Chapter 29: The Family Meeting 1

“Wha- what do you mean ‘trap’? What on earth are you talking about!”

“Uh, don’t move, you’ll just make it worse!”

I placed my hand on the prison warden’s shoulder as if to pin him down.

After holding him firmly so he couldn’t move, I gently twisted my dagger in his side.

The warden let out a squeal like a pig being fed.

Sweat dripped down his face as he slumped, seemingly drained of strength.

“Please, A-Hyuk… please… spare me…”

Of course, I didn’t just stab the dagger into his ribs with mere ‘trap’ alone.

No matter how much I had survived on traps alone until now, the person in front of me was someone from the Hunter Association.

I wouldn’t do something like this without evidence.

I had already finished cross-examining Kwon Oh-seok and Han Gi-hae, proving they were on her side, so I stabbed with confidence.

If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have stabbed him in front of everyone; I would have done it when no one was around.

I tapped the slumped warden’s head and said,

“Who killed anyone? You dodged the vital spot, so you’ll live.”

“Huff…”

I had no intention of killing him from the start.

He was the face of the runaway management, and I only wanted to prevent him from thinking that way.

Besides, if I killed him, it would just cause more trouble later.

Even if he was working with the hunter trackers, it wasn’t like my life was being threatened.

If I killed him, the Association would accuse me, asking, ‘Why didn’t you capture him alive?’

It would be a strange situation where, despite doing a commendable thing, I’d get scolded for not doing it better.

That was more than enough punishment to be handed down by Do-hee.

“He was working with the hunter trackers. Arrest him.”

Saying that, I stared at the guards.

They looked utterly confused by the sudden verbal attack, unsure what to do.

Then, with startled expressions, they asked,

“What? The prison warden?”

“Yes, your prison warden.”

It must have been hard to believe suddenly that their warden was allied with the hunter trackers.

They had spent more time with him than I had.

It was only natural their suspicion of me would be the more reasonable judgment.

“Well, never mind. Forget it.”

I almost told Han Gi-hae what I heard, but I stopped myself.

I’d done all I could.

If I’d cooked them a meal, that would have been enough—I wasn’t going to hand-feed them breath by breath.

They could figure things out on their own.

The guards looked at each other and then,

“He’s right! This is the fact confirmed through cross-examination!”

It was only after Jae-sik’s words that they moved.

The guards fetched handcuffs and arrested the warden, while two of them hurried to Jae-sik.

Apparently, they planned to hear the explanation from him, not me.

That made things easier.

“Why are you two here?”

I walked over to Do-hee and Tae-cheon and asked.

Do-hee had draped a translucent curtain of debt between herself and me, while Tae-cheon stood holding his cherished sword and shield.

They were there to protect me from their party members who suddenly tried to restrain me for stabbing the warden.

Tae-cheon smiled and replied,

“Pretending not to know when you do? I came because I missed you.”

“We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

Do-hee and Tae-cheon smiled warmly.

Meanwhile, I just wanted to wipe that smile right off their faces.

No one would understand how shocked I was when I saw those two come out of the ant den.

Especially when Do-hee, who was supposed to come on Friday, appeared before my eyes, I thought I’d gone mad, intoxicated by the venom of the Queen Ant.

Not that I was someone who’d fall to the Queen Ant’s venom so easily.

“Cheer up, oppa. It’s me who wants to ruin my expression.”

“I’m so happy I’m trying not to cry.”

“If you really can’t speak properly…”

Then Do-hee shook her head with a faint smile.

I asked the question I’d been curious about since before.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I’m your friend, but I also have Baek Woon-cheon’s prayer route.”

“You… abused that power?”

“Are you crazy? What kind of era do you think this is? It was justified.”

“Well, if that’s so, then fine. How about you, Do-hee?”

“…The power of love.”

“Did you attach a tracking device on me?”

“Wh- wh- what! Of course not!”

Then why couldn’t you see me, Do-hee?

Tracking devices? Even if you’re a spy, that’s a crime.

“So, you came through the warp gate?”

“Yeah. Only I met Do-hee there.”

I see. So their coming together was just a coincidence.

From Do-hee’s perspective, it must have been unfortunate.

She probably didn’t want to come with Tae-cheon.

Now I could roughly see how to smooth things over.

“Do you even know what you’ve done, Baek Do-woon!”

Han Jae-im, who had been quietly observing, suddenly shouted.

She was the type to nitpick me at every chance, even stabbing Tae-cheon’s right arm at the nursery.

I bet she still wanted to do it now.

I wanted her to hear my excuse, but that didn’t seem likely.

Jae-im was trembling, as if she wanted to punch my jaw.

And it wasn’t only her.

The other girls’ gazes were anything but kind.

Our relationship hadn’t been good since the nursery.

They must be thinking I did something wrong.

Just like before.

It’s a bit unfair. This time, I wasn’t entirely at fault.

Well, it’s all just karma from the life I’ve lived.

Among them, only Yeon-ji smiled and waved at me.

Yeon-ji was the only party member among the three who didn’t dislike me.

She was an idol and a friend to Do-hee and Tae-cheon’s older brothers.

Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have cared about me at all.

She also didn’t know me from when I was young.

“You stabbed the warden? Are you crazy?”

“Calm down, Han Jae-im. There’s a reason for this.”

“Reason? It’s probably going to be the usual ‘his trap this and that’ nonsense!”

Wow, that ghost of a person.

I was just about to say so—how did she know?

“Did you fight with these people inside the dungeon?”

Do-hee walked over to Jae-sik, who was receiving questions and answers from the guards.

