She knows (1)

“So, I think we should move with Eunah for the time being. I’m sorry.”

About ten minutes before the Frontline Bar had opened for business, Kang Shin-hyuk told Claire all the things that had happened while they were visiting the gate and what he had promised Shin Eunah. Claire listened to him carefully before responding with her head tilted.

“Are you apologizing to me?”

“Ah, no.”

“What are you sorry about?” Just act like a superhuman.”

Kang Shin-hyuk thought for a moment before replying.

“I’m apologizing because I can’t be with you.”

“Hey, it seems to me that you are deliberating busier these days.”

“Ugh.”

It was true. It was a time when he wanted to stick to his lover, but that was why Kang Shin-hyuk was keeping busy.

“You don’t hate me already, right?”

“No way. Rather…”

“Rather? So what is it?”

Claire felt overly comfortable. He felt like he was becoming dull when he was with her. She was a great partner, but he thought it wasn’t good to rely on her too much, so he deliberately controlled the time he spent with her.

‘But as a result of that, I’m the one who’s sad and annoyed because I couldn’t meet her. What sort of idiot am I?’

That was the absurd result of a young man basing his judgments on the experience of the elderly. Kang Shin-hyuk put his head on the table and mumbled out his sincerity.

“I’m afraid I’ll become a fool because I’m so happy…”

The moment she listened to him, Claire, who had carefully pursued the answer, was stunned. Those words perfectly matched what she herself had been thinking just a while ago. Surely there was no way he could know of her conversation at that time, but Claire’s face turned red. Fortunately, Kang Shinhyuk’s head was face down on the table, unable to see her expression.

“I’m so embarrassed…”

Kang Shin-hyuk still whimpered quietly. Claire touched her cheek and calmed herself down, making sure she looked at least somewhat normal. Watching Kang Shin-hyuk be so shy made her feel a bit more confident.

“I’m relieved.”

Claire spoke in a sweet voice and gently stroked his head.

“I thought I only liked you.”

“That can’t be. I liked you first, but…”

“Ahahaha, you’re completely red. How cute.”

Claire stopped laughing at Kang Shin-hyuk’s shy appearance. She was unbearably in love with this side of Kang Shin-hyuk, who was calm one moment and then so pure the next. It was regrettable they had to open the bar soon. So, she stopped making fun of him, and Kang Shin-hyuk jumped up.

“Oh… am I cute? I’ll make you cute, too.”

“Ah!”

Kang Shin-hyuk took his revenge by embracing and tickling her. She clung to him as if she had been waiting for that moment. Someone might think of her as a doppelganger as the face she showed him was one no one else had ever seen.

“Oh, but there’s one thing to keep in mind.”

“What?”

Kang Shin-hyuk tensed up as Claire, who was in his arms, suddenly switched topics.

“You have to tell Eunah.”

“Ah.”

“So, like this.”

Claire kissed him on the cheek.

“You shouldn’t push yourself too hard.”

“I won’t…”

“Eunah has to get rid of what weighs her down on her own.”

Kang Shin-hyuk, filled with worry, couldn’t meet Claire’s gaze.

“Okay. I’ll try my best.”

“Yes, that’s alright now. It’s impossible as it is, but someday she has to become mentally independent.”

“Eunah’s mother has a lot of trouble to deal with.”

“What, what, what?”

The casual joke Kang Shin-hyuk threw out seemed to be unacceptable. He was barely released after promising her ten kiss coupons that could be redeemed whenever she wanted.

“Really… but you know, Claire.”

“What? It’s business hours now, so tell me quickly.”

Kang Shin-hyuk had to admire Claire’s ability to change into her bartender attitude quickly, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“What are Eunah’s real parents doing?”

“… They are retired superhumans. Both were born into wonderful families in Korea. They run a superhuman company founded with the help of their family, and it has a significant impact on both politics and the superhuman society.”

“It’s really suspicious.”

Even listening to Claire already gave him a negative view on the matter. He had been vaguely guessing since when he had interacted with Eunah as Anvil that her parents weren’t very friendly. He was wondering if she joined the association because of them.

“It was out of rebellion. They tried to make her the representative of their company.”

“Well?”

However, what Claire said was the exact opposite of what he guessed. Kang Shin-hyuk noticed that Shin Eunah wasn’t living with her parents, but that must’ve been a sure departure from them. But the company, what company was it?

“The story is a long one… can you stay after the bar closes?”

“Sure.”

Claire clenched her fists, careful not to show Kang Shin-hyuk the joy she felt as she maintained her poker face.

“Okay, then let’s have some chicken after. I’ll tell you then.”

“Just like the day we first met.”

Kang Shin-hyuk smiled as Claire turned the sign hanging over the door from closed to open.

“Forget everything I said, or did, that day?”

“Feeling shy?”

“Yes, I’m ashamed. At the time, I was acting unnecessarily foolish because I wanted to brag in front of someone I liked…”

“What are you two talking about? I want to hear it!”

Claire turned coldly to the regular visitor, Lim Ha-yeon, who entered right away.

“You drink quietly.”

