Holy B-Class Life

#029

Although quite a few messages came in, Yoon Pa-ran couldn’t properly reply each time.

This was often because he discovered them belatedly due to the significant difference in gate schedules. On the rare occasions when the timing matched, he was too busy.

Was there one time when a call connected in between? He couldn’t remember clearly because things were so hectic.

“Captain, please have some water.”

Just then, a hunter who seemed a bit young for this job quickly approached and offered water.

It was precious water that still had ice left, likely due to the good performance of the thermos. Wondering why he was being offered this, Yoon Pa-ran realized it was the guy who had blocked an attack aimed at his chest earlier.

“Oh, thank you.”

Thinking it was the hunter’s way of repaying him, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t refuse. He took a few sips and handed it back.

The hunter who took back the thermos looked at Yoon Pa-ran as if he had more to say. However, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t notice and walked past him.

“Whew.”

After moistening his throat, his body felt even more fatigued. He felt a bit more at ease after deliberately finding a spot away from the other hunters.

This wasn’t a ploy to avoid the contract with Dan Joo-hyuk at this point. He just thought they’d be able to properly contact each other if the timing matched.

Wasn’t it natural? In the current special situation, both Dan Joo-hyuk and he were equally busy.

Given Dan Joo-hyuk’s personality, if necessary, he would have unilaterally set a meeting place or time without hesitation. If Yoon Pa-ran had seen something like that when he left the gate, he would have responded.

If it was urgent, wouldn’t Dan Joo-hyuk have called repeatedly? Even the call that was cut off earlier didn’t come again. He just assumed Dan Joo-hyuk had left him alone seeing how busy he was.

If not, he would have come looking for him. Like he did in the previous gate.

…Or not?

Yoon Pa-ran, who had been thinking absent-mindedly, scratched his cheek. Well, even someone as gate-obsessed as Dan Joo-hyuk rarely came down to C-rank gates.

The previous gate probably wasn’t a case of Dan Joo-hyuk coming just to torment Yoon Pa-ran. Since he visited so many gates, it must have been a coincidence.

As he thought about it, Yoon Pa-ran felt a bit sheepish.

Should he have called at least once?

However, Yoon Pa-ran didn’t have friends he regularly contacted, let alone hunters he was close with. Even for communications from the Gate Management Office, he usually ignored them unless they specifically asked for a reply.

His only personal relationships were with graduates from the orphanage. Even then, most contact was through the director.

As Yoon Pa-ran was absorbed in this ambiguous realization, he sensed someone staggering towards where he was.

“Haa…”

Approaching with a heavy sigh was one of the rookie hunters.

It seemed he didn’t know the unwritten rules inside the gate well. This was evident from how he approached Yoon Pa-ran, who had deliberately sat apart to be alone, as if he had found a spacious spot.

“…The world isn’t really ending, is it?”

Moreover, he muttered this along with a sigh, as if thinking it wouldn’t be heard from this distance.

Before Yoon Pa-ran could react, two hunters rushed over urgently from afar.

One of them, carried by the momentum of running, smacked the rookie on the back of his head.

“You idiot. Making such ominous remarks on your first gate.”

“Ouch! Uncle, it still hurts to get hit like that even after awakening! Bro, do something. Stop him!”

“You deserve more. Why are you coming all the way here to be gloomy?”

The two newly arrived hunters were quite familiar to Yoon Pa-ran as well. They were veterans among D-rank hunters. They might even aim for C-rank soon.

They seemed close to the one who said this was his first gate. Their casual attitude suggested they might be from the same guild.

By the way, this was his first gate?

Yoon Pa-ran had noticed one particularly sluggish person, but he didn’t realize it was really his first conquest. The Gate Management Office had only mentioned there were many inexperienced people, but shouldn’t they have given more detailed warnings?

They said gate conquest progress was smooth even after the system notice appeared. Yet, he couldn’t understand why they kept assigning less experienced and lower-ranked hunters. Were the higher-ranked hunters all flocking to higher-level gates?

Yoon Pa-ran frowned at this sudden thought.

Misinterpreting this somehow, the hunter who had smacked the rookie’s head approached with a friendly demeanor and spoke.

