Chapter 19: Favor

Tears streamed down from Han Yu Ri’s eyes again.

Oh dear.

This person must have been really surprised.

Well…

He’s C-class and yet he charged at a Grade 3 monster, making a fuss, not like a suicide squad or anything.

It’s understandable from Han Yu Ri’s perspective that she would be surprised.

I understand.

Because I understood, I tried my best to comfort her.

“Stop crying. In the end, we are both safe, aren’t we?”

I had a strong desire to comfort her.

So, unconsciously, I gently stroked Han Yu Ri’s right shoulder, which was holding onto my body, and said.

Nodding.

As I stroked her gently and spoke, Han Yu Ri seemed to calm down a little, nodding cutely with tearful eyes.

Her face seemed to have turned slightly red.

Her expression also changed a little.

It was an unreadable expression, somehow seeming awkward, and also a little anxious.

‘Why is she like that?’

Oh!

I soon realized the reason.

I became aware that I was unconsciously stroking Han Yu Ri’s shoulder and speaking.

I realized what I had done only then.

Fortunately, Han Yu Ri remained still without showing any rejection even when I was stroking her.

‘It… It’ll be okay, right?’

Pretending that nothing had happened, I carefully removed my hand from Han Yu Ri’s shoulder, trying to be as natural as possible.

Phew.

Touching an S-class Hunter so casually, you’re crazy, Kwon Geon.

“We saved hundreds of people by joining forces, didn’t we?”

Nodding.

“Everything turned out well. So stop crying.”

“Yes.”

At my words, Han Yu Ri sent me a pretty smile and replied.

She’s pretty.

She cries and then smiles so quickly.

Our bodies were close together, and Han Yu Ri was still gently holding onto my body.

So I could feel it well.

Feeling it faintly, Han Yu Ri’s magic power also seemed to be depleted.

Both of us were in a state where we couldn’t fight to save people any more today.

I raised my left hand while lying down.

And I turned on my Hunter Watch map.

All the monsters around us had been dealt with.

It seemed the C and D-class Hunters had spread out in all directions and handled everything well.

At this point, I could sufficiently judge that the city was safe.

It wasn’t dangerous anymore.

It was okay to just wander around even in a state with no magic power.

“Then, since it seems you’ve also used up all your magic power, Han Yu Ri-nim, please go back.”

Han Yu Ri was younger than me.

However, I couldn’t address an S-class Hunter casually as Miss Yu Ri.

So I added the ‘nim’ suffix.

‘I didn’t accidentally call her ‘Han Yu Ri!’ or ‘Miss Yu Ri’ while fighting, did I?’

‘Well, even if I did, I was in a hurry then, so she’d understand, right?’

“But…”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Although I wasn’t a great Hunter like Kim Joon Hyuk or Han Yu Ri, I was also a Hunter.

The cracks in my spine and hand bones would take some time to recover.

However, minor torn wounds would heal quickly in a little while.

I stood up to prevent Han Yu Ri from worrying about me any further.

As I raised my body, I roughly wiped the blood from around my mouth with my sleeve and said.

There was no reason for Han Yu Ri to stay here because of me.

I should send her off quickly.

Actually, I had many questions for Han Yu Ri.

Why was she alone, where were her guild members.

But for me, a mere C-class, to ask an S-class Hunter like Han Yu Ri about the strategy was like a new employee at a large corporation directly asking the chairman about the plan.

Even though we had just been talking closely, there was a clear and immense difference in our status.

I knew that well.

I had no intention of arrogantly boasting and breaking that barrier just because I had saved her.

I also thought that my victory was more due to her help than my own.

“Um…”

As I finished speaking and was about to leave, Han Yu Ri called out to me, somehow hesitating.

‘Why is she doing that?’

‘Does she want to ask about my power because she’s curious?’

That would make sense.

No matter how much of her buff I received, it was too strange for a C-class to win.

She must be curious.

But even if she asked, I’m sorry, but I had nothing to tell her.

Because I didn’t know myself either.

Han Yu Ri kept hesitating, as if there was something she wanted to say but couldn’t.

Han Yu Ri extended her white, thin, long index finger.

And hitting her index fingers together, she remained silent.

‘Why are you doing that?’

‘Are you hesitating because you want to ask about my power?’

‘It’s okay to just ask.’

‘Why is she hesitating like that.’

‘She’s cute.’

‘I won’t scold her if she asks.’

“What is it. Please speak.”

I found Han Yu Ri cute, so I asked gently with a smile.

‘It’s okay to just ask.’

“Ah…”

Ah?

