Leaving out crucial information isn’t lying, but it works almost the sa as a lie. Joo Seowon would know that.
If he’d really confird that hunter vanished, there’s no way he wouldn’t have tracked him. At the very least, he’d want confirmation the kid was safe.
But if he can talk this calmly and still fuss about my moves, then at the very least the kid isn’t dead... which ans he’s confident the kid’s alive. If they aren’t checking in regularly, then he must at least know where he is.
Korea?
It’d be easiest for Seowon to keep tabs if the kid were here, but then Damyeon and Cape Pri would be more likely to spot him, so probably not.
And if he’d been promised naturalization... he’s a foreign hunter. I probed Seowon.
“So he’s overseas? Not North Arica, not here...”
“...Hey.”
“English-speaking? The UK? Australia? No, probably not. It’s easier to hide where the population’s huge. China?”
“...Seo Jehyun.”
“No... it doesn’t sound like one of the obvious guesses. But it’s not so place nobody’s heard of either.”
Did Kwon Taehan solve this later? Why don’t I rember this...? In the novel, Taehan visited plenty of countries.
The U.S., Russia, China, Japan... sothing near the equator too. He went to Singapore and...
Then a mory flickered. The country Seowon and Kwon Taehan visited and wrapped up a job.
“Seo Jehyun. What... what are you doing? You’re not planning to kill him, right?”
“No. I was just... thinking through how many variables there are.”
With that certainty, I curled my lips, stood up feeling fresh. Seowon got up too and stuck to my back.
“...Hey. Say it straight. You’re going to let go, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll settle things with Damyeon and Cape Pri.”
“‘Settle’... Jesus, Seowon. Love Hangul.”
“Don’t poke , man. If you don’t... then you and I...”
He even trailed into the room. What is he, a kitten.
Even after I sat on the bed, he squeezed in, shut the door, and hovered. At this point I was curious.
“With ?”
What exactly did he plan to do with ? We were tied by a contract to win-win anyway.
Standing in front of , he looked down in silence. I leaned back on the bed and stared up at his face.
“You and I... can’t get along better, can we.”
“We can just keep things like this.”
“Is that fun for you?”
What is he on about.
“No.”
“You’re threatening , aren’t you?”
“Christ... You can’t hear the part where I said I’d protect you from Damyeon and Cape Pri?”
“Then why are you smiling like that! Like there’s so hidden agenda...”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t. Malaysia isn’t a postage stamp, and even if it later blows up into an episode, I had no confidence to poke it early and fix it now.
I just... found Seowon’s face funny.
Then, suddenly, my collar got grabbed. I thought he’d haul up, but he shoved down onto the bed instead. Just because my body got reinforced doesn’t an I weigh more; I could’ve shoved him off easily, but I let him push and toppled back onto the mattress.
“Hey.”
He called in a deadly tone, teeth clenched.
“If you’re going to dig people up to make them talk, you don’t get to react like this afterward.”
“What did I even do. Did I say I’d hand the kid to Damyeon after going to where he is?”
“You fucking—”
“I wasn’t going to touch him. I just thought, if sothing goes down later, instead of tracking him myself, I could hand you to Damyeon or Cape Pri.”
I had zero intention of handing Seowon over nicely to Damyeon. But seeing him climb on in a fury and still failing to brace a knee without wobbling made laugh.
Maybe the bit about breaking a Trust Covenant stuck in my head—lately even stupid little things made grin.
I gripped his thigh so he wouldn’t wobble and t his eyes squarely.
“Hey...”
“What?”
He glanced at my hand and his expression crumpled.
“Let’s... try being, like, friends.”
“......”
“Employer, employee... yeah, I get it, and I do listen to you. I take the jobs you give ... I even found the location of the sword Hunter Tae used...”
Why is he about to cry? I watched the shifts in his expression.
“I don’t fucking get you. I—I... You’re the first person who said you’d find Minha, who even knew a clue... We signed a covenant, and fuck, we see each other every day. How am I not supposed to get attached!”
“......”
“If you’re going to act like a piece of shit, at least be consistent about it! Sotis you actually comfort people... You didn’t even care that I pried into your family crap, and when I trust you enough to tell you things, you go right back to being a bastard. Fuck, seriously.”
“......”
“It’s so fucking shitty! You bastard.”
