Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Many Hands Make Light Work (1)
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“Get the hell out of here right now?!”
Park Chunduk's bellow reverberated through the academy's interior.
It startled the trainees in the middle of their sessions, making them freeze and turn toward the entrance.
But the man in the suit standing outside didn't seem remotely threatened. He didn't budge an inch.
The suited man, attorney Choi Jinseung, spoke in a flat tone.
“It'll only take a moment. Kim Gunja is inside, right?”
“Even if he is, he doesn't want to see you, so scram!”
“So he is here. Excuse me, then.”
“Where do you think you're—!”
Park Chunduk tried to block him, but Choi Jinseung smoothly slipped past through the gap beside him.
As naturally as if Park Chunduk hadn't even reacted.
That movement was anything but ordinary.
...An Awakener?!
Park Chunduk realized his mistake and spun to block him again.
Bam!
A snow-white leg shot out, blocking Choi Jinseung just as he crossed the threshold.
“Hey, mister, what's your deal? The boss said no, so why are you barging in?”
It was Sin Yeji.
Choi Jinseung let out a faint sigh.
He knew full well his clumsy tricks wouldn't work on her.
He pulled a business card from his pocket and restated his purpose once more.
“I'm here to see Kim Gunja. A third party is blocking me, so I had no choice but...”
“No choice my ass! Don't spout nonsense with that hole in your face!”
“...Hero Guild?”
Unlike Park Chunduk, who cut in excitedly, Sin Yeji's momentum softened as she took the card.
Sin Yeji had no idea what Kim Gunja and his friends had gone through at Kang Inhyeok's hands.
“It's regarding a contract. May I come in?”
Sin Yeji tilted her head.
The nation's top guild had come courting, so why was her uncle blocking them?
It wasn't like they were doing anything bad to the monster uncle, and since she remembered Baek Jincheon saving her, her impression of Hero Guild wasn't bad at all.
If it weren't for her uncle, she would've signed on the spot.
Sin Yeji slowly lowered her raised leg and spoke.
“Well... this isn't really up to Uncle, is it?”
“No, you're saying that because you don't know what those bastards did to Gunja!”
“Huh...? What did Hero Guild do to the uncle?”
“...!”
Frustrated at not being able to continue, Park Chunduk thumped his own chest.
And as Choi Jinseung's gaze turned icy cold while watching him...
“Bro, you're scaring all the trainees away.”
The man himself appeared.
Kim Gunja glanced at Choi Jinseung without any particular reaction and looked away. A glint flashed in Choi Jinseung's eyes.
“Hey! Do you even see who showed up?! That...!”
Park Chunduk raised his voice at Kim Gunja's arrival but trailed off.
Due to the strong sense of dissonance.
“...Gunja? You're... Kim Gunja, right?”
“...Uncle?”
Sin Yeji felt it too.
Her eyes were full of bewilderment.
Everyone has their own unique aura or vibe, but the uncle's had changed drastically.
To the point where he seemed like a completely different person.
147,258 times.
The number of deaths Kim Gunja had experienced.
No matter the Customizing Room's intervention or his realization after facing Ma Ilcheon.
Having gone through that many deaths was bound to leave its mark.
Even if he himself wasn't fully aware yet.
Seeing the two at a loss for words, Kim Gunja tilted his head.
“Why'd you stop talking midway? You too, Yeji. What are you two scheming?”
“No. You're... really Gunja, right?”
“Who else would I be? You're both acting weird today.”
You're the weird one!
...is what they would've said.
Normally.
As Park Chunduk struggled to adjust to the changed Kim Gunja...
Kim Gunja's gaze turned to Choi Jinseung.
“Anyway, seems like a guest here for me, so I should handle it.”
Choi Jinseung eyed him, wondering if this was physically possible.
In just four months... can a person's entire presence change like this?
He knew people could transform dramatically after dying and coming back.
Even factoring in Awakening.
Still, this didn't make sense.
The Kim Gunja he'd met in the hospital was clearly an ordinary non-Awakener, a weakling who could only grovel under Hero Guild's name.
That's how it was.
Something was off. The current Kim Gunja emanated a solidity akin to top-tier Hunters who'd crossed countless brushes with death.
Absurd.
For a rookie who'd just gotten his Hunter license.
Yet...
Looking into those unshakable eyes, the thought kept creeping in.
Yeah.
Setting aside social standing or personal power, based purely on aura, he resembled White Flame...
...I'm losing it. Not in my right mind.
Blaming the stress from this assignment, Choi Jinseung bowed politely to Kim Gunja.
“Nice to see you again. You might not remember, but I'm from Hero Guild...”
“Nice to meet you. Attorney Choi Jinseung. How could I forget?”
A chill ran down his spine at Kim Gunja's emotionless, matter-of-fact tone.
“I'm truly sorry about last time.”
Choi Jinseung bowed 90 degrees.
A Hero Guild member bowing to a D-rank?
Murmurs grew around them, but Kim Gunja's expression didn't change.
On the contrary,
“Attorney Choi, wouldn't it be better to talk inside than make a scene out here?”
He tactfully pointed out Choi Jinseung's mistake.
Doing this here would only breed needless suspicion about Hero Guild.
“...You're right. Thank you.”
It was indeed his blunder.
With Kim Gunja so changed and so much riding on this deal, he'd grown impatient without realizing.
If the man had gotten angry, he wouldn't feel this tense.
“This way.”
An inscrutable expression.
As Kim Gunja led him, Choi Jinseung realized this job was borderline impossible.
Whew...
Watching the two leave, Park Chunduk and Sin Yeji were equally puzzled.
“Uncle, that's... really the monster uncle, right?”
“Hey, 'that'? Gunja's not an object!”
