The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 14

The next day, there was a meeting at Pado Guild to decide the Jongno 3-ga dungeon raid team. Sayoung had no intention of participating, but since he was the decision-maker, he had to sit in the meeting room.

With the agreement of all guild members, the raid team was decided to be Bae Wonwoo’s team. As soon as the meeting result came out, Sayoung was the first to leave the meeting room. He had already been mentally elsewhere before it even ended. As he opened the chocolate-colored meeting room door, Seo Mingi, who had been waiting outside, greeted him.

“Guild Master.”

He raised his tired face and tried to speak first, but Lee Sayoung beat him to it.

“Tell me.”

As Seo Mingi swallowed nervously at the direct demand, other guild members grumbled and approached the doorway.

“What is it, why are you blocking the way?”

“What’s this traffic jam?”

“Are you really going to talk here?”

“Hurry up and tell him. The kids behind are waiting.”

Because Sayoung was blocking the exit, the people inside the meeting room clamored, but the person responsible for the problem didn’t even pretend to hear. Seo Mingi wanted to cry. The words “Would it kill you to step aside for a moment, Guild Master” rose to his throat, but for his own safety, he had to hold them back.

After subtly checking the other guild members’ reactions, he eventually followed Sayoung’s command.

“Yes…. Park Haeun, age 8 in international age, parents are Anyang dungeon victims. She survived alone at age three and was about to be sent to an orphanage when her paternal grandmother took her in and raised her.”

“That’s enough. The uncle.”

“That’s the thing…. There is no uncle.”

Lee Sayoung’s eyebrows twitched as if to say what does that mean. Seo Mingi scratched his head and spoke.

“Both of Park Haeun’s parents’ families—there are no relatives who could be called an uncle. Her mother was an only child, and her father only had sisters.”

“Then… where did this person called uncle pop out from.”

“Hmm….”

Mingi rolled his eyes and then spoke.

“I can’t rule out the possibility that he’s just a complete stranger she calls uncle. If he doesn’t show up even after searching this thoroughly, I think he’s probably not blood-related. For now, please take these materials.”

Seo Mingi handed over a thick file. Sayoung took the file and flipped through it quickly.

“The one family member, the grandmother, is said to be running a hangover soup restaurant in this area. It’s been there quite a while.”

Before Sayoung could respond to Seo Mingi’s words, someone’s voice came from inside the meeting room.

“A hangover soup restaurant? The one in the alley?”

“You know it?”

At Lee Sayoung’s question, Jisu made an openly sick-of-it face and answered.

“That’s Vice Guild Leader’s second workplace.”

“Hm?”

“Vice Guild Leader eats there like every single day! Doesn’t he get tired of it? He goes to the company once a day, but he goes to the hangover soup restaurant twice—lunch and dinner—so… if you think about it, that’s probably his first workplace.”

It was a fact Sayoung also knew that Bae Wonwoo went to eat at the same restaurant every day. He went so often that when he suggested eating lunch together, guild members running away was one of the familiar sights at Pado. But for that shop to be the hangover soup restaurant run by Park Haeun’s grandmother.

Inside the gas mask, Sayoung’s lip corners curled up slightly. No wonder he had a good feeling about this.

“Huh? Hangover soup restaurant? Why there?”

At that moment, Bae Wonwoo, who had given up on leaving the meeting room and was cleaning the floor, joined the conversation.

“Bae Wonwoo, do you know this hangover soup restaurant?”

When Sayoung read the address written in the file, Wonwoo, who had been listening quietly, nodded. Just from the mention of the hangover soup restaurant, Bae Wonwoo’s voice was slightly excited.

“Ah, that’s my regular spot. My signature’s even hanging there. Why? Thinking of going to eat?”

“Ugh, that’s so ominous. Guild Master, please step aside for a moment.”

Kang Jisu, sensing danger, gestured urgently, and Sayoung, who had been blocking the way until then, took a slight step back. In that gap, the red head shot out of the meeting room like an arrow, and Bae Wonwoo slowly moved this way as if substituting a player. Seo Mingi also took the opportunity to bow his head.

“That’s all the special notes I have to report. I’ll be going now too.”

Sayoung didn’t stop Seo Mingi. There was no longer any need to. As the two Hunters left and the new target finally approached, Lee Sayoung spoke slyly.

“Are you going to the hangover soup restaurant today too?”

“Huh? Yeah. How did you know?”

“Perfect timing. Take me with you when you go.”

Beyond the gas mask lenses, Sayoung’s eye corners curved. As if the indoor temperature had dropped by about 3 degrees, Bae Wonwoo unconsciously felt goosebumps prickling on his arms. Had a guild member who couldn’t properly control their abilities yet come to this floor? He looked around, but the hallway, emptied of people, held only the two of them.

“What’s the occasion?”

“I feel like eating lunch out for once.”

