VSP 7

“Dogyeong-ah, you are going too, right?”

Lee Dohun asked Cha Dogyeong in a very friendly tone.

“No.”

“Huh, why?”

“I have another schedule.”

Cha Dogyeong glanced at his wristwatch to check as if he really had something, then declined the meal gathering.

“That’s too bad. Then see you next time.”

“Yeah.”

He turned his body quickly, and when his eyes met Sejun’s, who had been staring at him, his face twisted into a frown.

Sejun also frowned. Earlier, he had clung to Dogyeong insisting they should team up for survival, but that did not mean he actually liked Cha Dogyeong.

And since they had never once gotten along, he could not possibly like someone who frowned whenever he saw his face.

What did I do so wrong?

[You did things to Hunter Cha Dogyeong until now, Sejun-nim. That’s a little shameless.]

“No, whose side are you on?”

Sejun got angry at the system, but before he could say more, Cha Dogyeong walked past him first. Naturally, there was no friendly greeting. Only the faint scent of Dogyeong’s familiar cologne brushed Sejun’s nose unintentionally and faded away.

The remaining hunters chattered loudly and naturally drifted away from Sejun.

It was only natural, but not one of them asked Sejun if he wanted to join them.

“……”

Sejun stared blankly for a moment at the hunters’ backs as they all disappeared together, then he turned around.

“How many volumes of manga did I read up to?”

[One Piece volume 27, page 14. It’s a really fun part from there.]

Sejun thought he might as well go home and finish reading the manga he had left off.

•••

That day, on Hunternet, one of the hunter communities, a small post made it to Best.

[Best: Did you see Lee Dohun’s Insta? (Feat Seo Sejun)

They say S-class hunters are going into special management for a while, and Lee Dohun openly took shots at Seo Sejun haha

(Image)]

The post showed a screenshot of Lee Dohun’s new SNS update, and dozens of comments poured in, heating up the community.

[@lee_doh__un

The S-rank hunters will all be busy together for a while ^_^

For hunters, protecting the country is only natural, so I’ll do my best!

Ps Sehyun-hyung is too much of a fairness overlord, so I ended up having to be with one useless human ^^ I’ll just think of it as a handicap

Likes 37k Comments 585]

Comments [89]

Did Lee Dohun take shots at Seo Sejun again? At this point it’s love Is he targeting Seo Sejun?

└ The only hunter Dohun talks about like that is Seo Sejun haha

└ They’re talking about S-rank hunters, and the only one Dohun would describe that way is Sejun Did Seo Sejun cause trouble again?

└ He didn’t cause trouble, they just ended up working together, so Dohun looks pissed Lee Dohun really hates Seo Sejun lol If Park Hyeongcheol and Seo Sejun both fell in the water, he would save Park Hyeongcheol

└Hahahaha

└ Who was Park Hyeongcheol again

└ The former Association President

└Fuck, Park Hyeongcheol ㅠㅠ He must be crazy but it sounds right

└ Maybe he wouldn’t save either ㅜㅜI’m seriously shocked that Seo Sejun doesn’t use Insta. A guy that attention-seeking doesn’t use Insta?

└ For real, he doesn’t use Twitter either, nothing

└ Maybe he knows if he had one it would just get spammed with hate comments

└ But Cha Dogyeong doesn’t use it either

└ Cha Dogyeong and Seo Sejun are not the same How did Hoya end up bound to someone like Seo Sejunㅠ

└ For real

└ For real

└ Honestly, if you think about it, Seo Sejun’s abilities are not weak, it’s a shame

└ He just can’t handle his own summons

└ That’s what being weak is

└ Hoya-ya~ Next time meet a better hunter~

└ He is bound to Seo Sejun’s soul, so there is no next hunter~

└ Anyway he needs to meet one~ ㅠㅠ

•••

Sejun shut himself inside his house again.

Sejun’s daily routine was usually all settled at home. He had no friends to meet, no siblings, and while he got along with his parents, they were not physically close.

He still had a huge pile of manga to read, and even if not that, there was always YouTube and Netflix to watch. With food delivery so good and plenty of money, he had no risk of starving even if he stayed shut in.

If he had a hobby it would be different, but outside of working as a hunter, he had none. Ever since the Association President incident, he just idly killed time day after day.

