Chapter 28

***

The two, who arrived at Paehyeok by taxi, entered the building guided by the security guard who had previously mistaken them for Stalker Fans, and headed to the 80th floor with Dongju Kim, who was waiting for them. In the elevator, Dongju Kim had a somewhat troubled expression.

“First of all, both of you passed.”

“Why is it ‘passed’ like that?”

Cho-i asked, and Nara Shim looked uneasy. Her face said, ‘Did you cause trouble there?’ No, that’s not it. The problem was taking the trial while hiding her rank in the first place. What, then am I also caught as an accomplice?

“Master Dongju. Just in case, I want to say that Cho-i Hyeon’s fraudulent actions are completely unrelated to my will…”

“You’re abandoning me like this?”

“No. That’s not the problem. And the problem is with you, Cho-i Hyeon.”

“Why am I the problem!?”

“Then who else is the problem besides you!?”

As the two bickered, Dongju Kim briefly held each of their heads, pulled them apart, and said,

“The Guild Master wants to see you.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

Nara Shim shouted.

“Why are you saying ‘why’ here?!”

“I’m curious!”

“If Guild Master Paehyeok wants to see you, you say ‘yes’! What’s with the ‘why’?”

“No, I mean, there must be a reason why he wants to see me.”

“You’ll know when you see him!”

“Can’t I know the reason beforehand?”

“No!”

“Why!”

“Because he’s Guild Master Paehyeok!”

“That’s dirty and petty.”

“The world is originally dirty and petty.”

“Yeah, if I think about how you abandoned me, you’re a dirty and petty person too.”

“…….”

At that, Nara Shim’s mouth snapped shut. So this is the perfect cure to make her shut up. Cho-i realized a fresh fact.Ding, the elevator arrived on the 80th floor. Yeonhan Kim was not visible today. As Cho-i looked around, Dongju said,

“She went somewhere for a bit.”

“Will she be back soon?”

“Yes, and another S-Rank will return.”

“Who was the other S-Rank?”

She blinked. She lived without paying much attention to such things, so she knew little. And the answer came from Dongju Kim’s mouth.

“Myeongok Shin, S-Rank healer.”

She was also Korea’s oldest hunter, turning fifty-eight this year. There was only one reason for her being the oldest. It was because most people died before reaching that age.

***

“Yes, I wonder if she’s been well?”

Someone was on the phone. And the place he was standing was none other than Paehyeok’s top floor, the Guild Master’s Office.

“It’s a relief that there’s nothing wrong with your body. It’s about time, isn’t it?”

At his words, the person on the other end of the phone laughed loudly. He, too, gave a short smile at the sound of the laughter and continued speaking.

“When you come in this time, I’ll need you to do something for me.”

He briefly took his ear away from the smartphone as the other person babbled, then put his ear back to it.

“Something strange has come in this time.”

His eyes blinked slowly. Then he looked down at the city beyond the glass from the top floor. There was no expression on his face. It was a cold face, as if he hadn’t just smiled. He looked like a person wearing a death mask.

“Something strange has rolled into the guild. Oh, yes. First, come to Korea. I haven’t properly figured it out yet.”

With those words, the man hung up the phone a little later. Then he turned around and looked at the woman who was waiting for him with her hands behind her back. Short yellow hair and tall. It was Yeonhan Kim.

“So, you sent an A-Rank tank into a C-Rank testing ground without my knowledge.”

Yeonhan didn’t make excuses.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because the trial period and the rank correction period didn’t align.”

“The trial isn’t just this year, is it?”

“We were in a hurry.”

“Because you didn’t have a compatible tank?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, well. That can happen.”

“I apologize.”

“No, don’t apologize. You’re going to get everything back anyway, so why apologize?”

He dropped the dead mask-like expression and smiled again. His gently curved eyes looked very kind, but to Yeonhan Kim, he was no different from a devil risen from hell.

“You’ll work us to death for a few more months, won’t you?”

“Why ask what you already know? It’ll only make your heart ache for nothing.”

Taehyeok Sa, the head of this guild and a very young man turning thirty this year. He sat with his legs crossed and looked at Yeonhan Kim. He picked up a report lying on his desk. The paper fluttered lightly.

“Read it yourself.”

Yeonhan Kim read the report instead of answering. And he subtly frowned. It stated that the dungeon, which had been a B-Rank testing ground, had suddenly become A+ Rank, and that an A-Rank hunter, Cho-i Hyeon, who had entered disguised as a C-Rank, had helped them break through.

“I’m thinking of meeting her.”

“What’s the reason?”

“She’s the first person to raise their rank this much since your sibling.”

“Why are you so sure that Hunter Cho-i Hyeon is the one who raised her rank?”

