Chapter 28

After putting the piercing on Joo Seowon, I knocked on the door to bring Do Yehyun his ring.

“Yehyun.”

“Yes.”

The moment he heard my voice, Do Yehyun opened the door right away. He looked a lot more worn-out than usual, blinking at me with tired eyes.

'Guess he’s been grinding his ass off properly.'

After moving here, I’d signed both Joo Seowon and Do Yehyun into the SH Guild through a simple agreement.

For reference, that agreement with SH was actually... pretty damn good!

I had been planning to pull some strings if they refused to take Seowon and Yehyun, but luckily, a few SH hunters who had gone into the Sokcho dungeon had quit due to health issues, leaving them short on manpower. Thanks to that, everything moved along smoothly.

Well, nearly dying in a dungeon would make anyone want to take it easy. Really heartbreaking stuff.

“Hyungnim, why are you suddenly smiling?”

Was I smiling? I was having such a tragic thought, though.

“Just. People should live with a smile.”

“...What?”

Anyway, SH Guild didn’t throw hunters straight into dungeons the moment they joined. They put them through training, and gave them structured dungeon education. It was obvious why 0th-round Kwon Taehan had grown so well in SH Guild—the corporate welfare was solid.

Of course, apart from the formal clock-in and clock-out, Seowon and I weren’t exactly glued to the guild. I had errands of my own, and Seowon had separate work I’d assigned to him.

And SH Guild didn’t send appraisers into dungeons anyway. They only called me up once in a while to appraise things. Since it didn’t take much of my time, I barely had anything to do there.

But that wasn’t the case for Do Yehyun.

Since joining SH Guild, he’d been undergoing grueling training every single day. Since he’d awakened without any dungeon influence, he was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} completely clueless about how to use his skills or handle mana. I could relate, since even I hadn’t used my skills properly before going into Sokcho dungeon.

Still, I was a bit surprised that he was throwing himself into training so hard. It wasn’t like I forced him. He was probably trying to prove his usefulness. Admirable. So admirable, in fact, that I cheered him on quietly from the sidelines without interfering.

Yeah. If the healer’s good at healing, the rest of us can fight with strength. Do Yehyun, fighting!

I asked him with a warm smile.

“How was training today?”

“I did it, but... I don’t know. I get it in my head, but my body won’t follow.”

“That happens.”

If progress stayed slow, tossing him into a dungeon might be best. It was always easier to figure out skill usage in there.

I decided that if he still didn’t make progress soon, I’d just “accidentally” throw him into a dungeon that was about to break. Truly an act of kindness, really.

'When it’s about survival, what wouldn’t you do?'

In the face of danger, he might just figure it out on his own and crawl back out.

But more important than checking up on him today was the thing I’d brought. I pulled out the ring meant for him.

“What’s... this?”

Do Yehyun stared at the ring. Since Seowon had already raised hell over his piercing, denying it was a tracker would’ve been a transparent lie. So I just answered honestly.

“A ring.”

“...Why are you giving me this now?”

“It’s like a smart ring. Lets us communicate, lets me track your location. Cutting-edge tech, neo-technology. Good stuff.”

“...Location tracking?”

Goddamn it, out of all the things I said, he only latched onto that. And come on, isn’t it normal for roommates to do a little location tracking?

Before he could say more, I held the ring up to the light. The band was plain, no flashy gems—just thinly shaved magic stone. A jewel-studded ring would’ve been tacky.

“I need to know where you are in the dungeon so I can find you.”

“...Hyungnim, are you really... F-rank?”

“Yup.”

It was funny how no one ever believed me even when I told the truth. For the record, Seowon still didn’t know I was F-rank. I’d planned to tell him, but since he misunderstood on his own, I just let it be.

When Seowon and I had visited SH Guild, Guildmaster Song Hwayoung had casually mentioned my rank.

“By the way, in SH Guild we don’t discriminate based on hunter rank. So people like Mr. Jehyun, who’s F-rank, don’t face salary or incentive limits. Especially since he’s an appraiser.”

I was nodding along when I realized I’d never told Seowon my rank. But Seowon, with his usual shamelessness, clapped and laughed.

“Haha, this really is the best guild!”

And then, lowering his voice, he whispered at me:

“Hey, no matter what image you’re going for, F-rank is too much. Just call yourself higher, you crazy bastard.”

Wow...

What kind of delusion did you need to say something like that? But I didn’t correct him. It was too funny.

