The sympathetic gazes Yoon Seo received now were on par with those he had faced when he first emerged from the Great Dungeon. He could see the same emotion reflected in their varied eye colors.
A deep sense of camaraderie in suffering.
"When are you supposed to fight Hunter Kwon Jihan?"
"I haven't decided yet. I plan to refuse for now."
"I wouldn't recommend that. It'd be better to get it over with quickly and move on. He's incredibly persistent."
Alec gave the advice with the weariness of someone utterly exhausted just from thinking about it.
"If you lose too easily, he might keep pestering you, just like he did with my tiny, cute nightingale. My lovely apple pie got utterly destroyed by Kwon Jihan, but because Kwon Jihan mistakenly believed he hadn't given it his all, he kept bothering him. My sweet whipped cream really did give it his best effort, though. It's not a crime to be weak, is it?"
It was unclear whether she couldn't see or simply ignored the way her "lovely apple pie" was hiccuping and suppressing his emotions beside her. Lawrence delivered the brutal truth without hesitation.
'So the cleanest method is to make it look like I gave it my all while still losing overwhelmingly.'
Not an easy task. In fact, for Yoon Seo, the easiest method would be to win overwhelmingly. However, if he fought seriously, Kwon Jihan might actually die. He had only recently failed to control
"Looks like the hidden condition for Perfect Team 1 is losing to Jihan hyung in a fight. Honestly, all of us lost to him before joining Seokyoung. I was originally from a civilian guild, noona and hyung were from Love & Peace, and Alec ahjussi was from Entropy Guild. This is a secret, so only you should know, hyung."
"Understood."
Yoon Seo had already heard this from Tae Jaesik, but he pretended otherwise.
"Oh, right. Jihan hyung is apparently going to fight another foreign S-rank hunter soon."
"Really? Who?"
"Some hunter from overseas who controls elements. Their trait is a mix of Mage and Alchemist. It was either Russia or the U.S. Guild Master hyung was keeping it top secret, but my fairies told me."
Yoon Seo must not have known.
The fairies were Jaehee's summons from his skill
"Anyway, don't tell anyone about this either."
Yoon Seo nodded.
'So even after gathering this many foreign S-ranks, there are still hunters willing to fight Kwon Jihan.'
Tae Jaesik had said that no S-rank was willing to challenge him anymore, but apparently, there were still some left.
Just how strong was an S-rank's thirst for battle…?
"Seokyoung really seems intent on gathering every S-rank in the world. If they keep going like this, people are bound to start talking."
Alec spoke with concern.
"Isn't getting stronger a good thing? They'll end up on the same team as us anyway."
"The balance of power is crucial to maintaining world peace. If the scales tip too far in one direction, that peace will collapse."
"That's rich coming from you, ahjussi. I think the scales have already tipped. And Guildmaster hyung probably knows that too. If he's still gathering strong hunters despite that, there must be a reason. Maybe it's even connected to his search for Seo Chaeyoon."
"True. Considering how many S-ranks they've recruited, it's odd that Europae and S haven't said anything. There might be more to this… Perhaps I should look into it."
Yoon Seo, who had been silently listening, finally asked.
"If it's a guild recruitment match, does that mean if Kwon Jihan loses, he'll have to join that foreign S-rank hunter's guild?"
"Yes. But he won't lose. Jihan hyung is seriously strong."
"Terrifyingly strong."
"So strong it's annoying."
"Strong enough to be infuriating."
As all four of them spoke one after another, Yoon Seo found himself both exasperated and… somewhat intrigued.
If there were a guarantee that he wouldn't get caught as Seo Chaeyoon and that it wouldn't cause him any trouble later, Yoon Seo did want to fight with everything he had.
As long as he didn't have to worry about accidentally killing his opponent, Yoon Seo was willing to go for it.
No matter how indifferent he acted, he was still an S-rank overflowing with competitiveness.
"But Yoon Seo hyung, if Jihan hyung challenged you to a fight, that must mean you're really strong, right?"
Soo Jaehee shifted the topic back to Yoon Seo. Under the sudden weight of everyone's gazes, Yoon Seo maintained an impassive expression.
"I'm incredibly weak, but Kwon Jihan and the Guild Master made a mistake and brought me into Perfect. Until recently, I was just an office worker setting up shield traps."
"Hmmmm."
Soo Jaehee narrowed his eyes and let out a strange sound.
"What kind of item do you even have that makes our detection skills show your profile as B-rank? And how have you lived this long without anyone realizing you're an S-rank? Why are you hiding it? Do you just hate fighting monsters? Oh, wait, are your skills non-offensive? Like, one of those European prophets or something?"
Out of the flood of questions, Yoon Seo picked the ones most beneficial to him and organized his response.
