The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Did you hear that?

A million thoughts raced through his head in that brief moment. But before he could do so, he made eye contact with Lee Sa-young. He was now craning his neck to look at him. The shameless attitude of not caring about Jung-bin, who was sitting perfectly still in front of him, made him want to put his gas mask on backwards so he couldn’t see anything.

He was the one who had used the item to invade the separate space, so this time he was the unwelcome guest. If he made too much of a scene, he might attract the attention of Jung-bin.

Luckily, he has a great excuse… Haejang-guk! In the excitement of the story, Ui-jae forgot for a moment, but as a part-time worker at Haejang-guk’s, he was obliged to serve the two enemies.

Ui-jae sneaked out of his seat under Jung-bin’s watchful eye, and after feigning a middle finger at Lee Sa-young, he mouthed the words.

‘Fuck you.’

And casually turned and headed for the kitchen. Kek, he heard a small laugh. Along with Jung-bin’s questioning voice.

“Lee Sa-young?”

“No, nothing. Could it be another unregistered person?”

“There’s a Hong Ye-sung equipment auction coming up, so I’m sure a few people have entered the country, but there’s no way someone of his caliber would cause such a ripple. He’ll come and go quietly.”

Jung-bin replied firmly. He seemed to be guessing that the culprit in this situation was an amateur, a newbie, a weirdo who had just awakened. It was unfair that he had become an ‘amateur, newbie, and weirdo’. Information didn’t travel this fast when he was on active duty. A languid voice offered another possibility.

“You know, the S-rank who awakened a few months ago.”

There are three S-ranks in this room alone, and there’s an awakened again? Why are there so many S-ranks in a small piece of land in Korea? After all, the safety of the motherland was being maintained well even without his confidence. After a moment of silence, Jung-bin spoke up in a sombre tone.

“He’s… As you know, he’s still a minor, and it’s a critical time, so he can’t afford to do this. He’s not even a combat hunter.”

“Oh, he’s a senior in high school.”

“Yeah. He’s about to take his SATs. I’m sure he’ll have time to look at one more SAT special lecture before he go into the rift.”

“Well…. let’s just say that.”

There was a rustling sound as if it was adjusting its posture. Ui-jae listened as he poured the now-finished pot of haejang-guk onto a tray. Would he reveal everything? A small part of him began to get nervous.

If he admitted that the owner of the mana stone was the same as the unregistered man he’d met, and if he revealed that the unregistered man was Cha Ui-jae.

To have this hard-won peace of mind taken away from me.

The hand that held the tray grew stronger and stronger. It was then that Sa-young spoke slowly.

“I haven’t found it yet either.”

The words were light enough to disguise the blow. Ui-jae’s eyes widened and he stared into the hall. Jung-bin’s voice followed, sounding disappointed.

“If you haven’t found him by now, too….”

“Well…. Maybe he’s just a decoy set by some bastards back there.”

“…I can’t rule out that possibility.”

When Jung-bin nodded his head in agreement, Sa-young gestured once into the air with his chin.

“If we’re done talking, why don’t we get this out of the way?”

“Sure. Even if we talk more than this… I don’t think that’s something we’re going to talk about at Haejang-guk house.”

There was a snap of fingers. Ui-jae followed suit, grabbing a tray and leaving the kitchen. The hunters around them were bowing and stealing glances at them, so they must have unlocked the item. Ui-jae walked over, not too slow, not too fast, and set the pot on the table.

“Here are two bowls of haejang-guk.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Jung-bin bowed politely and picked up his spoon. Ui-jae glanced at Sa-young. He was completely ignoring him, as if he hadn’t spoken to him at all.

“Thank you for the delicious meal.”

“…Yes, thank you.”

When you have eaten, go quickly. Watching the hunters rush in and out and swallowing their afterthoughts, Ui-jae recounted the bills he’d received, then looked at the autograph sheets on the wall and asked.

“Are those the autographs of the regulars?”

“What? Ah, yes.”

“Hmmm….”

Most of them were stamping their attendance every day, so it was fair to say they were regulars. When Ui-jae nodded, Jung-bin smirked.

“Haha, how many times do you have to come before you can put up an autograph, so you’ll have to come often.”

No, don’t come. Don’t come again.

He knows he’s just being polite, but he wishes he wouldn’t come. With a sincere prayer, Ui-jae saw Jung-bin off. Lee Sa-young, who had arrived without a sound, had also disappeared. Only after the two S-ranks left did peace return to the shop and to Ui-jae’s heart.

He was just finishing up his business, putting on his pink rubber gloves and filling the dishwasher with water. His tired body leaned over the sink, listening to the sound of the water, when he heard a click, click, click. It was barely audible to his ears. Soon, the click, click, click, started to sound regular. He turned off the tap and craned his neck to see the source.

A gas mask was tapping his fingertips against the glass of the sliding door.

It was a scene from a B-rank movie disaster or horror film that would have had the protagonist screaming, but in his eyes, it was a demonic visitor interrupting the closing. Instead of screaming, he spoke up in a voice that could be heard outside the door.

“Business is closed-“

The gas mask pressed his forehead against the glass door and cut him short.

“I’m here to tell you something.”

“We’re out of business.”

“You’d better listen to this…. Unless you still want to see Jung-bin tomorrow.”

At his half-threatening words, Ui-jae flew to the door and grabbed the doorknob with a rubber-gloved hand. It was just the two of them now, so there was no point in bothering. His eyes burned into the gas mask.

