Chapter 182 – Side Story 2

Paehyeok’s Camera. Ganansu, who can film inside dungeons, was now heading to Ondae after receiving a text message from someone. Cho-i Hyeon had abruptly called her out on the weekend.

‘Seriously, why are they making me go here and there on my day off? Ondae isn’t even close.’

Even though she grumbled, she was fully styled from head to toe. She had dressed up, thinking she shouldn’t look inferior next to Cho-i Hyeon’s striking appearance, but in truth, she was a little excited. After all, being alone with such a beautiful woman in Ondae felt like a date, didn’t it?

-This stop is Ondae Entrance Station, Ondae Entrance Station.

Ganansu tightly gripped the strap of her cross-body bag and got off. Her flowing chiffon skirt seemed to reflect her buoyant mood. As she exited, she saw Cho-i Hyeon waiting for her at the top of the exit stairs.

“I’m here!”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Cho-i Hyeon grinned. Ganansu took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart. Cho-i looked at her smartphone and gestured to her.

“This way.”

Ganansu followed her gesture, walked past the entrance, and headed to the center of Ondae Street. Cho-i Hyeon soon stood in the middle, looking around. Ganansu subtly moved closer and asked,

“What are you looking for?”

“Oh, there are more people coming.”

“Ah…”

More people are coming. Ganansu felt strangely deflated. Of course, it wouldn’t be a date with me. As she thought that, Cho-i Hyeon, whether she knew her feelings or not, smiled brightly and emphasized to her,

“From now on, film everything you see.”

“Film?”

“Yeah. I’m going to upload it to MyuTube later.”

“MyuTube? Are you going to upload a vlog or something?”

“Haha!”

Cho-i Hyeon suddenly burst into a hearty laugh by herself. Ganansu didn’t know why she was laughing until then. That is, until four men walked towards them in a determined manner from afar, braving the cold wind.

***

Suui Kim had a perplexing experience. A package from Cho-i Hyeon had suddenly arrived. And when she opened it, she was even more bewildered. What came in the package was an X-jji T-shirt. A T-shirt. Yes, it was a T-shirt, but… Suui Kim looked down at it with a face that showed she had no idea what to do with it, then noticed a card that came with it and picked it up.

[Wear this on the 14th and let’s meet.]

…This? …This one?

Suui Kim looked at the T-shirt again.

GuX. Not GUXC-rankI. In Korean, X-jji. With an extremely crappy font.

No, isn’t this a knock-off? Is this real? Is it official? Suui Kim finally went to the official website and held his forehead when he saw the T-shirt proudly displayed there. “They’re really selling this kind of thing,” he thought. “Did she buy this because she thought it was pretty?”

“Still, she went to the trouble of buying it for me, so I guess I should wear it, right?” Suui Kim had completely forgotten that Cho-i had called him on the 14th. The impact of the T-shirt was that significant. Suui Kim only realized that the 14th was Valentine’s Day after he had finished agonizing over how he was going to wear this and with what.

“But why would she want to spend Valentine’s Day with me…?”

Suui Kim suppressed the fluttering in his heart. It’s not like she had any romantic intentions when she asked to see him. She probably just picked him at random to avoid someone else. Suui Kim immediately thought of potential candidates who might bother Cho-i Hyeon on Valentine’s Day. Taehyeok Sa, Gihyeon Park, Taeyang Kang. Those three were definite. Dongju Kim, the hunter, was a bit ambiguous. For now, the most likely guess was that she chose him to avoid the annoyance of those three bothering her. Suui Kim decided that since he had no schedule or plans that day anyway, he would go and hang out with her for a change. Right. Damn it. He thought that until he met five men wearing the exact same X-jji T-shirt.

“Ahahaha!”

“……”

While no one else spoke, only Cho-i Hyeon was bent over, laughing. Oh, oh, she’s going to fall to the floor, she’s going to fall. Taeyang Kang calmly grabbed Cho-i Hyeon’s waist as she was about to fall over. Cho-i Hyeon lifted her head, and as soon as she saw the T-shirt Taeyang Kang was wearing, she burst out laughing. Giggling and cackling. Every time her laughter grew louder, people murmured. Click. Someone took a picture.

“Oh! Is this a show!”

Man number 2 in the X-jji T-shirt, Gihyeon Park, shouted. Cho-i Hyeon saw that and burst into another fit of laughter. Taehyeok Sa, Gihyeon Park, Taeyang Kang, Dongju Kim, and Suui Kim stood in the middle of Ondae Street wearing identical X-brand T-shirts.

“What? Did you guys get matching Paehyeok group T-shirts?”

“With that X-jji? But isn’t that a fake?”

Taehyeok Sa held his head, his mind so bewildered it felt like it was about to run away.

“……Right, I wondered why she called.”

“Oh, damn it!”

