There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

– “Honey.”

As soon as Jiho picked up the call, he heard Yiwon’s voice.
Listening to the calm voice while seeing the chaotic scene on the news, Jiho felt amused.

“What are you doing? Ignoring all of the reporters gathered there.
You shouldn’t do that.”

Yiwon didn’t mind Jiho’s nagging and just laughed.

– “I called to congratulate you for today.
I heard you did well.”

“What’s so amazing about that?”

– “Of course it’s amazing.
After all, my Jiho worked hard.”

“Ah… yeah…”

Unlike usual, Jiho mumbled his words.
Even though it wasn’t the first time he heard such ticklish1 words like these, they made him blush today for some reason.

Maybe it’s because he feels like he’s being acknowledged.

Jiho shook off his thoughts.
It was too early to feel so happy about being acknowledged when he still has a long way to go to catch up to Yiwon.

Jiho turned off his TV that had moved onto news about sports.
After a bit of hesitation, Jiho asked Yiwon.

“…You, are you not hurt anywhere?”

The scene of Yiwon disappearing quickly was still on his mind.
Jiho could hear the sound of laughter through the phone.

– “Am I someone who would get hurt?”

Yiwon’s voice still carried a hint of a laugh.
Not only is he a lucky bastard, but he’s arrogant as well.

Lucky bastard…

There’s other people he should be worrying about.
Jiho worried over nothing.

Once Jiho shut his mouth, silence ensued.
Unlike Jiho’s quiet house, Jiho could hear the noise of people far away from Joo Yiwon’s surrounding.

Unable to think of anything else to say, Jiho was about to end the call when…

– “I love you, Jiho.”2

Joo Yiwon confessed his love in a sweet voice.
Jiho heard it often, but he was still unable to get used to it.
Rubbing the goosebumps that appeared, Jiho scolded Yiwon.

“So sudden.
Disgusting.”

– “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve said it.”

“I’m saying that because it’s disgusting every time.
Stop going overboard.”

– “If I can stop loving you, I’ll stop.
But I don’t know if a day like that will ever come.”3

“Go use those words on your girlfriend or something.”

– “But Jiho is my lover.”

“Yeah, yeah.
I get it, so go back home and rest.”

– “Jiho.”

Jiho, who was going to answer him, yawned.
His body, which had been complaining about its fatigue for a while now, sent a signal to tell him to stop and rest.

– “…Sleep well.”

Even though Yiwon seemed like he had something to say, he said farewell instead.
Jiho answered halfheartedly and ended the call.

“But I don’t want to…”

Unlike his excited spirit, Jiho’s body was in terrible shape.
Jiho grumbled as he curled his body up on his sofa.

Although he knew he had to get up and wash himself up before he sleeps, Jiho didn’t have the energy to push his body up.
Jiho quickly succumbed to sleep.

***

Jiho could feel the warmth of a soft, cozy blanket.

Jiho’s next thought was, ‘Didn’t I fall asleep on the sofa in the living room?’

“Did you sleep well?”

“…”

Jiho blinked.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Joo Yiwon sitting calmly in front of him.
Wondering if he was still in a dream or something, Jiho looked around his surroundings in a daze.
Soon, he was sure that this wasn’t a dream.

If only this was a dream.

Jiho, who was, at some point, sleeping on the bed, looked over himself with bewildered eyes.
Even though he fell asleep without changing last night, he was somehow neatly dressed in his pajamas.

“I changed your clothes for you because it looked like you still had a few of the monster’s substances on you.
You have to change clothes like that before you fall asleep.
Even if there’s no problem then, it can become toxic after it gets absorbed into your skin while you’re sleeping.
Even if you’re tired, wash up before you sleep.
Okay?”

“Ah…eung4.”

Jiho was unconsciously nodding to the sudden torrent of scolding and nagging before he realized something important and bristled up.

“Wait.
That’s not the problem.
How’d you get in?”

“I opened the door, of course.”

“You picked it?”

“No.
The pin for this place is 0408.”

“When’d you see that…”

The number itself wasn’t very hard to remember and Yiwon has visited his house several times before.
With an SS-rank’s sense of vision, it was probably easy to tell which numbers were being pressed with just a slight glance.

Mana recognition locks are popular among awakened ones these days.
Should he change his lock to one of those? But Jiho felt like Joo Yiwon might be able to come in with that too.
He probably wasn’t wrong.

Jiho locked his arms and glared at Yiwon.

“No, but why did you enter someone else’s house? This is criminal trespassing.”

“There’s no trespassing between spouses.”

“It can definitely happen between spouses t… No, wait.
It’s not like you’re my wife.”

“Eung5, I’m your husband.”

“Bullsh*t.
Don’t you get tired of that?”

Yiwon has been making those kinds of jokes since middle school.
Jiho had thought Yiwon would stop once he matured.

Truthfully, Jiho thinks the joke’s become a habit.
They say the nicknames you get when you’re young stick with you for the rest of your life; Jiho was afraid he would really be called “Honey” for the rest of his life.

As Jiho snorted, Yiwon approached him.
Even though Jiho flinched and moved his body back, Yiwon’s hand reaching for his forehead was faster.
His warm hand gently warmed Jiho’s forehead.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

“Hm? Yeah, I’m alright.”

Before he fell asleep, he was exhausted because of how much mana he used.
Although he basically passed out last night, he felt much better after sleeping.
In fact, he felt quite energetic, considering how fatigued he was last night.

“That’s a relief.”

