Drawing a New Line (3)
"..."
Kang Juhyuk didn’t answer easily.
No, he seemed reluctant to answer at all.
Well, sure. It was one thing to say, Let me pay you if some convenient woman shows up and sleeps with me right now. He’d want to keep that going, wouldn’t he? Especially with a body like that, and a face that was pretty enough to make people stop and look. Why would he want to let that go?
He looked like a high-ranking hunter, and he probably had money, but he didn’t especially put on airs about it. About the only flashy thing he had was that expensive car, and since I didn’t really care for cars, all he did was drive it around.
He seemed easy enough to deal with, too, the way he’d asked me to go get gukbap and tonkatsu with him.
If I were him, I wouldn’t want to let go either. If I’d been my old self three years ago, I would’ve thrown away every last shred of pride and clung to someone like that.
Now, though, I’d rather just find someone easy and dumb but pretty than hand over the initiative to a woman. I’d toss him aside.
Then again, right now... I wasn’t really looking at women at all. Even when I did, I didn’t get turned on. What a nuisance.
Whether Kang Juhyuk answered that question or not wasn’t important, so I moved on.
"And also... you need to keep Chae Haeun under control."
"Haeun Nuna?"
"Yeah. You said you slept with her when I wasn’t around, right? Then you know what I mean. How crazy that bitch is."
"..."
Kang Juhyuk didn’t answer, just scratched his head.
What was that look supposed to mean? Like I was similar to Chae Haeun? No, damn it.
"What."
"No, it’s nothing. Haeun Nuna is a little... like that, I guess. She said if we don’t sleep together, she’ll go find somebody else, so..."
"Whatever she actually does, make sure she doesn’t go off and do anything else."
"Uh, how am I supposed to do that? Sleep with her...?"
"...Try talking first, as much as you can. If she really, really looks like she’s going to bolt the second you don’t fuck her, then, damn it... fine. Then just... let her have it."
One way or another, it seemed Chae Haeun liked Kang Juhyuk.
Not that she’d be picky about her partners, anyway. He was just the first one she’d found.
Either way, as long as he was busy taking care of her right now, he probably wouldn’t go looking for trouble elsewhere.
That was all I could hope for.
Just as we were running out of things to talk about, the food arrived.
Kang Juhyuk cheerfully stripped the bones clean, while I ate mine in a more or less decent way. Was it good? No, well... it wasn’t like I was in a position to be choosy.
Thanks to my desire settling down, I could focus on the taste of the food.
For my palate... it was just so-so.
The explanation was done, and so was the meal.
There was no way Kang Juhyuk would arrogantly refuse my offer, so things wrapped up quickly.
Of course, there was still plenty left to do.
I still had to sort out Kang Juhyuk’s job, and I had to get him gear so he wouldn’t die in the Great Rift. He probably didn’t have much money.
And Chae Eunha’s ID had been made, but her hunter registration card was still pending. In fact, there wasn’t even a final decision on how it would be handled yet.
For now, Ha Yujeong and I had agreed on something like Choi Eunho missing, Chae Eunha registered... or something along those lines.
But Ha Yujeong was just a manager, after all. How much could she really do? Depending on the situation, things could still play out differently.
For the time being, I had no choice but to wait.
If I waited too long, though, I’d probably end up sleeping with Kang Juhyuk again before we even entered the Great Rift. Which... well.
No, I mean. It felt good. I’d already decided to become the dildo, hadn’t I? If I wanted to, I could just call him and...
No, no. If I was going to do it just because it felt good, how was that any different from Chae Haeun? I’d only do it when it was necessary. Focus.
"Um... I said I’d quit my job, but I still need to explain it to Geon hyung, and... I know I was basically just running errands, but quitting is still quitting, so I don’t know if I can really stop in just one day. They might need a replacement."
"What can they do if you say you’re quitting and then don’t show up?"
After finishing the meal, we got into the car.
I was already thinking it was about time to send him home, and was driving toward Kang Juhyuk’s place, when he suddenly brought up an annoying topic.
He was probably getting paid minimum wage anyway, so what exactly was he being so fussy about? I told him I’d pay him double that.
