Under Creature Chapter 9.4

He took it first, then placed it on the floor. There was nowhere else to put it. Yigeom, too, was sitting on the cold, bare floor, shuffling through and reading the documents.

A had given it to him, but didn’t particularly urge him to drink it. However, he didn’t leave either.

Does he have something to say? he wondered, but seeing him shuffling through files, it seemed he had also come here to check something.

Paying it no mind, Yigeom was turning a page when A plopped down across from him and began to go through his own documents.

‘…Why?’

A high-ranking person like him could just go to his own office to read, so why here?

He soon dismissed the thought, figuring A would just check something quickly and leave. But 10 minutes passed, then 20, and A showed no sign of moving.

Like that, 30 minutes, then a whole hour flew by, and the awkwardness was becoming suffocating.

I’ve put up with this for long enough, Yigeom thought, finally closing the file. A’s gaze turned towards him.

“Well… the floor is hard and the cold is seeping up… and my legs are starting to fall asleep from sitting for so long. I’ll be leaving first. Keep up the good work.”

It wasn’t something he, who had been cooped up in the archive room all day, should be saying, but he wasn’t the type of person who could just bluntly say, I’m leaving because I feel like I’m going to suffocate from the awkwardness.

A stared at Yigeom silently, then nodded.

At that, Yigeom left the archive room without looking back. He could finally breathe.

That day, he returned to his studio apartment feeling much better.

And the next day, a simple chair and table had been set up in the Vigilantes’ archive room.

‘…What’s this?’

Like a cat observing a strange object that had entered its territory, Yigeom peeked towards the simple table, then went closer, running his hand over the wooden top and pulling the chair in and out.

Is this for me to sit on?

The chair even had a soft cushion on it.

After observing it for a while, Yigeom, delighted by the fact that he no longer had to sit on the floor to read documents, whatever the reason, walked with light steps to retrieve the files he hadn’t finished reading.

The documents were like a long history of the Vigilantes and the Blood Hunters. Incidents and accidents from the past. The key figures of the Blood Hunters and their abilities, or those currently imprisoned or deceased, and even the Vigilantes who had caught or confronted them—everything was recorded.

And in the files Yigeom was reading, Seo Dohyun’s name appeared frequently.

Just how many Blood Hunters did he put away? At this point, he was astonished whenever he saw his name. If Seo Dohyun hadn’t left the Vigilantes, it was certain that he, not Kim Hyunggyu, would have been entrusted with Bae Sangwoo’s role.

Yigeom continued to flip through the pages, speed-reading. He did it for the reason that spending time reading through these materials would be helpful someday.

It was much more reassuring to know this much, and to memorize the abilities of some individuals, than to have no information about the Blood Hunters at all.

Which organization a person belonged to, what their ability was, what ideology they held, who their usual companions were, etc. Some files even had detailed information down to their eating habits.

Yigeom crammed all of it into his head. But despite his efforts, there was still a mountain of files left to read.

He had only managed to read the files on a single bookshelf so far.

‘Hah…. When am I going to read all of this.’

He soon decided that mindless drudgery was the most comfortable and just read on without a second thought.

“Do you really learn anything by looking at it like that? You come without ever getting tired of it.”

Yigeom slightly raised his head. It was the man who had picked a fight with him and Seo Dohyun before. His name was… Lee Juyeong.

He could ignore being picked on once or twice, but if he ignored it this time too, he wouldn’t be nice, he’d be a pushover.

He was willing to get along with them, but he wasn’t about to become a pushover.

“You don’t seem to get tired of it either. Seeing as you pick a fight every day. Are the Vigilantes that free? Usually, only people with nothing to do engage in hazing….”

Yigeom intentionally mumbled as if to himself and turned his eyes back to the file he was reading.

“…Excuse me!”

Ah, so something like this happened last year. He simply ignored Lee Juyeong’s words and turned another page.

Unable to watch any longer, he spoke again.

“…Have you read all the files on Adam?”

“Adam? Most of them.”

“Then do you know the latest on the person called Choi Baekgil of Adam? If you’ve really read them, you should at least know this much.”

Yigeom stared at him blankly. Is he quizzing me now? Choi Baekgil. He had read about him.

To explain him, one first had to understand Adam’s political structure. It wasn’t a monopoly of power by a single person, but three people sharing power equally, making decisions through meetings whenever something came up.

To be precise, there were three leaders in Adam. And Choi Baekgil was a favored subordinate of one of those three.

“Isn’t that person in prison right now?”

