19
* * *
As Samin had said, the meal was excellent. Doun’s mood became peculiar when a hunter who was Samin’s acquaintance came out personally to request a handshake. It was the first time he’d been asked to shake hands twice in one day.
The restaurant owner had once been a guild member of Yeoun Guild, he said. When he awakened as a hunter and was looking for a guild, Samin had recruited him when he was being repeatedly rejected for membership due to his age.
‘Samin is a bit strange sometimes, but he’s loyal, and above all, he takes really good care of his people. Mag- um, Doun-ssi will understand if you keep spending time with him.’
It was something Doun agreed with. Though he had many strange aspects, just from how he had approached him first with friendly words and taken care of various things when they first met, it was safe to say he had a warm personality.
‘Hmm. This is what kind of person I am.’
Doun chuckled in response to the boastful Samin.
‘You’ve lived more upright than I thought?’
‘O-of course.’
The problem started from then. Samin’s usual relaxed and sly nonsense visibly decreased, and eventually he even began acting flustered.
“Are you okay?”
Doun asked this at the cafe they’d arrived at after Samin insisted on buying coffee, as his condition was bad enough to warrant the question.
“Ah, of course. I’m totally fine.”
“You’re fine but why are you creaking like this?”
When Doun leaned forward to take a closer look, Samin startled and raised both hands to cover his face. His palms were so large that Doun unconsciously felt the urge to compare them with his own hands.
“Don’t come close. It’s bad for my mental health.”
“…What nonsense are you spouting?”
“You’re right. I’m actually kind of losing it right now.”
“Why?”
“Even if I tell you, a dense person like hyung won’t understand. Even if I explain, you’ll just say ‘what are you talking about?’ and say things that make people’s blood pressure spike.”
“Huh…”
Doun leaned back in his chair watching Samin who was making incomprehensible sounds. He really was someone unpredictable. Thanks to that, he could hardly think depressing thoughts while being with him.
‘Just watching him leaves no time for such thoughts.’
Could this be considered positive? Even while pondering this, he thought it wasn’t a bad change. Hadn’t the psychiatrist treating Doun said something like this too?
‘It would be good to attend hobby-focused academies like baking schools. When you spend a lot of time alone at home, you end up thinking a lot too. That’s not a very good environment for Doun-ssi.’
Though he hadn’t expected to end up with such a crazy person. Doun organized his thoughts while drinking the coffee in front of him. His heart, already half-decided, became complete.
“Hey.”
“…Yes.”
He answered even when called ‘hey’ instead of by name.
He knew more about him than expected.
The strange lunatic who had prodded his lethargic self into movement.
Doun decided to trust Samin, who was full of strange modifiers. No, he wanted to trust him.
“The guild membership offer, it’s still valid, right?”
“…!”
Samin froze with his hands still covering his face and opened his mouth. He needed to speak but was too shocked for words to come out. He had thought it would take at least another week of pestering to get an answer.
Samin hurriedly called up the system window.
[Alert: Would you like to invite ‘Magnetic’ to your guild ‘Yeoun’?]
[Alert: Waiting for the other party’s acceptance.]
Even though he was right in front of him, this moment strangely felt incredibly distant. It was because he suddenly realized that this man named Lee Doun, who had been shocked at his nonsense about holding a fan meeting and startled at small contact, was indeed the hunter Magnetic he had so admired.
“Why aren’t you accepting… Don’t tell me you were playing with me?”
When the acceptance notification didn’t appear for a while, the anxious Samin whined. Unable to go sit next to Doun, he sat across from him clenching and unclenching his fists, and finally before his eyes appeared:
[Alert: ‘Magnetic’ has joined your guild ‘Yeoun’.]
The screen he had imagined dozens, hundreds of times appeared before his eyes. It felt like his breath stopped.
* * *
[Welcome to accessing the Veritas System.]
[Chat┃Light-netic finally went to Yeoun… (206)]
[Magnetic (S)
Guild Affiliation: Yeoun
Domestic Ranking: 1st place]
When the sighting reports of him and Slope came up, I thought “no way” but shit
Slope you bastard, did it feel good to steal him like that!!!!!!
(206 comments)
-Even though he’s washed up, he’s making his comeback at Yeoun with his 1st place ranking power…
└Yeoun isn’t shit or anything special but the first comment is already going crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Rather, they should consider it an honor;
└└Bashing Yeoun like this is a bit…
-What does Yeoun become?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhy did he go there?
└Fox’s sour grapes was amazing
-Just looking at how they aimed for a 55th floor guild solo clear with 12 people, isn’t Yeoun one of Korea’s top guilds?
└What, how much did Yeoun pay you?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋGoing on and onㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└└The facts were so overwhelming it probably seemed like going on and on?
