Chapter 12
The Protagonist’s Younger Sibling is Reborn as a Constellation
However, since nothing immediately came to mind, I didn’t make a big deal of it and shook the hand that was extended toward me.
After a brief greeting, Kim Soyeon, who had brought Kim Igyul and me to the command tent, immediately went into action to take charge of the site.
Ah, so she’s a Hunter. No wonder I had a good feeling about her.
A restricted zone was set up around the apartment.
The dungeon break that had appeared at dawn had turned an entire building around Kim Igyul’s home into a dungeon.
Even though it happened while everyone was asleep, it was said to be unusual that there were no casualties.
I guess it was because I had “purified” Anser.
Although there were no casualties, Kim Soyeon said they decided to evacuate the entire building just in case of unforeseen circumstances.
“Ugh, why does it have to be our building?”
As I looked at the grumbling woman coming down, I recalled the name of the dungeon where Anser had been. Naturally, my gaze shifted to Anser, who was on my lap.
“Baby Fox’s Last Home.”
It was a dungeon that hadn’t appeared in the original story. And neither had Anser.
I had been confident I knew all the details, yet things I didn’t know kept popping up.
Just as I tried to recall the original story, residents of the apartment began arriving one by one at the command tent.
“Oh my, aren’t you the college student from 503? What are you doing home?”
“I didn’t stay late working today… I came home for a change…”
The woman who had been complaining earlier was now talking with a girl whose eyes were heavy with dark circles.
The woman patted her back and said, “At least it’s okay, isn’t it?”
“The Association will provide compensation, so the student can spend today at a hotel and rest a bit.”
The unfamiliar words in the residents’ conversation struck my ears. Even under a blanket, a chill ran down my spine.
No way… I reached for my phone, then remembered I didn’t have it. I had no choice but to ask Kim Igyul, who was sitting beside me.
“Um… where is this Association that gives compensation?”
“The Association? Oh, the Hunter Association.”
He raised his eyebrows slightly at my unexpected question.
Hunter Association… That’s a term that could appear in a novel. Ah, but this is a novel world, right?
“It’s the Management Bureau—the Hunter Management Bureau—since the old bureau disappeared and a new organization was created.”
Wait, why did the Management Bureau disappear? That was supposed to be a mid-boss in the original story!
Before I could spiral further into confusion, Kim Igyul kindly continued to explain.
“But the work they do is almost the same as the old bureau, the only difference is that they have a bit more money now, I guess?”
That helped me recover a little from the shock.
The work… right. If the work is the same, then it should be fine.
The so-called “Hunter Management Bureau” that Kim Igyul had just mentioned was responsible for measuring the ranks of Awakened, managing dungeon clearances, overseeing changes after disasters, and predicting phenomena that appeared after the upheavals.
And above all, in Extinction End, the Management Bureau was where Jin Sehyuk had one-sidedly tangled with them.
They deliberately withheld potions created by the bureau, questioned every decision Jin Sehyuk made while forming raid parties…
If you wanted to live safely, you should have bowed deeply to Jin Sehyuk. Why they acted that way had one reason:
“The bureau chief wasn’t an Awakened.”
The chief had been a civilian who treated Awakened and Hunters like monsters. He had maneuvered politically to become the head of a government department, but his abilities were trash.
If the higher-ups were like that, the staff below weren’t much better.
How could they not realize that thanks to the Awakened and Hunters, people were living safely? Thinking about it now, they really were self-satisfied humans.
My thoughts were interrupted by Kim Igyul’s urgent shout.
“Jin Serin, your nose!”
“Huh?”
Only then did I feel warmth under my nose. Reflexively, I wiped it with my hand—blood.
What… why now?
Kim Igyul handed me some tissue, which quickly became soaked.
Anser looked up at me with teary eyes.
⌈Do humans normally bleed this much from their noses? But… babies aren’t humans, right? Huh… why is this happening? Are you okay?⌋
The anxious thoughts and questions entered my head. Even Anser seemed flustered.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine, Anser. Stop crying, okay? That’s right.”
