Chapter 37

[Paehyeok Guild Master went AWOL this time] [Paehyeok Guild Master went AWOL after going on an S-Rank dungeon raid this time because he was dumped by the female hunter he went with?]

“Delete it! Are you crazy?”

“I’ve never been sane.”

“No! Just delete it first!”

“Oh, a comment was posted.”

Cho-i stretched her arm up to check her smartphone. Short Nara couldn’t reach the smartphone even if she stretched her hand.

[Paehyeok Guild Master went offline this time]
[Paehyeok Guild Master went offline this time after going to clear an S-Rank dungeon and was dumped by the female hunter who went with him?]
└ ? Is this guy sane?
└ Guild Master, over here…!
└ Can you handle it?

Cho-i posted a reply below.

└ Yep

Then she turned off the screen. Nara Shim was staring at her with burning eyes.

“Why did you write something like that?”

“It doesn’t seem to be my fault.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There’s a reason for it~”

Cho-i hummed a tune, put her smartphone in her pocket, and poked Nara Shim’s side.

“Let’s go unpack.”

“Okay… I don’t know anymore.”

Nara Shim sighed as if giving up. They went straight home and unpacked their belongings. Most of the belongings were Nara Shim’s.

“You need to buy some new clothes or something.”

“I guess so. I have too little.”

Nara Shim didn’t find it strange at all that she was naturally living with Cho-i and just ordered Jjajangmyeon.

***

Cho-i had to buy a new sword. She had used up an A-plus sword in an S-Rank dungeon, leaving her without a weapon. Of course, Dongju Kim had helped with that.

“Are you going to keep calling me for things like this? Do you think I’m free?”

“You come every time I call.”

“Ugh.”

Dongju Kim casually threw the A+ Rank sword he had bought for her, and Cho-i safely caught it by the hilt and put it in her inventory.

“Maybe I should have just called the Guild Master?”

At Cho-i’s words, Dongju Kim’s face briefly turned into a question mark.

“Did you just refer to our Guild Master?”

“Yes. He’s the one who ruined my sword.”

“But you’re calling him ‘Guild Master’?”

“I have a grudge against your Guild Master.”

Dongju Kim ran a hand over his face as if he couldn’t follow with a criminal’s mind, then gave up and said,

“Fine, just call him whatever you want.”

“I intend to!”

He just waved his hand casually and disappeared at that bright answer. No, he tried to disappear.

“Where are you going?”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“Let’s eat together while we’re out. Anyway, Nara Shim is busy with moving today, so I’m all alone.”

“Now I have to spoon-feed you too?”

“I’ll eat with my own hands.”

“I didn’t mean literally spoon-feeding. No, never mind. Let’s go eat.”

“Hehe.”

Dongju Kim and Cho-i Hyeon headed to the restaurant on the top floor of the department store. It was Cho-i’s first time in such a place, so she looked around, giggling. Dongju Kim, with an expressionless face, indulged her every move and succeeded in getting the child to sit down.

“She’s not seven years old…”

He clicked his tongue, sat opposite her, and ordered from the menu without being asked. His demeanor seemed accustomed to such situations. In the meantime, Cho-i accessed the anonymous post she had written.

‘No new comments.’

Cho-i went to the first page of the anonymous board and started reading the posts one by one. Then an interesting post was discovered.

[Is the Guild Master of Paehyeok really in hiding due to heartbreak?] [Why haven’t we seen him lately?]
S-Ranks don’t usually show their faces much, they’re precious.
But he was consistently doing public activities, then it really stopped completely after he entered the S-Rank dungeon.
The Guild Master of Paehyeok got dumped?
All you crazy people are going to get sued.
But who dumped him?
Ah~ it’s already a confirmed fact.
Even an S-Rank gets dumped?
Right? If it were me, I’d marry him. How about me, brother?
Get lost.

Hmm, the rumors were spreading very well. Cho-i put her smartphone in her pocket and blinked as she watched the course meal slowly start to arrive.

“Wow, I’ve never eaten anything like this before.”

“You said you had a boyfriend.”

Even though he’s already dead.

“How many years did you date?”

“About five years?”

“You dated for a long time. Then you must have eaten a restaurant course meal as an event, right?”

“Oh, well. He didn’t really do things like that. He said I’d get fat.”

Dongju Kim looked at Cho-i once with a questioning gaze. Then, coming to a very simple conclusion, he spooned up his soup.

“He was a bastard.”

Cho-i smiled.

“He was.”

Dongju Kim now somewhat understood why she had said she killed him. A guy who even restricted food probably wasn’t just ‘the Entity’.

“Eat a lot.”

“Okay.”

Cho-i and Dongju thus had a light meal and parted ways. And then something unexpected happened. When Cho-i turned on the anonymous board in the taxi on the way home, a picture of her and Dongju was posted there.

[Heyyyyy, is there a love line forming at Paehyeok?] [(Photo)]

The photo showed Cho-i and Dongju eating facing each other at the restaurant. They didn’t particularly look close, but the problem was that they were sitting together and eating at a restaurant.

