The disbandment of C&L Corporation, the largest of the Big Three Guilds and an important pillar of the Hunter World, naturally turned the Hunter World upside down.
There were many people who tried to persuade Choi Cedric. Some people even crossed the lines by saying pretty harsh things, such as ‘It’s a foolish decision of a Hunter who only knew how to do battle as ordered by Lee Sein’, or ‘I don’t know if you’re retarded or what, but don’t you understand the repercussions of your choice?’.
Unexpectedly, Choi Cedric was not angry, but he was firm in his resolve.
Of course, disbanding doesn’t mean that the big guild will suddenly disappear with a bang. What Choi Cedric wanted was more like the independence of the various subsidiary organisations of C&L Corporation. The disbandment of C&L Corporation is still in progress, with the rights being sorted out and various subsidiaries being separated. It will take a little more time before it is completely finalised.
For the record, there were many hunters who welcomed the independence, and there were other responses besides criticism. It is said that the independence of each division that was previously controlled by C&L will revitalise the Hunter World.
Well, I really hope so.
The recent busyness of Kwon Jiwoon has something to do with this. Some of C&L Corporation’s subsidiary organisations wanted to be incorporated into the White Silver Guild. The White Silver Guild has grown in size with new Hunters, and Kwon Jiwoon, who just lost Uncle, is likely to struggle for a while longer.
Without the support of C&L, Choi Cedric is expected to drop further down the rankings from second place. But regardless of all the gossip, Choi Cedric appeared to be content.
And, as a side note, he apologised to a healer from the Garden of Blessings. The same healer who, prior to the regression, had publicly criticised his abuse of power behaviour.
I saw it by coincidence. I didn’t mean to see it, but …. they happened to be talking in the front yard of the Dungeon Management Office’s main building, and I was on my way back from the press conference.
“……I’m sorry. I’d like to apologize for everything I’ve done so badly.” Choi Cedric bowed his head politely.
The Healer looked at him with a complicated expression for a long time, but eventually refused to accept the apology.
“When C&L was doing well, you don’t care about it all. Now, when it collapsed, you came to me and apologized. Do you really think I’m going to sincerely take your apology?”
“I know. How my behaviour would look.”
“But?”
“Regardless of what you think, I’d like to apologise to the Healer-nim for my wrongdoings.”
“Hmm…..”
The tension was evident. I gulped involuntarily and looked at them. The Healer frowned and spoke.
“It’s not that I don’t know, you had a family member who was sick. When an illness that doesn’t get better lasts a long time, you look for something to blame, sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s someone else.”
“…….”
“But having human compassion doesn’t mean I accept Hunter Choi Cedric’s apology or forgive him.”
“…I understand.”
“I hope we never have to see each other again.”
That was the end of the conversation. The Healer didn’t accept Choi Cedric’s apology and walked away with a complicated look on their face.
In the end, the future twisted in a different direction than I remembered. It wasn’t that the Garden of Blessings would never merge with C&L, but rather that C&L itself had disappeared.
Only after the Healer was completely out of sight did Choi Cedric turn around.
At that moment, the expression on Choi Cedric’s face was something that had never been seen on him before. It was the calm expression of a man whose true face had been revealed after all the layers had melted away.
Misdeeds that have been made do not disappear. There are some wrongs that cannot be undone.
So, because of that, finally…..
That solemn fact drives Choi Cedric forward. Somehow, I felt like I knew what that felt like. That’s why his behaviour that day made such a deep impression on me.
“It’s a really great cafe. I can see that Eonni put a lot of effort into this place.”
After a quick tour of the cafe, Choi Rona returned. It wasn’t a very large building to begin with, so they didn’t have long to look around.
“Whoa, there are cute animals too.”
“Kkyu, kkyuuu…..”
“Unyaaaah (ugh, I’m surprised)!”
The animals in the house let out a startled cry when they saw Choi Rona suddenly approaching. She was glowing brightly and her feet were floating in the air. They must have mistaken her for a ghost as they dozed in front of the heater.
I asked Choi Cedric, who was looking at her affectionately, “That’s right. You’re leaving Seoul for a while?”
“Huh. Some progress has been made in organizing C&L … and actually, I don’t have much to do myself.”
“That’s a shame.”
“It won’t be for long. Rona and I are going to do a little sightseeing … then when we get back, I will start over.”
Choi Cedric briefly talked about his aspirations. One day, when Lee Sein returned from her punishment, he wanted to start a guild from scratch again. Even if it is small, it is okay. It would take a long time, but he would wait for the three of them to meet again.
“Okay. I hope it works out well for you.”
Wow. Choi Cedric was still a year younger than me, but I felt like he has become much more mature than me.
I also felt a little lonely…….
Tuk. At that moment, Choi Rona tapped Choi Cedric’s shoulder impatiently. Choi Cedric opened his mouth with a cautious attitude, his earlier confidence gone.
“So, when you I get back … at that time.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, when I come back, I’ll be a great Romeo…….”
“No, wait a minute. Can we get away from Shakespeare? It’s a tragedy, and everyone dies at the end. You’ve got Rona, you’ve got a good life ahead of you, why are you still Romeo?”
