Chapter 141: Displeasure
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 141: Displeasure
In short, removing the blessing was impossible.
The blessing could only be lifted for those who were officially married.
...Well, it is a blessing placed on the children of wealthy families to keep them from getting into trouble. It wouldn't make sense for them to remove it just for an engagement.
Besides, Choi Hyena and I had nothing more than a verbal agreement; we hadn't even had an engagement ceremony.
There was no way they'd remove it just because we kissed a few times.
Of course, they said that if I filed a formal objection with the Papal Office, they would lift the blessing after a series of procedures. But that would make things complicated, so most people apparently just put up with it until they get married.
The bishop must have been dumbfounded. After all, it must have looked like we were protesting by kissing and demanding they remove the blessing out of the blue.
“...”
Choi Hyena had been silent ever since we left the office.
She seemed so embarrassed that she kept her head down, hiding a face that looked like it was about to explode.
“...She's my fiancée.”
“Kyaaaaa!!!”
Smack, thwack!
“Don’t! Stop it! Stop!!!”
She must have taken voice lessons as a child, because the way her tone rose was remarkably natural.
The lighthearted comment I’d made to change the mood was returned with merciless violence.
“Ow.”
“I meant for it to hurt!”
One might wonder how fists like cotton puffs could hurt, but she'd imbued them with magic power.
It would have been less painful to be struck full-force by a grown man with a steel bat.
“By the way, was the blessing the reason you asked me to come to the church with you?”
“...Because if I got pregnant now, it wouldn't have been a lie.”
“...Are you serious?”
From the way she avoided my gaze, I could tell she was at least half-serious.
It was a line of thought no ordinary person could even conceive of.
“...Anyway, who is that woman?”
“Hm? Noel?”
“Noel...”
Choi Hyena muttered Noel’s name to herself.
It was so eerie it sent a chill down my spine.
It seemed that leaving the two of them together would be no different from locking a cat and a dog in a studio apartment.
Of course, some cats and dogs get along, but I couldn't imagine the cat named Choi Hyena and the dog named Noel getting along in my absence.
I'll have to make sure they're not together when I'm not around.
In any case, Noel would be returning to her world in a few days, so a situation where they were left alone was unlikely to arise.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to be careful.
“She has a striking appearance. What tribe is she from?”
“...I never really asked, so I don't know.”
“Really?”
Objectively speaking, Noel was so beautiful that most celebrities would be reluctant to even stand next to her.
On top of that, her hair and eyes were a vivid blue, so it wasn't strange for Choi Hyena to assume she was of the lineage of a tribal chief or the child of a renowned family.
Even if I managed to gloss over it now, knowing Choi Hyena's personality, she would surely try to investigate Noel on her own.
...Should I create an identity for her now?
Noel would be active on Earth from time to time in the future, so it would be more convenient in many ways to create an identity for her now.
There were two ways for Noel, whose birthplace was another dimension, to establish an identity on Earth.
One was to take a magic power test and register as a Hunter. The other was to meet a broker.
Both had clear pros and cons.
In the former case, Noel could easily become a B-rank Hunter, so it had the advantage of being a quick and simple way to create an identity.
The problem, however, was that Hunters below A-rank had an obligation to answer a mobilization order, just like soldiers.
Simply put, if a disaster related to magical beasts, like a Gate Break, occurred near their residence, Hunters had to follow the state's mobilization order.
For reference, depending on the severity of the situation, a Hunter living in Gyeonggi Province could be summoned to the middle of Seoul, so moving wouldn't make a difference.
Besides, I'd heard the process for registering a change of address for Hunters was strict.
In the latter case, she could live as an ordinary person, which had the advantage of not having to bear any troublesome obligations.
The problem was that I didn't know how to meet a broker who could create a fake identity.
Besides, it was illegal.
I can't ask Choi Hyena... Should I try asking Grandma Choi Young-ok?
Normally, I would have casually asked Choi Hyena, but her relationship with Noel was about as bad as it could get.
I didn't want to go looking for trouble.
Besides, I had already asked Grandma Choi Young-ok for many favors. I wasn't shameless enough to ask for something more.
“Where are you going now? Home?”
“No, I have to go to the dojo.”
“What?! You still go there? I told you it could be dangerous...”
I covered Choi Hyena's mouth.
“If it seems really dangerous, I'll be careful. Besides, my master hasn't done anything wrong.”
Just because someone's family is a criminal doesn't make them one too.
Besides, if my master really was a member of the Heavenly Lord's clan, one of the leaders of the Triad, she could have been living in luxury in China. Why would she be running a dojo in a shabby Korean villa with me as her only student?
From top to bottom, aside from her name, I knew nothing about my master.
“I appreciate your concern, but I want to see and judge for myself.”
It wasn't just that I'd grown fond of her through arduous training; there was something strangely captivating about my master.
I didn't want to distance myself from him now based on mere suspicion.
“...It's not because this 'master' of yours is a beauty, is it?”
“...Stop pinching my side.”
