Chapter 21
Baekwooncheon Guild held its regular meeting every Monday.
The executives gathered together to report on the previous week and discuss plans for the week ahead.
As meetings always did, the whole thing dragged on at a snail’s pace.
Lee Tae-cheon, the guild master and the man called the Knight of the Sky, sat there growing bored and stared at the seat where Baek Do-woon should have been.
Instead, Lee Seong-hun, deputy of the salvage management team, sat in his place.
He wore the face of a man silently asking, Where am I? Who are these people?
“Whoa. Seriously, that’s huge.”
A little girl’s voice rang out.
Everyone turned to look at Lee Yeon-ji, the bob-haired girl who had dyed her hair pink.
At sixteen, she was a genius who had become the youngest A-class hunter in South Korea, and last year she had come to Baekwooncheon of her own accord and begged them to let her join.
Back then, Tae-cheon had asked her, “Why the hell are you here?” and she had brazenly answered, “Because I’m a fan of you, mister, and Do-hee unnie.”
I’m a mister, but Do-hee is unnie?
I set the thought aside.
“Yeon-ji. No matter how boring the meeting is-”
“St. Mary’s Hospital in Gangnam froze over.”
At Yeon-ji’s words, Han Jae-im, the bespectacled man running the meeting, quickly searched the news and brought up a holographic screen.
In the center of the screen, a female reporter was explaining the situation around her.
At the bottom, a caption read: Ildae Group hunter, 20 minutes since entry.
“So the chairman’s daughter finally went out of control.”
“Didn’t they say they’d found someone who could harvest Udamhwa? How did the expedition go?”
“It was supposed to leave yesterday morning.”
“Tsk. Even if they bring back the Udamhwa, it’ll already be too late.”
While the people in the meeting room chimed in one after another, Tae-cheon studied the screen closely.
A masked man on the screen kept catching his eye.
The man made a gesture to a woman as if to say, Leave it to me, then walked into the building alone.
Below, a caption read: Believed to be an Ildae Group hunter... who is he?
“...Do-woon?”
Tae-cheon muttered his friend’s name, drawn from the masked man’s back.
Even with the mask on, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize that short little ponytail, like the tail of a fish.
Watching his friend’s trademark ponytail, he thought, Was he even planning to hide his identity?
“Why is that bastard over there?”
“Who?”
“That masked guy. That’s Do-woon.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The guy who supposedly went on vacation. Why is he there?”
“......”
At that moment, the meeting room went as quiet as a tomb.
Only two people reacted differently from everyone else.
Lee Seong-hun’s blank face shifted into one that clearly said, Oh, crap, this is bad, and he even started hiccuping in panic, while Yeon-ji looked at the others with open contempt and shook her head.
Tae-cheon slowly looked over the guild members, who had all gone dumb as fish, then remembered the words of the one friend unique in the world.
Back then, Tae-cheon had answered, “Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden, you bastard?” and dragged a sigh up from somewhere deep in his friend’s chest.
“It means we’re too stupid to think things through, so we have to survive on instinct. So memorize this: if something feels off for no reason, move first.”
After hearing that, Tae-cheon had sincerely believed Baek Do-woon was his friend.
Meaning he’d thought, What the hell is this idiot even talking about?
If Baek Do-hee hadn’t corrected him, he would have kept thinking that, and Baek Do-woon would have been so frustrated he might’ve thumped his chest and developed heartburn on the spot.
The smartest person he knew, Baek Do-hee, had put it like this:
“Look at what’s happening and think. If you think of something, act on it. But since you’re stupid, Oppa, that means skip the thinking and go straight to acting. Even if the result isn’t great, it’s better than standing still.”
So Tae-cheon acted without thinking.
“Deputy Lee Seong-hun.”
“Y-yes, hic! Yes?”
“Where is Team Leader Baek Do-woon right now?”
“......”
Tae-cheon’s gaze did not linger on Seong-hun for long.
Realizing he had no intention of talking, Tae-cheon immediately turned to Yeon-ji instead.
And then the people around them began putting a finger to their lips or waving their hands.
“Yeon-ji.”
