Chapter 26: Different from Before (13)

12-15 minutes 30.03.2023

Looking at Tae Woong, who entered with a potion gift set in his hands, Jiho frowned.
Seon Tae Woong was very dressed.
A little… too much.

Today’s Tae Woong was decorated from head-to-toe in luxury brands.
Although he did stand out like a male peacock courting a female peahen…

He must’ve focused solely on how good each piece looked by itself, because the outfit as a whole was a complete mess and looked ridiculous.
The belt on his hips with a big gold logo was particularly eye-catching.

“Um, Shin Jiho.
It’s been a while.”

“What happened to you?”

Jiho’s words inadvertently came out as an insult like usual.
Tae Woong, who was walking in with a shy expression on his face, instantly turned red.

“F*ck, even if I dress up, you sh*t about it…”

“…”

“…Is it weird?”1

As Jiho nodded, Tae Woong calmly took a coat out of his inventory pocket and put it on.
Now that he was covered up, he looked much better.

Jiho checked that Tae Woong wasn’t trying to pick a fight as he led him to a chair.
While Jiho was personally steeping tea for him, Tae Woong kept stealing glances at No Name’s guildmaster’s office, which he had never been in before.

“It’s surprisingly normal.”

“What about it?”

“You’re a chaebol.”2

“Hmm…”

Jiho answered vaguely.

Although it’s true that his family is well-off, Chungram isn’t big enough to be considered one of the major conglomerates.

Of course, thanks to the rise of Chungram Guild, Chungram, as its parent company, is growing quickly too. 

Even though Jiho grew up without lacking anything, he’s never lived particularly extravagantly.
His parents were relatively humble, and the only thing they ever spent money on without any limits was Jiho’s hospital bill.
Before he started the guild, Jiho had never spent a lot of money at once either. 

But because saying this will make him sound ungrateful, Jiho kept silent.
After all, it was true that he grew up more well-off than others.

“This wasn’t what I came to talk about…”

Seeing that Jiho felt awkward, Tae Woong scratched his head in embarrassment. 

“Like I said last time, I brought a present.
Here, a potion set that’s good for your health and… a few pieces of C-rank equipment.”

After setting down the nicely wrapped potion gift set, Seon Tae Woong rummaged through his inventory pocket and took items out.
Jiho’s eyes quickly scanned through the items.

Although most of the items were C-rank like Seon Tae Woong said, an A-rank that hadn’t been evaluated was also mixed in with the rest.

Information

Bluebell3 Pierce

Rank	A
Explanation	A pierce full of mana from fresh flowers blooming in the grassland. Increases overall MP by 5%.  When your MP falls below 10%, there is a 30% chance of refilling half of your MP.
Cool time	12 hours

Even though the item relies on chance, because Jiho is limited in how he can refill his MP, this was a pretty good item.
It looks like it would be good for Seon Tae Woong to use himself…

Should he tell him and return the item?

“Thank you.
But what you gave last time is more than enough.”

“Um… Actually, since I said I would bring a gift, I wanted to give you something impressive from the guild.
But Noona–I mean the vice-guildmaster stopped me so… I emptied the department store with my own money.
I-I bought these from Chungram Department Store.”

“Aha.”

Apollon’s vice-guildmaster, Seon Tae Hui. 

Although she isn’t an awakened one, she is definitely skilled.
If S-rank guilds have Chungram’s Shin Jihye, A-rank guilds have Apollon’s Seon Tae Hui. 

Seon Tae Hui was the one who built Apollon into a secure guild.

Since she’s good at calculating money, she must’ve passed out when she heard that Seon Tae Woong gave out an entire S-rank stone… Even though Jiho has never met Seon Tae Hui before, from what he heard of her, her reaction was obvious.

She probably blew up and picked at Seon Tae Woong for acting on his own.

Anyways, if Tae Woong had bought the item as a C-rank from Chungram Department Store, there’s not really a need to return it.

Although Chungram Department Store is the only one to have lost something here, if an item like this ended up in Jiho’s hands, his family, which owns Chungram Department Store, would’ve given it to him anyways. 

“I don’t need anything else.
I received a lot of help from you too.
And I sold that stone at an extremely high price.”

“That’s why Noona was even angrier… saying that Joo Yiwon would’ve bought anything I gave you for 30B gold.”

“…Oh.”

Actually, that stone isn’t an S-rank stone but an SS-rank, and Joo Yiwon bought that stone after recognizing its true worth.4

Knowing that Seon Tae Hui would just get even angrier if she knew, Jiho kept his mouth shut.

“A-although I can’t give much as a present… if you need help, tell me.
I’ll help.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Tae Woong frowned when Jiho said thank you out of courtesy.
He bent down and whispered in a low voice as if he was telling Jiho a secret.

“These aren’t empty words.
Since my guild is called out a lot…our guilds should cooperate.
If you need it, I’ll send our guildmembers over to you.”

“Cooperation.”

The sincere look on Tae Woong’s face made Jiho laugh a little.

For the past year, he’s only seen Tae Woong acting rudely. 

Although his words sometimes slip out, to think that Jiho would see a Seon Tae Woong that treats him so carefully.

Tae Woong, who hated Jiho for his lack of power, started treating Jiho carefully because of power.

Even though his actions make sense, from Jiho, as the person who received such hate, an evil desire to mess with him rose up.

Jiho leaned back on the sofa and raised the corners of his lips.
Tae Woong, who saw that Jiho’s eyes didn’t reflect the same smile, flinched.

“Hm, I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I mean, you looked down on me for so long.”

Tae Woong’s eyes widened.
Because he couldn’t refute that, he just looked at Jiho and repeatedly opened and closed his mouth. 

