Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Incomprehensibly, even after hearing all of that, the woman harbored no ill will, just as she herself had said. Her silver eyes, catching the sunlight, were merely brilliant. There was no fear, no contempt, not even the distance born of misunderstanding.

And so, he recalled the past.

‘You were once human, but after devouring what you didn’t deserve, you became a monster. I pity you, so I’ll leave you with a single word of comfort.’

Was that deceitful comfort, whispered to a foolish young man who had mistaken a poisoned chalice for the Holy Grail not so long ago, meant precisely for this moment? Unaware that the teacup in his grip was cracking, he superimposed a phantom of the past over Yoon Seohee’s face.

‘In this world, as long as one wears the guise of a human, even if the contents within are a monster, there are those who will love them as they deserve.’

A face so hardened it was utterly unbelievable as a Transcendent’s wore a smile close to mockery.

‘Of course, those you will face won’t be like that.’

“Um, Mr. Adam… were you really that uncomfortable…?”

Seemingly quite flustered by his sudden silence, a voice with a strangely raised pitch shattered the thin illusion and pulled reality back into focus.

Thanks to that, Adam Rogers blinked slowly a couple of times before gazing at the scenery of reality once more. Unlike the phantom past where everything in sight was shattered and broken, the real scenery was filled with nothing but warmth and softness.

For example, the sunlight streaming through the window, the white teacup held in his hand, and the weak, soft woman staring at him with concern right in front of him.

Yoon Seohee seemed quite worried by his lack of any reaction, and after hesitating for a long while, she reached out a hand toward him. The man watched her actions with a half-contemplative gaze. Her small hand, wavering several times between hesitation and resolve, carefully touched the back of his hand, as if handling something that might break if handled wrong.

“Um, Mr. Adam. I’m truly sorr—”

“It’s fine.”

He reflexively grabbed the thin hand that was about to pull away from the back of his hand. Yoon Seohee, seemingly quite startled by his sudden grip on her hand, stared at him with wide eyes.

“It’s not that I was offended… I just had something to think about, so I unintentionally delayed my answer.”

“Ah… I, I see.”

“If you’ve got something to say, why not let go of her hand first?”

A hand that suddenly appeared abruptly separated his hand from Yoon Seohee’s. For a moment, he felt a bizarre sense of loss, as if he had lost something incredibly precious and dear. Adam Rogers stared at Jeong Seojin, thinking of the other’s body heat that had left his hand. Jeong Seojin, holding the woman’s hand he had taken from him, was staring back at him with eyes full of obvious displeasure.

“Mr. Jeong Seojin, we were in the middle of a conversation.”

“You don’t need to hold hands to have a conversation.”

“…Hmm. Well… wasn’t that just a reflex?”

“An S+-Rank guy can’t control even that much? No way.”

Jeong Seojin’s golden-tinged black eyes turned toward him with clear wariness.

“S+-Rank Knight. Don’t covet my… Yoon Seohee.”

“Mr. Jeong Seojin, please refrain from saying things that could be misunderstood if someone hears them……”

‘Misunderstood.’ Adam Rogers withdrew the hand he had extended, thinking of the small, soft thing that had lingered in his grasp for just a brief moment. Then, he put his usual smile back on his still-stiff face.

“To answer the question you originally asked me, I’ll say it’s because the other party is Hunter Yoon Seohee.”

“Huh? Ah.”

“And……”

Adam moved the shattered pieces of the teacup, which had broken under his grip strength, onto the tray and slowly rose to his feet. Yoon Seohee’s silver gaze naturally followed his movements.

“It might not be a misunderstanding.”

“Huh?”

“For now, I believe I’ve said all I need to. Including matters of compensation, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask anytime. Of course, even if not from me, the government side will explain the compensation details thoroughly.”

Clink. The broken teacup pieces collided with a dull sound. He lifted the tray with all the shattered pieces on it and smiled gently toward the silver gaze still fixed on him.

“Then, I’ll see you another time, Seohee.”

He cast one last glance at his kin, who was still guarding Yoon Seohee’s side, then left the room. Jeong Seojin stared at him with a wariness that was incomparable to before. He found that wariness quite pleasant. After all, as long as his kin was wary of him, that meant there was at least a sliver of possibility left for him.

For the three days following the day the kidnapping incident broke out, I spent all my time inside the mansion, except for the times I stepped out to the estate’s outskirts to hear about compensation, all under Jeong Seojin’s thorough protection.

