Chapter 40
Chop, chop, chop.
Yoon-Hee chopped the green onions with nimble hands, busily preparing to make a new batch of braised chicken before Do-Jun returned.
Meanwhile, Karsiel was wide-eyed, looking around the rather small house that was just over sixty square meters. She cautiously approached Izaas—no, Yong-Yong—who was lying on the sofa, giggling at the TV.
“Lord Izaas, is this really the new nest you spoke of...?” she asked.
Yong-Yong ignored her question and continued watching the TV screen as his eyes grew wider.
⌜Here’s the money. Just stay away from our Yoon-Sung.⌟
⌜M-mother.⌟
⌜Mother? Why are you calling me mother?! It looks like you tried to use my Yoon-Sung to turn your little life around, but I won’t stand for it. I don’t even want to talk to you anymore, so get out of this house now!⌟
“Why are these dramas always the same?” Yong-Yong grumbled but still didn’t take his eyes off the TV for a single moment—at least not until the doorbell rang.
“Master’s home!”
Yong-Yong hurriedly ran to the front door, and Yoon-Hee, who had been adding the chopped green onions to the pot, also stopped what she was doing and ran to the door.
“I’m back,” Do-Jun said when Yoon-Hee flung the door open.
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?” Yoon-Hee asked as she scanned Do-Jun up and down with worried eyes.
Touched by her concern, Do-Jun patted her on the head. “I’m fine. Thanks for worrying.”
“Huff, huff, welcome back, Master! You must be tired from working so hard!” Yong-Yong clung to Do-Jun, wagging his tail to show his brimming affection.
Do-Jun confirmed that Yoon-Hee wasn’t hurt and said to Yong-Yong, “You must be buzzing now that you can live to see another day.”
“Huh?” As Yong-Yong slowly understood the meaning behind Do-Jun’s words, his face turned pale, and his body trembled.
Do-Jun ignored the frozen Yong-Yong and walked inside. The stiffened Yong-Yong quickly snapped out of his daze and scurried after Do-Jun.
Do-Jun glanced at blankly staring Karsiel, and then at the shattered balcony window.
“Down,” he muttered in a voice as cold as ice.
Sensing the danger, Yong-Yong immediately dropped to the ground and lay flat. Karsiel was shocked watching this scene.
S-so this is the Master I’ve heard so much about...!
The Master of this “nest,” the one served by the Dragon Lord Izaas.
Karsiel quickly did the math in her head, and it didn’t take long for her to come to a conclusion.
With a thud, she also knelt before Do-Jun. “My name is Karsiel, the ninth dragon!”
Yoon-Hee cautiously approached and explained what had happened earlier.
Out of nowhere, a dragon, Karsiel, appeared in Bangbae-dong, and Yong-Yong, who thought she was an enemy, broke the window and rushed out in a desperate attempt to protect her.
It also turned out that Karsiel was just a pitiful dragon with nowhere to go, so she had temporarily taken her in.
“Is that true?” Do-Jun asked, to which Yong-Yong nodded vigorously.
Although the story had some “slight” embellishments, it wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
“Um... So... Father,” Yoon-Hee mumbled as she clasped her hands together, fidgeting nervously.
Do-Jun immediately understood what she was trying to say.
Who knows what trouble could arise if we let her roam free outside?
Dragons, by their very existence, incited immense fear in people. If Karsiel were to wander around outside, it would surely cause problems. Besides, Yoon-Hee clearly seemed to want to keep her.
“You said it was Karsiel, right?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Cool name. Nice to meet you, Karsiel.”
“Thank you, Master.”
With those words, Do-Jun took off his suit jacket, and Yoon-Hee quickly came over to take it.
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“I’m going to take a shower.”
“Sounds good. I’ll keep working on dinner.”
Do-Jun headed for a shower, and Yoon-Hee returned to the kitchen to finish the braised chicken.
“Hmm...?” Yong-Yong scratched his head with his paw, deep in thought. Then, he slowly walked to the kitchen, looking up at Yoon-Hee. “Hey, umm.”
Yoon-Hee smiled down at Yong-Yong and asked, “Hm? What’s wrong, Yong-Yong?”
“How come Karsiel didn’t get a nickname?”
“Father said “Karsiel” was a cool name. Did you not hear that?”
Yoon-Hee hummed a little tune and went back to cooking.
Yong-Yong tapped her leg with his paw to get her attention again.
“Mhm?”
“But... my name’s cool too, isn’t it?”
“It is cool! Yong-Yong!”
“N-no. My name is Izaas.”
“Sure, sure. Yong-Yong, go back to your show. I’ll make you some good braised chicken soon.”
With a forlorn look, Yong-Yong trudged back to the sofa with a sigh. Such was the fleeting nature of this particular dragon’s life.
***
The next day, Sunday.
News outlets ran headlines on the fact that none of the members of the operational teams had died and all returned safely from the S-rank Great Fissure that had appeared in the Umyeonsan Mountain area, making it a hot topic on TV and the internet.
However, the most intriguing detail was that the man who led the operational teams was a civil servant from Seoul City Hall.
Although his identity was kept anonymous for privacy reasons, it was more of a formality, and those who knew quickly figured out that the commander-in-chief was Do-Jun.
Do-Jun sighed and turned off his smartphone. He had already gotten dozens of calls from reporters from various newspapers and media outlets since the release of the news article.
Some people even claimed to be acquaintances, though none were familiar to him.
