Chapter 55 - If Oppa Ever Becomes Famous...

To escape the barrage of calls from reporters and guild representatives, and to talk about everything that was happening, I video-called Sia. As usual, she picked up almost the moment I called.

"Oppa! Oh, wait. Did something happen?"

She had greeted me cheerfully, but the moment she saw me on the screen, concern entered her voice. All those calls must have left me looking as exhausted as I felt.

"Did you... lose the ring? Is that why you called?"

Huh. Come to think of it, the ring Sia had given me wasn't on my finger. A chill ran through me at the thought that I'd lost it, but thankfully, a moment's recollection told me I hadn't.

"No, I... took it off for a bit when I washed up earlier. Now that I think about it, I left it in the bathroom."

That was a close one. If I really had lost it, I wouldn't have known how to face her.

"Phew, that's a relief. It isn't uncomfortable to wear, is it?"

"No. It fits perfectly, and it's comfortable."

Sometimes I scared myself. Lies came out of my mouth without so much as a change in expression.

I was grateful that Sia had made it for me herself, and I knew wearing it helped me to some extent. But that didn't make the uneasy feeling I got from wearing it any easier to describe. I'd gotten used to it enough to manage this much, but every time I remembered that the ring and the necklace I was wearing were made from Sia's bones, I still got goosebumps all over.

I casually went to the bathroom, slipped the ring back onto my finger, and showed it to her.

"If you lose the ring, I can always make another one. I was just worried it might be bothering you."

She let out a sigh of relief.

"So, Oppa, what happened if it wasn't that?"

I gave her a quick rundown of my day.

"At first it was kind of exciting, but it got more and more tiring."

"It's still good news! It means other people have noticed what you've achieved and recognize it."

"I would've felt that way before, but now I don't really care. No matter how much other people recognize me, that isn't what matters right now. What matters is earning your recognition."

Whether I went from D-rank to B-rank in a month and a half or all the way to SSS-rank, I had only one goal: to master dragon power completely.

That was what I'd meant, but Sia seemed to take it differently. Her face turned bright red, and she squirmed with embarrassment. "Oh, Oppa."

Sometimes her reactions like that made me feel embarrassed too. I cleared my throat and went on.

"Anyway, I'm getting tired of answering calls, but I can't just stop picking up or turn my phone off... I don't know how they got my number. I figured I'd rather talk to my Sia than keep taking calls from those people."

"Mm-hmm! I'll make all that tiredness disappear, so don't worry. Hmm, what should we talk about?"

We stayed on the call for a long time and talked about our plans for this week's date while we were at it. When the long conversation finally drew to a close, I said,

"I'll see you then."

"Yeah! And Oppa, if you're keeping your phone on because of me, it's okay to turn it off. You have your laptop if we want to talk."

"You're right. We don't have to use our phones to talk." Why hadn't I thought of that sooner? We could make a voice call or find some other way.

"Sia, I'll probably turn my phone off for the rest of today, so don't worry too much, okay?"

"Okay! It'll be dinnertime soon. Enjoy your meal."

"You too."

After we hung up, I tossed my phone onto the bed, feeling refreshed. That long chat with Sia had washed away my exhaustion. Since I'd warned her, I went to turn my phone off.

Even then, another call came in. "Again...?" Seriously, I'd take just this one last call before turning it off.

* * *

After hanging up with Minjun, Sia fell deep in thought. Having someone you loved recognized by so many people was good news, of course.

The flood of calls from other people had clearly worn him out, but hadn't Minjun told her it was the good kind of tiring? Even so, one thing worried her.

'What if Oppa ends up on TV?'

From what Minjun had said earlier, he didn't seem at all interested in appearing on a show or giving an interview. But that was only her impression. Who knew when he might change his mind and appear on a popular program?

Someone else might wonder why she was worried instead of simply thinking it would be exciting to see her boyfriend on TV. But Sia saw it differently.

'If Oppa gets famous from being on TV, there'll definitely be a bitch or two who falls for him and starts flirting.'

If Minjun appeared on TV, the program would probably start by covering his astonishing growth and achievements. But Sia was certain viewers would notice more than that. They'd notice his handsome, celebrity-worthy looks too. A man who wasn't even a celebrity but could captivate women like that was bound to become a sensation. Add in the potential he'd shown as a hunter, and he'd draw even more attention. With talent and looks, there was no way broadcasters would leave him alone.