Honestly, I wanted to go outside and look around a bit, but since the kidnapping had just happened, I had no choice but to keep a low profile.

“Actually, aside from the basic direction, I’ve left all the compensation talk to the guild…”

I’d only heard bits and pieces, but it seemed like all sorts of discussions had gone on regarding apologies and compensation. Hunter Joo Minjeong, who was acting as the representative of Heewon Guild, always looked exhausted whenever she came to see me.

“It can’t be helped. Our guild master is seriously pissed off, too. They begged and clung to us, saying please, please send her, so we reluctantly let her go, and this is what happens.”

Honestly, if Adam Rogers hadn’t offered to provide 24/7 exclusive protection, the guild master would definitely have ordered Yoon Seohee to return to Korea immediately. Hunter Joo Minjeong muttered with a pale face, worn out from the long negotiations. When I’d contacted her two days ago, her voice had sounded no different from usual, so I thought everything was fine, but it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.

“Will you be able to participate in this dungeon raid? If you’re too tired or struggling…”

“She’s just exaggerating. If she were the type to collapse from something this minor, she’d have to give up her S-Rank.”

“Hey, Jeong Seojin. Whose fault is it that I’m swamped with all this work?!”

Jeong Seojin, who had come out a step later than me while preparing for the dungeon raid, was already standing behind me. I lifted my head slightly to look at him. He looked exactly the same as usual, except for the black coat he was wearing, which I assumed was dungeon raid gear.

‘Right, just like usual, huh?’

Seeing him looking not a single bit different… honestly, it made me a little furious. I pursed my trembling lips tightly and jerked my head away. I couldn’t help it — just looking at Jeong Seojin’s face brought back yesterday’s conversation.

‘No, then what about what you said back then? You clearly—’

‘Ah, that was a lie.’

‘What?’

‘It was a lie.’

Ugh, just thinking about it again makes me furious. I gritted my teeth and deliberately turned my head away from Jeong Seojin to meet Hunter Joo Minjeong’s eyes.

“How are Hunter Joo Minju and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong doing now? I heard Hunter Joo Minju’s treatment went well and moving around isn’t a problem anymore, but I haven’t heard anything else.”

“Huh? Ah… well, Joo Minju is bouncing around as usual. She’s fine, except she’s throwing a fit about wanting to go on this raid too. Lee Yoomyeong is… quiet, as always. He’s probably reading some book about curses or shamanism again, right?”

Hunter Joo Minjeong seemed a bit flustered, as if she’d noticed something strange between me and Jeong Seojin, but thankfully, instead of asking about what was going on between us, she chose to answer my question. Thanks to that, I was able to hear news I’d missed while staying inside Adam Rogers’ mansion for safety reasons.

‘So Hunter Joo Minjeong and Hunter Lee Yoomyeong have both recovered from their injuries, thankfully.’

I’d been worried about Hunter Lee Yoomyeong too, but since I’d seen Hunter Joo Minjeong get seriously injured right in front of me, I’d been especially concerned… It was a real relief. I let out a sigh of relief and met eyes with a figure approaching from afar.

“Oh dear… I’m sorry for making you wait so long. I suppose thinking about entering Britten Dungeon again after so long gave me quite a lot to prepare.”

“Mm, it’s fine. More importantly, the people behind you…”

I looked at the hunters standing behind Adam Rogers. They were probably the hunter personnel the British side had recruited for this Britten Dungeon raid.

“Ah, these are the people who will be joining us for this Britten Dungeon raid. I’d like to introduce them all in order, but… as you can see, there are quite a few, so I’ll keep it brief. James Hunter.”

“Yes. Greetings, Hunter Yoon Seohee.”

“Ah, yes.”

The man Adam Rogers called “James Hunter” was wearing a British military uniform. With the disciplined stride of a soldier, he approached me and immediately began stating his affiliation.

Naturally, I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying. I had no idea what battalions the British military had or how their chain of command worked.

After finishing his lengthy self-introduction, James Hunter immediately began introducing the names of those standing with equally disciplined postures, one by one. This time, unlike before, he only gave their names and moved on, so it didn’t take long.

I tried my best to remember the names he told me. Of course, since the number of hunters he pointed to easily exceeded ten, remembering them all was a lost cause.