Even an S-Class Hunter Wants to Get Married - Chapter 34
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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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34. Never War!
Home after a long time away.
Though it’s a small one-room place that could be called a studio apartment, returning to my own home still put my mind at ease.
I’m not the type to lose sleep when staying out, but still, nothing compares to the satisfaction of sleeping in my own bedding.
Now there’s no night watch duty, and I can sleep soundly until work time without waking up in between—or so I thought.
– One! Two!
“One! Two! One! Two!”
The noise from next door that makes me reflect once again on why my dream is to live in an apartment.
A true neighbor lives next door who provides motivation from the moment I wake up in the early morning to definitely move to a nice apartment.
“Ah, shit…”
I check the time on my mobile phone placed beside me.
[05:22]
“Ah, give me a fucking break.”
Five o’clock isn’t even called morning these days. It’s practically dawn.
“One! Two! One! Two!”
Having to wake up at this hour to the noise of the grandmother next door doing calisthenics.
This really feels like the kind of realistic motivation to work hard and earn money.
– Now, side to side! One! Two! One! Two!
“One! Two! One! Two!”
“…”
My bedding happens to be right next to the wall. Those who know will understand—when you’re stuck right against the wall in summer, the cool air comes through and it’s refreshing.
– Come on! Work hard! Just a little bit left!
“Mmm! Easy! One! Two! One! Two!”
– If you do stretching and simple exercise from early morning like this, you can live much healthier and longer.
“Just how long is that grandmother planning to live that she’s doing all that?”
As I muttered in disbelief, the noise suddenly stopped. Remembering that elves have quite good hearing, I immediately pulled the blanket over myself and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep.
It’s still 5 o’clock.
There are still 4 whole hours left until work, so I could sleep a bit more-.
Bang bang bang!
“I heard everything just now! This Lady will only hit you exactly three times, so just come out!”
‘Damn it.’
She heard that.
It must be nice being an elf – even when you become a grandmother, you don’t need hearing aids.
Bang bang bang!
“I said come out! Are you making fun of This Lady who’s working hard from early morning?!”
I’m really going to make a lot of money and move to a good apartment.
One with good soundproofing and no noise problems between floors, where the grandmother next door doesn’t come looking for me at 5 AM.
Renea knocked on the door several times, but eventually got tired and went back to her room.
‘Did she leave?’
Just when I thought it was over.
“Eek?! There’s water pooled on the floor! It’s all wet!?”
A sound came from the balcony.
That is, from our balcony.
“What the hell?!”
I immediately threw off the blanket and got up, and saw Renea coming into the living room from the balcony.
“How did you get over here?”
“I’m an elf! I’ve been climbing trees my whole life, so crossing over to the next balcony is nothing!”
If she climbed trees for 1,900 years, that would definitely be possible.
“Are you crazy? Even so, you can’t just climb into someone else’s house! I’m calling the police right now.”
Even if a 1,900-year-old grandmother climbed over due to dementia, this can’t be taken lightly. Yesterday she was doing Santa Claus cosplay, and now it seems she’s learned to climb over walls too.
“Heh, hehe-! I came to eat breakfast together!”
“At five in the morning, what the….”
It’s not even a joke – she’s actually holding cup ramen in both hands.
“Huh? Huh? Let’s eat together! While Boss was away on business to the 5th Floor, This Lady was eating cup ramen all alone in her room!”
“….”
When I picture Renea eating instant noodles alone in her room, a strange sense of camaraderie washes over me.
I’ve eaten instant noodles alone in this room while watching YouTube countless times too.
“Sigh, the coffee pot is over there.”
“Hooray!”
I ended up giving in.
I’m eating cup ramen first thing in the morning, but at least it’s food from the elf Grandmother.
‘Saved on food expenses.’
I remembered the side dishes the Soup Restaurant Lady gave me yesterday, but decided not to bring them out.
It’s right to cut food expenses whenever you can, even if it’s just a little.
Renea fills the coffee pot with water and sits on the floor to set up the cup ramen.
“Can I have the udon ramen?”
“Both of them are This Lady’s, so what are you talking about?”
“….”
“Bring your own instant noodles.”
I wish she would just get lost.
* * *
Early morning at Merakl.
While smoking a cigarette in the smoking area in front of the building, I run into Kim Yang coming to work.
“Good morning.”
“B-Boss. Good morning.”
