Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Sticky Han Sojeong
“Who eats shaved ice like that... Doesn’t your head hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt at all. I’ve even been hit by ice spears before and that didn’t hurt either.”
“What do ice spears have to do with shaved ice... You really are weird, you know that?”
Jihoon casually talked about getting hit by Seong Changhoon’s skill as though it were nothing.
After leaving the snack bar, Jihoon and Sojeong had settled into a famous shaved ice café deeper in the busy district and were enthusiastically eating bingsu.
Well, the only one enthusiastically eating was Jihoon. Sojeong was simply staring at him in fascination while chattering nonstop.
“I’m telling you, at the academy you learn stuff, right? And then you go into Gates sometimes to build real combat experience, right? How great is that? If you keep underestimating real combat, it’ll come back to bite you.”
“Aren’t you busy? Why do you keep following me everywhere and making all this noise... Just leave already.”
“I’m the one paying for this shaved ice. You gonna pay instead?”
“Here, you eat these strawberries... Here.”
Jihoon scooped the strawberry-filled portion into Sojeong’s bowl.
For the past few days, Sojeong had been incredibly persistent in following Jihoon around.
She thoroughly investigated him, figured out his routes, and whenever they “accidentally” ran into each other, she casually brought up joining her guild.
Of course, it didn’t work at all.
That bastard was so obsessed with studying that he only cared about academy classes.
Though she had heard his grades weren’t even that good...
At some point, Sojeong stopped even pretending their encounters were coincidences and openly chased after Jihoon everywhere.
Jihoon kept telling her to stop bothering him and disappear already, but Sojeong eventually found a method that worked.
Food expenses.
Jihoon usually ignored her and avoided her whenever he saw her, but she discovered that if they ate together and she paid for the meal, he would reluctantly listen to what she had to say.
Was it really this easy?
She regretted all the time she had wasted carefully planning “accidental” meetings when she could have simply followed him to restaurants and talked there.
And on top of that, this guy acted like he was trying to visit every restaurant in the world, hopping between several food places every single day.
“I’m telling you, it wasn’t just any ordinary Gate... It was seriously unusual. The Gate itself wasn’t high-ranked, but according to the investigation team that got dispatched—”
“I mean... I’m not curious at all, so why do you never stop talking?”
Jihoon looked completely fed up as he shoved another spoonful of shaved ice into his mouth.
“Hey, the person talking is the one who gets tired. How is the listener the one suffering?”
“I’m telling you, listening is just as exhausting right now...”
Annoyed by Jihoon’s response, Sojeong narrowed her eyes and glared at him.
“But your class should already have a bunch of good Hunters, right? You said you’re in Class 2? Isn’t that where all the top-level Hunters gather?”
“Upper-class cadets usually already have one or two guilds trying to connect with them...”
What Sojeong said was true.
Classes 1, 2, and 3.
Just being part of an upper class meant cadets received dozens of scouting offers from guilds every month.
Offers from large guilds, mid-sized guilds, and even elite small-unit guilds.
Unlike lower-class cadets, whose goal was simply to enter a good guild, upper-class cadets focused on negotiating the best possible conditions.
They already possessed dozens of guild business cards and simply had to negotiate with whichever guild offered the conditions they wanted most.
On top of that, they already received academy support funds worth eight to ten million won a month.
Very few of them were desperate for money.
Occasionally, cadets who wanted practical experience by exploring unusual Gates could easily participate in subjugation team internships simply by asking one of the large guilds they were negotiating with.
So upper-class cadets had no reason to risk themselves joining the Gate subjugation missions of the newly established guild founded by Sojeong’s father.
“You don’t even have a guild connecting with you, so opportunities to enter unique Gates like this are hard to come by for you.”
“Oh... Thank you for offering such an amazing opportunity... But I’ll just appreciate the sentiment.”
Crack.
Sojeong ground her teeth while glaring at Jihoon, who always seemed to deliberately pick the most irritating words possible.
“What’s the name of your dad’s guild anyway?”
“Huh? Why do you ask?”
Jihoon found it strange how startled Sojeong became from such a casual question.
“I’m just asking. Why are you reacting like that? Is the guild name a secret or something?”
“No, it’s not that...”
“Then what is it?”
“......Beauti...ful.”
“...What?”
“...Beautiful Guild...”
“...Do you think I’m the type of person who’d join a guild called that, or not?”
“...”
“—And you know how expensive magic stones are, right? Even collecting them and selling them is a whole job by itself. But they handle all of that for you, collect everything properly, and even sell it at high prices. Sounds super convenient, right?”
