The Author's POV

Hospital, 4th floor.

Emma's face was rather strange as she followed Kevin from behind. As they walked, she couldn't help but notice Kevin's shoulders occasionally tremble from time to time.

"Kevin, about Jin..."

Just when Emma was about to mention the matter regarding Jin's sudden change in attitude, she was suddenly disrupted by a small burst of laughter.

"Hahaha..."

Though Kevin tried his best, he finally couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.

'Makeup remover serves as a great women repeller'

Thinking back at what had happened on the rooftop, Kevin couldn't help but laugh out loud. Though the joke wasn't even that funny, it's just the way he said it.

His face was so serious...

"ah...I can't, hahaha"

"Uh..."

Looking at Kevin who had just lost his composure, Emma didn't know what to say.

She couldn't quite grasp what was happening before her. In the past, Kevin had always been very calm and mature. It felt as if nothing could shake him. But what was going on with him today?

Had all the stress got to him?

Kevin, noticing Emma's face, forcefully held his laughter back and immediately waved his hands as a form of apology

"Keep going. I'm all good now"

"So I was talking about Jin..."

"pfttt.."

Just when Emma was about to continue speaking again, she was once again disrupted by a loud chuckle.

This time, she couldn't help but get annoyed. Glaring at Kevin her tone raised a few pitches

"Hmph, if you wanna laugh just laugh, but don't waste my time"

"Hahaha…...I'm really sorry but...hahah, hey Emma, what do you think of makeup remover?"

Holding onto his stomach, Kevin's face was completely red.

Speechless by Kevin's random question, Emma shook her head before responding

"I wouldn't know since I don't use makeup"

"..."

As soon as Kevin heard Emma's response his smile froze. After a short pause, Kevin returned to his usually calm expression.

"...ah, that pretty much ruined the joke"

"What joke?"

"Doesn't matter anymore, continue with what you were saying"

As if nothing had happened, Kevin nodded at Emma urging her to continue what she was saying

"Sigh, I give up...Anyhow I was just about to talk ab--"

Shaking her head and sighing at Kevin's sudden change in attitude, Emma tried to continue what she was trying to say but soon stopped halfway through her sentence. Shortly after, an exclamation escaped from her mouth.

"...ah!"

"Emma?"

Noticing something odd about Emma's behavior, Kevin glanced at her.

Staring in the distance, Emma's eyes sparkled. Her face soon dyed red in excitement.

"What's going on?"

Confused, following Emma's line of sight, Kevin's eyes soon paused on a trio walking in their direction.

Instantly, Kevin recognized one of the three people. Donna Longbern, his class tutor.

Walking with her head down, she looked worn out. Her hair was a mess and her expression was that of utter defeat. It looked as though she had just come back from a tough battle.

Looking at her expression, although Kevin didn't know what had happened, he couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for her...

Next to her, a tall muscular man with a bald head and sunglasses indifferently glanced at his surroundings. There was this sort of regal feeling coming from him. Almost as if he was a massive lion that ruled over an expansive territory.

Although for the most part, his face was indifferent, from time to time, Kevin was able to notice him clicking his tongue in the direction of the last person.

Standing in front of them, a young girl with dark orange hair happily chirped throughout the halls of the hospital.

From appearances alone, she looked to be a few years younger than Emma. Her skin was crisp and pleasant, and she looked like a regular 14-year-old girl.

"Ah!"

Noticing something, the young girl's eyes excitedly looked in Kevin and Emma's direction.

"...hm?"

Pointing in their direction, the young girl urged Donna and the other guy to hurry up.

"Who is she?"

Noticing that something wasn't right, tilting his head in confusion, Kevin turned towards Emma. However, his question was met with air as Emma ignored him completely.

After a couple of seconds, Emma ran towards the young girl as she shouted at her

"Sister Monica!"

"Emma!"

Seeing Emma coming her way, extending her hands forward they soon embraced each other and laughed.

"Look at how much you've grown!"

Looking at Emma from head to toe, a trace of envy appeared on Monica's face.

"hehe, I'm now taller than you"

"That's not something you should be pointing out to someone who you call sister..."

"hehehe, you know I'm just messing with you"

Smiling evilly, Emma tried to pat Monica on the head.

-Smack!

"Stop it you brat!"

Smacking Emma's hand away, Monica's eyes landed on Kevin. Smiling she said

"You must be Kevin"

Confused, Kevin confirmed before asking

"...yes, you are?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere around him froze.

Be it Emma, Donna, or the muscular guy. Everyone was staring at Kevin in utter shock. How did he not know the identity of the girl in front of him? Especially since she was one of the most popular Heroes on earth at the moment...Just how out of touch with the world did someone have to be to not even be able to recognize her?

Taken aback for a second, a trace of a smile soon appeared on Monica's face

"Wow, this is a first. Someone who actually doesn't know me...how interesting"

Confused, Kevin looked in Emma's direction. Faceplaming, Emma whispered

"Hero-rank 27, The sunset witch, Monica Jeffrey"

"oh..."

