#42
Yoon Woo-bin was busy staring at Ha-seong with startled rabbit eyes. If Ha-seong had been a woman, he would have blushed at that gaze, but unfortunately Ha-seong was a man, so he just felt uncomfortably miserable. Having decided to become an informant, he had expected that this was a gateway he would have to pass through at least once.
It was a job investigating major incidents, and since he couldn’t do it alone with Do-hyeok, he had to get acquainted with Woo-bin as well.
“……”
Woo-bin had an expression as if asking ‘what are you?’ He had broken Nameless’s measuring device. He’d heard that even the only S-rank hunter could only scratch that thing. The Hunter Management Bureau had also heard about that measuring device’s prestige and requested item information from Nameless, but Cha Do-hyeok had flatly refused.
But he broke it. That meant he was either more skilled than Do-hyeok or had at least similar abilities, which didn’t make sense. Cha Do-hyeok was the Republic of Korea’s one and only S-rank hunter.
If there was someone with similar skills, there was no way Woo-bin wouldn’t know about them.
“……Ha-seong-ssi, by any chance is your rank……”
“Yoon Woo-bin, I’m not done talking yet.”
At that moment, Do-hyeok cut off Woo-bin’s words. Woo-bin stared at him as if asking why he was being so sharp over such words. It wasn’t like he was asking something extraordinary, just the common question about rank.
“Hyung agreed to help us, but there’s a condition.”
“Condition?”
“Don’t ask anything. Personal information about hyung and such.”
Woo-bin’s straight brow furrowed. It was natural. They were supposed to cooperate from now on, but he was being told not to ask about personal details? It was absurd. When doing business together, knowing about each other should be the first priority.
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“My name is Do Ha-seong, I’m twenty-seven years old.”
At that moment, Ha-seong slowly opened his mouth. Woo-bin’s gaze turned to him again.
“I have no criminal record and my job is just an ordinary purifier. I think it would be easier if you just thought of me as a purifier with a bit of strength.”
A purifier? Come to think of it, Ha-seong had said he was a purifier affiliated with Nameless. He was probably pretending to be a purifier for some reason, but that was just speculation and there were still many unknowns. To be honest, he wasn’t particularly curious about Ha-seong’s personal information. Of course, breaking the measuring device was a bit surprising, but if he didn’t want to talk about it, there was no need to dig deeper.
If he were a major criminal or something similar, he wouldn’t be able to walk around freely under the sky like this, so that probably wasn’t it either. Moreover, seeing how Cha Do-hyeok spoke respectfully to him and trusted him, that aspect must have already been verified.
However, Woo-bin couldn’t quite decide whether he could trust Ha-seong with investigating this important matter, this incident that could potentially bring great crisis to the nation.
“Since purifiers are less noticeable professions, we brought him into our guild. Yoon Woo-bin. I know what you’re thinking, but hyung is someone you can trust.”
Ha-seong’s eyes widened slightly at Do-hyeok’s words. Did that guy know how to say such things? It was somewhat unexpected that he trusted him so much.
“……Alright. I understand for now. If you say so, Do-hyeok, he’s probably not a strange person.”
Ha-seong relaxed his body with a feeling of relief. As Do-hyeok had said before, it seemed Woo-bin also wouldn’t dig deeper as long as he had value as an informant. He felt like he had passed an interview.
“Well, it’s certain that he’s an unknown person, and as for his abilities…… that doesn’t seem necessary to mention either.”
Woo-bin nodded and muttered. As Do-hyeok had said, these were excellent conditions for an informant.
“But there’s just one thing I’m curious about, may I ask?”
“Where did my words from earlier go?”
Despite Do-hyeok’s firm words, Woo-bin looked at Ha-seong with a slight smile. It was a look asking for permission.
“Yes.”
“What’s your purpose, Ha-seong-ssi? Your reason for accepting this job. I’d like to hear about that.”
Just hearing about his purpose would allow him to roughly grasp what kind of person he was and what intentions he had. For Woo-bin, this question was the final gateway he was presenting to Ha-seong.
“Hmm, to make money.”
“……Pardon?”
“My goal is to be a wealthy unemployed person. He said he could pay me a lot of money.”
Ha-seong said while pointing at Do-hyeok. Then Do-hyeok let out a laugh as if it were absurd.
“Uh…… that’s good, money. Well, it’s important.”
Woo-bin also looked a bit flustered. If that was the reason, there was no need to be more suspicious. After all, in transactions, the most common and pure compensation was money, and surprisingly, money also created the strongest bonds.
Though unexpected, Woo-bin felt both relief and deflation at such an ordinary goal. Even if Ha-seong was suspicious, it seemed he had been overly wary.
“Please take care of me. I’m Yoon Woo-bin.”
“Please take care of me too. Once again, I’m Do Ha-seong.”
Do-hyeok, who had been watching the two shake hands intently, soon turned his head away.
“So why did you come here?”
“Do-hyeok, please listen to people. I said I came because you hadn’t contacted me about the informant.”
Only then did Do-hyeok make a low “ah” sound. He was remarkably uninterested in others.
“Then what about hyung?”
Woo-bin still seemed uncomfortable with the word “hyung” coming from that mouth, glancing sideways.
“Ah, right. Since Woo-bin-ssi came anyway, this worked out well.”
Do-hyeok’s eyes narrowed slightly at the address “Woo-bin-ssi.” But there was no way Ha-seong would notice that.
