Chapter 87: Unexpected Encounters and Lingering Questions

#87

“Brother, I’ll head down to the first floor first. Just sign the contract and come down. It’s nothing major; since you’re contracting with me anyway, there won’t be much to explain beyond the financial details. If they try to strong-arm you, just bolt.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll order our coffee. Mr. Taeseongyeon, I’m leaving now. I hope your discussion, or meeting, reaches a good conclusion. And if anyone threatens my brother, they’ll have to answer to me.”

After casting a quick, unnecessary glance at Beom Yeonhu and Taeseongyeon, Dokyeom exited the CEO’s office and stepped directly into the elevator. As he pressed the button for the first floor, the static number rapidly changed. Amidst the quiet ascent, thoughts began to surface.

‘The gate should have vanished immediately. What could have gone wrong?’

‘Ultimately, the only thing I changed was the ‘outcome’.’ The chimera survived, rather than dying. And the damage was minimal, unlike in the original story.

‘No… that’s not right. Since I had changed the ‘outcome’ itself, nothing that happened now would truly be strange.’

‘Perhaps the tracks had veered off course from the moment Taeseongyeon didn’t die, or maybe this was the aftermath of everyone who should have died actually surviving.’ Either way, it felt unsettling and unresolved.

Ding!

His thoughts were cut short as the elevator doors opened onto the first floor. Dokyeom glanced at the brightly lit exterior before stepping out.

‘First, whatever the situation, I needed to go to that place to even begin to understand it.’

However, upon entering the lobby, the unusually bustling guild interior immediately caught his eye. Most people were settled near the lounge, sipping coffee or leisurely pretending to read the news on their tablets.

Dokyeom casually surveyed his surroundings.

Conversely, the hunters who saw him trembled, their eyes darting as if caught in a storm.

‘What the hell? Why is an E-rank loitering here at this hour?’

The E-rank hunter, who should have been holed up in the swimming pool or pilfering free drinks from the executive floor’s vending machines, was inexplicably wandering the lounge in broad daylight. And on such a crucial day, no less.

Everyone swallowed hard, their gazes fixed on that E-rank. The two monsters usually clinging to him like gum were nowhere in sight.

As all eyes converged on him, the E-rank hunter casually approached the cafe beside the lounge and ordered two coffees. Then, scanning the lounge as if searching for an empty seat, the hunters exchanged silent glances.

‘…He’s coming this way?’

‘Hey, hey! Someone give up a seat!’

‘You move, you bastard!’

‘Are you out of your mind? Don’t you know there’s no hope if he brings that deep-sea fish? Don’t you?!’

‘But seriously, why are we so wary of him?’

‘Because if you get involved with him, you’re screwed! Someone move, quickly! Or, on the count of three, everyone stands up?’

After exchanging glances, the hunters finally breathed a sigh of relief when the hunter at the very front reluctantly stood up, making the sacrifice. Without fail, the E-rank hunter claimed the empty seat.

Then, he took a long, noisy gulp of his drink.

A strange admiration settled on everyone’s faces. ‘How could his mental fortitude be so… resilient?’

Unaware that high-ranking hunters were constantly wary of him, the E-rank enjoyed all the deference shown to a superior, yet remained utterly oblivious to it all. It was incredibly frustrating. ‘Why doesn’t he know?!’

Soon, however, the hunters, one by one, futilely buried their heads back in their work. ‘There was nothing good to gain by getting involved with him.’

‘If you even made eye contact, your luck would turn sour, perhaps tripping your foot that very day.’

Despite grumbling with such thoughts, the hunters stationed in the lounge, unlike on other days, remained rooted to their seats as if nailed down. They had no other choice.

‘There certainly are a lot of people.’

At that moment, Dokyeom, too, took a sip of his coffee, noting the unusually large number of people present today.

Many were seated in the lounge’s empty spots, idly sipping coffee. Their attire was either moderately formal or consisted of the guild’s official uniform, and even their usually haggard morning appearances seemed remarkably refreshed today.

‘It was probably because of the guilds visiting from outside.’

Coincidentally, Dokyeom’s chosen seat was also in a rather bustling spot. Perhaps for that reason, information flowed quickly.

“But seeing the arrogant attitude of Uwha and Media, who were supposed to arrive today, it doesn’t seem like they have any intention of resolving this incident. Will the meeting even accomplish anything? The Association had to bend over backward just to get this far. If they’d claimed they solved it, shouldn’t Uwha be the one handling it?”

“I heard the Seolleung Station area is split exactly fifty-fifty between Media and our guild, so it won’t be an easy resolution. Uwha seems to want to claim it for themselves, but our Guild Leader will have to play his cards right. Money’s on the line here.”

“Well, that’s… *Sigh*. We can’t even blockade the gate. What kind of nonsense is this? It’s an eight-lane main road, so detours are nearly impossible.”