"I'm just a B-rank awakened with three shield skills. I have no attack skills, and the most I can do with
"I wanna see your shield, hyung. I'm curious if it can block my attacks. I've sparred with Guild Master Jo Mir of Mir Guild and this American S-rank guy my age, and neither of them could withstand my Chichi's attacks. Oh, Chichi is the name of my summoned beast from
Soo Jaehee's light brown hair swayed slightly as he spoke. Seeing the glint of competitiveness and intrigue in his eyes, Yoon Seo reaffirmed that all S-ranks were the same.
At least Jaehee wasn't like Kwon Jihan, who immediately challenged people to fights.
"You must be quite a strong awakened, Hunter Soo Jaehee. If you can break through even the shields of dedicated shield-focused hunters."
"I'm insanely strong! Well, technically, it's my summoned beast that's strong, but that's basically the same thing, right? Before I joined Seokyoung, I was the top contributor in dungeon raids, twice!"
"That's really impressive. And you're still young, too. You might be the strongest among the twenty-year-olds."
"What do you mean 'among twenty-year-olds,' hyung? Aside from Jihan hyung, I'm the strongest in my entire age group. I even have an S-rank exclusive skill that's practically invincible. It's so overpowered that I've barely used it. Do you know what it feels like to have a skill that's too overpowered to even use, hyung?"
Soo Jaehee puffed up with pride. Yoon Seo had deliberately praised him, and since Jaehee was still young, he had taken the bait and switched topics right away.
From there, Jaehee's self-praise continued.
At some point, the couple quietly turned off their translation items, but Alec, finding Jaehee's bragging amusing, listened attentively.
While Jaehee wasn't the youngest S-rank ever, he was currently the youngest among active S-ranks. Having only just graduated high school last year, he was practically a baby from Alec's perspective, considering Alec was over fifty.
'They get along better than I expected for people who haven't known each other long.'
It was natural for people to bond after entrusting their lives to one another in battle, but considering how little time these people had actually spent together, Yoon Seo thought they deserved some credit.
***
After about thirty more minutes of conversation, the first to stand up was Alec.
"Introductions are over, and I've confirmed that you're not Seo Chaeyoon, so I'll be taking my leave. The Guild Master gave us time off, and I intend to make full use of it."
As soon as Alec packed his book into his bag, the couple sprang up as if they had been waiting for this moment.
"We'll be heading out too."
"See you next week."
"See you next week, ahjussi, hyung, noona."
Soo Jaehee waved cheerfully.
Alec ruffled Jaehee's hair once before giving Yoon Seo a brief nod in farewell and walking out. The couple, meanwhile, left without another word.
The moment their presence faded into the distance, Jaehee turned to Yoon Seo with admiration in his voice.
"Hyung, you're seriously amazing. Everyone's suffering because of that Lovey-Dovey Couple, but you handled it so well."
"As long as I ignore the slight nausea and stomachache, it's fine."
"Stomachache? That sounds like it's not fine at all?"
Soo Jaehee looked dumbfounded, but Yoon Seo brushed it off like it was nothing.
"Hunter Soo Jaehee, aren't you going home?"
When Yoon Seo asked, Jaehee stretched out his arms and legs as if he were loosening up before heading over to the sofa where Alec had been sitting.
"I get restless if I stay home too long. I'm planning to run around and have fun in the training center before heading back."
"You just spent a whole week clearing an S-rank Greenie dungeon, and you're not tired?"
Pffft—Jaehee burst into laughter.
"It's funny hearing you call it a 'Greenie' with such a straight face, hyung."
Yoon Seo closed his mouth. It was a habit of his. Yellow was 'Yellowie,' blue was 'Bluey,' and green was 'Greenie'… A friend's way of speaking had rubbed off on him, and even after ten years, it hadn't changed.
"I'm not tired at all. I'm only twenty, so something like this doesn't wear me out. More importantly, hyung, have you ever been to the training center here?"
"I have."
"I don't mean the underground one. I'm talking about the high-level training center. The one reserved for S-ranks. Let's go together."
Jaehee's eyes sparkled with excitement. Yoon Seo turned his head with a troubled expression.
"Hyung, where are you looking? Why are you avoiding my gaze?"
"Asking to go train together when we just met seems a bit too soon."
"I just wanna see how strong your shield skills are. We're going to have to figure out each other's abilities eventually anyway. Let's go. Please?"
The guy, who was at least 10 cm taller than Yoon Seo, whined, "Hyuuung~," and clung to him. Even though they had only met today, he was acting like they had known each other for years.
Yoon Seo paused to think.
They weren't going to be raiding A-rank dungeons but S-rank ones together, so knowing his teammates' skills was essential. He needed to understand the attack and defense power of their most-used skills to properly adjust the strength of his shields. Unlike the B-rank dungeon at Homyeongsan, an S-rank dungeon was on a completely different level. He couldn't go in lightly.
Especially since healing skills and potions didn't work on him.
"Hyuuung~ Let's go. It's not like you have anything else to do here except train anyway."
"…Fine. Lead the way."
"Wow, yes! Let's gooo."
Jaehee jumped up, making a fuss. As Yoon Seo followed behind him, he thought the guy really was like a giant puppy.