< Let Us Not Talk Behind Someone’s Back >
The face ostentatiously smiling was irritating. Not intending to come between us, yeah right.
Just then, Moon Hyuna’s cell phone rang.
“Oh, it seems like the younger brother heard.”
She lifted her cell phone and showed me. On the LCD, the words ‘Crazy Guy 2’ was showing up.
“The original crazy guy is definitely Sung Hyunjae, that ahjussi.”
“…You are not going to pick it up?”
“Will you pick up?”
I took the cell phone held out to me and pressed the call b.u.t.ton.
[Moon Hyuna you-.]
“Yoohyun.”
I heard a short breath being drawn in.
[…Hyung?]
“Yeah. It’s me.”
[……And the Breaker Guild Leader?]
“She’s smiling like her mouth will rip, next to me.”
“It’s not to that extent.”
Moon Hyuna complained.
[Are you okay? That woman didn’t say anything weird?]
“She talked behind your back.”
[……What did she say?]
“In short, that you’re not normal. But don’t worry. Truthfully, it’s two peas in a pod[1] so it’s nothing new.”
[…Huh? Hm?]
Yoohyun’s voice was full of confusion. Moon Hyuna’s eyes became round, too. Seeing that, the tips of my mouth quirked up.
You know how to talk behind someone’s back – I know how to too. Wait, since it was in front of the person involved, was it in front of their face?
“Should I tell you an old story? It’s something from 1 year ago. Specifically, the spring 1 year ago. April 2nd. Around 5 pm in Gyeonggi-do Icheon’s[2] CS convenience store-.”
“Han Yoojin-ssi!”
Moon Hyuna suddenly yelled as she s.n.a.t.c.hed the cell phone away and turned it off. Her cheeks were slightly red.
“I-I mean, you wouldn’t, it’s probably not that……”
“It seems like it is a story that the Breaker Guild Leader knows as well?”
“There shouldn’t be that many people who know it……”
“It isn’t that there is no one at all who know it. I heard it by accident. I will keep secret who I heard it from.”
The embarra.s.sing and crazy thing that Moon Hyuna wanted to hide was used as a card to make her lose face 4 years later. At that time, it was a secret that everyone got to know, but this time it wasn’t.
It really was an anecdote that you couldn’t forget and left a deep impression.
“…f.u.c.k and I can’t kill to block your mouth either.”
The eyes that flashed towards me[3] were murderous.
But she couldn’t raise a hand against me. She had already stamped the contract. Unless she was going to fight 5:1 including the a.s.sociation, she could only hold it back.
And from the position of needing familiars the most, she would feel regretful laying a hand on me simply over something like this. Without me, you could only get high rank familiars after 2 years.
“So why did you talk about my brother behind his back? You reap what you sow; if you talk behind someone’s back, others will talk behind your back.”
When I scrunched my eyes and smiled, even her teeth grinded as if she was angry.
Just then, Yoohyun must have called again because the cell phone rang. Moon Hyuna’s eyes darted up and down.
“You are not going to pick it up?”
“……You’ll shut your mouth, right?”
“It is my loss, but I don’t want to listen to slander about by brother, so let us both keep our mouths shut.”
“Fine.”
I picked up the phone and pa.s.sed over it by speaking vaguely. Moon Hyuna’s expression taking back the phone was as if she was chewing p.o.o.p.
“You are formidable, Han Yoojin-ssi. I didn’t even dream that that story would come up. I can trust you, right?”
“Of course.”
“If it comes out, I’ll be very embarra.s.sed and lose face and want to hide for about half a year, but it’ll be just that. But I’ll definitely kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who opened his mouth.”
Her voice was calm but I could definitely feel that it was full of sincerity. Especially at the part where she said she would kill. Did she mean there was a limit to what she could bear?
“Please don’t worry. Moon Hyuna-ssi is my loving client. If you hide for half a year, it would be difficult for me too, so why would I do something like that?”
“You speak well. There’s nothing else?”
Would there be nothing else? Appearances aside, I was an avid follower of Hunter related programs.
There was quite a lot I knew, but if I carelessly loosened my tongue, of course things would become annoying, but also there would a lot of people who wouldn’t be able to hold back unlike the murderous S-Rank-nim in front of me, so I was keeping my mouth shut.
If they didn’t touch me first, I would also be quiet.
“If I say there isn’t, would you believe me?”
