Even an S-Class Hunter Wants to Get Married - Chapter 31
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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31. Good Instincts!
The gazes directed at me had definitely changed. Three more people had discreetly received my business cards.
‘This is a huge win for me.’
When people from Black Line Risk come, the overall quality of the Matchmaking Agency itself rises. Even their appearances aren’t seriously flawed, so getting an A-grade wouldn’t be too difficult in most cases.
Looking at Baek Yeon-hwa’s back as she leads the way introducing the sect’s interior, I feel slightly grateful.
Baek Yeon-hwa’s appearance had led things in a positive direction in many ways.
The security work at Blue Flower Dragon Falls had become much easier, and I could even enter the interior of Taiji Yin-Yang Gate sect, which was normally off-limits to civilians.
“I heard your throat isn’t in good condition.”
“Ah-! Yes!”
“Please come this way. I’ll escort you to our family’s medicine room.”
“Really?!”
Baek Yeon-hwa wore a smile, but there was a clear shadow cast around her eyes.
The fire caused by Azure Dragon’s lightning strike.
A singer whose throat was ruined from inhaling too much smoke in that fire.
It was top secret that could have escalated into an inter-floor war, so the truth couldn’t be spoken aloud.
Even so, Baek Yeon-hwa’s effort to take responsibility was evident.
The old woman in the medicine room was one such example.
“This person is a famous physician even in the Old Murim. She’ll diagnose your throat condition and brew medicine to help it improve even a little.”
“Th-this much?”
To Owl’s flustered question, Baek Yeon-hwa responds with a forced smile.
“If you’re the Great Hero’s honored guest, then you’re my honored guest as well.”
It was a lie.
But since she couldn’t speak of her own responsibility, she was borrowing my name.
It was also what we had mutually agreed upon yesterday.
Baek Yeon-hwa and Taiji Yin-Yang Gate were using me as justification to repay even a small debt to Owl.
“Wow…”
“Ahem, ahem.”
While the moved Owl was getting examined by the renowned doctor, the security team glanced at me with admiration.
From the perspective of the large corporation Hunters, here was a guy who had made it into the Training Center but couldn’t become a Hunter and was just running a small business outside.
They thought he was just one of the countless losers they’d seen, but he had connections they never expected.
“Excuse me, could I get one of your business cards too?”
“I’m looking for natural encounters—”
So this was their reaction.
Since it would be embarrassing to apologize outright, this was their way of showing sincerity.
I immediately responded with a capitalist smile.
“Here are the business cards. You mentioned natural encounters? Actually, these days Marriage Information Agencies can be seen as natural meetings too. This is—”
Whether they ignored me or whatever, what did it matter?
Pride doesn’t put food on the table.
Besides, what would be the point of telling these people ‘Actually, I was valedictorian of the 111th Class’?
Not only wouldn’t they believe me, but it wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t have a Hunter License.
While I was kindly telling them to stop with the bullshit about seeking natural encounters and sign up for premium membership instead.
“Team member Kim Ju-seon.”
Ryu Seo-ram calls me from behind and gestures with her hand.
Ryu Seo-ram keeps her distance from the Medicine Room and jerks her chin.
“That person, we can trust her, right?”
“Hm? Of course. I can’t explain it, but Baek Yeon-hwa is definitely someone we can trust.”
She owes me that much too.
Ryu Seo-ram didn’t ask anything more beyond my answer.
She just moved on with the attitude of trusting me since it was my word.
“Nothing unusual?”
“Unusual? Not particularly?”
“Really? If you say so, then it must be true. You have good instincts.”
Saying that, Ryu Seo-ram pats my back a couple times and changes the subject.
“But you seem to get along well with the kids? I bet there’ll be a lot of people looking you up after this is over?”
“Out of all the people who showed interest and took my business card, only one or two actually come.”
A complaint born from experience.
Ryu Seo-ram, who had been giggling, looks toward the security team and asks.
“Our kids. What do you think of their skills?”
“Skills? If they’re good enough to get into Blackline, they must be decent.”
“Just from what you’ve seen, do you think you could beat them up?”
“…Is that important?”
“It’s important, yeah! Of course it’s important.”
Ryu Seo-ram awkwardly raises her energy and laughs.
“Don’t they act cocky or anything like that, holding onto memories of doing well at the Training Center?”
“Sigh, well. Who hasn’t been like that?”
Without thinking, I reached for cigarettes in my pocket then put them back. It’s already day 2 of forced quitting.
Since things turned out this way, I considered whether I should try quitting smoking for real, but I gave up on that idea.
“Top ranks at the Training Center, enormous monthly salaries deposited regularly into their bank accounts at a young age, admiring gazes. It’s something young Hunters commonly experience.”
“…”
“I understand why they’re displeased. Though showing it is a different matter.”
At my words, Ryu Seo-ram nodded and patted my back again.
“Go back to work. You’re done tomorrow morning anyway.”
“Tomorrow morning?”
“Tomorrow’s schedule is a visit to the Immortal Peach Garden. Since you’re part-time, you’re technically an outsider, so I can’t take you any further than that.”
Immortal Peach Garden.
A very special island that exists only in the 5th Floor Old Murim.
A place where masters who have reached a certain level or injured wealthy people go to recuperate.
Except for the person in question, outsiders are strictly forbidden from entering, and while it’s said to exist, no one knows its location.
If you ask whether it really exists, there are people who have actually stayed at the Immortal Peach Garden and come out.
Whether they’re under contract or not, any mention of the Immortal Peach Garden is completely impossible, but there are unverified rumors like severed legs being regenerated or 80-year-old elderly people becoming young again in their 20s.
It’s a place rife with unverified rumors.
‘Immortal Peach Garden…’
She really has a lot of money.
Leaving the mundane world for recuperation.
