Holy B-Class Life

#046

“Are you… not interested?”

When Dan Joo-hyuk responded quite nonchalantly, the Russian hunter asked cautiously. His attitude, as if such a thing couldn’t be possible, was very irritating.

Minister Byeon, who was sitting quietly beside him now, had a similar attitude since yesterday.

‘Hey, Hunter Dan. You can’t not go, right…?’

‘Really, really, you can’t not go, right?’

‘What if I get on my knees? Huh? What’s the use, you ask? Well, if it makes you feel even a little better, who knows.’

How annoying they were, even until just before entering this room.

It wasn’t pleasant to see them fretting, worried that Dan Joo-hyuk might rush off to Russia as soon as he heard the news.

Originally, it always became a state of emergency in various ways when a high-ranking hunter went abroad. Fearing that their country’s hunter might be stolen, or that a foreign hunter might cause trouble.

Or hoping they might be able to steal one for themselves.

Those imperial guard guys, full of abnormal loyalty to the Tsar, certainly move around freely.

“I am interested, of course.”

Well, the more Dan Joo-hyuk thought about it, the more puzzled he was by himself. That he wasn’t particularly enticed by the news of this rare gate.

Still, he should go.

It was an unprecedented gate that could even endanger one’s life. The chances of it being interesting were high, so he should go.

“I knew you would be! Then, let’s quickly arrange the schedule…”

With each casual remark, the face of the idiot in front of him changed dramatically. As if he thought Dan Joo-hyuk would naturally come to their land and solve the gate problem.

Perhaps it was irritating to see them trying to use him as they pleased.

He had to squeeze out what he could.

“But, just because it’s interesting, should I necessarily go?”

“Ah. O-of course, we’re not requesting this without compensation. If you look at this…”

It was well-known that Dan Joo-hyuk was obsessed with interesting gates. Nevertheless, he played dumb.

It was clearly visible that the guy was getting increasingly annoyed by Dan Joo-hyuk’s brazen attitude. Well, being revered in his own country, when had he ever been treated like this?

However, the guy maintained quite a humble attitude, perhaps having received strict orders from the Tsar.

Maybe they felt a sense of crisis after losing their S-rank hunter. It’s truly a stupid decision, considering that even we are foreigners by their standards.

“What do you think?”

However, upon seeing the document the guy presented, Dan Joo-hyuk raised one eyebrow skeptically.

Offering priority selection rights for one of the boss monster’s items.

The compensation was quite generous and unexpected. The guy in front of him seemed to think so too, trying to hide his dissatisfaction.

It was the first SS-rank gate to appear. It’s strange that they would give this up so easily when the boss might drop items of a rank never seen before.

Either the Tsar has gone senile, or they’re in such a crisis that the palace might collapse and they can’t see straight.

“How much time is left until the gate break?”

“We estimate about a month. So we hope to resolve it within 3 weeks.”

“The conquest will take about a week, so we should depart within 2 weeks.”

“That’s right. We have high expectations since Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk has experience with a presumed SS-rank gate.”

“…”

Dan Joo-hyuk smiled, recalling the incident from three years ago. He had nearly died then, but it was precisely because of that that he felt truly alive.

Suddenly, Dan Joo-hyuk realized that there were some similarities between that situation and the recent A-rank anomaly gate. Although back then, there was no status window or anything like that.

Anyway, the nonsense this idiot in front of him was spouting without any fear didn’t really register. Rather, he was more concerned about the schedule the other party had mentioned.

I’ll be away for at least a week, even if it’s short.

“Now, now. It’s difficult to make a decision right away.”

At that moment, Minister Byeon, who had been beside him, glanced at Dan Joo-hyuk’s expression and spoke up. He seemed to sense an opportunity to intervene when Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t immediately give a definitive answer.

He was always good at reading the room. The sparkling eyes of the middle-aged man were always uncomfortable to look at.

“We all know that recently, Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk has only been used for low-rank gates.”

The Russian idiot immediately showed a fierce aura towards Minister Byeon. He had a domineering attitude as if suffering from S-rank syndrome despite not even being S-rank himself.

“To use a high-level resource like Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk in such a way, you should be ashamed.”

“Haha, of course. Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk is indeed a precious high-level resource.”

“Naturalization is always welcome, Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk. The Tsar’s message is that we can let you go to any gate you want.”

“Such statements that could cause diplomatic issues are problematic.”

Minister Byeon dealt with the Russian guy skillfully. Trained by Dan Joo-hyuk’s whims, he didn’t even bat an eye at this low-level provocation.

