#8
Ha-seong parted with the boss in such a dazed state that he didn’t know if he was eating the soup through his nose or mouth. The picture he had seen at the hunter cafe earlier wouldn’t leave his mind. It was definitely a terrible picture where you couldn’t recognize who it was, but somehow he felt a sense of kinship. He kept getting the premonition that worm-like guy was probably Ha-seong himself.
‘No way. Honestly, what could they do with just that picture? No matter how much information Nameless spread, such a crappy picture would obviously get buried.’
Ha-seong muttered suggestions at almost a self-brainwashing level while returning home. That was because he had never encountered such a situation since coming here. Since this was the first time he had gotten entangled with someone, especially a hunter, he kept having even more useless thoughts.
⌙ Nameless Guild Leader Cha Do-hyeok.
The comment someone had kindly left earlier. If, really if by any chance, that picture was Ha-seong and the Nameless Guild Leader had spread it…
‘Can’t you hear?’
That would mean it was Cha Do-hyeok… Actually, Ha-seong didn’t know his face well. He only knew the fact that he was the current number 1 ranking in the Republic of Korea, the one and only S-rank hunter who appeared like a comet, but since Ha-seong had no particular interest in the protagonist who always heated up the mass media, he didn’t even know his face well.
“Phew.”
As soon as Ha-seong returned home, he washed up and sat solemnly at the table, staring intensely at his laptop.
“Right. It must have been buried.”
Ha-seong muttered like that and accessed ‘Hunter Inside’, famous for being the largest hunter community. And the real-time search rankings that appeared on the screen were…
1st: Nameless Guild Commission
2nd: Cha Do-hyeok
.
.
.
.
10th: Cha Do-hyeok’s Drawing Skills
Fuck. Ha-seong cursed under his breath and held his forehead. Far from being buried, it was currently setting the community on fire. From what he could roughly tell, it seemed like cases where Nameless directly commissioned hunters and spread information were very rare, so it was drawing even more attention.
No matter what post he clicked on, the worm-like picture composite was floating around.
“Ah, forget it. How does this look like me?”
Right. This was needless worry. That picture wasn’t him. Whatever that Cha Do-hyeok guy was looking for, it wouldn’t be him. It shouldn’t be.
While repeating that to himself, Ha-seong searched for Cha Do-hyeok’s name on the portal site. And the face that appeared as big as a door. Damn. That was the right guy. The bastard who had dragged Ha-seong around like luggage. The guy with blue eyes.
Ha-seong collapsed heavily onto the table again.
[It seems like they’re looking for Ha-seong-nim.]
The wild boar, who had somehow climbed onto the chair next to him with its small body, muttered while eating something.
“Be quiet.”
Ha-seong glared with all his might at the pig that was scratching his already complicated insides, grinding his teeth tightly.
“Hey.”
[Yes?]
“But what are you eating?”
[Cabbage!]
“Where did that come from?”
[…The refrigerator!]
“That refrigerator wouldn’t happen to be our house’s refrigerator, would it?”
[……]
For a brief moment, Ha-seong and the pig’s gazes collided in mid-air. Ha-seong dragged his chair and got up, then went to the kitchen and opened a drawer. Then he took out a cooking knife with roses prettily drawn on it, sharp and blue.
[…Ha-seong-nim?]
“I was thinking of making some pork for dinner tonight. I’ll feast for the first time in a while.”
Ha-seong smiled eerily. It was a terrifyingly scary smile.
[P-please spare me…!]
The pig finally jumped down from the chair and started running away.
“Come here while I’m asking nicely, you cabbage thief.”
The indoor chase scene in broad daylight began like that.
* * *
While Ha-seong was having a desperate chase with the pig, Cha Do-hyeok was staring intensely at his phone with a serious face. Even though they had made such a loud fuss that could wake the whole neighborhood, not even a tip was coming in.
He definitely looked like a hunter, but he wanted to see the face of the guy who had brazenly lied that he was a civilian again. The face he had crouched down and peered at inside the dungeon just wouldn’t disappear from his mind.
“Will a call come just because you stare at it like that?”
Won-hyeok strode into the guild leader’s office carrying materials needed for the meeting.
“Why wouldn’t it come? We made such a big fuss about it.”
“…You don’t think your drawing is the problem at all.”
Won-hyeok shook his head. He recalled the picture Do-hyeok had drawn again, the one currently heating up the community. Who on earth could find the person in question by looking at that picture? It would definitely be as difficult as finding a needle in the desert, no, finding salt.
“Do-hyeok, how about we take an art academy class as a hobby together?”
“Stop talking nonsense. What did you come for?”
Do-hyeok scrunched his brow like someone who had heard something he shouldn’t have and put down his phone.
“What do you mean what for? Are you really asking because you don’t know? Today is the rescheduled date for the meeting you ruined before.”
“Ah.”
When Do-hyeok nodded as if he had completely forgotten, a sigh naturally came out of the vice guild leader’s mouth today as well. Look at that, I knew he would forget again.
