The F-Rank Hunter Defies Fate Chapter 2.1

The sunlight touching Harang’s forehead gently chased away his sleep. Harang, who had instinctively furrowed his brow, hid his body in the soft bedding. The sudden change in his sleeping arrangements or the fact that too many things had happened at once was no hindrance. The plush, cozy bedding kept pulling Harang back in.

“If you’re up, eat.”

Just then, someone’s voice cut through the boundary between dream and reality. Harang mumbled with a hoarse throat and burrowed deeper into the covers. A smile spread across his lips as the sunlight was blocked, even if just a little.

“Min Harang, wake up.”

The person waking Harang was by no means affectionate or gentle. However, he was not sharp enough to instantly banish the languid satisfaction.

“If you don’t get up now, there’s no food.”

When there was no answer after several calls, a presence approached the bedside. A straight finger tapped Harang’s forehead, which was prominent between the plush blankets.

Harang, who was still wandering the ambiguous boundary, raised the corners of his mouth at the ticklish sensation, then froze. There was no one left by his side who would wake him up just because the sun had risen. Then who is it? Ah, I moved in yesterday. The questions that followed one after another led to yesterday’s events.

“Mr. Baek Hunter…?”

When he scrambled to sit up, he saw an expressionless Yoogeom. It was only natural, since this was his house. Harang, who had been wrapped up in the blanket like a caterpillar, got tangled up and fell face-first onto the bed because he had gotten up so suddenly. Harang’s cheeks flushed red at having suddenly shown such a foolish side of himself.

“If you’re up, come out.”

Yoogeom, who had been watching nonchalantly from beginning to end, simply summed up the situation and left. Harang, who was just blinking his mouth open and shut, unable to grasp the situation, straightened out the blanket tangled around his legs and went outside. As he was hesitating over whether to ask about it, Baek Yoogeom pointed to the left hallway with the tip of his chin.

“Left.”

So that’s the bathroom. Harang, who had gone through a series of embarrassing situations, quickly ran off as if someone was chasing him.

Splashing cold water on his face instantly brought his lax mind back to focus. Harang slapped his own cheeks, steeled himself, and grabbed the doorknob. Unlike when he was looking for the bathroom, he did not get lost. Following the savory smell, he made eye contact with Baek Yoogeom, who was placing the last dish on the dining table.

“Did you make this, Mr. Hunter?”

Harang, who had expected a meal kit at best, asked in admiration at the table fully set with stew and side dishes.

“Just heated it up. Sit there.”

Where Yoogeom pointed, there was another bowl of rice from which steam was rising. Harang, who had been eating his meals carelessly for several years—though it was different when he was a child—hesitated at the sensation of his stomach shrinking and sat down.

“Do you eat like this every time? I feel like even heating it up would be a lot of work…”

The silence, filled only with the sound of utensils, made him nervous for no reason, and he ended up blurting out whatever came to mind. Harang, who mumbled the end of his sentence because he had put rice in his mouth, glanced around self-consciously.

‘I should have spoken after swallowing everything.’

As he was feeling a brief moment of regret, Baek Yoogeom, who had been eating with disciplined movements, stopped.

“It’s not a bother, so make sure you eat breakfast.”

He had heard that there were people who had to eat breakfast, and it seemed Baek Yoogeom was one of them. Was it Guild Leader Cheolmin’s educational philosophy? Harang answered his own question internally and silently chewed and swallowed his rice.

When he glanced at Baek Yoogeom, he was continuing his meal neatly without making a single clattering sound.

‘A person’s upbringing really is important.’

Harang, who was cautiously imitating Yoogeom, wondering if he was making any smacking sounds, unconsciously rolled his eyes at the sound of a tongue clicking. Baek Yoogeom was staring at his phone screen with a displeased expression.

“I’ll get going first.”

“Are you busy?”

“It’s nothing.”

For something that was “nothing,” Baek Yoogeom stood up from his seat looking extremely rushed. Harang watched him while munching on his rice, then awkwardly started to get up as well.

“No need to get up. Just leave your dishes on the table when you’re done.”

