âIâm sorry, Noona. I didnât mean to deceive you. He really did come and said.â
âSehyunie, arenât you lying when you said you didnât know where is Guild Leader Hwang Soomin until now?â
âNo, I really didnât know that either.â
âOh, are you looking for me? Iâm sorry.â
Itâs a leisurely reaction for someone who ate the boss monster in the dungeon <The Mansion of Nebiros> and ran away. Hwang Soomin apologized with a face that he really didnât know.
âIâve been a bit busy lately. And today, if Miss Haeun says itâs difficult to make time, I was just going to go back~ Sehyun is just following orders as a guild member, so please donât scold him too much.â
Like his first appearance, he is a man who does whatever he wants. Haeun sighed and touched her forehead.
The three decided to move first.
She wanted to go to a cafe, but it was impossible. They are Jung Haeun, Jung Sehyun, and Hwang Soomin. If it were these people, everyone would pay close attention to them. Besides, isnât there a big dog too?
In addition, Haeun, who had questions for Hwang Soomin, needed to find a place where there were no people.
âUhm, what about there? It looks fine.â
The place Hwang Soomin suggested was the middle school where Haeun, Jung Eunwoo, and Jung Sehyun attended. On the weekends, the schoolyard was open to alleviate parking difficulties for nearby residents, so they could enter.
Three people sat facing each other on a bench set up under a wisteria tree. The excited dog panted in the wide-open area. Hwang Soomin untied the dogâs leash.
âYou canât go far.â
Woof!
The Golden Retriever barked as if he knew and ran excitedly across the wide playground. He seems to be enjoying his freedom by digging the soil with his feet. It was a freedom that was possible because there was no one in the schoolyard.
Haeun looked around the school carefully.
Itâs been a long time since she has been here, but nothing has changed. The indoor gym where gymnastics was taught in the past still remains. She doesnât know if the gymnastics club still exists, but when Haeun was young, there were quite a few sports clubs running at this school.
However, Haeunâs eyes were dry as she looked around the school.
Haeun was sensitive when she was in middle school, and her sensitivity was at its highest when the topics of family and hunter came up.
Above all, after the âgym gate incidentâ occurred, there were quite a few days when she didnât attend due to the aftereffects of the accident.
It was during the third year of middle school that she was about to move on to high school, so she moved with various pretexts such as high school uniforms and entrance exams.
Eventually, she moved back to this neighborhood.
âStill, I didnât expect to come to school.â
To put it bluntly, she thinks she had more bad memories in middle school. And on the contrary, it seems that she was happier in high school, when she lived hiding the fact of her awakening and the existence of the Hunter family.
Haeun frowned at the memories that came to mind.
âMiss Haeun.â
âYes.â
âDid you know? Many of the elementary school grounds were actually cemeteries before.â
Hwang Soomin brought up a rather random story to Haeun.
Isnât this a ghost story so common that any Korean student can say that he was educated in an elementary school that used to be a cemetery in the past? Haeun replied coldly.
âThatâs a lie.â
âIâm not lying. Thatâs really the case. â
ââŚReally?â
âYes. Only bright souls can control the ghosts of the dead. The sound of childrenâs laughter is that power. There may have been reasons why cemeteries are cheap, but there are definitely spiritual reasons.â
She got goosebumps on her arms. It seemed that the person she was talking to was a necromancer who ruled over the dead.
âBy the wayâŚâ
Hwang Soomin glanced around as if someone was overhearing their conversation. Then he leaned over to Haeun and secretly whispered to her.
âI think itâs the same here.â
âReally?!â
âNo, Iâm kidding.â
âWhoa.â
Haeun, who had been fooled for a moment, frowned. Hwang Soomin smiled as he seemed to be having fun.
Jung Sehyun seemed calm as if he was familiar with the eccentricities of his guild leader. Are these people the future of the Dawn Guild? The future of the Dawn Guild must be very bright.
Hwang Soomin shook his head.
âI was joking because Miss Haeunâs expression looked so serious~.â
âThatâs enough. More than that, why did you run away by yourself? Thanks to that, I almost got framed.â
As the dungeonâs boss monster belonged to Hwang Soomin, the owner of the dungeon, which was running fine, changed. In other words, it was now a completely new dungeon.
If the system window had not informed that all these changes that day were due to the actions of Hunter Hwang Soomin, Haeun would have been left without a hitch.
