The F-Rank Hunter Defies Fate Chapter 1.1

Ding-dong.

Hello, Master. I’m sorry to contact you like this. But our boss really, really, really values fortunes. So… just! Just one more time, could you please look at it for me? I beg you.

In an alley where no one came or went, a cheerful notification sound rang out. Thinking it might be the news he had been waiting for, Harang hurriedly checked his phone, and then he crumpled up the flyer he had just received with all his might.

“Argh. Now everything is like this.”

The flyer, covered in primary colors like red, yellow, and blue that tormented his eyes, rolled across the ground with a rustling sound. Even though the surface was not smooth, the paper ball rolled round and round before coming to a stop right in front of the homeless person who was crouching down.

Starting with “Argh,” Harang muttered all the curses he knew under his breath as he timidly stopped in his tracks and bit his lip. He himself had not earned any money for about two weeks and was looking haggard as a result, but the homeless person in front of him was on a whole different level.

The rags he was barely wearing seemed like they would give off a musty smell, and the wrinkled face that could be glimpsed here and there conveyed the weight of life. The homeless person, who had also skipped meals, was breathing raggedly with his emaciated body.

If the homeless person’s condition had been good or if he had at least been a bit younger in age, Harang would have immediately moved his feet. However, Harang, who had been raised by his grandmother’s hand, was too weak toward people around his grandmother’s age.

Harang roughly ruffled his hair and leaned his back against the stone wall as if there was someone waiting for him. He pushed aside the unpleasant message he had just received and opened the banking app he frequently used, and only a bleak balance appeared. Paying off the overdue loan principal and interest had been just the day before yesterday.

He glared at the screen with all his might, but that did not change the number that had stopped at five digits. Letting out a deep sigh, Harang approached the homeless person while endlessly repeating to himself whether this was the right thing to do.

“Grandma, do you have a QR code?”

Ever since hunters and the game system appeared, begging had even become a thing done with QR codes in these modern times. In a corner of his heart, a voice hoping that it would not be there wriggled and rose up.

Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, the homeless person who had been breathing raggedly quickly held out a cardboard sign. In contrast to the frayed edges here and there, a clearly visible QR code was positioned on it.

Harang quickly held his phone up to it to hide his finely trembling fingers, and a sound as cheerful as the notification that had rung just moments ago spread out. Pretending to be nonchalant, Harang checked the screen, and he pushed down the agitation that seemed like it would burst out at any moment deep inside. The barely sufficient balance had shrunk from five digits to four digits.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

To even get some room somewhere, he needed to have at least 100,000 won in his hand, but when he saw the grandmother bowing her head with her frail body, he felt like none of that mattered.

Yeah, I can just earn it again. Harang, a young man from Korea with all four limbs intact, forced a smile.

“Please take good care of your meals. If you go down there, there’s a soup restaurant, and it’s cheap and delicious.”

It had been three years since he settled in this neighborhood. During that time, there was no restaurant he had not visited to solve his meals cheaply. Harang dissuaded the homeless person who was trying to get up to express his gratitude and listed off the cost-effective restaurants he knew, starting with the soup restaurant.

“Hmm hmm hmm.”

Harang, who had even handed over the windbreaker he was wearing, hummed a song he had heard somewhere as he climbed the stairs. It had been this morning that he had been tormented by the endless rainy season and loan calls, but after doing one good deed, a tune naturally flowed from his nose.

In the building with the cheapest rent in the area, people like Harang, who had no abilities and were full of debt, sluggishly gathered. The 302 room of the villa that was left abandoned without even an elevator. That was the tarot shop operated by Harang.

“Hmm? Did I leave the light on when I left?”

Even though he had separated the tarot shop and his home to prevent any possible identity exposure, in fact, no one ever visited his office. Giving general fortunes, phone consultations, or at best doing tarot online was all there was to it, so Harang’s office rolled entirely according to his will.

