LV. 99 The Princess of Dark Flare - Chapter 37

‘He’s not coming back.’

Eunha turned her head, glancing at the entrance of the restaurant. Siwoo had said that he was going to answer his phone, but he never returned.

The military group guarding the entrance to the store had disappeared. They probably started to stalk them from a distance.

“Let’s head out first.”

Standing at the entrance would interfere with business, so it would be better to go outside. Eunha left the store with Minjoo.

“Sunbae.”

She ran into Siwoo as he was about to enter the restaurant. His face was strangely hardened.

“I’m sorry, but I have a matter to attend to. I’ll be going first.”

She didn’t know what kind of call it was, but she thought it was something important. Eunha nodded her head.

“Then what about this?”

Eunha brought out the gate core to Siwoo. Siwoo said “That…” and trailed off when Minjoo, who was holding Eunha’s hand, stuck out his head.

“Since Noona got it, it’s hers, right?”

Siwoo’s blue eyes turned to the boy. The boy smiled, his acorn-like eyes crinkling.

“Can’t she take it with her?”

“…”

Was it… like that?

Eunha stared at the gate core and put it in her pocket. Siwoo, who had been looking at Minjoo with an unreadable expression, turned to Eunha.

“…Sunbae, do you have any connection with the United States?”

“America?”

Eunha finished storing the gate core and tilted her head slightly.

“No. Not really.”

She had certainly gotten into an American university in the past, but she never actually went. She had never even gotten to travel there.

“Is that so?”

Siwoo’s face hardened again. Actually, he could’ve asked if she really didn’t one more time. But Siwoo did not.

A ringtone chimed as he was deep in thought. It was Siwoo’s cellphone. He clicked his tongue briefly and answered the phone.

“I’ll head there right now.”

And then he abruptly cut off the call. The phone call that lasted for a split second must have bothered him greatly, as he turned away with a cold face.

“Then, I’ll be leaving first. I’ll get back to you tomorrow, and…”

At the end, his blue eyes turned to the boy, Minjoo.

‘I don’t think he’s going to do anything.’

Siwoo stared at him and opened his mouth firmly.

“If anything happens, please text, no, call me.”

His eyes, cold as ice, were still fixed on Minjoo. Eunha nodded her head even though she thought it was odd.

“I will.”

“It’s a must.”

Siwoo emphasised it again before he hurriedly walked around the alley and disappeared, leaving only Minjoo and Eunha.

Eunha turned her back from the direction Siwoo had disappeared to and looked at the boy.

Right. She had to do something with this child…

“Kid. Do you have any relatives or other family members?”

“No.”

Minjoo responded immediately. That wasn’t a lie.

“Then, where’s your house?”

“…I don’t have one.”

That was half a lie.

It was true that he didn’t have a house, but since he was living in the Corps Guild’s headquarters instead of a house, he technically had a home. However, Minjoo didn’t say that.

‘I’m in trouble.’

Eunha looked at the boy and swallowed a small sigh. The current time was around 10 p.m.. In other words, it was time for passersby to return to their homes and shops to close. It was a normal scene in modern times after gates appeared.

‘It would be better to take him home first and then take him to the police station early in the morning.’

Even at this moment, the suspicious military group was staring intently at this place. She didn’t know what they would do if she sent the boy to a police station.

“Let’s go to my house first.”

“To Noona’s house?”

Minjoo’s eyes widened.

“Yeah. If you’re uncomfortable…”

“No, it’s good! Let’s go, let’s go!”

Minjoo cut off Eunha’s words and started to jump.

Oh my god. Her house.

It was likely that she was also like him. Besides, she even had a golden dog tag!

In such a person’s house, there must be rows of all sorts of valuable items comparable to a golden military tag.

Even just imagining it made his heart dance with anticipation.

“Then, first of all.”

Whish.

Suddenly, the height of his field of vision rose sharply. When he regained his bearings, Minjoo realised that he was in her arms.

‘Eh?’

Whish, whish, whish.

Pressing her heels to the ground, she bounced up like a spring until she stood on top of a nearby two-story building.

Her movements were as light and agile as a stray cat scaling a stone wall, and there were barely any bumps.

“It’s better to leave some people behind first.”

“…”

“You might be motion sick for a bit. Are you okay?”

“Uh… I’m fine.”

Minjoo unintentionally answered her and slowly blinked his eyes. At that moment, Eunha waited before leaping again.

