Chapter 62
“So you’re saying the two of you will be stuck together for a whole week?”
“I literally just said that.”
Her voice was sharp enough to cut.
From the moment they left the café, the contract was already active. She said she needed to stop by the company right away and dragged Juhyuk along.
He wondered inwardly whether it was okay for her to directly reveal the headquarters of an illegal hunter organization, but she answered casually that it wasn’t really a problem.
And so, they took a taxi and arrived at the main building of Hyeonho Candy.
As soon as they arrived, they headed straight to Yeonho’s office. After hearing the entire situation, he made a sour face.
“Well, if it’s an issue involving a contract with Mephisto, of course you can take a break from company work, but…”
His eyes darted between Juhyuk and Jia.
He looked like he wanted to say a lot more but swallowed it down.
“No, actually, this is good for us.”
“It’s not good at all!”
“If you get close to a D-rank reawakened hunter, that’s obviously great for us, isn’t it?”
It hadn’t even been a full day, but the rumors had already spread everywhere.
Hyeonho Candy wasn’t exactly inferior when it came to information networks.
‘Do they have someone planted inside the Association?’
Otherwise, the speed of the leak made no sense.
He felt a bit uneasy about the association’s sloppy security.
“If you make Jia cry, Hyeonho Candy won’t sit still.”
“I told you that’s not what this is!”
“Even if she looks tough, she’s actually really soft-hearted.”
Ignoring Jia’s indignant squawking, Yeonho tossed unnecessary advice at Juhyuk.
With that smile, he looked like a father sending his daughter off to get married.
“Anyway, what about sleeping arrangements?”
“Sleeping arrangements?”
“You have to stay together for a week, right? So you have to sleep in the same room.”
It wasn’t something they’d thought too deeply about yet.
Juhyuk immediately spoke the plan he already had in mind.
“We were just going to sleep at my place.”
“…What?”
A blank, stunned expression.
Jia, who had been listening from the side, asked again because she thought she’d misheard.
“You live with your mother, right?”
“Yeah?”
“And you want to show her you and I sharing a room?”
“Yeah.”
“….”
“I thought it was a pretty good idea.”
It was absolutely not a good idea.
At least, that was the expression on the other two faces.
Juhyuk didn’t misunderstand why they reacted that way, so he added an explanation.
“If my mom is at home, obviously I’m not going to do anything weird. So doesn’t that make you feel safer?”
If his mother was asleep just beyond the living room wall, then at least Jia would have zero risk of anything happening.
To him, this was a perfectly reasonable plan—
and after listening, the other two begrudgingly admitted it had some logic.
But—
“It still won’t work! Your mom will get the wrong idea!”
“Being misunderstood is better than going to some unsafe place, isn’t it?”
“So… so you’re saying if it’s not your house, you would do something weird?”
“No, but I figured it’d make you feel the safest.”
“I don’t like it. Nowhere feels safe.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
The contract was already signed.
They had to stay together—even sleep in the same place.
If she kept saying no to everything without offering a solution, he was stuck too.
As the argument stalled, Yeonho finally stepped in.
“How about this—we’ll just sponsor a hotel for you two. You can stay there.”
“A hotel?”
“Yeah, a hotel.”
Yeonho smiled kindly.
“It’s a newly built place, so the facilities are great—perfect for recovering after training. And since it’s connected to us, if anything happens that Jia doesn’t want, we can intervene immediately.”
For Juhyuk, who lived for training, fatigue recovery was important.
A modern hotel was a tempting offer.
For Jia, it was also a good option.
No worrying about someone’s eyes on them, no awkward misunderstandings, and if anything felt off, she could just call the front desk and get Hyeonho Candy involved.
“What do you think? Not a bad plan, right?”
“….”
Jia hesitated.
She was still full of complaints, since it didn’t change the fact they’d have to share a room—but she didn’t have a better plan.
“…Fine. I guess it can’t be helped.”
“Anything is fine with me as long as you’re convinced.”
And so, through Yeonho’s mediation, they reached a conclusion:
They would stay together for a week in a hotel connected to Hyeonho Candy.
But even as his proposal was accepted, Yeonho had one lingering thought.
‘Honestly, couldn’t they just stay with the Hyeonho Candy staff? Let the whole team bunk together?’
He’d heard that the condition of the Mephisto contract was simply that Juhyuk and Jia had to remain within ten meters of each other.
Nowhere did it say they had to sleep alone together.
He could exploit that loophole and turn this into a company retreat.
‘Well… good things are good things.’
The two were flustered and so focused on “sharing a room” that they didn’t realize there were other options.
