The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 7

Just then, the elevator came to a halt. Wondering if he should get off here, Julian looked at Gong Siyoung. He took the lead without a word.

It was smaller than the guild building, but this place too was full of things so fascinating that his eyes widened.

Gong Siyoung pressed beep-beep on a mechanical device attached to the door. Pushing the door open along with a clear sound, he gestured. He didn’t say to come in, but Julian understood and moved his feet with quick wit.

“Whoa.”

It was comfort itself. Is this a house? You’re saying a place like this is a house? Not heaven, not a palace, but really just a house?

With his eyes wide open, Julian looked around the surroundings repeatedly. His face, filled with admiration, was reflected clearly in the shoe rack mirror in front of the entrance.

“Whoa, what is thi—”

“No ‘Whoa’. No ‘What is this’. No admiration.”

Before the sentence could even finish, Gong Siyoung spat out a warning.

Even while pouting his lips, he shut his mouth. Following Gong Siyoung, who was taking off his shoes, Julian also took off his shoes with quick wit.

With a face soaked in fatigue, Gong Siyoung pointed to a closed room door.

“That is the empty room, so use that room. Keep in mind that we have to wake up at 7:00 tomorrow to go to the Management Bureau.”

Nod, nod. Julian replied by bowing his head and quickly approached the room. As he pushed the door slightly, a pleasant and cozy space appeared.

Discovering a fluffy bed, he quickly approached and sat his butt down. He covered his mouth at the comfort that was squishy yet supported him firmly.

‘It’s fluffy…’

He felt it every time he sat somewhere, but this place was really… really everything was fluffy.

As if there was nothing more to see, he flopped down on the bed. It was truly, chillingly cozy.

Rolling his body around, he fully enjoyed the coziness of the bed. The cushioning that wrapped around his body without a single place feeling stiff no matter how he lay down was top-notch.

Ah, how long had it been since he felt like this? When was the last time he truly rested with such an easy mind?

Was it because he had been working his ass off for several months to beat down monsters? At the tranquility he felt after a long time, his body literally melted away.

It was now goodbye to the times when he barely avoided the wind, rain, and cold in a tent that barely functioned, and only closed his eyes to survive on a hard makeshift bed.

He didn’t need to stay up all night with open eyes or be on guard because he didn’t know when or where monsters would burst in.

In a cozy space protected by solid walls and a ceiling, Julian made a decision.

Since things had turned out like this anyway, any thought of wanting to go back to his hometown? Not in the slightest. From now on, this is my hometown.

Julian abandoned his hometown as fast as roasting beans in a lightning flash.

While tightly grasping the rustling blanket, he closed his eyes tight. It was warm and peaceful, and fantastically cozy.

In an instant, sleep swallowed him up.

∞ ∞ ∞

“…He’s sleeping already?”

Had it been about three seconds since his head touched the bed? Julian, who had already fallen fast asleep, was breathing evenly. Gong Siyoung was dumbfounded.

At that level, isn’t it fainting rather than sleeping?

Leaning against the doorframe and watching what he was doing, Gong Siyoung suppressed a sigh.

“What a real psycho…”

Does that human have no sense of wariness?

At any rate, he was someone he met for the first time today; how could he sleep like that so carelessly, not knowing what kind of harm might be done? He couldn’t understand it at all.

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t understand. Julian was just, his very existence was strange. Not just his attitude, but everything was strange.

It was just that his fussy attitude was a prominent characteristic, but looking only at his appearance, he was far from ordinary.

White skin, hair color even whiter than that, and even bright blue eyes. It was hard to find a single Korean characteristic in anything. Yet, if you asked if he looked like a foreigner, that wasn’t it either.

They were similar yet different. Except for the commonality of being human, everything was blurry. There was a strange sense of incongruity as if he was not a person of this world.

Is it because he’s a crazy guy? It seemed that way too…

Siyoung, who was staring blankly at the sleeping figure, clicked his tongue. Even if he thought about it, it only made his head ache.

Furthermore, Gong Sijin was better at this kind of problem than Gong Siyoung. He figured he just had to endure for about a day.

He was about to turn off the light and leave, but just in case, he left the room door wide open. He might run away or have other schemes. He couldn’t let his guard down yet.

Once he took that suspicious human to the Management Bureau, this task was over.

After receiving the rank evaluation, he intended to pull out of this regardless of what Gong Sijin said.

Which meant that after tonight passed, he wouldn’t have to face that psycho anymore. The childlike admiration, the fuss—it was all goodbye now. Gong Siyoung formed a crooked smile.

“Yeah, just up to this point…”

“It’s like a memento an old friend left behind before he died.”

Of all things, the conversation they shared a while ago came to mind at that moment. The smile completely vanished from his face.

