Chapter 8: The Temperamental Genius

#8

Despite the counselor’s harsh words, Dokyeom remained unyielding.

He met the gaze of the dark-eyed counselor, completely unfazed.

Then, he casually repeated the same words he had parroted moments before.

“If it’s too much trouble for you, you could just give me the email address of the Sahyeon Guild’s HR manager. Then I’ll send an application every minute myself.”

“Ah, that’s precisely why I’m acting this way, isn’t it! Why do you keep making me repeat myself? Do you think the HR manager’s email is just some random dog’s name? If they get upset, they’ll come over here and cause absolute chaos. If they find out we carelessly distributed their email, this whole place will be turned upside down! Ask after you’ve learned something, for heaven’s sake! This is driving me insane!”

“Then please just submit my resume every hour.”

“You, do you have some kind of grudge against me? Huh?!”

The counselor finally exploded, slamming their hand on the desk, their face a furious red.

The atmosphere was akin to an interrogation room.

Having loosened the tie around their thick neck and tossed it aside, the counselor heaved a sigh of pure rage, as if the ground itself might collapse.

They then attempted to resume the conversation.

“Listen, E-rank Hunter. Your skills are something like ‘Empathy’ and ‘Stability,’ aren’t they?”

“I also have ‘Harmony’?”

“Forget those! Tell me about some offensive abilities. Do you honestly think I’m asking because I’m curious about your actual skills right now? The guild you’re asking me to apply to only recruits B-rank hunters at minimum. Do you think they’ll even bat an eye at an E-rank hunter’s resume if I submit it? They’ll just scoff, saying, ‘Wow, what kind of ignorant fool is this?’ and toss it aside! Huh? They’ll just toss it! Can’t you understand even after all this?”

“I understand, so can you just submit it?”

“Just give me a reason! I’m truly confused, wondering if you’re trying to make a fool of me. Anyone can see this is insane, so let’s at least understand why we’re doing it, alright?”

“Oh, a reason?”

The reason was simple.

The Sahyeon Guild was about to be selected as the gate subjugation team Dokyeom was looking for, and they were preparing for the raid.

However, the Sahyeon Guild would lose one A-rank hunter and fourteen B-rank hunters in that very incident.

Every single one of them would perish there due to a misjudgment of the gate’s rank.

Han Dokyeom was no exception.

He had been a post-processing hunter, hastily deployed by a subcontractor due to a labor shortage at the time.

He was waiting in front of the gate when he was sucked in with the others, meeting a tragic end.

Therefore, to monitor the Sahyeon Guild’s actions, he needed to establish some form of contact, no matter the circumstances.

“Out of all the countless places, why the Sahyeon Guild? I’ll make sure you get into another guild, so let’s just give up on this one, alright?”

Now, the counselor was even trying to coax and persuade him gently.

Dokyeom, who had been watching their antics with an unreadable expression, was just about to part his lips with a faint smile.

Suddenly, a sharp shout rained down from beside them.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me?! I’m Yisaein! AA-rank Hunter Yisaein! What are you telling me to do right now? Are you recommending this to me as a job? If a hunter has gone through such trouble to come here, you should conduct an aptitude test, fill out a profile, and then find and recommend various suitable companies! Is this something that should just pop up in one minute? Am I wrong? Why aren’t you answering?!”

The chaotic atmosphere instantly settled, and everyone’s gazes converged like daggers on a single point.

At the source of the commotion sat a woman with long, wavy hair cascading down her shoulders.

The moment the woman, who had been shouting so nervously, removed her sunglasses, everyone present stared with eyes wide as saucers, as if they might pop out.

It was Yisaein.

None other than the AA-rank Yisaein was here!

Officially, the Hunter Association designated a rank higher than A-rank but lower than S-rank as AA-rank.

However, in reality, this rank was even rarer than S-rank.

Within the country, it was known that only one individual held this distinction.

That one individual was precisely the woman sitting there, arms crossed, spewing venom.

Yisaein! In other words, a natural disaster.

Or, a meteorological catastrophe.

‘Why is Yisaein here?!’

People quickly recoiled to one side, their faces resembling those who had just witnessed a monster.

Frightened glances fixed on the woman, who sat with one leg crossed over the other.

Her appearance was stunning, easily rivaling an actress, but that was precisely the misconception and the disaster.

Everyone knew that her mouth was more poisonous than any venomous plant.

“Do you want to be sued by me? Do you think I can’t file such a lawsuit? I’m Yisaein. I haven’t come to a place I’m not allowed to be, and I said I need work, so what exactly is this? If you’re going to work like this, just quit. Do you even know how difficult it is for the hunters who come seeking help here?!”

“Uhm… Yisaein-nim. This… this is a Stability Support Center, so typically, those with lower ranks come here. Yisaein-nim, you already belong to a guild…”

“As of today, I’ve left that guild. It was utterly awful. And I’m a citizen of this country and a hunter, so of course I can come here, can’t I? I want to work, work!”

