is late lately…”

Se-min submerged his head below the water surface, then slowly raised his head. His water-drenched hair flowed down.

“I must resume the hell training quickly.”

Hyeon Jae-yeong was promoted to Green mark. He was one of only two Green marks in SH Company, including one Se-min had not seen yet.

Now, receiving Yoo Sang-heun’s favor, he participated in higher-level raids. Calls from other companies trying to scout him also became frequent.

Hyeon Jae-yeong rejected all offers, but occasionally showed himself agonizing over the unconventional terms proposed by headhunters.

“He said there was no date today though.”

Speaking of the devil, Hyeon Jae-yeong entered the house just then, pressing the passcode.

Se-min shouted.

“Jae-yeong! Let’s order chicken!”

There was no reply.

“Jae-yeong?”

Se-min came out of the tub and opened the door.

And he screamed.

“Aaargh!”

The other party was the same.

“Kyaaa!”

After escaping to the bathroom, Se-min covered his lower body with a towel and stepped out into the living room again. The opponent from earlier was not there, and instead, only the unconscious Hyeon Jae-yeong lay splayed out in the living room.

“Come out! Are you a robber!”

Se-min approached Hyeon Jae-yeong, dripping water. He was breathing. The smell of alcohol wafted.

“Are you okay? You must have been forced to drink! Come out! Who on earth tortured our Jae-yeong with alcohol!”

As Se-min shouted, a woman’s voice came from the front door.

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

Se-min giggled and said while returning to the bathroom.

“It’s a joke. Thank you for bringing him home!”

Probably, that guy Hyeon Jae-yeong had drunk somewhere and lost consciousness, so that woman brought him home.

He really is a nuisance in many ways.

There was no more voice heard. She seemed to have left the house. Se-min finished his shower and put on comfortable clothes.

“Jae-yeong. Wake up.”

He was silent.

Se-min lifted Hyeon Jae-yeong and threw him roughly onto the bed. The guy crawled under the blanket on his own and began to doze.

“Dirty bastard.”

Se-min was a person who had to clean his body before going to bed.

“I guess I’ll have to eat chicken alone.”

As Se-min was turning on the delivery application, suddenly the doorbell rang.

Checking the visitor, the woman from earlier was standing there.

Se-min lowered his voice.

“What is it. I can’t give you Jae-yeong.”

[I came because you dropped your phone earlier, you know?]

Looking around, an unfamiliar cell phone was indeed lying on the living room floor. Se-min picked it up and went to the front door.

When he opened the door, the woman glared at Se-min.

As she was a great beauty.

Se-min corrected his evaluation of Hyeon Jae-yeong.

He thought he was a dog leashed to Kim Ye-na, but he was a guy who could get it done when he wanted to.

“I am very curious about the relationship between you two, but I won’t ask and will just pretend not to know and hand over the phone.”

“We are just friends!”

“I didn’t ask though…”

“That’s the same as asking.”

She was a person with strong opinions.

Se-min nodded.

“Anyway, thank you for bringing Jae-yeong home. Take care.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to order chicken, would you like to eat together?”

“No need.”

The door shut with a bang. Se-min whistled and muttered.

“It was just a saying. I’m going to eat it all by myself anyway.”

Se-min turned on the application again.

He thought his connection with that woman had ended like that.

However, the next day, Se-min ended up sitting opposite that woman.

“…”

“…”

The two sat in silence with a table between them.

Se-min opened his mouth first.

“We meet again.”

The woman replied.

“Indeed.”

“The chicken was delicious.”

“Good for you.”

“Nice room. You even have a private office; you’ve succeeded at a young age.”

“Thank you.”

Silence ensued again.

Her expression was like cold eternal snow.

The conversation would not progress at this rate.

Se-min rummaged in his bag and pulled something out.

“Here it is.”

The look in her eyes changed. She buried her nose in the document Se-min presented and began to read. Se-min just sat there like a borrowed bag of barley.

After reading carefully for a long time, she raised her head again.

The cold expression from earlier was gone.

“Did you really see a female Carcara?”

“Yes.”

“How are you sure it was a female?”

“When I saw them, they were making a baby.”

The Raider Bureau had requested Se-min to report on the ecology of the magic beasts he experienced beyond the Gate.

Se-min recalled his memories in the meantime to organize the contents. Then, he came to submit it to the Raider Bureau, and the person in charge happened to be the woman who brought Hyeon Jae-yeong home last night.

