After considering the matter from several angles, Lemming formed a hypothesis.
More precisely, after slowly piecing together everything that had happened so far, he had gained a rough idea of what kind of suspicion Kang Changho had been harboring.
However, now that the man's hostility had already been aroused, there was little point in correcting his misunderstanding about Lemming's true identity.
Besides, there was always the risk that the assault offender might report the existence of aliens to NASA in retaliation for the breach of contract.
"Hmm."
Contact with the dangerous element would be put on hold for now.
Lemming soon returned his attention to the conversation at hand and addressed the guest sitting before him.
"Anyway, I understand perfectly well now that you came here with good intentions, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi. So let's get to the point. I'm currently in a rather difficult position because of a certain S-rank Hunter, and if it isn't too much trouble, could you, as a public official, help me out a little?"
"Uhm."
"You can see what the situation is like. I'm the one being attacked unilaterally by that Hunter. At this rate, someone could end up dead without anyone even realizing it."
Judging by those words alone, he sounded like a completely innocent victim.
"What exactly do you need me to do?"
"It's simple. Kang Changho will probably come to see you again to retrieve Justitia, and he'll ask what happened here in this one-room apartment. When he does, all you have to do is tell him one thing."
"..."
"I checked, and Kim Giryeo was exactly the same person I'd always known."
"..."
"And after that, if possible, I'd like you to collect a strand of Kang Changho's hair. I need it to make a magical tool to use against him."
Easy, right?
Hearing those words from an alien wearing human skin made the Earthling's skin grow clammy with cold sweat.
Putting aside the insane request that she obtain a strand of hair, another small problem occurred to her once she thought about it more carefully.
"Um, excuse me... but what if Hunter Kang Changho threatens me during the conversation?"
This meeting had been set in motion by an S-rank Hunter with a criminal record for assault.
If someone like that openly demanded information from her, was keeping silent really the best course of action?
"If he keeps pressing me for details and I refuse to answer... I feel like he might, well, resort to force. He might threaten me or cause some kind of scene. What am I supposed to do then?"
There was a trace of unease in Seonwoo Yeon's voice.
But the blond man sitting across the room answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Well, how would I know?"
"Yes?"
"Ah, unfortunately, you'll have to handle most of the aftermath yourself this time, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi. If you think about it, the reason my secret was nearly exposed in the first place is because an uninvited guest suddenly came barging into my home."
In the end, wasn't the responsibility hers, since she had brought Justitia here of her own accord?
At this rate, she deserved to be lumped together with modern Alphaurans and treated as one of them.
The archmage of the old world shifted the blame with remarkable ease.
"If it's really too difficult, you can just say that I threatened you and that's why you can't reveal the details."
"Uhm."
"On a planet crawling with billions of people and aliens, being the only one exposed as someone from another world is... well, that's a bit much. So keep quiet."
"Yes."
"Besides, does Seonwoo Yeon-ssi even have any obligation to tell that guy everything you heard here? You only brought the scale and came because you were worried about me, pretending you didn't know any better, right?"
"Yees..."
"You've now confirmed that the fourth S-rank Hunter you know has had exactly the same personality all year. So, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi, doesn't that mean you've already accomplished what you came here to do?"
"I guess so."
"Honestly, unless he bribed you or something, there's no real justification for it. So I don't see why you have any reason to cooperate with Kang Changho's demands."
Fluent and persuasive.
As the blond man spoke with a composure that made it difficult to believe he was an alien life-form, the guest found herself nodding along almost as though she had been hypnotized.
"I can't help you directly right now, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi."
The man continued.
"Since we're already talking about it, I suppose I can tell you this much. As you can see, embarrassing as it is to admit, my current circumstances are somewhat unfavorable."
"What exactly do you mean?"
"I mean I don't have an effective way to stop Kang Changho either. You should've realized that already, seeing how far I've been pushed by nothing more than a single scale."
Lemming shifted in his new body and casually crossed his arms, a posture he had often adopted in his previous life to keep his tendons from drifting with the current.
Even though he now lived as a mammal, twisting his limbs together like this somehow gave him a sense of stability.
"There was a reason I revealed my secret to you. Since I'm an outsider, it's only natural that I lack common sense about this place."
If he had managed to pass convincingly as a native after spending only a year on Earth, that alone was honestly an impressive accomplishment.
Still, the archmage set aside his pride for the moment and continued.
