Jin stood in front of the front door of his house, his hand hovering over the door. He had been waiting outside, trying to think of an excuse. In his mind, revealing that he had been outside the city battling swarms of mindless beasts wasn't the best option. Harry already seemed against being a challenger. This incident wasn't going to help that in the least.
Straightening his back, he firmly grasped the doorknob and entered. From the living room, he could barely make out the sound of someone speaking. He set his shoes aside, noticing a new pair positioned near his own. They were slightly larger, clearly belonging to someone else.
He furrowed and stepped inside. Three people were sitting at the dining table, engaged in an intense conversation.
"A… ghoul? What is that, some sort of canine?"
Maria's tone was almost comical.
"Wait a second… How can there be two nests right next to each other? I shouldn't have to remind you that pincers and ghouls are natural predators of one another. How come no guild or clan knew about this all this time?"
Oliver seemed concerned, his brows knitted. As a second-ranker, he was usually well-informed, but the sheer unexpectedness of the situation had clearly caught him off guard.
"Um… We still don't know anything about it. The campaign has just started, so there's not much on that front either."
It was different than usual, but Jin knew whose voice it was. By then, the three of them were aware of his presence as well.
Maria gave him an incredulous look as she said, "Speak of the devil. What took you so long, mister?"
He was still not used to Maria's nature. To top it off, he had to converse with them like Lian used to, which only made things harder. He was a master of many things, but pretending to be another person wasn't one of them.
With an amicable smile, he spoke.
"Ran into some thugs on my way here. I see that you've already met… Evelin."
He was hoping to keep his outside connections apart from Lian's family. However, Evelin's presence made it irreversible for him.
Oliver raised a brow.
"Did you come from the entertainment district? You should avoid that place, it isn't safe."
With a courteous nod, Jin turned to Evelin.
"You…"
Evelin flinched and spoke hastily.
"I just came to check up on you…"
Jin furrowed faintly. On the other side of the table, Maria looked at the two with apprehension. It was unknown what was going on in her mind, but she beamed with joy as she said, "Oh, why don't you take her to your room, Lian?"
Oliver didn't seem enthusiastic about it. As a matter of fact, he seemed rather wary of their guest, never letting her out of his sight as if she were a runaway convict.
Jin shot a sidelong glance at the two as he spoke.
"Follow me."
Evelin stood up, smiled politely at the two, and followed Jin up the stairs. Jin looked around his room. Nothing had changed since the last time he had been here. However, it still felt weird to impersonate someone else, even if the room belonged to him now.
Evelin stood at the door, her eyes scanning the room vigorously. If not for her status, he would've thought she had never been to someone else's house.
Standing near the window, Jin relaxed his gaze.
"I don't think we're close enough to 'check up' on each other, Evelin. Why did you some?"
Unlike in front of his family members, Jin never talked to her as Lian.
Leaning against the doorframe, Evelin spoke, her voice low.
"I was hoping you'd say that. You're right, that's not why I'm here."
Her gaze wandered elsewhere as she continued.
"I owe you one, for what happened back there. I should've taken the lead. Yet, you had to take the front."
Jin chuckled sarcastically, still looking outside the window. The street was as crowded as always, people bumping into each other as they went about their day.
"Why do you think you had to take the lead? You're no older than I am. What makes you better than me?"
Evelin shook her head as she folded her hands.
"I don't mean to undermine you, Lian. I haven't seen you fight myself, but I know how capable you are. You're great where you are. I, on the other hand…"
She paused briefly as her gaze hardened.
"I have spent years upon years training—training for that moment. For when I'm put in an extreme situation. My entire life is built around the tower and what it has brought with it. Not to mention, you wouldn't even be in that situation if not for me. I—"
Jin squinted as he turned around.
"What do you mean by that?"
Evelin looked at him momentarily, then averted her gaze.
"It wasn't the guildmaster who wanted to test you. My sister… she had already decided to recruit you. She saw you fighting in the lower districts and was impressed by your skills. I thought it was a rash decision. So, I pulled some strings, convinced Mr. Nathaniel to add you to the team… convinced Elias to supervise the mission."
She inhaled wistfully.
"The rest you already know."
Jin traced his fingers around the edges of the table beside him. While Evelin thought that he and the others blamed her, he doubted it. Even if she hadn't done what she did, people would've targeted her normally.
But their world was far from normal. The Surge ruled the earth while humanity lived inside a small, cage-like barrier. Every year, hundreds of people die in a trial, if not more. That's why he never blamed her, nor would he blame anyone else but himself.
He had decided to take the test that Nathaniel presented. The whole affair was dubious from the start. Regardless of all that, he showed up on that day because it was his own choice. He hadn't expected it to go sideways the way it did, but that responsibility fell on him as well.
After all, Evelin had only been training for over a decade. But Jin had spent decades just roaming around the world. He didn't have the prowess of his past life, but he still had the experience. And that experience… no one in this world could even think of surpassing it.
Evelin shifted faintly as he sat on his bed.
"I see."
She frowned.
"I see? That's it?"
Jin chuckled softly, his gaze lingering over Han's unoccupied bed.
"I'm certain you're already drowning in self-contempt. I think that's more than enough. Besides, if I blamed you, I wouldn't have joined the Hope guild."
Evelin raised a brow. Lowering her gaze, she noticed that he had been wearing her guild's uniform all this time. She seemed embarrassed, at least considering that she was blushing under the hand she used to cover her eyes. He averted his gaze so as not to add to the embarrassment.
Hoisting one leg over the other, Jin spoke.
"How's the scar?"
It was underhanded, but he wasn't interested in letting the mood of the room shift in the direction it was going in.
Clearing her throat, Evelin spoke in a hoarse voice.
"How do you — Never mind…"
Sliding her fingers under her lustrous hair, she pulled them back. Below her hand, a small patch of skin was marred with a burn mark. Just looking at it gave him a sense of how dangerous the explosion had been back then.
She fixed her hair the best she could and coughed softly.
"Even the best healers in the city couldn't do anything about it."
The room fell silent. Evelin still seemed to be stuck in the agonizing memory of being burned alive. Having felt it once himself, Jin knew that it wasn't pleasant in the least. He had survived it simply because he was lucky, and he had the will of a deity. Evelin, meanwhile, was just a young child who was barely an adult, yet was expected to handle things twice her size.
He turned to her, his voice even as he spoke.
"That aside, you said you owed me one."
Evelin subtly flinched.
"... Yes. I don't like to be indebted to anyone. However, I can only allow one favor. Also, I can't do anything that is out of my control."
Jin slowly exhaled and stood up, his lips twisted in a grin.
Before coming here, he ran into John. There, he learned that the lower districts were in an uproar lately. The masses were dividing into factions, spreading the power among themselves.
On his way back home, he didn't know how to explain the last few days. Fortunately, Evelin had laid the foundation for him. All he needed to do now was provide them with the minor details to cool them down.
Now, Evelin felt indebted to him and was willing to do a favor.
'I know it isn't right, but this is the happiest I've been in a while. Hah… What has this young mind turned me into…'
It felt like his suffering over the past month was worth the wait.
He turned to her.
"Alright then. Meet me in the entertainment district in three days, at night."
Evelin squinted her eyes.