“Ah right. You’re crazy guy 2’s hyung. I was wondering if you were naive unlike that guy, but that really was stupid. I’ll definitely remember.”
…Naive? Did I act in a way that made me look like that? The negotiations seemed like they ended well, though.
“……I must have seemed like someone to take lightly.”
At my words, Moon Hyuna snorted.
“Of course I took you lightly. Just think, wasn’t a little F, who had just Awakened and hadn’t even stopped seeming like an ordinary person yet, saying Han Yoohyun, that person, was gentle? It’s the same as advertising ‘I’m a noob who doesn’t know anything about the Hunter community’.”
Ah, well it could seem like that too. Officially, I was a novice who hasn’t been Awakened for even one month. In actuality, I had the most Hunter work experience out of all of the people who had gathered there, but who would even guess that.
In the end, it would have seemed like a semi-ordinary person was saying ‘my younger brother is gentle’ with an ordinary person’s standards. Of course, past looking like someone to take lightly, they would have thought ‘wow an easygoing kid got a useful skill, should I try poking him~’.
Like Moon Hyuna just a while ago.
“No wonder, they weren’t people who would be so, but they were weirdly friendly.”
A sigh came out automatically.
“They wouldn’t all act annoying like Moon Hyuna-ssi, right?”
“Why ‘ssi’, making us feel distant; just call me noona.”
Moon Hyuna had regained her composure and she propped up her chin as she smiled brightly. ‘Noona’, yeah right. My mental age was thirty.
“I’m impatient because of the familiars. Though the rest wouldn’t not approach either. Do well, that dongsaeng with that hyung-nim[4].”
It looked like I shouldn’t take even one step out of the guild building for a while.
Moon Hyuna waved her hand. I felt the surrounding air tremble. Then the blocked off voices surged through.
“Ahjussi!”
Yerim ran over and slightly glared at Moon Hyuna.
“Did you not come here by promising to not touch him?”
Did she make that kind of promise. Then again, there was no way Yoohyun just gave an okay.
“Did I touch him? We just talked.”
Moon Hyuna said, lifting and showing both hands. She certainly didn’t lay a hand on me.
“Ah, unni, really!”
“Oho, are you coming at me!”
Moon Hyuna shot up and abruptly pulled the fuming Yerim into her arms.
“My makeup will come off!”
“At your age, not putting any on is prettier~.”
Those two got along better than I had thought. What should I do if Yerim really went to Breaker after 3 years? That place would scatter in all directions in 4 years. Of course, there wasn’t a way for the future to be exactly the same.
…Should I bring Moon Hyuna over instead?
She was a woman I didn’t like, but it was a waste leaving a Hunter like her alone out of spite.
‘And it wouldn’t be that hard applying the keyword either.’
We were of different genders but the S-Rank who would come looking for me the most from now on was exactly Moon Hyuna. She had an immense interest in familiars so the probability was high that she would keep coming to find me and check while I was raising the monsters.
Even today, she purposely came to meet me.
So I thought it would be possible to slowly apply the keyword through joking love ballads and sufficient friendliness.
The problem was the keyword’s additional effect.
‘The probability of not having a person she thinks of as a caregiver would be low.’
Unlike Yoo Myeongwoo, who was left alone, Moon Hyuna was an athlete who had even entered world championships. She would’ve had the care of, of course her parents, but also managers or coach, special trainers, sunbaes, etc.
I would be thankful if the person was related to sports, and dad was fine, and mom was, well… I could deal with hearing ‘mom’ from Moon Hyuna. It would probably feel joking from a woman older than me.
If I got her trust from the keyword’s effect and nudged her enough when the problems within Breaker got bigger, I would be able to steal her away.
‘I don’t want to be close to her, but it wouldn’t be bad to put her in Haeyeon. She was definitely competent and her general disposition fits well with Yerim.’
Current S-Rank dungeon attack teams were normally one S-Rank Hunter with the majority as A-Ranks, but later when the dungeon difficulty level increased, there were teams with two or more S-Ranks. Yoohyun’s and Yerim’s attributes were incompatible so they wouldn’t be able to work as a team but Yerim and Moon Hyuna would work together well.
A powerful one-blow attack and a wide-range tool specialized in tying up opponents. On top of that, Yerim had a wide-range buff too.
If they cooperated, they would become a really good combo.
‘Imagining it, I feel pretty drawn to it.’
