Chapter 957: Side Story – Demon Swordswoman Jung No-eul (1)

President… well, she’s not the President anymore, but anyway, about another week passed from the day I was summoned to the guild of President Seo Ok-hee, whose title of ‘President’ had become the most familiar.

Around two months had passed since the day the guild was officially established.

I heard a piece of happy news from Hye-eun.

“Taekyung-ah, I’m pregnant.”

“…When you say pregnant, are you talking about what I think you’re talking about?”

“Yes, that’s right. Our child.”

Hye-eun smiled, showing the pregnancy test with two lines. Seeing her genuinely happy expression at the birth of the fruit of our love, I naturally smiled in response.

“What should we name it? Eunrang? Eunhwa?”

“…Those names again? And it’s not even decided that it’s a girl yet.”

“That’s true, but it’s not bad to think about it in advance, is it?”

“Let’s think about the name later. And since it’s still early pregnancy, we don’t know what will happen.”

“Yes, I have to be careful. Don’t go on expeditions or anything for a while. No, don’t even come to work at all. Always keep your stomach warm, and make sure to eat plenty of meat and fruit…”

“I told you it’s early pregnancy. It’s only been about two months at most.”

Even so, Hye-eun showed a satisfied smile right in front of me, as if she didn’t entirely dislike my worries.

“Ah, I wish I could give birth soon. That way, I can show the people of our Sky Blue Shield guild mine and Taekyung’s child.”

“…It might be better not to be too obvious in front of Yuri-ssi or Jihee-ssi.”

“So what? Then we can just have children with Yuri-ssi and Jihee-ssi too.”

“Hmm. Will it really be resolved just like that?”

For starters, Cha Yuri will probably ask to have a child too out of jealousy after seeing that a child was born between me and Hye-eun, but in Cheon Jihee’s case, our relationship was a bit twisted from the very beginning. Even though she might feel some level of affection towards me now, whether she’d want to have my child or not was a separate issue.

“Anyway, the doctor said I need to be stable until 4 months. So I wanted to tell you that I don’t think I can go on group expeditions until then.”

“Of course. This is the time when you need to protect your body the most.”

“Later, I’ll post it in the Sky Blue Shield group chat too. I came to work secretly from the others because I wanted to tell Taekyung quickly.”

“Okay, take good care of yourself. If you need anything, tell me anytime.”

“Yep~. Heh heh.”

Hye-eun left work with a cute smile, seemingly quite happy about carrying my child for the first time. It was somewhat regrettable that one of our company’s aces had to temporarily suspend activities, but my current guild wasn’t one that couldn’t function without her. Only Hye-eun had stopped her activities for a moment, but the members of Sky Blue Shield, including me, were still active. Jin-ah, Seon-ah, and Miss Kwon Hwayeon, who joined recently, were also building up their activities and achievements in their respective positions, so there were no particular problems.

‘Still, the empty spot left by a top-tier hunter suddenly leaving is a bit regrettable.’

Of course, due to the nature of the hunter profession having an early retirement age, the number of top-tier hunters isn’t that large, and it’s not an easy situation to meet a retired hunter again and recruit them to our guild. As I was actually running the guild and facing various challenges, just as my mind was getting a bit complicated, a familiar name and phone number appeared on my smartphone screen.

-Ting-a-ling, ting. Ting-a-ling, ting-ting~.

「Call – President Seo Ok-hee」

“…….”

Somehow, I felt a little scared to answer. Perhaps because the last time I answered the phone, I was immediately summoned by a furious President Seo Ok-hee, I hesitated a bit, but I couldn’t just not answer the call either. Wondering if I had done something wrong again recently, I carefully pressed the call button, and as soon as I answered, President Seo Ok-hee’s voice came through the receiver.

“Yes, President.”

「Yes, Taekyung-ah. Are you doing well these days?」

“You saw me just a week ago. Of course, I’m doing well.”

「Yes, I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. Are there any difficulties while running the guild recently?」

“…Yes?”

What is this? According to President Seo Ok-hee’s usual personality, she’s not the type to suddenly ask questions like this. It was clearly the President’s voice, but from her tone, which felt awkward for some reason, I could easily figure out her true intentions.

“Do you perhaps have something you need to ask of me?”

「…How did you know.」

“Your tone is too awkward. Besides, the way you’re speaking, as if asking me for a favor to pile up a debt, is also like that.”

