episode_0069

Knock knock.

“Is the manager there?”

Hunter Association Headquarters.

Ban Harin, who visited the association early in the morning, knocked on the head’s office with a cold face as always.

Brooch and dark gray suit indicating affiliation with the association.

A pure white mask covering the face.

It’s not the black suit he usually wears when he goes to Eunha’s cafe.

Of course, it is the same suit with only a slightly different color, but as she has sharper senses than others, she is uncomfortable wearing an association suit for the first time in a long time.

How long has it been… [Artifact Management Department] I haven’t worn it since Hunter Kim Song-ah’s ‘suicide incident’. Always a black suit.

If Eunha found out about this, she would frown and look dumbfounded.

If your clothes are always the same, won’t they come up to you defenselessly and try to smell them, asking when you should wash them?

I can’t wait to see her bewildered face.

When will you notice?

‘Haa… Eunha…’

Ban Harin, who was thinking about the galaxy, let out a silent sigh.

This is because it reminded me of Eunha’s wrist full of scars.

A tattered scar as if it had been torn mercilessly with fingernails and teeth.

It is a wound created by Eunha herself.

How much it hurt. With what kind of heart would he have caused such a wound?

Even Banharin, who had better observation skills than others, couldn’t figure it out.

… … No, I didn’t have the courage to find out.

‘It’s definitely because of the Hunter Academy.’

Ban Harin thought back to Eunha getting into his car and heading to Hunter Academy.

She was sitting in the passenger seat, clutching the ‘1 month free course ticket’ and smiling brightly. After hearing Professor Manahak’s words that I couldn’t become a hunter… I still vividly remember the smile on my face as if something was broken.

And the next day, Eunha scribbled on her wrist and went to work at the cafe.

As if nothing had happened.

With his usual lazy smile.

That clumsy act of wrapping a bandage around his wrist to hide it in plain sight… how much it broke Ban Harin’s heart.

I don’t know about the galaxy.

Knock knock.

Ban Harin was lost in thought as he knocked on the headquarters director’s office.

As a result of her ‘observation’, Eunha is blindly obsessed with her goal of becoming a hunter.

So much so that I took the same test 30 times even though I knew for sure that I wouldn’t be able to do it. To the point where I got a scar on my wrist because I was rejected from Hunter Academy.

(I am not able to help you with Eunha’s ‘E-Class Hunter Promotion Test in June’. I am truly sorry.)

(Haha… wait and see. I’ll pass somehow.)

And… when Ban Harin said that it would be difficult to get promoted this month, he cut out his internal organs with a kitchen knife and passed the promotion test.

At that time, I really thought my heart was being ripped out.

Of course, the same is true now.

Extreme stress from hunter activities. Self-harm resulting from it.

I think this is a disease.

What made her like this?

“haha…!”

I’m out of breath due to the overwhelming guilt.

If only I hadn’t said that back then. Wouldn’t he have risen to E level with ordinary effort?

Even if it took a little longer, it wouldn’t have hurt less than it does now.

I feel useless regret.

At that time, if only I had stayed by her side when she returned from school after being rejected.

Would it have been a little better then?

A person who cannot properly answer the galaxy about his or her affiliation or mission,

I have extravagant delusions.

‘I… what should I do?’

Ban Harin wandered aimlessly through a maze with no exit today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knock knock.

To what extent was he lost in thought and suffering?

Ban Harin, who was knocking on the headquarters director’s office while catching his breath, blinked in puzzlement.

Even though I can clearly feel the presence of people inside, I don’t hear any response.

I received a call in the morning asking me to come to the headquarters manager’s office, but what happened?

“Director?… Excuse me.”

After lightly ‘observing’ his surroundings, Ban Harin entered the headquarters director’s office without making a sound.

The inside was clean.

An antique wooden desk. In the center is a table and sofa for welcoming guests.

And tons of exercise equipment taking up one side of the room. However, it appears that it hasn’t been used much recently, and some of the equipment has accumulated dust.

However, the head of the headquarters who actually called Ban Harin is nowhere to be seen.

Subtly suspicious situation. Ban Harin, who used the skill, dyed his eyes golden and scanned the interior of the general manager’s office like a scanner.

“……?”

And, the presence of a person hiding under the desk was ‘seen’.

A large man trembling as if he were frightened.

Banharin frowned and approached the large desk.

“……Director. What are you doing hiding there?”

“B-Team Leader Banharin…?”

At her cold voice, the man, who had crushed his large body under the desk with all his might, trembled and asked back.

What are you doing? Is this a new movement?

When Ban Harin did not respond and was looking at him like he was looking at someone strange, the man cautiously stuck his head out of the desk… Go Young-in, head of the Seoul headquarters of the Hunter Association, noticed Ban Harin standing blankly and came out of the desk in anger.

He may have been under the desk for a long time, but every time he turns his waist left or right, a crunching sound is heard.

