Chapter 113

What kind of answer was he fishing for, exactly?

“Are you saying I look like I don’t have any?”

At his absurd question, I shot one back. Do Yehyun shook his head. I’d mentioned briefly before that my mother had passed away—was he bringing that up?

“...I know your mother passed away.”

“Yeah. I think I told you that.”

“Then your father isn’t around either?”

“Hearing you say ‘Mother, Father’ like that sounds pretty weird.”

“He isn’t, right.”

“Well, well.”

It wasn’t wrong, but his intent didn’t feel all that pure either. I flicked my fingers for him to keep going.

“...You told me last time. That your father didn’t like you visiting your mother.”

“Mm.”

“But you never talk about your father otherwise... and you don’t mention family at all. So if you haven’t cut ties, I figured maybe both of them had passed away.”

In this world, that was true enough.

My father and adoptive mother from the original world were still a happy couple here. I didn’t have to dig up the petty details—Seongmu Group’s affiliate ads were plastered everywhere, so it wasn’t hard to guess.

And of course there was no mention of the adoptee they’d taken in fourteen years ago.

The real family history I’d told Kwon Taehan was, here, conveniently replaced. Even Joo Seowon’s background check had only turned up that much.

When I gave a noncommittal answer, Do Yehyun hesitated, then asked carefully:

“...So I’m wrong?”

“You’re right.”

“When did your father pass away? After you became an adult, right? You mentioned your driver’s license around then.”

Given that reality had shifted, there was no way to lay out the whole messy family story.

So I went along with his lead.

“Right.”

“...I think it’d be good if you leaned on me a little too. You know everything about me, but you tell me so little. That worries me as well.”

“......”

“I think that’s why I see you as family. I don’t know what your family is like... but.”

Very feelings-forward of him. I’d literally just grabbed his wrist and scolded him, and yet his conscience didn’t seem bothered in that direction at all, judging by how he kept saying this pointless stuff.

“Keep talking.”

“...I want to accompany you in Gates no matter what. Don’t go in without me. Even if it’s an F-rank Gate.”

“Okay.”

Who knows what variables might pop up, but a promise like that, sure.

“I want you to take me with you wherever you go.”

“That’s a problem.”

“...Then at least tell me if you get hurt.”

“That I can do.”

“......”

“Is that all your conditions?”

Not much, honestly. I thought he was gearing up to demand something big.

But he didn’t stop there.

“...I honestly think I liked it when you told me about your family situation.”

“Trying to build common ground?”

Looking for some orphan-to-orphan bond? Judging by his reaction, that wasn’t it.

“That’s not it.”

“Then?”

“I just liked that you told me something personal.”

“......”

“Honestly, whatever your goal is, I don’t care. If it’s not something dangerous, I’ll do whatever you want to do.”

“......”

“I don’t really need the whole ‘public good’ purpose.”

After he finished, he raised his eyes from the cup he’d been staring at and met mine again. I studied him for a long moment, quietly impressed.

'This isn’t dependence so much as... loyalty.'

If Kwon Taehan had clear convictions and goals and just relied on me within that relationship, then Do Yehyun had basically thrown all of that out the window.

“Even if I said we should illegally occupy a Gate?”

“I know you wouldn’t.”

“You never know.”

“...I’d still follow you.”

Textbook flunky mentality, forged under a gangster boss. Or a very devoted dog to his owner?

“...And I’m not a good person.”

“We’ll see.”

“I mean it.”

“Then live as a good one if you can.”

I tossed back the simple reply, and he fell silent again. We held each other’s gaze for a while; then he slowly opened his mouth.

“I want to ask you something.”

“What kind?”

I cut in and asked back.

I’d gotten a similar request from Joo Seowon before.

Back then, Seowon had asked how I knew these things, what my exact goals were—stuff like that. I could only say so much, but they were reasonable questions for Seowon to ask.

But Do Yehyun would ask something else. This was the guy who asked about family while ignoring the whole “save the world” morality angle.

I had a hunch he was about to ask something utterly trivial and petty.

“...What did you do on your days off? Originally, I mean.”

Yeah. That kind of thing.

***

A few days ago, the long conversation with Do Yehyun ended with us making plans for a day off.

