Chapter 97

“Oh my, welcome!”

An ajumma who looked to be in her forties greeted me with a nasal sing-song.

Maybe it was because this real-estate office was close to home. Her face looked vaguely familiar, as though I had passed her by on my way home once or twice.

“Young man, what would you like to drink? Coffee? Yulmu tea?¹ Cola?”

“Coffee, please.”

“Black, creamer, or…”

“Black.”

“Well, look at you. A young bachelor who knows how to drink coffee.”

I let her rapid-fire chatter go in one ear and out the other as I took a seat. There was another place I needed to pay more attention to than the talkative real-estate ajumma.

This is…

The familiar energy flowing through the real-estate office.

It was mana.

Wiretapping magic?

There was almost no chance it was security magic installed by the owner. Who would put an expensive magic product in a real-estate office instead of their home?

The people watching me had clearly made preparations in advance.

Well, it was something I expected.

They were using Familiars, after all. Wiretapping magic was the least of it.

The question was how many of them there were and where they were hiding…

“Here you go. One coffee.”

I accepted the cup with a polite smile.

“Ah, thank you.”

I meant that sincerely.

She was about to tell me where their base was.

—So, what brings our handsome boss here?

—I’m looking for a house.

The voice transmitted by the eavesdropping magic was perfectly clear. Kim Junsu, who had briefly deactivated his Familiar magic, exchanged a look with another team member and the Security Team Leader.

“Didn’t that bastard go to a real-estate office recently, too?”

“Yes. He went to Goyang. At the time, we hadn’t been assigned to him yet, so the Team 1 Leader got the information from Hong Woojin and passed it along.”

“Junsu’s right. We went to the real-estate office afterward and dug around a little. Apparently, he even put down a deposit.”

“How much money does he have in his account right now?”

The Security Team already knew Jin Taekyung’s account balance inside and out.

At the Security Team Leader’s question, a team member quickly pulled out a tablet and brought up the report.

“About 3.7 billion won. Three billion of that will go toward buying the new house.”

“Are you sure he’s going to buy it?”

“We even heard that he’s planning to set a date with the owner and sign the contract soon, so he definitely intends to purchase it. We looked into it, and apparently it’s the neighborhood where the target lived as a child. It seems to have some special meaning to him.”

“I see…”

The Security Team Leader frowned.

The man was about to pour most of his fortune into a new house. So why was he looking into another house in this neighborhood now?

Even though his Guild is in Bucheon.

Whatever he was thinking, the whole thing left an unpleasant feeling in the Security Team Leader’s gut.

“Hey, turn up the volume a little.”

“Yes, sir.”

The conversation continued to flow into the three men’s ears.

—What kind of conditions are you looking for?

—Either monthly rent or a jeonse lease.

—I do have a few, but… as you know, this neighborhood straddles a safety zone, so it’s a little expensive.

—That’s fine. I’m a Hunter.

—Oh my, you’re a Hunter? I knew you looked fit. What rank are you? Ah, is it rude of me to ask something like that?

—Somewhere around there. It’s not very high. C-rank.

—Oh my, oh my. You must make good money. Can I feel that arm? Oh-ho-ho!

—Ha-ha. Show me some good listings and I’ll think about it. No, show me everything. Jeonse, purchases, whatever. If I find something I like, I’ll just buy it.

The three men listening were dumbfounded.

“That bastard’s really enjoying himself.”

“Can you blame him? He lived as an F-rank Hunter, then after his reawakening, big chunks of money started rolling in. Of course his ego would swell.”

“Hmm, true. That’s the age for it.”

They all knew from experience. The feeling of stepping into a new world.

Luxury goods they had once been unable to look at because they were too expensive suddenly seemed laughable, and other people started looking at them differently.

“That bastard’s exactly like that right now.”

“‘If I find something I like, I’ll buy it,’ my ass. Once you pay the balance on the house you already contracted for, your account will barely cover a jeonse deposit, you idiot.”

“Still, I’m jealous. What does he eat to have such thick hair?”

