Chapter 55

[55] If Oppa Becomes Famous...

To avoid the barrage of calls from reporters and guild representatives, and to talk about everything that was happening, I immediately started a video call with Sia.

Sure enough, she picked up the moment I called.

[Oppa! Oh, wait—did something happen?]

She greeted me warmly, then saw my face on the screen and asked in a worried voice.

I must have looked exhausted after spending all that time answering calls.

[Did you... um, lose the ring? Is that why you called?]

Oh.

Now that she mentioned it, I wasn’t wearing the ring she’d given me.

For a second, I felt a chill, thinking I might have lost it. But thankfully, when I thought back, I remembered what had happened.

“No, I just took it off for a bit when I washed up earlier. I think I left it in the bathroom.”

That was a close call.

If I really had lost it, I wouldn’t have known how to deal with the consequences.

[Whew, that’s a relief. It’s not uncomfortable to wear, is it?]

“No. It fits perfectly, and it’s easy to wear.”

Sometimes I scare myself.

I can lie so smoothly without even changing my expression.

I was grateful that Sia had made it herself, and I knew wearing the ring helped me in some ways.

But that didn’t change how unsettling it felt to have it on.

I’d gotten used to it by now, but whenever I remembered that the ring and the necklace I was wearing were made from Sia’s bones, I still got goosebumps.

I went to the bathroom as if nothing was wrong, put the ring back on, and showed it to Sia.

[Even if you lost it, I could always make you another one. I was just worried you might’ve been concerned about that.]

Sia let out a sigh of relief.

[So, oppa, what happened?]

I gave her a quick summary of what had happened that day.

“At first, it was kind of fascinating. But after a while, it got exhausting.”

[Still, that’s good news! It means other people are noticing and recognizing what you’ve accomplished.]

“I might’ve thought so in the past, but I don’t really care now. It doesn’t matter how much other people recognize me. What matters is that you recognize me.”

Whether I went from D-rank to B-rank in a month and a half, or all the way to SSS-rank, I had only one goal: to fully master the dragon’s power.

That was what I meant, but Sia seemed to take it another way. The moment she heard me, her face flushed red, and she squirmed with embarrassment.

[Oppa, you’re so sweet.]

Sometimes, when Sia reacted like that, I couldn’t help feeling embarrassed too.

I cleared my throat and continued.

“So, I’m getting tired of answering calls, but I can’t just ignore them or turn off my phone. I don’t know how they even got my number. I thought I’d rather talk to you than keep answering calls from those people.”

[Right, right! I’ll make all that tiredness disappear, so don’t worry. Hmm, what should we talk about?]

We stayed on the phone for a long time, and while we were at it, we also discussed our plans for a date later that week.

After our long call finally ended,

“See you then.”

[Yeah! And oppa, if you’re only keeping your phone on because of me, you can turn it off. You have your laptop, too, if you want to call me.]

“That’s true. There’s no rule that says I have to contact you by phone.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?

We could use voice chat or whatever else worked.

“Then, Sia, I’ll probably turn my phone off for the rest of the day. Don’t worry, okay?”

[Okay! It’s almost dinner time, so make sure you eat something good.]

“You too.”

After hanging up, I tossed my phone onto the bed, feeling refreshed.

After a long chat with Sia, it felt like all my tiredness had melted away.

I’d already told her I might turn my phone off, so I was about to do just that.

Even as I reached for the power button, another call came in.

“Again...?”

Fine. I’d answer just this one before turning it off.

After ending her call with Minjun,

Sia fell into deep thought.

There was no question that it was good news when someone you loved received recognition from so many people.

The calls had worn Minjun out, but hadn’t he described the fatigue as a pleasant kind while they were talking?

Still, there was something else that worried her.

What if oppa appears on TV?

From what Minjun had said, he didn’t seem interested in going on a show or giving an interview.

But that was only her impression.

She couldn’t be sure. Minjun might change his mind and appear on a popular program someday.

Someone might think, “So what if my boyfriend goes on TV? It’s kind of exciting,” and leave it at that.

But Sia saw things differently.

If oppa gets famous on TV, there’ll definitely be women falling for him and trying to flirt with him.

If Minjun appeared on a program, they would probably focus on his astonishing growth and achievements as a hunter.

But Sia was certain the viewers would also notice his handsome, celebrity-worthy looks.

A man who wasn’t even a celebrity, yet had the kind of face that made women swoon? It would become a huge talking point.

And given Minjun’s potential as a hunter, people would be even more interested in him.

He was talented and handsome. What broadcaster would leave him alone?

Naturally, he’d get chances to appear on other shows. Once he became a celebrity, women would be interested in him. He might even work alongside beautiful, famous female celebrities and grow close to them...

