152 I was a.s.signed (2)

Minyui Kim, the B cla.s.s hunter of the Haeyeon Guild, was considered as an easy opponent by many. While he had a supporting skill useful enough for a large guild to scout him, a supporter was a supporter, and mid to high-cla.s.s hunters tended to look down on skill boosts. Many voiced that for hunters to be truly hunters, dungeon conquests and cla.s.ses should be appropriated by only stats. Many others placed attackers on the top and saw the rest as addendums.

While hunters with evidently low stats and useful high-cla.s.s skills were actually treated well, that was only because they were not threats to other hunters. Other hunters would be nice to them because they could be easily dominated no matter how useful their skills were.

On the other hand, hunters were offended by those with moderate stats and high-cla.s.s skills. Since Minyui Kim was one of low stat group, he was ignored by Haeyeon hunters, who were mostly high-cla.s.s attackers, though Minyui Kim himself was satisfied with his position, saying that it was a safe and cushy job.

“Are his stats actually over A cla.s.s?”

“I heard that he went against an S cla.s.s hunter.”

Minyui Kim came into the Haeyeon Guild’s lobby amidst the rapidly spreading rumors. While the security employee held up his hand in greeting, as usual, Minyui Kim did not even glance at him. The employee awkwardly lowered his hand because his cold expression made him look like a completely different person, and others glanced at Minyui Kim’s back as he went straight for the elevator.

“…His aura is like the guild leader.”

“Has he really been hiding his stats? I have never seen him fight since he is a supporter.”

The A cla.s.s hunter in the security room mumbled. While he had gone on a dungeon conquest with Minyui Kim, supporters mainly received protection from front, and he did not have the chance to check Minyui Kim’s stats directly.

Yoohyun Han, posing as Minyui Kim, walked straight to Simyeong Seok while being the center of attention.

“You have left Mr. Yoojin Han with Sesung?”

Simyeong Seok spoke in surprise after dismissing others.

“It would be more convenient for my brother.”

Yoohyun Han barely managed to speak indifferently. To be more specific, Hyunjae Sung was someone Yoojin Han did not need to feel burdened by since he did not have to take care of him and would not be all that sorry to put in danger. He was definitely not a young kid Yoojin Han wanted to embrace and protect even if it meant cutting his flesh.

“Rumors have spread about Hunter Minyui Kim by now.”

Yoohyun Han forcibly pushed away thoughts about his older brother and changed the subject.

“Please let it be secretly known that Minyui Kim wants to be treated in a way that someone with his abilities deserves to be, so that someone will take the bait.”

“Will it be from the people who have targeted Mr. Yoojin Han?”

While the Dongju Lottery Guild had hired the truck driver, the perpetrator who had commissioned the guild had not been revealed yet. While the Hunter a.s.sociation had been suspected, they had not been the culprit.

“Since Mr. Yoojin Han is under the protection of Hunter Minyui Kim, they will approach him if they decide that Minyui Kim wants to get out of Haeyeon. It’s a nice opportunity since our guild leader is officially absent.”

Simyeong Seok nodded slightly and went on speaking.

“Since Minyui Kim had indeed been looked down on by other attackers because of his support role, we need to play that angle while also stressing the neglect the supporters suffer.”

“While the Sesung guild leader might overhear, please be careful not to let hyung know of this. He will try to involve himself though any way possible.”

Yoohyun Han could already see Yoojin say that things would go down much easier if he also played bait.

“While things will go more smoothly if Mr. Yoojin Han helped…he does need some rest.”

Simyeong Seok changed his words despite being sorry for it. While Yoojin Han would make things more convenient for them, the guild leader would never accept that after leaving him with Sesung. They finished discussions, and Yoohyun Han went to Yoojin’s house. He heard TV noises in an empty house and remembered his brother saying that he had a monster who turned on the TV to watch it by itself.

-Peep!

A white baby bird sitting in the middle of the sofa made sounds when it saw Yoohyun Han, and the baby dragon dozing hanging from artificial vines from the ceiling fluttered its wings. Yoohyun Han lightly grabbed Comet.

While the baby dragon writhed and bit the hand that grabbed it, the dragon could only make some teeth marks. Yoohyun also grabbed the chick and looked around the living room. He needed to leave the baby dragon in the breeding facility and bring the baby bird to Sesung. Was there anything else to take care of?

‘…Sesung would take care of most things.’

While that had been the reason Yoohyun had asked them, that fact was what bothered him even more. Yoohyun Han sat on the sofa, and Comet calmed down as if it caught Yoohyun’s mood. On the other hand, the baby bird still peeped sitting on Yoohyun’s palm.

Yoohyun thought about the monster breeding skill and the breeder t.i.tle. He knew about the breeder t.i.tle, and relevant information was easy to get since the t.i.tle was a relatively common one for breeders above awakened C cla.s.s. It was a t.i.tle that gave minor growth boosts for a short time. While the growth stats and applied time increased by cla.s.s, the best effect known at present was not all that valuable.

However, Yoojin Han may be a different story. Yoohyun Han knew that he was different from other people, and this difference became more explicit when he met Hyunjae Sung after being awakened. They looked like human beings but had a completely different capacity. Yoohyun Han thought that Yoojin Han gained that kind of breeding skill due to raising him, as he had already raised something inhuman instead of what an ordinary breeder would nurture.

‘However, he tries to embrace humans.’

Yoojin tried to take care of Yerim Park, Noah, and himself. Even if he could see why Yoojin wanted to take care of Yerim, he was much too affectionate to Noah. While Yoohyun knew the skill to be for monsters, maybe it went for humans too. Or perhaps Noah was recognized as a monster because he was a dragon.

No matter the reason, Yoohyun wanted to remove all of them from Yoojin’s sight.

Yoohyun Han coldly stared at the two monsters he held in his hands and stood up. While he wanted to remove all of them for Yoojin, his only family, was why he could not do so yet.

***

Someone came to prescribe me gla.s.ses and lenses, and while the thought of putting something in my eyes bothered me, I decided to try on lenses since gla.s.ses might break again.

“I understand that you and Yoohyun have an agreement of sorts.”

I spoke with irritation as I lifted a lens on the tip of my finger. Yoohyun had said that Sesung was a place I could go to before, and the two had tried to take MKC. Yoohyun could trust him to an extent since they would have formed a relationship during the past three years, but I hated the idea anyway.