If it was like before, Shin Jiho would’ve immediately taken Seon Tae Woong’s offer without thinking about his pride because he was the one with more to lose but…

Isn’t it fine to mess with him like this?

Thinking up to this point, Jiho sighed.
As a result, Seon Tae Woong flinched again. 

Jiho, who was in the middle of self-examining himself, didn’t notice.

He didn’t have such a mischievous side to him before; he must have been corrupted this past year.
Though he said what he wanted to say, Jiho felt like the Tae Woong he knew wouldn’t be able to take it anymore and might leave.

Jiho was prepared to take whatever Tae Woong says, or even what he doesn’t say, if Tae Woong runs out the room out of anger. 

Tae Woong still didn’t say a word.
The second5 hand turned twice before he opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Back then I…”

“…”

“I, I’m sorry.
For treating you… like sh*t… I won’t do that again.”

“Then that’s good.”

Jiho cut Tae Woong off before he could continue and laid the topic to rest.

Because Tae Woong has a lot of pride, he would’ve needed a lot of courage to say this much.
For a person who’s all about acting tough, he made a lot of effort.

Plus it’s a good idea to maintain a good relationship with Seon Tae Woong, who’s the guildmaster of A-rank guild Apollon.
Because Apollon helps other guilds out a lot, there will probably be occasions where No Name will need their help.

Not used to apologizing, Seon Tae Woong’s entire face turned bright red from embarrassment.
Seon Tae Woong, whose ears and neck turned red as well, breathed heavily.

“Th-thanks for accepting my apology.”

“Of course.
It’s not something hard.”

“No, really.
Thanks.
I-I want to enter a dungeon with you again someday…!”

Tae Woong shouted, stumbling over his words.
The line was like one out of a youth drama6. 

Was wanting to work together again something that required such resolve? Is what Jiho thought, but Jiho was thankful the other felt that way.
To receive the help of Apollon’s guildmaster!

“Yes, I will ask next time.”

“Y, yeah, okay.”

After stuttering, Tae Woong covered his face with his hands.
It seemed like he noticed he was acting weird.
Rubbing his red face, Tae Woong sighed. 

“I really thought I was going to die that time, but I… really, really liked using your skill.
I want to experience that again so…”

“Really?”

Jiho remembered Seon Tae Woong’s appearance that time when he was drunk on his own power.

Now that he thought about it, Lim Seung Joo showed a similar reaction.

Combat hunters respect strength.

Even if their usual appearance doesn’t change, they become much more aggressive when they fight.
Although there’s only speculation as to whether or not awakening has an effect on one’s character, combat hunters, for the most part, respect strength.

The higher their rank, the stronger those tendencies get.
As A-ranks, it seemed like Seon Tae Woong and Lim Seung Joo fell for that power.

Noticing Jiho’s vague response, Tae Woong added on.

“I just heard this from Hunter Lim Seung Joo… He said that when he still has the effects of your skill, it feels like his stats aren’t the only things to improve but his skill’s effect does too.
That’s why…”

“Ah, right.”

Even though Jiho answered as if he already knew this, this was actually the first time Jiho heard this.

He’s never heard of this.
Why did Lim Seung Joo not say something like that?

To be fair, the two aren’t so close that they talk about themselves to each other.

Still, how could he tell this to Tae Woong but keep his mouth shut to Jiho, who is not only his guildmaster, but also the person who used the skill on him in the first place? It makes things a little complicated if Seung Joo comes out like this.

Since Jiho decided to keep using Lim Seung Joo, does he need to do something to improve their relationship?

Jiho decided to think about this new problem after the rank reassessment.
Although it felt like he was pushing everything to after the reassessment, there was no choice since the reassessment will determine how he moves forward.

For now, Jiho smiled at Tae Woong, who was red to his neck.
A smile full of the spirit of, I don’t feel uncomfortable around you, I want to go with you.

“Of course it would be great if you go with me.
Let’s go together next time.”

Tae Woong looked obviously relieved at Jiho’s words.

“Okay, you request whatever you want too.”

“Then can I request something?”

Unlike his carefree attitude before, Tae Woong paused for a second.

“…As long as it doesn’t cost too much money.”

It seemed like he was heavily abused by Seon Tae Hui.
Jiho wasn’t thinking of asking for anything money-related after he received that SS-rank stone either.

“It has nothing to do with money.”

Just a bit of help.

Jiho grinned.

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Footnotes

(Click on the numbers to return)

1. This is so embarrassing.

2. Bird needs to start making a list of footnotes so I know what I’ve already covered.
재벌 (“chaebol”) is a term for a family-owned conglomerate in Korea.
Very rich, very upper-class.
For example, the literal Korean title of Song Joong Ki’s recent drama (and webtoon), Reborn Rich, is The Chaebol’s Youngest Son.

3. Bluebells are a type of flower found primarily in Western Europe.

4. I’m pretty sure Seon Tae Hui is right Jiho…

5. The unit of time, second.

6. A drama set around characters who are young.
Kind of like a coming of age story.
Kdrama classics are Boys Over Flower, Dream High, the Reply series.

LaZ Bird Corner

That’s the end of Different from Before! There will be a one-week break before the next chapter comes out on 4/13.

I personally really like this next section.
It’s one of my favorites.
Now that the set-up is finally over, we’re heading into all of the mystery surrounding Jiho.

Two big questions:

Why does Jiho have the system? What is Yiwon hiding from him? 

There have been a few hints here and there but I don’t think anything’s obvious yet. 

For those who like embarrassed Seon Tae Woong like I do, there’s two extra chapters about his crush on Jiho (ft.
possessive Yiwon) XD.
I will probably get around to translating them later, but if you want to skip ahead, it’s chapters 153 and 154 on Ridi!