Mentioning a friend’s memento or an attachment sword, the face that asked about the sword’s whereabouts strangely bothered him.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Whether it was his imagination or not, Julian looked strangely discouraged only when he spat out those words. Whether he was pretending it was nothing or it really was nothing… now that he had heard that talk about a memento, how could he stay unbothered?

“No, let’s just ignore it.”

Whether it was a memento or whatever, that was his business.

If it was really that regrettable, he could buy him any other sword, so what was he supposed to do. He could just compensate him with money and be done with it cleanly.

In plain words, wasn’t that human using the space to eat, sleep, and rest all for free right now? In a situation where it wouldn’t be enough even if he was thrown out onto the street, it was this side that was showing kindness.

While dwelling on strangely trashy thoughts, Gong Siyoung sat on the living room sofa and crossed his legs.

Whether it was because he was tired or because he had suffered from that psycho’s fussing, he was completely drained even though he hadn’t done much.

Siyoung unconsciously shook his leg. Only the sound of Gong Siyoung shaking his leg echoed in the quiet house.

He glanced at the clock. At the time which had passed only about ten minutes, Siyoung fidgeted with his lips anxiously. Since time was overflowing, useless thoughts followed one after another.

Is there any need for me to feel guilty about something like that? There isn’t. He’s the one who didn’t take care of it, so why me? What am I missing?

Siyoung crossed his legs and leaned back on the sofa. To clear away the sound of the memento talk floating in his head, he thought of various things without rhyme or reason.

Julian was Julian, but besides that, there were more than enough things to worry about.

Lately, the Management Bureau’s control had gone too far.

There was a reason for their restrictions. It was because of the sudden-outbreak Dungeons that had surged in the past few months.

Sudden-outbreak Dungeons literally meant Dungeons that occurred suddenly.

Gates connected to Dungeons occurred by the dozens every day, and not all of them were threats.

There were Gates that opened and closed quickly, and in the case of sudden-outbreak Dungeons, most were D-rank or lower and could be handled easily.

However, the Dungeons that occurred during the past few months were different in nature. From A-rank to S-rank, they occurred quite often.

Because of that, all Hunters above A-rank in the country, including Gong Siyoung, were in a state of emergency standby.

In an already sensitive situation, the Management Bureau required Hunters to mandatory register teams.

From a minimum of five to a maximum of twelve people, they were told to form a party necessarily including healers and B-rank or higher Hunters with communication skills.

Rumors that penalties would be given if they didn’t register voluntarily circulated publicly.

They called it voluntary reporting, but it was no different from saying they would openly control Hunters in a military fashion.

How much was left before the ominous rumors of revoking Hunter qualifications if they didn’t register became truth?

Gong Sijin said to go in the most cooperative way possible, but Gong Siyoung was different. He had no intention of dancing to the tune of the Management Bureau’s dictatorship.

The number of Hunters is overwhelmingly insufficient as it is. It was a problem that there were few Awakened, but also that the survival rate was low.

Three years after Awakening—during those three years, the mortality rate of Hunters reached nearly 50%. It meant one out of two Awakened died within three years.

In a situation where it’s hard to gather even three B-rank Hunters, when on earth would they gather five people to roam Dungeons? Why do such a bothersome thing in the first place?

What is the reason guilds exist? Weren’t they made to gather at the time and run Dungeons at the time?

Right now they talk about voluntary reporting or whatever, but it was obvious what would happen if just a little more time passed.

Since they were people who regarded guilds as an eyesore, they would try to shake the leash more and more, thinking this was the chance.

His head throbbed. He is technically a guild master, and while he thought Gong Sijin would handle it well on his own… he couldn’t help but worry.

While he was at it, he picked up his cell phone and called Gong Sijin.

After a short ringtone, Gong Sijin’s voice was heard.

— Yes, Siyoung. You got home okay, right?

A sweet voice asked after him. Gong Siyoung spat out the business, cutting to the chase.

“Hyung, while going to the Management Bureau tomorrow—”

— No, you can’t.

Before the sentence even finished, Gong Sijin firmly refused. Siyoung’s eyes sharpened.

“What. I haven’t even finished speaking yet.”

— It’s obvious. You’re going to make a scene while you’re at the Management Bureau, meeting the branch manager and saying something about abolishing the voluntary reporting system.

“Am I a child? What kind of scene would I make.”

— Not a child, a brat. Anyway, no. That day, you just see Mr. Yuri off to the entrance of the Management Bureau and go back. Entering inside is forbidden.

Gong Sijin, who was just saying things to scratch his insides while laughing, was incredibly detestable. Just as Gong Siyoung was about to express dissatisfaction again, Gong Sijin continued as if soothing him.

— You have to go to a Dungeon immediately that day anyway. That A-rank Dungeon where you picked up Mr. Yuri. Because they said that place is a bit strange.