“……”

When Yigeom answered without hesitation, Lee Juyeong, who had paused for a moment, asked again.

“The date of imprisonment?”

“June 8th of last year.”

“Ability?”

“Fire.”

Lee Juyeong didn’t stop there, asking, what about this? what about that? and continued to throw out questions. Each time, Yigeom would answer readily without hesitation.

He even went further, asking for the personal details of grunts currently held in the detention center, not just the famous figures of Adam. To these questions, filled with the nasty intention of making him fail, Yigeom answered even more calmly and brazenly.

It was obvious at a glance that if he got an answer wrong, the man would look down on him, saying, ‘See, what good is it for you to read the files,’ so he rattled off the answers one after another.

When Lee Juyeong ran out of questions, it was Yigeom’s turn to counter.

“Do you know a person named Kim Boseong? He was a key member of Newton.”

“Of course. His ability is recovery. He’s a healer.”

“Rank?”

“Mid.”

“The date he entered the detention center?”

“That’s….”

Lee Juyeong hesitated, unable to answer. He remembered it was a few months ago, but he didn’t know the exact date.

Yigeom nonchalantly gave him the correct answer.

“January 13th.”

“Ah. …I was just confused for a moment.”

“I’m sure you were. But then, shouldn’t you be looking through more files so you don’t get confused? You seem to know less than I do.”

He deliberately let out a chuckle to mock Lee Juyeong. With a furious expression of humiliation, he glared at Yigeom before leaving the archive room.

Finally, the nuisance is gone.

Silence fell once again, and only the sound of rustling paper could be heard.

Then, swoosh, the door opened, and someone else set foot in here.

‘Who now….’

It was A. Yigeom tried to pretend he hadn’t seen him, but it was hard to ignore him as he picked up a file and sat in the chair across from him.

What is it? Does he originally come here often?

But when Yigeom first started visiting the archive room frequently, A hadn’t come by often.

Could it be…. The archive room was originally A’s hangout spot, but he couldn’t come for a while because he felt uncomfortable with the sudden visitor’s presence, and now that the visitor has made himself at home like it’s his own house and shows no intention of leaving, he’s finally coming back?

Was I the nuisance, the unwelcome guest to A?

Yigeom was suddenly flooded with a sense of guilt. No, then he should have said something. It was so frustrating that they couldn’t communicate.

Deciding to at least vacate the spot for him, he organized the files he had been reading and prepared to leave. He could feel A watching him.

“I’m going to go now….”

Tap, tap. A tapped the table. What is it? What does it mean?

He figured it out without much difficulty. The reason for the table and chair that hadn’t been there until yesterday.

‘Well… the floor is hard and the cold is seeping up… and my legs are starting to fall asleep from sitting for so long.’

Did he do this because of what I said? If he bluntly asked if that was the reason and it turned out not to be, the embarrassment would be all his. For now, Yigeom pretended not to understand as best he could, quickly said his goodbyes, and left the Vigilantes.

Phew. Being with A was strangely suffocating. Was it because they couldn’t talk? Seo Dohyun was also hard to talk to in a different sense, but it wasn’t this stifling. In fact, they had gotten closer recently.

Lost in these thoughts, he decided that tomorrow, after his morning workout with Kang Taeha, he would drop by the Vigilantes early, read the files while A wasn’t there, and then leave.

But life doesn’t go as planned.

No…. Why is he here today too? For now, ignore. He figured A would finish his business and leave while he was reading the files. But one hour passed, then two, then over three, and even at the moment Yigeom was about to go home, A only stood up briefly to look for necessary files but never left the archive room.

This isn’t his office, so why is he constantly holed up in the archive room? More importantly, isn’t he busy?

The next day, and the day after that. A was there, no matter the time.

Ssk.

A held out a sandwich, presumably from a nearby convenience store. Coincidentally, it was Yigeom’s favorite kind of sandwich.

“…For me?”

Nod.

“Yes…. I’ll eat it well.”

Yigeom glanced at him, then unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. While doing so, he ate very carefully, worried that he might drop crumbs on the files, or that A, who was like a guardian spirit of the archive room, would frown upon seeing his behavior.

However, Yigeom himself didn’t know that he was recently being called the guardian spirit of the archive room among the Vigilantes.

And the next day, Yigeom brought some simple snacks as a token of his gratitude. Since A didn’t take off his mask in front of others, he just added that he should keep them and eat them later when he was alone.

As they spent more and more time together, the awkwardness subsided, and being in the archive room together was no longer suffocating.

“Do you know sign language by any chance?”

