“I will be back as soon as I can, please do not leave by then,” the man said, his hands outstretched anxiously as if he believed Si-woo might just vanish into thin air at any moment.
He then walked out of the testing room at a incredibly fast pace, which quickly turned into a full-on sprint the exact moment he exited the door and believed he was entirely out of Si-woo’s line of sight.
“I guess I am an S-rank?” the boy guessed out loud.
Even though he already knew the true answer, it was immediately confirmed by a firm, respectful nod from the woman.
“I will be waiting out in the lobby area then,” he added after a brief moment of silence, turning on his heel and walking back out into the reception space until he found Jin-ah and took a seat on the couch right beside her.
“Well?” she asked, raising a curious eyebrow at him.
“S-rank,” Si-woo answered simply.
“Oh, good, wait, what?” Jin-ah exclaimed out loud, before immediately slamming her own hands over her mouth to clamp it shut.
A bright crimson color rose to her cheeks from her sudden outburst as she glared heavily at Si-woo, who merely looked back at her with a blank expression that said, what did I do?
Jin-ah then slid closer to him, sitting right beside his arm before reaching out and pinching his arm.
“You are not pulling my leg right now, are you?
You are really an S-rank, right?” she asked in a low, intense whisper.
“I really am an S-rank, Jin-ah,” Si-woo answered seriously this time, a genuine, warm smile forming on his face.
A toothy, happy smile immediately formed on the girl’s face as well.
“Well, why on earth are we just sitting around here then?
Let’s go celebrate!” she urged, nudging his arm playfully.
“Sigh, commoners,” Si-woo said, saying the word sigh out loud as he raised a single index finger in the air as if he were a scholar teaching a small child.
“You see, us elite S-ranks get special treatment.
I am pretty sure the guy who just took my test is running around the building searching for the chairman or the vice-chairman of the Hunter’s Association right now, all so they can bask in the glorious presence of my S-ranked esteemed self.” The more the silver-haired boy spoke, the more Jin-ah’s face twitched in pure irritation, until her cheeks puffed up into a massive pout.
She clenched her hand into a fist and brought it straight down onto Si-woo’s shoulder.
“Well, I guess his S-ranked majesty wouldn’t want people to see him hanging out with a mere common girl.
I will just be on my way then,” the girl stated dramatically.
She stomped her foot down hard on his shoe and turned around to leave.
“Uh, I am sorry, Jin-ah.
I will never say shit like that ever again.
Please don’t leave me alone to die out here,” Si-woo said quickly, catching her arm and trying his best to placate her.
“How about I make a huge batch of fresh fried chicken for you tonight?” he resorted to immediate bribery.
“You seriously think I can be bought with food?” “Honestly?
Yes,” Si-woo answered instantly.
“Tsk.
tsk.
Let go of my hand.
You thought wrong,” Jin-ah said, turning her face away from him, though she made no actual move to walk away when he let go of her arm.
“Gosh darn it.
And here I thought we would visit a fun arcade right after this, but now I guess I will just have to go all by myself,” the boy said with exaggerated regret, clicking his fingers together and shaking his head.
“Stop acting.
I will stay, okay?
And don’t you dare forget about the arcade or the fried chicken,” she said, before sitting back down firmly on her seat.
However, she immediately had to stand right back up when two men dressed in formal business suits approached Si-woo.
One was the tester from earlier, while the other man possessed slick, dirty blonde hair and sharp black eyes behind a pair of glasses.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting, Mr.
Kang.
I am Woo Jin-chul, Surveillance Chief of the Hunter’s Association,” Woo Jin-chul said, extending his hand for a formal handshake, which Si-woo accepted with a polite smile.
“It is nice to make your acquaintance, Chief Woo,” Si-woo said, as Jin-ah stood quietly by his side and exchanged a polite, slight bow with the chief.
“You see, whenever a new S-rank hunter emerges in our nation, the Hunter’s Association always meets with them first.
Though, I am afraid Chairman Go is unavailable at the moment.
I must ask you to visit our main headquarters tomorrow morning for your official physical evaluation and a private meeting with the chairman,” Woo Jin-chul explained with his usual stoic demeanor, though he did seem genuinely regretful that Go Gun-hee was too busy to attend today.
