Chapter 76

After graduating from university and awakening as a hunter, she had established herself in just a year or two, starting from the very bottom. She was a B-Rank and worked for a respectable guild, and she was quite satisfied with her life. Until the article about Cho-i Hyeon came out. She thought Cho-i was inferior to her. Even in college, Cho-i was the talk of the town because of her good boyfriend, and now, even as a hunter, she was still benefiting from a man. Every time she saw it, her stomach churned. Cho-i scoffed at Hanna’s easily readable face. I’ve never once benefited from a man in my life, so what kind of thinking leads to that conclusion?

“What did I do in college? Spread rumors? But weren’t they all true?”

“You spread so many rumors, I don’t know which one you’re talking about. First, number them and then tell me.”

Cho-i picked her ear with her pinky finger and then blew on the tip of her finger. Hanna Joo looked at her with a ‘what is this?’ expression, then sighed and said,

“First, you asked Hanyeong Senior to introduce you to Hyeonchan An….”

“Oh, everyone’s gathered here!”

Just then, someone approached the table.

“Hanyeong Senior!”

“Long time no see, Senior!”

It was Hanyeong, a senior who was quite close to Cho-i’s year. So that person was the one who introduced Cho-i to Hyeonchan An. Cho-i smiled as if on cue.

“It’s really been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“Cho-i! Is that really you, Cho-i? Wow, it’s really great to see you!”

Hanyeong overreacted and greeted her. Cho-i scoffed once and then asked him,

“I have something I’m curious about. Can I ask you something?”

“Huh? What is it?”

“She said that I asked you to introduce me to Hyeonchan An?”

At that moment, Hanna Joo sharply lifted her head and shouted,

“Hey, when did I ever say that!”

Then Hanyeong frowned.

“What? I never said anything like that.”

“But she says you did?”

Cho-i grinned and pointed at Hanna Joo. Hanyeong slightly frowned and looked at Hanna Joo.

“I said that?”

“No….”

Hanna Joo soon lifted her head and replied stiffly.

“Didn’t these kids do that? They said they heard it from their senior.”

“Hyeonchan An was the one who asked me to introduce him. It took me so long to talk to Cho-i because of the Entity.”

“Oh, back then you really looked like a weirdo. I thought you were part of a cult!”

“Hey, a cult is too much.”

Hanyeong soon sat down in the empty seat and said.

“Back then, Hyeonchan An was making a big fuss about trying to win you over.”

“He was?”

“Yes, because you were famous for being pretty at school.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t have any friends back then. Oh, speaking of which, how’s Hyeonchan An doing?”

“Since this topic comes up again, I’ll just gloss over it. He’s doing well, for now.”

Meaning he was doing well in hell.

“That’s a relief. But are you two still dating?”

“Hmm, no?”

“Well, it’s hard for college sweethearts to last through professional life. More importantly, you’ve had a lot of dating rumors lately, haven’t you?”

“They didn’t happen because I wanted them to.”

“There’s the Paehyeok Guild Master, and, who was it? Hunter Dongju Kim? Him too. You seem to get involved with famous people. If you were still dating Hyeonchan An, he would have been furious.”

“What’s he going to do if he gets furious?”

Is he going to beat Taehyeok Sa, or Dongju Kim, or who? She thought, ‘What if Hyeonchan An were alive?’ but then she gave up, realizing she wouldn’t have kept him alive anyway. Even if he were still breathing, he’d be in a comatose state. Cho-i smiled mischievously and snatched back the half-empty champagne glass she had just returned to her. Then she poured the champagne all over Hanyeong.

“What the!”

Screech! He quickly pushed his chair back and stood up. Cho-i set down the empty champagne glass and said.

“I came here to do this today, so I’ll be going now.”

“What is this all of a sudden!”

“What do you mean ‘what’? I’m just paying you back for introducing me to Hyeonchan An.”

“What did you say?”

Hanyeong raised her voice as if dumbfounded. Cho-i smiled and tilted her head.

“So what? Want to hit me? Then I’ll hit you back.”

“…”

Hanyeong couldn’t act rashly. Of course. Cho-i was an S-Rank, and she was a civilian. If she had been a regular hunter, she might have confidently told her to hit her, but her opponent was from Paehyeok. Hanyeong trembled and glared at her. At the sudden change in atmosphere, people couldn’t even speak, observing the situation. Some thought, ‘If I had known it would be this kind of atmosphere, I never would have come out.’

“I don’t know what you got for introducing me to Hyeonchan An, but now that I’ve paid you back, let’s go our separate ways.”

Cho-i smiled brighter than ever and waved her hand.

“Oh, and you.”

Cho-i pointed at Hanna Joo.

“It doesn’t matter what you think of me, but let’s get one thing straight.”

Cho-i poked Hanna Joo’s forehead with her index finger. Hanna Joo scowled, annoyed, but that was none of her business.

“There has never been a single time in my life when having a man involved was good. Not with Hyeonchan An, and not with Taehyeok Sa.”

“What, what are you saying?”

“There’s only one thing I want to say.”

Cho-i smiled brightly and knocked over an empty champagne glass. Clink, the glass rolled across the table.

