Chapter 102: The Guildmaster Who Vanished

Until she heard back from Son Seong-cheol, Park Sujin said she would make thorough preparations and disappeared. Seong Ji-woo pulled himself together, steadying his scattered thoughts.

For the first time in a long while, he tidied up the general store. He swept and scrubbed so that Yu Hiiro wouldn’t be startled when he came back. He even opened the shop’s door again after so long.

“Deputy Guildmaster!”

The first customer to visit the shop was Chae Min-jeong. Ever since Yu Hiiro had been rushed to the emergency room, the guild members had received a message from Seong Ji-woo: Please stand by until further notice.

Since then, the deputy guildmaster had gone completely silent, and while the guildmaster’s name appeared sporadically in the news at first, even that had abruptly stopped. It was enough to drive anyone crazy with frustration.

“I’m sorry. I contacted you late.”

To be honest, until she received the message saying there would be a guild meeting at the general store today, Chae Min-jeong had been furious. She thought it made no sense not to inform fellow guild members—of all people—about the guildmaster’s condition.

But the moment she saw Seong Ji-woo’s face, all the words she had prepared vanished. His expression made it painfully clear that there had been a reason he couldn’t get in touch.

Seeing how gaunt he looked, Chae Min-jeong couldn’t bring herself to say anything. After stumbling over her words, she finally managed to ask,

“…Are you okay?”

“…Yes.”

The answer came a little late, and his expression clearly said he wasn’t okay at all—but she couldn’t bring herself to ask more. Chae Min-jeong closed her mouth and took a seat on the sofa.

Not long after, Son Ji-hwan arrived as well. He looked like he’d come straight from training, carrying a large sports bag and with a towel draped around his neck.

“No, how could you possibly—”

He raised his voice the moment he opened the door, as if he’d come fully prepared to vent, but froze in confusion when his eyes met Seong Ji-woo’s. Understanding exactly how he felt, Chae Min-jeong patted the seat beside her. Son Ji-hwan went over and sat down.

“I’m sorry.”

Seong Ji-woo apologized as he set tea down in front of them. The confident figure they were used to was nowhere to be seen—only a dispirited man remained.

In the noticeably heavy atmosphere, Son Ji-hwan let out a deep sigh. He wasn’t heartless enough to lash out at someone who so obviously looked unwell.

“I’ll trust that you reached a good conclusion, given how long you made us wait.”

After contact with both the guildmaster and the deputy guildmaster had abruptly stopped, Son Ji-hwan had seriously considered leaving the guild. This was a matter of trust. If information couldn’t be shared smoothly among team members, guild activities would inevitably suffer.

Seong Ji-woo knew that too well. It was true that he’d handled things poorly in the sudden absence of the guildmaster. He had nothing to say in his defense.

To be honest, he still hadn’t recovered from the shock of that day.

“I’ll tell you everything I can.”

Even so, he had to take responsibility now. He intended to tell them everything they could reasonably handle.

“I-I’m sorry I’m late…!”

Lastly, Lee Won-jae arrived. He said he’d gotten confused about the bus route and ended up running the distance of five stops. Son Ji-hwan pulled a fresh towel out of his bag and handed it to him.

“It’s fine. Have some tea first.”

Once Lee Won-jae had caught his breath, Seong Ji-woo slowly began to speak, recounting what he had been organizing in his head for hours.

“First, I’ll tell you about the current condition of the guildmaster, Hunter Yu Hiiro.”

“…Yes.”

Chae Min-jeong swallowed nervously. Son Ji-hwan watched Seong Ji-woo in silence while sipping his tea, and Lee Won-jae fidgeted, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

“The reason I couldn’t contact you until now is… because I didn’t know Hiiro’s condition myself.”

“…What?”

“Pardon?”

The three of them stared at him in shock. They had assumed there must be some reason he couldn’t talk—but none of them had imagined it was because he didn’t know the condition himself.

“What do you mean by that?”

Son Ji-hwan asked, setting his cup down. His brow furrowed as Seong Ji-woo spoke in a heavy tone.

“Hiiro nearly died. This involves an underlying medical condition, so I can’t speak freely about the details. In any case, it caused him to black out, and he didn’t regain consciousness afterward. We had to ask the Association for help.”

“……”

“The Association took Hiiro for treatment, and after that, I haven’t received any reports at all.”

“……”

Chae Min-jeong looked dumbfounded. None of this made sense to her. That the Association would take Hiiro for treatment and then provide absolutely no updates was hard to believe.

“Does that even make sense?”

“I-I know, right…?”

Lee Won-jae muttered in disbelief. Son Ji-hwan pressed his fingers against his temples, his expression full of frustration.

But Seong Ji-woo wasn’t finished.

“To be honest, I still don’t know his condition. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Hiiro.”

“…Wow. No, I mean… wow…”

Chae Min-jeong was completely at a loss for words. She let out a few meaningless exclamations before clamping her mouth shut.

“The Association is currently refusing my visits. I don’t know why. Earlier today, an Association official contacted me and said Hiiro had woken up. But even that can’t be trusted. I haven’t spoken to him directly or seen him myself.”

“……”

“What is that place, some kind of prison?”

Son Ji-hwan cut in, his irritation obvious.

“I’ve never heard of restrictions like that being imposed during emergency treatment by the Association.”

“I-I know! I really don’t understand why the Association would hide the guildmaster like this…”

Lee Won-jae chimed in. Seong Ji-woo nodded as if he understood. There wasn’t much he could say about the most troubling part of all. It was frustrating, but unavoidable.

“I mentioned an underlying condition earlier, right? That’s why. Hiiro has had some connections with the Association since he was young. Because of that… regular ability-user hospitals couldn’t do anything, and we had no choice but to rely on the Association. They want to keep this matter confidential.”

“So they’re bargaining with a man’s life. That’s the Association for you.”

Chae Min-jeong muttered sharply, and Seong Ji-woo didn’t deny it. They were using Hiiro’s life as leverage.

“So those rumors circulating under the table were true.”

Watching Seong Ji-woo’s face darken, Son Ji-hwan irritably raked a hand through his hair.

“What rumors?”

Lee Won-jae asked. Son Ji-hwan looked around at the three of them. Chae Min-jeong bit her lip, as if something had already occurred to her.

“That the Association treats hunters like pushovers.”

“……”

“More accurately, like slaves. On the surface, they pretend to look out for hunters, pretend to mediate for them—but in the end, there’s talk that they’re always scheming to keep everyone under their thumb.”

“…Yeah. I’ve heard that too.”

Chae Min-jeong raised her hand slightly, agreeing with Son Ji-hwan. The two of them had been through enough fieldwork to sense these things.

Until now, they’d thought it was just a laughable conspiracy theory—or rumors spread by hunters with a grudge against the Association.

After all, outwardly, the Association seemed to have very little direct influence over hunters. Aside from the initial registration process, most hunters rarely visited the Association at all.

Only guildmasters regularly communicated with them; ordinary guild members often went their entire careers without any contact with the Association until retirement.

There were also quite a few pro-Association guilds, so many believed relations between the Association and hunters were friendly. The quarterly awards ceremonies held by the Association also helped maintain a positive public image.

“But if those rumors actually have some basis… honestly, that’s pretty shocking. And if that’s true… then among the other rumors…”

As he spoke, Son Ji-hwan’s eyes grew heavy. There were a few stories he could vaguely piece together from things he’d overheard—but he couldn’t bring himself to speak them aloud.

He knew it wouldn’t be wise to dig up things Seong Ji-woo had deliberately kept quiet about. In this line of work, there were things you had to pretend not to know—even if you did.

Like now.

“Then… is the guildmaster never coming back? Don’t tell me…”

What mattered now wasn’t the past, but the present and the future. Now that they knew Yu Hiiro had woken up but was unreachable, they had to talk about what might happen next.

“No matter what, I’ll bring him back. So don’t worry.”

Saying no matter what implied that something might happen. In other words, nothing was predictable or certain.

There was no solid basis for his words—but the look on Seong Ji-woo’s face was resolute, almost desperate.

Because of that, he seemed trustworthy. Even though they hadn’t heard a single word about what plan he had.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.”

“I want to go too! To rescue the guildmaster!”

The moment Seong Ji-woo finished apologizing, Chae Min-jeong shot her arm into the air. Determination practically overflowed from her voice.

But Seong Ji-woo shook his head.

“There are people involved in this matter who’ve agreed to help. You don’t need to step in. It could be dangerous.”

“……”

“Ah—of course, it’s not that I don’t trust you…”

Seong Ji-woo hurriedly added the explanation. He’d called them here to reassure them, only to nearly lose their trust again.

As expected, a dissatisfied look crossed Chae Min-jeong’s face. At that moment, Son Ji-hwan quickly stepped in to summarize Seong Ji-woo’s stance.

“The deputy guildmaster is worried about us.”

“Huh? Ah, yes. Honestly, I don’t want any of you getting involved in this.”

“That’s why you deliberately brought up the Association. To let us know there’s an organization behind all of this.”

“……Yes, that’s right. Exactly.”