The Saint Wants to Rest - vanish into fiction

A high-end penthouse in a five-star hotel located in the heart of Seoul.

The living room of this place, currently being used as the temporary residence for the Empire Guild, was packed to the brim with luggage brought in from the outside.

“It looks like you moved an entire department store’s luxury wing in here,” Sarah said, looking at the sight in disbelief.

From diamond necklaces worth dozens of carats that emitted a brilliant glow to unique artifacts that dropped with a slim probability only from A-rank Gates or higher, luxury goods that were difficult to obtain were lined up in a row.

“Sigh.”

Sarah, watching this pinnacle of dizzying extravagance, eventually let out a deep sigh she had been holding back. In her hand was a bundle of receipts for an enormous sum, collected while practically sweeping through the streets of Seoul today.

With a furrowed brow, Sarah looked at her boss, who was lounging comfortably on a premium leather sofa, sipping champagne.

“Guild Master. As your secretary, I will venture to say one thing. Is there really a need to cling to him this much? I know scouting an S-rank healer is important, but this has gone far beyond the limit. Do you think he will actually like receiving bribes like this?”

He had been rejected at the Bureau, and he had been rejected after visiting in person. Yet, it seemed the rejection was still not enough for him. Or perhaps, because he had lived with such overconfidence for so long, did he lack the brains to accept the fact that he had been turned down?

“Beyond the limit! Oh, Sarah. You lack romance. This isn’t a simple bribe; it’s a display of my pure affection and sincerity,” Alexander shrugged, lightly swirling the glass of wine.

“There is absolutely nothing bad about winning this much favor. Think about it. There are a few healers who handle Divine Power, but there has never been a single case in the history of awakened individuals where their rank was judged as S-rank. That man is a talent worth investing my entire fortune into.”

‘Wait, you haven’t even seen him use his abilities yourself, have you?’ Although it was said he easily treated someone in critical condition at the hospital, one cannot know the full extent of an ability through that alone. Still, Alexander had an exceptionally good eye for people. Sarah figured he must have seen something she couldn’t see. Of course, that was a separate matter from the nonsense Alexander was pulling right now.

“I understand that your criteria for judging people lie in their abilities, Guild Master,” Sarah placed the receipts on the table with a sour expression.

An S-rank healer was certainly rare enough to name their own price, but Alexander’s method of scouting was fundamentally off-kilter.

“That Holy Maiden from yesterday.”

“He is a Saint. He clearly looked like a man no matter how I saw him, so why do you keep calling him a Holy Maiden?”

“Because it suits him?”

“If you don’t want to get slapped, fix how you address him.”

“Fine! Anyway, the Saint also seemed to have quite a bit of favor toward me. My sincerity reached him perfectly.”

“…Pardon?”

At the delusional statement Alexander uttered so confidently, Sarah gaped in shock.

“I received a report that you were clearly turned away at the door yesterday. I heard the bouquet was tossed aside and the Saint even took slow steps backward to avoid you, Guild Master.”

“Oh, Sarah. In Korean terms, that is called ‘playing hard to get’! Think about it. He accepted that precious Spirit’s Protection I offered without a word of complaint, and then there was that cute sight of him backing away slowly as if embarrassed by my overwhelming charm! There is no mistake. His heart was shaken by my perfect conditions and devotion, and he didn’t know what to do with himself.”

‘No. He ran away because he was simply disgusted by the human being known as you.’

Sarah swallowed the truth she couldn’t bring herself to say aloud and shook her head.

A statue-like appearance, overwhelming military force that reached the world’s peak, and the power and overflowing wealth to manipulate a nation. Despite having such magnificent conditions, Alexander was only ever surrounded by snobs whose motives were transparent. Sarah had wondered why every lover he met turned out that way.

She felt like she finally understood the chronic reason today. It was likely because of that peculiar, buffoonish tendency to make the wrong move, combined with a disastrous lack of sense in reading people’s true emotions.

“Anyway, since I’ve come all the way to Korea, I want to enter a Gate with the Saint at least once. I feel like I’ll only be satisfied once I check with my own eyes how his Divine Power manifests in actual combat.”

“Do you think that will happen just because you want it to? It is clearly illegal for a foreign awakened individual to enter another country’s Gate without authorization. Moreover, the Saint belongs to Stigma, so there is no way Guild Master Choi Jae-heon would allow it.”