“How interesting.”
Her face didn’t really indicate that she found it interesting. Only Deputy Director Park’s lips curled up while her eyes didn’t contain any amusement.
Although her gaze was fixed on her chopsticks as she rolled another sashimi around the water parsley again, Kwon Wook knew well that she was looking at something beyond it.
“A constellation that makes her date… It’s like a childish comedy programme.”
“It’s like I’m living in that comedy show as well.”
“Wow, Wookie is leading a wonderful life. Why would you say that?”
Deputy Director Park, who was waving her hands, suddenly burst into laughter.
“And Yoon Seheon-ssi again? Oh gosh, that’s so funny. I just burst out laughing.”
“I don’t think it’s funny at all though.”
“No. It’s Rep. Yoon’s son again. Rep. Yoon wouldn’t want to have a civil servant daughter-in-law.”
Rep. Yoon referred to Yoon Seheon’s father, a conservative lawmaker. He was also a lawmaker with close ties to Deputy Director Park. Deputy Director Park’s words, ‘interesting,’ and ‘amusing,’ always had different meanings hidden beneath.
Kwon Wook moved his chopsticks without saying a word. It has been 10 years since Kwon Wook became an S-class hunter.
Amongst the people he knew, the most difficult one would be Deputy Director Park. There wasn’t any other superior that he couldn’t tell what was on their mind aside from Deputy Director Park, who had a smiling outer appearance.
“That’s why Jung Yoojin was so determined to insist on her ignorance at the disciplinary committee. I’d even wondered if something damaged the relationship between Jung Yoojin and Lee Eunjoo.”
Jung Yoojin and Lee Eunjoo are both previous members of the dungeon dispatch unit.
They couldn’t have had a good relationship with Deputy Director Park, who was an E-class from birth and couldn’t become more than a deputy director.
The Hunter Agency was largely divided into two categories. Dungeon dispatch unit, which covered S-classes to C-classes. And those below that were in the public welfare support unit.
High-grade hunters that were dispatched into dungeons despised the public welfare support unit, as they shared the benefits that the high-grade hunters fought for with their lives as collateral, and saw them as trash. Whereas low-grade hunters may proclaim that ‘Without them, the Republic of Korea wouldn’t function properly’ but they suffered from an inferiority complex against high-level hunters.
While Deputy Director Park wasn’t someone that showed that inferiority complex, she also did not like high-ranking hunters.
“These days, Jung Yoojin keeps trying to be a good boss so that it doesn’t suit her. If she’s going to do that, why don’t she go to the graves of the children that lost their lives because of her and bow to them.”
Deputy Director Park laughed at the Mapo branch’s chief, who wasn’t present. At the same time, she gently pushed the menu towards Kwon Wook again.
“Wookie must be hungry at this time of day, so don’t eat sashimi anymore and just have some pufferfish soup or something before going. The pufferfish soup here is delicious. Whenever I pull an all-nighter, I only have pufferfish soup from here.”
“Are you going to stay up all night again?”
“Of course. Our director is making a fuss about creating an incident before he leaves. He’s making a fuss because it’s not spectacular enough.”
Deputy Director Park frowned while combing through her gently curled hair.
It couldn’t be helped that whoever becomes the director of the main office would aim to be a minister next.
He, who went to the National Assembly or the Blue House at 9 am and returned to Sejong after 6 pm, was rather famous to the working-level officials that were pestered greatly. He said that he would definitely become the Minister of National Defense, or something.
“Wook-ah, it’s so hard to do administrative work, hm? Do you think that raiding dungeons is the only hard thing to do? Why am I burdening myself at this age? I feel like I’m dying.”
“I don’t think that way. I know that you’re having a hard time, Deputy Director.”
Deputy Director Park chuckled.
“Are you leading a good life without getting into trouble?”
“Yes.”
“That won’t do, Wook-ah.”
Kwon Wook, who answered without hesitation, paused. Deputy Director Park shrugged her shoulders.
“Get into trouble once. Make it big. That way, you can do whatever you want. This is a country like that. You can’t do anything if you remain still and quiet. Do you understand?”
