The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C22
$22
Before Seo-heon could finish speaking, the conference room door burst open with a loud bang. There was no need to check – it was Kwon Ho-jun. The entourage following him had become even more glamorous than before. With political bodyguards and our guild members standing in a subtle confrontation, it must have seemed quite intimidating to ordinary people. Seo-heon’s face, which had briefly shown a sneer, instantly transformed into a bright expression.
“I was going to come after I finished.”
“Really?”
“Ho-jun. Did you miss me?”
“Of course I missed you, that’s why I came.”
The two exchanged ideal lovers’ dialogue and embraced tenderly, like long-separated lovers. My chest stung with a pang of conscience.
“Hello.”
Even after the hug ended, Kwon Ho-jun was still clinging to Seo-heon. As it was a scene too difficult to ignore, I offered a belated greeting.
“Hello, Woo-hyun. By the way, you two are so close, I’m starting to get jealous.”
“You know it’s not like that.”
Seo-heon gently pinched Kwon Ho-jun’s nostrils as if he found it cute. He gets adorably jealous just from us being close, but what would happen if he found out I couldn’t even properly handle one succubus and caused trouble? It was terrifying just to imagine. I felt I could understand if Seo-heon or Kwon Ho-jun wanted to kill me.
“Are you very busy? Can’t you be with me today?”
Kwon Ho-jun whined like a child. His carefree attitude and the bright innocence unique to someone who has only received love shone through. The more he shone, the longer my shadow grew.
I bowed my head deeply and ignored the guilt churning in my chest. Seo-heon paused for a moment before nodding.
“Shall we?”
Seo-heon, who thoroughly carried out any task he decided on, made an exception. His answer seemed unexpected to Kwon Ho-jun as well, who visibly brightened. Perhaps he was going to talk about what he did with me? No, maybe he just wanted to grant small favors out of guilt. It was understandable, since even if it was an unavoidable situation, it was no different from cheating on his lover.
“Woo-hyun, is that okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll take care of it.”
Truthfully, I was still afraid to stand alone in front of the media, but I didn’t want to shamelessly stop the two of them. If I could go back in time, I would have knocked myself out, even by beating myself while intoxicated, to prevent such a thing from happening.
“Then we’ll go.”
“Okay.”
The bodyguards followed the two. Being left alone was familiar.
“Still, I’m the one leaving first in the end.”
My remaining short life felt heavy.
Mi-yeon and Da-jeong, who had returned after finishing preparations, briefly caused a commotion when they saw that Seo-heon had disappeared.
“Did the Guild Master really leave?”
“He never usually misses occasions like this, it’s unusual.”
Da-jeong looked at me worriedly.
“This means the questions will be focused on you, Woo-hyun. What should we do?”
“Is it such a big deal to answer a few more questions? Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
The word “fine” that I always uttered left a sticky feeling in my mouth. It left an unpleasant sensation as if a fully melted candy had stuck to the inside of my mouth.
“Among the newspapers coming today, there’s Gaju Kyung from Hae-il and reporter Jo Min-ho from Hunter Tomorrow. Are you really okay? Hae-il was the one who spread this information too.”
Hae-il and Hunter Tomorrow were opponents that made me shudder just hearing their names. Still, not wanting to worry them, I just nodded.
“It’s not like I’ll die from being criticized, and I haven’t done anything wrong. Let me know when you’re ready.”
***
“Woo-hyun, the reporters have all arrived.”
“Thank you.”
After organizing my materials, I headed to the seminar room prepared in the guild without saying much. The waiting reporters aimed their lenses at me from the moment I entered.
When I was young, those camera lenses felt like guns. There were reporters who wrote articles as if they really wanted to kill me. Compared to then, this was nothing.
I had developed skills to avoid pointed questions and reached a position where I could ignore some things.
The two people following me hesitated slightly as they took their seats. It seemed they had noticed some reporters directing hostile gazes towards me.
“Thank you for your precious time. I will now take questions about what happened in the contaminated area. Please understand that there may be shortcomings as this material was prepared for the fastest possible information delivery.”
As soon as I took the microphone and spoke, hands shot up everywhere. The skillful Da-jeong took questions mainly from reporters who were friendly with Ihwa or maintained an objective stance.
Thanks to this, the initial part of the interview wasn’t difficult.
