STC chapter 17

Ye Ilhu furrowed his brows as he mumbled.

“…Eyelashes.”

“What?”

I tilted my head at the sudden remark.

Eyelashes?

What’s with the eyelashes?

Are you saying yours are long?

So what. I already know that, you jerk.

Ye Ilhu lowered his gaze with the hand he had stretched toward me. The way he clenched and unclenched his fist made me shiver a little, as if he was gauging how hard to hit me.

Then his cold, gray eyes glared at me.

What. What do you want.

Honestly, I was scared, but I didn’t want to show it, so I glared back at him.

Soon, Ye Ilhu slowly opened his mouth.

“You…”

But before he could finish speaking, Chae Goya came running from a distance.

Chae Goya’s face lit up as he found me, after frantically looking around the vast training room.

“Hyung, haah, Barami hyung…”

His side hair was sticking up, probably because he had overslept. Finding it cute, I gently fixed it for him, and Chae Goya blushed.

“What’s up so early in the morning, Goya?”

“Chu, Chunsik said he missed you, so I came…”

Chae Goya mumbled as he approached and stuck close to my side. As our arms touched, Ye Ilhu’s eyebrows shot up.

‘What’s with him suddenly? Does he feel ignored because I’m sticking with Goya after avoiding his hand?’

But I quickly dismissed the thought with a chuckle.

‘No way. It’s just a misunderstanding.’

Living in delusion is one of the easiest ways for a person to be miserable.

Given Ye Ilhu’s personality, he wouldn’t care whether a small fry like me ignored him or not.

Just look at now. Plenty of people in the guild badmouth Ye Ilhu, but has he ever even snorted at them?

Reflecting on the realistic side of things brought me peace of mind again. Unnecessary misunderstandings aren’t good for mental health.

Shrugging off the discomfort, I smiled brightly at Chae Goya.

“I was actually missing Chunsik since last night, so you came at the right time.”

Feeling stifled from not being able to find Kang Baram, seeing Chunsik peeking out of Chae Goya’s arms brightened my mood.

“Chunsik, did you sleep well?”

Chunsik flicked his thin, long tongue like a toothpick and nudged his head into my hand. His smooth, cool scales touched my skin.

How can he be so affectionate and cute? Unlike other imoogis, he wasn’t shy, which is why Chae Goya often showed him off.

As I diligently petted Chunsik’s head, Chae Goya suddenly spoke up.

“Not just Chunsik… Me too…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“N-nothing… never mind.”

I tilted my head but then looked back down at Chunsik. His golden scales gleamed.

They say summoned creatures can get sick too… Chae Goya seemed to cherish his imoogis, having named them himself.

Such a cute guy. Unlike with Ye Ilhu or Ryu Min, there was no reason to avoid Chae Goya. Besides, I wanted to see more of Chunsik, Seoksam, Younghee, and Cheolsoo.

Then it happened. As Ye Ilhu, who had been quietly watching us from behind, strode over and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me toward him.

“I’m busy, so stop chatting and go in.”

“Busy?”

“The boss called me over this morning.”

“The boss?”

I felt like a question mark murderer. But I was curious about who “that” Ye Ilhu called the boss.

Apparently, it wasn’t a secret, as Ye Ilhu casually nodded.

“Yeah, the guild leader.”

Indeed, being SS-rank, he didn’t seem to have any reservations about dealing with the guild leader.

Even though he’s retired, he’s still the head of this large guild, unlike me who tensed up reflexively in front of him.

Anyway, since he said he was busy, I couldn’t keep goofing around with Chae Goya. After all, my promise to Ye Ilhu came first.

“See you later, Goya.”

“Yes, hyung…”

I waved my hand. Thinking I was going to pet him more, Chunsik shook his small head in sync with my movement.

At that moment, another system window popped up above Chae Goya’s head.

[Chae Goya / C-rank Hunter (Summoning Defense)

♥ Affection Level ♥ : 100/??

System:// Chae Goya’s affection level has surpassed 100! Congratulations! Keep up the good work ^0^!]