“Ah, no… it’s not like that…”

Her smoothly upturned eyes were filled with irritation.

Her tapping toes seemed menacing, as if they might stomp through the floor at any moment.

Her small face, which didn’t match her biting remarks, was pristine and possessed a charm that could captivate anyone at first glance.

However, it seemed the gods had bestowed upon her immense power and beauty, but in return, had stripped her of her conscience and good nature.

No one in this country could rein in Yisaein.

Not even the guild leader of the guild she had belonged to.

Yisaein’s unpredictable antics, like today’s, stemmed from only one reason.

To mess with someone.

‘Oh no, why is she starting again? Why here, of all places?’

‘What happened at the guild this time to make her like this? She always acts like this whenever she wants to screw over her guild leader.’

Even as people whispered behind her, Yisaein continued to badger the staff at the counseling desk.

Everyone else in the vicinity had already retreated, as if fleeing a disaster.

Only two remained: Dokyeom and the counselor who was dealing with him.

[‘Oriax,’ the demon of ‘Lemegeton,’ observes the situation with interest, as if to say, ‘What a windfall!’]

‘What a bunch of nonsense,’ Dokyeom thought.

He cast a sidelong glance at Yisaein, who sat beside him, an expression of disdain on his face.

She was exactly as Dokyeom had imagined her, her elegant profile reminiscent of a thorny rose.

Just as her nose bridge was high, she carried an unwavering confidence, never knowing failure.

“What are you looking at?! Do you want to be sued too?!”

“Ah, no… I wasn’t looking at anything…”

Yisaein pointed a finger at Dokyeom’s counselor and snapped fiercely.

The thoroughly flustered employee wiped their forehead with a handkerchief, utterly at a loss.

Indeed, she was an AA-rank hunter; her status was undoubtedly incredibly high.

“Excuse me, Yisaein-ssi.”

“What is it?”

Yisaein whirled around to face Dokyeom.

Her forest-green eyes met his with an air of dissatisfaction.

Perhaps because she was ‘his child,’ she simply looked beautiful to him.

Dokyeom curved his eyes into a gentle, affable smile.

‘To think I’d meet her here, of all places.’

“Could you tell me your guild leader’s email address?”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Dokyeom’s world was plunged into darkness.

The world seemed to turn upside down.

Then, just as it had before, the sound of cards being shuffled drifted from afar.

In the world, dark as if shrouded by storm clouds, Yisaein’s life flashed before his eyes.

From the moment she was born and raised, up to the present, and even brushing past this point into the distant future.

These were the destinies Dokyeom knew well, the ones Yisaein had experienced and would yet experience.

When the entire sequence had completed its cycle and returned, Dokyeom found himself frozen at the exact moment he had opened his mouth.

To the very instant Yisaein had begun to speak.

“My guild… no, as of today, I’ve left that guild. But why are you asking about that guild?”

Yisaein spoke, arms crossed, her chin held high with an air of haughtiness.

Dokyeom asked again, a brazen smile gracing his lips.

“Because I want to mess with your guild leader.”

In that instant, Yisaein’s previously indifferent gaze sharpened.

The vacant smile that had briefly adorned her lips vanished.

Yisaein cleared her throat with a ‘hrmph,’ then haughtily pushed her sunglasses up her nose.

“Do you think I’d tell you just like that? Why are you asking such a thing the first time we meet? You’re putting me in an awkward position.”

“I’ve suffered an unspeakable wrong at the hands of your guild leader. I want to be compensated somehow, but they refuse to even associate with me? So, I intend to mess with them.”

“Oh dear, how unfortunate. Well… if that’s the reason. Write this down. I’ll only say it once. And what I’m about to tell you is the CEO’s unofficial email, so don’t spread it elsewhere. Though, if you really want to mess with them, you can spread it. And when you do, use my name. Let’s mess with them together.”

With a look that dared them to ‘go ahead and get messed with,’ Yisaein dramatically tossed her long hair over her shoulder.

The counselor sitting in front of Yisaein and Dokyeom wore a dumbfounded expression.

This remained unchanged even as Dokyeom finished jotting down the email and stood up.

“Ah, no… wait, Han Dokyeom Hunter? You’re not actually going to send an email to the Sahyeon Guild’s CEO, are you?”

“I am.”

The counselor, belatedly regaining their senses, grabbed Dokyeom as he turned to leave, their face utterly bewildered.

A clammy hand clung to his arm stickily.

Dokyeom forcefully pulled his arm free.

“No, man, think before you act! I’ll… I’ll just request the guild’s HR department to send the email for you! Don’t do this…!”

“Haha, why bother an E-ranker like this? Apologies for holding you up when you’re busy, and let’s hope we never meet again.”

Eyes filled with a mix of displeasure and futility watched Dokyeom’s retreating back until he was out of sight.

The counselor, who had reached out and tried to shout something, ultimately slumped back into their seat, utterly powerless.

They blinked blankly, like someone whose soul had departed, before letting out a hollow laugh.

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