Chapter 315: 39. Problems with the Hunter Association
'He’s a little lacking, isn’t he.'
Since he was a broadcasting-station reporter, I had thought some awkward, unexpected question might come flying out, but once the interview actually started, the coolheaded reporter vanished somewhere, and only one dumb bastard was left behind.
I had roughly blurred my words and answered vaguely, so this should not be enough to draw aggro.
'I’ll monitor it once later when the article comes out, I guess.'
It did not seem like the reaction would be particularly fierce, though. If that did not work, I could ask Im Haekyung to summarize it roughly for me.
I thought comfortably and looked around nearby. For reference, in the afternoon, there was a Hunter skill-boasting contest held under the banner of basic safety education.
Legally, there were many restrictions on Hunters using Skills outside Gates, so unless it was an officially approved combat clip, ordinary people rarely had a chance to directly see a Skill being cast. But just because there were few chances to see it directly did not mean interest died off, so from time to time, with government permission, they would arrange places where Hunters could show off their Skills. Well, excuses could be made as much as they wanted.
When I went outside, a Hunter who had applied in advance was casting Skills here and there into the air.
'If they’re going to do something like that, they should do it with Hunters who awakened not long ago, fuck.'
Gathering Hunters already holding decent positions in guilds and making them do that was just a circus, wasn’t it?
I lost interest and looked straight ahead. Just then, maybe because the previous Hunter’s plant-processing Skill had ended, that Hunter stepped down, and a familiar-looking Hunter from the Special Response Team came up.
'It’s Ryu Taeyoung.'
Was the last time I saw him in person at the cult counseling office?
'Hm.'
Since that day, Ryu Taeyoung had not come looking for me again. I wondered if he had perhaps gone to another place, so I asked the VIP followers, but no one with a similar appearance had come.
It was not that he had gradually lost interest. It still seemed like he was feverishly searching for Ryu Taejun, but it looked as if his own circumstances were getting in the way. Even today, the Minister of the Administrative Office had openly said that the Special Response Team would not receive as much support.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and watched Ryu Taeyoung conduct the safety education. While he was in the middle of explaining, he began lightly scanning the reporters filming him.
“.......”
At that moment, Ryu Taeyoung checked in my direction, and as soon as our eyes met, he turned his gaze somewhere else.
'Is he uncomfortable looking at me?'
It was not as if Im Haekyung had blatantly brainwashed him, and yet, to think he would feel this uncomfortable around someone after seeing only a few pieces of evidence. Well, family was, whether one lived without seeing them or not, something that fucked with the mind. If the person were just dead outright, that would be one thing, but if the person was missing, one had to proceed on the premise that the person was alive, so there were even more things to worry about.
While I was watching Ryu Taeyoung’s explanation with all sorts of stray thoughts, I sensed someone behind me.
'Is it Im Haekyung?'
I thought it would roughly be either Im Haekyung or Do Yehyun, so I turned around without thinking much, and saw Kwon Taehan looking at me from an awkward distance.
The funny thing was, compared to when we had grabbed each other by the collar in Australia, his hostility seemed to have faded a great deal.
'You pushover bastard. That’s why you die....'
I inwardly pitied Kwon Taehan and turned my head forward again. Because from the look of it, he clearly wanted to talk to me, and I did not particularly feel like responding.
Then, as expected, Kwon Taehan paced around behind me and drew a fuckton of aggro. I stubbornly ignored him and focused on Ryu Taeyoung’s education, and finally, as if he had made up his mind to speak, Kwon Taehan grabbed my arm and pulled.
“Let’s talk.”
“Do we have anything to talk about?”
“We do.”
Well, I did not think so.
However, I obediently followed Kwon Taehan out.
“Lead the way. You’re not going to talk here.”
“.......”
Maybe because the bastard was an S-rank Hunter, I felt quite a few gazes just from leaving the area.
Only after we finally reached an empty hallway inside the building did Kwon Taehan stop walking.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“Why did you join Haeseong?”
“The conditions were good.”
“.......”
If he was going to so openly not believe me, why did he ask?
“Looks like there’s an answer you want to hear? Why do you have a face that says you’re not accepting it?”
“Because I... know you’re not someone who would move just because the conditions are a little good.”
“Why are you acting like you know me so well? You’re not at that level.”
When I answered with a snort, Kwon Taehan lifted the gaze that had been subtly lowered. Kwon Taehan’s expression changed into something vaguely dumbfounded... no, rather than that, how should I put it?
'Hurt?'
It changed into something halfway between dumbfounded and hurt. I did not know which it was closer to.
“Were we incredibly close?”
That was something I was genuinely curious about.
Whether “Seo Jehyun,” whose memories from the deleted rounds had all grown blurry and whose intense emotions had all been digested, had still treated Kwon Taehan well even in the first round.
Kwon Taehan’s lips moved, then he bit down on them hard.
'I know even without asking.'
First he told me not to act like I knew him, and now he was the one acting like he knew me first....
'Ah... fuck, what a wildly fickle bastard.'
It seemed that when I had acted like I knew him a little in Australia, he had ended up thinking a lot about all sorts of things inside. Even if he had said our conversation was over and all that.
