Chapter 45: As Long As We Don’t Get Caught

“That’s the kind of face that makes you want to punch it, even just once.”

“You know me well.”

“So that’s a no, then?”

“That should be obvious.”

He said it himself.

He has no conscience.

When someone’s boundaries are arbitrary, they’re the kind you can’t trust.

How could I ever form an alliance with people like that?

Even if I did, I’d only be busy worrying and doubting, afraid of betrayal at every turn.

Seo Ji-hyuk spoke, lips curling upward.

“Thanks to you, I’ve ended up fighting with Crowed. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“Consider it the price for messing with us. Especially me.”

“That’s a bit too much change to consider it fair.”

“That’s not my problem.”

As he said this, he shrugged his shoulders.

I heard Choi Ki-jung grinding his teeth.

He must really not like me.

But I didn’t care—I had no intention of getting on their good side.

To begin with, I never liked them either.

“…That’s unfortunate.”

He glanced back at his subordinate, then continued speaking.

Choi Ki-jung gave him a slight nod.

Judging by how quickly he did it, he must not have realized just how loud he’d been grinding his teeth.

“If we joined forces, taking out those Crowed bastards would be easy.”

“Oh, since you’re talking about taking people out, could you try not to kill them if possible?”

“What? Why should I do that? Don’t tell me you’re one of those pacifists like Baek Do-hee?”

Pacifist, huh…

People often make that mistake.

Because as Korea’s greatest healer, she never kills, no matter how wicked the villain.

But it’s not because Do-hee is a pacifist.

It’s because killing someone brings penalties to her healing skills.

It’s a misunderstanding born from hiding the truth to maintain the image of the White Saint.

Only Tae-cheon and I know this fact.

Even Han Jae-im, Tae-cheon’s right hand, doesn’t know.

“What nonsense is that? If you’re going to kill them, just bring them to me.”

“Hm?”

It’s fine for the Libra Guild and Crowed to keep each other in check.

They might get so busy that they’ll forget about me.

But it would be a problem if Seo Ji-hyuk killed them all.

“Bring them to you? And why’s that?”

“Because if anyone’s going to finish them off, it should be me.”

Seo Ji-hyuk stared at me for several seconds after I said that.

Then he turned to Choi Ki-jung and asked,

What came out of his mouth was something I never expected.

“Choi Ki-jung. Is she really that pretty?”

“…For a blacksmith, she’s considered a beauty. In fact, her skills sometimes get underrated because of it.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Exactly. Making the top 100 blacksmiths in our country isn’t easy, either.”

“Hm, so that’s why the Crowed bastards had that ridiculous misunderstanding. I suppose I should meet her face-to-face at least once.”

“…Hey, that’s not it.”

“Then why do you want to kill them yourself?”

“That’s because…!”

I had nothing to say, so I just pressed my lips together.

I want to kill Crowed myself because they’re the quest targets.

I’ve taken out two so far, and to get the best reward, I need to kill eight more.

If Seo Ji-hyuk takes them out, it’ll get in the way of my quest.

I don’t even know how many are left, so I can’t just let them die.

The problem is, I can’t tell him the real reason.

As I racked my brain for an excuse, Seo Ji-hyuk let out a short laugh.

“Fine. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to go easy on them.”

“…Yeah, thanks. Really.”

“Master.”

“Hm?”

Choi Ki-jung called out to Seo Ji-hyuk, then whispered something in his ear.

I couldn’t hear the details, but it was probably a suggestion to leave.

After Choi Ki-jung stepped back, Seo Ji-hyuk said they’d be on their way.

But before he said it, he glanced somewhere else.

Almost as if he’d noticed someone watching us.

“…We’re done here, so I suppose we should get going.”

“Yeah, good idea.”

I waved my hand, as if telling them to get lost already.

A round magic circle suddenly formed beneath their feet.

Teleportation magic.

They cast the spell in just a few seconds.

Choi Ki-jung… She’s more capable than I thought.

Seo Ji-hyuk looked at me, as if he was about to say goodbye.

“Let’s meet again.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Think about that alliance again.”

“I said no. If you really want an alliance, bring me Jeon Myung-hwan’s head.”

“Haha, sure, I’ll do that.”

With a smiling face, Seo Ji-hyuk disappeared in an instant along with Choi Ki-jung.

The magic circle on the ground was gone without a trace.

Left alone, I looked in the direction Seo Ji-hyuk had glanced.

All I saw were the industrial buildings glowing in the evening sunset.

He probably wasn’t looking at a building, but at someone tailing me.

People like Do-hee and Tae-cheon—I know them too well not to realize.

“Figures. This morning’s incident is probably to blame, isn’t it?”

The blood-soaked clothes must’ve hit Do-hee’s worry switch.

As always, her concern would lead her to take the wrong approach, like putting people on my tail.

I checked the building carefully but couldn’t sense anyone following me.

So I asked Saessak, who’s always sharper to surrounding gazes than I am.

“Saessak, do you feel anyone watching?”

[The World Tree’s Sapling informs caretaker Baek Do-woon that it does not sense any gaze.]

Even Saessak didn’t notice anything.

Maybe it’s because it’s not a hostile or disgusting gaze.

Or maybe the person is just too far away.

Of course, maybe I’m just being a fool here, acting alone with nobody actually following me.

Still, I should confirm if someone’s really there or not.

If there is, I’ll make good use of them.

*****

“Yes, B-rank Hunter Baek Do-woon. You’re verified.”

“Thank you.”

I took back my license from the gate manager and gave a polite nod.

B-rank Hunter Baek Do-woon.

Those words had a nice ring to them and brought a wide smile to my face.

It was nothing like being called an A-rank Hunter when I’d used a fake license.

Back then, I was just worried about being caught because it was all a lie.