It was a strange coincidence.

“Are you sure it was a reproductive act? Did it not look like they were fighting?”

She asked with serious eyes. On the contrary, Se-min felt embarrassed and avoided her gaze.

“Y-you can tell just by looking, right?”

“I see.”

She wrote something down with a pen.

“Carcara… A female had never been found, but in fact, it has a different appearance from the male, so it was being classified as a different species. In the meantime, we referred to it as the unidentified magic beast Appendime.”

“Really?”

“According to what you described, it is definitely the Appendime. I thought there were similarities, but it was a female Carcara.”

She looked at Se-min with a bright expression.

“It’s an amazing discovery. The academia will pay attention.”

Se-min felt burdened as the matter seemed to grow larger. If a problem arose later, would his honor as the reporter not be damaged?

A more detailed review was needed.

So he countered.

“Wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Are you sure it was a female Carcara?”

“No, didn’t you write it like that yourself?”

“Could it not be a love that transcends species? And why do you arbitrarily conclude it is a female? Isn’t that heterosexual prejudice?”

“Pardon?”

Se-min argued.

“Love between different species. Same-sex love. All are love. Let’s not conclude that they are of the same species or male and female merely because they engaged in reproductive acts.”

“Wait, wait a minute.”

She raised her hand to stop Se-min.

“According to your subsequent description.”

“According to it?”

“It says that after that event, the female Carcara’s belly swelled and she soon gave birth to a baby, right?”

That was correct.

Se-min had witnessed all the love and fruit of the Carcara family.

But he was not trying to be a witness for the Carcara family right now. His role was a skeptic who doubts all truths, the devil’s advocate, and a philanthropist who affirms all forms of love.

“You. Yes. Min Ji-hyun.”

Se-min spoke after reading her nametag.

“Have you not been to Everland? Have you not seen a liger?”

“A l-liger?”

“It is a hybrid born between a lion and a tiger. Because there is no growth-inhibiting hormone, it grows incredibly large. In this way, even if the species is different, if the evolutionary relationship is close, they can sufficiently produce offspring. A similar example is the mule.”

At Se-min’s persistent questioning, Min Ji-hyun’s expression turned sour.

It returned to that chilly gaze with which she looked at him last night.

“I understand your words well, Lee Se-min.”

“You aren’t angry by any chance, right?”

“I am not.”

“Th-then why are you glaring at me so scary…?”

“Put away your prejudice that glaring means being angry. Don’t measure my mind with your narrow yardstick. This is an expression of being very grateful. It is unpleasant.”

“Yes…”

Se-min shrank back. That was a lie. Unless one treated a person like a bug, such an expression would not appear.

“Anyway, since I understood your point well, we will review it in detail and contact you again. I will review it in detail. Exactly as you want.”

“Yes…”

“I will delay the presentation of the commendation plaque and compensation. Just as you said, we must review it more closely. We cannot rule out the possibility that you are a fraud either.”

“Pardon?”

“Why?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

His mouth was the problem.

Se-min decided to just stay quiet. He barely got through the subsequent thorny words and cold silence.

She persistently questioned him about his life beyond the Gate. Se-min replied sincerely.

The interview with Min Ji-hyun ended.

“Raider Lee Se-min. I will remember you in the future.”

“Yes…”

Se-min stood up awkwardly from his seat.

Min Ji-hyun, who was organizing the documents, called Se-min as he was turning away.

“Lee Se-min.”

“Yes.”

Se-min looked back, but she did not even give him a glance.

“Tell Jae-yeong that yesterday was fun.”

“Pardon…?”

“Then, go ahead.”

Se-min opened his mouth. Was this woman by any chance aiming for his roommate, Hyeon Jae-yeong?

Following Kim Ye-na, now Min Ji-hyun.

Why was every woman he got entangled with like this?

What a pitiful bastard.

Fortunately, since Hyeon Jae-yeong was captured by Kim Ye-na, he wouldn’t get entangled with this wicked woman.

Se-min shook his head and left her office.

When the door closed, Min Ji-hyun was left alone in the room.

As soon as Se-min left, she picked up her cell phone. She pressed a speed dial number to call.

The ringtone rang twice and the other party answered.

It was a deep man’s voice.

[How was he?]

“He is hiding something.”

[Are you sure?]

“I think so.”

[Interesting.]

“What should we do?”

The person over the phone fell silent for a while.

And then spoke.

[We must make him show the truth himself.]