Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Amid all this, I wanted to bow down right then and there to Guild Master Kang Mujin for blocking Jeong Seojin, who was about to call me ‘Boss.’ To think there was someone else who’d shut the mouths of people trying to claim themselves as my slaves even without me asking… How reassuring could this be?

“Hahaha, that’s a relief then. Yes, Hunter Kang Mujin is a reliable man. To be honest, that Sword Emperor and other S-Ranks are so full of hot blood that they tend to pour out favors on a whim and expect the other person to be happy about it. I was quite worried.”

“Ah… haha.”

Well now… I understood that perfectly, down to the last detail. Personally, I feel that trait more from Mr. Yoon Juyeong than from Jeong Seojin, though.

“If you ever run into any trouble, call me anytime. Though an old man like me might be uncomfortable for a young hunter like Yoon Seohee in her prime…”

“Ah, no! Not at all! I personally have tremendous respect for Hunter Kim Miju!”

“…Then I’m truly glad and relieved. Well then, if you ever have any difficulties, call me anytime. Within my personal domain, I’ll help you as much as I can.”

Hunter Kim Miju said that, then pulled a very simple-looking business card from her coat pocket and held it out to me. I immediately reached out with both hands and received her card like someone accepting a precious treasure.

Nuri Guild — Guild Master

Seonghwa (Sacred Flame) Kim Miju

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa…!’

Is this what it feels like to get an autograph at an idol fan signing event? Or maybe it’s like receiving a love letter from someone you’ve always liked.

I stared at the business card in my hands with reverent awe, my lips trembling. If I had my way, I’d want to shout to the whole world that I’d received a card from none other than Hunter Kim Miju.

“Your reaction to seeing the rank 1 hunter versus the rank 2 hunter seems way too different.”

“Seojin. Think about the difference in character between you and Hunter Kim Miju.”

“……”

In the midst of that, Jeong Seojin, who’d asked a pointless question and then quietly shut his mouth, was cleanly ignored. Honestly, he knows it himself. How brilliantly Hunter Kim Miju shines in terms of character.

“Hunter Yoon Seohee.”

“Yes, yes!”

“When I say difficulties, I mean even the smallest, most trivial things.”

“Pardon…?”

“Anything at all. I say this out of genuine concern for a good person who has to survive this brutal world.”

Suddenly, Hunter Kim Miju’s wrinkled hand carefully stroked the back of my hand. For a moment, I said nothing, just blankly stared into her red eyes.

Hunter Kim Miju was a person entirely of red, befitting her epithet. Her hair, her eyes, her lips, and even her name were all red.

But the redness she possessed was restrained, without the violence of fire, and held only pure warmth, as if the pain created by blood spilling from her body had been cut away.

And so, Kim Miju quietly gazed at me with eyes full of warmth, stroking my hand with a body temperature just as warm.

“I just hope you’ll remember that in every moment life feels overwhelming, there’s an old woman who worries about you, Miss Yoon Seohee.”

* * *

After I took on Hunter Kim Miju’s equipment adjustment job, the name ‘Equipment Adjuster’ Yoon Seohee began spreading through the public like wildfire.

[Korea’s First S-Rank Production-Type Hunter Appears? Who Is ‘Equipment Adjuster’ Yoon Seohee?]

[Heewon Guild Announces ‘First S-Rank Production-Type Hunter’… What Are the Tutorial Clear Conditions?]

[‘Equipment Adjuster’ Yoon Seohee’s First Commission: Seonghwa Kim Miju’s Equipment Adjustment]

[‘Equipment Adjuster’ Yoon Seohee Refuses All Media Interviews… Claiming Mystique?]

And as always, the media never missed a newly emerged hot topic.

Like hunting dogs that had caught the scent of prey, they persistently bit, tore, chewed, and savored my name, reporting on the Equipment Adjuster Yoon Seohee in a frenzy of competition.

[‘Equipment Adjuster’ Yoon Seohee Refusing All Commissions Since First Job… Suspicion of ‘Price Gouging’]

And among the articles about me, there were naturally malicious reports meant only to draw in views.

With fluffy Blackie in my arms, I skimmed through the various articles about me on my smartphone screen and the reactions to them, then turned the screen off after a short while.

“Why do you bother looking at that? It’s just a bunch of lunatics running wild with jealousy anyway.”

“Well, since it’s about me, I got curious. Of course, just like you said, Jeong Seojin, there are a lot of not-so-good reactions.”

As is the nature of the internet, where plenty of people hide behind anonymity and write whatever they want in the comments, there were quite a few people spewing all kinds of abuse under articles about me.

