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“What the hell is Master thinking?”
Joonhwan, the second-in-command of Corps, grumbled as he hid behind a telephone pole.
“There must be a reason. No matter how unpredictable and mischievous Master is, he’s not the type of person to be kind to an unfamiliar hunter for no reason.”
The same went for the gate stealer too. A woman added with a whisper.
“Are you planning to seize the opportunity and retake the gate core?”
“What are you waiting for? It’s ours anyway. It’ll be fine if we confidently take it back.”
“If so… was it love at first sight?”
Okay. That was rather credible.
Minjoo definitely seemed to have entered puberty recently. He seemed to be harsher than before.
So, it was natural to be interested in the opposite sex. It could be even said that it had happened to him later compared to other kids his age.
“Is he into older people?”
They watched the woman walking next to their master. Then, Joonhwan tilted his head.
“Hmm, I think I’ve seen that woman somewhere.”
“What? Where?”
The eyes of his colleagues all focused on Joonhwan. He cocked his head.
“I don’t know. Where did I see it?”
“You’re addicted to social media. Is she another girl you follow?”
“I don’t think so…”
What was it? She was strangely familiar. Did he see her on TV? He didn’t think she was a celebrity or actor.
As he got lost in thought without responding, one of his comrades exclaimed quietly.
“Oh! They’re moving. Let’s go after them.”
The Corps colleagues continued to follow the footsteps of Eunha and Minjoo. All of them were rankers and were hiding their presences almost perfectly.
However.
[Passive ▸ ‘Cat’s Whiskers’ is activated.]
Eunha glanced back.
‘They’re still following us.’
It felt like faint hostility was in the air, wetting her skin. Fortunately, there wasn’t any murderous intent.
She didn’t know what kind of relationship they had with this child, but looking at the child’s expression from earlier, it didn’t seem like a very good one.
‘Originally, we should have parted ways as soon as we left the gate.’
But it was impossible to pretend to be ignorant of a minor being followed by unknown people without their parents. Eunha took his hand and glanced at the boy tailing behind her.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
Although he wasn’t really hungry, Minjoo nodded his head.
“Someone I know is waiting at a rice soup restaurant nearby. Can you have soup?”
“I can eat anything!”
Feeling proud of his answer, she put her hand on his head. A gasp was heard from behind a telephone pole. The sound was very audible.
“Hehe…”
Minjoo smiled shyly and casted a subtle gaze at the nearby telephone pole. He had also been aware of his tailing colleagues from the start.
‘It’s really annoying.’
If he was alone, he would have already spurted ahead to throw them off, but he was with Eunha now.
Since he was pretending to be an ordinary boy, he couldn’t use his abilities hastily. However, he could put on a simple trick that interfered with facial recognition. Although it was possible to avoid the public’s gaze with it, it was a useless trick for colleagues who already knew who he was.
‘Should I just leave them behind?’
But if that happened, Eunha would realise that Minjoo wasn’t an ordinary boy. When he saw her fighting, she seemed to be a pretty good hunter.
Of course, there was nothing to lose or cause trouble if he revealed his identity. However…
“Watch out for cars.”
Eunha gently pulled the hand she held. Then, she walked on the outside of the sidewalk in place of Minjoo.
“Ah… Thank you.”
Minjoo looked at Eunha with a slightly confused face. He had a very strange feeling.
He didn’t understand. He couldn’t explain this feeling. All he knew was that it felt mushy and ticklish.
They soon reached their destination. Grandma Kim Yoonrye’s Rice Soup. A clean signboard caught his eye.
“Welcome. There are a lot of people waiting right now. Please write your name and contact information at the bottom here so we can call you.”
“I’m with someone inside.”
“Ah, I see. What’s the table number?”
“The table number…”
When Eunha hesitated to answer, Siwoo’s voice was heard from afar.
“Sunbae.”
Siwoo placed himself between the clerk and Eunha, quickly checking Eunha’s state. Except for the fact that she looked a little tired, she didn’t seem to have any injuries. There were also no signs of detainment.
Only then did Siwoo open his mouth again with a more relaxed expression.
“Why are you so late?”
“Sorry.”
That was all Eunha responded with. It was too long to explain every detail one by one. Above all, she was hungry.
“Let’s sit down. I’m hungry.”
“The food is already cold. You can order something new if you want…”
Pause.
Siwoo, who was returning to his seat, stopped moving. His blue eyes turned to the small hand that was holding Eunha’s.
“You—”
Siwoo’s face hardened like stone as he looked at him. He stared at the little boy with his blue eyes silently, as if searching.
The moment when Siwoo’s lips parted slightly.
“…Hic, Noona.”
Grab.
Minjoo held onto Eunha’s sleeve. Eunha raised her head and looked at Siwoo.
“If you stare so coldly, he’ll be scared.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m protecting this kid for a while. He’s hungry. It’s fine, right? Him eating with us.”
“…”
Siwoo looked at her and Minjoo alternately with a somewhat dumbfounded face.
Sunbae’s attitude towards Minjoo was as if she were dealing with an ordinary boy…
‘Ha.’
After the realisation struck him like lightning, Siwoo smacked his hand on his forehead.
Right. Sunbae was from 30 years ago and was uneducated about modern hunters.
It’d be better if he started talking. Siwoo had concluded that much and opened his lips,
Jingle—
The door to the store opened with the sound of a bell. At the same time, the inside of the store began to buzz loudly.
