The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 11

Upon hearing the story, the young man was said to be the second cousin’s in-law’s eighth cousin of the elderly woman who owned the hangover soup restaurant, or something like that. Due to the Rift, he lost all his family and wandered around searching for surviving relatives until he barely managed to find the grandmother. With nowhere to lean on, he said he was staying by helping out at the grandmother’s shop, his only remaining blood relative in the whole world.

Actually, Wonwoo half let the young man’s pitiful yet grand background story go in one ear and out the other. A tale of losing all one’s family and surviving alone wasn’t even worth counting among the unfortunate.

However, everyone unanimously praised the young man as an unprecedented filial grandson. These days, all young people are either preparing for the Hunter civil service exam at Noryangjin or aiming for non-awakened personnel positions at Hunter guilds—no matter if it’s a family-run restaurant, who would work at a shabby hangover soup place like this!

Because of this, the Hunters including Bae Wonwoo looked upon the suddenly appearing young man with very favorable eyes. Truthfully, they themselves felt guilty for eating so much that the grandmother had to run the business alone. The healthy and sturdy young man was also sharp at his work, carrying several ttukbaegi pots at once as if they were nothing.

‘He seemed like someone who’d worked at a hangover soup restaurant for 30 years.’

Whether looking at his face value or his family circumstances, it was clearly his first time working at a hangover soup restaurant, yet the young man’s serving skills were extraordinary. Ever since he started working, not only did the table turnover at the shop visibly speed up, but they also stopped getting scolded by the grandmother to stop eating so damn much! For Hunters who eat fast and eat a lot, his appearance was welcome news.

But recently, it seemed the young man was running the shop alone. When asked indirectly, it appeared the grandmother’s legs weren’t doing well. It was a regrettable matter.

“Welcome.”

As the young man bowed his head in greeting, Bae Wonwoo also greeted him with a friendly smile and scanned for empty seats. The only remaining seat was across from a customer sitting alone at a two-person table, and fortunately, the owner of that seat was a Hunter acquainted with Wonwoo. He was a regular customer no less than Bae Wonwoo, so they ran into each other at least once every two days, and quite a bit of internal affinity had built up. Wonwoo asked with a friendly air.

“May I sit here?”

“Of course. You came at just the right time before the wait got long.”

“Naturally.”

Bae Wonwoo, who had naturally exchanged greetings and joined the table, briefly checked the surroundings. To collect the information the Guild Master had requested, he pretended not to know and asked into the air.

“Ah, by the way… where are they wearing soju aprons these days?”

His voice slightly cracked at the end, but in Bae Wonwoo’s opinion, he had brought it up quite naturally. The Hunter sitting across from him widened his eyes and asked back.

“Huh? Soju aprons? All of a sudden?”

“Uh, hmm, I was just suddenly curious.”

As he casually brought it up, people at nearby tables also chimed in one by one.

“Usually at restaurants, don’t they wear them so food doesn’t splatter on your clothes when you go in wearing white?”

“Right.”

“Yeah. Lots of restaurants have them, they hang them on the wall, telling you to wear them.”

“I went to a dakgalbi place in front of Madeok Guild recently and they had them there too. It was supposed to be a Hunter-net certified tasty place and it really was delicious.”

“Wow, I went there once but the wait was so long I just gave up.”

“If you go there on a Friday evening, Madeok Guild members are having a company dinner there.”

Bae Wonwoo, feeling inwardly proud as he watched the Hunters become warm and friendly over food talk, suddenly thought. Isn’t this place a restaurant too? He was pretty sure they’d been given aprons so the red soup wouldn’t splatter. As he craned his neck around and turned his head, he saw a black apron dangling from a grid-style coat rack on the wall.

Yes, something like that. As Wonwoo’s eyes lit up with delight, the young man came over carrying kimchi and kkakdugi and plopped them down on the table. Then he pulled a ballpoint pen and a fresh bill from the front pocket of his apron…

…An apron!

Bae Wonwoo felt a flash of light streak through his mind. Wasn’t this shop’s diligent part-time young man always wearing an apron too? On the chest area of the apron the young man was wearing, a ChamXseul logo was prominently drawn.

…A soju brand apron?

“One hangover soup, correct? Want me to bring you lots of chili peppers?”

Bae Wonwoo forgot even to answer and stared intently at the young man as if possessed by something.

Come to think of it, when he first saw him, he had wondered what an actor was doing in a hangover soup restaurant. The kind of stunning appearance that made you think on first sight, ‘Someone this pretty and handsome in a shabby place like this?’—a seemingly indifferent yet sharp impression, but with clear black eyes, and neat black hair to boot. For a moment, Bae Wonwoo’s eyes narrowed.

‘Huh?’

Was the part-timer’s hair originally… kind of grayish? Under the fluorescent lights, the round crown of his head looked much brighter than black today.

‘If it’s gray hair…’

Somehow… wasn’t that pretty similar to the description Lee Sayoung gave? He said the hair color was confusing between black and gray, and that he had a delicate face. And gray hair isn’t even common!

“Customer?”

This is a hangover soup restaurant, so… there should be a ladle too, right? Wonwoo unconsciously looked around.

“Customer.”

“Hunter Bae?”

Bae Wonwoo only came to his senses after the Hunter at his table called him. Two pairs of eyes were looking at him as if he were strange. Bae Wonwoo smiled awkwardly and nodded.

“Oh, yes. That’s right. I was just lost in thought for a moment. Lots of cheongyang chili peppers.”

“Yes. Just a moment.”

