Chapter 40
"Did you eat before coming to work?"
"Thanks to you, I'm eating well."
Eating well, my ass. He looks like someone who hasn't even had watery porridge.
I looked Baek Eunseong up and down as he came out in casual clothes instead of his usual attire. Maybe it was because of the cardigan he was wearing, but he gave off a slightly different impression from what came to mind when you heard 'Baek Eunseong.' How should I put it... a bit softer? Anyway, he didn't have that purely insufferable look like before.
"Anyway. Is it okay for you to be here?"
At my question, Baek Eunseong's already large eyes went round as he stared at me. His pale face was full of embarrassment.
"Your brother told me to stay away from you."
"I didn't know my brother would go that far with Hunter Seong Dohyun."
"Whatever. I'm asking if it's okay for you to be here."
At my flippant words, he bit his lip. Baek Eunseong, who had been stiffening his mouth for a moment, slowly nodded.
"The promise with Hunter Seong Dohyun comes first, and also..."
A promise? I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows at Baek Eunseong, who was trailing off.
"Because I can't see you, it feels suffocating."
Is this guy... maybe a crazy bastard?
If a stalker who had been chasing him relentlessly started disappearing, he should be dancing for joy, feeling refreshed. Did he lose his mind after hanging around me for a few days?
Many questions arose in my mind, but I forced myself to brush them off and changed the subject.
"Anyway, a promise? What promise?"
At my question, Baek Eunseong let out a laugh with a somewhat deflated expression and held out his hand.
"The Xiaohu earthworm and the desert fox. I said I'd sell them for you."
"Ah, right!"
I reached out to take the bundle of money he was offering while quickly calling Asil. And while Asil was bundling it up in the air, I frowned and asked Baek Eunseong.
"Come to think of it, couldn't you just do a bank transfer?"
"You're right."
...What the hell does this guy actually do? I stared at him in disbelief, but he only stared back at me with a steadfast gaze.
"And."
Baek Eunseong bit his lip, then covered his mouth with one hand, hesitated, and spoke cautiously.
"The reason I didn't contact you... no, couldn't contact you, wasn't because of my brother. It was because I was in a dungeon."
"Yeah. Seems like it."
Thanks to Baek Jiseong promoting the dungeon attack he was doing with his brother exhaustively for the past few days, I had heard the news without needing to ask.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"Um. Want to live together?"
"Did you get permission from your brother?"
Baek Eunseong, who had been smiling silently, quietly curled his lips.
"Don't brush it off as a joke. Please think about it seriously. And I do have something to say..."
"Here?"
I asked while looking around the fully exposed street. He gestured toward a parked car. I didn't know where he wanted to go, but I raised my hand and shook my bracelet for now.
[Command of the Heavens]
"If we're moving, let's take them too."
At my meaningful words, Baek Eunseong raised his eyebrows while standing still, then seemed to understand and summoned his golem. I watched for a moment as Baek Eunseong surveyed the surroundings with a slightly confused expression, then put strength into my voice and shouted.
[Come out.]
At those words, the Baekwoo Guild members hiding in every corner of the alley revealed themselves one by one. Baek Eunseong's face rotted away, but I looked at the group walking toward us with a somewhat satisfied air. This was all thanks to Baek Jiseong, who sent a guild member once a day.
I wasn't sure how high the proficiency of 'Command of the Heavens' had gotten, but the guys who used to walk like zombies at first were now walking with the discipline of well-trained soldiers.
"My brother sent you, didn't he."
The Baekwoo Guild members who had been dragged along by Baek Eunseong's murmur lowered their heads and averted their gazes.
But Baek Eunseong's face as he watched them slowly turned cold. Sensing something strange, I turned around and examined the guild members. Each of them had something attached to their cloaks.
I peeled one off and checked its identity, then let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
[Screen of the Fugitive: Resistance—Earth]
It wasn't an artifact to block my attacks, but one meant to block Baek Eunseong's. Talk about making a fuss over a family feud. I crushed the artifact with my hand and turned back to look at the guild members.
Well, what should we do today. I was pondering while cracking my neck loudly when all the guild members were staring at me with resolute faces.
"Seriously, do you guys think you're something special?"
At best, they were just lackeys who followed behind others and snitched to Baek Jiseong.
"Tch..."
There was nothing to ponder. I pushed past Baek Eunseong, who was trying to grab me, and used my skill.
[Now, follow me.]
* * *
Title: [Anonymous] Guys. Is the Baekwoo Guild having some kind of event today?
Hunters wearing white cloaks are Baekwoo Guild members, right?
Comments (99+)
―Why?
└[Writer]: I don't know. Baekwoo Guild members are walking around shouting something, but I can't hear what they're saying very well.
└You saw them too?
―I heard them earlier too, but I thought they were attacked by magic beasts and avoided them. They were shouting something... weird.
└What? Tell me. I'm curious because I'm from the provinces.
└[Writer]: Wait, I'll take a video and upload it
└Ooh waiting
└Waiting waiting
―[Writer]: (Video)
└What are they saying?
└Something about Baek Jiseong?
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhat are they saying. Baek Jiseong is Baek Eunseong's stalker?
└That doesn't make sense.
└Right? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
―Baek Eunseong's stalker is someone else
└Seong-eobeob? (Your Honor, I didn't write this comment. This is a trace of my house cat tap-dancing in the air.)