Of course now he understood. The reason nothing happened lately, to the point of boredom, was because this world was the finished story of a novel.

And Sejun thought this peace was not so bad. It was definitely better than being dragged around to new incidents every day.

Sejun lay on a hammock, reading manga, chatting with the system about the characters and story, when his phone, who had been silent for long, suddenly rang.

It was Sejun’s mom.

“Uh, mom.”

– Do you really never contact me unless I call you first?

The nagging started as soon as he picked up.

But his parents were the only people in the world who worried about Sejun and loved him. So even the nagging was something he had to accept.

“Ah, mom, you’re nagging again.”

Of course, what came out of his mouth was a spoiled complaint.

– I saw the news. They said you split into raid teams and go into the dungeon again?

“You’re quick with the news?”

– It was all over the news.

It seemed the Association had spread promotional material. Well, since they were working hard on management, it was better to publicize it than to do it quietly. The raids had started for that purpose anyway.

But regardless of that, Sejun’s parents never liked the idea of him going into dungeons.

Even if Sejun’s rank was high, even if he usually fought indirectly by summoning spirits and creatures rather than fighting directly, his parents knew very well that the big money hunters earned always included the invisible cost of risking their lives.

They always felt anxious that their child was not ordinary, but instead special in a way that made him face danger.

Sejun was rolling his head, wondering how he should explain, when a worried voice came through the receiver.

– Can’t you not do that?

Sejun shut his mouth at those words. It was the same thing he had heard countless times back when he had just awakened and roamed dungeons saying he had to make money.

“Hey, where can a hunter go if not into dungeons?”

Back then and now, Sejun still pushed aside his parents’ dissuasion, saying he had to do it.

Back then it was because he had to earn money. Now, because of the penalties, he had no choice but to keep pace with the S-rank hunters.

– Every time you go into a dungeon, mom’s heart pounds with worry.

“Yeah, I know. I’m always careful, so don’t worry.”

– Okay. Are you getting along with your friends?

Sejun paused at those words, but then replied casually.

“Uh… yeah, I get along fine.”

By “friends,” his mom meant the S-rank hunters. The same ones who had all gone out to eat together a few days ago without including Sejun.

It was less that they deliberately excluded him, and more that since he had never once joined such gatherings, they just naturally never thought of including him.

Either way, Sejun was not close with them. Saying he got along with them was far from the truth. But there was no need to be honest about this.

Most of them did not like him, if not as openly as Dohun. Calling them friends felt wrong, but it was better to tell his parents this white lie than to say he had no friends.

– But why does the news keep saying there are discord rumors between you and your friends? They always bring up your name and talk bad about you in some debate or whatever.

“Ah, those aren’t real hunters. They’re just gossiping~ I’m kind of a superstar, right? It’s easy to talk trash about me, that’s all.”

–Huh? Ah, you mean super star¹. Doesn’t that fit Dogyeong more? I may be Seo Sejun’s mom, but even I think Dogyeong is the superstar.

“Ah, mom, whose mom are you?!”

Sejun scolded her but then laughed. He could hear laughter from the other end too.

There were only a few people with whom Sejun could laugh when the subject of Cha Dogyeong came up, and his parents were one of them.

Of course, every time Cha Dogyeong was mentioned, it felt someone was scratching Sejun’s chest.

Mom, your son has to sleep with that guy. If not, this world will be destroyed. Of course he could not say it honestly, so Sejun swallowed the words.

“Well, he’s EX-rank now, world’s first. Who could criticize him? Don’t worry, I’m doing fine.”

–Okay.

“Is the shop doing well these days?”

– Of course, it’s doing good~ whose son helped me with it?

“Even if it doesn’t go well, it’s fine. Even if you fail in business a few times, it’s okay. You are S-rank hunter Seo Sejun’s mother~”

After that, they continued talking about this and that. Conversations with his parents were always enjoyable. They were the only ones he could talk to comfortably.

But because of the fact that he was, unintentionally, deceiving them, he did not call them often.

That he was getting along with his “friends.” And now there was one more secret piled on top. The project to sleep with Cha Dogyeong. A secret he could not tell, from either end.

1. 슈스 is internet slang, a shortened form of 슈퍼스타 (superstar). Sejun said 슈스 and his mom answered 슈스? 아, 슈퍼스타. ↩︎