“No, he's just so different it's suspicious. His speech is so sharp and clipped, like slicing with a knife. Have you ever heard the uncle talk like that?”
“Well... yeah. It's off. Normally, there'd be some emotional outburst—anger or arguing. But treating his enemy like a business partner? Weird...”
Sin Yeji's eyes lit up at the keyword in Park Chunduk's words.
“...Enemy? Come to think of it, earlier you said Hero Guild did something to the uncle...”
“Argh! Anyway, he's a guest, so I should at least make tea. You stop goofing off and get back to training.”
“Uncle! Wait!”
She clung to her uncle but was too polite to chase him into the office.
Hero Guild headquarters, director's office.
“I just don't get it.”
Choi Jinseung stayed silent at the director's mutter.
His own feelings were complicated too.
“He really says those two conditions are all he wants?”
“Yes. He'll follow guild rules for everything else.”
Choi Jinseung had been sent expecting failure, so the positive response surprised him.
But the conditions were wildly unconventional.
The kind that made you think the guy was insane.
“Well, simple's good. What's your take?”
“...Double my current salary, and I'll do it.”
“And if not?”
“I'll take it as an order to leave Hero Guild.”
“Tch...”
Smart guys like this were annoying. They always struck the perfect deal at the perfect time.
But that's why they got things done fast and clean.
The director made his call.
“Congrats on becoming a D-rank Hunter's personal manager. Oh, wait—C-rank now?”
“I'll do my best.”
“...Do you resent me?”
“I've never mixed personal feelings with work.”
“Right. That's you. Good luck.”
“Then...”
Choi Jinseung bowed and left.
A deep furrow formed between the director's brows.
Just wants to torment Choi Jinseung by keeping him close?
Or some other motive?
Couldn't read Kim Gunja at all.
One thing was certain, though.
He's no normal guy.
No normal person would demand this.
Keeping someone you hate by your side.
Massaging his temples, the director stared at the documents Choi Jinseung brought.
Just two short lines.
One was straightforward: assign Choi Jinseung as his dedicated personal manager.
The other:
—Requesting a private meeting with the Guild Master.
The director let out a hollow laugh and muttered lowly.
“...Crazy bastard.”
White Flame, Baek Jincheon.
A man every Hunter acknowledged but no one wanted to meet alone.
Why not?
Simple.
The moment you fell out of his favor, survival wasn't living.
No reason in the world to risk offending him.
Yet this guy wanted to meet him as a contract condition.
No way he was normal.
Then it hit him.
There was a crazy bastard who met Baek Jincheon daily, spent his life with him—not far off.
A chuckle escaped.
“I'm no saint either.”
He muttered, but as he organized reports, a faint smile played on the director's lips.
A smile of pride from serving the man who gripped the world in one hand.
Vrooom—!
“Watch out!”
A heavy whoosh of air accompanied a trainee's sharp cry.
Kim Gunja, mid-call, glanced at the incoming training sword but didn't flinch.
He just kept talking.
Clang!
The sword grazed perilously past his face and slammed into the wall with a deafening crash.
The trainee who'd dropped it came running.
“A-are you okay?! I'm so sorry! My fault for being careless! Are you hurt anywhe—?”
As Kim Gunja gestured that he was fine and wrapped up his call with Pentagram's Monjiro...
“Uncle! Are you insane?!”
“Huh?”
Yeji rushed over and scolded him.
“What are you doing spacing out in the training room?! You almost got hit!”
“Oh, I saw it coming.”
“Don't lie to save face. Then why didn't you move?”
“It wasn't gonna hit.”
“...Come again?”
A sword flying right by his head, and he ignored it because it “wasn't gonna hit”?
Ridiculous!
As Yeji opened her mouth to retort, Kim Gunja spoke first.
“More importantly, wanna spar once? Got something to test.”
“Spar?”
“Yeah.”
As if the nagging never happened, Yeji beamed but hesitated.
Then,
“Why should I?”
She snapped curtly.
Kim Gunja tilted his head at her lightning-fast mood shift.
What'd I do wrong...?
Nothing came to mind.
As he pondered awkwardly, Yeji thankfully gave a hint.
“Y-you're always whispering with Uncle and only come to me when you need something.”
Ah.
Now he got it.
With so much on his plate, he'd completely forgotten.
The sense of exclusion she'd felt.
Three months of daily training together—she wasn't stupid; she'd sensed he was hiding something.
But after the exam, no word despite waiting, so even she got fed up.
Kim Gunja smiled slyly.
“I'll tell you everything after the spar. All the stuff I told Chunduk bro.”
“...Really?”
“Yeah. It's not as big a deal as you think.”
“W-well, if that's the case...”
Watching her tuck her ear hair back nervously, Kim Gunja had a bright idea and spoke up.
“And plain sparring's boring, so wanna add a bet?”
Yeji's ears perked up.
“What bet?”
“Loser grants winner any one wish. Sound good?”
He wanted her all-in, so a stake seemed smart.
The effect exceeded expectations.
Yeji's eyes blazed with fervor as she shouted.
“You're on!”
Kim Gunja chuckled.
Looked like Yeji wouldn't be letting her guard down.
As the two headed to the sparring room, one trainee tilted his head.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“No, that guy's shadow moved kinda weird just now...”
“...What?”
Chills at the words, but when the others checked Kim Gunja's shadow, it looked normal.
“Looks fine.”
That instant.
A fluorescent light flickered, and the shadow's direction shifted slightly before snapping back.
The two who saw it chuckled.
“That light's gotta be replaced.”
“Yeah.”
They dismissed it and dove back into training.
The moment their eyes turned away, Kim Gunja's shadow beneath his feet began to ripple secretly once more.
As if it were a living creature.