It was exactly what Owl needed most right now.
* * *
That night.
Thanks to Baek Yeon-hwa’s consideration, we decided to stay at the Taegeuk Yin-Yang Sect for the day-.
“Great Hero, why are you here.”
Baek Yeon-hwa came to the guest room prepared for two people.
“Great Hero should come this way. You should stay with me.”
Her blatant gesture was seductive.
Dedral, the dwarf sharing the room with me, nodded with a hearty laugh.
“Ah, that’s right. Why would you embarrass a woman? I’d be happy to have the room to myself too.”
I heard that except for blacksmith dwarves, they have refreshing and good personalities. Dedral certainly fit that description.
It’s unfortunate for him that dwarves are basically measured one rank lower.
“I’ll just talk briefly and come back, so don’t clear my spot.”
“Heh, at this rate you’re like a stone Buddha.”
Dedral clicked his tongue and started doing light bodyweight exercises on his blanket.
As I stepped outside, a refreshing breeze greeted me along with an impressive night sky of moon and stars.
The 3rd Floor was in the middle of winter so it was chilly, and while it was cold here too, it wasn’t as bad as Seoul.
Baek Yeon-hwa, who had brought me outside, completely erased her seductive temptation from moments before and wore a dark expression.
“The physician examined Owl today.”
“What did they say?”
“They said it’s difficult.”
“….”
“His throat is completely ruined. You said you’re going to the Immortal Peach Garden tomorrow, right? We’ll have to pray for good results there.”
“We’ll have to.”
“Um, but Great Hero.”
“Yes?”
“There was something strange about Owl’s throat. The physician told me separately-. Even though the symptoms themselves might be somewhat different, there are others with similarly damaged body parts.”
“….”
Baek Yeon-hwa, who had been hesitating, carefully began her explanation.
“I hope this will be helpful, so let me tell you-.”
* * *
Another day passed.
Now it was finally the day my part-time job would end.
I wondered if there would be something special since it was the last day.
But we spent all our time just traveling to the Immortal Peach Garden.
We even ate lunch hastily with rice balls in the carriage, so there was really nothing to do.
I wondered if it was okay to get paid after working like this.
But in life, there should be times when you earn money for free like this, shouldn’t there?
We finally arrived at the Twilight River.
At the fog-shrouded river, a ferryman wearing a bamboo hat was already waiting to greet us.
The other bodyguards would go to the Immortal Peach Garden with Owl and guard her until the very end.
But for me, who could be considered an outsider, this was as far as I went.
“Ju- Seo-eon! Sir!”
Before we parted for the last time.
Owl approached me and grabbed both my hands.
“Thank you-! So much!”
“Oh come on, what did I even do?”
“No-! I got! Medicine-! For cheap!”
She fumbled around and pulled out a medicine pouch from her pocket. The subtle herbal fragrance that masked the foul smell was impressive.
“Thank you! So much!”
“Haha, not at all. It was just work. It was only natural.”
“Later-! When throat gets better-! I’ll come find you!”
“You’ll come visit? You’re always welcome. Merakl welcomes any customer at any time.”
That’s one of our strengths, isn’t it?
“Whether you’re forever alone, have a weird personality, come from the lower floors, your age, etc. We don’t discriminate and accept everyone. So don’t worry too much and come visit us.”
“Thank you-! Very much!”
When I offer a handshake, Owl also grabs my hand and smiles.
Famous singer Owl.
Though I didn’t get to have many conversations with him, it was still a meaningful time-.
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
Everyone’s attention turns toward the alarm ringing nearby.
Ryu Seo-ram, who was wearing a Latest Model Watch, shrugged her shoulders and said.
“12 o’clock. Good work on the part-time job, Ju-seon.”
“Thanks to you, I’m leaving with good money, Seo-ram.”
Now I can finally speak more casually. I immediately take out a cigarette from my chest and put it in my mouth.
The bodyguards frown.
It probably meant not to smoke in front of someone with throat problems, but I’d already put it in my mouth.
“Lighter. Where’s the lighter-.”
“Should I-! light it?”
Owl takes out a lighter from his pocket.
“This one-! Works! It’s not broken!”
Was he a smoker too?
I gratefully accept the lighter.
“You use expensive stuff.”
“Heh, well-! Take care!”
“Did you buy it with money from stock manipulation?”
Owl stops in his tracks as he was heading toward the ship.
And the panicked gazes of the bodyguards.
“Phew.”
A cigarette after a long time.
My body eagerly absorbs the nicotine.
“Huh?”
Owl makes eye contact with me.
It’s a serious situation, but the cigarette tastes so good that I can’t help but grin.
“No, you have way too much money. Even for a famous singer, Seven Extremes bodyguards and Immortal Peach Garden?”
“….”
The atmosphere becomes strange.
The security team is at a loss for what to do.
But among them, there’s one woman who’s uniquely smiling while looking at me.
“I have pretty good instincts. When you run a matchmaking agency, seeing through customers’ lies becomes part of the job.”
Owl keeps his mouth tightly shut. His eyes sharply pierce through me.
Maybe because he’s an owl, when his eyes narrow, he looks rather eerie.
“My- wounds! Why are you- picking at them-! Stop it?”
The fire caused by Azure Dragon’s lightning.
A singer whose voice was ruined from inhaling the fire smoke.
Thanks to that, Wolfguard Tactical Solutions’ stock price, which had been providing security, plummeted vertically.
The tragic story of a young man whose dreams vanished in a single day.
I should at least make some money.
My dreams are shattered, so shouldn’t I be able to profit a bit from this information?
“No, that’s not right.”
Unfortunately, the premise is wrong.
“No.”
“What do- you mean no.”
“Your voice wasn’t damaged from inhaling smoke.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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