What did I do to make it go over 100 already?! It seems his affection level rises only when he’s in front of me.

‘This… this could be really dangerous…’

Thinking that, I turned my gaze away from the awkwardly waving Chae Goya. His face, full of pure affection, made me feel guilty, but I figured I needed a strategy for dealing with everyone.

The next day. Usually, I would go down to the training room earlier than the scheduled time, but I deliberately went exactly on time. The margin of error was within a minute.

When I got there, it turned out Ye Ilhu had come down first and was waiting for me. Ignoring his raised eyebrow, I walked past him.

‘Good.’

Distance myself from all the side characters. This was the conclusion I came to after pondering all night.

It was hard to completely ignore Ye Ilhu, whom I met every morning, but I figured it would be enough to avoid personal conversations.

Thankfully, given Ye Ilhu’s personality, he wasn’t the type to cling to me or feel hurt if I avoided him.

I was about to enter the hologram room when I turned to see Ye Ilhu standing idly behind me.

“What are you doing there?”

“…Nothing.”

He looked at me blankly before approaching with slightly deflated steps. His lower lip stuck out a bit, making him look like a sulky seven-year-old overlapping with his image at about 50% opacity.

As soon as the three-minute sparring session ended, I quickly took off my protective suit.

While I hurriedly removed my gear, Ye Ilhu, who was taking his time, narrowed his eyes at me, sensing my haste.

“Aren’t you going to have breakfast…?”

“I’m leaving first! See you tomorrow!”

Before he could finish his sentence, I swiftly fled the scene. If I dawdled, there was no telling when Chae Goya or Ryu Min might come down to the sparring room.

I had to avoid crossing paths with them as much as possible.

* * *

For the next few days, I diligently avoided the supporting characters.

I would hide in a corner of the library right after eating at the cafeteria. But I wasn’t wasting time.

Acquiring knowledge about combat would surely be helpful someday.

Thanks to being a D-class extra, it was quite advantageous that the original character, Kang Baram, didn’t have many acquaintances.

This meant it was difficult for anyone to track my movements unless they asked Jeong Yeonji or Heo Taekgyun.

Of course, Ryu Min could always use his position as the Vice Guild Master to find my location.

However, perhaps because his affection level was still only at 2 or he was busy with work, we rarely crossed paths.

The real problem was Chae Goya. Avoiding someone who used to show Chunsik every day was no easy task.

One day, perhaps he had gathered the courage to ask Heo Taekgyun about me, he even came to the library.

Fortunately, I was dozing off between the bookshelves on the second floor, not at the central table, so I didn’t have to face him.

I woke up sensing someone approaching. Then, seeing that he didn’t find me, I watched from the upper floor as he drooped his shoulders and turned back.

‘Sorry, Goya.’

I felt a pang of guilt for treating the kind and adorable Goya so poorly.

He was the kindest and closest among the supporting characters, which made me feel even worse.

But since he was a notable figure, I had no choice but to avoid him.

Of course, being away from Chae Goya also meant missing the addictive presence of Chunsik, which was quite hard to bear.

Oh, how I longed to stroke those smooth scales. Sometimes, I wondered why I was putting myself through this.

But just in case, if the affection level of the supporting characters increased even more…

‘I don’t even want to imagine it.’

Countless kidnappings and incidents that Ha Seonglim went through flashed through my mind. Even if it sounded like paranoia, it was better than being oblivious to danger.

“Haah…”

About ten days passed like that. I realized the accumulated fatigue. Even if I pretended otherwise, I was quite exhausted. My body felt hot, and I detected a slight fever.

And it wasn’t just my intuition. During dinner, Heo Taekgyun touched my forehead.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“…Huh? Do I look like it?”

I answered a beat late, and he sighed, giving me a light push.

“It’s not just that you look unwell; you actually seem pretty bad off.”

Really?

“You’ve got a fever, and your eyes are unfocused.”

Sure enough, my body wasn’t in great shape.