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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: The Woes of a Receding Hairline
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Chapter 30
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It was past 8 p.m. when Ha-ra, her body so exhausted she felt she might pass out, finally dragged herself home.
“I’m letting you off early since it’s the first day,” Kwon Wook had said with a smile, adding that someone else would help her starting tomorrow. An S-rank Hunter like him wasn't that free, he’d claimed. It was a fair point.
One might expect her to be disappointed that her idol crush wouldn't be able to help with her special training, but the moment Kwon Wook said, “That’s it for today,” Ha-ra felt a wave of sheer bliss.
She thought she finally understood why her boss, Yu-jeong, who had been so excited about her handsome trainer when she first signed up for personal training, now muttered about how she didn't want to see him every time she had a session.
Ha-ra’s family lived in an old two-story house in the Yonggang-dong area. It was a house that, despite their best efforts to maintain it, couldn't hide its age.
Her mother wanted to rebuild it every year, but thanks to her father’s mantra of “Why tear down a perfectly good house?” it remained exactly as it was when Ha-ra was born.
She opened the old gate, crossed the yard where grass grew in sparse patches, and went up to the house. As she beeped in the passcode and entered, she could tell someone was home. It was obvious who.
Her younger brother, Kang Ha-da, who had recently become unemployed.
“Who is i— Ah, fuck!”
He started cursing before he could even finish his question, which meant he was probably playing a game again. Sure enough, the sounds of something exploding and a familiar mechanical whirring came from inside Ha-da’s room.
Ha-ra went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She had only meant to check what was inside, but as if on cue, the sound of the door opening prompted her brother to shout.
“Me too! Let’s have ramen!”
*He must have skipped dinner again.* Making ramen for two wasn't a big deal, but it was still annoying. She was dead tired, and she wished her brother, who’d been gaming all day, would make it for once.
“Kang Ha-da, the ramen’s ready!”
She took out the kimchi and set out the chopsticks. She brought the pot of ramen to the table and called for him several times, but Ha-da didn't come out.
Just then, *beep beep-beep-beep*. The sound of someone opening the front door. It was most likely her mom.
Ha-ra stood up from her seat.
“Ha-ra, why are you making ramen? I just did all the dishes. And there are plenty of side dishes in the fridge, you should have eaten rice.”
Hyeon-sook, a bag of bread in one hand and her car keys in the other, started nagging the moment she walked in and saw the scene at the dining table.
Ha-ra mumbled.
“Well, Ha-da asked me to make some…”
“Ha-da? Where is he?”
“Ah, Mom, I’m here! Just a sec, let me finish this round!”
Ha-da’s voice erupted from his room as if summoned. Hyeon-sook clicked her tongue.
“Look at him, he’s been gaming all day again. Kang Ha-da, did you work on your resume or not?”
“Yeah, I did!”
Came the resounding reply from Kang Ha-da, who had been job hunting for nearly half a year.
Then, Hyeon-sook’s nagging turned to Ha-ra.
“And you, what are you doing gallivanting around when you were just discharged yesterday? You’re just asking for the insurance company to find a reason to deny the claim.”
Ha-ra rolled her eyes and picked up her chopsticks.
For the past few days, Hyeon-sook had been on edge, worried that Ha-ra wouldn't receive compensation for her accident. She planned to use the money for house repairs.
Suddenly, Ha-ra remembered the ten million won Kwon Wook had given her to use freely. *Should I give her that money? But I have to pay the fine. Then maybe just two million? I could say I sold some dungeon byproducts…*
Hyeon-sook shook her head, placed the bag of bread on the table, and went into the master bedroom.
Ha-ra glanced inside the bread bag and suddenly lost her appetite. It was filled with pizza bread, which Ha-da loved, and red bean bread, her father’s favorite.
*Two million, my ass. Forget it. I’ll pay the fine and save whatever’s left…*
“Ah, so cheap, eating by yourself.”
Just then, Ha-da came out of his room. Ha-ra shot him a glare from behind her glasses.
“I called you, but you didn’t come out.”
“Ah, still, you could’ve waited.”
“Shut up.”
Just as she was about to scoop some ramen into a bowl for herself, Ha-da snatched it away.
“Hehe, thanks.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded, but he was already slurping the noodles into his mouth with a perfectly nonchalant expression.
Ha-da, who had a habit of watching TV while eating, turned it on. He held the bowl with both hands, eating his ramen while using his toes to press the remote and flip through the channels. He looked like the epitome of a perfect freeloader.
[On the same day, the Minjin Party…]
Suddenly, Ha-ra’s gaze froze on the TV. Yoon Se-heon was on the news channel. The man looked so composed as he delivered the news that getting caught in the dungeon with him in Yeouido felt like a dream.
Something about the livelihood of the people. Something about welfare for the elderly.
Ha-ra forgot she was even lifting a strand of ramen and stared blankly at the screen.
Se-heon’s voice was low and serious. Having been a reporter, his pronunciation was absolutely perfect.
“Wow, damn. He’s so handsome.”
Just then, as if reading her mind, Ha-da spoke. Ha-ra jumped in surprise and looked at him.
“I want to get my hairline done, too…”
Ha-ra’s vision blurred. *So that’s what he meant.*
Unlike Ha-ra, Ha-da had desperately wanted to become a Hunter, but unfortunately, he didn’t even qualify as an F-rank. He had been so sure that since his sister was a Hunter, he could be one too.
In any case, thanks to Ha-ra, Ha-da had been exempt from military service and graduated from university on time. He was now preparing to become a flight attendant. He was handsome enough and spoke good English, so it didn’t seem entirely out of reach, but the problem was that he kept saying the most ridiculous things.