“Welcome, customer. Are you a group of six?”
“What? Ah, yes.”
Entering the store were six hunters wearing dark green cloaks. Celebrities didn’t have to worry about the long queue in front of the store. Just by adequately showing the symbol on the cape, everyone scrambled to yield to them.
Siwoo’s face twisted strangely after seeing them, or to be more precise, the cloaks they were wearing.
“What? Weren’t you going to say something?”
“…It’s nothing.”
It would be better to watch the situation first.
He hadn’t been able to determine the exact situation yet. Let’s not act rashly.
This was a regular restaurant. If they had the right idea, they wouldn’t make a fuss here.
Even if they didn’t do anything, the general public recognised Corps and were staring at them. At the very least, they couldn’t make any aggressive moves in this restaurant.
‘I have to step up now.’
Siwoo turned his gaze away from the boy and led them to the table he had reserved beforehand.
“Take this away. I’ll order everything again.”
“Yes, sir.”
The clerk who received the reorder disappeared, and Siwoo handed out the wet towels brought by the clerk to Eunha and Minjoo respectively.
“Noona, look at this.”
Minjoo nudged Eunha.
Tada! It was a crane folded from a wet towel.
“I can fold this too.”
Tada! This time, it was a rose.
Eunha looked at him and smiled softly.
“…”
On the other hand, Siwoo looked at them and stiffened.
Was it just him? The two looked friendly. That couldn’t be right. He didn’t know what the hell was going on.
Siwoo hated this kind of situation the most.
It was now an unpredictably frustrating situation. Siwoo grabbed the cup in front of him and gulped down the water.
Clatter!
The cup made a loud sound as it was set down, and the water in it swayed shallowly. Siwoo wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand and opened his mouth determinedly.
“I thought he was in middle school, but he must be a tall elementary school student.”
Then, the boy’s dark brown eyes turned towards Siwoo.
The air seemed to freeze violently for a moment. But it was only for a moment.
“…Noona.”
Again, he grabbed Sunbae’s sleeve and pouted his lips. As the space between Eunha and Minjoo narrowed, the space between Siwoo’s eyebrows narrowed as well.
‘What are you up to?’
Siwoo stared at the boy with guarded eyes. Then, he glanced towards the entrance of the store.
“Hey, they’re members of Corps!”
“Awesome! Should I ask them for a picture…?”
Both customers eating inside the store and passersby alike stopped by the windows and stared at the Corps guild members who were cloaked in green.
“…”
“…”
As he was watching them, his eyes met with one of them. They immediately turned their head, conscious of Siwoo’s gaze, but Siwoo didn’t look away from them, narrowing his eyes.
* * *
“Was the meal good?”
“Very.”
Eunha finished eating and laid down her spoon with a satisfied face. How many years had it been since she last tasted this sundae rice soup? No matter which rice soup restaurant she went to, none of them could match this place’s taste.
“Thank you.”
At Eunha’s brief gratitude, Siwoo stiffly scratched his cheek.
“It’s nothing. You can let me know when you want to come again.”
“Mn, I will.”
“If you tell me what you want to eat, even if it’s not rice soup—”
At that moment, Minjoo, who was sitting next to Eunha, suddenly raised his head.
“Noona, look at this.”
Tada! A tank! This time, he made a tank by folding a tissue instead of a wet towel.
He was still doing that? This was why he hated children. Siwoo furrowed his brow. He had no idea that he wasn’t controlling his facial expression.
“I ate well thanks to you, Noona. This is a gift.”
Regardless, Minjoo held out his folded tank to Eunha.
By the way, the shape was quite interesting. How did he make a tank out of tissue…? Eunha was surprised by the accuracy.
“You’re good with your hands.”
Eunha wasn’t good at responding and uttered a monotone exclamation, but Minjoo still grinned, as if he was happy with even that. It was the smile of a perfectly innocent boy, but not in Siwoo’s eyes.
“This is nothing. You can let me know if you want another one at any time. I can also make grenades and military trucks.”
Minjoo spoke confidently and turned his eyes to Siwoo. Siwoo didn’t avoid his gaze.
The glares of the two who faced each other head-on seemed to cause a spark in the air.
After tidying up her seat, Eunha stood up.
“I’m going to go to the washroom before we leave.”
Two pairs of eyes turned to her.
“Okay, go ahead, Sunbae.”
“Be back soon, Noona.”
Right after Eunha left the table,
“…”
“…”
There was a chill in the air.
Minjoo looked down and started folding a tissue again, and Siwoo clenched his jaw and stared intently at him.
A short stature and orange hair.
A single dot under his round, dark brown eye.
A hoodie with a camouflage pattern.
‘I’m sure of it.’
It seemed like he was obstructing facial recognition with some clever technique, but he couldn’t completely fool Siwoo’s eyes, as he was also an S-Class.
Siwoo, who had been silent all this time, slowly licked his lips.
“What are you doing here?”
Siwoo lopsidedly leaned his upper body on the back of his chair and asked directly.
“Trickster.”
His blue eyes were full of confidence. Then, Trickster stopped fiddling with his tissue and tilted his head.
“What, Hyung?”
tl/n: hyung is used by younger males to refer to an older male
A small, faint giggle scattered into the bustling air.
“So you’re a hunter too?