Patting Anser’s back with my clean hand, it slowly began to calm down.
“Let’s go to the hospital first. We should get checked.”
“No, it’s probably just because I didn’t rest well. We don’t need to go to the hospital.”
Going to a hospital would be a disaster. I didn’t want Jin Sehyuk to know I had survived, so any place like that had to be avoided.
Besides, the current “Jin Serin” had no legal identity. Or more accurately, I was already recorded as deceased.
Even if Jin Sehyuk delayed things, under Korean law, five years of missing status is considered death.
If ten years had truly passed since that day, my disappearance would have automatically been considered death. By now, Jin Sehyuk would probably be searching for my body somewhere.
He would have been demoralized around the seventh year of my disappearance, and Kim Soyeon would comfort him… Huh.
Shaking off those thoughts, I turned my gaze to Kim Soyeon, who was on the phone.
She must just be a namesake. That’s why her name seemed familiar.
I looked back at Kim Igyul and replied.
“I’m really fine. If it happens again later, I’ll go then.”
“…Really? Are you sure?”
After a brief silence, he asked suspiciously. What am I supposed to do about that?
I hid my thoughts and raised the corners of my mouth slightly.
Ah, maybe the nosebleed made things look more dramatic.
Kim Igyul and I went to a nearby restroom to wash the blood off my hands and then returned to the command tent.
As soon as we sat down, he quietly spoke.
“You know…”
“Hm?”
“Can you keep it a secret that I’m Awakened for now?”
Right, I need to keep quiet. I had been waiting for him to bring it up.
With just those words, Kim Igyul closed his mouth. He didn’t seem willing to explain further.
Well, I hadn’t given any explanation either.
Still, I could ask without it showing.
“Why?”
“Um… just because.”
Even Kim Igyul looked puzzled while speaking.
Should I be grateful that he followed the Constellation’s orders without asking the exact reason?
The Constellation “Nobility Returned from Death” seemed pleased, smiling approvingly.
I’ve never smiled like that… why deliver it that way?
Kim Igyul’s slight frown suggested he was asking, “Where did you appear from just now?”
Shaking off the uneasy feeling, I answered him.
“Yeah, anyway, I have no one to tell.”
“You didn’t tell your family about getting caught up in the dungeon break?”
Kim Igyul’s expression showed he realized he might have made a mistake by asking.
“No need to tell them.”
“I don’t really remember.”
My answer matched his question.
“You don’t remember?”
Kim Igyul asked, incredulously.
The most flustered person here was me. Why did the first thing that came to my mind have to be amnesia?
But it’s already spilled. Time to manage it.
“Where did you live, where is your family…”
I trailed off, lowering my gaze as if I truly didn’t know.
“So where were you for the past three days?”
“Three days?! Ah… oh, right. Three days have passed. I was just… here and there…”
Time passed differently in the other space; outside, it had been three days. Good thing I realized it now.
Though the new information caused a hiccup, I managed to brush it off.
“You should have at least contacted me. I gave you my number.”
“Ah, I didn’t have a phone.”
“What? Oh… that makes sense.”
I could confidently say that. A modern necessity, a phone!
Did I have one in the uniform I wore when I parted from Jin Sehyuk? Of course, I no longer had that uniform either.
Why did Kim Igyul accept that so casually? Did I look poor?
I lowered my head to check my clothes.
I was wearing the same outfit as when I first met Kim Igyul. I realized I had never changed.
Without a phone, it made sense…
Kim Igyul sighed at my ridiculous answers.
“I’ll tell my sister, so come with us.”
Where would I go leaving the cozy other space?
I wanted to argue, but I had no words to bring up, so I could only move my lips slightly.
Coincidentally, Kim Soyeon, who had finished organizing the site, was approaching us.
“Sis, she doesn’t remember anything, so she has nowhere to go.”
Kim Igyul pointed at me as he said this, wearing a peculiar expression.
Well, he was right, but the feeling was… strange.
