The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 22
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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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Chapter 22
Hana seemed to ponder for a moment, then unexpectedly nodded his head obediently.
“Yes. That’s right. But I haven’t violated any Hunter laws while trading on the Hunter Exchange. Really!”
Kang Hyeon’s gaze moved to the tomato boxes piled up in one corner of the garden.
Indeed, it would be quite a waste to take him to the Association like this.
These days, the Association was blatantly keeping Haechi in check.
They were piling on ridiculous regulations and restrictions, trying to block their growing influence.
The starting point was when the Association President collapsed and fell into a coma not long ago.
The Vice President, who had always viewed Kang Hyeon unfavorably, was temporarily delegated the President’s authority.
Since then, recovery items and buff resources had been flowing to the large guilds under the Vice President’s protection.
Thanks to this, Haechi had been struggling quite a bit with supply procurement lately.
But.
At such a timely moment, a production-type Hunter had rolled right in. And one with quite good abilities at that.
The item’s effectiveness had already been proven, so whatever Hana’s grade was, that wouldn’t be a major obstacle.
There was no reason for Kang Hyeon to miss this opportunity.
Honestly, whatever violation Yun Hana had committed wasn’t important.
It wasn’t like he had blown up a Gate, and he had ultimately managed to clear it.
If anything, it was beneficial rather than a loss.
While Kang Hyeon was finishing his mental calculations, Hana was staring into space with a troubled expression, only moving his lips wordlessly.
The reason was that the system window had popped up again without any consideration for the situation.
【SYSTEM】
【A new mission has been given.】
【Objective: Try cultivating ‘Fire Resistant Rice Seeds🌾(Rare Grade)’.】
【Reward: Farming Skill Lv.2 → Lv.3】
【By the way, to maintain the fire resistance properties of the rice seeds, you need to periodically inject high-quality fire energy during the growth process! =t=】
‘Fire energy?’
As Hana blinked, Jjak-jjak-i immediately displayed the next sentence as if it had been waiting.
【SYSTEM】
【Fire energy of a certain grade or higher can be obtained from fire-attribute Hunters.】
【S-grade or higher fire attribute skills are required. Oh my! There happens to be just the right Hunter here!】
An S-grade or higher fire-attribute Hunter?
There was exactly one such person in South Korea.
Hana’s pupils shook left and right.
He wanted to pretend not to know, but he couldn’t do that.
Because Jjak-jjak-i had very kindly created a large arrow and displayed it above Kang Hyeon’s head.
【SYSTEM】
【↓↓↓】
“Ah, seriously…”
Hana felt like grabbing his head for a moment.
‘Would Seo Ganghyeon cooperate with me! Just look at that person’s eyes right now, huh? He has a face that wouldn’t look strange even if he buried someone!’
Hana, who had been crying out inwardly, suddenly tilted his head.
He had definitely been much more fierce just moments ago.
The current Seo Ganghyeon seemed to have just a tiny bit of room, enough for a needle to slip through.
As if that thought wasn’t entirely far-fetched.
Kang Hyeon opened his mouth calmly, as if he had seen right through Hana’s inner thoughts.
“I can see that you don’t particularly want to reveal the fact that you were at Yangpyeong Station Gate today.”
Hana’s shoulders flinched.
“Is that correct?”
“Yes. I suppose… so?”
He hadn’t particularly planned to hide it, but with videos already starting to circulate on the internet, he didn’t want things to get more troublesome.
Besides, it wasn’t like he had violated Hunter laws just once or twice. If that got discovered too, the situation would become quite complicated.
Hana quickly nodded his head.
Kang Hyeon watched that reaction for a moment, then made a proposal.
A very unexpected proposal, yet at the same time, an incredibly sweet one for Hana.
“In that case, let’s keep everything I saw today a secret.”
“Huh, really?”
Hana’s eyes sparkled.
“Instead, let’s make a contract. You’re the owner of this garden, correct, Mr. Yun Hana?”
“That’s right. Strictly speaking, it belongs to the hospital director, but I’m the one who grew the crops here.”
“Then let’s have all these crops supplied to Haechi.”
“Yes, sounds good! I’ll do it!”
He had been wondering how on earth he could obtain Seo Ganghyeon’s fire energy, and here was such an opportunity. He had to seize it first.
At the answer that came out without time to think, a subtle suspicion appeared in Kang Hyeon’s eyes.
“…Aren’t you deciding too quickly?”
“Ah, well.”
Hana smiled awkwardly and scratched his cheek.
“It’s proper etiquette to quickly grab good proposals. When would an F-grade Hunter like me get another chance to contract with Haechi?”
