Chapter 73
Chapter 73
“I can go by myself. Your shift already ended.”
“I-I still get worried.”
It had been a while since Kang Ihyun rode in the passenger seat. Lude stared at him quietly, as if Ihyun looked tense.
Right after Ihyun confided in Min Jaewon, a chance came a few days later for about an hour of conversation with the White Night guildmaster. They said things were insanely busy these days, and this was a hard won slot.
Ihyun was worried about meeting the White Night guildmaster, so he insisted on putting Lude in his car and taking him along. Lude grumbled at the overprotection.
“What are you so worried about? I am really fine. I know I am the one getting help, and I don't act rude.”
“Um… the guildmaster is, well, just a bit playful.”
Ihyun gave an awkward smile and continued. Come to think of it, back at Wargod the White Night guildmaster had given him a gift. They seemed acquainted.
“I thought Sanctuary and White Night were rival guilds, but you two look close huh?”
Outwardly, the two central region guilds bickered, but since both Ihyun and Min Jaewon had ties, they looked fairly friendly. Ihyun lifted his shoulders.
“The White Night guildmaster and our guildmaster were classmates at an all girls high school. They have been best friends since then.”
“Huh?! Really?! But I heard the two of them had a serious war of nerves!”
“She has that level of give and take with the other guildmasters too.”
Lude bounced in the passenger seat. Ihyun gave a sheepish laugh. In rush hour traffic that was a bit clogged, Ihyun tapped the wheel with his fingers and chose his words.
“Well, people want our guildmaster and the White Night guildmaster to fight. In reality, we help each other.”
“With White Night? How?”
At that, Lude propped his chin. From the quick homework he did on online communities, White Night’s image was this. Eccentric.
White Night sat among the bleak office buildings of Euljiro, and as soon as early November came, they put up Christmas decorations. They decked out the building’s exterior in dazzling fashion, and at night they lit it up.
When Christmas ended, it was New Year decorations. When New Year ended, it was Valentine’s Day decor. The White Night building was always adorned with festive displays, so first timers often mistook it for a department store.
On top of that, the Hunters they mainly recruited leaned toward the evil alignment. So their public image was not exactly prim and proper. And yet they helped Sanctuary?
“The White Night guildmaster always brings in new programs first. After they verify them there, they pass them to us. Since they test the problems and points of caution in advance, it helps a lot.”
Lude had only thought of them as quirky. He had not imagined they were that much of an early adopter guild.
“I only heard the guildmaster was fickle... That because of being a weirdo, she brought in strange stuff.”
“White Night is far ahead on guild management systems. They were the first to create a marketing department.”
Vroom, the light turned green, and the car eased forward again. Lude blinked at the mention of being the first to create a marketing department.
“A marketing department…”
“Yes, as soon as she became guildmaster, she created it because there were too many Hunters hurt by online reactions. This time, they made the nation’s first in-house psychological therapy center inside a guild.”
Ihyun added that if it proved effective, Sanctuary would likely create a therapy center soon too. Lude muttered at the unexpected side of a guild he had half dismissed.
“Is it because she is a Seer? Maybe she knows right away whether something will help or not.”
“I am not sure. I think it is just her temperament. If our guildmaster is a bit conservative, the White Night guildmaster jumps into new things well.”
He idly rubbed his chin. White Night had a marketing department and a therapy center.
He was going for help with “camera trauma treatment,” but he still didn't truly trust White Night.
He figured that since they had acted for a long time, maybe they would teach how not to shrink in front of a camera, or how to look calm even when nervous.
Of course, even that would help a lot, so he had accepted Min Jaewon’s help. Still, he began to think the guildmaster might be someone who could accept Nari’s trauma far more deeply than expected.
“…Jaeyoon.”
Suddenly, at the wheel, Kang Ihyun murmured softly. Min Jaeyoon. At the name appearing after so long, Lude snapped out of his thoughts. Ihyun gave a faint smile.
“He says he likes the guildmaster.”
“What?!”
Lude’s body went stiff. The feel of those fingertips touching in the café last time must still linger, because goosebumps prickled all over him.
Realizing his words could be taken the wrong way, Ihyun hurried to add on.
“Ah!! No! Not like that! He! He says he likes her as a ‘guildmaster’!”
“Ah, oh… what a relief. Hah… I thought he pulled that stunt again with the White Night guildmaster.”
When Lude sighed, Ihyun laughed. He murmured again.
“He said the therapy center helped a great deal, and that he is always grateful. He said she always puts guild members first. He says he learns so much watching from the side.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, she is a good person. The White Night guildmaster.”
Ihyun smiled gently. Lude gazed at that look.
Only when the navigation announced they were close to the destination did Lude lift his head. They had said you could recognize White Night’s guild at a glance. It really was Christmas all by itself.
Red and green fabric for Christmas hung over the entire building. Red ornaments dangled from the trees.
The splendor rivaled department store decorations. In the midst of inorganic office buildings, turn your eyes for a moment and it was a drama set.
‘Maybe there is a reason they dressed it like a drama set.’
Lude felt there probably was. A guild that shone alone among bleak offices. If such a place existed, it might offer a small comfort on the way to and from work.
