Shadows of the Past
After that, clashes between Yu Hyejeong and Junggu became rare. And at some point…
“Hyung-nim, please treat me casually. If you don’t, it’ll be so uncomfortable I’ll feel like throwing myself out the window, sir!”
I also remembered the memory of that over-the-top persuasion finally leading to our promise to drop the formal speech. Looking back, there had been some genuinely good memories at the Onhwa Guild too.
“Aww, that was just because it felt stuffy, wasn’t it!”
“Still, you said you were disappointed in me~ remember?”
“Khuk… I’m sorry, sir!”
In the end, the sight of him pretending to wipe away tears while apologizing made me burst into loud laughter.
“Well, anyway, that’s how the story went.”
In truth, I had never planned to talk about any of this. Once I did, I would have no choice but to explain everything about the Onhwa Guild.
“Wait, hold on. Just a second. Okay, I get that you two are close. But what? You were the vice guild master of some guild?”
Jia-noona, who had been listening, asked again in disbelief. Well, that reaction was only natural.
“Ah, you hadn’t told her?”
“I wasn’t sure where to start or how much to say.”
“Whoa, so you accepted Hyung-nim without even knowing he was the vice guild master of the Onhwa Guild? You really do have a sharp eye for people!”
Junggu spoke in a tone bursting with pride.
“Wow, but how did you hide something like that so well?”
“I mean, who would ever guess that a guy applying to be a miner had that kind of administrative talent?”
Heeyeon chimed in too, wearing an expression of genuine confusion.
“Why did you apply as a miner in the first place?”
Even without proper career verification, he could have demonstrated his practical skills, earned recognition, and transferred to an administrative position. And even if Yu Hyejeong refused to vouch for him, the other guild members would have seen his value.
Yet the reason I had chosen miner work over any desk job was…
“Because I wanted to move my body.”
Rather than simply moving, I had wanted to work myself half to death so I could forget every memory of Yu Hyejeong.
“Since you said it ended badly with that woman, I can understand why… Wait, a miner?”
“You didn’t know? Junho was the miner team leader until yesterday. Starting today, he isn’t anymore.”
From today onward, he had become a proper member of the raid party.
“That’s hard on your body…”
“It’s fine. You know I’ve got stamina to spare.”
“Hmm, that’s true, but still…”
This was the man who had held the vice guild master position at the Onhwa Guild. We had already gone way past the point where simple stamina was even worth discussing.
“Even back when he was vice master, Hyung-nim did nothing but work. Honestly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he single-handedly carried the entire Onhwa Guild on his back.”
Junggu let out a deep sigh and added that he genuinely couldn’t understand it.
“Then when did the dating happen?”
The one who reacted to those words was Jiyu.
“Oh? You didn’t know? He was in that kind of relationship with Guild Master Yu Hyejeong.”
“Eh?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Uh?”
I had figured that once the Onhwa Guild came up, this part of the story couldn’t be avoided, but…
“W-wait a minute. Junho’s ex-girlfriend is the Goddess Yu Hyejeong?!”
“Eeeeh?! So that trash ex-girlfriend was actually Yu Hyejeong?!”
I watched Jia-noona’s shock at the fact that I had dated Yu Hyejeong, and Jiyu’s shock at discovering that the ex with the garbage personality had been Yu Hyejeong, then shifted my gaze.
When I looked at Junggu with an icy smile, he flinched.
“Ah, uh, um… It felt a little inappropriate to say in front of Sister-in-law… right?”
Was that really the issue here? A sigh escaped me, but there was nothing to be done. The water had already been spilled; there was no scooping it back up.
Besides, I had always known that someday I would have to explain. The only problem was that the day had arrived before I had prepared even a single proper sentence.
“I’ll explain everything step by step.”
I organized my thoughts and began to speak. Starting from the first time I met Yu Hyejeong, I told them about the Binding skill, how she had grown stronger because of it, how we had built the Onhwa Guild together, her attitude, and finally the incident that became the breaking point.
“That… crazy bitch is a total psycho?!”
“What kind of goddess is that, fuck!”
“You can transform someone’s image that way? Junho, just what kind of person are you?”
It was only natural for them to be shocked after learning the guild’s deepest secrets. Even the usually quiet vice-captain hyung wore a stunned expression, which proved just how massive this revelation was.
“Haha, well… there were a lot of things that happened…”
I smiled, trying to wrap up the story, when Jiyu suddenly stepped forward and pulled me into a tight hug. The rest of the raid party and Junggu looked on in surprise, but she ignored them completely and gently patted my back.
“Oppa… how did you endure it? In a place like that. You’ve suffered so much.”
Ah… I hadn’t brought up the story to receive comfort like this.
If this had happened even a short while ago, I might have broken down and cried whether people were watching or not. But now it was okay. I could truly say I was fine.
No matter what happened, I had Jiyu—who believed in me without question and would hold me like this whenever things got hard.
“I really want to deal with that insane bitch somehow, but she’s an S-rank, sir.”
“Haa, exactly. But how did none of that ever leak? A crazy woman like her deserves to get crushed by the hammer of justice from the media.”
