By Zephyria Summon
Two days later, Wave Guild conference room.
“Puhahahahaha!”
Swaaa… A clear laugh burst through the sound of the rain. The atmosphere in the conference room was gloomy like the rainy weather, but the red-haired woman was banging on the table and laughing.
“Heuk, ahahaha!”
Bae Won-woo, who was standing on the platform and rubbing his face wildly, shouted.
“Kang Ji-soo, do you find this funny?”
“Why! It’s fucking hilarious. Ah…. I’m glad I didn’t go into the Dungeon. I almost missed out on this crazy dopamine content. Hehe……. Eueoeong. I’m going crazy.”
Kang Ji-soo started to sob as she laughed. In fact, Bae Won-woo wanted to cry too. Not because it was funny, but for real. His pot lid-sized hand, holding the rolled-up newspaper like a stick, trembled along with the newspaper. Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo, who was standing gloomily in the corner of the conference room, muttered in a dying voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t something that can be solved with an apology….”
“I took care of all the surrounding CCTVs, but the photos taken with personal cell phones…. No, but I’m also frustrated.”
Mingi Seo roughly tore at a handkerchief.
“Why are cell phones so good at zooming in these days! I kept watching, and there was definitely no sign of anything.”
“Hahahahat!”
“Stop laughing, you punk!”
Bae Won-woo roared and threw the newspaper. But the laughter didn’t stop.
The front page of the fluttering newspaper. A black and white photo printed as large as possible. A man wearing a black mask was holding something equally black and large in a princess carry. The quality wasn’t good because it was zoomed in as much as possible, but the black fingertips of the man being held were clearly identifiable. Unfortunately.
The headline of the newspaper was….
「The Secret Relationship Between 1st and 2nd Place」
What a shameless title!
“Sa-youngaaaa….”
Bae Won-woo’s pathetic cry echoed in the conference room.
To summarize the events, it went something like this.
As usual, after finishing his dawn and morning exercise, Bae Won-woo was returning to the Wave Guild when he felt strange whispers and gazes. Not in a bad way, but closer to curiosity if classified. What’s going on? Wiping sweat with a towel, he headed towards the building and sensed it.
‘Something’s wrong, whatever it is.’
Reporters were camped out in front of the building entrance. Bae Won-woo immediately zipped up his windbreaker, took out a hat and mask from his Inventory, put them on, and used moonwalk to slip into the alley.
The series of actions was as natural as breathing. Whether Lee Sa-young was there or not, he was in charge of practical matters and cleanup. Encountering reporters and avoiding them was close to everyday life.
‘What’s going on? Did someone cause another accident?’
Bae Won-woo took out his cell phone. And, seeing the mountain of messages and missed calls, he gaped. It seemed like something had gone wrong in a big way.
He quickly accessed a portal site. A black photo was plastered on the main page.
‘…….’
The coat of the man held dearly by J seemed familiar, but he wanted to deny it. No way. Bae Won-woo scanned the article with ‘Exclusive Report’ plastered on it, and eventually saw a sentence.
‘The man held by J is identified as Hunter Lee Sa-young, who had been missing….’
Bae Won-woo widened his eyes and zoomed in on the photo as much as possible. The fingertips hanging down were as black as a finger joint. Damn it, he couldn’t even argue that it wasn’t him. Everyone who knew Lee Sa-young knew that his fingertips were black. Besides, rumors of Lee Sa-young’s sighting had already spread like wildfire on the Ranker Channel!
Damn it.
Well, even up to this point, he could at least try to turn on the positive circuit. He could say it wasn’t true, and Lee Sa-young had woken up, so it would subside if they held a press conference.
But reading the article carefully, the content was strange. It was as if the two had some kind of….
It was described as if they had a deep relationship. Bae Won-woo checked the messages to calm his troubled mind. But.
Hunter Jung-bin: I saw the article. Is this an article agreed upon by the Wave Guild? ^^; A message mixed with worry from the former Director,
Ji-soo: Vice Guild Leader, what is this?
Ji-soo: (link)
Ji-soo: Did we decide to do media play like this?
Ji-soo: The electric shock is crazy lol wtf
A message from a Guild member that would hurt a lot if put in the eye, Honeybee Hunter: What are you doing?
A short and impactful rebuke from his Hangover Soup partner, Seo Min-gi: I’m sorry. We’re screwed. It seems to be the work of the Mackerel Market.
Even Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo’s apology message. The more he looked, the more troubled he became.
Mackerel Market. After seeing the last message, Bae Won-woo screamed silently and made a call. Of course, ‘Mackerel Market’ didn’t answer.
Mackerel. The best information broker in Korea, based in the Noryangjin Mackerel Market.