Dan Joo-hyuk just smiled silently.

“…”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t visited the Gate Management Office recently. Because he had no complaints at all.

“Ah. Excuse me for a moment.”

At that moment, Minister Byeon’s phone rang. A call during such an important meeting, it must be quite significant. Sure enough, Minister Byeon’s face soon turned serious.

After pondering for a moment, he spoke with a determined expression.

“We’ll have to end today’s meeting here.”

“Why are you deciding on your own…!”

“An S-rank gate has just appeared in Korea as well.”

Minister Byeon glanced at Dan Joo-hyuk with a meaningful look and winked. As usual, it wasn’t a face he wanted to look at, so he ignored it.

Anyway, the gate had appeared at a quite useful timing. If there really was a gate god or something, it seemed to be helping Minister Byeon.

Either way, it wasn’t Dan Joo-hyuk’s concern. Considering the travel time, it was time to wrap up this meeting anyway.

“Well, that’s how it is.”

Checking the time, Dan Joo-hyuk stood up.

Minister Byeon’s face lit up, thinking Dan Joo-hyuk was moving according to his intentions, but Dan Joo-hyuk pretended not to notice and spoke.

“I have a prior engagement, so I’ll be going.”

“An appointment? Hunter Dan?”

Regardless of the two men’s bewildered faces, Dan Joo-hyuk moved lightly.

“I’ll stay in Korea for a week and wait! Hunter Dan Joo-hyuk!”

An unpleasant shout was heard from behind, but he didn’t look back.

I’m leaving now. Come out on time.

His fingers moved quite lightly as he sent a text message to Yoon Pa-ran.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Did you wait long?”

“No?”

As soon as Yoon Pa-ran got into the car, a gentle voice was heard.

Dan Joo-hyuk had arrived at the time he had mentioned in his text. So there was no waiting time, making it a rather strange question.

He knew it was something said without much meaning, but he didn’t understand it. It made him think that Dan Joo-hyuk always said such embarrassing things.

“We’re going somewhere a bit far today.”

“Far, you say?”

Since the gate scheduled for today was originally nearby, Yoon Pa-ran expressed his doubt.

As if he had done something interesting, Dan Joo-hyuk explained with a smile on his face.

“Because of the last incident, I decided to choose gates randomly.”

“Ah, I see.”

Only then could Yoon Pa-ran understand why Dan Joo-hyuk had volunteered to come pick him up.

If someone wanted to enter the gate in advance and try something again, this way they wouldn’t be able to predict Dan Joo-hyuk’s whereabouts.

The stone fragment and corpse found in the gate recently reeked of artificial circumstances. Although he didn’t ask specifically, Yoon Pa-ran thought it could have been an attempt targeting Dan Joo-hyuk.

Whoever it was wouldn’t have any reason to target him.

He was a bit worried if it might be dangerous. Although it was a low-rank gate recently, if an anomaly occurred in a high-rank gate, even Dan Joo-hyuk might be in danger.

Although he didn’t know what effect that stone fragment had, he had a bad feeling about it. Who knows, maybe even the A-rank anomaly gate was the result of such meddling.

“By the way, I haven’t heard whose arm that was.”

After some consideration, Yoon Pa-ran asked Dan Joo-hyuk. He wanted to know how serious the situation was.

Well, he also needed to avoid getting caught in the crossfire if he was nearby.

“What’s the fee for that information?”

However, the immediate response deflated him. Making him recall embarrassing acts again.

“Forget it. I don’t want to know.”

“Are you sure? It’s a truly surprising identity.”

When Yoon Pa-ran flatly refused, Dan Joo-hyuk grinned and tried to tease him again.

Turning his gaze to the window, Yoon Pa-ran said firmly.

“I don’t want to know. I’m never doing that kind of thing again.”

Whatever happens, Dan Joo-hyuk will handle it himself.

Geez, why am I worrying about him?

“Hmm…”

The ambiguous voice dragged on. The car stopped at a red light.

While absentmindedly looking out the window, strangely, the car didn’t move for a long time. The car behind didn’t even honk its horn and quietly changed lanes.

Puzzled, he turned to look at the driver’s seat. Dan Joo-hyuk was staring at him intently, as if he had turned into a statue.

What’s going on?

“Really?”

His grinning smile remained the same. He even stopped the car to continue his endless teasing.

So Yoon Pa-ran spoke even more firmly.

“Yeah. I’m absolutely not doing it.”