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Chapter 64 - Awakening (2)

Shin Eunah, dressed only in a gray suit and a neat skirt, was still beautiful today. However, the chilly aura emanating from her didn’t give one much room to appreciate it.

“Uh, isn’t that the Empress?”

“Shh, don’t let her hear you.”

“Stay quiet. Don’t even breathe.” The veteran superhumans had gone through enough battles to sense the moon emanating from Shin Eunah, and it silenced them. It was common knowledge that she was a close friend of the Alchemist, so it wasn’t unusual for her to show up at the bar she opened. But the uncomfortable look she had made it seem more like a matter of life and death rather than a friendly visit.

“Eunah, you’re here.”

“Why didn’t you call me for the opening day?”

“Because you were working today too…” It was a lie. Claire had been delaying telling her about her relationship with Kang Shin-hyuk, so she didn’t want to call her to the bar today.

“Which…with him.” Shin Eunah’s glanced at the stiff Shin-hyuk before turning back to Claire. He had guessed this might happen, but it seemed like he got caught right away.

“How do you know him?”

“Ah, he’s my friend. Like you and I, we have something in common, right?”

“Hmm, right. Actually…I knew.”

“What?” The blood drained from Claire’s face. Her head shook as she desperately looked back and forth between Shin Eunah and Kang Shin-hyuk. Shin-hyuk’s own expression below the mask was very similar.

“What? The Alchemist and the Empress have a man in-between them…”

“I should’ve brought popcorn…outside snacks are allowed, right?”

“You fool, you’ll be kicked out!” The gallery began to grow louder at the unusual air current flowing around the trio. However, they immediately became silent once more as Shin Eunah turned towards them with a look of disdain. They knew what they had to do.

“Drink quickly and go…”

“Leave a tip.”

“Have a good time…hiick!” Claire let out a sigh as people began to filter out, commemorating the opening of the Frontline Bar. Shin Eunah sat down at the counter only after confirming no one else was left except for the three of them.

“Grandpa sits here.”

“Yeah.” Kang Shin-hyuk followed along with Shin Eunah without complaint as she tapped the seat next to her. Shin Eunah made an expression like she was still dissatisfied with his reply, however.

“Hm?”

“You still have your sister Claire… no, I see.”

“Cocktail. Nonalcoholic. With sweets.”

“Huh…” Claire was neatly ignored. Shin Eunah gently closed her eyes and waited for her cocktail as Kang Shin-hyuk and Claire exchanged sharp glances at each other. It didn’t matter, however, as, in the end, it was both their fault for not confessing to her.

“Here. Virgin Pina Colada, a Claire arrangement using dungeon fruit.”

“…Are you making fun of me for still being a virgin at my age?”

“Ah! No, nonalcoholic cocktails usually have the word virgin in their names. Eunah? That look is too scary!” Claire’s greatest mistake was to laugh at her unexpected remark. Kang Shin-hyuk wanted to flee on the spot, but Shin Eunah was holding his arm so tight that he couldn’t. Claire silently asked him for help but was only met by Shin-hyuk’s only silent request for saving. Shin Eunah’s gaze hardened upon noticing the looks they were sharing.

“What sort of sign are you two exchanging like that? Are you that close? Are you dating?”

“Eh, Eunah. So how did you know we knew each other?”

“…Hm.” Shin Eunah responded to Claire’s overt topic change by clicking her tongue.

“When grandpa was isolated in the gate, I was told he lived thanks to a potion sent by an angel. I was thinking about who it was, then I remembered I told you about grandpa. At the time, I was half-crazed and had no time to think, but later I recalled that it would be impossible to send a gift if they weren’t registered as a friend.”

“An angel…” Shin-hyuk was a bit impressed at how coldly Shin Eunah could calculate such childish things. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded Claire.

“Are you trying to flirt with grandpa? Why did you try to hide it from me?”

“No, no, no. There’s no such relationship. How about taking a drink to calm down a little? I was excited, too.” Shin Eunah pouted at her words but finally took a sip of her cocktail.

“…Delicious.” Claire looked a bit relieved as Shin Eunah’s face began to relax slightly.

“My relationship with Shin-hyuk was a bit of an accident. I didn’t know he was Anvil at first, but I learned that he was familiar with spiritual power. We became friends as he taught me a little about it…in the end, I decided to leave that other stuff between you two. I just needed a little help today.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I see…” Strangely, Shin Eunah seemed even more displeased at Claire’s explanation. It scared Shin-hyuk that he couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. Claire continued to make excuses.

“Besides, you know my taste is for those older than me. Shin-hyuk is handsome, but he’s eight years younger than me. Honestly, it’s out of the question.”

“I am only in high-school, after all…” He didn’t feel great about Claire’s words, but now wasn’t a good time to complain.

“In other words, you weren’t interested in grandpa.”

“Of course not! I’ll never take him away from you, so be relieved.”

“…Yes, I will remember that.” Only after listening to that did Shin Eunah finally relax her grip on Kang Shin-hyuk’s arm. She didn’t completely let him go, however.

“…Claire, it’s like this because you tried to hide it from me. I’m not selfish enough to say grandpa can’t have friends.”

“What about romantic partners?”

“That’s not allowed.” She naturally made a selfish remark.

