“So… What brings you here?” Hajin said before letting out a deep sigh.

“Checking on the construction progress.” Yeonha answered with a smile before she sipped on her tea.

“…” Hajin looked at her with a slight frown for a moment but ended up sighing anyways. “...Right” {At this point I’m on my way to break Cristopher’s record on sighing…} He thought for a moment. All-day he has to deal with Olivia going over and over again on Evandel’s situation. If that wasn’t enough, he also had to calm both of them down, as Olivia tried her best to placate Evandel, which didn’t turn out well, with Evandel getting angrier with her. Though, for Olivia’s peace of mind, Fran calmed Evandel down with chocolate, though she still didn’t drop the idea of snitching Olivia out.

“Well, if you excuse me, I’ll take a look at the backyard, most of the reconstruction can be seen from there.” Yeonha smiled as she finished her tea and stood up. Hajin sighed once again and followed her.

Walking towards the backyard, Hajin and Yeonha both start hearing a quarrel from outside.

“Mm?” Hajin tilted his head and hurried outside. Only to open the door and find Fran trying to mediate between Olivia and Evandel. “Ha… Not again…”

“What do you mean?” Behind him, Yeonha looked over his shoulder, only to freeze, dumbfound by what was happening. On one side was Olivia pointing and shouting to a small child while being grabbed by three of the oldest children, Josh, Laura, and Gabriel. On the other side, was the small child, who was also shouting and pointing back at Olivia, she was, in turn, being grabbed by another child who Yeonha recognized as Anne, the energetic little girl of the orphanage.

“Could you two stop this already? Ha…” Meanwhile, Fran was pinching the bridge of her nose while standing between them. “I swear that if you don’t stop this right now, I’ll get really mad.” She said with a stern expression.

“She started all this!” Olivia said.

“Unni… Evandel is just a child.” Laura said with an awkward smile while pulling Olivia.

“I don’t care!” Came the retort.

“...She’s another child, Laura.” Josh said while shaking his head.

“Let me go! I’ll teach this old hag not to talk badly of my daddy!” On the other hand, Anne was working really hard not to let Evandel jump at Olivia.

“Calm down! Listen to me!” She said as the huffing Evandel tried to break free.

“What is this…?” Yeonha finally asked Hajin, while perplexedly looking at the comedy skit in front of her.

“Ha…” Hajin sighed once again. “Let’s just say that Olivia’s bad mouth and Evandel’s love for her father didn’t allow for a good first impression…”

“…” Yeonha was utterly confused. Not knowing just what could happen to get to this point. “Shouldn’t we try to stop this?”

“Yeah, go ahead and try. Fran and I have been trying all day. They just don’t stop.”

Yeonha nodded and was looking for a way to stop this, while Fran was just about to smack both children on the head, even if they weren’t really part of the orphanage.

“ROAR!” But before they could try anything, a roar came from one of the corners of the backyard, making everyone, including Olivia and Evandel, stop and look towards it. There, they could see a lazily walking Shina who started to growl at them.

Shina slowly walked until standing between them, besides Fran. And unexpected to everyone, started to growl at both Olivia and Evandel, before moving towards Evandel.

“W-Wait! Shina! Stop!” Evandel shouted as Shina stopped pushing her towards a corner. But regardless of how Evandel tried to fight back, the leopard cat simply ignored her and pushed her away from the fight, Anne following behind.

“Did Cristopher’s pet just scold Evandel and Olivia?” Yeonha asked flabbergasted.

“I… think so?” Hajin answered, also flabbergasted.

Even Olivia, who was shouting at Evandel a moment before, couldn’t help it but be shocked at Shina scolding her, before taking Evandel away.

“Ha…” Hajin sighed while facepalming. “Shit just gets weirder by the day…”

Yeonha, still shocked, could only nod in agreement.

***

“Well… it’s not that bad…” Rachel said as she walked with Antonio and Christopher towards the nearest city with a Portal Station.

“Yes, hyung. Don’t be so sad about it…” Antonio said while smiling awkwardly.

“Drop it…” Cristopher said with a sigh. “I just can’t freaking believe it. Every single time…”

“It was a low ranked dungeon, master, it was bound to give a bad reward…” Rachel said.

“Yeah, sure…” He just sighed while looking at the item in his hand. It was a simple dagger.

