The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 26

“It’s a gift. Put mine up too.”

“…”

“Well, this much fan service is basic. It’s not like I did it because I was grateful for the rice bowl or anything.”

Honeybee swept back her flowing hair. Anyone could see she was overjoyed to have met her fan.

If a sharp-minded person had been beside her, they might have teased her endlessly, asking what on earth she was doing, but fortunately or unfortunately, beside Honeybee was only Bae Wonwoo—a man whose social awareness was as blank as a white sheet of paper. He was genuinely impressed.

“Oh~ Part-timer, you’re a fan of Honeybee?”

“…Y-yeah.”

“Hey, come often, okay? He’s your fan, you know.”

Shut up.

“Well, I’m super busy, but maybe I could stop by once more.”

Please never come again.

Honeybee and Bae Wonwoo left the shop amicably. Wijae tucked the signed poster under his arm and stared at the ceiling with vacant eyes.

‘I could get rich just by selling autographs.’

But since Wijae’s Tomato Market account had been sealed, Honeybee’s signed poster couldn’t be sold and ended up taking its place next to Jeongbin’s signature. And that afternoon, after school, Haeun spotted Honeybee’s poster and dashed over to it.

“Uncle, what’s this?”

“It’s a Honeybee poster.”

“Real Honeybee?”

Somehow, his voice seemed to have… grown louder? Wijae, who had been organizing the groceries, looked at Haeun with a puzzled expression. Haeun was pressed against the wall as if she was about to rub her cheek against the poster at any moment.

“Honeybee came and went? Today?”

Now her voice was closer to a scream.

“Yeah. She even signed it herself right there.”

“I, I…”

Haeun drew close as if to rub her cheek against the poster and began to sob.

“Huh?”

“Uncle, I…”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“I want to see Honeybee!”

‘Fuck.’

He had cursed her never to come again, and yet. Wijae had to cancel that curse within just a few hours.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Sayoung, did you skip another meal!”

Thud, thud, thud, thud. The one who kicked open the guild master’s office door with heavy footsteps was none other than Vice Guild Master Bae Wonwoo. Lee Sayoung frowned slightly, but it was hidden by his eyepatch.

He was lying stretched out on the guild master’s office sofa, neatly wearing a black eyepatch and earplugs. Bae Wonwoo, who had approached, began his habitual nagging.

“Listen, people live on food energy. I thought you were eating well lately, but why are you skipping meals again?”

Sayoung’s picky eating was nothing new. Bae Wonwoo clicked his tongue, then soon brought a tablet and stood before him. He didn’t seem to care whether Sayoung was wearing earplugs or not.

After all, to Lee Sayoung, earplugs were merely something that reduced the volume a little. That’s what an S-rank awakened individual was.

“An official document came from the Awakened Management Agency. They said they’ll activate the emergency response system on ranking announcement day and asked for our cooperation.”

“…”

Instead of answering, Sayoung wiggled his foot.

“Okay.”

Bae Wonwoo flipped the screen.

“Our team will clear the Jongno 3-ga dungeon. If the advance team clears it first, the researchers will enter as the rear team to investigate dungeon resources.”

Wiggle.

“And the Seowon Guild asked for a day to visit us.”

Wiggle.

“That’s about it for urgent items… Ah, and I’m thinking of shooting an ad too.”

“…”

Whoever had breathed this idea into him, it wasn’t worth responding to, so Sayoung stopped wiggling. But Bae Wonwoo persisted.

“I heard the part-timer at the hangover soup place is also a fan of Honeybee. I thought he had zero interest in hunters, but I guess broadcast recognition is nothing to underestimate.”

“…What?”

Sayoung slyly pushed up one side of his eyepatch.

“Say that again.”

“What? That broadcast ad recognition is nothing to underestimate?”

“No, before that.”

“About me shooting an ad?”

“Fuck… Are you doing this on purpose?”

“No, what do you mean.”

“You said something about a part-timer.”

“Ah, the part-timer? I heard he’s a fan of Honeybee?”

“…What?”

There was only one part-timer in this world who could make Bae Wonwoo twist his face—the hangover soup restaurant part-timer.

“Honeybee personally signed a poster and gave it to him. I should follow that kind of fan service.”

Bae Wonwoo began cheerfully rambling about the ideal hunter’s attitude. Sayoung, still holding his awkwardly pushed-up eyepatch, fell into thought. Come to think of it, Cha Wijae’s attitude toward him and Jeongbin had been different. And he was a fan of Honeybee?

What Jeongbin and Honeybee had in common…

‘Ad stars.’

Hah, Sayoung let out a hollow laugh. Apparently, Cha Wijae had a peculiar taste for liking only highly recognizable people.

Roughly tearing off his eyepatch, he gestured to Bae Wonwoo, who had moved on from “365 Ways to Become a Stylish Hunter” to rambling about his rosy future of shooting an ad and seeing his recognition explode, landing him at rank 5.

“Stop daydreaming and get the PR team leader.”

“Whoa, Sayoung. Are you really going to let me shoot an ad?”

“Hurry.”

∞ ∞ ∞

At dinner time, when the customers had cleared out of the shop moderately, Wijae was organizing the books at the hangover soup restaurant counter. Today, there had been fewer of those unfortunate hunters who threw down bills and bolted, so the calculations were easier.

Just then, two text messages arrived on Wijae’s phone.

Sayoung: CBS

Sayoung: Turn it on

What was this guy up to, who hadn’t come to the shop or contacted him in a while? Sayoung told him to turn on CBS, but there was no need to change the channel. CBS’s popular weekend drama had just ended, so it was already on. Wijae slyly glanced at the TV.

