Chapter 18: Unexpected Encounter on a Late Night

Thanks to the convenience offered by the Cheongram Hunter Hall, Shin Ji-ho was able to settle the auction results most quickly.

‘Considering things like this, I suppose I really am a corrupt elite of the Hunter world.’

Thinking of the nickname he had grown accustomed to, his mood briefly soured. However, the sight of the enormous pile of items quickly lifted his spirits.

Shin Ji-ho instructed them to send all the purchased items to the guild. As he turned to leave, he paused and asked an employee,

“Would it be possible to know who registered this staff?”

“That…”

The employee, likely of a considerably high rank, looked troubled and found it difficult to speak.

With any other hunter, they would have flatly refused to disclose the information. However, since their interlocutor was Shin Ji-ho, a member of the Cheongram Department Store’s owner family, they seemed to be in a difficult position.

Seeing the employee frantically racking their brain, Shin Ji-ho rephrased his question.

“Could you at least tell me if it was an item registered by Joo Yi-won or the Cheongram Guild?”

“No, it was not. It was registered by an unrelated guild. I apologize, but disclosing the bidder is difficult due to regulations…”

They had revealed that much because if it had been related to Joo Yi-won or the Cheongram Guild, Shin Ji-ho would have easily found out anyway. However, anything beyond that was impossible. Shin Ji-ho, who had no intention of prying further, simply nodded.

“Yes, I understand. Thank you for telling me.”

Shin Ji-ho thanked the employee and stepped outside.

Joo Yi-won had subtly encouraged the purchase, making Shin Ji-ho wonder if it was an item discreetly pushed in for him to buy cheaply. It seemed that wasn’t the case.

He had briefly wondered if it was related, as the gloves Joo Yi-won had given him before were also crafted by ‘Reilley Aesha.’ While a bit too coincidental, it wasn’t entirely strange.

After all, equipment items from the same dungeon often shared a distinctive feel, reflecting a common culture.

For instance, sci-fi-themed dungeons would yield sci-fi-themed equipment, while medieval-themed dungeons would produce medieval-themed gear.

Organizing his thoughts, Shin Ji-ho gazed out the window at the darkening sky.

The auction, which had begun in the evening, finally concluded late at night.

****

Descending to the parking lot, Shin Ji-ho found Joo Yi-won waiting in front of his car, despite having assumed he had already left.

“Ji-ho.”

“What is it?”

Shin Ji-ho replied curtly, his guard visibly up. Seeing Shin Ji-ho react like a wary animal bristling its fur, Joo Yi-won swallowed a laugh.

“I’m not going to say anything weird.”

“Then what is it?”

“Want to come sleep at my place? It’s close by.”

That was certainly weird enough. Moreover, his voice had a subtly greasy quality that sent shivers down Shin Ji-ho’s spine. Hearing such an affectionate tone, one typically reserved for a lover rather than a friend, Shin Ji-ho grimaced.

“Why would I go to your place? My house is closer.”

“Come on, friends visit each other’s houses all the time.”

“Another time. I’m tired today.”

“I could give you a shoulder massage? I’ll buy you something delicious too.”

Joo Yi-won tried to gently coax him with such pathetic tactics.

‘Does he think I’m a five-year-old?’ Shin Ji-ho waved his hand, making a shooing gesture at Joo Yi-won.

“No thanks. Just go to sleep already. You’re busy, aren’t you?”

Joo Yi-won was scheduled to raid an S-rank dungeon managed by Cheongram tomorrow. Although it was a frequently cleared dungeon and not inherently dangerous, shouldn’t he still get a good night’s rest beforehand?

Even if Joo Yi-won was an incredibly capable and powerful SS-rank hunter, a moment of distraction could still lead to injury.

Instead of wasting his energy here, Shin Ji-ho wished Joo Yi-won would just go home and sleep. Yet, Joo Yi-won clung to him relentlessly.

“Even if I’m busy, for Ji-ho, I’m on standby 24/7.”

“Yes, I don’t need you.”

If he continued the conversation, he would inevitably get drawn in. Before he could be completely swept up and ensnared by the storm-like Joo Yi-won, Shin Ji-ho dodged him and got into his car.

Just before the car door closed, Joo Yi-won firmly grasped it.

“Are you really going alone? I’ll make you ramen. I can make it really tasty.”

“Ramen out of nowhere…? I can make ramen myself, you know.”

Even if Shin Ji-ho had grown up pampered, surely he could boil ramen?

Although, he had never actually made it.

“Let go while I’m being nice. This is your last warning.”

When Shin Ji-ho spoke in a chilling tone, Joo Yi-won frowned in displeasure and released his hand.

“I hope Ji-ho’s house gets destroyed. Then you’ll have to come to my place.”

“Are you cursing me?”

“I don’t intend to rely on something as uncertain as a curse. I’ll just have to find an opportunity to destroy it myself.”

“You crazy bastard.”

“If it gets destroyed, come to my place, darling.”

Shin Ji-ho hurled an insult instead of a farewell at Joo Yi-won, who was still spouting curses, and closed the door. Joo Yi-won, seemingly without the intention of forcing the door open or dragging him out, simply waved from beyond the window.

Driving along the bustling street, which remained far from deserted even at this late hour, Shin Ji-ho recalled Joo Yi-won’s face as he waved goodbye.

As Joo Yi-won spoke of destruction, a subtly ominous killing intent seemed to emanate from his eyes, making it hard to dismiss as a mere joke.

Surely he wasn’t serious… or was he?

A part of Shin Ji-ho felt uneasy, knowing that Joo Yi-won was precisely the kind of person who would actually carry out something he’d casually dismissed with ‘nothing will happen.’

‘No, no matter what, destroying someone else’s house is an act of terrorism.’

Even though Joo Yi-won often did crazy things, he was still a hunter respected by others. There was no way he would commit an act of terrorism.

“He used to be nicer.”

He recalled Joo Yi-won from their school days, who had diligently looked after Shin Ji-ho, practically treating him like a burden.

This happened when they were high school students.

After some children found out that Joo Yi-won’s parents had both passed away and that he was living at Shin Ji-ho’s house, they began to bully him.

Their bullying wasn’t overtly obvious. When it was just them and Joo Yi-won, they would utter malicious words, secretly put trash in his locker, or deface his books with profanity. These were timid yet insidious acts of torment.

Joo Yi-won made no particular response, silently enduring everything.

It was purely by chance that Shin Ji-ho discovered the bullying.

At that moment, Shin Ji-ho completely lost his temper. He grabbed a chair, rushed forward, struck the perpetrator, threw a desk, and hurled anything else he could get his hands on.

Naturally, the school was thrown into an uproar. After all, Shin Ji-ho, who had been a model student, was the one who initiated such dangerous violence.

Since Shin Ji-ho was physically weak and lacked strength, his opponent wasn’t severely injured. Instead, Shin Ji-ho, who had been burning with anger, collapsed, and the fact that the opponent had bullied Joo Yi-won came to light. As a result, the incident eventually faded away as if nothing had happened.

It was fortunate that they got through it without major problems, but looking back, it was truly a crazy thing to do. No matter what, to aim a chair at someone’s head and strike them?

Indeed, this incident had become an issue when Shin Ji-ho was being criticized online.

At that time, those who had bullied Joo Yi-won and been beaten by Shin Ji-ho posted online, claiming that Shin Ji-ho, who had committed fraud, also had a history of violence during his student days.

Back then, just as now, Joo Yi-won, a national hero, personally revealed the full story of the incident. Consequently, the accusers ended up being reviled. However, it was a truly perilous moment at the time.

‘I could have handled it more wisely now.’

Instead of losing his temper and resorting to violence, it would have been better to gather evidence of the bullying and report it. Because Shin Ji-ho was the first to use violence, the bullies’ punishment at the time was inconclusive. If he had used his head a little, he could have properly screwed them over.

His temper, which sometimes flared up, was the problem. Moreover, Shin Ji-ho was the kind of person who couldn’t stand injustice.

Now that he was an adult, he would be able to handle similar situations better.

He had to be careful about everything moving forward. Many people would try to find fault with even small things, so acting without thinking through the consequences would be problematic.

‘Always think rationally. Don’t get excited.’

Concluding his self-reflection, Shin Ji-ho turned his car from the main road into an alley.

A quiet residential area where Shin Ji-ho lived appeared before him.

‘First, I need to get some good rest today…’

He would draw a bath, soak away his fatigue, and then relax on his soft bed. As Shin Ji-ho felt excited, recalling these familiar yet sweet sensations…

_Boom!_

As if crushing Shin Ji-ho’s resolve, an unnatural roar echoed not far away.

“What was that?”

Shin Ji-ho’s car screeched to a halt. The massive, unnatural roar clearly came from the opposite direction of his destination.

Before he could even think, his body was already driving towards the source of the sound. And as the car drew closer to the location of the roar, he felt an unusual flow of magic that only Awakened individuals could perceive.

“There haven’t been any special alerts at this hour?”

Although it was an area a little far from the guild, he checked the crack alerts for Southern Seoul and the nearby Gyeonggi region daily, just in case he needed to provide support. Even today, while hospitalized and unable to work, he had habitually checked them.

Of course, crack predictions were not 100% accurate.

However, just a few days ago, a gathering-type dungeon gate had suddenly appeared instead of a single, isolated crack. Wasn’t this happening too often?

“Honestly, they should do their job properly…”

Complaining, he had already driven as close as possible. The crack that had opened in the wide alley was roughly C-rank, judging by its size and the flow of magic. For an ordinary person, it was a sufficiently threatening grade.

In Shin Ji-ho’s sight, one person, a male student in a school uniform with a youthful face, had failed to evacuate and was sitting frozen on the ground.

Shin Ji-ho rushed towards the student.

A monster, standing about ten meters from the student, slowly approached.

There were six of them. One more was emerging from the crack.

Their movements were slow, but the liquid dripping from the long antennae on their heads melted the ground.

Shin Ji-ho immediately checked the monster’s information.

[Status]

Killing just one wouldn’t be difficult, but dealing with several grouped together would be quite challenging for Shin Ji-ho in his current state.

If he used his original skill, [Body Reinforcement], he could easily kill multiple monsters, but…

‘I can’t easily switch.’

Last time, when he tried to reactivate the stabilization skill as a test, a warning window popped up.

[System Management]

[Using this skill will cause a severe overload to your body. You will experience intense pain and may lose consciousness for a period of time.]

That’s what it said.

He couldn’t cleverly switch between skills. If he were to try switching now, just as a test, and ended up losing consciousness, he would die.