Joo Seowon, who had been about to answer right away, paused for a moment and glanced sideways at Im Haekyung before replying evenly.
“The covenant’s terms are stronger than you’d think.”
“The terms?”
“Yes. It was something both sides accepted, so there’s no reason not to trust it. Setting aside my personal relationship with Jehyun. In the first place, that covenant was how things started with him.”
The longer the conversation went on, the clearer it became. Im Haekyung’s purpose was probably exactly what he had said at the beginning: to cut away the other people around Seo Jehyun.
'The fact that he’s saying that openly must mean he doesn’t see me as much of an obstacle.'
Then again, maybe that was only natural. The gap in weight class had been considerable from the start.
The last time they had met one-on-one had started with a threat too. Back then, he had begun as if he were about to bring up one of Joo Seowon’s personal secrets, then offered to tell him the information Seo Jehyun shared with him. And this time...... he had called Joo Seowon out as though he were about to expose Seo Jehyun’s fiend merge, only to propose a personal contract instead.
He rattled a person’s nerves, then made it look like he was offering them an opportunity, while at the same time giving Seo Jehyun something to be suspicious about. All of it flowed as naturally as water.
And on top of that, there was the emotional risk that came from sitting alone face-to-face with an S-rank mental-type Hunter....
Joo Seowon turned his head toward the windshield and fell into thought for a moment.
The intent was obvious, and because Im Haekyung wasn’t even hiding it, dealing with him only became more awkward.
'Do I bow my head and go along with it?'
But would that even mean anything? Im Haekyung always seemed to choose making an offer over outright threats, but when there was this much difference in weight class, it was no different from a threat.
'Or should I contact Seo Jehyun even now....'
Joo Seowon reflexively moved a hand up to touch around his ear, then froze. His fingertips caught on a very slightly unfamiliar sensation, one subtly different from usual.
“Wouldn’t a personal contract with me be less of a loss for you than a contract with Jehyun? So then....”
With a faint smile, Im Haekyung made a gesture with his fingers like handling money.
“Financially, at least?”
“Haha.... You’re saying the obvious in quite a dramatic way.”
“Judging by your reaction, Seowon, it doesn’t seem all that obvious. I guess you really do have quite a special relationship with Jehyun.”
“.......”
“If not... did the covenant put some condition other than money first?”
For a question like that, hesitation itself was an answer. He couldn’t hesitate.
But how could he possibly not?
“Some other condition? What could that be? Something only Jehyun could give you... maybe?”
Im Haekyung murmured to himself as though genuinely thinking it over. Joo Seowon cut him off without hesitation.
“It’s nothing important. It’s personal.... And the covenant’s already been concluded, so it wouldn’t be easy to break.”
“Really? That’s strange. Even if Jehyun can’t, can’t you break it at least once, Seowon? You’ve done it before.”
There was no accusatory tone in it. And it wasn’t even really a question, just a statement delivered with certainty.
There was no need to ask how he knew. To begin with, Im Haekyung had already interfered with Joo Seowon’s work once under the name of Haeseong.
Joo Seowon tried to choose his words carefully.
“...Whether I can or not, Seo Jehyun has no intention of breaking it.”
“Jehyun has no intention of breaking it.... Do you truly think that?”
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
“Haha.”
As Joo Seowon ended his answer with that short laugh, Im Haekyung wiped away the faint smile he had been wearing and said in a calm voice,
“The price of a covenant is only your life. And Jehyun would know perfectly well how to break it too.”
Only his life? The choice of words grated on him, but he couldn’t really argue.
“No. He doesn’t know. And even if he did, he couldn’t do it.”
That too was true. In the first place, this wasn’t some general method. It was a way of breaking it that worked because Joo Seowon had a specific skill. And yet even after hearing that answer, Im Haekyung still wore that peculiar expression.
“If you can do it, Seowon, then Jehyun can probably do it too.”
What?
Before Joo Seowon could even say What the hell does that mean?, Im Haekyung calmly continued.
“I don’t know the two of you that well, but if your relationship really began with a covenant... then Jehyun must have been the one who suggested it. You’re a cautious person, Seowon. But at the same time, the fact that you accepted means the covenant’s terms appealed to you.”
“.......”
“But have you never thought about this? How, exactly, did Jehyun make an offer that would be that appealing to you? Back then, Jehyun didn’t have you yet, so how could he possibly have known what would tempt you?”
That was because Seo Jehyun had directly...... told him. That he had briefly stayed together with Joo Minha where she was. And the proof he had offered for that was....
“But... well, now that I think about it, this too is probably just my own speculation. You must have already considered all of that, right, Seowon? You know how to weigh things, you know what benefits you more....”
“.......”
“And you know enough to be suspicious of lies.”
...What exactly had Seo Jehyun’s “proof” been? He had smoothly rattled off information about Joo Minha, but was that really proof that he knew where she was?
What was Joo Seowon supposed to trust Seo Jehyun on?
The covenant with his life on the line? Or Seo Jehyun’s promise?
In truth, it wasn’t as though Joo Seowon had never asked about her exact location. Every time, Seo Jehyun’s answer had been consistent and vague.
'She’s in a Dungeon. It’s not time for it to open yet, so wait.'
There was no way not to be suspicious. But...... at some point, Joo Seowon had stopped pressing too deeply into Seo Jehyun’s words.
'Of course I did....'
He had been...... busy. There had been a lot to think about. He hadn’t been short on money....
