The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C54
$54
“You worked all day yesterday too.”
“I manage my stamina well, but I’m saying this because you overdo it.”
I wanted to refute, but remembering that Seo-heon had never once ruined his condition, I was at a loss for words. Choosing to quickly get to the main point rather than argue fruitlessly, I said:
“So what do you think now? There are 8 days left until we enter the S-rank dungeon, so adding more people might actually disrupt the balance.”
“There will be no changes to personnel. Adding more might just increase injuries. However, I’m thinking of establishing hypotheses and supplementing items and strategies accordingly.”
His opinion was the same as mine. There were guilds that tried to solve high-rank dungeon conquests by pushing through with numbers, but in those cases, they needed many guild members with similar attributes and a comparable number of defense lines. Considering that many guild members still got injured, it didn’t suit Ihwa’s style.
Ihwa’s strength was a clean combat style where strong individuals came together for synergistic effects. There was no need to use strategies that would diminish this advantage for the sake of precaution.
“Looking at the recent phenomenon of boss monster cores being larger or smaller than usual, it’s clear that monsters have somehow become able to exchange cores. It’s not clear whether they’re stealing or sharing them.”
“In the contaminated area, we thought it might be human doing, but looking at the data, it seems more reasonable that it’s an issue among monsters.”
As Seo-heon said, there were no traces of artificial manipulation. There was no regularity in the occurrence areas, and no special changes occurred among people due to the emergence of anomalous dungeons. There were incidents like more injuries or additional personnel being deployed for forced dungeon openings due to problems in dungeon conquests, but all were at recoverable levels and, being small in scale, weren’t social issues.
“And I can’t see any noticeable differences between monsters with increased cores and those with decreased cores.”
“I’ve requested the information team to focus on analyzing cases where cores have enlarged. The one we saw in the contaminated area seems closer to having obtained a core from somewhere rather than regenerating a boss monster’s core.”
Seo-heon paused briefly and lowered his voice.
“One strange thing is that the rewards from monsters with reduced cores included items related to salamanders. Not all of them, but in three places.”
I could immediately understand why he was focusing on that. If Seo-heon’s and my concerns aligned, this subjugation could be more dangerous than expected.
“Even if this dungeon is related to what’s happening now, it’s difficult to postpone the schedule.”
It wasn’t easy to coordinate the schedules of the subjugation members, and we didn’t know how long the dungeon would hold up.
“If the Hetzling is a descendant of the salamander or a being in its retinue, we should consider this mission to be of higher difficulty than a regular S-rank dungeon. For now, I plan to prepare for that situation. I’m procuring equipment even at higher prices.”
More detailed content would likely take shape once the data analysis results came out. Just then, another guest arrived outside.
“We have a lot of visitors today.”
“Seo-heon-ssi!”
The door flung open. Following the father, the son had also visited. Kwon Ho-jun, who ran and hugged Seo-heon tightly, was smiling brightly but looked somewhat anxious.
“I heard my father came here. Why didn’t you call me?”
“He came suddenly. There wasn’t time to call you.”
“I see.”
Kwon Ho-jun caught me as I was trying to sneak out.
“Woo-hyun-ssi, did you meet my father today too?”
His face was covered in deep displeasure. He always used to look happy or have a faint smile when seeing me, so seeing him openly express hostility felt unfamiliar.
“It wasn’t intentional, but I did meet him briefly.”
“He was praising you. He said he wished he had a son like Woo-hyun-ssi.”
His voice was too sharp to be mere pleasantries.
And something feels off. From the start, Assemblyman Kwon’s attitude towards me was more likely to cause displeasure than seem favorable. Is there a reason to be so sharp?
“Ho-jun, don’t be so sensitive.”
“Are you saying I’m being sensitive right now?”
Though his words were sharp, his action of burrowing into Seo-heon’s body was quite affectionate.
“I’ll be going now.”
Their relationship was hard to understand. Anyway, the important thing was, as Seo-heon said, that Kwon Ho-jun might have noticed what had happened between us. If so, his behavior made sense. It was hostility I had to bear.
“Let me give you some advice, Seo-heon-ssi is mine. He’s someone I obtained with my own power.”
