’It’s a lot busier out here than I expected for this time of day,’ Hajin thought, looking at the crowded streets stretching out ahead of them.

The sun was sitting high in the sky, washing the entire city in a bright, warm light that made the white buildings of the capital look almost blinding.

It was right around noon, and the morning rush of traders, adventurers, and commoners was in full swing, filling the air with the constant noise of shouting voices, clattering carriage wheels, and the smell of street food.

Juna walked beside him, her ears twitching at every loud sound and her hands tucked into her pockets as she navigated through the crowd. She hadn’t said much since they left the inn, her expression still a little tense as she kept glancing at him like he might suddenly tip over again.

"I’m fine, Juna," he said, dodging a merchant carrying a stack of crates. "You can stop staring at me like with such sad eyes."

"I am not staring," she muttered, her tail giving a single, defensive flick as a group of passing adventurers brushed past her. "I am just making sure we don’t get lost in this crowd."

"We’ve been to the guild a dozen times, we aren’t getting lost," he said, a small smile pulling at his lips.

He reached out and tapped the air in front of his face, and a second later, the system panel flickered into existence. He navigated to the stream tab and hit the broadcast button, the status light switching from grey to a bright, pulsing red.

[ Stream Connected ]

[ Viewers: 42 ]

[ Viewers: 89 ]

[ Viewers: 154... ]

The numbers started climbing almost immediately, the notification bells from Earth likely going off for thousands of people at once.

"Hey," he said, his voice casual as he looked at the floating panel. "Sorry for being gone so long. I had a bit of a... situation."

The comment section exploded before he even finished the sentence, the text scrolling so fast it was almost impossible to read.

[ CringeSlayer91 ] OH SHIT HES ALIVE

[ ShadowMage44 ] BRO WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD

[ LurkerNoMore ] 3 days of black screen had us stressed

[ NewViewer_02 ] what happened after the light??

He scanned the messages, but his eyes stopped when a golden-tagged comment appeared at the top of the feed, pinned there by the system.

[ Ashley (mod) ] Hajin! Are you really okay? You were out for so long and the stream just cut off right after you passed out in the forest. We were all really worried.

He felt a faint, genuine warmth in his chest as he read her message. Out of everyone watching from that other world, Ashley was the only one who consistently felt like she actually cared about what happened to him, not just the entertainment value of his fights.

"I’m okay, Ashley," he whispered, looking at the golden text. "The evolution just took a lot more out of me than I expected. I didn’t mean to leave you guys in the dark for three days."

[ Ashley ] Three days... we were counting every hour. Just... please don’t do that again without warning us.

[ CringeSlayer91 ] yeah yeah glad you’re back but what about the evolution?? you got two rings now??

[ ShadowMage44 ] show us the stats!

"Later," he muttered, dismissing the more aggressive comments with a flick of his fingers. "Right now, I’ve got some work to do. We’re heading to the guild to pick up a ranker quest."

Juna looked at him from the corner of her eye, her brows pulling together. "Are you talking to them again?"

"Yeah," he said, not looking away from the floating screen. "They were worried."

She huffed and looked back at the road, but her ears stayed turned toward him, listening to every word. "Humans are strange. Why would people you’ve never met care if you’re alive or not?"

’I’ve been wondering that myself for a while now,’ he thought, but he didn’t say it out loud.

They were less than fifty meters from the guild entrance when a sharp, familiar voice cut through the noise of the street.

"Hajin!"

He went completely still, his foot stopping mid-step as the voice registered in his mind. A cold sweat immediately broke out on the back of his neck and his eyes darted toward the nearest alleyway, his body already tensing to bolt before his brain could even finish the calculation.

’No, no, no,’ he thought, his heart sinking into his stomach. ’Not today, please not right now.’

"Found you!"

He slowly turned his head toward the source of the shout, and sure enough, he saw Princess Didi walking toward them.

She wasn’t alone, either, walking right beside her was a girl with short, messy hair who was already grinning wide and waving a hand in the air, along with a few other students from the academy dressed in their formal white-and-gold uniforms.

Didi was practically marching, her silver hair catching the noon sun as she closed the distance with a look on her face that said she was definitely not happy about having to track him down in the middle of a crowd.

"Master?" Juna asked, her ears pinning back as she looked from Hajin to the approaching group. "Should we..."

"It’s too late," he whispered, watching the group close the distance. "She is already locked on. If I run now, she’ll just have the knights hunt me down and it’ll be ten times worse."

The messy-haired girl was the first to speak, her eyes moving from Hajin to Juna and then back again with a look of pure, unbridled curiosity.

"So this is him?" she asked, leaning in close to Hajin’s face without any regard for personal space. "The mysterious savior who’s been making Didi lose sleep for the last three days? I expected someone... I don’t know, taller? He doesn’t exactly look that—"

She cut herself off mid-sentence, her eyes dropping to the silver badge pinned to the side of Hajin’s belt.

Her pupils shrunk as she processed the placement number engraved into the metal, and they went even smaller when she glanced at the one on Juna’s chest.

A second later, she let out a strangled yelp and scrambled backward so fast she nearly tripped over her own feet.

She didn’t just stop talking, she immediately bent her waist and dropped into a deep, formal bow that looked physically painful.

"I am so sorry!" She squeaked, her voice two octaves higher than before. "I didn’t see the badges! I didn’t realize you were official rankers! Please don’t report me to the academy board! I’m just a loud-mouthed second-year!"

Didi let out a short, bright laugh, the sound cutting through Bekky’s frantic squeaking. She looked Hajin up and down, her eyes lingering on the silver ranker badge for a second with a look of genuine surprise before she shook her head.

"You should probably say something to her before she bows herself straight into the pavement," she said, gesturing toward the trembling Bekky.

"If you just stand there without saying anything, my friends are going to get a very wrong idea about what kind of person you are."

"I am a normal person," he muttered, though standing next to an evolved summon while wearing a ranker badge made the lie sound pretty weak.

He was about to say something to the still-trembling Bekky, but he stopped when a new, unfamiliar voice cut through the air from just behind the group.

"Princess Didi?"