* * *
The next day, Doyoung woke up well past noon.
After having lunch, prepared by Beom Sinje, they headed out together.
Apparently, a morning meeting had been rescheduled to the afternoon because Doyoung hadn’t woken up.
Upon hearing that, he immediately hurried to leave the house.
As their car pulled into the parking lot, his phone rang.
The caller was Sarah.
- It’s bad enough that the person who gave me work just vanished, but not answering my calls too? That’s a bit much.
The moment the call connected, a scolding flew his way.
“Ah…”
Doyoung couldn’t bring himself to say that it was all Beom Sinje’s fault.
Instead, he mumbled an excuse while shooting a glare at the man in the driver’s seat as if to say, ‘This is all because of you.’
Not that it would make a difference.
Beom Sinje, who had taken his phone away the previous night, only returned it after he had finished eating and gotten ready to go out.
To be fair, Doyoung himself had completely forgotten about his phone until then.
- That was too much.
“…I apologize.”
Regardless of the reason, it was still his fault for not answering.
- You better know that I’ll be making you pay for this later.
“As long as it’s within reason.”
Unlike someone else sitting beside him, Doyoung knew she wouldn’t actually push him too far.
Still, he added a condition.
- Of course. When have I ever made things difficult for you?
As expected, Sarah coldly drew the line.
“I know. That you wouldn’t. More importantly, did you find anything suspicious near the research facility?”
- We caught one. He’s definitely a powered individual, but he kept insisting he was a journalist.
As always, Sarah was efficient.
“Did you find any traces of ability use?”
- No. But come on, you know me. There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize one of our own.
That was true.
Doyoung gave a small nod, fully trusting her judgment.
Then, suddenly, he felt a gaze on him and turned his head.
Beom Sinje was staring at him with an all-too-obvious expression.
“I had a favor to ask from ATE Pharmaceuticals.”
Noticing his look, Doyoung quickly explained the situation—how he had instructed Sarah to detain any suspicious individuals near the lab.
Then, something clicked in his mind.
“Wait. What exactly did you tell them…? No, never mind. We’ll talk about it later.”
He was still on the phone.
This wasn’t the time for a long discussion, so he turned back to Sara.
“I only told them to bring something that would be useful to you. The same as always.”
Beom Sinje’s words made Doyoung look at him again.
“What do you mean by that?”
“There were quite a few things to discuss with her.”
“…Like what?”
That cryptic smile again.
Doyoung shot him a sharp look, but Beom Sinje only smirked.
“Chairman Choi.”
Since he wasn’t going to get an answer from Beom Sinje, Doyoung turned back to Sara.
- So, what should we do with the guy we caught?
Right then, she brought up the detained ability user.
Doyoung sighed, realizing he had no choice but to shift the conversation.
“Chairman Choi caught a suspicious person near the research lab. What should we do?”
“Bring him to the guild.”
◇◆◇◆◇
“Guild Leader!”
As Doyoung walked out of the meeting with Beom Sinje, a guild member rushed toward them.
“You need to check this immediately. But, um…”
Mid-sentence, the guild member glanced hesitantly at Doyoung.
“What is it?”
Beom Sinje raised a brow, prompting the guild member to quickly respond.
“There are posts about Secretary Doyoung circulating online.”
“Posts about me?”
That had been happening since the press conference. It wasn’t anything new.
Doyoung tilted his head in confusion and pulled out his phone.
Several missed calls from unfamiliar numbers had piled up.
“Let’s move somewhere private first.”
Sensing that this was going to be a long conversation, Beom Sinje suggested relocating.
As they walked, every guild member they passed threw them curious glances.
‘What now?’
From the way everyone was acting, it was clear the situation wasn’t looking good.
Just glancing at the flood of messages on his phone confirmed that much.
“What kind of post was uploaded?”
As soon as they returned to the guildmaster’s office, Beom Sinje was the first to speak.
Rather than waiting for an answer, Doyoung pulled out his phone and opened the online community he frequented.
Seeing it with his own eyes would be the fastest way to grasp the situation.
And sure enough, as soon as he logged in, he found a wildfire of accusations claiming that he was the leader of Antithesis.
“Well… We only found out about it ten minutes ago… And you were in a meeting, so…”
“You should have reported it immediately.”
Listening to their conversation, Doyoung checked when the post had first gone up. Less than an hour ago.
The reason it had spiraled out of control so quickly was likely because the Dungeon Ecology Research Institute mission had drawn a lot of public attention.
Besides the reporters on-site, there had been plenty of ordinary people to spread the story.
“How are you handling it?”
“For now, we’ve contacted the original poster and asked them to take it down.”
It didn’t seem to be working.
He spotted other posts on different forums claiming to have found the original article.
Clicking one of the links, he scrolled through hundreds of comments beneath the post.
At first, people were skeptical.
Then came doubt.
Then came near-certainty.
He could see the entire process unfolding in real time.
“People sure are diligent. How do they manage to dig up all this information and compare it so quickly?”
At Doyoung’s remark, Beom Sinje’s expression darkened.
“Hyung, don’t look at it.”
“Why not? It’s about me.”
Did he really think something like this would shock or unsettle him?
If anything, he just found it interesting.
This was the first time he had ever shown his abilities in public.
And yet, with just that one display, people had instantly connected him to his past self.
“This is something the guild should handle.”
Was it?
Given the current situation, it didn’t seem like there was any solution unless he stepped in personally.
And if he did, there were only two options.
Reveal the truth—or deny everything outright.
“What’s your plan?”
Doyoung asked out of curiosity, but Beom Sinje’s gaze turned strangely intense.
“We might as well tell the truth now.”
“The truth about what?”
“Who you are. Why you’re by my side.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were planning to reveal it eventually, weren’t you? Let’s just do it now. That’s what you intended, isn’t it?”
He hadn’t intended anything.
He had only used his powers because Beom Sinje had been trapped, and he needed to save him.
…Or had he?
“You knew I’d protect you.”
Yeah.
That was true too.
As he listened to Beom Sinje’s words, Doyoung realized he had expected that on some level.
“Yeah. But not like this.”
He shook his head, then noticed a bewildered guild member standing nearby.
“For now, keep monitoring the situation and report back after consulting with the guildmaster.”
The guild member, eager to escape this mess, quickly walked toward the door.
Just as he reached for the handle, though, the door burst open from the other side.
“Beom Sinje! Something huge just— Huh? What the hell?”
* * *