Kwon Ho-jun’s hand embraced Seo-heon’s neck. It was like a child boasting about their toy. Ho-jun-ssi didn’t seem to understand that no person can be someone else’s possession.
But if that’s how he wants to alleviate his anxiety, I have no right to add my words.
“I don’t covet other people’s partners.”
I couldn’t help my feelings of desire. But I had no intention of causing the problems Ho-jun was worried about, nor could I.
“I hope you keep that word.”
I closed the door and left. Seo-heon’s words that I didn’t need to do anything were rather welcome. In this situation, I couldn’t even figure out how to explain myself.
***
I moved to hand over the file I had organized to the information team. I was about to open the door, but my sensitive ears quickly picked up the conversation inside.
“He seemed really sharp today.”
“But lately the guild master seems to be less accommodating of his tantrums, maybe it was all for connections until now?”
People’s chatter continued along with the steady sound of typing.
“He must have crossed a line that could be tolerated. Still, this much is extremely lenient. Is the guild master the type to coddle a lover? What’s been happening until now was rather strange.”
Is that so? Seo-heon has cold aspects and is certainly calculating, but he was kind to people he considered in his domain. He was merciless the moment that was crossed, but…
I knew well because I had been inside that line in the past. I thought Kwon Ho-jun was inside it now. It seems other people don’t know this aspect well, so such evaluations come out.
Kwon Ho-jun’s reputation seemed worse than I thought, as most mentions of his name were accompanied by complaints. However, I had no desire to engage in gossip I didn’t know much about, nor did I want to put others down, so I pretended not to hear and knocked a beat late.
“Oh, Vice Guild Master, you’re here.”
“Did you see yesterday’s data?”
“Yes. It’s not much, but I organized it in my own way. The final organized data is due tomorrow, right?”
“We’re working on it busily. The problem is that things are progressing in a not-so-good direction.”
The people who had been talking about other things stood up and received the materials I handed over. It seemed they had been working overtime continuously, as caffeine drinks and energy tonics were scattered on the desk.
I guess they wanted to drive away sleep even with small talk.
I had come thinking I might join in for a bit of small talk, but seeing their condition, I only thought I should leave quickly.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Just as I was about to leave after saying goodbye, an employee sitting close to the door spoke as if suddenly remembering something.
“Oh right. Could you check if your guild-exclusive communication device is turned off? Lee-han-ssi was looking for you earlier.”
Checking my hand, I found that the communicator I had set to silent was full of messages. Most were from Lee-han.
“Thank you. I’ll contact you tomorrow then.”
Leaving the office, I also charged and turned on my phone which had been dead. I had gotten into the habit of neglecting it since I usually use the guild-exclusive device. I searched through the contacts and called Lee-han. The call connected before the first ring even finished.
“Hello?”
[Hyung, where are you?]
His voice asking where I was without preamble was so urgent that it seemed like he might come right away if I told him.
“I’m at the guild now. Isn’t today your day off?”
[That’s right. Um… do you have time this evening after work is done? I’d like to have dinner together.]
His invitation continued haltingly, as if he was pondering something.
“That’s fine. I’ll contact you after work.”
[I’ll wait in front of the dormitory.]
***
There were no other special missions after that. Deployments were mainly given to members not participating in this dungeon subjugation, and I spent time looking up and organizing overseas battle scenes. Time flew by quickly as I focused, and soon it was time to leave work.
Normally I would have stayed longer, but I should get up. I didn’t want to keep Lee-han waiting.
“Hyung.”
Lee-han was waiting in front of the dormitory, dressed stylishly, having come almost running. I kept staring in surprise as I had never seen him dressed like this in private, making him look embarrassed.
“Where have you been? You’re dressed up nicely.”
“We’re going somewhere now.”
If so, it means he had no other business in the morning. It seemed excessive to prepare like that just to have a meal with me.
Maybe the restaurant we’re going to is quite fancy?
“Does the restaurant have a dress code? Should I go change too?”
Though I wasn’t shabbily dressed, I had just worn anything, so there was a contrast with Lee-han.
“It’s not a place strict enough to worry about. I made a reservation too.”
“Then let’s go like this. It would be troublesome if we’re late.”
He had even prepared a car though we could have walked. Feeling like an older brother being treated by his employed younger sibling, I sat in the passenger seat next to Lee-han with mixed emotions.