His gaze stayed on for a long mont. Yikes—still in a mood? I offered him a plain condolence.
“Let’s not get upset that I checked you with Guild Master Im. I don’t really know you, Hunter Sung.”
“My personal details are already all over the internet. If anything, I’m the one who doesn’t know you.”
“Well, the bio everyone knows has no value. Secrets no one knows do.”
With that, I peeled off my glove and flicked it into the back seat. His eyes dropped to my palm.
“...The mark’s faded. It was faint to begin with.”
“I’ve learned how to control it.”
So he can clock it that fast. I figured his instincts were good, but he was sharper than I thought.
“Faster... than I expected.”
“I haven’t used it in a real fight yet.”
“Why report sothing like this to ?”
“Figured you’d be curious.”
Whenever I previewed his ssages, he was spamming with a ridiculous number of beast-related videos like he was praying to get caught.
I pinched my brow slightly and added,
“So stop ssaging about beasts. If you get hacked, I’m fucked.”
“Hacked?”
He tilted his head like he didn’t get it. Young as he is, how can he be this clueless about the internet?
I clicked my tongue inwardly and tossed him a rough explanation.
“The ssenger you’re using to contact runs on a private company’s servers. Even if it isn’t ‘hacked,’ people inside can view it just fine. If the data sits in-house, the state will know too.”
“Shouldn’t that obviously be forbidden? Why are they peeking at private communications? Big Brother? From the reporting system on down, what is this country... a control freak?”
“It can look that way. Ah, but don’t badmouth the Republic of Korea. I’m a citizen so I get to talk crap; you’re a foreigner, so kindly don’t.”
“......”
His face crumpled like he was flabbergasted, and I snickered low.
‘Whatever—hands aren’t the point.’
Even setting beasts aside, there was important talk left—stuff I figured he wouldn’t want said in front of Im Haekyung.
I looked him squarely and asked,
“So, what’s the reason?”
“What is?”
“The reason you keep contacting . ‘I want to be friends’ is too ticklish to trust; I want the real reason.”
“Why don’t you trust it?”
Is that even a question? I couldn’t hide my incredulous look as I stared at him.
Feeling my gaze, he said it brazenly.
“Hunter Seo. I...”
“......”
“...don’t have any friends in Korea.”
And... what do you want to do about it?
I took three seconds to decide what to say to his dweeb declaration.
“Then go ho.”
“I don’t have many in Australia either.”
“That’s a sha. I’ve got plenty, so I can’t really relate.”
“You? You don’t look like soone with a lot of friends.”
Is there any point hearing that from soone with none? I glanced at him and snorted.
“Sure... So you ssaged because you don’t have friends?”
“Yeah.”
“Even a strict partner doesn’t send seventy texts a day. I think I get why you don’t have any.”
“......”
I offered him so generic empathy, then dragged the andering talk back to center.
“So why did you want into Althea? First ti we t, you said you wanted sothing ‘appraised’ and dragged to an auction. You’re very... interested in artifacts.”
“I wanted to see if there was anything worth buying. ...If I’d known the Haeseong guild master owned the place, I wouldn’t have gone. Handing my info to him isn’t my thing either.”
Hmm. Hearing that, a feeling started to creep in.
‘Do you have a specific item you’re after?’
If so, why? I’d just found him a Nullification Ring not long ago, and now there’s another artifact he needs?
‘Then maybe he didn’t co to Korea just to hide.’
I threw out the short hypothesis I’d had and spun up a new direction. But there was so little info that guessing a good reason wasn’t easy.
‘Depending on what artifact he’s after, I could at least gauge the goal.’
I studied him and opened my mouth.
“Doesn’t look like you plan to go back to Australia.”
“Right. Not right now.”
“Since you landed, you’ve gone into a Gate exactly once. Took the reward, then started attending private auctions and won a Nullification Ring. Every sighting after that is just you wandering nothing-burger locations... Weird. And now you want into the Hunter Market too. To , your movents are... very peculiar.”
“I dunno, I think I’m a normal tourist.”
You’re S-rank—drop the ‘normal’ title. I ignored the joke and asked,
“Is there sothing you’re looking for? Sothing you’d need my help with?”
aning: is there sothing that would justify all this circling talk—sothing that needs ‘appraisal’? And if there is, what the hell is it that you’re going this far?
He tested like he was sounding out.
“Well, if I said there is, would you help?”
I answered, noncommittal.
“Maybe... if I see wh—”
“...?”
And then—lightning-bolt realization.
‘Ah... this bastard.’
I looked him squarely and burst out laughing. Not a scoff—an honest laugh from the heart.
“Aha...”
“......”
“You’re not looking for an artifact... are you.”
Out of nowhere, a personal history beat from the arc where he shines in the original slamd into my head. I’d written it off as trivial and forgotten it.
