#184
“Anyone besides Kim Tae-jun?”
After hearing Yoon Pa-ran’s question, Kim Min-ji raised one eyebrow crookedly and blurted out a response. Yoon Pa-ran couldn’t help but think that her disgruntled expression somehow resembled Dan Joo-hyuk’s.
Perhaps because of this, Yoon Pa-ran felt more at ease than before and quickly nodded. With Dan Joo-hyuk standing firmly behind him, he could only peek his head out awkwardly, making his posture uncomfortable.
Kim Min-ji twitched her eyebrow again before continuing her answer more willingly than before.
“Didn’t they also capture that fucking bastard Lee Tae-jung? I bet they’ve caught all the major players.”
Leaning back completely on the bed, Kim Min-ji spoke in a grumbling voice. Still, her complexion seemed a bit more relaxed compared to when she was talking with Dan Joo-hyuk earlier.
“What about people who haven’t been caught yet or who knew about the plan?”
“Kim Tae-jun had control over everything. Well, there were probably some people discussing the grand scheme externally—Lee Tae-jung or those foreigners. Anyway, what ultimately pushed him was this shitty status window.”
Kim Min-ji spat out the last words while almost grinding her teeth.
Even from this brief conversation, Yoon Pa-ran could roughly understand Kim Min-ji’s situation. It seemed she and those guys had been using each other. Of course, Dan Joo-hyuk had said her words weren’t credible since she hadn’t explained why she had cooperated with those untrustworthy people.
To Yoon Pa-ran, Kim Min-ji now felt like a massive [■■■ fragment]. It seemed she had been deeply involved in their plan.
Kim Min-ji’s final comment was also concerning.
Unlike Dan Joo-hyuk’s quest, she said theirs truly had “death” as a penalty. Some people had actually died for failing to complete their quests.
Considering that, saying the status window encouraged them wasn’t entirely wrong, but it was a bit strange how she spoke as if the status window had its own consciousness. It oddly felt like Kim Min-ji had harbored a long-standing grudge against the system itself.
“Well, actually, I was only marginally involved because of my sister, so I might not know all the information. Try interrogating Lee Tae-jung thoroughly.”
Kim Min-ji added these words to Yoon Pa-ran, who was deep in thought, as if doing him a favor. Though her tone was still fierce, Yoon Pa-ran somehow got the impression that she wanted to cooperate with this matter.
Anyway, since it seemed like there wasn’t much more to learn from the conversation at the moment, Yoon Pa-ran took a step back.
“Alright. Let me know if you remember anything else.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Perhaps because of the series of major incidents that had occurred, meeting Hunter Kim Min-ji for the first time didn’t carry the usual tension of meeting an S-rank Hunter. If not for that piercing wavelength and the numerous restraints covering her body that inspired caution, it would have been an even more lackluster encounter.
“Shall we go?”
Dan Joo-hyuk abruptly cut in between the two who were exchanging words smoothly. Feeling slightly suffocated by the wavelengths emitted by the two S-rank Hunters, Yoon Pa-ran readily nodded.
“Take care.”
Kim Min-ji waved her hand playfully from behind. Yoon Pa-ran unconsciously tried to wave back.
“Let’s go.”
However, the hand he raised was suddenly grabbed by Dan Joo-hyuk instead of completing the greeting.
“Uh…!”
As if remembering some urgent schedule, Dan Joo-hyuk immediately began striding away. With his hand held, Yoon Pa-ran ended up following his quick pace out of the safe house.
“Hunter Dan!”
Heo Sang-yeon hurriedly followed after the two. Despite still having trouble with one leg, his movements were swift.
Dan Joo-hyuk seemed intent on ignoring Heo Sang-yeon and was about to exit the safe house. However, seeing Heo Sang-yeon’s almost desperate expression, Yoon Pa-ran instinctively stopped in his tracks.
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk’s body, which had been trying to forcibly lead Yoon Pa-ran out, also abruptly stopped for some reason.
“What is it?”
Finally, Dan Joo-hyuk reluctantly responded to Heo Sang-yeon.
He was in an extremely foul mood right now. It was unbearable how Kim Min-ji was speaking so nicely to Yoon Pa-ran and how Yoon Pa-ran was paying attention to Heo Sang-yeon.
However, he found himself unable to forcibly move Yoon Pa-ran according to his own mood.
“Min-ji… what do you think will happen to her now?”
“Who knows.”
Swallowing a sigh inwardly, Dan Joo-hyuk gave a perfunctory answer. As he stopped moving and continued the conversation, Yoon Pa-ran immediately withdrew his hand from Dan’s grip.
The distance from that warmth made his unpleasant feelings intensify. Why should he care about the future of someone like Kim Min-ji?
“…She always said she never wanted to be a Hunter. Isn’t there any way to help her?”