“Team Leader resigned from the guild four days ago. His resignation was processed that same day.”
Bang!
Tae-cheon slammed his hand down hard on the meeting room table.
He had not completely lost his reason.
The fact that the table did not break was proof enough.
“Do-hee unnie told me not to say anything.”
“Do-hee did?”
“She said if Oppa heard it first, he’d stop her.”
“Fair enough. And you guys?”
“......”
“You didn’t tell me for no reason like that?”
Tae-cheon glared at the others, then sprang to his feet.
Without another word, he strode to the meeting room door.
“We’re done here for today.”
“What? We still have several items to handle today! Master! Ma- hey! Lee Tae-cheon!”
“Please wait! I’ll explain why this happened-!”
The guild members rushed to stop him, but he left the room as if he couldn’t hear them.
The rest of them, left standing there in a daze, could only look at one another and sigh helplessly.
Then Yeon-ji stared at the screen in the middle with wonder and said, “Huh? The ice melted.”
On the screen stood a hospital with not a trace of ice left anywhere.
When I used World Tree Summon, all my mana vanished at once.
The resulting mana depletion made my vision swim so badly I nearly collapsed.
Woo Yeon-hoo caught me before I could fall.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah, yes. Thanks. It’s a skill that burns through mana pretty hard...”
“What in the world did you use?”
“My body... my body feels better!”
Woo Chae-yeon looked down at herself, then widened her eyes and turned to me.
Good. It seemed summoning the World Tree had done its job.
I had figured that if I summoned the World Tree, it would nullify all negative energy in a certain area, and that should suppress the runaway yin energy in her body.
And it had worked exactly as I’d hoped.
Even the negative energy surging through her body had gone still, as if it had never existed.
But... I couldn’t see the World Tree.
I kept looking around, but no matter how hard I searched, it wasn’t there.
All I could see was the hospital room, now completely free of ice.
“......”
“......”
Then I felt the Woo siblings looking at me.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
Their gaze was aimed precisely at the top of my head.
Seeing that, I could guess where the World Tree had been summoned.
“By any chance, is there a sprout growing on my head?”
“Yes. That... um. What even is that?”
“......”
“You think it’s... cute?”
Apparently trying to comfort me, she squeezed her small hands tightly together and spoke.
Unfortunately, her comfort did absolutely nothing for me.
It only made things more humiliating that she, younger than me, was the one worrying.
Honestly, thank God I’d been wearing a mask.
If I’d shown my face without one...
How was I supposed to survive this embarrassment?
“Ji-on? What’s with the sprout on your head?”
The first question Chairman Woo Chan-sung asked the moment he sat up from unconsciousness was that.
The World Tree summoned above my head had restored his body, so he’d come to his senses quickly and gotten up.
Tsk. He could have woken up just a little later.
World Tree Summon only lasted thirty seconds.
If he’d woken a few seconds later, he wouldn’t have seen the World Tree growing out of my head.
“I’d appreciate it if you could just let this slide.”
“When a benefactor asks, I can do that.”
The chairman nodded, legs crossed as he sat there.
The fact that he called me a benefactor suggested he had already figured out the whole situation.
Watching him think that quickly the moment he woke up, I had to admit he really did deserve to be called a conglomerate chairman.
Woo Chae-yeon, still looking toward the top of my head, said, “Oh, the sprout just disappeared!”
“It can’t stay visible for long anyway.”
I nodded as I answered.
If my proficiency rose, maybe I could extend the duration, but for now thirty seconds was the maximum.
She looked terribly disappointed.
“Really? That’s a shame. It was cute...”
“...Ah, right. What an idiot I am.”
“......?”
“Could I get my hunter certificate? That was what I came here for, and I’d forgotten about it.”
“Huh? Weren’t you here to save us?”
“Kind of? That was more of a side benefit. The main goal was the certificate.”
“......”
When I shrugged and said that, the Woo family fell silent.
Had I offended them? I wondered, glancing over, but then the father and son suddenly burst out laughing.
What the hell? Why are these guys laughing all of a sudden? Was what I said really that funny?