"It’s still rude, though. Maybe other people don’t matter, but Geon hyung took care of me almost like a parent..."
"Go show your gratitude to your real parents. Friend or close hyung, once they’re gone, they’re just somebody else."
"Th-that’s... Well. The thing is, I don’t really have parents. When I was little, Geon hyung was basically my guardian. So... I’m sorry. I can’t do that."
"...You didn’t have parents?"
So that was it.
No matter how much their child awakened, no parent would want to push a kid into a disposable job like a D-class hunter at such a young age.
He was only twenty, so it was a little surprising.
He didn’t have parents, huh.
"H, haha... That’s a little embarrassing."
"What’s embarrassing about it?"
"Well... not everyone, but. Sometimes people just..."
"Tell them to go fuck themselves."
Prejudice existed everywhere.
Until three years ago, being an orphan had been a weakness people loved to jab at me with.
Not literally everyone, of course. But when someone didn’t like you, or when they were just in a bad mood. When you ran into a real piece of work, when somebody tried to shove you around.
No matter what, sooner or later you heard it.
Figures, you bastard orphan.
Something with roughly that kind of sting.
It hurt far more than a simple insult. It sank straight into the chest.
In the end, the whole point was to make you feel bad. The one who let it get to them was the loser.
Just do your job and make the asshole regret it.
"If you succeed, nobody will care about that stuff. They’ll just say you’re impressive."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. Because I did it."
"...Huh?"
Kang Juhyuk looked at me with startled eyes.
Honestly, it wasn’t something I had meant to say either. There was no reason to say it.
It just... slipped out.
Still ignoring his stare, I changed the subject.
"Where exactly is the place you work?"
"Ah. No, my boarding room is actually closer from here. I still have time, so I can go on my own."
"Hey. Stop talking and tell me where."
"Y-yes, sir. You go straight at the big intersection before my boarding room."
In the end, I drove Kang Juhyuk all the way to the place where he worked.
It wasn’t far from his boarding room. I could see why he’d said he’d go on his own.
But so what? I’d said I’d drop him off, and he had no right to refuse.
"Ah... we’re here. This is it. Thanks, Nuna."
"Do they look down on you at work?"
"No, no. The orphan stuff was mostly when I was still a student. Everybody’s young then... Now everybody’s a working adult, so nobody says that sort of thing to my face."
So they said it behind his back, then.
"Let me make one thing clear."
"Yes."
"I said I’d keep you with me as my dildo, but either way, you’re becoming a member of my party."
"Yes, sir. The team that goes into the Great Rift. Right? The other members are..."
"There aren’t any. I don’t need them. You’ll be my only party member."
"I see."
Kang Juhyuk looked a little tense.
Was he scared of going around with just the two of us? The Great Rift shouldn’t have that terrifying an image these days.
Then again, if he’d never been in one, I guess it made sense.
"In other words, you don’t get to be intimidated by anyone."
"..."
"Because I, Chae Eunha, chose to keep you by my side. If you get intimidated by anyone, or scared, or shrink back, or lose confidence. If you can’t carry yourself with confidence, then you’re smearing my face with mud."
"Yes. I’ll keep that in mind."
"Good. From now on, I’m the only one with any standing over you. Don’t let anyone else push you around."
He nodded and said he understood.
Well, I’d see later whether he really took it to heart.
Either way, I was serious. It was true that I was keeping him by my side because I had no choice, and he was basically a burden.
Even so, he would be a member of my party. My subordinate, my partner who would be running beside me out in the field.
The other hunters would see us as a team, too.
But if Kang Juhyuk went around looking spineless... then I’d look like an idiot, too.
If Kang Juhyuk kept acting beneath my level... if he kept testing my patience like this.
Then I’d have no choice but to throw him away and find someone else.
I could only hope he understood how important that was.
.
"W-what the hell? Holy crap."
Park Geon had been tidying his desk, getting ready to start work for the day, when he looked up at the sudden cry from one of his subordinate hunters staring out the window.
The risk of gate manifestation had risen quite a bit, so there were tasks to handle before deployment... but still, it wasn’t work time yet.
The man always came in thirty minutes early to get ready, so even at the commotion, Park Geon just smiled and walked over.
