Chapter 74
Chapter 74
“How’s work treating you?”
Lude followed Min Jaeyoon through the revolving door. Min Jaeyoon stretched his neck side to side. He already looked like a working adult.
“Well, I’m learning a lot, getting scolded a lot, and working a lot. It’s different from school. Still, I can breathe easier than before!”
He glanced back with a crooked grin, then faced forward again. At the words that he could breathe easier, Lude looked at Min Jaeyoon’s back. At some point, the school uniform was gone and a suit had taken its place.
When they first met he had been in a uniform, so Lude got a faint sense of what Min Jaeyoon meant by being able to breathe easier.
“That’s good to hear. Then why do you look this tired?”
“We've been really busy lately. We’re also preparing for Hunters’ Night, but since it’s your and the Sanctuary Guild Master’s request, they said they can spare just about an hour.”
“…Are the Guild Masters that close?”
“Oh, don’t even start. Every time, it’s ‘Sujin, Sujin~’ all syrupy.”
Inside White Night, as soon as they entered, Lude saw a Christmas tree already set up. Piles of presents were stacked beneath it.
“What’s this?”
“This? Since the Guild Master said we’ll do a gift swap event this Christmas, the people who can participate already put theirs in.”
“Sanctuary didn’t do things like this….”
From what he had heard, at most they put a small tree in the hallway and served a little pound cake with lunch that day. Hearing that, Min Jaeyoon laughed.
“Our Guild Master’s really serious about this kind of thing. Thanks to that, I’m the one dying. Oh well. Ah, please get in here.”
After he stepped into the elevator, he took a white key card from his inner pocket. When he tapped the card to the reader under the elevator’s number buttons, the car started to move. Lude cleared his throat and spoke.
“Dying? Doesn’t an outside vendor handle it? I thought you just managed it.”
“Convincing the must-invite attendees who, for this and that reason, say they can’t come, that’s no ordinary task. Ha, haha, hahaha….”
Min Jaeyoon’s unhinged laugh made Lude, who had been one of the people who said he absolutely couldn’t attend, glance away.
“I-Isn’t that just a year-end party? Why do you have mandatory attendees? People might not make it if they’re busy.”
“In truth, I thought it’s just a year-end party too.”
He pushed his glasses up. After a long sigh, he looked at Lude and hesitated a little.
“It might sound kind of cultish, but it isn’t. Okay?”
“Alright.”
Seeing him so insistent, and having seen a “real cult” a few days ago, Lude nodded. Min Jaeyoon continued.
“Our Guild Master looks at who attends and reads next year’s trends in the Hunter world.”
“Trends…?”
“Yes, she says she invites people after identifying which figures will be active next year. That’s why there are always mandatory attendees.”
“Is she accurate?”
“I’m not sure? After seeing last year’s Hunters’ Night results, she said she’s already earmarked a seat at White Night for you this year. The fortune says a big name will come in.”
Blink. At that, Lude looked at Min Jaeyoon. Lude hadn’t joined, but in the end Min Jaeyoon, an S-rank, had joined White Night.
“S-Still, hey, those things are whatever you want to call them.”
“And she said a big name will come down from the north, so she contacted the Wargod’s Owls in advance as well.”
Lude blinked.
Among mages there was a rare profession, Seer. In addition to basic magic offense, in a party they were an information role that identified a boss monster’s attack patterns first and figured out how to break them.
Usually they only read what was right ahead, or if they read even a little further the accuracy dropped. Even among them, Baek Jangmi seemed a little different.
“Are Seers all like that?”
“No? Absolutely not. Divination is based on the past and the present. If there’s no present, you can’t read anything. Sigh, everyone treats mages like some kind of universal master key of the Hunter world, but magic’s like coding.”
“Typical mage pride….”
“Hmph! Out of six S-ranks… no, five, two are mages you know!”
Watching him lift a finger and rattle on, Lude clicked his tongue again.
Because of the prejudice that smart people became mages, mages tended to have a lot of pride in the Hunter world.
“Well, I think the Guild Master can do it because of a Constellation’s power.”
“What’s your Guild Master’s Constellation?”
At that, Min Jaeyoon looked at Lude. Feeling the faint change in his mood, Lude raised one eyebrow.
‘…What’s that?’
[“What’s that, so much changes in a month,” thinks the Lord of Chaos as he looks at Min Jaeyoon.]
Wariness, Min Jaeyoon was wary of Lude right now.
Come to think of it, since Lude showed up, Min Jaeyoon definitely gave off a drier air than a month ago. A month ago, when he had piled on all kinds of cuteness saying he liked Lude and wanted to date, this was unimaginable.
Like when they first met, Lude felt countless calculations flick through his head.
“You’re very….”
No. He was a little different from the first time after all. It wasn’t that thoughtless hot blood, he had the air of a working adult.
It even looked like he had the leeway to smoothly push out Kang Ihyun. He seemed a little more at ease. Lude propped his chin, searching for the right word. How to put it. A little…
“You’ve grown up.”
“Me?”
Min Jaeyoon pointed at himself. When Lude nodded, he let out a helpless laugh.
“Ah~ I didn’t want to grow up like this~ but it feels good to hear it from you.”
