Chapter 53

Chapter 53

I firmly cut off Jeong Seojin’s nonsense and met Yoon Juyeong’s eyes again.

Yoon Juyeong was making a pitiful expression, just like a puppy whose snack had been snatched right from under its nose.

Honestly, looking at him made my heart soften on its own, but even so, I had no intention whatsoever of letting myself be dragged along by his wishes this time.

‘Let’s steel my heart this time, Yoon Seohee.’

Keeping my resolve as firm as possible, I met Yoon Juyeong’s gaze squarely once more and opened my mouth.

“So, make your choice, Mr. Yoon Juyeong. What are you going to do?”

* * *

To put it simply, in the end, Yoon Juyeong chose the ‘master-servant relationship’ option between accompanying me or the master-servant relationship. It was a conclusion I could have fully expected, and at the same time, one that left me feeling helplessly bitter.

‘Personally, I wish he’d given up the master-servant relationship and chosen to come with me instead.’

Of course, since I’d acted knowing full well that the actual likelihood of that was extremely slim, if not nonexistent, I wasn’t regretting it now.

Besides, even a rotten fish has its worth — even while being unilaterally dragged along by the situation I’d created, Yoon Juyeong managed to add his own conditions.

“That fellow seems clever.”

“Whether he’s clever or just good at reading me… either way, he’s an impressive person. He calls me ‘Master, Master’ with his words, but in reality, he’s the one pulling me along.”

“Yes. From what I saw, he was a terribly disloyal fellow. Truly the worst of sycophants… deceiving his liege by whispering only sweet words with that serpent’s tongue…!!”

“No, that’s not it…? If we’re going to talk about ulterior motives, weren’t you the one who had them for me first?”

“…I, I don’t. Ahem. I don’t let ulterior motives take precedence. It’s, it’s fine.”

“That’s really not convincing…”

Wasn’t the problem starting from the fact that he even had ulterior motives in the first place? And this was something Avan himself had directly revealed to me.

I vaguely recalled my first meeting with Avan, then fell silent as I spotted a building through the car’s windshield.

“Master, I believe that’s the place you mentioned.”

“Yeah, I see it.”

Beyond the car’s windshield stood a very stylish building. I stared silently at the towering structure, which had tall trees wrapped around it like a scarf.

‘So that’s the Nuri Guild.’

Although the top guild in the country was, without a doubt, the Heewon Guild, that didn’t mean there were no other famous guilds besides Heewon.

The Nuri Guild, owner of the building I was looking at now, was the guild with the next highest reputation after Heewon, if one had to rank them.

After Avan finished parking, I immediately unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car.

I’d noticed it even while sitting in the seat looking out the window, but there were an unusual number of shrubs and trees around. The trees surrounding the building, the bushes lining the sidewalk, and the garden arranged around them all contributed to that impression.

I glanced at a single violet blooming through the concrete of the sidewalk, then looked at Avan, who was walking toward me after closing the car door.

“Master, I’ve heard this is the second-largest guild in this country…”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“This is just my personal impression, but its scale doesn’t seem all that large. And the location seems a bit remote too.”

As Avan said, the Nuri Guild’s headquarters was built in a very remote place compared to its reputation. I nodded once at his words and explained the reason.

“It’s just the Nuri Guild. The guild master of Nuri Guild has a very nature-friendly disposition.”

“Ah, the guild master of this guild would be—”

“Of course, that’s Kim Miju, the Sacred Flame.”

The last voice wasn’t mine. Startled by the unfamiliar voice suddenly coming from behind me, I turned around.

“Hello.”

Standing there was a young boy with blonde hair, who looked like he might be just entering his early teens. The moment I saw his hair, shining brilliantly like gold thread spun under the sunlight, I recognized who this boy was.

“Dragon King, Hunter Louis… is that right?”

The boy showed a bright smile.

It was the appearance of the Dragon King, Louis — a 38-year-old man with no surname, only the name Louis, who had earned the epithet Dragon King as the king of all dragon-kind.

S-Rank #6, the Dragon King Louis, is a figure who carries an unusually large number of rumors even among S-Rank hunters, who are practically born trailing countless stories.

For example…

Rumors that flat-out deny his human Korean origins, like “Dragon King Louis is a half-dragon, half-human hybrid,” even though his resident registration number is clearly on file.

There are also rumors based on fact, like “Dragon King Louis is actually a thirty-eight-year-old man, but he always walks around looking like a young boy.”

