Standing in His Way
"What? You're talking about... terminating the contract?"
Seyeon's voice as she asked it back sounded hollow, emptied out. Maybe it was because the request had come so completely out of nowhere.
But whether she was stunned or not, Jeong Siyun looked at her as if to say, why would you even bother asking that again.
"That's right. Contract termination. Jisu's going to join the Holy Moon Guild. If he needs an operator, we'll assign him one exclusively from our guild. As for the cancellation penalty, we'll pay it on the spot."
"No, never mind the penalty fee — suddenly telling me to quit is a bit much, don't you think?"
Seyeon kept as much of a smile on her face as she could. She'd been working service jobs since high school and had thought she'd seen every kind of nightmare customer there was — but an influencer-type was a first.
She'd heard that high-rank hunters had a rather high-handed side, unlike how they appeared in the media...
Even so, Seyeon managed not to let her face crumple. A true professional.
"Come on, think about it. I've looked into you. You don't have a shred of hunter aptitude, do you?"
"...No. I don't."
She wondered, briefly, how Siyun had known — but someone in that position could surely skim the Association's registered hunter list without any trouble.
"If we want an operator, we assign one with at least a B-rank hunter license, exclusively. So we can't take you. And I have no interest in watching someone from Holy Moon work with a person Holy Moon didn't assign. Do you understand a little better now?"
"No? I'm not really following. Could you explain it again?"
Seyeon asked it with a bright, cute little smile. About half of that was a lie. She wasn't stupid; she understood well enough what Siyun meant by all of this. But she also knew, more or less, how to land a quiet hit in a situation like this.
"Oh my. Are you pulling this because you think you're pretty? It's cute and all, but overselling yourself to another woman is a bit much. So let's just get this over with, shall we?"
"I don't really follow. Then may I go back? I have Jisu's affairs to take care of."
Seyeon swallowed it down one more time. There was no need to make a scene. Celebrity or not, the woman in front of her clearly had no actual decision-making power. In the end, whether to join a guild or not would be Jisu's call.
"Fine. I don't know how much you want, but I'll let you go for now. Ah — this."
Siyun tossed an envelope onto Seyeon's desk. Seyeon looked to see what it was, and inside was a wad of cash.
In that instant, the smile she had refused to let go of went stiff.
"I can't accept this."
It was true that she'd taken all kinds of work because she needed the money. But the people who tried to solve everything with money — those were the people Seyeon hated more than anyone in the world. Even if the hunter standing in front of her was one of the most famous celebrities in Korea, she could not hide that anger.
Siyun watched her, then made a small sound of interest and stroked her own chin.
"Oh my. You can pull a better face than I expected. I thought you'd back off nicely at this."
And then, mid-sentence, Siyun's expression changed.
It was not the charismatic face you saw in the press, and it was not the faintly playful one she wore when talking with people she knew. It was the look of someone staring at a bug crawling up her own body.
"I don't know how much you're trying to squeeze out of this, but you'd better take a reasonable cut and get out. Thinking you've sunk your teeth into a good hunter and you're set for life? Has it never occurred to you that you're standing in that precious Jisu's way?"
"...!"
Seyeon opened her mouth to say something, and found she could not make a sound.
Standing in his way?
For a moment, a memory from a few years ago rose up. From when Seyeon was still a student. Faded days when bank collectors came to the door several times a day, demanding the debt be repaid.
"You used that for hospital bills? Are you insane? I told you to keep it safe!"
"Shut up! What have you ever done for us? Our children were sick, and even then you had your eyes on that damned thing!"
"Shut your mouth!"
After that — whatever happened passed in fragments. When she came back to herself, there was her mother, collapsed, and her father, completely unhinged.
"These maggots I call family, blocking my path! Goddamn it! Right now — right now is the best time to average down!"
Memories that had, for the past few years, ambushed Seyeon out of nowhere flashed through her like a revolving lantern even now.
Watching her stand there unable to get a word out, Siyun smiled again, as if nothing at all had happened.
"You understand what I'm saying, right? Consider that money payment purely for talking with me. If this gets resolved nicely, I'll throw in extra. Well then."
With that, Siyun vanished from the room as abruptly as she had arrived.
Seyeon simply stood there for a while, staring at nothing. As if time itself had stopped.
"Aigoo, thank you. I feel like I'm always in your debt. I heard you work with my son — that boy isn't causing you any trouble, is he?"
