Chapter 42: Hunter Yurim’s Appearance

She was so pretty that even as a fellow woman, Hyejin couldn’t help but crane her neck to get a better look, and at that moment, her eyes met Suho’s coldly hardened gaze, and only then did she realize who the woman who had just entered was.

Blake Guild’s SS-rank hunter, Jeon Yurim.

She was a celebrity on par with the three hunters currently by Hyejin’s side.

Yurim the hunter coming to our convenience store, of all places.

Seeing her in person like this felt like a dream. In fact, during her days as a shut-in NEET, Yurim had been the hunter Hyejin admired.

Pretty, overflowing with charm, a top hunter in one of Korea’s leading guilds, even holding an SS-rank. 

Hyejin swallowed hard and secretly glanced at Yurim without Suho noticing. 

Just walking, thinking, looking around—she shone as if spotlights were on her.

Hyejin knew Suho was wary and suspicious of Yurim, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from her.

Thud.

Shortly after, Hunter Yurim walked to the counter and placed the milk she’d chosen from the refrigerated section on it.

“Ah, hello. Hunter. I’ll ring you up.”

Ah, idiot. 

Not only did I greet her twice, but I stuttered too. 

Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, Hyejin pursed her lips tightly and scanned the barcode of the milk Yurim had brought, when Yurim, who had been standing silently like a doll, slowly opened her mouth.

“It’s really just an ordinary convenience store. Nothing special about it at all.”

At Yurim’s emotionless voice, Hyejin looked up at her. 

She was surveying the interior of the convenience store as if Hyejin’s gaze meant nothing to her.

“Pardon? Customer, what do you…….”

“That the great Lee Suho hunter is working in a place like this is hard to believe. What do you think, Lee Suho hunter?”

Suho didn’t answer. 

He just stared at Yurim coldly. As deadly sparks flew between the two, leaving Hyejin and Seojun flustered and unsure what to do, Eunwoo, who had been grinning, suddenly stuck his face in between them.

“Ah, I thought your face looked familiar—it’s the famous Jeon Yurim hunter. Nice to meet you. You know me, right? I’m Yoon Eunwoo. SS-rank healer, Yoon Eunwoo.”

Eunwoo spoke in a cheerful, bubbly voice and extended his hand for a handshake, but Yurim ignored it. 

Instead of shaking Eunwoo’s hand, she turned her head and glared sharply at Hyejin.

“Why risk your life just to try running a business inside a dungeon? In a place where you could lose your life at any moment, did you need money that badly? I just can’t understand your mindset.”

“Pardon?”

Flustered by Yurim’s sharp question, Hyejin asked back, and Suho interjected as if cutting her off.

“What’s your intention in asking that?”

“Obviously because I don’t like it. Lee Suho leaving the guild to work in a dump like this, or this manager here who looks low-rank and takes the dungeon lightly just to make money. But aren’t you going to ring me up?”

Each word flew like a dagger, stabbing into Hyejin’s chest.

Yurim’s piercing, sharp words weren’t wrong at all. 

It was true she was doing this manager job solely for the money.

Hyejin tried hard to hide her trembling hands as she handed the milk to Yurim. 

Her mind was chaotic and her heart unsettled, but she had to do what needed to be done first.

“Strawberry milk, 3,000 gold. Customer.”

Instead of looking at the gold, Yurim noticed Hyejin’s trembling hands and sneered, lifting one corner of her mouth.

“How on earth do you plan to run a business here.”

As if in contempt, Yurim’s gaze slowly scanned Hyejin up and down, stopping at her name tag.

“Your name is Cha Hyejin?”

“Yes? Ah, yes.”

“It’s a really familiar name. I know someone named Cha Hyejin too. No way that girl has what it takes to enter a dungeon, so it must be a coincidence. Ah, I really hate her.”

Then, tilting her head sideways, Yurim stared intently at Hyejin’s face for a while and smirked faintly.

“Strangely similar.”

At her icy mutter, Hyejin had to quickly hide her sweating hands behind her back out of tension.

“I didn’t expect to meet an old classmate after so long, but thanks to that, it’s gotten interesting.”

Hyejin was momentarily flustered by Yurim’s words. 

Classmate? She couldn’t understand what she was saying, but for some reason, Yurim, whom she was seeing for the first time, felt somehow familiar, making chills run down her spine.

“See you again, Cha Hyejin.”

But that was the end. 

