Chapter 41
The walls were so old the paint had peeled off.
A lightbulb dangled precariously from the ceiling.
Even now, whenever he closed his eyes, the place came back to him vividly.
He had burned it so thoroughly that it should’ve never been rebuilt again, and yet it still lived and breathed inside his memory.
[Bring out the emotions you’re feeling right now!]
[Feel it with your whole body—what’s tormenting you, and what emotion it stirs inside you!]
The lab director always shouted passionately.
Just from the zeal shining in his eyes, who could have imagined he was such a monstrous human being?
At times, that fiery “passion” and “grand purpose”—those ridiculous excuses—had nearly brainwashed Yeon-ho into becoming their obedient sacrifice.
“Bullshit.”
If that had happened, he would’ve ended up broken, living like a puppet.
But now, Yeon-ho was alive. Free.
Awakened—by endless rage and resentment.
The lab was burned to ashes by the four children who awakened, and everyone connected to it met a miserable end.
…Well, except for the rotten adults who cut their tails and ran when the lab burned.
“Audio’s coming through.”
“Yeah.”
Yeon-ho rolled the candy in his mouth, then crushed it between his teeth.
He rose to his feet with a sharp crack.
I didn’t expect an S-rank to tag along.
S-rank Hunter Park Han-sung had followed them into an A-rank gate.
He’d planned to observe their skills, wait for the right timing, then approach and attempt a scout again.
But with things like this, the plan wouldn’t go smoothly.
“Let’s stick to eavesdropping for now. As long as Park Han-sung is close, approaching them is impossible.”
“Got it.”
Focused intently, she typed furiously on her laptop, jotting down everything happening inside the gate.
Without pausing her fingers or turning her head, she asked Yeon-ho:
“Do you really think we can bring him in?”
Could they really recruit Juhyeok?
No matter how she looked at it, he lived a completely different life than orphans like them.
He did lose his father young, but he grew up under a mother’s warm love.
Judging from his ability, he would be tremendously helpful if he joined.
“Even if we can bring him in, I don’t know if he’s someone we can trust.”
Would he really be dissatisfied enough with life to join an illegal hunter organization?
If he was strong enough to enter A-rank gates, he was making good money. There would be little motivation.
Even if he had been treated poorly in the academy for bad grades—that alone wasn’t enough.
“You think he has a reason strong enough to kill for?”
“Everyone has one. Humans can kill over a single noise.”
“I’m saying he doesn’t seem like the type.”
Doubt.
Illegal hunter groups lived or died on secrecy.
If he were a plant sent to dig up information… nothing would be more dangerous.
Bringing in a newcomer without any known backstory into their small, family-like organization felt like an enormous risk.
Yeon-ho didn’t answer her immediate anxiety.
“We’ll see.”
Juhyeok had quite a few labels attached to him.
F-rank irregular, unprecedented rookie, a talent the world can’t comprehend.
At twenty years old, he was already under a glaring spotlight.
It won’t be long before the insects gather around him.
Knowing how rotten the Korean hunter world was, Yeon-ho was certain.
Sooner or later, Juhyeok would grow sick of people—disillusioned.
And once that straight-laced personality snaps… the shockwave will be massive.
All they needed to do was wait patiently.
Stand by his side, quietly, consistently.
Eventually, a gap would appear to slip into.
Of course, Yeon-ho wasn’t planning to just sit and watch until then.
“Stop talking and focus on writing. We don’t know how this info will be used.”
“Yess~ sir.”
Despite her half-hearted tone, the pages filled quickly.
Only the sound of typing and her cigarette burning down echoed through the room.
When the cigarette reached the filter, Yeon-ho plucked it from her lips and replaced it with a new one.
[F-rank irregular Jung Juhyeok announces he intends to establish his own guild…!]
“…”
News really traveled fast.
How could something said just yesterday already be on Hunter News and spreading everywhere?
I thought it had been just a joke.
He had seriously considered the idea in his mind, but he hadn’t actually said it aloud.
Seeing it on the news left him a little stunned.
“So you are thinking of making a guild?”
Yena showed him the article on her phone before putting it away.
She had rushed to his home early in the morning to uncover the truth behind the rumors.
Since there was no real need to hide, he answered honestly.
“I’m seriously considering it.”
“You have no idea how hard it is to run a guild, do you?”
She raised her fingers one by one as she listed the issues.
