Chapter 9
Walking down the carpeted corridor, he chose an empty reception room to enter, and the man who followed immediately behind locked the door.
“What do you want?”
To Eunseong, who had eyes full of wariness, the man with purple eyes strode forward boldly, closing the distance. Then he suddenly extended his hand first.
“First, nice to meet you. I’m Isaac.”
Eunseong only looked down at the extended hand.
“…Isaac, as in Jung Isaac-ssi? From Jeongso Guild?”
It was a guild famous for buff skills. Rather than directly wielding force inside rifts, they specialized in providing mental-type buffs.
In a way, Eunseong possessed similar abilities to them, but if Eunseong was a buffer who suddenly appeared from the Yoo family lineage and was considered an inferior knockoff, Jung Isaac could be called a powerful talent essential for combat.
However, he looked quite different from the photo in the domestic guild genealogy that Yeon Seokchun had given him to study. He knew he was mixed-race, but with his platinum hair and purple eyes, he seemed like a completely different person.
Under Eunseong’s tense and scrutinizing gaze, Jung Isaac lightly rubbed his bangs with his fingertips. When he smiled awkwardly, his previously sinister impression came across somewhat differently.
“Ah, this is a side effect from an item. Are you being wary because I look strange…? Are you not shaking hands because you think I might hypnotize you or something?”
He had never thought he looked strange. He wasn’t being wary because of his appearance, but because he had been taught to be careful in all things since his body was fragile. While there wouldn’t be any hunters causing disturbances at Nova’s auction house, he needed to be cautious with mental-type skills since he never knew how they might catch him off guard.
“That item you showed earlier, it’s Seorin, right?”
Eunseong asked about what he was most curious about first.
“Yuseong Guild Leader is more materialistic than I thought. I wondered why you got up so obediently, but you moved after seeing the item.”
“Do you have some illness that prevents you from getting to the point quickly?”
“If you recognized it as Seorin, then Yoo Eunseong-ssi should be the one who’s interested, but really…”
“Say what you want.”
When Eunseong’s expression hardened coldly, Jung Isaac burst into a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t win.
“Make me a position at Yuseong.”
“…What did you say?”
Surprised, all of Eunseong’s facial muscles relaxed. When he looked back with his originally gentle eyes, Jung Isaac shrugged and added:
“I’m asking you to scout me. To Yuseong.”
“Why? Do you have some purpose regarding Yuseong? No, more than that, you know it’s nearly impossible, don’t you?”
It was a truly unexpected request. Guilds were extremely closed groups of people with similar abilities. Since the source of power was bloodline, the more powerful and prestigious the guild, the more impossible it was for outsiders to join. The only method was marriage, you could say.
Moreover, if Jung Isaac defected, Jeongso Guild wouldn’t just let it be.
“You have to make the impossible possible. I said I’d lend this to you. And joining Yuseong as an outsider isn’t completely impossible, is it? That person is even a team leader now.”
“That was… an exception made by my father, the guild leader.”
“Aren’t you the guild leader, Eunseong-ssi?”
“…”
Jung Isaac took another step closer to the speechless Eunseong. He unbuttoned his jacket with quick motions. The brooch attached to his chest came right before his eyes.
Seorin. The item’s main body wasn’t the brooch but the jewel.
It was an item that operated at 100% efficiency regardless of the wearer’s grade, making the first strike damage nullification possible. The item’s grade was mythical, and while only its name and appearance were known, who owned it had been kept secret.
Eunseong was completely captivated by the pure white jewel. It would be really good if Mujin had it.
“How about it? With just this, don’t you think re-awakening attempts would be worth trying?”
Jung Isaac grabbed Eunseong’s hand as he hesitantly stepped back.
“I’m saying I’ll give it to you?”
Startled by the carelessly touching skin, Eunseong jerked his body back, but suddenly felt dizzy and his vision spun. It wasn’t because Jung Isaac used a skill, but because of the medicine he had been taking since morning. The drug effects that had been quiet while sitting at the table watching the auction suddenly surged up.
“Yoo Eunseong-ssi…”
Jung Isaac embraced the staggering Eunseong and whispered in his ear. As soon as he heard his words, Eunseong’s eyes widened as he spun his body around, and their faces came close enough to brush against each other.