To Haeunâs displeasure, Hwang Soomin answered as if it was not a big deal.
âI couldnât help it because it suddenly lost connection. It seemed like my clicker died that day.â
âUndead is dying?â
âAs the dungeon changed, the existence itself disappeared. Somehow, the new owner doesnât seem to like the undead. Ah~ Thatâs why I had a hard time. If it bounces off suddenly, my body hurts.â
âItâs not normal even now,â Hwang Soomin said in pain, looking completely normal.
Ignoring his fake illness, Haeun continued by asking what she was worried about.
âThen what about Nebiros? Nebiros didnât disappear, right?â
âHeâs doing well. The devil is an exception.â
âDid Guild Leader Hwang Soomin know that dungeons change when you make a boss monster into a follower?â
âIâve tried it before. Boss monsters are at least the strongest monsters in that dungeon, so itâs a waste to just throw them away like garbage, right? But thatâs what consumes a lot of my mana. It takes a lot of mana to maintain it. Thatâs why I donât do it often.â
âNo, if you knew, you should have told me in advanceâŚ.â
So, she should have thought about it before making a decision. Boss monsters donât die forever, they come back to life when the dungeon is reset. It may be necessary to wait until it resets, but it is not urgent and there is no reason not to wait.
Hwang Soomin shrugged at Haeunâs dissatisfaction.
âBut Miss Haeun was in a situation where you needed Nebiros, right?â
âThatâs true, butâŚâ
âItâs a boss monster in a B-class dungeon, so I decided it would be okay to have it as a member of my group. I also had a chance to get help from Miss Haeun. So donât regret the past~â
Jung Sehyun, who had been listening quietly at that time, suddenly interrupted.
âGuild leader, I think you need to regret it.â
âWhy is our Sehyun suddenly upset?â
âDid you see the 13 billion won damage compensation complaint from the Ahyeon Guild?â
âAh, I saw it. I met Guild Leader Seo Dojoon today. And itâs not 13 billion, but 15 billion.â
âWhat? Why?!â
âIt suddenly increased, but I donât know why.â
Jung Sehyun touched his forehead as if he was dizzy. His originally white face had turned pale.
More than that, 15 billion? It was enough money to buy at least one building Haeun wanted.
It was a pity for her younger brother Jung Sehyun, a member of the Dawn Guild, but Haeun thought it was a blessing because Seo Dojoonâs arrow wasnât directed at her.
âBy the way, Miss Haeun. I heard a funny story in the dungeon that day.â
Haeun turned her head. Her eyes met Hwang Soominâs.
âWhat is a âConstellationâ?â
Unlike the raised corners of the mouth, the eyes behind the glasses werenât smiling at all. For a moment, she was so shocked that her heart sank.
How does Hunter Hwang Soomin know about the Constellation?
In fact, there was nothing about the need to keep the existence of the Constellation a secret or that Haeun was banned from doing so.
Itâs just that up until now, Haeun had been hiding the fact of her awakening, and after she had come out, she didnât have to say anything about it.
And Haeunâs intention not to speak about the existence of the Constellation has not changed even now.
Of course, if the other person, like Baek Soyeon, has experienced the Constellation, Haeun also has an intention to bring up her own story.
But what if they donât? When there is nothing to be gained, is there a need to step forward and provide information? There was no doubt that things would just be troublesome.
Even though she was getting attention as an EX-Class, she didnât want to be called around because she knew the source of her power or the unknown world.
Haeun, who has decided the direction, pretended to be innocent for now.
âA constellation? What is it?â
âSurely, didnât you ask Nebiros like this? âNoodle, the Constellation gave them?â.â
âNo way, did you overhear it?â
âPlease donât forget that Miss Haeun visited the place where my click was originally.â
Haeun frowned. Itâs not wrong, but how could Haeun know if Hwang Soominâs family was there?
âThe dungeonâs boss monster mentioned a âconstellationâ, and Miss Haeun seemed to know about it.â
ââŚ.â
âCanât you tell me what it is?â
Haeun swallowed her saliva. Now even Jung Sehyun was paying attention and waiting for Haeunâs answer.
Haeun realized that she had no way out.
At least ignorance wonât solve it. Since Hwang Soomin was in a state where he was strongly convinced of what he had heard, he would cling to it more tenaciously if she only answered that she didnât know here.
In the end, Haeun decided to confide in only a little bit of what she knew. Of course, with a little bit of truth and lies.