The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 22

You heard it all?

In that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Should I pretend I didn’t hear and just bolt? But he had already made direct eye contact with Lee Sayoung. Lee Sayoung was now resting his chin on his hand and openly staring at Wijae. Completely ignoring Jeongbin, who was sitting right in front of him, with such brazenness that Wijae felt like turning the gas mask upside down over his head. So he couldn’t see anything.

Since he was the one who had intruded into the space separated using an item, this time he was the uninvited guest. If he acted too rashly, he might instead draw Jeongbin’s attention.

Fortunately, he had a perfect excuse—the hangover soup! Though he had momentarily forgotten while eavesdropping on the fascinating conversation, Wijae was a part-timer at the hangover soup restaurant, so he had a duty to serve the two wretched customers their soup.

Wijae stealthily glanced at Jeongbin and slowly rose from his seat. After raising both middle fingers toward Lee Sayoung, he silently mouthed without a sound.

‘Eat shit.’

Then he naturally turned and headed for the kitchen. A tiny, stifled laugh—kik—was heard. Along with Jeongbin’s puzzled voice.

“Mr. Lee Sayoung?”

“No, nothing. The possibility that it’s someone else unregistered?”

“There is an equipment auction for Mr. Hong Yeseong coming up soon, so a few people may have entered the country. But someone of that caliber wouldn’t cause such a stir. They’d come and go quietly.”

Jeongbin answered firmly. He seemed to be assuming that the culprit behind this incident was a recently awakened amateur, a rookie, some clueless weirdo. Wijae, who had suddenly become an ‘amateur, rookie, clueless weirdo,’ felt wronged. When he had been active, information hadn’t circulated this fast. A languid voice offered another possibility.

“There’s that S-rank who awakened a few months ago. What about him?”

There are already three S-ranks in this very place, and another one awakened? Why are there so many S-ranks in this tiny scrap of land called Korea? As expected, the nation’s security was being maintained just fine even without him. After a moment of silence, Jeongbin replied with a somber tone.

“That person is… as you know, still a minor, and it’s a critical period for them, so they wouldn’t have the leisure for this. They’re not a combat-type hunter either.”

“Ah, a high school senior, was it?”

“Yes. They’re taking the college entrance exam soon. They’d rather look at one more exam prep passage than enter a Rift.”

“Well… let’s say so.”

A rustling sound came as if someone was shifting their posture. Wijae placed the now-boiled hangover soup bowls on a tray and listened intently. Would Lee Sayoung reveal everything? A corner of his mind began to grow anxious.

If he admitted that the owner of the magic stone was the same unregistered person he had met. And if he revealed that unregistered person was Cha Wijae.

If this peaceful daily life he had barely obtained was taken away.

His grip on the tray grew tighter and tighter. Then Sayoung spoke slowly.

“I haven’t found them yet either.”

A light remark that belied the sharp tension. Wijae’s eyes widened as he looked toward the hall. Jeongbin’s voice, tinged with disappointment, followed.

“If even Mr. Lee Sayoung hasn’t found them by now….”

“Well…. It could be bait set by some shady bastards with something to hide.”

“…We can’t rule out that possibility.”

As Jeongbin nodded in agreement, Sayoung gestured with his chin toward the air once.

“If we’re done talking, how about we start on this?”

“Agreed. Even if we talked further… it doesn’t seem like the sort of conversation to have in a hangover soup place.”

Clap—a sound of fingers snapping together. In time with that, Wijae also picked up the tray and exited the kitchen. Judging by the hunters around murmuring and stealing glances at the two, the item seemed to have been deactivated. Wijae approached at a pace neither too slow nor too fast and placed the bowls on the table.

“Two hangover soups are served.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Jeongbin politely greeted him and picked up his spoon. Wijae glanced at Sayoung. Lee Sayoung, as if he had never spoken to him before, was thoroughly ignoring Cha Wijae.

