Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Phoenix Guild's Proposal (2)
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"Then, if you'll excuse me."
Jeong Ye-rin gave a slight bow as she stepped inside through the front door.
The guild members who had come with her waited outside.
This felt awkward.
It was the first time visitors had come to his house since returning to Earth.
And not just any ordinary guests, but members of the Phoenix Guild, no less.
'What could they be after?'
At first, he'd thought they might be here about the vanished dungeon.
But judging from Jeong Ye-rin's actions and expression, that didn't seem to be the case.
He watched her take off her shoes, his mind wandering to unnecessary suspicions.
A connection from that one encounter at the cafe someday.
Or was it even fair to call it a connection?
When you thought about it, hadn't she approached without any warning, handed him her business card, and just left?
It was still an incomprehensible action.
She was a really strange woman.
But that didn't mean he could just chase her away.
Considering the Phoenix Guild she belonged to, he couldn't afford to treat her lightly.
On the contrary, this was a chance to satisfy his curiosity.
Not only to find out why she'd come looking for him, but also whether this was her personal initiative or something on behalf of the guild.
"Um..."
As he stood there silently, Jeong Ye-rin cautiously opened her mouth.
"Ah, sorry about this."
No matter the purpose, she was still a guest who'd come to his home.
Leaving a guest standing was rude.
He quickly ushered her into the living room.
A suitable spot in the living room...
Oh, right—he'd left the gargoyle there.
The gargoyle was a monster, but it usually stayed frozen like a statue, so he'd kept it in the living room.
And sure enough, Jeong Ye-rin couldn't take her eyes off the gargoyle in the living room.
The last thing he needed was some unnecessary misunderstanding.
"That's... just a statue. You know, kind of a hobby of mine?"
"Ah... I, I see."
Even as he spat out the excuse, he sighed inwardly.
The gargoyle was about the size of a human torso, and its appearance resembled a fierce demon.
Who would keep something like that in their living room?
Looking at Jeong Ye-rin's flustered expression, it was clear she thought he was weird.
"Standing around like this must be tiring on your legs. Please, have a seat here."
Pretending nothing was wrong, he moved the gargoyle while offering her a seat.
The gargoyle was heavy, but Coco came out to lend a hand.
"Oh..."
At the sight, Jeong Ye-rin nodded as if she'd suddenly understood something.
"Mr. Yi Kang-hyun, you handle necromancer abilities quite skillfully, don't you?"
And with that remark, he knew for sure.
'They've really done their homework on me.'
He'd never introduced himself as a necromancer to her.
And Jeong Ye-rin didn't even flinch at the sight of Coco. She just looked at it as if she'd known all along and it was only natural.
But it didn't matter.
He was registered as a necromancer at the Awakener Center anyway.
For a guild like Phoenix, checking that through the center would be a piece of cake.
Of course, it wasn't his actual ability, so there was no need to correct her misunderstanding.
Legally speaking, as long as summoned creatures didn't harm others, it was fine to keep them around—even skeletons in the house was perfectly normal.
After roughly moving the gargoyle, they sat facing each other at the living room table.
Now it was time for the real talk.
"Well then, I'm curious why you've come to see me."
"You must have been surprised by my sudden visit. First, let me apologize."
As she bowed her head with her apology.
Clink-
Maru placed a cup of tea on the table.
Well, with a guest over, it would have been awkward not to offer anything.
Maru had done well here.
"Huh?"
But the appearance of yet another skeleton made Jeong Ye-rin look surprised again.
"Th-that's impressive. I've never seen anyone handle necromancer abilities so freely!"
He gave a slight smile at her words and offered her the tea.
"Please, have some. Let me know if you need more."
She hesitated for a moment before starting to drink.
"......"
After taking a sip, she looked shocked once more.
What was it?
Was the taste off or something?
The tea Maru had brought wasn't ordinary.
It was the tea Celia had offered as a tribute after the special mission ended.
'Was it called Moonlight's Breath...?'
As Jeong Ye-rin sat there speechless, he took a sip himself.
"!"
And he was shocked too.
This was a taste that demanded shock.
Wow, such a profound flavor?
And it even melted away his fatigue completely.
He had to admit it.
'At this level of taste, it could sell for a fortune...'
He'd have to ask Celia if he could get more sometime.
But he snapped out of his stray thoughts.
