Chapter – 09
Because I Need to Commit a Crime
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Just hearing the phrase made it obvious—it was going to be a long, complicated story I wouldn’t understand right away. I decided to put that aside for now.
Instead, I focused on the part that seemed more immediately useful.
“Resistance stat increased.”
The future where the Red Giant appears is SSS-grade. If I don’t raise my resistance before that, I’ll 100% go insane the moment it happens.
Well… fair enough.
Whether it’s an SSS-grade or a C-grade oracle, getting forced to watch one is mentally devastating. For someone like me, suddenly gaining A-grade resistance was extremely handy.
Even people who have seen ghosts their whole life never get used to one suddenly popping out — so how would I handle it?
Until a few days ago, I was just an ordinary F-grade awakened office worker, nothing more, nothing less. And now I was someone who knew state-secret-level classified information…
“Excuse me.”
“Y-yes?”
A tall shadow had fallen over me before I realized it. I quickly removed the towel I’d been covering myself with and looked up. It was the same tall young man with light brown hair from earlier. His gentle eyes made him look like a kind person.
“Are you alright?”
“Oh, well… I’m okay.”
Awkward. I had no idea what to say. For now, I held out the pet carrier I was hugging.
“Your boss’s cat is inside. I’ve never raised a cat before, so I’m not sure if it’s okay.”
“Ahh, Chilsuk! Thanks for taking care of him. The boss really cherishes that cat. I’ll put him in the back room.”
The tall, handsome young man took the carrier holding the tuxedo cat, curled up motionlessly inside.
He immediately went behind the counter, slid open a frosted glass door to a back room, placed the cat inside, and returned.
“This is your… shop?”
“It’s my dad’s. I just come out to help sometimes.”
“Ahh.”
“I came in early because we had a large order, and by coincidence I saw the fire starting. Thank goodness. If I hadn’t, it would’ve been bad. But—did the guy who poured gasoline come in smoking by any chance?”
“No.”
“Damn… the boss is gonna freak out.”
“Why?”
“Looks like the fire started because of a cigarette butt.”
“…Sorry? A cigarette butt?”
The gentle-looking guy sat across from me at a reasonable distance. Before speaking, he scratched his head with an embarrassed look.
“I think someone at the billiards hall upstairs didn’t put out their cigarette properly and threw it out the window. With terrible luck, it went through an open mosquito screen and dropped right onto the gasoline. We found a cigarette butt near the window.”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but let out:
“…So prophecies just connect loosely like this?”
The young man looked startled.
“Come again?”
“I came to tell the café owner about that, actually.”
In an awakened era, it’s fine to say you have a prophetic ability, right?
“I’m an F-grade awakened, and one of my abilities is seeing the future. I happened to see that café on fire while passing nearby, and I couldn’t just ignore it, so I dropped by. But when I told the boss, he immediately pulled out a gun. Does he always do that?”
“Ah… haha… normally he doesn’t.”
He gave a big, awkward laugh, clearly thrown off.
Then, after hesitating a little:
“…That café. You do know what kind of place it is, right?”
“A place where criminals grab a cup of coffee before committing crimes.”
“…Can’t say you’re wrong.”
Seeing I knew roughly what kind of place it was, the young man finally got to the point.
“You don’t plan to report it to the police… right?”
“Report what? No.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
“Were you here looking for a job by any chance…?”
“No. I’m not becoming a Hunter.”
That must have been really unexpected.
His droopy, gentle eyes—surprisingly mismatched with his large frame—widened, shouting, ‘Then why would a normal girl like you come here?’
I was exhausted and didn’t want to explain my entire life to a stranger.
“You seem like a normal awakened too. Are you close to the boss?”
“Oh. Well, the boss is famous around here.”
“In what way?”
At my question, the young man only gave a faint smile and did not answer.
Hmm. That silence told me a lot.
Normal grandmas don’t walk around casually carrying guns. Tattoos—okay, some get them for fashion, sure.
“Since you seem to know roughly what this café is… let me say this much. Telling the Hunter Bureau won’t help. Actually, it’s better not to report anything.”
“Why? The boss would come kill me?”
“The boss doesn’t really move personally. She’s older now and not active.”
…So someone else would come after me if I snitched, is what he means!
“As you said—besides ex-cons, there are also people the government doesn’t protect who come here. Completely ordinary citizens forced off the legal path just to survive.”
His expression turned serious.
“I don’t expect you to know everything. But you’re aware people like that exist, right?”
“I am.”
“They know it’s dangerous, but they jump in because they have no insurance, no safety net. And this is the only place that refers jobs and only takes a reasonable fee. Anywhere with gangsters? One bad contract and your life is over.”