“I came to personally escort you today in case you do something strange again.”
When Won-hyeok gestured at Do-hyeok, the guild leader finally slowly got up from his seat. Not forgetting to tightly grip his phone in his hand.
“Didn’t the Management Bureau contact you about anything?”
The two people slowly took the elevator to go down to the first floor where the meeting room was.
“Well. Our guys didn’t cause that many accidents this month, so there hasn’t been any particular contact?”
Won-hyeok scratched his forehead and tilted his head.
Nameless Guild, being currently number one domestically, had many capable hunters positioned there. The most characteristic color of such Nameless was its free-spirited nature. Do-hyeok didn’t try to assert authority as guild leader, nor did he create and stick to stuffy principles one by one. Only a few principles necessary for the organization to operate were valid within Nameless, and thanks to that, the number one guild’s popularity only grew day by day among countless hunters.
However, since being affiliated with Nameless meant you didn’t have to watch the guild leader’s mood or be obsessed with principles, guild members naturally sometimes caused accidents, and such Nameless inevitably became a major subject of interest for the Management Bureau. At the end of the month, it was common to receive warning letters disguised as cooperation requests from the Management Bureau.
“Not that.”
“Then what?”
“About the person I’m looking for. Is there any special contact from that employee Kim Min-sik or whatever his name was?”
“No. Hey, is a Management Bureau employee your personal secretary taking care of your business? Just in case I’m saying this, but don’t randomly contact the Management Bureau and harass that employee. I want to stop receiving warning letters.”
Won-hyeok got off the elevator that arrived at the first floor, expressing his disgust.
“Well, is everyone gathered?”
Won-hyeok walked quickly before Do-hyeok could say anything else and flung open the meeting room door. The team leaders of each team who had already arrived stood up and welcomed the guild’s two leaders.
“You’re here!”
“Please sit down.”
Receiving the warm greetings from the guild members, the two sat in their respective seats. Do-hyeok sat at the head seat, and Won-hyeok sat diagonally next to Do-hyeok.
“But Guild Leader-nim.”
Before starting the full-scale meeting, one guild member cautiously began.
“Did you really draw that picture yourself?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“See, it’s right. What did I tell you!”
The guild member who got confirmation jumped around excitedly and kept poking the elbow of the friend sitting next to him.
“It’s real.”
“The Guild Leader really drew it himself.”
“I thought the Vice Guild Leader drew it because it was so bad.”
Once the topic burst out, the guild members were busy chattering noisily among themselves. It seemed like they had made bets among themselves about who had drawn that picture. It was a few seconds later that Do-hyeok, who had maintained an indifferent expression in the noisy atmosphere, slowly opened his mouth.
“So, you’re all making a fuss like this because you found him?”
“……”
The meeting room was engulfed in silence in an instant. All the guild members shut their mouths tightly like kindergarteners getting scolded, as if they had all put glue on their lips.
“We’ll find him.”
“We’ll definitely find him.”
“We’ll absolutely find him.”
As if they had all planned it, they only muttered like parrots that they would definitely find him. Do-hyeok wasn’t the type to assert authority as guild leader, but anyway, he was the guild leader that everyone in the guild acknowledged. His skills, ruthlessness, and craziness. To guild members who knew all that, Do-hyeok’s words were law.
“Good. I’ll look forward to it.”
Watching that scene, Won-hyeok shook his head.
“Then let’s start the meeting. First, let’s look at the biggest agenda item…”
Won-hyeok began while spreading out the materials. Originally, this kind of thing was usually the guild leader’s role, but Cha Do-hyeok wasn’t the type of person who could handle such work skillfully. So meeting facilitation had now naturally become the vice guild leader’s domain. He had even thrown tantrums asking for more money if this was how it was going to be, but was mercilessly rejected.
“The dungeon scheduled to open around Olympic Park next week has been decided for our guild to attack. The team to be dispatched from our side is still undecided, but what’s been decided first is that we’ll probably cooperate with another guild to attack it.”
“Another guild?”
“Yeah. It’s called Sewon Guild, it’s a small-scale guild but with good skills, so it’s one of the guilds rising up these days.”
Then voices saying they had heard of it came from among the guild members, and everyone nodded.
“Just in case, I’m warning you in advance, but their guild leader quite values principles and such, so everyone be careful not to get caught.”
“Yes.”
Cooperative attacks weren’t common, but they happened from time to time. Each time, Won-hyeok had to nag like a mother to the teams going out to attack, telling them to please be careful. Of course, it wasn’t warm nagging like ‘take care of your body’, but rather telling them to ‘be careful not to cause unnecessary accidents’.
“Then next is…”
While Won-hyeok was diligently conducting the meeting, Do-hyeok as usual wasn’t concentrating at all. He was originally like that, but today it was particularly hard to concentrate. He just occasionally turned on his phone under the desk and kept looking to see if any contact had come.
But that day too, Do-hyeok’s phone remained quiet, let alone ringing.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
