My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 14

========== CHAPTER 14 ==========

There, 200ml milk cartons were neatly arranged, each with a yellow sticky note attached that bore the clumsy handwriting, “Cheer up!” The expiration dates had long since passed, but not a single speck of dust had settled on those milk cartons. As if they were wiped down every day, that space was as clean as a sanctuary.

“…I’m here.”

The voice was no louder than a mosquito’s buzz. But that tiny sound was enough to cut through the heavy air in the room.

It hadn’t been long since he’d moved here as if fleeing. One day, a knocking sound was heard from beyond the firmly shut front door. Knock. Knock. No one knew he was here. He held his breath. He thought a nightmare had come to find him. But the next day, and the day after that, the knocking sound came without fail. It was strange to say someone had visited. Just two knocks, followed by silence.

Due to the continuous, strange visits, he eventually gathered the courage to open the door. There was no one in front of the door. Instead, a single 200ml carton of milk with a yellow sticky note attached was left sitting there all alone.

When he first saw the milk, he was engulfed in fear. The fact that someone had found his hideout. He pulled the blanket over his head and trembled, anxious that reporters or people who cursed him might burst in at any moment.

But like that, 3 days, 4 days, a week, and a month.

The knocking sound was heard every morning, but no one ever opened his door and came in. Only silence and the milk, which seemed to have just been bought and was covered in water droplets with a yellow sticky note attached, would come to find him.

Around the time fear turned into familiarity, and familiarity into a strange sense of relief, Kwon Do-geun brought the milk from in front of the door inside for the first time. And without realizing it, he found the cleanest spot in the room, wiped away the dust, and carefully set the milk down. Since that day, a quiet comfort had been piling up in his small sanctuary, one by one each day.

A warm smile spread across Lee Seong-ha’s lips as he listened to Kwon Do-geun’s confession. It was a smile that seemed to fully understand the meaning contained in his small sanctuary.

“But, we didn’t come here to endure together.”

At his words, Kwon Do-geun lifted his head with a puzzled look. Was it not comfort and empathy? Lee Seong-ha continued, as if reading his mind.

“We came here to fight together. My friend’s motto is, ‘If a trial comes, let’s tear it to shreds.'”

It wasn’t a funny statement at all. It was actually a rather brutal expression. Yet, a dry laugh, pishik, escaped Kwon Do-geun’s lips. Perhaps it was because of the unfamiliarity of the word ‘resistance,’ which he had forgotten for too long.

Lee Seong-ha didn’t miss his small change and continued.

“Why don’t you hear him out? He might not look like it, but he’s quite a smart guy. He’s the type who wouldn’t lift a finger for something he wasn’t sure about.”

The ‘guy’ he was talking about was Go Gyeol, who was outside the door. Kwon Do-geun briefly pictured Go Gyeol’s face. Cold, sharp, and eyes that seemed to see through everything. Whether he knew Kwon Do-geun’s heart or not, Lee Seong-ha added his assessment of Go Gyeol.

‘That guy is beyond just being good at studying. If that brilliant brain of his had veered off course by even an inch, he might have placed this Republic of Korea under his own dictatorship.’

Lee Seong-ha thought to himself and shook his head. That was how much Go Gyeol’s strategy and judgment were beyond imagination. That was why he could immediately accept that he had been a Hunter Manager in his past life.

If he himself had been a hunter, he would have been a hunter who devoured the world.

‘That bastard should have been the one to awaken, not me.’

Lee Seong-ha, who had been lost in thought for a moment, flashed the smile that used to make old ladies swoon back when he was a priest at the Kwon Do-geun who was staring at him blankly.

“It’s not like you’re losing anything by listening.”

Lee Seong-ha said as if driving in the final wedge.

“And… aren’t you curious about how that bastard knew about your situation, Kwon Do-geun-ssi? Honestly, I’m dying to know.”

Those words caused ripples in Kwon Do-geun’s heart once again. That was right. How. The man outside the door had asserted his unjust situation, which he thought no one would know, as if he had seen everything himself. It was the most fundamental question he had forgotten while buried in despair.

Curiosity began to push away fear. It was a very small spark, but something began to burn again within his dying inner self.

Kwon Do-geun nodded very slowly, but clearly.

He was curious too. How that man knew the truth of that hellish incident that had taken everything from him. And perhaps, he wanted to know, just a little bit, what the ‘fight’ he was talking about was.

“Come in.”

The old front door opened with a friction sound. A triumphant smile hung on Lee Seong-ha’s face as he poked his head through the crack in the door. Go Gyeol’s brow furrowed mercilessly at the sight.

“Tsk.”

Go Gyeol clicked his tongue lightly and, as soon as he stepped inside, kicked the grinning Lee Seong-ha in the butt.

“Argh! You crazy bastard! I’m helping you and you still abuse me!!”

“Shut up and finish cleaning the room.”

Go Gyeol snapped, crossing the half-cleaned living room.

Go Gyeol took a seat opposite him.

