"Scarlet Sand Island is a dungeon that would suit the young miss."
Sung Hyunje said, tearing off his bread's crust with unnecessarily elegant hands. The guild leader of the number one hunter guild in Korea, and yet, he was worried about not eating the crust.
And that handsome young man beside him, with chopsticks that were no less elegant, was the leader of the future second-place hunter guild. To preaise my brother so directly was a bit embarrassing, but I was being objective. He was perfect to the point of making you think he was too much.
It meant that a few words of his thrown here and there could have a national impact. Besides, I was nearby.
"If she has the ability to raid it, sure."
"There's no way Bak Yerim would be unable to raid a dungeon that even Choi Sukwon could manage. She just needs to be equipped with the right equipment."
Yoohyun-ie said confidently. Here he was acting like a guild leader. Look at him taking Yerim's side. Of course, our Yerim-ie was that good. If the dungeon's environment suited her attributes, she'd be far better than that son of a b**ch Choi Sukwon.
Yoohyun-ie swiped at the smartphone screen with a fingertip. Ater learning that Sung Hyunjae was here, Seok Simyeong had asked him for a verbal consulation aboust the data. The sooner they did something like this, the sooner it´d be over with.
Haeyeon and Seseong were the only two places with enough capacity to take on mo S-rank dungeongs anyway, so if the two of them agreed, it would be over. Before, the hunter association would haver been greedy, but now they couldn´t touch them easily. They neede to make a new S-rank team, but if they intervened too soon, they´d get criticized.
"Is there anything you´re interested in, hyung?"
"I don't really… Ah, do you have anything suitable for Noah-ssi?"
I couldn't keep Noah-ssi as a security guard. Of course, if he didn't want to, I wasn't going to force him into dungeons, but if he wasn't going to be in a guild, why not ask him to make a team? If he made a team, we'd also get some dungeon management rights.
"Are there any A-rank dungeons good for poison attributes? It would be nice if Noah-ssi was able to easily raid alone. If he makes a team, they'd also need poison-resistant equipment."
"I don't think you need to worry over someone who was a guild leader."
Yoohyun-ie said in a surly tone. Well, I knew he was an experienced Hunter, so I didn't have to look after him, but I kept thinking of how young he was. He was even younger than my little brother, but I couldn't erase his crying face from my mind.
"Other than Noah-ssi, I have nothing to worry about. You should make sure to recruit their healer. Competition would be fierce, but for now Seseong Guild Leader-nim is willing to step back."
At my words, my younger brother tossed a suspicious glance at Sung Hyunje.
"Are you supposed to give him something now?"
"No. He said he gave up because he didn't even show his face yesterday, and he was sorry for trespassing in someone else's house. Isn't that right?"
"If that's what you want, then I'll agree."
"I'll thank you with a drink. We have milk and orange juice, and coffee is a bit annoying, so that's self-service."
Sung Hyunje chose orange juice and poured it out with the spirit of a true server. Then we had a discussion about which Hunters to contact. There were few Hunters that Sung Hyunje was interested in. It was also largely due to the fact that at present, Seseong didn't need additional personnel. Haeyeon was lacking more.
"If they're support types or the like, that'll be better. Because the support side is better off than Choi Sukwon's main raiding party. The main team has a lot of unnecessary entanglements."
"I've heard those rumors too."
Sung Hyunje generously gave advice, and Yoohyun-ie accepted it without much objection. It was good to see, but I was a little jealous, too. He really was amazing in so many ways.
The list of recruits was sent to Seok Simyeong. Seok Simyeong-ssi, you'll be busy with your main job for a while.
"We have to go to the Hunter Association about yesterday, right? Would it be better to go to the Awakening Office?"
I said as I fed Bellaré meat mixed with magic stone powder. It's about time we gave them a call.
"Chief Song left the Office and won't be back until tomorrow."
"He went home? That's wonderful, but it's surprising."
I thought he'd hang on until his work was finished. So I thought I'd help him finish yesterday's work quickly, but he left work.
