Damn Hunter Life Chapter 14
My ambitiously delivered line.
……didn’t impress him in the slightest – there wasn’t even a trace of warmth in Jin Seol-woon’s eyes. Even when looking at recyclables being thrown away, his gaze would be warmer than this.
“Is that so? Do you know that just being here right now is causing me harm?”
Maybe because he was a musician, his voice was gentle and deep. And there, there was a blade.
“Ah, so you’re here because you don’t know.”
The atmosphere turned sharply cold.
Then what I needed was a change of topic.
I pointed my thumb at the screen behind me. The video was now showing the second verse bridge section.
“That part’s good. No, the whole song is good. The chorus is addictive too, and it really brings out the members’ strengths so the fandom reaction is overwhelming.”
“……”
“Just look at the view count on this video. It already hit number 1 on streaming sites. Music show first place seems like a sure thing too.”
“……”
Did he think I came to see Jin Seol-woon without even thinking about this much?
‘This guy is actually hearing this new song for the first time. How about it? Now that you’re facing what you’ve been avoiding?’
While my mouth chattered away earnestly, my eyes blatantly scrutinized Jin Seol-woon’s face.
Usually when someone stares this intensely, they’d feel awkward or look away, but Jin Seol-woon wasn’t that easy. Without turning away from our locked gaze, he soon replied matter-of-factly.
“That’s good. The members practiced hard.”
He probably has other thoughts stirring in his heart, but he speaks so calmly and composedly.
But you responded, didn’t you? You’re already caught up in conversation with me.
Originally you wouldn’t even exchange words with Gyeon Gang-hyeon, right? This is probably the first conversation between Gyeon Gang-hyeon and Jin Seol-woon.
“But the music video feels a bit empty without Eshi. Both visually and vocally.”
I blatantly mentioned his stage name, giving him praise.
But the guy who would have humbly smiled and acted honored if he’d heard this from fans or adults, instead narrowed his eyes as if trying to figure out my intentions. Only the shadows under his eyelashes deepened.
Of course, I didn’t expect this guy to let his guard down quickly just from my half-hearted compliments.
‘Praise like that – he would have heard naturally from cute fans, even from birth.’
And actually, right now he doesn’t really want to hear the name Eshi either, does he?
“Why are you buttering me up?”
His attitude of not bothering to choose more polite expressions made a chilly atmosphere settle in the room.
I knew Jin Seol-woon wouldn’t be easy. The method I chose to win him over wasn’t the meek approach of unconditionally yielding and giving in, so it was natural that each word felt like walking on thin ice.
I told myself that it was natural for him to despise me, that it was all within the original story information and my expected range, but—
“Because I’m your fan.”
Even I’m not completely fearless when deliberately spouting nonsense while looking up at the heavens.
An even deeper chill settled in Jin Seol-woon’s eyes.
Naturally, he could tell it was a lie.
I had no hobby of following male idols, and all my disguise consisted of was hastily memorizing things I’d searched online before approaching Jin Seol-woon.
And sure enough.
“So you came here to talk nonsense.”
Jin Seol-woon, who whispered lowly, summoned a weapon from his inventory. The sheathed sword’s presence was menacing.
I don’t think Jin Seol-woon is the type to use violence. But I can’t be 100% certain either. I quickly got my follow-up words out.
“Can’t you at least hear what my intention is in saying these things?”
Since Jin Seol-woon smiled like this in his last performance, let me try it once too.
“I’m doing this to make a good impression on you.”
When someone finally smiles, the other person’s expression just got colder.
Jin Seol-woon is different from Hae Mi-jun. This one isn’t easy.
‘He already has hostility toward me, and he’s not naive but smart, so he’s not the type to readily accept my goodwill.’
Wasn’t he someone who debuted at 18 and rolled around in the fierce entertainment industry?
He would have experienced far more unpleasant things in the industry, so that expression would never crumble from ordinary provocations.
If the opponent has a more difficult shield, then I also—
‘Even at the risk of being counterattacked, I have no choice but to thrust a more direct spear.’
“But it’s kind of… disappointing. Innate and their agency. Eshi is working himself to death as a hunter, but whose popularity is it thanks to, and how can they make a comeback without Eshi?”
Jin Seol-woon’s expression changed differently. That is, to a level where his previous coldness seemed like child’s play.
Still, I don’t stop talking.
“If you can’t get on stage together, couldn’t they at least make the album and music source versions include your voice?”
This is why it’s advantageous for me to keep dragging along the delinquent image.
