“Hmm~~”

Chae Suhyeon had her hands full of shopping bags.

Walking around the entire department store, she swung them side to side.

She was proudly showing off her good mood, swaying her hips.

“Shopping is indeed enjoyable~”

“I’m such a money maker, right? Hehe.”

As she walked with a self-satisfied demeanor, it seemed no one could stop her.

“Hehe… New stuff… so precious…”

“I absolutely loved the shoes I bought today…”

With a very happy expression, she was cheerfully strolling around.

Ding ding ding.

‘Oh? It’s Baek Jihoon!!’
‘Ugh. Is he finally responding? Huh? This guy. You’re late, man.’
‘Well, I’ll accept your apology.’

When her phone rang, she suddenly tossed all the shopping bags she was holding onto the floor.

Then, in a fluster, she rummaged through her bag to find her smartphone and awkwardly answered the call.

“Y-yes…? Ji… Jihoon… Oppa?”

With an incredibly pitiful and mournful voice, she answered the phone.

“Hello. This is Moon Jeonghyeon, Deputy Manager of the Baekho Guild.”

‘Ugh… it wasn’t Baek Jihoon?’

Her expression changed in an instant.

Anger seemed to swell up within her.

Bang.

She hung up the phone without listening to the rest of his words. She had assumed it would be Baek Jihoon, but it was someone else’s call.

‘Ugh. Why…? Jihoon, what are you doing? Why? Why aren’t you contacting me? Seriously…?’
‘No, are you crazy? Jihoon, please call me!!!! Why…!!!’

For a moment, she had forgotten about Baek Jihoon while shopping, but the phone call snapped her back to reality.

‘Ha… Seriously… this is so annoying… once this is over, it’s completely done with this guy. Done.’
‘I don’t care anymore.’

Chae Suhyeon decided to completely cut off her ties with Baek Jihoon and erase him from her life.

‘Honestly, this guy… he hasn’t been helpful from the start to the end. All he does is take back points like those annoying guys who want their gifts returned when breaking up. So frustrating.’

She frowned slightly and looked down at her smartphone.

*

“Yes. Did you call for me?”

This time, I was curious about what Hunter Lee Sooah was about to say.

“Um… I’m calling you for an interview.”

“Pardon? An interview?”

It sounded quite unexpected. Why an interview? Suddenly…?

I hadn’t received any prior notice.

Hyungseok had definitely said that my role was close to that of an intern.

As long as I didn’t stick my neck out too much, I wouldn’t attract the Hunter Lee Sooah’s attention, and I wouldn’t get scolded or put in an awkward situation.

‘Ha… Did I stick my neck out yesterday because of Medusa incident…?’

Of course, the Lee Sooah Hunter in front of me was calm and quiet.

But I never knew when she might suddenly change.

 

“Hunter Lee Sooah? Usually, she’s fine, but sometimes she suddenly becomes super scary.”

“Come on, you shouldn’t lie just because you’re new. When has she ever been nice? Besides at parties, she’s scary. You can’t pretend to be a newbie just because you’re E-rank. Everyone will find out eventually.”

“That’s true… She’s always scary… Not just in the office… but also in the dungeon… She’s only nice when you first meet her…”

“But it’s okay. She won’t blame you. After all, Hunter Lee Sooah doesn’t really care much about anyone below the manager level.”

“Haha. Don’t worry, she won’t kill you. So far, no one has died. For now…”

 

It had definitely been like that.

‘Huh… An interview… Isn’t that something you do when something goes wrong? I don’t think I’ve done anything particularly wrong yet…’

Feeling something unusual, I took a seat in the conference room.

Clunk.

Lee Sooah locked the conference room door with a heavy sound.

‘Somehow… this feels very serious…’

I gulped nervously. The atmosphere was decidedly serious. I bit my lip and waited for Hunter Lee Sooah to speak.

“I… I’d like to hear about Hunter Baek Jihoon… regarding yesterday’s incident.”

“Pardon? What… incident are you referring to…?”

I felt a bit flustered. A thought crossed my mind: Could it be that she had caught me giving points?

“Um. I’m just talking about when we went to the dungeon. I want to hear how Hunter Baek Jihoon did. I just want to hear the details and stories at length.”

“Uh…?”

Confusion arose at this unexpected situation.

“What the hell is going on? Why does this feel like an interrogation? What am I supposed to say? And why did you lock the office door?”

Office staff could be seen through the window of the office room.

Everyone was undoubtedly looking at me.

I could definitely feel that atmosphere.

“Um, what kind of explanation do you want to hear?”

“Well… I just want to know… what did you do in the dungeon?”

I tilted my head slightly and started elaborating on what Lee Sooah asked.

After about a 30-minute interview, I came out.

‘What’s wrong with them? Why do they keep calling me and asking weird questions?’

