Please Cooperate In The Execution Of S-Class Official Duties - Chapter 62

Kang Hara thought.

How could someone say, “Let’s get chicken,” with that kind of pose and that look in his eyes……

Actually, she didn’t even eat dinner, so she was hungry. Hara’d intended to have dinner at home, but she missed the mealtime due to her fight with Hada.

Even at Seheon’s house, he said, ‘I don’t like the smell of food at home,’ so I was just going to pass by this evening. Let’s say we’re on a diet and let’s sleep.

Seheon had also mentioned that he wasn’t particularly fond of the smell of food in his house, so she had planned to just forgo tonight’s dinner. She’ll take it as a diet, and just go to sleep.

“Right now?”

Seheon asked the flustered Hara with his chin propped up in his hand disinterestedly.

“You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

“That’s true. But didn’t you say that you disliked the smell of food in your house……”

Seheon’s brows furrowed after hearing her say that.

“Do I seem like that kind of trash? I dislike the scent, so I’ll leave my guest to starve.”  

If he puts it like that, Hara was more like an unwelcome visitor than a guest.

Anyways, it seems like Seheon already knew that Hara hadn’t even had dinner. His words, ‘buy me a meal’, wasn’t actually asking Hara to treat him to a meal, but was asking her to eat something.

“There’s nothing at home, after all.”

She understood that without needing him to say it, as she looked at the refrigerator, which resembled an idol’s before a comeback season. A fridge with nothing but water……

In any case, Hara opted for chicken.

“Thank you.”

When she returned back to the kitchen after accepting the chicken from the delivery person, Seheon had finished neatly arranging the cutlery.

Wait, is there anyone that would eat chicken with cutlery……

Seheon took the chicken from Hara, who was staring at the table dazedly, and asked.

“What’s the matter?”

“No…… It’s nothing……”

He opened the box of chicken rather neatly. Watching Seheon’s long, sturdy fingers move, she found herself thinking about how big and beautiful his hands were.

“What can I help you with?”

“Just stay there. There’s nothing much anyways.”

Hara sat down dazedly, before looking around his apartment.

It had a clean and spacious interior. It seemed like aside from the basic interior decoration of the newly built apartment, there weren’t any changes.

The TV was large, and the table in front of it was stacked with documents. Several pens were also scattered around. The wall of the spacious living room was entirely covered with books.

“You have a lot of books……”

“Do I?”

“It’s quite a lot. Did you read all of those?”

“Would I have bought books just to not read them?”

“You really read a lot of books…”

Doesn’t everyone read around this much? Hara watched the man that spoke rather mildly while transferring the chicken onto a large plate with fascination. Most people would think it’s a lot to read 10 books in a year. She wondered if she had to read this much in order to be an anchor.

“Please tuck in.”

The man pushed the plate towards her and folded the chicken’s packaging neatly.

Looking at his personality… As Hara thought it’s obvious he had a fastidious personality, she picked up the cutlery.

It felt a bit burdensome to use a fork and knife… and an entire set of pretty cutlery… for chicken……

“Please don’t mind me and eat comfortably.”

How can she disregard him? That would be so inhumane.

While tackling the dungeon quests with him over the past few days, Hara had only ever seen him getting all dusty and rumpled and didn’t realise it, but Seheon really did seem to have a fastidious personality.

Wasn’t it the national rule to use your hands while eating chicken and throw the bones into the plastic bag…? She thought that silently and used the fork to pick up a piece of chicken, then transferred it to the plate in front of her. Her hand trembled slightly as she wasn’t used to deboning the chicken like this.

Seheon glanced at her struggling appearance once, before pushing aside his cutlery and picking up the chicken with his hands expressionlessly.

‘Omg.’

A sudden sense of betrayal washed over her. Even a single piece of chicken was capable of causing such a great feeling of betrayal. Hara immediately put down the cutlery and picked up the chicken with her hands.

Seheon laughed, Pfft.

“Oh, right. Anchor-nim, do you have any plans for a business trip?”

“Why do you ask?”

While eating the chicken, Hara suddenly thought of the conversation she had earlier today when she visited the Seoul Regional office.

“The Director of the Seoul Regional office mentioned that if I become an S-class hunter, I might be transferred to a different province. And after hearing that, the constellation imposed a restriction.”

“Aha?”

“Apparently, we can be more than 100 km apart.”

Now, this constellation’s antics weren’t even amusing. Seheon glared into the air while wiping his hands with a wet tissue. The Holy See, who had been quiet since a while ago, didn’t even make an appearance when he came up in conversation.

In the meantime, Hara chattered on about her meeting with Director Lee.

“The director is quite the sharp person. She’d even asked me if the constellation had intentionally contacted me.”

“Director Lee has that kind of style.”

Seheon thought of Director Lee Eunjoo and snorted. She was someone involved in some of the rather unpleasant memories he had, and that made it even more regrettable as she was someone he could communicate well with in many ways.

Although he could communicate most easily with her out of all the people in his life, Seheon had never really wanted to get close to hunters.

But now that he thought about it, it was ironic that the woman sitting in his house and chattering away was also a hunter.

“Anyway, the talk of influence-peddling is true. You did well to decline.”

“Even if I hadn’t declined, I doubt she would have granted my request.”

“If the current Director of the Seoul regional office wasn’t Lee Eunjoo, the Hunter Agency would have done everything to set us up. But that won’t happen as long as Director Lee is in charge.”

Then, Seheon raised an eyebrow.

“And if you hadn’t declined, well, were you planning to marry me?”

