Park Heeyoung. She’s a senior hunter in the White Silver Guild and a B-class tanker, she was Kwon Jiwoon’s shield.
Park Heeyoung devoted herself to protecting healer Kwon Jiwoon, and tried to stop everything that stood on his way, both inside and outside the dungeon.
For example … me, an ordinary relative who can’t be of any help to him.
“Kwon Rieul-ssi, do you not understand the current situation? Hunter Kwon Jiwoon is the best healer in Korea. It means he doesn’t have time to pay attention to these little things.”
“But I still have to give this to him….”
“Give it to me. I’ll give it to him.”
“Please tell my brother to contact me.”
“Stop whining. He’ll call you when he has time.”
Being treated like this, naturally, the number of my visits to the guild decreased. Well, Kwon Jiwoon didn’t contact me either, so Park Heeyoung must be right.
I was glad she wasn’t here in my last visit before, but I was unlucky this time.
Sure enough, Park Heeyoung frowned at me again this time. She also has a knack for showing her hatred just by her face.
“What happened this time?”
No, I didn’t want to come either.
“Don’t you know that Hunters are busy because a rift appeared a few days ago? The deputy guild leader has a schedule today, so he’s not available.”
Kwon Jiwoon called me, so I was angry because I was treated as an uninvited guest. I, too, did not hide my displeasure and spoke straight away.
“It’s a family affair, so what does Hunter Park Heeyoung have to do with it? Whether we meet or not, I will take care of it.”
“He’s not here right now.”
“Don’t you know that I came here because he asked me to come? I won’t come voluntarily because I don’t want to see Park Heeyoung-ssi.”
“Kwon Rieul-ssi!”
Perhaps because of the loud noise, the door of the guild leader’s room opened. Kwon Jiwoon found me and asked with a puzzled expression.
“Kwon Rieul, if you’re here, why don’t you come in? What is Hunter Park Heeyoung doing here?”
Park Heeyoung, who had stiffened, immediately put on a troubled expression. Huh, right. It’s a lie that he’s not here.
“I … Miss Rieul visited, so I was going to show her around.”
She’s truly a snake. It was amazing to see her speaking in a polite and kind manner unlike before.
“Why are you giving tour here? Didn’t you say you have an appointment today?”
“It … it’s changed all of a sudden….”
“Well, that’s enough. I’ll hear you later. Kwon Rieul, come in.”
I looked at Park Heeyoung sternly once and followed Kwon Jiwoon into his office room.
***
Something was strange.
I don’t know exactly what it is, but the atmosphere was totally strange.
As I sat down on the sofa in the reception room, the staff brought tea and sweets. Chewing on the crunchy cookies, I waited for Kwon Jiwoon to bring the words up.
“….?”
But he didn’t speak at all. As I lifted my head in the unexpected silence, I saw Kwon Jiwoon licking his lips.
Kwon Jiwoon opened his mouth only after I ate two more tasteless cookies on the plate.
“How are you these days?”
“Uh, what….”
I blurted out the end of the sentence awkwardly. It felt very awkward to hear that suitable greeting. In this case, the sweets I just ate seem to be on top.
“Were you surprised before? Is there no pain? If it hurts anywhere, don’t hold back and tell me right away.”
“Uh, I’m fine.”
I thought he was going to say, ‘I heard you’ve awakened‘.
Kwon Jiwoon continued beating around to bush for a while longer.
“Rieul-ah, you’re 23 years old this year.”
“Uh….”
“It’s already been more than three years since we’ve lived separately.”
“….”
He’s not a relative that I met on some holiday … if I left it alone, all sorts of personal stories would come out. It would be better to just be criticized first than to keep hearing this.
“What are you trying to say?”
“You are the opposite of a Hunter.”
“What?”
I doubted my ears for a moment at the random remark, but Kwon Jiwoon had a serious expression on his face.
“It’s not something for me to say, but they are arrogant, selfish, and live in their own way. I don’t want you to get involved with people like that.”
“Uh … I don’t really like Hunter either.”
I just accidentally became an Awakened.
“Yeah, you thought well. Kwon Rieul, you’re an adult now, but … it’s still too early for that.”
What on earth are you talking about? How can it be too early to be an Awakened? This is a world where many people are awakened when they’re still in elementary school. I was puzzled.
However, Kwon Jiwoon was lost in thought by himself, and he suddenly said something else.
“After all, I was not in favor of opening a cafe in such a place. Why don’t you come to the first floor of our guild now? It would be much better than place.”
“….what?”
After all, this was the purpose.
I hate it.
Although I suddenly awakened, entered the dungeon, and rolled in an unexpected direction, I am still preparing to open my cafe little by little.
Furthermore, if I placed my cafe on the first floor of this guild, I have to keep meeting people like Park Heeyoung. It seems that Park Heeyoung is being annoying to me for Kwon Jiwoon’s sake.
I didn’t want to keep confirming that I was a burden to Kwon Jiwoon. I wanted to spend my time leisurely while running a cafe, but I didn’t intend to do it with Kwon Jiwoon’s money.
The feeling of being denied of all my efforts in the past made me feel depressed in an instant.
I was expecting him to talk about something different this time because he called me after a long time and asked me how I was doing. Something more like a family story.
I can’t do this.
“I’ll take care of it. Did you call me just to say that?”
I got up abruptly to show him that I didn’t want to listen any more, but Kwon Jiwoon grabbed me. Perhaps he still has something to say, he spoke out urgently and quickly.
“I met Hunter Han Yiseong and I heard everything.”
“So what?”
“A hunter from his guild is making romantic advances to you.”
