Chapter 68: Hometown (6)

The situation was resolved quickly.

Cheol-gyu and Jinwoo headed to the warehouse, and right in front of it, Jinwoo handed Cheol-gyu a spear.

[B+ Grade Item, Blue Trident]

― Description: A spear with three sharp blades.

A spear with excellent skills as well.

It could push back opponents, and on top of that, it had a skill that let you infuse mana into the blades, throw it, and even retrieve it afterward.

“Hyung, what’s this?”

“A gift.”

It was the last spear made by Julian the Blacksmith in just an hour. Technically, he’d gotten it for free, but Cheol-gyu, who didn’t know that, looked deeply moved.

Of course, if he found out Jinwoo had gotten it through Julian, he’d be even more touched… but in any case.

“Where did you get this? This must’ve been super expensive!”

Dragged to the warehouse entrance without knowing why, Cheol-gyu was already moved to tears the moment he saw the spear.

“This thing’s got to be worth more than a hundred million, right?”

The perfect weight balance, the grip that fit his hand perfectly the moment he grabbed the shaft, and the cool gleam of the three blades.

It was easily worth over a hundred million, both in ability and looks.

Jinwoo chuckled.

“Just something extra.”

If not now, when else would he get to show off a little?

Contrary to his appearance, Jinwoo was the type to show off sometimes. Especially when it came to family-like younger brothers like Cheol-gyu.

He wanted to show he was doing well, to repay his gratitude—and so he purposely put on airs a bit more.

Cheol-gyu gladly accepted Jinwoo’s show of pride and was genuinely grateful. After all, who wouldn’t accept a little pride from someone handing out items worth hundreds of millions?

He also understood all the meaning behind the bravado.

Jinwoo was repaying Cheol-gyu and the lady’s kindness by giving them such an item, and he put on airs so Cheol-gyu wouldn’t feel too pressured.

Cheol-gyu knew it all, so he nodded.

“Let’s go in.”

Jinwoo broke down the warehouse’s steel door.

Cheol-gyu followed, and inside he found his mother and Byeol, who was like a niece to him, both tied up. Je-ok was unconscious, and Byeol wore a calm expression as she waited for Jinwoo.

So calm, in fact, that when she saw Jinwoo, she waved her hand in delight, momentarily forgetting she was tied up.

The ropes were, of course, torn apart, and when the remnants of the Pa-Gong Guild saw this, they realized instinctively.

Ah, we messed with the wrong person.

When they kidnapped Byeol and Je-ok, they’d acted on instinct. They hadn’t even considered the obvious fact that the Secret Hunter would find this place. They’d thought there was no way.

They didn’t know about the broadcast, and had planned to use the hostages to either get expensive gear from the Secret Hunter or force him to clean up some unfinished business.

But… the Secret Hunter found the warehouse, and one of the hostages, a little girl, had just snapped her ropes and was waving cheerfully.

‘We thought we set a trap, but turns out we walked into one.’

The situation wrapped up quickly. Before Jinwoo even had to step in, Cheol-gyu straightened his spear and charged, and the villains committed suicide.

Better to kill themselves than be skewered by that terrifying spear.

They were confused about who the Secret Hunter was until their last moments, but realized just before death.

The Secret Hunter doesn’t use a spear.

‘I wanted to die knowing that person’s identity, but at least I saw his face.’

And so, the Pa-Gong Guild disappeared from history completely.

*****

I stood up after making sure the lady was unharmed. It was time to leave.

“Take care, hyung.”

“Come visit often, alright, Jinwoo?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Byeol, you too! Come often, okay?”

“Okay!”

It took a little longer since I had to explain a few things to the lady. Since she was someone I was grateful to, I felt I should tell her as much as possible, except for the most important secrets—so, as I’d told Cheol-gyu, I said I was an S-rank Hunter and had a connection to the Secret Hunter.

I also mixed in a little lie, saying I’d learned about the Pa-Gong Guild kidnapping her and Byeol through spirits.

The lady finally nodded, saying she now understood everything. With a promise that Byeol and the spirits would visit often, we left the house.

I also stopped by Eun-jae’s family company to say hello to Sang-ho hyung and promised to meet again soon.

Once everything in Seoul was finished, I chose my next travel destination.

First, I’d go to Gapyeong.

From Gapyeong, I’d drive straight down to Gyeongju. I’d already seen the ocean before.

Now that it was full summer, didn’t I have to dip my feet in a mountain stream at least once?

(Anonymous 1): Hmm, since you went to the sea, the next stop should be a valley, right?

(Chungha’s Messenger): A good choice, descendant.

Gapyeong is famous for its pensions and water leisure spots. Today, I’d arrive in Gapyeong, spend the evening in the camper, then find a pension the next morning.

My plan was to book a luxury pool villa on the Bukhan River and rest for a whole day. Gapyeong was the perfect place for a good rest at a pension.

‘I’ll need to buy some groceries near the pension, too.’

With that settled, I started up the camper.

Late afternoon. Seoul to Gapyeong didn’t take long. The only issue was the traffic jams within Seoul.

Maybe I’d gotten too used to driving in the provinces. Driving a camper through Seoul city was a lot more stressful than I expected.

(Returnee of the Demon Realm): The traffic’s just the same, huh. Seoul’s a great place to live, but there are just too many people and cars.

‘That’s why I only took the subway everywhere.’

Once I got past the jammed section, Gapyeong was a breeze.

“Byeol, come out.”

“Yup! Dad, what are we eating?”

