The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log Chapter 48

Taegyeom and Hana both paused at the same time.

 

Standing close together, they narrowed their eyes and looked toward the direction the sound had come from.

 

Soon, they saw someone climbing up from below the hill.

 

Taegyeom, tilting his head, widened his eyes as the silhouette of the person drew closer.

 

“Isn’t that Kanghyun? And it looks like the Red Moon Guild Master next to him?”

 

Taegyeom’s expression, which had been thoroughly on guard, brightened up the instant he confirmed the figures appearing over the hill. 

 

“Oh, Seo Kanghyun!”

 

He stretched his arm out and waved it frantically in welcome.

 

“I was wondering why you weren’t checking your messages, but did you actually come in yourself?”

 

It was a perfectly carefree greeting, as if he were welcoming a friend who arrived a little late to a meeting spot.

 

Kanghyun and Han Taeho, who had been looking at Taegyeom with expressions as if they were seeing something they shouldn’t, both lowered their gazes at the same time.

 

What caught their eyes was pork belly grilling deliciously in the middle of the gate.

 

“What the, are those two eating meat right now? In the middle of an S-rank gate? I thought I smelled something good for a reason!”

 

“….”

 

Both Kanghyun and Han Taeho looked like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

 

On the other hand, Taegyeom and Hana’s faces were practically glowing, showing just how well they had been eating and enjoying themselves.

 

“We have plenty of meat. Would you like some?”

 

Hana even went as far as to offer them a beautifully prepared wrap.

 

* * *

 

“So you’re saying you awakened to S-rank and handled the polluted monster all by yourself?”

 

“Yeah. I told you that’s what happened.” 

 

Taegyeom nodded his head vigorously while chewing on meat.

 

“Oh, and Hana-ssi handled one too. It must have been a weak monster. She got lucky.”

 

“She got lucky?”

 

Kanghyun narrowed his long eyes slightly.

 

He was smiling, but it was the kind of smile that sent chills down one’s spine.

 

“I sent you in together so you could protect her from danger, and you say she got lucky?”

 

“Ahem. Hyung is sorry.”

 

After offering an awkward apology, Taegyeom sat down right next to Kanghyun.

 

When Kanghyun pulled back, clearly annoyed by the overly close contact, Taegyeom followed him and whispered in his ear.

 

“It’s all thanks to Hana-ssi’s items. My rank increased after I ate the newly mixed item.”

 

Kanghyun’s eyes narrowed minutely.

 

“…A rank increase?”

 

Taegyeom nodded again for emphasis.

 

Kanghyun said nothing for a moment.

 

However, his mind was racing.

 

‘This is a bit dangerous.’

 

If it were just an increase in recovery or defense, it wouldn’t be a problem.

 

But.

 

An item that can pull up a hunter’s rank?

 

Until now, a hunter’s rank had been considered absolute and fixed, and rank-ups were seen as nothing short of miracles. To shatter that common sense?

 

This was a different matter entirely.

 

The moment this fact leaked outside, Yoon Hana might become a ‘resource’ itself rather than a mere F-rank hunter. 

 

Especially if the Vice Chairman found out, it was obvious he would try to use Yoon Hana in some way.

 

Kanghyun placed a hand on his forehead as he looked at Hana, who was blinking her round eyes.

 

It was plain to see that she wouldn’t be able to handle things properly if left alone.

 

‘I’ll have to keep her by my side for the time being.’

 

He thought he was finally going to escape his insomnia.

 

If something were to happen to Yoon Hana now, the contract he had rewritten for his naps would be for nothing.

 

Therefore, even for Kanghyun’s own convenience, Yoon Hana’s safety had to be guaranteed.

 

If anything, it was a relief that he had brought her into the Haechi Guild, even if only temporarily.

 

“Oh, right. This.”

 

Just then, Hana suddenly held out the lettuce polluted by the Berserk item.

 

“This thing stuck here, do you recognize what it is?”

 

Kanghyun’s gaze sharpened.

 

Even without a detailed explanation, a red energy flickered in Kanghyun’s right eye as he identified what it was.

 

【SYSTEM】

 

<Executing skill ‘Eyes of Haechi (SS-rank)’.>

 

<This item has been applied with the skill ‘Transformation (A+ rank)’ belonging to the owner ‘Han Taeho’.>

 

Kanghyun’s head slowly turned toward Han Taeho.

 

Han Taeho was currently bound to a rock by Taegyeom’s telekinesis.

 

He had become much more docile ever since Taegyeom, unable to control his overflowing power earlier, almost accidentally flattened him like a mung bean pancake.

 

Unaware that his shallow scheme had been fully exposed, Han Taeho was struggling to move his limbs.

 

Then, his nose twitched at the smell of meat drifting on the wind.

 

Han Taeho’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down following his instincts.

 

‘Protein….’

 

Red Moon Guild Master, Han Taeho.

 

He was a man obsessed with exercise.

 

These bulging muscles hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere.

 

Dawn cardio, morning weights, afternoon supplementary exercises. And five protein intakes a day.

