The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 24

Lee Sayoung had proposed the deal first and even left his number, yet for several days he didn’t come to the shop. During that time, Wijae didn’t delete his number either. He didn’t sell it on Tomato Market either. Rather, he found himself often opening Sayoung’s contact and lost in thought.

Because, just as Lee Sayoung’s ominous prediction had warned, all sorts of strange characters began swarming to the shop like carp chasing after bait.

For example—

“Yes, this is the hangover soup restaurant.”

—Hello, this is Kim Soyoung, a writer from MBB Broadcasting. Do you have a moment to talk?

“I’m sorry, but we don’t do delivery.”

—It’s not about delivery. I was calling to ask if you’d be interested in appearing on a broadcast. Our program is a live show called One Today that airs at 7 PM on weekdays, and we have a segment introducing popular restaurants…

“We don’t do broadcast appearances.”

—If we promote it as a hunter-famous restaurant, it could help with your shop’s publicity…

“I’m not interested. We have too many customers already, so I’ll hang up now.”

Calls like this came in about once a day, or—

“Customer.”

“Yes?”

“Turn off the camera in your bag.”

“Excuse me? No, what camera are you talking about? Did you see it? Ha, this is ridiculous.”

“Unauthorized filming is illegal.”

“Hey, you bastard! We can hear the camera running. This guy’s ignoring hunters’ ears.”

“Why would you film someone eating hangover soup? What is that guy?”

“…Holy shit, that bastard’s a cyber trash-picker who makes up controversy and posts it on YouTtube!”

“What!”

“Damn it, just you wait!”

“If we don’t catch him, two people here are going to end up in a dating scandal article.”

“What are you all just sitting there staring at! Catch that bastard and beat him!”

“Don’t clear my hangover soup. I’ll catch that bastard before my soup gets cold.”

“I have a thermal preservation artifact. Your hangover soup will be safe.”

“Mr. Lee Wonho…!”

“Mr. Kang Doochil…!”

“It looks like those two are going to end up in a dating scandal.”

Incidents like these were commonplace, and on top of that—

xxYeahsungH Sometime… I… cry…

Sometime… I can’t hold back my tears…

Because my heart hurts…

Being able to cry out loud…

Is a good thing…

#DailyLife #Communication #MagicStone #WaitingForContact #Tears #Sadness #Depression #CantFocusOnWork

Likes 874k□

—Don’t cry YS 🙁

—(crying emoji)

—Ah shit Yeseong, hyung is looking like crazy for a magic stone so just wait a little—if you cry, my heart breaks tooㅠㅠ;;

—Mr. Jeongbin, please confiscate Hong Yeseong’s in-hearts

—Yeseong, I love you, but this kind of in-heart is a bit overwhelming

Along with emotional Instagram posts from Hong Yeseong featuring tearful selfies, and—

Along with emotional Instagram posts from Hong Yeseong featuring tearful selfies, and—

It’s really delicious^^ —Hunter Jeongbin

After even encountering Jeongbin’s signed paper that suddenly popped out of a registered mail delivery, Wijae had lost all will to pay attention to each individual thing anymore.

Jeongbin’s signature would probably be worth quite a bit. Wijae considered selling it on Tomato Market too, but since he didn’t want to suffer another wave of message terrorism, he obediently pinned it on the wall. Haeun liked it, so it worked out well in the end.

Lately, ordinary people with large cameras had also started loitering near the shop, probably trying to take photos of named hunters. Far from a quiet life, he was only getting entangled with a wider world, and Wijae was beginning to get irritated.

12:24 PM. During a brief moment of spare time, Wijae was sweeping in front of the shop with a broom when his expression hardened. He sensed a camera from afar pointing in his direction. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the ability to manipulate electricity, so he couldn’t destroy the camera from a distance. He could throw the broom to hit the camera, but…

‘Should I just throw it?’

“Part-timer! Can we get more kimchi please!”

“Coming.”

‘I am a weak civilian. A civilian cannot break a camera with a broom. I am a weak civilian….’

Fortunately, thanks to the well-timed call, Wijae banished the bad thoughts from his mind. Reminding himself once again that he was a good-natured civilian working at a hangover soup restaurant, Wijae trudged back into the shop. All of this couldn’t have happened just because of a single magic stone.

