Hajin opened his mouth to give a firm, polite refusal, but Didi didn’t give him the chance to get a single word out.

She seemed to read the rejection on his face before he could even form the first syllable. Before he could react, she stepped forward and grabbed both of his hands in hers, her grip surprisingly firm for someone acting so delicate.

"Please?" she asked, her voice dropping into a soft, pleading tone while she looked up at him through her lashes.

"I’ve already told all my friends about the person who saved me, and they’ve been dying to meet you. It would be so embarrassing if I showed up alone after promising them you’d be there."

He felt his resolve slipping further. He tried to pull his hands back, but she held on, her expression shifting from pleading to a small, knowing smirk.

"And besides," she continued, her voice gaining a bit of its usual royal confidence, "you’re an official ranker now, Hajin. My father was the one who gave you that recommendation letter, remember? It would be incredibly rude to get your license and then ignore the person who made it possible, wouldn’t it?"

He stared at her, the realization that he was being played hitting him. She was using a perfect mix of emotional manipulation and political logic, and she knew exactly how hard it would be for him to say no to both at once.

He glanced over at Juna, but his companion was busy staring at a nearby vendor’s stall, very obviously refusing to get involved in this particular disaster.

He let out a long, defeated sigh.

"Fine," he muttered, finally managing to pull his hands free. "I’ll go, but only for an hour."

Didi’s entire face lit up instantly. The shy, blushing act vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by a triumphant grin that made her look like she had just won a major battle.

"Great! One hour is plenty!"

She jumped up once, her silver hair bouncing, and then turned on her heel to run back toward the academy group before they could get too far ahead.

"See you tonight, Hajin! Don’t be late!"

She didn’t wait for a response, storming off toward her friends with a level of energy that made his head spin.

He stood in the middle of the street, watching her go before rubbing the back of his neck.

"I just got played, dammit," he whispered.

"You’re remarkably bad at saying no to her, Master," Juna said, her voice dry as she finally turned back to face him.

"Shut up," he muttered, turning back toward the direction of the guild hall. "Well, there goes our gate run for the day. This is so annoying."

Juna fell into step beside him, her tail giving a single swish. "Are we still going to the guild?"

"We should at least show up," he said, sighing as he navigated around a passing merchant cart. "It would be rude not to appear after three days of silence. I need to check if there are any available ranker quests anyway."

"Understood."

They continued walking through the crowded street, the noise of the city filling the air around them. After a few minutes, Juna stepped closer and bumped her shoulder against his arm, her eyes fixed on a nearby butcher shop.

"Master," she said, her voice dropping a bit.

"Yeah?"

"I am craving meat," she admitted, her ears twitching. "A lot of it."

He glanced at her, a small, tired smile pulling at his mouth. "Fine. We’ll stop by a restaurant after the guild."

As they walked, the stream chat suddenly exploded with a new wave of messages, the text scrolling past so fast it was almost impossible to read.

[ xX_Slayer_Xx ] wait what is this energy?

[ MoonLight ] are they... are they flirting?

[ GachaAddict ] i am so confused right now, is this a rom-com or a survival show?

[ LoreHunter ] the chemistry is actually insane wtf

[ BigDoge ] master and servant? yeah right, look at that shoulder bump

[ NoobKiller ] why does this feel more intimate than the princess scene?

[ CringeSlayer91 ] bro where did all of you even come from, the viewer count used to be like 200 people and now there’s thousands of you swarming in like flies

[ GachaAddict ] excuse me?? i’ve been here since the gate arc

[ CringeSlayer91 ] the gate arc was like 1 week ago, you are literally a tourist

[ BigDoge ] imagine gatekeeping a stream lmaooo

[ CringeSlayer91 ] imagine showing up after all the hard work is done and acting like you were here the whole time

[ NoobKiller ] hard work? you were WATCHING, you didn’t do anything

[ CringeSlayer91 ] i was here when he had 12 viewers and was eating raw deer meat in a forest, where were you?

[ MoonLight ] this is so embarrassing please stop

[ CringeSlayer91 ] no i will not stop, these people need to learn respect

[ Ashley (mod) ] if you guys don’t stop arguing in the next five seconds i am muting every single one of you and i am not giving warnings

[ CringeSlayer91 ] ...

[ GachaAddict ] ...

[ BigDoge ] yes ma’am

Hajin glanced at the chat feed scrolling across the corner of his vision and felt his eye twitch, ’great, as if this day wasn’t annoying enough already, now even the chat is giving me a headache.’

He dismissed the feed with a flick of his finger and kept walking, Juna matching his pace without saying a word, until the shape of the guild hall came into view.

He pushed through the doors with Juna right behind him, the noise of the street giving way to the louder, rougher noise of adventurers talking, laughing and arguing inside.

Across the street from the guild hall, a young girl sat on the edge of a bench with her legs swinging lazily beneath her, a meat skewer hanging from the corner of her mouth.

She chewed slowly, her large, round eyes tracking the two figures that had just walked through the guild doors.

’Hm?’ she thought, tilting her head to the side as the skewer bobbed with her jaw. ’Isn’t that big brother Hajin?’

She took another bite, her brows pulling together while she kept staring at the guild entrance even after the doors had already closed behind him.

’What is he doing here?’ she wondered, her legs stopping mid-swing. ’And why does he give off such a strong scent now? He didn’t smell like that before, it’s completely different from back then.’

She pulled the skewer from her mouth and sniffed the air once more, her eyes narrowing with curiosity.

"Uriel!" a voice called out from somewhere behind her. "What are you doing? Come on, we’re leaving!"

She hopped off the bench, taking one last look at the guild hall before turning away with the half-eaten skewer still in her hand.

"Coming!"