Yoogeom stopped Harang as he cleared his own dishes at a rapid pace. Harang, unable to do one thing or the other, quietly sat back down. Even if he only heated it up, Yoogeom was the one who had set the table, but Harang, who had just come to the house yesterday, did not know the layout well. He felt uncomfortable just sitting there, but he hated increasing someone else’s workload by trying to help and making a mess even more.

“Okay.”

“Be out by 8:30. I’ll send Hyemin.”

Just as he was worrying about how he was supposed to get to work, Baek Yoogeom solved it for him without a hitch. Harang saw him off with a nod at the answer that came at the perfect time, as if he had read his mind. He wanted to stand up and see him off properly, but at Yoogeom’s gesture that it was fine, he could only give a slight nod.

“You came out right on time!”

At 8:30, Hyemin really did come to pick him up. Harang, who had been checking the time every minute since 8:00, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But the way Hyemin was dressed seemed excessively casual. Having never worked in an office before, Harang had tried to dress as neatly as possible, but standing next to Hyemin, who was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, he felt overdressed.

“This is an access card. You’ll probably have to carry it around for a while. You won’t need it once your fingerprint is registered, but I’m not very good with machines.”

Harang hung the access card Hyemin handed him around his neck and took in the disjointed words. Hyemin looked sheepish, saying he had made things inconvenient, but it actually made Harang’s heart pound as if he had become a real office worker. Though who knew what would happen even a month from now.

“Are you the one guiding me, Mr. Hyemin? Weren’t I supposed to be going to the administrative office?”

The casual attire could have been something only Hunters could get away with. Since their main job was raiding towers, maybe they usually dressed comfortably. Finding his own reasoning plausible, Harang asked about a question that had suddenly popped into his head.

“Hyung told me to go, you know? The administrative office is… um, for now, just follow me!”

Things had changed so quickly that he did not know how anything worked, but it was his first day of work nonetheless. Harang, not even noticing that Hyemin had hesitated, trotted after him, one hand firmly grasping his access card.

“You can use this elevator. It’s the only one that goes directly to the penthouse.”

Hyemin, who had been solicitously asking if he had slept well and eaten breakfast as they walked down the hallway, stopped in front of a single elevator. Only one way in and out. Baek Yoogeom really seemed to be wary of people.

Looking at the elevator that did not display the floor numbers, Harang clutched his access card even more desperately. Like everyone else, he wanted to be able to take any elevator, but it wasn’t like he could fly, so he had no choice but to accept it.

“We use the 27th to the 30th floors. The 27th floor has conference rooms and… offices, though they’re barely used. You can think of the 28th floor as the raid team’s exclusive warehouse for equipment and items. The warehouse for all guild members is in the basement, but since hyung has the raid authority, things come to us first. The 29th and 30th floors are training rooms, so it’s probably best you don’t go there. Everyone tries to control their strength, but you never know.”

As they descended from the highest floor, Hyemin briefly explained the guild’s information. Harang, who was extremely tense, was committing each detail to memory when he realized something strange.

“But… why are you telling me this?”

At the same time, as if on cue, the arrival chime sounded. Hyemin, who stepped out first through the smoothly opening doors, was smiling brightly. The hallway he pointed to with his thick palm looked strangely gloomy.

“Did I not tell you? The Guild Leader changed your assignment. To Raid Team 1! He said the administrative office is mostly civilians, so having Hunters coming and going would just make things chaotic.”

Harang’s gaze wavered helplessly. At a glance, it sounded like a reasonable explanation, but one thing was missing.

“I’m a civilian too, though…?”

“You’re talking to me just fine right now, aren’t you? People who see me for the first time tend to hide and stuff, but you’re the first person I’ve seen who acts so unfazed. Oh, and our team has few members, so it’ll actually be more comfortable for you.”

Hyemin said, squirming shyly.

‘It’ll actually be more comfortable for you. It’ll actually be more comfortable for you.’ 

At that moment, Hyemin’s cheerful answer was endlessly echoing in Harang’s head.

For a hunter of that size and fame, wasn’t it natural for people to run away? If Baek Yoogeom hadn’t kidnapped him out of the blue, Harang himself wouldn’t have been able to even make eye contact, let alone speak to him.