"What is it? What’s outside?"
"T-team Leader. I just saw something insane."
"Yeah, yeah. I’m dying to know, so tell me."
"Before I do, Team Leader, do you like cars?"
Cars?
Of course he did. He was a man.
But with what a B-class hunter earned from the Hunter Association, plus the extra pay for being a team leader... he had to be careful about what he chose.
If there was lots of work, he could make more, sure, but not that much more.
He still had to go into the Great Rift now and then, after all.
"A MHSL-S780 just passed in front of us."
"I don’t know much about models... but if I’ve never heard of it, I guess it’s a foreign car?"
"You know Motorbach, right? The German company. I mean, if you see an expensive rental car on the street, it’s usually one of theirs."
"I know that much."
"It’s the Motorbach Sportis Luxus series, and... that car just went by right in front of us. Man. I can’t believe I saw it with my own eyes."
What.
So it was nothing special.
Park Geon scratched his head with a strange expression.
It wasn’t as if seeing expensive cars in the capital was unheard of.
This guy had always liked cars, so that explained the excitement.
"Do you know how much that thing costs? Around 360 million won. An eight-cylinder, 4-liter engine! Zero to one hundred in 4.1 seconds. And apparently the soundproofing is so perfect the engine noise is super quiet. The interior’s done in Crystal White Nappa leather seats, all in white, and..."
"Yeah... yeah. I get it. I get it. I thought it was something else."
"And they say the paint job is done by hand, too... ha... I’d love to drive a roadster like that at least once."
"Try renting one next vacation."
"Team Leader... if you rent one of those for a week, it comes out to a million won a day. A week would run you eight million. That’s two months of pay, you know?"
Right.
So he was telling him not to worry about it.
Park Geon chuckled to himself and went back to his desk.
"Team Leader, big news, big news! Big newsss!"
"W-what now?"
Park Geon asked in confusion as another B-class hunter burst through the office door.
The hunter who’d come in went straight to the one by the window and spoke without slowing down.
"You saw it too, right? The car that just passed below us."
"Yeah, of course I saw it! That MHSL..."
"No, no, I don’t know anything about model names. I mean that expensive-looking car."
"...Is that so."
The hunter who’d wanted to talk about the car he’d seen slumped at the interruption.
Whether the other man cared or not, the story continued anyway.
"Team Leader, focus here. This is huge, seriously. I happened to catch the inside of that car through the window when I was going up the stairs, right? The person driving it was that hunter. That woman who rescued us."
"Ah... that woman with the killer ass and chest?"
"Yeah, you bastard. That hunter. Team Leader, are you listening?"
"...Yeah, I’m listening. I’m listening."
Park Geon sighed and answered.
He was still not on the clock, so he was trying to be patient.
That hunter was obviously exceptional. Top-tier A-class... maybe even close to being recognized as S-class soon.
Once you got to S-class, you were in a position that represented national military power. Basically a one-person corporation.
It wouldn’t be strange for someone like that to drive a car of that caliber.
It was just... coincidence if she happened to pass by here.
"But...!! The guy who got out of that car she was driving was Juhyuk!!"
"...What?!"
"...Huh?"
This time, not only the hunter listening, but Park Geon himself, couldn’t believe his ears.
There, Kang Juhyuk’s name... why was it coming up?
"Juhyuk got off work early yesterday, didn’t he? What if!? What if, what if—!?"
"...No way? Hey... you’re kidding, right? Hey, hey... Juhyuk? Juhyuk? That bastard, no way? From that gate? Huh? Ah~ I should’ve stayed behind in Juhyuk’s place!!"
"Hey. You stayed behind and you still would’ve been told off. It’d have to be me."
"Oh~ you wouldn’t have made it either. Stop talking shit."
While the two of them bickered back and forth, the office door opened again and someone came in.
With a somewhat awkward smile, his hair styled up in a slicked-back undercut instead of the messy mop he’d had when he left early yesterday.
Since he was a hunter, he was on plain-clothes duty, so he was wearing the casual suit he’d had on when he met Chae Eunha yesterday.
"G-good afternoon..."
The protagonist of the whole story, Kang Juhyuk himself.
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