What Changes and What Doesn't (3)
Yoon Seol had closed the distance until she was standing right in front of Lee Jun.
An A-Class hunter closest to S-Class.
He couldn't gauge her strength through mana, but Lee Jun had eyes of his own. The bearing she displayed inside a gate was… unquestionably on a different plane from an ordinary hunter's.
Still… she'll never get the promotion, in the end.
Only three of the four great guildmasters would rise to S-Class. The one left out would be…
"It was a surprise to meet like this, on such short notice."
"…It's strange for me too. I never expected to see two guildmasters at the Seoul Dungeon."
Of course, he knew the whole story behind this little spectacle.
On the surface, it looked like guildmasters tenderly looking after their members… but in truth, it was nothing more than a farce.
On Seolwon's side, it was surely a plan Lee Hyeon-ah had devised for Yoon Seol's image marketing.
As for Taesan… frankly, they didn't need to go this far.
Kang Tae-san personally tempering his recruits was already common knowledge. Videos of it got posted to Nutube on a regular basis, and people offering their condolences to Taesan's rookies had become something of an event in itself.
Well, that's marketing too, I suppose.
Thanks to it, Kang Tae-san's image had settled into something remarkably friendly with the general public.
Like the health-nut uncle next door, more or less.
…Which wasn't exactly wrong.
At any rate, even if the intentions weren't entirely pure, the fact remained that he genuinely invested in developing his rookies. So Lee Jun had no reason to look on it unfavorably.
"How was training today?"
"I got results I'm satisfied with. And you, Vice-Chairman?"
"I also came away with something."
With those words, Lee Jun held up the gangsaengcho in his hand.
He was trying to imply that this had been the entire point of the training.
"I don't think that's quite it."
But if ever there were a case of true to form, this was it.
Yoon Seol didn't take the bait.
"This is all I gained today. Guildmaster Taesan's training is, as always, a tremendous help to martial-type hunters."
"Hmm. You seem in a rather good mood for that to be all."
"My mood?"
"Yes."
What about my mood?
"I'm the same as always."
"You look different to me."
"…How much do you think you've seen of me?"
"I'd say that's quite a lot already."
What is with this person.
Then again, with a social circle as narrow as Yoon Seol's… I suppose "a lot" could be accurate.
But by universal standards, that's still a no, isn't it?
Yet Yoon Seol showed no sign of bending her own opinion. She seemed entirely certain that she was right.
Fine then. Might as well… just nod along.
"You're right. I am in a better mood than usual today."
"As I thought. What might the reason be?"
"Let's see… how about, getting to see the Guildmaster of Seolwon?"
Said like that, wouldn't she leave in distaste?
Ugh, even saying it makes me cringe.
But then, perhaps eccentric people truly did move opposite to ordinary predictions.
Contrary to Lee Jun's expectations, Yoon Seol looked… quite pleased with that.
"Would it be all right to interpret that as meaning I brought you joy?"
"…Sorry?"
"Is that what it means?"
What—why are you like this?
"That, um… that was a joke."
"……"
"Haha, do it the way you usually do… you know…?"
Hmm. What is this?
Why is there suddenly a chill in the air…
"Um… Guildmaster?"
"…No, it's nothing. I didn't fall for it or anything. Everything unfolded exactly as I anticipated."
"…If you say so."
Yoon Seol brazened her way back into the conversation.
Does this person think that as long as her face is blank, no one can tell?
She did it the way she always does… apparently she's only strict with other people.
Or maybe she thinks joking is her personal signature move.
Honestly, what did any of it matter anyway.
Lee Jun decided to give up on thinking. Conversations with Yoon Seol had a way of making his calculations useless.
Her being so four-dimensional probably had something to do with it.
"Um… Guildmaster?"
"Yes."
"Lee Hyeon-ah is glaring at you from over there with a terrifying expression."
"Hmm. Is she?"
"…Shouldn't you be going?"
At those words, Yoon Seol gave a slight nod.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, she took a single step back.
Still impossible to read, that one…
And yet, before leaving, she said one last thing.
"Your atmosphere has changed since the old days."
"The old days?"
"The audit. You looked terribly exhausted back then."
"Ah…"
That was true, at the time.
Locking horns with a major guild the size of Seolwon was no simple matter. Gutting them through a financial audit had been something he'd committed to with real resolve.
It was a job he'd prepared and executed with utter thoroughness, and that thoroughness had come with its share of exhaustion.
"You look better now."
"…I've heard that a lot today."
"I mean it."
With that, Yoon Seol turned back toward Seolwon.
After walking a few steps, she paused, looked back over her shoulder, and added:
"And—one chance remains. If you ever wish to join Seolwon, you are welcome at any time."
"I must respectfully decline."
"Hmm. What a shame."
And with those words, she… smiled, ever so lightly.
Where none of her guild members could see.
This was already the second time he'd witnessed that side of Yoon Seol.
Then she turned once more and walked away.
Lee Hyeon-ah appeared to be nagging her about something, but he paid it no mind. Only the smile Yoon Seol had just worn lingered in his head.
"The one who's changed the most… might be you, not me."
Having murmured that, Lee Jun too led his party home.
And it was that very evening when these encounters of the day became an enormous topic of conversation.
After returning from the Seoul Dungeon, while the team ate the special dinner Lee Jun had prepared, Choi Jeong-hyeon was scrolling through articles on her phone and making a commotion.
"B-Boss! Look at this! It's on here too!"
"Jeong-hyeon, your soup's going to spill."
"Ah, yes. Sorry… no wait, that's not the point! Look at this, I'm telling you?!"
The article Choi Jeong-hyeon showed him was full of large, prominent photos of Lee Jun and Jeanne together.
