<Episode 23>
Though brief, she clearly saw the two of them exchange glances. There was definitely some unspoken deal between them that she didn’t know about.
‘But for what?’
Would they really need to make a deal just to attach a precious S-rank resource to an F-rank collecting ingredients? If accompaniment was necessary, there were plenty of other hunters they could request.
“…Hunter Lee Hyunwoo, aren’t you busy?”
“I can adjust my schedule.”
He refuted her question as if it were nothing.
“Th-that kind of thing isn’t exactly easy to adjust–”
“Is there a specific time you must enter the gate?”
“Well, no, but….”
He shrugged and said annoyingly, “Then it should be fine.”
How is any of this fine?! People would make a huge fuss over wasting a precious S-rank hunter accompanying a mere F-rank.
As she agonized over it, the Director lightly patted her shoulder.
“I know what you’re worried about, Hunter. But you can just think of it comfortably.”
“But–”
“And Hunter Lee Hyunwoo is a capable hunter. I’m sure he’ll be helpful.”
Her concern wasn’t that he wasn’t capable enough. The problem was that he was too capable.
Still, there had to be a reason even the Director was acting like this. In the end, she let out something close to a sigh of surrender and left the Director’s office.
“Are you heading straight home? I’ll drive you.”
“…I won’t refuse.”
She could have returned home quickly using the system, but there was something she wanted to ask him, so she accepted the offer.
“I hate cars, nya!”
“Just endure it a little. I’ll give you snacks at home. And brush you too. Okay?”
Beside her, Hanyang grumbled unhappily, but eventually surrendered to the temptation of tasty snacks. The moment she got into the car and fastened her seatbelt, she asked:
“So what exactly did you talk about with the Director?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. The Director wouldn’t attach you to my side for no reason.”
His elegant fingers tapped lightly against the steering wheel. After sinking into thought for a moment, he spoke while looking ahead.
“In truth, I agreed to temporarily oversee training for some other hunters. It’s not something I needed to do, but now I have something I want as well.”
She had been planning to threaten to refuse gate accompaniment if he kept pretending not to know, but unexpectedly, he answered readily.
Still, one question remained. Leaving aside the Director’s approval, why was he paying so much attention to her?
Unlike the other hunters, it wasn’t as though he particularly liked bungeoppang. She couldn’t understand why he was so intent on protecting her.
“Why do you hate me entering gates so much?”
“Well, obviously–”
“Other than the fact that it’s illegal or dangerous. Other hunters are in danger when they enter gates too, but you don’t accompany them like this every time.”
To an S-rank like him, exaggerating a bit, F-ranks and D-ranks probably all looked equally weak. Then why was he acting this way only toward her?
He tapped the steering wheel several times with his long fingers before speaking in a low voice.
“…Strangely enough, when I look at Hunter Haneul, I feel a sense of nostalgia.”
As if trying to recall someone, he left his gaze outside the car window for a moment.
“Maybe that’s why I want to protect you.”
His words were frustratingly vague.
What exactly did he mean by a “sense of nostalgia”? In a past interview, he had once said that as a side effect of awakening as an S-rank, he had forgotten something important to him.
He said fragmented, abstract memories surfaced occasionally, but only briefly. Was he now recalling some moment from the past while looking at her?
“What exactly do you mean by a nostalgic–”
“You seem tired. You can close your eyes for a while if you’d like.”
It was his way of saying he didn’t want to continue this topic anymore.
As he focused on driving, a quiet silence settled inside the car.
‘It’d be nice if the mission window appeared right now.’
Whenever hunters had troubles, the mission window had always popped up with perfect timing. Whether it was Hunter Ria’s insomnia or Hunter Kangmin’s emptiness.
But this time, as if telling her it wouldn’t be solved so easily, the system window remained silent.
“Thank you for driving me today.”
“It was nothing. Do you have another gate schedule soon?”
“Hmm. I went recently, so… I probably won’t for a while.”
He nodded as if relieved.
It hadn’t been long since she entered a gate for Hunter Kangmin’s sake. There would probably be some breathing room before the next mission.
‘For now, I need to find an employee for the shop.’
The “Employee Recruitment Ticket” she received after clearing the hidden mission. To unlock the next new menu, she needed someone to work alongside her.
