#46
Right now, the Republic of Korea is in the Great Hunter Era. The number of hunters newly registering with the Hunter Management Bureau each year grew exponentially, and accordingly, new guilds were born every day. Guild rankings were also updated anew each year. It was common for guilds that maintained high rankings last year to drop in rank this year. Therefore, guilds also strived to recruit capable hunters and improve the skills of their guild members, and this phenomenon naturally contributed to elevating the Republic of Korea to a hunter superpower.
Countless hunters and guilds. In a situation where rankings changed drastically every day, there were three places that firmly held their positions.
Nameless, led by Cha Do-hyeok, the only S-rank hunter; Heukcheon, which operated on a considerably small scale compared to its ranking; and the large-scale Myeongwol, led by Baek Han-bit. These three guilds were currently the Republic of Korea’s top 3 guilds.
Since Do-hyeok awakened and created Nameless, the guild’s 1st place had never changed, but 2nd and 3rd place constantly competed and their rankings switched. Heukcheon and Myeongwol had always fought over rankings, but from one day, Heukcheon suddenly grew rapidly, and Myeongwol naturally settled into 3rd place.
And Baek Han-bit, the leader and guild leader of that Myeongwol. She was a 5th-ranked A-grade hunter. Thanks to her pretty and cute appearance, people who didn’t know her well would easily think she was very mature and quiet, but her personality was actually the complete opposite.
With a bold and easygoing personality, overflowing with loyalty, and excellent leadership, her main weapon was superhuman strength. She was confident in her strength more than any other hunter, even more than Cha Do-hyeok who was right in front of her now. But some man whose face she didn’t even know had just casually, very peacefully, brushed off her hand.
“……”
Only then did Han-bit recognize Ha-seong. She had been putting quite a bit of strength into it, so what was this? Had she felt it wrong?
“We were just about to leave since we finished talking.”
Ha-seong said this while standing in front of Do-hyeok.
“……Who?”
It was a face she’d never seen before. If he were a famous hunter, there was no way Han-bit wouldn’t know him, and Ha-seong was definitely meeting her for the first time at this moment.
“My purifier.”
At that moment, Do-hyeok answered instead. To be precise, he was a purifier within the team, but Ha-seong didn’t bother to point that out.
“Aha.”
Only then did Han-bit nod. That made sense—she’d thought he might be a rookie hunter just emerging, and was thinking that Nameless had taken all the good hunters again. If he was a purifier, there was no need to pay much attention. The hand-brushing from earlier was probably just a coincidence, by her guess.
“But do you now use purifiers as your secretary too? Where did you put Shin-woo?”
“Mind your own business.”
Do-hyeok shook his head as if telling her to mind her own business. In any case, once the two kindergarteners’ fight came to an end, Woo-bin stepped forward again.
“But noona, it’s troublesome when you barge in like this without any contact. Especially for the employees downstairs.”
“I know too. But you also know why I’m doing this.”
Han-bit’s face darkened in an instant. The hunter who met with misfortune yesterday definitely belonged to Myeongwol guild. Looking at her now, her face looked more sad than darkened.
“……There’s nothing I can tell you about that case right now. There are no clues to identify the perpetrator yet, and our Hunter Management Bureau has just received the materials from the police.”
Han-bit let out a long sigh. Seeing her slightly darkened under-eye circles, it seemed she hadn’t slept a wink after hearing about the accident last night. Yoon Woo-bin had definitely said earlier that the victim had only recently joined Myeongwol guild.
Ha-seong saw Han-bit a bit differently as she made such an expression for a guild member with whom bonds hadn’t even formed yet.
“What about you, do you have any idea who it might be?”
“About what?”
Han-bit still seemed to hold a grudge against Do-hyeok, glaring at him fiercely.
“I also just heard about it by chance when I came here. About the Myeongwol guild member’s accident.”
In a situation where the case might be related to the gate manipulation incident, they couldn’t reveal everything to outsider Baek Han-bit. Including the fact that Ha-seong and Do-hyeok had actually come here because of that matter.
“Like someone that guild member might have had personal grudges with, or someone who held malice toward the guild as a whole—there must be something you can think of.”
“There isn’t. Nothing like that.”
Han-bit spoke firmly.
“There’s no way anyone would hold a grudge against our guild. Honestly, Seong-hyeon hasn’t been in our guild long, so I don’t know much about such personal matters.”
That’s probably why Han-bit had come here out of frustration too. It was understandable that such a thing happened when she knew nothing.