If the Seowon Guild played the role of a library collecting all knowledge, Mackerel bought and sold information to its liking. The price of information was other information. Just as fish gathered in the Mackerel Market, information gathered around Mackerel. Thanks to the Hunter civil service academy and Mackerel, Noryangjin was experiencing a new renaissance.
If Mackerel was behind this article. It was understandable that neither Bae Won-woo nor anyone in the Wave Guild had heard the news. It must have moved that secretly.
But the Wave Guild had also traded information with Mackerel several times. Information was the most important thing to track the distribution routes of Prometheus and drugs. Bae Won-woo scratched his head.
‘He’s not the type to stab his partner in the back like this….’
Isn’t trust an important virtue for an information broker? What was he doing this for? He couldn’t figure out what was going on.
And the answer wouldn’t come out just by worrying alone. He bought a few newspapers from a street store and trudged back to the Guild through the Guild member-only entrance. As soon as he entered, the Guild members approached him with bewildered faces.
“First.”
Bae Won-woo took a deep breath and said firmly.
“Let’s unplug all the phone lines.”
And back to the present.
Slurp, the sound of drinking a beverage through a straw. Haa, Kang Ji-soo, who had barely stopped laughing, slumped in her chair. Romantic Opener, Choi Goyo, who was rummaging through portal site articles on his laptop, rested his chin on his hand and mumbled.
“Well…, if Mackerel is involved, it’ll only get bigger if we deny it. It seems like they want something?”
“They’ll keep spreading other evidence until we admit it. Ugh.”
“There are also rumors that the Guild Leader hasn’t been active outside for a while because of this. There are also rumors that J trained the Guild Leader like a dog, buried him somewhere and took him out.”
“Is Lee Sa-young kimchi? Why would we bury him in the ground and take him out?”
“Ah, please…. Stop being so funny. Let’s see…, there’s also a rumor that the Guild Leader was missing for three months because he was being disciplined. It’s so funny. Can’t we just go with this?”
“Haa….”
Bae Won-woo, who slumped down and curled up like a bear, muttered.
“The General Assembly is coming up soon, why are they doing this? No…, what am I going to say there?”
“The General Assembly?”
Choi Goyo raised his head. Kang Ji-soo, who was sipping green tea, replied.
“The Director of Bureau of Rift Management summons high-ranking Hunters every month since the Day of Change, right? That.”
“Can you call that a meeting? Isn’t ‘summon’ a more accurate expression?”
“Just go with it.”
Bae Won-woo curled up in a ball and muttered.
“Guys, I want to go back to the Bureau of Rift Management.”
“Where are you trying to run away to? You have to clean up this mess even if you go back.”
“That’s right. And the Bureau of Rift Management’s salary is so small, do you really want to go?”
“I think it’ll be more comfortable there even if I get paid less.”
“Everyone knows that civil servants work people hard. You’re possessed by evil spirits.”
“Should we do a exorcism?”
“We should probably do a exorcism.”
“I just want to work with Director Jung-bin.”
“No, no. Hunter Jung-bin doesn’t accept traitors. Hurry up and prepare a press conference.”
Bae Won-woo made a sound like a bear crying. Kang Ji-soo stretched her neck and looked at the corner of the conference room. Mingi Seo was still biting his handkerchief as if he was resentful.
“By the way, what does the Guild Leader say? When is the Guild Leader coming to work?”
“The Guild Leader is not yet fully recovered. He said he would rest a little longer before coming to work.”
“Then what about J? I’m most curious about J’s reaction.”
“J….”
Beyond the sunglasses, black eyes without light vaguely looked at the air.
Click, click, the thumb quickly scrolled down. No matter how many times he refreshed, the letters he saw didn’t change. Haa, a deep sigh escaped.
Lee Sa-young, the 2nd Ranker who had been missing for a long time since the Day of Change. He revealed his appearance after 3 months. How? In the arms of the 1st Ranker!
People’s reactions were hot. No, it was so hot that the Korean peninsula was burning. It seemed that only J and Lee Sa-young existed as Hunters in Korea right now.
In fact, since J returned, J and Lee Sa-young had been like hot potatoes. The old 1st Ranker Hunter and the current 1st Ranker Hunter. But the old 1st Ranker, who was thought to be dead, returned and took away the 1st place. Lee Sa-young, who had held the 1st place for 6 years, suddenly fell to 2nd place. It was a highly stimulating content that people would go crazy for.
Just like arguing about who would win if a lion and a tiger fought, from who was stronger between J and Lee Sa-young to who would win if they fought, what their relationship would be like, and what would happen if they actually met. People were constantly curious about the two, and their names were always attached online. Like rivals of the century.
But this time, it wasn’t the same context.
―No, so why is he holding him in a princess carry? Are they dating?
‘…Okay, I’ve decided.’
Eui-jae threw his cell phone on the sofa and covered his face with both hands.
‘Let’s destroy everything~!’