More precisely, she was walking toward Kwon Oh-seok and Han Gi-hae, who were being dragged behind Jae-sik, and the decapitated corpse of Kim Jeong-cheol.

Jae-sik shouted as he saw Do-hee approach.

He looked like a private standing before a company commander.

“Yes, yes! That’s right!”

“There’s no way you fought without reason, so you must have been criminals.”

“Yes! They were hunter trackers!”

“So this was a hunting ground. That means at least one or two members from the allied association were here, right?”

“Um, yes!”

When Jae-sik answered that, Do-hee’s gaze shifted from me to Han Jae-im.

It resembled, just slightly, the way she looked at me and Tae-cheon when we had accidents.

Yes, just slightly.

There was an absolute difference between the two looks.

In Do-hee’s eyes directed at Han Jae-im, there was no affection.

Not a trace of affection.

Only pure contempt.

“Please use your brain. Stop always being jealous.”

“There’s a limit to how much I can forgive.”

Then Do-hee turned her gaze back to me and walked forward.

Seeing Jae-im biting her lip harshly, I felt a bit sorry.

Suddenly, was it a case of inferiority complex? No way.

Han Jae-im was a powerful hunter nicknamed ‘The Ice Prince of the Ice Field.’

What reason would she have to be jealous of me?

If anyone should feel jealousy, it should be me.

Though I didn’t.

Tae-cheon patted Han Jae-im on the back.

She squeezed her fist at me briefly, then relaxed it.

“So, a lot happened, huh, oppa?”

“You were pretty mad.”

“That can’t be true.”

Do-hee smiled sweetly and fired a magic missile from her staff.

“Mad, huh? Well then.”

Startled, I dodged the magic missile.

The one magic missile that passed the spot where I stood suddenly split into ten and turned back toward me.

One shot was aimed assuming I’d dodge, and the paths had been set in advance.

If it were Do-hee, she would have perfectly set the paths of those ten magic missiles.

No matter which way I dodged, she would have chased me down.

…No, I don’t think she went that far.

Do-hee used magic missiles not to hit me but to limit my movement.

In that case, there must have been only one direction I could have dodged.

I stood my ground.

Pew pew pew!

Ten magic missiles struck me one after another.

“If you had thought just a little, you could’ve dodged the magic missiles.”

I knew.

And yet I deliberately took the hits.

The only way to dodge was the path leading to Do-hee.

I couldn’t go up to Do-hee like a rabbit being hunted.

There was an even bigger trap ahead.

If I said that, she’d just get angrier, so I responded differently.

“Haha, there was no need to dodge.”

“…What’s that? Is that a shield?”

Do-hee’s eyes went wide as she looked at the magical barrier enveloping me.

Tae-cheon, watching quietly, looked the same.

They seemed to want to ask why I even bothered learning shields.

They obviously didn’t know how much my mana had increased after eating the world tree’s fruit.

If it were my normal mana, the shield would have broken after blocking those ten magic missiles.

“I understand why you resurrected.”

The shield remained intact without breaking.

That was direct proof my maximum mana had increased.

Because of that, Do-hee understood why I was trying to resurrect as a hunter and nodded.

Though not for long.

Then Do-hee glared at me fiercely.

“But leaving Baek Woon-cheon without consulting me, ignoring my messages all this time, and…”

Hmm, she had very good reasons to be angry.

“Leaving our guild, then joining that Orobin guild after a chance meeting is unforgivable.”

“What? That last part’s a misunderstanding! I never joined their guild.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes! I wouldn’t leave Baek Woon-cheon to go to another guild!”

“Hmm, well, in that case, I take that back.”

Then Do-hee sighed and continued.

“Leaving Baek Woon-cheon without consulting me, ignoring my messages all this time—that’s unforgivable!”

She repeated what she said earlier, leaving out the part about the chance meeting.

Then she pushed her staff toward me.

It seemed like she was about to fire another magic missile.

No, now that magic missiles wouldn’t work, it might be a different offensive spell.

Looks like this is the timing.

She raised her hand.

“As the first of Baek Woon-cheon, I hereby propose the start of a family meeting immediately!”

-8 Yes.

Family meeting.

As soon as she said the word, the mana gathering at Do-hee’s staff dissipated into the air.

Do-hee looked at me with a stunned face, her eyes wide like a frightened rabbit.

She realized what kind of intention I had in proposing the family meeting.

Family meetings were something the three of us—me, Do-hee, and Tae-cheon—had done since childhood.

Mostly when we were having intense emotional fights or when trying to solve unsolvable problems together.

Ignoring the surrounding people’s confused expressions, Do-hee shouted,

“Absolutely not!”

“As the second of Baek Woon-cheon, I accept the proposal to start the family meeting.”

Then Tae-cheon winked at me.

He clearly knew what I wanted without me saying a word.

“Don’t be ridiculous! This is useless!”

“As the third of Baek Woon-cheon, do you refuse the proposal to start the family meeting?”

Tae-cheon asked Do-hee seriously.

She trembled.

“It’s not refusal. I’m saying it’s useless.”

“Very well, then I will consider it a withdrawal. The proposal to start the family meeting passes with two in favor and one withdrawal. From this moment, the Baek Woon-cheon family meeting will commence, and I, Lee Tae-cheon, will take the chair.”

“Ah! This is annoying! I came here knowing this would happen!”

Ignoring Do-hee throwing a tantrum, Tae-cheon and I looked at each other and raised our thumbs in approval.

Why did you have to come with Tae-cheon, Do-hee?