His first awakening was in the Republic of Korea. Whether he was visiting or considering putting down roots, I don’t know, but while he was here as a “non-Awakened,” he ran straight into a dungeon break.
Awakening monts tie directly to life and death, so they’re usually dramatic. His was no exception.
There was a Hunter Association hunter who stepped in to save him while he was still unawakened... and before he awakened, that hunter died.
Up to there, it’s a common story. After awakening, he cleared the dungeon, carried the body to the Association, and reported the situation. If I rember right, the Association brushed the fallen aside.
‘What was the reason again?’
The reason he really fell out with the Association... aside from them forcing the things he hates—there was one more.
‘Did they mishandle the corpse?’
I tried to dig it out of mory for a mont and knit my brows slightly.
Whatever. The point is, after that, he made several more attempts to find sothing connected to that “body.” I don’t know why. To repay a debt?
‘The guy’s already a corpse. Why bother?’
By my standards, that’s pretty inefficient—but he’s not exactly a normal type.
If that’s the case, what he needs now isn’t an artifact at all... it’s information. Or a person.
I faced him with genuine enjoynt for the first ti in a while.
“Seems like you’re looking for sothing other than artifacts. A person... no, information? Maybe both?”
“...Why assu that?”
“Dunno. For soone supposedly hunting artifacts, you don’t look to have a target. You’re not that desperate either. All the sightings are cheap... And it’s weird you’re limiting yourself to ‘Korea.’”
“......”
“So naturally, other possibilities co to mind.”
After listening, he went quiet for a beat, then twisted a smile and flipped the mood. He grabbed my wrist and yanked over toward the passenger seat in one smooth pull.
I stared at his face up close and chuckled low. God, it’d been a while since I felt this entertained.
He pressed his thumb into my palm and started pushing mana in. I felt that distinct sensation—mana flowing in along the mark on my palm.
But it wasn’t nearly as brutal as before.
‘Aquarion’s Heart.’
Even if he pours mana in, the Dragon Heart in the back is blocking.
‘Too bad for the beast stuck in between.’
Heat flared in my palm again and again, but the mana didn’t thrash like before. He seed to notice the difference; his brow twitched, barely.
After a while, he spoke first.
“You’re... not an empath.”
“......”
“You just ‘pretend’ with that shabby little beast you’re raising in your palm. Look, I don’t an to make an enemy of you... but keep poking with speculative crap like that and you’re the one who’ll be in danger.”
“That’s why we went on a three-way date with the Haeseong guild master today. In case you ever feel like killing ... I wanted you to think of Guild Master Im’s face once and reconsider.”
“You’re remarkably... talented at pissing people off. Why do you take goodwill like this?”
Get the hell outta here. If he hadn’t co in with threats, we could’ve had a perfectly fine relationship. Well—‘strangers,’ maybe.
‘Too late now.’
He let go of my palm, grabbed by the collar, and hauled in. I didn’t resist, but he wasn’t putting in that much power either. Maybe he was controlling his strength.
“Seo Jehyun.”
“Yes, Hunter.”
“With the thing in your palm—besides ‘appraisal’—you can do sothing else, can’t you?”
Ah... and you said you had no agenda, just wanted to # Nоvеlight # be friends.
‘Co on, Uijae. That stings...’
In the face of a royally pissed Sung Uijae, I kept wanting to laugh. I slowly hardened my expression and t his eyes.
As expected, he was sure I could appraise more than objects—that I could appraise people. Is that why he kept watching like an observer?
Of course, the beast in my palm has nothing to do with appraisal—but separately, the “status window” does apply to people.
Im Haekyung, Sung Uijae... maybe it’s because their ranks are high, but even when they misstep, their ability to reach the conclusion is excellent. Maybe it’s borderline instinct.
‘What do I do...’
I pried his grip off my collar, straightened my lapel, and looked at him sidelong. Then I started, slowly.
“I didn’t say anything because it was fun watching you be mistaken...”
“......”
“...but the original role of the thing in my hand is this.”
With that, I caught his hand, twisted, and poured a skill into it. His hand froze in an instant, and I watched in real ti as the skin started to die.
“......”
It had to hurt like hell, but he didn’t even blink. Would he be fine if the hand just fell off?
‘That won’t do.’
I withdrew my hand slowly, grabbed a potion from the back seat, and dumped it over his.
I watched quietly as the hand healed in real ti, then tossed the empty bottle back.
“But, apart from that, I can help you.”
“...How do you do the appraisal?”
“Is that the important part? Just tell clearly what you’re looking for and I’ll hear you out.”
Ah, finally... a fair deal.
“Then think about it on the way?”
I lobbed a positive line and started the engine again. It was about twenty-five minutes to the night market. His thinking should wrap up right around then.
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