Chapter 53: A Risky Bet

#53

It was a quiet cafe in Daechi-dong.

After completing the gate raid that day, Dokyeom handed Beom Yeonhu one of his business cards. He took Yeonhu’s number, making a simple promise to meet again in a few days.

Today was that appointed day. Sitting by the window in the sparsely populated cafe, Beom Yeonhu appeared to have made an effort with his attire. Dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks, he could easily have been mistaken for a college student.

It was evident at a glance that he had dressed up to show respect. Yet, his overall demeanor remained dry and lifeless. From the outset, he hadn’t come to this meeting with any expectation.

It had been only a few days since their last encounter. Perhaps for this reason, the numerous injuries that had covered his face when Dokyeom handed him the card were now faint. Dokyeom took a sip of the latte placed before him, then cast a sidelong glance at Beom Yeonhu, who was idly fiddling with his shirt cuff.

Beom Yeonhu’s lips twitched repeatedly, as if he were hesitating to speak. It was only after steeling himself that he finally opened his mouth.

“This… I’d like to return it.”

Beom Yeonhu extended something clutched in his hand towards Dokyeom. It was the potion Dokyeom had given him inside the gate. His hand, offering the potion as if it were a cherished treasure, was unnecessarily deferential.

“Just keep it. It looked like you were quite injured.”

After Dokyeom pushed it back and refused several times, Beom Yeonhu reluctantly put it back into his pocket. Even then, he handled it with the utmost care, as if it were a sacred artifact.

“Do you have any conditions you’d like? I’ll speak to the guild about them.”

Beom Yeonhu’s contract, in any case, wouldn’t be directly with the guild, but rather through Dokyeom, bringing him into Dokyeom’s team. Nevertheless, being contracted under the Sahyeon Guild would amount to the same thing.

Beom Yeonhu, habitually fiddling with his cuff once more, suddenly spoke.

“I… I honestly still don’t understand why you extended your hand to me, Hunter-nim. I know you… had better options.”

‘Better options, what… Ah.’

“Ah, you mean Kang Taesan?”

“Even if not Taesan, there were many other capable hunters available for that position.”

“I didn’t find any of them particularly impressive.”

Beom Yeonhu’s shoulders flinched. Perhaps to clear his confusion, he gulped down the water placed before him.

“Kang Taesan already received a business card from the Woohwa Guild anyway, didn’t he? So he’ll likely go there.”

It was a shame, but Dokyeom had to let go of Kang Taesan here.

In the novel, Kang Taesan also complained about the salary offered by the Sahyeon Guild and ultimately joined the Woohwa Guild, where Geon Ita was. Kang Taesan was simply that kind of person: humane, yet capable of being a materialist when the situation called for it.

Furthermore, before leaving that place, Dokyeom had used to examine Kang Taesan’s skills. The result showed that the ‘skill’ that would eventually elevate him to the pinnacle had not yet awakened.

Even if Dokyeom had taken him immediately, Kang Taesan, without that particular ‘skill,’ would have had no chance of saving Taeseongyeon. There was no way to know when that ability would awaken.

Even if he were brought in, everything was insufficient at this point.

Dokyeom tilted his cup and took a sip of his latte. Beom Yeonhu, meanwhile, had been staring at the cup before him with lifeless eyes for some time. His face, etched with a story, brought to mind a ship battered by a harsh storm, leaving only its skeletal frame.

‘A hunter whose power had become poison.’

From what Dokyeom had heard, Beom Yeonhu suffered ‘agony’ that felt like his entire body was tearing apart whenever he used more power or ability than necessary. This was likely the decisive reason for his eventual death.

Perhaps he worried about this, for his opening remarks were direct.

“Thank you for proposing this meeting, but I currently have a problem that likely means I won’t be much help to you, Hunter-nim.”

Beom Yeonhu said this, casting his deeply sunken eyes downwards.

“It’s been about two months since I awakened, and since the problem hasn’t improved at all, it seems there’s no hope. I can live a normal life, but if I use more than a certain amount of strength or my abilities, my qi and blood vessels twist painfully. Going to rehabilitation centers or adaptation centers hasn’t helped… So, I don’t think it will work. I appreciate your offer, but…”

“Do you know the cause?”

Dokyeom asked, looking into Beom Yeonhu’s sunlit eyes. They were deep enough to draw one in. Beom Yeonhu paused, then spoke again.

“The Association says that a certain nerve in my body was damaged during my awakening, and it’s beyond recovery with current medical technology. Since there’s no sign of improvement… I’m telling you I would only be a burden.”

