VSP 81

“I don’t know if it’s to the extent of doing something gay.”

“……”

“Unless it’s someone like Siwoo, I honestly can’t imagine doing that with a guy.”

“Lee Dohun.”

“Ah right. But there’s one thing that wasn’t bad.”

Cha Dogyeong called Dohun’s name because of that unpleasant tone, but he didn’t stop.

“His lips were soft though.”

Right after that,

Puhk!

Dohun reacted instinctively to the attack that flew at him. He crossed his arms to block, but the shock in his arms told him that if he hadn’t been physically enhanced and had been an ordinary hunter, both his arms might’ve broken from that single hit.

“…Ha.”

He rubbed his numb arms. Cha Dogyeong, who had swung mana like a whip and attacked him, stared at Dohun proving that it wasn’t an accident.

Dohun raised the corner of his mouth and smiled. He looked at Cha Dogyeong like it was ridiculous that he reacted because of those words, or maybe funny.

“Do you want to fight?”

“Do you?”

Dogyeong asked back like it was ridiculous.

“What are you doing? You can’t beat me.”

Dohun closed his mouth. That was true objectively. Who could beat Cha Dogyeong? Even though Lee Dohun was among the upper ranks in physical power among S-rank hunters, the other was already an EX-rank hunter, one step higher, the strongest hunter in the world.

But even so, his pride was definitely scratched.

“You can’t beat me”? For someone like Cha Dogyeong, who always knew he was good but never bragged, that line sounded overly arrogant.

No matter how Dohun felt, Cha Dogyeong kept speaking.

“But I feel shitty right now.”

If Dohun’s pride had been scratched, then Dogyeong’s irritation came from something else, because his voice was full of irritability.

Once again, mana was swung.

Puhk!

“Hug!”

He tried to grab the mana that stretched like a whip with his hand, but the power inside it was too strong. Dohun had to step back because of the pain that felt like his arm would explode.

The fight that suddenly started inside the dungeon, where the boss had fallen and peaceful wind blew, had already crossed the line too far to be taken lightly.

“If you’re pissed, hit back.”

That one extra line from Cha Dogyeong made Lee Dohun’s frown.

He knew that if Cha Dogyeong got serious, he couldn’t even be his opponent. That mana whip, too, was used with Dogyeong holding back.

And that, more than anything, really hurt Lee Dohun’s pride.

Since earlier, he had been feeling strangely irritated, and now, on top of that, his pride was wounded, so Lee Dohun didn’t hold back anymore.

His pupils stretched vertically, and beastman Lee Dohun lunged at Dogyeong.

•••

Seo Sejun heard the news late that evening.

[Choi Hangyeol: Sejun-hyung, did you hear that news?]

A sudden message came from Choi Hangyeol. Sejun, who had been brushing his teeth thinking he should sleep early and keep things healthy, continued brushing with one hand and quickly replied to Hangyeol’s message with the other.

[What news?]

He replied very quickly. The typing notification popped up, and then a message arrived immediately.

[Choi Hangyeol: Hyung, you really haven’t heard anything?]

“This brat.”

Sejun muttered, his words muffled by toothpaste. What was that? Asking if he knew some news with no subject, then acting like he was clueless.

When Sejun grumbled, toothpaste splattered everywhere, and the system reacted with disgust.

[Sejun-nim, please finish brushing before replying.]

“Ah ah uh.”

Sejun replied obediently, finished brushing like a well-behaved kid, and came out to find another message waiting from Choi Hangyeol.

[Choi Hangyeol: Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun fought like dogs]

“……?”

But the content was absurd. It said that Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun fought like dogs.

However, there was no reason for Choi Hangyeol to make that kind of joke to Seo Sejun. Sejun stared at the message. He thought maybe he misunderstood, but the message was so direct that there was nothing to misread.

Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun fought like dogs.

“Did I understand that right?”

[If you understood that Hunter Cha Dogyeong and Hunter Lee Dohun fought like dogs, then that’s correct.]

The system responded briefly. In truth, Sejun did understand, but…

…Why?

That question came to his mind, and it took him a while to process it.

The relationship between Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun was not bad.

