By Zephyria From what he heard, the young man was the great-grandson of the Hanover Soup Restaurant Master Grandmother’s fifth cousin’s second child’s in-law’s eighth cousin. He had lost his entire family because of the Rift and was searching for surviving relatives when he finally met Grandmother. With nowhere else to turn, he was helping out at Grandmother’s restaurant, the only blood relative he had left in the world.
In truth, Won-woo only half-listened to the young man’s tragic and grand backstory. A tale of losing one’s entire family and surviving alone wasn’t even considered particularly pitiful these days.
However, everyone praised the young man as an unprecedented filial son. These days, all the young people were either preparing for the Hunter civil service exam in Noryangjin or aiming for non-Awakened positions in Hunter Guilds. No matter how much family owned the restaurant, who would want to work in such a shabby Hanover Soup Restaurant!
Because of this, the Hunters, including Bae Won-woo, viewed the suddenly appearing young man with very favorable eyes. To be honest, they felt guilty eating so much when only Grandmother was running the business. The healthy and strong young man was also very efficient, carrying several earthenware pots at once.
‘He looked like he’d been working at the Hanover Soup Restaurant for 30 years.’
Whether looking at his appearance or his family history, it was clear that it was his first time working at the Hanover Soup Restaurant, yet the young man’s serving skills were extraordinary. Since he started working, the table turnover in the restaurant had definitely increased, and they weren’t even scolded by Grandmother for eating too much! His appearance was welcome news for the Hunters who ate quickly and a lot.
But recently, it seemed like the young man was running the restaurant alone. When asked casually, it seemed that Grandmother’s legs weren’t doing so well. It was unfortunate.
“Welcome.”
As the young man bowed his head in greeting, Bae Won-woo also smiled kindly and looked for an empty seat. The only remaining seat was at a table for two, across from a customer sitting alone. Fortunately, the owner of the seat was a Hunter Won-woo knew. He was as much of a regular as Bae Won-woo, so they ran into each other at least once every two days, and a certain level of familiarity had built up between them. Won-woo asked with a friendly air.
“Is it okay if I sit here?”
“Of course. You timed it well before the wait gets too long.”
“Indeed.”
After exchanging casual greetings and joining the table, Bae Won-woo briefly scanned his surroundings. To gather the information requested by the Guild Master, he asked, pretending not to know, into the air.
“Ah, by the way… where can you find places with soju aprons these days?”
The end of his voice faltered slightly, but Bae Won-woo thought he had brought it up quite naturally. The Hunter sitting across from him widened his eyes and asked back.
“Huh? Soju aprons? Out of the blue?”
“Uh, hmm, I was just suddenly curious.”
As he casually brought it up, people at the surrounding tables chimed in, joining the conversation.
“Usually, you wear them at restaurants when you’re wearing white clothes to keep them from getting splattered, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Yeah. There are a lot of them at restaurants, they hang them on the wall for you to wear.”
“I went to a spicy stir-fried chicken place in front of the Madeok Guild a while ago, and they had them there too. It was a Hunter Net-certified restaurant, and it was really delicious.”
“Wow, I went there once, but the wait was too long, so I just gave up.”If you go there on Friday evenings, the Madeok Guild members are having a company dinner.””
Feeling inwardly pleased as he watched the Hunters become cheerful talking about food, Bae Won-woo suddenly thought. Isn’t this a restaurant too? They used to give out aprons to prevent the red soup from splattering, right? As he looked around, craning his neck, he saw a black apron hanging on a grid-shaped coat rack on the wall.
Yeah, something like that. As Won-woo’s eyes lit up with delight, the young man walked over to the table with kimchi and radish kimchi, placing them down with a thud. Then, he took out a pen and a new bill from the apron’s front pocket…
…Apron!
Bae Won-woo felt a flash of lightning strike through his mind. The restaurant’s diligent part-time young man was always wearing an apron, wasn’t he? The chest area of the apron the young man was wearing had a large ChamXseul logo on it.
…A soju brand apron?
“One Hangover Soup, right? Would you like a lot of chili peppers?”
Bae Won-woo forgot to even answer and stared blankly at the young man as if he were possessed.
Come to think of it, when he first saw him, he wondered if an actor was working at the Hanover Soup Restaurant. The young man had such striking looks that you’d be surprised to see such a handsome and beautiful person in such a shabby place. He had an indifferent yet sharp impression, clear black eyes, and neat black hair. In that moment, Bae Won-woo’s eyes narrowed.
‘Huh?’
Was the part-timer’s hair originally… a bit grayish? The round crown of his head under the fluorescent light looked much brighter than black today.
‘If it’s gray hair…’
Come to think of it… wasn’t it quite similar to the description Lee Sa-young gave? He said the hair color was hard to tell if it was black or gray, and that he had delicate features. What’s more, gray hair isn’t even that common!
“Sir?”
Since this is a Hanover Soup Restaurant… they must have ladles too, right? Won-woo unknowingly looked around.
“Sir.”
“Hunter Bae?”
Bae Won-woo finally snapped out of it when the Hunter sitting with him called out to him. Two pairs of eyes were looking at him strangely. Bae Won-woo smiled awkwardly and nodded.
“Oh, yes. That’s right. A lot of Cheongyang chili peppers, please.”
“Okay. Just a moment.”