Whoosh—

It was much higher than last time.

It felt like the moon in the night sky was right in front of them.

Her black hair fluttered like silk against the moonlight.

With the sound of them cutting through the wind, his vision changed rapidly every time he blinked.

‘This person.’

He had thought that she was no ordinary hunter, but this was beyond his imagination.

Other than Song Minjoo, who was an S-Class, all members of Corps were top-ranked in Korea.

For one to reach a high rank, their ability to hide their presence had to be excellent. It was the simplest and most important means of surviving in a highly difficult gate.

All of the members of Corps were capable enough to go into gates ranked A-Class or higher. The fact that she felt their presences could be regarded as proof that she could also enter gates that were at least A-Class, or even higher than that.

Moreover, this speed.

‘What the hell is it?’

Watching her fly over the roof of a building while holding himself like a princess, Minjoo secretly swallowed his dry saliva.

‘It’s strange that I didn’t know of such a talented person.’

Currently, there are a total of six S-Classes in Korea.

They knew each other’s faces, as well as their real names.

‘Ah, except for that guy.’

That is, the Baekrang or Heukrang who followed some strange mysticism despite joining the S-Classes last.

tl/n: you may think that it’s weird that he got mixed up between baek and heuk which seem completely different, but baek = white and heuk = black so yeah

The nature of this relationship between hunters didn’t change much, even if you went down to A-Class.

Among Korean hunters, the proportion of S-Class hunters was only 0.01%. In the case of the A-Class hunters who followed that, it was 0.2%.

Considering the fact that D, E, and F-Class hunters accounted for 90% of the total, A-Classes or higher were a huge minority.

Therefore, if you were a hunter who had worked in the field for more than a few years and was an A-Class or higher, you would have no choice but to encounter hunters in a similar position to you.

Not only was that in gates, but also at auction sites or on the System Market.

So that was why it was weird. Where the hell did a hunter like Noona come from?

Minjoo glanced back while being held by Eunha.

‘Tsk tsk.’

Minjoo clicked his tongue slightly and turned his head forward again. Seeing that the guys’ presences had disappeared, they had probably lost sight of her a long time ago. Even if the future of Corps was dark, wasn’t this a little too dark?

‘I’ll need to retrain them. And—?’

Minjoo, who was held like a princess, glanced at Eunha.

‘I’ll need to keep an eye on Noona as well?’

But…

Despite his decision, Minjoo would soon find out who she was.

“…Woah.”

It was Eunha’s house.

As soon as he took off his shoes and stepped inside, Minjoo’s round eyes landed on something black.

‘A dress?’

The thing hanging inside a pure white built-in wardrobe definitely seemed like a dress. Minjoo stared at the dangling lace and ribbons before lowering his gaze.

‘This.’

He crouched onto the floor and touched something with his hand. It was a black parasol that was laid at the bottom.

The moment he held it in his hand, a memory flashed before his eyes.

It had happened at the guild headquarters not too long ago.

‘Master, have you seen this?’

Joonhwan laughed while watching TV and spoke to him. At that time, Minjoo had responded roughly, as he was about to complete his new weapon, the ‘Flame Blast Bazooka’.

‘What?’

‘Here, this woman. The Princess of Dark Flare, or something like that. Is she really hitting all those goals?’

Minjoo glanced at the TV while holding his screwdriver. On the screen was a woman with dark hair, black eyes, and a black dress.

‘Hmm. A concept hunter.’

‘Yes. But if you look at her actions, she’s a little different from a normal concept hunter, isn’t she? Look. She’s a concept hunter, but is that really an F-Class level of skill? What do you think, Master?’

‘What do I think? It’s edited, isn’t it?’

Minjoo answered indifferently and turned his attention away from the TV.

‘Turn off the TV or change the channel. It’s so loud.’

For him, such an entertainment program was out of the question. So, he didn’t look at it much. That’s because his almost completed darling had priority over the concept hunter in the entertainment program.

—By the way.

‘Is Noona the Princess of Dark Flare?’

Minjoo dropped the parasol he was holding. Actually, the fact that she was the Princess of Dark Flare wasn’t that shocking.

The most shocking fact for Minjoo was.

‘I thought you were like me.’

She had a taste for the Rococo era, not the military.

Flump.

Minjoo sat down on the sofa, as if collapsing. The joy of meeting his soulmate was now gone, and disappointment took hold. Had he known this, he wouldn’t have followed her home.

