Chapter 96
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Common Goal
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“Really? She accepted?”
In the Association break room, one staff member stared at the freshly posted notice in disbelief and asked.
The colleague sitting across from him nodded while sipping coffee.
“Yeah. She accepted. Surprising, right?”
The questioning staff member slowly nodded as well, then opened his mouth as if something had just occurred to him.
“Well… considering she was even kidnapped not long ago. No matter how strong she is, she can't be free of trauma.”
The staff member said with a bitter expression.
It had been a horrific incident.
From the Association's perspective, it was something they hadn't even considered: their top-priority figure and key asset, the Counselor, had been kidnapped.
It was an unprecedented emergency.
“Looks that way. The Counselor… he never showed it on the outside, always smiling like usual, but it must've been really tough for her inside.”
“Yeah.”
“So, Hunter Seol Yu-wol graduates and jumps straight into bodyguard duty?”
“That's the plan… but.”
The staff member fixed his gaze on the monitor.
“Looks like the Counselor added some conditions. Basically, she'll handle internal duties as an Association hunter, and only perform bodyguard duty when the Counselor has external activities.”
“Even considering the Association in a time like this.”
“Pretty much.”
The staff member clicked his tongue in admiration and was about to return to his work.
Right then.
- Bang!
The office door flew open roughly, and a man in a suit rushed in, panting.
“Huff… huff…”
“Has… anyone… gotten a call from… Julia Mary Hunter…?”
At his sudden appearance, every staff member who had been lazily tapping away at their keyboards shot to their feet in unison.
They thought it was the team leader at first…
But this time, it was the director.
“Mary Hunter…?”
The staff member tilted his head at the unexpected name and asked back.
The director shouted hoarsely toward everyone in the room.
“She's in the lobby right now. Respond quickly…”
Before he could finish, the team leader, who had rushed in late, took charge.
“I'll go right away!”
The team leader gave a quick nod to the director and sprinted toward the lobby.
His mind was in chaos.
‘Why is Julia Mary here? No way… it can't be.’
In the lobby stood Mary, wearing sunglasses with a bored expression.
Spotting the team leader, she walked over casually.
“Mary!”
The team leader finally skidded to a halt, caught his breath, and bowed deeply to her.
“What brings you here?”
It was rare for regular hunters—let alone S-Rank ones—to visit Association HQ in person.
Most had their guilds handle things by proxy, and S-Rank hunters were more the type the Association went to, rather than the other way around.
That Mary was now a free agent was common knowledge.
The team leader swallowed dryly, forcing down the vain hope rising in his chest.
“Not recruiting hunters?”
Mary asked as she removed her sunglasses.
And that was the moment the vain hope became reality.
The team leader's eyes shook violently.
“Of course we are.”
But he steadied his trembling voice and guided her.
“This way. I'll escort you to the reception room.”
He couldn't let this opportunity slip.
Mary sank deep into the reception room sofa and gazed out the window.
In all honesty, anxiety?
Trepidation about negotiations?
No such things existed for her.
Mary knew her position and value all too well.
The moment she turned on her phone, calls from most Korean guilds would pour in.
It all started because…
Seon-woo had put it perfectly.
‘No thoughts on a bodyguard?’
‘Me.’
The fact that a hunter was offering herself as his bodyguard.
Of course, it had been said in jest, and Mary knew that full well.
His flustered face, the awkward backpedaling that it was just a joke.
But it didn't matter if it was a joke.
To Mary, it wasn't.
She no longer cared about money or fame.
In the past, when she had inexplicably distanced herself from him and lost contact, she had chased those things obsessively to fill the void.
She had drunk seawater all day long.
Her throat only grew drier, the thirst never quenched.
An unfillable emptiness. A thirst nothing could slake.
That was the emotion she had felt for years.
She decided to use that joke as her justification.
That was enough.
“Mary Hunter, we had no idea you'd visit so suddenly. Please forgive any lack of preparation…”
The moment he entered the reception room, the team leader wiped sweat from his brow and apologized politely.
“It's fine.”
“Yes, then…”
The team leader wanted to cut straight to the chase. He knew her personality well from rumors—she hated small talk or beating around the bush.
He swallowed once and spoke.
“To the point: are you… interested in joining our Hunter Association?”
Mary answered immediately.
“Yes.”
She was here because she was interested.
“But I have a condition.”
She leaned forward over the table.