When Yigeom asked, he nodded his head in affirmation.

“I’ve been studying sign language. Would you like to try talking with it? It’s frustrating because we can’t talk…. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I’m not forcing you.”

Then A moved. He made fists with both of his leather-gloved hands, bowed his head, and lowered both arms.

Yigeom inferred the meaning based on what he had studied the day before.

“Hel…lo.”

After that, A made another gesture. Yigeom narrowed his brows, trying to figure out its meaning. Although he had studied beforehand, he wasn’t used to it yet, so it took time to match the actions with their meanings.

“Have… you read a lot of the… files…. Ah, yes. I’ve learned a lot, thanks to you.”

Swish swish.

“If… there’s anything… un, comfortable…. Please, tell… me. There’s nothing uncomfortable yet. I’m used to the weekly meetings now, and it’s fine.”

[That’s a relief.]

The conversation ended with that sign. Yigeom scratched his cheek. If he had known his interpretation would be this slow, it would have been faster to just write on paper to communicate. Still, it was good to know for situations where there was no paper or writing utensil….

That day, they parted ways like that again. And when they met next, they gradually increased their conversations with more varied greetings and signs. Yigeom’s speed at recognizing the signs also got faster, and it reached a point where, instead of just looking at files in the archive room, sometimes the conversation with A became the main event.

They talked about numerous things, starting with whether he remembered breaking the window of the Vigilante’s car during the Jooseungtae incident, that he was sorry about that, and if he was really okay with the repair costs, to the contents of that day’s meeting, and things that happened in their Latter guild.

It was mostly Yigeom talking and A responding with sign language, but it was surprisingly enjoyable to have someone who would listen to his stories quietly.

So far, all Yigeom did in the Vigilantes was attend the regular meetings with Dohyun or look through files in the archive room.

This was because the Vigilantes were not particularly short-handed at the moment, and no major incidents had occurred.

Therefore, Yigeom attended the Vigilantes while also working on Latter’s tasks with Seo Dohyun, went to boxing, worked out with Kang Taeha in the morning, and also did ability enhancement training whenever he had spare time.

They were incredibly busy days. In the meantime, six months had flown by.

“Gyeom hyung, are you going to the Vigilantes today too?”

“I’m planning to rest today. I’ve finished looking at all the files, after all.”

“Wow! Then let’s go for a team dinner after we finish work today!”

“We have team dinners all the time.”

“They’re delicious even if we have them all the time!”

Today, they had briefly stopped by the Association because there was a discrepancy in the commission fee for the creature extermination they had promised the Association due to Namgoong Sanha’s desertion incident.

“Ah, you guys! Then I’ll pay! It’s because of me that you had to come all the way here.”

“Why is it your fault, hyung? It’s the fault of the Association employee who can’t even do simple math. It would have been a huge problem if Gyeom hadn’t found it.”

Seo Dohyun praised Yigeom with a playful laugh.

“With money, it’s never enough to check once, twice, or even three times. Aren’t you guys unaware of a lot of money you’ve been swindled out of in the past?”

“Oppa. How about this place for the team dinner? It looks delicious.”

“Anything is fine. Ask Seo Dohyun.”

Doa, completely ignoring his question about being swindled out of money, was engrossed in searching for a dinner menu. From behind, he heard a grumble, ‘Those two always tell each other to ask the other,’ but he pretended not to hear. Doa changed her target and approached Namgoong Sanha, focusing on choosing a restaurant.

It was then.

“I… I! I want to join Latter!!”

Someone blocked Yigeom’s path and shouted, his face flushed red with embarrassment. It was a familiar face.

‘Excuse me. You right now….’

‘Aaaaaah!’

‘No, you right now are….’

‘D-don’t come! Don’t come!’

It was the pre-awakened person he had encountered in the CA Area six months ago.

…Join Latter? Why? What’s in it for him?

It wasn’t something he, a member of Latter, should be saying, but Yigeom couldn’t understand what he meant at all. When the Latter members didn’t answer for a long time, he mustered his courage once more and shouted.

“I! I want to join Latter!! Please let me join!”

🦅࿐

A while ago, Jin Geonwoo, who had perfectly completed his second awakening, had been asking around everywhere for a way to join Latter.

The reason he wanted to join was firm. As soon as Jin Geonwoo finished his first awakening, he searched for the benefactor who had saved him when he was dazed as a soon-to-be-awakened, and he happened to come across a document stating that the area that day was handled by ‘Latter’.

Above all, there was also that person’s order….

