Chapter 39

Chapter 39

For the S-Rank joint 8th-place Archer and Gunner, that was their mother. For the S-Rank 3rd-place Fortress, that was their family.

And for the S-Rank 10th-place, Shadow Yoon Juyeong, the control device was probably…

“Oh, this just came to mind — does Jeong Seojin have someone you’d call a control device?”

“…Ah, you mean Seojin?”

“Yeah. The other S-Ranks, well… I’ve got a rough idea, you know? Teacher Miju goes without saying — that person is a control device in themself, and our guild master’s would be family.”

“Hmm.”

“But I don’t know about Jeong Seojin. It’s not like he has a girlfriend, and from what I can see, he doesn’t seem to have any contact with his family either.”

As Joo Minjeong said, unlike other S-Ranks who usually had something you could call a control device, Jeong Seojin had no one you could call that.

No, to be precise, there was one, but it would be more accurate to say it was gone now.

Kang Mujin recalled what he’d heard from Jeong Seojin and let out a faint sigh.

“Ugh, that Jeong Seojin kid’s human relationships must be pretty barren too. To the point where I can’t even get a hint of someone who’d be a control device… Huh?”

Joo Minjeong’s voice, which had been lamenting Jeong Seojin’s sparse social life, suddenly stopped. Kang Mujin lifted his gaze from the contract and looked at her.

“Hunter Joo Minjeong?”

“Hold on a second. Joo Minju sent me a text. Looks like some news came out about our guild… Huh?”

Joo Minjeong had even stopped cleaning her crossbow, reading the text from her twin, Joo Minju.

At first, like most older sisters reading a sibling’s message, annoyance was written across Joo Minjeong’s face, but after a little time passed, a new emotion began to rise on her face.

Surprise and fluster, and then fascination.

“Wow… looks like other people had the same thought we did about Yoon Juyeong.”

“What on earth do you mean?”

“Look at this, Guild Master.”

Instead of explaining in long-winded words, Joo Minjeong chose to show him directly. She immediately held out her smartphone to Kang Mujin.

Kang Mujin took the smartphone from Joo Minjeong with a somewhat bewildered feeling. On the screen of Joo Minjeong’s latest-model smartphone was, for some reason, an online article from Hunter Daily.

‘Hunter Daily…’

Hunter Daily was a place that often did what people called “garbage journalism,” and for that reason, Kang Mujin usually made a point of not even glancing at Hunter Daily.

Of course, as a guild master leading a guild, when there was something related to the media that he needed to look into, he forced himself to read it.

Considering that, the fact that Joo Minjeong was showing her a Hunter Daily article now meant she needed to read it as the “guild master.”

In the end, Kang Mujin, looking rather displeased, narrowed his brow slightly but still read through the online article Joo Minjeong had handed him carefully.

And it didn’t take long for the surprise and fluster Joo Minjeong had shown earlier to rise onto his furrowed face.

“…This is, no doubt.”

“It’s definitely Yoon Juyeong showing it off everywhere. That’s why the rumor spread so fast.”

Joo Minjeong clicked her tongue softly and pointed at the screen of the smartphone still in Kang Mujin’s hand.

“Look, ‘New S-Rank Awakener ‘Shadow’ Yoon Juyeong, in a romantic relationship with a C-Rank Hunter?’ That C-Rank Hunter, at a glance, is Hunter Yoon Seohee.”

* * *

Maybe my life is cursed.

Starting from age five, when I was left abandoned on the snowy street in front of an orphanage with no memories, through my school years where, for some reason, I was stuck taking on roles like class president and vice president, always busy without a break…

Through my early working years when the sudden monster parade broke out, all the way up to now.

“Master, when we get home, I plan to take out the soufflé I prepared. I happen to have a tea that goes perfectly with it — how about having it together?”

“Soufflé, huh. You mean that weird-textured cake thing? Personally, I prefer coffee over tea. I’d like it if you served it with coffee.”

“…There’s no share for you.”

“We’re going to be living in the same house as family from now on — it’d be disappointing if you left me out.”

What bad thing did I do in my life to end up squeezed between two S-Rank hunters standing on either side of me?

I stared with blurry eyes at Yoon Juyeong and Jeong Seojin, who were exchanging chilly words while locking eyes above my head.

“Hey, aren’t you both embarrassed, having a power struggle on the street like this?”

“Master, surely you don’t think I’d stoop to doing something so low-class with a guy like that.”

“I was definitely having a power struggle, though.”

“……”

The fact that he actually admitted to it was ridiculous, and Yoon Juyeong denying the obvious power struggle by calling it low-class was just as absurd.

