“Ha ha. I know. I know.”

He started to stutter, and his face turned a bit red. He looked like he was sweating rapidly.

‘Great, I’ve caught him. This guy is too easy to read.’

For him to suddenly want to get friendly with me while being a D-Rank Hunter? It’s too obvious.

“I’m looking to apply for a Blacklist hearing. I heard from Hunter Yoo Hana that if I do, I can hear the person’s side of the story.”

“Y-Yoo Hana Hunter?”

“Yes. She’s currently on dispatch.”

“Ha ha… Well, it seems like you’re quite close then, considering you’re having those kinds of conversations.”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

He appeared flustered, almost as if he were trembling.

“What do you think?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“About summoning Hunter Chae Suhyeon to the hearing.”

“Ha ha, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He began scratching his head.

“Why?”

“Well, Hunter Baek Jihoon was an E-Rank Hunter just last week, right? Even if he says he’s risen now, he’s still only D-Rank. But the other party is an S-Rank Hunter…”

“But isn’t the purpose of this hearing to clear the wrong done?”

“Hmmm… But as far as I know, Hunter Chae Suhyeon has canceled the Blacklist.”

“Still, it’s done.”

“Ah… but…”

He kept trying to dissuade me.

‘Ha. Chae Suhyeon has spies planted, huh?’

I thought to myself how absurd it all was. But honestly, it didn’t matter.

I was going to act decisively now.

‘Park Jinsoo. You’re holding onto a rotten lifeline. Let it go when you get the chance.’

I was watching him with a slightly sharp expression. Of course, he was my senior.

He ranked above me.

“That… Well, I don’t think it would look good. How about thinking it over once more? Just a piece of advice from a senior.”

“Ah, I’m feeling wronged. I really want to pull him into the room and clarify everything.”

“Ha ha…”

He looked awkward and seemed unsure of what to do.

*

[ Hunter Chae Suhyeon. We’re in big trouble. ]

‘What is it?’

Chae Suhyeon was looking down at her smartphone while getting her makeup done for the broadcast.

“I’m on standby in 10 minutes~”

“Yes.”

She was quite nervous since it was her first appearance on public broadcasting excluding news.

‘Ha. Let’s do well, Chae Suhyeon. For now, I just need to charm Jihoon. I believe in Jihoon. If he has even a smidgen of feelings left for me, it should be fine.’

[ What’s going on? ]

[ I heard Hunter Baek Jihoon is trying to request a Blacklist hearing against you. ]

Chae Suhyeon’s expression twisted.

‘What? A Blacklist hearing?’

Her face looked like she couldn’t even fathom such a thing.

‘Why? How? What? What does that even mean?’

She appeared unable to accept it, slightly trembling.

“Uh… Ms. Chae Suhyeon, are you okay? It looks like your makeup is getting messed up…”

“C-Can we wait a moment? I’m feeling a bit…”

“There are 10 minutes left until the broadcast. You can’t. If you don’t fix it now, it might look weird on screen.”

The makeup artist said firmly.

‘Oh Baek Jihoon, what the hell are you doing? Why? Ugh…’

She blinked her eyes and tried to suppress her anger.

There was nothing she could do in that moment. She had to appear on the broadcast immediately.

[ Park Jinsoo, do something to stop him. No matter what, whether to hinder, persuade, or block him, just get it done. ]

[ I’ve tried, but he seems to have made up his mind… ]

‘Made up his mind? Ha… What? This nice guy can’t possibly be like that.’

Her expression was one of disbelief.

Chae Suhyeon had no choice but to start going through her contacts.

‘It can’t be helped.’

[ Ji-Hyun Oppa, I have a favor to ask. ]

Contacting Lee Jinhyeok.

‘Ugh… Do I really have to talk to Ji-Hyun about this?’

She tried to handle it without getting caught if possible. But deep down, she sensed that there was no one else but Jinhyeok to rely on right now.

‘Hopefully, I won’t get caught.’

‘Alright, I’ll just try to gloss over it.’

‘If I could just get through this quietly…’

[ What is it? ]

[ Can you stop the Blacklist hearing? Use your influence at the Hunter Association? ]

[ Why suddenly? ]

The reply was somewhat bewildered.

‘What should I do…’

“Ms. Chae Suhyeon, you’re on standby in 5 minutes!”

A staff member rushed in and shouted before leaving.

‘Oh whatever, I need to handle the urgent stuff first.’

[ No, that Hunter I said I didn’t like keeps stalking me and saying he knows me. It seems like he’s trying to bother me. ]

Chae Suhyeon bit her lip in frustration.

“Ms. Chae Suhyeon, please don’t bite your lips like that. It’ll look bad on camera~”

The staff interjected.