“He will live with Eunah forever, so don’t do anything like marrying someone else.”

“…”

“…” Claire wanted to ask, ‘Then what about you?,’ but the words stuck in her throat. She endured it silently, afraid that the answer would be that Eunah would marry grandpa.

“Hey…is it always like this when he’s with you?”

“Yeah…” Claire was, for the first time, witnessing the child-like nature of the Thunder Empress around her grandpa. Meanwhile, Shin Eunah began to hang onto Shin-hyuk after being satisfied by Claire’s false response.

“Grandpa, it’s so nice to see you today. It was a difficult day for Eunah.”

“Yes…I bet you had a hard time.”

“Please stroke my hair.”

“Alright.” Kang Shin-hyuk tried not to be too conscious of her as he gently patted her head. Claire stared blankly at the two.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes, sister. You’ll be fine if you meet a good person.”

“No, I don’t think Eunah has any relationships with anyone else. How about you just accept it?” The moment Shin-hyuk heard that, he couldn’t control the expression that popped up on his face. Claire unconsciously stepped back, aware of the mistake she had made.

“Goodness…”

“…” Shin-hyuk had nothing more he could say to her.

“Grandpa, your status came out.”

“Oh, the association?”

“Uh-huh. I took care of it and raised the security level. Hey, let’s take a picture later for your card.” Shin Eunah fiddled with her stick a little, and a message was sent to Kang Shin-hyuk. It had a file with information on his disguised identity and an electronic ID card.

“The superhuman level was set to B rank, and you will be assigned to Group 1 of the Special Task Force. If possible, I would like you to continue even after graduation.”

“Didn’t you say receiving support from the association didn’t mean I had to stay with them after I graduate?”

“That doesn’t count because I didn’t know you were grandpa.”

“I see.” The status was at B-rank, which was lower than his current ability, but it was still rather good.

“Then, I can enter the gate with this?”

“Normally, you’ll have to apply in advance, but it’s not illegal to enter undiscovered gates if you get lucky. You should avoid ones with higher ratings, though.” Shin Eunah added that in most cases since it would be fine because she would be there. Claire, who had remained silent, suddenly shook her head.

“Let’s choose a name for his disguise. How about Black Soul Eater?”

“Sister, that can be your name. Who the hell would give me that name?”

“It’s a pseudonym, so let’s make it cool.”

“Why do I need a pseudonym?!”

“I’ve already decided on a name. Shin Eunhyuk.” As Claire and Kang Shin-hyuk argued back and forth, Shin Eunah piped up. Shin-hyuk looked over at the document and confirmed she was telling the truth.

“… Isn’t that name too similar to yours?”

“You just need to say it’s a coincidence. I just wanted to make our names similar.”

“Your desire is leaking out.” For reference, Shin Eunah was still rubbing her body against Kang Shin-hyuk like a cat. He desperately tried his best to ignore her.

“Okay, I see. Then let’s use a code name. His name is Shin Eunhyuk, but he needs a code name. Just like I’m the Alchemist, or you’re the Thunder Empress.”

“You two are high-rankers, my cover identity shouldn’t stand out so much.”

“The most important part is to stand out as much as possible!”

“Well, that’s not possible!” In the first place, a code name was like a symbol of honor attached only to those who stood out above others. For that reason, Shin-hyuk rejected it, but Claire ignored him and said she would think of one. He was scared of what kind of codename she would come up with, but he hoped it would remain only in her mind.

“You can use that status when working at the bar. You won’t need to identify yourself in the first place, but maybe it’ll help.”

“Wait, Claire. Are you going to keep grandpa working?”

“We promised it in the first place. We’re both production workers, so we have a lot of work we can help each other with. Besides, we’re both spiritual power users.

“…” Even though Claire explaining the relationship between them was normal, Shin Eunah didn’t seem to like the idea of them spending a lot of time together. Shin Eunah barely managed to calm her anger by pushing herself closer to Shin-hyuk.

“Okay, whenever grandpa works at the bar, I’ll come too. I’ll get to see grandpa working in uniform.”

“You work too, work.”

“It’s okay because I’ll come after work. And on holidays… we’ll enter the dungeon in earnest.”

“Dungeon?”

“Grandpa wants to be strong. To be strong, it’s best to deal with monsters.” Shin Eunah’s voice softened a little bit as she laid her head down on Shin-hyuk’s knee and looked up at him.

“It was impossible when grandpa was away before, but now I can help. I will make you the strongest in the world.”

“Huh? You…” Shin Eunah grabbed his hand tightly and stuck her tongue out at Claire.

“Because it’s only us two, I won’t teach you anything.”

“You…” Claire tried to retaliate, but Shin Eunah ignored her. Kang Shin-hyuk let out a bitter laugh as she grabbed his hand with more strength. Maybe she knew about Anvil’s past; it was a past that Kang Shin-hyuk himself only knew fragments of. Maybe Janus or his other friends would know something as well, but he decided not to say that out loud.

“So let’s work hard together starting tomorrow.”

“Well, sorry. I can’t because I have something to do this weekend.”

“…” The grip on his hand became tighter, but he couldn’t help it. That night, Kang Shin-hyuk returned home with the reward promised by Claire.

Of course, he didn’t return home on Claire’s bike but in Shin Eunah’s arms.

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