Chapter 42 – The Name That Was Spoken: Nomy

The guild hall in East City was unusually quiet that afternoon. Most adventurers had already left for their missions or were resting elsewhere. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the wooden floor. The faint smell of parchment, ink, and dried sweat still lingered in the air — the usual scent of the guild.

Zareen sat at one of the long tables, lazily sipping from a cup of lukewarm tea. His body was still tired from their last mission, and he wanted nothing more than a good bath and an early night.

On the couch nearby, Doni had already claimed his personal paradise, sprawled out with his mouth wide open and snoring so loudly that several guild staff members had cast him disapproving looks earlier.

In the far corner, Yuna sat with her legs crossed, wearing casual clothes rather than her heavy armor. A stack of mission reports rested on her lap, and she was quietly reading through them, her expression calm and focused.

And then there was Sari — who, as always, could not sit still.

She leaned across the table toward Zareen, resting her chin on one hand and grinning mischievously.

“Zareen,” she said in a sing-song voice, “I’ve been curious for a while. Where exactly are you from? The way you talk, the way you act… it’s different from most players I’ve met. You feel like a native NPC, but… not quite. Almost like a special hidden quest character.”

Zareen nearly choked on his tea. “Eh? Where I’m from? There’s nothing special about it. I’m just an ordinary academy student who became an adventurer. Nothing more.”

Sari’s grin only widened. She leaned in even closer until her face was barely a handspan from his. “Are you sure about that? Because your aura is weird. Really weird. You feel like a bug pretending to be a boy.”

Zareen’s face turned bright red instantly. “Don’t call me a bug!”

Sari burst out laughing, slapping the table with delight. “Hah! Look at your face! You’re so easy to tease.”

Zareen groaned, hiding his face with one hand. “Why do you always enjoy tormenting me…”

“Because it’s fun,” she said without an ounce of shame.

---

### Yuna’s Memory

Before Zareen could argue back, Yuna finally closed the book she had been reading and placed it neatly on the table. Her dark eyes lifted to meet his, and for once, her usual icy expression was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was something softer — a glimmer of hesitation, of curiosity.

“Zareen,” Yuna said quietly. “Do you remember the very first time we met?”

Zareen blinked. “Uh… yeah? At the guild hall, right? You were standing near the mission board, and Sari was there too.”

Yuna nodded slightly, then said something that made his stomach tighten.

“You said a name that day,” she said. “You whispered it when you saw me.”

“A name?” Zareen tilted his head, trying to remember.

Yuna’s voice dropped almost to a whisper. “Nomy.”

Zareen froze.

His mind immediately replayed that moment: the first time he saw Yuna, standing in her armor, her black hair gleaming under the guild’s lantern light. He had been so startled that the name slipped out of his mouth without thinking.

“Oh…” he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. I guess I did say that. You just looked so much like someone I knew back in my home world. Her name was Nomy. She was… well, a childhood friend. We grew up together.”

Sari’s ears perked up immediately. She practically pounced on the conversation.

“Oho?” she said with a sly smile. “So our little Zareen had a childhood sweetheart? Is that why you were so flustered when you met Yuna?”

Zareen nearly fell off his chair. “W-what? No! It’s not like that!”

“Sure it isn’t,” Sari teased, winking. “That blush on your face says otherwise.”

Zareen buried his face in his hands. “Why do I even talk to you…”

Sari chuckled, clearly pleased with herself, and leaned back in her chair with a satisfied grin.

---

### Yuna’s Doubt

But Yuna didn’t laugh. She stayed very still, her gaze distant.

*Nomy…*

The name echoed in her mind. It wasn’t just a random word to her — it was a name from her family’s past.

*Grandmother.*

Yuna had heard the name many times during her childhood, usually in hushed, almost reverent tones from her parents. She didn’t have many memories of her grandmother — Nomy had passed away before Yuna was old enough to really know her. There were only a few old photos left, most of them faded.

And then there were the rare mentions of Yuna’s grandfather — a man whose name was never spoken much, someone who had been absent from their lives. The one surviving photograph she had seen showed a man in his thirties, standing with a faint smile.

When she looked at Zareen now… she couldn’t help but notice something eerily familiar. The shape of his face. The way his eyes seemed older than they should be.

*Could it be… is this boy somehow connected to my grandfather? Or am I imagining things?*

The thought unsettled her in a way she couldn’t explain.

---

### The Conversation Ends

Sari finally hopped off the chair and stretched, clearly satisfied with the reaction she had gotten from Zareen. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop asking for today. But I’m telling you, you’re hiding something more interesting than you’re willing to admit, Zareen.”

Zareen exhaled and muttered under his breath. “You’re going to give me gray hair one of these days.”

He glanced at Yuna. She had already picked up her book again, but she wasn’t reading it — just holding it, her thumb resting against the pages.

“Get some rest,” Yuna said at last. “We have another mission tomorrow morning.”

She stood up and walked toward the exit. As she passed by Zareen, he caught a glimpse of her expression. It wasn’t cold like usual — it was… unsettled, almost troubled.

He frowned, watching her leave. *Why did she look so conflicted just now?*

Meanwhile, Yuna’s thoughts continued to churn as she stepped into the empty hallway.

*Nomy… my grandmother’s name. And Zareen… he’s too strange to be just another player. Could it be… could this boy somehow be the same person who became my grandfather in the future I came from?*

She shook her head slightly, trying to dismiss the thought, but it wouldn’t leave her.

And in the quiet guild hall, Zareen stared at the closed door, his heart inexplicably heavy. Something told him that the name he had spoken so casually had stirred something much deeper in Yuna — something that might change everything between them.