I could see the impulse flicker in his eyes mid–swear barrage. Planning to hit ?
If he really went for it, I’d get wrecked.
But instead of beating , he lowered his head.
And, just like a week ago in the dungeon when I’d passed him an item with his mouth, he tilted his head.
His lips touched mine a beat later.
He’s out of his mind.
Instead of shoving off the unhinged B-rank hunter, I let our lips stay pressed. He had no clue how to kiss—just kept his mouth stuck there—then suddenly snapped back to himself and jerked away.
“Crazy...”
He does it and then swears. Is he nuts.
He pulled back, stared at with a bright red face.
“I’m reporting you. Move.”
“...Hey!”
Boldly committing sexual harassnt, then frantically blocking when I tried to get up.
And now what? Rub lips again here?
I cocked my head at him and shook the wrist he was holding.
“You say you want to be friends, then rub lips—how am I supposed to interpret that? You want to be fwb?”
“Fuck, no!”
“From employer–employee to friends to kissing? Though that just now wasn’t a kiss. Either way, that’s a pretty radical progression.”
He clamped my wrist hard. I’d noticed earlier—whatever he was hung up on, he had terrible control of his strength right now.
If we kiss like this, my wrist’s going to fracture.
And calling a bastard one second, then suddenly pressing lips the next—what part of his brain «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» thought that up?
“I... when you gave the item back then, I...”
“In the dungeon?”
“...You did it like this, fuck. I keep thinking about it. Which pisses off, because I don’t know why I keep thinking about it.”
“What are you saying. Speak Korean.”
He kept rambling nonsense, then bit his lip hard and shook his head.
“...So, try being less of a bastard...”
“You’re not the one to say that right after a sneak peck.”
“...Sorry.”
“Ask first, then do it. And let go of my wrist.”
“Huh?”
At my words, he finally loosened his grip. He’d squeezed and pulled enough that finger marks were printed there. I rolled my sore wrist and looked up at him still pinning down.
“Any chance you’ll get off?”
“How does asking change anything...?”
“It ans we can actually kiss. With mutual consent.”
“...What?”
We’re not rubbing dicks, just lips.
I tossed it off like it was nothing, and he dove back into nonsense.
“You can kiss without dating?”
“What kind of dumb shit is that. Did we ‘peck’ because we’re dating now?”
“It wasn’t a kiss...”
“Can you stop talking about kissing? You’re pissing off all of a sudden.”
At last, my patience ran out. I seized his wrist and yanked. As he toppled forward, I twisted, flung him onto the bed, and stood up in his place.
“Ah!”
“Just give the bottom line. You got tagged as a contract scamr by Damyeon and Cape Pri and they’re chasing you; at the core is Witch’s Hunt or whatever; you know where the kid is but you’re not going to sell him out. That about right?”
“......”
“And your gripe with is what—if I sell him, you’ll kill ?”
“What— I never said I’d kill you!”
“Thanks.”
Anyway, even if he’d just grabbed my collar, cursed out, and then pecked like a maniac, the conclusion was simple. Watching him jerk upright, I decided.
“Alright.”
“Huh?”
“We’ll settle things with Damyeon and Cape Pri a different way. If worst cos to worst, we’ll sweet-talk Haeseong.”
“...Are you actually close with the Haeseong guildmaster?”
“God...”
He was doing fine and then tripped over his own mouth again.
Ignoring him, I went straight to the point.
“I won’t touch him. That good enough?”
“......”
“And your personal gripe—what, stop acting like a bastard?”
“......”
I’ve never acted like a bastard in my life. I was about to comnt on Seowon’s weird assessnt when my gaze dropped to where he’d suddenly grabbed my shirt hem.
Clutching the edge of my T-shirt, he stared up at with shaky eyes.
“...Then just kiss once.”
“......”
Why the fixation on kissing? His voice was higher and faster than usual. He knew he was saying sothing ridiculous.
“If it’s really that shitty, I’ll apologize. I can’t tell if I keep thinking about it because I liked it or because it was shitty, fuck. If this is just being a ss, I wouldn’t have said—”
“‘Kiss once,’ my ass, Seowon. That’s not how you ask for a favor...”
I climbed back onto the bed, cupped his cheek, turned his head, and pressed my mouth to his. This ti there was no item to pass, but I slid my tongue between his lips anyway, like he’d been expecting it.
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