∞ ∞ ∞

“I ate well.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

If you’re done eating, leave quickly. Watching the hunters who had flooded in and now flooded out, Wijae swallowed his words and was recounting the bills he had received when Jeongbin, who had been looking at the signed papers on the wall, asked.

“Are those signatures from regular customers?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“Hmm….”

Most of them were people who stamped their attendance every day, so they could indeed be called regulars. As Wijae nodded, Jeongbin smiled brightly.

“Haha, I wonder how many times I’d have to come to get my signature up there. I’ll have to visit often.”

No, don’t come. Never come again.

It seemed like polite empty talk, but I’d rather you just didn’t come. Wijae prayed earnestly as he saw Jeongbin out. Lee Sayoung, who had arrived silently, had also disappeared at some point. Only after the two S-ranks had left did peace return to the shop and to Wijae’s heart.

It was after closing, when he had put on pink rubber gloves and was filling the sink with water. His languid body leaned against the counter as he quietly listened to the sound of water, when from somewhere came a tap. It was a sound so faint that even Wijae’s hearing could barely catch it. Soon, tap, tap, tap—the sound began to come at regular intervals. He turned off the faucet and craned his neck just slightly to locate the source.

The gas mask was tapping the glass of the sliding door with a fingertip.

If this were a B-grade disaster movie or a horror film, it would be a scene where the protagonist screams, but to Wijae’s eyes, it looked like a possessed, troublesome visitor disrupting his closing routine. Instead of screaming, he replied in a voice loud enough to be heard outside the door.

“We’re closed—”

The gas mask, pressing its forehead against the glass door as well, replied shortly.

“I came because I have something to say.”

“I said we’re closed.”

“You’d better hear it out…. Unless you want to see Jeongbin again tomorrow.”

At the half-threatening remark, Wijae dashed to the door as if flying and grabbed the handle with his rubber-gloved hand. Since it was just the two of them now, there was no need to hold back. His eyes toward the gas mask blazed fiercely.

“Was it you?”

Meaning, was it you who called Jeongbin here? A nonchalant voice slipped through the door crack.

“Would it be me?”

“…”

“If we’re pointing fingers, hyung is the one who called that guy here.”

“I clearly heard you say you came to find me—what are you talking about?”

As Wijae argued back with an incredulous look, Sayoung retorted as if asking whether he really didn’t know.

“If hyung hadn’t dropped a nuclear bomb on Tomato Market, that guy wouldn’t have come all the way here.”

“What are you saying? What does Tomato Market have to do with me?”

Through the glass, the gas mask stared intently at Wijae.

“You still don’t realize how serious this is?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Cha Wijae decided to keep playing dumb. The black glove that had been tapping the glass stopped moving.

“Fine. Keep pretending not to know, no matter who comes. That’s what you should do.”

“…”

“If you’re not going to open the door, can I just melt this down?”

“Try it. I’ll report you to the Administration Bureau right away.”

“It’s disappointing that you keep looking for Jeongbin…. I’m the one right in front of hyung.”

It was a noble threat, implying that if he missed Jeongbin that much, he’d call him over right now. Wijae eventually opened the door. He couldn’t afford to bring Jeongbin, whom he had just managed to send off, back here again. As soon as Sayoung entered, he took off the gas mask and swept his hair back.

“They’ll keep coming, you know. Those kinds of bastards.”

Sayoung, who had dismissed Jeongbin—the Republic of Korea’s rank 4, S-rank civil servant hunter—as just ‘those kinds of bastards,’ tossed a peppermint candy from the counter into his mouth. His pale cheek bulged in the shape of the candy. Sayoung had a peculiar talent for saying dreadful things as if they were nothing. Wijae shuddered.

“Don’t say such dreadful things.”

“Exactly. If you were going to post it, you should have put it on somewhere like Used World or Thunder Market.”

Sayoung perched on a chair and continued his advice-veiled nagging.

“It takes some skill to cause this mess by posting it specifically on Tomato Market, which localizes the region.”