Beyond that, there were shots of Kang Tae-san pressing down on someone's head, of Lee Jun talking with Yoon Seol, and so on.
Somehow, the proportion of Lee Jun's appearances was remarkably high.
"Haah…"
He'd expected it to a degree.
Two S-Class hunters and two guildmasters of major guilds. Politically and gossip-wise, the attention was inevitable.
"It'll be the talk of the town for about a week, then die down."
At those words, Choi Jeong-hyeon sat back down and swiped through her phone. She seemed to be going through the other photos one by one.
After staring intently for some time, she held the phone out to Seo Yoon beside her.
"Seo Yoon, look at this. We got mosaic-blurred…"
"I think that's better for us. Having your face too well known never does any good."
"Ehh… but aren't you a little disappointed?"
"Not particularly…"
The two of them had grown unmistakably closer through the joint training with Taesan. There had been an awkward distance between them before, and now—perhaps not quite intimate, but they seemed to be on perfectly cordial terms.
As the boss, it was a change he couldn't be more grateful for.
At this rate… we'll reach the next schedule in no time.
What was planned after this was the auction on the 27th. Until then there were no important engagements, so he intended to devote as much time as possible to the two women's training.
If raising just two of them keeps me this busy… and at the start I was planning to take on dozens…
It was fair to say Lee Jun had been profoundly ignorant on this front as well.
{That's exactly why mass development works, isn't it? Because normally nobody micro-manages every single person like this.}
"Mass development" sounds like something out of the livestock industry…
{Anyway. Just look at Taesan—guildmasters only check in occasionally between their other duties. Who does all this by hand?}
That's only because I don't have the infrastructure for it.
{You could've built that infrastructure if you'd wanted to.}
That's also true, but I do it this way because I want to.
And if I declared I'd raise S-Class hunters, shouldn't I obviously be putting in this much effort?
{Hmm… aren't you pushing yourself too hard?}
Not at all. In fact, I've been so healthy lately it's practically an ailment.
In any case, Lee Jun had wanted to develop hunters with his own two hands.
He could have joined any random guild as an instructor, but that would only have brought more constraints. And since establishing the management agency carried the secondary purpose of keeping the guilds in check, it was more convenient for the operation if Lee Jun moved alone at the top.
In the end, this structure had been set in stone from the very beginning.
Early on, he'd apparently felt some kind of impatient urgency, as if he had to do everything alone. He'd even thought that developing as many hunters as possible would be the better outcome.
But now that things had turned out this way, a different thought occurred to him.
Being cozy like this… isn't so bad either.
Yes.
This much felt just right.
Middle of the night, the day's routine complete.
Having carefully brewed the gangsaengcho he'd received from Kang Tae-san and fed it to the two women, Lee Jun was taking care of the leftover cleanup.
"All right, let's tackle the dishes now, shall we?"
The dinner dishes from earlier were still waiting too. He'd put them off to brew the herbs right away.
Humming a little tune, Lee Jun rolled up his sleeves.
{What, I thought you were done talking to yourself?}
Talking while doing housework is just what happens when you get old. You're an old man in spirit too, old man.
{Is that so?}
You're plenty old yourself, aren't you?
Have some solidarity.
{Hey.}
Lee Jun had also faithfully kept up his daily routine of needling Silhouette.
So, finish the dishes, wrap up the day on this end too—
Just as he was thinking that—
Click.
"Hm?"
A door opening on the second floor. At this position, at this distance…
Seo Yoon?
Listening to the sound of slippers scuffing across the floor, Lee Jun organized his thoughts.
Any reason to come down to the first floor at this hour? There was a bathroom upstairs too…
Thirsty, maybe?
Or had the gangsaengcho from earlier gone bad?
He was in the middle of those thoughts when, at last, Seo Yoon poked her head out from beyond the corner.
"…Boss, you were still up."
"Ah, yes. A bit of cleanup left. What about you, Seo Yoon?"
"I… came down for a moment because there is something I wish to say."
Something to say?
"Ah, of course. One moment—let me just finish this, and we can go to the living room and—"
Grab.
"…Seo Yoon?"
As Lee Jun turned back toward the sink, Seo Yoon caught his sleeve.
Seo Yoon?
Grabbed his sleeve?
It was entirely possible in principle… but this was his first time actually experiencing it, so Lee Jun found himself flustered all the same.
Jeanne did it often enough, but that, er… wasn't it a bit out of step with Seo Yoon's whole image?
"……"
"……"
And then, a brief silence settled between them.
Lee Jun waited, giving her time to say whatever she needed to, but she stayed stiff as a board, eyes fixed on the floor.
In the end, Lee Jun had no choice but to speak first.
"Um, Seo Yoon?"
"…I'm sorry."
"No, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm just wondering what's going on."
"……"
At those words, Seo Yoon cautiously lifted her head.
On that usually expressionless face of hers… something just slightly different could be seen.
"What is it you wanted to—"
"Simply… over the course of today, I found myself thinking…"
Today?
At the Seoul Dungeon?
What—did something happen during training?
Lee Jun was bewildered by Seo Yoon's words and actions, none of which he could predict. And in the midst of it, she summoned her courage and forced out her next words.
"If I, too… had been one of your old comrades. I think… I would have liked that."
"……"
Caught off guard, Lee Jun couldn't answer right away.
She wasn't the sort of person who usually expressed herself this way.
If there was a trigger… would it be Choi Jeong-hyeon? Or Jeanne?
"I… beg your pardon?"
In the end, that was all Lee Jun managed to blurt out.
Whatever the case… right now, he was extremely, thoroughly flustered.