Heo Sang-yeon seemed to genuinely pity Kim Min-ji. It was ridiculous—after being betrayed by his most trusted subordinate, this was absurd.
But what was even more ridiculous was himself. As unbearably displeased as he was with Yoon Pa-ran paying attention to Heo Sang-yeon, he was still stopping to listen to this nonsense because Yoon Pa-ran cared.
“If you’re going to talk such nonsense, tell Kim Min-ji to disclose all the information she has.”
“She said she really did tell everything.”
“If you’re going to keep being this soft, just retire.”
“…”
Heo Sang-yeon’s expression darkened instantly. Once again swallowing a sigh internally, Dan Joo-hyuk organized his thoughts.
After considering Kim Min-ji’s potential value, he decided to share a bit about the government’s mood that he had heard from Minister Byeon.
Above all, he wanted Yoon Pa-ran to stop worrying about such matters.
“The talk about culling earlier wasn’t an empty threat, so you’d better get your act together.”
From the government’s perspective, Kim Min-ji was literally a ticking time bomb.
With society in turmoil due to the aftermath of the Great Gate, the government was taking every possible measure.
However, despite the good news of a “safe zone,” they might be seeking alternatives since they couldn’t freely control Yoon Pa-ran because of Dan Joo-hyuk.
There was a high possibility that the government wanted to redirect people’s resentment from the unprecedented disaster toward Kim Min-ji, who now carried the greatest guilt.
They might be determined to sacrifice one or two S-rank Hunters if they could gradually but surely embrace Yoon Pa-ran’s safe zone.
“I see…”
Even with just this hint, Heo Sang-yeon seemed to understand. As someone who had maintained the closest communication with the government, he would understand the current situation better than anyone.
“We’ll talk again later.”
“Okay. Thank you, Hunter Dan.”
At the words of thanks, Dan Joo-hyuk merely raised an eyebrow crookedly before turning around. He didn’t forget to take care of Yoon Pa-ran standing beside him.
As soon as they returned to the car, Yoon Pa-ran spoke up, seeming a bit dazed.
“Those two seem quite close.”
“…”
‘So those two… seem close?’
‘No.’
‘Yes.’
Suddenly, he recalled what Heo Sang-yeon had said in the past. Now he clearly understood why he had been so displeased back then at the mere mention of not being close.
Once again, he felt a thirst as if the inside of his throat was cracking. Compared to back then, perhaps he should be grateful that Yoon Pa-ran at least referred to him as a friend.
“…How was what you said you’d find out?”
“Hmm.”
In the end, Dan Joo-hyuk couldn’t provide an appropriate answer and subtly changed the subject.
After observing Heo Sang-yeon and Kim Min-ji, Yoon Pa-ran must have reached some conclusion as he started speaking while fastening his seatbelt.
“When I first met Hunter Heo Sang-yeon, he reminded me of my sisters.”
“Sisters?”
“Yeah. The older girls who were with me at the orphanage when I was young.”
Dan Joo-hyuk’s face slightly stiffened at this unexpected information. He hadn’t known that Yoon Pa-ran was still in contact with people who had left the orphanage. Considering his soft personality, it was natural, but he had been complacent.
Dan Joo-hyuk silently committed this newly learned aspect of Yoon Pa-ran’s human relationships to memory.
“Anyway, from the moment Hunter Heo Sang-yeon clashed with you and revealed his wavelength, those thoughts completely disappeared.”
“…”
“Maybe because it’s not an easy feeling to endure?”
Listening to Yoon Pa-ran’s calm but direct remarks, Dan Joo-hyuk’s expression tensed again with anxiety.
What Yoon Pa-ran was describing now was the general sentiment humans feel when facing an S-rank Hunter. More precisely, it was often defined as “the fear or displeasure of facing something that doesn’t seem quite human.”
Of course, no one openly expressed such sentiments in front of an S-rank Hunter. That’s why it was usually packaged as a form of awe toward someone extremely powerful.
Dan Joo-hyuk had delved deeply into the aversion humans felt toward him. Every time he heard the explanation, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the S-rank Hunter syndrome seemed to function bidirectionally.
In the end, since Dan Joo-hyuk was the only one suffering from such a widespread syndrome, he only reached the conclusion that it was an unfounded thought.
Anyway, the phrases from gate studies research flashed urgently through his mind. Those scathing sentences about feeling like having a terrible monster nearby just by being close.
“…”
Though he had already known this, Dan Joo-hyuk had never cared about it until now. It wasn’t his concern what feelings others had.
But now he couldn’t think that way. Now that he had someone he cared about more than anyone, it had become Dan Joo-hyuk’s problem. Cold sweat began to form on his spine as concerns continued to plague him.
…Had Yoon Pa-ran also found him so unpleasant all this time?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