“It’s still ambiguous to call it a clue, but I discovered something strange in a recent dungeon.”
Woo-bin also knew about the recent dungeon. The gate that suddenly rose to S-rank. It was indeed a dungeon whose rank had risen due to artificial influence, and Woo-bin had come to Nameless to hear about the informant while also learning about this artificially created gate that had reappeared after being quiet for so long.
“But, hyung.”
“Yeah, what.”
“How’s your body?”
“Yeah, right. My body…… what?”
Do-hyeok propped his chin and stared at Ha-seong intently before asking something rather absurd. Then Ha-seong tapped his own forehead as if to show. He seemed to be asking about the wound from the last dungeon.
“Ah, it’s fine. It was just a scratch, but you’re really worrying about it.”
“Do people usually call being torn open ‘scratched’?”
“Don’t subtly drop the honorifics. Is this being subtle about shortening your speech?”
“Then why does hyung use honorifics with him when he’s younger than you?”
“Petty bastard. Don’t nitpick over every little thing.”
Woo-bin quietly watched the two kindergarteners’ quarrel. It was quite childish but somehow fun to watch. Probably because of Do-hyeok’s different side. It seemed like the first time seeing him act so childishly. But thinking he should stop them first, Woo-bin intervened.
“Excuse me, can’t you continue fighting after I leave?”
Then the two who had been growling stopped short.
“Ah, sorry.”
Ha-seong coughed awkwardly. While Cha Do-hyeok was younger than him and lived without caring about others’ opinions, Ha-seong wasn’t like that. He was a rational intellectual who had lived long enough, but somehow whenever he talked with that guy, he became this childish—it was beyond understanding.
“So what did you discover, Ha-seong-ssi?”
“Ah, have you ever seen or heard of a case where a dungeon has two masters?”
Woo-bin shook his head, saying it was the first time he’d heard such a story. Ha-seong looked at Do-hyeok this time. He also shook his head.
“I’ve never seen such a case either. But I saw it in that dungeon. Two masters.”
Ha-seong added that clearly a master corresponding to the pre-upgrade B-rank and a master corresponding to the post-upgrade S-rank coexisted in one dungeon. It was also why the Nameless team dispatched for the raid had no choice but to be confused.
“That’s definitely strange. Usually when a rank goes up, the dungeon changes to match that rank, so it’s normal for only the master corresponding to that upgraded rank to exist.”
Ha-seong nodded at Woo-bin’s words. That was exactly what Ha-seong had found strange.
“Are you sure there were two dungeon masters?”
“Since I saw it for the first time too, I can’t confidently say I’m certain. But the dungeon master energy I felt was definitely two.”
At Ha-seong’s words, the guild leader’s office fell into momentary silence.
“It definitely seems like the most meaningful clue among what’s come up so far.”
Do-hyeok was the first to break the silence.
“I’ll also look through the Hunter Management Bureau’s historical dungeon data and research materials to check if there were similar cases. If there were, it would be a phenomenon that can rarely appear in general, and if not…… that would be definitive evidence.”
Saying this, Woo-bin stood up from his seat.
“I’d like to talk more, but I have a meeting. I didn’t expect to meet Ha-seong-ssi today.”
“Well, this is all I’ve found out for now. Let me investigate more, and if there’s other information, let’s meet again then to discuss.”
When Woo-bin stood up, Ha-seong also stood and stared at Do-hyeok who remained glued to his chair.
“What are you looking at?”
“Hey, he’s your guest. Go see him off.”
“I don’t need to do that……”
“Go quickly and come back.”
Woo-bin smiled and tried to say it was fine. Anyway, seeing Do-hyeok, who had not even a speck of courtesy, seeing someone off was like picking stars from the sky. He was just about to leave when what do you know—Do-hyeok was slowly getting up from his seat. Woo-bin didn’t know how many times he’d have experiences that would knock him backwards today.
“Hey, get out quickly.”
Saying this, Do-hyeok coolly left the guild leader’s office. Woo-bin stared at where he’d left with a dumbfounded expression. Did he really just go out to see him off? The rudest hunter #1 Cha Do-hyeok? Of course, this was a ranking Woo-bin had decided on his own.
“Then please go safely.”
When Ha-seong bowed his head, Woo-bin also hurriedly returned the greeting and came outside. Then wasn’t Do-hyeok really waiting while holding the elevator?
“Hmm, hey, Do-hyeok.”
“What.”
The elevator closed and Woo-bin coughed and glanced at him sideways.
“They say people die if they change suddenly.”
“What are you talking about?”
Do-hyeok glanced once at Woo-bin who was saying useless things.
“But even though today was my first time meeting Ha-seong-ssi, he’s somehow interesting.”
“What is.”
“Just, I didn’t talk with him many times, but I got the feeling he’s a good person. Even though there’s no basis for it.”
Woo-bin crossed his arms and recalled the Ha-seong he’d seen earlier. Everyone has an atmosphere they give off. For instance, the guy standing next to him gave off an extremely cold atmosphere. But conversely, he felt something warm from Ha-seong.
“……I know what you mean.”
‘I think I wanted to do my own kind of atonement.’
Do-hyeok agreed with Woo-bin’s words in a small voice while recalling what Ha-seong had said before. But with the sound of the elevator arriving, those thoughts also ended.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
