The F-Rank Hunter Defies Fate Chapter 1.6

“Yes, I’m curious too.”

Harang, who had been idly drawing semicircles with his toes, thought he had misheard and lifted his head. Then, Baek Yoogeom, whose eyes met his, spat out each word clearly.

“Today’s fortune, you have to read it. Isn’t that what Min Harang does?”

“Wow.”

He really is a guy crazy about fortunes. He thought he would get scolded, but the fortune-crazed guy was different. Harang felt a bit sorry inside. The high accuracy was due to hunter abilities, but in the fortune-crazed guy’s eyes, he seemed like a very skilled fortune-teller.

With a slight sense of pity arising, Harang decided to use the skill one more time specially. Even the tiny bit of mana had recovered enough to use the skill.

“But…. It’s already late today, can you see it?”

For a moment, he boldly tried to use the skill, but Harang, who had lived honestly, elegantly rephrased the words about whether it wasn’t a waste of money. The sun, high in the sky, was tilting down leisurely. Since he was dragged here around lunchtime, today had less than half left.

Tarot masters get paid per shuffle. Considering Harang’s value, which was higher than the market price, it was indeed a waste to read today’s fortune with only a few hours left. Extremely realistic thoughts floated in Harang’s mind.

“You’ll come to work tomorrow too.”

Right, I did sign the contract. Harang, who had been free until just this morning, pushed aside an inexplicable bitterness and began shuffling the deck. Compared to his usual earnings, the salary written in the contract was much higher, but using the skill without any compensation felt like a loss.

“Draw just one card.”

Harang shuffled the cards perfunctorily, as if representing his own feelings. When he spread them out roughly in a fan shape, he saw Baek Yoogeom pondering with a serious face. In the meantime, Harang whispered the skill softly. Then, the status window, which had annoyingly disappeared, appeared again.

Client: Hunter Baek Yoogeom

Due to the effect of the passive skill, the enormous rank difference is ignored.

Today’s one-line fortune: You will meet the one you’ve dreamed of. However, everything has its order. Don’t be impatient and approach slowly.

Lucky color: Brown

Lucky item: Card

As the status window’s message grew longer, Harang’s expression, which had been lively, changed. It was content that made his mouth drop open. Of course, brown was Harang’s current hair color, and the card was an item created with the skill.

He wondered what connection he could have with someone he just met today, but cold sweat broke out at the visible result.

“Uh, uh. Your fortune today is very good. If you solve the things you have to do in order, there will be good results. The lucky color is black, and the item is a watch.”

So, Harang decided to follow his intuition. As he mentioned the hair color in front of him and the wristwatch in order, Baek Yoogeom lifted one corner of his mouth.

“You’re skilled.”

He hadn’t said anything right, but Yoogeom, who heard the result, looked pleased. Harang, who felt guilty, nodded appropriately and lowered his gaze.

Generally, a smiling face tends to hold positivity, but Harang had no intention of freeloading off Baek Yoogeom forever. Although Hyemin had run away without loyalty, there was also an expectation that perhaps someone to save him might appear.

As Harang, who had finished the reading, stealthily gauged the situation and glanced behind his back, Baek Yoogeom’s mouth hardened. That was when Harang’s nape was grabbed.

“Use any room on the first or second floor. Eat meals here.”

Yoogeom, who lifted the adult man as if handling a puppy, rummaged through the house here and there with wide strides. Passing the hallway continuing from the entrance, a living room that went through to the second floor came into view. With an unexpectedly bright feel, Harang let out a small exclamation, forgetting even that his nape was grabbed.

“Hunter Baek Yoogeom seems unexpectedly talented in interior design.”

At the curious remark, the strength in Baek Yoogeom’s hand loosened. Freed, Harang left the taciturn Baek Yoogeom behind and fully admired the bright and cheerful house. The living room had a high ceiling, making the view wide open, and sunlight poured down from the glass window occupying one side.

