Chapter 201 – Life Is Over (3)
Flash fires. In the photograph of the portrait, Choi Yeon-ju was looking straight ahead with a puzzled expression. Sitting in a seat facing the portrait, I felt indescribably complex. They say that children who have lost their parents have words to express them, but there are no words to express the opposite.
Seeing Choi Yeon-ju’s parents crying at the funeral hall made me feel even more confused.
Wailing sounds and popping flashes. At the end of the bloody clicking sound that even covered the scene of the funeral hall, the mourners silently bowed like people who couldn’t feel anything and held their parents’ hands as they poured out tears once in a while. I rummaged through the bowl of yukgaejang and lost myself in thought.
[This is what it felt like to see my funeral.]
The Almighty tried to lighten my mood in a very humorous tone. I nodded at her words and asked inwardly.
[How are you?]
[That’s strange.]
It was as it was said. It was a strange feeling to live with a dead person in your heart. The funeral did not come true, and only melancholy and strangeness remained in my heart. In front of me, Seong Ha-yeon and Yu-jeong were sitting in silence wearing black suits. Senior Yu Jeong brushed her neatly combed hair behind her ears to observe her mourners, while Seong Ha Yeon put down her chopsticks and bowed her head as if in prayer.
Hunter Lee Junhyeok couldn’t come today because he had a surgery scheduled. Since his nose was properly broken, he was undergoing reconstructive surgery.
“Can I bring you a drink?”
“No. It’s okay.”
I shook my head. The funeral attendant from [Paradise], Who was delivering food to the mourners, nodded her head and moved on to another table. Since it is a place where a lot of big names in the hunter industry come, it was clear that the staff was nervous.
Ichie was coming out of the bathroom, wiping her hands. She looked around and trotted towards us. As she sat down in her seat, a middle-aged man who had just finished her bow started walking towards us. Seong Ha-yeon, who was looking down at the floor, raised her head with a frown on her face, and senior Yoo-jeong stood up from her seat with a surprised face.
When she got up from her seat, she turned her head to confirm her opponent, as well as me and her reason.
A middle-aged man I had seen many times reached out to us. Intuitively, I realized that this man was a man with a high position in the Hunter industry, and I joined his hand. Shaking hands and bowing his head in greeting, the man said.
“My name is Kim Pan-seok, the guild master of the Diamond Club. Those are the people from the Black Dragon Room, right?”
“Yes.”
Kim Pan-seok was a man with an all-back combed hair and a mustache. He had a mariachi-like mustache, and his sharp eyes gave him an exotic look. He called us together with a simple tone that did not match his appearance, and then lowered his voice.
“Would you like to move your seat?”
“Ah yes.”
Senior Yoo-jeong whispered to Seong Ha-yeon with a puzzled expression.
“Are you the one who uses the original dialect? When I read a news article before, you said it very gently.”
“When I do interviews, I use standard language, but in private, I hear that I use dialect. So famous A hunter who wakes up when we meet in private.”
“But what are you calling us for?”
“I know.”
Kim Pan-seok, who went ahead, turned his head at the threshold of the funeral hall as if he was waiting for us. We reluctantly got up from our seats. Ichie asked.
“Supremacy. We don’t have Mr. Lee Jun-hyeok right now. But are we going to just go like this?”
“Wouldn’t it be right for us to listen and discuss with Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok? If you become the guild master of the Diamond Club, you will be busy and find it difficult to find time to talk like this. If there is something to discuss, I think it is right to bring it up now.”
Seong Ha-yeon looked at Kim Pan-seok with a sour expression. She still didn’t like the Diamond Club. I didn’t like Diamond Club either. But now, the Diamond Club and the Black Dragon Room shared the position of being victims of a terrorist group. I didn’t bother suggesting a conversation first, but I thought there was no need to reject it.
“Oh, Hyunwoo Lee. Lee Hyun Woo.”
