The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 32

After checking the comments on all those pages, Gong Siyoung calmly pressed the ‘Report’ button. For the reason for reporting, he selected ‘False Information/Defamation’.

Those crazy people, even groundless rumors should have a limit. What on earth are they talking about?

It wasn’t even funny to see them making a fuss about his own appearance or whatever based on comments he didn’t even write.

He calmly updated the list of people to sue. Starting from the one called Reporter Guk to the anonymous people snickering and laughing, he had to catch them all so that this kind of thing wouldn’t happen again. Gong Siyoung thoroughly scanned the internet communities with eyes full of venom.

According to the timeline, that impersonating comment was written only a short while ago. The post that captured and spread it heated up the internet world in just a few dozen minutes.

Every time this happened, his basic trust in humanity was shattered. People believed too easily, and they babbled too easily. They were bent on biting others while pursuing stimulation and interest.

Rather than whether it was the truth or not, all their attention was focused on how provocative and interesting the story was. Sometimes, they were more dreadful than the monsters in the dungeons.

He pressed the report button mindlessly again and again. Annoyance gradually welled up at the repeated reporting. Which bastard impersonated him and blew things up like this?

Even Gong Sijin seemed to firmly believe that it was him. On top of being misunderstood for something he didn’t do, his name was being consumed randomly as a source of amusement. The more he chewed on it, the more his insides boiled.

“This is truly absurd.”

Whether it was dating rumors or whatever, he might have been annoyed by the ridiculous scandals, but he wasn’t idle enough to fail to distinguish between public and private matters and leave comments on the internet. He didn’t even want to do something as stupid as getting heated over such things.

Besides, Gong Siyoung was taking a shower during that time. He had left his phone outside, so by what magic could he have commented…

“…Wait, a minute.”

In an instant, his heart sank. Gong Siyoung’s face turned pale in a flash.

No way. No way? No… surely?

Placing his hand on his forehead, he repeated to himself, ‘Calm down.’ As if lightning had struck his brain, a certain memory came to mind.

While checking Julian’s phone, did I… log in with my ID on the video app?

He had logged in to organize it so that Julian wouldn’t watch strange videos, and he had forgotten about it until now.

And rightly so, since he had entered the dungeon immediately after that and it hadn’t been long since he returned. Julian hadn’t even touched the phone since then.

“No… it couldn’t be. It’s not, surely.”

In that interval, surely he didn’t take the phone and leave such a comment. I never even taught him how to write comments, so surely.

Gong Siyoung quickly snatched Julian’s phone. He tapped the black machine that was primly silent and accessed the video app.

The bright red logo passed, and he clicked ‘My Page’ to check the history one by one. Conveniently, exactly one video was listed in today’s viewing history.

[Exclusive Acquisition! The Secret Private Life of an S-Class Hunter?! Witnessing a Secret Date!]

His pupils dilated momentarily. His fingertips trembled at the reality he didn’t want to believe.

His own photo on the profile, Reporter Guk’s video remaining in the viewing history, and the comments that people on the internet had captured and were chewing over mixed together in his head and spun around.

With trembling fingers, he clicked the video. It showed him eating with Julian at the restaurant. Truly, because it was absurd in so many ways, his head felt dizzy.

Gong Siyoung threw the phone onto the sofa as it was and then approached the room where Julian was sleeping with fierce footsteps. He glared at Julian, who was sleeping without a care in the world, with a sharp gaze.

“Wake up. Hey, wake up. Wake up and talk to me about whether you really wrote this.”

That face sleeping peacefully was extremely hateful. Why did he do something he wasn’t even told to—no, is it really true that this person wrote it? How on earth did an inhabitant of another world know how to write comments? By what magic did he do it, for goodness’ sake!

“Hey! Julian! Wake up and give some sort of explanation…!”

“Mmm…”

The mumbling Julian suddenly pulled the hand that was shaking his shoulder. In an instant, his balance broke, and he ended up collapsing over Julian as if raiding him. Gong Siyoung flailed his arms in panic.

What on earth he mistook him for in his sleep, Julian wrapped his arms around Gong Siyoung’s waist. The body tangling against him was warm.

He could feel moist lips and breath against his chest. Julian’s hair tickled the tip of his chin.

Gong Siyoung stared wide-eyed, forgetting even to breathe. It was physical contact he had never experienced even once, except with family.

The arms wrapping around his waist, the steady sound of breathing felt against his chest, and even the movement of the lips mumbling in the meantime were felt exactly as they were. Because of the panic, his body stiffened rigidly.

Julian, who had wrapped his legs tightly around him, mumbled in his sleep.

“Mmm… I get it, so stop now… let’s sleep.”

Soon after, steady breathing followed. Whether he had fallen completely into a deep sleep, there was no further movement.

Gong Siyoung’s jaw trembled. His face heated up to a bright red.

