Chapter 37: The Diamond Pushover

#37

The hunters who had been dragged in shed tears, smearing their hands with the red ink. Dokyeom watched them, then scratched the back of his neck, his gaze fixed on the middle-aged man with a reluctant expression.

His reluctance was palpable.

“Brother, how about we make a deal? Ah… honestly, I was planning to keep this to myself, but… if you cancel my contract, I’ll hand it over to you.”

“Oh, Dokyeom, you’re trying to pull a fast one now, are you? Alright, fine. You cute little rascal. I’ll hear out your grand scheme, so hurry up and tell me, then let’s get your thumbprint on the paper.”

“If I connect you with an A-rank hunter from the Sahyeon Guild, will you let me go?”

Instantly, a chill settled over the office.

The middle-aged man’s triumphant smile froze on his face. Dokyeom let out a deep sigh, pulling his phone from the pocket of his thin coat and casually waving it.

“I’ve been working for the Sahyeon Guild lately, you see?”

“If you don’t believe me, I have a photo of the contract here, so feel free to take a look.”

He displayed the contract he had photographed at the time, pushing the phone forward for the middle-aged man to see.

The man’s eyes, narrowed in concentration, meticulously scanned the phone screen.

“I happened to strike up a friendship with one of the hunters there, and it turns out he’s no ordinary hunter.”

“He’s become quite famous lately. You know… Hunter Han Yuseong.”

Splash.

A stone had been thrown into a tranquil lake. The ripple effect of those words returned not as a wave, but as a tsunami.

It began with a collective gasp.

‘How could anyone not know that name?’ These days, if you turned on the TV, every program was discussing the ‘Red Gate’ strategy, making his name unforgettable.

Han Yuseong. An A-rank hunter belonging to a giant guild, whose fame rivaled that of an S-rank.

The middle-aged man unconsciously swallowed, awaiting the next words.

His upper body leaned forward, betraying his eagerness.

“But Mr. Han Yuseong isn’t just any pushover, you know.”

“Everyone knows he’s an A-rank hunter… but despite being an A-rank, he’s incredibly gullible, and so easily swayed that I’ve swindled him twice, and he still hasn’t caught on.”

“See this? I extorted this from that very same Hunter Han Yuseong.”

Dokyeom subtly pulled a pistol from his inventory and displayed it, causing the middle-aged man’s eyes to widen with sudden greed.

Among those who dealt with money, no one was ignorant of that pistol’s value. It was a weapon usable only within Gates, worth over ten million won on the market. Of course.

It was an item that could fetch its full price even if resold, often referred to as ‘walking emergency funds.’

It was a sight that couldn’t help but turn heads.

“You… extorted this from that A-rank hunter?”

“Do you think that’s all I got?”

“I… Ugh, but you’re not even going to cancel my contract, so aren’t you asking too many questions?”

Dokyeom draped his arms over the back of the sofa, adopting an arrogant posture.

The middle-aged man immediately reacted.

“Listen here, kid. If I hear you out and think it’s worthwhile, I’ll naturally cancel it, so don’t interrupt and just keep talking, alright?”

“You’re a smart guy, you should know better.”

“If you don’t cancel it after all this, then it’s over for me. Why would I bother?”

“Alright, fine, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Satisfied?”

There was no need to judge the veracity of those words. In this situation, everything uttered was merely a plausible evasion or a slick lie.

Only a fool would take them at face value.

“Well then… Ah, swipe to the next photo. You see the texts and the transfer statements, right?”

“They were sent directly from the Sahyeon Guild, so Mr. Han Yuseong’s name isn’t on them, but regardless, that’s all money I swindled from him.”

“About 20 million won was extorted under the guise of hospital bills… and what was the rest? House repair costs, I think?”

The middle-aged man moistened his parched lips, quickly scanning the transfer statements.

Beyond that, the text messages detailed a string of petty swindles against Han Yuseong, one after another. One day, his bed had collapsed; another, the plumbing had broken; yet another, a lightbulb had burned out.

Yet, Han Yuseong, that man, meekly believed these tales and continued to hand over money. At this point, he wasn’t just a pushover; he was a cash cow, a diamond-grade sugar daddy.

An inexhaustible source of funds.

The fact that they were all screenshots gave him a slight pause, but in his current state of greed, such details barely registered.

The middle-aged man chuckled, clearly pleased, and continued speaking.

“If you make a deal to bring Hunter Han Yuseong here, I’ll cancel your contract and handle everything for you, no questions asked, so just bring him here first and we can talk.”

“That’s the absolute limit of what I can do for you, kid.”

The man’s intention to exploit both parties was glaringly obvious. The middle-aged man consistently maintained his composure, calculating his next move.

He pretended to concede to Dokyeom’s terms, all while devising a new scheme.

