31 Good Instinct

The way people looked at me had definitely changed. Even three more people had discreetly taken my business card.

That’s a huge win for me.

When people from Blackline Risk show up, the overall quality of the matchmaking agency goes up. Their looks aren’t especially lacking either, so as long as they’re decent enough, getting an A-rank match isn’t hard.

Looking at Baek Yeonhwa’s back as she led the way and introduced the sect from the front, I felt a little grateful.

Baek Yeonhwa’s appearance had turned out well in many ways.

Escorting people at the Azure Dragon Waterfall had become much easier, and she could even come into the Taeguk Eumyang Sect’s inner grounds, which ordinary people were not allowed to enter.

“I heard your throat isn’t in good shape.”

“Ah—! Y-yes!”

“Please come this way. I’ll take you to the family apothecary.”

“Huh?!”

Baek Yeonhwa wore a smile, but there was a clear shadow in her eyes.

The fire caused by the Azure Dragon’s lightning.

A singer whose throat was ruined from breathing in too much smoke in that fire.

It was top-secret and could even turn into an inter-floor war, so I couldn’t speak the truth.

Even so, I could see Baek Yeonhwa’s efforts to shoulder the responsibility.

One of them was the old woman in the apothecary.

“This lady is a renowned physician even in the old martial world. She’ll examine your throat and prescribe medicine that should help it improve, even if only a little.”

“T-this much?!”

At Aul’s flustered question, Baek Yeonhwa answered with a forced smile.

“If you’re the great hero’s honored guest, then you’re an honored guest to me too.”

It was a lie.

But since she couldn’t speak her own name as the one responsible, she was borrowing mine.

It was also something we had agreed on yesterday.

Baek Yeonhwa and the Taeguk Eumyang Sect were using me as a pretext to repay Aul for even a little of what they owed.

“Wow…….”

“Ahem. Cough.”

While the moved Aul was being examined by the physician, the escort team glanced at me and marveled.

From the big-company hunters’ perspective, I was just some guy who had gotten into the training camp but couldn’t make it as a hunter and was only running a small business outside.

They had thought I was one of the countless losers they’d seen, but I had unexpected connections.

“Um, could I get one of your business cards too?”

“I’d prefer to meet someone naturally—.”

So that was the kind of reaction I got.

Since it was embarrassing to apologize openly, this was their own way of showing sincerity.

I answered with a capitalist smile.

“Here’s my business card. You mean meeting naturally, right? Actually, these days you could even say a matchmaking agency counts as meeting naturally. This is—.”

Who cared whether they ignored me or not?

Pride doesn’t put food on the table.

Besides, what would I gain by telling these people, “Actually, I was top of the 111th class”?

Not only would they not believe me, but I still wouldn’t get a hunter license.

While kindly telling them not to spout nonsense about “seeking a natural meeting” and to just sign up for premium membership.

“Team member Kim Juseon.”

Ryu Seoram called me from behind and waved me over.

Keeping her distance from the apothecary, Ryu Seoram jerked her chin at me.

“That person, we can trust them, right?”

“Hm? Of course. I can’t explain why, but Baek Yeonhwa is definitely someone you can trust.”

She owed me that much, after all.

Ryu Seoram didn’t ask anything more after my answer.

She simply took it as trusting my word.

“Any unusual issues?”

“Unusual issues? Not really?”

“Really? If you say so, then I guess that’s how it is. You’ve got good instincts.”

Saying that, Ryu Seoram patted my back a few times and changed the subject.

“But you seem to get along well with the kids? Looks like a lot of them will come looking for you after this ends.”

“Among the people who take a card because they’re interested, only one or two actually come.”

A complaint born from experience.

Ryu Seoram chuckled and then asked while looking toward the escort team.

“Our guys, I mean. How strong do they seem?”

“How strong? If they got into Blackline, they should be good.”

“Just from looking, do you think you could beat them up?”

“...Is that important?”

“It is, hell yes! Of course it is.”

Ryu Seoram laughed, awkwardly trying to keep the energy up.

“Do they come off as obnoxious or anything, like they’re showing off because they did well in training?”

“Sigh, well. Who hasn’t?”

Without thinking, I reached for a cigarette in my pocket and then put it back. It was already day two of forced quitting.

Since it had come to this, I even thought about quitting for good on the momentum, but gave up.

“Top of the class at the training center, a huge salary deposited steadily into your account at a young age, admiring eyes all around. That’s the kind of thing young hunters usually go through, right?”

“…….”

“I can understand why they’re annoyed. Showing it, though, is a different matter.”

At my words, Ryu Seoram nodded and patted my back again.

“Go back and get back to work. You’re done tomorrow morning.”

“In the morning?”

“Tomorrow’s schedule is a visit to Sinsun Do-won. Since you’re technically an outsider as a part-timer, I can’t take you any farther than that.”

Sinsun Do-won.

It was a very special island found only in the old martial world on the 5th Floor.

A place where masters who had reached a certain level, or wealthy patients with injuries, went to recuperate.

Except for the person involved, outsiders were strictly forbidden entry, and although people said it existed, no one knew where it was.

If you ask whether it really exists, there are indeed people who have stayed there and returned.

Whether by contract or something else, mentioning Sinsun Do-won was completely impossible, but rumors were thick that amputated legs had grown back, or eighty-year-olds had become twenty again.

It was a place swarming with unverified stories.

‘Sinsun Do-won…….’

They really are loaded.

To leave the mortal world behind and go recuperate.