The young man clicked the pen and turned around, heading to the kitchen. Bae Won-woo stared blankly at his retreating figure, then shook his head. Nah, there’s no way. What business would Lee Sa-young have with a Hanover Soup Restaurant part-timer? They probably haven’t even met, let alone brushed shoulders.
…But still, what if?
Bae Won-woo continued to glance at the kitchen where the young man had gone, considering the slightest possibility. But a moment later,
“Here’s your Hangover Soup.”
The last bit of doubt remaining in his heart melted away with the hot Hangover Soup. Bae Won-woo smiled contentedly, emptied the Hangover Soup pot as if he were washing the dishes, and shouted energetically.
“One more bowl!”
《Wave Guild Blind》
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Title: [Anonymous] Why is the Guild atmosphere like this today?
I can’t even breathe properly
Comments (12)
―Why do you think?
―Did you see 240 today?
I came to work late today so I didn’t see him. Why?
└Well, if you had seen him, you wouldn’t have posted this…
└I just saw him and he seems really pissed off? His expression is rotten lololol
└How can you tell his expression when he’s always wearing a Gas mask
└You can just tell
└From what?
―240 is being 240 again…
―240 is going down to the 11th floor conference room soon. Be careful not to cross his path.
└Thanks, anonymous from the secretary’s office!
□Title: [Anonymous] When 240 is in a bad mood
It feels like the building temperature itself drops by 3 degrees
Can’t we just tell him to work from home on days when he’s in a bad mood?
Ha, damn, it’s so cold.
Comments (7)
―That’s why I bought a heating artifact from the Hunter Market lololol It’s so warm.
└So a detoxification artifact and a heating artifact are essential… It’s tough living as a Wave Guild member
└Let’s do a group purchase if there’s something like thatㅡㅡ;
└They should distribute hot packs on days like this. That’s Guild welfare
―240 isn’t even an ice Esper, so how does he lower the surrounding temperature?
└We’re just guessing it’s a skill or trait. No one knows the real reason
└I guess those kinds of skills appear when you’re around S-class ㅇㅇ
A week after the Dungeon bidding meeting, Lee Sa-young’s mood was so bad today that the entire Guild was noisy.
His mood was plummeting like a gyro drop hanging at the top. Although his expression was completely hidden by the Gas mask, the ominous aura around him was so palpable that it was impossible not to notice.
In Lee Sa-young’s common sense, or rather, in the common sense of anyone who knew about Hunters in Korea, something incomprehensible was happening.
Korea is one of the few countries in the world where citizens’ personal information is excellently databased. When the first Gate opened and the Awakened appeared, they quickly established the Awakened Management Bureau, created the concept of ‘civil servant Hunters’ subordinate to the state, and systematically managed the information of all Awakened in just a few years.
The reason Sa-young willingly let the suspicious ‘Hyung’ go was because he trusted that database. From the moment he met him until the moment they parted, Lee Sa-young was certain that he was at least an A-class Hunter. No matter how much he hid it, it was impossible to completely conceal his ability in front of an S-class.
Hunters who hid their powers usually received a B-class rating and lived comfortably, so ‘Hyung’ was likely pretending to be a B-class on the outside as well.
If he was an Esper of B-class or higher, he would definitely be registered in the Awakened database. Judging so, Sa-young ordered Seo Min-gi to hack into the Awakened database and report back. He was confident that he would succeed, as he possessed the ability to do so.
But after a few days, Seo Min-gi, who had crept over slowly, delivered news that was no less than a bolt from the blue.
“Jung-bin caught me.”
It was the worst possible news. Lee Sa-young, who was habitually rubbing the crumpled business card with his fingertips, pinched his forehead.
“You. You have a stealth-specialized ability, and you’re ranked 33rd…. Right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But why the hell did you get caught?”
“Well, Jung-bin is ranked 3rd and is an S-class… Ah, never mind.”
Seo Min-gi hurriedly swallowed the words he was about to say, but it was already too late. Sa-young sneered in a languid voice.
“I’m ranked 1st and am an S-class. Jung-bin is scary, but I’m not, apparently.”
“No, Guild Master, you’re damn scary.”
“What did Jung-bin say?”
“That… well.”
Seo Min-gi muttered gloomily.
“He said… he wants you to visit the Awakened Management Bureau in person. He said you need to have an interview….”F***.””
For this reason, Sa-young ended up delaying his work hours today and personally visiting the Awakened Management Bureau. And while listening to Jung-bin’s nagging pouring out from the side with one ear and letting it out with the other, he thoroughly searched the Awakened database himself! While he was searching, Jung-bin kept saying,
“Lee Sa-young, the Awakened database should not be used for personal gain.”
“Are you listening? Hey, I said you can’t.”
“Hunter Lee Sa-young, can you at least pretend to listen to people?”
And so on, he kept nagging with all sorts of complaints, but he didn’t stop searching.
“If that person isn’t registered here, it means that at least a B-class Unregistered Person is running rampant in the streets. Aren’t you going to check?”
When Sa-young came out like this, even Jung-bin, who was like a bamboo stalk, shut his mouth.
So, bracing himself to get chewed out, and actually getting chewed out, he searched everywhere he could, but there was not a single piece of information to be found.
‘Hyung’ was not in Korea’s pride, the Awakened database!
Just in case, he checked three times, including all the F-classes, but the face he had encountered that day was not to be seen. He wondered if the ID photo might be different from the real person, so he looked through it again in reverse order, but it was still the same.
The two men were shocked for the same reason.
An Unregistered Person Hunter exists in Korea…?