Chapter 7: The Canary and the Dwarf’s Crew

Lee Hyun-su handed Sagyeol a few sheets of paper. Scanning the documents, Sagyeol let out a hollow laugh.

“I thought your words were mistaken, but his name really is Kim Cheol-su.”

Sagyeol clicked his tongue. It was just like him to never entertain the thought that his own ears could be wrong. Despite this internal musing, Lee Hyun-su answered readily.

“Yes. Apparently, when he was found, his memories were incomplete, and he lacked an ID chip to trace his past. So, the officer in charge assigned him that name arbitrarily.”

“Any signs of chip extraction?”

“None.”

“Then he either underwent a highly sophisticated procedure, or perhaps he used a potion….”

“He could also have been born in such dire circumstances that an ID chip couldn’t even be implanted.”

“No matter how rural this place is, I doubt it’s so primitive that an ID chip couldn’t be implanted.”

“Circumstances differ from person to person, after all.”

Sagyeol hummed thoughtfully, then peered at the printed photograph.

The face was undeniably handsome, without a single flaw. His perpetual lack of expression, however, made him appear perpetually angry—his only discernible imperfection.

One of Sagyeol’s eyebrows arched upwards, and his lips curved in an expression of admiration. It was a reaction Lee Hyun-su knew all too well. ‘Wait, surely he’s not… No, even for him, surely not.’

“What’s with that look?”

‘Did I show my contempt too openly?’

Startled, Lee Hyun-su tried to feign ignorance. Sagyeol, however, was not one to let things slide. He poked Lee Hyun-su’s side repeatedly with the document folder.

“You, huh? When your boss tries to do something good, you should be cheering him on, hoping it goes well. Instead, you… huh?”

“Well… your conscience, truly…”

“Haha, my Hyun-su. Do you want to see me do something bad?”

“Good luck, boss! The light of Grisha! Our hope!”

Sagyeol nodded with an arrogant air.

“If you know, then do well.”

“…”

While Lee Hyun-su slowly transformed into a living saint that day, Sagyeol once again scrutinized the expressionless man in the photograph.

Even as a mere photograph, the atmosphere it exuded was extraordinary. Instead of the bland, artificial scent of photographic paper, Sagyeol perceived the metallic tang of blood. He sensed a chilling story, much like a dark crimson kitchen knife abandoned on asphalt.

A prickling sensation in his gut affirmed his intuition, and Sagyeol smiled contentedly.

“This time, it seems I’ve truly found the right one.”

The airship docked at a berth connected to the rooftop of the Baekdam City Hunter Association. Secured by magic, its door and a connecting gangway were linked. Sagyeol was practically vibrating with eagerness to disembark. Noticing his impatience, Lee Hyun-su casually remarked.

“You said that when we went to Haram, too.”

“…”

“And you said the exact same thing in Inos, the time before last.”

As an S-rank ability user, Sagyeol’s intuition was typically spot-on. However, there was one notable exception: the search for returnees. While his guild members often joked he should become a full-time prophet, his instincts rarely proved accurate when it came to locating returnees.

“This time is different.”

The feeling had arrived. A thrilling intuition, like a current-conducting rod piercing his peripheral nerves.

“You’ve been saying that since Haram, too…”

“Do you want to shut up after a beating, or just shut up?”

“I’ll just shut up.”

Lee Hyun-su responded instantly. He knew that any talk of respect for his employer would only backfire.

Sagyeol, who had been glaring at his secretary and supervisor, abruptly turned away. An announcement confirmed that the disembarkation ramp was connected. He strode down the airship’s corridor with long, purposeful steps. People bustling about in preparation for disembarking quickly pressed themselves against the walls of the hallway.

They bowed their heads in greeting but dared not speak. Everywhere Sagyeol passed, gazes of respect and admiration followed him. Watching the scene with weary eyes, Lee Hyun-su let out a deep sigh.

“…Dong-jun submitted his resignation.”

This was a report he had postponed for as long as possible, utterly lacking the courage to tell Sagyeol. Tense, he carefully gauged his superior’s mood.

Park Dong-jun was an A-rank hunter affiliated with Credit. While high-ranking hunters weren’t uncommon in Grisha, his attribute was unique.

A purification attribute, part of the magic manipulation system.

It was an attribute capable of cleansing all manner of things, including demonic energy. In Grisha, where demon floods were rampant, this ability was more valuable than any other; yet, even it proved useless before the Labyrinth of Demonic Energy.

The problem had arisen a month prior. Every hunter who had entered the raid point, protected by his purification, had perished. Dong-jun was profoundly shaken by this incident.

“It felt like everything that had built up finally exploded. He wasn’t in a state to be reasoned with.”

“So, it came to that, after all.”

Contrary to Lee Hyun-su’s expectations, Sagyeol remained impassive.

He tossed the document folder he had been holding onto Lee Hyun-su’s chest. ‘Perhaps he was merely pretending to be indifferent after all.’

With A-rank reflexes, Lee Hyun-su deftly caught the scattering papers. Sagyeol smiled languidly at him as he grumbled to himself.

“So, where is my canary now?”

“Cheol-su! Over here, over here!”

A middle-aged man in a hard hat waved his hand vigorously.

His name was Park Myeong-seok. Short in stature with thick limbs, he was affectionately nicknamed ‘Park Dwarf’ by his fellow laborers.

When the middle-aged man, hearing such a term for the first time, asked what it meant, he was told it referred to a famous classic fantasy protagonist. Thereafter, if someone called him ‘Boss Dwarf,’ he would readily respond, “Aye.”

