Chapter : 43
“I think I already told you. This isn’t something Hunter Park Woo-jun should be concerned about.”
Kang Soo-ho answered just as sharply.
For a moment, Park Woo-jun felt a chill run through him.
The other person was supposedly a non-Awakened, yet facing him felt like confronting an Awakened.
It was as if shadows were creeping up from beneath his feet, ready to constrict him.
“I’m asking why our Saebyeok sticks so close to you.”
Park Woo-jun instinctively took half a step back, but gritted his teeth and spoke again.
Kang Soo-ho furrowed his brows slightly.
‘Annoying.’
Ever since that moment, the way Park Woo-jun kept calling her ‘our Saebyeok’ had been extremely irritating.
The fact that he could never use that word himself only made it worse.
Even though he knew that, as a non-Awakened, he could never beat him, he felt an urge to punch that face.
Suppressing the rising violent impulse, Park Woo-jun ground out his words.
“You think I wouldn’t know?”
“……”
“Kang Moon-kang.”
“……!”
For a moment, Kang Soo-ho’s eyes wavered.
Why was a name he never wanted to hear again appearing here…?
His breath stopped for a moment, but he exhaled shallowly and regained his composure.
“Is the chief of the Association’s public department in the habit of investigating others?”
“There are limits to how thick-skinned one can be. How dare the bloodline of a villain…”
The words that came out of Park Woo-jun’s mouth were so sharp that it was hard to believe he had said them.
“……What did you just say?”
“If you’re planning to deny it, you might as well stop. I’ve already checked everything.”
Kang Soo-ho frowned, unable to comprehend what Park Woo-jun was talking about, and could only glare at him.
“At first, I thought Saebyeok knew everything and approached you on purpose. But the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.”
Dropping formalities, Park Woo-jun closed the distance between them.
Department Head Bae Yeon-su assumed that Saebyeok was strategically keeping Kang Soo-ho in check.
But Park Woo-jun thought differently.
From what he knew, Han Saebyeok wasn’t that type.
She was honest with her emotions.
Suppressing her boiling anger and resentment, letting him live in her home, and giving up the deputy guild master position?
It was absurd.
“So I reconsidered, step by step, from the beginning. And then the answer became clear.”
Park Woo-jun, glaring as if he would devour Kang Soo-ho, grabbed him by the collar.
“Did that bastard order this?”
“……Can you speak in a way that makes sense…?”
“Stop pretending. I’m holding back the urge to tear your limbs apart and feed them to dogs right now.”
“……”
Kang Soo-ho felt suffocated, but couldn’t say a word.
He had no idea what Park Woo-jun was talking about.
One thing was certain: it had something to do with his father, Kang Moon-kang.
He had tried to live while forgetting his father as much as possible. Why was he being mentioned in this conversation now?
“I don’t know what answer you want, but…”
Kang Soo-ho grabbed Park Woo-jun’s hand that held his collar.
Smack.
With force, Park Woo-jun’s hand was knocked away.
Park Woo-jun stared at his hand, wide-eyed in disbelief.
It was true that he hadn’t used full strength since the other was a non-Awakened.
But he hadn’t held it weakly enough to be overpowered by an ordinary person…
“Let’s talk like humans. Don’t try to press a non-Awakened down with the strength of an Awakened.”
As Kang Soo-ho gritted his teeth and spoke to the type of person he despised the most, a beautiful voice pierced the tense moment.
“They’re together?”
Earlier:
“I went to make jewels, but I didn’t get any. I only got something completely different.”
Saebyeok, returning from the dungeon, glanced at a new item in her inventory and chuckled.
She hadn’t gotten what she wanted, but she had obtained something far better.
<Item: Silver Lining (EX)>
Even behind dark clouds, there is silver light. Even when the sky collapses, there is always a way out, and after hardship, there is joy—such is the truth the old watchman realized.
<Passive: Crisis Turnaround>: A crisis is an opportunity if you have the courage to seize it.
<Passive: Fortune Awakening>: Miracles are born. If heaven aids you, what can’t you do?
<Passive: Probability Distortion>: The hand moves faster than the eye. Today feels like a lucky day.
<Passive: Hidden Discovery>: There are no coincidences in the world. Everything is destined.
