Even though there were six people in the group, for some reason, Noh Ha-yoon was leading the conversation.
It seemed that having her, a member of the Vision Guild, speak was deemed more appropriate as a response to the Ilseom Guild.
The conversation itself was nothing extraordinary. From the point they were chased by the Blue-eyed Organization until the end, they laid everything out honestly, excluding parts that didn’t need to be revealed.
Hyeon Yi-hwan listened intently to Noh Ha-yoon’s story, nodding seriously, and when the topic of the red-haired man came up, he slightly parted his lips in shock.
“Wow, so there was even an Orc High-Rank Warrior… and you took that guy down? Hmm—”
It was hard to believe, but Hyeon Yi-hwan had his doubts until he heard the story. If it was an Orc squad of that scale, there should have been a commander, but he hadn’t seen any sign of one.
‘I don’t think they are lying… it kind of makes sense in a rough way. Reconstructing it from their story…’
Hyeon Yi-hwan scratched his chin for a moment, contemplating the magic power of Noh Ha-yoon and Lee Yeon-hee.
‘Red-haired… so there’s a force that can open gates at will? That can’t be true… but if it is real, this is serious. I can discuss that with my father a bit more later.’
He continued his thoughts while lightly bringing his clenched fist to the tip of his nose.
‘Still, I can’t see them beating the high-rank warrior…’
Even more absurdly, they claimed to have taken down 300 Orc Warriors.
‘Do they think throwing out such claims makes everything true?’
Hyeon Yi-hwan felt uncomfortable that they seemed to look down on him too much, but just like always, he maintained a friendly expression while listening to their information.
Summarizing the not-so-long story, there was a crucial presence—Lee Yeon-hee’s summoned creature.
‘Is this really how powerful a summoned creature can be? Even a Skeleton Soldier? That’s ridiculous. Hah…’
A life dedicated to a single sword. On the contrary, it meant he had no interest in anything but the sword.
For Hyeon Yi-hwan, it wasn’t easy to accurately gauge the abilities of the two hunters in front of him. Especially since Lee Yeon-hee gave off a fundamentally different vibe from the hunters he had encountered before, he felt more curiosity.
‘My father always said not to underestimate the opponent’s power. Both certainly have talent, and that bespectacled sorcerer isn’t ordinary either… maybe they gained insight during the battle or something.’
In the end, after vaguely accepting things, Hyeon Yi-hwan stood up and tidied his clothes. He had heard all he needed to and didn’t feel the need to linger any longer.
“Oh, I’ll handle the reporters in front; you all must be tired, so please head home.”
His words, thrown as if he were being considerate, made Noh Ha-yoon scoff.
‘We did all the hard work, and he wants to be the main character? What a joke, he must be out of his mind.’
Noh Ha-yoon wasn’t the type to sit quietly and watch such a scene. Though there was currently no way to prove it, she intended to find a way to convey their achievements after they returned.
While Noh Ha-yoon glared at his back with dissatisfaction, another person was staring through Hyeon Yi-hwan with great intensity.
‘He’s so handsome…’
While serious conversation was exchanged, Jin-kyeong hadn’t focused on listening for a while. She had been lost in thought, entranced by his face and imagining herself just stepping into the wedding hall.
“Heh—”
“Hey, Song Jin-kyeong! What are you doing?”
“Uh?! Oh, yeah…”
After about twenty minutes of what felt like a long conversation had ended, Hyeon Yi-hwan turned around and adjusted himself before speaking to Lee Yeon-hee again.
“From what I gathered, it seems the Skeleton Soldier was the key point. It’s a pity that you can’t summon it right now. I hope to see it next time.”
“……”
Yeon-hee quietly nodded, staring down at the ground, and Hyeon Yi-hwan chuckled softly at her before returning to the scene.
“Hmph… if you must…”
Helen gazed at his back with a hint of suspicion, while Jin-kyeong, with her hands neatly clasped, tried to capture even a bit more of Hyeon Yi-hwan’s presence.
“Oh my! Seriously, are you out of your mind?”
Slap-!
“Ow! Why?!”
“Oh come on, really. Don’t look so much!”
“What’s it to you?!”
Thanks to the two of them, who behaved like real sisters, the mood lightened momentarily, but the atmosphere remained dark, and the group quietly moved to a corner to slip away.
A dungeon break had occurred, and over a thousand E-rank Hunters were either seriously injured or dead. Including missing persons, the total casualty number couldn’t even be accounted for immediately.
Most of the victims were ruthlessly abused by Orcs near the dungeon entrance, and the Orcs that emerged caused significant harm to the nearby civilian businesses as well.
Fortunately, at the time the disaster alert was triggered, many C-rank Hunters from the Ilseom Guild were nearby and rushed in quickly, preventing further escalation of civilian harm. Otherwise, the damage to civilians would have snowballed.
While the major issues had been resolved, there were still over a hundred scattered Orcs in various directions, and considerable manpower was being mobilized to track them down.
“All the Hunter bodies inside the dungeon have been recovered, and the Orc corpses have been sent to the disposal facility.”
“Thank you very much, Elder.”
A short man, known as the ‘Eraser,’ who was the only Hunter of the Ilseom Guild that didn’t wield a sword, was giving a final report to Hyeon Yi-hwan, who had just finished an interview with the reporters.
He was someone special because of his unique abilities, making him a valuable asset to Hyeon Joong-gil.
Next to them stood three Hunter Management Bureau employees, bowing their heads, not knowing what to do.
