Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 48

The return of Trickster and the Princess of Dark Flare wasn't exactly surprising.
After all, no one in the main unit had worried that Trickster wouldn't return.

"Ultimately, it's good that they returned safely."

Yijun stared impassively at Eunha and Minjoo, who were holding hands tightly.

"Trickster, don't you have something to say to me?"

He spoke, his tone slightly stiff.
At that, Trickster, Minjoo, tilted his head.

"Nothing to say."

An insolent reply.
It seemed he had already completely forgotten about blowing up the snake's head.
Or perhaps he was pretending not to know.

Yijun slowly and carefully scanned Minjoo from head to toe.

Except for some missing fingernails and bruised fingertips, he seemed to have no significant injuries.

His silver-grey eyes, scanning the boy, finally settled on their clasped hands.
Soon, Yijun raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

"This incident will be reported in full to the Association."

"What incident?"

"The matter of willfully damaging the 'tool' distributed for the smooth search."

"Ah. Go ahead."

Minjoo turned his back lightly, saying, "Noona, let's go," and was about to grab Eunha's hand,

"And—"

Yijun slanted his gaze towards Eunha.

"The matter of leaving the main unit without permission to act individually."

"..."

Eunha stared straight at him without blinking.

According to Hunter Law, all hunters participating in a gate must obey the commands of the gate's overall commander, the leader.

If commands were disobeyed, the Association imposed penalties on the hunter.
It was a kind of demerit point system.
In short, a system similar to a driver's license.

Exceeding a certain number of points resulted in a temporary suspension of hunter activities, and reaching the maximum points meant the hunter license was revoked.

"What? Hey, mister."

Minjoo's eyes narrowed sharply.

In truth, the threat of license suspension barely registered for an S-Class hunter.

There were fewer than ten S-Class hunters in Korea, and they were often called national treasures.
Meaning, there was absolutely no way Minjoo's license, as an S-Class hunter, would be revoked over something like this.

However, for the F-Class Princess of Dark Flare, it was a different story.

Minjoo let go of Eunha's hand and strode towards Yijun.

"What are you talking about now, you crazy mis—"

Thwack.

Eunha lightly extended her arm, stopping Minjoo.

"Noona?"

"Stay still."

"But."

"..."

Minjoo didn't speak further.
The same was true for Yijun and Eunha.

The air surrounding the three chilled rapidly.

Into the frozen silence, the sound of someone's hurried footsteps approached.

"H-Hunter Baek!"

It was the Association agent who had been checking the personnel.

"Hunter Mobius hasn't returned yet."

"Is that so?"

Yijun glanced sideways.
A calm demeanor contrasting sharply with the agent's pale face.

"Could you perhaps check on Hunter Mobius's whereabouts?"

A hunter approached cautiously.
The one who had paired with Mobius during the first search... Ah, likely a fellow guild hunter.

At his request, Yijun shrugged.

"Well. That might be difficult."

"What? Uh, why..."

"Because my snake isn't attached to him."

Yijun gave a troubled smile.

It was true.
Just before Mobius set out on the search, he had personally recalled the snake attached to him.

Recalling that fact, the agent moved his lips, his face deathly pale.

"Th-then what should we do?"

Should we send another search team?
In front of the anxious agent, Yijun let out a small chuckle.

"What else?"

His silver-grey eyes, gazing steadily at the agent, narrowed without warning.

"We'll have to process him as missing."

Instantly, the air turned ice-cold, as if doused with freezing water.

There was no one there who hadn't heard his words.
But no one there responded to his words.
There was no need to, and they couldn't.

A few days later,

Hwarang Guild's Hunter M, missing during gate search... Investigation underway based on Hunter Association testimony

News articles reported that a hunter had gone missing in the Yeouinaru Station burst gate that appeared on August 23rd.

Torrential rain poured from the sky.

Siwoo sat motionless, gripping the steering wheel.
He merely stared blankly as the wipers moved ceaselessly across the car windshield.

「P-President. Here... Trickster and Maestro are here.」

The call came from Jehwi.
Siwoo had stormed out of the mansion as soon as he took the call.

"..."

The red light turned green, and he stepped on the accelerator a bit roughly.

There wasn't a single car near Yeouinaru Station, where the burst gate had appeared.

Screeech—

He skidded to a stop on the wet road.
Without grabbing the umbrella from the back seat, he simply pulled up his hood and got out of the car.

Police officers were clearing the barricades that had sealed off the area around the gate.

It seemed the winning bid for the burst gate had been decided.
He had no interest in which guild had won the bid.
Siwoo's blue eyes darted quickly through the heavy rain.

