My World Has Collapsed (2)
"Hmph..."
After meeting Association President Kim Mansoo and Han Yewon at the Hunter Association, I spent the rest of the day in a daze.
That evening, I arrived at a five-star hotel in Yongsan, Seoul, and took the elevator up to the rooftop.
Plenty of people wanted to see me right now, but this one had sent a specific meeting place and told me to come. I wanted to think as little as possible, so I decided to go ahead and meet her.
The elevator chimed. I stepped out and walked across a rooftop that was vast and lavish, yet empty of anyone in sight. I kept walking until I found the person waiting for me.
You've got to be kidding me.
So that was why she'd called me here.
A massive swimming pool stretched out beside me, lights scattered across the rooftop to push back the night. And as if she'd rented the entire place, a woman lay stretched out on a sun lounger.
I walked over.
"You call someone out here and this is what you're doing?"
"You're here?"
A woman in a white bikini in the middle of the night, summer or not. A-Rank Hunter Yoon Seonga. Noona. Someone I had more than a few ties with — for better and for worse.
"The view here's insane, right? Lie down next to me and take a look."
Yoon Seonga pointed at the sun lounger beside hers. If this had been before, I would have asked her what the hell she thought she was doing and gone about my business. This time, I just lay down.
It was a place where you could take in all of Seoul's nightscape at a glance. The view was genuinely good. But I was never the type to enjoy this kind of thing.
"Why'd you call me out here all of a sudden?"
I entertained her nonsense for a bit, then asked.
"How are you feeling? Getting your license suspended overnight."
"Absolutely filthy. You asking because you don't know?"
"Hmph."
Yoon Seonga let out a snort. I'd always thought she was a little off.
"How do you like this hotel?"
"It's nice. I'd love to live somewhere like this every day."
"Our company owns thirty-five hotels around the world that are even better than this one. Wait — we acquired another one recently, so that's thirty-six."
"How very impressive of you."
I said it with deliberate sarcasm. She clearly wanted to show off, so I might as well play along.
Yoon Seonga was the daughter of the Miya Group, one of the country's leading chaebol families. Among everyone I knew, not a single person had a background that even came close to hers.
"Alright. Look at me now."
"I said look."
I turned my head, and Yoon Seonga had rolled onto her side to face me as well. The way she lay there, head propped on her hand.
I had eyes. I was a man. She was something else. The bikini didn't look vulgar on her so much as elegant. Tall, with a figure that belonged on some heavily filtered social media post. On top of that, she was a beautiful hunter — and as a third-generation chaebol, her face had already made her famous long ago. Even if she'd never become a hunter, even if she hadn't been a chaebol's daughter, that face and that body would have given her a successful life.
Yoon Seonga said it looking straight at me. It had been a while since I'd seen that look. The one that looked down on people.
"If you'd taken my hand from the start, none of this would have happened."
"But look how it turned out. Serves you right, Lee Dohyun."
"Did you call me here to mock me?"
"Yeah."
"That's a pretty ugly hobby."
"Ha. Still going to act like that, are you?"
Yoon Seonga looked at me and let out a hollow laugh. I wasn't even sure why I was having this pathetic little standoff with her. It was a story that had already ended.
The Miya Group and Yoon Seonga had wanted to make me one of theirs.
But.
Yoon Seonga's company, the Miya Group, was a nationally despised conglomerate. Every generation of chairmen had been a walking scandal, and the group had been publicly condemned countless times for industrial accidents and power abuse. One of their subsidiaries handled the Hunter Association's public relations, and they'd meddled so much in hunter affairs that even the Association President had been at his wit's end. Whenever the media put them on the chopping block, they'd lie low for a while — then the moment things quieted down, they'd go right back to doing whatever they wanted, no holds barred.
"My answer is the same now as it was then. I have no intention of getting engaged to you, Noona. I don't want anything to do with your company."
"Still putting on airs? And your answer should be different now, don't you think? I'm not the one who should be asking. You should be begging me to meet you. Right?"
"Ha..."
I decided it was time to get up.
The reason I'd kept my distance from the Miya Group had come, in part, from a sense of duty and justice. As an S-Rank Hunter, as the raid leader of the national strike team, I believed I couldn't join hands with a group that kept showing its ambition.
