Chapter 61: When the World Won’t Leave Him Alone

It was nearly 6 p.m. at the Knocker Guild headquarters.

Gam Juan stretched and peeked out of his workshop. Park Su-jin, who had been buried in paperwork, lifted one hand in greeting without looking up, her gaze still firmly glued to her desk.

“Ji-woo stopped by earlier.”

“Ji-woo… Mr. Sung Ji-woo?”

Gam Juan roughly dried his sweat-soaked hair with a towel. He desperately wanted a cold shower, but first he needed to know why Sung Ji-woo had come looking for him. As he glanced around, Gam Juan noticed a bundle-like package placed beside his workshop.

“Did Mr. Ji-woo leave this here?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

When he opened it, he found the artifacts Helios had requested. Even the ones Lee Hye-rin had asked to be repaired were restored perfectly. Seeing how clean and refined the work was, Gam Juan felt a swell of pride—clearly, the teaching hadn’t been in vain.

There were still areas that needed his own touch, but even so, this level of improvement was nothing short of remarkable. In a few more years, blue surpassing indigo—there was no doubt Sung Ji-woo would be producing artifacts of even higher quality than his own.

Humming to himself, Gam Juan carefully checked the rest of the items Sung Ji-woo had left behind. Some were so flawless they needed no adjustments at all, and each time he found one, his humming grew louder.

“Oh, and he said he had a favor to ask you…”

“A favor?”

“He said you were working and didn’t want to disturb you, so he left a message.”

Tilting his head, Gam Juan fumbled for his phone.

[- Ju-an, I’m really, really sorry, but could you watch my shop for about a week? If you search online, you’ll see what’s going on. I seriously feel like I’m going to die. I don’t know where these bastards got my personal info, but they’ve even started calling me, so I might turn my phone off and be hard to reach. I’m really, really sorry. Please help me.]

“…Huh? What?”

Completely dumbfounded, Gam Juan muttered out loud. At the sound, Park Su-jin finally looked up.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“…Did something happen to Mr. Ji-woo?”

The answer to that question was, just as Sung Ji-woo said, all over the internet. There was no need to search—his name plastered every page, with even the Knocker Guild mentioned again and again.

“…What the hell is this…?”

______________________________________________________________________________________

[<Today’s Best> The Battle for Sung Ji-woo Begins?]

Wow

Yu Hiro’s a real man, huh? LOL

Didn’t expect him to throw punches right there

At this point, isn’t Yu Hiro’s proposal target = Sung Ji-woo basically confirmed?

True love 인정이다

I don’t care about anything else, but I’ll give you this one

That’s insane;;

• What? How’s anyone supposed to know what this is from just this post?

└ Are you an idiot? Go search it yourself;

└ Look at this guy talking after starting the bait first;

└ Yu Hiro said he’ll only join the guild Sung Ji-woo joins. If Sung Ji-woo doesn’t join one, neither will he.

• Aren’t they basically enemies?

└ I heard they’re mentor and disciple

└ Only a year apart in age, though?

└ Senior-junior relationship

└ I saw it myself—they’re married

• Sung Ji-woo got registered as a hunter today. Not a civilian anymore, so you can’t pretend not to know him

└ Wait, for real?

└ Damn, I was holding back ‘cause I thought I’d get sued lol—so he finally became a hunter

└ But isn’t this because of Yu Hiro? The X-Gate’s gone, so they abolished mandatory service and introduced a point system—announcement went up today

└ Yeah, so anyone from special schools gets auto-registered as a hunter

└ That’s crazy lol, guess I’m one too, lucky me

• I just checked the hunter registry—Light attribute, A-rank? A supporter?

└ Perfect match with Yu Hiro

└ What? With all the hype, I thought he’d at least be S-rank; he’s not even a dealer but a supporter?

└ This guy doesn’t know shit lol. I went to school with Sung Ji-woo—he’s a straight-up genius

└ If he were S-rank, there’s no way he wouldn’t have registered earlier. Do you know how insane his market value would be?

• What’s Yu Hiro’s annual salary?

└ At least 100 billion

└ What kind of game currency is that? Where’s the sense of reality

└ That’s why it’s chaos right now. No one knows how much to offer Sung Ji-woo… no track record, unproven hunter, but Yu Hiro’s attached

└ This is such a reversal of roles lol

└ And Sung Ji-woo’s past record is with the Knocker Guild, right? They’re famous, sure, but they only do gathering and crafting

└ That’s why I’m worried he’ll join Knocker. His shop’s right next to their base, too

└ Damn, Knocker hit the jackpot

└ But wouldn’t that be a huge waste of talent? With Yu Hiro around, he’s gonna do gathering? lol

• No… damn it, if Sung Ji-woo leaves, who’s gonna make my artifacts?

└ Same x2, that shop was my hidden gem, and now I’m panicking

└ Huh? Is Sung Ji-woo that good?

└ Yeah, he’s a disciple of Knocker’s craftsman, and maybe because he’s a supporter, he packs insane abilities into artifacts

└ I can’t enter gates without those anymore, so please, you bastards, just leave him alone!

________________________________________________________________________________

“Hey, it’s my vacation—why do I have to drag you along too?”

Koo Min-ah complained in disbelief, but Sung Ji-woo, already settled into the passenger seat, showed no sign of getting out.

