The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 61

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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 61

Just as an unpleasant feeling was about to creep up from his toes.

Warmth was felt in the hand that had been grabbed by Damian.

It was Kang Hyeon.

He had taken Hana’s hand and was slowly tracing the spot where Damian’s hand had touched Hana’s.

His gaze was no different from usual, but the temperature beneath it had dropped a notch lower.

Damian, perhaps sensing that atmosphere, leisurely tilted his head.

“Was I perhaps rude? I’ve lived abroad for so long that I tend to be rather liberal with physical contact.”

It sounded like an apology, but the tone was nothing like an apology at all.

Watching that face pretending to be innocent, Hana’s eyebrow twitched very slightly.

This person is doing this on purpose right now, isn’t he?

Hana didn’t back down.

“You still haven’t answered me. How do you know my name?”

Damian’s eyes curved into thin crescents.

“Ah, that part bothered you.”

Damian continued speaking very smoothly.

“While checking the corruption materials committed by the former Vice-Chairman, I happened to see materials about you, Hana.”

Happened to.

That word, pronounced with particular emphasis, sounded particularly light.

“Besides, you’re quite famous at the Hunter Trading Post, aren’t you? Etcha potatoes, was it? You have such a special and precious ability that I paid a bit more attention.”

Damian, who had been speaking playfully, suddenly leaned his body forward and came closer.

Then he whispered low near Hana’s ear.

“And the fertilizer bag too. It suited you better than I thought.”

Hana’s pupils instantly hardened.

The ‘Fertilizer Bag Hunter’ who had set the internet ablaze.

He was definitely talking about that.

“For reference, this is also something I learned from looking at the former Vice-Chairman’s materials, so don’t misunderstand.”

Smiling brightly, Damian straightened his tilted torso again.

And seeing Hana’s expression full of wariness and Kang Hyeon openly emanating discomfort, Damian cheekily covered his mouth.

“Oh my. Was it perhaps a secret? Don’t worry. If you don’t want it, Hana, this matter won’t leak to the outside.”

Damian reassured Hana like a gentle gentleman.

“And you can use the garden again too.”

That’s when it happened.

“Vice-Chairman.”

A secretary in a suit hurried over and whispered low.

From the atmosphere, it seemed he had to leave now.

Damian stepped back with a regretful expression and looked at Hana.

Then he rather blatantly winked one eye lightly.

“Let’s meet again soon, us.”

Ugh.

Hana shuddered as if he had swallowed an entire container of butter, feeling queasy.

“What do you mean ‘us.’ Acting friendly when did we ever meet before.”

Hana’s eyes, always gentle, narrowed sharply.

Hana looked disapprovingly at Damian’s retreating figure.

“There’s a smell, something.”

At that moment.

Popcon, who had been hiding in his arms, cried out softly.

“Kyuung.”

The little one’s body stiffened as if tense.

And a system window flashed up in Hana’s vision.

【SYSTEM】

【’Sweet Corn Sprout’ has detected artificial Gate core energy from the target who made contact with the user.】

Hana’s eyes became a bit sharper.

“…See that. I told you there was a smell.”

* * *

“Ah! I should have just checked right then and there! Whether he had a core or not.”

As soon as they returned to the penthouse, Hana threw his body onto the wide sofa.

His legs, placed on the deeply sinking cushions, flailed and fumed.

Damian Park was a strangely unpleasant person.

At first glance, he seemed like a perfect gentleman who might appear in some classic movie, but he had the talent of leaving a subtle unpleasantness after parting.

Then, a low and heavy sigh fell from beside his head.

It was Kang Hyeon.

“You can check? Damian is the same SS-rank as me, you know?”

After delivering that reality-check statement.

Kang Hyeon picked up the cushions that had fallen to the floor from Hana’s thrashing and put them back in place, then pushed one of them under Hana’s head.

Thanks to that, Hana’s position became much more comfortable, and his lips protruded like a beak.

“Of course! I can’t do it.”

Hana rolled his body around to look up at Kang Hyeon.

“But Seo Ganghyeon was there with me. I should have asked you to casually check right there.”

“Hah.”

A deflated laugh leaked from Kang Hyeon.

“As I said before, now you’re trying to use me quite naturally.”

“Use you? As I also said before, that’s not it.”

Hana mimicked Kang Hyeon’s words and abruptly sat up.

“I’m doing this so we can all live well together. Damian Park or whatever. That person could also be an evil god follower. What if that person also uses artificial cores like the former Vice-Chairman to open Gates left and right?”

“Or it could simply be evidence acquired during the investigation process.”

Tch.

How unnecessarily rational.

At Kang Hyeon’s sharp retort, Hana’s lips protruded a bit more.

But apart from the personal displeasure he felt toward Damian, there were things that made it difficult to hastily suspect Damian.

Damian was said to be a Hunter with light attributes.

His alias was also well known for its righteous and clean image.

For such a person to be an evil god follower.

It was somewhat far-fetched.

Moreover, they had only just found the symbol representing the evil god, and it wasn’t even certain whether the Vice-Chairman was really an evil god follower.

“Ugh, I don’t know.”

Hana lay down flat again.

Right, what would change even if an F-rank like me worried about this.

Right in front of me there’s an SS-rank Hunter with amazing abilities.

Other people will probably handle things well on their own.

‘I should just tend to my garden and recover my memories. What business do I have meddling when I can’t even take care of myself.’

Hana tried to forcibly pull the miscellaneous thoughts out of his head.

Kang Hyeon, who had been watching such Hana, chuckled and shook his head.

Thanks to spending long periods together, Hana had been helping Kang Hyeon’s sleep more often than contracted, and perhaps because it was effective, the sharp aura that used to flow from Kang Hyeon had become much gentler than before.

The shadows that had hung under his eyes also seemed to have lightened somewhat.

Hana stared intently at Kang Hyeon’s face, which appeared upside down, then suddenly sat up.

It was because he belatedly realized that they had quite naturally returned to Kang Hyeon’s penthouse.

“Wait a minute. That blue Smurf-like human said earlier that I could use the garden.”

“….”

“Then I can go back to the cabin now, can’t I?”

“That won’t work.”

Kang Hyeon’s response was immediate.

Hana blinked.

“Why not?”

“If Damian Park really is an evil god follower like you said, then it’s dangerous.”

Wait, didn’t you say he might not be one just earlier?

Seo Ganghyeon, who had changed his tune from what he’d said just minutes before, awkwardly lifted an empty water cup to drink from it, then became even more flustered and set the cup back down.

“Anyway, let’s stay here a bit longer for now.”

Then suddenly claiming he had urgent business, he went outside.

Left alone unexpectedly, Hana scratched his cheek.

“What’s with him? Why is he acting like that?”

But there had been too many events throughout the day to dwell on the meaning behind Kang Hyeon’s strange behavior.

Hana soon gave up thinking about it and buried himself back into the sofa.

His stay here had been extended unexpectedly.

“Ugh…”

Hana, who had been staring up at the ceiling, let his arms drop limply.

“I don’t know anymore. I just wish I could hurry up and find my memories.”

It was just meaningless muttering to himself.

But as soon as he spoke, a system window popped up before his eyes again, as if it had been waiting.

【SYSTEM】

【A garden should naturally have sweet and sour fruits too!】

【Mission: Obtain ‘Strawberry🍓 Blooming in the Snowy Plains’!】

【Reward: 4,500pt Experience】

【Current Experience: 300/8,000pt】

【Upon reaching 8,000pt cumulative experience, ‘A Fragment of Lost Memory’ will be given as a reward.】

“Snowy Plains? Strawberry?”

Hana, who had been sprawled on the sofa, bolted upright.

And shivered.

The moment he muttered about wanting to find his memories, a mission appeared with perfect timing.

The timing was absolutely incredible.

It was as if it had its own consciousness, perfectly detecting what he needed and providing it.

When Hana looked at Jjak-jjak-i with suspicious eyes, an expression of sweating appeared on the blue window.

【SYSTEM】

【(・・；) Your gaze is quite insolent!】

“What? What’s wrong with my gaze!”

【SYSTEM】

【I may be quite cute, but please don’t look at me so passionately. It’s burdensome.】

“Really. You never stop talking back.”

At times like this, it seemed to speak even better than most people.

Hana grumbled but turned his gaze back to the mission window.

Then his eyes were particularly caught by one phrase.

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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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