"Ah, President."

Jehwi, spotting him, hurried over, panting, and held an umbrella over him.
It was impossible to tell if the streaks running down his drenched face were sweat or raindrops.

"Here."

Jehwi fumbled in his pocket and took out a handkerchief.
But Siwoo didn't even glance at the offered handkerchief, his gaze fixed solely on the gate entrance.

"Not yet?"

"No, sir. The winning guild's members just went in, so Ms. Hunter should be out soon too."

Awkwardly withdrawing the handkerchief, Jehwi glanced towards the gate entrance.

"Still, it's fortunate the bid was decided in just two hours. Haha. I even brought a blanket, expecting to spend the whole night in the car today."

He added this in a deliberately cheerful tone, but there was no reply.

'Hm.'

Jehwi hastily shut his mouth.
It seemed his President wasn't in the mood for small talk.

Swaaaaah—

Through the increasingly heavy rain, hunters began to emerge one by one from the crack.

"Oh, they're coming out. There's Ms. Hun—"

Before Jehwi could finish, Siwoo snatched the umbrella from his hand.

Striding through the rain with his long legs, Siwoo stopped abruptly in front of Eunha.

"Sunbae."

"You were here?"

"Yes. Just arrived."

Siwoo held the umbrella over Eunha, speaking stiffly.

"...Was everything alright?"

"Nothing much happened."

"I heard Trickster and Maestro were here."

"Ah."

Eunha glanced somewhere.

Minjoo had vanished like smoke as soon as he exited the gate, and Yijun was mingling with a group of police officers in the distance.
He seemed to be relaying information about Hunter Mobius's disappearance.
Of course, he wasn't even looking this way.

"He apparently signed a contract with the Korean Hunter Association."

"What did you say?"

Siwoo's eyebrow twitched.
A contract with the Korean Association? Who? Baek Yijun?

"Who said that?"

"Trickster, Song Minjoo."

"..."

He didn't implicitly trust Minjoo's words, but still, that kid was the leader of Corps, one of Korea's top four guilds.
It wasn't entirely strange that he would know information that hadn't been made public yet.

"Won't the details be in the news soon enough?"

Eunha said nonchalantly.

Probably.
Conversely, it was stranger that major news like Yijun's contract with the Association hadn't been reported yet.

Were they intentionally suppressing it?

If so, then his appearance here today, before any articles were published, was likely because of...

'Because of Sunbae?'

His grip on the umbrella tightened unconsciously.
He didn't know why.
Siwoo blinked slowly once, pretending not to notice.

"Shall we head back for now?"

Thud.

"...Sunbae?"

Eunha stood rigidly in place, staring blankly at something.
Following her dark gaze, Siwoo eventually spotted the man in the black suit standing there.

'Maestro.'

His lips tightened involuntarily.

When Yijun had sought out Siwoo, he had asked about the Princess of Dark Flare.
Timing-wise, it was clear he had come to see Siwoo almost immediately after entering Korea.

Therefore, the reason for his entry into Korea was likely closely related to the Princess of Dark Flare, Sunbae.

Yijun, knowing Eunha's past in some capacity, was a dangerous figure.
If he decided to, revealing Eunha's past would be child's play for him.

If that happened, the contract would be meaningless, and she'd likely be snatched away by the media or research institutions.

"..."

Under the umbrella, slightly cramped for two, Siwoo silently turned his gaze to Eunha.
Her face was as calm and composed as usual, but somehow, he didn't want to keep looking at that expression.

"Sunbae, you'll get wet."

Thwack.

Siwoo stepped in front of Eunha.
His dark grey hoodie filled Eunha's field of vision.

Eunha suddenly lifted her head to look up at him.
Siwoo's face held a somewhat displeased expression.

"Do you have something to say to him?"

Unconsciously, the question slipped out.

If she said yes... should he step aside?

"..."

"..."

Swaaaaah—

Under the round umbrella, the sound of the rain echoed particularly loudly.

"No."

"...What?"

"I said no. Nothing to say."

He probably has nothing to say to me either.

Eunha unhesitatingly averted her gaze from Yijun.
Cleanly, as if she hadn't been looking that way from the start.

"Let's go."

And somehow, Siwoo was glad about that fact.

"...Yes, Sunbae."

Rubbing his nose briefly, Siwoo hurriedly followed Eunha, who was already a few steps ahead.

The black umbrella he held tightly tilted silently, leaning towards Eunha.

It was the next day that Siwoo heard about the suspension of the Princess of Dark Flare's activities.