On paper, Yoon Seonga was more than I deserved. By the time I met her, I'd already settled things with Han Yewon, so leftover feelings weren't what held me back. But from the start, I just didn't like her. Marrying for profit. Spending the rest of my life with Yoon Seonga, who'd been insufferably arrogant from the moment we met.
Unlike Han Yewon, Yoon Seonga had a hunter's aggressive temperament — plus a habit of sizing people up and looking down on them. When I supported her and trained her, I could tell she was a woman who wanted to stand out more than anyone, and whose possessiveness ran deep.
I had no intention then, and none now, of putting on the collar hidden inside her temptation.
"I'll be going. I don't think talking any further is going to do me any good."
I stood up from the lounger.
"There's no one who can help you except me. Stop pretending to be strong. Until you get your hunter license back, you can't do a thing."
"Looks like today's shock hit you pretty hard. Go home, cool your head, and think it over. The longer this drags on, the less you're worth. Keep that in mind."
Right to the end, Yoon Seonga threw sharp words at me. When we first met we hadn't gotten along — we'd clashed — but after that I'd thought we maintained a decent relationship at a comfortable distance. I guess it really was true. You only saw people's real nature once you'd lost everything.
"You never changed from the start, Noona. The second I ended up like this, you bared your teeth."
I didn't feel it was worth answering. I walked away without looking back.
I parked the car and walked toward home, drained. Because too many people recognized me, I'd gotten a place in a part of Seoul that wasn't densely built up.
Too much happened today.
Hunter license suspension. Meeting Han Yewon. Meeting Yoon Seonga. I couldn't fit any of it into my head. Even if I went home, lay down, and fell asleep, I didn't think it would be any different.
"Huh?"
Someone was standing in front of my house.
"So Yumi?"
Why was So Yumi, an A-Rank Hunter two years younger than me, here? I hadn't seen her since we'd greeted each other when she came to cheer us on at the Shanghai Gate.
"You're finally here?"
So Yumi, in jeans and a t-shirt — casual clothes. She'd always had that kind of personality, but even so, she looked unmistakably angry. Why, exactly?
"What are you doing here at this hour?"
"Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"Ah..."
Too many people had been contacting me. I hadn't replied to any of them one by one. So Yumi was the same. No — her especially, I hadn't wanted to see right now.
"I said, why didn't you answer!"
"...I've been a mess."
My social circle was small to begin with, but this one in particular was hot-tempered, with a high-pitched voice. That was really the only issue, so I didn't dislike her... but she wasn't someone I wanted to deal with tonight.
"You know what kind of situation I'm in. I'd walk you home, but not today. Go back."
I'd already gone a round with two women. If I had to deal with So Yumi on top of that, my head was going to explode, so I tried to ignore her and walk past.
"Explain yourself to me."
"What?"
But So Yumi suddenly grabbed me.
"Explain what?"
"Why did you stop the raid in Shanghai and pull out? They said it was because you insisted on calling it off."
"Yeah. That's right."
"Why?"
So Yumi looked up at me. A stubborn expression. But I was exhausted. And I didn't have anything more to say than what I'd already told the press.
"As raid leader, I called it off for the safety of my team. That's all I have to say. Go home."
"...That's not it."
"What?"
So Yumi suddenly dropped her head, then looked back up at me. Those trembling, bloodshot eyes were enough to make even me flinch.
"You're not the Lee Dohyun sunbae I know."
"So Yumi."
"Haa..."
So that's what this was. Just throwing a tantrum.
A precious combat asset — an A-Rank Hunter at such a young age. When So Yumi first came in, I'd focused on helping her with raids. She'd followed me closely back then. This was probably the backlash from that. It was understandable enough. She'd overestimated someone at a young age.
But I didn't have the energy to understand her or talk her down.
"Get home safe."
That was all I said as I walked past her. She seemed to be saying something behind me, but I didn't want to hear it.
Just leave me alone.
"Hunter Lee Dohyun."
"And you are?"
"It's been a while."
The Korea Hunter Association building. Before the five-year suspension took effect, I'd briefly met with Association President Kim Mansoo and was on my way out. I just hadn't expected to run into a member of the National Assembly.
Do Minjun.