He had heard that the two entered a dungeon together this time, but that only meant there was even less reason for them to fight. If hunters fought inside a dungeon, it would usually be because of disagreement about strategy or because someone made a mistake that put lives in danger, something fatal like that.

But with that combination, the dungeon boss could not have been difficult, and there should have been no problems.

But they fought?

If it had been just an ordinary fight, it would never have become something even Choi Hangyeol knew about. It seemed it had gone far beyond the usual rough brawling between men.

An S-rank hunter was an army by himself. And since one of them was EX-rank, if beings of that level had fought, it could not have been an ordinary fight.

Seo Sejun started to feel worried.

[Did he get hurt?]

In the end, Sejun could not hold back and sent the message quickly, and a moment later, a reply arrived.

[Choi Hangyeol: Yeah, he got hurt pretty bad.]

Sejun felt his heart drop. Hurt? And badly? Considering that Choi Hangyeol was not the type to exaggerate, this meant they really were badly injured with no room for doubt. Sejun typed a reply quickly.

[Where? Where did he get hurt? Was he hospitalized?]

After sending the message quickly, Sejun could not wait for Hangyeol’s reply and opened the internet. No matter what, if the two had fought that badly, there should have been at least one article about it.

But there was nothing, not even a small report. There were only relaxed news pieces about how this year’s heat dome was intense, and how the weather was hot, with typhoons and heavy rain.

[Choi Hangyeol: Why would he need hospitalization when the super healer Choi Yerin’s there lol. But Sehyun-hyung put out a gag order, so no articles, no one knows. I heard it from Yerin.]

He received a reply while he was checking. Choi Yerin handled it? A gag order was issued?

Wait, hold on.

“What the hell happened?”

He could not understand the situation at all. It was not hard to guess why Ryu Sehyun might have blocked the reports. From his point of view, since the Association was under special management, he must have wanted to prevent unnecessary scandal, and that was understandable.

The problem was that the fight had been big enough for a top healer like Choi Yerin to be called in. Hunters of high rank had strong healing abilities, so it was rare for them to need outside treatment.

Sejun’s fingers moved faster across the keyboard, driven by anxiety.

[So how bad was it? Is he okay now?]

Fortunately, since it was through messages, Sejun’s anxious face and restless body were not visible. A message like that would only look like normal concern for a colleague.

[Choi Hangyeol: Since when do you worry about Lee Dohun like that, hyung?]

Only after that reply did Sejun realize he had made a big mistake.

Lee Dohun? What Lee Dohun?

Sejun realized then that the one Hangyeol said was hurt was not Cha Dogyeong but Lee Dohun.

And then, the anxious feeling that had been clutching his heart immediately vanished. His trembling fingertips went still.

[Choi Hangyeol: Oh, so you weren’t worried about Lee Dohun?]

Hangyeol must have caught on to Sejun’s misunderstanding quickly. He sent more messages in a row.

[Choi Hangyeol: If it’s the other guy, no need to worry. He didn’t get hurt at all lol. Only Lee Dohun got beaten up like a dog.]

[Choi Hangyeol: So Cha Dogyeong’s getting disciplined, and he’s paying a fine. He admitted right away that he threw the first hit.]

“……”

[Choi Hangyeol: The most important question is why they fought, but neither of them said a word, so even Sehyun-hyung doesn’t know. No one knows the reason.]

[Choi Hangyeol: I wasn’t gonna tell you, but I thought you’d wanna know ^^ I’m visiting Lee Dohun tomorrow, wanna come?]

The last one was a joke. Sejun sent his reply quickly.

[I’m not going, idiot.]

Why would he visit Lee Dohun in the hospital? Maybe if it were Cha Dogyeong, but Lee Dohun? Even if Hangyeol didn’t mean anything by it, or maybe he did, either way, Sejun felt tricked and frowned as he turned off his phone screen.

Just moments ago, he had felt drowsy, ready to lie down after brushing his teeth, but now his heart wouldn’t calm down.

Of course, no matter how strong Lee Dohun was, how could he possibly defeat Cha Dogyeong. That man was the main character of this world, the strongest, beyond S-rank. No matter how much Lee Dohun jumped or struggled, he could never win.

And yet, hearing that they fought and that someone got hurt had made him nervous and anxious, thinking it might have been Cha Dogyeong, and that made him feel ridiculous.