Chapter 352

The inside of Kwon Taehan’s house wasn’t very different from what I’d imagined. The place was spacious and there wasn’t much furniture, so it wasn’t as noticeable, but overall it was a complete fucking mess. I clicked my tongue as I kicked aside the towels and clothes lying on the floor.

“Why don’t you live while cleaning once in a while?”

“...I do clean. Don’t kick them with your feet. Why... why did you come this early? No, you didn’t even say you were coming to pick me up. It’s 7 a.m. right now.”

“Yeah, and you were showering at 7 a.m.”

“That’s... because I trained in the morning.”

“Bullshit. You were looking forward to it, weren’t you?”

“.......”

I’d just said that for no particular reason, but Kwon Taehan went quiet again. I glanced at the bastard. It was definitely true that he’d rushed out in a hurry, because he was wearing nothing but pants and had his body awkwardly hunched over. I quietly looked at the faint scar around his rib cage, then asked,

“You really rushed out, huh? You’re only wearing pants.”

“.......”

“Are you wearing underwear?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Why? It’s really obvious right now.”

“What?”

Fucking idiot. Of course that was a complete lie. At my words, Kwon Taehan hurriedly lowered his head, then belatedly raised it again. I didn’t even feel like laughing at that anymore, so I clicked my tongue and said,

“And unless something happens, I wake up by 6 at the latest. Around 5:40?”

“I know.”

The bastard answered without thinking, then covered his mouth with his hand.

'What the hell?'

How could every single thing he did be this fucking stupid.... I was starting to be impressed.

Anyway, we’d lived together for years—no, from Kwon Taehan’s perspective, decades, and from my perspective, hundreds of years—so of course he should know something like this. Why was he acting like he’d said something he absolutely shouldn’t have?

Picking up the clothes I’d kicked away one by one, Kwon Taehan spoke to me as though giving me a warning.

“...Wait here.”

“Yeah, obviously I’ll wait here. Where else would I wait? At the neighbor’s place?”

“Don’t touch anything. We’re not... close enough for that.”

I looked once at Kwon Taehan, who was even pointing a finger at me like he was warning me, then yanked open the refrigerator door.

'It’s completely empty.'

The only things inside the refrigerator were three leftover delivery dishes, a few half-finished bottles of drinks, and water. The moment I picked up a bottle of water, his warning voice came from behind me again.

“I told you not to touch anything!”

“I’m drinking water, Taehan. Are you seriously going to fucking bitch over something this trivial?”

“...Only drink the water.”

“There’s nothing in here besides water that I’d even want to touch, so what do you want me to do? Why don’t you just go finish washing up?”

“We’re not... that close.”

“Want to get closer? Should I wash you?”

“I don’t need it.”

Maybe because he’d died a few times, he was being fucking prickly over completely pointless things. Kwon Taehan slowly backed away and went into the room again. After confirming his back had disappeared, I immediately started opening the shelves beside me one by one.

'There’s nothing here?'

Even if there weren’t any artifacts, I thought there would at least be dishes.

I stopped looking around the kitchen and yanked open a door to look for the artifacts the bastard used. I figured he would probably have them displayed in the dressing room, and when I opened that door, sure enough, I saw artifacts lined up densely in neat rows.

'It’s a sword.'

Kwon Taehan basically fought barehanded, but there had also been some regressions where he mainly used a sword. Naturally, having a secondary weapon like this definitely increased his power. And since he was a fire-type Hunter, the effects of a secondary weapon would probably be considerable as well.

Even so, there was a reason the bastard didn’t use a sword as his main weapon. Kwon Taehan valued mobility and preferred fast attacks, so a heavy weapon like a sword inevitably placed restrictions on him. In other words, carrying a sword around just to aim for one decisive strike and waiting for that moment was a loss in several ways.

'Did he buy it to use at the right moment, then?'

No wonder his guild had no money. I drew the sword and slowly examined it. The sheath and hilt were crude, but the blade itself was sleek. It didn’t seem particularly sharp, and judging from the grooves here and there, it looked like its power was produced through interaction with a Skill.

The moment I touched the blade, the sword vibrated slightly.

“Ugh.”

I quickly pulled my hand away at the sudden stinging pain that struck me, but there was already a burn mark on the part that had touched the blade. Since the mark remained in the exact shape of the blade, it seemed to be an artifact that operated defensively when someone else touched it.

'Fuck, that hurts like hell.'

I shook out my burned hand and endured the pain.

At that moment, the door flew open and Kwon Taehan hurriedly came in.

“Seo Jehyun.”

“Ah, I was looking at the artifacts.”

“Why are you rummaging around everywhere?”

“Just because.”

“I told you... not to. I told you to stay still.”

Kwon Taehan roughly snatched the sword out of my hand and actually started getting angry.

“You said you’re ice-type. Then how could you even think about touching my sword.... Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?”

“I didn’t, but I just found out.”

“What?”

After putting the sword back where it had been, Kwon Taehan abruptly turned his head at my words. For Kwon Taehan, who was striding toward me, I kindly held out my hand and showed him the burned area, and his eyes widened.

“What....”

“How can you leave something dangerous like that sitting there?”

“I don’t normally invite people into my house. Except you.”

“That’s pretty special.”

Kwon Taehan grabbed my wrist and examined the scar on my palm closely, then frowned.

“I have a potion. At least use that....”

“Okay.”

“.......”

When I immediately answered, Kwon Taehan stared at me for a moment, then started rummaging through a box of potions. A little while later, the bastard spoke with a slightly troubled expression.