[Evil Snake’s Poisonous Fang]

[A dagger made from the poisonous fang of a slain evil snake that fed on goblins and hobgoblins.]

[Armament-grade Dagger. Poisonous]

[Weakening: The poison of this dagger reduces the stats of the attacked target by a tiny bit.

Low-Grade Decay: Any enemy attacked by this dagger will get poisoned by an evil snake’s toxin, causing the affected area to slightly decay over a long period of time. Can be easily treated by most antidotes.]

“Ha…” Cristopher sighed once again before storing the dagger in his bag. {More trash that I don’t know what will I use for.} “Let’s go, we have to get back to Korea soon. I feel itchy for some reason.”

***

The next week was extremely calm, after all, midterms exams were getting closer and closer, and cadets focused almost entirely on training and studying for the upcoming exams. There was even a cadet that was training harder than any other, the cadet turned out to be Olivia, who was going through the hell called Cristopher’s punish-... training, for, in his words, “prepare her for the upcoming exams”.

Days passed by quietly, and soon it was already Thursday, in a couple of days Hajin had to complete his first mission for Jeronimo Mercenary, but before that, both he and Cristopher had to look for something that they requested Park Soohyuk. Evandel tagged with them, as Cristopher promised her to take her out when she knew they were going outside.

Park Soohyuk gave both of them an Agusta Vigilante.

{They look great.} Cristopher thought after they arrived to the parking lot, where both bikes were waiting for them. On Park Soohuyk’s words, they were heavily customized, which made the cost reach a really high number. But both Hajin and Cristopher were satisfied with that.

After talking for a little while, they all left, not before modifying the bikes once again. As soon as Soohyuk left, Hajin took his laptop out and modified the settings on the bike. For him, he just made it so it can become portable by turning it into a suitcase with the use of his Stigma’s magic power. It only cost him 100 SP, so it was fairly cheap for adding portability to it.

Cristopher, who also requested a similar change, told him to limit it to using his specific magic power, natural energy, and draconic energy to make it portable. With so many restrictions on who and how the bike could turn into a suitcase, the actual cost turned out to be only 50 SP.

After that, they all left the place, and Evandel, who until then was turned into a husky, turned back into her child form. All three of them went towards the center of Seoul, where they had some fun by eating in a Steak House that was more of a buffet, after that, Evandel told Cristopher that she wanted some toys, and so they went to buy some toys.

But as they walked through the floors of New World Shopping Mall looking for toys, Evandel found something that got her complete attention.

“…” Hajin just looked at her, while Cristopher could only chuckle. In front of them, Evandel was in a staring competition with a white cat, who also had its eyes entirely focused on Evandel.

After a moment, Evandel pointed at the cat while turning to look at her dad. “Daddy, I want to play with Hayang.”

“She already gave the cat a name…” Hajin muttered.

“Pfft… Talk about being quick.” Cristopher chuckled before motioning her to follow him inside the store. “Come on, then. We have to get her home.”

“They won’t let you take another pet…” Hajin muttered while looking at Cristopher.

“Which is why it is going to be your pet.” But only received a smirk back, while Evandel chuckled.

Frozen in place, Hajin could only look at the pair that went into the store. After a moment he sighed and went inside. He could look at Evandel playing around with the cat, while Cristopher talked with one of the clerks. Getting closer to her, he looked at Hayang for a moment, before turning to look at Evandel.

“And what are you going to do with all your ghost friends? What if they start fighting with Hayang?” He asked her, to which Evandel started to rub her chin for a moment, before smiling brightly.

“I’ll teach them to be friends!” She said, before following with words that made Hajin sigh heavily inwardly. “If they don’t listen to me, I can just smack them until they get along!” Her smile was surprisingly brighter after saying that so confidently.

{…Should I just give her to Rachel one of these days?} Hajin considered the option for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. {It wouldn’t change much… Rachel is that idiot’s student… He would still be there with Evandel…}

After buying the cat, they all went back to Cube and called it a day. Funny enough, once Hayang and Shina met, the latter actually growled at her. It seems they had some kind of chat, as Hayang and Shina exchanged meows and growls until they reached an agreement of sorts.

***

Soon, it was already Friday, and as such, it was the day that Hajin had to complete his mission.