A simple morning greeting.
This makes it feel like I’ve really returned.
The business trip was only five days, but it was that much hard labor.
“This is peace-.”
Thud thud thud thud!
The sound of footsteps hurriedly coming down the stairs.
Before I could even turn around to check, Kim Yang’s headbutt had already struck my waist.
“Bo, Boss-!”
“Ugh?!”
I really almost fell to the floor if I wasn’t careful. Even though Kim Yang’s headbutt might look like nothing, those horns hurt more than you’d think.
“What’s this all of a sudden? Is this insubordination?”
Is this a scheme to devour Merakl?
“Wh, what’s this.”
What Kim Yang held out was none other than a money pouch. The one she got from Immortal Peach Garden.
“…They said it’s your allowance.”
“I, I don’t need it! Th, there. D, don’t go there!”
“I didn’t go there because I wanted to either!”
This is really unfair.
“Bo, Boss. Why! Don’t listen? Stupid?”
“Why don’t you have any respect for your boss?”
“Re, respect? Wh, what does that mean?”
“Ah-! I told you to study vocabulary. Respect. So… looking up to someone, faithfully following their words, not arguing back-.”
“Sl, slave?”
“No, that’s not it.”
How should I explain this.
“I, I won’t become a slave!”
Just as Kim Yang was about to headbutt again, a thick-bodied man came to the smoking area.
Wearing an apron and rubber boots, he looked exactly like a restaurant owner.
It was the Soup Restaurant Lady’s Son.
“Oh, hello.”
“Hello. Did you eat some of the side dishes from yesterday?”
“Ah, I ate those with instant noodles today-.”
As we started talking, Kim Yang quietly moved behind me and just bowed her head slightly.
The way she put her hands in her pockets, took out her mobile phone and scrolled through it was the complete opposite of how she’d been fighting with me over trivial things just moments ago.
“….”
In the end, she just looked at her mobile phone without saying anything and went up the stairs into Merakl.
The Soup Restaurant Son smoked a cigarette with me while glancing toward Kim Yang, and only spoke up after she had gone inside.
“Wow, as expected. Her aura is really no joke. How do you work with someone like that?”
“Huh? What about Kim Yang?”
She might fool around a bit, but she works hard.
“She’s totally chic, isn’t she? Cool. Even when you ask her something, she barely answers. Just nods her head.”
“…Who?”
“Huh? Kim Yang.”
“She’s chic? Is dancing on SNS and stuff like that considered chic?”
“Don’t you know girl crush? She’s especially popular with women.”
That’s a bit different from the Kim Yang I know.
Unable to agree, I awkwardly smoked my cigarette, and the Soup Restaurant Son changed the subject.
“Oh right, did you know there was a knife fight at Sora Cafe yesterday?”
“…At Sora Cafe?”
Their bread is delicious, so I often send Kim Yang there on errands.
“Apparently it was some kind of love triangle fight? A man and woman from the External Floors were swinging knives, smashing tables, breaking windows. It was no joke.”
“Ugh, coming to someone else’s floor and causing trouble.”
“Exactly. Seeing things like this, it must be really tough for you, Juseon. I mean, your main job is dealing with people like that.”
“Phew.”
I exhaled cigarette smoke and smiled with a certain pride.
“But our Merakl has thorough customer management. We don’t do matchings that lead to fights like that.”
“Oh, a professional.”
“That’s right, I’m a professional. It takes two hands to clap and make sound. It’s because two senseless idiots got together that this happened. I would never make a matching like that.”
“Nice, if any good women come in later, give me a heads up. My mom’s been nagging me to get married lately-.”
Suddenly, I remembered what the auntie had said about her son having a good impression of Kim Yang, but I didn’t bother mentioning it.
They might want to keep it hidden.
Anyway, exactly one hour after finishing my conversation with the Soup Restaurant Son and returning to Merakl.
“Mr. Kim Ju-seon?”
The police came barging into the company.
“B-Boss! R-run! Destroy the documents!”
Kim Yang frantically moved to destroy documents first upon hearing the police had come. That actually made the police tense up and pull out their taser gun.
“Stay still! Don’t touch the documents and put both hands up!”
“Wait, Detective, you’re misunderstanding something. Hey, Kim Yang! Why are you making a fuss and startling the detective!”
“Huh? I-in dramas. Th-they do this.”
