The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 21

Grinding—, the sliding door opened, and as someone appeared inside the shop, the atmosphere, which had relaxed a little, froze solid again. The hunters who had been chewing their rice stopped their mastication mid-motion, and someone who had nearly choked was managing to hold it in through sheer willpower alone.

The gas mask wearer, who had been stooping as he entered, also seemed to grasp the situation and paused in place for a moment. A silence fell so complete that even the sound of breathing was inaudible.

Of the two uninvited guests, it was the one leaning against the door who first broke the quiet.

“Strange.”

Sayoung drawled out mockingly as he strode across the hall.

“Why is a civil servant here?”

Jeongbin replied calmly.

“I, of course, came to have dinner. I never imagined I would run into Mr. Lee Sayoung here.”

“Hm…. You look free.”

“Haha, not really. Even without Mr. Lee Sayoung stirring things up, the civil servants of the Republic of Korea are always busy.”

Despite the clearly barbed remark, Sayoung just snorted and went to sit in the corner. The hunter who had been sitting at that table before him, heartily spooning down hangover soup, let out a gasp, flung some money onto the table, and bolted out as if fleeing.

Oh dear, those damn brats are chasing away all our customers. Watching the other hunters begin to stir restlessly as one left, Wijae wore a wistful expression. Regardless, the two uninvited guests were having their own conversation.

“At any rate, since we’ve met like this… Mr. Lee Sayoung, I actually have something to tell you.”

“…”

“It’s not the sort of matter to discuss in a public place like this. Would you please start accepting official contact soon?”

“One hangover soup.”

It was a perfect dismissal. Yet Jeongbin, showing no sign of yielding, continued in measured tones.

“Even when I go directly to the Pado Guild, you’re always out, and when I send official documents, the only reply that comes back is that the Guild Master is unable to confirm due to external schedules. Yet I heard you consistently eat your meals at this hangover soup place nearby. So I thought I’d take a chance and come by, and sure enough, here you are.”

“Lots of radish kimchi.”

“Ah, I’ll have one hangover soup as well.”

“…”

Wijae, who had taken out a pen and was writing up the bill, glared at them both with flounder-like eyes. If you two are going to fight, go fight outside. Don’t get a part-timer’s back broken in a hunter brawl. Wijae pressed the pen he was holding firmly against his temple. The frustrating scene before his eyes was giving him a headache.

Jeongbin glanced around briefly, took a short pause, and then continued what he was saying.

“And the Director said you absolutely must pay back the amount you overturned last time.”

“…”

Lee Sayoung, who had remained silent throughout all of Jeongbin’s remarks without replying, now tilted his head slightly.

“Ah, and… just a moment.”

Jeongbin pulled out a round, cotton-like object from his inventory. When he pressed it firmly with his thumb, an opaque membrane spread out, concealing the two of them beyond it. Thanks to this, the stagnant flow of air from just moments ago cleared up at once. The hunters, who had been holding their breath and watching the conversation, began to exhale sighs one by one.

“Wow, even using a spatial separation item. They really must be discussing something super important.”

“Aww, leaving us hanging here.”

“No, we might actually get screwed if we get caught up in that. Let’s just eat fast and get out.”

“They’re not going to throw down here, are they?”

“No way, there are civilians around.”

“Lee Sayoung might, though.”

Don’t say such dreadful things. Wijae squeezed his eyes shut.

Jeongbin, as he knew him, was not the type to cause a scene in a place like this, but as the hunters said, with Lee Sayoung involved, nothing could be taken for granted. He absolutely did not want the hangover soup restaurant to appear on the news as the site of a showdown between the number-one ranker and the flagship hunter of the Administration Bureau.

Wijae, lost in thought, clicked his pen up and down. Spatial separation items are frequently used for confidential conversations, but they have one fatal flaw: an awakened individual of a higher grade than the item can easily see through it.

Jeongbin’s item was probably around A-rank. He couldn’t be certain, but there was no reason to use an S-rank item in a shabby soup restaurant. Just as Wijae, uncertain, slowly lifted his eyelids, the membrane he had seen earlier had vanished without a trace, and Jeongbin and Lee Sayoung were clearly visible.

Bingo. Wijae inwardly cheered and, pretending not to see, sat down nearby and began peeling garlic.

“Mr. Lee Sayoung, you’ve been looking for an unregistered individual, haven’t you? So urgently that you turned the Awakened Management Agency database inside out.”

“…”

“That unregistered individual is presumed to be highly skilled. Enough to block even Mr. Sayoung’s attack….”