Life doesn’t offer many laughs—Seowon was precious in that sense.

While I was recalling that moment, Do Yehyun chewed on his lip before speaking.

“...If you’re really F-rank, Hyungnim, I think you should be more careful.”

“I am being careful.”

“You even went into an A-rank dungeon. And now you’re saying you’ll protect me too...”

When the hell did I ever say that?

Ignoring his misconception, I handed him the ring.

“I put in a lot of work making this. Want to try it on?”

“Yes...”

Obedient kid. He slipped it on his ring finger, so I pulled his hand over. Startled, he flinched but then awkwardly opened his palm again.

I studied his face, then slipped the ring off his ring finger and onto his pinky instead, pressing a tiny button. The band shrank perfectly to fit.

“Better on your pinky if you’re going to be holding weapons. It resizes anyway.”

“Ah...”

His face flushed red as he clenched and unclenched his fist a few times.

“Not uncomfortable, right?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Good.”

Alright, time to test if it works.

“Yehyun. Step out of the room for a second.”

“Huh? Okay.”

Like before, the comms and tracking worked perfectly.

I hadn’t given them all the same kind of accessory for another reason too. Matching gear made it obvious they were moving as a team. Maybe fine inside SH Guild, but out in public, showing that much closeness wasn’t wise.

I looked at his ring and said,

“Try to keep it on.”

“...How long do you mean by ‘try’?”

“As long as you’re alive?”

“....”

Do Yehyun nodded quietly. Good kid.

Now that I’d delivered the ring, it was time to finally keep my promise to him. Yes—time to pay off that 860 million won debt. I’d said I’d cover it and then dragged it out for way too long.

“Shall we head out then?”

“...What?”

“We’re going to Infinite Guild.”

“Right now? At this hour?”

Maybe it was a bit late. But a proper loan shark should be willing to come out at two in the morning if money was involved.

I smiled gently at his words.

“Yeah. At this hour.”

***

The Infinite Guild office we arrived at was shockingly shabby.

'Looks like some Instagram café.'

From the moment we got near, Do Yehyun had been gnawing his lips, biting his nails, looking like a wreck. No point in stopping him—he wouldn’t listen in that state anyway. He could just put ointment on later.

Strangely, though it was in a commercial building, the office door wasn’t glass but wooden, with a lock bolted on. I couldn’t sense much movement inside, but people were definitely there.

'Status window.'

Name: Kim Jitae

Age: 29

Rank: E

Title: –

Main Skills: Backhand Hardening (E), Energy Focus (F)

Growth Limit: E

Name: Oh Hyunsu

Age: 32

Rank: D

Title: –

Main Skills: Body Reinforcement (D), Stealth (E)

Growth Limit: D

Name: Park Eunhyeok

Age: 33

Rank: E

Title: –

Main Skills: Pre-set Path (E), Special Barrier (D)

Growth Limit: D

'Tsk, tsk. Playing dead only works on people who can’t tell.'

Leaving the trembling Yehyun frozen beside me, I knocked politely.

“Excuse me?”

No reply from inside. Could it be these guys weren’t Infinite Guild after all?

'Nope, that’s not it.'

Beside me, Yehyun’s hands were shaking, his face stiff as stone.

'At this rate he’s going to faint.'

I’d made time to come, but if things didn’t work out, I could always come back. Still, this kind of evasive behavior was troublesome.

Loan sharks who made insane profits off others always had their little tricks. As good as they were at hounding people every month for money, they were even better at turning debtors into eternal debtors.

Like, just when a debtor scraped money together to finally repay, some of them would deliberately vanish or clam up, forcing delays and stacking interest.

I’d seen enough of those psychos.

Even if these bastards weren’t pulling that exact scam, I didn’t want Yehyun tangled up with them any longer.

'Shit, it already looks like I’ve just been flapping my mouth about paying his debt.'

I’d come tonight specifically to settle it fast, but this? I wasn’t here to collect, I was here to give them money. And still, this bullshit. No wonder gangsters have rotten reputations.

“Mind if I come in?”

I tried the knob—locked from inside.

'What the hell are gangsters scared of that they lock the door? If you’re going to play gangster, at least be consistent when people come knocking.'

Suppressing my irritation, I switched to Plan B. I’d made it about three seconds ago. Plan B was: break the door.

BANG!

With a loud crash, the cheap lock broke clean off.

'As expected, commercial building locks are trash.'

Ignoring Yehyun’s wide-eyed look of shock, I smiled and stepped into the office.