"Hey, Little Savior. Are you planning to sleep right now?"
It was just as they entered the swamp area. Having finished a fierce battle with the monsters, Yoon Seo was resting with a friend when a scruffy, bearded man started picking a fight out of nowhere. Before Yoon Seo could respond, his friend stepped in.
"Mister, you're Hunter Kim Hyungtae, right? Leave Chaeyoon alone. He's tired."
"You're at it again. Are you his manager or something, Little Savior's handler?"
"And don't call him 'Little Savior.' You know Chaeyoon hates that nickname."
"Doesn't he have a mouth of his own? Always needs someone to speak for him. When are you finally going to take off that mask? What if you're glaring daggers at us from behind it, huh?"
Though the content of his words was provoking, his tone and gaze were full of mischief. If it had been a genuine challenge, Yoon Seo would have responded, but since it wasn't, he simply ignored the man and turned over to face the other way. The blatant disregard made the man yell in frustration, and Yoon Seo's friend quickly stepped in to block him.
"Mr. Kim, leave our ace alone and go help deal with the small fry."
"Why are you all on my case? The Little Savior and Lee Domin are lying down and sleeping too."
"Do you know how hard Seo Chaeyoon and Domin worked both above and below the swamp? If we have any decency, we should let them rest."
"Hey, Kim Hyungtae! Are you coming over here or not?"
"If you wake up our ace, you're dead, Mister."
"Ugh, damn it. Everyone's always picking on me."
Grumbling, the man walked off. Yoon Seo's friend let out a small sigh and sat down nearby. Yoon Seo fell asleep, the smell of blood lingering in his nostrils.
***
The man died much later.
Kim Hyungtae, his lower body burned to a crisp and black blood constantly spilling from his mouth, grabbed onto Yoon Seo's hand.
'Cha…Chaeyoon.'
At the time, Yoon Seo's mask had broken, leaving him no choice but to reveal his face, but his real name remained unknown. Since his friend had died earlier, there was no one left to call him by his true name.
'Mister.'
Yoon Seo held the remains of the man, barely recognizable as a body. The once-bear-like figure had withered to the point where his bones jutted out, and his eyes were so clouded it seemed he could no longer see anything.
'You…you punk. While others are dealing with small fry… cough…you just sleep all the time…. And that mask…huh? If you're going to throw it away, just give it to me…. cough. I was going to sell it for a fortune….'
The man weakly lifted his hand, and Yoon Seo quickly took it.
'You were such a young boy…. cough'
The man could barely open his eyes now. Yoon Seo swallowed and swallowed the burning lump rising from deep in his throat. He didn't cry, fearing he might miss the man's final moments if he did.
'I'm about to die, aren't I? Chaeyoon….'
'....'
'I have a wish… Will you grant it for me?'
'....'
'Chaeyoon, when you get out of here….'
The man left his last words.
Eat 100 bowls of gukbap. Sprinkle them with pepper.
It was such an absurd final request that any tears threatening to fall instantly retreated….
'Mister, even that ridiculous last request, I kept it. Not just kept it, I ate so much of it that I got sick of it. So, please stop lingering in my head now.'
Yoon Seo grumbled like the man once had, stepping out of the car. The sunlight was still so strong that he raised a hand to shade his brow.
"Are you from the Guild of Leaves?"
An employee from Daijeong Securities, who had been waiting, immediately approached Yoon Seo. He quickly bowed and adjusted his expression.
Even from a distance, just sensing the magic flow was enough to see how severely the Rainbow Guild's shield trap had been damaged.
Shield trap maintenance usually only required about an hour for one person to complete, much less time than the lengthy process of installation. Yet, even with two people working for two hours, only 30% of the trap had been restored. There was a reason for this: both Park Youngbum and Goh Heewon, utterly drained of magic and physical strength, were practically at death's door.
As soon as Yoon Seo arrived, they ran to him with tears streaming down their faces.
"You're here, our team ace. I thought I wouldn't be able to go home today."
"Oppa, why are you so late?"
"I got here as fast as I could."
Yoon Seo effortlessly dodged the two rushing at him and immediately inspected the trap. Not that there was much need, given the scale of the shield trap for a building over 50 stories tall, Yoon Seo had already identified the issue the moment he parked in the garage.
"The problem lies in the magic injection phase of the components. At this rate, it won't last even a month."
"Of course you'd spot it at a glance. They must've deliberately botched the maintenance to sell replacements under the guise of poor management. Those bastards, claiming to be the fifth-ranked guild in Korea, what a bunch of crooks."
"Rainbow scumbags need to be publicly shamed sometime. Their thuggish behavior has gone too far. Instead of keeping quiet, we should report them somewhere."
"Exactly what I'm saying. Where have all the brave awakened people in Korea gone?"
"Reporting it to the press won't help, but if someone uploads a whistleblowing video on HunterNet, that'd do the trick."
"Why don't we be the brave whistleblowers? I don't have a HunterNet account, so how about using Heewon's?"
"Team Leader, signing up for HunterNet is super easy. I'll sign you up. You'll go down in history as the courageous whistleblower."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Heewon, look at this. My phone's camera lens is broken, so I might have to use yours to record."
"Ah, Team Leader, what should I do? My screen is completely busted."
