Chapter 49: Noble Trash
Hajin didn’t say a single word, just standing there and staring back at her with a completely unbothered expression.
The silence in the guild hall felt suffocating. Everyone was staring at them, completely confused by the sudden, intense hostility pouring off the Frost Fang. A minute ago she was offering him a rare spot in her party, and now she was looking at him like he was a monster she needed to hunt down.
"Answer me," Yenna snapped, breaking the dead silence in the room.
The sheer force of her voice, backed by the freezing pressure of her mana, actually made Hajin shift his stance. He put his guard up just a fraction, ready to move if she decided to do something stupid, but he still didn’t speak.
She clicked her tongue, a look of pure disgust twisting her features as she pointed at the royal letter on the counter.
"I have seen trash exactly like you before," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "Nobles who get born with a little bit of natural talent and instantly think they own the world. You think you can just do whatever you want because you have a fancy last name and an endless supply of money backing you."
She took a step toward him, her aura flaring slightly brighter.
"I actually thought you were different," she continued, shaking her head slowly. "When you smashed that pillar, you looked like someone who had actually put in the work. You fought like someone who knew what it meant to struggle. But seeing that royal crest makes it all perfectly clear. You aren’t different at all. You’re just another piece of noble trash taking shortcuts and looking down on the rest of us."
Hajin just sighed internally, keeping his face completely blank.
The whispering in the room started up again, but this time, the tone was entirely different. Yenna’s words were acting like a spark in a powder keg.
"She has a point," a massive guy in heavy plate armor muttered from a nearby table. "He just walked into a two-shard gate without an adventurer ID or a proper pass. Normal people can’t do that."
"Yeah, and then he just casually drops fifty silver to pay off a fine?" another adventurer added, glaring at Hajin’s expensive coat. "He’s definitely a noble playing dress-up. He probably had high-level guards clear that anomaly for him and just took the core."
The whispers quickly turned into open hostility. The facts were stacking up against him in their minds: the royal permit, bypassing guild protocols, the ridiculous wealth, and the fact that an unregistered rookie somehow killed a mutated anomaly.
The narrative Yenna just painted made perfect sense to them, and suddenly, the entire room felt like they were looking at a spoiled noble who was laughing at their struggles.
Meanwhile, a completely different debate was exploding in the corner of Hajin’s vision.
[ CringeSlayer91: bro what is wrong with the people in this world?? why does everyone instantly try to make an enemy out of Hajin??? ]
[ ShadowMage44: Fr they have zero critical thinking skills. He literally dropped the boss core on the desk and they still think he cheated ]
[ DarkBlade: idk man, you have to look at it from her POV. Nobles in these fantasy worlds are usually corrupt pieces of shit who abuse the system. ]
[ NewViewer_02: yeah DarkBlade is right. Imagine grinding your whole life and some rich kid just bypasses every rule because he knows the king. I’d be pissed too ]
[ ashley (Mod): Both sides have a point but Yenna is still making a massive assumption without letting him explain ]
[ CringeSlayer91: EXPLAIN WHAT?? HE DOESN’T OWE HER AN EXPLANATION, FUCK, THIS IS PISSING ME OFF ]
Hajin read the chaotic, scrolling text while keeping his eyes locked on Yenna.
The tension in the room was stretched so tight it felt like a single breath would snap it. Yenna’s freezing mana continued to press down on him, demanding an explanation, demanding that he either confess or fight.
Instead, Hajin threw his head back and laughed.
It wasn’t a nervous chuckle or a forced scoff. It was a genuine, amused laugh that echoed loudly through the dead-silent guild hall.
The sound completely shattered the tense atmosphere. The surrounding adventurers stared at him like he had lost his mind. Yenna’s eyes went wide with sheer disbelief, the freezing pressure of her mana actually faltering for a second.
Even the chat froze, the rapid scrolling coming to an abrupt halt.
[ CringeSlayer91: ...bro? ]
[ ShadowMage44: he’s officially lost it ]
[ DarkBlade: laughing in the face of an angry Ranker is certainly a choice ]
"What is so funny?" Yenna snapped, her shock quickly morphing into furious indignation. "Are you laughing because you think you’re untouchable? Because you think your family name will protect you?"
He finally stopped laughing, letting out a small sigh as he wiped a stray tear from his eye. He looked at her, his expression completely devoid of the intimidation or fear she was trying so hard to project onto him.
He just looked thoroughly amused.
"I’m laughing because I’m trying to figure out why any of this is your business," he said, his voice casual and completely unbothered.
Yenna blinked, completely thrown off by the response. "What?"
"Let’s say you’re right," he continued, leaning casually against the front desk. "Let’s say I am some spoiled noble who used a fancy last name to get a royal permit and had a team of invisible elite guards clear that gate for me. Let’s say I’m doing exactly what you think I’m doing."
He tilted his head, his green eyes locking onto hers.
"Why do you care?" he asked bluntly. "You’re already a successful Ranker. You have fame, wealth, and a top-tier position in this guild. You’re sitting at the top of the food chain, so why are you throwing a tantrum over what some unregistered rookie is doing? Why don’t you just mind your own business?"
The entire guild hall collectively held its breath. Telling a top-tier Ranker to mind her own business was basically asking for a death sentence.
Yenna’s face flushed with anger, her hand drifting toward the hilt of her sword, but Hajin didn’t even flinch.
"I used to want to be a kind person," he said, his voice dropping the amused tone and becoming dangerously flat. "Years ago, I probably would have tried to explain myself. I would have tried to prove you wrong so everyone here would like me."
He pushed himself off the desk, slowly walking toward her.
"But I learned all too well how the world actually works," he said, his own heavy, suffocating pressure bleeding into the room and violently clashing against her freezing aura. "People believe whatever they want to believe. It doesn’t matter what the truth is."
He didn’t stop until he was standing just inches away from her face, looking down at her with cold, narrowed eyes.
The sheer density of the mana leaking off him was staggering, proving just how genuinely pissed off he was. But as Yenna’s eyes instinctively darted to his wrist, expecting to see the same strange ring of light she had seen the last time he fought, she froze.
There was no ring, this overwhelming pressure was just him.
"So go ahead," he whispered, his voice dangerously low as his mana continued to crush the air between them. "Believe whatever you want but before you draw that sword, ask yourself one question."
He leaned in slightly, his green eyes boring into hers.
"Are you absolutely sure you can kill me?"