Chapter 64
He tried to pull out his caught hand, but Mujin grabbed it again. This time he even interlaced their fingers so he couldn’t escape at all. Eunseong let out a small sigh and wiggled his fingers.
“Stop fooling around.”
“……Got it.”
Eunseong lightly scolded Mujin and raised his other hand to greet Park Jiwon.
Park Jiwon was scheduled to accompany them today as a guarantor for Eunseong’s new awakener registration procedure. Since Eunseong planned to register his identity as a support class, specifically a buff ability user, a guarantee from a hunter of the same type was absolutely necessary.
Procedurally, Mujin alone wasn’t enough, and Mujin seemed quite displeased about that.
“Thank you for coming like this. For readily helping us.”
“Thank me? I’m the one who’s grateful for always being treated so well.”
Park Jiwon smiled cheekily while making a circle with his index finger and thumb and winked. At that moment, Woo made a disapproving “tsk” sound from beside them.
“If you’re going to commit illegal acts, do it out of my sight.”
“N-no, that’s not it. I wasn’t bribed. Geumseum-ssi’s abilities are real. I confirmed it with my own two eyes. I guarantee it on my honor.”
Park Jiwon waved both hands frantically in alarm.
“Hunter Park Jiwon had honor to stake?”
“Oh, Team Leader Woo, really.”
Actually, the person contributing most to obtaining an illegal identity was Woo , but he was putting pressure on the talkative Park Jiwon to instill wariness in him. He couldn’t smooth out his disapproving expression because he didn’t like his light behavior. Woo glanced at Mujin with a questioning look. His eyes asked if he was trustworthy.
“He’s not a bad person. Let’s go, Geumseum.”
Mujin replied curtly in an indifferent tone and walked inside without letting go of Eunseong’s hand. Not content with just holding hands, he pulled him to hook his arm around his side, making Eunseong feel like he was dangling along.
“Let go, please……”
Eunseong tried to push away with his other hand on Mujin’s side, but his fingers just slipped on the hard muscle.
* * *
“Han Geumseum-ssi, that’s a pretty name.”
Inside the quiet registration room, the registration officer in charge of examining Eunseong’s documents gave routine praise with seeming indifference.
Since Eunseong had removed his security glasses for the examination, his snow-white hair and blue eyes caught the officer’s attention. He flipped through the thick medical certificate labeled “awakening side effects” while checking the contents quite thoroughly.
The officer, who had been scanning through the documents, suddenly raised his eyebrows at the guarantor names.
Park Jiwon, Baek Mujin……? He glanced up to check the man standing like a wall behind Eunseong and his lips twitched. He’d been wondering, but it seemed to really be that Baek Mujin.
“Ahem, yes. Identity verification complete. Please move to the front of the examination table.”
Most procedures were automatically conducted through unmanned terminals and electronic recognition devices, but for late manifesters like Eunseong, an officer was assigned. Amid the intermittent electronic sounds, Eunseong bit his lips tightly as they dried with nervousness.
When he looked back at Mujin, he met his eyes as if he’d been waiting.
“Don’t be nervous. We’ve already confirmed your abilities ourselves.”
Then he caressed Eunseong’s neck to add reassurance. It meant not to worry since there were items here. In fact, Eunseong had come loaded with various items. Thanks to Woo , he’d gotten in here without a single one being caught by the scanners.
“Registrant, please place your right hand on the recognition plate here.”
The waiting registration officer urged in a bored voice. It was just a skill registration procedure, yet what was so serious about it, his nuance suggested.
Mujin grabbed Eunseong’s wrist and aligned it on the scanner. Eunseong swallowed dry saliva. Light quietly passed over his palm.
“Blood test, brainwave pattern collection, and ability type identification are all conducted simultaneously here. The information of the two registered guarantors also matches. Then I’ll proceed.”
Eunseong focused on the strange sensation from the examination device. He felt a slight foreign sensation on his skin as microscopic needles penetrated, then it disappeared instantly. It stung a little but was bearable.
“Reaction pattern stable, no wavelength deviation, energy amplitude is clean too. Type confirmed as support class with empathic buff skills, crafting skills…… Uh……?”
After a brief loading period, the registration officer who had been reading the information displayed on the screen one by one opened his eyes wide and gaped. Just as he was about to put his glasses back on and move the mouse busily, Mujin tapped on the desk.
“Is there some problem?”
“Ah, well, the blood test results show restricted access information is in, in, in…… cl-clu…… ded……”
The registration officer’s words gradually slowed until he couldn’t even finish the sentence. Mujin tapped on the desk twice more.
“Please check once more.”
A hazy gray aura covered the registration officer’s pupils as he looked at Eunseong and Mujin. The man who blinked slowly looked at the monitor again.
Changed information was displayed on the monitor screen at some point.
