The image of Ryu Jinmu glaring at everyone while clutching onto Baek Haemin was still vivid in Kang Minho's mind. He thought that Han Jiwon would have told her young master, but it did not seem like that.
Baek Haemin looked completely clueless as to what happened after he fainted. He asked Minho,
"What happened?"
"Ah, not as much happened, but the guildmaster seemed, uh, tense? I guess…"
Is that the right word? The young porter's brow creased, wondering if he said it right. On the other hand, Baek Haemin flinched when he heard that.
Tense? Ryu Jinmu, tense… uhm, but why? Did I do something wrong?
Looking back on everything that happened inside the dungeon, he couldn't think of anything that would make Ryu Jinmu tense.
I healed him and even enhanced his stats. I did my job as a support hunter, so his impression of me should have improved, right? Unless I… huh? Huh?
Haemin tilted his head while frowning, recalling the events before he fainted. After Ryu Jinmu defeated the Neo Phoenix, the system gave him rewards, and he started feeling weak from the sudden heat coming from his body.
I got dizzy, and Ryu Jinmu told me to heal everyone, then I started falling–eh?
He finally remembered. He touched Ryu Jinmu's face as he sought after something that could relieve the heat he was feeling, and fell over him as he fainted.
Baek Haemin covered his mouth in shock.
I touched–no, no, no. Are you an idiot, Baek Seungho? How could you do that to Ryu Jinmu?! Moreover, how could I let myself fall to him, of all people?! Knowing that guy, he definitely thinks I did that on purpose. Ugh, what do I do?
Haemin had already planned to stick next to the main character to secure his safety. He thought that Ryu Jinmu's image of him must have improved, even a little, after their raid together, but did he ruin it without meaning to?
Ah, how am I going to go on a raid with him next time if he ends up hating me even more 'cause of that? Shit…
"But I think you don't have to really worry about it, though."
Kang Minho told him with a smile. He added,
"Because I heard the guildmaster was looking for you this past week."
"...He was?"
How come I never heard anything about it?
The whole time he was stuck at home, nobody ever mentioned anything about Ryu Jinmu looking for him. Not one article was made about it, either. If the Blue Dragon Guild reaches out to Blackmane Guild for Baek Haemin, he was sure at least one journalist could have heard of it.
Was Kang Minho telling the truth? Or perhaps he was just mistaken? Baek Haemin was having a hard time believing it.
It can't be because he wants to kill me… right? I was pretty polite with everyone in the dungeon. Kang Minho even approached me earlier. That means they don't hate me, right?
All this thinking was making him spiral, and he could only sigh. Right now, he just wanted to quickly go to the yogurt store and meet up with Han Jiwon.
Once they got to the ground floor of the mall, he unlocked his phone.
「Jiwon-ah, where are you?」
It's been a few minutes since he last sent the message, but there was no reply. She hasn't even read it yet.
"Hmm… huh?"
Haemin looked around and saw some people running in their direction.
"Help!"
"Ah!"
"Hurry, run!"
"We need help!"
They were scattered, dashing from all over. Most of them were screaming, parents holding their children as tight as they could while running.
"Wha, what's happening?"
Baek Haemin glanced at Kang Minho, who was equally confused.
One of the people running almost bumped into Haemin. Kang Minho quickly pulled him closer, and put his hand on the man's shoulder to ask.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"L, let go! You guys should run too! Monsters, there're monsters! Waa!"
The man smacked Kang Minho's hands and continued running.
"Monsters… don't tell me…?"
Both of them looked at each other before finally realizing the situation.
Dungeon break!
***
Black cars screeched in front of the Blackmane Guild's main entrance, and two people stepped out. Shin Moon took the initiative to speak to the staff about their sudden visit.
The staff who were clearly nervous at the appearance of an SS-Rank hunter at their guild avoided Ryu Jinmu's eyes and hid behind Shin Moon while talking to her.
They told them to wait for a while until they started escorting the two to the elevator. Shin Moon noticed how high they were going and asked the staff.
"Where are we going?"
"Ah, to the guildmaster's office, ma'am…"
The staff bowed anxiously.
Shin Moon sighed.
"Hmm…"
Her expression was saying that she already saw it coming.
Ding!
The elevator opened. A little turn to the left, and the door of the guildmaster's office was there. The staff knocked on the door without raising his head before speaking.
"Guildmaster, Hunter Ryu Jinmu-ssi is here."
"...Come in."
Baek Raehwan cut open the cap of a cigar before lighting the other end. He took a puff into his mouth and let it out.
The door creaked open while he continued looking out the window from the highest point of the building.
"I didn't know that commissioning a hunter would require me to meet the guildmaster."
Ryu Jinmu said as he watched the back of the man standing on top of the country's only auxiliary guild.
Baek Raehwan tapped his cigar against the ashtray once before facing Ryu Jinmu and walked towards him.
"That's because you normally wouldn't…"
He took a puff twice before releasing the smoke right in front of Ryu Jinmu's face, smirking at the SS-Rank Hunter.
"Unless you ask specifically for my younger brother."
The veins on Ryu Jinmu's jaw tightened while Baek Raehwan continued taking another puff and blowing the smoke at the man standing in front of him.