The time Harang got up and went to work was the opening time, and the moment he went home at any time, business ended. There was no way Harang, who had not even brought a refrigerator because he was stingy with every penny, would have left with the light on.

Normally, he would have been on high alert and checked for any signs of presence first or not even set foot inside at all. However, thanks to doing a good deed for once, all the thorns he had accumulated until now had been worn down roundly.

“Is that person the owner here?”

“Wh… who are you?”

Harang, who had not harbored any particular suspicion about the light being on, inhaled a startled breath at the low and deep voice. He barely managed not to scream, but because of the surprise, his voice trembled.

In the space of about nine pyeong that was Harang’s office, an old sofa that had lost its breath, a worn-out computer, and a desk were pathetically positioned. Harang, who had never welcomed a customer before, froze in the posture of having just opened the door.

Nine pyeong meant that the entire structure came into view at a glance. However, even if he washed his eyes and looked, no human figure was visible anywhere, not in front of the old sofa or the desk.

“B.”

A man appeared in front of Harang, his low voice matching his intensely striking presence perfectly. Whether he had been sitting somewhere or standing right at the door, there were no wrinkles visible on his entirely black clothes.

“Heave-ho.”

The surroundings were bright, but shadows fell because of the pressure the man exuded. Harang did not even have time to compose his startled mind before he let out another yelp and stepped back.

“I asked if that person is the owner here.”

The bewilderment from the sudden appearance lasted only a moment, and as Harang slightly bent his posture, he caught his breath and scanned the opponent’s attire with his eyes.

From the leather jacket that would not show bloodstains even if blood got on it to the sturdy combat boots that would not flinch even if he stepped on a nail. It was the typical attire of hunters.

And that face!

Hunters usually hid their appearances, but the so-called outliers were different. Not only did they boldly reveal their identities, but they sometimes even showed their faces on WeTube or TV. The person standing in front of Harang right now was the one occupying the highest place in that food chain.

“Baek Yoogeom?”

The face that had been staring intently at Harang with his neck craned tilted. The corners of his mouth rising faintly told Harang that he had given the correct answer. Harang, who wanted to immediately take back the words he had spat out, rolled his eyes pretending not to know.

He should have pretended not to know… This damn mouth of his was being cheeky.

“Since you know me, you must be a hunter too?”

Harang’s eyes, which had been ready to slap his own mouth wildly, widened roundly. He had not recognized him because he was a hunter. Among the hunters called the new nobility, there was no one else but Baek Yoogeom who had maintained the number one spot for several years, and no matter where you went in the country, you would hear the name Baek Yoogeom at least once.

So there was no way someone in Korea would not know Baek Yoogeom. Harang barely suppressed the urge to snark and put on a drawn smile.

“Nooo. Baek Yoogeom Hunter is famous. I’m just a tarot reader? Ah, if you’re looking for a hunter, go to room 301.”

Harang pointed outside kindly, just as he had dealt with customers online so far. Hunters who desired status elevation were tough and fierce even in this building alone. Even if their ranks were insignificant, most of them who had awakened dreamed vain dreams that they themselves were special.

Baek Yoogeom, who could lead them to high places in one go, persistently stared not at the outside but at Harang’s face. Was it because his eyes were blue? Even though he had done nothing wrong, his neck kept shrinking.

“You’re not a hunter, but you see fates that well?”

To add insult to injury, he even muttered words that could never be ignored. Harang, with cold sweat breaking out, forgot about the distance he had been keeping until just now and quickly led him to the sofa.

“Fate? I just read fortunes. Like love luck and such. Haha. Baek Yoogeom Hunter must have someone he likes too?”

Surprisingly, Baek Yoogeom quietly followed as Harang led him. Harang, who had deliberately made a fuss and dragged out the end of his sentence, said, “Oh dear, look at my mind. There’s no refrigerator here,” while subtly giving a hint. Meaning, say what you have to say quickly and get out.

