Not Again
I couldn't understand what was happening.
It had been an ordinary day like any other. Yet for some reason, hunters now stood before me in my own home.
They had smashed through the front door without permission, then immediately drawn their weapons and pointed them at me.
All while spouting some nonsense about an arrest.
“Lee Seoyun! Don’t even think about pointless resistance. Hunters have already surrounded your house.”
When I looked out the window at those words, I saw that hunters really were blocking the street outside.
I had no idea what was going on, but the sheer number of people gathered for one man left me speechless.
“Sigh. There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding. How about you lower your weapons first?”
“Hah. You say that, but you’re just trying to catch us off guard, aren’t you? Pathetic to the very end.”
“No—what the hell? You bastards barge into someone else’s house and then keep spouting this crap? Have you all lost your minds!?”
When I finally lost my temper, the hunters shifted into combat stances as if they had expected it.
The sight only made me want to laugh. At the very least, shouldn’t they tell me what crime I was supposed to have committed?
I was seriously considering flipping the whole situation when one of the hunters spoke to me.
“Calm down, Seoyun. Nothing good will come from acting like this.”
“Kang Hanna? Why are you here?”
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the unexpected face.
As an S-rank hunter, she was both my classmate and a friend.
She also belonged to the same Orion Guild as me.
“Don’t misunderstand. Choi Jincheol forced me to come. I didn’t want to be here either.”
She let out a small sigh while watching my reaction.
Her expression didn’t look like she was lying.
Yet that only made the current situation even harder to understand.
“Seoyun, just come with us for now. If you cause a scene here, it’ll only get harder for you.”
“Hanna. Do you actually think this situation makes any sense? I haven’t done anything wrong, yet you’re telling me to just let myself be dragged away!?”
“It’ll be fine. Choi Jincheol said he’ll help you no matter what. And of course, I’ll stay by your side until the end. So… please?”
Kang Hanna pleaded with me as if begging.
Yes. If it was her, I could trust her. She had always taken my side since the old days.
When I became an S-rank, she had been happier than anyone else.
I still clearly remembered her crying tears of joy at the news of my promotion.
That was why I decided to trust her this time as well.
…Yeah. This is the best option right now.
Outside the window, police and reporters had already swarmed the area.
Resisting here would only make things worse.
Not only for me, but for the people around me too.
The moment I resigned myself to following them quietly, a terrified voice came from behind.
“O-Oppa?”
At my little sister’s voice, I couldn’t bring myself to turn around.
Instead, I asked the association personnel who had come to arrest me.
“Can we put the handcuffs on once we’re outside in the car? It’s a bit hard to do this in front of my family.”
“I’d like to ask the same. The charges haven’t even been confirmed yet.”
“I’m sorry, but that won’t be possible. This is the law and proper procedure.”
Kang Hanna tried to help from the side, but it was useless.
The association’s cold tone left no room for negotiation.
In the end, the moment I held out my hands, the cuffs clicked shut. The moment my sister saw them, she rushed toward me in panic.
“W-Why are you all doing this!? Don’t do this to my brother! What did my brother ever do wrong!!”
She tried to grab me, but another hunter quickly stopped her.
“Jian-ah. Oppa will be back soon, so don’t worry and wait for me, okay?”
“N-No! Please don’t take my brother away! I’m begging you!!”
“……”
If I stayed here any longer, it would only make things harder for Jian.
I left her in Hanna’s care and stepped out of the house.
The reporters waiting outside immediately swarmed me like a pack of piranhas.
“Hunter Lee Seoyun! Is it true that you abandoned your comrades inside the gate and fled? Because of that, Hunter Cha Seojin lost both arms and two hunters died! Please say something!”
“This incident will be recorded as the first arrest of an S-rank hunter in South Korea. How do you feel about that?”
“Public opinion is exploding right now. Is it true that you left the boss to the other hunters and hid by yourself!? Then were all your past achievements fake as well!?”
The barrage of questions from the reporters showed no sign of stopping.
Only after I finally got into the car was I taken straight to the association.
When we arrived, I looked up at the association building.
I had always come here as a hunter. I never imagined I would one day enter it as a suspect.
After enduring nearly half a day of interrogation, I was finally released.
Since the charges hadn’t been confirmed yet, I wasn’t sent to prison.
But the moment I stepped outside, the news and internet were already flooded with my name.
As if the charges had already been proven, people were busy cursing me.
“Sigh. I guess I should head to the guild first.”
I wanted nothing more than to go straight home, but this matter had to be resolved first.
Going home now would only cause more trouble for my family anyway.
I headed straight for the Orion Guild.
Choi Jincheol was already waiting for me in the first-floor hallway.
“Oh. Our Seoyun. You’re finally here?”
He greeted me as if he had known I would come.
I skipped the greetings and went straight to the point.
“Choi Jincheol. What the hell is all this? I abandoned my duty, deserted the gate and my comrades, and ran away? Who the hell is spreading this bullshit!?”
“Whoa, whoa. What’s the rush? Let’s go upstairs and talk. Everyone’s waiting.”
“What? Who’s everyone?”
I asked, but he didn’t answer.
He simply brushed it off with a sly smile.
“Ah, you’ll see. Just go up.”
