Chapter 3: What Position Would You Like to Have?
Haram, looking thoroughly fed up, tugged at Seomun Hyeok’s sleeve. Seomun Hyeok thanked the stylist, finished paying, then led Haram out toward a nearby department store.
“Was that woman from earlier an awakener? Something like that?”
“Pardon? Ah, probably not.”
“She was just an ordinary person? Her eyes were shining so fiercely.”
“She must have been pleased with her own work.”
“My hair, you mean?”
“Yes. Doesn’t it look neat?”
Just then, Haram stepped into the department store elevator and looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t fond of this blank, soft face — but the haircut, at least, was passable.
“Will this at least do something for our kid’s dignity?”
He said it while awkwardly smoothing his hair. Seomun Hyeok was a beat late in understanding the words. They didn’t suit Haram at all.
“…You’re surprisingly fond of children.”
“Me? No. I can’t stand children. Especially snotty little ones.”
The elevator doors opened. Seomun Hyeok stepped out with Haram and asked, puzzled:
“And yet you treat Sua well. You seemed comfortable handling a child. Even now, you seem to be worrying about her.”
“That’s because….”
Haram’s steps slowed. Seomun Hyeok glanced down at his injured leg. Wondering if it might be hurting him, he looked around for somewhere to sit.
Then Haram, who had gone quiet for a moment, murmured:
“I was once the same.”
“Pardon?”
“I was an orphan too.”
The words that came out of Haram’s mouth were unexpected. Seomun Hyeok’s eyes went wide.
“I never knew my father’s face. My mother died of illness when I was four.”
“…….”
Perhaps it was because of his arrogant manner. Seomun Hyeok had assumed Haram must have been born into nobility.
But to learn that wasn’t the case at all — it was a surprising enough past that he felt slightly thrown off.
“So… is that why you’re a little gentler with children?”
“Yes. Perhaps so. When I was starving on the streets, children in a similar position to mine helped me. Thanks to them, I was able to survive without dying.”
“…….”
“One of the children who helped me told me this. That when I grew up and came across children in a similar situation, I should reach out my hand to them.”
The haziness that had briefly come over Haram’s eyes, as if he were sinking into memory, cleared and his focus returned.
“Well, that’s just how it was. A common enough story for those times.”
After that, Haram wandered through the department store with his usual sullen expression and went about his shopping. He didn’t continue or let on anything more about the story he’d shared, and Seomun Hyeok, though he kept an eye on Haram’s mood, acted as if he hadn’t heard a word of it.
By the time the two of them left the department store, the number of shopping bags in their hands had grown to ten.
Having dressed Haram in neat, presentable clothes and purchased everyday outfits and necessities for both him and Sua, Seomun Hyeok got back into the car and took the wheel.
The next place they headed was the kindergarten Sua attended.
“Is it this way?”
“Yeah. Turn left here.”
“The road is quite narrow….”
“So? Can’t you manage? A coachman should be confident behind the wheel.”
“Now of all things, a coachman…. Good grief….”
There were a few minor hiccups along the way, but the sedan they were in managed to pull up in front of the kindergarten without much trouble.
“Do I get out now?”
“Please wait a moment.”
The front of the kindergarten happened to be bustling with parents and children — it was the time when the regular-class students were being picked up. All of them were murmuring among themselves, eyeing the luxury sedan that had come to a stop in front.
“I’ll get the door for you.”
Seomun Hyeok did something he wouldn’t normally do. Without even covering his face, drawing everyone’s attention, he stepped out of the car.
“Oh my!”
“What? Who is that? A celebrity?”
“That’s Hunter Seomun Hyeok!”
Unfazed by the overwhelming attention bearing down on him, he went around and opened the passenger door for Haram.
The crowd that had been whispering about Seomun Hyeok fell momentarily silent. Who could the person be that a national hero was escorting? All eyes shifted.
“I’m perfectly capable of opening a door and getting out myself. Why make a fuss.”
“A bit of a show is necessary sometimes.”
The one who stepped out was a young man. A pale, delicate face with fine features. Odd-colored eyes — one black, one blue. On top of that, dressed sharply in a semi-formal suit.
“Who is that?”
“Honestly, are you sure he’s not actually a celebrity?”
“But why would Hunter Seomun Hyeok…? Could he be an escort client?”
The brief hush around them erupted into noise again. Haram and Seomun Hyeok ignored the stares and made their way toward the kindergarten entrance.
Those gathered at the entrance parted instinctively without being asked, which meant the two of them were able to meet the teacher without any particular effort.
“Wh, who are you…?”
“Sua’s uncle. We’ve come to pick up Sua.”
Haram’s introduction had no unnecessary frills. The homeroom teacher startled and stared blankly at Haram’s face. At that, Haram twitched an eyebrow, visibly displeased.
“Oh, oh! Sua. Ju, just a moment! Sua!”
Fortunately, Sua came out quickly. That was thanks to being told in the morning that she would be leaving at the same time as the regular-class students today.
Sua, who had been clustered together with the regular-class children at the classroom entrance getting ready to head home, was led out into the hallway by the teacher’s hand.
“Huh…?”
But the child didn’t call out to her uncle and run over to him the way she normally would. Sua stood rooted to the spot, looking as though she couldn’t quite process what was in front of her, alternating her gaze between Haram and Seomun Hyeok.
“What are you doing. Come here.”
Haram called out to her. Seomun Hyeok gave Haram a light jab in the side with his elbow, then spoke in a noticeably warmer tone:
“Sua, let’s go home. We came to get you.”
