Chapter 239: Conquering the Kraken (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 239: Conquering the Kraken (1)
Ju-yeon led me by the hand to the rear area, a short distance from the surveillance team's post.
It was being used as a rest area for B-rank Hunters and a makeshift clinic for healers.
We entered the largest tent, which served as Ju-yeon's personal space.
The moment we stepped inside, she put her hands on her hips and shot us a stern look.
“You two!”
When I thought about it, Ju-yeon was in a tough spot, too.
Her niece had begged her to bring her along as a personal guard, only to then run off on her own wearing some strange mask, startling everyone. On top of that, she'd been forced to stand in punishment, something far too childish for her age. Ju-yeon had every right to be angry.
But contrary to my expectation of a furious scolding…
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Her voice was filled with nothing but concern.
Wow… Ju-yeon really is an angel. To hold back like that.
Before we could even answer, she cast a pure white light over us to check our condition. She then let out a sigh of relief and smiled faintly.
“Thankfully, you’re not hurt.”
Sometimes, a single warm word can inspire more remorse than a dozen angry ones.
Painfully aware of the trouble she had caused for so many people, Seo-yeon hung her head low.
“I’m sorry… Auntie.”
Han Ju-yeon gently stroked Seo-yeon’s hair.
“It’s okay. Anyone can make mistakes. But you can’t repeat the same one, alright?”
“…Okay.”
Seo-yeon nodded cautiously.
Then, she glanced at me standing beside her and said the same thing.
“…I’m sorry. For getting you caught up in this.”
Hmm.
I wasn’t sure what to say.
If I were her dad, I would have given her a stern lecture and then a hug. But doing that now would just be weird.
“It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.”
“Okay… I will.”
That was the best I could do.
I didn’t want to dig any deeper and complicate our relationship or the situation.
As an awkward silence fell between us, Ju-yeon looked over at me with a bright, beaming face.
“Do-jin, you were so cool earlier. It couldn’t have been easy to stand up to my sister like that.”
“It certainly wasn’t.”
It really wasn’t easy.
Just as Ju-yeon had said, Han Ju-hee had changed a lot.
She had lost her composure to the point where she couldn’t tolerate anyone questioning her.
She worked every day as if she were being chased. You’d think that if she was so busy, she’d consider letting something go, but even in her exhaustion, she fought desperately not to lose a single thing.
Had she lost her composure because she had too much work, or had she thrown away her composure to get more work done?
It had reached a point where I no longer knew which was the cause and which was the effect.
Seeing my somber expression as I thought about how she’d changed, Ju-yeon cupped my cheeks.
“Don’t take what my sister said to heart.”
She seemed to think I’d been hurt by the careless words her sister had thrown at me.
“Well… it’s all in the past, so something like that doesn’t bother me anymore.”
Son Si-woo and Kim Do-jin.
The two bodies, complete opposites in every way, had exactly one thing in common.
They were both orphans, abandoned by their parents at birth.
In the past, I got into so many fights because of words like that.
Both as a child and as an adult.
Whenever someone looked down on me for being an orphan, I’d fly into a rage, and I wouldn’t feel better until I’d beaten the crap out of them.
But as I got older, I naturally grew numb to it.
“You’re so mature, Do-jin.”
Her warm words made me let my guard down for a moment.
Ju-yeon placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me in.
“Oof—!?”
Caught off guard, my body was pulled into a soft airbag… or rather, her chest.
It felt like resting my head on a perfectly firm yet soft cushion.
“That’s why it hurts my heart even more.”
Her voice, full of sorrow, settled next to my ear.
“How hard must it have been for you all this time… It feels like that mature, confident demeanor of yours was all built up just to overcome it.”
“……”
That wasn’t the case now, but… it certainly used to be.
I tried so hard to appear mature so people wouldn’t look down on me for being an orphan. I’d adorned myself with luxury brands I had no interest in just to keep my confidence up, and I’d made a point of only eating at the most expensive restaurants.
But I learned that was all completely useless.
It didn’t matter what other people said, as long as I and the people around me were okay.
Right now, the sensation against my head was what concerned me most.
The faint, sweet floral scent and the unique sensation of her chest—something difficult for any man to ignore—was driving me crazy.
I was genuinely worried I might get an erection.
Just how long is she planning on holding me…
Just as I was worrying, she finally released me from her embrace.
“From now on, if you have any worries or need help, you can always come to me.”
“Uh… I don’t really have any…”
“I said if you have them in the future, didn’t I?”
I flinched slightly at her sudden forcefulness.
“…I will.”
“Promise?”
As I linked my pinky with hers, a female nurse pushed aside the tent flap and called out urgently.
“Healer-nim! An emergency patient is arriving in one minute!”
“Okay! Send them in right away.”
It seemed a patient had arrived who was urgent enough to require Ju-yeon’s attention.
“Do you want to go outside and rest for a bit?”
“Yes, I will.”
“…Okay.”
I stepped outside so as not to interfere with the treatment and looked up at the sky.
The sun was already setting, marking the beginning of evening.
It was about time for dinner…
“Let’s go get something to eat.”
“…Okay, sounds good.”
I led the dejected-looking girl, who was fidgeting awkwardly, toward the cafeteria.
After filling our bellies with a hearty meal, we walked at a leisurely pace and arrived in front of our lodgings.
Before we went inside, I asked her.
“Seonbae.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not going to pull the same stunt tomorrow, are you?”
“Uh… yeah, I won’t.”
“……”
It took her a full twelve seconds to answer.
Damn it, she’s definitely planning to do the same thing tomorrow.
She was probably already thinking about how she could sneak out without anyone noticing.