“……Then keep talking among yourselves.”
Do-hyeok gestured to Ha-seong as if to say let’s go. Leaving Han-bit and Woo-bin behind, the two naturally left the office.
“But why don’t you really use honorifics?”
Woo-bin was definitely older than Do-hyeok too. Seeing that Woo-bin called Han-bit “noona,” she was naturally older than him, but Do-hyeok stubbornly spoke informally even if he died.
“Because I don’t want to.”
Saying such an absurd thing, he got into the driver’s seat. It was absurd that he didn’t want to, but it was an answer that left one speechless.
“You use them fine with me.”
“……”
Do-hyeok started the engine without saying anything particular. Of course, he had also spoken informally to Ha-seong when they first met, but he hadn’t particularly objected when told to use honorifics.
“So are you dissatisfied? If you’re dissatisfied, speak informally.”
“Don’t mess around.”
After confirming that Ha-seong had put on his seatbelt, Do-hyeok started the car.
“But what kind of guild is Myeongwol?”
Do-hyeok slowly recited Myeongwol’s descriptors. He told him everything: currently 3rd place guild, Baek Han-bit was a 5th-ranked hunter and mainly used superhuman strength.
“And one more thing—it’s also the guild that civilians like most.”
“Civilians?”
“Different from current guild rankings, there are also rankings of guilds preferred by non-hunters. I’m not really interested in such things, but Myeongwol is always 1st place there.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a guild that does a lot of good deeds.”
Unlike Heukcheon and Nameless, Myeongwol was a guild with quite a deep history. It was a guild founded in the early days of entering the Hunter Era, and even then it was established by people who gathered to save and help those suffering due to dungeons.
As time passed and the system was established to fit the Hunter Era, society developed highly and countless guilds and hunters were born, but people still liked and loved Myeongwol. Originally, Myeongwol’s creed was three things: loyalty, love, and giving. Protecting powerless civilians and bestowing goodwill upon them. And cherishing and valuing fellow hunters above all else. This was their unique guideline passed down from Myeongwol’s first guild leader.
There was no reason for people not to prefer such a humane guild, and of course it was popular among hunters too. Because of the good treatment of affiliated hunters, Myeongwol currently had the largest number of hunters among all guilds.
So that’s why Baek Han-bit made such an expression. Even among all those guilds, it was a large-scale guild famous for having the most hunters, but the guild leader personally came barging into the Hunter Management Bureau to investigate the case, and she made such an expression for a hunter she hadn’t worked with for long—all because it was Myeongwol.
“For reference, our guild is 2nd place.”
When the car was stopped at a light, Do-hyeok added somewhat boastfully. He seemed to be somewhat conscious of Ha-seong’s appearance of having many thoughts after hearing about Myeongwol. Ha-seong chuckled at such a childlike aspect. The reason Nameless was 2nd place was probably more because of Cha Do-hyeok than the guild itself. People would admire the only S-rank hunter.
Speaking of which, what about Cha Do-hyeok? Even if the victim of this incident had been a Nameless guild member instead of a Myeongwol guild member, could Do-hyeok have made such an expression like Baek Han-bit? Ha-seong stared at Do-hyeok’s profile as he held the steering wheel.
“What?”
“……Nothing.”
To be honest, the answer was: he didn’t know. He was someone who said that everything had priorities.
“But an unexpected thing happened. A murder case all of a sudden.”
And a crime targeting hunters at that. Actually, hunters weren’t often targets of violent crimes like murder. Their physical abilities were exceptionally outstanding compared to ordinary people, and above all, they were those who knew how to use unique skills, so it was natural.
Of course, there were occasional cases of hunters committing crimes against other hunters. But murder—it couldn’t help but be a bit shocking.
“It must be that bastard, right?”
“That’s the most likely possibility right now. Though the only clue is that paper with the sentence written on it.”
Right, what was most important now was information. Ha-seong and Do-hyeok had too little information right now. If the perpetrator of this murder case and the gate manipulation case were the same, or if there was even a small connection, they might be able to get even one small clue by digging into this case.
“Do I have to play detective now too?”
Ha-seong leaned back deeply in his chair. Somehow he felt like his work was just piling up without gaining anything.
“I’ll pay you more.”
It was the kind of statement that others might find offensive. It could seem like an attitude of trying to solve everything with money, like “I’ll pay you so do it.”
“I’ll work hard at it.”
But it was completely irrelevant to Ha-seong.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