It’s not like I’m doing anything illegal.
After taking some time for both sides to calm down, we continued the conversation.
I naturally thought it was additional investigation related to Owl-.
“Yesterday evening at 5 o’clock. There was a knife fight incident at the nearby Sora Cafe.”
The police officer brought up something completely unexpected.
“Two suspects were arrested at the scene. They were transferred to the jurisdiction station for investigation, and both suspects had something in common, so we came here.”
“Something in common?”
“Yes, when we traced how the two met, they said they received matchmaking services here.”
“….”
“B-Boss. Should we run?”
This is starting to feel bad.
As Kim Yang and I stiffened up, the police officer added.
“Oh, it’s not like we’re trying to find fault or anything. It’s simply a procedural investigation and request for cooperation.”
“Right? I didn’t do anything wrong just by matchmaking them.”
It’s their fault for fighting.
“Well then, I’ll ask you a few things. Do you know Ms. Jessica from the 6th Floor and Mr. Namgung Yeon from the 5th Floor?”
“They fought?”
They wanted political marriage partners, so I connected families that matched their respective needs?
They didn’t want love or romance, and it was purely for the benefit of their families, so I thought they would marry smoothly.
“Why, why?”
“This is exactly why we requested cooperation. Namgung Yeon paid bail and immediately went to the 5th Floor.”
“…What about Jessica?”
“She’s still at the police station. And- she’s still waiting for Merakl’s Boss, Kim Ju-seon.”
* * *
A beautiful wooden building where brown-tinted wood and serene patterns harmoniously blend together.
Above the two main gates at the entrance.
A large signboard weathered by time hangs there.
Written in elegant ink strokes, it reads (Namgung).
This place that comes to mind when thinking of ‘sword’ even in the Old Murim. The Namgung Family Estate, called the most prestigious among prestigious families.
Right now in the Main Hall of the Namgung Family Estate, the Family Head, Grand Protector, Elder, General Manager, and others.
All the notable figures of the family have gathered together.
After hearing the story of the Young Master, Namgung Yeon, their faces turned bright red with fury as they shouted.
“Family Head! This is an outrageous act that tramples upon our Namgung’s dignity!”
“Hah, haah-! Though this old man has devoted half a century to Murim, this is the first time I’ve been so insulted!”
“Indeed, the saying that we cannot live under the same sky as those city vermin was right!”
“The treasured sword bestowed by the Sword Marquis for generations-! These shameless bastards-!”
“….”
Even amidst all this, the Family Head, Namgung Pa-cheon, sits quietly in the seat of honor, looking only at his eldest son.
“Young Master, Namgung Yeon.”
A heavy, sinking voice.
As if receiving a sword strike from above, his shoulders naturally feel crushed under the weight.
“Yes, Family Head.”
“The loss of the Seowol Sword. Can you bear the responsibility for it?”
At the Family Head’s question, Namgung Yeon immediately raised his head and shouted as if he had been waiting for this.
“I will personally lead the warriors up to the 6th Floor and bring back the heads of those who have dishonored the Namgung name.”
At his son’s response, Namgung Pa-cheon gestured for him to go outside.
Words were unnecessary now; it was time to prove through action.
While receiving encouragement and support from others, Namgung Yeon came out to the training ground and immediately began gathering people.
“The situation doesn’t seem very favorable, does it?”
A woman’s voice that seemed to bewitch people. His sister, Namgung Hwa-ryeong, wearing a calm martial arts uniform, approached.
A tragic woman who, despite overwhelming him in skill, could not become the Family Head because she was born in a woman’s body.
Though she had reached marriageable age, she had not yet met her destined fate and still remained in the family.
“It’s not just unfavorable. I trusted and stepped into the place you introduced, sister, only for it to come to this. I will definitely hold Merakl accountable as well.”
“Don’t lay a hand on Merakl.”
Namgung Hwa-ryeong’s cold warning.
Namgung Yeon unconsciously swallowed and nodded.
“Ah, understood.”
Seeing the warriors being assembled, Hwa-ryeong clicked her tongue and left. There were many men in the family, but none who interested her.
‘With her being like that, will she ever be able to have a wedding?’
Watching Hwa-ryeong’s departing back, Namgung Yeon shook his head.
Martial Combat Marriage, indeed.
Namgung Yeon simply could not picture Namgung Hwa-ryeong losing to a man and getting married.
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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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