When that person showed him a few photos of Latter members, Jin Geonwoo was convinced when he saw Yigeom’s photo.

This was the person who had saved him from the creature before.

He had heard that he joined Latter even before finishing his second awakening and, moreover, had shown outstanding performance in various ways right after joining.

He acknowledges that he is a great person. Latter probably recognized a promising sprout and scouted him.

But Jin Geonwoo was full of confidence. If they accept a chick who has only had his first awakening, would they not accept me, who has perfectly completed the second? Besides, my ability is a special one that Latter doesn’t have! He was in a state of conceit, thinking he could join just by submitting a guild application.

However, there was a major obstacle: no matter how much he asked around, he couldn’t find a way to join Latter.

“I’m telling you, I don’t know.”

“No, you’re an employee, so why don’t you know? Are you sure you looked properly?”

“……”

The Association employee glared at Jin Geonwoo with an annoyed look.

Most guilds register their new recruitment-related email or contact information with the Association. This is because newly awakened hunters can choose to belong to the Association or join a guild, and at this time, they obtain the guild’s contact information registered with the Association. In other words, the Association also serves as a job placement center.

However, Latter had not left any contact information with the Association for new recruitment, nor had they posted any separate recruitment notices.

“Ah, perhaps it’s not an ongoing recruitment? Then do you know when the notice will be posted?”

At Jin Geonwoo’s innocent question, the employee let out a sigh. He didn’t have time to deal with this pain in the neck who had been visiting the Association every day for the past few days asking about Latter.

“I don’t know.”

“Then how did the people who are in Latter now get in!?”

“That would be up to Seo Dohyun-ssi.”

“…Seo Dohyun? The master there?”

“Yes, or you could try visiting the Latter office.”

“Huk, is that okay?”

Jin Geonwoo asked back in surprise. He hadn’t thought of that method.

“Then could I at least get the office address….”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Pardon?”

“Over there.”

The employee gestured with his eyes towards the Association entrance. Jin Geonwoo’s eyes widened as he followed the gesture.

“Uh, uh uh….”

He saw the faces of the people he had encountered six months ago.

It was definitely Latter.

Jin Geonwoo, as if possessed, rushed towards them. And he shouted.

“I… I! I want to join Latter!!”

“…Pardon?”

Yigeom asked with a bewildered face.

Passersby showed interest for a moment at the loud voice, but quickly lost interest when they realized it was about Latter.

“My name is Jin! Geon! Woo! Sir!”

“…Uhm….”

This wasn’t the military, and at the loud, vigorous stating of his rank and name, Yigeom was at a loss, his eyes darting around before glancing at Dohyun.

“He’s the master. So talking to me won’t do any good….”

“Let’s go.”

Dohyun ignored Jin Geonwoo and started walking. As he, the representative figure of Latter, moved, everyone who had stopped began to follow him. Doa and Jewoo stole curious glances at Jin Geonwoo, while Namgoong Sanha bowed his head deeply in greeting.

Yigeom, putting aside his own bewilderment, was walking alongside Dohyun when someone came running up. It was Jin Geonwoo, who hadn’t given up yet.

“I! I really want to join Latter!”

Why does this person want to join Latter in the first place? Is it because he’s a rookie and doesn’t know that Latter is a more eventful guild than existing ones?

“Like I said, talking to me won’t….”

Just as Yigeom was about to refuse in a troubled tone, Seo Dohyun from the front pulled him tightly to his side. It was a gesture telling him not to even exchange words with Jin Geonwoo.

‘That’s easier said than done.’

Yigeom pressed his lips together and followed Seo Dohyun. Jin Geonwoo, undeterred, now switched his target and latched onto Jewoo, peppering him with questions.

“I looked into it, but I couldn’t find any admission requirements for Latter no matter how much I searched. What are the requirements?”

“Uh…. Well. I don’t think there are any, really?”

As Jewoo scratched his cheek and spoke, Doa next to him retorted.

“What are you talking about? Of course there are requirements.”

“Huh? There were?”

“It would be good if you’re ‘High’ rank. ‘High’ rank preferred!”

“But Sanha hyung is….”

“Sanha oppa is a technician.”

Jin Geonwoo, who was listening intently to their hushed conversation, racked his brain. ‘High’ rank? He recalled the rank certificate he had received. It said A. He heard that the ranks, previously divided into High, Mid, and Low, had recently been subdivided into S, A, B, C, D, F.

Remembering that, Jin Geonwoo smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry! I got an A rank!”

“A rank? Ah…. Then you must be High.”

