28
Between the long braided black hair that fell to her waist, the briefly visible ear, the two moles behind her earlobe and on her neck, and her uniquely bouncy voice that served as her ID card—no matter how you looked at her, she was undoubtedly his blood-related sister. Baek Woo-jin walked toward Baek A-yeon.
"It's just that this guy's looks are a bit intense. We're not bad people."
"What's wrong with my face?"
"Total bottom-of-the-barrel...?"
The gazes of the hunting guys who had been standing between the sister and her two friends shifted behind the sister's group.
"What?"
"Hey, hey, you were blocking the way."
"Ah, sorry about that."
With a distinctly different tone from how they treated the sister's group, the three hunting guys stepped aside next to the bakery door.
As if that mattered.
"What are you doing."
"......!!"
Baek A-yeon, who had been shrinking back with her friends, whipped around with startled eyes when she heard her only brother's voice from behind.
"O-oppa?"
"Yeah. Your brother who is as high as the sky."
"Aagh!! W-what are you doing?!"
When his large hand suddenly messed up her hair, Baek A-yeon grabbed Baek Woo-jin's hand and snapped in annoyance.
Only after roughly stroking his sister's hair for a while did Baek Woo-jin remove his hand and smirk.
"At home you're like a wild boar. Why are you pretending to be demure outside?"
"What are you talking about..."
Having taken after Madam Jang and being very perceptive, Baek A-yeon realized that her only sibling's rough touch was meant to relieve her tension, and she lowered her head for no reason, poking out her lips from a mix of gratitude and embarrassment.
Like that, the three hunting guys who had been reduced to mere extras the moment Baek Woo-jin appeared finally came to their senses and opened their mouths only after Baek Woo-jin raised his head and looked at them.
"Boyfriend?"
"He's my real brother."
"Ah, so you're that brother. Haha."
The displeased looks directed at Baek Woo-jin, who was clearly an uninvited guest from their perspective, softened considerably, and the corners of Baek Woo-jin's mouth, which had been raised pleasantly because of Baek A-yeon, instantly hardened as he accurately perceived the change in their gazes.
"Neither your sister nor her friends seem interested, so how about you go your own way."
"Ah~ If you put it that way..."
When the most unpleasant-looking guy among the hunting guys, who looked like a gigolo, rolled his eyes and glanced at the sister, Baek A-yeon's fingertips, which had relaxed slightly, were seen flinching.
"O-oppa, just go. Didn't you come to take care of something?"
"I'm done."
"Then hurry up and go. I'm..."
When Baek A-yeon hesitated in her response, the gigolo-looking guy continued.
"Done with your business, you say? Then how about playing with us instead of your sister? As you can see, we're odd-numbered so we can't do team games."
"No, it's okay. We're, no. I have time. Let's go in—euugh?!"
Whether in the past or present, despite being so grumpy at home.
"Date when you get to college."
"Y-you idiot...!!"
As soon as Baek Woo-jin released the cheek he had been pinching and pulling, Baek A-yeon covered her slightly reddened cheek and glared at Baek Woo-jin with eyes full of worry and anxiety.
He knew what his sister was worried about, and that was precisely why he found her so endearing and didn't want to just send away the three standing before him.
"Come home before it gets too late."
"O-oppa?!"
"Let's go."
"Haha!!"
When Baek Woo-jin pulled his sister behind him and stepped forward, the gigolo nodded with a cheerful laugh, seemingly pleased with the situation.
"You heard her?"
"Kkah~! The brother is quite cool."
"Right. Ah, we'll pay for all the expenses, so don't worry and let's go."
The hunting guys naturally moved to either side of Baek Woo-jin as if they were old friends. They had originally tried to put their arms around his shoulders, but the significant height difference made it impossible even if they wanted to.
"Ah, Baek A-yeon."
Baek Woo-jin, who had been walking ahead amicably with the hunting guys, stopped briefly and spoke to Baek A-yeon, who was standing still, stomping her feet anxiously and looking at him.
"Whatever you're thinking won't happen, so don't bother the busy public officials and just hang out with your friends."
"The brother is a real one."
"Right."
She's going to cry at this rate.
Baek Woo-jin waved his hand casually at Baek A-yeon, whose eyes had become moist as if water drops would roll down at the slightest touch, and left the station with the hunting guys.
**
In a secluded alley even within the entertainment district that truly comes alive from late at night.
"Then──"
Thud!!
With a dull sound, one of the guildmates standing beside him rolled across the alley floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
At the completely unexpected scene, the gigolo, Park Do-yoon's, thoughts momentarily stopped.
Crack!!
And in that brief moment when his thoughts stopped, another guildmate flew sideways with a sound like being hit by a blunt weapon and crashed into a tall tower of garbage bags.
"Y──"
Realizing the situation a beat late, Park Do-yoon raised his mana and swung his fist wildly.
"Aaaaaagh!!"
His fist was effortlessly caught by Baek Woo-jin, who had been reinforcing his body since entering the alley.
"Shh."
"K-keugh...!!"
Park Do-yoon, whose fist felt like it would shatter at any moment in Baek Woo-jin's grip, unknowingly fell to his knees on the filthy ground and bit his lip hard.
The moment his fist was caught, he instinctively realized this was not an opponent he could handle.
Slap──!!
And then a slap followed.
"P-please spare me..."
"I don't recall giving you permission to speak."
Slap──!!
After his right cheek, Park Do-yoon, who had his hair grabbed instead of his fist, was slapped on his left cheek until the inside of his mouth burst.