“I’m sorry. This is our nephew’s real first time.”

The middle-aged hunter with a bushy beard apologized with a grin. Hunter families related by blood were quite rare. Yoon Pa-ran observed the two with slight curiosity.

“Good work, Hunter Yoon Pa-ran.”

The young man who had run over together also bowed in greeting. Yoon Pa-ran deliberately ignored how the man’s bowed head shone with baldness.

Looking closely, all three were wearing the same guild emblem.

Basically, hunters are individual business owners. Over half, like Yoon Pa-ran and Dan Joo-hyuk, just worked alone.

The remaining half belonged to guilds like this. It was easier to receive initial support, and they also regularly handled requests from the Gate Management Office.

However, since Korea was a place where the Gate Management Office had significant authority and influence, there weren’t many large guilds.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The gazes of all three focused on Yoon Pa-ran at once. He felt pressured, as if he had to respond somehow.

Anyway, since their looks weren’t negative, Yoon Pa-ran nodded his head somewhat sincerely.

“Ah, well.”

Taking this as some kind of permission, the bearded hunter stretched widely and flopped down next to him.

“Whew, my whole body aches.”

The bald hunter did the same. Both naturally sat on the ground facing Yoon Pa-ran.

Although it was an unintended distance, he didn’t particularly avoid it. He knew they both had fought quite hard.

“Hunter Yoon Pa-ran. Your skills are even better than the rumors?”

Then the bald one grinned and spoke up.

These two had overlapped with all of Yoon Pa-ran’s recent gates. They were probably the hunters who had experienced the most gates where Yoon Pa-ran was the raid captain.

Judging from their expressions that this wasn’t meant to pick a fight, Yoon Pa-ran slightly stiffened his face.

After some consideration, he uttered what he thought was an appropriate response.

“Hmm… You two weren’t bad either.”

Although the two were veterans, there were noticeable shortcomings when they jointly attacked large monsters. Usually, he didn’t care about others’ business, but seeing them struggle to protect their nephew, he unconsciously blurted this out.

Soon, Yoon Pa-ran realized his mistake. He had said something similar to another hunter before and almost got into a fistfight.

“Thank you. We’ve been working hard lately.”

“When will this damn rank ever go up…”

“…”

Fortunately, the two just laughed heartily at Yoon Pa-ran’s words.

“Hah… I didn’t know monsters could get that big.”

“How many times did I tell you? You didn’t properly look at the materials I gave you.”

The three started chattering away. Feeling a bit awkward, Yoon Pa-ran appropriately fixed his gaze on the ground.

Slowly counting his tasks, he took out an energy bar and started chewing. He had been using his brain too much lately and kept losing weight.

He didn’t want to take on the raid captain position again next time, but he wasn’t sure if the Gate Management Office would listen to him. The income wasn’t that good compared to the mental effort required.

Should he just go to higher-level gates?

Thinking about having to clean up the byproducts before leaving made him more tired. He’d have to personally handle the boss monster’s corpse first.

A couple of items had dropped earlier too, and he needed to process the paperwork for those…

“Huh.”

Yoon Pa-ran, who had been continuing his thoughts irritably, let out a short breath. He stuffed the remaining energy bar into his mouth at once and abruptly stood up.

Instead of wasting time thinking how bothersome it was, he might as well just deal with it.

“Oh? Are you moving right away?”

“Are you going to process the boss first? I’ll help.”

As he suddenly moved, those who had been sitting and chatting stood up as well.

Why are they acting like this when the boss processing is usually the raid captain’s job alone?

“Hey, you lot! Get your butts off the ground!”

“Are we moving?”

“Looks like we’re collecting the boss first!”

“Alright. I’ll bring the equipment.”

The bearded hunter started shouting to the surroundings as if he was a loudspeaker. Because of this, even hunters resting in other places began to stir.

He had just intended to skin the boss monster alone, but now this was happening.

“I’ll help too.”

Eventually, even the hunter who had offered water from the thermos earlier came running over and spoke. It was obvious this novice wouldn’t even be able to scratch the boss monster’s hide.

Yoon Pa-ran rubbed between his eyebrows at this unintended situation.

Suddenly, he felt even more exhausted.