An incredibly rare magic stone appeared on Tomato Market in this area? That would only be an issue among hunters. Some crazy bastard posted an A+ grade magic stone at a giveaway price, so let’s search the area immediately and find the owner. And while we’re at it, let’s eat the hangover soup famous among hunters too.

But there’s a restaurant where Korea’s proud number-one ranker hunter Lee Sayoung and the civil servant hunter Jeongbin ate hangover soup side by side? That’s a big deal.

From that moment on, it was only natural that the place would receive all kinds of attention. The appearance of those unknown cyber trash-pickers and large-camera people around the shop also happened after Jeongbin’s visit, so the timing matched up perfectly.

‘It seems like Jeongbin and Lee Sayoung are the real problems….’

Just as Wijae was half-listening to Jeongbin’s voice on TV giving tips on preventing frozen pipes and tuning it out while pulling out a kimchi container—

VROOM—

“AAAH!”

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

“SOMEONE HELP!”

The loud exhaust roar and piercing screams shattered the alley’s silence. Wijae glanced outside. He had been confident that he wouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore, but the sight of a sleek black motorcycle blocking the entrance was a refreshingly new development.

The hunters who had been waiting in line outside pressed themselves against the wall to avoid the motorcycle, and even the hunters eating their hangover soup craned their necks to see what was going on.

Black leather rider jacket, dark blue jeans, black boots. And someone wearing a helmet, standing in front of the shop’s sliding door. The rider jacket peered inside for a moment as if surveying the place, then roughly pulled off the helmet. Brilliant golden hair tied high in a ponytail spilled out softly.

The hunters who had been holding their breath and watching the rider jacket’s movements gasped.

“J-Japanese hornet…!”

“Why would a Japanese hornet come here?”

“Who the fuck called her a Japanese hornet? You want to die?”

“Eep, I’m sorry!”

The Japanese hornet, with no intention of hiding her menacing aura, violently shoved the sliding door open and barged into the shop. The high-tied blonde hair and the nickname Japanese hornet—indeed, this was a figure Wijae had seen when looking up information on Lee Sayoung.

—Republic of Korea rank 5, A-rank hunter, hunter name Honeybee. Real name Yoo Chaehyun. Though her hunter name is Honeybee, many call her Japanese hornet due to her combat style and personality.

…But why would a rank-5 hunter come to a shabby hangover soup place like this? Surely not to eat hangover soup? As if mocking Wijae’s thoughts, Honeybee bellowed from her diaphragm.

“Lee Sayoung, come out!”

Great, so Lee Sayoung is the problem after all. Wijae’s expression, which had been thinking that one more hunter’s signed paper would be added to the wall, instantly turned cold.

Honeybee, sensing his gaze, whipped around to look at Wijae. Her delicately pretty face scanned him from head to toe as if sizing him up, and apparently deciding he was a civilian, her voice turned relatively friendly.

“Is there a problem?”

Is she asking that because she really doesn’t know? In Wijae’s judgment, there were already plenty of problems. This wasn’t at the cute level of just ‘a problem.’

Motorcycle parked right in front of the door! The audacity of barging in yelling for Lee Sayoung!! The insolence of blocking the entrance!!! The menace that made waiting customers stick to the wall like gum!!!! And finally, the ominous premonition that a Honeybee Zone might be forming!!!!! It was all problems.

With Jeongbin, he had been flustered because it had been a long time since he’d run into someone he knew, but in truth, dealing with these kinds of hunters was easy for Wijae. Wijae spoke as innocently and naively as when he called the Crack Management Agency.

“Ah, just a moment.”

“…”

[The trait Poker Face (B) is activated.]

“You’re Honeybee, right?”

At this point, he was going all in with the civilian cosplay meta.

The stronger and more famous a hunter, the more they care about their reputation, so the strategy was to exploit their tendency to be kind and soft toward civilians. Wijae even used a finishing move—a phrase that would never come out of a hunter’s mouth—to prove that he was nothing but an ordinary, good-natured citizen.

“Wow, I’m a huge fan.”

Upon hearing the fan comment, Honeybee switched gears as fast as a bee. She let down her tied hair, gracefully swept her long blonde locks aside, and struck her signature pose straight out of a hair dye commercial. Her hair fluttered in the wind from the heater blowing at just the right moment.

“Change your color!”

‘This far?’

Wijae faltered for a moment but quickly composed himself. He drummed on the surface of the kimchi container like a drum and let out a cheer of “Wow!”