Yeonho considered telling them—
and immediately decided against it.
‘If they stay alone and get closer, that’s even better for us.’
Despite being F-rank in mana, Juhyuk already had near S-rank ability.
And now, after reawakening, he was officially D-rank.
‘At this rate, he’ll surpass S-rank entirely.’
He didn’t need to measure it to know.
Juhyuk had grown far beyond what Korea could contain.
A week of alone time with Jia was a golden opportunity.
‘Of course, if Jia really hated it, I would’ve offered another plan.’
Yeonho glanced at her face.
She didn’t look disgusted.
She looked… embarrassed. Flustered.
‘If she really hated it, she wouldn’t blush like that.’
Normally when she disliked something, she made a face of pure contempt.
But right now she was pouting, ears bright red, babbling nonsense like a kid throwing a tantrum.
‘It’s not like Juhyuk lacks charm. Capable, decent-looking, hardworking and family-oriented.’
Honestly, even Yeonho admitted he was the type women liked.
‘Can’t believe Jia might actually get a boyfriend.’
If things went well, maybe they should throw a celebration party after a week.
Looking at Jia fussing beside him, he couldn’t help the proud-dad smile on his face.
“Let’s stop by my house.”
“What?”
They had just left the building.
Jia, sitting in the passenger seat, reacted sharply.
“We decided on the hotel already.”
“I know. We’ll sleep at the hotel.”
“Then why are we going to your house?”
While she snapped irritably, Juhyuk kept his eyes on the road and answered calmly.
“I told you before—my mom wants to see you.”
“…Ah.”
The last thing he said on the day they met Hyeonho Candy’s president flashed through her mind.
Jia assumed he was just joking, but Juhyuk wasn’t the type to invent things.
His mom had watched her inhale bread more energetically than any child. She had brought Jia up in conversation several times, asking why she hadn’t visited recently.
“You eat so happily that she likes you.”
“I was just eating normally.”
“Yeah. Just sit and eat normally again today. I’ll buy you everything.”
“…Really?”
At the mention of free bread, all her earlier hostility vanished. Her eyes sparkled.
Seeing her so thin, with dark circles, she looked like someone who couldn’t finish even half a bowl of rice—yet somehow she devoured bread like a champion.
“Let’s go quickly.”
“….”
If he had known, he would’ve bribed her with bread from the start.
A bit bemused, he led the excited Jia into the bakery.
Only his mother was inside, since the part-timer hadn’t arrived yet.
“Oh my! It’s been so long!”
“Hello.”
The instant they entered, Jia straightened up like a polite model student.
It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had been yelling minutes earlier.
“I brought her to feed her some bread.”
“Hoho, perfect timing. I just finished baking a fresh batch.”
His mother happily disappeared into the back kitchen.
They sat down. Jia sniffed the warm bread smell and practically vibrated with excitement.
Soon his mom returned with a tray piled high with bread.
“Take your time. It’s okay if you can’t finish.”
“Yes~ thank you~”
She definitely had no intention of leaving leftovers.
She thanked his mother politely—then immediately began devouring bread at lightning speed.
As always, his mother watched her eat with delight.
“But what are you two doing today? No training?”
“Oh, we just had something to talk about.”
Juhyuk couldn’t explain the truth, so he dodged the question.
His mother stared suspiciously.
“Hmmm…”
“Stop making that weird face. It’s not like that.”
“Okay~ Jia, tell me if you want more.”
His mother walked away with eyes that clearly didn’t believe him.
Jia should have blushed…
but she was too absorbed in bread to hear anything.
And just like that—
One hour.
That’s how long it took her to finish the mountain of bread.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Oh my~ you really ate all of it?”
“Haha… it was so delicious.”
Seeing her satisfied expression, his mother looked as pleased as if she’d been fed.
“Son, it’s getting late. Make sure to take her home safely.”
“Oh—right.”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t told his mom.
Casually, he said:
“I won’t be home tonight.”
“…Huh?”
“I’ve got something to do.”
Hard to explain, so he kept it vague.
His mother frowned.
“Didn’t you say the only thing you had today was meeting Jia? That’s why you skipped training.”
“It just came up.”
“…Ah.”
His mother smiled awkwardly.
Then she looked at Jia.
Jia’s ears slowly flushed red.
“…All right. Be careful.”
His mother didn’t push further, sparing them from more awkward questions.
Thanks to that, the two left the bakery and got into the car.
“You insane bastard…”
“Huh?”
He bought her a mountain of bread—
and still got cursed at.