“…Huh?”
Are you talking about Ki Yoohyun?
“He said that person comes to your store every day. If you don’t like it, say no. I’ll never let him approach you.”
Only then did I realize that Kwon Jiwoon had a ridiculous misunderstanding.
Romantic advances … what?
I thought I heard it wrong at first.
“Don’t tell me … are you talking about Yoohyun-ssi?”
“Calling him by his first name … have you already become that close to him?”
“If I don’t call people by their first names, then what should I call them….”
Hey, you there, obviously I can’t call him that way.
So, this is it.
It wasn’t that he found out about my awakening, but he misunderstood that Ki Yoohyun was approaching me with a different meaning.
I’m glad he didn’t find out about the awakening, but….
I shook my head with a disgusted expression.
“Are you crazy? It’s not like that. Don’t talk nonsense.”
Ki Yoohyun has come to the store for coffee a few times recently.
But he’s really coming for the coffee.
Although he was strangely friendly, he smiled broadly as if he was moved every time he drank coffee.
“Then it’s not true?”
“Of course it’s not.”
I don’t know what Hunter Han Yiseong said that led to such an absurd misunderstanding.
“Well, it was kind of strange.”
“I know right?”
For a moment, I thought I was lucky that the misunderstanding was resolved.
“Because that kind of bum doesn’t suit you.”
Huh … what?
I was surprised to hear Kwon Jiwoon’s sudden acceleration.
From an objective point of view, isn’t Ki Yoohyun so handsome that it becomes burdensome?
“Wait, then what kind of person would suit me?”
“If it’s a Hunter, first … he must be strong.”
“To what extent?”
“To the point where he won’t lose to anyone.”
“……”
“But it’s not good to believe in your own strength and run wild just because you are strong. He has to be someone who does his part quietly.”
“……”
What? Did you watch a movie about a hero in the dark yesterday?
More than that, there is only one person in Korea who meets that condition, isn’t it?
Umh, let’s respect his taste….
Feeling a little drained, I took out the thermos I had brought. I brought it with me just in case I got caught, but it’s hard to take it back.
Since I brought it all the way here, I wanted to give it to him and leave.
“Don’t say anything weird and drink this.”
“What is this?”
“This is the coffee I made.”
“You said you made coffee? It’s all right, you can take it back.”
“If you don’t need it, you can just throw it away.”
“….I don’t mean that.”
With a complicated expression, Kwon Jiwoon received the thermos. Still, it didn’t seem he will throw it away.
There is really nothing to say now. I left the guild leader’s room straight away.
***
It was the time when I came out of the White Silver Guild,
Bugh.
My body slumped against the hard object. While walking without looking straight ahead, I bumped into a person coming from the opposite side.
“Ugh, I’m sorry.”
I bowed my head and tried to continue my steps, but I was blocked.
“Kwon Ri?”
“Yes?”
Let’s raise my head, in a word … there was an athletic man standing in front of me.
Curly golden hair, sun-tanned skin, and thick, firm-looking arms. The man seemed to know me, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen such a man.
A man wearing only a thin sweatshirt even though it’s cold today. I smiled and pretended to know him.
“Can’t you recognize me?”
It was only after hearing that voice that a name came to mind.
“Uh, maybe… … Choi Yichan?”
“Yes, that’s right! I didn’t know we’d meet here. It’s been a long time!”
I was very confused and looked at him blankly.
Choi Yichan is my high school friend. We used to buy snacks together at the cafeteria.
‘He was very small back then….’
Back then, he was often targeted by bullying due to his small stature and docile personality.
His eyes are much higher than mine now. Now I need to look up to see his face. His shoulders are broad and his arms look muscular, making his body looks sturdy.
Therefore, it was not unreasonable not to recognize him immediately.
“Ah! Wait a minute.”
While talking, Choi Yichan rushed to somewhere.
He picked up an old lady’s luggage across the crossing. Then, a person pulling a stroller, a person with difficulty walking, a child who almost fell at the crosswalk….
It took a long time for him to finally come back to me.
It’s really Choi Yichan. That guy has always been the kind of person who couldn’t let go of someone in difficulty.
But if I remember correctly, Choi Yichan would have been serving in the military by now.
And after he was discharged….
Suddenly, my heart began to pound loudly. The memory I had buried consciously seemed to reveal itself in my head.
After being discharged from the army, I’m sure….
“Oh! Haven’t you heard the story yet?”
Choi Yichan smiled brightly.
“Story? What story?”
“I heard Shin Mira told you about it.”
I took my phone out of my pocket. In the meantime, Shin Mira sent me the answer through KakaoTalk.
[Shin Mira: Who do you mean whoㅡㅡ]
[Shin Mira: It’s Choi Yichan.]
[Shin Mira: Choi Yichan awakened and was discharged immediately. He said he’d like to see you next time.]
“Awakened…?”
“Heh, so I was discharged from the army not too long time ago. Haha.”
….you’re still alive.
I swallowed the thought that came to my mind.
For an instant, as if the fog had been lifted, I remembered the buried memory.
[Next]
Translator’s Corner:
“She’s truly a snake” actually the term used by Rieul is 능구렁이 (red spotted snake). It’s a metaphor for a sneaky person who is sly and plays tricks cautiously without arousing suspicion or
being noticed easily
“Bum“, the original word is 쭉정이, it means a useless person who does not fulfill his/her duty properly. I can’t find an english word that matched it perfectly and the dictionary translated it as ‘Bum’, so let’s just take it.
I really like Kwon Jiwoon the most in this story because I had a great time translating this chapter :’D
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