RG 160

Hyeon Dowun avoided my eyes with an awkward expression. Yeah, he must be feeling complicated too. Him leaving the district wasn’t a matter to be taken lightly. Knowing his personality, there was no way he had gotten permission. He must have run away in secret.

‘Did Kwon Seoyul… follow Hyeon Dowun?’

It looked like he had returned to the district after being ordered to, but then escaped again with Hyeon Dowun. No matter how capable Hyeon Dowun was, it would’ve been difficult to slip out of that huge district alone. But with the help of Kwon Seoyul, an S-class with sharp senses, it would’ve been entirely possible.

I let out a deep breath and rubbed my forehead. I needed to talk to the two of them first, but before that, I had to straighten out this situation.

When I turned around, starting with Kwon Seoyul, who was practically sparkling with excitement, Kwon Taehyeok, Song Ji-un, Ryu Seonghyeon, and Cha Sahyeon were all standing there staring at me. Meeting their gazes made my headache worse.

‘What do they expect me to do…’

My original plan had been to go into the Circle Guild and introduce the fake to Song Ji-un. But then Kwon Taehyeok showed up, and now runaway Kwon Seoyul and Hyeon Dowun had followed after, completely throwing everything into chaos.

“Whew, first things first.” I brushed off Hyeon Dowun’s hands, which were still roaming over me, and walked over to Song Ji-un. “Mountain Keeper, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can accompany you any further.”

“What?”

“As you can see, some guests have come looking for me. I think it would be better for us to part ways here.”

Meeooww.

I shoved the squirming Eunbok into Song Ji-un’s arms. Eunbok let out a pitiful cry, as if I had betrayed him.

“I said I would follow you with confidence earlier, but honestly, the favor I was asked to do only went this far. It wouldn’t look good for me, someone from another guild, to accompany you all the way to the guildmaster’s office. You understand, right?”

“B-but…”

I spoke gently, with an apologetic tone, and Song Ji-un hesitated, glancing at me with an uncertain look. Then, very briefly, he shot a glare toward where Kwon Seoyul and Hyeon Dowun were standing.

It was so fast that I almost thought I imagined it.

Was he really that uncomfortable about going into the guildmaster’s office alone with Ryu Seonghyeon? Well, it was kind of refreshing and cute in its own way, so I decided to pretend not to notice.

“Cha Sahyeon.” I turned my head and looked at Cha Sahyeon.

He was still holding up the hand he had grabbed mine with earlier, staring at me intently. What kind of pose was that supposed to be?

“Come here.”

No sooner had the words left my mouth than Cha Sahyeon came running over. I grabbed his hand again and spoke toward Ryu Seonghyeon and Kwon Taehyeok. “We’ll be going now. Vicemaster, I hope you and the mountain keeper finish up your work smoothly. As for Guildmaster of Yesung… I don’t know why you’re here, but I hope you sort out your business too.”

“Hold on a moment, Hunter Cha Seohu.” As I tried to leave without hesitation, Kwon Taehyeok urgently grabbed me. “Where are you planning to go?”

“I was thinking of going to a nearby café. We can’t exactly have a conversation in the middle of the street.”

“I’ll go with you. Actually, why not come to the Yesung Guild instead? I’ll lend you a reception room.”

I narrowed my eyes at his offer, which came without a moment’s hesitation. “Guildmaster, weren’t you here on business with the Circle Guild? And now you want to take us back to the Yesung Guild?”

“…I came to meet you, not the Circle Guild.”

Oh, come on. I had only half-jokingly tested him, but it turned out he really had come to see me.

‘Well, it’s not like Kwon Taehyeok would’ve come rushing to Circle for any real business.’

Someone needed to let the world know just how free the Yesung’s guildmaster actually was. I clicked my tongue inwardly, about to turn him down because it felt burdensome, when—

“Is there any need to go all the way to Yesung?” A calm, slightly lower-toned voice cut in. “The Circle Guild also has a reception room.”

