– Damn it, this bastard really caused trouble in the end.
– Ugh!!
– Should I just rip your mouth apart? What the hell are you mumbling for? Do you want to die?
– But, is it true that Jin-hwan really killed him?
– I saw it, okay? After killing him, he rummaged through his insides.
– I saw that too. He was lamenting about not having a rune, and that’s still ringing in my ears.
– … Hmmm…
– What’s there to steal anyway? Wasn’t there nothing valuable? Your reconnaissance ability only just manifested, and what could you possibly take after killing him?
– I wouldn’t know. These bastards’ circumstances, who cares? Anyway, we just need to tell the Elder what we saw.
– Sigh… The world is really scary. When each side was sweet-talking and sucking each other off, it was all good. Did he get another woman or something?
– Ugh!! Ugh!!
– I guess in this chaotic battlefield, sneaking around made him feel safer. Too bad he got caught, huh? So clumsy.
Seeing the situation unfold, I immediately realized.
‘The leader pinned it on that man. The others are pretending not to know while vaguely guessing.’
They lost their reconnaissance ability. In a D-class dungeon, where the death rate is the lowest, someone has to take responsibility for the death of a hunter, who was surely an important resource in the guild.
It was the snake tattoo man, who seemed to be the leader, that withdrew the guard. Under these circumstances, the party leader would have to take responsibility. But the man decided to push that responsibility onto someone else.
In the end, he pinned it on the man who was the girl’s lover.
I know best about being unfairly accused.
When he killed the girl, the snake tattoo man was too distracted with the fight to notice anything else.
Other party members also couldn’t escape responsibility. A total of ten. Failing to protect just one with that many.
Unless they rake in accomplishments like discovering artifacts, they’ll definitely face disadvantages.
‘Apex is fit to be the party leader. Quick decision-making.’
It must have been easy for eight of them to conspire against one person. They work together surprisingly well.
‘Maybe they’ll skip over Ah-rin today…’
They were surrounded by the noisy magic while sharing what they would report until they reached the gate. They couldn’t look sloppy when explaining everything to the guild’s higher-ups.
In the end, they agreed to postpone tracking Ah-rin, planning to start working on it the day after tomorrow, or maybe the day after that.
If it were me, I would try to ambush Ah-rin today to somehow get results and make up for the dungeon mishap… but are they that afraid of their higher-ups? Hmmm… not sure.
‘But I can’t postpone telling Ah-rin.’
I hoped she wouldn’t forget my warning after drinking too much.
* * *
After finishing the dungeon exploration, I went straight to the shop run by Helen’s younger brother.
“Ahhh! Our Yeon-hee! It’s been such a long time! Aww – I missed your soft cheeks so much!”
“Ah-undrrrr—”
Entering, I saw Helen rubbing Yeon-hee’s cheeks and Jin-kyeong, who I hadn’t seen in a while.
They both looked different from before. Their expressions had softened considerably, and both had changed their hairstyles completely.
Helen might have overdone it with the perm a bit, but judging by how the customers at another table were captivated by her back, it didn’t seem important.
“Hello! My name is Baek Ah-rin!”
“Oh? A distinguished lady rabbit has come to this humble place!”
“Hehe – just bring the drinks! I feel like I’m going to faint!”
“Ah, I gotta prepare that right away. Just a moment!”
Sizzle-sizzle—
Soon, the drinking party started. It was earlier than the last time I’d come, and since they had expanded the shop, there were many more tables, now filled with male customers, so I was maintaining my stealth.
It would be fine to break stealth if it was just the hunters, but since there were civilians, it was an unavoidable choice.
“Huhhh— Because, I realized something today! Oh! Do you get me?!”
Ah-rin’s already poor pronunciation became even harder to understand as she drank. She had sung about drinking every day, but it wasn’t even that strong.
How can she get like that in under 30 minutes? Is it her rabbit nature to be quick at everything?
But it was clear she loved drinking; she had already become quite close to Helen and Jin-kyeong.
“So, what have you been up to these days? Any talk of returning?”
As the drinking session was heating up, Yeon-hee cautiously asked Helen about her return.
“Ah—! Yeon-hee, I’m getting married! Hahaha!”
“…… Huh?! M-married?!”
With Helen’s sudden marriage announcement, Yeon-hee’s jaw dropped in shock. Helen continued casually as if she were just changing her phone.
“Yeah. I decided to give it a shot with the person I was originally seeing. If it doesn’t work out, I can just come back, right? Hehe.”
“Ah… Y-yeah, that’s right.”
“And so, for a while, I’m going to avoid dangerous places. I’ll also shed some pounds.”
“Y-yeah, you need to do that!”
Yeon-hee seemed to hope Helen would return, but reality doesn’t always flow as desired.
Moreover, even if she returned now, it would be difficult to join us. Our gap had widened tremendously just within a week.
“Hmmm— Aren’t you going to ask me?”
“Ah! Jin-kyeong, what about you?”