That’s right, at any rate she would be Yerim’s partner, not mine. Let’s call it properly playing the role of guardian and try hard to reel her in.
After deciding, seeing those two people playing was pleasing in its own way. Please get along well from now on as well.
The shooting finished smoothly.
There wasn’t anything difficult either. It was just trivial content where I explained about Peace, exchanged Q&A, checked response time and pulling strength of his teeth from ball throwing, etc.
They asked me to show a cherishing and loving att.i.tude toward Peace, but that was really easy. Since our Peace was lovable originally.
It was a relief that Peace was my brother’s familiar; if I had to send him far away, I would have been too lonely. I could probably keep him when he wasn’t doing dungeon attacks, right?
“Ahjussi, you’re drinking mana potions again?”
After the shooting finished, I had put down Peace for a while and taken out a mana potion, when Yerim came towards me and asked.
“Should I give you one too? It’s orange flavor.”
“Only the smell is orange – there’s barely any sweetness and it’s tart. The apple flavor is bland and doesn’t taste good.”
It seemed okay to me. And you didn’t eat it for its taste.
When I opened the bottle cap and drank it in one gulp, Yerim sent me a worried gaze.
“Just today, it was three bottles – is it okay to just drink that much? There’s no recommended dosage?”
“What recommended dosage. It’s just to restore mental fatigue.”
Since I couldn’t say that my mana was low from using the Seed-Leaf skill.
Even though I searched to death, I didn’t see any status windows worth picking up. Since there were so many people, I just flipped through the letters[5], but whether it was skills or stats, the best were C-Rank.
‘The camera director could probably get what I’m seeing as a C-Rank special skill, but…’
The keyword application was one thing, but the optimization that I could only use once per month was too precious. I didn’t know when or where an A-Rank might pop up so I had to save it as much as possible.
Why were the Awakening Centers specialized for combat? Of course, there was no need to be dissatisfied with apt.i.tude Awakening. Should I make a private Awakening Center instead? Since I could see the optimized initial skills, the conditions fitting each person… hm… that was also too troublesome.
“Ahjussi! Why are are you blanking out again!”
Yerim yelled, jumping up.
“Saying it’s for recovering mental fatigue, even after you drink it you blank out. You’re not hurt anywhere? Always being tired, that, I heard it could be a serious illness…”
She was taken aback from what she herself said and even her complexion became pale. What serious illness. I was healthy even up to 5 years later.
“I was just thinking of something else for a bit. Peace, come here.”
“But ahjussi is stat F! Shouldn’t you go for a health checkup? When was the last time you had one?”
I mean, even though F-Ranks were weak, they were just ordinary people. Though compared to S-Ranks, they were a piece of paper.
“I don’t remember but I’m fine. Hey, hey! Where are you calling!”
“Guild Leader. A general checkup, to make you get-.”
“Don’t! I’m really fine!”
I didn’t want to go to a hospital! On top of that, if it was a general checkup, then I would have to get an endoscopy, so what would I do if I[6] said nonsense. You could do it awake instead of asleep, but that was hard.
“Kim Sunghan ahjussi also worries about ahjussi over anything; please take good care of your body.”
Yerim complained, putting her cell phone back at my dissuasion. I mean, that was because that person thought of me as a seventy-year-old elder.
“Excuse me, can I take a picture with you?”
Just then, two pretty girls who looked like celebrities came towards us and asked. Both were FF.
“Yes, you can.”
“Can I touch him?”
“Just in case, you cannot.”
No matter how good and well-behaved Peace was, a monster was a monster. Even the broadcast shooting was possible because they got special approval from the a.s.sociation and Hunters including Yerim and Moon Hyuna accompanied me; I couldn’t take him outside by myself. It was still illegal.
Though it seemed like the law related to tamed monster accompaniment would change faster than it originally did, thanks to Peace.
“Can I also take a picture?”
Seeing the two girls take a picture, another person came over. Then the number of people nearby started to increase one by one.
These people wanted to take pictures but just gazed at us. I wouldn’t be coming here again so I should just let them.
“Peace is really cute!”
“Are you on any social media?”
Social media, should I try it? I did have a few pictures and videos I took of Peace. Especially the pictures before growth were too good for only me to look at. He was cute now, but he was even cuter when he was small.
“I am not yet, but I will think about it.”
“Please definitely make one!”
Yes, yes. I definitely thought I should spread my kid’s cuteness far and wide.