[Here’s a piping hot photo from today. Hey, who was the jerk who said there was a new applicant who would blow Dongju’s looks out of the water?]
└ Crazy
└ Crazy2222
└ Crazy3333
└ Now I believe you, you jerks
└ There was no proof, no proof
└ Hey, but is this okay? Paehyeok will penalize them.
└ Hey, look at it to your heart’s content before that happens
└ When does she start activities? Shouldn’t we decide on a fan club name beforehand?
└ She’s only C-Rank? What kind of fan club for a C-Rank? LOL, that’s too much. So when will it open?
└ Damn, you crazy bastardsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ What? Dongju is dating? Are you crazy?
└ Ah, damn, who is she again? We just barely got Dongju off the hook.
└ Oh, the crazy Dongju fans have arrived

“Oh, I didn’t expect this.”

Dongju and Cho-i weren’t the only ones in the restaurant. As expected of a famous restaurant, it was moderately full of people. But no one noticed someone taking pictures. It seemed like they used a silent camera. Cho-i frowned. And immediately called Yeonhan.

Ring, click.

-Hello?
“Yeonhan, a photo of me and Dongju was secretly taken and posted on Huntred.”
-Ah, damn it, are there still people like that? I’ll take care of it. I’m sorry. I told Dongju Kim to cover his face.
“It’s not Dongju’s fault. More importantly, will I be okay?”
-…Ah.

Yeonhan Kim remembered. Famous hunters usually had fan clubs, but Dongju Kim’s fans were particularly intense.

“I spread a rumor that the Guild Master got dumped by me, but somehow I ended up getting involved with Dongju.”
-Ah, I’m really, truly sorry. I’ll immediately impose sanctions and release an article. But… what do you mean the Guild Master got dumped?
“It’s just one of those things. More importantly, what kind of article?”
-…Since it’s come to this, I think it’s better to quickly release an article saying that you’re a newly recruited A-Rank model who worked as a secret examiner.
“Ah, that’s right. Thank you.”
-No problem. Oh, and I’ll give you a number, so if anything like this happens in the future, please contact that number. It’s faster than going through me.
“Ah, there’s a dedicated team for handling these kinds of things?”
-Of course. There are so many people who follow them with a burning passion.
“Understood. Send me the number, I’ll save it and use it wisely.”
-Alright. Have a good day.

Cho-i smiled.

“You too, unnie.”

Yeonhan Kim hung up with a short laugh, as if it wasn’t a bad thing. Abusive comments about Cho-i, who hadn’t even been revealed yet, began to appear on the post. She chuckled as she read through the insults about herself.

“Oh.”

And just then, another post appeared.

[Didn’t Paehyeok Guild Master get dumped by her?]
[There’s no other reason besides that face]
└ Agreed
└ What nerve does a C-Rank have to dump an S-Rank?
└ With that beauty
└ Get out of here
└ So when is the fan club going to be made? I’m getting dizzy, you jerks
└ Oh? Hey, an article just came out. (link)

“What? Already? That was fast.”

Cho-i clicked on the link in the comments. It contained a brief profile of Cho-i, stating that she was an A+ Rank tank and had recently been cast as a Paehyeok model. Below it, a short addendum mentioned that she had worked as a secret examiner for the entrance trial and that her future was highly anticipated.

└ A-plus tank? Make a fan site right now
└ Ah, so she was in C-Rank not because she was C-Rank, but because she was a secret examiner?
└ But why reveal her face?
└ Is that a face that wouldn’t stand out even if it wasn’t revealed?
└ This is so true
└ Seriously, this is so true
└ Is that pretty? Haeyeon is much better
└ Take out your eyeballs and wash them
└ Dongju fans are really gritting their teeth, aren’t they?
└ It looks like colleagues just had a meal together, and the problem is all this ‘love line’ nonsense
└ Is that pretty? You blind fools
└ It’s a total mess

The post instantly exploded with comments.

From Dongju Kim’s fans and haters, and now about Cho-i Hyeon, whose name they had just learned.
Cho-i quietly watched the comments, then took screenshots of all the excessive malicious comments and

“Oh~ you motherf***ers have guts, don’t you?”

And the sexual harassment comments about her that were already appearing, and sent them all to the contact number Yeonhan had given her.
Then, a text message arrived, buzzing.

[Confirmed. We will thoroughly monitor to ensure no harm comes to the Hunter. Thank you.]

“He’s good at his job.”

Was it a good idea to join Paehyeok? She got out of the taxi that had just arrived at its destination and headed to her new house. Cho-i and Nara pooled their money and bought a house under joint ownership. Since an apartment is better for two women, even if they are hunters, they chose the top floor of a 30-story apartment building close to Paehyeok. There were four rooms and two bathrooms. Thanks to this, they both almost used up their down payments, but they had no regrets.

“The house is great, after all.”

Nara Shim didn’t seem to be back yet. Cho-i went into her bedroom. The room was empty. There was only one luggage bag of clothes she had brought.

“I need to buy furniture too.”

Should I buy new clothes and a desk? She was quite excited at the thought of decorating her own room.

Buzz. She would probably have remained excited if it hadn’t been for the sudden text message.