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The Monsters Disappeared? (3)
Kim Bongpal looked at Seo Hayeon, then he immediately smirked. He already knew what she was going to say.
“Certainly, becoming a hunter is something I have to do.”
“You’re sure someone’s kid.”
Upon hearing that, Seo Hayeon softly smiled. Previously, in front of Seo Kang Jun’s memorial altar, Kim Bongpal had such a thought. The little boy who just made him frustrated had become an icon as a top hunter. It was the same today, and this was the face of a decent hunter.
In line with Seo Kang Jun’s hopes, Kim Bongpal didn’t want to raise Seo Hayeon as a hunter. However, Kang Jun’s lineage had proven too strong, and he raised a magnificent hunter despite his original intent.
‘Blood is thicker than water. Don’t they say that?’
Kim Bongpal would never have made this choice. Did she choose to hunt because it was a good thing? Anyway, it wasn’t bad. Even he thought it was better for her to resemble Seo Kang Jun over himself. However.
“Kid.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t die.”
They didn’t resemble each other at all.
“Thank you, uncle.”
Replied Seo Hayeon as she slightly nodded.
“Thank you, your ass.”
Kim Bongpal’s usual reply returned. Seo Hayeon laughed with the most natural smile she had felt all day. Suddenly, it was as though today’s conversation was nothing different from usual. Uncle swore like a sailor as usual, and she laughed as usual.
But in reality, it wasn’t. Kim Bongpal wouldn’t be there from tomorrow on.
“Are you going right away?”
“Yeah. I’ve concluded my business here, and I’ll tell Dung Fly I’m on my way. Hmm…well, he’ll be nice to you. He won’t dare fool around.”
“Will you come back to visit Korea?”
“Huh. Probably?”
Kim Bongpal casually answered. It was what Seo Hayeon expected but didn’t wish for. She actually wanted Kim Bongpal to say that he would come to Korea all the time to see her, even though she knew he wouldn’t.
“Just like your father, I will come to visit when you’re dead. So don’t make me.”
Seo Hayeon started to feel annoyed by his casual attitude. Maybe this was the last time she could behave like a spoiled child to Kim Bongpal.
“…So annoying.”
“What?”
“You’re so annoying!”
Seo Hayeon spun around.
“It’s up to you to visit or not!”
She turned back around and stomped away. However, contrary to her loud steps, Hayeon moved slowly. Kim Bongpal smiled.
Pat-
“Go. Don’t die.”
Seo Hayeon stopped as Kim Bongpal mussed her hair. She could smell his familiar scent mixed with the acrid smoke of cigarettes. Soon, that smell also disappeared.
Seo Hayeon didn’t look back, but she could tell Kim Bongpal had left. Her heart tightened. She had prepared in advance, but she couldn’t help it.
However, she continued to walk forward. According to Kim Bongpal’s theory that taught her, a hunter must live alone. So, now she truly had become a hunter.
*
It was a short farewell for those who had been together nearly every moment for five years. But Kim Bongpal was that kind of person in the first place, and he thought it was good to meet someone for a short time and break up quickly.
Before leaving Seoul, Kim Bongpal visited Hwang Dongpal for his last piece of business.
“Dung Fly, I’m here.”
Kim Bongpal actually considered every hunter company to be full of bastards. And he thought that if everyone was a bastard anyway, it would be better to go to one he knew well. So he sought out Hwang Dongpal for a conversation after tossing out some threats and intimidation.
Hwang Dongpal actually wouldn’t have made a move against Seo Hayeon even if he didn’t do this. In the end, he also felt a little guilty about Seo Kang Jun’s death.
Anyway, the conversation between the two didn’t last long.
“I’m leaving. And you know my personality well, right? If there are flies around her when I come back to Korea, you’ll be dead meat.”
“Haha. Of course. But you’re leaving already? Let’s have another cup of tea.”
Hwang Dongpal tried to see Kim Bongpal off with a smile.
‘Fuck you, bastard.’
Of course, he cursed Kim Bongpal inside the safety of his mind.
“Tea, your ass. I’m leaving.”
That was how Kim Bongpal left, and Hwang Dong-pal waited for about five minutes. Until he could be sure that Kim Bongpal had truly left.
Then.
“You jerk! That bastard didn’t even bother to drink a little! What the hell! Dung Fly? Crap, how old do you think I am?”
He spat out all the swear words he had to hold in when in front of Kim Bongpal.
“Hey! What are you doing? Sprinkle the salt! Fuck!”
That was the best that Hwang Dongpal, the CEO of Aegis Corporation, now considered one of the nation’s top hunter companies, with several medals he received from the government for his achievements as an A-Class Hunter and a first-generation Awakener, could manage.
*
Bongpal Kim headed straight to El Plades after leaving Seoul. This was the holy land of money that he hadn’t set foot in for five years, his sanctuary.
“The God of Wealth has returned!”
Five years was a long time. Although it might be hard to change Kim Bongpal, having grown old, it was at least enough time to change his account balance. The previous twelve years he’d spent wasting his hard-earned money in El Plades had started to put a dent in his account. But the magic of money giving birth to money over the past five years had grown his wealth to a new level. It was as if Kim Bongpal had earned a new ability besides his one to live long. Of course, this new ability’s name was nothing other than compound interest.
Anyway, Kim Bongpal enjoyed his first visit to El Plades in a long time. In the interim five years, El Plades had become bigger, busier, more glamorous, and even more colorful a nightlife city. This was also all thanks to the disappearance of the monsters and the arrival of peace.
“Oh! What is this? Is that something new?”
Kim Bongpal was satisfied with the changes to El Plades. Fortunately for him, five years was enough time to renew his stimulus threshold, which constant access to endless entertainment had dulled. Winning money from the roulette, considered trivial, now granted him a new thrilling pleasure, and now he could enjoy the strip shows he wouldn’t usually watch.
But strangely enough…
‘Hmm. It’s fun, but why do I think it’s lacking something?’
Unlike in the past, the pleasures of the nightlife of El Plades now couldn’t satisfy Kim Bongpal. Something, though he wasn’t sure what, was missing.
Kim Bongpal thought that the reason was that he was spending less money than before. Hence the first thing he did was spend more money. His spending increased by the day until, at some point, it exceeded all he had previously spent at the casino. His enjoyment increased with the money he wasted.
Kim Bongpal enjoyed every day as if there had never been a better one, and the next day was even better. However, Kim Bongpal was still not satisfied.
It was fun but still unsatisfying. It felt worse than he thought, and that feeling only grew by the day too.
“Fuck, damn it.”
Kim Bongpal didn’t know that this feeling was called emptiness. Anyway, time continued to pass, and quite a bit of time by the standards of the average person.