Don’t Look for the S-Class Hunter with Retirement 7

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7

* * *

If being possessed by a ghost felt like this, this would be it. Doun stood blankly at his own front door, having returned home after several hours, drooping like dehydrated laundry.

‘Why did I go there…’

He still seemed to taste the sweet peach smoothie he’d gotten in Samin’s office. No matter how much he’d longed for human warmth, the other party was a stalker who had found out his number and sent messages on his own.

‘Hyung. Would you like to try this?’

‘You like Stigma the most? Doesn’t that skill consume too much mana?’

‘Huh! There’s a potion like that?’

Samin made a fuss and liked even trivial short answers with such shamelessness that Doun had no choice. When he came to his senses, the phone that had been in his back pocket was in his hand…

[Kyung Samin]

In the end, he was entering the stalker Kyung Samin’s phone number into his phone contacts.

‘Please add a heart too?’

What kind of heart nonsense was this guy spouting? There was no shamelessness like casually spouting embarrassing bullshit. When Doun was about to just block the number, Samin quickly lowered his eyes and mumbled.

‘No, well, if you don’t like it, it’s fine to save it as just my name… Really. It’ll be a bit sad and my heart will be torn and I might cry a little in my sleep, but just being able to be saved in hyung’s phone will be the glory of the Cheongju Kyung family.’

Meaningless words flowed out one after another, and in the end even the family’s glory came up. The family elders wouldn’t agree, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t do such a trivial thing. If he just saved one phone number, he could escape from the incredibly uncomfortable office.

‘I saved it, so stop it.’

When Doun tried to slyly put away his phone, Samin quickly called Doun. It was extraordinary thoroughness. In the end, he could only escape the office after showing Samin that his three-character name was written on the phone screen.

‘Is that enough? Then I’m going home now.’

‘Huh. You’re leaving already? At least have lunch before you go. I know a Chinese restaurant with delicious charcoal jjamppong. I haven’t tried it, but all our guild members say it’s delicious.’

‘No thanks.’

He had no intention whatsoever of getting a free meal when he’d already gotten an unplanned drink. Doun got off the elevator with Samin, who insisted on seeing him to the entrance.

But when Doun entered the lobby, for some reason there were quite a few people presumed to be hunters gathered there.

The buzzing atmosphere and curious gazes fixed on Doun standing next to Samin.

When he faintly heard his hunter nickname, Doun’s breath caught.

‘What, aren’t you training? What are you all doing sitting around in the lobby?’

If Samin hadn’t glared and driven them away like chasing off street vendors, he would have frozen like an idiot, unable to move.

“When will my fucking head get fixed?”

Doun berated himself and holed up in bed. He should just hole up in his room and live like he was dead. Why couldn’t he endure those few messages and ran all the way there to get a drink from that lunatic?

‘Even if I was lonely, still…’

The other party was a hunter Doun didn’t even want to associate with. And a 2nd-ranked one at that. Doun knew very well what kind of mindset top rankers lived with. Especially if he was a guild master.

Guild masters were humans who created and ruled their own little kingdoms. What reason would a guy who lacked nothing have to cling to him?

Even if it was interest or fandom toward a has-been hunter who was once successful, Samin’s attitude had particularly strange aspects.

Even when he was actively going in and out of towers under the name Magnetic, there were many people who approached Doun. But there was no one like Samin. Usually when he expressed that he didn’t like something, they backed off on their own. That was also basic human relations. But the lunatic called Kyung Samin was different.

‘Well, it’s also funny to look for common sense from a guy who finds out other people’s numbers and sends a bunch of messages on his own.’

Would it be excessive victim mentality to say he’d absorbed a year’s worth of sociability during the short time he met with Samin? Doun, who had been thinking deeply, suddenly sat up in bed.

“Why did I really go there? Am I really crazy…”

Thinking about it, nothing had been resolved. He’d just listened to stalker Kyung Samin’s personal details in a daze, saved his phone number, and only gotten a peach smoothie. But strangely, Doun’s heart was stirring.

‘Hyung, but do you know this?’

‘What.’

‘You said earlier that you’d kill me if I sent you messages.’

‘…’

‘But hyung never said that.’

‘…’

‘You only said you’d destroy the guild, you never said you’d kill me. I know because I saved all of hyung’s messages. I have evidence too.’

‘So what.’

‘What do you mean so what. I’m just saying.’

‘Huh. This is a complete lunatic.’

‘I hear that a lot.’

Mulling it over, the chat with the lunatic had been much more enjoyable than expected. At least during that moment of conversing with Samin, he hadn’t thought about wanting to die.