“Y-Yes…”

[ I’ll handle it. There aren’t any applications submitted yet, right? ]
[Got it, Oppa. Thanks.]

‘For now, Ji-Hyun will take care of it. I just need to focus on my broadcast debut.’

I thought that as long as I made a good impression today, everything would be fine.

‘Let me just concentrate on my work.’

‘For the blacklist… I’ll just paint Jihoon as a stalker.’

I considered that a ridiculous plan.

“Alright, Ms. Chae Suhyeon! Let’s go. The broadcast is in 2 minutes!”

“Yes.”

*

“Jihoon, what are you doing here?”

Lee Sooah tilted her head, her expression blank.

“I have some business to take care of.”

“Business? Weren’t you with Yoo Hana?”

“Yes, I’m planning to apply for a Blacklist hearing.”

“Wait, what?”

Lee Sooah’s expression became quite complicated.

“Are you talking about Ms. Chae Suhyeon?”

“Yes.”

“Ah~ that’s interesting~”

She suddenly smiled brightly as if feeling cheerful.

“I really don’t understand why Hunter Chae Suhyeon would do something like that. Why would our Jihoon be accused of stalking? That’s not the purpose of the Hunter Blacklist. Ugh.”

She shook her head disapprovingly.

“Hmm… But isn’t this supposed to be not applicable right now?”

In her inquiries, she realized that applying for the Blacklist hearing was currently unavailable.

“Huh? Why? That can’t be right?”

Lee Sooah quickly approached with a curious expression.

“Uh… What? It just suddenly got blocked?”

‘This must be Chae Suhyeon’s doing.’

I immediately recognized it.

It was obvious.

What I told Park Jinsoo must’ve reached Chae Suhyeon and had some effect.

“Is there no way to get around this?”

“Well, this falls under the jurisdiction of the Hunter Association.”

“Lee Sooah, can you do it?”

I looked at her intently, almost boring a hole through her.

“Uh… um…”

She seemed quite flustered and hesitated.

“You’re the top S-Rank Hunter after all; you should be able to handle this.”

I kept staring at her.

“I… will take care of it… I can do this.”

Then she started contacting someone.

*

“Ah, yes. Hunter Lee Sooah. Yes, yes.”

The Hunter Association employee was on the phone, sounding very respectful.

“Ah~ about that… but…”

And then it seemed he was choosing his words carefully.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but the Baekho Guild has made a very strong request to temporarily close [the hearing]…”

He seemed to be in a position where he had no choice but to follow orders.

“So… Blue Guild is asking for it to be reopened…?”

He looked quite troubled.

“Yes… that’s correct… but as for the Baekho Guild… uh… yes… that is indeed correct…”

He scratched his head repeatedly in an awkward manner, sounding exasperated.

“Understood… There’s nothing we can do. It is what it is. Yes…”

He hung up the phone.

“Ugh, why is this a mess? What day is it today? Why is there such a fuss between the Baekho Guild and the Blue Guild?”

“Why?”

A nearby employee asked with a serious expression.

“They’re arguing about whether to open or close the Blacklist hearing, and it’s chaotic.”

“Why? Who wants to open it?”

“Seems like someone does. But the Baekho Guild is adamantly trying to close it, whereas the Blue Guild is vehemently trying to open it. I’m stuck in the middle and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Well, there’s no solid reason to close it, is there?”

“I was using the pretense of rearranging the hearing room, but then Hunter Lee Sooah called directly…”

“Huh? Hunter Lee Sooah? Directly?”

“Yeah.”

Everyone reacted with surprise.

“What could it be? What kind of situation would warrant a direct call?”

“I don’t know. Ugh, I’ll just open it. I need to check what’s going on.”

*

“Hmm? It worked.”

Three minutes after Lee Sooah’s call, the application became possible again.

“Hunter Lee Sooah, you’re quite capable, aren’t you?”

“Ah, I was the top S-Rank Hunter! Lee Sooah here…”

“Surprising.”

“What’s surprising about it!!!”

“Anyway, thank you.”

I filled out the application form.

“Hmmm… but this is odd.”

“What’s odd?”

“Now that I think about it, didn’t Hunter Chae Suhyeon want to recruit Hunter Baek Jihoon? Why did she blacklist him? I thought she was trying to recruit him…?”

While I was filling it out, she kept chattering away beside me.

“Hmm. So, did they know each other before? Was she not trying to recruit him? Could they have been dating?”

She continued to speculate.

‘What’s with her keen intuition?’

“Uh, Lee Sooah?”

“Yes?”

“Could you be a bit quiet?”

“…”

Lee Sooah mimed zipping her lips.

“Good.”

I completed the application process for the hearing.