 

This body was the crystallization of a perfect routine.

 

However, not only had he been unable to exercise today, but he hadn’t been able to drink his protein shake either.

 

Moreover, he was currently in a situation where he was tied to a rock, doing nothing but smelling meat.

 

If this led to muscle loss—

 

Han Taeho’s face turned pale, as if he had witnessed the end of the world.

 

‘My triceps… my lats….’

 

Kanghyun approached Han Taeho.

 

“Were you planning to kill Yoon Taegyeom by making the monsters go berserk?”

 

The red energy was still flickering in Kanghyun’s right eye.

 

Eyes of Haechi.

 

Han Taeho recognized this and clicked his tongue briefly.

 

“I didn’t expect Red Moon to be the one distributing Berserk items.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

Knowing it was a futile attempt to deceive, Han Taeho feigned ignorance anyway.

 

However, Kanghyun, having activated his Eyes of Haechi skill, frowned. It was as if he had detected Han Taeho’s lie.

 

“Stop playing pathetic games and speak straight. Did the Vice Chairman order this?”

 

Han Taeho’s eyes wavered for a moment, but he soon remained silent and shook his head.

 

Hana, who had been listening quietly, roughly grasped the situation.

 

Looking at Han Taeho’s stubbornly closed mouth, it felt like she wouldn’t get the desired answer just by continuing to ask.

 

So that burly-looking human was the culprit. 

 

Just like with Hunter Lee Haechan, it seemed he had intentionally caused the golems to go berserk with malicious intent.

 

And it appeared the Vice Chairman was involved in that as well.

 

‘It’s complicated.’

 

Honestly, why couldn’t everyone just get along instead of working so hard to do bad things?

 

Shaking her head, Hana noticed Han Taeho’s gaze sliding toward the meat.

 

“…?”

 

Hana picked up a piece of pork belly with her tongs.

 

Immediately, Han Taeho’s pupils whipped over to follow it.

 

When she moved it to the left, his eyes rolled along with it.

 

Aha?

 

Hana let the corners of her mouth curl up slightly.

 

Then, she began to make a large wrap.

 

Ah, without the mushroom, of course.

 

She couldn’t risk Han Taeho’s rank increasing by eating the Mushroom-Lettuce Wrap.

 

As she tried to approach Han Taeho with the completed wrap, Seo Kanghyun’s arm shot out and blocked her path.

 

“What are you trying to do?”

 

“Seo Kanghyun-ssi, lower your head for a moment.”

 

Surprisingly, Kanghyun followed Hana’s request and lowered his head without question.

 

Still, because the height difference was significant, Hana had to stand on her tiptoes.

 

“We need that man to open his mouth, right? I don’t think we’ll get the answer we want just by badgering him.”

 

“And?”

 

“I’ll try to coax him.”

 

Kanghyun’s eyes narrowed.

 

“And regardless of what happened, the gate rank went up thanks to him. Because of that, Hunter Yoon Taegyeom awakened too. So, I’ll try to have a good talk with him first.”

 

Kanghyun wore a look of disapproval but eventually withdrew his arm.

 

And he stood firmly behind Hana as if warning Han Taeho that he wouldn’t leave him alone if he tried anything foolish. 

 

Unfazed by the menacing aura Kanghyun was emitting, Hana offered the wrap to Han Taeho.

 

“You’ve been staring at this for a while, so please have some.”

 

“I won’t eat.” 

 

“I put four pieces of meat in here, though?”

 

“I said I won’t eat!” 

 

Han Taeho, whose nostrils were flaring at the smell of the meat, whipped his head away and clamped his mouth shut.

 

In reality, however, Han Taeho’s mind was already a mess.

 

Now that his illegal distribution of Berserk items had been discovered, he would end up taking all the blame even if he kept his mouth shut.

 

He wondered if he should maintain his loyalty to the Vice Chairman while enduring such humiliation.

 

The Vice Chairman had been treating him with blatant neglect lately.

 

Pushing all the annoying and dirty work onto him without giving him proper compensation.

 

When he did well, there wasn’t a peep, but the moment things went slightly wrong, the man would nag him until he was sick of it.

 

Even now, hadn’t he treated him—who had devoted his loyalty all this time—like an invisible person and poured investments into a newly formed guild? 

 

Since he was that kind of man, it was obvious he would cut Han Taeho off the moment a problem arose.

 

‘Damn it, is this all I get for acting like a loyal dog all this time?’

 

Han Taeho squeezed his eyes shut.

 

He shouldn’t have joined hands with the Vice Chairman.

 

What was a guild ranking anyway?

 

Should he just tell them everything? It would be too unfair to die alone.

 

As if lighting a fire in Han Taeho’s heart, Hana’s next words hit his ears with decisive precision.

 

“You’ll get muscle loss if you starve.”

 

“What?”

 

At those words, Han Taeho’s eyes flipped wide, and he snapped his teeth shut on the wrap!

 

Gasp.

 

His pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them at the absurd act his subconscious had committed.