Chapter 74

Despite my considerate list of options, Ryu Taeyoung didn’t go through with commissioning an assault.

“I’ll talk to my brother some more.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not like we grew up brawling, so... hitting him is a bit....”

“Ah.”

Fair. If someone like Ryu Taeyoung really decided to beat someone, the guy might die. I nodded, and he cleared his throat, face faintly flushed.

“Still, thanks to you, Jehyun, I feel a little lighter.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

I’d always had a knack for counseling, but at this point I practically had wings.

Ryu looked at me like I was some curious specimen, then brought up something out of nowhere.

“Jehyun, you seem really mentally healthy. You shed misunderstandings quickly, even if you invite them at first... and you’re unexpectedly kind.... Ah, I don’t mean ‘unexpectedly’ in a bad way. Uh.”

“I do look a bit cold for my personality.”

“Yeah, a little...?”

He said that, then seemed to think of something and let out a brief laugh. Sure. When a problem’s solved, a smile comes naturally. I understood and scraped my bowl clean.

When we finished, Ryu checked the time and asked, a little regretful:

“Do you drink at all?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Oh. Not at all?”

“Yeah, at all. I don’t do alcohol, cigarettes, any of that.”

I had no plans to start. And he was a B-rank—alcohol wouldn’t even hit him, so what was the point of going out to drink?

As a hunter’s rank rose and resistances kicked in, booze stopped working. For B-ranks and up, alcohol was basically water; even C-ranks could down crates of soju and walk straight. Of ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) course, there were still idiots who drank crates anyway. Like a certain B-rank living in my house.

My general opinion of alcohol was lousy to begin with, so I had zero interest.

'It wrecks your head, strips your self-control, and costs you your health. Worst drink there is.'

Not that Awakened were incapable of getting drunk. A pricey alcohol-adjacent liquid circulated for hunters who wanted the taste.

Still poison, though.

Ryu looked at my blank face and sighed.

“Ah....”

“...?”

“No, it’s just—there’s more that’s unexpected than I thought.”

“Ah. Yeah....”

Well, we’d eaten. I’d heard they hadn’t caught Na Seokgyung, and I’d gotten info about Cheonmyeonggyo. That wrapped my day, didn’t it?

To begin with, the point of meeting Ryu was to share a meal.

'Let’s go.'

I gave him a short parting line.

“Shall we call it here for today?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Get in touch again. We can talk about other stuff too.”

“Sure. Ah—want me to give you a ride home?”

“I drove too.”

He nodded. I grinned and tossed out a last line.

“Mm, then... let me know if your little brother gets reformed.”

“Reformed... Right, got it.”

“Yeah. Take care.”

If your older brother’s the Special Response Team captain, you should smarten up on your own if you don’t want a beating. With a brother who looks like that? It’s amazing the kid’s still stupid. Does he not feel the threat to his life?

I finished my goodbyes and trudged to the parking lot. Then I heard Ryu call me from behind.

“Jehyun!”

I turned instead of answering. He gave me an awkward little bow.

“Thanks for today.”

“...?”

For what? He bought lunch.

Well, I did sit there and listen to a not-fun counseling session. Instead of answering, I lifted my thumb half-heartedly.

***

When I got home, I found Joo Seowon sitting in the living room.

Ever since we cleared that dungeon and had a round of bickering, he’d been busy. Not just with the work I’d assigned him—SH business looked stacked too.

And I’d been waiting on him.

“Haa....”

At my sigh, his shoulders flinched with his eyes glued to the TV. Conscious, that one. Painfully so.

Like a doll’s head creaking around, he jerked to look at me and flashed an overly bright grin.

“Uh, you’re back?”

I ignored his greeting and said what I came to say.

“Tomorrow makes it a full week, yeah?”

“......”

“I didn’t even ask for intel. I asked for your circumstances. Gave you plenty of time, didn’t I?”

I tossed my outerwear onto the couch, walked behind it, and came to a stop behind him. He craned so far to keep me in sight his head tilted back awkwardly.

Without hesitation, I grabbed his chin, tilted it up, and lowered my head until our eyes lined up.

“Ugh!”

“What’d you do today?”

“...Talked with Guildmaster Song. A little about Im Haekyung, and SH’s target item we’re tracking....”

“Right. Just got off work?”

“Y-yeah, just now. ...Did you eat?”

“I did.”

I squeezed his jaw and pressed his cheek; his gaze skittered around. If he wanted, he could have shaken me off easily, but he clammed up, spooked by something this trivial.

“Hey, that hurts....”

“Oh, shut it. You’re a B-rank.”

“......”

