From what he had heard, the young man was the eighth cousin of the second son-in-law of the nephew of the grandmother who owned the Haejang-guk house. While searching for relatives who had survived the loss of their families due to the rift, he finally met his grandmother. He said he had no place to go, so he spent his time helping in his grandmother's shop, his only remaining blood relative in the world.

Wonwoo listened only half-heartedly to the young man's sad and epic story. The story of how he lost his family and survived on his own was not part of the story.

But they all praised him as an unprecedented display of filial piety. Nowadays, all the young people would go to Noryangjin to prepare for the Hunter's Civil Service Examination or to join the Non-Awakened Division of the Hunter's Guild, and no one would work in a shabby haejang-guk house, even if it was a family-run restaurant!

Therefore, the hunters, including Bae Wonwoo, looked at the young man who had suddenly appeared in a very favorable light. In fact, they thought that it was too much for an old woman to run a business by herself. The young man, who was healthy and strong, was so good at his job that he was able to sell a few pots.

He looked like he'd been working in a Haejang-guk house for 30 years.

By all accounts, this must have been his first time working in a haejang-guk house, but the young man's serving skills were unusually good. The tables were definitely turning faster since he started working, and the grandmother didn't scold him to stop eating! For hunters who eat fast and eat a lot, his arrival was good news.

But lately, the young man seemed to be running the store by himself. When asked, he said that his grandmother's legs weren't feeling well. It was a pity.

"Welcome."

The young man bowed his head in greeting, and Bae Wonwoo returned the greeting with a friendly smile before scanning the empty seats. The only empty seat was across from a lone customer in a two-seater, but fortunately the owner of that seat was a hunter who knew Wonwoo. He was just as regular as Bae Wonwoo, seeing him at least once every two days, so they had built up quite a bit of familiarity.

Wonwoo asked nicely, "Can I sit here for a while?"

"Sure. You made it in time before the long wait."

"Of course."

Bae Wonwoo, who had joined the group with a casual greeting, scanned his surroundings for a moment. In order to gather the information the guild leader wanted, he asked into thin air.

"By the way... where do you wear a soju apron these days?"

His voice was slightly squeaky, but as far as Bae Wonwoo was concerned, it rhymed quite naturally. The hunter sitting across from him narrowed his eyes and asked back, "What, a soju apron all of a sudden?"

"Uh, hmm, I was just wondering," he blurted out, and the tables around them chimed in with their own comments.

"Don't you usually wear one when you go to a restaurant to keep the food from splattering on your clothes?"

"Right."

"Yeah. They're everywhere, hung on the wall for us to wear."

"I went to the chicken ribs in front of the Madok Guild the other day, and they were there too. I hear it's a Hunternet-certified restaurant, and it's really good."

"Wow. I went there once and the wait was so long, I just gave up."

"If you go there on a Friday night, there's a whole group from Madok eating there."

As Wonwoo watched the hunters talking about food, he felt proud of himself inside. When he turned his head to look around, he saw a black apron hanging on a grid of hangers on the wall.

Yes, that one. As Wonwoo's eyes lit up with joy, the young man walked over with the kimchi and kkakdugi and placed them on the table. Then, from the front pocket of his apron, he pulled out a pen and a new bill...

...an apron!

Bae Wonwoo felt a flash in his head: the busy part-time worker of the shop always wore an apron. The young man's apron had a large CherX logo on the chest.

A soju brand apron?

"A Haejang-guk, right? Do you want a lot of chili?"

Bae Won-woo forgot to answer and just stared at the young man as if he was fascinated by something.

The first time he saw him, he thought, "What kind of actor is in Haejang-guk's house? At first glance, one would be surprised to see such a pretty and handsome person in such a shabby place, with his sharp, nonchalant face, clear black eyes, and neat black hair. Bae Wonwoo's eyes suddenly narrowed.

What?

The part-timer's hair was originally... Under the fluorescent light, the rounded top of his head looked much brighter than his black hair today.

'If you have gray hair...'

Gee... that's pretty close to the description Lee Sayoung gave, isn't it? He said it was black or gray, with confusingly curly hair, and gray hair isn't even common!

"Customer?"

This is a Haejang-guk house... Shouldn't there be a ladle? Wonwoo looked around uncertainly.

"Customer."

"Hunter Bae-nim?"

Bae Wonwoo came to his senses only after a hunter called out to him. Two pairs of eyes stared at him in disbelief. Bae Wonwoo smiled and nodded.

"Uh, yeah, that's right. Lots of Cheongyang pepper."

"Okay. Wait a minute."

The young man clicked his pen and turned to head for the kitchen. Bae Wonwoo, who had been staring after him, soon shook his head. There's no way Lee Sayoung would be looking for a part-time worker at Haejang-guk House. He's sure they've never even crossed paths.

...But maybe?

Bae Wonwoo kept looking in the direction of the kitchen where the young man had gone, trying to guess the possibilities. But after a while -

"Haejang-guk is ready."

