Chapter 20

“Why the hell aren’t you reading it!!!!!”

Chae Suhyeon threw her smartphone onto the bed and started punching the hunter training sandbag.

Surely, once she sent a message, he was supposed to reply immediately.

That had been the norm for the last few years.

But everything changed completely in just two days.

“I mean, I did break up, but does that mean he gets to act like this? That guy is really petty. Ugh. I can’t believe I was dating a guy like this.”

It only fueled her anger even more.

And then…

Ding!

She heard the notification sound of a message coming in.

“Oh? A reply came!!!!”
“Of course, this nice guy. He’s probably gonna whine about being late.”
“Ugh…”
“Right. I’ll have to pretend like it’s no big deal and let it slide.”
“Then he’ll be whining and begging…”

Chae Suhyeon planned to feign weakness and get points back easily. Given Baek Jihoon’s tendencies so far, it seemed entirely possible. In fact, she had some faith in it.

Her traits.

‘The effects should still be in play.’

With a hopeful heart, she unlocked her smartphone. And then she started screaming like crazy.

[🖕]

In her message inbox, there was just a single character.

“You… insane… bastard!!!!!!”

Her face was turning bright red as she trembled with anger. It seemed she couldn’t hold back her feelings of rage, embarrassment, shock, and confusion.

The smartphone in her hand looked like it was about to crumble.

“Chae… Suhyeon… calm down… don’t let this provoke you…”
“Haha… just hold on a bit… if this nice guy can be trained well… your life will thrive…”
“There’s not much time left. Just stopping the retrieval is enough for me, right?”

Even though fury surged wildly within her, she decided to keep her cool. This wasn’t a situation where she should react emotionally.

In such matters, Chae Suhyeon was very quick-witted and rational.

“Getting worked up over this nice guy would do me no good.”
“Getting those points back in any way possible is what benefits me…”

She took a deep breath. No matter what, as long as the retrieval stopped, the future she dreamed of would come.
[ Oppa. It seems like there’s a typo. Where are you right now? ]

Suppressing the deep-seated anger surging within me, I carefully typed out each letter.

‘Right. Chae Suhyeon… You held it together well.’
‘You’re truly a professional.’
‘Let’s act rationally.’
‘As long as we achieve our goal, there’s no need to get caught up in unnecessary distractions and lose the match; that’s something only amateurs do.’

Having calmed myself for the moment.

‘Please… If I could just get close…’

Chae Suhyeon briefly recalled her attributes.

“Krkrkrkrk.”

Hyungseok chuckled softly.

[ 🖕 ]

Just one word he sent.

“I think—if it’s the Hunter Chae Suhyeon, she would have reacted strongly to this. She might have even destroyed her house.”

I genuinely liked the message he sent on my behalf. If it were me, I would have sent a long-winded text, but Hyungseok kept it concise.

He encapsulated everything into a single message.

Then I quickly received a reply.

[ Oppa. It seems like there’s a typo. Where are you right now? ]

It was quite different from what I had anticipated. I had thought she would be furious and try to dominate the situation.

It was definitely a situation where she could have thrown a fit.

Considering my years of experience, that would have been more than reasonable.

She always acted as if she were the boss.

Of course, I had been putting up with it to some extent for our happiness and goals.

Yet, despite the ‘🖕’ in the message, she humbled herself like that.

‘Oh my…’

I had a feeling.

She was definitely feeling intimidated.

It was a clear indication that the recovery was underway.

Given her personality, even if I had accidentally sent something, she would have made a huge fuss over it.

But instead, she’s trying to cover it up as if it was a mistake?

That showed just how seriously apprehensive she was.

Thanks to that, I started to relax and laugh a little.

“Wow. But Senior, what’s going on? For Hunter Chae Suhyeon to act like this? It doesn’t make any sense!”

I glanced at his perplexed expression. He seemed puzzled by the unusual behavior of Hunters Chae Suhyeon and Lee Sooah.

“Senior, what is she after? Do you owe her something? Is it a gift? Is it expensive? Or is it something rare and hard to get?”

His expression was full of curiosity.

I understood his confusion. Being able to do this to Chae Suhyeon was a big deal.

“Anyway, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

“Aw, come on, just tell me.”

I had explained it to Hyungseok several times already.

“I gave this bit*h some Hunter Points, okay? I’m in the process of retrieving them.”

“Oh, you’re just joking again.”