“You ready?” Cristopher who accompanied him outside of the dorms asked him.

“As ready as I can be.” Hajin sighed.

“Well, do your best man.” Cristopher shrugged. “Just know that everything will turn out alright.”

“Right…” Hajin nodded.

“If it makes you feel better, you have to get accustomed to these things. It’s the kind of world you live now.”

“I know.” Hajin nodded before turning away. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait.” Cristopher called him, and Hajin turned around. Taking something out from his pocket, Cristopher threw the small object towards Hajin. “It’s a gift.” He said as Hajin caught the object.

Hajin frowned at him, before looking down at what he caught. It was a bullet. A .50 BMG black bullet. He could see that there were some runes on it. He couldn’t read them, but he was sure they were runes, as they had certain similarities with what Cristopher did before on Aether, his Desert Eagle, and some of his other equipment. “Thanks.” Hajin said as he looked up at Cristopher.

“Good luck.” Was all that Cristopher said before turning to go back to the dorms, he was going to stay with Evandel, who was playing around with Hayang while Shina took care of both of them. Hajin smiled and turned around to leave too.

For the record, once Cristopher got back to his room, he could only raise an eyebrow as he reached the room and found Evandel chastising Hayang, while Shina sat beside them nodding at Evandel.

{Mm… Where the hell does she gets the temper from?} Cristopher thought for a moment, before shrugging and taking a beer from the fridge, sitting on the couch, and looking at the scene unfold.

***

30 minutes later, Hajin finally reached his destination. Torino, Italy.

As he needed a passport and an identification to use the International Portal, Jeronimo Mercenary prepared a fake identification for him, in order for Hajin not to be connected to the assassin that will kill one of the members of the Colaion family, the biggest Mafia family in Italy, which operated in Milan and Torino.

Ironically, to this world, the Mafia wasn’t exactly a bad thing. They had certain sketchy businesses, but most of the time, they were part of the forces that would protect Italy from monsters outbreaks and even Djinns. Some of these families operated on the public as official Guilds.

Because of that, they weren’t at odds with the order forces, at least not to the point that they were back in Hajin’s world, at most, they usually appointed their headquarters out of the central government, just to evade any direct conflict.

And in Hajin settings, the Colaion family had certain importance, as two relatively important characters were from this family. The Fermun siblings, a brother and sister duo that would appear later on the story and that would give some assistance to Suho.

Right now, he was about to kill a member of said family.

{Well... it’s probable that someone within the family reached out to Jeronimo in order to assassinate Siemens.} Hajin thought for a moment as he went outside the portal station. He started stealthily walking towards the hotel where he was supposed to be staying.

“Little apprentice, over here.” But as he walked, someone called him with a lethargic and deep voice that he quickly recognized.

“...Eh?” Turning to look at the one calling him, he found Boss, who was apparently waiting for him, her hand raised, but without any expression on her face.

***

Back at Cube, cadets were focusing on their training, trying to make the best they could with their time.

“I’m so tired~” Inside the training facilities, on the section dedicated to training martial arts, Chae Nayun, who just finished sparring with Kim Suho, sat on the floor, close to Yoo Yoenha, who was deep in thought.

Meanwhile, Kim Suho was trying his best to avoid looking at her directly, as her sweat-covered clothes were sticking really close to her skin, empathizing her chest area a lot. But contrary to his predicament, she didn’t care, and simply looked towards Yeonha, who was still pondering something.

“Yoo Yeonha, what are you doing?” Nayun asked as she sat closer to her. “Why are you not training with us? I even went out of my way and found you a sparring partner.” She said while turning to look at Yi Yeonghan, who was sitting close to the three of them, with a deep-thinking face. {Just what the heck is wrong with these two? Also… since when can Yi Yeonghan think so much? Is he alright?} Chae Nayun thought with a frown for a moment but ended up just shrugging it up while turning to look at Yeonha again.

Yeonha, who was woken up from her thoughts, glanced shortly at Nayun before moving her eyes back to her smartwatch. “I’m just thinking about work.” She said shortly.

“Huh? Work?” Chae Nayun tilted her head. “Why is it always work with you?”

“Because I’m busy with it.” She simply said while writing something on her smartwatch. {What would be a good spot for that other bunker…? I think outside of Seoul would be the best place…} Yeonha thought, looking for a place where to put the second bunker Cristopher requested from her.