"Seonwoo Yeon-ssi, how do people on Earth usually deal with situations like this? The police here are always saying they can only intervene after something bad actually happens. Honestly, I've had quite a few frustrating experiences with the laws of this place."
"T, that's..."
"But you're a native of this planet! Isn't there some kind of reliable secret weapon you can use?"
Because they viewed the world through entirely different frameworks, the alien suggested that a solution might be found somewhere he himself would never think to look.
The black-haired woman let her gaze wander nervously, but nevertheless answered him sincerely.
"I'm sorry to say this when you're placing your hopes on me, but honestly... I don't think there's any real preventive measure I can take against an S-rank Hunter."
"Oh my."
It was at that moment that the Earthling guest suddenly arrived at a much more fundamental question.
"Uh? Wait a minute. But from what I've heard, that... alien..."
"I told you to just call me Giryeo, like usual."
"Uh, y, yes. So, Hunter Kim Giryeo is—"
There was one major inconsistency in the blond S-rank Hunter's story.
On Alphaur, the word "mage" carried roughly the same nuance as "hunter" did on Earth.
Likewise, "magic" and "skill" were almost interchangeable concepts.
Which meant—
"From what you've said, it sounds like you used to be an absolute authority when it came to magic. So then... why are you saying you can't deal with Kang Changho?"
And there it was.
The question that cut straight through everything that had happened since last summer.
How could a great Archmage like him be unable to stop a primitive sorcerer from Earth?
"That's right."
At this point, one particular characteristic of Alphaurans became relevant.
Because their visual organs were embedded inside their bodies, Alphaurans naturally had no tears.
Their society had no culture of crying, and emotional changes were instead conveyed through pigment cells in their blood vessels.
Changes in brightness and darkness served, in effect, as facial expressions.
So when the reincarnated alien first saw people on Earth shedding tears to express grief, he had experienced a moment of instinctive revulsion and unfamiliarity.
And as Seonwoo Yeon had briefly noticed before, this blond Hunter found it difficult to express emotions properly while living on Earth.
Most of the time, he had no choice but to remain expressionless.
But.
"Well, that's a valid question. How in the world did I end up in a state where I can't even defeat one of those primitive people...?"
"P, primitive?"
It was strange.
He was a creature who had never even known what it meant to shed tears, yet for some reason, the corners of the man's eyes looked unusually damp today.
"My current condition is largely the result of defects in the body I ended up using as my reincarnation vessel."
"Yes?"
"Kim Giryeo was... a patient."
"Ah..."
"This wasn't part of the original plan. Honestly, I wasn't asking for anything extravagant. In my new life, all I wanted was a modest three-story house of about 200 square meters where I could read books and relax."
The being from the binary star system, now living in a body with completely dry skin, continued speaking with eyes filled with self-pity.
"Anyway, half of me is ruined because I got stuck in this body! In this life, the range of magic available to me has become extremely limited."
Magic?
Was he talking about skills too?
Seonwoo Yeon caught on to his choice of words and briefly thought it sounded like something straight out of a fairy tale.
"At this point, the best I can manage is remotely killing a single B-rank Hunter. Ugh... So please don't provoke me carelessly. Ever since I was reborn, I've become more emotional, and if I lose my temper, I might accidentally blow someone's head off."
Seonwoo Yeon immediately withdrew her previous thought.
Fairy tale, my ass.
"I'm telling the truth."
The Association employee, who had seemed to regain some composure, once again lowered her gaze uneasily.
"But just so you know, Seonwoo Yeon, the fact that I want to protect you is also genuine. I'm a very kind alien, after all. I don't particularly like the idea of letting Kang Changho hurt an innocent person like you."
Justitia tilted right.
Then left.
Then right again.
The scale swayed back and forth.
But since the judgment hadn't been deliberately manipulated by the caster, Lemming didn't even glance at it.
His attention remained entirely focused on the conversation.
"What on earth are we supposed to do to stop Kang Changho from hurting us?"
"I'm not sure."
"Uhm."
"..."
"Oh, right. Seonwoo Yeon-ssi, how about you stay confined in my room for about 30 days? If you don't come out, Kang Changho might eventually get curious and come looking for you."
"In person?"
"If we can get close enough to see each other's faces, I have magic I can use too. So we'd have a chance of winning."
"..."
"By the way, make sure you don't tell anyone else about this. You might end up dead."
"Sorry, but may I share my thoughts about the confinement idea?"
"Of course."
"If I don't go to work for 30 days straight, I won't be an Association employee anymore."
