“Huh?” Gi-Gyu looked at El curiously.

‘Something about Tae-Shik hyung?’

El looked around the room and murmured, “I can’t talk about that here.”

They were inside Tae-Shik’s office, so she still felt uncomfortable talking about him in his own room.

“All right,” Gi-Gyu replied and stood up. His discussion with Tae-Shik was over, so there was no reason to stay in the association building. As they left his room, Gi-Gyu wondered, ‘What does she wanna say about Tae-Shik hyung?’

Gi-Gyu had a bad feeling about this.

***

On their way out of the KPA building, Gi-Gyu heard a familiar voice.

“Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu!”

“Sung-Hoon?”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Sung-Hoon announced as he walked up to Gi-Gyu. With an odd look, he looked at El and muttered, “And this lady is…?”

“Ah, this is El,” Gi-Gyu answered.

Sung-Hoon’s eyes widened as he gasped, “El?!”

Sung-Hoon had seen El in both her young and mature forms, but the current her looked different from both of those forms. It was a subtle change, but the woman before him had a different air around her.

“It’s nice to see you again,” greeted El.

“So it’s true!” Sung-Hoon exclaimed as he recognized her voice. Looking even more shocked, he asked, “But how…? You aren’t straining yourself...