Strings Attached
"You really didn't have to come all the way to my place..."
"Not at all, Hyun Jisu. We came to pick you up — the least we can do is accommodate you as much as possible."
No, you people showing up is what's inconvenient. Give me a break.
The only reason he'd asked to meet another day, having just walked through his own front door, was — to put it bluntly — that he couldn't be bothered. But they'd insisted they wanted to talk today, so he'd told them to come to the house. And they had actually shown up.
Jisu let out a long, weary sigh.
I should've just gone out to meet them.
"Here you go!"
In the meantime, Seyeon had brought in tea — brewed from the black tea leaves she'd bought on her own recommendation.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it! They seem like important guests. I hope your talk goes well!"
Seyeon said it with a bright smile, then slipped out of the room. Jisu tilted his head for a moment, but guests were here, and hearing them out came first.
"Please, have some."
"Thank you, Hyun Jisu."
The constant Hyun Jisu this, Hyun Jisu that was a little uncomfortable, if he was being honest — but what was he supposed to do about it? Jisu sighed again and sat down.
"Well then, allow me to introduce myself once more. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hunter Hyun Jisu. I'm Kim Hyunji, and I serve as an agent for the Holy Moon Guild."
She gave a slight bow.
The suit looked obscenely expensive. She carried herself like a model, and her face belonged on a magazine cover — the kind of beauty that, had anyone with an eye for talent spotted her on the street, would have gotten her scouted on the spot. The plunging neckline of her blouse offered plenty to look at, but Jisu wasn't particularly conscious of it. He just wanted this meeting over as quickly as possible.
Holy Moon Guild or whatever it was called — he had no intention of joining a guild.
"It's an honor to meet you like this, Jisu. You're already someone everyone in the hunter industry knows. Of course, I myself have admired you as well..."
Hyunji said this, then tilted her head slightly, a faint flush coloring her cheeks.
"I've always wanted to meet you at least once. This is a little... embarrassing. I'm sorry."
"Huh? No, that's nothing to apologize for."
Whether the woman in front of him was blushing or not, Jisu was lost in his own thoughts.
My reputation's already spread that far?
He'd just wanted to live quietly. But with power like his, that dream was probably one he needed to give up. Still — still — if he could help it, he just wanted to do whatever the government told him to and nothing more.
Joining Holy Moon would mean even more days in the spotlight. And more work coming his way, too. A handful of hunters A-rank and above had already become celebrities on par with actual entertainers. He could have had fame tomorrow if he'd wanted it — but of course, that was a life Jisu would rather decline.
"Forgive me. I got carried away, actually meeting you in person... Well then, I'll get to the point."
"Ah. Yes."
"Would you join our Holy Moon Guild?"
"No."
"Yes, thank you. It's a true honor to welcome a hunter of your caliber into— wait. What?"
Hyunji wondered if she'd misheard, and asked him again.
"W-what did you just... say?"
"I have no intention of joining the Holy Moon Guild. I'm sorry."
Jisu gave a slight bow as he said it.
That was right. Jisu had absolutely no intention of joining a guild.
Why would I work under someone else?
He had an ability that could make him as strong as he wanted. What could he possibly gain from joining some guild that wasn't even the government? In that case, rather than dragging this conversation out, sending her on her way quickly would be better for both of them.
That was what he thought. Hyunji, however, was not giving up.
"May I ask why? Perhaps you've already agreed to join another guild, or..."
"No. Nothing like that. I just... don't really feel like it right now."
Hyunji couldn't hide her dismay. Desperate to keep him from walking away, she started throwing out whatever she could think of.
"W-we'll promise you the maximum possible support for your hunter activities!"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"There's a guild salary on top of that!"
"I think I'm already making plenty of money."
Growing frantic, Hyunji pulled out what she considered her trump card.
"Your mother! I understand you're caring for your mother, who's in poor health. Is that right?"
"Sorry? That's true, but... how did you even know that?"
The background check had already been finished. That was how Siyun had been able to approach Seyeon in the first place. Hyunji smiled again, speaking with an air of composure.
"Holy Moon has an official partnership with a major hospital — S Hospital in Gangnam, Seoul. We'll give you priority access. It would be a tremendous help with your mother's treatment."