“Ehh~ If you keep working that much there’s no way Shin Jonghak will pay attention to you, you know~?” Chae Nayun smirked at her.

“!” Yeonha flinched at her words and glared back. “What would you know?”

“He.” Chae Nayun smirked. “You should focus on him more instead of working so hard. That’s why he keeps rejecting you!” She said as she nodded her head.

Yeonha clenched her fists and teeth, glaring at Chae Nayun before an idea came to her. “Oh, right. Nayun. Kim Hajin told me that he doesn’t like you anymore.”

“What? What are you talking about? Are you crazy?” Nayun asked back, flabbergasted.

“Oh? Is that true?” Suho, who was spectating the scene, couldn’t help but get closer.

“Of course.” Yeonha smiled politely. “He told me that he likes this girl, Olivia’s friend, more. You know? The one that was LOUDLY cheering up for him during the school competitions? The one that was also touchy with him.” She smirked. “I mean, there are also those rumors going around with Rachel, but who knows? Maybe those are to hide his true interest?”

“W-Wha, what!? D-Did you turn lunatic after so much work!?” Chae Nayun shot up, angry. But Yoo Yeonha only shrugged with a smile.

“I’m just saying.” Her smile brightened. “But it’s not like it matters, right? You said you don’t like him.”

“…” Chae Nayun just stood there, shocked, not saying a word. “Tsk.” She shot a glare at Yoo Yeonha and then went to sit down away from her, not talking back. Yeonha snorted and focused on her smartwatch once again, deciding to ignore Nayun and keep working. Meanwhile, an awkward atmosphere settle on the place and Kim Suho, who was standing between them, could only smile awkwardly while looking at both of them.

“...Hey guys, don’t be like this.” He tried to calm them down. “You were getting along until just now. Yoo Yeonha, do you want to spar with me? You came here to train too, right? I can help. You too, Chae Nayun.” He talked to both of them, but to no avail, neither of them wanted to even talk. “Ha… Ah? Where did Yi Yeonghan go?” Suho muttered helplessly as he looked for his missing friend.

Meanwhile, on another section of the training facilities, inside a gravity room, Olivia was training her resistance and control with the augmented gravity and her knives.

“How long have you been doing that?” Yi Yeonghan, who entered the gravity room, asked her as he saw three knives slowly rotating and moving in different directions around her as she sat cross-legged.

“What are you doing here?” She said, not opening her eyes.

“I was curious, and wanted to see how was your training going.” He shrugged.

“Again…” She sighed before opening her eyes to glare at him. “It’s none of your business.”

“Oh, come on… I just want to make sure you don’t hurt yourself while training so harshly.” He said with a sigh. “At least let me keep an eye on you while you train.”

“No, thank you.” She said shortly. “Go away and train, you’re making me lose my focus.”

“…” With a sigh, Yi Yeonghan stopped talking, but he still stayed there, monitoring herself. He knew that if he left her alone, she would take her training to a dangerous level. It was even worse because this wasn’t her last stop, as he knew that she would later go into the forest to keep training. He’s been following her and helping her out whenever she got drained, against her will, of course. Though lately, he’s also been seeing Cristopher and Rachel training with Olivia. {That irresponsible guy…} He thought, after seeing how he pushed Olivia to train even harder.

“Still here?” Olivia woke him out of his thoughts as she glared at him. She was already standing, her knives on the floor. He could see sweat covering her entire body, which made him slightly uncomfortable. “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

“I’m not bothering you. Just making sure you don’t hurt yourself.” He said, averting his eyes.

“That’s bothering me.” She said with an intensified glare, before sighing. “Anyways, if you’re not leaving, at least help me train. Come on, let’s spar here.”

“…” Yeonghan was shocked, it was the first time she even asked him to help her.

“Well? Will you help me or just keep being a bother? Choose quickly.” She said while crossing her arms on her chest.

“I-I’ll help… I’ll help you.” With a sigh, he decided to help her. “Just… I’m not that good with the gravity room, so bear with me.”

“He.” Olivia smirked. “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.” These last words somehow gave him a chill.

{Should I really help her train…?} He thought for a moment, before shrugging inwardly. {What’s the worst she could do?}