"I took him home myself. I was going to get him groceries and fix him some breakfast, but he refused."
"You shouldn't bother tired people, anyway."
Just imagining the sight of them shopping together was awkward enough to make me want to die. Would they have gone out to eat? Chief Song-nim must have put a cap on the spending amount. The more I thought about it, the more they seemed like polar opposites. At my words, Sung Hyunje put on an affronted look.
"Why don't people believe in generosity? I was worried he'd be unreasonable, so if he went back to work, I was going to pull up another chair at his desk and help him with paperwork."
"Chief Song-nim must be resting well today."
He wouldn't go to work at all. That's great. As I contentedly watched my brother clear the table, I suddenly opened my mouth.
"Haeyeon still isn't paying attention to the overseas side, right?"
"Yeah. We only went out once for the auction."
That wouldn't be much different from other guilds. Except for Seseong. Turning my head, I looked at Sung Hyunje drinking his orange juice.
"Are you in touch with the Japanese side?"
"It isn't a place that I care about, but I'm not without contacts there."
"There's a dungeon in Japan I want, so please cooperate."
In the afternoon, Hayeon got in touch and let us know that the S-rank dungeon raid was over. Yoohyun-ie was also supposed to be in the dungeon raid, so I shared my stealth skill with him and we headed for the dungeon.
Near the dungeon building, a handgull of Association staff as well as a group of reporters were loitring. If there was nothing special about the dungeon rain, only the Association staff would have como for confirmation. This time, reporters came because it was Yerim-ie´s first S-rank raid.
Using the stealth skill, Yoohyun-ie and I passed them and entered the building. Fortunately, neither Yerim.ie nor Peace nor the other Hunters seemed to be seriously injured. As soon as I checke Yerim-ie and Peace, who were standing still near the gate, a sigh of relief came out.
"Ahjussi!"
-Kkiang!
Yerim-ie shouted excitedly at me, and Peace turned to the size of a juvenile and jumped up and down. I hugged Peace, who was rubbing his whole body against my leg in a joyous manner. Come to think of it, it was the first time we´d been aparr this long. The dungeon raid with Yoohyun-ie ended much ealier that avarage.
"Yes, yes, Peace-yah. Did you miss dad a lot?"
-Kkeuooooooong.
Peace cried in a mournful voice, his ears dropping. Your tall is going to fall off, brat. I was really glad to see him again, too, actually. It had been a long time since I held Peace, so I felt comforted. Coy and warm... Yerim-ie was drenched wit water, but for someone who´d exited a dungeon, she was clean.
"Agh, Han Yoohyun!... Guild Leader-nim!"
When she saw Yoohyun.ie, who´d relased the stealth skill, Yerim-ie shouted suddenly.
"You cheater, you tricked me and went our alone! Sir!"
...Cheater was it.
"Didn´t you decide who went by playing rock-paper-sissors?"
"That´s true, but Han Yoohyun brought Peace into it, too!"
"Peace, too?"
"Yes! He asked to play rock-paper-scissors, but suddenly said ´Peace wants to try, too, but he can olnly play paper´, and if I played scissors, it´d either be a draw or a win, so I played scissors!"
Rrrrng, Yerim-ie snarled like angry lion and glared at Yoohyun-ie
"That bastard played rock, and of course Peace wasn't formally part of the game! But Peace wasn't really playing rock-paper-scissors, he was just staring at me, like he was abstaining, so I wasn't wrong! Ah, shit, there's no way Peace could ever play rock-paper-scissors, I'm an idiot, too, but he's mean and a cheater!"
At the sight of Yerim-ie shouting like 'uwaaaah', the Haeyeon Guild Hunters escaped to the corners. Whenever Yerim-ie stamped her feet, the blue shawl on her body fluttered like wings.
"...Yoohyun-ah?"
My brother answered with a shameless face, as if nothing was wrong.
"I told the truth."
Well, he wasn't wrong that they'd decided by rock-paper-scissors. I told him not to cheat next time, then comforted Yerim-ie. I told her Yoohyun-ie was in the wrong and took her side, and somehow calmed her down.
