"I got scolded."
"...."
I was speechless at the sight of Cheon Sa-yeon standing there with a very sulky expression on his face.
At 1:30 in the morning, when I should have been in bed long ago, I faced the two people who had knocked so boldly on my front door without hesitation. I touched my throbbing forehead and asked.
"Did the meeting just end?"
Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon both nodded at my question.
"To be exact, they kept us there saying they were conducting various investigations. That's why we got out so late."
"I'm tired."
Next to Ha Tae-heon, who was explaining calmly, Cheon Sa-yeon hunched his shoulders and whined again. It was impossible to tell who was older here.
"Ha… Come in."
If they hadn't gone home at this hour and instead came to my room, there had to be a reason, which is fine by me. I'd been feeling a bit uneasy ever since we parted earlier.
I sighed and stepped aside to let them in, both entering without hesitation.
Peeek?
The fox, who had been sleeping in bed with me, must have been woken by the noise. Still half-asleep, he stumbled over, floating awkwardly. I hugged it as it snuggled into my arms and turned on the living room light.
"Would you like something to drink?"
"Hmm…"
"If you prepare it, I will gladly drink it."
Before Cheon Sa-yeon could answer my question, Ha Tae-heon opened his mouth. Cheon Sa-yeon shot Ha Tae-heon a strange look.
Leaving those two weirdos in the living room, I went into the kitchen. The kitchen which Kim Woo-jin had tidied up was neat yet unfamiliar, and I had no idea where to begin.
Scratching my neck absentmindedly, I decided to start by opening the cupboard. I figured there had to be at least one tea bag somewhere in there that I could use. After searching through the cupboards, refrigerator, and every nook and cranny, I managed to find a few tea bags that looked like they could be brewed.
'But… how do you even make this?'
Finding them was one thing but turning it into something drinkable was another problem entirely. Reading the instructions didn't help, so I ended up using the most basic, a green tea bag.
I boiled water in the electric kettle and poured it into two glasses. I tossed a green tea bag into each cup of steaming water, then returned to Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon.
"Here."
"...."
"Oh…"
Ha Tae-heon took the cup of green tea without any noticeable change in his expression, while Cheon Sa-yeon acted surprised.
"Looks like you've grown up a bit? You at least soaked the tea bag in boiled water this time."
"What nonsense… Ah."
Cheon Sa-yeon's words belatedly brought back memories of the past. Back then, I'd just thrown a tea bag in cold water and given it to him.
'This brat… Just because I bothered to prepare it...'
I quickly pulled back the teacup I was about to hand to Cheon Sa-yeon.
"It seems like you're dissatisfied with the tea I'm serving. Please don't drink it."
"I never complained. In fact, I praised you."
"How was that a compliment? It was sarcasm."
Ha Tae-heon, who had been silently watching the argument between me and Cheon Sa-yeon, put down his teacup and intervened.
"I'll drink it instead. Give it to me."
"Huh?"
"You're taking my drink? Does our Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon have no morals?"
"I couldn't care less about that. Han Yi-gyeol, give it to me. I'm enjoying it just fine."
"You overheard me saying I was going to see Han Yi-gyeol and trailed after me like a puppy, and yet you have the nerve to act like this? You're so shameless."
"Whether you were going to come or not is irrelevant, I was going to come here to see Han Yi-gyeol regardless."
"It seems that the Roheon Guild's Deputy-Master must've forgotten where we are. You must have my permission, as Master, to enter Requiem."
"Wouldn't the same thing apply if Han Yi-gyeol came to Roheon? So don't try to say anything else later."
"Enough… stop!"
Gosh, so noisy…
I roughly placed the glass down in front of Cheon Sa-yeon, ending their argument. The fox, who had climbed onto my shoulder, let out a long, irritated whine, as if fed up with the situation.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's get to the point. What was that about earlier? The atmosphere was too tense for a simple meeting."
While Cheon Sa-yeon took a sip of his green tea with a satisfied smile, Ha Tae-heon spoke instead.
"They suspected that Requiem and the Praus cult were colluding."
"Huh? Wait a minute, who? Surely not the management headquarters?"
"On the surface."
"If it's just the surface… are you saying that the problem is rooted deeper than just the management headquarters?"
Unlike me, who was shocked by the unexpected news, Cheon Sa-yeon remained consistently composed. He leaned back on the sofa and spoke leisurely.
"It's clear that there's a force using the management headquarters as a shield to pressure us... but it doesn't matter. After all, they're probably just members of the Praus cult planted by Samael."
As the prediction came out without hesitation, I immediately knew what Cheon Sa-yeon was thinking.
"Did something like this happen before? In a previous timeline?"
Instead of answering, Cheon Sa-yeon simply raised the corners of his mouth. Which meant that I was right.
"It's not just Korea. To expand their bubble of influence, they'll likely seek to place key figures in each country under their control. Usually politicians. Korea is just in the midst of that process."
"…So they're keeping note of which guilds become obstacles in that process."
I bit my lip in frustration. I never imagined that they would apply this much political pressure.
The fight has dragged on so long, now they're even touching the guild. Knowing full well the thoughts behind Cheon Sa-yeon's founding of the Requiem Guild, my heart grew heavy.
Ha Tae-heon spoke in a firm voice.
"It seems our guild and Jaina's guild are also being targeted. Requiem is even being framed with the false accusation of colluding with the Praus Cult."
