Chapter 251

Leaving the tragic mental state of S-ranks behind, I went up to Im Haekyung’s place. True to a home with tight security, I didn’t run into a single person the entire way—from the parking garage, through the elevator, and into the unit.

‘By the way... why’d he give me the password?’

What if I came in while he wasn’t here and stole something, or trashed the place? It’s not like we trust each other that much. It was weird.

Weird or not, I had zero intention of not using the password he’d handed me, so after punching it in, I stepped inside like I was walking into my own home.

Im Haekyung’s place—one I’d seen once before—still had no real interior design to speak of. Just those shitty paintings and the insect-bastard objects.

I walked into the living room, sat down on the sofa, and slowly looked around.

‘He’s got the place drowned in items.’

Same as his office—if I exaggerated just a little, you could say the entire space was surrounded by items. Pretty much everything in here looked like an item.

In a way, it almost looked like a house built around practicality alone. Of course, there were also decorations scattered around that had zero practicality and looked like complete ass.

For someone who always went around looking immaculate, Im Haekyung cared surprisingly little about appearances—clothes included.

Well, when photos had to be taken or he had to be on a broadcast, there was probably someone who handled that for him. And outside of those media appearances, he usually rotated between a combat suit or a dark, patternless suit—so even if he didn’t care, it wasn’t the kind of situation where it would show.

I killed a bit of time on the sofa, leaning back comfortably, then got up.

‘Should I take a look around?’

If he’d told me to go in and wait, that meant it would take him a while to get here. So skimming the place in the meantime wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

Sure, I hadn’t gotten the homeowner’s permission—but he’d given me the password and let me in, so he could obviously tolerate this much. And if not... well, that would be unfortunate.

Without hesitation, I walked to his dressing room.

‘Empty.’

Not surprising. Like I said, Im Haekyung didn’t seem all that interested in dressing up. His face was flashy enough to make you forget, but when it came to clothes, all he did was rotate suits unless he was going to be on camera.

The first thing I saw the moment I stepped in was—of course—the suits he wore all the time. I flipped the tag on a jacket that was within reach and checked the brand.

Most of them were tailored, but there were quite a few off-the-rack pieces mixed in too. Surprisingly, none of it was truly high-end. It looked like he’d barely bothered to care about the color, at most.

If anything, his ties and tie pins were way more expensive than the clothes. And even then, it didn’t feel like Im Haekyung had picked them himself.

‘These are gifts.’

A guy who bought clothes like this wasn’t going to coordinate ties nicely. Unless he was some deranged tie collector.

I put the tie I’d pulled out back where it belonged, then opened a drawer and checked out his watches.

‘Five....’

That wasn’t as many as I expected, either. Thinking back to how often his wrist looked bare, it wasn’t exactly shocking.

I picked up one of the watches, examined it closely, then set it back in its original spot.

‘That’s a gift too.’

To think he barely touched anything in his own dressing room this much.

I’d just about finished my half-assed watch tour and started turning my attention to the loungewear when a familiar voice came from behind me.

“Was wondering where you were....”

‘He got home faster than I thought.’

I didn’t bother turning around. I just stared at the loungewear hanging there. Im Haekyung spoke in the same calm tone.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay put?”

Only then did I turn to face him. Leaning against the dressing room doorway and looking at me from an angle, Im Haekyung lifted an eyebrow slightly when our eyes met.

“You told me to go in and wait quietly. Once I was inside, you told me to do whatever I wanted.”

“I think we should start by establishing exactly when I ever said that.”

Well, if “go up and wait quietly” wasn’t basically that, then what was?

Instead of answering, I said something else.

“You don’t have many clothes.”

“Isn’t it too many?”

This? Really?

I glanced at the sparse clothes that didn’t even fill half the rack and tilted my head a little. Im Haekyung added in an unconcerned voice,

“I can only wear one outfit at a time anyway. That’s plenty.”

“You’re not as interested in this stuff as I thought.”

“What ‘this stuff’?”

Instead of answering the obvious question, I just flicked my gaze at the clothes.

“Clothes?”

“Your interior design’s bad too. And those bugs are still here. Aren’t you going to throw them out?”

“They’re expensive. They’re items.”

“Why’d you pay a ton of money for insect-bastards.”

“If they bother you that much, take them, Jehyun.”

“No. You should keep them. For a long, long time.”

Gotta reduce the number of victims, fuck. Trying to pass around an insect bomb like some sort of hot potato—no conscience at all.

