By Zephyria 
‘Was his name Ban No-ah?’
As I entered the prepared studio, I recalled the personal information about Ban No-ah that Jae-ha had shown me.
Ban No-ah. Late 20s. A-Class Hunter and Esper. His ability was fire, the same as Seo Yun-chae. A case of accidentally awakening his ability as soon as he became an adult. Born into a wealthy family as an only son. No particular special features.
‘Why are there no special features.’
Ban No-ah was a candidate for X precisely because of that point.
It was strange. Despite being an A-Class Hunter with the fire ability, which was as flashy as it could get for an offensive type… Ban No-ah’s achievements as a Hunter were rather lackluster.
It wasn’t that he had never attacked a Dungeon, but it was only a small number. As a result, he wasn’t a famous Hunter either.
‘It’s not like he’s a human who doesn’t want to live as an Ability User. Looking at his SNS account, he was following celebrities and Hunters who had made a name for themselves.’
In short, Ban No-ah was a very contradictory person.
The other two candidates were suspicious enough, but for some reason, this person bothered me the most.
How should I put it, it left a lingering feeling of unease.
His photo on his SNS profile showed the face of a fairly handsome man, but there was something unsettling about it.
And that such a person was a friend of Seol Yu-rang, a fixed cast member of this entertainment program. Moreover, to be cast in the same program and face each other…
It was a boon for me, who was just about to start investigating the suspect, but it was a very coincidental timing.
‘Suspicious, suspicious.’
As I grumbled inwardly, Potato pulled at my hair and said.
[ Ah. I see Ban No-ah over there. ]
‘Ah.’
Ban No-ah, sitting next to Seol Yu-rang, was a handsome man in a neat suit.
‘He’s more handsome in person.’
I didn’t think he was this handsome when I saw the photo registered in the Database.
I was full of vigilance, but I didn’t show it outwardly.
Seol Yu-rang, who saw us, greeted us first with a happy face.
“Oh, we meet again like this?”
Ra Ho-yeon, the leader, greeted Seol Yu-rang politely on behalf of the entire members.
“Hello, Seonbae. It’s been a while.”
“Wow. I’m glad to see you again on a variety show. I’m really enjoying your recently released mini-album.”
A friendly conversation took place between the two.
At that time, Ban No-ah approached Seol Yu-rang.
“Yu-rang, who are these people? I wish you would introduce them to me too.”
Seo Yun-chae frowned at those words.
Muttering only quietly enough so that others couldn’t hear.
“Doesn’t he check the guest list before coming? We’ve become quite famous these days, was I an idol with no recognition until then? Is he ignoring us? Hmph.”
‘Why is he being like that.’
That guy, it seems like he’s deliberately showing that he’s annoyed.
I could hear everything with my SSS-Class ability. Ban No-ah, an A-Class Esper, would only hear a part of it… but the gist of feeling bad would have been definitely conveyed.
As expected. One of Ban No-ah’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“…There’s an interesting person.”
Ban No-ah also muttered quietly like Seo Yun-chae. Of course, Seo Yun-chae and I heard everything.
“Th-that!”
Seo Yun-chae was about to explode in anger, but I quickly gagged him and stopped him.
I whispered softly in Seo Yun-chae’s ear.
“Just stay still. If you heard everything I said, you know how important this position is.”
“…Tch.”
“Don’t fall for it if he provokes you. There’s no good for our team if you make a fuss. You wouldn’t want to tarnish Secrety’s image, which was doing well, so let’s be quiet. Huh?”
“…Okay. It seems too close, so let go.”
“Okay.”
Seo Yun-chae’s lips protruded, but he stayed still, perhaps agreeing with my words.
When I looked at Ban No-ah with relief.
‘…Didn’t that person just make a disappointed expression?’
It disappeared quickly, but Ban No-ah was definitely looking at Seo Yun-chae with a disappointed expression.
It passed so quickly that even I couldn’t be sure.
While I was confused, Seol Yu-rang kindly introduced us to Ban No-ah.
“Ah, No-ah might not know. This is Secrety. I met them on a program I hosted last time.”