“Um, Lude…”
In front of White Night’s main gate, Ihyun parked and muttered. Lude, wearing glasses, was about to undo his seatbelt when he turned to look at Ihyun. The man’s expression was bashful.
“I think I may have been… a little overprotective of you. I am sorry.”
“Huh? About what?”
“I assumed you would never go, so I said I would go alone. I didn't realize you were trying to overcome your trauma.”
Ihyun’s ears went red as if he was truly embarrassed, and his fingers fidgeted.
“I suppose I thought you would just stay in that spot. I am sorry. You have been moving forward all this time.”
“…It’s not a big deal.”
At that, Lude mumbled, unable to hide his own embarrassment. It had been a big decision. At least two months ago, Nari would have rejected it, saying how could she trust that.
He would not have thought, “I want to get better.” The biggest change in those two months was Kang Ihyun. So…
“It is thanks to you. Because you stayed by my side, I… was able to find the courage.”
“Ah, no! I didn't do anything.”
Ihyun smiled, shy. Lude cleared his throat and opened the passenger door. The appointment time was approaching.
“Then I will go up first.”
“Okay! I will park in the basement parking lot and come up!”
“You can just go home. I can handle it alone.”
Seeing Ihyun naturally intend to follow all the way inside White Night, Lude raised his eyebrows. Ihyun spoke in a firm voice.
“No. I will go with you.”
“…? No, I said I am fine. You just apologized for overprotecting me,”
“This is different. I am sure Jaeyoon will come to meet you after.”
Just as Lude was about to voice his displeasure at Ihyun’s firm stance, a familiar voice sounded behind them.
“Lude… welcome… Hello… Ihyun hyung…”
At the ghostlike, enervated voice, Lude turned around. Then he blinked several times, unable to believe what he saw.
Min Jaeyoon stood there in his usual horn rimmed glasses and a suit. It had been a month since they last met. Only, his appearance had changed a lot.
“Y-You changed a lot.”
“You too, Lude… you are wearing glasses. It’s to block spirit energy I see… it’s pretty. They suit you, and hyung, have you been well?”
“Jae… yoon? Did something happen…?”
“Eh, no biggie, I’ve just been busy…”
Haha. At Lude’s words, Min Jaeyoon laughed. Lude blinked, unable to hide his discomfiture. The bright eyes were now ringed with deep dark circles.
The cutesy charm from a month ago was nowhere to be seen. With a face full of piled up fatigue, hair in disarray, he hugged a stack of documents at his side.
Because of the journey through the deep world last time, they had promised to smack him once when they met, but at the wretched sight, the two could not say a word.
“Well… really nothing much happened, hyung. Number one and number two both went up top at the same time, and then the two of them took a week off together after that. So thanks to that, I’m tired.”
Min Jaeyoon’s cool gaze enveloped them. Somehow it felt like there was a little resentment in it. He smirked and spoke again.
“I, the remaining number three, handled every large gate to fill both of their absences… But it’s fine. Yes. Thanks to that, I pulled all-nighters and worked weekends as if eating meals right after joining… But it’s fine. How could that be hyung and noona’s fault… yes, I am even getting regular IV drips now, but how could that be anyone’s fault…”
Oh. Ihyun and Lude only traded glances.
From the time they entered Wargod to the state funeral, when they vacated the central region of Korea, gates continued to spawn.
And it went without saying who would naturally take their roles when the first and second were gone.
“H-Hey! There was really nothing we could do, okay? We were busy too!”
“I know. But my school has not even gone on break yet, you know…? I go to school during the day and work at night… I drank so many tonics… shall we make quotas next time…?”
Heh heh, heh heh heh. Min Jaeyoon laughed. Seeing that, Lude reached out a hand to make some excuse, and Ihyun gripped the wheel again.
“L-Lude, I will go ahead! I will be in the basement parking lot, so come down when you are done!”
“Hey!! Are you trying to save only yourself right now?!”
“Have a good talk with the guildmaster, oh! I-If I don’t hurry, there might not be any space in the parking lot~”
Despite Lude’s shout, Ihyun, flustered, pressed the accelerator and zipped into the underground lot.
“You traitor!!”
Lude yelled after him, but Ihyun’s car had already entered the garage. Not wanting to walk in and take the brunt of Min Jaeyoon’s resentment, Lude averted his eyes.
“Ah, finally gone.”
Then he saw Min Jaeyoon let out a clear sigh and push up his glasses. At the changed air, Lude only blinked.
“Honestly, our hyung is the same as ever, shrinking the moment you poke his guilt!”
Min Jaeyoon giggled. Lude’s face went blank with exasperation. Right. He should not have believed it so easily. This was Min Jaeyoon, of all people.
“Were you… acting just now… all of it?”
“I thought that he would continue to follow you if I didn’t separate him. Long time no see, noona! Your glasses are pretty.”
“Hey!! I am truly an idiot for believing you, seriously!”
Still looking gaunt, he burst out laughing. Gesturing to Lude, he turned his body toward the guild.
“Welcome to White Night! I will guide you well!”
Somehow, Lude thought his smile looked a little more at ease than when they saw him a month ago at the café or at school.