-But even if he goes to Yeoun, he can’t immediately join the 55th floor
└That’s true… It’ll take at least a month to catch up
└└What month, if he takes the express bus to the highest floors it’s a 3-week cut
└└└It’s true he needs to be pushed from the 45th floor… absolutely can’t do it without guild helpㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
* * *
[Chat┃Magnetic vs Slope who would win? (372)]
Personally, 1 vote for Slope
(372 comments)
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋTheir main skills are different to begin with, so is there meaning?
└(Author): Just thinking about it for funㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└I think Magnetic would win, if he uses magic from long range isn’t it an instant kill?
-What Pokémon battle are you staging, asking who would win if living people fought? Go watch UFC
└(Author): Getting all serious about a post meant for laughs;;
-Look at Slope’s build… Light magnet would be sent to the afterlife in one hit
└(Author): As hunters, they should settle it with skills
└└Ah if it’s skills only… Still betting 1 win for Slope, even giant worms die if they get grazed by that bastard’s poison fog
-Slope’s build is just a bit threatening, but a kick to the crotch would be a one-hit KO
└That goes for light magnet too
└Sorry but are all male hunters this vulgar?
└└I’m a woman..ㅎ;
└└└Ah sorry;;
-Light magnet’s star power is insane, some shitty post has 300 commentsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
* * *
[Chat┃Hey even Yeoun guild members didn’t know? (63)]
@shine_sol2 We’re also beating up our guild master bastard but he won’t reply… Can’t reply to DMs!
Yeoun main dealer Bright Sol’s SNS messages are explodingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
(63 comments)
-Guild master bastardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Slope’s treatment has a long history… guild master bastard, guild master son of a bitch, guild master asshole
-Yeoun’s internal atmosphere is super relaxed but seeing no casualties, it’s fucking amazing
└Originally places without ability are the ones that care about discipline and hierarchy ㅇㅇ
└└Wide-range sniping, reporting
└└└ㅋㅋㅋㅋWhere are you going to report?ㅋㅋㅋㅋTo the police?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
* * *
Overcome with emotion, Samin eventually tried to hug Doun who was sitting across from him at the cafe, and Doun threw him off. An employee appeared after hearing the loud sound of him tumbling on the floor and carefully asked them to leave.
‘We’re sorry.’
Fortunately, there were no broken cups or fixtures, so after apologizing profusely to the employee, they left the cafe and got into Samin’s car.
“Should we go near hyung’s house? Or the guild building? It would be nice to have a welcome ceremony to commemorate joining.”
“Later. I want to go home today.”
After making a big decision, one needs alone time too. At Doun’s gentle refusal, Samin couldn’t push further. Doun quietly checked his status window in the car moving toward his neighborhood.
[Guild Affiliation: Yeoun]
The two characters written in the space that had been empty for being unaffiliated felt awkward.
“But there’s something I’ve been curious about from before.”
Doun glanced to the side. His face, hardened with concentration on driving, was strangely unfamiliar.
“What is it? My bank account password is 0707 and the door lock password is *1234567*.”
No, it seemed familiar.
“Calm down a bit.”
“…Yes.”
“What does the guild name mean?”
He’d been curious for a long time. Ever since that day he’d searched on portal sites out of curiosity about the place where the guy who sent crazy texts whenever he had a chance was guild master.
“Ah, it’s nothing special. My parents always have this saying. ‘Live a life that leaves an impression on others.’ At first I didn’t know what it meant and just thought I should live like that since they told me to, but ‘yeoun’ (lingering impression) isn’t anything special. The words are just a bit difficult, but it just means to remain in memory later, right?”
It was a fresh perspective he’d never thought about. Doun turned his head to look out the window.
“So I named the guild Yeoun with the mindset of making a mark in the hunter world. And my guild will properly live up to its name.”
“……”
“Because hyung came.”
Doun couldn’t look at Samin who was pouring out embarrassing words, and fidgeted with his mask for no reason.
“…Saying things like that is rude to your original guild members.”
“Is it? Honestly, we were quietly making a name for ourselves, but our guild members lack that one heavy punch.”
“What would I have?”
Doun had no immunity to words that praised him like this. He’d only ever been criticized for shortcomings and forced to overwork. That shameless thug was always busy being amazed and impressed whenever he looked at him.
“I’ll take our hyung up to the tower’s top floor on the highway now, so look forward to it. If hyung knew how much other guilds charge to help clear the 40s floors, you’d faint.”
“There are places that charge money to clear floors?”
“Of course! Everyone needs to build know-how and manage points. Make money and satisfy the vanity of rich silver spoon hunters too. For reference, the 45th floor is minimum 3,000 per person.”
“That’s crazy…”
“That’s even the friend discount rate.”
At Samin’s additional comment, Doun gulped.
“Of course, we’ll safely escort our hyung to the 54th floor for free, so don’t worry.”
Samin, who had been focused only on the road ahead, glanced over to make eye contact and grinned. Doun’s mind spun rapidly.
‘Just how much debt did I incur?’
He thought he should properly earn his keep. A lot of it too…