And what if one of the women he worked with decided to seduce him?

What if, in Sia’s place—since she couldn’t see him often—beautiful, young, talented women with no restrictions on meeting him began making advances?

Most people would probably think she was worrying over nothing, that her fears were baseless.

But this was a feeling no one could understand unless they were in her position.

In the less than a month and a half since Minjun had returned to Earth, other women had already openly set their sights on him twice.

She knew Minjun had told her before that even before his reincarnation, women had asked for his number several times.

And she’d seen women flirt with him in person more than once.

But it had happened twice in such a short time. Of course she was anxious.

Crunch, crunch—

Worried, she began chewing her nails.

“That absolutely can’t happen...”

Minjun couldn’t appear on TV—or even have his face shown on YouTube.

She wanted the whole world to recognize him, yet at the same time, she wanted to be the only one who knew how charming he was. The contradiction stirred inside her heart.

Why am I so anxious?

She stopped biting her nails and picked up one of Minjun’s old shirts, breathing in its scent.

His scent had faded quite a bit over time, but she could make up for it by spraying on the cologne he usually wore.

“Phew.”

She began to calm down, but her thoughts soon drifted in another direction.

Now that she thought about it, Minjun was being bombarded with calls because someone had leaked his contact information. That was what had made him so tired.

Come to think of it, that’s outrageous.

It was one thing for Minjun to be getting so much attention.

But who had gone around carelessly spreading such sensitive personal information?

She wanted to see that person’s face.

I should look into this, too.

She didn’t know how Minjun’s personal information and phone number had been leaked. But if they’d been shared without going through the proper legal channels,

Sia decided she would make sure the person faced the consequences.

If I turned on my phone now, how many missed calls would I find?

I considered turning it on to check, but remembering the nonstop calls from earlier killed my enthusiasm.

Maybe I’d turn it on tomorrow at the earliest.

Still, turning off my phone didn’t mean I could do nothing. I sat down in front of my laptop.

The first thing I did after turning it on was check the news.

Just as I’d expected,

the major portal sites were full of articles about me.

“D-rank to B-rank in a Month!” An unprecedented breakthrough and a major new talent emerges in Korean hunter history

Villain or not? Experts say, “He was likely hiding his true strength on purpose”

Two-rank leap in a month and a half: Unprecedented growth draws attention from overseas

A promising hunter emerges like a comet. Will China and Saudi Arabia open their wallets?

Judging by the articles, the person at the center of the story had no intention of giving the public any answers, but speculation was spreading everywhere.

One article even called it a scam and, without a shred of evidence, suggested that I must have deliberately manipulated my first test to get a lower rank.

At least they hadn’t published my personal information or any clues that might reveal who I was.

If they had, I could’ve sued for a breach of privacy.

Anyway, after checking the articles, I searched for gates I could tackle tomorrow or the day after.

Then I checked my email, just in case.

As expected, my inbox was full of messages from guilds, broadcasters, and reporters.

I’d only looked at the subject lines and hadn’t opened some of them, but as I scanned through, it seemed even a famous talk show on a major network had invited me on.

How was I supposed to reply to all of these?

And since it was a major network... well.

The thought of meeting famous celebrities was a little tempting, but I figured it would bring more trouble than benefit. I decided to turn them all down.

After dealing with the emails, I started looking again for suitable gates to clear.

A B-rank gate, in the Seoul metropolitan area, with no guild holding the rights to clear it—something independent hunters like me could join.

I needed to find gates that met all those conditions, but...

“...There aren’t many.”

I’d expected the number of gates I could join to be limited, but there were far fewer than I’d thought.

The reasons were simple.

First, the lower a gate’s rank, the more of them there were. The higher the rank, the fewer there were.

Second, guilds held the rights to clear most A- and B-rank gates, which made it even harder for unaffiliated hunters to join them.

That was why, when I was a D-rank hunter, I’d had no trouble clearing gates by myself without joining a guild.

Guilds rarely bought the rights to D-rank gates, and there were plenty of them anyway.

But for B-rank gates and above, it was much harder to join a raid as a freelancer for those reasons.

Maybe I should’ve joined a guild after all.

I’d heard that freelance hunters had trouble getting into B-rank gates, but now that I was experiencing it myself, I wondered if refusing to join a guild had just been pointless stubbornness.

It wasn’t as if I had some prejudice or trauma involving guilds.

Maybe I’d be better off taking a little less money in exchange for joining fewer raids, then using my free time to train or spar.

Or should I ask Rokan for advice?

He probably knew better than I did which option would be best.

With that in mind, I headed straight to Rokan’s lair.

But the moment I arrived, Rokan looked at me with surprise.

“How curious. I was just about to get in touch with you, too.”