‘This won’t do.’

‘It seems like it will take ages if I just leave it like this, so I should tell her about my power first.’

‘What should I say?’

‘I should probably just say something like, ‘My rank assessment is C, but I don’t know why I am like this’ and make it sound casual…’

“If it’s alright, would you like to go have a cup of coffee together? At that cafe over there.”

Just as I was thinking for a moment about what to tell Han Yu Ri and was about to speak, Han Yu Ri said to me.

For some reason, holding her small hands tightly clasped together.

‘What?’

‘She wasn’t curious about my power.’

‘She wanted to have coffee with me?’

‘Did she hesitate that much just to say that?’

‘Why?’

‘What’s with those cute hands clasped together like that?’

What’s so difficult about asking to have coffee together?

I was dumbfounded and also a little baffled.

And somehow, Han Yu Ri was just too cute.

So even though I shouldn’t have, I chuckled without realizing it.

“Ah, no, it’s just, it doesn’t mean anything else, but you’re very injured and have blood on you, so… if you rest at the cafe for a bit before you go…”

When I chuckled, perhaps misunderstanding that I was laughing at her, Han Yu Ri started explaining urgently.

‘What if it meant something else?’

‘Why are you explaining?’

‘She’s cute.’

Seeming flustered, Han Yu Ri’s two eyebrows shot up abruptly, her eyes widened immensely.

With widened eyes, Han Yu Ri unclenched her tightly clasped hands, spread them wide, and urgently waved them while explaining.

“Yes. Okay.”

I calmly replied to the flustered Han Yu Ri who was explaining.

“Ah, yes. Heh.”

When I agreed so readily, Han Yu Ri, who had been explaining diligently, stopped momentarily.

The stopped Han Yu Ri seemed to understand my words for a moment.

And perhaps understanding that I had said yes, she soon replied.

Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed about explaining so diligently to me, Han Yu Ri made a cute, short sound, ‘Heh,’ after replying yes.

“Shall we go then?”

I said to Han Yu Ri, gesturing towards the cafe.

“Yes.”

Han Yu Ri replied, smiling as she looked at me.

And we both started walking towards the cafe.

Was I really going to have coffee alone with S-class Hunter Han Yu Ri?

Even in the moment we were walking towards the cafe together, I couldn’t believe it.

***

「Han Yu Ri’s Perspective – Immediately after Kwon Geon defeated the Grade 3 monster, when she ran to the fallen Kwon Geon.」

Han Yu Ri ran towards that man faster than anyone else.

Because she was so worried about that man.

“Are you alright?!”

Han Yu Ri asked the man gently while crying.

With her heart full of genuine concern.

He replied that he was okay.

Han Yu Ri checked all over the man’s body.

Parts of his body were torn here and there.

Han Yu Ri’s heart ached so much because he seemed to be very injured.

“Did you cry?”

After inspecting the man to see if he was okay for a long time, the man suddenly asked her.

Han Yu Ri was momentarily surprised.

Han Yu Ri hadn’t thought that the man would ask something like that while he was in pain.

Flustered by the sudden question, Han Yu Ri didn’t know what to do and her pupils trembled.

She was both surprised and very embarrassed about being caught crying.

“No?”

The flustered Han Yu Ri wanted to hide the fact that she had cried.

So she first denied to the man that she had cried.

“But you look like you’ve been crying?”

But the man didn’t let it go easily.

The man asked again.

“No, I haven’t?”

Inwardly, Han Yu Ri desperately hoped, ‘Please stop asking, it’s too embarrassing. My benefactor-nim.’ and denied it one more time.

“Why did you cry.”

Then the man asked warmly with a kind smile.

His smile and voice were so warm that Han Yu Ri felt she could no longer resist.

In the end, embarrassingly, her tears started flowing again in front of that man.

Han Yu Ri grabbed the man’s body without realizing it.

And then, she confessed everything she had thought only in her heart, as if making a confession, crying and muttering that she was so worried, that she was scared he would die.

After pouring everything out and regaining her senses, Han Yu Ri felt embarrassment washing over her.

Even though she couldn’t stop crying, Han Yu Ri occasionally glanced at the man’s face.

She was worried that the man might think she was funny, being an S-class Hunter yet such a crybaby.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t stop the tears.

The shock she had felt, the relief that she had safely saved people and the situation was over, and the joy that the man had returned safely.

Because it was tears overflowing with a mix of all these emotions, they didn’t stop easily.

“Stop crying. It was my fault.”

While she was crying like that, the man suddenly spoke.

And his single sentence made Han Yu Ri cry even more.