“I’ll save Zion for more questionable situations from now on.”

Putting my Hunter license back in my wallet, I entered the ‘Boramae Park Gate’.

Boramae Park Gate was a swamp inhabited by Lizardmen.

An individual Lizardman was only B-rank and not that powerful, but since they operated in military-style squads, it was a tough place to solo.

That’s why all the Hunters gathered near the gate entrance were forming parties of three or four.

When they saw me, they started murmuring.

“That guy’s alone, isn’t he?”

“He’s running this place solo? At night, no less? Is he insane?”

“Wait a sec, he looks familiar… Isn’t he a famous Hunter?”

“Hmm, really? I don’t recognize him.”

“Oh, it’s that guy! The one who was trending in real-time search—”

That’s the kind of chatter I heard.

They were right—going up against nocturnal Lizardmen at night wasn’t the wisest move.

But I didn’t care.

What I was about to do was put on an act of heroically falling to the Lizardmen.

If anything, making an obviously bad decision would make it easier to fool whoever was tailing me.

After all, they were people Do-hee had assigned to watch over me.

If I pretended to be in trouble, they’d definitely approach to check on my condition.

“…Found them.”

I must have walked through the swamp for tens of minutes.

Ahead was a group of Lizardmen with fin-like manes on their necks.

About a squad’s worth.

Most of them gripped bone-tipped spears, though some had bows.

Alright, time to sketch out my act.

I used Warm Touch and then immediately charged at the Lizardmen.

“Kyarrrruk!”

The Lizardmen jeered at me, seeing me recklessly rush in.

Dodging their spears, I tapped each one on the head with both hands.

Just a light tap with my fingers was enough to burst their heads.

Once that happened, the Lizardmen quickly stopped laughing.

Yeah, react like that, so my performance will look more convincing.

The biggest Lizardman in the back barked out an order.

“Kyaruk…!”

“Kyaruk!”

The Lizardmen who’d been laughing snapped their mouths shut and lunged at me.

They knew how to make the most of their numbers.

Ten spears stabbed at me at once, followed by another wave right after.

The ones with bows fired in the gaps.

It felt more like fighting people than monsters.

“Kyarrrruk!”

After knocking down four or five more, the Lizardman leader stepped forward.

He wasn’t holding a spear in either hand.

Maybe to set himself apart, he wielded a massive axe.

Looks like it’s about time for me to go down.

I let the huge axe slam into my mana shield, then dramatically collapsed.

“Ugh!”

“Kyaruk?”

The Lizardman leader realized his axe hadn’t dealt a fatal blow.

The surrounding Lizardmen saw me fall and assumed their leader had won.

The leader alternated between looking at his celebrating subordinates and my fallen body.

Eventually, he joined them in raising a victory cry.

“…….”

I lay still, pretending to be unconscious.

A few Lizardmen approached me.

Their hands were blocked by my mana shield, unable to touch me.

Finally, they seemed to sense something was off, tilting their heads in confusion.

Honestly, I wanted to tilt my head too.

I’m lying here like this, but nobody’s showing up.

Don’t tell me I’m just doing something stupid all by myself right now?

Just as I was about to get up out of embarrassment, I heard a Lizardman scream.

“Damn it! He’s not dead, is he?”

“No way, that’s impossible!”

It was Kim Sang-cheol and Lee Jae-wook.

Do-hee must’ve asked them to keep an eye on me.

Whew, thank goodness.

I nearly added another ‘blanket-kicking’ embarrassment to my nighttime record.

Both of them, seasoned B-rank Hunters, made quick work of the Lizardmen.

After finishing off the Lizardman leader, they rushed straight to me.

“Team leader!”

“Are you unharmed—”

“Hello there?”

I waved at them cheerfully from my spot on the ground.

The two of them skidded to a halt.

Their eyes gradually widened as they realized I’d been faking.

Not to mention, both of them have a pretty cute side to their appearance.

“Gasp…!”

“Y-you tricked us, didn’t you?”

“You know I heal quickly, even if I get hurt.”

They’d seen me recover even after getting hurt fighting Jeon Myung-hwan—yet they still fell for it.

Judging from their bickering, though, I guess the thought had crossed their minds.

“See! I told you it was a trap!”

“‘See’ what? You agreed to check it out too!”

“Ah, what do we do now?”

“Of all days, why’d we get caught right after being asked?”

Maybe they suspected, but their worry for me must have come first.

They’d come to check on me just in case.

That’s actually kind of touching.

Hmm. I should give Kim Sang-cheol and Lee Jae-wook a little hope, called ‘persuasion’.

But first, confirmation.

“Did you report the people I met earlier?”

“Huh? Oh, that, not yet—”

“I can’t tell you that!”

Lee Jae-wook smacked Kim Sang-cheol on the head as he started to answer.

Kim Sang-cheol glared at him as if to say “Why’d you hit me?” then clamped his mouth shut with a gasp.

Too late, though.

Hehe, so you haven’t reported it yet?

“In that case, we’re allies now.”

“What?”

The two of them tilted their heads, clueless.

I stood up and walked over, asking,

“What do you think will happen if you tell Do-hee that you got caught?”

“Please! Please, don’t do that!”

“She’ll totally chew us out if she finds out!”

Lee Jae-wook and Kim Sang-cheol freaked out.

Do-hee, what did you do to these guys?

Even the newbies who just joined the guild are terrified of you.

Two years ago, you were so naïve I worried about you…

How did it come to this?

“So, we’re allies now, got it? And don’t report anything about the people we met earlier.”

“Ah…”

“But Do-hee noona will—”

“It’s fine.”

I put my hand on Lee Jae-wook’s shoulder.

Then I spoke in the most serious voice I could muster.

“As long as we don’t get caught.”