Or did she do that interview to turn public opinion around?
As someone who engaged in outside activities as a celebrity, her image was important. Anyway, Seo Gangwoo didn’t do any outside activities besides gate conquests, so couldn’t he just tolerate a little misunderstanding? How was she supposed to know that as soon as the interview came out, she’d be stabbed in the back with a recording file?
Trying to salvage the contract termination, she recklessly went to find Seo Gangwoo and fought with the guide he’d paired with?
She’d only said a few words to that tiny male guide who dared to talk back to her so clearly.
The plan to terminate the pair contract to get a hold on Seo Gangwoo’s leash for continuing to ignore her summons would have been perfect if only a guide with a higher matching rate than hers hadn’t manifested.
And was it just for her own benefit? Her father and grandfather had agreed to it, and they were the ones who orchestrated the process.
She had just been unlucky as things got twisted and tangled, but now she was going to take the blame for everything.
She tried to think if there was any other way, but no answer came.
The reason she’d been able to live as she pleased until now, enjoying many things gracefully from a position different from others, was because she was the pair guide of an S-rank Esper, and because of the power of the Choi family, which held significant weight in Korea’s political and business circles.
The title of A-rank Guide was certainly a profession that could bring wealth and honor that not just anyone could have, but Choi Hyerin wasn’t satisfied with just that.
What brought her even greater benefits that she could be satisfied with were precisely those two things.
Family background and being the pair guide of an S-rank Esper.
But now she was no longer the pair guide of an S-rank Esper. And she had kicked that away herself.
The power of the Choi family disappeared when they abandoned her. She might not be able to expect help from them in the future either.
“Hah…”
Ding-dong—!
The bell rang indicating someone had arrived, but Choi Hyerin, feeling empty-hearted and unwilling to do anything, didn’t even have the energy to check.
But the bell rang several more times, and then even though she hadn’t opened it, the front door opened and the sound of several footsteps could be heard.
“Miss.”
Choi Hyerin, who had been staring straight ahead, finally turned her head at the sound of someone approaching the sofa and calling her, confirming the intruder.
“Butler?”
“The judgment regarding you, Miss, has been handed down. This is the judgment document, so please check it.”
Choi Hyerin’s gaze fixed on the brown document envelope in the butler’s hand.
Even though she had clearly heard what was inside the envelope, Choi Hyerin looked at the butler as if asking what he was talking about, but eventually took the envelope at his urging gaze.
And she took out the white paper.
As her unsteadily shaking eyes read down the paper, the hand holding the paper trembled greatly.
Wondering if she had seen it wrong, she rubbed her eyes and read it several times, but the judgment content didn’t change.
Twenty years! And District 25!
Where even was that?! Was there proper infrastructure? Department stores? Five-star hotels?
District 25 was also continuously being maintained and developed, growing into a decent small-to-medium city, so it wasn’t too barren, but to Choi Hyerin, it was like some unknown countryside.
And right now, that wasn’t even the important thing.
To fill both the basic guide duty performance and the penalty performance, she would have to fill her work days doing nothing but guiding. No, she might even have to do unpaid overtime work alone.
If she couldn’t process all the performance received as penalties each time, more penalties would be added and the period would keep extending. To avoid the accumulating penalties, she had to fill the performance without slacking off.
Guides enjoyed many benefits and avoided most punishments, but because of that, once a decision was made, it was difficult to overturn.
As an A-rank Guide, her base salary was quite high, but for Choi Hyerin, who had been spending money lavishly and living extravagantly, it was far too insufficient. And even that was now scheduled to have more than half seized.
Choi Hyerin, who was now going to work hard in District 25, far from Center 1, unable to leave without permission, felt dizzy from the horrifying reality.
As she held her head with one hand, she noticed men walking around inside the house. They were entering even her room without hesitation and taking out items.
“What? Who are those people? Don’t go in there!”
“They’re manpower to move your belongings, Miss. Since there’s too much to take everything, we’ll only move what seems necessary. If there’s anything you want to pack separately, please pack it now.”
“Butler! What are you trying to do right now?”
“The master says you are to move to District 25 right now. Also, there will be no financial support from the main family, so you’ll have to use the accommodation assigned by Center 25, and all the cards you’re using have been suspended starting this hour.”