Yoon Seo looked at the two people using the skill
To be honest, fixing this would take just 10 seconds….
He glanced at his watch. 4:12 PM. Quitting time was six o'clock.
'I guess I'll have to stretch this out for two hours.'
Yoon Seo gathered his magic and moved his fingers.
***
He failed. He couldn't stretch it out to the goal time.
Yoon Seo ended up finishing the trap repair at 5:30 PM. Dragging out the work was proving to be a challenging task for an office worker with only 30 minutes left until quitting time.
"Even though the two of us spent two hours on it, we could only get 30% done. Hmmph."
"He's always been weirdly fast. Hmmmph."
As a result, Yoon Seo endured the piercing stares of Park Youngbum and Goh Heewon all the way to the guild dinner at the barbecue restaurant.
"Seriously, the amazing thing is that there are hardly any A/S requests for what Yoon Seo oppa handles. Even the Seokyoung Guild's installation team has a repair rate of 20%, but oppa's rate is what, 2% at best?"
"What amazes me is that Yoon Seo, with all his skills, keeps declining promotions. He joined a month after the guild was founded, so he's practically an original member. His career is long, and his skills are top-notch. Honestly, the only reason I became team leader is that he refused the position. Even now, if he wanted it, I'd give him the spot."
"He said he doesn't want to deal with meetings during collaborations with other guilds or entertaining clients. Oppa would absolutely hate that. Oh, not that I'm saying oppa is antisocial or anything. He's the type that grows on you the longer you know him. Anyway, the point is that Yoon Seo oppa is a genius."
"More like a nerd secretly hiding his strength, don't you think?"
"A nerd? Team Leader, have you ever seen a nerd this good-looking?"
"If you call him a 'hidden beauty,' it doesn't sound like he's hiding anything."
"Let's just call him a hunter hiding his strength."
Having learned from experience that responding would only encourage their conspiracy theories further, Yoon Seo silently focused on flipping the meat. After all, they weren't genuinely suspicious of his identity; they just wanted to tease him.
"What are you all talking about?"
The voice that suddenly interrupted belonged to Park Soobin from the dungeon raid team. He had returned the day before after clearing a C-rank dungeon. Though he'd only been with the Guild of Leaves for a year, his exceptional sociability quickly endeared him to everyone.
"Oh, it's Lazbin oppa."
"Call me Soobin. This isn't work."
Hunter name Lazbin, real name Park Soobin, smiled warmly.
Combat hunters often used hunter names. Some disliked being called by their real names, and there were those who referred to non-combat hunters dismissively as "desk job awakeners."
Park Soobin was not one of them. The Guild of Leaves wasn't known for exceptional strength, but it was a collection of individuals with outstanding character. Yoon Seo always found it curious where the guild master found such people.
"Oppa, sit here."
"Thanks."
Goh Heewon moved aside to make space for Park Soobin. Park Soobin, with his light brown curly hair bouncing, sat next to Yoon Seo and smiled softly at him.
"Yoon Seo, hi."
"Hello."
"You're speaking formally again. That's disappointing."
Park Soobin playfully furrowed his brows.
From the moment he first joined the guild, Park Soobin had this peculiar habit of cozying up to Yoon Seo. Not long ago, he had even suggested, "Should we drop formalities with each other?" Yoon Seo, preferring to stick to formal language, flatly refused, but Park Soobin persisted. However, no matter how casual he acted, he couldn't bring himself to drop formalities with Yoon Seo, who remained consistently polite. In the end, both of them continued speaking formally to each other.
"So, what were you all talking about?"
"Oh, nothing much. We were just amazed at how Yoon Seo oppa finished trap maintenance in just an hour again today."
"He did it so quickly this time too, just like before. It's almost suspicious how impressive he is."
Goh Heewon and Park Youngbum enthusiastically began recounting Yoon Seo's achievements.
"I don't even understand what you're talking about. I've never done trap maintenance. Can you compare it to something in dungeon strategy?"
"We've never strategized in a dungeon either, so we can't really compare."
"Have you two never entered a dungeon?"
"We did back in our early awakened days, but we didn't contribute much to the strategy…. I only went twice, failed both times, and then switched to desk jobs."
"I entered three times before giving up. It's been five years since I last went into a dungeon, but I still find them terrifying. I really respect dungeon strategy teams."
Goh Heewon gave a thumbs-up to the dungeon strategy team members seated diagonally across from her. They smiled and waved off her praise. Except for the strategy team of the Guild of Leaves, everyone present were hunters who didn't participate in combat. Balancing fear and curiosity about dungeons, they began peppering the team with various questions.
"Is it true that time doesn't flow inside dungeons?"
"That's the oldest misconception. Time flows perfectly normally."
"What about the rumor that treasure chests with amazing items sometimes appear?"
"Oh, that one's true. If you find one, it's like winning the lottery. You can even get S-rank items from B-rank dungeons."
"Have you ever found one?"
"None of us have."
"If we had, do you think we'd still be sitting here like this?"
Everyone burst out laughing at a hunter's lament. Yoon Seo took a sip of his drink, relieved that the conversation had shifted to a different topic.
"What about you, Yoon Seo?"
Ah, right. Park Soobin was still next to him. Yoon Seo turned to ask him back.
"About what?"
"You must've been in a dungeon before too. Did it not suit you?"