Yoon-Hee placed a cup of tea on the table and said, “You’ve become quite the celebrity, Father.”
“At least no one’s come knocking on the door yet,” Do-Jun said, but perhaps he jinxed himself as the doorbell rang just then.
“Should I... see who it is?” Yoon-Hee asked, glancing at Do-Jun.
“Check who it is first, and don’t open the door just yet. If it’s someone you don’t recognize, could you pretend like I’m not here?”
“Yes, Father!” She jokingly saluted and headed toward the front door.
She looked through the intercom and was startled to see who had rang the doorbell.
“The Chief of the Hunter’s Bureau...?” Yoon-Hee muttered.
Do-Jun hesitated for a moment, debating whether to let him in. Then he approached the two dragons lying on the couch, sound asleep.
“Up.”
In an instant, Yong-Yong and Karsiel sprang to their feet as if they were never sleeping in the first place.
“Is it time for lunch, Master?” Yong-Yong’s eyes sparkled with hope as he asked, but Do-Jun shook his head.
“An important guest is coming, so hide in my room.”
“Your wish is our command, Master!”
A small smile crept onto Do-Jun’s face as he patted their heads, and the two dragons scurried into his room and hid.
Haven’t heard that in a while, Do-Jun thought with a slight smirk.
He briefly recalled his time in the Central Plains as he strode over to the front door. When he opened the door, he was met with Young-Chul and his assistant.
Both bowed deeply, a full ninety degrees.
“How did you find my address?” Do-Jun asked.
“I apologize for the rudeness. I’m aware it’s an intrusion, but I did a bit of research in order to meet you, Supervisor Lee.”
Do-Jun clicked his tongue with a tsk. After all, someone in the chief’s position could easily access most personal information, and since he had already apologized, there was no point in pursuing the matter.
“Please, come in,” Do-Jun invited the two inside.
“Thank you.”
A little while later, Yoon-Hee brought out tea and Young-Chul nodded in appreciation toward her.
“Thank you. It smells great.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared some snacks or something...”
To a Hunter Academy freshman like Yoon-Hee, Young-Chul was a god-like figure.
Young-Chul knew that, but he never took it for granted. After all, he had heard that Yoon-Hee was none other than Do-Jun’s daughter.
“First of all, I would like to deeply thank you for safely bringing our Hunters back. Without you, many of the Hunters in that Fissure would not have survived.”
His statement was only half true. They would have all died, not just the majority of them.
But Do-Jun didn’t say that out loud. Modesty was a virtue, after all.
“It was the Hunters who did most of the work, not me,” Do-Jun said humbly.
“Supervisor Lee, I watched the entire situation unfold in real-time through the emergency cams attached to the operational team leaders. The longer I watched, the more fascinated I was.”
The Hunters had moved in perfect sync with Do-Jun’s commands.
Initially, they were reluctant to follow orders, but as time passed, Do-Jun’s words became the law, and they followed him without question.
“You are too kind, Chief.”
“And about your...”
“Chief,” Do-Jun interrupted as he set down his teacup. “Could we skip the formalities and get to the point?”
He knew that the Chief wasn’t here just to give compliments.
“If you say so, Supervisor Lee.”
Young-Chul then handed over a list of F-rank Hunters, with the name Kim Hyun-Woo highlighted in yellow.
“I mentioned the emergency cams earlier, and...” Young-Chul’s eyes gleamed as he continued, “I also saw some of your actions during the boss fight.”
Although the cam had cut out midway, preventing a full transmission of the footage, everything leading up to that point had been recorded. Young-Chul recalled the black energy emanating from Do-Jun’s body.
“And a month ago. The Mejai Guild entered the A-rank Great Fissure, the Swamp of the Dark Ogre. In that Great Fissure was another Hunter, an F-ranker named Kim Hyun-Woo. I was also watching the footage sent from the emergency cams then as well.”
Young-Chul swallowed and continued, “The media reported that four S-rank Hunters defeated the boss monster, Malanuh, in that S-rank Great Fissure. But the truth is that the one who killed Malanuh was...”
Do-Jun locked eyes with Young-Chul, and not shying away, he stared at Do-Jun with wide eyes.
“You, wasn’t it, Supervisor Lee?” Young-Chul finished.
At the question, Do-Jun closed his eyes and then opened them again.
“Chief.”
“Yes?”
“What if it was?” At Do-Jun’s ambiguous answer, Young-Chul clenched his fists.
“If it was you, then I have a proposal for you.”
He then handed Do-Jun a document, hoping that he would accept his proposal.
***
“So, with the transfer of the Great Fissure, the negotiation terms include increasing the number of Hunters...”
Do-Jun waved his hand in front of Hyuk-Soo, who was staring blankly at him. Hyuk-Soo flinched.
“Are you listening, Senior?” Do-Jun asked.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was saying we need to acquire at least two more B-rank Hunters.”
Inside the taxi headed to the Hunter’s Bureau, Hyuk-Soo was once again thinking about the news reports regarding the anonymous civil servant from Seoul City Hall at the S-rank Great Fissure at Umyeonsan Mountain.
Recalling the attention Do-Jun had received at work that Monday, Hyuk-Soo said, “Do-Jun. I think you should be the one managing the Great Fissures, not me...”
“That’s why there’s one for me and two for you, Senior.”
Hyuk-Soo gulped as he reviewed the negotiation document offered by the Hunter’s Bureau.