Chapter 58: The Price of a Returnee

“That’s not it at all.”

“Then what is it?”

“Dongjun took me in.”

Such a conversation was so unfamiliar that it took me a moment to fully grasp it. So, you didn’t choose that bastard; rather, that bastard was a good Samaritan who took in a poor, helpless soul like you?

A searing heat immediately consumed his mind.

Yeowon had merely stated the facts. Yet, Sagyeol, listening, interpreted it entirely differently. After remaining silent like a mute the entire time, his first words were a defense of that man?

He reached for the teacup closest to him. His index finger tapped lightly on the purple flower painted on its side. Yeowon, unconsciously tensing, could not tear his gaze away from Sagyeol’s fingertip.

The index finger hooked onto the handle. The teacup was pulled down, plummeting to the floor. The shattered fragments of the teacup joined the existing debris of a mug. Yeowon’s face was rigid, unable to stiffen further.

But Sagyeol’s actions did not end there. One by one, the teacups on display fell to the floor.

Crash!

Clatter!

As the fourth teacup was pushed off the counter, Yeowon’s hand seized Sagyeol’s wrist. Sagyeol let out a derisive chuckle, then used his other hand to send the fifth teacup crashing down. When Yeowon grabbed that hand as well, shards of ice, conjured from thin air, shot forth like bullets.

Shatter!

The blue-patterned teacup splintered into countless pieces. Fragments flew in every direction. Realizing that holding him was futile, Yeowon released his grip and instead picked up a shard.

His grip had been so forceful that his hand was cut, blood beginning to well. Sagyeol, who had been grinning nonchalantly, furrowed his brow for the first time.

“What are you doing? Put that down immediately.”

Yeowon hesitated, but then released the shard he had clutched. With a clang, a sizable shard clattered onto the counter. Sagyeol clicked his tongue, then rummaged through his clothes.

‘Lee Hyun-su must have put it somewhere.’

What he sought was in his inner pocket. Pulling out a handkerchief, he pressed it firmly against Yeowon’s wound. He caught Yeowon’s flinching body, which had instinctively recoiled, with a firm gaze.

Yeowon obediently lowered his eyes. There was nothing to gain by displeasing the man now. Dongjun’s identity was surely already in Sagyeol’s hands.

The bleeding stopped quickly. Sagyeol disliked how compliant Yeowon had become.

Knowing precisely why Yeowon was being so compliant only fueled his irritation. A sadistic impulse surged within him, urging him to tear at the wound with his fingernails.

“Hey. Say something.”

“……”

“Why are you even quieter than before? Don’t tell me you didn’t see this day coming.”

It was true. This day had been inevitable. A day he was destined to face as long as he remained tied to Grisha. Even knowing that, he couldn’t bring himself to leave the city.

Why?

Was it because of Lee Myeong-hwan, slumbering in that deep abyss? Of course, that was part of it. But when he asked himself if that was truly all, the answer seemed to catch in his throat.

Sagyeol spoke, almost a sigh.

“How frustrating.”

‘I feel the same way.’

Thinking this, Yeowon subtly raised his eyes, catching Sagyeol’s slightly weary expression. It was not fatigue from the present moment, but a weariness compressed over a long, arduous time.

“Just how long do you intend to stay silent?”

At his words, Yeowon’s lips slowly parted. He didn’t know why these particular words rose to his tongue now, like so many unanswered questions.

This was simply the only thing he could think to say.

“Have you… been well?”

A nerve snapped in Sagyeol’s mind.

If Yeowon had regained a fragile humanity in Grisha, Sagyeol had been consumed with plotting his revenge. Every day, he thought about how he would bind and dominate him upon their next encounter.

All the rage he had so fiercely nurtured now felt utterly futile.

‘Ha, damn it.’

He grabbed Yeowon by the collar. Yeowon’s firm body was pulled forward, sending the remaining teacups on the counter tumbling to the floor. Yeowon’s eyes widened. Sagyeol’s lips devoured his.

…Ugh.

Yeowon let out a low groan. The reverberation, so close, tightened Sagyeol’s lower body insistently. Swallowing a curse, he thrust his tongue into the rigid man’s mouth.

Yeowon’s hands, gripping the edge of the bar table, tightened. With a creak, the edge gave way, his fingers digging into the wood.

No matter how much time passed, Sagyeol showed no sign of pulling away. Eventually, with his breath at its limit, Yeowon pushed against Sagyeol’s unyielding shoulder. The twisted man growled.

“Aren’t you curious what happened to Park Dong-jun after he left the shop?”

Upon hearing those words, Yeowon froze.

“No need to make that face. I haven’t done anything. Not yet.”

At that moment, dozens of ice blades materialized in the air. Yeowon clenched his hands until the veins bulged. He knew better than anyone the agonizing sensation of frigid ice piercing bare skin, embedding itself into bone.

How could he ever forget? Once reminded, the past pain surged back vividly.

Sagyeol’s emotions were complex, yet undeniably rooted in fury. The destination of those ice blades was clear. Yeowon steeled himself, biting down on his lip. Dozens of ice shards, each the size of a finger, simultaneously sliced through the air.

CRASH!