He wriggled to escape somehow, but each time, he was hugged even more strongly. Gradually, his breath became ragged. His heart pounded so fiercely it felt as if his eardrums were attached to his heart.

Thus, Gong Siyoung had to spend the night with his eyes wide open, unable to escape from the embrace for a long time.

∞ ∞ ∞

As soon as dawn arrived, someone shook his body roughly. Gong Siyoung was standing right in front of the bleary-eyed Julian.

Whether he had slept at all, the areas around Gong Siyoung’s eyes were hollow. If someone saw him, they would suspect he was a patient with a manifest illness.

“Let’s leave quickly. There’s no time.”

Gong Siyoung urged him about once every second. When he barely managed to wash his face and come out, Gong Siyoung took the lead without looking back.

All throughout the car ride, talk that was quite hard to understand continued. He was talking about accounts, live chat comments, and communities, but how was Julian supposed to understand what it meant?

Still, he recognized Gong Siyoung’s mood like a ghost. Since it was obvious he would only get angry if Julian tried to talk to him, Julian nodded as if he understood even though he didn’t.

By the time Gong Siyoung had repeated the instruction not to write comments anywhere about thirty times, the car arrived at the destination.

After pestering him so much about not being late, there was actually no one in the conference room. Gong Siyoung left Julian alone there and disappeared somewhere, saying he had business to attend to.

“I don’t know why we came so early if it’s going to be like this.”

Julian let out a huge yawn. He should have just let me sleep more. There was no work to do and nothing to say, so only sleepiness poured down.

While he was rubbing his eyes, the conference room door opened. When a familiar face appeared, Julian’s face brightened.

“You’re already here?”

Myeong Haejin, who came running, pulled a chair to the seat next to him.

“Did you sleep well yesterday?”

“Just, well, so-so.”

As he answered, he stretched out wide. It seemed he had been tired after moving for the first time in a while. Because he fell asleep as soon as he got home, his memories were intermittent.

Still, the sleeping arrangement wasn’t bad. No, it felt like he slept more soundly than usual. It felt like he had slept hugging something warm and stable, too?

“But what should I do? About the hat you gave me yesterday. I couldn’t bring it because it got so dirty.”

“Ah, it’s okay. You can just keep that, hyung.”

As expected, Myeong Haejin was a decent person. He was friendly and favorable, and when asked, he would smoothly tell various stories as they came. He was a perfect conversation partner, so to speak.

But why is his relationship with Gong Siyoung bad? Was it really some special relationship?

Since Gong Siyoung happened to be absent, Julian tapped Myeong Haejin’s arm, thinking this was the chance.

“But can I ask you just one thing?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What kind of relationship do you have with Gong Siyoung?”

As if he didn’t understand the question, Myeong Haejin tilted his head.

“Hmm… what do you mean by ‘what kind of relationship’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Were you two in that kind of relationship? Like, you met each other in the past but broke up on bad terms?”

Myeong Haejin blinked his eyes. He was silent for a moment as if contemplating something, and then he soon smiled broadly. Bringing his head close, he pressed his lips right against Julian’s ear.

“Are you curious?”

Nod, nod. Julian nodded his head vigorously. As if excited by the active reaction, Myeong Haejin’s pupils sparkled brightly.

He carefully started with, “Actually…”

“Actually, until Siyoung Hunter awakened… he followed me around a lot. Maybe even more than his own hyung?”

That was unexpected. Based on Gong Siyoung’s attitude alone, they seemed to have a relationship worse than strangers.

“Have you two known each other for a long time?”

“We’ve known each other since we were kids. All the way from before joining the guild.”

Myeong Haejin shrugged his shoulders. According to him, they were childhood friends who had been together since they were very young. Although there was a one-year age difference, their parents also knew each other well.

“During school days, we hung out almost every day. It was the same with the Master, and back then we were no different from family, but…”

Myeong Haejin smiled bitterly. Don’t cut off the words and make me curious; why can’t he tell me until the end? Just as Julian was about to say something out of frustration, the conference room door clattered open. Led by Gong Sijin, people flocked in.

“We don’t have time, so we’ll proceed quickly!”

Gong Siyoung, who was right behind Gong Sijin, stared intently at Julian. To be precise, he seemed to be looking at Myeong Haejin, who was stuck right next to him.

Noticing that gaze, Myeong Haejin smiled and gave a wink. Gong Siyoung, looking disgusted, snapped his head away.

‘What on earth was the relationship between those two?’

Far from his curiosity being resolved, a bigger question had arisen. They knew each other well in the past and had been acquainted for ten years, so why do they act like that now whenever they see each other’s faces?

This wouldn’t do. These kinds of questions had to be resolved immediately when they came to mind. After checking the seat where Gong Siyoung sat, Julian slightly raised his body.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to sit over there.”

He tapped Myeong Haejin’s shoulder and immediately approached Gong Siyoung. As he sat in the next seat, a glance followed him. Julian smacked his lips at the stubborn attitude of immediately staring straight ahead.