Sayoung still wore an innocent, childlike smile as he urged Bae Wonwoo on. Of course, it wasn’t very visible because of the gas mask, but Bae Wonwoo could tell from the years he’d spent observing Sayoung.

To Bae Wonwoo, Lee Sayoung was like a younger brother he kept close whether he liked him or not. But for this guy to want to eat out for once? And at the shop I like, no less?

As Sayoung said “for once,” it was extremely rare for Lee Sayoung to eat outside. Poison was a lethal ability regardless of friend or foe, so it was also a rule of his own making, just in case.

That was why he always preferred acting alone and tended to conserve his abilities as much as possible even in team battles. Bae Wonwoo, who couldn’t not know this, even felt a pang of emotion at Sayoung saying he wanted to eat lunch outside. It was because he unconsciously felt concern for Sayoung, who was cautious about keeping people close.

“Ah— okay, okay. Sometimes you should go out and eat too.”

Bae Wonwoo, who had quickly shaken off the creepy sensation that had wrapped around his entire body just a second ago, looked at Lee Sayoung with an infinitely benevolent smile. Sayoung also smiled similarly as he faced Bae Wonwoo. Though Lee Sayoung’s smile was a sinister one to hide his pitch-black intentions.

Bae Wonwoo pounded his reliable chest.

“I’ll buy today!”

“Is it good there?”

“It’s good! If you eat there once, you’ll be clocking in every day too?”

“Maybe I should change jobs.”

“I’m thinking about it, you punk.”

And so the two people scattered to their respective offices, planning their lunch appointment. Completely unaware of the feelings of the Hunters who didn’t want to eat while walking on eggshells between the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master….

The long-awaited lunchtime. Bae Wonwoo guided Lee Sayoung to the front of the hangover soup restaurant with a triumphant face. Perhaps because they arrived after the lunch business had already started, the inside of the shop seemed even more crowded. Lee Sayoung, who had been scanning the shabby exterior of the shop, asked Bae Wonwoo with suspicious eyes.

“Is this really a tasty place?”

“Hey, you can’t trust me?”

“Yeah.”

Sayoung’s suspicion wasn’t entirely unfounded. The shop entrance was so low it seemed like it would touch his nose, and the shabby outer wall had a knack for making onlookers nervous as if it might collapse at any moment. This shop, visibly old and worn, was not Lee Sayoung’s taste at all, as he liked things clean.

“You don’t have to trust me, but you can trust my tongue.”

“What’s on the menu here?”

“Hangover soup.”

“Again?”

“Rice.”

“Again?”

“Soju, makgeolli.”

“That’s it?”

Bae Wonwoo shook his head at his disgruntled face, saying he didn’t know anything.

“Think about it. How delicious must it be to bet everything on just hangover soup? Have you only ever been deceived?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re too suspicious, man.”

Though he said that, upon listening carefully, it did seem to make sense. If a restaurant had been running here for a long time, that meant it had that many customers. Sayoung, finally setting aside some of his suspicion, subtly examined the interior through the glass of the sliding door.

The inside of the hangover soup restaurant, peeked at like a meerkat… was full of Hunters. Not just a lot—it was a full-on Hunter field! It was enough to make one wonder if a dungeon auction was being held here. Lee Sayoung gently peeled his face away from the glass window and looked at Bae Wonwoo suspiciously.

“Why are you staring at me again? What is it?”

“…Are you thinking of transferring guilds?”

“What kind of bullshit is that? How much time and effort have I poured into Pado?”

“But why are there so many Hunters here. Even the HB Guild HR team leader is here.”

Only then did Bae Wonwoo realize the fact he had forgotten, blinded by hangover soup as if giving one more rice cake to an unloved child.

This was a heaven for tired and hungry Hunters. A rest stop for knights, like a knight’s restaurant. A Hunter-certified tasty place acknowledged by Hunters. And to such a place, with my own hands, I brought this rude, ill-mannered Guild Master? A guy who might spit poison while spooning if he gets annoyed?

F*cked.

A strong premonition washed over him, making him feel like he was being launched into space. If someone picked a fight here and a brawl broke out, it wouldn’t just be fcked—he could already be fcked and appear on the 9 o’clock news.

Should he just leave now? Go eat a one-pot lunchbox instead?

Leaving the agonizing Bae Wonwoo behind, Sayoung, as soon as the customer ahead left and it was their turn, opened the sliding door and slipped right into the hangover soup restaurant. As befitting the rank 1 Hunter, his movements were agile with no opening to grab him.

Sayoung slightly bowed his head to avoid hitting the low ceiling, then raised his gaze and looked straight ahead. And then, before his eyes…

“Welco…”

The face he had been searching for so desperately appeared. The face he had seen that night was half-covered by a mask, but Sayoung could be certain.

A soju brand apron. A young man holding a ttukbaegi instead of a ladle.

“…Found you.”

The young man’s face crumpled in real time. Lee Sayoung pushed up his invisible lip line and greeted in a low voice.

“Hello, hyung.”