Chapter 34
"I will do this for pay."
After saying that firmly to the awkwardly smiling Association President, I looked at Baek Eun-sung, who was apparently working for free, as if his time and money were rotting away.
No, seriously, what is he doing there?
Frowning, I tracked the Association Hunter approaching Baek Eun-sung with my eyes, then opened the skill window.
[I hear the daytime chatter and the nighttime whispers too]
"Hello, Hunter Baek Eun-sung."
"Haha, yes. Hello."
"What brings you here..."
"Ah, I came to see Hunter Sung Do-hyun."
"Yes?"
"Where is he right now?"
"Um, no, well, uh... why? Why... did you come looking for him? Did Do-hyun cause some kind of trouble?"
"Do-hyun?"
"Ah, I mean, Hunter Sung Do-hyun, perhaps...?"
"Hmm, it's nothing like that. Hamin has been getting caught up in incidents lately, so I need a proper bodyguard."
"Ah, a bodyguard, yes? So you want Hunter Sung Do-hyun as a bodyguard...?"
At the words of the Association Hunter, who was trying his hardest to sound puzzled, both Baek Eun-sung and I let out a laugh.
Since I'm a freelance Hunter, it makes sense to assign me as a bodyguard, but isn't it a bit much for 'Sung Do-hyun' of all people to protect Baek Eun-sung's nephew, Baek Ha-min?
And since when did he trust me that much?
Scoffing, I calmed the sand with the wind and turned my back to Jeon Ji-yoon, who was approaching.
"Excuse me, Hunter Sung Do-hyun. If it's not too much trouble..."
"It is too much trouble, so please don't ask."
"Ah, yes."
I ignored Jeon Ji-yoon, who was hovering around me with a 'I'm curious' expression plastered on his face.
Actually, even before the Association President told me, perhaps trying to get on my good side, several Hunters had approached to inform me that Baek Eun-sung had arrived. Then they went back, making it blatantly obvious that they found it strange I wasn't chasing after Baek Eun-sung.
No! It's been over half a year since I stopped following Baek Eun-sung around, isn't it time to separate Sung Do-hyun from Baek Eun-sung? How long are they going to tie Baek Eun-sung and Sung Do-hyun together?
Irritation suddenly flared up. As I was aggressively swinging my arms and venting my frustration, Jeon Ji-yoon carefully gauged my mood and cautiously approached.
"Perhaps, do you have time after finishing work today?"
"No."
"It's just that... would it be impossible for you to come see Yo-dam just once?"
'Do Yo-dam?'
I looked back at Jeon Ji-yoon, who was calming the sandstorm.
"Did something happen?"
Occasionally, when I went to the Academy to check on Baek Ha-min's condition, I also met Do Yo-dam. Each time, I checked whether the teachers were picking on Do Yo-dam—could something have happened in the meantime?
"Yo-dam waits for Hunter Sung Do-hyun sometimes—no, often."
Why?
I stared at Do Yo-dam's guardian standing right before me and furrowed my brow as deeply as I could.
"What are you doing that makes Do Yo-dam wait for me?"
When Do Yo-dam first awakened and his rank was revealed, countless Hunters stepped forward to volunteer as his guardian.
At that time, there were many scum who used innocent children as shields, so Jeon Ji-yoon declared that he would take responsibility and protect Do Yo-dam himself. The emotion Do Yo-dam felt at that time was described over a full three pages in the original work...
And yet you're neglecting Do Yo-dam now, you piece of trash. When I glared at him with accusing eyes, Jeon Ji-yoon frantically waved his hands.
"It seems being praised during your last visit stayed with him; he says he wants to show you the results of his practice every chance he gets."
So that was it.
Both Baek Ha-min and Do Yo-dam are remarkable figures in the original work, but before the story began, they were just kids. Even Baek Ha-min calls me every day to brag about how many flowers he bloomed today~, and it seemed Do Yo-dam wanted to share those mundane daily things with me too.
Hmm. It's about time Baek Ha-min starts whining that the curse hurts, so I might as well go check on his face while I'm at it.
After finishing the missing person search, I turned my steps toward the Academy, ignoring Baek Eun-sung who was waving in my direction.
There was no need to exchange words with him. He'd just spout useless things like 'let's live together' again. I sighed and was brushing the sand off my clothes when a lint roller was thrust right in front of my face.
"I believe I said I didn't need one."
"Haha. Please accept it anyway."
This time it was from the other side. I sent an openly hostile glare at Baek Ji-sung's secretary, who was attaching himself to me with a cheeky remark. Where did I even take the wrong step? Should I have just ignored it when Baek Ha-min was being kidnapped?
I have no idea why the Baek family's secretaries are so desperate to bother me.