「…Did it sound like that? If so, I apologize.」

“No, it’s fine. I’ve received many favors from you, President, so I should grant any request. What is it?”

「No, well… It’s not really a request, more like a slightly different issue…」

“A different issue?”

「Does your guild… happen to recruit S-rank hunters?」

“……?”

Recruiting S-rank hunters?

It was the moment I questioned if recruiting hunters of S-rank or higher level was even possible in the first place, so the most plausible assumption couldn’t help but arise in my mind.

“President Seo Ok-hee.”

「…Yes, right.」

“Are you perhaps trying to transfer to our guild?”

「Did you eat something wrong?」

…As expected, this wasn’t it. Even I thought it was strange as I said it. The words that came out of the President’s mouth were so unrealistic that it was an unavoidable reaction. Anyway, the conditions for joining our guild weren’t just about strength alone, so for now, I gave my answer accordingly.

“Hunters are naturally recruited regardless of rank, but we don’t recruit S-rank hunters unconditionally.”

「What? A fledgling guild should practically bow down and beg if an S-rank hunter wants to join, yet you discriminate based on ability?」

“No, it’s not that we discriminate based on ability. We just look at the minimum requirements to join our guild. I want to run the guild with a family-like atmosphere if possible, so it’s a bit problematic if there are issues with personality or criminal records, you know.”

「Ah, then you should say it like that. Those are things you obviously need to check, yes.」

…Of course, those factors are important, but there are actually more crucial factors. If I were to blurt them out carelessly, I’d likely earn President Seo Ok-hee’s contempt, so I kept the remaining hiring conditions quietly inside my mouth and decided to first listen to her talk about the ‘S-rank hunter’.

「You were with our company for several years, so you know, we have quite a few S-rank hunters in our guild.」

“Yes, I know. For one, Eunyoung Noona is S-rank, and I think I ran into others a few times when I worked in the healing room.”

「Right. We can’t focus solely on training hunters like a foundation does, so the proportion isn’t that high, but in terms of absolute numbers, it’s not that few. Including me and Eunyoung… Kang Eunyoung, there are usually around ten of us.」

“Yes.”

「But these S-rank hunters, many of them are quite willful. There are broads who were satisfied working at the company without much thought, but suddenly get upset about something and stop coming to work, or leave for another guild without any prior report. Of course, since they’re S-rank, I can’t stop or restrain them when they act like that, so I just have to coax them gently. But this time, I think I failed to coax them.」

“What?”

President Seo Ok-hee was suddenly talking about the difficulties in managing S-rank hunters. Wondering what her intention was, I quietly pondered, when a name that sounded familiar came through the receiver.

「Taekyung-ah, do you happen to know an S-rank hunter named Jung No-eul, the Magic Swordsman?」

“Jung No-eul-ssi? The name sounds somewhat familiar…”

Thinking it was a memorable name, I recalled my memories of working at the company in the past. If I had met her at the company, it would have been during my time working in the healing room, so the memory of my past at the company naturally surfaced in my mind.

‘You seemed to have a slight injury on your chest earlier, can you take a look?’

‘Yes?! Where?! Around the stomach? Or the collarbone? Or perhaps inside your underwear?’

‘My, my chest hurts inside….’

‘……Yes?’

‘Every time I see you, the Healer, my, my chest hurts inside as if being stabbed by something. Wh-what I mean is… it doesn’t hurt, like, physically….’

Ah, I remember now. The woman who visited the healing room almost like a regular every time I worked there, trying to seduce me in awkward ways each time. She was pretty, but her actions were so airheaded that she left quite a deep impression in my mind. Even though we had no relationship other than the incidents in the healing room.

“Yes, I remember. We didn’t talk often, but I remember that she used to visit the healing room frequently.”

「Yes, I’m glad you remember.」

“But why Jung No-eul-ssi? Did something happen related to her?”

「Not exactly. She went to your guild now.」

“What?”

「It seems she’s fallen hard for you. You figure it out yourself, Taekyung-ah.」

“……What?”

-Click.

President Seo Ok-hee calmly hung up the phone after saying something incomprehensible.

-Creeaak!

“Y-you were here, Healer-nim! I-I looked for you so hard…!”

And not long after, as soon as I saw the purple-haired woman burst into my office, I understood the meaning of her last words, ‘figure it out yourself’.