With the ranks changing to S~F, the Association had issued a notice for existing hunters to come for a rank re-evaluation within a year. Latter hadn’t been re-evaluated yet, and not being used to the changed ranks, they often spoke in terms of High, Mid, and Low.

“Yes! So… have I met the first condition?”

Jin Geonwoo, ignoring Seo Dohyun who wasn’t even pretending to listen to him, matched his pace with Doa and Jewoo and opened his eyes determinedly.

Jewoo looked at Doa with a face that said, what should we do with this guy? Doa was just as troubled by the persistently following Jin Geonwoo.

“Well, it’s not for me to decide, so to my oppa over there….”

“Resume. Do you have a resume?”

Doa, who was about to pass the buck to Seo Dohyun, closed her mouth at Namgoong Sanha’s sudden interjection.

“Yes! Just a moment!”

Jin Geonwoo answered vigorously and awkwardly swung the backpack he was wearing to the front, rummaged through it, and handed a resume to Namgoong Sanha.

“Here you go!”

“Yes. I’ll review it and contact you.”

“Yup!”

“For your information, if you are not accepted, you will not be contacted separately, so please keep this in mind.”

“Yup! I look forward to your kind consideration! Goodbye!”

Jin Geonwoo, having finally achieved what he wanted, bowed his head deeply and let Latter go.

“Hyung! Why did you take it? We’re not really going to hire him.”

“But if I hadn’t done this, he would have kept following us, right? It’s okay, Jewoo. We just have to show it to Dohyun and be done with it. Besides, I already told him that we don’t notify them separately if they’re not accepted.”

As Namgoong Sanha, who had neatly folded the received resume and held it in his hand, explained, Doa at his side let out a small gasp of admiration.

“Oh…. A corporate man.”

🦅࿐

“With one million won, Cha Jewoo can have his favorite team dinners more than five times, buy dozens of books, and get a decent new phone….”

“Argh! I get it! It was our fault, so please stop!”

After receiving the deposit for the incorrectly calculated money from the Association, Yigeom, upon arriving at the Latter office, was listing the joys of one million won. It reached a point where Doa was about to cover her ears.

Yigeom began a precise analysis of why they had been short-changed by the Association. It was because they didn’t have a proper person in charge of finances. This situation occurred because everyone checked it carelessly, thinking it wasn’t their job.

It was a bit late, but it was necessary to assign specific tasks now.

Doa and Jewoo were at a stage where they needed to focus on their studies, and Seo Dohyun, holding the title of master, was busy in many ways with the guild and the Vigilantes.

‘Even if I don’t look like it, I’m the vice-master….’

“Sanha hyung. Could you handle the accounting work?”

“Huh? Me?”

Sanha blinked his eyes in surprise.

“Yes. You graduated from a science high school, didn’t you, hyung? Aren’t you good with numbers?”

“Ah, well…. It’s been almost 10 years since I graduated. But if I’m okay, then sure.”

“Of course you’re okay.”

“Th-then I’ll try it! Ah, and by the way.”

Sanha, having mustered his courage, accepted Yigeom’s proposal and rummaged for something in his inner breast pocket, placing it on the table.

“This. It’s the resume of the person who wanted to join Latter earlier. What should we do with this?”

“You accepted it?”

“Uh-huh. I thought he would only leave if I took this.”

Should I have assigned him to the HR team instead of accounting?

Anyway, since the guild had few members, one person had to take on various roles that could be burdensome. Yigeom, recalling the disadvantages of a small-scale guild, unfolded Jin Geonwoo’s resume and read it so that everyone could hear.

“Name, Jin Geonwoo. Age, twenty-eight. Same age as Sanha hyung.”

“Same as me?”

“Yes.”

He continued to read on. An authentication certificate from the Association stating he was A-rank was also attached.

“Ability is…. Huh?”

“Why? What is it?”

As Yigeom paused, Jewoo leaned his head closer to look at the resume and his eyes widened.

“Wow! This person’s ability is healing? And A-rank at that?”

It was a healer, something Latter didn’t have, and in fact, an essential role when forming a combat team. Because you can fight calmly without trembling only when your own safety is guaranteed.

Latter had been rolling without a future for a while.

Yigeom, too, had realized how big a difference the presence of a healer made when he saw Kim Yiseong’s ability to instantly heal Bae Sangwoo’s injured wrist at ‘Iryeon’ in Busan before.

Yigeom stared at the words written ‘Healer’, then muttered as if possessed.

“Lottery. We hit the lottery.”