* * *
Jin Seol-woon remembers the last stage he performed on.
The final broadcast of the music show. The choreography with the members that day was particularly perfect.
Rotating as if drawing lines on the ground with his knees, then rising. The formation changes. The youngest member, one year younger who had been at center, steps back.
He takes the lead.
The scene of colorful light sticks embroidering the dark audience seats, the spotlight shooting toward him.
That was where Jin Seol-woon belonged.
—Climbing the stairs, opening my eyes
Hey, can you notice me?
Welcoming all the world’s dreams
The thrill racing through my heart Right here
Sparkling droplets of sweat glitter as they pass before his eyes. An ad-lib that he didn’t usually do bursts out. He winks his left eye toward the camera.
Along with the eyelid that blinked without him knowing, darkness seized his vision.
A dream. Jin Seol-woon, waking from sleep, looked at the ceiling with hazy eyes. The silence in the room erased the vivid sensation that had seemed like returning to that day.
“Ha……”
The momentary surge of emotion, and the emptiness that came when he realized it was an illusion, unusually didn’t last long.
Even though he had slept and woken up, something else was troubling Jin Seol-woon’s mind.
‘I lost my composure back then.’
In other words, it was time for blanket-kicking regret.
At the sight of Gyeon Gang-hyeon criticizing the agency and Innate, he had lost his mind and lashed out in anger.
“That interview the other day was quite something.”
As if saying, you think only you can speak rudely? He had spoken just as fiercely.
“I would never do such a thing.”
How could someone curse at reporters like that? Could there really be such an arrogant person?
Gyeon Gang-hyeon really is a delinquent. A wastrel with no hope of rehabilitation. He had revealed through his expression that he thought so.
“If you had just awakened, I wouldn’t be without time to sing right now. You claim to be my fan, but you’re only getting in my way.”
It doesn’t matter who started it first. Jin Seol-woon was now equally guilty of saying hurtful things to someone he’d just met.
‘To fall to the same level as that person.’
Jin Seol-woon buried his head in his pillow and gripped the innocent sheets tightly.
But.
‘He touched my family first.’
Yet why did Gyeon Gang-hyeon, far from being discouraged, go on to talk about other things as if he knew something?
As if he had been waiting for Jin Seol-woon to react that way from the beginning……
“Fine, let’s say I awakened. So you got some breathing room. Would you have sung then?”
Honestly, at that moment Jin Seol-woon felt like Gyeon Gang-hyeon had seen right through him.
“Probably not? You can do it even now, but you’re not doing it.”
He couldn’t even get angry about what gave him the confidence to make such assumptions. Because of Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s words that followed.
“Because……”
……It must be his imagination. It has to be.
This is the delinquent Gyeon Gang-hyeon, the disgrace of successors.
“You’re the Dragon successor, but you’re also Eshi.”
There’s no way such a person’s words could shake him.
“If you’re worrying about something, just do it.”
Jin Seol-woon impulsively turned on his phone. He squinted briefly at the bright light, then pressed on his previous message history and scrolled down.
He saw messages exchanged with Innate’s leader Seong Yuhan from a couple months ago.
[Seol-woon, please please please please? Come on? Listen to hyung, I already got agreement from the boss and producer.]
[Let’s put your voice in the music source. It’s an event for fans! Hey, Gift is already going crazy missing you, imagine if Eshi is at least in the music source. Kya~ Can’t you see our rabbit-like fans would flip with joy?]
[Don’t worry if it’s because that school doesn’t have sound equipment! Just record it and they’ll handle the mixing here!]
[The composer said the intro was almost made for you!]
What had he replied back then?
Feeling his tongue turn bitter, Jin Seol-woon slowly looked at the message he had sent.
[I’m grateful you thought of me but I’m really sorry
I’m having a hard time adapting to training…… Even if I record, it won’t come out with the same quality as before. I’ll join when there’s a chance later. Thank you.]
Right, he doesn’t regret making that decision then.
Even when today, the comeback day, arrived.
But actually…… saying he couldn’t do it because it was hard was just an excuse.
Jin Seol-woon wanted to sing. Since he didn’t need to sleep, he wanted to practice and record. He absolutely didn’t want to refuse with his own mouth.
But.
‘Yuhan hyung, I’m doing the important work of protecting South Korea.’
‘If someone like me neglects my duty to sing songs, our fans might welcome it, but…… would the public think the same?’
Then the backlash would hit Innate, our team.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