“Just calm down. I’d forgotten about you, so don’t hang around in front of me again. It’s none of my business whether you live your life badmouthing me or not.”

She said that and turned around. Just then, the person who was supposed to pick her up at the entrance stood there in a suit. Cho-i smiled brightly and looked at the person. The black suit fit perfectly, and the stiff shirt and neat cuffs made her image even more composed.

“Let’s go, Unnie.”

The person who came to pick up Cho-i, Yeonhan Kim, smiled, glanced at the table, and then offered her arm as if to escort Cho-i. Cho-i took her arm and walked briskly.

“How was it?”

“It was a waste of time.”

“I thought so too, didn’t I? But is it okay for me to come?”

“How could Taehyeok Sa, Dongju Kim, or Gihyeon Park be of any help? You’re more of a Scythe, Unnie.”

“I agree with that.”

They both smiled brightly and got into the hotel’s elevator. Just then, a text message arrived with a buzz.

[You said you needed it once.]

It was Taehyeok Sa. Cho-i found the timing of the message amusing and replied by lowering her hand.

[I don’t need it.]

She put her smartphone back in her pocket and linked arms with Yeonhan Kim. Yeonhan Kim looked at her as if asking what was wrong, but Cho-i Hyeon shook her head as if it was nothing and got out of the elevator.

***

The sea breeze blew. The man, standing in the salty wind, lit the cigarette he was holding. The wind blew, and the lighter flame wouldn’t catch properly, so after several clicks and attempts, the cigarette tip finally lit. The man inhaled, taking a drag from the cigarette. His long hair fluttered in the wind.

“When will you enter?”

“Not yet. The items the broker was supposed to get haven’t arrived.”

“Could it explode soon?”

“Probably.”

“What do we do if that explodes?”

“What do we do? We have to flee to our country. But if that explodes, Big Brother won’t stand idly by. That’s the highest-grade dungeon in Korea.”

“Indeed, that’s true.”

A few words in Chinese were exchanged and then abruptly stopped. Puff, only the cigarette smoke the man exhaled scattered and disappeared into the sea breeze.

“By the way, wasn’t the broker supposed to get something else?”

“Another S-Rank hunter.”

“You can’t just ‘get’ an S-Rank hunter.”

“But they said they found one.”

“They found one?”

“Yes, as a tank.”

“That’s a relief, at least. Weren’t you worried about not having a decent tank?”

“That’s right. But they won’t tell me who it is.”

“It’s not someone from the mafia or a gang, is it?”

“He’s not stupid, so he would have avoided that side. It’s been ages since we had a feud with them, so why would he get someone from there?”

“Then why won’t they tell you?”

“How should I know? It could be a famous person. Anyway, they said they’d come on schedule, so we’ll have to trust them.”

“What if they don’t come?”

“If they don’t come…”

The man ran a hand through his hair and smiled faintly.

“We both die.”

***

Cho-i Hyeon yawned lazily. Having been only going to low-level dungeons in the country lately, she was starting to get bored. Lying on the sofa in Taehyeok Sa’s Office, Cho-i Hyeon wiggled her feet, then lifted her head and spoke.

“I’m going on vacation.”

“Vacation?”

Taehyeok Sa, who had been looking at documents at his desk, raised his head. Cho-i nodded, jumped up from his seat, and stretched widely.

“I’ve worked a long time, haven’t I? Give me a vacation.”

“You haven’t even worked a year, and you want a vacation?”

“Ah, things are going well even without me these days. What guild makes an S-Rank work this hard in the first place?”

“Well, that’s true. But it was your idea.”

Cho-i Hyeon was still entering as many dungeons as possible to find the same hidden dungeon. The problem, of course, was that there wasn’t even a hint of a hidden dungeon.

“Even so.”

“A vacation isn’t difficult. How long?”

“Hmm, about a month?”

“That long?”

“To get some proper rest.”

“…You’re not going to cause trouble somewhere, are you?”

Cho-i, hiding his flustered feelings, put his hands in his pockets. He stood casually and tilted his head.

“Ah, do you think I’m always causing trouble?”

“Who was it that went wild alone in a dungeon recently and injured their teammate?”

“Hmm. Me?”

“Who rushed out alone, caught the boss monster, and left their teammate behind?”

“Hmm, the Entity, also me?”

“Then how can I trust you?”

“Surely I wouldn’t cause such trouble on vacation?”

“It’s natural to be more anxious when you’re somewhere I can’t see you.”

Well, that’s true. Taehyeok Sa acted as if he had separation anxiety, and Cho-i Hyeon was quite annoyed with him. In fact, this vacation was to keep a promise he had made with his younger sibling, Hyori Hyeon, which meant he had to enter an S-Rank dungeon. Could he avoid causing trouble inside? When Cho-i thought about it himself, the answer was no, but he couldn’t tell him the truth.

“Just trust me a little.”

That was all he could say. Of course, Cho-i didn’t even trust himself.

“Then I’ll take that as a yes. I’m leaving.”

“Go carefully.”

“Nina.”

Cho-i airily got into the elevator and immediately started looking for transportation. So, it was below the Chungcheongnam-do West Sea, right?