Even those displayed on the wall shelves. He deliberately targeted only the teacups, shattering every single one. Shards of glass and broken teacup remnants scattered across the wooden floor.

“Whether I do something or not depends entirely on you.”

“……”

‘Is that all?’

Having endured the Demon Realm and Kratus, Yeowon knew this hardly qualified as a threat. There had to be more, he thought. What would come next? Assault? Rape? Torture followed by public display? As he cycled through the various forms of violence he knew, Sagyeol rose from his seat.

Crunch.

His composed footsteps crunched over the debris. Reaching the door, he spoke to Yeowon.

“What are you waiting for? Follow me.”

“……”

Yeowon silently followed him out.

Sagyeol took Yeowon to his residence within the guild building. Inside, Lee Hyun-su was already waiting. Seeing Yeowon accompany him, Lee Hyun-su’s expression turned complex.

He seemed to struggle for a moment, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately replaced it with a sigh. Sagyeol asked Lee Hyun-su.

“The contract.”

“Here it is.”

Lee Hyun-su handed over the file he had tucked under his arm. Sagyeol presented it directly to Yeowon. The moment the paper touched his fingertips, a jolt, like static electricity, coursed through him.

It was a contract written with mana-infused ink. Such documents, along with restraints, had been prevalent during the Age of Discord—a period known as the Dark Ages—as a means to control hunters. However, they had disappeared when human rights issues for hunters arose.

“Read it and sign.”

Sagyeol settled onto the sofa with a soft thud, then gestured with his chin towards the opposite seat. Yeowon did not sit. He stood, slowly scanning the document.

“This is an employment contract. From now on, you will be a Credit Guild member and a member of my exclusive team. I am the team leader, and you are the sole team member, making it a two-person team. The contract term is until we reach the heart of the flood and are the first to conquer all the gates.”

The first few pages contained ordinary terms, directly adopting the standard contract format between a guild and a hunter. However, as he read further, clauses that could not be simply overlooked began to appear.

For instance, there was a clause requiring the employee to cohabitate in the employer’s home until the contract’s expiration, or archaic stipulations preventing the employee from moving freely without the employer’s permission. Such terms filled more than an entire page. They seemed to be clauses derived from the ‘Unfair Incident’ case.

“What if I refuse?”

Unbeknownst to him, Yeowon had dropped his honorifics. Sagyeol was pleased by this, though he disliked the situation itself.

“I won’t do anything to you.”

Instead, it implied he would do something to Dongjun. It was an unmistakable threat. Yeowon glared at Sagyeol with hardened eyes. Sagyeol, legs crossed, thought to himself.

‘This is a lie, too.’

Do nothing? He had no intention of letting Yeowon take another step before signing.

“Think carefully. This is what you want, too, isn’t it?”

Having wielded the whip, it was time to offer a sweet incentive. Yeowon hated the Three Crescent Moons Guild. More precisely, he was fixated on Lee Myeong-hwan, the project’s lead.

“But the Three Crescent Moons Guild is out of the question.”

He had never forgotten those words, delivered with cold finality. That was a valley of despair so profound that Sagyeol could not even fathom it.

‘Can not being Lee Myeong-hwan’s biological son still be an exoneration now?’

Sagyeol forcibly cleared his mind. Complex thoughts were poison in this situation.

‘I’ll tell him eventually. He’ll find out soon enough.’

“It’s impossible to reach the heart of the flood alone. S-class magic beasts lurk in the depths. The organizational power of a team, composed of multiple S-class and A-class hunters, is absolutely essential.”

Yeowon gazed steadily at Lee Myeong-hwan’s son, who had finally sought him out. His complex feelings remained, but he didn’t feel the intense repulsion he had two years prior.

He recognized the change within himself. If Sagyeol had planted the seeds of emotion, Dongjun and the café had provided the nourishment. He no longer surrendered to rage, nor succumbed to impulse.

A much more mature Yeowon watched Sagyeol intently. He had always known a day like this would come. And now that they had met, he understood that he had to resolve things with this man, one way or another.

Sagyeol tried to conceal his trembling heart. It was not easy to act as nonchalant as possible. He wished he could open Yeowon’s mind and see what he was thinking.

“What such a well-organized subjugation force fears most is a closed labyrinth.”

A labyrinth enclosed by walls, with no opening to enter.

“Those without resistance to demonic energy have no solution, no matter how S-class they are. From Grisha’s perspective, it’s tantamount to losing a large number of personnel. But what if there was a returnee in this situation?”

“……”

“An A-class is sufficient. If someone is unaffected by demonic energy, they can enter the walls, annihilate the magic beasts, and close the gate. The creatures living inside the walls, though fearsome in appearance, aren’t actually that strong.”

Yeowon knew this. He had seen it quite often in the early days after falling into the Demon Realm.

The fog of demonic energy produced by such magic beasts was potent enough to affect even other magic beasts. Even if awakened as hunters, humans, being inherently vulnerable to demonic energy, could never endure it.

Yeowon, on the other hand, had undergone several intense molts due to demonic energy. Even potent demonic energy merely caused a slight sting in his throat and skin. He did not suffer fatal damage like other hunters.

He finally understood why Sagyeol was so desperate for a returnee.

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