“You don’t chase me around saying you like me, and it seems like you don’t like me anymore huh?”
At Lude’s words, Min Jaeyoon said nothing and just fiddled with his bangs. When Lude glanced at him, he was smiling sheepishly.
“See. See, I told you it only lasts a moment, didn’t I?”
Feeling truly relieved that he wouldn’t be chased anymore, Lude chuckled. He felt a stomach-soothing freshness, like a digestive ad, at the thought that he would never be put in a tight spot again.
The time that kid, in a school uniform, made a scene in the café felt like a past life.
“As I work… I realized I don't have time to feel those things. And these days….”
After that, Min Jaeyoon trailed off as if he were about to mumble something. Lude glanced up at him. He was smoothing his bangs with his mouth held tight.
“These days, what?”
“Hey noona, you know.”
Just as he was about to say something after a long pause, ding, the elevator arrived. At the sound, Min Jaeyoon snapped his head toward the doors.
“…It’s nothing.”
“Hey, after all the pain that ‘secretly strong’ thing gave you, again.”
His expression changed drastically. He seemed to be hiding something, but he wasn’t skilled at it. Lude, who could never stand being curious, started to say something, but the elevator doors opened.
“Welcome, Lude.”
Lude looked forward. Outside the elevator stood the whitest woman in the world. A former entertainer he had watched on a screen with great attention. Baek Jangmi.
Wearing a white suit dress, she let her pure white hair fall over one shoulder and smiled at him. She looked exactly like she did on the screen yesterday. Smiling with calm poise, she says,
“Jaeyoon, thank you for bringing him up. Go and get some rest now.”
“No, Guild Master. I’ll help you!”
“Jaeyoon? You already have plenty to do. You don’t need to help.”
When Baek Jangmi spoke gently, Min Jaeyoon smiled and didn’t answer right away. A trace of tension hovered. Before she could say anything more, he continued in a cute tone,
“Yes! Then I’ll head back down! I’ll come back up later to escort Lude, so please call me!”
Having recovered his pep, he waved to Lude. When Lude stepped out of the elevator, he closed the doors and went down.
‘Something feels a bit….’
Before he could decide it felt strange, a white hand thrust toward Lude. Her soft voice came.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Baek Jangmi, Guild Master of White Night. I’m truly pleased to meet you like this.”
At that, Lude just stared at her. It felt like he had been hit with a stun gun.
[“Nari, what’s wrong?!” thinks the Lord of Chaos as he looks at you.]
His body went stiff. At the Lord of Chaos’s concern, Nari thought in a fluster,
‘Holy shit… she’s so pretty….’
White hair swept up, white eyelashes, and lips red against skin just as white, with pink irises, flaunted their presence like a flower blooming in a field of snow. Her tall height and long limbs were wrapped in white clothes.
‘Wow, whoa… Is she even human? A work of art? Is she? Can I even shake hands? W-Wouldn’t Baek Jangmi… get dirty if she touched me?’
With a trembling hand, Lude took her hand. Clumsy words tumbled out.
“H-Hello. It’s… it’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh my, there’s no need to be so nervous.”
She laughed softly. Seeing that, Lude’s heart flushed cool and clear.
‘Her personality’s amazing too... What do I do?’
[“What do you mean, what do you do,” thinks the Lord of Chaos as he looks at you in a panic!]
‘I might become a fan twenty years late…’
He felt himself go a little gooey with the urge to go home right now and stream every movie Baek Jangmi had ever been in.
“I heard your situation. You’re afraid of cameras, yes?”
“Yes…”
[“Nari, get a grip, get a grip. Why are you like this!” says the Lord of Chaos as he taps you.]
“Hup! Y-Yes! That’s right.”
At the Lord of Chaos’s words, Lude regained the dignity of a number one and put on a stern face. Seeing that, Baek Jangmi smiled again.
She led Lude down the hall. The click of heels striking a white marble floor sounded.
“Sorry, I’m a bit busy, so I have only about an hour. But I carved out as much time as I can, so please don’t worry too much. You're Jaeyoon's benefactor after all.”
At the words, Min Jaeyoon’s benefactor, Lude asked without thinking,
“Is Min Jaeyoon doing well?”
Since he was someone Lude had saved, he couldn’t completely ignore him. If he’s doing well, Lude thought he’d feel a bit proud.
“Yes, he still has a ways to go, but he’s doing well! Anyone can tell he’s Ihyun’s younger brother, he’s so polite. Oh, is Ihyun doing well? I hope it helped him in Wargod.”
At the familiar ‘Ihyun,’ Lude blinked. At the question of whether it helped, he thought for a moment, then realized she meant the trunk story with Kang Ihyun and nodded.
“Yes, thanks to you.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried because the card reading was ominous at that time. Nothing must happen to Ihyun after all~”
As he had heard, she must be a good person who cherished a friend’s nephew. Thinking that, Lude’s inner stock rating for Baek Jangmi rose. She pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled.
“Then Sujin would worry!”
Seeing her shake her head, saying that if their smart Sujin worried herself sick it would be a disaster, Lude’s inner stock rating sank back to where it started.
‘Honestly… Guild Masters, every one of them….’
If nothing else, they all had strong character.