“Aren’t you getting off?”

Unaware of the earthquake going off in Harang’s head, Hyemin tilted his head. At that innocent look, Harang wanted to run away somewhere.

“Uh, where are you going?”

Harang’s desire did not stop at just a thought. As he pressed the close button repeatedly, Hyemin’s flustered voice followed him through the narrowing gap. Harang calmly pressed the button marked with the number 1. He felt like he had been scammed.

The elevator carrying Harang descended to the ground floor in an instant. Harang, watching the ground get closer through the transparent window, clenched his fists. Since it had come down without stopping, Hyemin couldn’t possibly have arrived before him, but one never knew.

Ding.

With a light chime, the doors began to part. Harang, who swallowed hard, scanned the area in front of him with an eagle eye. Fortunately, there was no one around the elevator that was said to be the only one connected to the penthouse.

Instead, he saw people lined up in the lobby far away. They were passing through the security gate with some time in between, likely for identity verification. No one paid any attention to Harang, perhaps because they were all busy.

‘Okay, as naturally as possible.’

The attire of the people heading to work was not much different from Harang’s. Praising his past self for dressing reasonably neatly, Harang walked out naturally.

If he just walked straight ahead and passed through the revolving door, he could escape this godforsaken building. But dreams are not so easily realized. The people who had been coming and going soullessly began to lift their heads one by one.

Even though Harang noticed that everyone’s gaze was directed behind him, he stubbornly kept walking. No matter how great a person had arrived, it had nothing to do with him.

“Where are you going?”

It was when he had muttered left foot, right foot to himself about three times. Goosebumps rose on their own at the dry question that shot straight into his ear.

“Gah, you scared me. Weren’t you, weren’t you busy?”

Harang, who had been scratching his right ear at the ticklish sensation, frowned upon recognizing the owner of the voice. Baek Yoogeom, who had been busily absent since morning, was following him with his upper body slightly bent.

“Ah, that. I finished it all. I was looking for Min Harang just now.”

Baek Yoogeom’s face, which had been expressionless until he spoke to Harang, lit up with vitality. He didn’t know why on earth he was looking for him, but he had a bad feeling. Harang, who had fled without thinking of the consequences, racked his brain.

‘Baek Yoogeom is a luck freak, and the reason a luck freak would be looking for me is…’

“Don’t tell me… you came for today’s fortune?”

At the words thrown out as a guess, Baek Yoogeom nodded. It seemed like a really urgent matter if it was enough to summon a ranker, but his dedication to getting his daily fortune even in the midst of it all was truly crazy.

“Where is Min Harang going?”

No matter how Harang looked at him, Baek Yoogeom was unabashed. Come to think of it, he had been calling him by his full name for a while now. It was a precious name his grandmother had carefully chosen after meticulously looking at his fortune. A momentary sense of rebellion rose in Harang, and he made up a half-hearted excuse.

“I was going to the restroom. I thought it would be right here, but it wasn’t. This building is pointlessly huge.”

His personal feelings were fully loaded into the end of his sentence.

“Directions? Right, the building is a bit big.”

Harang, who had spat out the words sulkily, regretted it slightly, but surprisingly, Baek Yoogeom’s attitude was compliant. Baek Yoogeom, speaking in a gentle voice unlike him, stopped Harang.

“Want to sign it now? If you sign here, you’ll never leave my sight.”

What he kindly took out was the discretionary pledge that Harang had pushed away before.

“Why do you still have that?”

Forgetting that he had been in a bad mood just a moment ago, Harang clung to Baek Yoogeom’s forearm. He felt like he would only be satisfied if he snatched away that damn pledge right now, but because Baek Yoogeom raised his hand higher, he couldn’t even graze it while standing on his tiptoes.

“Signing with blood would be fine too.”

Just as his fingertips were about to touch it, the pledge floated into mid-air. He himself probably knew best that he couldn’t get his hands on it no matter what he did. So Baek Yoogeom’s words couldn’t help but sound spiteful. Harang suppressed the anger welling up from within and spoke quickly.

“Weren’t you here for today’s fortune? I read them best when my condition is good. I’ll read it for you now, so put that away immediately.”