"Ah, put the shawl in your inventory before you go out, since it's stolen goods. Was it worth using?"
"It wasn't just good to use, it was great!"
Yerim-ie looked away from Yoohyun-ie and grinned at me. Her expression changed quickly.
"Since it enhances water attributes, evasion skills, and assists in flight. With this, my flight speed is increased and it's easy to attack while flying!"
My expectation was right; it fit well with Yerim-ie, whose defense was weak. It was better to focus on speed and evasion than it was to wear equipment that only halfway supported defense.
"Ahjussi should've seen me catch the boss. It happened to be by a river. I dropped it in the water, froze it whole, and smashed it!"
"She boasted proudly, saying that because it was a monster with a weakness to cold, she handled it by herself in an instant with a cold buff. Since Yoohyun-ie came out near the start, she technically led the S-rank raid party in the dungeon raid, but she still did well. I was proud of her.
'How were you with Peace? And the other team members were fine?'
'I couldn't fight along with Peace because our attributes don't match, but he was really fast. I want to have the right kiseungsu, too! I thought I'd be okay without, since I have the flight skills, but there was a big difference. It's also good for Stamina and Mana conservation.'
I wanted to raise the right kiseungsu for Yerim-ie, but it wouldn't be easy to get one. To start with, it had to be able to fly and go underwater, with basic Cold Resistance... Was there a monster like that? Our kid's abilities were so good that it was a problem, huh. If we couldn't, we'd have to find two separate kiseungsu for flight and underwater activities.
'Is ahjussi alright? The guild leader came out, so nothing should have happened.'
'It's been a while, but as you can see, I'm fine.'
It would be better to slowly explain about Choi Sukwon after we went out. Why did they keep dying when they were rank S? Their young junior S-rank would go cold with unrest. Even though my brother and I were killing one after another, I wondered if they shouldn't have signed strange contracts in the first place.
'Should we dye it?'
Yerim-ie, who was about to tuck the Magus Shawl into her inventory, shook the cloth and spoke.
'Huh? Dye?'
'Yes. It's just cloth, so I don't think anyone will recognize it if we change the color. It's a waste not to use it, since sometimes dungeons break.'
Certainly, if the color changed, it would be difficult to notice as an outsider. It wasn't any special pattern or shape.
'I don't know if it'll hold dye, but let's try. What color do you like?'
'Anything but red. Should we do it in black so it won't stain easily?'"
"Isn't that too dull?"
"Dark things are nice."
I felt sorry at the life force-draining words. She wasn't old enough to care about colors and worry over staining.
"Just do it in the color you like. It won't get dirty anyway, since it's S-rank equipment."
I didn't know if dyes for equipment had been developed. I'd look into it.
When she heard that reporters were outside, Yerim-ie made water droplets and washed her face. She took out a comb and a mirror, saying they were gifts from Hyuna unni, and put her hair in order.
"I want to change my clothes too."
"You'll get criticized if you come out looking too neat. Especially since it's your first S-rank dungeon, you should show that you've had some trouble and worked hard."
"Ack, really?"
Yerim-ie quickly messed up her hair. It was easy for the images of Hunters who made good money to be adversely affected if they showed off how easily they cleared dungeons. Yoohyun-ie, Sung Hyunje, and Moon Hyuna were asked to show off unbothered images to reassure the public, but Yerim-ie was still young. It would be beneficial in many ways to put together a story of growth achieved through struggling.
If she maintained her image well, even if she got in a little accident, we could brush it off as a child's error, and easily brush past it.
The interview would be short, with her showing signs of fatigue but also brightness. After I gave her proper advice on the contents, she went outside. I was worried that there might be a reporter who asked strange questions, but fortunately, it went well without any problems. Even if she was young, they wouldn't be able to talk nonsense with an S-rank Awakened person right in front of them. The journalists were pushovers.
Yoohyun-ie also pretended to exit the dungeon safely. Then it was time for Hunter Kim Minee to go back to his original state. Well, we couldn't just swap him out.