Joo Yiwon smiled.
Jiho looked behind Yiwon and saw the coat Yiwon always wears.

“It’s morning, right?”

“Yeah, 8:30.”

Yiwon looked down at his watch as he answered.

Then did he come straight to Jiho’s house yesterday and stay until now? Before, Yiwon used to disappear right after showing his face.
Like with the auction, it seemed like Yiwon was staying with Jiho for a very long time this time.

Was there some change of heart?

“Why’d you come? You used to leave right after saying what you wanted.”

“Because I wanted to see Jiho.”

There was no use in asking since Yiwon avoids the question by spouting some nonsense.
Jiho sighed.

“You decided to trespass because you wanted to see me?”

“Trespassing is nothing big.”

Is this something an SS-rank hunter that’s called humanity’s savior should be saying? Jiho narrowed his eyes.
Seeing this, Yiwon shrugged.

“I came in because I thought you were hurt.
I was going to take you to the hospital if you were.
When I came in, you were running a low fever.”

“How’d you know…”

“I never installed security cameras or anything, so don’t worry.”

“Not something like ‘Since I have more skills to use even without security cameras,’ right?”

“No.
I know just from your voice.”

Jiho frowned at Yiwon’s gentle voice.
He felt like something was pressing down on one side of his head.
With the pain came a strange sense of deja vu.

“Um…”

“Why?”

“Has something like this ever happened before?”

“Something like this?”

Jiho bit his lip for a long time.
Even though he felt like he could remember something, he couldn’t.
Lumping his confusing thoughts together, Jiho opened his mouth.

“A situation like this…? Like you taking care of me like this?”

“Probably?”

“There was?”

“I took care of you a lot every time you were sick.
All of our schools were the same, and we went to school together.
There were a lot of times like this.”

“That’s true…”

To be fair, they lived in one house together for many years.
Including the time Jiho was in a coma, the two have been together for nearly 20 years now.

Outside of school, they went on family trips together, and because they were seen as a set, they traveled here and there with each other.
Since their friend groups were the same, Jiho and Yiwon were always stuck together.

Jiho thought that if he had spent the time they spent together studying, he could’ve come in first while they were still students.

While thinking about this and that, Jiho suddenly realized at what point Yiwon started sticking to him again.
It was after Jiho received the new skill.

Does Joo Yiwon know something?

At the very least, it seems like he knows for sure that Jiho’s state is much better than before.

Because he’s sharp enough to figure out the true worth of an SS-rank stone, it was very possible that Yiwon had discovered Jiho’s change.

“Let’s eat, Jiho.”

Yiwon stood up like he was the owner of the house.
Standing up, Jiho felt like something was flipped, but it was too late to say something, so he kept quiet.

An extravagant display of Korean food was set up on the table.
There were way too many plates on the table for just breakfast. 

“You want me to eat all of this?”

“Of course.
Eat a lot, Jiho.
You have to eat a lot and increase your stamina.
Because you fell asleep first, Honey, I wet the pillow with my tears last night.”

Ignoring Yiwon’s nonsense, Jiho sat in front of the table.
His thought had been to make do with cereal.
Although he felt pressured by the table with 12 plates of dishes6, like Joo Yiwon said, this is the best way to refuel.

“Where did you buy all of this?”

“I made them all.
I cooked from dawn but you never woke up.”

“You probably didn’t even have any time, why’d you make all of this…”

While scolding him like usual, Jiho’s eyes met Yiwon’s.
The guy who has everything he wants was looking at Jiho like an abandoned dog.

Thinking about it, even though Yiwon trespassed, he’s still the guy who came as soon as he was done with his work to take care of Jiho in case he was hurt.
And besides, trespassing isn’t really an issue worth fussing over between family members.

Jiho didn’t think he should scold him over the food as well, so he changed his tone.

“No, I’ll eat well.”

“Eung.
Tell me if you need anything else.”

“This is enough; what else would I need?”

“Anything.
Whatever it is.”

Raising his head at the deep voice, Jiho saw the solemn look in Yiwon’s eyes.

Anything.
Whatever it is.

As Joo Yiwon, the guildmaster of the world’s largest guild–Chungram–and the only SS-rank hunter in the world.
Even though his childhood friend who spoke as if he would do anything Shin Jiho wanted was impressive…

Instead of answering, Jiho smiled and picked up his chopsticks.

If he wanted to rely on Yiwon, he would’ve done so earlier.
Thinking about how people’s thoughts will be different than before when he finishes eating and goes to work, Jiho began to eat.

Translator’s note: Yiwon’s birthday is 04/08

 

Footnotes

1. Being bilingual is a struggle because it makes me doubt whether expressions like this exist in the other language.
Anyways, when something makes you feel ticklish, it’s like you’re getting butterflies.
All fluttery and sweet inside.
Cute.
They’re cute.
ㅠㅠ

2. Heh.

3. ㅠㅠ

4. 응 (“eung”) has a lot of different meanings.
Its most basic use is an informal “yes.” Here, it means yes, but Jiho kind of draws it out here because he’s in a daze.
There’s a lot of connotative differences for this word; if it’s not a simple “yes,” I’ll add a note.

5. A little cutesy; spoiled.

6. A table (밥상/반상) like this usually consists of a bowl of rice, soup, and side dishes.
In the past, the number of dishes on the table signified the importance of the person eating.
12 plates or more were usually for the emperor (Yiwon treating Jiho like the king he is).
Here’s an example of what this would look like: