Chapter – 13
feat. the sound of Lira being thrown
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” frets, asking if I’m alright.
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” says there’s nothing they can do when an SSS-grade oracle changes the moment it’s altered like it did earlier.
“Not exactly omnipotent, then.”
A groan escaped me. So I’d have to go through that every time the oracle changed? Just thinking about it made me sigh.
Anyway, I decided I should check where I was. I slowly sat up. Looking around, I was lying on a single electric heating pad with a neat blanket spread over it.
At the same time, footsteps hurried across the other side of an opaque sliding door and drew close.
“Kim Eunsol!”
Swish—
The sliding door opened. Standing beyond it was that son from the chicken place. His face, which I’d seen a few times, looked familiar and was full of worry as he asked,
“You okay? Did you just wake up?”
“Uh… yes.”
I was a little surprised at how casually familiar he was. He must be an extrovert.
“How do you know my name?”
The light-brown-haired man flinched at my question.
Suspicious.
But what he said next was perfectly ordinary.
“Oh, ah— the café owner mentioned it in passing… I just heard it and— I called you without thinking. It came out naturally.”
He fumbled and waved an awkward hand. When he rolled up the sleeve of his gray sweatshirt, his forearm was solid.
“…You don’t know me, do you.”
“Pardon?”
I asked back, wondering what he meant, and the man introduced himself.
“I’m Song Sinwoo.”
“Ah.”
“You’re the same age as me, right? I heard that from the owner too. I’m twenty-six.”
“Oh. Right, we are the same age.”
Was he going to switch to casual speech?
“Shall we drop the honorifics? Since I was the first to speak casually, let’s just keep it natural. I’ll probably be seeing your face around for a while.”
The awkwardness from before vanished and he suddenly looked friendly and familiar.
‘Ugh, I’m not good at getting close to social butterflies.’
I’m a homebody by nature, and even an outdated MBTI would start with I. I’m introverted.
I’d seen Song Sinwoo helping what looked like his father at the chicken place before.
He seemed to know practically everyone in this market neighborhood; surrounded by customers, he smiled effortlessly.
‘He’s the exact opposite of me.’
Thinking that made me indifferent without meaning to.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t easily get close to this harmless-looking guy.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be on friendly terms while I was staying nearby.
“Sinwoo, where is this place anyway?”
“This is our shop.”
When I switched to casual speech, Song Sinwoo did too and came into the room to sit down.
Now I noticed someone had laid me on the electric pad so I could rest warmly. That was probably Sinwoo.
“Oh— this is the place Chilseok put me in earlier. Oh no, the café! What about the café!”
Only then did the request from the café owner come back to me. She had asked a bunch of favors, and I’d passed out before I could do any of them!
I’m doomed.
Working on getting on good terms with Owner Park Ilsook had already become a struggle from the start. No matter if I’d helped catch an arsonist, the stubborn owner still put up an ironclad wall of suspicion.
‘If Chilseok finds out he was trembling alone among the troublemakers, he might break my legs.’
I hurried to stand, but Song Sinwoo grabbed my shoulder.
“You collapsed, remember? If I hadn’t been there, you’d still be lying on the café floor.”
“So it was your strong arms? Wow, your chest is impressive. Do you work out?”
Knowing the future of humanity made me blunt when dealing with people; I’d gotten into the bad habit of saying whatever I thought without holding back.
My remark must have been too forward, because Sinwoo’s expression changed. Still, I continued without restraint.
“You’re the one who ran in calling my name back then. Why did you come? Perfect timing. If it weren’t for you, I’d have hit my head on that cold marble floor. Everyone there was only worried about themselves— by the end they weren’t even paying attention to me.”
“…Seeing someone on the verge of passing out made me panic. Was the bed like a mattress from the gods? Your workout really paid off.”
“So you do work out. What kind?”
“That’s… besides the point. Eunsol, actually— about the people who came to the café earlier… it’s because of me.”
He trailed off and shifted the topic. Surprised, I asked,
“You? Why?”
He ran his hand through his light-brown hair with an expression that said he had no idea what to do.
“There’s a regular who comes to our place. I casually mentioned that I’d heard you predicted the café would catch fire… and the rumor spun out of control.”
So he’s the one who turned me into a prophet?
I widened my eyes and stared at the person who’d voluntarily appeared before me— what should I do with him?
Sensing my stare, Song Sinwoo blushed and quickly ducked his head.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go that far! I only said you got prophetic powers as an Awakened and warned the café owner… I should’ve been more careful. But I did make sure to get everyone out of the café, so it should be okay.”
‘The culprit always returns to the scene.’ He must’ve been curious and came to check. No, that wasn’t it.
“Not like that… I’m really sorry.”
He couldn’t even look at my face.
His earlobes were redder than his face— he must be mortified. He seemed genuinely sorry, so my anger subsided a bit. In a world full of shameless people, someone with genuine shame might deserve a break.
“If you tell anyone else about me, I won’t forgive you. Got it? Next time I’ll release a golden ram in your shop.”
“A golden ram?”
“I don’t know what it is either— seems like some kind of chaos-making item.”
“If your shop gets messed up I’m dead meat in front of my dad.”
Sinwoo whimpered, and the Constellation slipped in with a small comment.
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” tells me that’s exactly how I should handle it.
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” comforts its Contractor, Kim Eunsol, saying to just overturn everything!
It was almost unreserved support. It felt strangely like parents who, after you come home from a fight, ask “So who won?” and praise you if you did— I felt awkward.
“Did you put that IV in? Is this… is this allowed?”
“-Of course that wasn’t this friend here.”
Ah— I jumped.
This time a stranger appeared and let out a silent exclamation.
A man who had come up without a sound gripped the edge of the sliding door and blocked the doorway with his large frame.
And… is he a celebrity? His looks were beyond ordinary.
I couldn’t help my jaw dropping. The stranger looked at my expression and smiled pleasantly.
“Everyone makes that face. I must be pretty handsome, right? Sinwoo, isn’t that so?”
At that, Sinwoo couldn’t hide his disgust. For some reason, I felt this man was trying to edge himself between me and Sinwoo.
But neither Sinwoo nor the man was telling me who he was.
“Who are you?”
I finally asked. The blond, tall man took off his shoes and sat near the entrance like Sinwoo had.
Three large men filled the small space so thoroughly it left no gaps.
“You’re the one who put in the IV.”
“Oh, are you some kind of medical person?”
“You could say so!”
“Could say… right?”
“I lost my license for siphoning supplies, you see. So I work as an unlicensed doctor.”
This guy wasn’t ordinary either.
“Can I— say things like that to you?”
“If not, why would I say it to a potential client?”
“Why would I be your client?”
“Because I know you’re looking for people at the Awakened recruitment office.”
How does he know that?
While I was staring at his exotic good looks, dumbstruck, suspicion crept back in.
Meanwhile, the blond man fiddled with the IV bag and began to pull the needle from my arm.
“You can’t just lie there until you’re this bad. Take your meds like you’re supposed to—.”
“How do you know that?”
Now that was a truly suspicious question.
The blond man just smiled lightly and answered smoothly.
“Because I’m the name on the charts. And there’s a Constellation helping me, so unless I’m oblivious, I can’t not know.”
A Constellation. I almost asked what Constellation it was, but I bit my tongue— asking would be pointless.
“By the way, what’s with Sinwoo calling me in such a hurry? Didn’t expect him to know such a cute friend. Introduce us, will you?”
…Excuse me?
I was flustered by the suddenness of it. Normally strangers, especially a woman who’s also a patient, wouldn’t be flirted with like that. I quickly glanced at Song Sinwoo. Seeing his face crumpled up, I decided my suspicion was correct.
‘This guy might be a handsome piece of trash.’
Whoa.
A handsome piece of trash. I’d only heard the phrase before; this was my first time seeing one in person. How trashy could this guy possibly be?
“I don’t even know who you are.”
“If you tell me your name, would you meet me?”
“…….”
I had no defense against a person like this. I was already flustered.
“I don’t really have a name. If I did it wouldn’t be useful. But since you asked— and maybe this’ll be thrown away soon anyway— I’ll tell you because it’s you.”
The man pulled a notebook from the inner pocket of his white tweed jacket and stylishly scribbled with a fountain pen. He tore the page and handed it over— it had a phone number and an English name.
“Doctor… Blond? That’s so uninspired.”
“It’s not uninspired. It’s the first name I’ve given.”
“You mean you just thought of it now?”
“Exactly.”
The blond man whispered softly and then, pretending to examine the area where the needle had been, rubbed the skin near my arm with the pad of his thumb.
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” is deeply displeased!
“Fine. Me too. I feel the same.”
“What do you mean ‘feel the same’?”
“I wasn’t talking about you being suspicious.”
“Oh.”
The blond man winked with one eye and murmured,
“Is your deity a jealous one?”
The Constellation “Prophet of the Sun” wants to curse that man right this instant and is annoyed.
