There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

n and saw the coat Yiwon always wears.

“It’s morning, right?”

“Yeah, 8:30.”

Yiwon looked down at his watch as he answered.

Then did he come straight to Jiho’s house yesterday and stay until now? Before, Yiwon used to disappear right after showing his face.
Like with the auction, it seemed like Yiwon was staying with Jiho for a very long time this time.

Was there some change of heart?

“Why’d you come? You used to leave right after saying what you wanted.”

“Because I wanted to see Jiho.”

There was no use in asking since Yiwon avoids the question by spouting some nonsense.
Jiho sighed.

“You decided to trespass because you wanted to see me?”

“Trespassing is nothing big.”

Is this something an SS-rank hunter that’s called humanity’s savior should be saying? Jiho narrowed his eyes.
Seeing this, Yiwon shrugged.

“I came in because I thought you were hurt.
I was going to take you to the hospital if you were.
When I came in, you were running a low fever.”

“How’d you know…”

“I never installed security cameras or anything, so don’t worry.”

“Not something like ‘Since I have more skills to use even without security cameras,’ right?”

“No.
I know just from your voice.”

Jiho frowned at Yiwon’s gentle voice.
He felt like something was pressing down on one side of his head.
With the pain came a strange sense of deja vu.

“Um…”

“Why?”

“Has something like this ever happened before?”

“Something like this?”

Jiho bit his lip for a long time.
Even though he felt like he could remember something, he couldn’t.
Lumping his confusing thoughts together, Jiho opened his mouth.

“A situation like this…? Like you taking care of me like this?”

“Probably?”

“There was?”

“I took care of you a lot every time you were sick.
All of our schools were the same, and we went to school together.
There were a lot of times like this.”

“That’s true…”

To be fair, they lived in one house together for many years.
Including the time Jiho was in a coma, the two have been together for nearly 20 years now.

Outside of school, they went on family trips together, and because they were seen as a set, they traveled here and there with each other.
Since their friend groups were the same, Jiho and Yiwon were always stuck together.

Jiho thought that if he had spent the time they spent together studying, he could’ve come in first while they were still students.

While thinking about this and that, Jiho suddenly realized at what point Yiwon started sticking to him again.
It was after Jiho received the new skill.

Does Joo Yiwon know something?

At the very least, it seems like he knows for sure that Jiho’s state is much better than before.

Because he’s sharp enough to figure out the true worth of an SS-rank stone, it was very possible that Yiwon had discovered Jiho’s change.

“Let’s eat, Jiho.”

Yiwon stood up like he was the owner of the house.
Standing up, Jiho felt like something was flipped, but it was too late to say something, so he kept quiet.

An extravagant display of Korean food was set up on the table.
There were way too many plates on the table for just breakfast. 

“You want me to eat all of this?”

“Of course.
Eat a lot, Jiho.
You have to eat a lot and increase your stamina.
Because you fell asleep first, Honey, I wet the pillow with my tears last night.”

Ignoring Yiwon’s nonsense, Jiho sat in front of the table.
His thought had been to make do with cereal.
Although he felt pressured by the table with 12 plates of dishes6, like Joo Yiwon said, this is the best way to refuel.

“Where did you buy all of this?”

“I made them all.
I cooked from dawn but you never woke up.”

“You probably didn’t even have any time, why’d you make all of this…”

While scolding him like usual, Jiho’s eyes met Yiwon’s.
The guy who has everything he wants was looking at Jiho like an abandoned dog.

Thinking about it, even though Yiwon trespassed, he’s still the guy who came as soon as he was done with his work to take care of Jiho in case he was hurt.
And besides, trespassing isn’t really an issue worth fussing over between family members.

Jiho didn’t think he should scold him over the food as well, so he changed his tone.

“No, I’ll eat well.”

“Eung.
Tell me if you need anything else.”

“This is enough; what else would I need?”

“Anything.
Whatever it is.”

Raising his head at the deep voice, Jiho saw the solemn look in Yiwon’s eyes.

Anything.
Whatever it is.

As Joo Yiwon, the guildmaster of the world’s largest guild–Chungram–and the only SS-rank hunter in the world.
Even though his childhood friend who spoke as if he would do anything Shin Jiho wanted was impressive…

Instead of answering, Jiho smiled and picked up his chopsticks.

If he wanted to rely on Yiwon, he would’ve done so earlier.
Thinking about how people’s thoughts will be different than before when he finishes eating and goes to work, Jiho began to eat.

Translator’s note: Yiwon’s birthday is 04/08

 

Footnotes

1. Being bilingual is a struggle because it makes me doubt whether expressions like this exist in the other language.
Anyways, when something makes you feel ticklish, it’s like you’re getting butterflies.
All fluttery and sweet inside.
Cute.
They’re cute.
ㅠㅠ

2. Heh.

3. ㅠㅠ

4. 응 (“eung”) has a lot of different meanings.
Its most basic use is an informal “yes.” Here, it means yes, but Jiho kind of draws it out here because he’s in a daze.
There’s a lot of connotative differences for this word; if it’s not a simple “yes,” I’ll add a note.

5. A little cutesy; spoiled.

6. A table (밥상/반상) like this usually consists of a bowl of rice, soup, and side dishes.
In the past, the number of dishes on the table signified the importance of the person eating.
12 plates or more were usually for the emperor (Yiwon treating Jiho like the king he is).
Here’s an example of what this would look like: