Holy B-Class Life

#058

“What now?”

Yoon Pa-ran, pulled back again, burst out angrily. Why did he grab me?

But when those intensely burning blue eyes turned towards him, he remembered the important reason. Hadn’t he planned to hide one of his powers before going to the Russian gate?

Even if they didn’t enter the gate together, there were enough reasons to use skill transfer.

“But I need to use that power a bit.”

“So?”

After coming to this conclusion, his mind became clearer.

Dan Joo-hyuk unconsciously recalled Heo Sang-yeon’s villa. Specifically, the image of Yoon Pa-ran curiously looking around as soon as they entered.

“Come to my house for a while.”

Another impulsive statement flowed out about a space where he never let others in.

It was a moment when even he was puzzled why he made such a suggestion. Yoon Pa-ran immediately retorted with a disgusted face.

“What? Your house?”

He had been eager to go when it was Heo Sang-yeon’s villa.

As an unpleasant feeling arose, a brighter smile spread across his face. Seeing that disgusted face, he thought it was a good choice.

“Or should I go to Yoon Pa-ran’s place?”

“Ha. Fine.”

Yes. The more he thought about it, this was better.

It was a time when unknown forces were targeting Yoon Pa-ran. Yoon Pa-ran’s shabby studio wasn’t secure enough to avoid attention. Choosing his own house would make it easier to avoid attention in many ways.

Moreover, according to the contract, he was supposed to actively protect Yoon Pa-ran anyway.

“I’ll contact you.”

“Do as you please.”

Yoon Pa-ran got out of the car without a hint of lingering attachment.

Watching his retreating figure, Dan Joo-hyuk suddenly chuckled. He found it funny how he kept using the contract as an excuse.

Well, Yoon Pa-ran believed in it, so it couldn’t be helped.

That was the only reason.

❖ ❖ ❖

At the time when Yoon Pa-ran was arguing with Dan Joo-hyuk,

Kang Ji-hoon, the secretary of Congressman Kim Tae-jun, was frowning.

“He got out right away?”

“Yes. Suddenly, a lawyer came in and…”

The police chief, who should have detained Yoon Pa-ran for longer, was sweating profusely and making excuses.

Kang, who had been doing this job for more than a day or two, chuckled at the absurd excuse.

“I asked you to prevent that, didn’t I?”

“Well, there was nothing we could do. The lawyer came fully prepared.”

The chief, feeling wronged, put down the documents he had been holding. Kang, who initially looked dumbfounded, also became serious as he examined the list of evidence the lawyer had brought.

This preparation could only be seen as having anticipated our move in advance.

“Ahem. The security company attached to the orphanage was quite skilled, making it difficult for our men.”

Moreover, it was strange that an ordinary orphanage had such extensive security systems. Of course, it was partly because Lim Hyun-sung recklessly barged in with his minions when cornered.

Damn bastard. Not helpful even in death.

“Perhaps… there was an information leak…”

When Kang remained silent, the chief cautiously spoke up, sensing an opportunity.

He had similar thoughts, but he deliberately glared at the man. It was obvious he was trying to minimize his own fault.

“Sigh… For now, go back and wait.”

“Well, please speak well to the elder…”

“Should I tell him that you failed the task entrusted to you?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

The chief’s face twitched at Kang’s sharp words.

He was probably cursing inside, but he soon smiled sluggishly and offered a handshake.

“Please, I’m counting on you.”

Feeling the thick envelope in his palm, Kang pretended to be embarrassed and cleared his throat.

“Just go back quietly and wait.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

The chief left with a gloomy face, having lost money trying to curry favor with the elder. Despite the unexpected side income, Kang couldn’t shake off his anger.

“Argh!”

As soon as the chief’s presence disappeared, he started throwing things on the desk to the floor.

Recently, he had been losing his temper like this frequently. At such times, he felt better only after throwing something.

“Huff…”

He had intended to do some groundwork in advance according to the elder’s orders. However, far from laying groundwork, he had only heightened Yoon Pa-ran’s wariness and the matter was over.

Originally, he had planned to threaten and release Yoon Pa-ran before the Gate Management Office noticed the hunter’s detention. It was very troublesome when they brought up the Hunter Protection Act.

However, it should have been this side releasing him as if doing him a favor. Escaping so confidently as if prepared like this negated the meaning of the threat.

Who on earth was cooperating with him?

“Secretary.”

“What is it?”

Just then, a subordinate who had been sent to dig deeper into Yoon Pa-ran’s background came running breathlessly.

Feeling that there was no one useful around, Kang lost his temper first.

“It seems the lawyer who got Yoon Pa-ran out is somehow connected to Dan Joo-hyuk.”

“What…?”

However, this time the subordinate had brought useful information. But because such an unexpected name came up, Kang’s furrowed expression didn’t smooth out.

His heart sank at the mention of Dan Joo-hyuk. He wondered if he had noticed the scheme they were preparing.

Failure could not be tolerated a second time. The thought of having to face the elder alone in that room again made his chest cold.

“And about that gate you asked me to find the exact location of last time.”

The subordinate carefully mentioned the gate where Lim Hyun-sung had been buried on the elder’s orders.

The elder would occasionally point out specific areas and say there would be a gate, asking to find it. Kang didn’t know how he could know this in advance. He also didn’t know exactly how they could bury an ordinary person like Lim Hyun-sung in a gate. Kang’s role was just to lure Lim Hyun-sung to the vicinity.