Soon, with a bored, indifferent expression as if she’d lost interest, Yurim tossed the money onto the counter like she was scattering it and left. 

Hyejin stood there with a dazed face, then rummaged through her memories.

Classmate?

What did she mean? Yurim and she weren’t classmates. 

If they’d graduated high school together, she wouldn’t have forgotten that pretty face.

[“It’s a really familiar name. I know someone named Cha Hyejin too. No way that girl has what it takes to enter a dungeon, so it must be a coincidence. Ah, I really hate her.”]

If that contemptuous, hateful gaze reminded her of someone, was that overthinking? 

Hyejin shook her head, trying hard to erase someone bubbling up from her dusty memories.

No way.

Hyejin was still confused. 

Confused, or rather, her head was too cluttered. 

More than Yurim’s scathing criticism about running a business in a place like this for money, what made her stomach churn was someone she’d long forgotten. 

Someone who had looked at her with the exact same expression and eyes as Yurim.

Yurim’s face began to overlap with Lee Dohee, the class president who had bullied her for no reason in her second year of high school.

She couldn’t think of them as the same person.

From head to toe, Dohee and Yurim had nothing in common. 

Not only were their appearances completely different, but even their names were different.

And the Dohee Hyejin knew was more likely to have chosen to become an ordinary office worker than a hunter.

No, the important thing wasn’t that…….

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

Asha asked, looking at Hyejin. She’d been concerned because Hyejin had been spacing out ever since Yurim left.

Only then did Hyejin snap out of her deep thoughts and look around. 

Everyone was looking at her with worry, and Hyejin smiled awkwardly and shook her head.

“It’s nothing. Wow! Doesn’t the convenience store seem a bit more grown now?”

“Grown? It’s still far from that.”

“But the convenience store level has reached level 2, right?”

“You’re not satisfied with just level 2, are you?”

Thinking they seemed worried about her, she’d changed the topic to the convenience store, but Asha narrowed her eyes and spoke bluntly.

As if asking if she was really satisfied with the current position.

“No, I was just saying.”

“Right, anyway, you have to work harder from now on. Don’t get shaken no matter what others say.”

When Asha spoke emphatically, Eunwoo, Suho, and Seojun behind her spoke up simultaneously.

“There won’t be any more bad things from now on.”

Laughter escaped at their identical words. Hyejin composed herself and replied to them.

“Of course. How did I end up working here, after all.”

Smiling faintly, Hyejin suddenly clapped her hands and hurriedly left the counter.

“I need to taste-test the lunch boxes!”

She’d completely forgotten amid the chaos. 

Hyejin quickly took out the lunch box she’d placed at the very bottom of the kimbap refrigerated section.

“I’ll be in the staff room for a bit.”

Hyejin entered the staff room, closed the door tightly, and set the hour and minute hands of the time machine on her wrist to midnight.

I have no choice. I need to compile the taste-test reviews before the part-timers clock out, but their shifts have already overrun by a lot.

Hyejin quietly looked around. 

Feeling the space become silent, she let out a short sigh, tore open the wooden chopsticks, and opened the lunch box lid.

I want to heat it up, but for now, I have to eat it cold and account for that.

Examining the appetizing side dishes, Hyejin first carefully scooped up the tuna salad and put it in her mouth.

Before she knew it, she had a small notebook in her hand.

Nutty and crunchy. If this freshness lasts even a day, that’d be good, but I should inquire about that.

Next, she picked up the seasoned lettuce. 

As a kimchi substitute, its fresh and tangy flavor whetted the appetite.

The soy-braised beef would be tasty heated, but since it’s usually eaten cold anyway, it wasn’t bad as is.

It’d be good to add more protein, so I should ask to include quail eggs.

Ah, or maybe eggs?

The chicken vegetable stir-fry and pork bulgogi were decently tasty even cold. 

There was no gamey smell from the meat despite eating warm food cold, and the vegetables were plentiful.

Finally, the soup. 

Hyejin, about to drink it as is, hesitated and pondered briefly. 

Still, for the soup at least, she felt she should heat it in the microwave and try it warm.

Creak—

Hyejin carefully opened the staff room door and came out, passing the part-timers who stood frozen like mannequins, and arrived at the microwave. 

The manual had said it only applied to humans, so she’d been worried, but fortunately, the microwave worked fine.

I should’ve heated the pork bulgogi earlier too!

It was regrettable, but she was glad to know now. Carrying the hot soup back to the staff room, Hyejin carefully took a sip.