Chapter 12
"Seo Ji-hyuk! Seo Ji-hyuk of the Balance Guild!"
"W-why is he here?"
So Seo Ji-hyuk was more famous than I’d thought.
The white masks erupted in a commotion the moment they saw the small scale I had summoned.
They all looked to the leader mask, as if waiting for him to decide what to do.
I hadn’t intended to impersonate him when I took the scale out, but since they were kind enough to swallow the lie on their own, I figured I might as well make use of the situation.
"Have you come around to the idea of a settlement?"
I stepped forward, copying the tone I remembered from Seo Ji-hyuk.
The white masks flinched.
A few of them even backed away until their shoulders hit the wall.
To them, Seo Ji-hyuk was a figure of fear.
The leader mask clicked his tongue, clearly displeased by the sight of that.
He raised an arm.
Hidden within his wrist were throwing needles.
"...!"
It looked like they were launched by flicking up the arm and snapping the palm open.
Their force was enough to kill a D-class hunter who had let his guard down in an instant.
How did I know?
Because I’d just been hit by them myself, obviously.
The leader mask said flatly, "You’re Seo Ji-hyuk? Don’t make me laugh. There’s no way that bastard would be here-!"
His indifference didn’t even survive to the end of the sentence.
The other white masks looked just as stunned as he did.
I could tell even though I couldn’t see their faces, because they all let out little yelps and stumbled backward in unison.
They were staring at the man slowly pulling the needle from his left eye.
It was only natural they’d react like that.
"Ugh...!"
I’d tried to hold back the pain while removing the needle, but a groan still slipped out.
Pop.
By the time I got it all the way out, the pain was gone and I even felt a little relieved.
The sound it made coming free was almost cute.
The darkness in my left eye faded, and my vision began to return little by little.
Now that I could see again, I found the masks staring at me in confusion despite still wearing their own faces.
"Interesting toy."
"You bastard!"
The leader mask folded and opened his palm again.
Needles flew once more.
Spikes, really, all barbed and sharp, hurtled toward me.
Maybe because I already knew they were there, I could actually make them out this time.
If I’d made up my mind to dodge, I probably could have.
If I’d had a weapon in hand, I might have even been able to knock them aside.
But I didn’t bother.
I let the needles bury themselves in my body and walked straight toward the leader mask.
When the distance between us narrowed to about a meter, he stopped firing.
Clatter, clatter.
Needles dropped from my body, which was naturally healing on its own, and struck the floor with metallic clicks.
"...Seo Ji-hyok!"
"So, are you ready to talk settlement now?"
"Why are you here?"
Maybe because I looked so relaxed, as if I had no intention of blocking his attacks, the leader mask seemed convinced I really was Seo Ji-hyok.
The fact that the needles embedded in my body were slipping out and healing over on their own probably helped sell it.
"Do I have to explain myself to you? Who do you think you are?"
"Watch your mouth, Seo Ji-hyok. You don’t want a war with Crowd."
"A war? A war, huh. Do you think you can handle me?"
"...Fine. I admit you’re strong. You killed three A-class hunters in an instant and came back after settling things with a government official. I wouldn’t be able to beat you."
He killed three A-class hunters in an instant?
That bastard was a monster on Taecheon’s level.
So why had Seo Ji-hyok chosen not to kill me, and instead gone back after reaching some fair agreement both sides could accept?
If he was that strong, he could have killed me.
Because of my recovery?
Hmm. I wasn’t sure.
"However! You alone can’t take on all of us here right now!"
The moment he finished, the white masks moved in perfect sync and drew their weapons.
These were the same people who’d just been trembling in fear and backing away.
And yet now they looked ready to leap at me the second their leader gave the word.
Their hands clenched around their weapons until their knuckles had gone white, and there was a stubborn sort of resolve in the way they held themselves.
People who forced themselves past fear and charged kept clinging on with all they had, so long as their bodies still moved.
If a fight broke out, things might get messy.
Well, that applied to the situation where I’d have to deal with every last one of them.
"Why don’t you go visit an ear, nose, and throat clinic?"
"What?"
"I’m pretty sure I said I wanted a settlement. Didn’t you hear me?"
Why on earth would I bother taking all those people on one by one?
Everything would naturally resolve itself if I just made the leader kneel.
The leader mask looked at the scale floating over my left shoulder.
He seemed to be weighing whether to settle or use force.
"......"
I didn’t press him and waited for him to decide.
I didn’t want to push too hard and stir up trouble for no reason.
Ten seconds?
After about that long, the leader mask made his decision.
"Settlement, my ass."
So we were fighting after all?
"Do you think I don’t know what happened to the bastards who settled with you?"
Huh? That was an awfully suspicious thing to say.
What had happened to the people Seo Ji-hyok had settled with to make him say that?
As the party concerned, I was suddenly very curious.
But the leader mask apparently had no intention of saying more. He tore his gaze away from me.
His eyes shifted to Yu Jae-i behind me.
At some point she’d gone to the back and come back with a pair of swords in her hands.
"I’ll come again next time, Yu Jae-i. Then you’ll have to grant our request."
"...Get lost. Don’t come back."
"Hmph. I’ll see whether you can keep that sharp tongue of yours next time, too."
Hold on, at least tell me what happened to the people you settled with before you go!
The man, unable to hear my thoughts, spun on his heel and stormed out of the blacksmith shop.
The other white masks followed their leader out one by one.
"What’s wrong with that asshole? He just says his piece and leaves?"