“I don’t drink just anything originally. So it’s true that you are the owner here?”

“Yes, well….”

Just anything! Even though there was no refrigerator, there were plenty of vitamin drinks that were fine at room temperature or fatigue recovery agents.

“Tarot Master.”

“Yes.”

Harang, who had no intention of taking any out but felt unnecessarily hurt, secretly raised his middle finger high under the table at Baek Yoogeom. Because of that, he did not even realize that he had nodded his head obediently.

“Good, then let’s go to the guild.”

“Yes… Pardon?”

Harang, who had been distracted by his middle finger and failed to understand the last question in time, snapped his head up from his perfunctory nod. Baek Yoogeom, who had been blunt all along, was smiling smirkingly. Because all the colors he possessed were cold, it gave a refreshing impression, but somehow an uneasy feeling surged over him.

“Didn’t you hear? You’ve ridden a portal before, right?”

“Wa, wait a minute! I have to start business today.”

Harang instinctively dodged the hand that reached out so naturally and hid his body behind the sofa. He waved both hands desperately, but Baek Yoogeom seemed to have no interest in such things.

“I know you haven’t done business for this week.”

“How… how do you…?”

Harang’s eyes widened like saucers. If someone heard it, they might say his ego was inflated, but Harang’s tarot shop was objectively popular. From the inner thoughts of a broken-up lover to the results of an exam tomorrow. The path that Harang spoke of was exactly the correct answer.

‘Even so.’

For a client who called endlessly saying that the sister next door, who had been doing well, suddenly did not even respond to greetings, it might be understandable, but it did not seem like a hunter like Baek Yoogeom would have waited just to see love luck.

‘No way?’

The thought that followed in a chain connected to the requests that had poured in before he stopped business, and Harang’s body stiffened rigidly. At the tarot shop where love luck was the main product, people asking about lucky colors or items had lined up from some point on.

‘I was trying to lay low anyway….’

The contact that had come just before meeting the homeless person was also one of those who persistently clung. If Harang’s memory was correct, that boss’s initials were exactly B.

“You… you’re B?”

Harang’s gaze, which had widened in disbelief, finally reached Yoogeom’s nose bridge. Yoogeom, who nodded in agreement, approached step by step.

“I told you earlier.”

“Uh, uh. Wait a minute! Where are you taking me!”

“Our guild. We don’t have a fate-seer ability user yet.”

In a building where the Han River and Seoul could be seen at a glance. In the office, a middle-aged man with deep wrinkles on his forehead and a young man who resembled him were sitting facing each other.

“Where the hell did that crazy bastard Baek Yoogeom go this time?”

At the hoarse voice that tormented his ears, the young man flinched his shoulders and made a fuss.

“Boss? I don’t know what he does during inactive periods either.”

The young man was big enough that anyone walking down the street would look at him at least once. He muttered with an innocent face. As if to prove his harmlessness, the sight of him widening his eyes roundly and tilting his head oddly suited him strangely well.

“You’re calling him boss again! When it’s just us, I told you to call him brother.”

Upon hearing that, the middle-aged man did not calm his anger but instead clenched his fist and slammed the table. Anyway, neither this guy nor that guy was to his liking.

Even though it had been several years since he had eaten from the same pot as that bastard Baek Yoogeom, his own son was still revering the arrogant guy politely. No, the more time passed, the worse it got, not better.

On top of that, the guy he had brought in because he seemed like a promising sprout was away from the guild every day, and the guys who came in looking at the fancy ranking called him boss instead of the proper title of deputy guild master, creating a disconcerting atmosphere.

It might be fine among hunters. However, more than half of the people working in this building were ordinary people. Every time the word boss came out, they looked at him with such strange eyes that now his face and ears were worn out to the point of vanishing.

“But… boss sounds cooler.”

Hehe. The guy who had subdued an armed robber with one hand just this morning added an innocent smile. Cheolmin was truly going mad and jumping up and down.