"Hahaha! Not at all! He's always looking after me and helping out. Please just call me when you've finished eating!"
Seyeon left the plate of fruit in Jisu's mother's room and stepped back out. After that she kept the smile on, finished tidying the room, and perched on the edge of the sofa.
She let out a long breath — and, as if on cue, Jisu came in through the front door.
"Hello. You're home early?"
"Yes! Welcome back."
"Yeah. You've even finished organizing the big room? I told you that you don't have to touch that — I can do it myself..."
"It's fine! I feel better when I work as much as I'm paid!"
Seyeon said it the way she always did, tension wound a little high.
Has he been contacted? By the Holy Moon Guild?
Hunters without enough greed to turn down Holy Moon were rare, that much was certain. From what she knew, even B-rank hunters at the cutoff for joining — if they luckily got in — would have operators hired for them so they could somehow realize their worth. The wealth and honor that came with it were extras. And Jisu was SS-rank.
He would clearly receive the best treatment available.
Then when should I bring it up? Should I wait and see for now?
Come to think of it, even if they already had a contract, it could be terminated by paying the penalty — and Jisu surely had the capital for a fee like that. And coldly speaking, the time she and Jisu had spent together was not that long. They were not particularly close. Strictly a contractual relationship. Not one where she could appeal to sentiment — and even that sentiment was thin.
In that case, better to end it cleanly than cling in an unsightly way.
That was what she was thinking when he spoke.
"...Seyeon."
"Yes?"
"Did something happen?"
...!
"N-n-n-nooo!"
Maybe it was the panic. She shook her head so fast it was a blur, but the delivery was so unnatural that anyone listening would have been better off hearing her say, "Yes, something happened" — that's how thoroughly she advertised that something had, in fact, happened.
"I-I-I-I'm fine! Nothing happened. Why do you ask?!"
"Ah... no, it's nothing. Your face just looks different from usual."
"Did it! Haha! I'm always the same! Anyway, you look like you've got something on your mind, Jisu. Did something happen?"
"Huh? Uh... is it that obvious?"
Seyeon flinched at his answer. The line she'd thrown out just to change the subject had been true.
Well. That was fine. If it could turn the conversation, any words would do.
"Ah? ...Yes!"
Has Holy Moon already gotten in touch? Is that why he's going to tell me the contract is over today...
That was what Seyeon inferred. In reality, he was thinking something entirely different.
No matter how long I stare at the charts, I can't make head or tail of any of it. The internet's nothing but garbage — the Elephant Buy Method, the Cat Ear Buy Method, all of it nonsense... but seeing how well Wildcat keeps nailing it, there's definitely something hidden in there.
"I've actually been worrying about... huh?"
Just then, Jisu's phone rang. An unknown number. Most people wouldn't have even considered picking up — but Jisu, who had kept answering every call that came in even after he'd found an operator, took this one the same way.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Jisu! It's a pleasure to meet you. Would it be all right if I asked, very politely, whether you have a moment to talk?"
"That's fine, but who is this?"
A woman's voice he had never heard before came through the receiver. Another operator? He was still turning over how to decline when her voice went on.
"Hello. I'm Kim Hyunji. I oversee AG for the Holy Moon Guild."
"Where? The Holy Moon Guild?"
Seyeon, sitting in her seat, flinched at the words.
"Yes. It's truly a pleasure."
"Uh..."
Jisu thought for a moment, wrestling with whether to say it or not — and then spoke into the receiver.
"I'm sorry, but... what's the Holy Moon Guild?"
Pfft!
His eyes went to Seyeon. Of course they did — a laugh had just burst out of him. And the woman on the other end of the line sounded every bit as thrown.
"Ah... um. You don't know the Holy Moon Guild?"
"No. I haven't been a hunter for very long. Sorry. Ah — wait."
Holy Moon!
During his first raid, there had been a woman — and someone had said she was the leader of Holy Moon. The memory struck Jisu like lightning. Right. It was a guild, or something like that.
He felt a twinge of guilt, wondering if his delayed recollection had made the person on the line feel awkward.
"Ah. You mean the guild, right? I think I have heard of it, now that I think about it."
"Hehe. You're quite the interesting one. Well, it's perfectly fine if you don't remember. You can start remembering from now on. Would it be possible to meet briefly and talk?"
"Talk?"
"Yes. Hunter Hyun Jisu."
The woman on the other end of the line spoke each word with perfect, unhurried clarity.