Look at Chae-yeon.
She’s confused because she has no idea why you’re laughing.
“I understand what you mean. But we can’t just let this go like this.”
“That’s right. Our Woo family must always repay kindness.”
Sigh...
I think these two were misunderstanding something again.
It’s good that they only see the best in people, but isn’t this going a little too far?
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but that’s not it.”
Even after I said that, the Woo father and son showed no sign of listening.
They merely closed their eyes and nodded slowly.
No, stop smiling like you already know what I’m going to say.
“I said it isn’t.”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
“Ah, so that’s how it is!”
“......”
Before I could even clear up the Woo father and son’s misunderstanding, Woo Chae-yeon in the bed joined in too.
She looked at me with the same generous smile her father and brother wore.
Wow. What on earth is wrong with these people?
Are they trying to drive me insane with some kind of method I’ve never even heard of?
Forget it.
If they want to think well of me, why should I bother trying to correct them?
Just let them.
“All I did was stop the rampage, so feed the Udamhwa to her quickly. And Chairman Woo, please hand over the certificate already.”
I needed to get out of there fast.
If I stayed any longer, I might end up as stupid as they were.
As I was thinking that, Chairman Woo walked over, took a certificate from his pocket, and handed it to me.
“Here is what you wanted.”
I checked the certificate he gave me.
It listed the alias Geum Ji-on and the grade A-class hunter.
In the photo box was my masked face, and the Hunter Association certification mark had been stamped over it, so it looked as if wearing a mask wouldn’t be a problem at all.
I liked how thorough they were. With this much care, people probably wouldn’t misunderstand me even if I wore a mask.
Chairman Woo pointed at the certificate and said, “I know you’re not the sort to do that, but I should still warn you.”
“......?”
“Never cross the line. I have no intention of forgiving anyone who does.”
It was a warning not to do anything strange with a forged certificate.
It also meant he was telling me not to expose my identity to the Hunter Management Division or the Hunter Association.
What I wanted to do with this was just enter an A-class gate without Do-hee or Tae-cheon knowing.
That was illegal too, but it wasn’t the kind of thing he meant by crossing the line.
I nodded in agreement, and my smartphone in my pocket vibrated.
When I pulled it out to check, it was a call from Tae-cheon.
“I’ll take this and be right back.”
Then I left the hospital room.
The Woo family said they would wait, but now that I had the certificate, I had no intention of going back.
As I slowly went down the stairs, I answered the call.
“Hello? Do-woon. Where are you? You’re not home.”
Home? Was he at our house right now? Why?
“I stepped out for a bit. What’s up?”
“I was thinking we’d have dinner together.”
“Dinner? Out of nowhere? I haven’t eaten yet, though.”
“Figures.”
“Huh?”
“All the better. I’ll order chicken and wait.”
“Sure, got it. I’ll be there soon...”
Something was off.
Very, very off.
Ever since Baekwooncheon became an A-class guild, Tae-cheon had never come home without calling first.
He’d always worried about wasting time and ending up making a wasted trip.
And yet that guy had shown up at our house without even calling?
“...Tae-cheon.”
-Yeah?
“We’re friends, right?”
-Of course. I memorized your and Do-hee’s faces before I even memorized my own.
“Then be honest with me. Today’s Monday. Shouldn’t you be in your regular meeting right now?”
-Hey, what time do you think it is? It’s obviously over.
“I asked because it shouldn’t be over yet.”
-...This is why I hate how sharp you are, Baek Do-woon.
“......!”
Click!
I hurriedly hung up.
Honestly, I wanted to throw the phone, but I held back when I saw the little sprout on the screen after the call ended.
This is bad.
He definitely found out I resigned from the guild.
I stood there for a moment and tried to think of a smart way to deal with the situation.
My worry only grew, and no good ideas came.
So I decided to go to Bukhansan Insu Peak Gate and hunt Watchers instead.
If time was going to pass and D-Day would eventually come anyway, then I might as well enjoy as much freedom as I could in this moment.
I’m Baek Do-woon, after all.
96 hours and 28 minutes until Baek Do-hee returned to Korea.