“Wha, what—?! Wait!”
Choi Hyerin’s eyes were colored with shock. Were they really going this far? She couldn’t believe this situation at all.
“The master was greatly angered by your interview this time, Miss. While everyone in the family is quietly lying low until this matter passes, your misjudgment has caused the matter to blow up, creating losses here and there.”
“Are you saying you’ll eat up everything I’ve done for the family until now and wipe your mouth clean? Does it make sense to treat me like this over just this one thing?”
“This incident is not ‘just’ anything. You don’t seem to grasp the gravity of this matter.”
“When those family trash caused incidents, they got away with it easily, so why only me!”
“Not only you, Miss, but Director Choi Taekyung will also take responsibility and be arrested.”
“What?”
Choi Hyerin, who had been so focused on her own situation that she hadn’t even thought of her father, was devastated by the fact that even her father had been cut off like a lizard’s tail. If they had abandoned even her father, there was no hope of recovery for her.
“This is the master’s message. He says not to carelessly cause trouble there either, and to work diligently while reflecting. If you act rashly again or do anything that brings shame to the family, he says next time you’ll be sent to the frontlines of the contaminated zones.”
Choi Hyerin was rendered speechless, her mouth wide open.
“Th… this…”
“Everything about how you work and live at Center 25 will be reported, Miss. I’m telling you just in case.”
Even at Choi Hyerin’s stuttering response, the butler stood upright and continued what he had to say without any change in expression.
“Ah, and this house will also be disposed of soon. Since the house isn’t in your name, Miss, you won’t need to worry about it, but the expensive artworks you purchased will be disposed of and deducted from the amount you must repay.”
The butler felt refreshed inside as he delivered what he had to convey with a professional attitude.
It wasn’t just once or twice that Choi Hyerin had treated the employees as beneath her and caused incidents whenever she came to the main house, and each time, his already thinning hair would fall out by the handful.
As the head butler who had long served the Choi family, he felt unhappy that the family atmosphere had become very harsh because of this incident, but at this moment, he felt as refreshed as if a completely clogged drain had been cleared.
“Pack lightly and you can depart right now. We’ll send your luggage separately.”
The butler, holding down his corners of his mouth that kept trying to rise while chanting ‘I am a professional. I am a professional’ inside, perfectly finished what he had to say until the end.
Choi Hyerin was left completely dazed by a reality she absolutely couldn’t avoid.
High-level social gatherings and glamorous parties.
The luxury goods section she visited at least twice a week.
The VIP services of five-star hotels.
Her image standing beneath a chandelier shining from an incredibly high ceiling.
She felt wronged and miserable at the thought that she could no longer enjoy the glamorous celebrity life that everyone had looked up to.
Everything was over.
Choi Hyerin, with her tall and glamorous appearance and manifestation as a high-grade Guide, failed to recognize that she was someone who could shine sufficiently on her own, and couldn’t escape from the cycle of unhappiness of not being able to enjoy even greater things.
And so Choi Hyerin had to pack only simple personal belongings and get into the car waiting outside.
* * *
On the living room sofa, Jiwon turned a page of the book in his hand while lying on his side in comfortable pajamas.
A new work by his favorite author had come out, so he ordered it right away and after opening the first page when it arrived, he couldn’t put it down and kept reading. He was naturally turning to the next page due to the thrilling and exciting development characteristic of the author.
Jiwon fidgeted without taking his eyes off the book and leaned back comfortably.
Jiwon wasn’t alone on the sofa.
Seo Gangwoo was reading the book Jiwon was turning together, offering his firm arm for Jiwon’s head and steadily supporting his body so he could lean comfortably.
Even though two weeks had passed since the incident was settled, outside was still noisy about Guide Choi Hyerin’s matter.
The punishment of those involved was being executed unusually quickly, and there was also great interest because it was related to one of only two S-rank Espers in the country.
So public interest in Jiwon’s existence was also growing more and more.
The fact that the guide in question was 22 years old, and that Jiwon suddenly stopped coming to school around the time similar to that guide’s manifestation. And above all, Jiwon’s voice was exposed in the recording file, so students in the same department at Korea University had caught on, but there was no incident where information about Jiwon was revealed, perhaps due to how the Center handled it.