Normally, at his age he should’ve been in college, out having fun, but instead he’d been holed up at work grinding dungeons to death—so wanting to have some fun made sense. As the broad-minded soul I am, I could understand that.

Conveniently, New Year’s was in a few days, so I figured «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» we could pick a day around then and take one day to go out. Even if the main streets would be crawling with people.

A day that felt unusually long passed, and it looked like big changes were coming—but in truth, nothing much changed.

After that crazy bastard Cheonmyeonggyo sent, they seemed to be lying low for a while; no one related to Cheonmyeonggyo approached me at all.

Not only that.

Even Ryu Taejun, who’d been plastering SNS with posts about being a Cheonmyeonggyo believer, went quiet for several days.

Even when Joo Seowon sent him multiple messages, he only checked them now and then and never replied.

Ryu Taeyoung hadn’t replied either, but judging by the occasional articles mentioning the Special Response Team, he wasn’t so paralyzed he couldn’t go to work.

'If your kid brother’s a cult freak, you’d be a wreck too.'

Feeling a little sympathetic toward Ryu Taeyoung, I decided to shelve anything Cheonmyeonggyo-related for the time being.

There wasn’t anything to gain by moving now anyway. It’s not like I was going to storm Cheonmyeonggyo’s HQ tomorrow.

This was the kind of thing you do after securing Tae Hyunjin’s sword at the auction, at minimum.

'So we leave them be until late January.'

On top of that, even Im Haekyung—who lately had looked about ready to dissect my mind—had gotten busy with the sudden surge of high-rank dungeons, so he wasn’t keeping in close contact.

And so, for a few days, I lived a very peaceful life.

In the morning I’d go to work, clock in to the dungeon for the shit-grind, come back and do appraisal work—truly peaceful.

Well, with one annoyance.

Sung Uijae(21)

The number was message count. I deleted everything that piled up two days ago, and it had already stacked up again to that.

'Can’t even use a phone properly, but sure loves to spam.'

And the content was pure nonsense.

Did you just come back from a Gate?

Do you usually not check messages?

Arrived in Seoul

By the way, have you studied beast handling techniques?

(link to a beast-handling video)

For reference

'What the hell am I supposed to do with this.'

I stared at his useless messages for a moment, then lazily typed a reply.

Thank you

I didn’t actually mean thanks; it was loaded with “knock it off already.”

So of course, right on cue, he called.

“Hello, Hunter Sung.”

—Hard to get even one reply from you.

Apparently it had never occurred to him that if you send a ton of meaningless crap, it makes it hard to answer.

“I’ve been busy.”

—Yeah?

“Yes.”

—That item you took last time—working well for you?

“Ah.”

The Preservation Patch—Sung Uijae’s one useful contribution—was pulling its weight every day. Almost a shame it was a consumable.

“Yes. To the point I’d buy more if I could.”

When I answered honestly, I heard a clipped little laugh on the other end.

—Want me to get you more?

“You can?”

—Sure. I told you I wanted a good working relationship.

“I’ve got nothing to offer you.”

What on earth did Sung Uijae lack that he’d come asking me a favor? The idea that he wanted a “good working relationship” with me was comedy in itself.

'Am I a clown from his perspective?'

—There is one thing you could do.

“Need something appraised?”

—No, not that.

“Then what?”

For once he hemmed and hawed, then made a completely out-of-nowhere request.

—I need a Korean ID. Can you get me one?

What kind of bullshit was this now?

'A Korean ID?'

I asked back, baffled.

“You mean a resident registration card?”

—Yeah.

“And why would I give you that?”

—Ah, there’s a place I want to get into, but foreigners aren’t allowed. It’s not shady—it’s a hunter market.

Most hunter markets let you in as long as you’re registered as a hunter. You just get slammed with import taxes when you buy anything.

And with someone at Sung Uijae’s level, no matter how bomb-like the tariff, he could afford it.

“They said they need a Korean national specifically?”

—They said it’s all registration-based.

“What’s the market called?”

—It’s famous. Altea.

For something “famous,” the name rang no bells at all. Did he pick this up wrong? Like one of those convenience-store food combos only foreigners rave about.

But then a conversation buried deep in my memory floated up.

'A night market?'

'Yeah. The exact name is... Altea? Can’t remember. Everyone just calls it the night market and people get it. Why?'

...Right. That place is a hunter market run by Im Haekyung.