Then he'd naturally get offers to appear on other shows. He'd become a celebrity, attract attention from other women, and perhaps grow close to pretty, famous women while working alongside them... What if one of those women decided to seduce him? What if young, pretty, talented women who could see Minjun whenever they wanted started subtly tempting him, while she could rarely see him at all?

Most people might think her worries were absurd and excessive. But no one who wasn't in her position could understand how she felt. She hadn't even been back on Earth for a month and a half, yet other women had already openly gone after Minjun twice. She'd heard before that women had asked for his number several times before his reincarnation, and she'd seen women flirt with him in person more than once. For it to happen twice in such a short time, of course she was anxious.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

Anxious, she began chewing on her nails. "That... that can never happen..." Minjun's face couldn't become known through a TV appearance, or even through YouTube. She wanted everyone in the world to appreciate him, yet at the same time she wanted to be the only one who knew how attractive he was. The contradictory feelings stirred in her chest.

'Why am I so anxious?'

She stopped chewing her nails and picked up some of Minjun's old clothes she'd left beside her, breathing in their scent. His scent had faded considerably with time, but she could refresh it with the perfume he liked to wear. "Phew." She calmed down a little, only for her thoughts to turn elsewhere.

When she thought about it, wasn't Minjun exhausted because someone had leaked his contact details and brought that flood of calls down on him? 'That's pretty infuriating, actually.' All that attention was one thing. But who had gone around handing out his precious personal information without permission? She wanted to see the person's face.

'I'll have to look into that too.'

She didn't know how Minjun's personal details and number had leaked. But if his number had gotten out through anything other than legal means, Sia resolved to make the culprit pay.

* * *

If I turned my phone back on, how many missed calls would be waiting? I considered checking, but remembering the nonstop calls from earlier that day killed the urge. Maybe I shouldn't turn it on until tomorrow at the earliest. Still, having my phone off didn't mean I could do nothing, so I sat down at my laptop. The first thing I did when it booted up was check the news. Sure enough, portal sites were full of articles about me.

<From D-Rank to B-Rank in One Month: Unprecedented Rising Star in Korean Hunter History?>

<Villain or Not? Experts Say 'High Chance He Was Deliberately Hiding His Power'>

<Two-Rank Rise in a Month and a Half: Unprecedented Growth Draws Overseas Attention>

<Promising Newcomer Bursts onto the Scene: Will China and Saudi Arabia Open Their Wallets?>

Judging by the articles, people were making all sorts of wild guesses about what I might do, without any thought of whether I'd agree to any of it. One article even called the whole thing an obvious fraud and, without a shred of evidence, suggested I'd somehow arranged to receive an artificially low rank on my first assessment. That said it all.

At least none of the articles had revealed my personal details or even offered clues to them. If they had, I might have sued for leaking my information.

Anyway, before searching for gates I could tackle tomorrow or the day after, I checked my inbox on a whim. Sure enough, there were quite a few emails from guilds, broadcasters, and reporters. I deliberately left them unopened and looked only at the subject lines, but as I scrolled through, it seemed even a famous talk show on a major broadcast network had invited me on.

How was I supposed to answer all these? And a major network, huh... The chance to meet famous entertainers was a little tempting, but I figured I had more to lose than gain, so I decided to turn them all down.

Once I'd dealt with the emails, I went back to looking for gates worth clearing. A B-rank gate in the Seoul metropolitan area, where a guild didn't hold the clearing rights and unaffiliated hunters like me could participate. Those were the conditions I needed... "There aren't many." I'd expected my options to be limited, but there were far fewer than I'd thought. The reasons were simple.

First, the lower a gate's rank, the more of them there were; the higher its rank, the fewer there were. Second, guilds bought the clearing rights to most A- and B-rank gates, leaving even fewer that hunters without guilds could join.

That was why, when I was a D-rank hunter, clearing gates on my own without a guild hadn't been a problem. Guilds rarely bought the rights to D-rank gates, and there were plenty to go around. For the reasons above, though, it was relatively difficult to join a clear of a B-rank or higher dungeon as a freelancer.

'Should I have joined a guild after all?'

I'd often heard that freelance hunters had trouble getting into B-rank gates. Now that I was experiencing it myself, I wondered if refusing to join a guild had been pointless stubbornness. It wasn't as though I had any prejudice against guilds or some traumatic experience with them.

Maybe it would be better to earn a little less, participate in fewer clears, and spend the extra time training or sparring. Or I could ask Rokan for advice. He probably had a better idea than I did of which option was best. Since the thought had occurred to me, I headed straight for his lair.

But as soon as I arrived, Rokan looked at me in surprise. "How curious. I was just about to contact you myself."