Chapter 150
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: All Three of Us
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Na and Mary slipped out of the conference room without so much as a backward glance.
- Tap tap tap tap….
Urgent footsteps echoed from down the hallway.
“Huff… huff…!”
The security team and Association staff came rushing in, faces pale as ghosts.
Some of them even had their weapons drawn.
And who could blame them? The barrier around the conference room had shattered out of nowhere—they must have thought it was an attack.
“Counselor! Lady Mary!”
“What happened?! The barrier failure alarm just—”
They'd clearly rushed over after hearing the shield had been torn apart.
But Mary responded with a bored drawl, like it was all a hassle.
“Just testing how tough it was.”
“Pardon…? A t-test?”
“Yeah. But it was weaker than I thought. Broke way too easily, so or—”
Mary clicked her tongue and added.
Truth be told, fixing it wouldn't be that hard.
It looked like she'd sliced through the barrier cleanly.
Just pump some energy back into it, and it'd be fine.
“Won't be hard to repair.”
Mary made sure to pass that along too.
“I just tripped the circuit.”
“Ah… right….”
The staff scratched their heads awkwardly and headed into the conference room.
Na and Mary walked together back to the office.
To get from the main building where the conference room was to the office, they had to cross the annex.
So they took the quiet garden path laid out on the grounds.
“……”
The whole way, Na could feel Mary sneaking sidelong glances at him.
She seemed a little at a loss, like she didn't know what to do.
Gauging his mood, probably.
“……Seon-woo, something bothering you?”
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Na blinked, and Mary continued cautiously.
“Because of those guys?”
She jerked her chin lightly toward the main building behind them.
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction.
For a split second, Na considered teasing, Yeah, because of them… but one wrong word, and it might spiral into something irreversible, so he shook his head.
“Nah, no way.”
It wasn't true, anyway.
They weren't big enough to ruin his mood.
There might be something to get upset about… but Na wasn't that bothered.
What gnawed at him wasn't their attitude.
It was the Association's inexplicable moves.
They knew better than anyone how dangerous this meeting was.
Especially the counseling team and field ops from the vigilance unit—he'd worked closely with them, and they grasped the risks more than most.
Passing that hack through? It made no sense.
And it had happened, just like that.
They used to flip out, insisting they couldn't lower standards any further.
So there had to be a reason.
Some heavy pressure from on high, strong enough to override the field team's objections—something Na didn't know about.
“……Just feels like it's gonna be a headache.”
Na muttered with a wry smile.
He could already picture the mess ahead.
Once politics creeps into spots needing expertise and silences the field experts, the organization's doomed—it's only a matter of time.
Well… no point worrying ahead of time.
Na shook his head lightly to clear the stray thoughts.
That's when Mary, who'd been gazing intently at his face, spoke up.
“Do you have to stick with the Association?”
“Huh?”
“I mean… do you really need to be tied to them?”
“……”
Quit the Association and go freelance as a counselor…?
Not impossible.
He already had the certification… and his track record was overflowing.
Plus, his contract was technically with the Association but as a contractor anyway.
Cut ties, and done.
Counseling was sales and expertise rolled into one, really.
Especially for hunters—it meant even more.
They needed mental fixes fast to get their lives back on track and stay safe.
Demand flows to whoever does it best, not the biggest name.
“You know how they rate you out there, Seon-woo?”
Mary stopped walking and looked at him.
“Elixir.”
The legendary potion—existence unconfirmed.
Drink it, cure all ailments, even revive a dying body.
“Because you heal shattered minds.”
Strictly speaking, not healing… but he got the angle.
Hunters' emotions run wild on mana—pre- and post-counseling are night and day.
From outside, yeah, it could look that way.
“That's why…”
Mary brought a hand to her mouth.
“Being at the Association tires you out.”
She curled her lips up.
“All those procedures, reservations, waitlists. Jumping through their clogged hoops just to see you.”
“They'd pay multiples to snag you private… get exclusive sessions… but you're only through the Association.”
Na listened quietly.
She wasn't wrong.
Go freelance or exclusive to a big guild, and his salary could be whatever he named.
Trade dangerous fieldwork for cozy guild offices, counsel elites, live easy.
But.
He had reasons to stay.
The Association was a government organ.
The quickest to respond when unknown otherworlders first popped up.
Someone had to meet them behind that flimsy barrier.
If he left? Who fills the gap?
Back to regular counselors… or fresh grads like that kid we just saw.
Fresh-out-of-school E-rank hunters.
No field experience.
Letting them face caution-level otherworlders? Suicide.
Not even counseling—just death.
It started as just a job hunt.
Now? A sense of duty had taken root.
As Na sank into those thoughts.
Someone gently gripped his shoulder.
“……”
He looked up.
Mary stared right into his eyes, inches away.
Her violet irises shimmered, wet with emotion.
“Seon-woo.”
She murmured his name softly.
“You're in danger too, you know?”
Her hand tapped his chest lightly as she whispered.
“Worrying for others is fine, but honestly… I'm most worried about you.”
“……”
Those words stung sweetly in a corner of his heart.
Someone worried about him.