* * *

[Kyung Samin: Hyung! Good morning ♡(っ*’ᵕ’)’ᵕ’*c)♡ Did you get home safely yesterday? You could reply once, I’m so disappointed…]

[Kyung Samin: Today’s lunch menu! It’s the charcoal jjamppong I wanted to eat with hyung yesterday. The fire flavor is amazing, doesn’t it look delicious? ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎) I ordered it because hyung said you like spicy food, but it was so spicy I used up a whole box of tissues ㅠㅠ If you come near our guild, I’ll treat you for real (photo)]

When Doun woke up around late lunchtime, two messages had already arrived on his phone. If there was one thing different, it was that where there used to be 11 digits of a phone number, three characters of a name were embedded. That was all.

Doun chuckled looking at the seemingly vividly edited jjamppong photo.

“It does look delicious…”

The weak soliloquy scattered. Living a daily life of only going between the hospital and home, Doun’s talking to himself gradually increased. It was because he hated the house where only breathing sounds could be heard except for the noise from appliances. He tried turning on the TV meaninglessly, but whenever hunter-related news or mentions came up, he felt like a corner of his heart was rotting.

‘Doun. You know what being ranked 1st means, right? Your actions are no different from the image of hunters. You’re the face representing hunters.’

For just one human to be the face representing the hunter group that was still increasing in number. Thinking about it now, it was nothing but baseless narcissistic remarks. He was also pathetic for believing that firmly and being swayed by it.

‘They’re doing just fine without me. What kind of face. It’s not even funny, really. Fucking idiot.’

Doun irritably scratched his head and sat up. He was hungry for the first time in a while and had an appetite too. Sitting in the kitchen where he hadn’t taken out cooking utensils in a long time, Doun’s gaze as he looked at his phone lingered on a food photo that looked spicy at first glance.

[Charcoal Jjamppong]

Telling himself he absolutely wasn’t ordering because he was influenced by seeing Samin’s photo, Doun finished the payment and buried his head in the cold table surface.

Yesterday at this time, he was leaving the house through the sweltering heat to threaten a man he’d never seen before. He did get caught up with the other party and returned with little gain though.

Buzz—

When the phone placed on the table vibrated, Doun, who had his cheek against the table, slyly opened his eyes.

[Kyung Samin: Dessert is the peach smoothie hyung had yesterday ¡¡¡( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و!!! But I don’t think it’s my taste, it’s too sweet.. (photo)]

When he enlarged the attached photo, a hand full of rings was holding a peach smoothie in a takeout cup. Looking at the half-empty transparent cup, Doun had a complicated expression.

‘He really drank this.’

Why was he drinking the same beverage he’d had? A guy who said it wasn’t his taste because it was too sweet.

Buzz—

The phone in his hand rang again.

[Kyung Samin: Phew, this is the last message for today •́︿•̀ ｡ Please make sure to eat dinner, reply if you think of me, sleep well too.. Our Yeoun Guild welcomes hyung anytime, so please contact us. If hyung says you’re coming, I’ll kick out Jiyoon noona and give you the sub-guild master position right away. If by any chance.. you want the guild master position, let’s have a deep consultation Σ( ´･ω･`)]

At the words “last message for today,” Doun blinked for a moment. Why would a guy who used to send over ten a day suddenly…

Just as he was wondering if there was some reason, Samin’s nonsense floated in his head.

‘I won’t bother you anymore. I just need to send five messages a day, right? It’s hot out, so let’s go into the office and at least drink some water before you go.’

Doun counted the number of messages Samin had sent today. One, two, three, four…

‘One is missing?’

As Doun was rolling his eyes, another message arrived in succession.

[Kyung Samin: Ah I miscounted, this is really the last message (꜆꜄•ω•)꜆꜄꜆ !! Elite ranker guild [Yeoun] of the Republic of Korea is waiting for you! ★Beautiful guild master★ Free guild atmosphere! No forced company dinners! Side jobs welcome! Subway district guild building! Just come and we’ll close the job posting immediately!]

“This is really a lunatic.”

It was when Doun was silently looking at a message that was comparable to spam texts while muttering.

[The food you ordered has been placed in front of the door as requested. Please enjoy your meal.]

The food seemed to have already arrived. Doun, drooping as he got up from the chair, brought the food placed in front of the door back to the table. He quietly looked down at the delivered food then slyly picked up his phone.

Click.

Doun’s face as he took an out-of-focus food photo was still sunken in depression. However, it was a slightly different expression from yesterday.

[(Photo)]

‘The charcoal jjamppong you said you ate, I’m eating it too.’

He didn’t bother to add his inner thoughts in detail as a reply. Doun just attached a blurry, out-of-focus food photo and sent it to Samin.

Since Samin wanted a reply so much, Doun was moving half a step away from lethargy, enough to think that sending one photo of food he ate today wouldn’t be bad.

It was slow but certain change.

Doun had helplessly felt warmth from Samin’s one-sided messages. What he truly wanted might not have been the antidepressants prescribed by the psychiatrist, but people.

Samin’s purpose for persistently contacting him was clear, and Doun couldn’t fulfill his purpose. But if this kind of contact continued, he might eventually grow attached and pretend to be defeated and join the guild—Doun missed people to that extent.

‘No reply, really.’

Very, very much.