The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 10

If you were to name famous guilds in Korea, the hunter powerhouse, anyone would name three guilds without disagreement.

First, Pado.

Second, Samra.

Third, Seowon.

First of all, Samra Guild was Korea’s official first guild. Song Joheon, who personally went from A-rank to S-rank and revealed that post-natal rank elevation of Awakened was possible, was the guild master, and based on the solid foundation built over a long time, it formed a heavy pillar of the Korean hunter world.

Seowon Guild was famous for a slightly different reason. In the Seowon Guild main building, there existed a massive library connected to another space. It was like an ark that gathered knowledge from after the Day of the Rift. They were a group that pursued knowledge instead of money or honor, and focused more on research than actual combat.

And lastly, Pado. Pado Guild needed no long explanation. Two things were enough to summarize it.

A small elite group, and Lee Sayoung.

∞ ∞ ∞

One entire wall of the spacious Pado Guild conference room was a full-length window, overlooking the cityscape at a glance. The Pado Guild Vice Guild Master, Bae Wonwoo, who had entered the conference room carrying a tablet and crossing in front of it, knocked on the door to draw attention.

“Alright, let’s slowly do a headcount, …does anyone know why four seats are empty?”

He had placed chairs exactly matching the number of participants, but four seats were empty. He hadn’t received any notice of absence either, so it was strange. Did an emergency Rift open somewhere? As Bae Wonwoo just scratched his head, a woman with her brightly red-dyed hair tied in a half-bun raised her hand and spoke.

“Vice Guild Masteeer~ Those guys are lying in the treatment room. It’s been about a day.”

“Huh? Why? Those guys haven’t even entered a dungeon raid.”

At the puzzled question, the red-haired woman, Kang Jisu, shrugged.

“I don’t know. They came back after getting beaten up somewhere.”

“What? What bastard beat up our kids? And you just left it alone?”

“Come on, of course we wanted to beat them up together too. But the Guild Master told us to leave it alone.”

Bae Wonwoo’s gaze sharply turned toward Lee Sayoung, who was sitting in the highest seat. Lee Sayoung, who had been fiddling with something with an indifferent expression as if uninterested in the earlier conversation, perhaps feeling the gaze, tilted his head slightly.

“Why.”

“No… our kids came back after getting beaten by some guy, and you’re telling us to just leave it? This isn’t Pado’s loyalty.”

“Leave it. It’s the Guild Master’s order.”

Lee Sayoung replied slowly in a still lukewarm voice. Bae Wonwoo narrowed his eyes and tried to carefully see what Sayoung was distracted by. What he was holding in his hand was… what looked like a crumpled business card.

“What’s that in your hand?”

“A letter.”

“A letter? Who gave it to you?”

“So many questions…”

Sayoung, who had tilted his head crookedly, gestured with his chin toward where the guild members were sitting.

“Start the meeting.”

“Come on… tsk, Jisu! You deliver the meeting contents to the guys lying down.”

“Ugh, you always make only me do it.”

Kang Jisu grumbled, but Bae Wonwoo didn’t add more words and went up to the podium, adjusting the microphone. Clearing his throat, he announced the start.

“Then we will proceed with this quarter’s dungeon bid meeting. Everyone turn on your tablets and open the file sent from the support room.”

The meeting, which began with materials related to several dungeons, ended faster than expected. It was because everyone’s opinions converged on a single dungeon. Bae Wonwoo, standing at the podium, adjusted the microphone and announced the meeting results.

“Uh… if there are no more opinions, the 4th quarter dungeon bid will be decided as participating in the Jongno 3-ga underground dungeon, yes, decided. Does everyone have no objections?”

“No objections!”

“Good~ Jongno 3-ga is convenient for transportation, and the materials that come out inside are decent too.”

“Do life recovery potion ingredients come out there? Why did the government release that prime-cut bid of all things?”

“They must be short on money, whatever. The bid price will probably be reeeeally expensive.”

After it became known that dungeon and monster byproducts were worth money, hunters who used to take what they could and close dungeon gates took one step further and began leaving behind useful dungeons.

They began exploring the interiors of dungeons where monsters had been mostly cleared out and collecting byproducts to make money. In addition, the government and Awakened Management Agency conducted research on ownerless dungeons and selected useful ones to put up for auction.

Normally, the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master would discuss and participate in the auction, but this quarter’s auction had an unusually high number of prime dungeons, making the decision difficult. So Bae Wonwoo had convened today’s meeting to hear everyone’s opinions. Though it ended anticlimactically for that.

“Then with this, we’ll conclude the meet—”

“Wait.”

Lee Sayoung, who had been quietly listening throughout the meeting, raised his hand. The gazes of the guild members, who had been organizing their seats in anticipation that the meeting would soon end, converged on him. Bae Wonwoo, who had been about to wrap up the meeting, also blinked his eyelids.

“What’s wrong, Sayoung?”