The voice belonged to Ryu Seonghyeon. I hadn’t expected him to step into this mess, so I was genuinely surprised.

“You just need a place to talk, right? Our guild building is right in front of you. There’s no need to go somewhere else. You can use ours,” Ryu Seonghyeon explained softly, but somehow his expression didn’t seem good.

“Uh, well…”

The slight upward curl of his lips and the smooth flow of his voice didn’t exactly look angry, but… I knew. I knew just how cold those brown eyes could become when something didn’t sit right with him.

‘What should I do?’

I couldn’t just send Kwon Seoyul and Hyeon Dowun away. I had no idea what kind of mess they’d caused before chasing after me, nor what had happened during the time I was out of contact. I needed a proper place to talk to them, and it had to be somewhere I could trust.

In that sense, the Circle Guild wasn’t a bad option. In fact, with fewer members compared to Yesung, Circle was safer. Honestly, setting all that aside, it was impossible for me to strongly refuse Ryu Seonghyeon when he made his opinion so clear. From my experience, if I turned him down at times like this… he’d get a little sulky.

‘Given we’re not that close yet, he might even be seriously disappointed or lose all interest.’

Weighing the current situation, my relationship with Ryu Seonghyeon, and my own circumstances, I had no choice but to accept the offer.

“Alright. Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

***

In the reception room that Ryu Seonghyeon had lent us, I gathered with Cha Sahyeon, Kwon Taehyeok, Kwon Seoyul, and Hyeon Dowun.

Ryu Seonghyeon and Song Ji-un had gone straight up to the guildmaster’s office. After all, the reason Song Ji-un had come here was to meet his twin brother, the current guildmaster, and take over his position. The fake would handle Song Ji-un just fine. If anything went wrong, they’d call me.

Leaving Song Ji-un’s situation to the fake, I needed to focus on settling the matter with Kwon Seoyul and Hyeon Dowun.

“Sit.”

Collapsing onto the sofa, I spoke up, and the four men, who had been standing around awkwardly, quickly moved into action.

After Hyeon Dowun sat down across from me, Kwon Seoyul approached. He naturally tried to sit beside me but scowled when he noticed someone else had beaten him to it.

“What the hell, this brat. Hey, move.”

Cha Sahyeon, who had stuck close to me, looked up at the snarling Kwon Seoyul with a pitying gaze.

Cha Sahyeon, who used to drift through half the day absentmindedly, no longer flinched at childish provocations like this after regaining some adult memories through synchronization or whatever it was.

“Stop making a scene and sit down.”

“Tch.”

Pouting his lips, Kwon Seoyul reluctantly sat down across from me, next to Hyeon Dowun. This time, Hyeon Dowun’s face twisted in displeasure.

Kwon Taehyeok, who had been quietly watching, took the seat next to Cha Sahyeon. It was a natural choice—it was better to sit by Cha Sahyeon than by Kwon Seoyul, with whom he had only ever exchanged insults.

I pressed my sore eyes, weary from the exhaustion washing over me.

‘To think I have to talk about the district in front of Kwon Taehyeok and Cha Sahyeon.’

Honestly, it was uncomfortable. Especially since Kwon Taehyeok thought Cha Sahyeon and I were blood brothers; I needed to be careful not to let anything slip. Maybe I should’ve insisted on going somewhere else, even if it strained my relationship with Ryu Seonghyeon. But it was too late for regrets—what was done was done.

“Alright, tell me. How did you end up here?”

Hyeon Dowun, wearing his horn-rimmed glasses, scratched his forehead. “How else? We just ran away recklessly.”

“Wow. What a useful answer.”

“What the hell, do you even have the right to talk down to me?”

“What?”

Hyeon Dowun pulled something from his pocket and slammed it onto the table—a black, rectangular object. His phone. “Do you have any idea how many times I called you?”

“How would I know? I told you, my phone’s broken.”

“Shut up! You were unreachable, Father was talking about putting that bastard Kang Hae-il in charge of watching you, Kang Hae-il got all excited and bolted from the district—what the hell was I supposed to do?”