Watching Jin Taekyung’s childish, cocky behavior was pathetic, but a quiet laugh escaped them anyway.

Before they knew it, the three men had relaxed. Their ears were still open, but they felt as if they were listening to a radio broadcast.

—How about this place? Around five hundred million won for a jeonse lease? Considering that it’s in a safety zone, it’s much cheaper than market price.

—Not bad. Are there any others?

—Of course there are. There’s another listing in the building two over from the one I just showed you… Oh, this one already went off the market. It was monthly rent, but the terms were exceptionally good.

—Oh, really?

—Yeah. If you’d come a few days earlier, young man, you could’ve snagged it. The place wasn’t well maintained, but the rent was cheap. Of course, if you have money, remodeling can solve that problem.

—That’s a shame.

—Tell me about it. Some scary-looking man came by and spoke to me in this commanding tone. Did he think I’d been entrusted with his house or something? I’d much rather hand it over to a young, handsome bachelor, you know. Right?

—Ugh, I guess he was a total old-fashioned jerk.

—I thought he might be a gangster, so I couldn’t so much as squeak. The smell of an old bachelor was practically pouring off him. I thought I was going to die. Ho-ho-ho.

Grrrind.

The sound of teeth grinding came from beside them. Kim Junsu and the other team member suppressed the laughter threatening to burst out.

It’s the Team Leader.

It really is the Team Leader.

A gangster-like impression and the smell of an old bachelor. Just hearing that much was enough to identify the Security Team Leader.

His expression was so frightening that there was even a rumor that when he first joined Sangdong Guild, the interviewer had been too scared to look any further and hired him on the spot.

“Has that ajumma lost her mind…?”

The Team Leader ground his teeth and whipped his head around. The two men, whose faces had flushed red from holding back their laughter, hurriedly lowered their heads.

“You two look like you’re having a hard time holding it in.”

“Oh, no, sir.”

“There’s no such thing.”

They tried desperately to deny it, but the Team Leader was already thoroughly offended. He stood up.

For a single man in his mid-forties, the words old bachelor touched on a subject that absolutely should not be touched.

“I’m going to the sauna to wash off this old-bachelor smell, so have the transcript ready for me to read as soon as I get back.”

“What?”

Kim Junsu and the other team member were dumbfounded.

A C-rank Hunter showing off at a real-estate office and a scatterbrained ajumma. Why would anyone write up a transcript of their completely unremarkable conversation?

“Team Leader, it’s all being saved automatically…”

“Prepare a full-page A4 statement of your individual opinions, too. He’s an important target, so we should gather the team’s input.”

“…”

“…”

Since when had he ever asked for their opinions? And how could it make sense for the Team Leader to go to a sauna while they were dealing with such an important target?

Their expressions twisted at the narrow-minded superior’s petty retaliation.

“Didn’t you hear me? Repeat the order back. Execute!”

“…Yes.”

“…Execute.”

“You bastards have gotten way too lax. You treat your Team Leader like dog shit.”

The Security Team Leader glared at his subordinates, snorted angrily, and left the room.

Bang!

The apartment’s front door slammed shut. The two men left behind immediately let out everything they had been holding in.

“Man, fuck this.”

“Isn’t this taking things way too far?”

“Why is he taking out the fact that he has an ugly face and can’t get married on us?”

“Is his face the only problem? That ajumma said he spoke in a commanding tone. His personality’s rotten, too.”

“This is so damn unpleasant. I can’t keep doing this.”

“Ah, I really can’t afford to get stressed out. It’ll make even more of my hair fall out.”

Kim Junsu muttered in a voice thick with tears and felt the top of his head.

He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like at least ten hairs had fallen out in the last few moments.

“Then what do we do about the transcript and the statements?”

“What do you think? If you don’t want to watch the Team Leader throw a fit, you have to write them. Want to go to the hospital and get a medical statement?”

“…”

“Just write something rough. I’ll cover for you and say you couldn’t write because you were using Familiar magic.”

