Chapter 100

The moment I saw the new skill added to Im Haekyung’s Status Window, a strange feeling brushed past me. How should I even put this?

'So... is it really okay to just leave this as is?'

Honestly, I had zero intention of following the original plot. I couldn’t just trail along with it and then suddenly make a different choice only at the branching end.

That’s why I didn’t care about tying myself up with characters from the original, stacking up friendly relationships, or even messing up the flow here and there. Actually, I aimed for that.

But should Im Haekyung really have a nullification skill?

Even without reading the full description, I knew what it was. Dispel (B). A skill that nullifies other skills upon activation.

'A nullification skill?'

Not at this point in the story, but in the original, Im Haekyung cleared a quest-type dungeon and took a skill as a reward.

'But back then it wasn’t a nullification skill—it was an offensive one.'

Ever since Do Yehyun was brought into the mix, Haekyung’s skills had already diverged from the original path.

Trailing off, Im Haekyung paused before continuing.

“Even with an extra skill, it didn’t change things that much.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re already S-rank.”

At my remark, Haekyung gave a vague smile and immediately changed the subject.

“Then let’s get something to eat.”

“Sure.”

The restaurant we drove to wasn’t far from the Haeseong building. On the way, Haekyung made a bit of small talk.

“Last time you paid, so today it’s my turn.”

“You barely ate last time.”

“I wasn’t very hungry then.”

“And today?”

“Somewhat?”

The place we arrived at was a neat Korean restaurant. After parking and handing the car key to Haekyung, I naturally followed into the reserved room.

It looked like the order had already been placed, since the table was set with the basic side dishes.

Before we even began eating, Haekyung suddenly opened his mouth.

“I hope the food suits your taste. But before that, I’d like to clear up one uncomfortable matter... so let me come clean first.”

“Uncomfortable matter?”

Between me and him, there were countless uncomfortable matters. But what exactly would he confess to?

Looking slightly troubled, Haekyung spoke.

“Maybe Yehyun already mentioned it, but last time the three of us had dinner, I offered him a guild transfer. Did you hear?”

“No. He didn’t say anything specific.”

Hearing Do Yehyun’s name out of the blue surprised me, though I already knew. Since he hadn’t said anything to me, I’d mostly shoved it out of mind. Honestly, the fact that he used his skill was more of an issue than the job offer.

“I figured. He seemed quite flustered at the time. You must care about him a lot.”

Well... it wasn’t like Do Yehyun deliberately hid it. He just never intended to leave in the first place.

“He’s not thinking of transferring. Not to Haeseong, or anywhere else.”

“Because of you?”

“That’s right.”

“Sounds like you’ve blocked him from leaving.”

Haekyung spoke as if it were nothing.

“I’ve never forced him to stay here.”

But if he suddenly ran off to another guild and pretended it was nothing, then problems would start. Problems I’d make sure of.

Of course, Yehyun wasn’t that kind of guy.

Still, Haekyung tilted his head, as if something about my answer snagged at him.

“I suppose so.”

That expression of his said he wasn’t convinced at all.

So, was that all for the awkward talk? Meaning he was about to switch to lighter conversation? Haekyung tossed out a half-hearted acceptance and immediately asked how I was doing.

“What have you been up to lately?”

“Work... running Gates here and there, a bit of everything.”

“As an appraiser, you’ve been hitting a lot of Gates.”

His tone was casual, but everything he said was probing me. How much he’d dug up on his own, I couldn’t be sure. Which meant I had to be careful with what I said.

Then Haekyung looked me in the eye and said,

“I received some information. It mentioned your skill.”

“My appraisal skill?”

“No. They said you had an ice-element skill. A support-type offensive one.”

“......”

And where the hell did that leak from? I’d suspected some info might slip through since I hadn’t silenced every SH Guild member, but this sounded like he’d done a personal background check.

'Which he probably did.'

With an expression of genuine puzzlement, Haekyung said,

“But the one I saw you use was fire. So, you’ve got multiple elements, huh? That’s not easy to maintain.”

