#25
What would he say? Do-hyeok decided to quietly wait for the words that would come from Ha-seong’s mouth. He just silently watched his lips moving.
“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t know, so……”
Well, of course, it’s probably a rejection after all. Do-hyeok thought it couldn’t be helped anyway. Even if Do Ha-seong rejected the proposal, there was nothing he could do. Do-hyeok had no justification to force him.
It was when Do-hyeok was about to nod, saying he understood.
“Did you happen to see my pig?”
“Yeah…… What?”
“The pig. The one you saw before. No matter how much I think about it, I think I left it there that day, but I can’t see it.”
“Ah……”
Ha-seong tilted his head with a serious face, saying he had no idea where it could be. Do-hyeok’s energy completely deflated at the ridiculous sight of him muttering, “Did it really get sold to a zoo or something……” He thought Ha-seong had come with an answer since he approached with such a serious face right after entering, but as expected, what he was looking for was the pig.
He felt strangely upset at the feeling of being pushed aside by a pig.
“I was actually going to tell you about that. Han Shin-woo found it and is keeping it, so don’t worry.”
“Ah, really?”
Do-hyeok picked up the phone placed next to his monitor. It looked like he was going to call Han Shin-woo who had left earlier.
“Hey hey, it’s fine. I’ll take it with me later.”
Ha-seong stopped Do-hyeok from pressing the button, saying it was enough to know where it was, that he was worried it might have really been sold to a zoo or something. It wasn’t like it was worthy of a tearful reunion anyway.
“Yeah. Whatever.”
The conversation briefly cut off with those words. Do-hyeok was about to slowly ask. Whether he had thought about what they talked about that time. Honestly, he had intended to wait until he could comfortably make a decision, but strangely, an emotion similar to impatience arose.
“But……”
“Hey……”
Ring ring ring-
Just when the two opened their mouths simultaneously, the guild internal phone that Do-hyeok had picked up and put down earlier rang loudly. Even the timing was this ridiculous. Do-hyeok answered the phone.
“Yeah.”
“……”
“So.”
Ha-seong stood there dumbly, quietly watching Cha Do-hyeok speak with tremendous phone etiquette.
“So you’re saying there’s no purifier you can send?”
Ha-seong immediately reacted to the word purifier.
“No…… Ha……”
Watching Do-hyeok, who seemed annoyed for some reason, Ha-seong could roughly guess what kind of call it was. Surely there was no purifier available to dispatch immediately, and they were asking to send the direct purifier belonging to his team.
“Hey.”
Ha-seong lightly tapped Do-hyeok’s desk while he was still on the call and called in a quiet voice. Then he slightly raised his lowered gaze.
“I’ll go.”
“……”
Do-hyeok, who had hesitated for a moment, nodded. Then Ha-seong’s phone immediately rang. Looking at the messenger app, Do-hyeok had sent him the location of the relevant place. After confirming, Ha-seong immediately left the Guild Leader’s office.
* * *
“Purification work is complete.”
As Ha-seong took one last step back from the gate, the spatial-temporal rift began to slowly disappear. The Nameless Hunters who had carried out this strategy also began moving for cleanup.
“Excuse me……”
Ha-seong was also getting ready to withdraw when someone lightly tapped his shoulder from behind. When he turned around, he saw a familiar face.
“Right? You’re the purifier who newly joined Do-hyeok’s team this time!”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
Who was it again……
Ha-seong spun his brain faster than anyone else right now. Quickly scanning only the corners containing Hunter-related information from his memory bundle, one person perfectly matching the brightly smiling face came to mind.
Nameless Vice Guild Leader, Kang Won-hyeok. 7th-ranked Hunter. Recent 10th place in the “Which Hunter is Most Handsome” rankings.
Originally, Ha-seong didn’t have much particular interest in Hunters. Even if they were famous rankers. But after getting involved with Cha Do-hyeok, when suspicious things kept happening continuously, he felt a sense of crisis and immediately started studying. About the major Hunters currently active in South Korea.
“You’re the Vice Guild Leader, right?”
“Yes yes. That’s right.”
Fortunately, it was a bingo. Ha-seong naturally shook hands with Won-hyeok and exchanged greetings.
“By the way, I wanted to meet you once, and now I’m seeing you like this. Ah, if you’re leaving now, shall we return to the guild together?”
“Yes yes, well, let’s do that.”
Going together was a bit uncomfortable, but he couldn’t flatly refuse a proposal the other person had made first. Even though they were from the same guild, until now they had been people with no acquaintance at all. But Ha-seong decided to quickly abandon that thought after following Won-hyeok into the parking lot.
“Get in.”
A black luxury sedan welcomed the two people. Ha-seong sat in the passenger seat following Won-hyeok’s guidance. If he was going back in a car like this, he’d always welcome it. As Ha-seong felt the texture of the plush seat and fastened his seatbelt, the car started smoothly.
“But how did you get to know Do-hyeok?”
“Pardon?”
He hadn’t expected such a high-difficulty question to suddenly come flying in. No, when Cha Do-hyeok put Ha-seong into the guild, didn’t he give the guild members a proper explanation – that is, a plausible explanation – in advance? The face of that nonchalant and indifferent guy naturally came to mind.