“It’s because Hyung-nim managed everything too perfectly. Whew…”
I now had so many people who got angry on my behalf as if it were their own business.
“But doesn’t something feel off?”
Right when I was basking in that warm feeling, Heeyeon tilted her head and spoke up.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean, I get that the skill is ridiculously overpowered, but right now it’s connected to our raid leader, right?”
I nodded lightly.
“Then shouldn’t the power be taken back?”
Huh? The power would be taken back? Was that even possible?
“If the strength was gained through the skill link, it should disappear once the connection is severed.”
I thought about it carefully. I had never even considered that angle before… but now that I did, she was right.
The power had been granted solely because I loved her. I no longer loved Yu Hyejeong. The Binding that had once connected us no longer existed.
“But that woman is still going strong, isn’t she…?”
Jiyu also spoke as if something felt wrong. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t understand it either.
“It’s a part I never even thought about, but it really is strange.”
“Is there anything in the skill description about the power remaining permanent even after the bond is broken?”
If there had been, I would have known long ago. Yet there was no mention of the power being recovered if the Binding was severed, either. The explanation was so short it almost felt deliberately unfriendly.
Binding Lv.1
The higher the mutual affection and trust between both parties, the stronger the bound individual’s power becomes.
Bound Target: Shin Jiyu
Bond Strength: 60%
“There’s no mention of that at all, so it’s something I never even considered.”
It was confusing, but seeing that Yu Hyejeong’s strength remained intact, it was possible that the power continuing even after the bond was severed had been part of the skill’s foundation from the beginning.
“Who knows? Maybe the Binding skill is taking revenge on her in your place, Oppa.”
Everyone’s ears perked up at Jia-noona’s sudden revenge theory.
“Like slowly draining her strength while giving her false hope, torturing her with lingering expectation.”
“Now that you mention it, haven’t there been a lot of rumors lately about Yu Hyejeong being in poor condition?”
“It actually sounds pretty plausible…?”
It did sound plausible, but… it felt like just another generic curse story you could find anywhere.
“That’s enough. Whether that woman is doing well or not now, I don’t care in the slightest.”
I just needed to live my own life. The absolute best scenario would be never hearing any news about her at all, but that was probably impossible. She was the most famous S-rank hunter in Korea, after all.
“Anyway, the problem is that Hyung-nim is too kind for his own good.”
“Junggu, don’t go around spreading weird stories either.”
If we didn’t have solid evidence to back it up, we would only end up facing backlash.
“Whether that woman keeps doing trashy things or not has nothing to do with us. Let’s stop getting tangled up with garbage.”
It felt incredibly refreshing. Until now, I hadn’t been able to call trash by its proper name!
On top of that, Junggu’s face began to sparkle with excitement.
“Kuu~! Yes, Hyung-nim! This one will do exactly that, sir!”
“What? Why do you look so happy?”
“Isn’t it obvious?! The day has finally come when I get to hear Hyung-nim badmouth that bitch! This Kim Junggu has no regrets in life anymore, even if I die right here!”
Seeing Junggu’s face—like he had just downed a whole bowl of sweet cider—I felt my own mood lift.
Yeah. Honestly, that was true. No matter how solidly I had built the castle walls, without proper maintenance, even the strongest fortress would eventually crumble.
“Right. So now let’s talk about you, Junggu.”
I smiled and smoothly changed the subject.
“My story, sir?”
“Yeah. Do you have any plans for what you’ll do going forward?”
I wouldn’t recommend he stay at the Onhwa Guild, but with his criminal record, joining another guild might be difficult. He had mentioned being treated like an unwanted burden before.
“Uh… I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Ah!”
“See? There is something, right?”
There was no way he had nothing in mind. He wasn’t a fool.
“I thought I would stay wherever Hyung-nim is!”
“Who said you could…?”
“Uh… is that not allowed…?”
It wasn’t that it wasn’t allowed. Having someone as reliable as Junggu around would actually be great. But this raid party wasn’t one I had created.
“Ah, so you completely quit and left, Mr. Junggu?”
“Yes, Sister-in-law! That is correct!”
“I see! Then would you like to join our raid party? Oppa is here too, so it’s perfect!”
“Ooh! You’re really willing to accept me?!”
That easily?
“Of course! If you’re Oppa’s person, then you’re already one of us!”
A raid party with four dealers. It did feel a bit excessive, but whatever. We had planned to establish our own guild eventually, so thinking ahead, it wasn’t a bad idea.
And even setting all of that aside, there was no way I wanted to send away someone who had quit a guild they were doing well in just to come find me.
“Don’t I need to go through an interview or something?”
“Actually, the conversation we just had was the interview, Mr. Junggu.”
The one who spoke to a visibly moved Junggu with a completely straight face was Jia-noona. There she went again. She really loved her pranks.
“What?! For real?!”
“Nope, I was kidding.”
“You scared me…!”
Earlier he had called her scary, saying she was like a gangster. It seemed he had now realized that despite his frightening appearance, Junggu was actually quite soft-hearted.
I had a feeling the back-and-forth between these two was going to be something to watch. Or rather than back-and-forth… it would probably end up being Junggu getting one-sidedly roasted by Jia-noona?