Before leaving for her vacation, she’d gone to deliver some gate by-products she’d been asked to pass along—and that was when Sung Ji-woo ambushed her.

He had barely managed to slip away from the Hunter Association lobby, which had been packed with guild representatives. But that was only a temporary fix; it didn’t solve the root of the problem. They would obviously know where his general store was.

Sung Ji-woo thought quickly. He needed to go somewhere far away, somewhere people wouldn’t notice him. Laying low until things cooled down seemed like the best option.

And then, he’d need to reach some kind of amicable agreement with Yu Hiro…

“Seriously, this is driving me insane!”

As Sung Ji-woo shouted in frustration, his phone rang. Seeing the name Koo Min-ah, he remembered she’d said she was heading back to her hometown for her vacation.

At that moment, Koo Min-ah pulling up in her car looked like a savior descending from heaven.

“This is your junior’s mess—so why is it my problem…?”

In the end, Koo Min-ah grabbed the steering wheel, still incredulous.

“I know it’s ridiculous, but just drive for now. If we don’t, it’ll be chaos again. They already figured out my phone number, too.”

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Sung Ji-woo’s phone buzzed nonstop. An eleven-digit, unregistered number flashed on the screen. With a deep sigh, Koo Min-ah started the car as he’d asked.

“You said your place was in the countryside?”

“Middle of nowhere.”

Not just countryside—deep countryside.

“Perfect. Just perfect.”

“Perfect my ass.”

As they passed through the tollgate, Koo Min-ah warned him that if he told her to turn back now, she’d kill him. Then she asked, reassured by his promise not to worry:

“What about your shop?”

“I left it with Ju-an.”

“He’s in our guild, you know?”

“He’s also my master.”

“Tch. What kind of disciple uses his own master like that?”

Sung Ji-woo shut his mouth. As always, Koo Min-ah only spoke the truth—and that was annoying.

“You just thought I was annoying, didn’t you?”

“No?”

“Yeah, right.”

Even though she didn’t drive often, Koo Min-ah’s driving was solid. More than anything, it was calm and steady—nothing like Lee Hye-rin’s.

But while the car moved smoothly, Sung Ji-woo’s heart did not. It felt clogged, as if something inside him was tightly blocked.

“You contact your oh-so-great junior?”

“No.”

Koo Min-ah didn’t press further. Even without her interference, Sung Ji-woo already looked more than confused enough.

After about an hour of silent driving, Sung Ji-woo—whom she’d thought was asleep—suddenly spoke.

“What does Yu Hiro even want?”

“Doesn’t seem like he wants much.”

From Koo Min-ah’s perspective, Yu Hiro had never seemed passionate about anything. He was indifferent to everything, as if even the end of the world wouldn’t make him blink. Of course, if the subject was Sung Ji-woo, things might be different.

“Except for one thing.”

“What thing?”

“You.”

“….”

“You’re not asking because you don’t know, right?”

She didn’t know what had happened between them or what circumstances were involved. But one thing was certain.

Sung Ji-woo had been firmly caught in Yu Hiro’s jaws.

“He’s something else, but honestly—you’re not much better.”

Sung Ji-woo’s phone started ringing again. This time, the caller was Yu Hiro. Sung Ji-woo hesitated, and Koo Min-ah glanced sideways at him.

“Another guild call? Just turn it off. Why keep letting them reach you?”

“…Yeah. I should.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Sung Ji-woo powered his phone off.

*************

[- The number you have dialed is currently turned off. After the beep, you will be connected to voicemail…]

Yu Hiro sighed and ended the call.

On his way out of the Association, reporters had swarmed him with questions. He’d gotten a bit petty in response—and since then, Sung Ji-woo had been ignoring every single one of his calls.

Just in case, he went to the general store, but no one was there. After a few hours, someone finally came in, and Yu Hiro assumed it was Sung Ji-woo—but it was the Knocker Guild’s craftsman he’d met before, looking just as bewildered.

“Um… Ji-woo asked me to watch the shop for about a week.”

Rambling awkwardly, the man stepped inside. Yu Hiro frowned, wondering if he’d misheard.

“A week?”

“Yes… here, the message.”

The phone screen clearly showed Sung Ji-woo’s number, along with the message asking him to take care of the shop for a week.

So… he ran away?

This wasn’t part of the plan.

Yu Hiro knew Sung Ji-woo often acted outside his expectations—but still…

“Ha…”

f*ck.

Swallowing the curse that nearly escaped his lips, Yu Hiro stood up and asked,

“Do you know where he went?”

“…No. That’s all I got. But—are you serious?”

“About what?”

“About saying you won’t join a guild unless it’s the same one as Ji-woo…?”

“Yes.”

With no room for doubt in his firm reply, Yu Hiro walked straight out of the shop.

Even when Sung Ji-woo hadn’t been in the X-Gate, it hadn’t felt this suffocating. Back then, he at least knew Sung Ji-woo was at the store.

But now, he had no idea where Sung Ji-woo was.

Letting out a hollow laugh, Yu Hiro stared down at his phone.

“No matter how you look at it, this is just too cruel… I’m not really a fan of hide-and-seek.”

His darkened eyes fixed on the three characters glowing on the screen.

Sung Ji-woo.