“What? N, n—no!”

Seheon had anticipated that she would wave her hands strongly in denial, but seeing it in person made him slightly grumpy. Seheon tilted his head and asked again.

“Oh, so you’re okay with dating me, but not with marrying me?”

“What? Why is the conversation…”

Why did it go down that direction! Hara felt aggrieved as she ate her chicken.

Seheon merely raised an eyebrow, before skillfully navigating to another topic. Anyway, Kang Hara was so honest that she would immediately answer anything he asked.

Eventually, by the time Hara had roughly finished her meal, it was quite late at night.

When she offered to clean up, Seheon simply said to just leave it there, and that someone would settle that tomorrow morning. Then, he threw the remaining chicken into the food waste disposal unit unhesitatingly.

What kind of person would casually toss away leftover chicken like that? As she pondered whether refrigerant ran through his veins, Hara discovered something belatedly. On Yoon Seheon’s plate was the piece of chicken that he’d picked up with his hands earlier.

Ah. Cancel the refrigerant theory. He’s a human. A good one.

After awkwardly bidding him goodnight, Hara took custody of the ostrich egg. It was because she’d heard that Seheon had trouble sleeping due to the light that the shining egg gave off.

She re-entered the guest room, turned off the lights, placed the ostrich egg at the side and sat on the bed. It felt somewhat strange. It felt somewhat like she was visiting a friend’s house and sleeping over when she was young. She’s a little excited.

At first, Hara thought he was definitely someone strict and intimidating. But now, he seems kind of approachable.

Normally, at this hour, Hara would be lying down, watching videos of her favourite idols and getting ready to sleep. But oddly, she didn’t feel like doing that.

‘Oh, right, Hunter Market,’ after putting up all the remaining items and finally feeling a bit sleepy, Hara set her phone down and closed her eyes. She thought that she should buy a charger tomorrow……

* * *

Buzz. The vibrating sound on the bed woke Hara up.

Thanks to the ostrich egg, which still shone in the dark, she quickly located her phone. She fumbled around and looked at the screen. It was a message from Kwon Wook.

Kwon Wook? At this hour? Hara frowned and brought her phone a little closer. When she unlocked her phone, the message popped up automatically.

[Hara-ssi, I’m outside. Can I call you for a moment?]

Before Hara could reply with a ‘yes’, her phone started ringing. She noticed offhandedly that it was 4am.

— I’m sorry, it’s a bit urgent. I’ll be direct. Can you come to Sangam-dong right now?

“Sangam-dong, meaning……”

— Sangam Dungeon.

Sangam Dungeon. Hara was taken aback.

An S-grade dungeon opened in Sangam-dong a year ago. It was colossal in size.

When an S-grade alert was issued for the Sangam dungeon, a total of five S-class hunters including Director Lee, Kwon Wook, and even Im Yoonhyuk from the nearby Chungcheong Regional office, were gathered.

After three days of battle, they successfully stabilised the dungeon gate, and now the government was methodically conquering it.

“What’s the matter?”

— Well, it’s because a dragon has appeared.

“A dragon?”

Hara asked back disconcertedly.

“Isn’t the dragon the Sangam dungeon’s final boss?”

The dragon was none other than the Sangam dungeon’s final boss.

The government had announced a plan to conquer the Sangam dungeon over the period of a year and a half, with an approximate three-month strategy to approach and gradually deal with the final boss, the dragon.

So, anyone with even a passing interest in dungeons would know that the dragon was the Sangam dungeon’s final boss.

— Yes, but we encountered it by accident…… The damage is extensive.

The damage was extensive. Before Hara could process the meaning behind his words, Kwon Wook spoke rapidly.

— I’m currently at the veterans’ hospital, and an official announcement probably wouldn’t happen. Right now, Raeyoung and a few others are injured…… There are still people inside there.

“Ah.”

I have to re-enter the dungeon as quickly as possible, even if it’s for the people that were left behind, but the dragon was extremely angered and I don’t know when it would appear. Just then, I thought of Hara.

— Right now, nothing works regardless of how we attack it. We didn’t anticipate meeting it so quickly……  I can only guess its characteristics, I don’t know what it’s vulnerable to.

Therefore, I need Hara’s skill.

— We can leave quickly. I just need to know how to conquer. Can you help with that?

“That’s…”

Hara hesitated. As she sat beside Chief Jung, Lee Eunjoo entreated Hara.

“For the time being, Kang Hara-ssi, consider me as your direct supervisor. S-classes report directly under the Director of the regional office, so report to me if anything happens.”

“But I was told to report to Director Lee if anything happens… I think I can only enter with permission from Director Lee. This isn’t a decision that I can make on my own.”

Hara’s heart raced even more knowing that Raeyoung had also been injured. Despite that, protocol was protocol.

However, Kwon Wook let out a brief sigh when he heard that.

— Such are civil servants.

“……What?”

— Never mind. It’s alright. I understand Hara-ssi’s position.

It was strange. Kwon Wook’s usually amiable voice was surprisingly cold. That large temperature difference rendered Hara speechless momentarily.

But Kwon Wook spoke with a friendly tone again.

— I’m sorry. It’s because I’m in a hurry right now. Actually, all of this happened because of my mistake, so I wanted to end all of this here and now.

“……”

— I thought that if I had the help of Hara-ssi, who possessed flying skills, I could end things while keeping the superiors in the dark, but I guess that’s impossible. 

Hara gripped her phone tightly. Her palms were sweaty. But her inner conflict was short-lived.

“…Where should I go?”