‘If I pull this off, I get a bonus.’

Na Jo-yeong, a reporter for the Hunter Daily’s society desk, stood with her body as stiff as if she had stuffed a rectangular box down her shirt, clenching her hands, which were slick with cold sweat. She didn’t know the inside story of why a first-year rookie like her had been assigned such a high-profile interview, but she knew one thing for sure: if she screwed this up¹ and went back, her job at the company would disappear.

First, her desk would disappear, and then after enduring the cold shoulders from the company, she would be forced to walk out on her own. She had seen one or two people go through that in the past year.

Conversely, the company had said they would pay a performance bonus if she successfully completed this assignment. Senior Dan-yeong had said a promotion would also be guaranteed if she just did well, so this was the very opportunity she had been hoping and searching for.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime. A moment that would decide the rise or fall of her life. As she was clearing her throat, the door opened and a man with green hair entered the room. Thinking it was the person she was supposed to interview, she shot up in surprise, but upon seeing his face, she realized it wasn’t him and sat down awkwardly. The man, who had come in holding a tray, smiled at her.

“I’m sorry. The Guild Leader is a little busy. He said he’s meeting with the Association President right now and will be back, so please wait just a little longer. As he is a member of Noah, he needs to consult with the Association before proceeding with an interview like this on his own.”

Even if a voice were carried on the wind, it couldn’t have been more refreshing than this. Jo-yeong, who had been momentarily dazed by the man who seemed to personify the adverb ‘gently,’ nodded her head as if bewitched. A teacup was extended towards her. Befitting the Korean name of the Swallow Guild, the teacup also had a rather antique feel to it.

‘This teacup looks familiar.’

It looked similar to a cup she had seen while studying to get into the Hunter Daily. She remembered it was a first-generation guild, but what was the name? It was something-ho, she thought…

As she tilted her head at the vague memory, the green-haired man smiled with his eyes curved like crescents and left the meeting room. Despite his relaxed demeanor, was he a rookie? The moment he left the room, she heard voices calling for him from all over, “Yan!” After briefly sending her gaze to his broad back, Jo-yeong took a sip of tea and calmed her pounding heart.

Does this guild recruit its members based on looks or something?

She had felt it from the moment she came in, but every single one of them had handsome faces.

But among them, there was the real deal.

Thinking of the person she was about to interview, Jo-yeong’s fingertips trembled slightly. Fearing she might break it, she put the cup down.

The hunter who had sent not just the hunter world, but all of Korea, no, the entire world, into a frenzy by clearing Adelia’s Tomb, only to suddenly go into hiding.

Sa-yoon of Noah.

There was so little information released that his name was practically all that was known. Jo-yeong also knew of his face from the pictures that had been quickly uploaded and then deleted, so she began to mull over the lines written on the white paper, wondering how she would be able to speak without stuttering while looking at that beauty head-on. She had wondered if interviews were always conducted with a complete script like this, but from her perspective, she was just grateful they had agreed to the interview at all, so she had no choice but to accept the conditions they presented.

How long had she been reciting the script like that?

“You’re working hard.”

A voice that was soft, yet held a somewhat sinister air, echoed in the meeting room.

“…!”

Startled, Jo-yeong lifted her gaze from the paper.

“H-how…”

She hadn’t felt any presence. She hadn’t even heard the door open. As she was panicking, the man who had sat down across from her at some point smiled with his eyes and gave a very slight nod of his head.

“Please take good care of me today.”

The voice she heard was still surreal. Jo-yeong, even more out of sorts than with the green-haired man before, stared at the man for a moment, then vigorously shook her head. Performance bonus, recommended resignation, performance bonus, recommended resignation. As she repeated the two contrasting phrases in her head, her eyes shot open.

“I’ll be in your care! I’m Na Jo-yeong from the Hunter Daily!”

At her sharp, spirited greeting, the man offered a gentle smile. And yet, for some reason, there was a strange uneasiness, as if a primal fear was being stimulated. Jo-yeong, breaking out in a cold sweat, subtly darted her eyes.

The hot issue that had set the world on fire, Sa-yoon.

The man, with an appearance that one couldn’t help but admit was worthy of becoming a hot topic on its own, was right in front of her.

After taking several deep breaths, Jo-yeong, trying to hide her trembling voice, turned on the recorder.

The interview began.

***

“Thank you for your hard work!”

“Yes, you worked hard as well.”

Beaming. The woman who, just a moment ago, had been so stiff and pale she looked like she couldn’t even recite the national anthem properly, was now smiling with a look of relief. She kept bowing her head and repeating her thanks, and only after being escorted to the door did she seem ready to leave. She straightened her body, which had been bent in half, and with a final “It was an honor to meet you,” she carefully exited the Swallow Guild building. I, who had been smiling until my cheeks cramped, wiped the unfamiliar smile off my face only after the guild members had closed the door and drawn the curtains for security.