“Kang Hae-il? That bastard made a move?”

Now that was new information.

As I asked again, Hyeon Dowun snapped in frustration, “Fuck, like I wanted it to turn out like this? No matter how much I played it smart, it was only a matter of time before my escape got found out and all hell broke loose!”

Hyeon Dowun clearly thought my attitude was absurd, but I felt the same way. “Then you should’ve just kept your head down like before. It’s not like me doing whatever I want was anything new. Why are you making such a fuss all of a sudden?”

No matter how close we had been—brothers, friends since childhood—it wasn’t like it was normal to chase after someone just because we lost contact for a week or so.

“If you were really worried, you could’ve just used your skill like you did earlier.”

“…”

“Why suddenly act so different? Or is there something you can’t tell me?”

“…”

I called out again to the one who was biting his lips in silence, “Hey, Hyeon Dowun.”

He let out a deep sigh and bowed his head. Alarmed by the heavy atmosphere, I furrowed my brows—and then a strained answer slipped out.

“…I did use it.”

“What?”

“I said I used it. In the district… After the order for Kang Hae-il came out, I agonized over it for a long time. You think I’m some idiot like Kwon Seoyul who would just bolt right away?”

“Why am I getting dragged into this…?”

Ignoring Kwon Seoyul’s grumbling, Hyeon Dowun continued, “I kept trying to plan an escape route that wouldn’t get me caught, but I was torn the whole time. And then… I tried using my skill. If you were anywhere in Seoul, I should’ve been able to track you.”

“Wait, you used it today too. So you used it twice?”

“Yeah.”

As expected. I had thought it odd that he kept wearing those glasses—an item meant to suppress energy.

Even for someone like Hyeon Dowun, checking the chip embedded in my body and verifying the code it carried placed an immense burden on him. Every time he used the skill, side effects would inevitably follow, and he wore the glasses to suppress them. The skill was already a strain even if used just once every six months, and now he had used it twice in just a few days—there was no way he was okay.

While I wrestled with my complicated emotions, Hyeon Dowun kept explaining, “I was prepared to deal with the consequences when I used the skill… but your location didn’t show up. I pushed the skill to its limits, combed through everything—and still nothing.”

The area Hyeon Dowun could track was extremely wide, but even so, he couldn’t track beyond Seoul. And just then, I had been visiting Mount Taebaek to meet Song Ji-un. The timing had been catastrophically bad.

“My skill couldn’t find you, you wouldn’t answer your phone, and Kwon Seoyul wouldn’t stop whining. I was so frustrated I couldn’t stand it anymore. That’s why I left. Happy now?”

“…It wasn’t like you to make a decision like that. Kwon Seoyul pulling crazy stunts, sure, I’m used to that, but you? Even if everything lined up badly.”

“What the hell was I supposed to do?” Hyeon Dowun cut me off sharply, spitting out a rough curse. “Fuck, you got kidnapped by some lunatic bastards during those three months you went missing!”

“…”

“You said you were experimented on like a fucking lab rat! That kind of shit happened while you were gone for three months—what if something like that happened again?”

His unexpected outburst left me speechless. I just stared blankly at Hyeon Dowun as he glared at me, his face flushed with anger.

“You think that bastard Kang Hae-il would actually help you? He was ordered to watch you, so he’d just stand there and watch you die! Kwon Seoyul would lose his mind and rush in to help because he’s obsessed with you, but this time it was Kang Hae-il!”

“…Yeah.” I finally snapped out of it as I listened to Hyeon Dowun, who was fuming.

So… he was worried that I might get kidnapped again like last time? Worried enough to take the risk and come find me in person? Now that I looked closely, his red face wasn’t just from anger—he was embarrassed at having to say all this out loud.

Feeling a tight pang of emotion, I said, “You’re the only one who truly cares about me, babe.”

Realizing instantly that I was still joking, Hyeon Dowun yelled in disgust, “This is exactly why I didn’t want to answer, fuck!”