By the way, what was so funny to this guy? His friend was in serious trouble.
It was utterly ridiculous, but I followed him up to the guild master’s office anyway.
When I stepped inside, familiar faces were waiting for me.
“Yoon Seah. Kang Hanna……”
Of course, there were other familiar faces besides them.
They were the hunters who had raided the A-rank gate with me yesterday.
“Well, since you all know each other, there’s no need for introductions.”
Choi Jincheol sat down in his chair with a relaxed voice.
Instead of sitting on the sofa, I asked him directly.
“So what exactly is going on? Why have I suddenly become a criminal overnight?”
Because of this, my house had been trashed and even the people I cared about had been hurt.
If I had actually done it, at least I wouldn’t feel so wronged. But everything I was hearing was complete nonsense and false accusations. It was maddening.
“That’s what I want to know. Why did you do it?”
“…What?”
What came back to me was my so-called friend’s incomprehensible words.
I thought I had misheard and asked again, but all I received was mockery.
“Hey, Seoyun. The kids have already given their statements. So just stop and admit it already.”
“…Did you call me all the way here just to say that crap?”
My body trembled with unbelievable rage, but Choi Jincheol remained completely calm.
That attitude irritated me more than anything else.
“That’s enough. Even between friends, there’s a line you shouldn’t cross.”
“Haha. You gonna hit me? Try it and you’re fucked, dumbass. While you were mindlessly clearing gates, I’ve built up connections with people way above you.”
He waved around a notebook filled with countless phone numbers.
Ignoring him, I looked at the hunters who had entered the gate with me and said,
“You all know the truth. I never abandoned my comrades and ran away from the gate yesterday.”
“……”
“Say something, anything! Please!”
I shouted in frustration, but the hunters avoided my gaze.
Maybe Choi Jincheol had threatened them into silence.
But surely at least one of them could speak the truth.
No matter how I tried to understand, I couldn’t forgive them.
“Senior, please stop now.”
At that moment, Yoon Seah, who had been silent until then, stood up.
Her dark red eyes stared straight at me as she continued.
“When you think about it, this is all your fault, Senior. If you had prepared properly, none of this would have happened.”
“Seah, what the hell are you—”
“D-Don’t call me by my name like we’re close!”
I was at a loss for words.
No matter how prickly she acted, I had always thought of them as juniors I needed to protect.
Yet now those same people were stabbing me in the back.
“If you had just commanded properly, there wouldn’t have been any problems! You charged in alone against the boss and caused all this, didn’t you!?”
“What are you even saying? If you hadn’t thrown away the holy water back then—”
“S-Stop spouting nonsense!! It was all your fault from the beginning! Cha Seojin losing both arms, the healers dying—everything! You brought this on yourself!”
Yoon Seah screamed at the top of her lungs to cover up her own mistakes.
I couldn’t say anything more at the sight.
I looked at the other hunters just in case, but it was the same. They all kept their mouths shut and blamed me just like her.
I turned to the last remaining hope.
“Hanna. At least you believe me, right?”
“……”
But why? The woman who had promised to help me earlier was now avoiding my eyes.
I tried to ignore the growing anxiety and approached her.
“You know me. You know I’m not that kind of person. How many gates have we cleared together?”
“……”
“You said it yourself. No matter what happens, you’d stay by my side until the end.”
“…Enough.”
At that moment, her trembling voice brushed past my ears.
Thud— Her hand pushed me away as I drew near.
“Just stop it already, Seoyun.”
“What?”
“Aren’t you ashamed as an S-rank hunter? Even I can’t protect a criminal.”
I froze on the spot.
It was far more shocking than being betrayed by Choi Jincheol or the other hunters.
I had never even imagined that one of the people I trusted most would turn her back on me.
Even so, I desperately tried to convince her.
“Hanna. I think you’ve misunderstood. I really didn’t do it.”
“The hunters who went with you have already given their statements. What more needs to be said?”
No matter what I said, she wouldn’t listen.
Or perhaps she was choosing not to listen.
“…I’m sorry, Seoyun.”
At those words, I finally realized that nothing I said would matter anymore.
That statement meant she was going to pretend she didn’t know the truth even though she did.
The truth no longer held any importance.
“How about it? Starting to feel real now?”
Step. Step.
Disgusting footsteps approached from behind.
“The victim, Seojin, has already given his statement too. Of course, we’ve fabricated all the evidence as well. So stop struggling pointlessly and just confess.”
Choi Jincheol whispered into my ear with a snicker.
“Our promising Seojin can’t have those kinds of charges on his record, can he? So be a good senior and take the fall for your cute junior.”
“Do you really think you can handle this?”
“Why? Are you worried the guild will fall apart without you? Wake up. We have more than ten S-ranks besides you. And they’re all younger and more popular than you. Nothing will change just because you’re gone.”
After hearing those words, I looked around and finally realized the truth.
How foolishly I had lived. How stupidly I had trusted others.
My own naivety made me want to vomit.
“So this is everyone’s answer, huh?”
I asked one last time just in case, but as expected, no one took my side.
Both Yoon Seah and Kang Hanna simply looked away.
There was no longer any reason for me to stay here.
“…It was disgusting being with you all this time.”
And let’s never see each other again.
With those final words, I walked out of the guild master’s office.