Oh my.
"That's the problem with office workers."
Seonwoo Yeon couldn't bring herself to reject the suggestion outright and merely showed obvious discomfort.
Seeing that, the alien quickly made a decision.
Fine.
Then I'll abandon the plan of keeping her here as bait.
Come to think of it, if we deliberately lure him here in such an obvious way, the target—Kang Changho—might notice something and become suspicious.
"There'd be nothing to gain from making him more wary of this one-room apartment."
A moderate level of intelligence.
And magical power so weak that, in an F-rank body, he couldn't even dream of confronting anyone head-on.
Kang Changho was an extremely troublesome obstacle.
From the perspective of a certain alien, he was troublesome enough that even the possessing spirit he had encountered in his previous life had been easier to deal with.
"Then..."
But there was no time now to dwell on matters from a life already left behind.
The blond-haired Hunter thought for a moment before quickly reaching a conclusion.
"Let's figure out together how everyone can stay safe from now on. Ah, and don't worry too much just because we haven't found a clear solution yet."
"Yes."
"The spell I placed on you, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi, is fundamentally quite similar to a curse. If you die, I'll be notified."
"Yes?"
"So even if you meet some unfortunate end because of Kang Changho, I'll definitely avenge you. Doesn't that make you feel incredibly reassured?"
"Haha..."
"..."
"..."
"Your expression seems to have gotten worse."
The longer the conversation continued, the less Seonwoo Yeon smiled.
At the same time, she spoke less and less.
In truth, she had already fallen into a state of resignation.
One unbearable shock after another had descended upon the fragile shaman born in Hadong.
How could anyone expect her to continue sitting there calmly, processing and reflecting on every new revelation?
Afterward, she remained in the studio apartment for another 45 minutes before finally being released from the barrier.
Magic.
Aliens.
A fight between S-rank Hunters.
Rather than offering reassurance, the conversation had burdened her with an avalanche of knowledge that seemed destined only to make her life more difficult.
And so Seonwoo Yeon left carrying a secret in her heart that she could never tell anyone.
Perhaps sensing the guest's anxiety, the landlord added one final remark just as she was preparing to leave.
Whether she believed his story about another home world or not didn't matter for now.
And she probably couldn't yet appreciate just how dangerous the curse placed upon her really was.
But if she ever felt tempted to break her promise—
"Go ahead and try breaking it."
Whether those words were meant as kindness or a threat was impossible to say.
Seonwoo Yeon reached the used car she had recently purchased and started the engine with practiced ease.
But even after the vehicle safely pulled away, the Association employee's mind remained trapped on the same thought.
Are aliens really real?
Such was the ordeal endured by a B-rank awakener in South Korea.
Surprisingly, however, amid the waves of chaos to come, the fate awaiting this female Earthling was relatively mild.
What was about to descend upon the blond-haired alien, on the other hand, was...
***
Shortly after the guest left the one-room apartment.
Afternoon.
It was the middle of summer, when the days were longer than during the rest of the year.
Yet after some time passed, a change in the weather caused the sky to darken.
Rain began to fall.
"Hmm~ Hmm."
But in modern society, few people would simply stand around staring up at a changing sky.
A multi-family studio building far from the subway station.
From behind the door marked 102 came the sound of someone humming.
The rain had been falling on and off throughout the summer, and the occupant of the room was once again enjoying his hobby in comfort, noise-canceling headphones covering his ears.
He had been carefully tending to a tiny magic stone measuring about 1.3 centimeters.
His hobby was collecting small fragments of magic stones—pieces too insignificant to be sold as raw gemstones—and arranging them by color.
Because the room itself was cramped, the collection naturally wasn't very large.
Even so, it was a carefully assembled little collection, built frugally and kept well within his budget.
"It's pretty~ It's pretty."
The resident of the one-room apartment passed the time pleasantly, admiring the collection spread across a piece of velvet cloth.
The stones infused with magic emitted a mysterious glow that even human technology had difficulty reproducing.
Thud!
But then, amid the latest song by a famous band playing through his headphones, an unfamiliar sound briefly slipped through.
Thud thud thud! Thud thud thud!
Objectively speaking, it was quite loud.
But the resident of Room 102 didn't notice.
His ears were covered by noise-canceling headphones worth 619,000 won.
A tenant who habitually listened to music at high volume failed to notice the strange noise for several seconds.
The sound equipment he had purchased on an installment plan was demonstrating performance more than sufficient to justify its price.
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