“I know.”
“…You do?”
I once worked at a fried chicken shop. The owner had to take out a private loan, and I saw what happens when you fail to pay on time.
Debt collectors loitering right outside the entrance, sitting at a table without ordering anything, scaring away customers.
The owner resorted to loan sharks because he didn’t qualify for government support.
He borrowed from legal banks, but then—terrible luck—a Gate opened out of nowhere and destroyed his house. He couldn’t repay the loans; his credit score plummeted.
In the end, he had no choice but to knock on the door of the worst kind of lenders.
I wonder if he’s doing alright now.
On the day the business closed and I—the only part-timer—got laid off…
I still can’t forget his face.
“Plenty of cases where someone’s body is ruined, but because they’re B-grade awakened, they’re denied disability benefits or awakened support funds. And since they might get support if they stay unemployed, they can’t get a job. You know, those kinds of things.”
It had been more than 10 years since the first Gate, yet any hole torn in the welfare system never got patched again.
This was the extent of what I knew.
Even though the “Season of Savagery” was over—when strength ruled over law—top-grade awakened Hunters who contributed a lot to the country still received far more benefits than those who actually needed help.
Which is why everyone wants to awaken and become Hunters…
Someone like me—who just wanted to work an ordinary job—was the rare case.
Most low-grade awakened worked a regular job and hunted Gates on the side.
But I couldn’t do that.
Even with my family pushing me, I couldn’t. I’m too faint-hearted to fight monsters in Gates. I just wanted to live quietly, peacefully, and modestly.
And yet, someone like me—who’s terrified of everything—knows the scenario for world destruction.
Would I break at the end because I can’t handle the stress?
Staring gloomily at the table, the young man spoke again in a low voice.
“Anyway, thank you. If the fire had spread, the whole area could’ve burned. But going forward, please don’t talk about this café to others. And… I’d prefer if you didn’t come here either.”
“Oh, I’m here because I have business with the café.”
“…Business?”
“I need to gather criminals and commit a crime.”
For the first time, the gentle young man’s friendly face broke into a truly disturbed expression.
About three days after the fire incident at Garam Café—
“Aren’t you going to work? What are you even doing here every day without a job?”
The old owner burst out, unable to hold back her frustration at seeing me sprawled out like a loan shark in the corner.
For three days, I’d been going back and forth between Garam Café—aka the illegal awakened job agency—and Helios 5-star Hotel by taxi.
I was well aware people in this market district were gossiping about me.
Yesterday, while eating at a nearby dumpling shop, I overheard the owner whispering with an older lady about me, glancing my way.
Guess it does look weird that a perfectly healthy woman without a job clocks in daily at an illegal awakened job center.
Today I learned another rumor—supposedly, the elderly owner of Garam Café had borrowed money and wasn’t repaying it, and I was a loan shark watching over her.
“All that is going around? People truly have nothing better to do.”
“You’re the one with nothing to do!”
The old lady—Park Il-sook, owner of Garam Café and illegal awakened broker—snapped.
“Stop stressing your parents and go home, will you?”
“I cut ties with my parents. I’m fine.”
Thinking about cutting off my family… it felt unexpectedly refreshing. My lips curled a little.
Seeing that, the old lady dropped the topic of my parents. Instead, she resumed nagging from a different angle.
“Because of you, weird rumors are spreading about me! Me, not repaying debts? You’ve been loafing in my café for three days and still haven’t found a person? Just get lost.”
“You want me to read your future? Might cure that bad mood.”
At my sly attempt to butter her up, her wrinkled brow twitched.
“…Save it.”
“Why? You saw firsthand that my ability is legit.”
“Ugh, if you’re gonna yap, get out.”
“You’re kicking me out? But I boosted your café revenue, didn’t I?”
“You call that helping? You’re exploiting an old woman! Brew your own coffee from now on. How can one kid drink that much coffee—! And don’t you dare start eating Chilsuk’s food too!”
Every dawn, awakened Hunters gathered here to grab illegal Gate assignments before disappearing just as fast. After that, the café became dead quiet.
Elderly locals would drop by, order one drink, and pass time before leaving—just an old, worn-out café in an old market alley.
It’s not like I had nothing to do—but waiting endlessly for the exact awakened I needed left me bored.
So I spent time (and my extra cash) tasting every menu item, eventually circling back to my root—iced Americano—loaded with syrup. Five cups a day.
Coffee alone felt lacking, so I helped myself to the free snack basket too—until I got smacked on the back for it.
“Boss, is it always this slow here after the morning Hunters leave?”
