#100
[Ha-seong-niiiim!]
The pig that had returned home clung to Ha-seong almost crying and wouldn’t let go.
[I really missed you.]
“I didn’t miss you, but it has been a while. But you…”
Ha-seong sat in the living room and looked the pig up and down. He had a strange feeling that something was different.
“Did you gain some weight?”
[Huh? No way. That can’t be.]
The pig kept shaking its head, saying how rude it was to tell a pig it had gained weight. But what could he do? The pig was clearly bigger compared to last time. It seemed like it had properly recuperated at Han Shin-woo’s house.
“Did you eat something delicious there?”
[Uh… I ate cabbage salad, and also carrots and broccoli! Oh, I also ate sweet potatoes and they were really delicious.]
The pig excitedly chattered on about how it didn’t know there were so many delicious things in this world.
“Oh, that sounds nice.”
[Yes. Hehe.]
Ha-seong grinned and bent down slightly to meet the pig’s eyes.
“Then do you want to live at that house forever?”
[N-no! I don’t want to! I’m going to live with Ha-seong-nim!]
Ha-seong left the pig’s wails about never going to another house behind as he prepared to go out today as well.
“I’m going out, so guard the house well.”
[Yes!]
The pig answered loudly with a voice full of enthusiasm. Ha-seong chuckled and left the house. Today he wasn’t planning to go straight to the guild but to the Management Bureau. The reason was simple. It was to receive materials from Woo-bin.
He planned to read the investigation report containing Baek Seong-hyeon’s and Baek Sa-jin’s activities to see if there were any clues. For now, Woo-bin was stuck to Baek Sa-jin doing dedicated surveillance, and if it became known that Cha Do-hyeok as Nameless Guild Leader was too deeply involved in this case, it could arouse people’s suspicions. Moreover, he was an active hunter. As Guild Leader, he couldn’t completely let go of work.
“Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t tell Cha Do-hyeok.”
He hadn’t separately mentioned that he would stop by the Management Bureau today to review materials. Since it seemed better to talk about it when he found out something, Ha-seong first sent a text saying he’d be coming to work late today and left the house.
The Management Bureau could be easily reached by taking the bus to Nameless a bit further, so it wasn’t very difficult to visit alone. When he got off the bus, the area in front of the Management Bureau was quiet. He had been secretly worried there would be many reporters, but they all seemed to have gone to the detention center.
Ha-seong headed to the floor where Woo-bin’s office was. Coincidentally, Woo-bin was tied up at the detention center today too, so he couldn’t deliver it personally and had sent a text saying he’d put it in the top drawer of his office desk for him to take.
Entering someone’s office alone felt a bit awkward, but thanks to Woo-bin kindly providing even the room password, Ha-seong was able to easily collect the materials and leave the Management Bureau. He wanted to read the materials quickly, but unfortunately this was a copy of high-security materials, so Woo-bin had asked him not to read it outside. He planned to leave it at home and go to work at the guild again.
As he was leaving the Management Bureau building carrying the brown document envelope, someone suddenly ran past him and fell down. Since they fell right next to him, Ha-seong flinched and stepped back slightly.
‘That must really hurt.’
Ha-seong looked sympathetically at the woman who had fallen forward with her long black hair scattered on the ground, then fell into contemplation. Seeing that she couldn’t get up right away, she seemed really embarrassed, but if he spoke to her carelessly, he might make her even more embarrassed. However, she had fallen with a tremendous sound right next to him, and Ha-seong’s personality wouldn’t let him just ignore it.
“Um… are you okay?”
After a moment’s deliberation, Ha-seong chose to offer a helping hand.
“…It’s really embarrassing, so could you just go?”
A quiet voice flowed from the fallen woman.
“I’ll help you.”
Ha-seong didn’t ignore her and bent down to slowly help the woman up by taking her hand. As he helped her up, a strangely familiar face was revealed.
“Hm? Where have I seen you?”
And it seemed the woman felt the same familiarity.
“Ah! That’s right! Do-hyeok’s purifier.”
“Ah… Myeongwol Guild Leader-nim?”
Now he could see it was Baek Han-bit, the Guild Leader of Myeongwol.
“Oh, that’s right. But falling in front of someone I know is even more embarrassing.”
Baek Han-bit smiled awkwardly while rubbing her knees in an uncomfortable position. She had fallen properly, so her pants were slightly torn and properly scraped. He could see blood in the visible area.
“If you’re not busy, please sit over there for a moment.”
Ha-seong seated Han-bit on a nearby bench and quickly ran back to the Management Bureau. A minute later, he came out carrying something in his hand.