“No.”
*
Crash!
“Keuk?!”
A man flew at a brutal speed and slammed into a wall, coughing up blood before sprawling on the floor.
It was Yoo Jintae, the chief secretary of the Heuksan Guild.
“Jintae.”
“Ye-yes... Guild Master...”
At the call of the guild master, Go Taebeom, Yoo Jintae pushed himself off the wall and managed to walk over to him.
Even for an A-rank Hunter, he was no match for the fury of Go Taebeom, who was among the top of the A-ranks.
He had already suffered serious injuries, including broken ribs and internal damage.
“What does this look like to you?”
“...”
Go Taebeom shoved the headline decorating today's newspaper in Yoo Jintae's face.
[Three Seongnam City Council Members Murdered Overnight.]
Flip. He turned the page.
[Drugs Found in the Hotel Rooms of the Deceased Council Members?!]
Even the news on the wall-mounted TV was all about the dead council members and the drug they were presumed to have taken, P.S.
As a result, the Hunter Association was in a complete uproar.
The branch manager had once staked his name on eradicating P.S.
Not long after that press conference, it became difficult to find not only P.S. but any drugs at all in South Korea.
But now, these council members had been found murdered in a hotel room after brazenly taking drugs—and not just any drugs, but P.S.
It was a situation where the reputation of the Association and its branch manager had effectively hit rock bottom.
Of course, if it had nothing to do with us, we would have just watched from the sidelines as if watching a fire across the river.
The problem was that the P.S. had been distributed by one of the Heuksan Guild's subordinate guilds.
If that fact came out, it wouldn't just be the entire guild that was at risk. The lives of the executives, including the guild master, would be the first thing to worry about.
“Jintae, what did I tell you then? I asked you to just catch the bastard who killed my brother. But what the hell were you doing while he was out killing other people?”
“...I apologize.”
However, Guild Master Go Taebeom was more focused on the whereabouts of the man who had killed his brother, Go Namseok.
“Huu... I wasn't asking for much. Just bring me that bastard. Do that, and I'll give you anything you want.”
“...I will hurry.”
“Good.”
At Go Taebeom's unspoken order to leave, Yoo Jintae exited the guild master's office.
“Chief Secretary!”
Supported by a subordinate who had rushed to his side, he quietly reviewed his plan.
The incident with the council members was a mishap that occurred because the guild members couldn't follow them into the hotel.
But this time would be different.
Yoo Jintae's mind was filled with the thought of finally killing the bastard and leaving Korea safely.
*
After parting with Choi Hyena at the church, I took Noel to the dojo.
“...Master.”
“Yeah?”
“Didn't you say you were rich?”
“I have a decent amount. Why?”
Noel's eyes were filled with a strange expression as she looked at the dojo building.
Well, after seeing only the dazzling streets of downtown Seoul, suddenly coming to a rundown hillside neighborhood would feel strange.
To see a scene like this, not even that far from the city center.
I'd feel a sense of disconnect too.
“I definitely saw ads for dojos and Hunter academies in the downtown area earlier. Couldn't you just go to one of those?”
“You must not know Earth very well yet. The best restaurants are always hidden gems.”
“Hmph...”
Ignoring Noel's gaze, which held not a shred of belief, I entered the building.
Tinkle. The dojo door opened.
“The inside is quite spacious and clean, isn't it?”
“Yeah, my house was this clean too before someone smashed a wall.”
“...Men who hold grudges aren't very popular, you know.”
I couldn't bring myself to say, More popular than a woman who smashes walls, maybe?
“Gah?!”
Taking advantage of Noel's distraction, I grabbed her ear.
“Let go, please...!”
But as her master, I needed to educate my summon.
“There's something you should say first.”
Her ears were still her weak spot, as she immediately collapsed to the floor.
“S-say what...?”
“About breaking the wall.”
“Th-that was because you, Master, first... Eek?!”
With my other hand, I grabbed Noel's small, round tail, which showed no sign of remorse.
She'd torn a hole in her pants, making it easy to grab.
“I did what?”
“I-I was wrong! I was wrong, so please let go...!”
“You should have just said so from the start.”
The moment I loosened my grip, Noel scrambled away from me as if escaping.
“Eeeek...! This is tyranny! How could you threaten me with my ears and tail!”
“Want me to grab you and go at it all night? Feeling lucky today?”
“...”
Only then did Noel shut her mouth.
I felt a sense of satisfaction, as if my authority as her master had finally been established.
While I was satisfying my own selfish desires by gently stroking Noel's pathetically trembling tail, the office door creaked open.
“...This is not a café.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Cu...”
I grabbed the head of Noel, who was about to say something rude to a stranger, and forced her to bow.
Sensing that something was off about the atmosphere, I glanced at my master.
I didn't know the exact reason, but she seemed to be in a very bad mood.
“...Hyun-woo.”
“Yes?”
“You should not bring outsiders to the dojo so carelessly.”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
It was the first time she had ever called me by my name.
“Be more careful from now on.”