“Blockade? You’ve got to be kidding. We already have hunters stationed there, trying to control that Agon bastard who keeps lingering near the gate entrance. Blockade, my foot!”

At that instant, Dokyeom’s lips, which had been wrapped around his straw, stiffened imperceptibly. The hunters, idly poking at their ordered pastries with forks, continued their conversation with heavy sighs.

“Can’t we just capture and kill it? It’s not a protected species, after all.”

“It just sits there all day, like it’s waiting for something. If you try to approach it, it bolts back into the gate too quickly to catch. If we could have caught it, we would have killed it already. We can’t even enter the gate due to the ownership dispute, so we just have to watch it taunt us from right in front, and it’s infuriating.”

Waiting.

The coffee in his mouth tasted unusually bitter. ‘No way,’ he thought, yet the idea didn’t strike him as absurd.

As he calmly watched the ice clinking softly as it melted, the entrance suddenly grew noisy for a different reason. Dokyeom stirred his straw, then lifted his head to calmly observe the entrance.

Leading a retinue of people, prominent figures were ascending the guild’s immaculately clean stairs.

Upon seeing the commotion at the entrance, the desk employee who had rushed out first and stood politely, immediately abandoned their work, tidied their attire, and plastered a wide smile across their face. Seeing this, Taeseongyeon’s words about an impending meeting flashed through his mind.

Consequently, the hunters in the lounge also paused their activities, one by one turning their attention to the entrance. Around that time, someone was spotted hastily emerging from the staff office behind the desk.

Dokyeom’s eyes widened in surprise. And for good reason—

It was Instructor Lee Sanghyeon. The very man who had recently turned the Sahyeon Guild upside down with the low-tier gate corruption scandal. This time, Lee Sanghyeon’s punishment had again concluded with ‘suspension from duty’.

“Wow, that guy still hasn’t learned his lesson and is still clinging on here? If he blew things up, shouldn’t he have made a public confession and crawled away?”

“I heard the director under him was carried out of the gate as a headless corpse. Normally, an investigation would follow by now…”

“Hold on, he must have some powerful backing, then?”

The news of the director being carried out as a headless body was already a well-known anecdote.

‘Well. It was highly likely to be Taeseongyeon’s doing.’ And if Dokyeom’s premonition was correct, Lee Sanghyeon probably wouldn’t fare well in the near future. ‘Perhaps that’s why he was acting so conspicuously, making his presence known.’

“Thank you for your valuable presence, Uwha Guild Hunters. Oh, Mr. Ju Uiryeong, you’ve arrived as well. It’s been a long time.”

The one who greeted the throng of people pouring through the entrance with a friendly smile was none other than Instructor Lee Sanghyeon. At the forefront of the group entering the entrance were Geon Ita, a female sub-guild leader, other high-ranking hunters, and Ju Uiryeong.

‘Yes, Ju Uiryeong was also here.’

Slurp.

Dokyeom took a noisy sip of his drink through the straw. At Lee Sanghyeon’s unexpected welcome, Geon Ita and the others paused their steps for a moment. Despite approaching as if to guide them, what actually came out of Lee Sanghyeon’s mouth were rather pointless remarks.

“I’ve heard much about Guild Leader Geon Ita and Mr. Ju Uiryeong’s achievements. This Seolleung Station Red Gate incident could have been far more disastrous if not for the two of you. Ah, Guild Leader Geon Ita, is this your first visit to the Sahyeon Guild? I will be sure to guide you thoroughly.”

Thanks to this, the desk employee who had rushed out first and stood politely, immediately frowned. The hunters seated behind Dokyeom, seemingly equally bewildered, choked on their drinks.

Dokyeom, who had been nonchalantly observing the situation with his chin propped in his hand, suddenly felt a sharp sensation on his cheek and shifted his gaze. Before long, his eyes met Ju Uiryeong’s, who was glaring at him.

Ju Uiryeong scanned Dokyeom’s surroundings, as if searching for something. ‘He’s probably looking for Agon or Dali,’ Dokyeom surmised. In time, a look of annoyance settled on Ju Uiryeong’s brow as he confirmed that neither was present.

“If you take that elevator, it connects directly to the CEO’s office. Ah, there are too many of you to all go at once. Let’s have Mr. Ju Uiryeong go up first. Mr. Ju Uiryeong? Where are you looking…?”

Lee Sanghyeon’s gaze followed Ju Uiryeong’s to a corner of the lounge. A grey-haired man with a straw in his mouth, sitting by the sunlit window, caught his eye. A dark emotion flickered in Lee Sanghyeon’s eyes.

Ju Uiryeong was the first to speak.

“It seems the Sahyeon Guild is now accepting E-rank hunters. Such proactive behavior is truly commendable. Our Uwha Guild should also strive to accept hunters from diverse backgrounds, shouldn’t we, Mr. Geon Ita?”