The team leader unconsciously leaned back against his chair. What could the condition be?
Mary was certain this condition couldn't be refused.
“I'd also like to handle security for Counselor Yoo Seon-woo.”
“From the kidnapping incident to this Chain Hell crisis, I've felt he's constantly in danger.”
He was a longtime friend and colleague.
And now, Mary was free, having shed the shackles of the Daehae Guild.
She had the justification of concern for a fellow hunter.
And Mary's objective value as an S-Rank hunter.
All on her side.
In exchange for assigning one counselor's bodyguard duty, the Association gained an S-Rank hunter.
There was no way they'd refuse…
But the team leader's expression was strangely peculiar.
What to call it.
Flustered, perhaps.
She had expected him to at least be thrilled, even if not jumping for joy, since it was such a negligible condition.
“Uh…”
The team leader pondered for a moment, then parted his dry lips.
“An S-Rank hunter has already been assigned as Counselor Yoo Seon-woo's dedicated bodyguard.”
Mary's eyes widened at his words.
The team leader's judgment was this:
Sitting her down here wouldn't change anything.
If two S-Rank hunters' conditions overlapped, they'd both likely walk away unsatisfied.
So, at this moment, he made the unimaginable decision that he might have to give up one of them.
In that case…
Better the controllable, mild-mannered Hunter Seol Yu-wol, who was manageable at least regarding the Counselor, than the unpredictable powerhouse Mary.
No one knew how they'd ended up agonizing over two S-Rank hunters.
At his words, Mary froze and asked in a low voice.
There was killing intent laced in it, but the team leader didn't notice.
It wasn't directed at him, after all.
“Jin Sea?”
She had heard rumors she was leaving Haetae Guild.
If it was Jin Sea…
That woman could certainly do it.
It was at that moment a storm raged in Mary's mind.
“No.”
The team leader shook his head.
“It's the Otherworlder hunter from this batch that Counselor Yoo Seon-woo was in charge of.”
“……”
Otherworlder?
One Seon-woo personally handled?
Mary couldn't help but be taken aback by the completely unforeseen situation.
“So, you're saying no additional security personnel?”
“For now, yes.”
“Why?”
“Well…”
Moreover, when Seon-woo gained Seol Yu-wol as his bodyguard, he had firmly conveyed to the Association that one was sufficient for all security needs—no additional personnel required.
“It's also the Counselor's wish.”
“……”
Seon-woo had said it.
Mary had no intention of going against Seon-woo's words.
This was the end.
What now?
There was no room to enter.
Going against Seon-woo's wishes to hire more security was impossible from her position.
Embarrassment.
An emotion Mary hadn't felt in a very long time.
“Any other position in the Association…”
The team leader desperately opened his mouth to retain her somehow.
“No.”
Mary refused immediately.
She had no interest in other Association positions.
Right then.
A ominous suspicion flashed through Mary's mind.
An S-Rank hunter.
During isolation training, they drilled into you the value you held.
Yet such a being volunteers as Seon-woo's bodyguard and joins the Association.
And Seon-woo accepted her.
“Wait, that hunter… is she a woman?”
The team leader hesitated briefly, then nodded.
The embargo on this batch's Otherworlders had lifted at 10 a.m. today.
It was now 11.
Sharing this much info seemed harmless.
She might even change her mind.
“Yes.”
The team leader pulled out his pad and opened Seol Yu-wol's official profile photo.
“S-Rank Hunter Seol Yu-wol.”
On the screen was a photo of Yoo Seon-woo and Seol Yu-wol sitting side by side on a bench, amicably sharing a waffle.
Of course, this was just one of many photos the Association's PR team had gathered for her profile.
They had picked one where Seol looked especially pretty, and Seon-woo happened to be in it by chance.
In official releases, his image would be edited out.
But Mary was seeing the unedited original.
In the photo, the two were sharing one waffle.
Mary closely examined Seol Yu-wol's expression in the photo.
She was smiling.
Seon-woo's smile in the photo was split between the waffle and the woman.
But Seol Yu-wol's gaze and smile were directed solely at one man.
“Aha…”
I see.
Mary nodded.
You too, huh.
The expression of someone sharing a common goal was all too easy to read.
Because it was so similar.
Seol Yu-wol's face in the photo…
Was no different from Mary's own reflection in the glass wall, gazing at Seon-woo from the isolation room beyond.