Just then, people were talking noisily near the back of the crowd, when a man walked through as a s.p.a.ce was formed. At the same time, of course mine and Yerim’s, but also the nearby people’s gazes were drawn to him.
Wow, really…
“Freaking good-looking.”
…Yerim. Please talk nicely. But he really was freaking good-looking.
And the possible Awakening stats were B, and skills were A.
[Unawakened Person – Bak Hayool
Possible Awakening stat rank B
Optimized Initial Skills
Can’t Take Eyes Off(A)
Become Comfortable When Looking At(A)
The Icing On The Cake[7](A)]
The skills were triple A. And all of them had names that seemed like special skills. Not to mention… they seemed to be related to his appearance.
Was it because your face was also an apt.i.tude? If you had that kind of face, even if you Awakened with S-Rank stats, nothing might change. Stat compensation wasn’t ‘you become good-looking’, but setting a balance, so there was a limit. If your facial features were already perfect, it couldn’t add anything.
“Excuse me, could you give me your autograph!”
Bak Hayool blushed and said to Yerim. He was most likely a celebrity but his position was switched.
“…An autograph?”
“Yes! I really admire and like Hunters! This is my first time actually meeting an S-Rank Hunter, so when you were going to the a.s.sociation to set your rank, I really wanted to go and see, but I could not, because of my schedule. But then I heard that you were shooting here so I came over really quickly!”
Bak Hayool couldn’t hide his excitement and politely held out the autograph paper. There were kids like that occasionally. People who fantasized about Hunters and acted like fans chasing after celebrities. Especially since S-Ranks had amazing looks, as time went by, the fan base became bigger.
But it was ironic since a guy even better looking than an S-Rank was acting that way. On top of that, if he just Awakened, he would be B-Rank at minimum.
‘Though optimized Awakening would probably be impossible.’
Through the Awakening Center, he definitely wouldn’t get those skills. It seemed very likely he would become an half, with only the stat being B and the skills failing.
Even so, for me to reel him in was kind of a little… ambiguous. And I didn’t want to say the keyword to that face even if I died.
He was a celebrity with a good face so he would probably live well on his own. I should stop paying attention.
“I am in the middle of shooting a movie. If it is okay, could I send you a preview invitation? Of course, you do not have to come! Just, like a small present… I would like to send at least an invitation……”
“Uh, yes. Please do. You can send it to Haeyeon Guild.”
“Thank you!”
It seemed like a serious illness. But, a movie shoot, he said. Unconsciously, I tilted my head.
I didn’t remember seeing such a good-looking actor. The me these days was far from a cultured life, so it was possible I didn’t see movies that were filmed now, but still, if it was that face, he would have kept on appearing in various mediums after this. And it wasn’t a face that was easy to forget.
But why wasn’t he in my memories? Did he retire early?
“Han Yoojin-nim!”
Bak Hayool, who had gotten Yerim’s autograph, now looked at me with an uncomfortable glint in his eyes.
“I would like to ask for your autograph! Could I possibly get Peace’s footprint?”
“…Only the autograph is possible.”
I quickly signed and sent him away. Since he was someone I wouldn’t meet again.
[1] lit. ‘that herbs/greens with/at/on that rice’. 나물 (nah-mul) isn’t really herbs or greens but there’s no eng word for it bc western ppl don’t eat 나물 but anyways that’s not really important
[2] I don’t think I clarified last time but Icheon is a city in Gyeonggi Province/Gyeonggi-do
[3] lit. ‘pupil(s) roll towards me’. Not exactly sure what it means but it sounds weird literally in eng so I did my best approximation. In a prev ch when it came up and later in this ch, I also tl’d it as ‘eyes darting around’ bc in context, it seemed to fit.
[4] a similar phrase came up in a prev ch, which I tl’d as ‘like dongsaeng, like hyung’ bc that’s what it more or less means, but using that phrase would sound weird here so I left it literally
[5] he said ‘alphabet’ as in the eng word transliterated into krn but this is what I’m a.s.suming he means
[6] no p.r.o.noun so idk if it’s ‘I’ or ‘they’ but given context, I think he’s worried abt sleeptalking abt his skills
[7] lit. sth like ‘adding flowers to embroidery’ but the meaning is the same as the eng ‘the icing on the cake’, or ‘the cherry on top’ or adding to something that already is beautiful/good/advantageous