“That’s a lie.”
Her face turned red.
“Is it… that obvious?”
“Yes. It would be better if you just didn’t lie at all, Seonbae.”
“Sorry.”
Sigh.
This is killing me.
“Meet me tomorrow at dawn in front of that big tent from earlier.”
“Huh… wh-what?”
“I’m saying, let’s do it together.”
I realized I couldn’t stop her unless I broke one of her limbs and tied her up.
It was better to keep her by my side than to watch her run off and do something reckless on her own.
Whether she understood my reasoning or not, she nodded, a bright smile on her face—the likes of which I hadn’t seen in a long time.
“…Okay!”
“……”
Her helplessly bright expression made me turn my head away.
You can’t just spit on a smiling face.
Seriously, what am I going to do with her?
* * *
Late that evening.
Han Ju-hee sat alone in the empty conference room, lost in thought as she sipped a strong drink.
Her younger sister, who had always been the one to yield, had defied her for the first time.
That alone was shocking enough, but the words her sister had left her with echoed relentlessly in her mind, tormenting her.
‘That I’ve changed…’
It was the third time she had heard those words.
The first person to say it was her husband.
The second was her daughter.
And finally, her sister.
To all three, she had dismissed their words with the same reply.
‘It’s only natural for people to change as they get older.’
You go through many changes as you age.
Your stamina declines, and you get tired from the slightest exertion.
Such changes weren’t limited to the body.
Beliefs you’ve held for decades, vows you swore to keep for a lifetime.
Worn down by the passing years, they change so much that you can’t even remember what they were originally like.
‘It’s not just me, it’s everyone.’
Ten out of ten, a hundred out of a hundred.
Everyone changes.
Every single person she had ever known had been like that.
Except for one person: her husband.
“Haa…”
She knew.
She knew that among the things she had done today, there were things she clearly shouldn’t have.
For instance, threatening her own daughter, the words she’d said to Kim Do-jin, her overbearing attitude, and so on.
She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Her daughter, who kept trying to slip from her grasp, and Kim Do-jin, who stepped up to defend her.
Even her sister, who had stood up to her for the first time to protect them both.
“…So I’m the only bitch here.”
She was exhausted.
To the point that even the body of an S-rank Hunter, which should rarely feel physical strain, couldn’t endure it.
The documents piling up in her study every day, the events she had to show her face at, the personal requests she couldn’t refuse, and even her research.
To maintain a life with no room to breathe, she needed a flawless plan.
So, at some point, she started getting angry whenever something happened that wasn’t part of her plan, or when things went awry.
The thought of her precious time being wasted, the question of why they wouldn’t just follow the most efficient plan.
Those feelings turned into anger, and she became a person who spewed thorny words.
Even though she knew it was absolutely the wrong way to act, she had maintained the same stance.
Because it was the best way to get through her packed, overflowing schedule within the allotted time.
If she could, she would just let it all go, but she couldn’t.
‘If I do that, it’s all over.’
Doing so might bring temporary relief, but in the end, it would lead to the worst possible outcome.
“Haa…”
A deep sigh was heavy with regret.
Her disobedient daughter, her defiant sister.
But what bothered her most were the words she had carelessly thrown at Kim Do-jin.
“How could I have said such a thing…”
It was a verbal assault so harsh it couldn’t be excused by saying she was angry.
She had lost her senses for a moment.
What was it that had enraged her so?
‘…He resembles him.’
She had seen her husband in Kim Do-jin as he stepped forward to protect Son Seo-yeon.
Her husband, her daughter, her sister.
It felt as if the three of them were protecting each other while branding her as the villain, and it made her angry and feel wronged.
Even though she knew her own actions were the cause, in that moment, she felt an unbearable, bitter loneliness.
“Oh my, what’s this?”
Just then, someone opened the door to the empty conference room.
“Were you drinking alone? Huh?”
A man with dyed blond hair, Kim Tae-yang, walked over, licking his lips.
“If you needed a drinking buddy, you should have said so. I would have been happy to join you.”
He grabbed the bottle on her table and chugged it down.
After drinking the potent liquor like water, he looked down at her with eyes full of lust.
To a lecher like him, Han Ju-hee was a prize he’d always wanted to get into bed.
However, she was always incredibly busy, and the fact that her husband was the one and only Son Si-woo had kept him waiting for an opportunity.
‘Is today that opportunity? Hehe.’
He grinned, thinking that today might finally be the day, and was about to sit next to her when—
“Get lost.”
The bitingly cold and sharp words stopped him in his tracks.
Anyone else would have given up and fled, but not Kim Tae-yang.
“Aren’t you being a little too cold? What’s wrong with fellow S-rank Hunters getting to know each other?”
His arm reached for her shoulder with a greasy tone in his voice.
It was a distance any other woman might have carelessly allowed.
But Han Ju-hee didn’t permit it in the slightest.
Fwoosh!
“Ugh—!?”
Instead, she punished him by engulfing his outstretched arm in flames.
While the startled Kim Tae-yang summoned his mana to extinguish the fire on his skin, Han Ju-hee rose from her seat and glared at him with fierce eyes, issuing a warning.
“Don’t even think about touching me. This is just a simple warning…”
Her voice, now laced with killing intent, continued.
“Next time, I’ll burn your entire body to ash without any warning at all.”
Gulp!
Kim Tae-yang swallowed hard, his body tensing up from the killing intent that filled the space.
Han Ju-hee walked away, radiating a terrifying aura.
Finally able to breathe again, he wiped away his cold sweat and replayed the words he had just said.
“Fellow S-rank Hunter…? Ha, fuck.”
What a load of bullshit.