“I thought Deputy Director Park wouldn’t like it if I got into trouble,”
“No? I like people that cause trouble, Wook-ah.”
Deputy Director Park’s lips, which were devoid of makeup, curved.
That smile gave him the creeps for some reason. But it’s not like he didn’t know she was like this.
“I want to meet that girl named Kang Hara in the future. I should stand in the middle once.”
Oh right, take some doughnuts from the trunk of my car before you leave. Isn’t my secretary’s husband selling donuts right under my nose? My secretary keeps bringing doughnuts everyday, and I’m getting so tired of it. Taking 10 donuts with you wouldn’t be a violation of the anti-graft law…
Deputy Director Park told the story of her life unceasingly. Kwon Wook just smiled and nodded.
“I like donuts. I guess I should eat it while riding in a taxi.”
“Alright, don’t starve yourself just because you’re on a diet. You eat all those donuts. Look at how skinny you are.”
“I have to take care of my weight. If I gain weight, the number of clicks on the promotional videos will drop a lot.”
Deputy Director Park touched Kwon Wook’s red hair and spoke with distaste.
“Oh, do something about your hair before worrying about the number of views. What’s with the messiness of your hair, gosh. Your hair is so damaged.”
Kwon Wook smiled.
“You’re just like my mother, Deputy Director.”
“Don’t say something gross. I haven’t even gotten married yet. What mother are you talking about?”
As she said that, Deputy Director Park picked up her phone and searched for someone’s contact information.
Kwon Wook glanced at Deputy Director Park, before pressing the employee’s call bell. Ding-dong, and a moment later, the employee opened the door and entered.
“I’d like a portion of pufferfish soup, please.”
“Yes.”
As soon as the door was closed, a rough voice travelled out from Deputy Director Park’s phone. When he said, “Oh, Deputy Director Park,” she laughed with only her mouth and concentrated on the phone call.
“Yes, Rep. Yoon. It’s me. How have you been? I thought that you’d be sleeping at dawn, but I didn’t expect you to answer the phone. These days…”
The call did not end, even when the pufferfish soup was served, Kwon Wook lifted his spoon and finished his meal. When he bowed his head, Deputy Director Park waved him in greeting while continuing to chat on the phone.
When he left the restaurant, Deputy Director Park’s secretary, who had been waiting, accompanied him to the parking lot and opened the trunk of the car. There sat a neat box of doughnuts.
Kwon Wook received the box and got into a taxi.
“Sangam-dong, Seoul, please.”
“Oh my, that’s rather far,” as he said some random things, Kwon Wook opened the box briefly. Some mana stones, and not donuts, were rolling within while glowing faintly. Kwon Wook swept up his hair and closed the box.
“Get into trouble once. Make it big.”
“I want to meet that girl named Kang Hara in the future.”
That was the main point.
The taxi travelled through the city and onto the highway. The highway from Sejong only had two lanes. Kwon Wook had no doubt that he would have to return to this city, whose access roads were narrow.
* * *
There are a total of eight S-class hunters in Korea.
One of which was Lee Eunjoo, the head of the Seoul regional office, while two of them immediately left as soon as the mandatory service period, 20 years, ended in order to create their own guilds.
As a result, there were only five teams in Korea that included S-class hunters.
The most famous of those five was still Team K. There were many young and high-level hunters, and due to the fact that they gathered under Kwon Wook, they also had high media exposure.
However, despite their popularity, they had various restrictions. Because they were civil servants. So in conclusion, there was only one member that had SNS.
[T/N: SNS: social networking service]
Naturally, most of Team K’s fans followed Bokhee’s SNS. Fortunately or unfortunately, Bokhee was a so-called ‘attention-seeker’, so he would post a lot of pictures, and the occasional picture of Kwon Wook.
However, Kwon Wook’s fans were a little annoyed by the picture posted today.
[@bokhehegenius: Please look forward to the upcoming debut of Team K’s new member haha. Ah, the Season’s Greetings as well haha]
┗ What’s this? A woman?
┗ That hand is definitely a woman’s.
┗ Is there any reason for a new person’s addition into Team K at this moment?
*Season’s Greetings: A collection of goods released by celebrities at the end of the year.