At that moment, the classmates who had been craning their necks out through the open classroom door spotted Haram and Seomun Hyeok.
“Woah! Hey, hey! It’s Seomun Hyeok! Hunter Seomun Hyeok!”
“Where? Where?”
“Why is Seomun Hyeok over there?”
“He came to pick someone up apparently?”
“Who? That beggar? Yun Sua?”
Sua, who had frozen for a moment, snapped back to her senses at the commotion behind her. A bright, beaming smile broke across the child’s face.
“Samchon! Mister!”
Sua flung her kindergarten bag aside and came running toward the two of them with her arms out. At that terrifying momentum, Haram startled and smoothly sidestepped out of the way.
“What are you doing.”
“You hold her. This body of mine is far too slight.”
“Ha.”
Seomun Hyeok laughed in spite of himself, resigned, and scooped up Sua as she came barreling straight at him. A bright, ringing laugh spilled from the child’s lips.
“Did you have a good day at kindergarten, Sua?”
“Yes!”
“Um, excuse me…!”
It was then. Sua’s classmates, who had come out into the hallway at some point and were gawking at Seomun Hyeok, shuffled hesitantly closer. Among them, the tallest boy worked up the nerve to speak.
“And who are you.”
Haram addressed the child bluntly. The boy flinched as if he recognized Haram, then took one more step toward Seomun Hyeok and asked:
“Um, you’re Hunter Seomun Hyeok, right?”
“…That’s right.”
“Do you know Yun Sua?”
Sua, held in Seomun Hyeok’s arms, squirmed slightly. Seomun Hyeok gave her back a gentle pat to settle her.
“Of course — that’s why I came all the way to her kindergarten to pick her up.”
“H, how do you know her? Yun Sua lives in that rundown neighborhood over there…. Aren’t you maybe mixing her up with someone?”
“What did you just say, you little — hey! How old are you?! What’s your name?! Huh?!”
The boy’s words had struck a nerve with Haram. Seomun Hyeok made an awkward face and tugged at Haram’s sleeve to calm him down as he answered:
“Sua’s uncle here has such exceptional abilities that we ended up recruiting him — or rather, inviting him — into Eclipse. Because I wanted to get on the good side of someone as remarkable as Pyo Haram, I came along to pick up Sua and get to know her better too.”
It had been worth raising his voice on purpose. The moment the words were out, the people around them stirred.
A new hunter had been recruited into Eclipse? And what’s more, Hunter Seomun Hyeok — S-rank hunter and guild leader — had personally gone through all this effort to court him.
There was no better gossip than this. The crowd’s attention, which had been fixed on Seomun Hyeok, now shifted past him to Haram — who was being held (?) by his hand.
“But.”
In the midst of all this, Seomun Hyeok looked the boy straight in the eye. His smile hadn’t left his face, but those eyes of his were ice cold.
“What are you to our Sua? Are you her friend?”
His shadow fell over the boy’s frame. A quiet, suffocating pressure bore down on the child’s shoulders.
The boy, frightened out of his wits, couldn’t even cry — he just trembled.
“Um, uh, that, that’s….”
The boy couldn’t get a single answer out, standing there in a panic. Just then, from behind Seomun Hyeok came the voice of an unfamiliar woman.
“Gyumin!”
“Oh — Mom!”
At her call, the boy frozen in front of Seomun Hyeok sagged with palpable relief. Keeping a nervous eye on Seomun Hyeok, the boy ran to his mother and buried himself in her arms.
“Oh my, oh my. Aren’t you Hunter Seomun Hyeok? Hello! I’m such a big fan.”
After giving her son a quick hug, she turned to Seomun Hyeok and greeted him eagerly. She had no idea what had just transpired.
“Ah, yes.”
“But what brings you here of all places… Oh? Isn’t that Sua? Sua, hi! It’s been a while. Oh my goodness, oh my! You and Hunter Seomun Hyeok actually knew each other. And here I had no idea….”
Her expression brightened. She chattered away nonstop, not even noticing Haram standing right beside Seomun Hyeok.
About how her child was in the same class as Sua, about how well the two of them got along, about how Sua was so pretty that her son talked about her all the time at home.
“M, Mom, let’s just go already….”
“What is it, Gyumin. Mom’s talking.”
“Mooom!”
“Shh! Don’t interrupt when adults are talking.”
The boy called Gyumin’s face had gone so red it looked ready to burst. He kept anxiously glancing between Seomun Hyeok and Haram, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
He was worried that the two of them might know what he had been doing to Sua.
So that child was indeed one of the ones who bullied Sua.
From the way Gyumin couldn’t seem to settle himself, Seomun Hyeok deduced that he was one of the perpetrators of the bullying. Haram would have reached the same conclusion.
Better if I step in and handle this before Pyo Haram does.
Just as Seomun Hyeok was moving to send Haram behind him and step forward himself—
“Oh — Samchon!”
Sua, who had been in his arms, let out a startled cry as she looked toward Haram. Seomun Hyeok, turning to look at Haram a beat late, felt his eyes go wide.
“……!”
Contrary to what he had expected — that Haram would be glowering and growling at the child — Haram was standing with his head bowed, completely still. Blood was dripping steadily from his lowered face.
“Pyo, Pyo Haram?”
“Samchon!”
Both of them called out to him in alarm. Haram, who had been standing there dazed until that moment, wiped his nose carelessly with the back of his hand and took a step toward the boy.
“You — you’re Gyumin, right?”
“…Pyo Haram?”
Seomun Hyeok felt something was off. Haram’s eyes had gone completely unfocused.