“Uh…… well, we just met through various coincidences.”
Ha-seong threw his gaze out the window as if playing dumb. It was a statement that sounded ambiguous and like he was hiding something to anyone who heard it, but Ha-seong only hoped Won-hyeok wouldn’t ask again.
“Oh, I see. Then by any chance……”
Then Won-hyeok began speaking in a meaningful voice.
“That, you know…… do you know anything about Cha Do-hyeok’s dating life?”
Cha Do-hyeok? Dating? At the suddenly incomprehensible flow of conversation, Ha-seong, who had been looking out the window, whipped his head around. At the same time, the signal changed to red.
“No, that guy seems to be dating, but he won’t tell me anything at all.”
Won-hyeok squinted his eyes as if he had become a detective and chattered on and on to Ha-seong, whom he was meeting for the first time today, about why he thought so and how SNS was currently buzzing with Do-hyeok’s sighting reports.
“A photo?”
That was somewhat curious. That bland guy dating. What kind of photo and sighting report had surfaced? A bit of curiosity arose.
“Ah, wait a moment…… I’ll show you.”
Won-hyeok quickly opened his phone before the signal changed and showed Ha-seong the problematic photo.
“……”
The curiosity that had been slowly creeping up completely cooled down upon knowing the identity of that photo.
“He’s not dating.”
“Huh? How does Ha-seong-ssi know? Did you hear something?”
Because the guy in that photo with him is me.
Fortunately, due to the composition, Ha-seong’s face didn’t show well as it was hidden by Cha Do-hyeok’s build, but it was still ridiculous that people were making a fuss about whether Cha Do-hyeok was dating or not based on this photo.
“No. That’s not it…… anyway, he’s not.”
“Really? I was hoping to see that guy dating for once this time.”
The car started smoothly following the signal that had just changed.
“No, Do-hyeok, that kid has a bit of a personality and is a bit like this and that, but he’s not a bad kid.”
Just when he thought they could finally go quietly, Won-hyeok suddenly started talking about Do-hyeok for some reason.
“He’s not the type to keep people around him well either…… He must feel lonely a lot, but he doesn’t show any signs of it at all. People are just busy being enthusiastic about him being South Korea’s only S-rank Hunter and whatnot, they’re not interested in things like that.”
“……”
Ha-seong, who had turned his gaze back out the window, quietly listened to Won-hyeok’s story. He felt a strange sense of kinship with those words. Being an S-rank Hunter, standing at the very peak among Hunters, also meant having to walk a lonely path alone.
Ha-seong, who had walked that path, knew better than anyone what that was like.
Then Won-hyeok received a phone call. After asking for understanding with “Ah, wait a moment,” he answered the phone through the Bluetooth connected to his phone.
“Yeah, Shin-woo.”
– Ah, Vice Guild Leader! Are you with Ha-seong-ssi by any chance?
“Yeah, we’re heading back together after finishing work.”
– Then I’m sorry, but please tell Ha-seong-ssi to dispatch immediately! A sudden emergency gate burst open, so the Guild Leader went out right away.
“Yeah. Okay, got it. Send the location.”
Won-hyeok hung up the phone and then sharply turned the steering wheel, saying he’d take Ha-seong there.
“A lot is happening today.”
“That’s right. It seems like work luck is bursting these days, really.”
Won-hyeok threw out a joke and quickly stepped on the accelerator. Whether it was because the location was fortunately not far away, or because the car’s performance was excellent, they were able to arrive quickly.
“Then fighting!”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Ha-seong bowed to Won-hyeok and then approached the gate that was gaping wide open.
Even though he was standing in front of this gate as a purifier rather than a Hunter now, when he focused on observing a dungeon entrance like this, his heart still beat faintly. Wouldn’t he really die today, would he be able to return safely with his colleagues? Past Ha-seong couldn’t stop such thoughts even when he tried to. It was even more so because dangerous dungeons were naturally Ha-seong’s share to resolve.
‘He’s not the type to keep people around him well either…… He must feel lonely a lot, but he doesn’t show any signs of it at all.’
Come to think of it, Cha Do-hyeok and himself might be quite similar.
‘I want hyung to help me with my revenge.’
That look in his eyes was still vivid in his mind, and the fact that what that guy said kept bothering him might all be for that reason.
Then the surrounding energy grew faint and a familiar silhouette slowly walked out from inside.
“You came right on time.”
This strategy didn’t seem to have been very easy, as his clothes were covered in dirt and several scratches were visible on his arms and neck.
“Yeah.”
Honestly, when Cha Do-hyeok talked about revenge, when he asked for help, he had thought it would be better not to get deeply involved. It surely wouldn’t be a simple matter, and he thought it wasn’t something that someone like himself, who just had the small dream of being a rich unemployed person, should accept.
But seeing that guy walking out with a somewhat tired look now, how should he put it. It was just strange. Was it because he seemed to overlap with his past self?
“Hey. I’ll do it.”
“Yes. You can do it. The purification work.”
“No, not that.”
For a moment, Ha-seong and Do-hyeok’s gazes collided in midair.
“I’ll help you. With that revenge or whatever it is.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