Jihoon had returned to the academy for the afternoon special lecture analyzing D-rank Gate monsters and was heading toward the building with the main auditorium while Sojeong continued chattering nonstop beside him.
“For Hunters without connections, even if they fight hard and collect magic stones, they still can’t get proper prices—”
“Enough!!! I’ll think about temporarily joining the Gate subjugation team once... So please stop... Just stop talking.”
Jihoon, on the verge of bleeding from his ears, finally surrendered with a slightly positive answer, causing Sojeong to jump excitedly like a child.
“Really? Really? You said you’d come with us?”
“I said I’d think about it, think! Now please go away already! Does your class seriously have nothing to do?”
Cadets from Classes 8, 9, 10, and 11 walked past Jihoon and Sojeong toward the building.
The special lecture analyzing D-rank Gate monsters in the main auditorium was a joint class for cadets of Classes 8 through 11, who would participate in the upcoming D-rank Gate subjugation mission two months later.
“You absolutely don’t look like someone from Class 11. You probably don’t even need to attend lectures like this, do you?”
Sojeong’s question was filled with genuine curiosity.
“Go away already!”
Without answering, Jihoon hurried into the building as though trying to shake Sojeong off.
Jihoon believed that even low-rank Gates must each possess their own unique characteristics, which was why he studied them so carefully.
After all, he had been transported to a parallel world when he used a skill inside an E-rank Gate...
The biggest reason Jihoon insisted on staying at the academy.
This was the place that possessed the largest amount of data on every type of Gate.
To Jihoon, every scrap of information about low-rank Gates like E-rank or D-rank Gates was precious.
“Kang Jihoon... Is that you?”
As Jihoon approached the building entrance, two men in black suits blocked his path.
The two men were almost as tall as Jihoon and wore identical suits and sunglasses as though they had coordinated them.
“Who are you?”
Han Sojeong, who had been walking beside Jihoon, asked the men.
“Han... Sojeong Hunter? Aren’t you Hunter Han Sojeong from Class 2?”
“Yes, that’s right. But who are— Ah!”
“So you remember me. I’m Team Leader Kim Seongju from the Ares Guild. I gave you my business card before.”
“Yes, I remember. But what brings you here? Do you need something from Kang Jihoon?”
“Yes. We have some business with this friend here.”
The man introducing himself as Team Leader Kim Seongju removed his sunglasses and answered Sojeong with a friendly smile.
“So it seems Hunter Han Sojeong knows this friend too?”
“Yeah... I know him pretty well.”
“Then excuse me, but would it be alright if we borrow him for a moment? The Ares Guild has something to discuss with him.”
“Ah... Are you trying to scout him?”
Sojeong’s eyes immediately sharpened at the appearance of a sudden rival.
“Huh? Scout him? Hahaha, of course not. The Ares Guild is a large guild. The business card we gave Hunter Han Sojeong isn’t something just anyone receives. Haha.”
“Then why are you here for him...”
At Sojeong’s question, Team Leader Kim Seongju erased the friendly smile from his face and turned toward Jihoon.
“Kang Jihoon. Academy Class 11. E-rank Hunter. That’s you, right? We were sent by Director Do Woonhyuk. Come with us for a moment.”
That’s right.
These men had been sent by the father of Do Younghwan, the man Jihoon had previously beaten until his wrist and shoulder were ruined and all his front teeth were smashed out.
Do Woonhyuk.
An executive in charge of Hunter management at the Ares Guild and one of its most powerful figures.
When his only son awakened, he had been happier than when he himself awakened.
Even after discovering his son wasn’t a high-rank Hunter, he wasn’t worried at all.
Once his son trained and studied at the academy enough to reach a decent level, using his own influence to get him into the Ares Guild would be easy.
But then one day.
The son he treasured so dearly came home beaten senseless by some unknown bastard.
Although he had immediately contacted the guild and arranged treatment from a skilled healer-type Hunter, his fury never subsided.
That was why he had now sent these two C-rank Hunters to stand before Jihoon.
“Remember Do Younghwan, Director Do Woonhyuk’s son? The one you beat until all his front teeth fell out?”
Team Leader Kim Seongju’s expression turned cold as he pressured Jihoon.
“Do I look young for my age or something...”
“...What?”
“I mean me. Do I look that young?”
“What are you even—”
“Why are you speaking politely to Han Sojeong but talking casually to me?”
“...Is this bastard insane?”
“Now you’re insulting me too...”
Kim Seongju’s face twisted in irritation.
Beside him, the other C-rank Hunter who came along, Lee Younghoon, slowly began channeling mana into his right hand.