One of the few assemblymen whose name I actually remembered. I knew him because he often said things encouraging young people. But I wasn't particularly fond of politicians to begin with.
"Could you spare a moment?"
"I'm not sure. I'm a bit busy. I have to get to the airport."
"Ah, I see, I see. That's unfortunate."
He was young for a politician, but still quite a bit older than me — and Do Minjun was a polite man.
How stupid of me.
It wasn't that I didn't have a moment to talk, and snapping at him like that was rude. Right now I just looked like a kid throwing a tantrum. Like So Yumi, who I'd just seen.
"I'm sorry. I'm busy, and I'm not feeling well."
"Not at all. I understand."
"Then I'll be going."
"Hunter Lee Dohyun."
I was about to leave when Do Minjun stopped me.
"You're still young. And the Republic of Korea isn't so well-off that it can afford to let talent like yours rot for five years."
"...Is that so?"
I understood what he was saying. It just didn't mean anything. Even if those five years were reduced to one — no, even five months — the beliefs that had already shattered inside me couldn't be put back together.
It wasn't about other people. I didn't think I could function as a hunter the way I used to. Could I act with complete conviction, without a shred of hesitation, the way I used to? I doubted it.
"As a member of the National Assembly — no, as a citizen of this country — I'm sorry. But we will set this wrong right. Until then, I know it will be hard, but please hang in there."
"Yes. Thank you for the kind words."
Yeah. Real nice words. Clap, clap, clap. I didn't even vote in the last general election, but if this were my district I'd almost want to give him my vote. It just didn't reach my chest.
Should I just go somewhere else?
I didn't want to stay in Korea, so I decided to take an overseas trip for the first time in my life. I didn't know the first thing about that kind of thing, so I asked Association President Kim Mansoo, and he said Guam would be good. Now that I was actually about to go, I felt a little... but I should just push through with the choice I'd made.
"Hmm..."
Having flown on a plane for the first time, I arrived in Guam. I'd only recently learned that Guam was American territory, but I'd ended up here anyway. The scenery was unlike anything I'd seen in Korea. Even the beach seemed full of life.
But.
I'd booked the best hotel in Guam. A view you'd only see at a world-class tourist destination stretched out before my eyes. And yet I felt none of it. No pleasure. No excitement.
Ah. So that's how it is.
What did any of this even mean?
My world had abandoned me.
I hadn't lived for a nice house, a nice car, or overseas trips I could take whenever I wanted. I hadn't even properly registered that these things had value, that other people wanted them. I'd found meaning in holding everything up — as an S-Rank Hunter, as someone people around me counted on.
Thinking about it now, maybe I'd just been lost in some childish game of playing hero, all by myself.
How was I supposed to live from here? Where was I supposed to find meaning?
"The ocean is quite beautiful, isn't it?"
Then suddenly someone approached me on the beach and spoke in English. A Caucasian man in a Hawaiian shirt, his fair hair slicked back. I wasn't in a great mood, but he was probably just a friendly tourist. No reason to get upset.
"Yes, it's a nice view. First time I've been here."
"Hahaha. There are far more beautiful places if you go to the American mainland."
Why would he say that all of a sudden?
"Your English pronunciation is excellent. I'd heard you were a hunter with a remarkable academic drive. I can see why."
"Excuse me?"
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm James Jordan, Head of the Hunter Management Department at the American Hunter Association."
I turned my head. Then I scanned the surroundings. Someone that high up in the American Hunter Association wouldn't have come alone. Why me?
"Now, now! Please don't misunderstand."
"...Why did you come looking for me?"
"Hahaha. It seems the American Hunter Association doesn't have the best image in Korea."
"How did you know I was in Guam?"
"This was a rather urgent matter. Please accept my apology."
The man who'd introduced himself as James Jordan, Head of the Hunter Management Department, looked at me and dipped his head slightly.
"Hunter Lee Dohyun. I very much wanted to meet you. If you would forgive my discourtesy and spare me a little of your time?"
I didn't answer James Jordan right away. I looked around.
If this had been before.
If I were meeting a high-ranking official from the American Hunter Association, I would have gone through our own Hunter Association first.
"Alright. I understand."
"Thank you!"
But that didn't mean anything anymore. My hunter license had been stripped away.