Yeah, I expected suspicion. But I already had an excuse prepared.

I smiled.

“It’s an item.”

“An item? Which one?”

“The first one you saw. The fire skill.”

“Hm?”

Best way to handle this was to brazen it out.

“I couldn’t use it in the quest dungeon, right? That’s because it was a one-time thing.”

“For a one-time item, it was awfully strong.”

“The hunter next to me had fire attributes. Must’ve been influenced.”

Haekyung still looked skeptical, but soon smiled.

“Why didn’t you just say it was an item?”

“I didn’t want to look weak in front of an S-rank. I didn’t know what kind of person you were, Guildmaster.”

“Now that hurts. I really want to get along with you, Jehyun. I thought you did too...”

“I do. That’s why I’m coming clean now.”

Not a complete lie. It was better to maintain a good relationship with Haekyung than a bad one.

Still, why the hell did he try to scout Do Yehyun?

“So why’d you offer him a transfer?”

“His skills. Haeseong needs healers.”

“Don’t you already have plenty?”

“We have some, but not many willing to enter dungeons. Healers aren’t exactly durable.”

As he said it, Haekyung’s brow furrowed faintly. He did seem sincere.

“...But Yehyun looks like he can go into dungeons. He handles mana decently, and with training he’d get better. Good compatibility overall.”

That was actually a pretty valid reason.

Sure, I was the one who placed Yehyun in SH Guild, but I wasn’t its leader. I had no real grounds to get angry over Haekyung’s offer. Especially since Yehyun hadn’t accepted anyway.

Then Haekyung softened his expression and smiled.

“I’ve been making some guesses.”

“......”

“You’re not exactly cooperative with me, are you? Yet you still keep our appointments. You know things you shouldn’t... and won’t explain. I’m curious, but since you won’t tell me, I can only speculate.”

With that, his smile faded a little, and he calmly laid out the patterns he’d noticed.

“If I think back on all the strange things about you... it started from the very first time we met.”

Our first meeting, huh. Felt like ages ago now, but I knew exactly which he meant.

'Back in the night market, when I wore the mask.'

“Of course, if you say you used an appraisal item, fine. Same with suddenly using skills you supposedly couldn’t before—just blame items.”

“......”

“And how you keep rushing into dungeons... I could chalk that up ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to personality. Like I said, thrill-seekers or dopamine junkies get hooked on that kind of high.”

“......”

“But even setting all that aside... what I really want to know is why. Your purpose.”

Haekyung’s eyes fixed on mine, then drifted slightly, as if looking past me at something invisible.

“Your purpose isn’t really your own, is it?”

So here was the real point. After all the preamble, this was the bull’s-eye.

“I’ll apologize again for interfering with your mind. Too many suspicious details, I couldn’t help it.”

“......”

“But that reaction of yours back then... it looked exactly like what happens when a restriction kicks in. Like something blocked me out.”

“......”

“Almost as if a mental-type ability user had locked it down.”

Considering how penalties stopped me from leaking certain info, yeah—it was similar to mental tampering.

When I didn’t respond, Haekyung kept spinning his theories.

“You haven’t been Awakened for long, right? Only registered recently.”

“Correct.”

“And before that, there are no reports of you at all. For a whole year, apparently you didn’t even leave your house.”

Where the hell did he get that? That I hadn’t gone outside for a year?

'What the fuck is he talking about?'

I had double-checked my past record thoroughly. Where the hell did he find this kind of personal detail—even I didn’t know it.

“How did you know that?”

But Haekyung didn’t answer. He just kept rambling.

“Don’t you think it’s odd? A guy who shut himself away for a year suddenly starts running around everywhere? Feels like a profile someone cobbled together.”

That was something I’d wondered about too. Whether someone had deliberately lined things up like that.

Since I still didn’t react, Haekyung went quiet for a moment before asking,

“Are you a spy?”

...Is this guy insane?