He wasn't sitting here alone with Jeong Ye-rin just to enjoy tea.
"I'm wondering why someone who knows me so well has come calling."
"Actually..."
Whether still lost in the tea's flavor or organizing her thoughts, Jeong Ye-rin hesitated for a bit.
And just as she seemed about to speak.
"Actually, what I wanted was—"
Clink-
Maru brought out ramen.
Oh right, he'd asked for food earlier.
"......"
The flow broke once more, silence falling.
But with food right in front of them, it wasn't the atmosphere for talking.
"If it's okay, why don't you eat the ramen first...?"
He was hungry too, so he offered it to her.
And the moment he put a bite of ramen in his mouth.
'Huh?'
What was this taste?
The ramen tasted strange.
Not bad strange—too good to be real.
'What the...?'
A rich broth filled his mouth.
A clean yet deep flavor enveloped his tongue.
The perfectly seasoned meat and vegetables elevated it to perfection.
What on earth?
This surpassed even the ramen enhanced by Maru's cooking before.
As he mindlessly slurped the noodles, he suddenly came to his senses.
'This is definitely not an Earthly taste!'
A sharp warning blared in his mind.
"Excuse me for a moment..."
He excused himself from Jeong Ye-rin and left the room.
He headed straight to the kitchen.
Ciel and Maru were there.
"What did you put in the ramen?"
He asked Maru in as low a voice as possible.
"Clack clack clack."
Huh? Not Maru—Ciel had made it?
At Maru's words, he turned to Ciel.
"Ah... Um, well..."
Ciel stammered it out bit by bit.
"There was... meat in the freezer..."
In other words, there'd been meat in the freezer, so she'd added it.
Meat in the freezer?
That was odd. He didn't remember putting any meat there separately...
As he puzzled over it, Maru spoke up.
"Clack clack!"
Ah, Celia had given them meat before?
What kind of meat was it again?
"Clack."
Hand? Like a pig's foreleg or something?
"Clack!"
Troll...?
"......"
Putting together Maru's fragmented words, he finally realized.
Troll monster hand.
Celia had offered it as tribute once, but he'd forgotten.
Back then, Celia had even offered up holy knights as tribute, and he'd probably passed out.
In short, while he'd been unconscious, Maru had frozen the troll hands for storage.
"Damn it!"
He rushed back to the living room.
There sat Jeong Ye-rin, having finished the ramen.
"Wow, this is seriously delicious!"
"Ah..."
This was dizzying.
A few hours before visiting Yi Kang-hyun's house.
Jeong Ye-rin had finally uncovered information on Yi Kang-hyun.
In truth, she could have easily found it by requesting it from the Awakener Center or Hunter Association.
No matter how strict personal information laws were, the Phoenix Guild's backing made that trivial.
However, Jeong Ye-rin chose not to go that route.
'Jeong Tae-young...'
Her eldest brother and vice-guild master would notice for sure.
Then he'd suspect why she was digging into this hunter named Yi Kang-hyun and might even make contact himself.
'I absolutely can't let that happen.'
Jeong Ye-rin gritted her teeth.
She could excuse herself because of her different mother.
But Jeong Tae-young was vicious enough to abandon even their younger brother from the same mother, Jeong Woo-jin.
He'd ruthlessly discarded Jeong Woo-jin after his major failure in the incubus dungeon and pinned the blame for the vanished dungeon during the monster wave solely on him.
So Jeong Ye-rin had secretly gathered info, investing time and money.
Right now, she needed a faction within the guild independent of Phoenix's main power—one she could move on her own. And she was convinced Yi Kang-hyun was the card to overturn the guild's balance.
'He knew the Goblin Lord’s strategy'
Thanks to that info, still unknown to the world, she'd safely cleared the Goblin Lord's dungeon.
"I have to recruit him no matter what..."
He already knew how to defeat the Goblin Lord.
She had no doubt he knew about various other monsters too.
That alone skyrocketed his value.
'I'm the only one who knows his true worth right now.'
Jeong Ye-rin resolved to bring Yi Kang-hyun into the Phoenix Guild.
More precisely, as an advisor to the team she led.
Fortunately, he wasn't affiliated with any guild, and his visible rank was just F-grade.
It might seem suspicious, but he was likely a hidden master who'd paused activities.
"Let's head out."
Jeong Ye-rin quietly set off with a few team members.