But, how had he lured him?

“…”

Suddenly feeling a headache, Kang frowned. Sensing his subordinate’s puzzled gaze, he hastily refocused.

Anyway, the subordinates he commanded had even less information. The fact that the subordinate, who shouldn’t know Lim Hyun-sung was buried there, suddenly mentioned that gate caught his attention.

“Why bring that up?”

“It seems Yoon Pa-ran accompanied him there too.”

Kang’s face immediately became serious at this unexpected information. Come to think of it, Yoon Pa-ran had also survived an A-rank anomaly gate.

He had only intended to take some land, but now he became seriously focused on Yoon Pa-ran’s existence.

“What kind of relationship do those two have?”

Yoon Pa-ran was just an ordinary B-rank hunter. It was obvious that Dan Joo-hyuk likely held the important key.

In response to Kang’s casually thrown question, the subordinate offered his inference with a serious face.

“It seems Yoon Pa-ran might be being unilaterally threatened.”

“Threatened?”

“Yes. There are many rumors that they weren’t on good terms from the beginning. It’s clear he fell out of Dan Joo-hyuk’s favor during the last A-rank anomaly gate incident.”

Even while listening to his subordinate’s speculation, Kang kept thinking. Of all places, the two of them went together to the gate where Lim Hyun-sung was buried.

He and Lim Hyun-sung had met Yoon Pa-ran at the orphanage. Could it be that Dan Joo-hyuk took Yoon Pa-ran to confirm the identity of the corpse?

If this speculation was true, it would be very troublesome. It would mean that Dan Joo-hyuk had anticipated in advance that there would be an incident at that gate.

“There are many testimonies that Yoon Pa-ran always faints and is dragged out of the gate. Looking at the gate schedule, it seems he’s being literally worked without rest. I heard he enters up to five gates a day at most.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The clearing time is quite long for Dan Joo-hyuk, so it’s clear he’s being quite harsh inside.”

The subordinate then swallowed dry.

As if scared to utter such a terrible story.

“Moreover, Yoon Pa-ran isn’t allocated any share from the gate distributions.”

“Huh…”

Kang’s face turned pale as he confirmed Yoon Pa-ran’s gate ticket that the subordinate handed over. Even for a hunter, it’s impossible to survive fighting monsters to this extent.

Moreover, to use someone without even paying them. Only a devil like Dan Joo-hyuk could come up with such an idea.

“I heard he’s even arranged it so Yoon Pa-ran can’t enter other gates alone.”

It was indeed Dan Joo-hyuk. Recalling the man’s frightening and ruthless nature, Kang’s face hardened.

“It seems he intends to kill Yoon Pa-ran soon.”

“That’s entirely possible for him, and then some.”

Kang nodded in agreement to his subordinate’s serious murmur.

Dan Joo-hyuk was already associated with the unnatural disappearances of several hunters in gates. They all met suspicious ends after having unpleasant encounters with Dan Joo-hyuk.

Among them were quite a few people they had worked on, but they were all disposed of. Probably this time too, once Yoon Pa-ran’s usefulness ran out, he would be disposed of in the same way.

“Hmm…”

Kang fell into deep thought. Even reconsidering out of paranoia, the possibility that the information about the gate where Lim Hyun-sung was buried had leaked to Dan Joo-hyuk was low.

An unexpected sincerity was felt in the records of him overworking Yoon Pa-ran. A sincerity in deliberately tormenting Yoon Pa-ran, that is.

Was it just a coincidence?

Come to think of it, the circumstances under which Lim Hyun-sung’s body was identified this time were ridiculous. Who would have thought he’d arrange for a missing person report to be filed if he couldn’t be contacted for a long time?

As expected of a guy with a guilty conscience, he valued his own skin like gold. The secretary’s face was filled with killing intent as he recalled the actions of the bastard who managed to spread shit even after death.

Even though the opponent was already torn to pieces and dead.

“Ah…”

For a moment, Kang’s eyes glazed over as if he had just seen Lim Hyun-sung being torn to pieces.

“…Secretary Kang, what’s wrong?”

Then, as Kang regained his senses, a good idea occurred to him.

“Find out if we can persuade Yoon Pa-ran. If we use Yoon Pa-ran and then discard him, we can hit Dan Joo-hyuk from behind and deal with the orphanage land in one go.”

“Yes.”

This was a kind of opportunity.

He didn’t know how Dan Joo-hyuk would use the information he found about Lim Hyun-sung. However, Kang planned to blackmail Yoon Pa-ran with the fact that Lim Hyun-sung had been to the orphanage.

Already marked by Dan Joo-hyuk, if such a connection was seen, he wouldn’t leave it alone. Furthermore, they could even set up the situation as if Yoon Pa-ran had lured Dan Joo-hyuk to that gate.

Even if he’s just a B-rank nobody, if they’re alone inside the gate, he might be able to seize an opportunity.

Having made this judgment, Kang’s face twisted into a smile.

Not realizing that his subordinate was glancing at his twisted face with puzzlement.

❖ ❖ ❖

Three days later.

Looking down at the address that had arrived on his cell phone, Yoon Pa-ran couldn’t hide his troubled feelings.

“Don’t be late.”

It seems this really is Dan Joo-hyuk’s home address. He thought it was just talk since things had been quiet for a few days, but it seems he was serious.