"Why only Requiem…?"
"Because Requiem was there for every incident that the Praus Cult committed."
What does that mean? I narrowed my eyes as I recalled the past incidents one by one.
"The Gangnam incident, the Gate terrorist incident, the US Red Market incident, the art gallery incident… wherever the Praus cult caused trouble…."
"...."
"Because Cheon Sa-yeon… was there…?"
Cheon Sa-yeon smiled bitterly upon hearing my painfully drawn-out words. Faced with this information, I felt a deep sense of despair, I was utterly devastated.
Cheon Sa-yeon was present at every incident to stop the Praus cult. He endured all that hardship to prevent the damage from spreading, only to be met with suspicions of collusion. I felt nothing but injustice and rage.
The air surrounding the living room grew even heavier. Within the silence, Cheon Sa-yeon slowly opened his mouth.
"The other incidents are problematic, but the incident that they specifically pointed out as suspicious was when the guild headquarters was attacked by the Praus cult."
The raid on the guild headquarters occurred while I was staying at the temple of Elohim and Elaha. It was the moment the Praus Cultists fully revealed themselves, simultaneously bringing down the headquarters. At the time, I witnessed this moment through the book Elohim lent me.
I still vividly remember how the incident ended.
- Upon this rock, I will build his works!
A voice-amplifying user who, under mind control, spoke as Samael commanded. Though he was eventually subdued by Cheon Sa-yeon…
"The moment where Master Cheon Sa-yeon subdued the voice-amplification user was captured on camera and broadcasted in real time."
Ha Tae-heon added an explanation.
"There was a lot of buzz about that for a while. The fact that the person with the voice amplification ability died so suddenly on the spot like that."
"Even though there is all this evidence that Cheon Sa-yeon didn't kill him, people are still saying this?"
"It can't be helped, it's just like easy prey for them to peck at. Now they're starting to suspect it was all staged."
So, it's all piled up and led to this... The Praus cult has effectively exploited the public's jealousy of Cheon Sa-yeon, who became the number one guild master in the country at such a young age.
"So, what now?"
As I rubbed my forehead against the headache coming over me, Cheon Sa-yeon shrugged his shoulders lightly.
"Fortunately, Center Director Choi Mi-jin intervened to a certain extent, so it was limited to a warning. But it's clear that there are more eyes on us now. And if we're not careful, our movements could become restricted."
"We've only just managed to catch up with the Praus Cult… Could it be that this sudden appearance of monsters is also connected?"
"It's possible. However, we're still investigating where and how the monsters appeared."
I sighed at the unsatisfying answer.
From illegal gate dealings, to the sudden appearance of these monsters, and then to a national warning. Everything was so complexly intertwined that it was hard to even figure out where to start.
Cheon Sa-yeon, heard my sigh and flashed a sly smile. He is the one who should be the most upset right now, yet he is laughing his head off.
"Trying to solve everything at once will naturally lead to a headache. In times like these, it's better to tackle the most important things first. For now... It's the monsters that suddenly appeared on the streets of Gangnam. We'll have to find out what happened as soon as daylight comes. I don't trust the management headquarters."
"…Okay. Ha Tae-heon ssi, how is Roheon?"
"It's not as bad as Requiem, but it's not an easy situation for us to operate in either. Still, we can't just sit back and do nothing, so like Requiem, we plan to investigate the recent monster incident first. I heard Jaina seems to have the same plan."
"Good."
The only good news so far is that the Requiem, Rohen, and Jaina guilds had united, I suppose. Without help from the guild headquarters, it also seems that Jaina's offer became even more unavoidable than before.
"Hmm. It's getting late, so let's stop here."
Meanwhile, Cheon Sa-yeon, who had finished the green tea I had given him, put down his cup and stood up.
Is he planning to go back now? I checked my watch and it was already well past 2 AM, approaching 3 AM. It was really late.
"I guess I should wash up and get ready for bed."
"Be careful on your way… Huh? What?"
As I was about to bid farewell, I heard Cheon Sa-yeon's next words and looked at him in bewilderment. My jaw dropped slightly in disbelief, Cheon Sa-yeon's head tilted at my expression.
"What are you so surprised about?"
"No, why are you washing up and getting ready for bed in my room?"
"So you're kicking me out at this late hour? How can you be so cruel… I rushed over here as soon as the meeting ended because I was worried you wouldn't be able to sleep."
"What the hell are you talking about…"
"If Cheon Sa-yeon is planning to stay the night, I'll stay too."
"What are you two doing, seriously!"
Astonished, I pushed Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon's backs toward the front door with all my might, but neither of them budged an inch. Normally, they would have feigned defeat and left, but seeing them hold their ground like this made me realize they were serious, which made it all the more shocking.
"How on earth are you planning to sleep here when you don't even have a change of clothes?"
"Clothes? Well… If we don't wear any, it's fine, right?"
"I'll go wash up first."
"Damn, you beat me to it. Then I guess I'll clear the table."
"...!"
Ha Tae-heon, whom I trusted slightly more than Cheon Sa-yeon, quickly dashed into the bathroom. Cheon Sa-yeon, on the other hand, went to the kitchen with the empty glasses.
Left alone in the living room, I buried my face in my hands. They were both clearly mad! The fox on my shoulder whined softly and tried to comfort me, but it didn't help much.