After letting out a deep sigh, the two men began cursing the Team Leader in earnest.

Even then, the conversation continued through the transmitter.

—It’s nice. Since it faces south, it gets plenty of sunlight. What about the building next to it? Don’t tell me that one’s gone, too?

—Huh? No, it’s still available. Business has been slow lately, so the places that went recently were… Wait, young man.

—Yes?

—That arm of yours is really solid. Goodness, look at those muscles and veins.

—…

“Young man, come again. Come twice!”

I left the real-estate office with the ajumma’s regretful farewell behind me.

Goose bumps had risen all over the arm her hand had just brushed.

Whether it’s an ajumma or an ajusshi, people who grow old without growing up are all alike when it comes to hitting on younger people.

I had escaped as if fleeing from her sticky gaze, but I had already accomplished my purpose in visiting the real-estate office, so I had no reason to linger.

Confirm the listings that were recently sold or leased.

Today was exactly five days after the raid with Im Changsoo.

That meant the surveillance team had been assigned to me no more than five days ago.

I tried to act and ask about it indirectly without making it obvious, but…

Knowing that eavesdropping magic was in place, I had deliberately behaved that way. I wanted to come across as an unremarkable C-rank Hunter packed full of arrogance and extravagance.

Whether they fell for it or not was another matter.

My conversation with the real-estate ajumma had given me an important clue. I repeated the addresses I had memorized in advance in my head.

Building 5, Unit 901. Building 4, Unit 302. Building 3, Unit 202.

These were the listings that had changed hands in the past five days.

I had used our house as the center point and set the range at a maximum of five hundred meters—the distance Familiar magic could reach.

The watchers were definitely somewhere within that range.

The problem is how to find them.

My goal wasn’t to drive them away. I wanted to catch them, beat the hell out of them, and find out who was behind them.

If I jumped at the wrong lead, they might realize what was happening and run.

They could be hiding in a car, too, so I should check the parking lot.

If I started searching the nearby houses, they would notice something was wrong. But I could search the parking lot naturally.

All I had to do was scan the area with Qi Sense while pretending to take a walk.

Game over.

System

Lv. 42 Kim Gwondong

“Oh, we meet again.”

Just like this man.

I returned Kim Gwondong’s familiar greeting.

“Indeed. We meet again.”

“You said you were going to the real-estate office. Are you done already?”

“I just asked a few questions. But when I actually went there and looked into it, the house prices weren’t exactly cheap. I ran right back out.”

“That’s how this neighborhood is. Still, you’re doing well for yourself, young man. At your age, I was just sitting at home eating my parents’ food.”

“Doing well? Ha-ha.”

If he knew what real ability looked like, he’d faint.

Kim Gwondong laughed along, unaware of my thoughts, then spoke.

“Well, I should be going. I need to walk as far as the park over there.”

“You must like taking walks.”

“Huh? It’s not that I do it because I like it. I do it because I need to. You’ll have a hard time too once you reach my age.”

He deliberately waved his thin arms and legs.

From the outside, he looked exactly like an ordinary middle-aged man who was skinny everywhere except for his protruding belly.

He certainly looks like a civilian.

Anyone else would have been fooled.

But there was no way a civilian could be Level 42.

Probably a C-rank Hunter. Judging by his build, he’s probably specialized in stealth and pursuit.

Once you knew someone was a Hunter, there was a lot you could infer.

I said goodbye to Kim Gwondong.

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

“That depends. We might run into each other, or we might not. Ha-ha.”

Well, I definitely wanted to see him.

Of course, when that happened, I wouldn’t be parting from him with a smile and a laugh like I was now. I wanted to knock him flat right then and there, but it wasn’t time yet.

I gave him a slight bow and turned to leave.

“Oh, right. That cat seemed awfully smart. I saw it on my way over, and it was still there.”

He had even given me a friendly reminder not to forget to pick up my Familiar.

And just as he said, the cat was waiting for me in the same spot as before.

“Meow.”

Right. Hyung’s here, you punk.