Holy B-Class Life

#054

Dan Joo-hyuk casually suggested again. Due to his attitude, Yoon Pa-ran barely understood that he meant to go meet Heo Sang-yeon.

His brow furrowed involuntarily. Not because it was unpleasant, but because he wondered if it was okay.

It felt like he was getting too deeply involved.

“If we leave it like this, I think Hunter Yoon Pa-ran will cause trouble again and get caught.”

“What trouble did I cause? Those bastards came at me.”

As soon as Yoon Pa-ran showed signs of contemplation, Dan Joo-hyuk started prodding him again. He hadn’t originally wanted to face Dan Joo-hyuk so soon, but lately, nothing was going according to plan.

By this point, yesterday’s events felt like a distant memory. He was honestly concerned about information that might be forever out of reach if not for this opportunity.

Dan Joo-hyuk must be making this suggestion because he needs Yoon Pa-ran as a witness. If that’s the case, it didn’t seem like a bad idea to use that as an excuse to confidently gather information.

After a brief consideration, Yoon Pa-ran turned his head towards Dan Joo-hyuk. Unlike the smile that suited his handsome face, his piercing gaze was fixed on Yoon Pa-ran.

How long had he been staring like that?

“Hah… Alright, let’s go.”

He fully agreed with Heo Sang-yeon’s words.

It seemed easier to enter a gate than to use his head like this.

❖ ❖ ❖

Despite rudely hanging up the phone earlier, Heo Sang-yeon answered the call again as if nothing had happened.

Seeing his attitude of not even getting angry, Yoon Pa-ran thought: You need to be that broad-minded to be close friends with Dan Joo-hyuk.

They immediately headed to Heo Sang-yeon’s villa.

Following his instructions to just come in when they arrived, the two entered. Even though it felt odd to just walk in, Dan Joo-hyuk moved without hesitation, as if he had been there several times before.

Yoon Pa-ran looked around the cozy country house villa with a dumbfounded expression. Life sure takes you to unexpected places, even to an S-rank hunter’s villa.

“You’re here?”

As the two entered the living room, Heo Sang-yeon suddenly appeared from one side.

Having just showered, he emerged shaking his hair, with no trace of the typical S-rank wave emanating from him. Yoon Pa-ran tensed up seeing him appear without any warning.

Meeting him in person felt strange. In truth, Dan Joo-hyuk was the odd one; S-rank hunters were people you rarely even met in gates.

Because of this, Yoon Pa-ran unknowingly stared at Heo Sang-yeon for quite a while.

“Oh, hello? Yoon… Pa-ran, right? I think we’ve met before.”

“Ah, yes. …Hello.”

Noticing Yoon Pa-ran’s gaze, Heo Sang-yeon smiled broadly and spoke. They had crossed paths a few times at gates, but honestly, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t expect him to remember.

Because of this, Yoon Pa-ran bowed his head slightly with a rather bewildered expression.

“…”

The wave from Dan Joo-hyuk, who was standing nearby, suddenly intensified slightly. Wondering what was happening, Yoon Pa-ran glanced to the side, but Dan Joo-hyuk’s face remained the same as usual.

Maybe it was just his imagination. With Heo Sang-yeon, who wasn’t emitting any waves at all, standing in front of them, his senses were probably a mess. It was also a somewhat tense situation.

“Just state your business.”

Dan Joo-hyuk asked impatiently, just like during the phone call.

Despite pretending not to care, it seemed he was very curious about the information.

“Oh, you want me to say it right now?”

Heo Sang-yeon’s puzzled gaze turned towards them.

Even to Yoon Pa-ran, the circumstances of coming here were quite ambiguous. Honestly, the fact that Heo Sang-yeon didn’t immediately kick them out of the villa showed that his personality was as rumored.

But he didn’t want to talk about his ability, so how should he explain?

“Well…”

Yoon Pa-ran trailed off, at a loss for words.

Suddenly, Dan Joo-hyuk wrapped his arm around Yoon Pa-ran’s shoulder and pulled him back. Stepping back reflexively, Heo Sang-yeon was hidden behind Dan Joo-hyuk’s shoulder.

“If you show us the proper information, you’ll understand why Mr. Yoon Pa-ran is here.”

“Uh… Well, okay.”

Heo Sang-yeon agreed with a slightly bewildered voice.

Yoon Pa-ran looked at Dan Joo-hyuk quizzically, surprised by his sudden action. Was he trying to prevent him from saying something unnecessary?

While vigorously rubbing his hair with a towel, Heo Sang-yeon gestured to one side. His easy agreement showed that he trusted Dan Joo-hyuk quite a bit.