In the picture, a hand was holding a white, flashlight shaped item, along with Bokhee making a V sign, while a sample of the season’s greetings was in the background.
It might have been to promote the calendar and related merch that will be released in December, but what fans were curious about was Team K’s new member.
Usually, the list of high-level hunters was widely known, so fans guessed who would be joining.
From the looks of the hand in the picture, it belonged to a young woman. However, most of the young women that were high-level hunters had teams that they belonged to.
— Has Team K been playing from the very beginning till now? What’s the new member for?
┗ I guess someone will leave.
┗ I heard that someone saw Kim Jinhyung and his family on the plane to Jeju Island, has Kim Jin-hyung finally retired?
— Where have you gone off to, attention seeker Bokhee? It’ll happen so enough, so why don’t you just post a picture.
┗ You’re so quick at cost-effectiveness, aren’t you? Promoting the season’s greeting and announcing a new member,
— My broadcasting station employee Unnie said that she’s going on a business trip, and that they’re having a shooting with Team K.
┗ Where’s the photo evidence?
┗ Stop spreading rumours from ‘acquaintances’
The community was also full of curiosity. Most seemed to lament the fact that Bokhee had only posted a single picture, but they also hoped that recruiting a new member would be the beginning of different content.
In any case, recently, Team K had stopped uploading proper videos because they were constantly working at the Sangam Dungeon.
Regardless of whether it’s a young woman, they hoped that she’s interesting. There was a limit to just looking at Kwon Wook’s pictorial… As Kwon Wook’s fans thought that, they turned off their phones.
* * *
“Please put on the mics!”
“Here!”
Near the abandoned mine in Eonyang.
They were in front of a cave, which had once produced large amounts of amethyst during the Japanese colonial period, but was currently a ruin that experienced low foot traffic. Even after a dungeon appeared, the number of passersby were controlled, making it seem rather gloomy.
But today, just before winter arrived, people crowded the entrance of this abandoned mine. It was for none other than the documentary shooting for Team K, which included Hara.
“Are you nervous?”
Kwon Wook joked to Hara. Hara, who was fiddled with the small microphone on her collar with fascination, jolted.
“Oh, yes. I guess……”
“Relax. Didn’t you practise hard?”
“Ahahaha……”
Hara tried to smile. The week, which was called special training and read as Hara’s suffering, went by in an instant. While Kwon Wook was away, Kang Hara, who was an S-class yet not an S-class, trained with Team K’s Raeyoung.
“But all I did was train to escape…”
“In dungeons, that’s the most important thing.”
Raeyoung, who specialised in teleportation, looked at Hara’s stats and focused on agility. With only 3 for agility and 1 for luck, Raeyoung said, “At this rate, you’ll still die instantly even if it’s a D-class dungeon,” and with that, she made Hara start running.
To be honest, Hara was rather bewildered, as she thought she would learn how to swing around the weapon she’d just received nicely. It was no exaggeration to say that while it wasn’t her intention, she spent the entire week running.
“You haven’t unlocked any other skills, have you?”
“Yes. For some reason…”
“No, I expected it.”
Kwon Wook shrugged.
“In any case, the ultimate goal is to complete the quest.”
After the words, ‘complete the quest’, Kwon Wook’s gaze turned towards the broadcasting team at the other side.
The broadcasting team was currently testing the lighting near the Eonyang gate. And the man in question was right in the middle of it.
Yoon Seheon.
Hara’s gaze also turned in their direction. As Seheon was checking the rough flow of the script, his makeup was being touched up.
“So men would also wear makeup…”
“What are you saying? I’m also wearing makeup.”
Kwon Wook’s eyes widened as he pointed at himself. Hara smirked and shoved Kwon Wook lightly.
“Hunter Kwon Wook is an idol after all.”
“Oh dear, my job was robbed from me in a flash. Now, I’m a hunter?”
“Ah, of course you’re a hunter now……”
Hara hesitated.
Kwon Wook waved his hand, saying, “I’m joking.” He then whispered softly.
“Anyways, I hope that it’ll go well this time.”
“What do you mean…”
Hara looked down at the item she was holding with a red face. It was the same script that Seheon was holding.