“Ah, sis. Just once. Huh? Just once.”
“No.”
“Ah, just once!”
“I said no.”
“Come on!”
Ha-da put down his ramen bowl and stomped his foot. But Ha-ra stubbornly shook her head.
“You really think the interviewers are going to pick someone based on their forehead?”
“Yes, they totally do!”
Ha-da snapped, pushing back the hair on his forehead. On the forehead hidden by his hair was a glorious… M-shaped hairline. It was an forehead that looked just like their father’s—or rather, just like their father’s in his youth.
Ha-da got worked up again.
“Ah, looks are super important for flight attendants!”
“Then do something else! If you’re going to get rejected because of a receding hairline, then get a job where a receding hairline doesn’t matter!”
“What am I supposed to do when that’s what I majored in!”
Ha-da had already failed interviews with domestic airlines twice. No one knew why. Ha-da insisted that the reason he failed was due to his genetic traits.
All flight attendant applicants have to show their foreheads during interviews, and Ha-da, taking after his father, had a particularly wide one.
Of course, their father’s forehead—or rather, hairstyle—couldn’t quite be described as just “wide,” so it was natural for Ha-da to be self-conscious.
Ha-da had started freaking out because of a single comment an interviewer made during his last interview.
“This applicant has a very prominent forehead.”
Ha-ra argued it was a compliment, while Ha-da claimed it was a polite way of saying he was going bald. The siblings’ opinions were sharply divided.
But if it had ended there, their argument might have concluded with a heartwarming scene of Ha-ra encouraging Ha-da.
The problem was that Ha-da kept pestering Ha-ra to lend him money for a hairline procedure.
“Come on! I’m not asking you to give it to me for free, I said I’ll pay you back!”
“Hey, is five million won pocket change to you?”
Not 500,000 won, but 5 million.
“I don’t have that kind of money to burn.”
“Ah, I know your savings account is about to mature!”
“Why are you eyeing that?”
“Argh!”
Ha-da stomped his foot.
That’s right. The amount Ha-da was asking to borrow was a whopping 5 million won.
Was the Kang family well-off? Not at all. The tragedy began with the fact that the family’s finances were solely controlled by their father.
Mr. Kang Jae-pil was an incredibly stingy person. When Ha-ra was identified as Hunter-compatible, he had complained about her private high school tuition, and after she became a civil servant, he made her pay back all three years of it.
Even now, Ha-ra gives him 500,000 won a month for living expenses since she lives at home.
He was just as merciless with the job-seeking Ha-da. Ha-da had received a decent allowance while in school. But after three months of job hunting, his allowance started to dwindle until it eventually dried up completely.
Under these circumstances, there was no way Ha-da could ask his father, “Can I have five million won for a hairline procedure?”
Besides, explaining why he wanted the procedure would be an ordeal in itself. Who was the cause of Ha-da’s need for the procedure? Kang Jae-pil.
“You’re the one who gave me this balding gene, so you should take responsibility!”
The moment he said that, Kang Ha-da might find himself kicked out onto the street in nothing but his underwear.
So, for Ha-da, Ha-ra was the easy target. From the day his allowance started shrinking, Ha-da had been begging Ha-ra to lend him money for the hairline procedure. Of course, Ha-ra kept refusing.
“Ah, sis. You’re going to get compensation money from the dungeon, right?”
Ha-ra flinched at the mention of dungeon compensation money. It reminded her of the 300 million won Kwon Wook had added on for her today.
But she had decided not to accept that money. As if trying to erase the fleeting thought from her mind, Ha-ra shook her head and declared firmly.
“That won’t come through if the compensation talks fall apart. And you have some nerve talking about compensation money when you didn’t even visit me once in the hospital, huh?”
“Ah, your station said only one guardian could come!”
That was true. Chief Jeong had insisted on keeping it a secret, even from family, and had restricted visits to just Hyeon-sook.
As their fierce debate continued, the ramen just got soggier. Just then, Hyeon-sook, having changed her clothes, came out of her room and shouted.
“What are you two fighting about now? Just eat your ramen quickly and clean up.”
“Ah, Mom! I asked Sis to lend me some money, but she won’t.”
“What? Ha-da, did you run out of allowance? How much do you need?”
“Five million.”
Hyeon-sook, who had been heading into her room to find her wallet, froze. She had intended to give him a few ten-thousand-won bills and be done with it, but the amount was far from trivial.
Ha-da continued to whine.
“Ah, Mom. I need to get a hairline procedure for my interview, but I don’t have the money. You don’t have it either. And Sis won’t lend it to me. She says she’s broke.”
Watching the scene unfold, Ha-ra let out a sigh and pressed a hand to her forehead.
Hyeon-sook looked at Ha-da with an uncomprehending expression.
“Son. Why do you need that? My son is handsome just the way he is.”
At that, Ha-da pointed at the news screen and snapped in frustration.
“Ah, Mom, do you know the sorrow of having an M-shaped forehead and seeing a hairline like that?”
On the news screen was—well, Yoon Se-heon, again and again. In any case, Yoon Se-heon’s hairline on TV was indeed perfectly straight and neat.
Ha-da pushed back his hair and stood next to the screen, looking genuinely wronged.
“Look at this. Imagine this guy and me standing next to each other. If you were an interviewer, who would you pick?”
“Of course…”
Hyeon-sook, about to say, *my son*, paused. Even for Hyeon-sook, a doting mother who believed her son was number one, it seemed her conscience wouldn’t let her choose her son over the impossibly handsome man on the screen.
Unable to stand the pause, Ha-da cried out, “Argh!” and threw himself onto the floor. Ha-ra just slurped her ramen.