“...This is all I have. No, I do have others, but I... don’t spend much money on potions.”

“You use some shitty stuff.”

“I don’t get hurt often.”

Bullshit. He probably just roughly treated himself even when he did get hurt and left it at that. Well, his natural recovery ability was monstrous anyway, so it didn’t matter that much.

The bastard took out the potion and poured it generously over the wound. Every part the potion touched produced a burning pain. When my fingers twitched reflexively, Kwon Taehan abruptly grabbed them.

“Stay still.”

“Use some better fucking potions. This hurts like hell.”

“...Why did you touch that in the first place?”

“Because I was curious.”

“If you knew it was dangerous, you shouldn’t have touched it!”

“How the hell was I supposed to know? It’s my first time here today.”

“.......”

Still, the effect didn’t seem bad, because aside from the fact that it had hurt like fucking hell, my palm was almost completely healed. Holding my wrist, I shook my hand a few times and slowly looked Kwon Taehan over.

“You washed properly?”

“.......”

“Then let’s go out now.”

Before taking Kwon Taehan outside, I put a hat on him. It probably wouldn’t have much effect, but with rumors still going around that the bastard and I had fought, giving him at least this much protection was only polite.

Kwon Taehan obediently pulled the hat down low and followed me out.

“Taehan, you kind of look like some celebrity acting all pretentious.”

“You’re the one who put the hat on me.”

“Are you a celebrity? You’re on the news every day. From what I can tell, if you want to keep that pathetic guild of yours alive, your only answer now is to get into advertising.”

I joked as I headed toward his guild with him. After checking the destination, Kwon Taehan seemed to flinch for a moment, then obediently pressed his lips shut and turned his gaze toward the window. No matter how I looked at it, it was obvious he was one-sidedly uncomfortable with me.

“How about a cereal commercial.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“Say eating it makes S-rank energy surge up.”

“.......”

“Or a public service ad. Let’s start with you burning the face of someone smoking.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they’d air that.”

Kwon Taehan shot back at me, then flinched again. I pretended not to notice and parked nearby before heading first toward the building where his guild headquarters was located.

It looked like he’d only set up a single office, so rather than a guild headquarters, it looked more like a workroom.

“Are you serious? The convenience store downstairs is probably bigger.”

“I only have to take care of myself. There’s no reason for it to be big.”

“You got an investment this time, so expand it a little. Hire some people too.”

I’d only said it casually, but Kwon Taehan’s shoulders twitched. The bastard lowered his gaze for a moment toward the papers scattered across the desk, then abruptly said,

“It was you.”

“What was?”

“You invested.”

“Yeah, I’m actually the hidden owner of Seongmu Group.”

“That’s what I mean. You... I don’t know, somehow you did it. It’s obvious.”

Well, it sounded forced, but he was right. I tilted my head and answered,

“I told you I’d help. The hardships of a one-man guild....”

“.......”

“You may be famous, but it bothered me that you’re a poor bastard when it comes to running a guild. And it didn’t seem like you’d accept much help from the Hunter Association either.”

“.......”

“I was worried. I... want to get along with you, you know.”

I crossed my arms and nodded, and Kwon Taehan slowly said,

“...There’s nothing you can do about your memories being incomplete.”

“Really?”

“This isn’t the first or second time this has happened.”

Yeah, and the number was far greater than Kwon Taehan thought. Including the moments the bastard didn’t remember.

I lifted my gaze from where it had been fixed on the floor and slowly asked,

“What are we to each other?”

“...We’re uncomfortable with each other.”

“Not friends?”

“That ended because of you.”

“Colleagues?”

“I work alone.”

“You worked with Seowon.”

At those words, Kwon Taehan’s movements abruptly stopped.

'Looks like there is something.'

Had the two of them started talking again after he met Joo Seowon in the Hunter Association chairman’s office? Well, in any case, it wasn’t important enough to probe right now.

Kwon Taehan looked quietly at me and said,

“You killed me.”

“.......”

“Four times, at that.”

“Hmm, four times....”

“Do you remember that? Of course you don’t.”

What a shame. I’d killed him far more times than that.... And he only remembered this much.

At that moment, Kwon Taehan’s phone rang and a notification appeared briefly. His attention pulled toward it, Kwon Taehan read the message with a serious expression.

“Why?”

“It’s a support request from the Special Response Team.”

“You work with the Special Response Team? That’s fucking crazy.”

“They think it’s an A-rank Gate.”

That was certainly a serious matter. I flicked my hand toward Kwon Taehan.

“Give me your phone. Let me see.”

“...I think I need to go.”

“Yeah, give it to me first. I’ll take a look too.”

At my words, Kwon Taehan obediently handed over his phone. I pretended to read the message seriously for a moment, then threw the phone straight at the wall and smashed it.

Crack—!

In an instant, the screen shattered and the corners crumpled, and the phone dropped to the floor with a thud. Kwon Taehan just stared blankly at what I had done.

“What...?”

“Taehan, do you think you’re a superhero? You’re just a Hunter who works for money, so stop sticking your nose into everything. They can clear it perfectly well without you. Or does everyone else look like a bunch of fucking weaklings to you?”

“.......”

“Hmm, today is an important day for us....”

I slowly swept back the hair that had fallen down and looked straight at the bastard.

“Now, let’s continue what we were talking about. You said I killed you four times?”

“.......”

“Okay.... I’m sorry. I’ll apologize.”