And Hunter Lee Hyeon-woo passed by Kim Pan-seok. Today, Hyunwoo Lee greeted people with a firm expression in a stylish suit. He recognized Pan-Seok Kim standing at the entrance of the funeral hall, and he even asked for a handshake first. Kim Pan-seok lightly tapped Lee Hyun-woo on the shoulder and then winked at us. He decided to follow Kim Pan-seok outside because we were uncomfortable staying in this place with Lee Hyun-woo any longer.
Hyunwoo Lee saw me walking forward and he said this.
“Hunter Jeong Soo-hyun. Right?”
“Yes. Hello. Hyunwoo Lee Hunter. Thank you for helping me last time.”
“Ah, what about that time? Yes. I’m glad you were discharged safely. And, Yeonju Choi’s Hunter Gun is a pity. You must be heartbroken.”
“No. Then I have something to do, so I’ll go.”
“Yes. Take care.”
Hyunwoo Lee did not stop me from leaving. He glanced at the other women following me, then gave a small snort. Ichie said to Seong Ha-yeon.
“He just laughed at us.”
“Leave it alone. What if I laugh at you?”
Seong Ha-yeon walked forward with a sullen attitude.
Following Kim Pan-seok, we moved to a nearby store. It was a fairly large room cafe, but as soon as Seong Ha-yeon entered, she explained as if she knew where it was.
“Here it is. A place to use when meeting or having a meeting. Like the conference room here, there are projectors in each room, so there are many places that use them. In the past, if we had a meeting with another guild, we had a meeting at a place like this.”
“Is it so? But why did you do it at a coffee shop after that?”
“My uncle got angry when I said there was no alcohol. So I got kicked out.”
Senior Yoojung and I tried not to laugh. Panseok Kim told the counter clerk the name of the reservation, and the clerk smiled and nodded his head, then gave him the room number.
The reserved name was neither Kim Pan-seok nor the Diamond Club. The name was ‘Heo Jeong-hwan’, but when Seong Ha-yeon heard the name Heo Jeong-hwan, she tilted her head. I seemed to have heard it somewhere, but couldn’t remember who it was. Kim Pan-seok opened the door and told us.
“Come in.”
I followed him into the room and was startled. It was because middle-aged hunters in suits were sitting with frowns. I knew the faces of some of them. They were mid-level hunters belonging to [Paradise] And [Diamond Club].
Seong Ha-yeon whispered in my ear, as if she remembered it only then.
“The name of the A-rank hunter in Paradise is Heo Jeong-hwan.”
They whispered to each other as I and my companions entered, and then asked:
“Who is Lee Junhyeok Hunter?”
“You couldn’t come today because of your surgery schedule.”
“Ah, it was true.”
The person I was talking to was Hunter Song Yeo-ul, ‘Akbari’ of the Diamond Club. Unlike his name and cute nickname, he had a very thick body and a tough appearance with thick hair. Because of this, in the early days of Hunter Up, people who expected a female hunter based only on his name seemed to be angry with him.
He seemed to be acquainted with Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok. Panseok Kim Hunter said.
“Now, everyone, please have a seat. Everyone knows why we gathered the arguments like this today, right?”
As soon as we sat down, everyone nodded. What will the members of the Diamond Club, the Black Dragon Room, and [Paradise] Have to do in a meeting? As soon as I sat down here, I could see the purpose of this gathering. Seong Ha-yeon frowned, and senior Yoo-jeong was clearly nervous. Ichie was rolling her eyes here and there, checking her eyes.
But knowing what the purpose was, no one dared to speak first. Kim Pan-seok, who had brought out the beginning, opened his mouth again.
“Lee Hyun Woo. First of all, Lee Hyeon-woo, this bastard, is the dark side of this incident. I think so. There’s no proof, but there’s no one other than him who would do this.”
Everyone nodded. It was something we both agreed on. In all cases, Lee Hyeon-woo was always there. And now, there was only one Hunter Lee Hyeon-woo left in Seoul. Kim Pan-seok looked at us and continued.
“I think that we, who are suffering damage from Hunter Lee Hyun-woo, should all join forces. I think we should intensively investigate Hunter Lee Hyeon-woo and the company he owns, and dig up his plan in detail and put him in prison!”
Everyone responded to his voice. We also agree with him. However, I thought I should discuss it with Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok.