“Whatever you want. Anything you like, okay?”

“Okay!”

Before entering Gapyeong, I stopped at the Gapyeong service area for dinner and brought Byeol out.

Sol and Baekgu were playing together in the camper, so I figured I should get some snacks for the guys who’d have a hard time coming inside the service area.

Once inside, Byeol looked around like she’d entered heaven. Come to think of it, I hadn’t taken her to service areas much before.

‘We’d mostly traveled on national roads, or even if we went to a service area, it was only once or twice, never really enjoyed it.’

Personally, I’m a fan of the food at Gapyeong service area. Sure, all service areas are clean and well-equipped these days, but I especially like the food here.

I remembered once, after a day of subjugation hunts, I’d randomly stopped at Gapyeong service area for a bowl of gukbap.

‘That gukbap was so good.’

Because of that, whenever I’m in this area, I make a point to stop by.

(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Sometimes, you just want to go to a service area for the food. Brings back memories.

(God of Rain and Sunshine): So, when are you going to pay your tribute?

‘I’ll give it to you later. When I eat a late-night snack.’

After reassuring the constellations, I looked over at Byeol.

She was darting around like a fish in water.

Even before reaching the food court, she was picking out snacks by the bathrooms.

She’d already picked out things she wanted to eat—baby potatoes, chicken skewers, sotteok-sotteok, and so on. I was about to buy them all for her but hesitated.

“Can you really eat all this?”

(Anonymous 1): Are you underestimating Byeol?

(God of Rain and Sunshine): You’re underestimating Byeol.

(Father of Crops): You don’t know how much Byeol can eat, do you?

Byeol glanced at the chat and pouted, then spoke in a small voice.

“I was going to share with the Constellations!”

(Anonymous 1): ……!!!

(God of Rain and Sunshine): We’re sorry, we’re the bad ones.

(Father of Crops): Byeol’s better than us, better than Jinwoo.

(Chungha’s Messenger): …!!!

(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Impressive.

(Liberated Swordsman): I’m moved. I feel like my own child has grown up.

(Endless Wait): Byeol… Byeol…!!

(The Last Blacksmith): Byeol is the best!

(Anonymous 1): I’m sorry… Sorry, Byeol! Uncle didn’t realize your big heart.

Ding―!

Ding, ding―!!

The constellations kept sending a relay of support. They were deeply moved by Byeol’s kindness.

Even The Last Blacksmith, Julian, who had agreed to accept tributes for free for now, joined in the donations.

That’s how touching Byeol’s words had been….

‘I’ll buy her even more delicious things with all this.’

Turning all these coins into cash for Byeol was a bit difficult, but I promised to raise her in comfort, never letting her want for anything.

Of course, even without the support, I would have raised her well.

(Anonymous 1): That’s all I want, for Byeol to grow up happy and comfortable!

[Constellation, Anonymous 1 has sponsored 400 coins!]

Before I knew it, my coin shop balance was a little over 20,000 coins. Even after spending a lot to buy elixirs recently, I’d recovered it all in no time.

I carried all the snacks Byeol had picked out back to the car. First, I stuck a skewer each into Sol and Baekgu’s front paws.

They went wild for the sotteok-sotteok, with alternating sausage and rice cake, and I grabbed handfuls of 300,000 won worth of snacks and sent out tributes to each of the constellations.

Then, Byeol and I each grabbed a tornado potato, held hands, and stepped out of the car again.

“It’s so good!”

“Right?”

(Anonymous 1): Tastes even better because Byeol gave it to me.

(God of Rain and Sunshine): Yep, it’s definitely tastier than Jinwoo’s cooking because Byeol gave it.

“My dad’s cooking is better!”

(God of Rain and Sunshine): Gasp.

(Anonymous 1): Right, right, your dad’s food is best, but what Byeol gives me is still the most delicious. Next time, if your dad makes something and you give it to me, I bet it’ll taste amazing.

“Okay, got it!”

(God of Rain and Sunshine): No… I meant that too… Byeol, Byeol!!

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the exchange between the constellations and Byeol.

After finishing our tornado potatoes, we went inside the food court.

A dad and his daughter.

Just the two of us, and we ordered three dishes.

One bowl of ramen, one gukbap, one pork cutlet.

The pork cutlet was just a regular western-style one, but we had to think hard about the ramen and gukbap.

There’s regular ramen, but also rice cake ramen, right?

In the end, we picked rice cake ramen.

And for gukbap, there’s beef head gukbap with just meat in bone broth, spicy meat gukbap, or siraegi (dried radish greens) gukbap.

“What should we eat?”

“Beef head!”

Yeah, since we already had spicy ramen.

Just as Byeol said, for gukbap we went with the beef head gukbap in bone broth.

And so, our slightly late dinner began.

“So yummy, really yummy!”

Byeol’s reaction after tasting the ramen.

“Delicious!”

Byeol’s reaction after eating the gukbap.

“……This is awesome! So tasty!!”

Byeol’s reaction after trying the pork cutlet. She ate everything well, but just like a kid, she especially loved the pork cutlet. Thinly fried, topped with sweet sauce, the western-style pork cutlet is soft and savory, just right for a child’s taste.

(Chungha’s Messenger): Hehe, so cute.

(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Really, so very cute!

(Endless Wait): I wish I had a doll that looked like Byeol.

(Liberated Swordsman): Me too.

I smiled contentedly as I watched Byeol especially enjoying her pork cutlet.

Next time, I’d have to treat her to real Japanese-style tonkatsu.