Maybe the reason Kwon Taehan kept returning to me was not my own will, but the bastard’s problem. The zero round, where his memories disappeared every time, was one thing, but even in rounds where he had clear memories of being killed by me, he got entangled with me every single time.
Or maybe it was his subconscious. Like a damn dog that could not forget its owner.
“Even if your memories are incomplete, you... know at least that much.”
“.......”
Come to think of it, the one whose memories were truly not intact was Kwon Taehan. I stepped one pace back and slowly looked Kwon Taehan over.
Maybe because I had witnessed Kwon Taehan for a very long time inside blocked, extremely deep memories, my impression of him felt somewhat different from before. For instance, even when the bastard seemed to be doing whatever he wanted, he was always watching for cues... things like that came into view.
It also felt as if, if I pushed, he would be dragged along to some extent in the direction I intended. Kwon Taehan had always been that kind of bastard from the beginning.
I answered calmly.
“I joined because of Im Haekyung. The conditions weren’t a lie either. Not Haeseong’s conditions, but because I was satisfied with the conditions Im Haekyung personally offered.”
“...What kind?”
“Curious?”
“.......”
Kwon Taehan turned his head to the side.
I watched Kwon Taehan’s profile and continued.
“It’s not anything worth being curious about. It’s just personal.”
I could explain to Kwon Taehan well enough that I had borrowed Im Haekyung’s Mental Domination to dig into the past, but... why bother? I did not want to expose too much information to Kwon Taehan in this situation.
I had thought this would be enough for him to accept it appropriately, but Kwon Taehan suddenly lifted his head.
“Are you serious?”
“About what?”
“With Haeseong’s guild master....”
“What are you talking about?”
Kwon Taehan swallowed and said,
“...I already know you’re not close with Haeseong’s guild master in that way. I was just curious about why you made this choice this time. Your choices always... become a problem for me too.”
“Think whatever you want.”
I replied briefly to Kwon Taehan’s excuse and asked something else.
“You made a guild.”
“.......”
Anyway, Kwon Taehan making a guild was something that had been in the sequence of events. It was just that the timing was not supposed to be now. The fact that Kwon Taehan belonged somewhere was convenient for me in many ways. Because it made the bastard’s movements a little more predictable.
Of course, he had never been the kind of bastard who moved in ways impossible to guess from the beginning.
“Do you even have guild members?”
“...I did it because this method is more convenient.”
“Did I say anything? It’s a good thing. Congratulations?”
“I don’t really have guild members. I didn’t make the guild to have guild members in the first place.”
Was it a one-person guild? Well, that would be easier to create. Guild members could be gathered as much as one wanted later.
Just then, the glass door behind the hallway suddenly flung open, and a familiar face came out.
“Oh my, then please go back safely.”
“Yes, yes.”
Receiving the greeting from Hong Namsu, the chairman of the Hunter Association, the Minister of the Administrative Office found us and flinched, then smiled faintly again and left the hallway.
Kwon Taehan’s head, which had been following the minister with his eyes, turned toward the association chairman.
“...Ahem!”
Had he known and come here? It did not seem like it.
'Is it just because this place is closed off?'
Maybe because the association chairman could not close the door again after finding us, he overlaid a bright smile over his reluctant face and greeted us.
“Well, who is this? Our... precious Hunters. I’ve been hearing your news well. Hunter Kwon and... what was your name again?”
“Seo Jehyun.”
“Yes, Hunter Seo. You’ve worked hard. There should be an event in full swing outside right now, so why are you here instead of over there?”
I checked the time and answered.
“There was something we needed to talk about briefly, so we were going to go back out after finishing that.”
“I see.... Then go on now. With the minister, I was discussing the direction of future policy.”
Did anyone say anything?
He must have a fuckton of things to feel guilty about, because he was rambling excuses about something no one had even asked him.
Still holding the door, the association chairman looked back and forth between Kwon Taehan and me, intending to quickly send us away, and rounded off his greeting.
“Yes.... Anyway, work hard for the sake of Gates from now on, and, hm. Where do you belong?”
“Haeseong.”
“Ah, Haeseong....”
The association chairman, who had been nodding roughly, briefly had his face colored by a strange displeasure.
“Haeseong?”
“Yes.”
“Mm.... You’re affiliated with a good place.”
“.......”
Why was he acting like this? It was not as if the Hunter Association and Haeseong were on bad terms.
After thinking about something for a moment, the association chairman seemed to change his mind and called me.
“Hunter Seo?”
“Yes.”
“Can we talk inside for a moment?”
“......?”
All of a sudden?
However, there was no particular reason to refuse. I was also curious what he would say.
Just as I was nodding to obediently accept, Kwon Taehan’s hand gripped my hand tight. When I turned my gaze, the bastard was looking at me desperately, as if there was something he wanted to say.
'What is this?'
It seemed like he meant not to go in, but the association chairman was not even an awakened person. He was unawakened... so why bother?
'He’s fucking overreacting.'
I lightly shook off Kwon Taehan’s hand and answered.
“Yes.”
Then, suddenly, Kwon Taehan grabbed my wrist once more.
“Taehan, if you have something to say, say it.”
“Hunter Kwon behind you can come in too. It’s nothing serious.”
“.......”
Ah... what is with this bastard now?
The association chairman, who had called Kwon Taehan and me together from behind, flung the door wide open.