# 031. The King’s Arrival (2)
“Wow! Vrooom! Beep beep!”
Seeing Yeong-i waving her arms while making incomprehensible sounds, she seemed quite excited. Well, Yeong-i had rarely gone outside since the monsters started appearing. Fortunately, the daycare had reopened recently, but before that, she had been stuck at home.
“Oppa, oppa! Look at that!”
“Yeong-i, shh! Quiet, quiet!”
Excited by the rare outing, Yeong-i was difficult to control. She kept turning her small head in all directions, completely absorbed in exploring the world. Eventually, Jaehee picked her up. The subway was still partially out of service, so they needed to take the bus. With Seoul’s population significantly reduced, there was less traffic, making the bus ride tolerable.
Yeong-i’s feet, which had been swinging happily to the bus’s bumpy movement, gradually slowed down. Under the warm sunlight streaming through the window, her eyes began to droop until her head started bobbing up and down. Jaehee stroked Yeong-i’s round forehead, which was dotted with tiny beads of sweat, while quietly thinking about what had happened at home.
“Pretty oppa.” He had no idea who it could be. He briefly considered someone from the daycare, but Yeong-i had only started going back a few days ago, so the timing didn’t make sense. Before that, she had been at home—where and how could she have met someone he didn’t know about? He knew how much attention his stepmother paid to Yeong-i.
“Sigh, Yeong-i, who on earth told you such things? Where did you meet…”
He decided he should talk to Jeongwoo about it first. But after several attempts, Jeongwoo didn’t answer his calls, so Jaehee ended up sending a brief text.
[Are you very busy? I’ve been putting off the dungeon report and now I’m on my way to the Management Bureau with Yeong-i. I should’ve gone with you. By the way, Yeong-i says a pretty oppa taught her that I’m a king. I have no idea who she’s talking about. Do you know?]
Since Jeongwoo’s parents couldn’t get away from their provincial home, Jeongwoo had gone to visit them instead. He must be busy catching up with his parents after not seeing them for so long.
He’ll contact me when he checks the message later.
Jaehee put away his phone, thinking of Jeongwoo.
They had been so inseparable lately that Jeongwoo’s absence felt empty. Just a few months ago, living in separate homes had been normal, but now his room felt cold without Jeongwoo in it.
The help he’d received from Jeongwoo since his awakening was beyond words. From the tutorial stage until now in the real world, Jeongwoo had continuously provided him with big and small forms of support. Jeongwoo was as devoted as a mother bird caring for her young. He had even given up everything he’d obtained from the monsters he’d caught. Even if Jeongwoo was a pre-awakened Zero who knew more, there seemed no reason for him to make so many sacrifices.
Not that he disliked having Jeongwoo around. Who would dislike having someone they liked by their side?
But the thought kept popping up: Is this okay?
Was he holding Jeongwoo back? Should he distance himself from Jeongwoo?
Brrr. Jaehee ignored his vibrating phone in his pocket and remained lost in thought for a while. Suddenly, he spotted a familiar building through the window and hurriedly pressed the bell.
“Driver! I’m sorry! We need to get off here! Yeong-i, wake up. We’re getting off.”
“Mmm.”
Yeong-i wrapped her arms tightly around Jaehee’s neck. Once the bus stopped, Jaehee hastily gathered their belongings and got off with Yeong-i.
He set Yeong-i down on the bus stop bench and wiped his sweat. He had thought a short outing would be no big deal, but moving around with a child was no simple task.
“Phew, Yeong-i, see that building? Oppa has some business to take care of in there. Can you be good while oppa works?”
“Like daddy?”
“Huh?”
“Are you doing what daddy does? So cool! Yeong-i is not a baby! Oppa, let’s go!”
The mention of “daddy” caught him off guard, but Jaehee soon nodded. Yeong-i was trying her best to act mature, insisting she wasn’t a baby. Perhaps thinking that being carried made her look like a baby, she asked to be put down and began walking on her own. Watching her toddle along on her small feet made him smile involuntarily.
“Oh my! It’s been a while, Jaehee-ssi. Oh, is this your little sister? She’s quite the late arrival. Her big brother must adore her. She’s so bright-eyed and alert.”
Section Chief Lim Yong-tae, whom Jaehee hadn’t seen for several weeks, seemed to have lost even more hair than before. The dark circles under his eyes suggested he hadn’t rested since the training dungeon incident. Jaehee felt somewhat guilty.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
“Not at all. It happens. Now, little one, would you like something tasty? Let’s sit here and have a snack while your oppa works over there.”