“This is reporter Kim Ju-o from Somang Daily. Wasn’t this contaminated area incident somewhat expected, like the dragon’s nest?”
Without Seo-heon present, some slightly more aggressive questions came in, but this level was child’s play. They were just asking questions to do their job, without much malice.
“The contaminated area is a region that cannot be entered without permission. Moreover, the area we went to was one that hadn’t been inspected for quite a while, so there was no way to obtain information about its recovery, making prediction impossible. And I’d like you to know that Ihwa is always ready to inform the media if there’s information that shouldn’t be monopolized.”
The sound of reporters taking notes filled the room. Listening to this sound made me acutely aware that these people didn’t want to hear what I had to say, they just wanted something sensational.
“Could you tell us specifically what evidence you saw of the dungeon’s recovery?”
“First, the dungeon was maintaining its shape to some extent. Also, a monster was found attempting to gather destroyed cores. These cores are currently being examined in the laboratory for a more detailed report.”
There was a limit to the expected questions. Gradually, the number of reporters raising their hands decreased as they received satisfactory answers, and eventually only the reporters I wanted to avoid were raising their hands. As Mi-yeon showed signs of wanting to say we wouldn’t take any more questions, a reporter threw out a question without even being given the right to speak.
“Why isn’t Kang Seo-heon here?”
Tension instantly rose. As if wondering when it had become lax, cameras and gazes focused on me.
“He had an urgent schedule and had to leave.”
“Is it possible that, as people are saying, the relationship between you two has soured? There were rumors that Hunter Baek Woo-hyun’s continuous overseas missions were also an extension of this situation.”
I didn’t even know such rumors were circulating. I hardly used the internet since I was 19 unless necessary, and I was too busy to have time to search about myself.
However, judging by the tone, I suspected the person speaking might be the one who started such rumors.
“That’s not true. I think you can easily find the answer if you look at my actions since returning to Korea. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to correct unnecessary speculation.”
The reporter’s eyes glinted cunningly. Looking at the ID around his neck, I saw it was from Hunter Tomorrow. As if he had been thoroughly prepared, he continued speaking undaunted by the restless atmosphere.
“I’d like to ask if your continuous work together since returning to Korea wasn’t a means to quell rumors. From Kang Seo-heon’s perspective, you’re no different from his parents’ enemy, so wouldn’t it be understandable if your relationship soured at any time?”
Parents’ enemy – it was a tiresome repertoire. Whenever this word came up, Seo-heon consistently answered, ‘I don’t resent my friend. Woo-hyun is my best partner and a friend as good as family. Rather, it seems like you want to become my enemy.’
He said the latter with a smile, forcibly making it sound like a joke, but all the reporters knew it had a sting to it. That’s why it was fair to say no reporter asked such questions when Seo-heon was present.
“We have worked together without problems for a long time. I will not take any more questions unrelated to today’s topic.”
“This is reporter Kim O-gang from Hae-il Daily. You mentioned that a succubus appeared in the dungeon, were there any unpleasant incidents?”
Hae-il Daily also asked without seeking permission to speak. Their goal was probably to make me frown by upsetting me. Their intention to catch a photo worthy of being the main image was clear.
The troublesome part was that there really had been an unpleasant incident. I answered while suppressing the urge to vomit. The remaining seal somehow felt hot.
“How could there be any unpleasant incidents in fighting a low-grade monster?”
“Aren’t you being arrogant?”
“Isn’t it rather arrogant of you, reporter, to doubt my abilities? Questioning my combat ability is the same as claiming that the hunter ranking system is flawed.”
I spoke like Kang Seo-heon. With reporters who come at you so recklessly, you had to respond strongly, even if it meant acting, to suppress their momentum. As expected, the reporter who had asked the question tightly closed his mouth. After staring at each other for a while as if in a staring contest, he sat down, apparently having no more prepared questions.
“I will now give a final summary of this incident and state our position.”
I blocked the sigh trying to escape and finally delivered the lines to end this stifling affair. The reporters exchanged glances while continuing to type rapidly. I could clearly envision the articles that would be uploaded in real-time.
“We will now conclude as the promised time has passed. Thank you once again for coming here today.”
With Da-jeong’s words, the room began to wrap up. I also greeted the reporters I was somewhat acquainted with and left the seminar room.