Kang Hyeon continued to look at Hana with suspicious eyes, then calmly added conditions.
“If you sign an exclusive contract with our guild, you can no longer put items up on the Hunter Exchange.”
At those words, Hana’s expression hardened for a moment.
The income from the Hunter Exchange wasn’t small. He was covering most of his living expenses and hospital bills from there.
Moreover, there was one thing that bothered him.
“But I can’t stop using the Hunter Exchange right away. I still have one transaction left to resolve.”
“Is that a larger scale deal than what you’d do with Haechi?”
“It’s not that, but…”
Hana gritted his teeth.
“There’s someone who bought potatoes but didn’t pay the remaining balance. I think I’ll need to keep using the Hunter Exchange app until I receive that balance.”
At that moment, the ID ‘Wang-i-neomeo-jyeomyeon-king-kong’, who hadn’t even logged in for days, came to mind.
He had sent messages about the remaining balance several times.
Thinking about how they hadn’t even checked them made him annoyed, and his eyes naturally sharpened.
“If that’s the problem, let’s have my side handle it.”
“Huh? No, you don’t need to go that far—”
“This way seems more efficient. Dragging things out isn’t my style.”
At Kang Hyeon’s firm attitude, Hana couldn’t say more and closed his mouth.
After a moment, Hana slowly straightened his knees and asked as cheerfully as possible.
“Then… how much would the contract fee be?”
Kang Hyeon silently took out his phone and showed a number on the screen.
“About this much.”
Hana’s throat gulped audibly.
‘How many… zeros is that?’
It was an amount that would cover three years’ worth of hospital bills and still have money left over.
Kang Hyeon drew a clear line one last time.
“Keep this in mind. From now on, all crops produced by Mr. Yun Hana will be used exclusively by our Haechi.”
Saliva naturally gathered at the corners of Hana’s mouth.
With conditions like these, there was no reason to refuse.
Hana wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand, worried that he might have drooled, then solemnly raised his thumb.
“Don’t worry. Mutual trust is important in contracts. I’ll work hard to grow crops exclusively for Haechi.”
Hana quietly lowered his thumb and excitedly clenched both fists.
“Long live Haechi!”
Along with that resounding cry.
“Huh.”
Kang Hyeon looked at Hana with disbelief and shook his head slightly from side to side.
* * *
After Seo Ganghyeon left the garden like that.
Hana opened the cabin door and went inside with a face that was almost half out of it.
And he threw his body straight onto the bed with a thud.
“Haa, I’m dying.”
His body went completely limp.
His whole body ached and he had no strength left even in his fingertips.
But since the faint smell of fertilizer still lingered, Hana forced his heavy body up and headed to the bathroom.
After washing with lukewarm water and coming out, warm steam rose from his skin.
Only then did it feel real.
Ah, today is really over.
Hana roughly dried his hair with a towel and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Somehow we got through it well.”
It still didn’t feel real.
To think he made a contract with that Seo Ganghyeon.
“But what should I do about the rice seeds.”
In the end, he couldn’t even bring up the topic of rice seeds until just before they parted.
But it was only a matter of time, and he would eventually need Seo Ganghyeon’s help to carry out the mission.
Thinking about that fact, Hana chewed his lips anxiously in frustration.
“How should I bring it up.”
He couldn’t just suddenly say ‘Could you share some of your energy with me?’
“He’d think I’m some kind of weirdo.”
Or not? Am I already being treated like a weirdo enough?
“Let’s talk about it gradually, gradually.”
Hana muttered as if comforting himself.
For now, he had decided to continue using the garden on the hospital side, and Seo Ganghyeon said he would take care of the second garden he had made inside Gangnam Station Gate, so he didn’t need to get rid of it.
For now, this much was enough.
If you’re too greedy all at once, you’ll get into trouble.
There would be many days to see Seo Ganghyeon in the future, so wouldn’t there be other opportunities?
“Let’s sleep for now.”
Since he had decided to go to Haechi Guild tomorrow to write up the contract.
Hana buried his body in the bed with a plop.
As the tension released, drowsiness quickly rushed in.
Feeling his eyelids growing heavy rapidly, he slowly closed and opened them as Hana muttered.
“By the way, when are they going to give me that reward, a fragment of memory or whatever….”
Yaaawn.
His eyelids that had been blinking a few more times soon wouldn’t open anymore.
Along with the sound of yawning, his breathing settled evenly.
Soon Hana fell into a deep sleep.
That night.
Hana had a dream he hadn’t had even once since waking up in the hospital.
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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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