The bar closed as usual. Surprisingly, Lim Ha-yeon sat down from the store’s opening to its closing, wanting to see how the two had progressed in the meantime, but Claire ejected her, unwilling to waste even a second of her time alone with Kang Shin-hyuk.

“Okay, did you lock the door?”

“Yes. Not even Eunah can come in.”

The two closed the bar and headed up to the second floor, which Claire was using as her accommodations. He had been there once before, but everything was the same. It looked like a standard apartment.

“Here, here.”

“Then, I’ll take it out.”

They sat around the table, having already bought some chicken. As Kang Shin-hyuk took out the box, Claire opened a soju bottle next to him. A laugh came out at her unchanging tastes.

“What are you toasting for?”

“Do it with me.”

“Yes, then for a wonderful new semester.”

“But I don’t think you should be popular with women.”

He had been tired out, thanks to Lee Na-hee and Eleanor. Despite his appeal that Claire alone was sufficient for him, it didn’t work.

“I hope our regent, who is so handsome and unlucky, will be popular with only men next semester!”

“I hate that too..”

Kang Shin-hyuk’s coke glass clinked against her soju glass. Claire emptied the cup in one go and offered him a crispy golden chicken leg before grabbing a breast for herself.

“It’s a mercenary company, the one created by the people named Eunah’s parents.”

Kang Shin-hyuk frowned immediately, and not because he wanted to eat the piece Claire had taken.

“They tried to make their daughter a mercenary? Not join a guild?”

The fried chicken was crispy, and the most delicious that could be found in the superhuman mall. It melted in his mouth in an exquisite harmony of crispy and savory. However, it was hard to enjoy the taste of the food due to the worrisome topic.

“Because an ordinary battle guild couldn’t cross Vanguard and Baekyang. That’s why they turned to the mercenary guild.”

“What on Earth did they want to achieve?”

“Money. They wanted to make huge amounts of money. I don’t know now, but at first, I thought they tried to reinvest in Eunah.”

The artificial superhuman project. Kang Shin-hyuk had briefly heard about it from Claire the day she used her trait in front of him for the first time. He thought it ended with her birth, but it appeared that her parents hadn’t finished the project yet.

“But Eunah didn’t follow their will in the end?”

“Right. Eunah wanted to escape from her parents, and in the end, the Korean Superhuman Association was the choice. Under their management, she couldn’t be easily touched by her influential family members, and she could develop her influence both nationally and globally.”

At first, Claire told her to come to the United States to avoid her parents, but Shin Eunah didn’t listen.

“Do you know why she didn’t come?”

“I think you already know when you look at me like that.”

“Right.”

Claire drank more soju as she pouted.

“She didn’t come as she said she should wait like a good child. Can you believe that?”

“Only because I’ve had a twenty-five-year-old woman call me grandpa…”

“Really, I want her to see you as an ordinary kid… but why did it become like this?”

Claire turned away from Kang Shin-hyuk at that part.

“Whoo, why was Eunah’s adolescence so harsh? Thanks to that, I’m having a hard time.”

“How were you then?”

“I was an exemplary girl who listened well to her mom and dad.”

Claire’s eyes sparkled innocently. He had no choice but to believe her.

“I’m not saying it in that sense.”

“Huh?”

“My mom and dad will want to see you.”

The piece of chicken fell from his hand, but he quickly snatched it up before it hit the floor. No, she said it like that? There was no build-up?!

“My parents were really worried. Because of my ability, I was called here and there, but I had nothing to do with those people. It was almost always because of Eunah.”

No doubt, Claire had suffered because of Eunah, but indeed, Shin Eunah and Claire, both connected to the Hero Universe, were able to withstand that difficult growth period because they had each other.

“It didn’t mean that Eunah and I were going out.”

“But now you can confidently say that you have a boyfriend?”

“Yes. They really wanted me to find a proper boyfriend, one with none of that scandal business.”

Maybe that was why she didn’t get to know people properly. However, if so, he might have to thank Juno Valentine. It was because of his filthy cheating that he was able to meet Claire.

“Anyway, that’s why I decided to stay in Korea.”

“…Didn’t you say it was because of me?”

“It was half and half back then.”

Claire, who casually responded to Kang Shin-hyuk’s beating heart, emptied her soju glass and continued nonchalantly.

“Mother told me to make a child and come back.”

“…I thought I had a very biased view of Americans so far, but surprisingly, it was a bit tamer than I had first imagined.”

He didn’t hate the topic, but it wasn’t one to discuss right now.

“Ah… right. So, the mercenary company? Wouldn’t the scale be big if Eunah went missing?”

Only

“Oh, no. She was resourceful. Their name…”

Kang Shin-hyuk let out a sigh as he heard the name of the mercenary guild. That was because it was the No. 1 mercenary guild in the industry. He had to find out more about them, as he had friends who just joined the mercenary industry.

“Ate it all?”

Claire was staring at him with her eyes twinkling. Kang Shin-hyuk carefully opened his mouth after finishing his food.

“…I will ask you today.”

“Spend the night here today.”

“Sure.”

Kang Shin-hyuk responded immediately. Refusal was unacceptable