“I told you, it wasn’t me.”

“Right, sure. Not hyung, but some crazy bastard who posted a magic stone on Tomato Market.”

“Watch your language. That person probably didn’t know any better.”

“Every hunter I know has installed Tomato Market. Lots of them are trying to track down the owner of that magic stone.”

“…”

“Posting at practically a giveaway price, with the region tag blatantly displayed on Tomato Market. Looks like they really wanted to advertise, ‘I’m right here.’”

“…That person is probably regretting it too.”

“Really? They didn’t look that way to me at all.”

Sayoung didn’t back down on a single word. For some reason, he also seemed to be in a bad mood. But since this incident was clearly Wijae’s own blunder, he couldn’t just tell Sayoung, whose face was puffed out from eating candy, to shut up.

Up until just moments ago, Wijae had been thinking of countless ways to drive out the uninvited guests, but he changed his mind.

For now, the only being who knew that Cha Wijae was hiding his power was Lee Sayoung. In other words, under these circumstances, Lee Sayoung was also the only person who could help Wijae maintain his quiet life. Since things had already gone wrong, how about using the number-one ranker’s information network? After all, this bastard is a working hunter.

Wijae clasped his hands together and called Sayoung with unprecedented politeness.

“Mr. Lee Sayoung.”

“What’s with the honorifics, hyung? You’ve eaten at least five thousand more bowls of rice than I have.”

His grudge-holding really ran deep. Wijae immediately dropped the polite speech.

“Shut up. Anyway, I need to consult you about something.”

“Hmm….”

“I have a friend who made a pretty big mistake….”

Lee Sayoung looked up at him with a rather serious expression, listening to the story. Whether he was actually listening or just pretending to, Wijae couldn’t tell. He added a few crucial lines.

“He didn’t realize it was such a big mistake.”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t know things would blow up this much either.”

“Oh dear.”

Sayoung sympathized in a tone that conveyed absolutely no pity.

“But hyung, did you have friends?”

“I do—what do you know.”

As Wijae shook his fist in the air, Sayoung mimed zipping his lips. Then he brought his hands together, rested his chin on them as if covering his mouth, and smiled with narrowed eyes. His striking face was brimming with mischievous amusement, as if looking at an interesting toy.

It seemed like a gesture of going along with an obvious lie. As if rising to the occasion, Wijae continued brazenly.

“It seems the mistake was bigger than he thought. All kinds of flies are swarming around him.”

“Mm, that’s too bad.”

“But that friend wants to clean up his mistake as quietly as possible. Without anyone knowing.”

“Why?”

Their eyes met. Wijae, gazing at the playful face, answered.

“Because he wants to live quietly.”

“Aha….”

“…”

“Because he wants to live quietly, huh.”

A brief silence passed, and Sayoung, crunching the candy, let out a low laugh.

“I like that a lot.”

Lee Sayoung silently rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back. His long shadow tilted as if about to engulf Wijae. A low voice whispered like casting a spell.

“Let’s make a deal, you and me.”

“…”

“I’ll clean up that mess hyung has created, perfectly.”

By now, the subject had returned to Cha Wijae rather than a friend, but Wijae didn’t bother to correct him.

“It won’t be free, I assume.”

“Of course. It’s a deal.”

“What do you want?”

From the reversed heights, Wijae quietly looked up at Sayoung’s face. There was no telling what conditions this madman’s head would produce. Perhaps he’d ask for help with a task, or assistance clearing a dungeon, or even a request to join his guild.

That finely sculpted face looked like it would propose a transaction as terrifying as its flawlessness. Assuming the worst, he might even ask someone to be killed. If he really made such a demand, Wijae would have no choice but to refuse and find another way.

However, Sayoung’s proposal was unexpected. He raised one index finger and said,

“Someone unknown.”

“…”

“Someone no one knows exists.”

Lee Sayoung smiled like an angel.

“I want hyung.”