“I understand completely.
See you tomorrow then,” Si-woo nodded toward Jin-chul before turning to leave the building with Jin-ah.
“Really?
You seriously have zero social skills,” Jin-ah said mockingly as they walked up to Si-woo’s parked car.
“Was I supposed to sit down and have a pleasant afternoon tea with him right there?” the boy shrugged, entering the driver’s seat and turning the ignition in the direction of the local arcade he had promised her.
“Let’s just have a short trip today, okay?
Grandpa must be worrying at home,” Si-woo suggested, to which Jin-ah agreed instantly.
She chose the claw machine for their single game of the day, gesturing toward the flashing glass cabinet with a wide grin.
“Well, win me that Pikachu plushie then, Mr.
S-rank,” she said the last part in a quiet whisper as she leaned in close toward Si-woo.
She did not wish to advertise him being an S-rank to the people around them.
“Watch and learn then, junior,” Si-woo grinned back.
However, he was not able to catch the plushie on his very first attempt.
Muttering something under his breath about a rigged game to a giggling Jin-ah, he managed to drop the claw perfectly on his second try.
He pulled the yellow plushie out and held it straight out to her with a triumphant raise of his chin, placing his free fist proudly on his hip.
“You can bow down to me now,” he said, though Jin-ah only gave him a playful slap on the chest before they walked out of the arcade doors together.
Si-woo chuckled softly to himself as he remembered how he had first met the Sung family.
It was roughly a month after his transmigration into this world, when he and Han Do-yoon had moved into an apartment complex at his own urging.
He had primarily moved there because he did not wish to live alone in a massive, empty mansion, and because he wished to meet one of his favorite characters, Sung Jin-woo.
Though, he had never expected the Sung family to practically take them both in.
He had managed to secure an apartment located right in front of theirs, and following traditional Korean customs, he and his grandpa had brought them some fresh Sirutteok as a neighborly gift.
“We just moved in, please take good care of us,” the boy and the old man had said back then, fully expecting that the family would simply accept the food, exchange a few pleasantries, and move on with their separate days.
However, Park Kyung-hye and Sung Il-hwan did not just let them go.
They had immediately invited them inside their home, and as one thing led to another during the conversation, Han Do-yoon had accidentally revealed a little more personal history than was strictly necessary when meeting strangers for the very first time.
The Sung family had treated them like their own flesh and blood from that exact evening onward.
Even though Si-woo did not get to spend a vast amount of time with Kyung-hye and Il-hwan before tragedy struck, he had still grown to care for them.
A month after he had moved into his new apartment, the very first gate appeared in the world.
Three months after that event, Sung Il-hwan disappeared inside a dungeon, and four months after that loss, Park Kyung-hye went into her eternal slumber.
Si-woo looked to his side, seeing Jin-ah holding the Pikachu plushie against her chest, and a quiet smile graced his face.
‘I will wake her up soon, Jin-ah.’ he thought in his mind as they finally reached the apartment building.
The moment he stepped foot inside his own apartment, Si-woo was met with the sight of Sung Jin-woo and Han Do-yoon sitting together on the living room couch, quietly sharing some hot tea.
“No bandages anywhere today, huh?
I guess you were raiding with Miss Joo-hee today,” Si-woo said directly to Jin-woo the second they entered the living room.
“Seriously, just ask her out on a date already,” he added as he threw himself onto a vacant couch.
“There is no filter between your brain and your mouth, is there?” Jin-woo sighed with a click of his tongue.
Si-woo only shrugged his shoulders in response.
He looked at his grandpa and then over at Jin-woo before nodding his head.
“S-rank,” he said simply.
The old man smiled warmly, walking over to give him a proud pat on the back, while Jin-woo’s face lit up with a genuine, happy smile for his friend.
Si-woo observed there was some jealousy in Jin-woo’s gaze, though it was not directed at him specifically.
“Is Mr.
S-rank now far too lofty to carry some simple grocery bags?” Jin-ah asked in a tone of pure annoyance from the doorway, as she was struggling to carry the bags of food they had bought for their celebration.