“Whew… I’m sorry for showing off my ugly side.”

“What were you doing?”

“……It’s a private matter.”

General Manager Go Young-in, who slumped down at his desk, answered with a blank face.

The head of the division met again almost a month after Hunter Kim Song-ah’s ‘accident’.

He was so emaciated that Banharin expressed surprise.

Dark circles appear as if you haven’t slept well for several days. The muscles that used to be as hard as steel have lost their strength, and the fingertips are turning white, as if they are feeling the cold in the June weather.

It is as if one is watching the intermediate process of a person becoming a ruined person.

“Whew… Next time, don’t knock on the door, just come in. I’m confused. Didn’t you get it to Team Leader Ban Harin?”

“……? All right.”

Director Ko Young-in said something meaningful and took something out of a desk drawer.

It’s chocolate. Sweet white chocolate with no added protein.

Seeing him eating chocolate with his large hands, Ban Harin, who covered his face with a white mask, subtly wrinkled his face.

“A person who only ate protein and chicken breast knows how to eat chocolate too.”

“Huh?… Haha, I’ve been craving sugar lately.”

Director Go Young-in, who was munching on chocolate, answered with a tired face.

I smile bitterly as I look at the dusty exercise equipment.

“Suddenly a thought occurred to me… What is the use of all this…”

“……?”

“All I did was scribble a few signatures on documents, but I was wasting my time working out because I was a class A hunter… I was foolish. “We can’t stop the ‘monster’.”

What is it? The person was truly broken.

Have you suffered a broken heart?

I felt bad.

Already, Eunha, who headed to the park last night, has gone missing again.

I haven’t been able to contact them all night and I have no idea how to find them, so I’m just biting my nails.

Now that I know that ‘something’ is happening to Eunha, I didn’t search the entire Euncheon-gu like last time… but I’m still worried.

Isn’t this someone who recently committed self-harm?

But then he called me to the headquarters manager’s office and said what?

Are you kidding me?

“Tsk… So why did I call you? If nothing happens, I’ll go back.”

Ban Harin, who did not want to get caught up in General Manager Go Young-in’s lamentations about his situation, clicked his tongue and got to the point.

“Oh, that’s right, I’m sorry, Team Leader Banharin. I’ve been going out of my mind these days… Okay, I guess I’ll have to finish what I’ve done.”

“Main subject.”

“Haha… It’s still chilly.”

The head of the department burst out in laughter and came to his senses by tapping his cheek.

Although his bear-like size has shrunk slightly, his beast-like eyes still look straight at Ban Harin.

“So, that’s the main point… How is ‘Target’ these days? Is anything going on?”

“……I am under a lot of stress related to my hunter activities. Also, as previously reported, scouts from [Changcheon Swordsman] are maintaining contact with the ‘target’.”

“[Changcheongeomga]… The tiger caught the scent and came before the bug was attracted.”

Director Go Young-in tapped the desk with his thick fingers.

We look back on recent events and analyze the complicated threads.

“Is there any news from the [Black Bung Sect] that I mentioned before?”

“The boss of the Black Bung faction has finished the interrogation. They were just trying to sort out the people around Kang Na-ri, and they were not targeting a ‘target.’ However, the client found out.”

“Of course the [Blue Dragon Guild] will reject it… My head hurts so much that I can’t do anything.”

There have been a lot of incidents since last month…

Director Go Young-in muttered this while holding his pounding head and took out a thick bundle of documents from a drawer.

As if this was the main argument that brought Ban Harin to the headquarters director’s office.

Documents placed on the desk.

Ban Harin’s face distorts as he reads the first page in an instant.

“This…”

“Until the interest of the [Changcheon Swordsman] is lost. From now on, [Rare Hunter Protection-Killing Division] Teams 1 and 4 will work together to protect the ‘target’. Wouldn’t it be a bit difficult with the current number of people?”

Request for cooperation.

The gist of the document is as follows.

first. Teams 1 and 4 ‘secretly’ interfere with the [Changcheon Swordsman]’s approach to the ‘target’.

second. In the unlikely event that you succeed in appeasing the ‘target’ in [Changcheon Sword House], kill the ‘target’ immediately. Or retrieve it and send it to [facility].

And third. If it is determined that [Changcheon Swordsman] has lost interest, cooperation will end… Afterwards, the ‘target’ will be managed by Team 4.

In the request for cooperation full of bullshit and someone’s influence,

[Rare Hunter Protection – Kill Section] Team 1 leader Ban Harin looked down at the documents on his desk with his usual cold expression.

A face that doesn’t reveal a single emotion.

Soon, her face, hidden behind a pure white mask… becomes distorted with unbearable anger.

“……Director. Let me just say one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t be a dick.”

In the end, it was useless.

I just wasted time.

Right now, Eunha comes before anything like that.

When will I be able to contact you this time?

Ban Harin turned and left the general manager’s office.