I was confident in persuading people. It was what I had been doing for 22 years, so no matter how big a guild leader he was, I thought I could easily find out what I wanted by catering to his taste and slowly wearing him down through conversation.

However, I soon realized that catering to someone’s taste and using persuasive speech only worked on “normal people.”

In Geon-joo’s opinion, Sa-yoon was not someone who fell into the normal category.

‘There are people like this?’

When I stamped the contract he handed me and joined the guild, I thought things had been resolved smoothly. The plan was to gain full support from this guild, improve my skills, find out Sa-yoon’s weaknesses, and then gracefully slip away.

But after joining the Night Rats Guild, what Geon-joo experienced as an initiation was not a welcome ceremony or an entrance test, but something like the tyranny of a huge guild.

Of course, not as the victim of tyranny, but as the one wielding it.

Sa-yoon took me somewhere, then stopped in front of the Dragon Tiger Guild.

It was a guild ranked 10th in the country, so even Geon-joo had heard of its name.

I wondered why we were suddenly here, but Sa-yoon’s subsequent actions were shocking.

He fought the guild’s security guards with his energy and ended up killing one of them, all without batting an eye.

He seemed so used to it that it was as if I had taken on the shock that should have been his. I almost fainted while watching.

A person died.

Not from bleeding. Not from a prolonged battle. Sa-yoon merely waved his hand once, and the frozen person vanished in an instant. I don’t know how much it stimulated my nerves and evoked fear.

In the face of unbelievable power, my sense of reality disappeared, and my thoughts were momentarily dulled.

Maybe that’s why. Why I thoughtlessly asked the man who had just murdered someone if this was alright.

Even though he had killed someone right before, Sa-yoon was bickering with a man named Jongsik as if it were an everyday occurrence. In response to Geon-joo’s question, he gave an unexpected answer.

‘You’re smart, aren’t you? Did you really think hunters only hunt monsters?’

Of course, I wasn’t that naive. I had anticipated that there would be many clashes with other hunters and potential threats. I just didn’t know it would lead to life-or-death struggles.

As I stood there in shock, Sa-yoon told me various things that Geon-joo hadn’t considered, no, things that newly awakened hunters generally couldn’t imagine.

Things like how it was common for people to die in gates, making it easy to cover up murder cases, or how attacking people was easier than wielding a knife against monsters.

Listening to him talk as if he would dig up and expose all the dark aspects of the hunter world, I felt strangely persuaded.

Even if he lacked morality, his words made some sense. As is often the case where groups gather, it was plausible that this level of filth existed.

Every time I heard about actual incidents, I realized how innocent and naive I had been. As I renewed my vigilance as a hunter and tried to view Sa-yoon, who had given me advice in his own way, albeit in an extreme manner, in a new light, that’s when it happened.

‘…I understand what you’re saying, but what you did, Guild Master, and the examples just now are on a different level.’

‘What’s different?’

‘…Pardon?’

‘If I hadn’t killed that security guard, I might have been stabbed to death by his knife.’

An S-rank getting stabbed to death by a low-rank hunter who’s not even C-rank?

Talk sense.

The man who had been spouting sophistry was now even deceiving me. Thanks to that, Geon-joo, who had been trying to view Sa-yoon favorably, could retract his choice and glumly stared at the man who claimed that the stronger one is, the crueler their methods should be. As I blinked, unable to empathize, Sa-yoon seized my body, perhaps taking advantage of a moment’s carelessness.

In that state, the man’s face suddenly came very close.

I unconsciously swallowed as I met his eyes right in front of me.

What’s with this lack of hesitation in physical contact?

He grabbed Geon-joo’s arms and neck without discrimination, narrowing the distance as if skinship meant nothing to him. His actions, which seemed to give no thought to the other person’s discomfort, left the awkwardness solely to Geon-joo.

Does he usually stick close to others like this?

My pulse raced as a reflexive response, and I thought my heartbeat might even be audible.

As I was so distracted that I couldn’t even hear what he was saying, a familiar name pierced my ears like a needle.

Jongsik.

He was the person who always stayed by Sa-yoon’s side, grumbling and reprimanding Sa-yoon while fulfilling his requests. I thought he was just a simple attendant, but listening to what Sa-yoon said, he seemed to be someone more important than that. After all, even the stingy Sa-yoon readily showed trust when it came to Jongsik.

Come to think of it, Sa-yoon only acted more cheerfully and played silly pranks with Jongsik. As I realized that Sa-yoon was most comfortable with him, a question suddenly wrapped around Geon-joo’s mind.

Had Sa-yoon ever done these actions to that man as well?

Did he treat that person like this too?

Calling him pretty, grabbing his arm, getting close to his face, and such?