‘…Should I go back?’

As he rolled on the soft sofa, he suddenly felt an unfamiliar touch on his fingertips. When he turned his head to look at it.

“…!”

Minjoo’s jaw dropped to the floor. This, this, this!

‘A military uniform?!’

Countless exclamation marks floated above Trickster’s head. This texture, this pattern…! It was definitely a military uniform.

‘It’s not just a military uniform.’

Minjoo stretched out a trembling hand.

There were wings embroidered on the right chest, and the black leather protectors covering its wrists and ankles were telling.

This was the legacy of the old hunters who had lived during the conscription system!

‘It’s a great relic that only first-generation hunters wore, and even if you can spend tens of millions of won, they don’t exist anymore, so you can’t get them, right?’

It was also the first time he’d actually seen one. He carefully moved his outstretched hand to check the chest area.

Unfortunately, there was no name tag. It was something that would’ve caused the price drop, but there was something even greater in its place.

A green shoulder strap.

This is…

“Would you like to sleep on the bed? I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

Hearing Eunha’s voice from behind, Minjoo creakingly turned his head. Eunha had brought a spare blanket and was standing in front of the sofa.

“…Noona.”

Minjoo licked his trembling lips.

A gust of wind blew through the slightly open window, puffing up the curtains with air. The face of the young boy came closer after the curtain had passed.

“Where did you buy this?”

Twinkle, twinkle—

The boy’s eyes were shining like never before.

* * *

“Ah, he will be coming soon.”

After hanging up the phone, Jehwi had returned to his seat.

The woman sitting opposite to him had introduced herself as ‘Catherine’.

Catherine was an attractive woman and wore a sharp suit with square glasses. Her hair was tied into a neat updo, as if it was unacceptable for even a single strand of hair to be out of place, giving a mature and orderly impression.

“I was worried since I suddenly came and requested an unreasonable meeting, but I’m glad that he readily agreed.”

She smiled as she pushed up her glasses with her fingers. Jehwi replied with an “Oh, yes,” and forced a smile.

‘He… did not readily agree.’

Jehwi knew because he had been by Siwoo’s side for a long time. As soon as he brought up the Princess of Dark Flare, the mood had changed.

Jehwi picked up his teacup and glanced at the woman sitting across from him.

By the way, she was really fluent in Korean. There was no awkwardness in both pronunciation and intonation.

The badge on her left chest was particularly bright. It was in the form of a large letter C engraved on the surface of a gold horseshoe.

‘So that’s Chaser’s badge…’

It was his first time actually seeing it.

Chaser was a hunter guild belonging to the United States, and although it wasn’t a large one, it was a historical guild established in the early days of the emergence of gates.

‘I heard that Chaser’s guildmaster was formerly a US colonel and a well-known hunter.’

However, that was the only piece of information that had come from overseas. Actually, not much information was known even in the United States, so there wasn’t much you could find here in Korea.

At any rate, in order to work at a guild at Chaser’s degree, that level of skill in foreign language was essential.

Perhaps noticing how Jehwi stared at her with curious eyes, Catherine took her lips off of her teacup and smiled.

“Are you interested in our guild?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s very mysterious since it’s so veiled.”

“Yes, it is.”

She set down her teacup and looked down at the badge on her left chest.

“I don’t know much about Chaser either.”

“Pardon?”

“I wear their badge, but to be honest, I belong to its subsidiary, Clamp Management, rather than Chaser.”

Catherine placed her own business card on the polished glass table.

Woah… Even her business card was engraved with gold leaf.

So she was in management. Since they were from the same industry, he thought they would get along well.

So, they exchanged business cards and chatted with each other over tea.

As Jehwi had predicted, the two working in the same industry had quite a lot in common. For example, the fact that they both had a stubborn boss.

“I also went on a business trip to Beijing one unexpected night at the order of the CEO. It was my wife’s birthday that day… Haha. Thanks to that, my wife wouldn’t even make me meat side dishes for a while.”

“I see. I also had to delay my own schedule and come to Korea in a hurry. If I go back to America, I probably won’t be able to go home for a few days.”

“You seem to be going through a lot.”

The two looked at each other and smiled fondly. It felt like they didn’t have to say anything more.

Not long after that, the door slammed open.

Bang!

“Ah, Young Mas…”

“Are they here? The guest.”

It was Siwoo.