“Have you consulted healing hunters?”

“Yes. They all said there was no hope.”

Beom Yeonhu nodded indifferently as he spoke. There was no hint of despair. He had accepted his fate with composure, politely declining the opportunity.

Indeed, this was a polite refusal.

Dokyeom watched Beom Yeonhu for a moment, then spoke with a hint of reproach, as if asking why he had come along if this was his intention.

“What about your willingness to do anything if someone would just ‘use’ you?”

“That thought remains unchanged.”

It was a small statement, yet it struck like a wedge. Beom Yeonhu’s eyes slowly lifted, meeting Dokyeom’s gaze.

“If you would still use someone like me, I’m willing to do anything. I might not be able to use my unique abilities… but I can certainly guard or act as a decoy.”

His words sounded as if he were offering to become a human shield, willing to push his body to its limits. Having been an athlete, his resilience would undoubtedly be far more developed than other C-rank hunters. That’s why he could speak with such confidence, a declaration only someone who had been beaten to a pulp could make.

Despite this, Beom Yeonhu was a hunter with far too many handicaps. Frankly speaking, he was nothing more than a disposable hunter.

Even guilds that had approached him, hearing only the information about a support hunter, would have bolted and fled upon hearing this.

Tap, tap.

Dokyeom lightly tapped the table with his fingertips. He then began to think.

‘How could he make this guy his own?’

The ‘fate’ Dokyeom had glimpsed for Beom Yeonhu was a tragic end: his limbs tearing apart as he overused his power to save people inside a gate. Consequently, the incident would only briefly flash across the news.

He had to prevent that.

“You don’t need to worry about it. It’s something I’m used to… and I don’t want to be a burden to you, Hunter-nim.”

Beom Yeonhu calmly explained his situation, once again politely declining. Dokyeom gazed at him intently, then offered a slight smile as the air grew heavy.

“You know our constellations are close, right?”

“…Yes.”

“This isn’t just an ordinary connection. At this level… I wonder if we weren’t a married couple in a past life?”

Beom Yeonhu’s lips tightened in embarrassment, but he still gave a small nod, as if to humor him. It was like seeing a fierce fighting dog disarmed and turned into a cute puppy.

‘Yes, my puppy.’

“Then let’s do this.”

Beom Yeonhu, who had instinctively nodded, now lifted his gaze and stared at Dokyeom. Even with his face in shadow, the sunlight pooled in his eyes was as clear as if seen up close.

The soft clinking of melting ice echoed in his ears. The surroundings were equally silent.

“First, let’s fix that ‘habit’ of overworking your body. Until then, I won’t bring up the contract.”

Dokyeom had used on Beom Yeonhu a long time ago. He had two awakened skills.

Individually, both were excellent skills. According to his resume submitted to the Association, both were area-of-effect skills, and in particular was introduced as a good skill, widely applicable in strategy and defense.

It was a ‘protection’ skill capable of causing terrain deformation by making rock formations erupt from the ground.

Most guilds that had approached Beom Yeonhu must have sought to recruit him solely based on this one skill.

There was definitely a problem.

‘His qi and blood vessels twist if he uses more than a certain amount of strength.’ What could be the reason?

To say his body was too weak for his power was contradicted by the premise of ‘more than a certain amount of strength.’ If a body truly couldn’t contain such power, the user would instantly explode upon activation, their heart and blood vessels melting entirely.

Beom Yeonhu’s case, however, seemed to fall into the category of slowly building heat that couldn’t be released. In such a situation, it implied that something was ‘blocked.’

‘What if it’s a phenomenon caused by blocked power unable to circulate properly?’

Dokyeom didn’t know the extent of the damage, but if healing hunters couldn’t touch it, it meant the condition wasn’t ordinary. Yet, the fact that he was still alive suggested it wasn’t an entirely incurable ailment.

Dokyeom decided to bet on that.

“To do that, it seems we’ll need a good teacher…”

Coincidentally, he knew just the right teacher for this. After all, they were an instructor.

Dokyeom offered Beom Yeonhu a refreshing smile. That pain Beom Yeonhu was experiencing. Dokyeom had already encountered a similar phenomenon once, thanks to Agon.

The night inside the gate when his qi and blood vessels twisted, causing him to vomit blood. That experience had given him an idea.

Dokyeom intended to keep Beom Yeonhu close and find out why he coveted him so much. Was it truly something he saw in him, or merely his own greed stemming from pity?