As expected, he didn’t believe me today either.

It felt like a lock had been put on the reality so that nobody could comprehend it.

No one believed me.

“Anyway, so you’re getting something back from her? Hehe. Looks like she’s in a bit of a bind?”

Hyungseok didn’t seem to care much about the reasons. He just found the situation amusing.

“Senior, since we’re at this point, why not tease her a bit more?”

“Huh?”

“I have something I want to try… mind if I go ahead with it?”

I didn’t know what he had in mind, but I decided to go along with it. After all, I wanted to avoid dealing with that troublesome girl again. Whatever she did was none of my concern.

[Gimpo Ttukbaegi House. I’ll give you 30 minutes.]

He sent the message.

“Huh? Isn’t that in Nonhyeon? How is she supposed to get there in 30 minutes? She lives in Apgujeong, right?”

“Hehe… Exactly. Hehe…”

He had that look that suggested he was really looking forward to this. It seemed like he was planning to send her on a wild goose chase.

“Uh????”

This time, the reply came back really quickly.

[Gimpo Ttukbaegi House. I’ll give you 30 minutes.]

“Uh…??? Gimpo Ttukbaegi House…?”

She smiled at first, happy to get a response, but then her expression hardened.

“No, I get that it’s Gimpo Ttukbaegi House. But 30 minutes? Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to get there in 30 minutes from here?”

Realizing she couldn’t waste any time, she started to panic.

“Ugh, what should I do? I need to hurry.”

“I didn’t even get to get ready.”

She had been lounging comfortably at home, never expecting this turn of events.

“It’ll take at least three hours to get fully ready.”

“Ugh, what the hell.”

Chae Suhyeon’s eyes trembled as she quickly tried to figure out what to do.

“U-um… Let’s just go… I’m pretty even without dressing up.”

“Anyway… If it’s Baek Jihoon, he’ll be blown away even if I go just as I am.”

She hurriedly threw on some clothes and dashed out the door frantically.

“Hunter Chae Suhyeon must be in a total frenzy right now. She was probably relaxing at home. It takes ages for girls to get ready to go out, right? She must be agonizing over what to do. Hehe.”

He continued to laugh, clearly amused by the situation.

I couldn’t help but feel happy too. I had never thought about messing with her like this, but it was quite interesting.

“I wonder what Chae Suhyeon will do.”

Before I could even think, a reply came back.

[Oppa. I’m on my way to Gimpo… Just wait a bit…]

“Wow… I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like Hunter Chae Suhyeon is really caught up in something with me. Wow…”

Seeing the reply, he was practically in awe.

It seemed Hyungseok was also wondering if Chae Suhyeon would really act this way.

“Right. This is definitely escalating.”

She had joined the Baekho Guild as an S-Rank. What would happen if she dropped to C-Rank? It was bound to cause a stir.

There had to be a reason for Chae Suhyeon to be so desperate.

“Wow… Does the mighty Chae Suhyeon really act like this?”

In just two days, the tables had turned completely. Yesterday, things had seemed grim. All that effort seemed to have gone down the drain, and he felt messed up because of it.

But after one day of being devalued, the tide had changed.

It felt like a successful large-scale invasion that split the enemy’s lines in half.

‘Now the initiative is in my hands.’

‘Yeah, you won’t be able to do it your way, Chae Suhyeon.’

‘Hand over everything you took from me.’

I felt no fear at all. As long as I waited, Chae Suhyeon’s points would gradually decrease. And if the government simply verifies…? She’ll go straight to C-rank. Then I’ll quickly rank up and completely reverse the situation.

Everything has its order. Once Chae Suhyeon falls to C-rank, I plan to pour all the points into an upgrade.

[Oppa… I don’t think 30 minutes will be enough. I’m really moving quickly. Can you give me a bit more time?]

While I was happily thinking about various things, another message came in.

[No. That won’t do. Where are you?]

I smiled subtly.

“Hunter Chae Suhyeon seems to be completely nervous right now, doesn’t she?”

Looking at the message, we both chuckled. Then we decided to calmly wait and see what would happen if we left her on read.

[Alright. I’ll find a way to get there. Just wait a bit longer.]

After leaving her on read, it didn’t take long for another message to come in. She was now being very compliant.

“Geez… I should have done this earlier. I’ve been living like such a fool until now,” I muttered without realizing it.

“Ah, senior. Love is originally like this.”

He called himself a love expert.