—Change your color. CyC.

This bastard probably didn’t contact him just to show him Honeybee’s ad. What was the next program? Wijae was trying to recall the schedule.

The hair dye company’s logo disappeared, and this time a pretty single-family house with a spacious yard appeared. A harmonious family was laughing at a retriever running around the yard.

Hahaha, hohoho, woof woof.

And appearing against that backdrop…

A gas mask.

‘…A gas mask?’

The pen that had been recording amounts in the notebook stopped dead. Cha Wijae unconsciously opened his mouth and focused on the screen.

Clink—

That was the sound of a hunter dropping his glass in front of the water purifier while watching TV.

Hunters react sensitively to sounds. Instinctively, their gazes turned toward the source of the loud noise—first to the hunter who had dropped the glass, then to the hunter’s dazed face, and naturally followed his gaze.

And they saw ‘it.’

“Holy shit….”

One hunter dropped the spoon in his hand. Another hunter spat out water like an actor spitting orange juice in a drama. Some hunter began tracing a sign of the cross and reciting a prayer. The entire hangover soup restaurant was engulfed in shock and horror.

White text appeared beside the gas mask, which had emerged like a grim reaper before the family.

‘Pado Guild Master Lee Sayoung’

The gas mask, dressed in a neat suit, spread his left hand wide. Then he formed a V with the index and middle fingers of his right hand and crossed it over his left palm. Though it was barely visible since both hands were wearing black gloves.

A low voice spoke mechanically.

—For awakened registration inquiries, call the Administration Bureau hotline 777. For reporting unregistered individuals and awakened-related crimes, call 555.

—The Korean Awakened Management Agency is always by your side.

Hahaha, hohoho, 555.

The harmonious family and the gas mask spread both hands and waved them left and right. The screen darkens, and the music fades out together. Silence falls. A professional voice actor rattles off disclaimers like a rapper.

—Failure to report within one month of awakening without special reason will incur a fine of up to 100 million won. Upon awakening, please visit your local Awakened Registration Center for examination. Public Service Advertisement Council.

Everyone in the shop was speechless for a long time. Even after the ad ended, no one was the first to open their mouth. It was as if they had all been placed under a collective curse of silence.

Only when the next program began did the hunters one by one let out rough breaths. One hunter even pulled a potion out of thin air and downed it in one go.

“Wow….”

“Huff. Hah. Wh-what the fuck did I just see.”

“I thought I got hit by a confusion debuff.”

“Me too.”

“Is this for real?”

“I think my mental strength just got drained.”

“Lee Sayoung’s gone crazy. Now he’s even doing mental attacks.”

“This won’t do. I’m going to buy some equipment that boosts mental strength.”

“Are we going to see that ad every time we watch TV now?”

“I’m starting a digital detox from today….”

“Sh-Shield Guy.”

The stunned gazes all shifted to one person. Shield Guy, sitting like a mountain with his back to the TV, silently spooning his hangover soup. Indeed, it was fitting for Korea’s best tank to draw everyone’s attention just by existing. A hunter sitting at the same table cautiously asked.

“What… the hell was that?”

Shield Guy, Bae Wonwoo, replied gloomily.

“A public service ad.”

“Huh?”

“When you awaken, don’t forget to register… something like that.”

‘That was what it was about?’

Wijae, who had been listening to their conversation, nearly dropped the pen he was holding this time. So it wasn’t a threat that if you don’t register, the gas mask will come find you and kill you?

“No, why did Lee Sayoung suddenly shoot a public service ad? That guy who turned down every ad offer.”

That question wasn’t unique to that hunter, and one by one they began offering their own speculations.

“The ranking announcement is coming up soon this year. Isn’t he shooting it to cement his number-one spot?”

“He’d be number one even without doing this, though.”

“Did Jeongbin get something on him?”

“No way.”

“Well….”

Bae Wonwoo’s lips twitched as if he was about to say something. But in the end, he couldn’t say anything and buried his face back in his earthenware bowl.

The man of loyalty in this era, the guy among guys, Bae Wonwoo, simply couldn’t bring himself to say it.

That Lee Sayoung had personally contacted the Korea Broadcast Advertising Promotion Corporation and thrown his weight around under the guise of a request to shoot a public service ad. That the civil servants who had been thrilled at the news that Lee Sayoung—famous for ignoring every ad request—had reached out first, and the PR team who had been delighted that their guild master was finally shooting an ad, had all been left speechless by the result.

“If this airs, the Pado Guild is finished.”

“…”

“If you were going to do this, you should have just never shot an ad in your life! Why!”

The PR team leader had grabbed Bae Wonwoo and sobbed. But Bae Wonwoo was utterly powerless….

Instead of giving a lengthy explanation, he chose silence. He took a large spoonful of hangover soup and shoved it into his mouth. Whether it was because of the spicy cheongyang peppers, his vision blurred. Sniff, Bae Wonwoo sniffled with a wistful gaze.

‘Sayoung, I kept my loyalty….’

Wijae, who had been blankly staring at the TV screen, snapped back to his senses at the vibration of his phone.

Sayoung: Saw it?

The brazen text had arrived. Dumbfounded, he had no idea what to reply.

Sayoung: I heard hyung

Sayoung: likes people who shoot ads

Sayoung: ^^

“What the hell are you talking about, crazy….”

Wijae… decided that whoever had spread that rumor, the moment they were caught, he would kill them.