I’d heard plenty of stories about S-Ranks having a strange competitive streak, or even a fighting spirit, toward each other… but I never knew it manifested like this.

No, actually, I didn’t want to know. There’s no way I ever imagined I’d be walking sandwiched between two S-Ranks, drawing stares from everyone around us.

‘Let’s just get home fast. That’s the answer. It’s not far now anyway.’

After Hunter Yoon Juyeong finished his conversation with Guild Master Kang Mujin and came into the waiting room, and Jeong Seojin casually, brazenly announced he’d be living with me at my place from now on.

The power struggle that started then had been going strong ever since, even now when we were less than 50 meters from Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s house.

And of course, at first I was caught in the middle of this fierce S-Rank power struggle, not knowing what to do and fidgeting nervously, but by now I was just completely exhausted.

‘Bed. I miss my bed. Forget everything else, I just want to lie down in bed.’

Honestly, I had plenty of things to worry about, be annoyed about, and feel so absurd I wanted to headbang right there, but right now, above all else, I just wanted to lie down in bed and rest.

At least while I was lying in bed with my eyes closed, sleeping, I could forget about this whole situation.

‘No, actually, forget all that… if they’re going to have a power struggle like that, why aren’t they stopping us from going home?’

Actually, that was the most ridiculous part of this whole situation.

From the moment Yoon Juyeong saw Jeong Seojin clinging to me in the waiting room, calling me master and all that, he’d been glaring at Jeong Seojin like he didn’t like him at all, yet he hadn’t objected to him living with us.

No, not only did he not object, he even gave a sort of consent, albeit in a not-so-gentle form, saying, “Please act like you’re in someone else’s house and behave yourself.”

‘What the hell is this, seriously? Is this just how S-Ranks are? Or are these people just weird?’

As someone who had been waiting with bated breath for the current homeowner, Yoon Juyeong, to reject Jeong Seojin’s absurd request to live together, this was like a bolt from the blue.

No, the more I think about it, the weirder it gets. Why on earth? If you clearly don’t like him, why let him into the house?

“I’ll say it again, but I hope you’ll think of this as someone else’s home and not make yourself too comfortable. Please don’t wander around like you own the place.”

“I’ll take that as ‘make yourself at home.’”

“If you’ve already gone deaf at your age, I can look up an ENT specialist for you.”

“Are we already close enough that you’re worried about my health?”

“Can we please just go home quietly—”

—Ding!

“Huh?”

Just as I was about to open my mouth to stop these two men from bickering shamelessly on the street, a familiar notification sound suddenly rang out.

What is it. Could it be the orphanage director?

I completely ignored the two men having a power struggle over my head, as if it didn’t matter at all, and pulled out my smartphone.

“If you have problems with your cognitive abilities too, shall I look into a treatment center for that?”

“Unlike you, I’m not weak enough to be affected by Joo Minjeong’s ‘Hunter’s Stealth’—”

“Holy shit?”

What the hell is this now?

I stared at my smartphone screen with wide eyes.

The owner of the notification sound that had rung loudly through the two men’s power struggle was none other than Hunter Park Jieun. Come to think of it, I hadn’t been in touch lately, and I was thinking maybe she was worried, so I tapped on her KakaoTalk notification…

“Master, has something happened?”

“What the hell did you see that got you so startled, Boss?”

“Who and who, what? Dating ruuuuuumor?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

I never thought the day would come when I’d be caught up in someone else’s dating rumor.

While I was staring in shock with a completely stunned expression, Jeong Seojin leaned his head over my shoulder to check my smartphone screen. Then he let out a hollow laugh and looked at Yoon Juyeong.

“Oh… impressive. You haven’t even been an S-Rank hunter for a month, and already a dating rumor.”

“…I’m asking just in case.”

Yoon Juyeong, who had pushed Jeong Seojin’s head away from my shoulder with his own hand, cautiously opened his mouth in a voice that seemed somewhat flustered.

“That dating rumor… is it about me and Master?”

<New S-Rank Awakener ‘Shadow’ Yoon Juyeong, Dating a C-Rank Hunter?>

Hunter Yoon Juyeong, who recently made a name for himself as one of the new S-Rank hunters, has been revealed to be dating a certain C-Rank hunter, currently sending shockwaves through netizens.

That C-Rank hunter is speculated to be the hunter who was by Yoon Juyeong’s side when he underwent his reawakening to S-Rank, drawing everyone’s attention.

According to witness accounts from a source, that C-Rank hunter is someone widely known in the area for good deeds, and had worked together with Hunter Yoon Juyeong in the same dungeon zone even before his reawakening.