Polite protocol would be to contact him first, but an inexplicable urge to hurry made her go straight to his house.
The moment Jeong Ye-rin entered Yi Kang-hyun's house, she was stunned.
She'd expected an ordinary home, but there was a gargoyle statue smack in the middle of the living room.
'No way it's a real gargoyle, right?'
Gargoyles were known as dungeon guardians.
They stayed still like statues normally, attacking only when hunters appeared.
Jeong Ye-rin eyed the statue curiously.
The intricate details were convincing enough to mistake it for the real thing.
The only difference? It wasn't actually a monster.
'Of course it couldn't be a real one.'
Perhaps she'd stared too openly, because Yi Kang-hyun spoke first.
"That's... just a statue. You know, kind of a hobby of mine?"
It was an odd taste, but she decided not to pry further.
But the scene that followed left her shocked again.
A skeleton popped out from somewhere and moved the gargoyle statue.
And that wasn't all.
Another skeleton brought out tea on a tray.
"......"
She was too astonished to speak.
And she had to admit it.
'Mr. Yi Kang-hyun really is a necromancer.'
Watching him control skeletons so freely, Jeong Ye-rin couldn't help but be impressed.
It also meant he had the mana to sustain them indefinitely.
'How high must his stats be?'
And the surprises didn't end there.
She took a sip of the tea the skeleton brought and was startled.
'No way... this is Moonlight's Breath?'
This rare tea was hard to obtain even on the Eldorado Continent.
Jeong Ye-rin herself had never been there, but she'd tasted it once at the Sacred Guild.
In a tiny shot glass, no less.
That's how she recognized the tea she was drinking now.
'Even Kim Suho cherished it and sipped it sparingly...'
Only a tiny fraction of hunters were randomly summoned to the Eldorado Continent.
And Kim Suho of the Sacred Guild had gone there too. His tale of serving as a holy knight of the White Church was legendary.
How great must his exploits have been to receive mass-produced holy swords and various items as gifts before returning to Earth?
Moonlight's Breath was one of the items Kim Suho had brought back.
He'd even praised it on a broadcast once.
Yet here was Yi Kang-hyun, freely pouring an ace like Kim Suho's treasured tea into full cups.
His casual "let me know if you want more" was shocking.
His true identity was becoming ever more intriguing.
One thing this visit confirmed.
'He definitely went to the Eldorado Continent.'
She'd suspected a hunter of this caliber had been there.
Now she was certain.
'Probably on par with Kim Suho?'
Maybe even greater.
'Just who is he?'
Someone this skilled must have made a huge name for himself on the continent.
Why would such a figure live in seclusion?
Jeong Ye-rin sank into thought.
Then the ramen arrived.
One bite, and she was awestruck again.
'I've never tasted anything like this...!'
It was leagues beyond regular ramen—a profound depth of flavor. The broth was incredible, and the meat in it was a true delicacy.
'This must be from the Eldorado Continent too.'
It was that extraordinary.
"Wow, this is seriously delicious!"
Having polished off even the broth, Jeong Ye-rin heaped on the praise.
Her greed grew stronger.
How amazing would it be if such a remarkable person joined her side?
Maybe she was jumping to conclusions based on just this.
But she'd already witnessed his true value.
Yi Kang-hyun knew about the Goblin Lord and had been to the Eldorado Continent.
He must have more hidden abilities.
But conversely, doubt crept in.
With such talents, could she even embrace him?
Why would someone like this join a guild out of lack?
Not even for an advisor position.
People like him couldn't be swayed by money or items.
They lacked for nothing—why bind themselves to a guild?
Jeong Ye-rin's expression turned a bit downcast.
As she sat there after finishing the ramen, Yi Kang-hyun spoke first.
"Now that you're done eating, let's get to the point. Why did you come to see me?"
Jeong Ye-rin hesitated.
Was this the right move?
At first, she'd brimmed with confidence that she could pull him in.
She'd thought the Phoenix Guild was enough.
But reality differed.
'At this level, even the Sacred Guild would fight to recruit him...'
After a brief deliberation, Jeong Ye-rin steeled herself.
Life was all or nothing anyway.
She took a deep breath.
"This might sound strange, but... I want to invite you, Mr. Yi Kang-hyun, to serve as an advisor to the Phoenix Guild!"
And she went for it.