#82
Lee Seung-woo was currently facing the most difficult challenge of his life. His grandmother had said that human life was something you thought you knew but never really understood, but who could have known it would be this incomprehensible?
“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting ready?”
“Ah, yes! I’ll go change clothes first.”
“Go ahead.”
Do-hyeok nodded casually. Seung-woo quickly entered the changing room inside the gym with the training clothes he always kept in his bag as spares.
“Hah, what on earth is this about?”
As soon as he closed the door, Seung-woo let out a long sigh. This absurd and strange situation had started a little while ago, on his way home from work. Just as he was about to call a taxi, he felt someone behind him and someone tapped his shoulder.
There were hardly any people who would remain in the guild building at this hour anyway. When he turned around in bewilderment, there stood a person he never could have imagined.
“Uh…? Guild Leader-nim…?”
Lee Seung-woo opened his eyes wide and blinked. He wondered if he was seeing things because he was too tired, but Cha Do-hyeok told him to follow with an expressionless face and then suddenly turned around and left. Seung-woo, who had been stunned on the spot, quickly came to his senses and followed behind him. Before he knew it, they had arrived at the gym.
After entering, Do-hyeok continued to say incomprehensible things.
“I’ll watch your training.”
“Pardon?”
For something said at 3 AM, it was truly unrealistic.
“If I watch you during work hours, other guild members will know, and then they’ll think it’s unfair. If I’m going to watch, now is the right time.”
Do-hyeok’s words were correct. If Cha Do-hyeok personally coached one guild member, surely everyone would cling to Do-hyeok asking him to watch their training too. But even so, this situation itself wasn’t cleanly understandable.
So had the Guild Leader been waiting until now to watch his training? To begin with, why was he offering to watch his training?
“You seem to have a lot of questions right now, so let me briefly explain – I remained in the guild because of personal business. As for watching your training…”
Do-hyeok trailed off for a moment.
“I’m doing this because a young guy is dejected and might die fighting absent-mindedly. I don’t want to clean up a rookie hunter’s corpse.”
At Do-hyeok’s words, Lee Seung-woo felt a bit choked up. He thought he hadn’t shown it at all, but when had Cha Do-hyeok known? Had he noticed the dejected heart that had been trying somehow to become stronger after nearly dying in the S-rank dungeon they had recently faced?
Having such thoughts, his grip on the training clothes gradually tightened. He had never heard of a Guild Leader personally watching a guild member’s training within Nameless Guild. Even though there were still parts he couldn’t understand, he couldn’t let this golden opportunity that had rolled his way slip by.
It was private tutoring from the 1st ranked hunter no less – he was confident he could receive it even if it meant staying up all night. Lee Seung-woo clenched his fist and changed clothes.
* * *
“Huff… huff…”
Making his determination meaningless, 30 minutes later, Lee Seung-woo was sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Meanwhile, Cha Do-hyeok, who had personally sparred with him, remained relaxed without shedding a single drop of sweat.
“As a hunter, how much you hone and use your skills well is important, but combat is ultimately a battle of stamina.”
“Yes!”
Lee Seung-woo wiped away the sweat beading on his forehead. Cha Do-hyeok was definitely on a different level. His movements had no unnecessary parts and were clean. Literally attacks with no hesitation or idle thoughts felt whatsoever, purely for subduing the opponent. Lee Seung-woo felt as if thrills were flowing through his entire body. Lee Seung-woo took his stance again and matched Do-hyeok’s rhythm.
Another 30 minutes passed after that. Lee Seung-woo gradually grew tired, but Cha Do-hyeok remained the same. However, if there was something slightly different from before, it was that he kept staring intently at his phone in the middle, or when Lee Seung-woo’s phone rang, he mistook it for his own and quickly checked his phone, showing slightly decreased concentration.
As they were drinking water and gradually preparing for the end of training, this time Do-hyeok’s phone rang loudly. He quickly reached out to stare at the screen, then looked at Lee Seung-woo.
“Let’s end training here.”
“Ah, yes! Thank you. Get home safe…”
It was before he could finish saying “get home safely.” Do-hyeok grabbed his outer clothes and disappeared from the training room in a flash. Lee Seung-woo stared blankly at the spot where he had vanished like the wind, then began cleaning up. Though his body was tired and exhausted, somehow his heart felt even more solid.