“What do you mean by that?”
It was when Eunseong was about to grab Jung Isaac’s collar. Crack! The smooth reception room door folded in half like paper and collapsed to the floor. Mujin leaped through the opening.
“…!”
The next moment, Eunseong’s vision spun around. Jung Isaac had thrown Eunseong to the charging Mujin as if tossing him. Mujin’s hand, which had been about to strike him down, instantly lost its target and could only catch Eunseong.
Due to hastily withdrawing his skill, the energy surrounding Mujin’s body fluctuated greatly.
“Oh my, how scary.”
Though a fierce aura rose with the momentum to burn everyone in this place except Eunseong, Jung Isaac didn’t lose his smile. Rather, he seemed more excited and spun around playfully.
“Why would someone who should know better act like this? Don’t you know you’ll get arrested for using force in a neutral zone?”
“I think there’s time to deal with you before that.”
“…Ah, I hate people without a sense of humor the most.”
Despite the murderous retort, Mujin didn’t move easily, and in that gap, Jung Isaac playfully bowed his head and leisurely disappeared beyond the broken reception room door.
“Seeing you up close, I was surprised you look even more alike. Guild Leader Yoo Eunseong. Take care of yourself, and let’s meet next time.”
The last words he added while disappearing were in a small voice as if talking to himself, but both Mujin and Eunseong remaining in the reception room heard them clearly.
While Nova personnel rushed over and Huiseon Guild’s spokesperson also appeared in a fluster to smooth over the situation, Eunseong was still sitting in Mujin’s arms.
His gaze was blankly looking in the direction Jung Isaac had disappeared.
‘Think of it as a legacy Jaeseong left behind.’
Those were the words he had whispered in his ear at the last moment. Thanks to that, Eunseong felt like his soul had completely left his body.
“Are you okay?”
“…Huh?”
When he looked up at Mujin with a still dazed face, his thick eyebrows twitched with displeasure.
“What did that bastard say?”
“Uh, well.”
The moment he was about to answer, Eunseong realized the presence of the brooch that had entered his pocket.
“Well, so…”
“Yoo Eunseong, did you hit your head or something?”
“No, so… we… he wanted to scout for the guild.”
“What?”
Surprised, Mujin’s expression completely relaxed. He seemed both drained and disbelieving. Eunseong raised his hand and lightly pushed his chest.
“More than that, could you let me go?”
“Huh?”
Only then did Mujin’s body movements as he quickly let go become swift. Thanks to that, Eunseong, who had tried to get up but sat back down, made a groaning sound.
“Take my hand.”
As soon as Eunseong took his hand, Mujin pulled him up and seated him on the sofa. He completely hid his obviously flustered face and quickly sharpened his gaze again. The examining looks from here and there were burdensome, so Eunseong lowered his eyes.
“How much medicine did you take?”
“I don’t know. I definitely exceeded the daily dosage by far. Right now you’re spinning around and around.”
Eunseong used the medicine as a shield to excuse his reddened face. The body temperature from the embrace he had been held in was vivid, and his pounding heart showed no signs of calming down.
When he naturally sighed and breathed out deeply, Mujin tilted his head and came to sit beside him. His innocent face, which knew nothing, didn’t have the same complex expression as his own. Eunseong raised his hand and dry-washed his face.
“What about the auction, why did you come out?”
“I’m not interested.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Well…”
Mujin was about to answer reflexively but quickly restored the topic to its original state.
“Did you know each other?”
“Who? Ah, Hunter Jung Isaac? No. Ah, no, we do know each other.”
“Yoo Eunseong.”
Mujin narrowed his eyes as if telling him not to lie.
“That’s not what’s important…”
“Then what is important besides that?”
Eunseong swallowed dry saliva.
Since childhood, when Mujin looked at him like that, he felt like there was no corner to escape to. Eunseong always lost in staring contests and arguments. Before passing his mid-teens, he couldn’t control his emotions and would often burst into tears from frustration by himself, but going through that period, he had learned one trick.
Eunseong hesitantly and gently grabbed Mujin’s wrist.
“About the major rift. Are you going to go?”
Instead of answering, Mujin just stared down at the wrist that was grabbed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