“Agh, my jaw hurts.”

If it were just smiling, it would be one thing, but enduring for an hour with the benevolent smile of a saint unlike any other in the world, I thought I would die from holding back the urge to go on a rampage. As I massaged my slightly twitching lips and scowled, Yan approached and handed me some kind of massage ball. When I asked what it was, he said it was for facial care.

“You’re a celebrity now too, hyungnim, with your face all known. You have to take care of your pretty face so it looks even prettier.”

I threw the massage ball at the one who was joking around, leaving a blue work of art on Yan’s fine face, and took off the formal suit jacket I had worn. Only after unbuttoning three buttons on my shirt could I finally breathe. While Yan, who still hadn’t learned his lesson even after being hit, was letting out a scream like “Kyaak,” a zombie walked over from the distance.

“What, you’re done already? That finished earlier than I thought. Here’s the info on the reporter from the interview. Just as you wanted, hyungnim, she’s clean water with no connections to the corrupt side of the media, and she didn’t grow up in a wealthy family. Her parents died when she was young, and with no relatives willing to take her in, she seems to have grown up in an orphanage. If she’s that bright, she grew up well.”

“Did you raise her? Never mind the useless information, what’s the reaction from the Hunter Daily?”

“The Hunter Daily is having a festival. An article will go out saying they secured an exclusive breaking news interview, and the interview will be released around 6 PM when the hype is at its peak. They should probably be worried about their servers crashing.”

The zombie. No, Gyeongjin, who had barely managed to cling to the form of a person thanks to his decent original looks, cracked his stiff neck to the left, thwack, and to the right, thwack, then frowned.

“No matter how I think about it, my salary is not enough.”

He muttered about how he was being worked too hard for what he was being paid. I let out a hollow laugh.

“There’s probably no other employee in the world who gets paid in the hundreds of millions² a month while working as much as you do.”

And what’s more, I had even changed the first digit of his salary during the recent salary negotiation. As I stared at him incredulously, thinking the man with the highest price tag in Night Rat had no right to say such a thing, he stubbornly insisted it wasn’t enough and held out the documents in his arms.

“This is additional data on the dead ones from the old Scorpion files. They must have realized we’re on their tail, because their cleanup speed is fast. At the latest, we’ll probably have to go to the Black Zone early next month.”

He complained that even for him, it would be difficult to track them if they finished their cleanup and went into hiding. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked like he hadn’t slept in three days, so I decided to show my vast generosity and grant the hard-working Gyeongjin a half-day of rest.

“Han Geon-joo.”

But only after asking this.

Gyeongjin, who had received the same question every day for the past fortnight, contorted his face in exasperation and sighed.

“Still no news. Didn’t he say he’d come out after opening one skill? If so, it could take up to three months if it’s delayed, so try to grow some patience. Or maybe, take this chance to, I don’t know, find a religion and say a prayer.”

He’ll come out when he gets the skill.

He grumbled that there was no change in the fact that there was nothing he could tell me if they didn’t come out of the Gate, no matter how many times I asked for news every day, and then staggered away. I hadn’t even told him to go yet, but his mouth moved like a machine, non-stop.

“Now I have to check the data the intel team uploaded, classify that again, and investigate the movements of the overseas criminal guilds that might be connected to Scorpion, and check the overseas public opinion. Ah, what was that data again…”

His voice, cracking with fatigue, muttered on, sounding like a dark mage reciting a vicious spell. He was in such a haggard state you would never think he was a Night Rat executive. I clicked my tongue and reached out my hand to the side. Yan, who had been standing beside me fawningly, quickly read my intention and handed me the massage ball.

I tossed it into the air and caught it, then opened my shoulders back and threw the blue massage ball at Gyeongjin’s head.

PA-A-A-AK!

A heavy thud echoed through the Swallow Guild lobby. As expected of a head full of so much information, it made a full, solid sound, not a hollow thunk. Satisfied, I gestured with my chin towards Gyeongjin, who had collapsed after being hit by the flying ball.

“Put that thing on a bed. He’ll wake up on his own in half a day.”

When he had a lot of work, Gyeongjin wouldn’t rest even if I told him to, saying the work would just pile up more if he rested now. I had no intention of letting my competent employee die from overwork, so I granted him a forced rest. The guild members, moving like worker ants, carried him away.

I am a true leader.

Praising my own kindness, thinking no one could be kinder than this, I suddenly felt my phone, which I was holding, vibrate. Zzzing. I turned my wrist.

‘Mijeong Noona’

“What’s this noona want?”

I wondered what had possessed a person who had never called me in her life to be calling me now. Wondering if something urgent had happened, I tilted my head, then answered the call. A cheerful laugh was heard immediately.

• *Brat. I heard you got stood up by your pretty boy?*³

“…”

Fuck, who spread this rumor now?