“Ah, I said over here!”

The man summoned by Park Myeong-seok was tall and solidly built. Fine muscles rippled across his entire body, and his chest was broad. He possessed the robust physique often described as having a strong back.

Park Myeong-seok’s daughter, who had come to deliver lunch, drooled upon seeing the man, thinking, ‘Someone should wrap him in fur, he looks like he’s naked.’ Park Myeong-seok, with hands like pot lids, smacked his daughter’s back.

Cheol-su’s face itself wasn’t unattractive. While his stoic expression often conveyed intimidation before his actual features, a closer look revealed dark, defined eyebrows and distinct features, placing him firmly in the handsome category.

“Cut your bangs. Letting them hang so long, you can’t even see where you’re going.”

The man lectured the young arrival. Already short, he looked like an actual dwarf standing before Cheol-su. The laborers struggled to suppress their laughter, but their efforts proved futile when Cheol-su awkwardly bent his waist and bowed his head.

The spectacle of a dwarfish figure and a clumsy giant creating a comedy act sent the laborers into fits of laughter.

“Uhahaha!”

“Ahak-hak-hak!”

“Boss, just a moment, stay right there!”

The click of a camera terminal sounded as someone even took a picture. The boss, his face flushed, now shook a clenched fist threateningly.

“Do you all want to die?!”

Far from stopping, the laborers only laughed louder.

“Aren’t we starting work?”

A man in a suit, identifying himself as an Association employee, pushed up his glasses. Only then did the boisterous laughter abruptly cease. The laborers shrugged and began to gather their equipment with practiced ease.

They were at a site where a D-rank Gate had opened. More precisely, it was the location where they were tasked with cleaning up after hunters had finished hunting magical beasts.

F-rank Hunter.

This was the minimum qualification to apply for the job. Compared to other day labor, the work was easier, and the pay was several times higher. For an F-rank, practically indistinguishable from a regular civilian, these were mouth-watering conditions.

Yet, nothing in the world came free. This job carried its own significant risks. Consequently, the site always suffered from a shortage of manpower.

Everyone who came here had their own story. Of course, there were also youngsters, full of naive bravado, looking to earn some pocket money. Park Myeong-seok intently observed one such newcomer. Sure enough, something immediately caught his eye.

“Yongsik, you put on your gloves carelessly again, didn’t you?”

The work crew wore two types of gloves: a thin pair worn inside, and a thick pair worn over them. Yongsik, however, was only wearing the thin inner pair. He grumbled in response.

“If I wear the thick ones, they keep slipping off, and I can’t get a good grip. We’re just moving shells, so wearing only these should be enough—”

“Absolutely not. If you’re not going to follow regulations, then go home.”

Before ‘Park Dwarf,’ Park Myeong-seok’s nickname had been ‘Regulation Fairy.’ This fairy would ‘poof’ into existence whenever someone broke a rule, ready to beat them into submission with a staff.

‘Should I grab it or not?’ Yongsik flinched, witnessing the fairy’s menacing face twitching with impatience.

“Ugh…”

In the end, he grumbled but put on his gloves properly. Park Myeong-seok was about to add another word but decided against it. This was a guy who had come for a few days of part-time work, trying to save up for a girlfriend’s gift. He didn’t want to waste precious time on someone he might only see for another two days.

Instead, Park Myeong-seok shifted his attention to the young man he had recently taken a liking to.

“Cheol-su. You need to wear your hard hat too.”

He tossed a yellow hard hat. Cheol-su deftly snatched it with one hand, then bowed his head once more. Park Myeong-seok smiled contentedly.

The more he observed him, the more reliable and manly Cheol-su appeared. Such individuals often possessed deep thoughts and mature sensibilities. His fierce eyes were a drawback, but they also had an advantage.

Most women would be too intimidated to approach him. ‘If only he weren’t so much older than my daughter, I might have said something,’ Myeong-seok mused, clicking his tongue. He was, in a different sense, quite smitten with Cheol-su.

“Okay, the gloves, I get it. But honestly, why do we have to wear these hard hats?”

“Exactly. They’re completely useless.”

Perhaps it was because he was surrounded by such rascals that he felt this way. Park Myeong-seok tapped his hard hat sharply and glared.

“Hey now. Fragments of broken buildings or signs could fall on your head!”

“If something like that falls, won’t you die even with a hard hat on?”

“…”

For a moment, Park Myeong-seok actually thought, ‘That’s true,’ before belatedly snapping back to reality upon seeing the newcomer’s ‘I told you so’ expression.

“But that’s the regulation, so what can you do?! Stop grumbling and just wear it if I tell you to. And look at Cheol-su. Does he complain? Does he chatter? He just quietly does his work. A man should be as steadfast as that!”

One of the laborers raised a hand. Boss Park granted him permission to speak with a nod of his chin.

“He zones out sometimes, though.”

“Actually, it’s not just sometimes…”

They all glanced to one side simultaneously. Cheol-su, who had been moving like a machine, was now staring blankly into space, holding a magical beast’s shell that resembled medieval armor. To zone out while holding such a thing was, in its own way, an ability.

“Even when he’s zoning out, he still does twice as much work as all of you combined!”

With the argument now centered on merit, the laborers, left speechless, began to jeer.

“Boo! That’s favoritism!”

“Boo! We all know you see him as son-in-law material!”

“Oh, shut up and get to work!”

Despite their chuckles, the scattered laborers efficiently completed their assigned tasks. The scent of seasoned professionals permeated the air.