“……Oh, I’m sorry. I think I was mistaken for a moment. I’ll check again.”
“You seem tired from frequent overtime work lately. Why don’t you have a caffeine drink?”
“Oh, should I?”
The registration officer obediently got up at Mujin’s words and brought drinks from the break room. He was even kind enough to bring some for the group of fraudsters, carrying them in his arms and distributing them.
“This would taste better heated up.”
“Ah, that sounds good. I’ll heat it up in the microwave.”
“Ah! No! Just drink it as is. It would be better to drink it without heating.”
Eunseong hit Mujin’s stomach with his elbow. When he widened his eyes telling him not to fool around, Mujin grinned saying he was just checking the performance.
The registration officer, who had half-risen and couldn’t decide what to do, blinked several times then sat back down creaking like a broken robot. Then he slightly turned the tablet that was vertically fixed to the desk toward Eunseong.
“Everything is confirmed. Han Geumseum-ssi, please sign in the signature field and register your fingerprint too.”
Eunseong finished signing and completed registering the fake fingerprint that Joo Hyeonwoo had made.
“Good. No problems. Registration complete.”
With a cheerful beep, the image of Eunseong’s new hunter registration card appeared on the tablet screen. Mujin stroked Eunseong’s back and whispered.
“It’s done. Now you’re a proper newbie official hunter. Han Geumseum-ssi.”
Eunseong’s cheeks flushed slightly. Being involved in wrongdoing together somehow felt embarrassing and ticklish.
Looking back, there was Park Jiwon standing like a stone statue with gray eyes fixed in the air. Mujin snapped his fingers in the air and handed Park Jiwon a caffeine drink.
“Hunter Park Jiwon, are you so lacking in energy that you’re dozing off standing? You’re not a sick chicken.”
“Huh? Uh…… was I dozing? I’m sorry. Thank you.”
Park Jiwon repeatedly bowed while receiving the drink, not knowing what he had experienced.
When they opened the registration room door, Woo , who had been sitting in a corridor chair looking at a laptop, stood up. Eunseong bowed his head in gratitude to him as he raised his hand in an OK sign with an expressionless face.
* * *
Five days since the giant changgui that shook the city center was subjugated, the changgui alarms stopped as if by agreement, and Woo ‘s office became embarrassingly quiet. It was about time to throw away the nameplate reading ‘Changgui Specialized Team Leader Woo .’
Woo tapped his shoulders with the long nameplate engraved with his name and groaned.
On the office sofa, Woo sat in the place of honor with Mujin and Eunseong sitting side by side next to him. Park Jiwon had left early, just saying he was “tired.” It seemed to be an aftereffect from the item’s effects, so Eunseong wrote a memo to give to Joo Hyeonwoo.
Before drinking tea, Eunseong bowed his head.
“Thank you. For helping us so much-“
“Enough.”
Woo waved his hand to stop him.
“It’s tiring if you thank me for every little thing. I helped because I needed to.”
“Not just that, but also for taking care of Hanyeong.”
When he added that, Woo shrugged once.
“You guys handle all the treatment, I just lent you a house I barely use. You don’t need to worry about it, Han Geumseum-ssi.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Woo , who had been quietly watching Eunseong smile softly, continued speaking.
“But you know what? I was quite shocked.”
He pointed to Eunseong’s new hunter registration information on the tablet.
“I never knew the Control Agency was this sloppy. I…… really didn’t know security was this pathetic. Only the scanners outside are flashy. The inside is nothing but a net full of holes.”
Mujin sneered coldly.
“You knew Baek Sangyeon could see Control Agency information like the palm of his hand, but you couldn’t guess even that much?”
“As of today, a security upgrade proposal goes in. We need to overhaul it like crazy.”
“They won’t give you the budget.”
When Mujin didn’t drop his sneer, Woo smiled bitterly and twisted his eyebrows.
“Fuck, they’re rotten but have plenty of money to drink and play with. Actually, we should overhaul all those bastards rather than just security. The kids do the actual fighting while those sons of bitches are only obsessed with making money……”
He caught his breath for a moment and sent a meaningful look.
“You two are on my side now. We’re in the same boat. You know that, right? Baek Mujin? You promised, right?”
“Just properly tell us your plan to expose Baek Sangyeon’s corruption.”
It was the moment Mujin leaned back against the sofa.
A red flash burst beneath Eunseong’s feet. Woo , who reflexively closed and opened his eyes, froze completely. Though not even a sheet of paper had moved, Eunseong had disappeared.
As if nothing had happened.
The next instant, Mujin, who had been glaring downward, smashed the floor.
KWAAAAANG-!
He hadn’t lost his reason, nor had he calculated. It was truly reflexive pursuit.
“Hey, you ignorant bastard-!”
Only Woo had lost his reason.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