...

Inside of a private room in the hospital, sitting in front of Monica, Kevin asked.

"So what did you call me here for?"

Calmly drinking a cup of tea, Monica briefly glanced at Kevin before softly mumbling to herself

"...so handsome"

"Excuse me?"

Covering her mouth and realizing her mistake, Monica looked away from Kevin.

"Oops...keummm...keummm I meant it's hot in here"

Letting out a dry cough as though she was embarrassed, Monica took something out from her pocket and handed it to Kevin

Glancing at what was in Monica's hand, Kevin saw a black card decorated with fine silver patterns. Taking the card, Kevin looked at the fine print on the card.

[Union, Senior executive member, Monica Jeffrey]

Seeing Kevin accept the card, Monica smiled and said

"Let's keep it short, we want to recruit you into the union"

"Keeummm...keummm"

Observing from behind, Donna coughed a couple of times. Under Donna's glaring eyes, Monica stuck her tongue out.

"Fine...let me rephrase, would you be interested in joining the union after you graduate from the lock?"

"Ah, so this was what this was about..."

Playing with the business card in his hands for a couple of seconds, Kevin soon gave it back

"Eh? Student Kevin? I think you don't understand what's going on here. Me, ranked 27 on the hero ranking, Monica Jeffrey is interested in you"

"I'm thankful for your interest, but I'm sorry, I'm not planning on joining the union"

With that, Kevin stood up and made his way towards the door.

"Hey you, what do y-"

Just as George was about to stop Kevin, raising her hand to stop George, Monica smiled.

"I'm liking him more and more..."

...

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

Once again sitting on a chair in the lobby of the hospital, hearing the sound of my phone ringing I quickly swiped right and answered the call.

[Employer?]

"Yo, smallsnake"

[...I heard about what happened in Hollberg]

Ah right, I did reveal to smallsnake who I was. He must've already caught wind of what had happened in Hollberg.

"Ah well, as you can hear I'm fine."

[That's great...I saw your message, what do you need from me?]

Thinking for a bit, I suddenly recalled messaging smallsnake a couple of days ago. Prior to when the incident happened.

"Right, I need you for a job"

[You're not going to tell me to invest in another stock right?]

"Nah, maybe another time. I need information this time"

[Informantion?]

"Yup"

Pausing for a second, Smallsnake responded

[...Sure, as long as it's something within my capabilities I can do it]

Hearing what he had to say, a smirk appeared on my face.

Please, with your capabilities, even finding the information of some of the top guilds shouldn't really pose a problem for you.

But well, he didn't need to know that I knew about his true capabilities

"I want you to tell me all you can find about a guild called Galxicus"

[Galxicus?]

"Yeah...you can do it right?"

[...yes, but why are you specifically looking into that guild? Isn't that your parent's guild?]

"Oh? so you dug onto my past?"

[Yes]

Hearing his blunt reply, I was taken aback for a second before I burst out laughing

"hahaha, I didn't know you were that interested in me"

[Better safe than sorry...]

Shaking my head, I crossed my legs and said

"So? you think you're up for—"

However, halfway through my sentence, I paused.

[Employer?]

There was a good reason for my pause. That was because...

"What's your name?"

Standing in front of me a young girl with dark orange hair smiled as she looked at me.

"Sorry smallsnake I might have to call you later"

[What do yo—]

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone, I was utterly speechless. What was she doing here?

Why was 'The Sunset Witch' standing in front of me? Moreover, if I remembered correctly wasn't she supposed to be recruiting Kevin and the others?

Smiling, Monica placed her hand on her chin and scrutinized my body from top to bottom. After a bit, nodding her head she said

"I can sense that you're practicing a pretty strong art...you must be pretty high ranked in your school huh? What's your rank? What do you specialize in?"

Under the barrage of questions, my brows twitched.

Damm her and her special power.

The reason why Monica was called the sunset witch wasn't just because of the color of her hair, but also because of her high affinity with flame psyons.

Whenever she moved, flames would engulf the area around her, devastating everything that she willed.

That was scary, but if that wasn't enough, Monica had a skill that enabled her to detect what sort of art they were practicing.

I had completely overlooked this fact.

Damn...

"Monica!"

Appearing from behind Monica, Donna angrily stormed in her direction. Just as she was about to reach Monica, her eyes paused on me and her footsteps halted for a split second.

Turning towards Donna, Monica pointed at me and said

"Ah, Donna! You came at the right time, I want to know more about this student"

"Let's go"

Placing her hand on Monica's mouth, Donna forcefully dragged her out of the hospital.

"But I'm not fin-mhmmh"

"Stop harassing my students and leave already"

"N-oo--mhhhm"

While I sat speechless looking at the scene before me, Monica tried her best to free herself from Donna's grasps.

In the end, she failed and was soon dragged out of the hospital.

Fortunately, judging from how she let herself be carried away by Donna, she was only slightly interested in me. Not enough for her to actually stop Donna from dragging her away.

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I couldn't help but think

'I guess I just dodged a bullet'