“Ri-right! That’s right. I have to live well, haha! Hahahaha!”
Choi Cedric burst out laughing. I didn’t get to hear what he was going to say next because the conversation ended there.
“Waeooong (You’re just a human, but you’re truly amazing)..…”
“Kkyuuu……”
“He’s a little pitiful…”
I could feel the piercing eyes of my family members on the back of my head.
“Oppa, do you know that rainbow slime collaboration hoppang are popular these days?”
“Huh? What’s that?”
“You don’t know? It’s chewy on the outside and has a moist cream filling on the inside. You can get 36 different rainbow slime stickers, but the cream is the thing…….”
Choi Rona really described the taste of the food well. Even the animals in the house were interested in her words.
“Waeooong (Oh oh, that must be delicious).”
“Kyuuu, kyuuu!”
“…..So, I want to try it too.”
Choi Rona tilted her head sadly. It was only natural that Choi Cedric, who loved his sister very much, would react like this.
“Don’t worry. I’ll buy it for you later.”
“But since this Hoppang1 is a convenience store limited edition product, it sells out as soon as it is in stock.”
“Ah, really?”
“Well, now is the perfect time to get it. Haa…….”
Brak! Choi Cedric jumped out of his chair.
“Wait. I’m going to go get it right now!”
“What? Wait, Cedric. Isn’t the convenience store really far from here?”
“It’s okay! I’ll just run and quickly come back.”
Daaash! There was no time to stop him. Choi Cedric ran out of the door to buy rainbow slime collaboration hoppang.
There’s a ready-made shoe polisher…….
After seeing Cedric off with a smile, Choi Rona sipped the rest of her ginger-lemon tea and spoke, “There are some stories I don’t want him to hear.”
Only then did I realize that she had sent Choi Cedric outside on purpose.
“Hohoo, don’t worry. My brother doesn’t seem to notice, so he won’t be back too soon.”
Her eyes looked straight at me. They were cautious and calm.
“Fairy eyes only appear once in a generation.”
I didn’t immediately understand what she meant. I racked my brain a bit and realised Choi Rona was talking about the eyes that belonged to my grandmother and her.
“I inherited the fairy eyes from Eonni’s grandmother. It was with the power of this eye that I was able to swallow the Grimoire unharmed, and wake up from my deep sleep.”
“…….”
“In other words, Eonni, the reason I’m alive right now is because you’re alive.” Her voice was clear, as if she thought I might understand what she was trying to say, or might not because she continued, “That doesn’t seem to be sinking in, so how about we put it this way?”
The tiny body rose from the chair with a sigh. As she peered out the window, her eyes lit up with stars.
“The eyes that can read Causality. To put it simply, it’s power to know the past and the future, to read what happened yesterday and how it will change tomorrow.”
“…….”
“That was very … lonely.”
I followed Choi Rona’s gaze and looked out the window. When I looked up at the sky like this, it felt like someone was watching me. The feeling was so overwhelming that I had a vague idea of what she meant by loneliness.
“I get to read causalities that aren’t mine. It feels like … I am swimming with the other fish in a stream of water that is flowing in one direction, but before I know it, I have been thrown out of the water.”
“…….”
“I couldn’t get back to my previous place and continue to swim, so I’m just staring at the stream of water … that’s how I feel. A stargazer. Or, to put it another way, someone who can’t do anything but gaze.”
This was a girl I hadn’t known for long, and yet, I felt so familiar with her, perhaps because Choi Rona possessed the same power as my grandmother.
A body so young that has spent so long lying down and dreaming. The girl said she had watched all that had happened while she was asleep. However, Rona’s eyes were filled with a lively light that could never be called a mere observant.
“But I was okay because I had an older brother. When I felt lost and tired of the endless dreams, he would be there, calling my name, so I wasn’t lonely or tormented.”
The girl smiled softly. There was no bitterness or pain in her smile. Rona continued, with only tenderness.
“Eonni, I want you to know that this isn’t a guess or a speculation, or something I’m just saying to comfort you. I’m telling you this because I want you to know that this is just an unchanging truth.”
I had a hunch that her next words were going to be very important. My shoulders stiffened in anticipation.
But Rona’s words were far beyond my expectations.
“That’s what your grandmother thought too, Eonni, that it was okay because she had you, because you were alive. She didn’t regret her choice for even a second.”
I bit my lip, because if I didn’t, I felt like I was going to burst into tears.
“I’m not going to say that everything was set in stone, because what use is fate or causality in the face of love? Eonni, you’re alive because she loved you, not because it was meant to be.”
“…Heuk.”
Ah. It didn’t work. My vision blurred. I wiped my eyes roughly with my sleeve.
“Just one … Rona, I want to ask you one thing.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly is the key? I mean, I know I’m the key or something, but what does the key … do?”
Translator’s Corner:
Hoppang: (호빵)a warm snack that is sold throughout South Korea. It is a convenience food version of jjinppang (steamed bread) and is typically filled with smooth, sweetened red bean paste. ↩︎
Rieul is so strong because if it was me, I wouldn’t be able to continue the conversation and just crying for the next hour…. (I was crying while doing this too) (I was crying while eating convenience store’s steamed buns too)