An unregistered individual who blocked Lee Sayoung’s attack. Even though the subject wasn’t mentioned at all, Wijae knew exactly who this conversation was about. That bastard, he went so far as to search the Awakened Management Agency database just to catch me? So that’s why he let me off so nicely. The back of his neck grew cold of its own accord.

“Have you, by any chance, found that person?”

Wijae held his breath. For a moment, it seemed that a violet gaze from inside the gas mask had reached him over Jeongbin’s shoulder. Before he could even wonder if it was his imagination, a brief answer came.

“No.”

“Really?”

Jeongbin’s eyes scanned the face hidden behind the gas mask as if probing it. Apparently displeased by his attitude, Sayoung rested his chin on his hand and asked coolly.

“Shouldn’t you explain the circumstances before you start questioning me?”

“…”

“It’s irritating when someone just blurts out their business like that.”

The two faced each other in a standoff for a long while. But before long, Jeongbin raised both hands first. It was a sign of surrender.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.”

Sayoung showed no particular movement, but it was clear he was listening. Jeongbin took out his phone, moved his fingers a few times, and brought up a photo on the screen, showing it toward Sayoung.

“You know about the A+ grade magic stone that was listed on Tomato Market a while ago, right?”

“If I didn’t know about that, I’d have to quit being a hunter.”

To the point of quitting being a hunter. Wijae, feeling that things had not just gotten tangled but were now completely knotted, grew troubled. Perhaps he was more famous than he had thought.

“You also know that Mr. Hong Yeseong locked himself up on Jirisan to craft equipment. Well, of course you do. I heard it was Mr. Sayoung who had the internet line installed on Jirisan.”

“Mm, and?”

“Do you also know that Mr. Hong Yeseong threw a tantrum asking for someone to get him a magic stone?”

“Well, he probably did.”

“To get to the point, I believe that the unregistered individual Mr. Lee Sayoung is looking for is the owner of that magic stone.”

Crazy, what a ghost-like bastard. Quick as a whip.

Wijae calmly peeled garlic with an expression of complete ignorance. Sayoung narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. Then, unlike his earlier prickly demeanor, he replied in a rather gentle voice.

“That’s quite a leap in logic.”

The content, however, was far from kind. Jeongbin put his phone back in his inner pocket and continued.

“Someone capable of obtaining a magic stone of this grade would be at least a top-100 ranker. And such people naturally use the hunter market. Since both the seller’s and buyer’s identities are guaranteed, it’s safe even for high-value transactions.”

“…”

“If the fees and taxes are burdensome—though as a civil servant I shouldn’t say this—there’s also the option of selling on the black market. There’s no need to deliberately cause a stir by posting on a public app where even ordinary people can see it. There are over a dozen ways to handle it quietly.”

Lee Sayoung began tapping the table slowly with his gloved fingers.

“Then why was that magic stone listed on Tomato Market? At an absurdly low price, at that.”

“…”

“…”

“Probably, the seller doesn’t have a registration certificate and therefore cannot use the hunter market. So they posted a listing on Tomato Market. That leaves two possibilities: an ordinary person or an amateur unregistered awakened individual. But the probability of a mere ordinary person possessing such a magic stone is… effectively zero.”

‘Amateur.’ 

A word that drove a dagger into the heart of J, the former number-one ranker. Wijae’s garlic-peeling speed quickened slightly. With the rustling sound as background music, Sayoung asked.

“So?”

“Then the scope narrows down to one. The owner of the magic stone is an unregistered individual.”

“Ahh….”

“At this point in time, an unregistered individual skilled enough to obtain a magic stone of that grade is… in my conclusion, none other than the person Mr. Lee Sayoung is looking for.”

Jeongbin’s reasoning was quite accurate. Having graduated from the police academy and spent considerable time in the hunter world, his instincts seemed even sharper than before. If I hadn’t overheard this, I would have been in big trouble. Wijae felt keenly the need to be more careful with his conduct from now on.

Tap, tap, tap.

The black fingers were still tapping the table. Just as Wijae’s gaze was drawn as if by something toward Sayoung’s fingertips—the black fingers moved slowly, tracing letters that seared into his eyes like slow motion.

You

heard

it

all

?

Wijae jerked his head up and stared at Sayoung. The hand that had been mechanically peeling garlic slipped and made a futile grab at the air. But he was so startled that he had no time to think about whether his poker-face trait was actually working.

The expression clearly visible inside the gas mask.

Lee Sayoung was smiling.