“Do you have something to say…?”

“What is it?”

Curious eyes all turned to Lee Sayoung at once. Was there something he didn’t like? Or an additional dungeon bid? Was he trying to snatch another guild’s bidding rights?

However, the words that came out of his mouth were unexpected content that overturned everyone’s expectations.

“Have you seen a man wearing a soju brand apron? Around here.”

“A soju brand apron? Suddenly?”

“Yeah. Black. He also carries around a ladle about this size.”

“A ladle?”

“He has a fair-complexioned face… his hair is black… no, was it gray.”

“Fair-complexioned face? His hair is black but gray?”

Lee Sayoung made a round circle with both hands. Pado Guild’s reliable shield and Vice Guild Master, Bae Wonwoo, looked around as if asking what kind of nonsense this was. But everyone was just looking at Bae Wonwoo with bewildered faces, and there was no particular gain.

‘Hey, none of you know?’

‘If the Vice Guild Master doesn’t know, who would?’

Such inner voices seemed to be passing through the air.

No! Lee Sayoung wouldn’t have brought this up without any reason right before the meeting ended. Bae Wonwoo, having thought as hard as he could, scratched his cheek and asked.

“Where… did you see a soju promotional event?”

Bae Wonwoo was a sincere and dependable tanker, but he wasn’t equipped with agile intelligence. His inference was completely off the mark, but since the other guild members also didn’t have anything particularly coming to mind, they first chimed in with Bae Wonwoo’s opinion.

“Ah~ Guild Master, did you go to a mart?”

“No, if he went to a mart, the PR team would have contacted us already.”

“That’s true too.”

“To begin with, isn’t anyone who walks around wearing an apron kind of strange?”

“Why, someone could wear one if they work at a restaurant.”

“Why would the Guild Master be looking for a restaurant employee?”

“I don’t know. Or maybe he ate a meal that was so delicious that he forgot and walked out still wearing the apron.”

“Usually, when you pay, the owners tell you to take off the apron and leave, don’t they?”

“You’re no help at all.”

Lee Sayoung, who had been quietly listening to the opinions the guild members offered one by one, gave a cold assessment.

“No, who was it that suddenly brought up a man in an apron while we were talking about the bid?”

Bae Wonwoo slammed the podium with a thud, expressing his injustice. The wooden podium was dented in the shape of his fist. The general affairs team leader didn’t miss that moment and adjusted his glasses, and the lenses flashed with a glint.

“Vice Guild Master, I’ll send you the bill for the podium replacement cost.”

“Ah, damn. Can’t you let it slide just once?”

Taking advantage of the momentarily chaotic atmosphere, Sayoung rose from his seat. After rolling his shoulders a couple of times, he slipped the crumpled business card into his pocket. Even seeing Bae Wonwoo groveling to the general affairs team leader, Sayoung waved his hand dismissively and announced the dismissal.

“That’s it. Meeting over. Everyone go eat.”

“Hey Sayoung! Don’t skip your meal again!”

Affectionate nagging followed his back, but Lee Sayoung left the conference room first without a reply. Watching his back, Wonwoo let out a long sigh. Kang Jisu shrugged.

“Is the Guild Master skipping meals a one or two day thing? Let’s just eat.”

“Ugh… fine, let’s go eat hangover soup.”

“Ah! Stop eating hangover soup. If you’re going to eat that again today, I’m not eating with the Vice Guild Master.”

“Want to come along? I’ll buy.”

“Ahh, I can’t hear you. I’ll eat at the company cafeteria. Go alone.”

Before Kang Jisu could be caught, she quickly fled the conference room, and Bae Wonwoo, holding onto his last hope, carefully asked the remaining personnel.

“Anyone want to come along?”

The moment he said that, the hunters nimbly escaped the conference room. They weren’t even that fast when running from Grade 2 monsters!

“From the Guild Master on down, you’re all taking Pado’s loyalty too lightly!”

In the end, Bae Wonwoo had to head to the hangover soup restaurant alone, shuffling along. The old hangover soup restaurant he frequented daily was also a famous restaurant, but actually, Bae Wonwoo’s visits there weren’t for that reason alone.

First, rumors spread fastest where people gather! I go there to gather information while talking with the hunters there! And build some camaraderie! On the surface, Pado’s Vice Guild Master put forth these deep intentions and faithfully stamped his attendance at the shop every lunchtime. The satisfaction of seeing his autograph on the old wallpaper of the hangover soup restaurant was a bonus.

Second, the hangover soup restaurant kept its prices as close to the old prices as possible even when prices went mad, and the food was good and the portions generous. It was to the point of wondering if there was anything left after selling at that price. The owner grandmother greeting him brusquely every visit was also endearing. The hangover soup restaurant was the only place in the changed world that maintained its appearance from before the Day of the Rift.

It was a few months ago that an unfamiliar young man who looked to be in his early twenties suddenly appeared at the shop.