<Episode 36>
Unaware that I had woken up, Hunter Lee Hyunwoo sat beside me with a serious expression, looking at his tablet.
‘He really is ridiculously handsome.’
I narrowed my eyes slightly and secretly observed him.
His sharply defined jawline, black hair glimmering faintly in the dim light filtering through the curtains.
His delicate fingers glided across the screen. His brows subtly drew together as if deep in thought, then relaxed calmly again, creating a strangely captivating atmosphere.
I pretended hard to still be asleep while stealing glances at him. But there was no fooling the senses of an S-rank Hunter.
“You’re awake?”
“Huh? Cough, hack! Ah, yes!”
Startled by his sudden question, I choked. He brought me water while I coughed violently.
“Thank you. Since when did you know I was awake?”
“Your breathing changed, so I noticed immediately.”
“…Then you could’ve at least pretended not to notice earlier.”
Embarrassed at getting caught staring, I grumbled, and he nodded, saying he would definitely do that next time.
“By the way, how did you get in? The door should’ve been locked.”
“Ah. I knocked, and the cat opened it for me.”
“What? Jung Hanyang! How could you just open the door without my permission!”
When I shot Hanyang a flat-eyed glare, she swished her tail with a sullen expression.
“You told me to open it, nya.”
“I did?”
“I do not lie, nya. You mumbled that it was noisy, nya.”
It seemed I had heard the knocking in my sleep and muttered that it was noisy.
And Hanyang, trying to eliminate the noise(?), had opened the door.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel a lot better after taking medicine and sleeping.”
Eating the porridge and medicine halfway through had been a godsend. Aside from still feeling a little foggy, I’d recovered to almost my usual condition.
As I sat up, the damp towel on my forehead slipped off with a plop. It was still cold, meaning Hunter Lee Hyunwoo must have changed it recently.
“Thank you. You must be busy, yet you still took care of me.”
“I’m not particularly busy.”
“Ahaha… I see. Still, thank you.”
After thanking him, the conversation abruptly dried up. Feeling awkward for no reason, I brushed my hair back and desperately searched for something to say.
Then I suddenly remembered something Hunter Ria had casually mentioned that morning. She said he had met with the Director, right?
“Did you talk about something with the Director?”
“So you heard from Hunter Ria.”
“Ah! If it’s something I shouldn’t know, you don’t have to tell me.”
He shook his head. He said he’d been planning to tell me once my condition improved anyway.
“He asked whether, if you were willing, you might consider continuing to stay in the Management Bureau dormitory.”
“Th-The Director suggested that?”
I blinked in surprise. I’d expected something like, You may stay until you find another place, but instead, he was inviting me to move into the dorms entirely. It was completely unexpected.
“Are there even cases where someone not affiliated with the Bureau uses the dorms?”
“Not that I know of. But your ability is special. It’s only natural to provide conveniences like this.”
He said that to Hunters who had lost their sense of taste due to awakening side effects, the items I created were no different from miracles.
At his words, I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
“Haha, miracle? Aren’t you praising me too much?”
“Why would I bother saying empty flattery?”
He looked at me with a completely serious face.
“If the Director thought Hunter Haneul’s ability wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t have even made this offer. All of this is to keep you here.”
Hearing that somehow made the spacious dormitory feel burdensome. Reading my expression, he smiled faintly.
“That said, there’s no need to worry in advance. They won’t ask anything unreasonable of you.”
“Even so, I can’t help worrying.”
Still, it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go right now. I shrugged and accepted reality.
I called out to Hanyang, who was exploring the room.
“Hanyang, do you like it here?”
“Of course it’s much better than that cramped old place, nya.”
…Cramped old place.
Well, I couldn’t exactly deny it.
Still, with my housing situation solved, my heart felt much lighter. I looked around the dorm room. A soft bed, a desk, even a dining table. And on top of that, everyone got a private room.
‘Mm, as expected, the Director is the best!’
“Are you that happy?”
“I think I should properly thank the Director.”
He’d given me such a great opportunity; I couldn’t just let it slide. I threw off the blanket and sprang to my feet.
Then immediately sank right back down.
“Ugh. I thought I was completely better.”
“It would be best to rest until you’ve fully recovered.”
He laid me back down again and pulled the blanket all the way up to my neck.
“…It’s stuffy.”
“Endure it. They say you recover faster this way.”