“Haha— I’m going to return. Ji-woo got in touch to say he’s operating in the Lizard Swamp. And if I stay here any longer, I feel like I’ll cause some trouble. Those damn guys. If they came to drink, they should just drink nicely, but they keep making advances. It’s so annoying.”
“Ah… You must have had it tough.”
“Haha, just another experience, I guess.”
Unexpectedly, Jin-kyeong decided to go back to the dungeon. I thought she would be more likely to quit since Helen returned, but hmm…
While her talent isn’t outstanding, making a living as a hunter is probably a lot more profitable than working in a restaurant like this.
“Is Il-wol listening to our talk?”
*Tap—*
I made a sound to announce my presence.
“There you are. Hah… We won’t be fighting together with Il-wol anymore, huh? Looking back, it was fun back then, right? In the canyon.”
“Pfft— What should we do about this? He keeps thinking about that time and wanting to return; those experiences only happen once in a lifetime. Get a grip.”
“I know. But the people in Ji-woo’s party have been helping a lot… Ji-woo has grown quite a bit, right? You saw it too, didn’t you?”
“Well, he got strong quickly. It’s amazing how he got that strong in just a week, right?”
“Wow… That’s great to hear!”
“Anyway, that’s our situation, how’s Yeon-hee doing lately?”
“We, we—”
Yeon-hee stammered but calmly unraveled what had happened. Helen and Jin-kyeong, along with Joo-ah and Ah-rin, listened closely while emptying their cups.
Most of it was about events the party had experienced together, but hearing it from a different perspective gave it a whole new flavor.
As we were wrapping up the party…
“Sorry, but we will close at 10 PM today.”
“Huh? Isn’t the shop open until midnight?”
“Not today. Hohoho— Now, I’ll pour you one last drink, just drink this and go home.”
Helen’s younger brother, used to this, began clearing the table, and soon only we remained in the shop.
I confirmed that the shop had quieted down and there were no dangerous people around, then released my stealth.
“Whoa! You scared me! Il-wol, you look even scarier than before!”
“Is that stuck mouth of yours going to stay like that?”
“It opens when I use my skills and bump into teeth…”
“I-Is that so…”
Helen lowered the curtain like last time, blocking out the external gaze.
The women’s chatter went on well into the night, and when the momentary lull came, they started discussing the Apex guys.
“Wait! Is that for real?!”
“Yeah… Il-wol heard it like that.”
“Uh, how did you hear that? They cast a noise-cancellation spell, so I couldn’t even hear it?”
“That’s… Il-wol is special, you see? Let’s just move on.”
Helen shifted the focus of the story away from me, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Sigh… A bounty? That crazy Heo Min-sol really stepped over the line. What money does she have?”
“Isn’t she from a rich family? She probably has wagered over 500 million.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about her family being well-off… Did she scrape all that cash together while working as a hunter…?”
Ah-rin seemed to have completely sobered up, her pronunciation back to normal.
Silence fell for a moment over the unexpected story. But soon, various opinions began to pour out.
“…No, that’s a bit difficult.”
“If we just cut ties with that Heo Min-sol…”
“Right. If the person who placed the bounty cancels it, it means nothing.”
“Can you find out where she lives?”
“Eh? You can find out? How?”
“Th-there are ways. For hunters, it’s actually easier. A certain amount of information is open.”
Helen said she knew someone who had expertise in finding people. It seemed she had a lot of connections.
Of course… Helen really was a capable person in many ways.
I think it might be better to have her in a guild management position rather than going into the dungeon. Hmmm…
“Well then, let’s say we can find her location. But Il-wol made her a cripple, right? So her abilities must be limited now?”
“That’s likely. Losing all hands and feet is… fatal to a knight. Unless it’s a summoner, of course.”
“Hmmm… But she isn’t going to… die, is she?”
“Well, if necessary… Anyway, as long as we have solid proof she placed the bounty, it should be easy. That’s clearly illegal.”
“Hmm… What’s her personality like?”
“Heo Min-sol? She’s a bit jealous and possessive. She seems to have a bad tendency to fixate on things she likes… Not to mention she’s quite calculating. Yet at the same time, she doesn’t trust others very well. And… well…”
“No, that’s enough. In short, she’s one exhausting woman, right? Hmmm… Going by what I’ve heard vaguely, she likely has a contract with a pact close by. Isn’t that right?”
“Probably. It seems so. But…”
A contract with a pact is a magical contract that imposes severe penalties on the client if they fail to keep their promises.
But there’s one drawback: if the contract is put in an inventory, the spell is forcibly released. If that happens, the penalty activates immediately, so it can’t be stored in the safest place, the inventory.
In any case, a contract like that with a large bounty on the line would certainly have been written, and if we have that contract, we can report Heo Min-sol’s scheme to the Hunter Management Bureau’s crime department, and that would be the end.
I’ve heard that the special crime investigation department under the Hunter Management Bureau handles cases incredibly quickly compared to other agencies.
“The issue is getting into the house. The best option would be to sneak in and just take that contract…”
“Even if we get in, we’ll need the ability to know where the contract is hidden…”
“We’ll need some degree of strength too, just in case…”
‘……’
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