Seol Yu-rang accurately remembered the names of each member. It was in stark contrast to Ban No-ah, who seemed to be friends.
But I was still suspicious.
‘…Might not know? There are idols among the celebrities who are mutual followers on SNS?’
Then shouldn’t he be reprimanded for not knowing?
I was uneasy, but I couldn’t argue with Seol Yu-rang, who was a senior Seonbae.
It wasn’t just Seo Yun-chae who shouldn’t cause a disturbance, but me too.
It was when Seol Yu-rang was about to introduce me to Ban No-ah.
“This is Yeon Yu-jin. He’s a Hubae with excellent singing ability.”
“Nice to meet you. Ban No-ah. I’m Yeon Yu-jin.”
As I bowed my head, I felt an intense gaze.
‘…What?’
When I raised my head, Ban No-ah was staring at me intently.
Strangely, with a somewhat welcoming face.
He smiled slowly and offered me a handshake.
“…Nice to meet you, Yeon Yu-jin. I’m Ban No-ah. I’m working as an A-Class Hunter, and I’m Seol Yu-rang’s friend.”
“Ah, yes.”
‘What is this bastard?’
Even as I accepted the handshake, the unease only grew.
Until just now, he had never offered a handshake first, nor had he introduced himself.
‘…Is he trying to mess with our baby Espers?’
I felt bad.
Isn’t this treating our members with contempt?
Looking at Seo Yun-chae standing next to me, he was about to explode.
“Th-.”
As I was about to say something to Ban No-ah, Seol Yu-rang stepped in to mediate.
“No-ah, what’s wrong? The members are uncomfortable.”
“Yeon Yu-jin looks familiar. It’s like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
“Really…? That’s unusual. You’re not interested in most people….”
Seol Yu-rang trailed off, then quickly changed his words when he received Ban No-ah’s gaze.
Like a doll with a switch pressed.
“Ah, no, I was wrong.”
Then Ban No-ah smiled.
Seol Yu-rang apologized to us instead.
“I’m sorry. No-ah is a bit unpredictable. I hope you understand.”
“Yes….”
He was an unsettling guy.
‘Are those two really friends?’
It clearly seemed like Ban No-ah was in a superior position….
With unease, the recording proceeded.
The program we appeared on this time was a chase variety game show called
“However, Ability Users are not allowed to use their abilities! You must face the enemy with pure physical strength only!”
The MC explained the rules in a cheerful tone.
Ban No-ah and our Secrety members were the only Ability Users who participated this time, so it seemed like they explained it in order to warn us.
Ban No-ah and Seol Yu-rang became Team A, and all of our Secrety members became Team B to compete against each other.
‘Usually, in this case, wouldn’t they mix the guests and place them appropriately…?’
Or group all the guests into one team.
It wasn’t that I wanted to be on the same team as Ban No-ah, but I felt that the team arrangement was strange.
‘No. According to Manager Hyung, the teams would have been formed according to a pre-written script…. I must be too sensitive.’
Shaking my head, I decided to focus on the name tag ripping fight that would soon take place.
Recalling what Ra Ho-yeon had said to me the day I revealed that I wasn’t the real Yeon Yu-jin.
‘I know you’re not the real Yujin. But I hope you don’t leave the team just because you revealed your identity. We… have been working while considering you as Yeon Yu-jin. Besides, Secrety has only just started to rise, and we can’t break this. If you want to hide your identity, please act as the idol Yeon Yu-jin for a while.’
The Secrety members believed my words and asked me to faithfully fulfill the role of ‘Yeon Yu-jin’ instead of keeping silent about me.
Instead, they also promised to cooperate as much as possible in finding my enemy.
‘Is Ban No-ah X or not?’
Avoiding Team A, who was the tagger, I, Team B, looked for a suitable hiding place in the set.
After crawling into a drawer, the siren soon sounded.
-We will now begin the game. Team A, enter. Please do your best to remove Team B’s name tags.
‘Just hold out for 20 minutes.’
After 20 minutes, the tagger would change to Team B, so I planned to target Ban No-ah intensively at that time.
But not long after it started, bad news came.
-Seo Yun-chae, Seo Yun-chae is out.