I glared at Baek Eun-sung's secretary, who was waiting his turn behind Baek Ji-sung's secretary with another lint roller, and let out a loud sigh for them to hear.
"I believe I told you I have nothing to say."
"If there are conditions you want, the Guild Master said he would accommodate them as much as possible—"
"No, I said I don't want to. I've now said 'no' three times, right?"
I smiled back at Baek Ji-sung's secretary, who smiled as if my answer was regrettable but didn't retreat a single step.
They say patience three times spares you from murder, don't they?
So, um, doesn't that mean if you've endured three times, it's okay to kill them from then on? There's a murder law in this world too, so I can't actually kill them... But that doesn't mean I have any reason to keep enduring it either...
I fiddled with my bracelet and looked at Baek Ji-sung's secretary.
"That works out well. There was something I wanted to experiment with anyway."
"Pardon?"
"I clearly said it on the first day, didn't I? If you guys do as you please, I'll do as I please too."
Then, smiling sweetly, I shook my bracelet at Baek Ji-sung's secretary, who only then stepped back.
* * *
"Is Secretary Hyun not back yet?"
—He hasn't returned yet.
Baek Ji-sung stood from his chair with an anxious face and paced the room. Exactly three steps. That was all it took for severe vertigo to strike. It was the side effect of overusing his artifact.
Sighing, he sat back down and picked up a family photo. It was a picture of all three brothers together, taken before his older brother died in an accident.
"Eun-sung, if you just lived quietly, I would have kept quiet too, so why..."
Until now, even though Eun-sung's rank was high, his ranking was low, so there had been no such talk within the guild. But that was no longer the case. As Eun-sung's ranking entered the top 10, whispers were surfacing here and there.
It would have been fine if he had just lived quietly, but lately he was reportedly poking around dungeons, showing interest in Baek Ha-min's education, and there was more than one or two things that were concerning.
The position of Guild Master in the Baekwoo Guild was not hereditary; rather, it was a system where the Hunter with the most outstanding 'house-building ability' in each generation would inherit the position.
It was only because his older brother, who handled wood, died in an accident when Eun-sung was too young—otherwise, the position of Guild Master might have gone to Eun-sung, who handled earth and possessed the exact same ability as the first Guild Master, rather than himself, who handled iron.
'Hunter Baek Eun-sung has fully grown now, shouldn't we pass the Guild Master position to him?'
'As for the next Guild Master, it has to be Hunter Baek Ha-min.'
Such words must never be spoken. The next Guild Master of Baekwoo had to be his son, Kyoung-min. He had worked so hard to make it so. From birth throughout his entire life, up until this very moment, he had endured the humiliation of being compared to his more talented younger brother while protecting his position as Guild Master.
Whether his ability activated unconsciously or not, the framed photo on the wall crumpled wildly. Baek Ji-sung let out a sigh and restored the frame to its original state. Calming his mind by looking at a photo with his real family—not family in name only—his son Kyoung-min and his wife, he read through the report on Eun-sung once again.
The only thing Baek Eun-sung had been doing lately was following Sung Do-hyun around. Was it unfortunate, or was it fortunate? If it had been any other Hunter besides Sung Do-hyun, he would have considered it as him building a faction and sent him off with another "accidental death."
Lost in thought, Secretary Baek approached and asked.
"Shall we dispose of him?"
'No, Sung Do-hyun is too big of a risk.'
Sung Do-hyun was a wild card—no, a bomb that could go off anywhere. The fact that not a single guild took him in despite his incredible abilities spoke for itself.
No one would associate with an eccentric like Sung Do-hyun. Yet that same eccentric not only followed Eun-sung around like a lost puppy but also drove away anyone who approached him on his own. There was no telling what the consequences would be if they provoked him further.
"Lately, he at least looks a bit more normal..."
The Association President even said he'd matured with age. Something had changed, but...
He was debating whether it would be better to win him over or just discard him, when—
The outside grew noisy, and Secretary Hyun, whom he had sent to Sung Do-hyun, along with other guild members, walked in making clanking noises in strange postures. They were all shivering.
"What's wrong?"
Even at Baek Ji-sung's question, they stood in a line without answering. Secretary Hyun opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
"If you come looking one more time."
With those words, Secretary Hyun brought a clenched fist to the side of his temple, shouted "Bang!" and opened his hand along with the sound.
It was a perfect threat—come looking one more time and you're dead. There was no need to ask who it came from.
After a very brief silence, with a grinding sound, the steel rebars in the room crumpled. The frame containing the photo with Baek Eun-sung also fell to the floor and shattered.
Baek Ji-sung laughed viciously as he looked at the ruined frame.
"Sung Do-hyun, so this is how you want to play it..."