At a distance where their lips might accidentally touch.

I suddenly felt unpleasant. It was as if I had become an easy person, a cheap human who would fall into his hands with a little persuasion.

The arm with the handprint ached just enough to be uncomfortable. Pretty boy, pretty boy. The voice calling me that became unpleasant to hear. Fortunately, just as Geon-joo was about to be swallowed by the feeling that had engulfed him, he was saved.

Thanks to Sa-yoon throwing a person, claiming it was an initiation.

‘Aaargh!’

The thrown person screamed in terror as he flew through the air, and Geon-joo, who was watching him, was also appalled. The person who landed on the spot with a thud pounced as if to fight first and talk later. I was startled and dodged the blade that flew at me without warning, realizing that I had to fight even if I didn’t want to, and drew my weapon.

Fighting a person for the first time, Geon-joo thought.

Regardless of how Sa-yoon treated Jongsik or how he viewed me, the important fact was that Sa-yoon was simply a lunatic.

That thought became even more firm when he saw Sa-yoon, who had thrown six guild members at him and still wasn’t satisfied, proposing to spar with him, an S-rank.

‘Keh…!’

The man held in Sa-yoon’s hand struggled and tapped the hand tightening around his neck. Geon-joo, who was watching that murderous scene from a distance, was startled when the man confronting Sa-yoon ignited flames.

The moment the fire blazed, the searing heat reached even me. It was so intense that I immediately broke out in sweat, but even in front of those flames, Sa-yoon showed no sign of flinching.

Instead, he acted as if the fire attacking him was ridiculous and exuded a cold energy. It was the skill he had shown when dealing with the security guards, but seeing Sa-yoon unscathed amidst the blazing flames, I realized that it was an incomparably stronger power than before.

No, to be precise, he wasn’t unscathed.

Because his hand gripping Chunbok’s neck was being burned by direct contact with the fire. To the point where his fingertips turned black.

It was a painful sight just to look at, but Sa-yoon didn’t let out a single groan. Rather, the one groaning and suffering wasn’t the burning Sa-yoon, but the Dragon Tiger Guild’s leader, whose neck was being crushed by the blackened fingers.

‘Withdraw your skill.’

‘……’

‘I said, withdraw it.’

Menace oozed from his authoritative tone. His dark blue eyes flashed. The Dragon Tiger Guild leader faltered at the force that seemed ready to snap his neck if he didn’t withdraw his skill.

Finally, the flames subsided, and the room that had been hot from the heat cooled down. Sa-yoon’s chilling energy filled the room as if to engulf the entire guild.

‘If you don’t have the ability, you shouldn’t have been greedy.’

His gentle warning voice was eerie. Geon-joo saw Chunbok, the leader of the country’s 10th ranked guild, trembling before Sa-yoon and watched Sa-yoon write a vicious contract that seemed to strip the man’s soul bare.

Compared to what Chunbok was writing, the guild membership contract I had signed was perfect, without a single malicious clause. It was so ideal that it could be considered flawless.

‘That robe, you’re an S-rank, right?’

As if leaving bloody handprints on others and making them sign a contract that looked like it was written by the devil wasn’t enough, Sa-yoon even took the clothes Chunbok was wearing.

Seeing his vicious behavior, as if he would strip the entire storehouse bare, the dissatisfaction that had accumulated over several hours melted away cleanly.

If the opponent is an enemy, he’s a man who will thresh their soul.

For the first time, Geon-joo felt relieved that he was someone Sa-yoon needed.

At least for the time being, he wouldn’t end up in a situation like the Dragon Tiger Guild’s leader.

At the same time, he felt the future becoming uncertain. It was like his vision was going dark.

Find out his secret?

Me, that man’s?

His gaze looking down at the potion bottle in his hand became murky. He was someone who readily handed over bottles that looked quite expensive without any hesitation.

He had that much wealth and the power to subdue the leader of the country’s 10th ranked guild with one hand.

In terms of power, wealth, and experience, Sa-yoon and I were incomparable. But could I really uncover that man’s secret?

When I first saw him, there seemed to be quite a few gaps, but now, in Geon-joo’s eyes, Sa-yoon was like an extremely stubborn wall. A wall that looked several times higher up close than it did from afar, making him think he could climb it.

…It doesn’t seem possible.

The information was valuable enough to aim for a reversal in life if he could just find it out, but it didn’t seem like it would be easy at all.

I’ll try my best, but Geon-joo, who couldn’t shake off the thought that it might be impossible, held tightly onto the potion bottle in his hand as if it were his lifeline.

For now, this thing that Sa-yoon had readily handed to him was the only comfort, proving that he cherished him.