"..."
Only then did Jisu fall silent, turning it over in his mind. He didn't want to stand out. His mother would worry. But right now, no matter which hospital they went to, all anyone did was hand out medicine and admit they had no idea what else to try. If they could get into a good hospital, maybe they'd find some kind of solution.
Ah. So that's the angle.
Hyunji, for her part, was already certain she had him. The investigation into Jisu had been completed at the guild level. They'd prepared an additional annual salary of twenty billion won and even an A-rank hunter operator — plenty of bait they were sure he'd like — but as expected, his mother was his weakest point.
"Um..."
"Yes?"
Hyunji smiled sweetly as she answered. She was so pretty and cute when she smiled that most men would have folded on the spot — but it wasn't having any particular effect on Jisu.
"If I join the guild, what kind of work would I specifically be taking on?"
Yes!
Hyunji felt the thrill of impending success, but it was too early to pop the champagne. Even after the contract was signed, there would be time.
"Nothing too difficult! You can handle the Association's missions on your own as you see fit, and you'd just need to participate in guild missions from time to time. We'll even assign people to assist you! Since you're SS-rank, Jisu, you'll probably..."
Hyunji paused to think for a moment, then continued.
"Ten A-rank hunters and fifty B-rank hunters would be assigned exclusively to you."
"Exclusively to me?"
"Yes! For as long as you're with Holy Moon, they'd be hunters under your command, so you could use them however you like. Of course, you could use them as operators as well."
"And?"
"As I mentioned, there would be additional salary. Sometimes Association work and Holy Moon work overlap... and unless it's something truly important, we do try to accommodate your position. But major incidents do happen. When they do, we'd want you to side with Holy Moon. That's all!"
"Hmm."
So it was just extra missions piled on top of regular hunter work? It didn't sound that hard. If the work wasn't important, he could skip it, and while he didn't know how much the additional salary would come to, more money coming in couldn't hurt.
Working under that woman does feel a bit off... but I'm going to keep running into her if I stay a hunter anyway. Might as well join.
"All right. I'll sign."
The moment the words left his mouth, something seemed to drop outside the room — a faint little thud. The sound was so small he didn't pay it much mind.
"An excellent decision. Here — the contract."
Jisu took it. And just as he'd always done, he didn't look through it particularly carefully. It was the longest contract he'd received so far, too. Skimming it, nothing looked especially strange. There didn't seem to be any clause about him having to pay money, either. He was about to sign when—
"Ah, that's right. Jisu, do you currently have a contracted operator?"
"Yes."
Hyunji already knew this. And she'd been trained on exactly how to phrase what came next.
"I'm afraid you'll need to terminate your contract with that operator."
"...What?"
Jisu, who had been reading the contract, lifted his head at those words and looked at her. She said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"We have a lot of talented operators at Holy Moon. They're all hunters as well. You can just pick one from among those assigned to you."
"Hold on..."
A strange feeling suddenly came over him. They hadn't known each other that long, but Seyeon helped with the housework, and she'd always gone along with whatever he asked of her.
"I'd like to keep working with my current operator. And there's a penalty fee for terminating the contract, too..."
"Holy Moon will cover the entire penalty fee!"
"No, even so — operators can request help from other people anyway, can't they? I've gotten used to working with her, and..."
"It's a Holy Moon Guild rule. I'm sorry."
"Hmm."
Jisu fell into thought. They hadn't spent that much time together, but he didn't want to cast Seyeon aside. Her opinion mattered too, of course — but at the very least, this was how he felt.
"Then could my operator join Holy Moon as well?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible. Holy Moon has restrictions on who can join..."
She said it with a smile, pleasantly enough, but it amounted to the same thing: they weren't about to take just anyone. Well, it was a famous guild in Korea, so that part wasn't hard to understand.
What do I do?
Just as Jisu was about to wrestle with the decision, a scene from the past flashed through his mind like a film reel — the place where he'd hauled sack after sack of cement, where he'd broken concrete with a sledgehammer.
That's right. I'm pretty sure that's how it went back then.
From that old experience, Jisu recalled the model answer.