He had heard that hunters, with no distinction between day and night, lived with blackout curtains, but Baek Yoogeom seemed not to be the case. Butterfly pleated curtains that filtered the light just enough not to dazzle swayed every time the wind blew.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes…. It feels warm and soft.”

Harang, who had been sleeping in a stuffy semi-basement with barely a small window or on the office sofa, answered honestly for once. Sunlight wasn’t only necessary for trees or flowers to grow. In a place where even vigorous washing left a damp smell embedded in every fiber, even a healthy person could easily become depressed.

‘This must be what they mean by commuting from here?’

Due to the anticipation rising from below his navel, Harang’s cheeks flushed pink. Yoogeom, who caught the faint heat in his eyes, gave a smile that was barely there.

“Pick whatever you want.”

Not seeing that, Harang cautiously looked around the house. He didn’t know the exact square footage, but the obviously spacious two-story building formed a square shape centered on the living room. So that he could watch every corner of the house just by turning his eyes.

“Where does the hunter stay?”

Instead of mentioning the strange structure, Harang asked about Yoogeom’s room. To minimize encounters with Yoogeom, he thought he should grab the farthest place possible.

“Anywhere.”

‘All of here?’

In disbelief, he mouthed the question, and Baek Yoogeom nodded proudly. Well, it’s his house, so he can use it as he pleases; who is an outsider to say anything. As expected of an extraordinary person, does he use a different room every day? He tried to understand somehow, but his mind didn’t follow.

“Do you think that makes sense?”

In the end, Harang asked back sulkily and continued his words without giving Yoogeom a chance to reply.

“Yes. Since it’s Hunter Baek Yoogeom’s house, you can use it as you please. But it was also Hunter Baek Yoogeom who brought me here even though I said I didn’t want to. I’m the type who needs my own space, so don’t come into my room.”

Harang pointed to the most corner room among the ones he had seen while being dragged by Yoogeom. He didn’t know the size, but it seemed like the best choice to avoid running into Baek Yoogeom.

“As you like.”

Even though ignored, Yoogeom nodded readily. Harang, who had expected him to say no, was momentarily speechless. He had been thinking of about five reasons why he had to take the corner room, but things resolved more easily than thought.

“You like this room?”

Yoogeom, who had followed him all the way to the room door, opened the door with invisible force and asked. Inside the door that opened, furniture such as a bed or closet that someone had carefully chosen was fully placed. Harang pretended to be uninterested and examined the well-organized ivory wood grain. It was a design anyone, regardless of gender or age, would like.

“If it’s too big, it’s scary. Then I’ll go get my stuff.”

Harang added whatever came to mind and recalled his nest that fit into one small trunk. The semi-basement where the rent was raised by 100,000 won just for having one window was on a different level from Baek Yoogeom’s house. With the desk and closet all built-in, Harang only hung his few clothes neatly.

‘I should only bring the clean ones and throw away the rest.’

“This?”

An ominous voice reached Harang, who was leisurely planning to go and come back. Harang, thinking it couldn’t be, stiffly turned to look behind.

It should disappear quickly, but Baek Yoogeom, who had been standing crookedly until now, was gesturing in the air. Harang knew the secret of that movement. It was rummaging through the inventory that any hunter could use.

With his level at only 5, Harang could use just five slots, but Yoogeom could surely store an enormous amount of luggage.

And sure enough.

Harang’s clothes and daily necessities that he had frugally used poured out from the air. As he watched the luggage falling to the floor with a clatter, Harang’s eyes began to widen gradually.

“Th-this… what the.”

It wasn’t surprising that he found the tarot shop where Harang had been hiding, so knowing where he lived was no surprise. However, the place Harang had made his nest was a semi-basement barely enough to lie down one body. With the closet and desk fixed to the wall, he just needed to pack his stuff and bring it, but among the pile that Baek Yoogeom poured out, plastic pieces were sporadically mixed in.

“It’s nothing much.”