About him.
Nearly ten years alone in this world.
Come to think of it, he'd stopped considering his own risks ages ago.
Na nodded slowly.
“Yeah. Got it.”
If someone cared…
Ignoring that outright wasn't right.
- Swipe.
He gently wiped the tear from Mary's eye with his thumb.
“Let's go.”
Then headed to the office with her.
- Bang.
They opened the office door.
Seol Yu-wol stood there.
Pacing anxiously in the middle of the room.
Nail between her teeth, biting it nonstop as she paced back and forth—until the door sound made her jump and whip around.
The moment their eyes met.
Her frozen expression melted into joy.
“Oppa!”
“···!”
Whoa, how hard did she launch?
Na staggered back a couple steps.
“I was just… at the dungeon raid briefing for a bit…”
She poured it out in a mumble.
“Suddenly the main building barrier went down… emergency alarms blaring, staff freaking out…”
Seol Yu-wol looked up.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Nothing happened.”
Na smiled and gently pushed her back.
Any longer, and he'd suffocate.
“More importantly, ready for tomorrow's dungeon raid?”
“Ah.”
She'd better have paid attention.
First real op. Even S-rank hunters faced variables in the field…
Though honestly, probably fine.
“Yeah. Memorized it all.”
“…What?”
Dungeon raid rules alone filled over ten books.
What'd she memorize?
“The gist.”
“……Right.”
She'd manage somehow.
With Mary handling the training.
No need for him to micromanage.
“Oh, right, Oppa. The replacement bodyguard for tomorrow's already in the waiting room. Said we should meet.”
“Oh. Perfect.”
Was wondering how to handle that—whether to call.
Already set up.
“They're here now?”
“Yeah. Just arrived.”
“Wanna come?”
Her mom, after all.
Natural to greet and see her off together.
“Nah, go alone.”
Seol Yu-wol shook her head and stepped behind him.
Then shoved his back playfully, whispering.
“No me starting tomorrow. Get used to it early. Hehe.”
“……”
“I'll go with.”
Mary stepped up firmly, but…
“Sis. Dungeon rule 15, line 29—kinda confusing.”
Seol Yu-wol latched onto her.
Na ended up trudging off, pretending he couldn't win.
With each step, his heart began to thump oddly.
Mid-hallway, he stopped, straightened his coat again, fixed his tie.
Stood before the waiting room door.
Deep breath, gripped the handle.
And slowly opened…
- Boom!!
A massive crash from inside.
“!!”
Na flung the door open on instinct.
Attack? Terror plot?
Who'd be insane enough to hit Yi Seo-ryeong…
What he saw.
Shin Jung-won's White Lord, Yi Seo-ryeong.
“……”
She stood in the middle, clad in a stunning white ceremonial robe.
The issue.
- Crunch.
The issue: the desk before her was smashed in two.
Yi Seo-ryeong had her foot on it, face furious, hand outstretched toward something.
“……”
First time seeing Yi Seo-ryeong that worked up.
Or radiating killing intent so blatantly.
Who the hell provoked her like this?
Na turned his head.
“Ahaha! What can ya do? It's the contract you signed.”
Across from her.
A woman in dark crimson robes.
Beautiful fan covering her mouth, eyes crinkled in laughter.
Jahwa-yeon.
“……?”
“Gotta honor the deal. You're Shin Jung-won's White Lord, after all.”
Jahwa-yeon snapped her fan shut, brushing off Yi Seo-ryeong's killing intent with ease.
“Physician, you made it?”
She pointed her fan at frozen Na and winked.
Only then did Yi Seo-ryeong creak her head slowly around.
“Ph… Physician…?”
She hadn't even noticed him enter.
Her pupils shook wildly, like an earthquake.
But Yi Seo-ryeong recovered fast.
Yanked her leg off the wrecked desk, elegantly shook out her crumpled dress hem.
Swept back disheveled hair.
Then, hands demurely folded below her navel, head slightly bowed—like nothing happened.
“You've arrived…”
Jahwa-yeon burst out laughing at the sight.
“Ahaha! So prim and proper, but in front of a man, you—”
Jahwa-yeon glided toward Yi Seo-ryeong.
Lips to her flushed ear, whispering something.
Normally, inaudible.
But Na's enhanced physique caught it.
Acting all coy and submissive.
A taunt.
Na figured Yi Seo-ryeong would snap, draw her sword.
But.
“……”
Instead, her face reddened.
Lashes quivering, lips softly bitten.
Jahwa-yeon whispered again at that reaction.
You too… just a woman in the end.
Yi Seo-ryeong let out a moan and bowed her head fully.
Jahwa-yeon sauntered past her, victory smile on, toward Na.
“Physician.”
Right up to his nose, she trailed her folded fan softly down his chest.
“Congrats on my protection. An honor none under heaven can claim.”
She looked up, beaming.
Twirled the fan's tip back toward head-down Yi Seo-ryeong.
“That one, the righteous bitch over there…”
Jahwa-yeon's lips curved softly.
“Shall the three of us… get along nicely?”
One thing Na had wrong.
His replacement bodyguard wasn't one.
Two.