“Upon investigation, she awakened five years ago and registered as a C-Rank. Until recently, she was in a different dungeon. Oh, and she lost her boyfriend in a dungeon too.”

He had a knack for telling other people’s painful stories as if they were fairy tales. He rested his elbows on the table and his chin on his clasped hands.

“An A-Rank spent several years pretending to be a C-Rank? No matter how good the acting, she must have been a bit strong for a C-Rank, but when I asked her previous guild, they said she was a coward, timid, and an idiot who couldn’t properly demonstrate her skills.”

At those words, Yeonhan Kim frowned.

“That’s very different from what I know. Hunter Cho-i Hyeon is…”

“I know, roughly what kind of personality she has. Just by looking, she seems like a battle-crazed person who’s difficult to control, just like you guys.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you believe a person’s rank and personality can change in a few nights?”

“No.”

“Right, then we need to find that out now. And while we’re at it, recruit another A-Rank.”

“Are you saying you’ll accept her?”

“Yes, the guys who went into the dungeon with her this time gave her pretty generous evaluations.”

“Ah, then.”

“But because she’s so audacious, I won’t assign her to you for a while.”

At those words, Yeonhan Kim instantly looked miserable.

“No, even if you do that, I won’t let it slide.”

But the Guild Master was firm. Yeonhan Kim secretly scoffed and then asked,

“Then where will you use her?”

“Where else would I use an A-Rank but to run an A-Rank dungeon? Whether that hunter truly became an A-Rank from a C-Rank, or was an A-Rank hunter deceiving the world, her experience will be too little. So, there’s no choice but to throw her into an A-Rank dungeon that matches her level.”

“You’re planning to work her hard for a few months too, aren’t you?”

“She’s audacious, isn’t she?”

He laughed. The audacity of her to enter the Paehyeok trial while hiding her rank. He quickly wiped the smile from his face. When the smile was gone, his image changed as if he were a different person. Yeonhan, accustomed to that face, nodded.

“And bring her up so I can see her face. You’ve called her, haven’t you?”

“Yes, well, for now…”

Yeonhan Kim looked at the Guild Master with eyes that said, ‘I’m uneasy.’ He shrugged his shoulders, conveying the meaning, ‘Am I going to eat her or something?’ Yeonhan Kim sighed.

“Understood. I’ll send her up immediately then.”

“Alright. Tell her it’s just a procedure that A-Ranks generally go through.”

“Why tell a lie that will be exposed later?”

“A lie is originally told to get out of a situation. There’s no eternal lie, after all.”

“You always say things I don’t understand.”

“If you don’t like it, leave Paehyeok.”

He displayed kindness.

“Huh? I plan to be with Paehyeok until I die, though.”

And Yeonhan Kim thoroughly defended that kindness. He smacked his lips and gestured for her to go, and Yeonhan Kim turned around and pressed the elevator button. The elevator was stopped on the 80th floor. Perhaps, Cho-i Hyeon, whom Dongju Kim had called for in advance, would be there. She thought as she stepped into the arriving elevator.

‘I’m curious to see them talk, can’t I go back up and watch?’

Soon, the elevator doors closed.

***

Cho-i made a nonchalant face when Yeonhan Kim told her that the Guild Master wanted to see her.

‘If he’s the Guild Master here, he should be able to see my status window.’

Cho-i’s rank was A+ Rank when last checked. The effect of the earrings Cho-i was wearing only worked on ranks two levels above. That meant that S-Rank and S+ Rank could not see her status window.

‘But the Guild Master here is SS-Rank.’

In that case, her status window would be fully exposed. Cho-i agonized. Should I meet him? Yeonhan, who hadn’t expected her to be so conflicted, said, somewhat flustered, as if to soothe her.

“Our Guild Master isn’t that bad of a person.”

“He’s a bit of a bastard, though.”

“He’s kinder than he looks, too.”

“It’s just his level, though.”

“Dongju Kim, you bastard. Whose side are you on right now?”

“I’m not on anyone’s side.”

He, who was about to say that he was just telling objective facts, was hit by Yeonhan Kim’s punch and stumbled backwards over the armrest of the sofa, falling upside down onto the sofa. He lay there, sprawling, and put a cigarette in his mouth. Life seemed inconvenient. Cho-i Hyeon deftly took the cigarette from his mouth, placed it on the table, and said,

“What if I say I won’t meet him?”

“Then you can’t join our guild.”

“Hmm, that’s a bit of a problem.”

Cho-i had a reason to go through high-rank dungeons. Dungeons below her rank were just boring and there was nothing more to find. Cho-i had to revisit the Mantis Dungeon to remove her ring. And it was just a feeling, but she felt like something would happen if she entered a dungeon of her matching rank. In fact, something new did change when she entered an A+ Rank dungeon.

‘I don’t welcome this growing further.’