“Shall we talk now?”

At the quiet question, the man nodded slightly while still keeping his head down. A silent signal that he was finally ready to talk.

As if he’d been waiting for it, Go Gyeol pulled a business card from his pocket and slid it across the table.

The name printed on the simple black card.

[Hunter Management ‘Gyeol(結)’ Representative Go Gyeol]

“…I am.”

The moment Kwon Do-geun opened his mouth to say something, Go Gyeol’s low but firm voice cut him off.

“Listen to me first.”

His gaze was piercing through Kwon Do-geun sharply.

“I won’t give you sweet talk about how I’ll immediately clear the false accusations you’re wearing or send you back under the flashy spotlight. But, it’s exactly 2 years. Within 2 years, I will wash away every single bit of that false accusation that has bound you, without leaving even a pile of ash. After that, whether you return as an actor or live as a hunter, that’s up to you.”

Only then did Kwon Do-geun slowly lift his head. In his eyes, revealed through his shaggy hair, deep suspicion lingered instead of hope. How could he clear the false accusations from his acting days while living as a hunter? It was a story that made no sense logically.

But Go Gyeol had no intention of explaining further. Even if he said a hundred words now, to this man driven to the edge of a cliff, it would only sound like a pipe dream.

‘The path is already paved. You just have to walk it.’

After the message to recruit him popped up, Go Gyeol had carefully set the stage because he didn’t want false accusations to be cast upon the team he had built.

There were no variables in the future where Kwon Do-geun shook off all the false accusations and stood up on the stage he had set.

And as Kwon Do-geun walked that path himself, his distrust would naturally turn into conviction.

“…Are you… scouting me as a hunter?”

Finally, Kwon Do-geun’s locked voice flowed out.

“Yes.”

Go Gyeol answered without hesitation. Kwon Do-geun’s pupils shook anxiously at his firmness.

“But I… have never done hunter work….”

Of course, he had awakened. But his profession was an actor.

Showing off his abilities for people’s interest in broadcast interviews or variety shows was all he had done. He had never once entered an actual dungeon swarming with monsters.

“Don’t worry about that.”

Go Gyeol’s eyes glinted as he smiled. It felt strangely chilling, so Kwon Do-geun tilted his head.

“How is it? Will you sign a contract with me?”

A blue, translucent message window floated in the air.

[Mission 8: Recruit ‘Kwon Do-geun’ – Success!]

[Mission success reward is being paid.]

[5 Gold has been awarded.]

A low sigh escaped Go Gyeol’s lips as he stared at it emotionlessly. With this, the first hunter recruitment mission was all over. He didn’t know when another annoying recruitment mission would drop, but he felt relieved that he had gotten over one hurdle.

“Four hunters in a company with nothing. Is your bank account safe?”

Lee Seong-ha, who was holding the steering wheel, asked while glancing at Go Gyeol through the rearview mirror. His voice was mixed with half worry and half mockery.

“You’re the same, but both of them didn’t have signing bonuses, so it’s fine.”

Like entertainment agencies in the show business, Hunter Management also required huge signing bonuses to recruit skilled hunters. But since Kang Ji-hyun and Kwon Do-geun, who were recruited this time, signed the papers without signing bonuses due to their respective circumstances, Go Gyeol’s fat bank account could remain safe.

Go Gyeol’s brow narrowed for a moment as he answered without thinking.

“Why four? Isn’t it three?”

“Wow, look at this guy’s personality. Are you leaving out our little kid Kang Hoon? Poor Kang Hoon, meeting the wrong owner.”

“Ah, I forgot.”

Go Gyeol replied shortly, as if he had just remembered, at Lee Seong-ha’s exaggerated grumbling.

He had definitely scouted Kang Hoon, but since he was still young and couldn’t be put into field missions yet, he hadn’t been considering him as immediate manpower, so he had completely forgotten. He leaned his body deep into the seat.

Lee Seong-ha, who had glanced at the comfortably sprawled Go Gyeol, opened his mouth again.

“The scouting is all done now, right?”

“For the time being. Unless the System demands it, I won’t scout any more. It’s a headache to manage if the number of people increases.”

‘System’. It was a secret only Go Gyeol and Lee Seong-ha knew. Before turning everything back, in the life before the regression, the total number of hunters in the management Go Gyeol led was six.

“How many were there before the regression?”

“Six.”

Three S-ranks and three A-ranks. Among them, two S-ranks were talents Go Gyeol had personally unearthed since they were A-ranks and raised with blood and sweat. But they eventually stabbed him in the back. The memory of that bitter betrayal remained vivid even now that he had regressed, piercing his heart.

“Then are there two spots left?”

“Who knows. Depends on how many more people the System tells me to bring.”

That was when it happened. The very moment Go Gyeol finished his answer, a new message window floated before his eyes like a flash.

[Mission 9. Train your hunters.]

Train your hunters in the designated dungeon.

Location: Sindorim Station S-Rank Dungeon.

Duration: 2 days 23 hours 59 seconds