After placing the cold towel back on my head, he nodded in satisfaction. Left with no choice, I closed my eyes again.
Beside me, I could hear the soft tapping sounds of Hunter Lee Hyunwoo touching his tablet. Listening to that steady white noise, I gradually drifted back to sleep before I knew it.
***
“Alright! Fully recoveeered!”
Maybe it was thanks to sleeping all day? When I opened my eyes the next morning, my condition felt perfect. I gave Hanyang a thumbs-up.
“I don’t hurt at all now!”
“That’s good, nya. So are we opening the shop today, nya?”
“Of course! Ah! I should call Ari.”
When I told Ari, she sounded so happy she practically jumped through the phone, insisting she’d come to work immediately. Even when I told her she could rest, she demanded to come anyway. Sometimes it felt like Ari liked working more than I did.
“Why does it feel like it’s been forever since I went to the shop?”
“I strangely feel the same way, nya.”
Before Ari arrived, Hanyang and I headed out to open the shop first. I could’ve used the system’s movement skill, but now that the location was closer, I decided to walk there today as a sort of stroll.
The cool air filling my lungs naturally made me hum.
“Ahh, this feels amazing! If I stay in the Bureau dorms, I can walk every day.”
“Hmph. Already thinking about wasting energy. Truly inefficient, nya.”
Hanyang grumbled about how annoying walking was, yet still matched her pace with mine. After walking slowly for about twenty minutes, the Management Bureau’s main gate came into view. And next to it should have been our shop… but…?
“What is all that, nya?”
We stared speechlessly at the mountain of boxes piled in front of the shop.
What the heck was this? Who stacked all this stuff in front of our store?
As I stared at the boxes towering well above my height, a passing customer spotted me and greeted me warmly.
“Oh my! Owner! Are you feeling better?”
“Ah, yes. Thankfully, I’m much better now.”
“Everyone was worried. People prepared all sorts of healthy things for you, so make sure to eat them slowly.”
The customer giggled behind her hand and pointed at one of the boxes piled in front of the store.
“This one’s the vitamins I brought. Apparently, they’re really good for you.”
“Ah… all of this is gifts?”
“Ooof course! We prepared them because we heard our dear owner was sick.”
These boxes were all gifts the customers had prepared for me. Looking closer, sticky notes were attached to the boxes.
[Owner, please don’t get sick!]
[This is red ginseng syrup my parents made. Mix it with warm water and drink it.]
[Giving you a self-defense item, haha. Get well soon :)]
I scanned over the stacked boxes. Red ginseng, vitamins, bellflower tea, mushrooms I’d never even heard of…. It looked like opening all the boxes alone would take an entire day.
“Gifts for me… I never even imagined it.”
This many people were waiting for me. My chest felt warm and fluffy inside.
“Alright! I’m going to work even harder today!”
I suddenly felt overflowing motivation. Just as I flipped the sign to “Open” and tied on my apron, Ari arrived with perfect timing.
“Unniii~ I missed you!”
“It’s only been a day. What a drama queen.”
“Do you know how long that one day felt?!”
Ari clung tightly to me, acting cute, then spotted Hanyang sitting indifferently behind us.
“Gasp! Our adorable Hanyang!”
As if possessed, Ari rushed over and rubbed her cheeks all over Hanyang. Hanyang pushed against Ari’s cheeks with her front paws like she was annoyed, but Ari didn’t care in the slightest.
Watching the adorable scene, I burst out laughing while pouring batter into the fish-shaped pastry mold.
“Ahahaha! Ari, I think Hanyang really hates it.”
“No way~ She likes me soooo much. Right~?”
Jingle
At that moment, the shop door opened, and a customer wearing a fur hat peeked inside. The customer cautiously stuck their head through the doorway and asked:
“…Can we get fish-shaped pastries today?”
As if we’d planned it, we both smiled brightly and answered together.
“Of course! We’ll prepare them right away!”
“It’s cold outside, hurry in!”
It was the first day in a long while that the shop was operating with walk-in sales instead of reservations. The excitement of feeling like the shop’s early days again made my heart flutter.
“Ah, wait a second. They’re open today! Everyone, come in!”
The customer’s face lit up as she happily shouted outside the store. Then from outside came a loud chorus of cheers.
‘Wait. Cheers?’
And then people started flooding into the shop like a tidal wave.
The store filled up in an instant, and the line outside twisted and stretched endlessly.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
…I’m gonna be okay, right?
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