I tilted my head in confusion and quietly closed the door.

“Jihoon! What did she say??? What did Hunter Lee Sooah say…?”

The manager, who was the most lively at yesterday’s dinner gathering, had stealthily come near me.

“That’s shocking!”

“Um… she didn’t really say much. She just asked me to talk about what happened in the dungeon yesterday.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

There were more than a few people curious about what I talked about in the conference room. Everyone was staring at me like meerkats.

“What’s going on? Hunter Lee Sooah seems a bit strange today. Why does she keep calling for Hunter Baek Jihoon?”

“I don’t know. Did something odd come down from upper management?”

“Come on, what kind of instructions? It’s not like she gives lectures to someone who’s just started in the office for the first time…”

“No, but isn’t Hunter Lee Sooah acting a bit strange today…?”

“Exactly. She normally doesn’t come around to departments like this, right? She should be calling from her own office…?”

“Hmm… you’re right…?”

Everyone was gathered around me, engaging in collective reasoning.

Since I didn’t know how things usually went, I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

“What do you usually do on the first day?”

“Um, you’re usually busy listening to your mentor’s explanations…”

“Then when is the interview with Hunter Lee Sooah?”

“Um… about three years later… when I get promoted to deputy…?”

The manager seemed to be recalling memories from the past.

“I think I only talked to Ms. Sooah after I got promoted to manager.”

“That’s right. I feel the same.”

“I’ve never had an interview until now…”

They started whispering among themselves. And then, they glanced at me suspiciously.

“Baek Jihoon, do you perhaps have something to hide from us…? Like being a hidden ex-boyfriend of Hunter Sooah…? Or maybe her lost childhood friend…? Or a classmate from university? A junior or senior…? Or… a church oppa…?”

“Do you have any connections with the guild master? Or maybe… ties to the government…?”

Everyone had the same expression as if thinking the same thing.

“Uh…? No, not at all. I just met her for the first time yesterday…?”

“Well… then why is Hunter Sooah…?”

“What is everyone doing here?”

A sharp voice cut through the conversation. Everyone quickly rushed back to their places before finishing their sentences.

It was Sooah.

“Are you sharing some interesting stories?”

“Haha, no. Hunter Sooah, what brings you here… You rarely come this way… Hehe…”

The manager stood awkwardly and spoke on behalf of everyone.

“Um… no, well… I just came to see if everyone is doing well at work. You know, we have to be busy with post-dungeon processing, right? Even if we have fun, we need to work hard when it’s time to work.”

“Absolutely. That’s right.”

The atmosphere felt both cheerful and strangely tense.

“Alright, then keep up the good work.”

It seemed like something was off about the atmosphere.

“Ah, today is really unusual. What’s going on with Hunter Sooah?”

Assistant Manager Park rolled over to me while sitting in his chair.

“Hello, I am Assistant Manager Park Kyuhun. I’ll guide you through various things as Baek Jihoon’s senior.”

“Ah, okay.”

We exchanged phone numbers.

“By the way, you were really amazing yesterday. I thought I was going to die!”

“Ha ha.. Yes…”

“Why on earth did you put points into that skill? It’s a relief, ha ha…”

“Speaking of which… it seems like Hunter Lee Sooah is quite curious about it too.”

I began learning various things about the guild from Manager Park.

Although Hunter Lee Sooah’s strange reaction was a bit worrying, what mattered most to me right now was getting familiar with the guild work.

‘Don’t fall behind or get nitpicked.’

*

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Lee Sooah was sitting at her desk, incessantly tapping the desk with a pen.

“Hmm… Hmmmmm… Hmmmmm…..”

Her mind was filled with a flurry of chaotic thoughts.

“Ha.. what is this…? Um… what’s going on…”
“Ha… this is strange… Oh really.. what the hell!!!”
“I just can’t… stand it… I can’t hold it back… Ha….”

It felt like she was filled with an emotion she couldn’t even comprehend.

It wasn’t anguish or pain.

It just seemed that she couldn’t focus on her work as other thoughts kept intruding.

“Excuse me, Hunter Lee Sooah.”

“Oh. Yes, yes.”

“When can you get back to me with what I asked for? It seems to be taking a while.”

“Oh. Yes, yes. I… I’m so sorry. I’ll get it done and send it to you right away!”

“Yes… We are in quite a urgent situation, so I hope you can pay attention to it. You don’t seem like yourself today, Hunter Lee Sooah.”

“Oh. Yes, yes… I’m… I’m sorry…”

The call seemed to be from higher up.

‘Phew… Come on… pull yourself together. You need to focus quickly.’

Lee Sooah took her pen and tried to concentrate on her work.

But soon, her posture relaxed again.

Then she started to tap the desk with her pen once more.

‘Baek Jihoon Hunter… what on earth… what the hell!!!!’