“I’m not little! I’m Shin Yeong-i!”
“Oh, my mistake, my mistake. I made an error. Then, Yeong-i, let’s sit here and watch your oppa work. Jaehee-ssi, are you feeling better now?”
“Yes… I’m fine now.”
Jaehee had been making excuses about poor health whenever the Management Bureau called him in. Others who knew about Jeongwoo’s potions probably didn’t believe him, though.
“Instructor Jang In-ho has been waiting for you, but unfortunately, he’s not here today. You’re quite popular, Jaehee-ssi. Others have also expressed interest in contacting you. Ju Se-rin asked me several times to let her know when you come in. Ah, don’t worry, I didn’t contact her. Hahaha.”
Section Chief Lim quickly added the last part with a laugh after seeing Jaehee’s expression. Jaehee smiled awkwardly, feeling his thoughts had been exposed.
“I heard about it through Instructor Jang In-ho, but actually, the Management Bureau has been keeping a close eye on the Doomsday Cult. Has anyone from the press or elsewhere tried to contact you? The Bureau never reveals contact information, but this incident has attracted so much attention… Please let us know if anyone is bothering you.”
“I’ve received many calls from unknown numbers, but I haven’t answered them.”
“Good. There’s no need to. The Bureau has already made an official statement about the incident. However, we’re requesting these separate reports to gather as much detail as possible and prepare for any potential situations. Thank you for coming despite the inconvenience.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I should apologize for being late.”
“Hahaha, you’re the last one, actually. Let’s get this over with. We need to record everything through video interviews. You can head over to the interview room over there.”
“Ah, yes. Yeong-i, oppa will be over there for a bit, so can you sit here and wait?”
“Okay!”
The interview room was made of glass, allowing everyone to see what was happening inside. Thanks to this, Yeong-i wasn’t too afraid of being separated from Jaehee. She actually seemed to find it amusing that Jaehee was inside a glass room. Seeing Yeong-i playing well, Jaehee felt reassured and entered the interview room.
“Hello, Shin Jaehee-ssi. Please look at the camera in front of you and answer the questions comfortably. Please let us know when you’re ready.”
A woman’s voice came through the speaker as he entered the interview room. Even though he had prepared everything he wanted to say in advance, the thought of speaking in front of a camera made him a little nervous. He moistened his throat with the water provided. In fact, he and Jeongwoo had already discussed what parts of the dungeon conquest to share. Since Kang Min-gyu and the others had all passed out during the fight with Ouroboros, they knew nothing about it, so it was just a matter of him and Jeongwoo keeping their mouths shut.
“Then please tell us what happened in order, starting from when you first entered the dungeon. I’ll ask additional questions if necessary.”
“Yes. We entered the training dungeon under the instructor’s supervision. Everyone was a bit tense because it was our first time. The instructor explained about the safe zone, and we went out to explore in groups. After being told it was a training dungeon that had already been cleared and there would be no danger, we were slowly looking around. We moved in groups, and I was with Jeongwoo. As we were exploring…”
While he was slowly talking about the conquest as prepared, someone entered through the glass door of the interview room. Yeong-i suddenly looked at Jaehee, tense from the stranger’s appearance. Jaehee also looked to see who had come in and spotted a familiar face.
Lee Shin-hoo.
The person greeting and shaking hands with Section Chief Lim was Lee Shin-hoo. Come to think of it, Lee Shin-hoo and Section Chief Lim had seemed quite friendly before. Were they frequent acquaintances? At that moment, Lee Shin-hoo turned his head and looked at Jaehee. Feeling awkward about being caught watching, Jaehee smiled uncomfortably. Seeing Lee Shin-hoo’s welcoming expression, Jaehee signaled to Yeong-i that everything was okay.
At times like this, Yeong-i’s wariness seemed considerable, so who on earth could this “pretty oppa” be?
“So you’re saying there were no signs before you realized the dungeon’s rank had been elevated? Please focus on the interview, Shin Jaehee-ssi.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Yes. When abnormalities occurred in the safe zone, I did think something was wrong, but I never imagined the dungeon’s rank had been elevated.”
At that moment, a deafening siren blared.
Emergency evacuation, emergency evacuation. Monster appearance at the intersection road. Monster appearance.
Those in the vicinity, please proceed to the emergency shelter.
Simultaneously, the Status Window appeared for the first time in a while.