Starting with people suddenly saying things like, “This is why female hunters are no good,” just because I’m a woman, to comments with a clearly harassing intent that felt incredibly insulting to read, and even comments that suddenly painted me as a money-crazed lunatic and hurled all sorts of nasty curses at me.

“Those kinds of bastards only come to their senses after getting hit by the law a few times. The guild will handle it, so don’t stress yourself out looking at that stuff.”

“Hmm… I suppose so. Even though you’re usually pretty insufferable, Jeong Seojin, you’re not one to say wrong things.”

“Isn’t it a bit much to say that right to my face?”

“If you’re hurt, just let me know. I’m fine with cutting the master-servant relationship right now and living as strangers…”

“Ah— I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you. Boss’s voice is too quiet, I can’t hear it—”

That was such a typical Jeong Seojin response, a true master at only hearing what he wanted to hear.

I looked at him with thoroughly exasperated eyes as he kept repeating the same phrase about not hearing me, then let out a deep sigh and fiddled with the paw pads of Blackie, who was sitting quietly in my arms. Soft and squishy. Soft and squishy… The texture was really nice.

—Kkam-tok!

“Huh?”

I was ignoring Jeong Seojin’s “I can’t hear you” medley while just playing with Blackie’s paws, when suddenly a notification sound went off. I picked up my smartphone, which I had turned off and set on the floor, and checked what had caused the alert.

“Hmm…”

“What’s the matter?”

Korea’s number one S-Rank hunter, Jeong Seojin, who today was loafing around doing nothing by my side instead of busily running dungeons, took an interest in the message I’d received.

I briefly skimmed the content on the screen, then immediately flipped it face-down on the ground.

“It’s nothing. Just an old acquaintance sending a greeting after a long time.”

“Hah, Boss. I think you’re underestimating an S-Rank awakener’s dynamic vision a little too much. I already saw everything.”

“Why are you looking at messages meant for someone else? It’s not like you’re a husband with a jealousy complex.”

“What do you want me to do about seeing it? Anyway, from what I saw, it looked like a pathetic message from someone who wasn’t even that close to you, asking to borrow money just because you’ve exchanged glances a few times in the past.”

“Hah. You really did see everything…”

As expected of an S-Rank hunter. He must have read every single character on the screen in that brief span of less than a few seconds. I made a subtle expression mixed with admiration and embarrassment, then picked up my smartphone from the floor again.

“Well, it’s just as you said. My name has become quite famous in various ways lately. So that happens.”

“Then just block them, right? Or are you actually thinking of lending them money?”

“Of course not. I have no intention of throwing money around carelessly. That wouldn’t be good for me or for others.”

No matter how much people called me a pushover or a kind-hearted fool, I wasn’t stupid enough to readily hand over money to someone who never contacted me normally but now cautiously asked if I could lend them some.

‘Usually, people who ask for things like this are involved in something not so good… If I lend them money carelessly, they might just cause an even bigger mess.’

In fact, there was a friend from my school days who once urgently asked for help, claiming their family had fallen into debt because of loan sharks.

Fortunately, around that time, I had just finished raising all the money for Yujin’s urgent medical treatment and had even managed to save a little bit.

So I was planning to lend that old friend, who desperately begged me to borrow even just 3,000,000 won for a short while, that amount…

‘It was really lucky that another friend texted me back then. They said that friend was constantly borrowing money from others too, because they were going around gambling.’

Even now, thinking about it, it was an absurd and disheartening experience, but in a way, it was also a big help to me. At the very least, it allowed me to engrave the lesson deep in my bones that you should never lend money carelessly, if nothing else.

“Listening to you talk, it seems like you never get angry about things like this.”

“Is there any need to get angry? I just think, there are people like this, and people like that. Of course, I still can’t accept you arbitrarily making me your ‘master.’”

“I know I’m not one to talk, but you sure are stubborn about the weirdest things. Wouldn’t most people be angrier at a guy like this? No contact at all, then shows up now pulling some pathetic stunt.”

“Ahaha… well, the thing is, if I just refuse or ignore this kind of thing, no one actually gets hurt, right? On the other hand, Mr. Jeong Seojin’s unilateral claim of being my ‘master’ is actively attacking my dignity.”

“……”

Jeong Seojin was silent for a moment, his gaze alternating between the smartphone in my hand and my face. Then, instead of continuing to stand silently beside me as I sat on the sofa, he came over and plopped down next to me.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but you, Master… you don’t seem to have any expectations of other people.”

“Huh? Expectations of other people… I’m not sure I know exactly what you mean.”

“Expectations of people, you know. The kind of things you’d normally assume someone would do for you. So I figured that’s why you just let people’s disappointing behavior slide like that.”

Was that really how my actions looked to Jeong Seojin?