After parting with Hunter Lee Hyunwoo and returning home, she opened the system window and fell into thought.
“A new employee, huh. Should I put up a job posting or something?”
“Isn’t there any human around you that you can order around, nya?”
“I can’t think of anyone….”
The only people around her were hunters or Shinhye. Everyone had their own jobs, so she couldn’t exactly make them work at the bungeoppang shop.
Thinking about her tiny social circle, she let out a small sigh.
“Why did they only give me a recruitment ticket? They could’ve at least recommended the perfect person, too.”
Hiring new people had always been the hardest part. Back when she worked at her parents’ store, they would constantly suffer headaches every time they hired staff.
People who spent all day on their phones during work hours, secretly canceled orders without saying anything, or invited friends over to hang out.
After encountering all sorts of villains, thoughts like “I’d rather just do it all myself!” naturally bubbled up.
But seeing as the recruitment ticket came as a reward this time, it seemed the system also judged that working alone was too much. Which meant she truly needed to hire someone….
“Haa, it’d be nice if employees had ranks too.”
A-rank employee, B-rank employee. If things like that just appeared clearly, hiring would be so much easier.
With such silly thoughts, she prepared to upload a recruitment notice to a hiring site. And at that moment…
—
Strong desire from the owner detected!
You have obtained the skill ‘Talent Detection (C)’
—
With a ding! sound, a translucent blue window appeared before her eyes.
Apparently, she had gained a new skill. And it even had the incredibly cool name Talent Detection.
“Hanyang, jackpot! I got a new skill!”
“Oh? What kind of skill is it, nya?”
When she clicked the skill name, an explanation appeared saying it was an ability that could quantify desired talents into numerical values.
‘Quantify talent…?’
She couldn’t quite understand it from the explanation alone, so she immediately tried it on Hanyang.
First, for the desired talent, she entered: Employee at Haneul’s Bungeoppang Shop. Then she used the skill on Hanyang…
—
Name: Jung Hanyang
Talent Rank: D-
Reason: Laziness, gluttony
—
“Ahahaha! Hanyang can’t work at our shop. It’s not even just D-rank, it’s D-minus!”
And the reasons were laziness and gluttony!
Hanyang snorted and turned away as if uninterested. But the way her tail smacked repeatedly against the floor showed she was clearly in a foul mood. Every time the tail slammed down with a thwack!, Hanyang’s belly fat jiggled along with it.
She coughed, barely suppressing the laughter trying to escape.
“Anyway, with this skill, hiring won’t be a problem.”
Her goal was to recruit an A-rank employee. Heart pounding with excitement over what kind of applicants might come, she uploaded the recruitment posting.
And several weeks later…
“Oh, the shop’s really tiny. But famous hunters come here a lot?”
“Sometimes they do.”
“Then what about Noona Ria? I want her autograph. By the way, where’s the smoking area here?”
“Haha, I’m not really sure either… I’ll contact you later.”
She awkwardly smiled and sent off the applicant who desperately wanted Ria noona’s autograph. As expected from his rude way of speaking, his talent rank was E. Reason: poor attitude. Zero sense of hygiene.
She had planned to hire someone if they were at least B-rank, but most applicants were either E or F rank. Honestly, hiring Hanyang as an employee might have been better.
Perhaps because the shop was near the Management Bureau, people were more interested in seeing famous hunters than actually working.
“At this rate, I won’t be able to hire anyone….”
Still, no matter how urgent hiring was, she couldn’t just hire anyone. Even if she had to suffer a bit longer herself, finding someone suitable seemed more important.
“Yeah. Let’s not rush this too much.”
The automatic packaging item she bought from Underworld.com was working well too, so there was no immediate urgency.
As she lightly patted her stiff shoulders after baking bungeoppang all day and checked how much remained until the next menu unlock…
—
[Emergency]
A+ rank talent detected!
Enter Gate <Silent Cave>?
—
Silent Cave? That was definitely the gate where she had already finished gathering materials and completed the mission.
She rubbed her eyes several times and checked the window again. The same gate name she had entered before was still there.
“What kind of shop employee is inside a gate?”
Comments (0)