"Famous hunters and guilds don't care about the government's watchful eyes. But funnily enough, even the ones who do dirty deeds behind the scenes are very concerned about their social reputation."
Already half out of his mind, Park Do-yoon just kept nodding his head while on his knees.
"And the really funny thing is that bastards like you who pull thug antics are nobodies, as you can see right now."
"......"
Park Do-yoon's shoulders, which had been nodding like a broken doll, flinched.
Compared to those called geniuses, it was a shabby achievement.
But having ranked up to D-rank in his second year after awakening, he definitely belonged to the talented side among ordinary people.
And yet, a nobody.
"Eyes down. Before I gouge them out."
"......"
Park Do-yoon, who had raised his head unable to control the anger that surged up, saw the ashen energy swirling around Baek Woo-jin's hook-shaped fingers and quickly lowered his head again like a dog before a dog dealer.
**
'That settles my stomach a bit.'
After personally equalizing the three's appearance levels so they wouldn't feel a sense of deprivation, he rummaged through the hunting guys' pockets, took photos of their IDs, and sent them to Heo Sang-min.
He always seemed busy moving around whenever they talked on the phone.
But Heo Sang-min sent information about the guild the three belonged to and their personal details before even a minute had passed after receiving the text.
The guild itself was solid, but as if to prove they were thugs who went around hunting people—
The hunting guy group was a faction with quite a bit of internal discord within the guild.
'But is this the extent of a D-rank hunter?'
Even though it was a surprise attack, the guy with the gigolo face who got slapped until he looked like Hoppang-man was a close-range dealer who had ranked up to D-rank last June and was treated as somewhat of a promising talent within the guild.
The fact that they hadn't been kicked out of the guild despite the discord was probably thanks to being a promising talent──
"Baek A-yeon?"
He had clearly told her not to follow, but as soon as he came out of the alley, he ran into his sister, who was glued to her two friends while gripping her smartphone tightly.
"What is it. Must be a hidden famous restaurant here."
He didn't ask questions like 'Did you see?'
The very fact that she had followed him this far and was waiting right next to the entrance was enough to figure out that she had caught a glimpse of the situation inside.
"Yeah. But it seems like they're not open today."
"You should have looked into it better."
"Exactly."
Siblings inevitably resemble each other.
Even though Baek A-yeon must have had a lot to say, she played along with Baek Woo-jin and answered as if she knew nothing.
"Allowance?"
"Give it."
"Please give it."
"Caaack~ Spit!!"
At Baek A-yeon's thuggish behavior that flowed as naturally as water, Baek Woo-jin chuckled and messed up her hair again, which he had barely managed to tidy.
"E-excuse me!"
"......?"
Baek Woo-jin, who had been teasing Baek A-yeon by messing up her hair while she flailed her hands telling him to stop, and Baek A-yeon, who was on the receiving end, both turned their gazes almost simultaneously to the bob-haired friend standing like a wallpaper.
"W-we're going to w-watch a movie, w-would you like to c-come with us?"
"Huh?"
'......?'
He was a bit flustered by the friend's sudden suggestion, but what confused Baek Woo-jin even more was Baek A-yeon's action of smacking away the hand on her head as if it were a lie and squeezing between him and her friend, when she had been struggling to shake off his hand until just now.
"We're hanging out by ourselves, why would we include this guy?"
"That's because..."
"He's reliable, isn't he?"
"T-that's right! And also as a way to say thank you...?"
"Bullshit."
When Baek A-yeon scowled and growled at her best friends, Baek Woo-jin, who had been watching from behind, gently stroked his sister's head and smiled.
"I think I'd just make things gloomy if I joined."
"N-not at all!"
"That's right. And so what if it gets gloomy?"
"You guys..."
He had planned to just tease her a bit since his sister's reaction was entertaining and then bow out at an appropriate time, but since there was no guarantee something like what happened earlier wouldn't occur again, Baek Woo-jin changed his mind.
"Then I'll intrude cluelessly for a bit."
Clap clap clap!!
When he accepted the proposal with a smile, Baek A-yeon's two best friends silently squealed and clapped their hands together.
"Hey!"
In contrast to her best friends, Baek A-yeon, who was thoroughly annoyed, glared at Baek Woo-jin.
"Saying 'hey' to your brother who is as high as the sky. How impudent, little sister."
"What are you talking about!"
"Whatev~"
"Hey!!"
"If you don't like it, you go home."
"You go home, oppa!"
Playfully tugging the cheek of Baek A-yeon, who kept huffing in annoyance about something, he pushed her toward her friends.
"You guys go ahead. I have somewhere to contact for a bit."
"Don't come, mmmph!!"
"We'll go ahead first."
"Take your time~"
Watching with satisfaction the back of his sister being dragged away by her best friends, Baek Woo-jin took out his smartphone and contacted Geum Na-hee.
-Mr. Woo-jin?
"Yes, it's me."
-Did something happen?
'How did she know?'
Baek Woo-jin briefly took the phone away from his ear, looked at the screen displaying Geum Na-hee's name, and then put it back to his ear.
"Do you have any spare mana potions?"
-Of course I do. How much do you need?
"The more the better. Of course, I'm looking to purchase as a customer this time, not as a free service, so please prepare a lot."
-Ahem, if you put it that way, I won't hold back, you know? But why mana potions all of a sudden? Are you going into a dungeon or something?
Baek Woo-jin waved his hand at his sister, who was being dragged away by her friends but still looked back and glared at him, then erased his smile and turned to look at the alley.
"It's nothing like that, but I want to test out a new skill I acquired tonight."