“I’m F-rank, Seowon.”

“You’re the one—”

Couldn’t tell if he was cowed or puffing up. I let go of his jaw and flicked the dangling piercing with my finger.

“Ah!”

“Gonna tell me tomorrow?”

“Uh...”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I leaned in slightly. He felt me close the distance and squeezed his eyes shut.

What?

A second later, he peeked one eye open, gauged me, and flushed in an instant.

“What are you doing?”

“...Nothing, fu—”

“You think I was gonna hit you?”

“......”

Unbelievable. I frowned.

“Seowon... stop expecting weird things.”

“W-what expectations? I didn’t!”

“Sure. Get your head on straight.”

“Hey!”

I left him, suddenly full of bluster again, and headed upstairs.

After the dungeon run, Song Hwayoung had come to me seriously and apologized for her oversight. I had nearly gotten killed by a gargoyle in there, so I accepted it. Intent or not, she was in charge.

And she handed over the dungeon rewards, too.

“Seo Hunter should take this.”

“Right.”

What I received was the “Gargoyle’s Eye.” Not a literal eyeball—we’d named the magic stone inside the gargoyle that way.

The Eye’s ability was a kind of paralysis. It came from a D-rank body, so it wasn’t amazing, but price-wise it wasn’t cheap.

I asked Sung Eunha to process it along with a mana amplifier, and a few days later I received the finished artifact.

Which was the thing on my desk right now....

Gargoyle’s Gaze (C)

An item processed from “Gargoyle’s Eye.”

When activated, induces brief paralysis.

Maybe because the motif was a statue that moved, it ended up with this function. It felt a bit like Medusa’s head to me. I hadn’t tested whether it worked yet.

The one relief: I, as the activator, wouldn’t be paralyzed. Sung Eunha guaranteed it, so it should be solid.

'A C-rank item—usable.'

If life swung on a one-second window, anything that restricted movement even briefly was the best. I fiddled with the artifact, then tucked it into my space-saving box.

Anyway—Cheonmyeonggyo.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that religion Ryu mentioned today.

A faith that employed multiple civilians yet wielded power rivaling the top five guilds. And Kwon Taehan, Tae Hyunjin, Sung Uijae—all S-rank hunters—were checked by combinations of people who were basically civilians, and this wasn’t even a dungeon.

And as far as I knew, the cult leader’s hunter rank was only D.

'Setting skills aside, I’m honestly curious.'

How did a D-rank hunter captivate that many people? Sure, cults flourished even before skills existed, but few could explode with that kind of power so fast.

A knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened to reveal Do Yehyun.

“Oh, Yehyun.”

“Hyung, are you busy?”

“No. What’s up?”

He’d only stuck his head in, but somehow he was already stepping inside.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Something to say?”

I already had his usual routes down. More to say? He stood before me and spoke quietly.

“It’s about the Infinite Guild.”

More about them? That arc ended with everyone in prison.

He swallowed.

“More precisely, it’s about the shop.”

“To me? Didn’t all the guild members get arrested already? Even if some slipped through, I can’t go catch them for you.”

“Ah, n-no! Not that. The shop... sometimes rented out hunters, and I was wondering if that part was investigated too.”

What? Rented... hunters?

'For fuck’s sake, people aren’t objects you check out and return.'

It was so outrageous I was speechless for a beat. Seeing my face, he hurried to explain.

“I only picked up bits from the side... I was unawakened back then. The Infinite Guild would rent hunters to run dungeons, and things like that. There were all kinds of illegal exploitation.”

“You checked the news and didn’t see it mentioned?”

“...Right.”

He wanted to testify? I didn’t want him getting further tangled up with the Infinite Guild, so I’d kept him out of police statements.

I thought a moment, then gave a short answer.

“I’ll ask around first. That’s police business anyway, and nothing wraps up in a few days. They’re working it.”

“Okay.”

“And the Infinite Guild... you don’t need to worry about them for now.”

He nodded cautiously.

Yeah. It bothered me that Na Seokgyung hadn’t been caught yet, but for all I knew he’d died in a ditch somewhere....

“That all you came to say?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’re done?”

“...Yeah.”

“Alright. Go sleep. Sleep well.”

A guilty conscience, maybe.

I told him good night. He nodded and shuffled out.

Staring at the shut door, I thought briefly:

'I’ve got too many things to juggle. Put this one off for now.'

It’s not hurting me immediately. I could poke the police or pass it to Ryu.

But the next morning, I had to completely revise that relaxed thinking.

Breaking News | Illegal guild master Na ○○ found dead

“What a fucking perfect, dogshit timing.”