“Is that you?”

He meant it was you who had called for Jung-bin. A gruff voice leaked through the crack in the door.

“Is it me?”

“…….”

“Technically, you’re the one who called him here.”

“I thought I heard you say you were looking for me.”

When Ui-jae tried to question him with an incredulous look, Sa-young answered as if he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Even if you hadn’t thrown a nuclear bomb at the tomato market, he wouldn’t have come all the way here.”

”What the hell does a tomato market have to do with me?”

Through the glass, the gas mask glared at Ui-jae.

“Don’t you realise the gravity of the situation yet?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cha Ui-jae decided to stay brazen. The black glove that had been tapping the glass stopped moving.

“Okay. Keep pretending you don’t know who’s coming, you’ll have to.”

“……”

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

“Go ahead. I’ll call the authorities right away.”

“I’m sad that you keep looking for Jung-bin…. when I’m the one in front of you.”

It was a noble threat that if he wanted to see Jung-bin, he would call him right away. Ui-jae eventually opened the door. There was no way he was going to bring Jung-bin back here after he’d barely fed him. Sa-young took off his gas mask and ran a hand through his hair as soon as he entered.

“They’ll keep coming back, those bastards.”

After slamming Hunter Jung-bin, South Korea’s third-ranked S-rank civil servant, as ‘those bastards’, Sa-young tossed a peppermint candy on the counter into his mouth. His pale cheeks puffed up to follow the shape of the candy. Sa-young had an uncanny knack for making horrible noises sound casual. Ui-jae shuddered.

“Don’t make horrible noises.”

“Yeah, well, if you’re going to post it, you should’ve posted it on the Used World or the Thunder Market or something.”

Sa-young slumped back in his chair and continued his nagging in the guise of advice.

“In the end, it is also good to make this division by putting it on a local tomato market

“It’s not me.”

“Okay, then. Not you, but the lunatic with the tomato market.”

“Be nice. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

“Every hunter I know has a tomato market, and a lot of them are trying to track down the owner.”

“……”

“Posting on Tomato Market for a price that’s practically free, and with a fancy local certification. I guess he wanted to advertise that he was here.”

“…I’m sure he’s regretting it.”

“Is he? He didn’t look like it.”

Sa-young didn’t say a word, and for some reason he seemed to feel bad. But this was a clear mistake of intent, and I couldn’t tell him to shut up in front of his face, which was puffed up like he was eating candy.

At the last minute, Ui-jae thinks of many ways to get rid of the unwanted guest, but then changes his mind.

Right now, the only person who knows that Cha Ui-jae has hidden his powers is Lee Sa-young. In other words, he’s the only one who can help him lead a quiet life in this situation. What the hell, why not use the intelligence of the number one ranked hunter? Anyway, isn’t this guy an incumbent hunter.

He clasped his hands together and called out to Lee Sa-young in an unprecedentedly polite manner.

“Lee Sayoung-ssi.”

“Why are you using all the honorifics, hyung? You’ve eaten five thousand more bowls of rice than me.”

The back of his head was dirty and long. Ui-jae decided to drop the respect right away.

“Shut up. Anyway, I need to talk to you.”

“Hmmm…”

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

Lee Sae-young was looking up with a very serious face, listening to the story. I don’t know if he was really listening or just pretending to be. But then he added the most important words.

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

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t realize it would get this big.”

“Oh.”

Ui-jae sympathised, saying he didn’t feel sorry for Sa-young at all.

“By the way, hyung, did he have any friends?”

“There is, what do you know.”

When Ui-jae shook his fist in the air, Sa-young made a mock zipping motion with his mouth, then clasped his hands together to cover his mouth, set his jaw, and rolled his eyes. His gorgeous face was filled with the playfulness of an interesting toy.

It was almost like a gesture to deceive, even though it was an obvious lie. As if living up to his expectations, Ui-jae spoke shamelessly.

“He must have made a bigger mistake than I thought. There are all kinds of flies all over the place.”

“Ugh, that’s too bad.”

“But he wants to fix his mistake as quietly as possible. No one will know.”

“Why?”

Our eyes met. A mischievous look crossed his face, and he answered.

“Because he wants to live quietly.”

“Aha…”

“…….”

“I want to live quietly, huh.”

There was a short silence, and then, crunching on his candy, he laughed low.

“I like that very much.”

He stood up without a sound and backed away. A long shadow leaned over his robes. A low voice whispered, as if chanting an incantation.

“Let’s make a deal, us.”

“…..”

“I’ll clean up your mess, hyung.”

Suddenly, the subject was back to him instead of the friend, but Ui-jae didn’t keep quiet anymore.

“It won’t be for free.”

“Of course not. It’s a deal.”

“What do you want?”

At the reversed eye level, Ui-aje stared up at Sa-young’s face. There was no telling what terms would come out of this madman’s head. It could be a request for help with a job, a dungeon raid, or a request to join the guild.

The delicately crafted face seemed to offer terms of trade that were as terrible as they were infallible. At worst, he might ask you to kill someone. If he were to make such a demand, I would have no choice but to refuse and find another way.

But Sa-young’s offer was unexpected. He held up one index finger and said.

“An unknown person.”

“……”

“One whose existence no one knows.”

Lee Sa-young smiled an angelic smile.

“I want my hyung.”