The lingering doubt in his mind melted away in front of the hot Haejang-guk. Bae Wonwoo smiled broadly, emptied the pot of haejang-guk to the bottom as if washing dishes, and called out, "One more bowl!

<Pado Guild Blinds>

*Please be polite and respectful!
*Posts that do not follow the rules may be deleted without notice.

Subject: [Anonymous] What's with the guild atmosphere today?
I can barely breathe.

Comment (12)

Why?
Is it 240?
ᄂI'm late for work today.
If I knew, I wouldn't have posted this.
ᄂI just saw him and he looks pissed off? His face is rottenᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ
He always wears a gas mask. How can you tell from his facial expressions?
ᄂIt is so obvious.
ᄂWhat do you think?

It is 240 again...
(TL/N: 240 is Lee Sayoung, they made it 240 so it wouldn't be obvious, like a code name. 2 - i ; 4 - sa ; 0 - gong ; when combined, it sounds like Lee Sayoung)

ᅳMr. 240 will be going down to the 11th floor conference room soon. Be careful not to cross paths.

ᄂThank you, secretary anonymous!

Subject: [Anonymous] Mr. 240, when you're not feeling well, the temperature of the building itself seems to drop about 3 degrees.

Can't you just work from home on bad days?

It's so cold.

Comments (7)

ᅳThat's why I bought a heating artifact at the Hunter Market ᄏᄏᄏ It's hot.
ᄂᄏᄏᄏ Do I really need a detox artifact and a heating artifact... Life as a Pado Guild member is hard.
If you have them, let's get some tools;
On days like this, we need to provide hot packs. That's guild welfare.

ᅳMr. 240, you don't even have an ice ability, so how do you lower the ambient temperature?
I guess it's a skill or talent. Nobody knows the real reason.
ᄂI guess you get those skills when you're S-rank oo

A week after the dungeon bidding meeting, Lee Sayoung was in such a bad mood that the whole guild was noisy.

His mood was like a gyroscope hanging from the top in a vertical plunge. Although his face was hidden by the gas mask, it was impossible not to feel the terrifying aura around him.

Something was happening that would make no sense to Lee Sayoung's common sense, or to anyone else who knew anything about Korean hunters.

South Korea was one of the few countries in the world that had an excellent database of its citizens' personal information. When the gates first opened and the Awakened began to appear, the country quickly established the Awakening Bureau and created the concept of "government hunters" who were subordinate to the state, and it only took a few years to systematically manage the information of every Awakened.

It was because he trusted this database that he let that suspicious 'Hyung' go so easily. From the moment he met him to the moment they parted, he was sure that he was at least an A-class hunter. No matter how much he hid, it was impossible to hide all of his abilities from an S-rank hunter.

Hunters who hid their abilities could easily live with a B-rank, so it was likely that his Hyung was also a B-rank outwardly.

Anyone with a B-rank ability or higher would definitely be registered in the awakening database. Thinking so, Sayoung instructed Minki to search the Awakeners Database and report back to him. He had no doubt that Minki was capable of doing so.

But a few days later, after sneaking around for a while, the news came like a bolt of lightning.

"I was captured by Jungbin.

This was the worst news of all, and out of habit, he rubbed the crumpled business card with his fingertips.

"You specialize in stealth, and you're ranked 33rd, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Then why the hell do you get caught?"

"Because Jungbin is ranked third, and he's an S-class... Oh no."

Minki swallowed what he wanted to say, but it was too late.

Sayoung sneered sarcastically. "I'm number one and I'm an S-class. You're afraid of Jungbin, but not of me."

"No, Guild Leader, I'm damn afraid."

"What did Jungbin say?"

"That's... the thing," Seo Min-ki muttered darkly.

"He told you to go to the Awakening Bureau yourself. He said he needs to meet with you..."

"Shit."

That was the reason why Sayoung interrupted his work today to pay a personal visit to the Awakening Bureau. He listened to Jungbin's bitter words from the side, letting them drift in one ear and out the other, and searched the Awakener database. The whole time he was searching, Jung-bin was chattering away:

"Lee-shi, the Awakeners database should not be used for selfish purposes.

"Are you listening? Look, I said no.

"Hunter Lee, can you at least pretend to listen to people?"

And on and on, but he didn't stop searching.

"If he's not registered here, that means there's at least one unregistered B-rated person walking the streets, aren't you going to check it out?"

When Sayoung said this, even Jungbin, who looked like a big man, shut up.

He was ready to break down like that, and he did break down, searching everywhere he could, but there wasn't a single piece of information.

There was no 'Hyung' in the Awakener database, the pride of Korea!

He checked three times, including all F-ranks, just in case, but he didn't see the face he had seen that day. He wondered if it was a photo ID, so he went through the photos again in reverse order.

Two men were shocked for the same reason.

Unregistered hunters exist in South Korea?