The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low - Chap 81 life is like a boomerang
(10)
“Yes, it’s okay.”
A soft voice whispered. Warm arms wrapped around his body.
“It’s okay now.”
Behind the crumbling vision, white light shattered.
“I…”
“…It’s time.”
Lee Sa-young opened his eyes. The moment he saw the white ceiling, he quickly sat up and took off the gloves on his hands.
Bang! Something heavy fell and collided with a hard surface. Lee Sa-young quickly surveyed his surroundings. The wires connecting his body to the machines were yanked, leaving the machines scattered messily on the floor. A voice with a sigh came from beside him.
“Are you going to break it to that extent? Why not just smash it all?”
It was Nam Woo-jin. He was sitting at a desk, facing away, doing something. But Lee Sa-young didn’t let down his guard. His sharp purple eyes turned to the corner. Standing there, Jung Bin quickly raised both hands and spoke.
“Lee Sa-young-ssi, I am Jung Bjn. This is Nam Woo-jin-ssi’s laboratory in the basement of the Seowon Guild. I brought you here after you lost consciousness in the auction hall.”
“…”
The sharp aura that seemed ready to kill calmed down a bit. Only then did Lee Sa-young realize he was lying on a bunk bed in a laboratory. Nam Woo-jin muttered gruffly.
“You’d better pay properly for taking over my lab bed.”
“Of course. This place is safe, Lee Sa-young-ssi. Do you remember anything?”
The last memory left amidst the terrible pain…
“Sa-young.”
A trembling hand could be felt on his back, even through the faint sense.
“Hey, Lee Sa-young.”
The voice, usually calm and unhesitant, was broken and hoarse. The unusually warm touch, and all those fragmented sensations were…
‘Cha Eui-jae.’
Lee Sa-young hurriedly searched his pocket and took out his phone. Thankfully, the battery remained. Cha Eui-jae, Cha Eui-jae… Lee Sa-young typed in the number he memorized and sent a short message.
[I’m okay]
Sent. He waited for a long time, but no reply came. Anxiety crept up his neck.
“So then.”
Clap, a sharp clap and voice cut through his thoughts. Lee Sa-young turned his head toward the voice. Nam Woo-jin had turned his chair around to face him, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his hand.
“You’ve smashed my machines, threatened people, checked your phone, and it looks like you’ve finished your urgent messages.”
“…”
“Shall we talk? This guy doesn’t give proper explanations.”
Jung Bin, with arms crossed, shrugged his shoulders.
“Lee Sa-young-ssi needs a detailed explanation too.”
Lee Sa-young roughly pulled off the wires connected to his body. Nam Woo-jin groaned.
“Do you know how much that costs? Handle it gently.”
“Send me the bill. And who told you to connect me to this?”
“I hope you consider how surprised I was when Jung Bin barged in here with you. How’s your body?”
“Fine.”
“Hmm.”
Nam Woo-jin examined Lee Sa-young, who was sitting on the bunk bed, with his white eyes. After a while, he nodded and started mumbling to himself.
“You look fine. If you accept the system’s power during awakening, all pre-awakening injuries heal… although your case has a significant difference between pre- and post-awakening states. The recovery strength must be proportional to the awakening grade.”
“…Nam Woo-jin.”
Lee Sa-young brushed his hair away from his eyes and spoke in a low voice.
“Don’t cross the line.”
“…My mistake. Got it.”
A brief silence followed. Lee Sa-young, rubbing his eyes in annoyance, spoke up.
“Jung Bin, explain the situation.”
“Yes. While I was having a one-on-one with Gyu-Gyu, Kang Ji-soo-ssi came to me and I returned alone. When I arrived on site, you were already down. After assessing the situation, I untied the chains and fed you the poison Nam Woo-jin-ssi provided.”
Nam Woo-jin’s eyes gleamed.
“Did it help with the rapid recovery?”
Lee Sa-young nodded slightly.
“It helped somewhat.”
“Good. If I get more poison, I’ll send it to the Pado Guild.”
“Other hunters were taken care of by HB, so after giving general instructions, I brought you to the Seowon Guild. Everyone has now returned to their respective guilds.”
“Even Bae Won-woo?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Lee Sa-young leaned back on the bed with his arms supporting him. His eyes, scanning the air, soon focused on Jung Bin.
“Did you hear the story?”
“What story are you referring to?”
“…I suppose you didn’t have time to hear it.”
Lee Sa-young smiled, a chilling smile that Jung Bin met with a gentle one.
“I said I would take this debt twice as hard, remember?”
“I hadn’t heard that before, but I was prepared. It was my carelessness that caused this.”
“Yes… I like how communicative you are.”
Lee Sa-young rotated his stiff neck. His languid voice demanded.
“Tell me the conversation you had with Gyu-Gyu, from start to finish.”
***
From the day after the Artisan Exhibition that felt like a week, Cha Eui-jae quickly returned to his peaceful routine. Waking up at dawn to serve hangover soup to hunters. Taking care of Park Ha-eun while preparing ingredients, running the business in the evening, and closing the shop late at night.
However, after the Artisan Exhibition, Cha Eui-jae found himself staring blankly into space more often. Every time, he thought of Lee Sa-young. The sensation of the cold, hard body he held was still vivid. Was Lee Sa-young okay? Whenever such thoughts occurred, he checked the text message Lee Sa-young sent.
Sa-young: I’m okay
‘Like hell you are.’
Cha Eui-jae didn’t trust that message. Even if Lee Sa-young hadn’t regained consciousness, he would have hidden that fact from the public. The powerful must always seem unshakeable. So that message could have been sent by someone else to conceal Lee Sa-young’s condition.