Gihyeon Park immediately took off his T-shirt and threw it down. Suui Kim quietly picked up the T-shirt and handed it back to him.

“But you should still wear clothes…”

Everyone knows you have a good body if they look at your Ansta. As Suui Kim offered the T-shirt with an emotionless face, Gihyeon Park began to glare at him deadly. “No, I didn’t do anything wrong, so why? Can’t he see I’m wearing the same thing right now?”

“Wear it.”

Then Cho-i Hyeon, who had been laughing, stopped abruptly and became serious. Gihyeon Park cursed and swore as he picked up the T-shirt and put it back on. Ganansu quietly watched the five men. They were all incredibly high-ranked, so he couldn’t laugh freely. Then Taehyeok Sa suddenly asked,

“……Are you filming?”

“……Yes, it just happened.”

He glanced at her with eyes that said, ‘Cho-i Hyeon, the hunter, made me do it,’ and Taehyeok Sa nodded, understanding. It was fortunate, if anything, that they had all received the same T-shirt but wore it in different styles. But seriously, how did they all even think of wearing this out?

“Ah. That was funny.”

Now that she had finished laughing, Cho-i Hyeon wiped her tears and stood up straight, and Taeyang Kang looked disappointed. Cho-i Hyeon leaned on Taeyang Kang and spoke to the five men.

“It’s the Valentine’s Day you were looking forward to, right? Let’s go eat.”

“Looking like this?”

“If you want to go home, then go.”

“……Oh, damn it.”

It’s surprising that no one here said they wouldn’t go. Suui Kim wanted to get out of this. Although he had also become an S-Rank after being chosen by a Constellation, he was not yet comparable to them. But what stopped him was Cho-i Hyeon, who detached herself from Taeyang Kang and linked her arm through Suui Kim’s.

“What do you want to eat?”

“…Why don’t we go to the clothes store first?”

“No thanks.”

She kept grinning beside him. Even though Suui Kim sighed, she couldn’t win against her. Cho-i Hyeon walked with Ganansu on one side and Suui Kim on the other, followed by four men wearing identical X-jji T-shirts. Dongju Kim was the only one who seemed to be completely oblivious.

“Why do you look so thoughtless?”

Gihyeon Park picked a fight with Dongju Kim.

“My sister buys a lot of these.”

“…Why?”

“To make me wear them.”

So, he was immune. He didn’t know whether to envy it or not. Then, with a ‘ding’ sound, a blue window appeared before everyone’s eyes.

[Constellation ‘Dragon of the Hottest Flames’ looks at you pitifully.] [Constellation ‘King of the Frozen Fairies’ sighs.] [Constellation ‘God with Hundreds of Wings’ cannot bear to look at your state.]

The three men who had connections with the Constellations were silent for a moment. Aren’t the Constellations too worldly? How do you know about X-jji T-shirts? Damn it.

[Constellation ‘First Calamity’ asks if it’s all yours.]

At those words, Cho-i Hyeon smiled brightly.

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

“About what?”

Suui Kim, who was standing next to him, asked, but Cho-i Hyeon just shook her head. Suui Kim also looked into the air for a moment, so it seemed like a message had been sent from the Constellation side. When he looked back, only Gihyeon Park and Taeyang Kang gave him a brief glance.

‘Hmm. So the Constellations came to watch too, huh?’

Cho-i Hyeon grinned and tightly linked arms with the two of them.

“Good. Good. Today’s going to be fun.”

“…Only for you, I guess.”

“Aww.”

“Don’t do that.”

So the six people headed to a famous restaurant in the temperate zone. Surprisingly, Cho-i Hyeon seemed to have gone to the trouble of making a reservation herself, as they were able to enter immediately. When five mountain-sized men wearing identical T-shirts entered, people at the entrance started pulling out their cameras one by one.

“……”

How embarrassing. Gihyeon Park said, closing his mouth and speaking as if ventriloquizing. Taehyeok Sa was just standing with his hands in his pockets, as if he had just become shameless, and Dongju Kim was taking a selfie with his smartphone.

“Who are you sending that picture to?”

“My sister.”

“……”

As soon as Dongju Kim sent the picture, a reply came immediately.

[Ah, damn it]

Dongju Kim poked Taeyang Kang, who was next to him. As Taeyang Kang looked at Dongju Kim for a moment, another click sounded, and a picture was taken. Dongju Kim sent that picture to Yeonhan Kim again. Then, this time, the phone rang.

-Where are you! “…He’s coming.” -Oh, damn it. What are you guys doing? Are you dating behind my back? Hahahaha! “The uniform Cho-i Hyeon made for us.” -Who’s wearing it now? “Me, the Guild Master, Taeyang Kang, Gihyeon Park, Suui Kim.” -Hahahahaha!

Over the phone, Yeonhan’s boisterous laughter could be heard.