The young man clicked the ballpoint pen and turned toward the kitchen. Bae Wonwoo, who had been blankly staring at his retreating figure, soon shook his head vigorously. Come on, that can’t be. Why would Lee Sayoung have business with a hangover soup restaurant part-timer? The two of them hadn’t even brushed collars, let alone met.

…But still, what if?

Bae Wonwoo kept glancing toward the kitchen the young man had entered, weighing the slim possibility. But after a moment,

“Hangover soup is ready.”

The doubt remaining in a single grain in his heart melted softly into the steaming hangover soup. Bae Wonwoo smiled contentedly, scraped the ttukbaegi pot clean to the bottom as if washing dishes, and shouted vigorously.

“One more bowl!”

《Pado Guild Blind》

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※Posts that don’t follow the rules may be deleted without notice.

Title: [Anonymous] Why is the guild atmosphere like this today?

I can’t even breathe properly

Comments (12)

—What do you think

—Did 240 come in today?

　└No no I came in late today so I didn’t see him, why?

　└Well if you’d seen him you wouldn’t have posted this…

　└I just saw him and he seems super pissed? His face is all sour lololol

　└He always wears a gas mask, how do you know his expression

　└You can tell just by looking

　└Where exactly are you looking?

—240 did 240 things again…

—240 will be heading down to the 11th floor meeting room soon. Please be careful not to overlap routes.

　└Thank you anonymous from the secretary’s office!

□Title: [Anonymous] When 240 is in a bad mood

It feels like the building temperature itself drops by 3 degrees

Can’t we just tell him to work from home on days he’s in a bad mood?

Ha fuck it’s so cold seriously

Comments (7)

—That’s why I bought a heating artifact from the Hunter Market lol it’s warm

└Antidote artifacts and now heating artifacts too, they’re essential…? Living as a Pado Guild member is exhausting

└If you have something like that let’s do a group buyㅡㅡ;

└On days like this they should distribute hot packs, that’s guild welfare

—240 isn’t even an ice ability user so how does he lower the surrounding temperature?

└We’re just speculating it’s a skill or trait. Nobody knows the real reason

└I guess if you’re S-rank you develop skills like that too OK

A week after the day of the dungeon bidding meeting, Lee Sayoung’s mood today was so bad that the entire guild was buzzing about it.

His mood was in free fall like a gyro drop hanging at the top. Though his expression was completely hidden by the gas mask, the sinister aura overflowing around him made it impossible not to notice.

By Lee Sayoung’s common sense—no, by anyone’s knowledge of Korean Hunters—something incomprehensible was happening.

South Korea is a country where citizens’ personal information has been superbly databased to a degree that is nearly unique in the world. When the Gates first opened and Awakened appeared, they swiftly established the Awakened Management Agency and created the concept of ‘civil servant Hunters’ subordinated to the state, and it didn’t even take a few years to systematically manage all Awakened information.

The reason Sayoung had willingly let go of the suspicious ‘hyung’ was also because he trusted that database. From the moment he encountered him to the moment they parted, Lee Sayoung was certain he was at least an A-rank or higher Hunter. No matter how much one hides, it’s impossible to conceal all one’s abilities in front of an S-rank like him.

Hunters who hide their power typically receive a comfortable B-rank rating and live easily, so ‘hyung’ likely also appeared externally as B-rank.

Anyone B-rank or above would surely be registered in the Awakened database. Having judged so, Sayoung instructed Seo Mingi to dig through the Awakened database and report back. He had no doubt of success, since Mingi possessed enough ability to manage that much.

But as days passed, what Seo Mingi came crawling back to report was catastrophic news, nothing short of a bolt from the blue.

“I got caught by Jeongbin.”

It was the absolute worst news. Lee Sayoung, who habitually rubbed the crumpled business card with his fingertips, pressed his forehead.

“You. You have stealth-specialized abilities, and you’re ranked 33rd…. Right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then why the hell did you get caught?”

“Well, because Jeongbin is 3rd and S-rank… ah, no, never mind.”

Seo Mingi hurriedly swallowed what he was about to say, but it was already too late. Sayoung sneered in a languid voice.

“I’m 1st and S-rank though. I guess Jeongbin is scary and I’m not.”

“No, sir. The Guild Master is fucking scary.”

“What did Jeongbin say.”

“Th-that is.”

Seo Mingi muttered gloomily.

“He says to visit the Awakened Management Agency in person. That an interview is needed…”

“Fuck.”

For this reason, Sayoung ended up going to the Awakened Management Agency himself today, delaying his work hours. And while letting Jeongbin’s sharp words pour out beside him go in one ear and out the other, he thoroughly dug through the Awakened database. The entire time he was searching, Jeongbin kept saying,

“Lee Sayoung, the Awakened database must not be used for personal gain.”

“Are you listening? Hey, I said you can’t.”

“Lee Sayoung Hunter, would you at least pretend to listen to what people are saying?”

And all sorts of other nagging, but he didn’t stop searching.

“If that person isn’t registered here, it means an unregistered person of at least B-rank is strutting around the streets. You’re not going to check?”

When Sayoung came out like this, even the upright Jeongbin shut his mouth.

So, prepared for it to break—and it actually did break—he searched everywhere possible, and not a single piece of information came up.

In South Korea’s pride, the Awakened database, ‘hyung’ did not appear!

Just in case, he checked three times including all F-ranks, but the face he had encountered that day was nowhere to be seen. He wondered if the ID photo might differ from the real person, so he went through it once more in reverse order, but it was the same.

Both men fell into shock for the same reason.

An unregistered Hunter exists in South Korea…?