There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

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Jiho’s face turned red at Kyung Hyun’s sudden words of praise.
He was the first to congratulate Jiho besides his family.

“Thanks.”

– “Is your body okay?”

“Yeah, it’s all good.
I’m a little tired though, so I was going to rest now.”

– “You must be tired.
Should I not have called?”

“No, thanks for congratulating me… You were probably very busy today too, huh?”

Because the gate prediction was wrong again, the Hunter Association was probably being cursed at right now.

The equipment used to predict the appearance of gates was actually developed by Chungram Guild’s Joo Haeun.
But instead of cursing Joo Haeun, who is no less than humanity’s savior thanks to her invention, they attack the ones who use that equipment: the Hunter Association.

Kyung Hyun laughed awkwardly over the phone.

– “It was less busier than expected.
Thanks to you.”

“Not me…”

– “It is.
If it wasn’t for you, I would probably be working overtime again today.”

Kyung Hyun grumbled, complaining about how he didn’t know the Hunter Association would have so much overtime before he joined it.
Jiho lightly responded to Kyung Hyun and continued the call.

A few minutes later, a familiar face appeared on the muted TV.

Jiho knew what it was even without reading the captions.
Joo Yiwon had been raiding an S-rank dungeon in Chungju since yesterday, and the situation being shown was the immediate aftermath.

Joo Yiwon, who raided the dungeon with five other Chungram guildmembers, was standing at the very end of the line.
Seeing Joo Yiwon with his head down, Jiho frowned.

‘Is he hurt?’

But when the reporters’ cameras flashed and Yiwon lifted his head, all of Jiho’s worries instantly flew away.

Joo Yiwon was walking out in his usual suit and coat with not a single speck of dust on him as always.

If anything was different, it was that instead of smiling at the reporters and answering their questions, Joo Yiwon’s eyes were fixed on his terminal.

What happened?

Jiho felt like he could hear people at the scene whispering all the way from here.

Joo Yiwon didn’t acknowledge them.
After dialing a number, he disappeared.
The reporters who were about to chase after him were blocked by Chungram’s guildmembers, who showed awkward smiles.

And.

“…”

Joo Yiwon’s name popped up on Jiho’s terminal.

Looking at those three characters1, Jiho’s racing heart calmed down.

He was wondering why Yiwon walked off with such a serious look on his face; to think it was just to call him.

– “Jiho?”

“Ah, sorry.
Just…”

Jiho apologized.
He forgot he was still on a call with Kyung Hyun.
Kyung Hyun laughed through the phone.

– “You must really be tired.
Go rest now.”

“Eung, sorry.”

– “There’s nothing to be sorry about.
Let’s see each other soon.
Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.”

Jiho wasn’t able to explain before he ended the call with Kyung Hyun.
After hesitating a bit, Jiho picked up Joo Yiwon’s call that was still ringing.

Footnotes

1. His name in Korean.
주이원.
I figured it worked better than eight letters.