Episode 5
#4 My Meddling is World-Class (1)
The gukbap restaurant near the employment agency was already packed. People scraping by day to day. They silently moved their spoons, enduring the exhaustion plastered across their faces.
Han Jo-hee and I squeezed into a cramped spot. Unlike the boisterous tables around us, ours was choked with suffocating silence.
Unable to bear it any longer, Han Jo-hee finally spoke.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Beef gukbap, please."
"Sorry for bringing you here after promising a proper meal," he said with an awkward smile. To someone who'd planned on eating instant noodles at my goshiwon, this might as well have been a feast.
The silence lingered even after we ordered.
Not that we were ever close enough for casual conversation. Though we'd worked together for months, we'd barely exchanged words before today.
It wasn't entirely his fault. After graduating from the academy only to become a mana miner, I'd been too ashamed to get close to anyone here.
The only one who'd breached my defenses was that bastard Lim Hyun-soo - and only because he wanted to sell me out.
I studied Han Jo-hee's face. While everyone here looked exhausted, his condition was particularly dire. His lips bore the blue tinge of mana poisoning, cracked and oozing blood, his nails split down to the quick.
Every movement must have been agony. He must have been desperate for money.
No wonder Lim Hyun-soo salivated over him.
Han Jo-hee reached for the remote to escape the oppressive silence.
"Auntie, can we turn on the TV?"
"Of course, dear."
The news broadcast began:
[▶Following Sirius Team's announcement regarding their conquest of the A-rank gate 'Fire Dragon's Lair', Seol Rok-jin of the Mirinae Party held a press conference demanding greater transparency for citizens' right to know.]
The screen cut to Seol Rok-jin at a podium:
[◀The Sirius Guild hoards critical gate information for their own benefit! These gates aren't mere profit sources - they're existential threats to ordinary citizens!]
Though once celebrated for maintaining his looks well into his 40s, the now early-30s politician practically radiated vitality.
Should've been an idol instead of a politician. Maybe then this country wouldn't be circling the drain.
That angelic face concealed unimaginable horrors.
While I lost my appetite at his visage, the restaurant ahjummas sighed adoringly:
"Just looking at him fills my stomach!"
"How does he speak so beautifully? These greedy guilds should learn about sharing prosperity!"
With mere words, he'd transformed the Sirius Guild - who risked their lives clearing A-rank gates - into cartoonish villains.
After the Gates appeared, humanity split into Awakened and non-Awakened. The powerful versus the powerless. Though "powerless" described the overwhelming majority.
South Korea remained a nation of laws - laws created by non-Awakened. We were among the first to implement Awakened registration, yet it did nothing to ease public fear.
Why? Because to ordinary people, we were incomprehensible monsters. No matter how we claimed to protect this world, they'd never trust us.
Seol Rok-jin weaponized that fear. Handsome face, silver tongue, feeding non-Awakened exactly what they craved to hear.
Enjoy your moment. I'll destroy your world soon enough.
Han Jo-hee noticed my expression.
"The food not agreeing with you?"
"Just lost my appetite thanks to someone on TV," I muttered.
He nodded grimly.
"No Awakened likes that bastard."
Given Seol Rok-jin's anti-Awakened policies, this was an understatement. The man wasn't just disliked - he'd survived multiple assassination attempts, skillfully spinning each into political capital.
Han Jo-hee sighed deeply.
"I don't care what happens to me... but I want my sister Seo-hyun to live in a better world."
"The sister you mentioned earlier?"
His face lit up instantly before clouding over.
"Yeah. Her academy requires special practice gear now. The rent hike is bad enough, but this equipment..."
Hunter academies generally provided basic training items - healing potions, gate simulators, the usual. But certain specialized gear wasn't covered. Of course, Han Jo-hee's sister needed precisely those exceptions.
"I'll manage somehow," he said, biting his cracked lip. The gear probably cost a fortune.
Not my problem. I'd already overstepped by helping him today.
"...They say you graduated from Babel Academy. True?"
I nearly dropped my spoon.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"Just... around. Sorry, you never mentioned it yourself—"
He backtracked at my expression before adding hurriedly:
"No offense meant! It's just... Babel graduates are rare in places like this."
"I did attend Babel," I shrugged. "Though seeing a dropout like me here must be novel."
Babel Academy: South Korea's premier hunter institution, accepting only C-rank potentials or higher. Most graduates became elite hunters or took prestigious posts. My current state as a mana miner was... atypical.
Unless this was some veiled insult about my fall from grace, I didn't mind humoring his curiosity.
Han Jo-hee scrambled to salvage the mood:
"I meant it as praise! You're holding your own despite everything. And you helped me today..."
His voice dropped.
"Honestly? I've always resented being Awakened. No—being this particular brand of useless. Why couldn't I have gotten a proper ability? When my sister was born with A-rank talent..."
The bitterness startled me. I blinked at my half-eaten meal.
Was this really dinner conversation?
"...I envied her so much it felt lethal. Me, stuck as half-baked trash while she—"
"Stop that."
I couldn't stay silent seeing his despair.
"You're incredible too. How many would sacrifice everything for family like you do?"
"She needs to succeed so I can survive."
"Most would abandon family rather than shoulder that burden. You're not even exploiting her, just... caring."
Before me sat a man in his mid-twenties crushed by life's weight. What crime had he committed? Merely trying his best.
I couldn't save him, but I could offer this:
"You're already doing everything you can. Don't blame yourself for not doing more."
Though truthfully, his sister would likely achieve success long before him.
"With A-rank talent, shouldn't she qualify for Babel? They cover all costs—"
"Seo-hyun has an affinity for dark magic."
Ah.
Everything clicked.
Babel housed that narrow-minded woman who styled herself Heaven's proxy. She'd rejected countless talents that didn't fit her "pure" standards—the real reason Korea's top academy remained irrelevant internationally.
"Plenty offered scholarships," Han Jo-hee grimaced. "All demanding years of indentured servitude post-graduation."
"Better to struggle freely than sell your future."
"My thoughts exactly."
Han Jo-hee's smile shone through his mana-ravaged lips. Bitter. This world overflowed with people clinging to hope like him—and vultures waiting to crush them.
"Don't trust Lim Hyun-soo too much."
It was all I could offer.
Walking home after the strained meal, my phone buzzed:
[RAID COMPLETE]
[FREE?]
[MY TREAT.]
[MEET UP.]
I froze.
The sender was Jeong Ho-san—no, the ghost of Jeong Ho-san.
My closest friend.
The friend I'd killed.