And there are fun but unreliable rumors, like “Dragon King Louis once proposed to Hunter Kim Miju and got rejected because of his age.”

Among them all, there is one rumor widely known to the public — one that may or may not be true, but feels like it could be, and that simultaneously piques people’s interest.

The rumor: “Dragon King Louis’s power still comes from the Sleeping Dragon.”

That being, the Sleeping Dragon — written with the characters for “to sleep” and “dragon” — was the final boss monster of Korea’s first unclaimed dungeon, the “Sleeping Dragon’s Cave,” and at the same time, the world’s first “non-aggressive” monster.

For reference, the meaning of the word “non-aggressive” is exactly what it sounds like. A monster that does “not attack” hunters, or for that matter, humans or any other living creatures.

In other words, the strongest yet safest enemy of mankind, one that bore no hostility toward humans. That was what the Sleeping Dragon was called.

And “Louis” was the first hunter in humanity to make contact with the Sleeping Dragon, and at the same time, the first person in the world to undergo a change in his “title” after that meeting.

“Now that I see you in person, I get it. So someone who could strike out Jeong Seojin’s taste really does exist.”

That man, “Louis” — who originally bore the title of Beast King but gained the name Dragon King after his encounter with the Sleeping Dragon — sat us down on the sofa in the vice-guild master’s office, and the first thing he said was that.

I stared at him blankly, forgetting that I had instant coffee in my mouth — coffee that the Dragon King himself, ranked number six, had personally brewed and handed to me.

“Master, if you’re not careful, the coffee you’re drinking is about to spill.”

“Gah. …I didn’t spill any, did I?”

“No. By a hair’s breadth.”

Thank goodness for that. I carefully checked to make sure no liquid had escaped from the corner of my mouth, then set down the cup I was holding and met Louis’s eyes again.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure why Jeong Seojin’s name is coming up here.”

“Huh? Oh, you didn’t hear it from Jeong Seojin? He and I don’t get along.”

“I didn’t exactly hear that story… from him. Though I did pick up on the vibe.”

Judging by the way he talked about Dragon King Louis, it did seem like they weren’t on good terms. Though honestly, S-Rank hunters tend not to get along with each other anyway, probably because of their sky-high egos.

“Honestly, if you’d seen him in person, you’d know — that kid Jeong Seojin is a race that lives completely by his own rules. Guys with awakening ranks around S-Rank usually have that side to them, but he’s in a league of his own.”

“I had a feeling, yeah.”

Having met several S-Ranks including Jeong Seojin, I could understand what the Dragon King was saying to some extent. As he said, among all the S-Rank hunters, Jeong Seojin was the best at doing whatever he wanted without caring what others thought.

“But I still don’t understand why Jeong Seojin’s story is coming up here. I don’t think you sent me that commission form just to gossip about him with me.”

“Just think of it as small talk to ease the tension before we get to the main topic. Aside from the official business, I was also personally interested in you. …Well, don’t you know it yourself? How eye-catching and uniquely present you are to anyone who knows how to handle information?”

“……”

I answered the Dragon King’s question with silence.

As he said, I was fully aware of how unique I must look to someone who knows how to handle information.

Even setting aside my awakening skill, “Ruler’s Garden,” I was a “C-Rank hunter” who lived under the same roof as the nation’s strongest hunter and a newly awakened S-Rank hunter.

‘But that doesn’t mean I have to admit it out loud.’

Instead of affirming or denying the Dragon King’s question, I remained silent long enough for the second hand to tick thirty times before slowly opening my mouth.

“I came here to ask how Hunter Louis found out about my ability, and how much you know about it.”

“I figured you would. But it’s a bit hard to just tell you with an empty mouth.”

“Likewise, I can’t just accept a commission with an empty mouth. The fact that you sent a commission form means you know about my ability, and if that’s the case, it also means you’re fully aware of how much that ability is worth.”

A smirk.

I deliberately plastered the most ‘unnatural’ smile I could onto my lips. Anyone looking at it would call it a fake smile, a forced laugh painted over a mask.

“You wouldn’t want to get on my bad side, would you?”

“Hmm… I thought you didn’t know your own worth, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Just because you know your own worth doesn’t mean you have to go around shouting it to the world.”

“Fair point. Alright. I don’t need to make a bad impression on the future Equipment Adjuster, so I’ll tell you everything.”