“Money, staffing, gate dispatch management… You’re still learning how the field even works. How do you plan to start a guild?”
“I don’t need anything grand.”
Yes, a standard guild required a ton of resources.
But that was only if you wanted a guild with dozens of hunters.
“I’m thinking of making a small, elite one.”
A small guild didn’t require that many people.
The minimum number to register a guild was ten.
The rest of the requirements weren’t too difficult.
Even if they were, as someone who could casually clear an A-rank gate, he was financially comfortable.
“I’ll just hire someone to fill the numbers and register it formally.”
“…That’ll cost tens of billions.”
“Yeah, probably.”
It would easily cost tens of billions of won.
Even a bare-bones guild had to own at least a three-story building and some type of hunter welfare facility to be approved.
He was fully aware of the cost.
“Wow… just wow.”
To a normal person, none of this made sense.
Yena, who didn’t know his circumstances, was completely lost.
“Do you really need a guild that badly…?”
“Yes. I do.”
“….”
His firm answer made her go blank for a moment.
Then her expression stiffened with seriousness.
“Another secret you can’t tell me?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Knew it…”
She let out a long sigh.
As always, the word secret only made her internal anxiety grow.
From her perspective, he was nothing but a walking mystery.
He sometimes disappeared completely without leaving a trace…
Then came back noticeably stronger each time.
Even that alone was unreal.
But now, a twenty-year-old rookie was considering forming his own guild because of another mysterious secret he couldn’t share.
If you were a coworker watching this from the side, of course you’d be worried.
She wanted to say more, but she also didn’t want to look like she was meddling too deeply.
“You always stress me out, Juhyeok.”
“There’s nothing big to worry about. I’m not entering a gate or anything—just forming a guild.”
“That’s more worrying than going into a gate!”
Sometimes society was scarier than a gate.
Watching him walk straight into that society made her anxiety spike.
Her well-meaning nagging continued nonstop.
—Until his phone buzzed.
Vrrrr—
His phone vibrated loudly on the desk.
Judging by the long vibration, Yena guessed it was a call.
“Who is it? Sui?”
“No. Unknown number.”
He considered ignoring it, but since it started with a normal 010 prefix, he answered.
A familiar middle-aged man’s voice sounded.
[Hello? Hunter Juhyeok?]
“Who is this?”
[This is Hunter Park Han-sung.]
The very person responsible for making him trend on today’s news.
He had no idea how the man got his number, but this wasn’t the first time something like this happened, so he didn’t care much.
“Yes, what is this about?”
[It’s about the articles from today.]
“I saw them as well.”
Articles filled with things he hadn’t even said.
Comments speculating everything under the sun, some criticizing him.
But since Juhyeok didn’t care for others’ opinions, he wasn’t angry or hurt.
Han-sung spoke to that blunt calmness:
[You may not believe me, but I wasn’t the one who spread it.]
“You didn’t spread it?”
[No. It hasn’t even been a full day since we returned from the gate, and I’m not close to any reporters.]
Han-sung had even been seen arguing with reporters before.
He had no reason to leak a conversation with a promising rookie he wanted to recruit.
…Though, one reason did come to mind.
Leaking false information to throw off rival guild scouts.
That was the most logical assumption.
But Juhyeok honestly wasn’t upset.
If anything, the news would dampen the interest guilds had in scouting him.
Not the ideal method, but a convenient outcome nonetheless.
“To be honest, it’s hard to believe you, given the circumstances.”
He’d only discussed guild matters with Han-sung.
So if not him, then who?
Logically, it was most likely Park Han-sung.
“But it doesn’t matter. It’s not something I cared deeply about anyway.”
[…Is that so?]
“Yes. I talked about guilds here and there, so the info probably spread naturally.”
He lied to reassure Han-sung.
If he didn’t, the guy would go out of his way to prove his innocence, which would be even more annoying.
So he smoothly lied and ended the call.
He really didn’t seem like the type to do something like that…
After hanging up, Juhyeok’s thoughts grew heavier again.
From what he’d seen, Park Han-sung didn’t look like a man who would casually leak someone’s secret.
He didn’t even like dealing with the media.
If the article spread within a day, someone must have directly tipped off a reporter.
If it really wasn’t Park Han-sung, then…
No clear answer came.
After a moment, Juhyeok realized it was a pointless worry and brushed it aside.