The inexplicable anxiety gnawed at his mind constantly. Cha Eui-jae repeatedly turned his phone off and on, hesitating to reply.
And at the perfect timing, as if aiming for Cha Eui-jae’s anxious moment, Choi Go-yo showed up. It was late at night, after the shop had closed.
While Cha Eui-jae sat in the hall, fiddling with his phone without even taking off his apron, Choi Go-yo managed to unlock the locked door from the inside and barged in, waving his arms. He shouted energetically.
“Hello, Hyung!”
Luckily, the sense he picked up at Incheon Port hadn’t completely fled, and Choi Go-yo quickly lowered his tension after noticing Cha Eui-jae’s mood.
“Ahem, do you remember? On the day of the Artisan Exhibition, I took your grandmother to the hospital. I came to tell you about it. I was going to come right away, but I’ve been busy.”
“Oh…”
Damn it, how could he forget about the hospital with all that’s been going on?
‘You’re totally insane, Cha Eui-jae.’
Cha Eui-jae’s face twisted with anger, and Choi Go-yo’s shoulders shrank. He clung to the steel door, trembling as he asked.
“C-can I tell you now?”
“Yes, please. How is my grandmother?”
“Yes, I brought copies of the diagnosis and prescription!”
Choi Go-yo quickly handed over the documents and started explaining what happened at the hospital like he was rapping. Cha Eui-jae skimmed through the documents quickly while listening to Choi Go-yo’s explanation. Fortunately, her knee condition hadn’t worsened, and it seemed that steady medication would improve it.
“That’s all!”
“Thank you.”
“Hehe, you’re welcome.”
Cha Eui-jae’s sighing response made Choi Go-yo shyly scratch his head. Watching his face brought back sharp memories of the space door delivery to Cha Eui-jae’s mind. And the face of Lee Sa-young, whom he saw as soon as he opened the door.
Damn it. As Cha Eui-jae’s face hardened instantly, Choi Go-yo quickly wiped off his smile and straightened his posture. Regardless, Cha Eui-jae carefully asked.
“How is Sa-young…?”
“S-Sa-young?”
Choi Go-yo’s eyes widened. Damn it. Cha Eui-jae quickly corrected the honorific.
“Lee Sa-young. He hasn’t contacted me for any work lately.”
“Oh, you mean the Guild Leader. The term was so unfamiliar, I didn’t catch it at first. I don’t know either!”
Of course, Choi Go-yo was of no help. While Cha Eui-jae regretted asking, Choi Go-yo busily rummaged through his pocket.
“Hehe, he likes soloing… did he go to work today? Just a moment.”
“…It’s not direct contact, is it?”
“No! There’s a Pado Guild blind board. Usually, when the guild leader shows up, the secretariat team warns us.”
“Oh.”
After skimming the screen, Choi Go-yo handed over his phone.
“Want to see it? It’s fun.”
“Isn’t security important?”
“Aye, it’s just staff asking what’s for lunch at the cafeteria and sometimes bashing the guild leader.”
Cha Eui-jae took the phone and scrolled down. Beside him, Choi Go-yo started excitedly explaining.
“Since I have a relatively high security clearance, I can see most of the posts.”
The first post that caught his eye was as follows;
《Pado Guild Blind Post》
[※Please use manners while posting!]
[※Posts that don’t follow the rules may be deleted without notice.]
Title: [Anonymous] So what happened at the JYJ event?
240 hasn’t shown up for work since the JYJ event
It’s a closed-off circle, so there’s no way to get information
The Hangover Soup Ghost says he doesn’t know
And Ji-soo also says no comment
I’m dying of curiosity
He still hasn’t shown up for work. Is his condition really that bad? Did he even regain consciousness? Cha Eui-jae rubbed the back of his neck and frowned.
‘Should I go check on him myself?’
Cha Eui-jae scrolled down, wondering if there was any useful information in the comments. One sentence caught his eye.
Comments (10)
—Seems like HunterNet is under an information blackout too?
—Yeah, normally there would be tons of bragging posts disguised as testimonials, but there’s nothing this time
—No news articles either ~ did 240 win anything?
—Was looking forward to it, what a letdown
—Nope, my cousin went to the JYJ event. He woke up to find it was over, and he was lying in a hall with Hornet checking the attendance with a sword
—Wow
—What the? Is it some kind of hell for those who killed hornets?
—Please, just spill the whole story
—Please make a separate post for it
—Protest everything
Hornet… could that mean Honeybee? Honeybee was checking attendance with a sword? This tantalizing phrase made it impossible for Eui-jae to look away. He quickly refreshed the page. Luckily, the commenter had posted a new thread.
Title: [Anonymous] Deleting in 10 minutes
Yae-syeong did Yae-syeong stuff
But he hit a wall right from the first sentence. What was this bizarre word with all the incorrect spelling supposed to mean? Cha Eui-jae quickly gave up on interpreting it himself and decided to seek help from someone else.
“…Hey, what does ‘Yae-syeong’ mean?”
“Yae-syeong?”
Looking over the post, Choi Go-yo chuckled.
“Oh, you’re reading that one. It’s funny. ‘Yae-syeong’ refers to Hong Ye-seong. It’s slang.”
“Slang?”
“Search prevention. So it doesn’t show up even if someone searches for it.”
Yae-syeong means Hong Ye-seong. So the first line…
Hong Ye-seong did Hong Ye-seong stuff.
‘Shit.’
Just from the first sentence, he could tell. This commenter was the real deal.