Im Haekyung let out a short laugh.

“So. You came to see me at this hour, and you’re rummaging through my closet—why? Because you don’t have clothes? If there’s something you like, take it.”

Like that would happen.

Ignoring the pointless chatter, I finally got to the point.

“I have something to ask about Cheonmyeonggyo.”

“.......”

The faint smile that had been on Im Haekyung’s face disappeared.

“I was wondering when you were going to ask... and you finally did.”

Finally? The emphasis on that word made me pinch my brows slightly. Whether I frowned or not, Im Haekyung continued in the same calm voice.

“Cheonmyeonggyo... sure. I’m still the one managing Cheonmyeonggyo. I managed it even when you got buried in other things and stopped paying attention, too.”

“.......”

“So what, specifically, are you curious about? Back then you talked like you were going to become some kind of con artist.”

The plan to squeeze Cheonmyeonggyo dry was still there. I’d already gotten my hands on it—quitting halfway would be a waste.

‘But I should be a little careful.’

I walked closer, closing the distance, and asked,

“Do you know where Jin Haedo is?”

***

As if it were obvious, Im Haekyung told me Jin Haedo’s location.

Of course, before that, the questions came pouring out—like he’d been waiting for the chance.

And since I was in a position where I had to play nice, I answered diligently whenever he asked something.

‘What are you going to do when you meet Jin Haedo?’

‘There’s a skill he has that I need to confirm.’

‘And if you try to confirm it, it’ll confirm? Through “appraisal”?’

‘No. I’m going to threaten him. If that doesn’t work, I’ll negotiate.’

‘Usually the order is the other way around.’

Im Haekyung must’ve found the situation genuinely interesting, because the questions started getting more specific.

‘The reason you went into that Cheonmyeonggyo dungeon—was it really because of the fiend merge?’

‘No. Coincidence.’

‘Doesn’t look like coincidence to me.’

This wasn’t even asking—a conclusion was already baked into the question. I stared at Im Haekyung for a moment, then just jerked my chin, like: think whatever you want.

‘You’re especially curious today.’

‘I always am. I’m more curious than you think.... Especially because you keep doing weird shit, Jehyun.’

‘.......’

‘Thanks to that... I’ve ended up learning far too much about you.’

Im Haekyung smiled, looking almost refreshed.

‘Weirdly, I kind of want to hit him.’

Well, he wasn’t wrong. Im Haekyung knew I was a fiend-merge Hunter. Knew my appraisal skill worked in a weird way. Even knew I could copy skills.

‘Hm.... He knows way too much.’

But it’s not like I could just kill him because I didn’t like it, so I’d just have to live while being tragically annoyed about it.

Right before I left his place, I asked what I’d been wondering.

‘Why’d you give me the password? What if I came in and stole something?’

‘Right now, you’re the only one who knows my door code, Jehyun.’

‘And?’

‘If anything’s wrong, it’ll all be your fault.’

‘.......’

‘You get what I mean?’

In other words, he didn’t need to worry about what I might steal. If something went missing, he could just come find me and kill me—or beat the shit out of me.

‘That’s rational.’

I nodded in genuine admiration.

Of course, separate from how rational it was, I still wanted to hit him.

But instead of replying, I just smiled at him.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

‘From now on, I’ll come by a lot, honey.’

Purely to piss him off, I even put a hand on his cheek as I grinned—then quickly opened the door and left.

The moment I got into the elevator, I casually swiped aside the text that arrived from Im Haekyung—pretending I hadn’t seen it—and smiled faintly.

‘What if I piss him off too often and he decides to just kill me?’

Well... that was something to think about when it happened.

For now, I was on my way to the residence of the cult leader that the kind Haeseong Guild Master had told me about.

The place Jin Haedo was staying in was a single-story house. The exterior looked old, but the security was tight—and it was remote enough that even with a lot of people coming and going, no one would think anything was strange.

I spat out a Stealth Orb and knocked on Jin Haedo’s door.

Knock knock.

There was movement inside, but the door didn’t open. There was probably something like a guard posted inside, too.

I had no intention of wasting time here, so I moved straight to the next plan. Instead of knocking on the iron door again, I pulled out a heavy item from inside my clothes and hurled it hard at the window.

Clang—!

Cracks spread across the lower part of the glass, and then in an instant the window shattered downward into pieces. I stepped lightly over the shards and offered the bastards inside a friendly greeting.

“Don’t just stand there—move. Unless you want to get hit by a rock and die on the spot.”