“Please roll up your pants.”
Han-bit rolled up her pants in confusion. Ha-seong applied ointment he had gotten by asking at the Management Bureau information desk and roughly put on a bandage.
“Please disinfect it properly when you get back. Otherwise the wound will get infected. Well, you probably know better.”
“Was it Do Ha-seong-ssi? Why do you work under Cha Do-hyeok? You’re completely different from that guy.”
“He pays me a lot of money.”
Then Han-bit burst into laughter, saying money was indeed the best.
“But what brings you to the Management Bureau?”
“There are some documents the Guild Leader told me to pick up. Just running errands.”
Ha-seong made up an excuse. Since he happened to be carrying a brown document envelope, he said the most plausible thing that came to mind, and indeed Han-bit didn’t ask further. However, she grumbled about why he was making a purifier run errands when he even had a secretary.
“Ah, by the way, I came to see Woo-bin about that case. Ha-seong-ssi heard too, right? That they caught the culprit of the hunter murder case.”
“Yes. The news and internet were in complete chaos.”
Ha-seong was more deeply involved in that case than anyone, but he answered calmly as if he were someone maintaining appropriate distance without showing it.
“But Woo-bin said he was on assignment for work, so I came for nothing.”
“Did you come because you had something to ask about that case?”
Han-bit thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“I was going to ask them to let me meet that culprit.”
“…Why?”
“Just because. I want to see the face of the bastard who killed my precious guild member… and I want to ask him. Why he killed him.”
Hatred toward hunter society. That hadn’t been publicly announced yet. If Baek Sa-jin’s motive for the crime became known, criticism of the great hunter era could grow louder, and the Management Bureau, worried about this, was limiting information for now.
Ha-seong knew but couldn’t talk about it. It was also a matter he shouldn’t speak carelessly about, and if she knew that her precious guild member was brutally murdered for such a reason, Baek Han-bit would probably suffer more.
“Guild Leader-nim must really hate that culprit. Since he made you lose someone precious.”
“You call that a question? Of course.”
“Then do you want to kill him and such?”
Ha-seong had also lost precious beings many times. Hunter colleagues he worked with, seniors and juniors. There were times when he went into dungeons with them but returned alone, and he used to hear daily that when someone wasn’t seen and he asked, they hadn’t returned from the last mission.
But they hadn’t died by someone’s hand. Of course, there might be blame on the association that worked hunters to death, but still, they had encountered strong monsters in dungeons and were just unlucky. So while Ha-seong had thoughts of wanting to destroy the association and this society someday, he had never thought of deeply hating and seeking revenge against any specific person. So it was difficult to perfectly understand Do-hyeok’s feelings.
“…Well, that’s how hateful it is, but I don’t actually want to kill him or anything.”
“That would be the case, right?”
Then what kind of feelings did Do-hyeok have when he said he wanted to kill that bastard? How big of an existence was that benefactor person to Do-hyeok?
“But you’re saying the same thing as that Do-hyeok guy.”
“Huh?”
“I asked him before too. What would you do if there was a culprit who harmed someone precious right in front of you? So I asked him the same thing. What’s your answer?”
“What did he say?”
Han-bit paused for a beat, then met Ha-seong’s eyes.
“He said he’d kill them.”
“…”
“He’s crazy. Completely.”
As expected, Do-hyeok’s feelings hadn’t changed. If it was completely proven that Baek Sa-jin was the culprit, Cha Do-hyeok would try to kill him somehow.
“Ah, I should get going now. I have a conquest from this afternoon.”
Han-bit checked her phone and stood up, saying the ointment and bandage were appreciated and she’d properly repay him later.
“Yes.”
“Ah, Ha-seong-ssi. By any chance, if I offered you more money, would you come to Myeongwol? I don’t know how much that guy pays you, but I’ll add more. Anyway, if you’re a purifier, you probably entered as a contract worker, so what about when your contract with Nameless ends? How about considering changing jobs?”
Han-bit asked Ha-seong with an attractive smile. Although her voice carried playfulness, she was seriously thinking of scouting Ha-seong. Han-bit had never seen Ha-seong’s purification skills, but she unconsciously felt it. The strangely emanating scent of a skilled person from Ha-seong.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll just accept the sentiment.”
Ha-seong pondered something, then smiled and bowed his head.
“Aw, that’s too bad. Well, contact me anytime if you change your mind!”
“Yes. Be careful not to fall.”
Even after parting with Han-bit, Ha-seong sat on the bench and stayed a bit longer.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