With no other choice, Dokyeom feigned contemplation, his gaze shifting before he reluctantly nodded.

“Alright, fine… I’ll tell him to come here by 3 PM tomorrow.”

“As for my contract, I’ll come at 2 PM to sign it first. You’ll need to prepare the contract anyway, right, Brother?”

“But seriously, you drag people in the middle of the night and don’t even feed us? What time is it even…! No, forget it. Just get us a hotel nearby.”

“We’ll stay there and come straight back here tomorrow.”

“Dokyeom, it’s all good. Everything’s fine, but your brother here doesn’t trust anyone’s words unless they’re written in a contract.”

“Think carefully, okay?”

Though his lips smiled, his eyes held a distinctly sinister glint. The middle-aged man extended his hand into the air, flicking his wrist as if searching for something.

When his movement ceased, a single white paper appeared in his hand.

The middle-aged man drew a fountain pen from where his pocket square would be, and began to write on the white paper as if sketching a picture.

“It’s nothing much, just a contract stating you must be here by 2 PM tomorrow, so sign it.”

“Don’t forget it’s legally binding.”

The white paper was abruptly thrust forward. Dokyeom met the man’s gaze, accepting the paper and the fountain pen offered with it.

It was a simple, one-line provisional contract. The signature line bore a seal, and a clause was added, stating that non-compliance would result in one’s lungs dissolving, leading to death.

Without hesitation, Dokyeom signed the signature line, eliciting a hearty laugh from the man.

Though the man found it amusing, to others, it was a chilling, spine-tingling sound. It was enough to make the hunters seated beside Dokyeom hunch their shoulders in discomfort.

“This is why I like my little darling.”

“What are you doing? Order some food for the kid and get a hotel room to put him in.”

Ultimately that day, Dokyeom grudgingly ate the hangover soup the middle-aged man had ordered for him. He, along with three lower-rank hunters sitting beside him, were practically shoved and confined into a single hotel room.

Despite the circumstances of their detention, it was a surprisingly decent place.

While the despairing hunters buried their heads in their hands, lamenting their fate, Dokyeom drew a bath.

He then entered it with Agon, dozing off like a sickly chicken.

Fearing Dokyeom might vanish again, Agon held him tightly against their back throughout their time in the water, never letting go.

Even as a tongue traced over his wounds, stinging his face, Dokyeom’s exhausted body couldn’t even twitch a fingertip.

His phone had been confiscated long ago, upon his arrival.

Yet, Dokyeom, despite his sleep deprivation, eagerly anticipated tomorrow.

The hunters outside, wailing and causing a commotion, had no way of knowing Dokyeom’s true intentions.

They couldn’t grasp that he was merely conserving his strength, planning to eradicate the thugs monitoring the hotel room from outside.

****

Aside from staying in the bathtub late and then groggily stumbling to bed, shivering, the sleep itself was quite decent.

Indeed, he awoke well past noon.

After meticulously finishing the meal the thugs had ordered, Dokyeom showered. Only then did he check the time and begin preparing to leave.

The other lower-rank hunters, who had barely picked at their food, watched him with gaunt expressions.

Their faces, dark and hollow from a sleepless night, looked utterly wretched.

Unable to bear it any longer, someone parted their dry, cracked lips and asked.

“Don’t you worry at all? No matter how thoughtless someone is, how can you be so carefree after dragging others into this?”

“And ‘cancellation’ is just a word; do you really think those thugs will actually cancel a contract?”

Dokyeom, through the mirror, observed the hunters huddled in a corner, resembling homeless men.

When their eyes met his, they all quickly averted their gazes, looking uncomfortable.

“No… what we mean is, you seem far too relaxed…”

“I am relaxed, yes.”

“Pardon…?”

“And I have a reason to be.”

Turning, he approached the cowering hunters. Just as he took three steps, a loud pounding erupted from outside the door.

[It’s almost time to go! Stop messing around and get out here!]

Checking the time, it was 1:40 PM. Two o’clock was fast approaching, signaling the time to go for the contract.

The pounding and cursing from outside the door quickly subsided when Dokyeom shouted that he understood.

The hunters, with desolate expressions, stared at the door before closing their eyes in bitter resignation and standing up.

With their first step, a long shadow fell across their path. The hunters, who had been rooted to the spot, slowly raised their heads.

Standing before them, unlike their own wretched state, was a man of vibrant health.

He was an E-rank hunter brimming with confidence, who had slept so soundly he snored, and then scraped up every last grain of rice from his meal.

The men, who had been watching him with puzzled expressions, then heard his words and stiffened in unison.

“I actually had something I really wanted to ask you hunters.”

“It’s not a suggestion to die together, so would you mind listening?”

The moment someone swallowed, their time froze in place.

It felt as if one minute stretched into an hour.