As if interpreting the silent outcry, Baek Yoogeom shrugged modestly. At the sight of not even knowing what he had done wrong, Harang’s eyes narrowed upward toward the sky.

“Did you perhaps break it?”

“I had no choice. It was attached to the wall.”

Only then grasping the atmosphere, Baek Yoogeom stepped on one nearby piece. Harang was dumbfounded. Hiding just that one wouldn’t make the mess disappear.

“Did no one grab you on the way out? That, you know, the one about this tall with a bit of a belly.”

He could imagine what happened, but Harang asked as calmly as possible. As he described the appearance of the semi-basement owner, Yoogeom, who had been tilting his head, followed Harang’s hand gesture with his gaze. As he waved his hand around nose level, an “ah” groan leaked out.

“Well, was there?”

That was enough to paint the picture. Well, the owner, who had nothing but the semi-basement building, wouldn’t just stand by while a room was smashed.

Matching the uneasy premonition, a notification sound rang out. Harang, who flinched in surprise for no reason, quickly checked the phone screen with nimble hand movements. A message starting with ‘The bachelor in 102 didn’t take out a loan, did he? Just now, some dark guy came…’ informed Harang of his unfortunate future.

“Mr. Baek Yoogeom, you take responsibility.”

Harang, who had touched his forehead with his fingertip, held out the screen as is to Baek Yoogeom. House and job were all burdensome, but this demand he could make confidently.

“Ha, really, this is ridiculous.”

Baek Yoogeom, who frowned between his brows, stepped forward reluctantly, and Harang decided to do his part. Although something that had been built-in furniture was mixed in, it was a fact that Harang’s luggage had been fully moved.

“First, I need to separate what to throw away.”

The thing taking up the most volume was undoubtedly the clothes. Even those were few in number and worn out, so the ones suitable for the new nest could be counted on one hand. Harang couldn’t bring himself to rummage through someone else’s house, so he picked out the clean clothes and folded them neatly. He planned to put them in the closet after doing laundry.

“To throw away?”

“Eek!”

Harang, who had been dividing the daily necessities into two categories starting from the clothes, clutched his startled chest. He had been so focused that he hadn’t noticed Baek Yoogeom’s return.

“Why are you back already? You did go, right?”

“He said it’s fine.”

That guy wouldn’t back down that easily. He stayed because the rent was cheap, not because of his personality. At the words that he had withdrawn willingly, Harang frowned, but recalling Baek Yoogeom’s status, he simply acquiesced.

“You’re throwing that away?”

Whether he resolved it with money or force, as he was pondering, Baek Yoogeom asked again. Harang, leaning toward money, nodded.

“Yes, I have to throw it away. I kept it because it was a waste. But seeing it here, it’s worthless.”

The clothes Harang had set out to throw away all had stretched collars. There were no holes, but through the roughly raised fiber grains, one could guess the years gone by.

“If you throw them all away, what will you wear?”

He wondered if the busy hunter would ask about such things, but after selecting what to discard, only a few pieces remained. He wasn’t ashamed, but even to his own eyes, it looked shabby. Harang recalled his small and precious savings.

“I do have to buy some….”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard when the signing bonus or salary would come in. He didn’t even have Mr. Cheolmin’s contact, so what to do. If he asked Baek Yoogeom, would he tell him? The thoughts that chained one after another swallowed Harang.

“Buy with this.”

“Yes?”

“If you need anything, buy with this.”

Harang, who had been lost in his own world, was called back to reality. Baek Yoogeom was holding out the black card he had only heard of.

“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll buy with my salary when it comes. You don’t have to buy such things; I’ll do my job properly, so don’t worry.”

He had already received favors overflowing his station. He wondered why he was being so nice to someone he just met, but thinking of him as fortune-crazed made it somewhat understandable.

Instead of taking the card, Harang planned ahead. Using abilities in the center of hunters was concerning, but he thought he could live quietly hiding like now.