<Passive: Reversal Fate>: Destiny is inherited. But how it unfolds is up to me.
“In a harsh world, it’s nice to have a little luck.”
Compared to weapons or armor, she was more drawn to this vague luck-based item.
She chose it without hesitation the moment she saw it.
The <Hidden Discovery> passive was particularly appealing.
Every dungeon has missions. Notifications appear upon entering the gate.
But sometimes, by doing something beyond the stated mission, one could complete a ‘Hidden Mission’.
In those cases, the rewards were usually greater than expected.
Most EX-grade items in circulation were obtained this way.
Of course, every hunter wanted to complete a dungeon’s Hidden Mission.
But Hidden Missions weren’t revealed upon entry, and most were too bizarre to deduce.
For example, the Dangun Guild accidentally completed a Hidden Mission in Chungcheong Province.
It was a B-rank dungeon where they had to defeat the Queen Mantis and her army.
But the Hidden Mission was “Find the lost egg.”
Finding an egg in a dungeon where they had to kill Queen Mantis? Incredible.
If it weren’t for the deputy guild master who found the egg and wondered if they could sell it outside the gate, they’d never have known about the Hidden Mission.
“Did I pick an EX too blatantly?”
Saebyeok thought she might have been too mercenary.
But she shook her head and dismissed that thought.
“It’s fine. The old man said I could take whatever I wanted, didn’t he? If it wasn’t EX-grade, he should have said so.”
He had allowed her to experiment with her spear, which fueled his passion as a blacksmith.
‘It seems useful for growth.’
She had seen his passive skill that made his title grow along with him.
<Passive: Late Bloomer (A)>
It takes time to craft something great.
└Effect: The more powerful the action, the greater the foundation for growth.
She didn’t know exactly what ‘greater action’ meant, but assumed that the more challenging the task, the more all skills would grow.
‘He insisted on modifying the spear because it benefits him greatly.’
EX-grade items weren’t handed out lightly.
By that logic, the trade seemed fair.
‘I suspected it when he struck lightning on Bukhansan, but I didn’t think it would really be an Ego Weapon.’
Drawing out the will of an Ego Weapon was difficult. Mistakes could destroy the weapon or cause it to go berserk.
In other words, she had offered the spear knowing it might be destroyed.
“Give a B, get an EX? That’s a good deal.”
Even if the weapon broke and had to be replaced, acquiring an EX for a B was extremely satisfying.
A win-win situation.
She connected it to her hairpin-shaped <Bo-eun Club>, which looked like a diamond chain.
Upon connection, the <Stealthy Camouflage> passive of the <Bo-eun Club> automatically formed a ring to attach the item.
Just as she tapped it to finish, the same voice interrupted.
“Oh? They’re together?”
Kang Soo-ho and Park Woo-jun, standing face to face, caught her eyes.
The sharp tension between them instantly disappeared at Han Saebyeok’s arrival.
“Han Saebyeok, what are you doing at the Association?”
“Ah, I just came to borrow a weapon.”
Saebyeok moved beside them and asked Kang Soo-ho:
“Have you finished guild registration?”
“Not yet.”
He showed her the paperwork. That was the real reason he had visited the Association, despite not wanting to.
“Ah, let’s go submit it quickly. After registration, I need to visit the Association’s weapon storage.”
Since she had given her spear to the old man, she needed something for temporary use.
Although she had <Bo-eun Club> given by Hwang Tae-san, it was truly for emergencies.
“If you tell me what weapon you want, I’ll handle it with you.”
Kang Soo-ho brought up the Association’s rental weapon list on his phone.
Saebyeok chuckled at his serious expression.
“Feels like I’ve really become a secretary.”
“Since I’m a deputy guild master, I have to do this, don’t I?”
“It’s not because you’re deputy guild master, it’s because there’s no staff.”
Saebyeok laughed.
“I’ll choose the weapon in person. Just get me a warehouse access pass.”
“I’ll take care of it right away.”
“No, let’s just go together.”
“Go alone, and Han Saebyeok, you stay and talk with me.”
Park Woo-jun grabbed her wrist, stopping her from going to the reception office with Kang Soo-ho.