Leaving Lee Seung-woo behind like that, Do-hyeok came out of the training room and answered the phone without hesitation.
“Hyung, where are you?”
– Ah, well…
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Do-hyeok quickly entered the parking garage and got in his car while continuously asking questions.
– Hey, do you think I would be hurt?
Ha-seong’s blunt voice came through the phone. Just from that voice alone, Do-hyeok felt that nothing had happened to him and finally let out a sigh of relief.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
– Whatever. I caught the guy. I’m at the Management Bureau with Woo-bin-ssi right now, so come here.
“Yes.”
– What about Lee Seung-woo?
“I did as hyung said.”
Right, with Ha-seong’s calm answer, the call ended. Do-hyeok, who had gotten into the driver’s seat, stared blankly at the screen where the call had ended. The name “Do Ha-seong” displayed on the screen, the low voice remaining in his ears – he couldn’t be more relieved.
Even though Cha Do-hyeok knew best that Do Ha-seong wasn’t someone who would easily be caught twice, strangely his heart couldn’t be at ease. Even while watching Lee Seung-woo’s training, he felt the urge every second to immediately run out and go to his side.
“…”
Do-hyeok reached out and slowly started the engine. He still felt like unrelieved anxiety remained at his fingertips. But it was okay. He already knew well how to shake off this anxiety.
Do-hyeok quickly drove the car. He wanted to see Do Ha-seong’s face at the Management Bureau as soon as possible.
* * *
When the Hunter Management Bureau was first established in South Korea, it was a simple and small building with only 3 floors. However, as time passed and hunters’ status rose, entering the great hunter era of today, the Management Bureau’s scale had become the largest and most extensive among various government agencies.
There was a main building of about 10 floors, and separate annexes divided into west and east wings on either side. The west wing was where various materials, information, and systems and laws related to hunters were created and implemented. On the other hand, the east wing was where facilities and equipment for grade measurement for those who had just awakened and giving them hunter registration cards were located.
So the east wing was where those who had awakened first visited the Management Bureau. While the main building and west wing were newly built as buildings for the Management Bureau, only this east wing was different. The east wing was a building originally created for some military units to handle administrative work, and the existing building had been newly renovated and remodeled for use as the current institution.
Perhaps because of this, there had been a rumor circulating in this Management Bureau since long ago. That on the first basement floor of the east wing that the military had used, there existed a room for confining and holding people. The first basement floor of the east wing was used as a warehouse for storing Management Bureau supplies and equipment, but there were actually hidden spaces there, and ghost stories of the type that those in the know all knew were quite famous among Management Bureau staff.
And Cha Do-hyeok had just come down to the basement of the east wing, which was the center of those rumors. He stepped without concern into a space where the dawn darkness was much thicker. In the long corridor there were several wide rooms, all filled with various items. Do-hyeok waved away the swirling dust with his hands and continued walking forward. And he stood in front of the room at the very end.
“…”
Do-hyeok habitually looked around once, then opened the door without hesitation and went inside. Similarly, the wide room was piled with old equipment and items used for grade measurement. Do-hyeok pushed through them and went further inside. And another door was revealed.
Unlike the doors he had seen so far, this one was firmly locked.
Knock knock.
Do-hyeok knocked on the door without hesitation. A sound neither too small nor too loud echoed through the room.
“…”
When he knocked on the door, he felt signs of life beyond it, but no words were heard. Do-hyeok paused for a moment, then decided to speak first.
“Hyung, it’s me.”
At those words, the rusted door slowly opened.
“Say something quickly. I was unnecessarily nervous because there was no response.”
Ha-seong let out a deep sigh, saying he thought his heart would shrink.
“Let me look at you.”
Whether Ha-seong said such things or not, Do-hyeok was busy examining his condition. He scanned various parts of his body to check if there were any injuries. Even though he had said he was fine on the phone, he might actually be hurt. Wasn’t it Do Ha-seong who had said last time that even a large gash on his forehead wasn’t really an injury?
“Hey, I said I’m fine.”
Ha-seong lightly pressed Do-hyeok’s head and moved away from him. He really seemed to be fine as he said. There seemed to be no injuries either, so just as he was about to feel relieved, something caught Do-hyeok’s eye.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