Would it have killed him to say what happened to the people he settled with?
It wasn’t like I could go ask Seo Ji-hyok directly...
I dismissed the scale I’d summoned and turned around.
"How was that? Think I got through it pretty well?"
"For now. Though they’ll probably come back again. Annoying bastards."
As she said that, Yu Jae-i came out from behind the counter and walked toward me.
She still had the pair of swords in both hands.
Why was she still holding her blades now that all the white masks were gone?
Generally speaking, people hold weapons to deal with enemies.
Which meant there was still an enemy in her blacksmith shop.
And that enemy was...
The moment that thought landed, my body reacted on its own.
One step.
I retreated by exactly one step, and because of that, I managed to avoid the sword Yu Jae-i swung at me.
"...Tsk."
"What the hell are you doing, swinging at me out of nowhere?"
If I’d been even a second slower to move, my head would have gone flying.
Well, maybe if it did, it would just stick back on again.
My shattered skull had recovered, and the organs damaged by the explosion had already healed, after all.
"......"
Yu Jae-i only glared at me and didn’t answer.
It was the same look she’d given the white masks when they were still in the shop.
The look of someone staring at an enemy.
I had to say, that was a little harsh for the person who’d just helped her.
"I just helped you, you know!"
"Am I supposed to thank you? Seo Ji-hyok. You’re the worse bastard anyway."
"Ah..."
Well, damn.
It wasn’t only the white masks who’d been fooled.
She’d been fooled too, and was taking me for Seo Ji-hyok.
"I never thought I’d be able to kill you, anyway."
Fair enough.
I’d taken several of the needles the leader mask fired and still stood there as if nothing had happened.
Even so, Yu Jae-i had swung her sword at my neck.
That was her way of stating her resolve to me.
"Get lost. I’m never selling to guys like you."
Hoo. Was my acting really that convincing?
I let out a sigh and raised both hands like I had when we first met.
"I’m not Seo Ji-hyok."
"......"
She didn’t look convinced.
Even after my perfectly reasonable claim, she kept glaring at me.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she meant to attack again.
Probably because she’d seen me recover my injuries in an instant.
She must have decided attacking me was pointless.
That worked out well for me.
"Seriously. Want to see my face?"
"What would that change? I saw you summon the scale myself."
"Just take a look first."
From the way she talked, it was obvious she didn’t know Seo Ji-hyok’s face.
So naturally she’d assume that even if I took off the mask and showed her, nothing would change.
She was right.
At least, if I had been an ordinary ex-D-class hunter.
As if to show I had no intention of attacking, I slowly removed the mask and revealed my face.
"......?"
She stared at me blankly, then slowly tilted her head.
That was the reaction people always had when they looked at me.
Huh, do I know him from somewhere?
Someone I knew when I was younger?
Oh, a client... no, wait.
That was the kind of person I was.
"...Do I know you?"
She asked cautiously, frowning at me.
She seemed irritated that I looked familiar but she couldn’t place me.
Still, taking off the mask had helped.
The way she addressed me changed from the hostile "you" to the more cautious "you" that carried a bit of distance.
"You look familiar somehow..."
"Want to search for Baek Do-woon on your smartphone?"
"Baek Do-woon?"
She gathered the swords into her left hand, took out her smartphone, and searched my name as I’d asked.
Then she looked back and forth between the screen and my face.
She was comparing the face on the screen to the one standing in front of her.
Next, she tapped the screen, and if I had to guess, she’d clicked on the related searches.
Her eyes went wide as she stared at me.
There was probably Do-hee or Taecheon on the screen, so I thought maybe...
"Ah! I’ve seen you in the news. You’re the brother who breaks his little sister’s back!"
"...Yeah. That’s me."
So that was the nickname she knew me by...
I hung my head, feeling thoroughly deflated.
And here I’d thought people outside the guild would know me more as Do-hee’s older brother or Taecheon’s friend.
"...I was way too rude just now, wasn’t I? Sorry."
"Hoo..."
Honestly, it would have been better if she’d just flat-out called me a little-sister backbreaker.
The way she apologized with a hand over her mouth only made my head more complicated.
Then she apologized again, this time with a proper, respectful air.
"I’m really sorry. For attacking you because I misunderstood, and for calling you that. I mean it."
Her repeated apologies made it clear she genuinely felt bad.
Still, the attack had been my own fault for pretending to be Seo Ji-hyok.
At least I hadn’t been hurt.
And as for the way she’d called me, well, all she had to do was stop doing it next time.
So I said,
"It’s fine."
And yet for some reason, even after I said that, her expression didn’t look any better.
"...I figured you’d say that."
"Huh?"
"You said you were going back to hunting, right?"
"Yeah."
"If you get your hands on any good material items, bring them here. I’ll make whatever you want, and I’ll put my all into it as an apology. I’ll take payment, though."
With that, she suddenly held out her hand to me.
Her right hand was thick with calluses from hammering metal.
It was a very pretty hand.
Yu Jae-i smiled brightly, as open as the forehead she had uncovered.
"Since this is what you’d call fate, introduce yourself properly while you’re at it. I’m Yu Jae-i of Jae-i's Blacksmith."
"I’m the brother who breaks his little sister’s back-"
"Hey, I said I was sorry!"
"...A hunter. Baek Do-woon, a hunter returning after two years."
I grinned and took Yu Jae-i’s hand.
Hunter, Baek Do-woon.
That had a good ring to it.
Now it was truly beginning.
The journey to forming a party with two people.