It really was what Aul needed most right now.

* * *

That night.

Thanks to Baek Yeonhwa’s consideration, I was supposed to spend the day at the Taeguk Eumyang Sect—but—.

“Great hero, why are you here.”

Baek Yeonhwa came to the guest room prepared for two people.

“Great hero, come this way. You should stay with me.”

Her blatant gesture was downright seductive.

The dwarf sharing the room with me, Dedral, nodded with a hearty laugh.

“Exactly. We can’t go making a lady uncomfortable, can we? I’ll enjoy having the room to myself too.”

I’d heard that, aside from the blacksmith dwarves, their personalities were cheerful and easygoing. Dedral certainly was.

It was a pity for him that dwarves were normally rated one rank lower by default.

“I’m just going to talk for a moment, so don’t clear your things away.”

“Hah, that’s a stone Buddha for you.”

Clicking his tongue, Dedral started doing some light bodyweight exercises on his bedding.

Once I stepped outside, a refreshing breeze and a night sky impressive with its moon and stars greeted me.

The 3rd Floor was in the middle of winter now too, so it was chilly, though not as cold as Seoul.

Baek Yeonhwa, who had brought me outside, erased the seductive air from just moments ago and wore a somber expression.

“The physician examined Aul today.”

“What did they say?”

“It’s difficult.”

“…….”

“Aul’s throat is completely ruined. You said you’re going to Sinsun Do-won tomorrow, right? We can only hope for good results there.”

“We’ll have to.”

“Um, but, great hero.”

“Yes?”

“There was something strange about Aul’s throat. The physician told me separately that—although the symptoms may be a little different—there are people whose body parts have been damaged in a similar way.”

“…….”

After hesitating, Baek Yeonhwa carefully began to explain.

“I’m telling you this because I hope it helps—.”

* * *

Another day passed.

At last, the day my part-time job ended had come.

Since it was the last day, I wondered whether there would be anything special.

But we spent all our time just traveling to Sinsun Do-won.

We even ate rice balls in the carriage for lunch, so there was practically nothing to do.

It did make me wonder if it was really okay to get paid for work like this.

But in life, shouldn’t there be times when you get free money like this?

Before long, we arrived at the river called Twilight.

In the fog-shrouded river, a boatman wearing a bamboo hat was already there to greet us.

The rest of the guards would go with Aul to Sinsun Do-won and escort them until the very end, but—

I, as an outsider, could only go this far.

“Ju—seon! Sir!”

Before we said our last goodbyes.

Aul came up to me and took both my hands.

“Th-thank you!”

“Ah, I didn’t really do anything.”

“No—! Thanks to you! I got medicine too!”

The medicine pouch he pulled from his pocket. Its faint green scent, which masked the nasty odor, was striking.

“Th-thank you!”

“Haha, no, not at all. It was my job. It was only natural.”

“La-ter—! Once my throat gets better—! I’ll come see you!”

“You will? You’re always welcome. Meracle welcomes any guest.”

That’s one of our strengths, isn’t it?

“Whether you’re forever single, have a strange personality, come from whatever floor, or whatever age, we take everyone without discrimination. So don’t worry and come by.”

“Th-thank you!”

When I held out my hand for a handshake, Aul laughed and took it.

The famous singer Aul.

We hadn’t been able to talk much, but it was still a meaningful time—

Brrring! Brrring!

At the alarm going off beside us, everyone’s attention turned that way.

Ryu Seoram, wearing the latest watch model, shrugged and said.

“Midnight. Good job on the part-time work, Juseon-ah.”

“I made a lot thanks to you, Seoram-ah.”

Now I could finally speak a little more casually. I immediately put a cigarette between my lips.

The guards frowned.

They probably meant I shouldn’t smoke in front of someone with a bad throat, but it was already in my mouth.

“A lighter. I need a lighter—.”

“Shall I get one?”

Aul took a lighter out of his pocket.

“I don’t need it anymore!”

Was he a smoker too?

I gratefully took the lighter.

“You use a fancy one.”

“Heh, krm—! Safe travels!”

“Did you buy it with the money you made from stock manipulation?”

Aul stopped walking toward the boat.

And the bewildered looks from the guards followed.

“Phew.”

A cigarette after a long time.

My body was getting a heavy dose of nicotine.

“Huh?”

Aul met my eyes.

It was a serious situation, but the cigarette tasted so good that I couldn’t help grinning.

“No, you’re way too rich. I mean, even a famous singer doesn’t get level-7 bodyguards and Sinsun Do-won.”

“…….”

In the odd atmosphere,

the escort team looked at a loss, not knowing what to do.

But among them, there was one woman who was the only one smiling at me.

“I’ve got a pretty good instinct. When you work in matchmaking, spotting clients’ lies is part of the job.”

Aul pressed his lips together. His gaze drilled sharply into me.

Maybe because of his owl-like face, once his eyes narrowed he looked a little eerie.

“Do you enjoy picking at my wounds like that?”

The fire caused by the Azure Dragon’s lightning.

A singer whose throat was ruined from inhaling the smoke from that fire.

As a result, the stock price of Wolfguard Tactical Solutions, which had provided security, plummeted straight down.

The story of a pitiful young man whose dream vanished in a single day.

I should at least make some money.

My dream had been smashed, so couldn’t I make a little profit from this information?

“No, that’s not it.”

Unfortunately, the premise was wrong.

“No.”

“What do you mean—no?”

“Your throat wasn’t hurt from breathing in smoke.”