“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, how much worse could the damage have been—”
“Oh, no need to mention it. The ones who deserve praise aren’t me but the C-rank Hunters from our guild who responded initially. Please extend your gratitude to them.”
“Oh, we know that. But the decision to support such a large number of personnel was made by you, Hyeon Yi-hwan. We feel remorse. Our Gate management staff barely made it either…”
Hyeon Yi-hwan gave a light nod, then closed his eyes, concentrating his hearing to locate the wandering Orcs, informing the guild members.
‘What a waste of time… this isn’t when I should be idling. Father, do you really think these activities will benefit my future?’
He looked up at the sky, letting out a deep sigh.
After parting ways with Hyeon Yi-hwan, Yeon-hee and her group found themselves caught by the employees again, having to repeat the same story.
The bureaucrats, who were diligently data-encoding their tales, looked skeptical, but Noh Ha-yoon’s intense glare made them quickly back down.
Later, after sorting through their loot, Yeon-hee managed to earn around 3.5 million won.
Although that didn’t include the four low-rank runes, it was a significant amount, yet it felt surprisingly small compared to their efforts.
“If we just part ways like this, I swear it’ll feel super unsatisfying.”
“Right? We need to have some fun!”
“Let’s go out for drinks today! Have some beef! Everyone head to my brother’s place!”
“Right on!”
Noh Ha-yoon and Bae Joo-ah were dead tired, wondering what nonsense Helen was talking about, but when Yeon-hee nodded in agreement, Noh Ha-yoon cleared her throat a few times and followed them without saying a word.
* * *
“Ah—”
Clank!
Yeon-hee jolted awake from her thoughts at the sound of a soju glass being placed roughly on the table.
“Ugh, they called us out again.”
Jin-kyeong, slightly slurring her words, checked her messages and expressed her discontent.
“So where is it this time?”
“Where else? The Association.”
“I don’t get what they get out of demanding us like this, taking our association fees.”
“Ah, shit, I’m here too. Must be because of today’s incident.”
“Did Yeon-hee come?”
“I-I’m here…”
As she read the message for a moment, Ji-woo tossed another topic into the mix.
“Sigh… by the way, did you see Jin-kyeong’s face when she saw Hyeon Yi-hwan earlier?”
Ji-woo gestured toward Jin-kyeong, and when people’s eyes widened in disbelief and stared, Jin-kyeong snorted.
“I’ve already had a kid.”
“Pfft, here we go again. Didn’t I tell you to stop daydreaming?”
Helen scolded, and Jin-kyeong immediately fired back.
“He’s not just a pretty face, you know? The second son of the sword master Hyeon Joong-gil and already a B-rank Hunter at that age. He was polite too, for sure.”
Lost in the reminiscence of his face, Jin-kyeong once again lifted her soju glass.
While Jin-kyeong gazed at her, shaking her head, Helen turned to Yeon-hee.
“Do you have a boyfriend, Yeon-hee?”
—!!
“Yes? Um… no.”
Caught off guard, Yeon-hee’s face turned pale as if she had been struck by lightning while she was busy grilling meat.
“Why not, with a beauty like you— do you not fancy anyone?”
“Huh? No… I don’t…”
“Have you never dated anyone?”
“I haven’t…”
“… Don’t tell me you have a male aversion or something?”
“Not really… um…”
Yeon-hee suddenly paused, contemplating if she had a male aversion.
Starting from her dad, who was often violent, to all those faces she despised, they were all men.
‘Was it really that way…?’
While Yeon-hee paused, lost in thought with her chopsticks halted at her lips, Helen sensed something was off and changed the subject.
“Then what about Ha-yoon and Joo-ah?”
—?
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Me neither! Whee… I’m trash, boohoo…”
Bae Joo-ah seemed to be a bit emotional after drinking, sobbing occasionally, and surprisingly, Noh Ha-yoon was the one soothing her shoulders. Frankly, her bruised face from the Orc Warrior still hadn’t completely healed, so she had every reason to feel down.
“I want to do some things with Hyeon Yi-hwan, ehh…”
“Joo-ah, I’m sorry, but Yi-hwan and I have a promise to get married—”
In the midst of a lively atmosphere surrounding Hyeon Yi-hwan, Yeon-hee was absorbed in thoughts about resummoning the time.
The moment they arrived at the restaurant, the time until the next summoning had already halved, without a doubt caused by Il-wol changing jobs.
Since Il-wol’s status hadn’t updated yet, she found herself yearning for time to just pass.
Until the next summoning: <01:06:12>
“Why is everyone looking so fine? Just laying around at home on your day off?”
Helen and Ji-woo, who were meeting someone, tilted their heads as if confused.
“So what’s your ideal type, Yeon-hee?”
“Oh, I’m curious about this.”
“It can’t be Hyeon Yi-hwan…”
Yeon-hee smiled gently at Jin-kyeong’s words before looking into the air, pondering before speaking.
“Just someone who stays by my side… and listens well…”
“Aha! So you like a sweet and caring type?”
“Like an elder brother from church?”
“Is that it? Should I look into it for you?”
“No… I’m not thinking about anything right now…”
“Yeon-hee, you don’t just meet someone to have thoughts about it! Once you get to know them, things will flow naturally.”
“Sure…”
“Ugh! Another bottle of soju!”
What began as an early gathering from 4 PM stretched into the evening, and soon enough, Il-wol’s resummoning time drew near.
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