└But Seong-eobeob hasn't been acting up lately, right?
└Maybe he got hit with a penalty fine from Baek Jiseong and is staying quiet?
―I'm a Baek Eunseong fanite, but I haven't seen Seong Dohyun lately?
└Yeah, where did Seong-eobeob go?
Title: [Anonymous] Guys, it seems true that Seong-eobeob saved a baby ggi;;; He's walking around with Baek Eunseong?
Baek Eunseong and Seong-eobeob grocery shopping together;;;
Comments (99+)
―What bullshit
―ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWow I acknowledge this as the greatest aggro of this era
―ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhy is Baek Eunseong grocery shopping with Seong-eobeobㅋㅋㅋㅋ
―How old are you? Do some more singkeubig and come back
―ㅡㅡAggro feeding prohibitedㅡㅡ
―[Writer]: Ah, as soon as something happens you call it aggroㅡㅡ
└——The psychiatric ward for you is not far away——
└[Writer]: It's real though?
―Hey, it's not aggro;
└[Writer]: Did you see it too?
└Yeah
└What?
└What did you say?
└Huh?
└?
―ㅡㅡㅡAggro comments prohibitedㅡㅡㅡ
―22222
.
.
.
▧▧Aggro blocking complete▧▧
―[Writer]: I'm telling you it's real
―[Writer]: I tried to take a picture but Seong-eobeob snatched my phone
└What's the situation? Tell us
└Yeah, explain a bit
―[Writer]: I don't know, I came to buy dinner ingredients and Seong-eobeob and Baek Eunseong appeared next to me. What more explanation do you need?
―I'll explain instead;
└Just like the writer said, Seong Dohyun and Baek Eunseong came to the mart together, and they were talking so small and fast that I couldn't understand what they were saying, but seeing them push carts around together, it's definitely grocery shopping. They're not putting things in separately but putting them in together. The way Baek Eunseong neatly puts things in when Seong Dohyun says something shows this isn't the skill of someone who's only done this once or twice.
└And?
└Where did the comment writer go?
└Seong-eobeob is walking around with Baek Eunseong? Do you guys believe that?
―[Writer]: I'm telling you it's real
―[Writer]: Why would I lie?
└There's so much aggro about Baek Eunseong that it's hard to believe
└Believe this. The cardigan looks really good on Baek Eunseong
└Fuck, Baek Eunseong finally took off that shell?
└He took off the cloak??
└A cardigan? Fuck, my eyes are inserting themselves.
└Inserting!!!
└Please, just one photo...
―Every time I take out my phone, Seong-eobeob glares so intensely that I can't take a picture
└Comment writer, what are they doing right now ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ?
└They're fighting over how many Vienna sausages to buy
└What?
* * *
"Just try not being able to eat all of that."
"Hunter Seong Dohyun can't even eat all of this?"
I looked at the bag stuffed full of sausages with sickened eyes. Was bringing Baek Eunseong to my house really a good choice?
I briefly considered pretending to be crazy and just leaving him here and running, but it was obvious I'd be caught and it would only make things bigger, so I abandoned the idea. Just from the commotion people made when we simply stopped by the mart for groceries, it was clear that attention would gather wherever we went.
'It's better to just talk at home.'
I stopped mid-sigh and suddenly looked up. Baek Eunseong was also staring at the air. A strange energy was undulating throughout this area, enveloping the surroundings.
I stared at the air that felt somehow off, then reached out to grab a certain flow that was passing by my side. But because Baek Eunseong pulled me by the waist, it ended in failure.
"Hey!"
"Do you even know what that is before reaching out with your hand first!"
"What? It's my choice! I could have caught it, but I missed it because of you!"
We were facing each other fiercely with glaring eyes when, with a sudden roar, the ground shook. At that moment, I felt an indescribable ominous premonition.
Shaking off Baek Eunseong's hand, I ran straight toward my house.
"Ha... haha..."
"What is this..."
At the sight before my eyes, even though I didn't want to laugh, deflated chuckles escaped me. I stared at the empty lot where my house used to be with hollow eyes, then burst into laughter like I had lost my mind.
As I was laughing for a long time with my head tilted back, almost like sobbing, I saw Jeon Jiyoon flying in from the distance.
"Hunter Seong Dohyun? Hunter Baek Eunseong! Are you alright?"
Jeon Jiyoon, who had informed me that a dungeon break had occurred nearby, looked at my sunken house... no, the wreckage that used to be my house, with a pitying expression.
"Are... you alright?"
Not having a place to stay, well, that was fine. For times like this, even though I didn't have personal insurance, I had made sure to get solid house insurance.
Instead of answering, I picked up my phone and checked the time. If I hadn't gone grocery shopping with Baek Eunseong, it would have been the time I was inside my house resting.
There was a one-in-a-million chance, but I could have been crushed to death underneath right now.
I brushed off the goosebumps rising on my skin and rummaged through the wreckage to salvage what I could. Then, a steel reinforcement bar that particularly caught my eye made me absentmindedly pick it up. The rebar was still humming and emitting a bizarre flow.
Wow, fuck.
"I've prepared a temporary accommodation, so would you like to move there?"
"No."
I flatly rejected Jeon Jiyoon's proposal, then gripping the rebar tightly, swung it threateningly and whipped around to face Baek Eunseong.
"I'm going to the Baekwoo Guild."
Baek Jiseong, you bastard. How dare you destroy my house?