“For now… sit over there.”

Near the sofa in the middle of the living room, Heo Sang-yeon’s equipment was strewn about haphazardly.

Afraid of touching it, Yoon Pa-ran circled around to approach the sofa.

“Sorry. I thought only Dan Joo-hyuk was coming, so I left my equipment out.”

He was apologizing even though they had come without warning. Heo Sang-yeon was truly a nice person. Because of this, Yoon Pa-ran, who had been hesitating, answered with a slightly tense expression.

It wasn’t just because of his rank; somehow, he reminded Yoon Pa-ran of the sisters at the orphanage, making it difficult to be casual.

“It’s fine.”

“…”

He approached the sofa with awkward steps and sat down carefully. Once seated, the view beyond the living room window came into full view.

Unconsciously, his gaze turned to the garden outside. Whether intentional or not, the wildly grown bushes displayed a natural charm of their own.

After sitting for a while, strangely, the two didn’t come to the sofa. With Dan Joo-hyuk emitting waves as if to show off, Yoon Pa-ran could roughly gauge their presence.

When Yoon Pa-ran turned his gaze questioningly, the two finally walked slowly to the sofa.

Did they have a brief discussion?

“Here. This photo.”

“Hmm…”

“…”

Heo Sang-yeon, who had plopped down on the opposite side, immediately held out a photo without wasting time.

The photo showed a stone placed on an asphalt floor. It was exactly the same shape as the unknown stone the two had discovered.

This puzzled Yoon Pa-ran greatly. The stone he had seen had surely scattered after he viewed its status window, but the photo suggested it could be brought out of the gate.

Why hadn’t this one disappeared?

“The item wasn’t destroyed.”

“Yeah. I brought it because it seemed dangerous.”

Heo Sang-yeon gestured to a crude box on the table in front of the sofa.

Yoon Pa-ran had briefly noticed it earlier. A precious box item that blocks item curses. Usually at least an A-rank item, right?

He was curious about this item he had only heard of, but knowing that stone was inside, he didn’t particularly want to open and check it.

“But.”

Heo Sang-yeon suddenly spoke up. His expression suggested something wasn’t quite right, so Yoon Pa-ran looked at him directly.

“It’s not an item.”

Eventually, he casually said while tossing the towel on the floor.

However, the content of his words was not light.

“That stone. No status window appeared at all.”

“Uh…”

How could that be?

“Is that so?”

Dan Joo-hyuk, who had been silent all this time, answered leisurely.

“Yeah. I even had one of the A-rank hunters take a look, just in case, but nothing showed up.”

Hearing that relaxed voice, Yoon Pa-ran reflexively looked at Dan Joo-hyuk. He felt an odd sensation at the back of his head, causing him to do so.

However, Dan Joo-hyuk, with his legs crossed and hands folded on his knee, looked the same as usual. If anything, he seemed even more pleased with this new information.

Maybe he was just tense from hearing unexpected information.

“Then why did you put it in there?”

Dan Joo-hyuk gestured towards the box item.

Yoon Pa-ran’s attention was drawn back to it. It was certainly strange to put it in a curse-blocking box if no status window appeared.

“Well, you see. Um… Maybe because it came out of a monster’s mouth, it felt a bit unpleasant and ominous? Then I remembered the report Hunter Dan uploaded and called.”

“You’re quite bold about admitting to stealing confidential information.”

“Well, it’s all for the greater good. Aren’t you curious about how much Minister Byeon is hiding?”

Heo Sang-yeon laughed heartily and waved his hand dismissively. Swallowing his concern about whether the security of the Special Administrative Safety Department was okay like this, Yoon Pa-ran frowned.

More precisely, he pretended to be serious to hide his expression.

To avoid nodding along to the information Heo Sang-yeon was carelessly spilling.

“…”

He could easily infer from hearing that the stone was taken from a monster’s mouth. It wasn’t a coincidence that the boss monster had acted as if it wanted to swallow that stone.

Moreover, he had noticed that the stone was strange even before seeing its status window. He wasn’t sure about Dan Joo-hyuk, but for a B-rank hunter to feel the same sense of discomfort as an S-rank, it must seem very strange.

Only after unconsciously tensing his neck did Yoon Pa-ran realize. He had thoughtlessly followed along to this place.

It wouldn’t be good if more about his ability was revealed.

Unconsciously, he glanced at Dan Joo-hyuk again. He should have at least coordinated with him before coming here.

“So, are you going to tell us now? Why Mr. Yoon Pa-ran came along?”

Surely he wouldn’t reveal everything related to [Sacred Energy] here, would he?