The moment he thought of the excuses he had stacked up layer by layer, his mouth went dry.
“I find Jehyun interesting sometimes. He slips strangely out of the bounds of common sense. I don’t just mean he has a weird personality, either. There’s something... alien about him. Do you think that’s just his nature too?”
“.......”
Im Haekyung’s soft voice, underlaid with a quiet laugh, sounded almost like an alarm.
This had been psychological warfare planned by Im Haekyung from the start. He had a clear purpose: to shake Joo Seowon and break the relationship. Hadn’t he come in from the beginning stating exactly that?
“That’s why he’s interesting. I guess it can’t be helped.... I still find things like this interesting.”
“.......”
“Are you like that too, Seowon? Probably not. Then is it all right because you’re someone who can even get certainty from Jehyun?”
“.......”
“Or do you just care about Jehyun enough... that you’re willing to accept that much loss?”
To Joo Seowon, that covenant was...... a kind of last piece.
If the relationship had begun with a lie from the start, then how far was he supposed to trust Seo Jehyun? This was the one thing Joo Seowon had thought he could not doubt. But if even that had been a kind of deception from Seo Jehyun—
This was not just a relationship built on a contract. He did not understand Seo Jehyun’s coldheartedness, he burned with anger at Seo Jehyun’s deception, and still, he liked Seo Jehyun.
'Why?'
He couldn’t clearly answer that even to himself. Was it because of the way Seo Jehyun treated him? Or because Seo Jehyun had saved his life so casually, more than once? Or was it just because they had spent so much time together?
But if none of that meant anything in the end—
Once he started doubting the beginning, everything that had been built afterward became suspect too. Joo Seowon no longer wanted to doubt Seo Jehyun.
Joo Seowon wanted to trust Seo Jehyun....
“I should... get going.”
“Looks like you need time to think. All right. That personal contract will stay open whenever you want it, so... feel free to contact me, Seowon.”
“...Yes, Guild Master.”
Joo Seowon stole a glance at Im Haekyung getting out of the car and disappearing, then immediately pulled away.
While he drove, his mind was a mess.
Im Haekyung did not know the exact contents of the covenant Seo Jehyun and Joo Seowon had made. He had only brought it up to shake Joo Seowon after watching his reaction.
And Joo Seowon knew that too. Even so, his thoughts kept deepening, because what Im Haekyung had said had forced him to recognize once again something he had been deliberately ignoring all this time.
Even in those moments when he had desperately searched for Joo Minha, Joo Seowon had always doubted his own affection. Had his familial love for his only younger sister really been that deep? Or had he only pretended to look for Joo Minha out of duty, or to avoid facing a guilt that wasn’t all that grand to begin with?
They said the daily lives of people who lost family were ruined to a horrifying degree, but Joo Seowon hadn’t really been like that.
Not being able to go back into Dungeons, secretly helping that girl escape after taking a request from another guild...... it all felt like something he had done just to ease a cheap little sense of guilt.
He still ate, still slept, woke up and lived an ordinary day, and sometimes even forgot a purpose this large. Was that really normal?
He didn’t feel an immediate urge to find Seo Jehyun and demand the truth. In the first place, a doubt rose in him over whether he even had the right to condemn Seo Jehyun. Seo Jehyun had a strange flaw in his very nature. He was numb to the deaths of others, and even if the target of that death were replaced with himself, it probably wouldn’t make much difference.
When there was a goal in front of him, he didn’t seem to value his own life all that much either.
'...What the hell am I doing right now?'
Even though he knew his destination, he felt as if he had lost his direction. All at once, the urge surged up to stop thinking about all of this, just go home, and live again while pretending not to know any of it.
After driving back to the SH building, Joo Seowon changed the earring again, then for the first time in a long while went to the detective office.
It was the place where he had first met Seo Jehyun, and where the old Joo Seowon had handled most of his requests. It had gone empty after he stopped taking all other work because of Seo Jehyun’s threats.
Joo Seowon opened the window, took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and put it in his mouth. The smoke filling his lungs no longer harmed his body. Even if Joo Seowon was a half-baked B-rank Hunter who couldn’t even enter a Dungeon because of trauma, his body had long since stopped reacting to this much cigarette smoke.
Pacing around the detective office while dragging deeply on the cigarette, Joo Seowon turned his gaze toward the dust-covered desk.
He was about to set the ashtray on top of it when he paused.
“What the....”
One corner of the desk, which should have been covered in dust because no one had set foot here for so long, had been wiped perfectly clean.
And there, he saw some scrawled writing.
I’d like to make a request.
Beneath the concise message was an eleven-digit number.
'That number looks kind of familiar.'
He couldn’t possibly have memorized every number he had collected at Seo Jehyun’s request, but when he had dug persistently into something from time to time, the shape of a number would occasionally become familiar.
Joo Seowon narrowed his eyes slightly and rubbed at the writing that wouldn’t come off with his thumb.
Just then, he sensed someone outside the door.
Knock knock.
At this hour, was there really anyone who would come looking for this place? The instant he reflexively lifted his head, he heard the sound of knocking at the door.
Soon after, the door, which he had not locked, opened calmly.
“.......”
The person who appeared was someone familiar.
Not someone he knew personally. Just someone whose face showed up often enough in one place or another. More precisely, someone whose face had become absurdly familiar because of a certain other person.
Joo Seowon pulled the corners of his mouth up into his usual smile and greeted the unexpected intruder.
“What brings Hunter Kwon Taehan all the way here?”
