“It was about a year ago, wasn’t it — we met in front of the kindergarten. You remember me, don’t you?”
“P, pardon?”
It wasn’t only his eyes that had changed. Haram’s way of speaking, his demeanor, the air around him — everything was different from how Seomun Hyeok had known him.
“I remember your face too, Gyumin. But Gyumin. Our Sua told me. That there are kids in your class who say mean things and bully her.”
“Uh, uh….”
“Could you pass something along to those kids for me? That it would be in their best interest not to mess with our Sua from now on.”
“…….”
“If I hear even one more time from our Sua that someone is teasing or bullying her—”
Haram’s body swayed for just a brief moment. The instant Seomun Hyeok startled and moved to steady him, focus returned to Haram’s eyes.
“…I will make sure, by whatever means necessary, that they pay for it. Do you understand?”
Haram’s manner of speaking shifted again. So did the air around him.
Something happened.
Seomun Hyeok sensed that some kind of change had come over Haram. But he had no way of knowing what, exactly, that change was.
While he observed Haram with a probing look, Haram fixed Gyumin with an icy stare, then turned to the boy’s guardian and delivered a measured, deliberate warning.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know that you’ve been gossiping about me and my child behind my back for years?”
“Pardon? What, what on earth—!”
“Watch that mouth of yours. If you want to live out your days in peace, you would do well to put an end to such lowly behavior.”
The woman’s face flushed. Just as she was about to shout something back, the principal — having heard the commotion — came rushing out from inside the kindergarten and stepped between them.
“Just a moment, please. What seems to be the matter?”
“No — this man just said the most awful things to my child and me—!”
Gyumin’s guardian, red-faced with indignation, grabbed hold of the principal and sputtered. I told you to watch that lowly mouth of yours.
“Tsk.”
Haram looked down at her with contempt, then turned away.
“You’re not worth another moment of my time. I won’t be seeing any of you again anyway.”
“W, wait. Let’s go together.”
Seomun Hyeok readjusted Sua in his arms, gave the principal and homeroom teacher a brief nod of farewell, and followed after Haram.
Those left behind watched Gyumin’s guardian making a scene at the principal and whispered amongst themselves.
“What happened?”
“Apparently that woman had been going around bad-mouthing some other child. And it just so happened that child’s guardian had a connection to Hunter Seomun Hyeok?”
“Oh my. Isn’t that Gyumin’s mom?”
“Tsk tsk. I always knew something like this would happen. I’d been watching and waiting, honestly — she’d been getting worse and worse about talking about other people.”
“Was the child Gyumin’s mom was bad-mouthing Rayoung’s family? Or Suchan?”
“Wasn’t it Jiyun? She’s always talking about Jiyun’s family to me.”
“The child Hunter Seomun Hyeok just carried off was Sua.”
Their whispers reached Gyumin’s guardian’s ears. Her face was now red for an entirely different reason than before.
By then, Sua’s group had gotten into the car and left the kindergarten behind. Gyumin’s guardian, mid-complaint to the principal, glared at the empty space where the car had been, then gathered Gyumin and left.
Tap — tap tap tap—
Those who had witnessed the whole scene from beginning to end sent word to their acquaintances via phone.
The news that Seomun Hyeok had come to a kindergarten, and that Haram had been recruited into Eclipse, spread quickly across the internet.
* * *
“Samchon, are you okay? Does something hurt?”
“Here — wet wipes. Let’s go to the hospital first. Please put on your seatbelt.”
Meanwhile, inside the car, a minor commotion had broken out. Sua, seated in her car seat, couldn’t sit still as she stared at the bloodstain on the back of Haram’s hand, and Seomun Hyeok too kept checking Haram’s complexion in the rearview mirror as he drove.
“It’s fine. The bleeding stopped a while ago.”
The only calm one was Haram. Having wiped off his hand and face carelessly with a wet wipe, he leaned back against the seat and went limp.
“Stop making such a fuss. You’re giving me a headache.”
“Samchon, even so….”
“At least let us go to the hospital for a check—”
“Tsk. Both of you, enough. Talk about something else. Something else.”
Haram waved a hand dismissively. Sua and Seomun Hyeok exchanged glances and fell silent.
In the quiet that finally settled over the car, Haram let out a long yawn. This was already the fourth time today that he had glimpsed the memories of this body. And yet losing control of himself was something he simply could not get used to.
Damn it all….
Since becoming an archmage, this kind of helplessness was a first. Haram ignored the worried gazes aimed his way and closed his eyes right then and there.
In his silence, both Sua and Seomun Hyeok opened and closed their mouths, unable to find the words.
Buzz— buzz—
A sudden vibration cut through the quiet. Seomun Hyeok, caught off guard, glanced at the phone sitting in the car mount.
Geumi
Incoming call
The caller was Geumi — one of his guild members. Seomun Hyeok’s brow furrowed slightly.
What’s going on?
He had told everyone he would be taking personal time off until today.
Could it be something urgent?
While he was deliberating, the call dropped. But almost immediately, the same caller rang again.
In the end, Seomun Hyeok couldn’t ignore it — he found his earpiece and put it in. His finger found the answer button and pressed it.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Haram, who had been keeping his eyes shut the whole time, quietly cracked one open at the sound of Seomun Hyeok’s voice. Sua, too, blinked her round eyes and looked at the back of Seomun Hyeok’s head.
“…Hm? What did you say?”
The car hit a red light just then. Seomun Hyeok braked a beat late.
His body lurched forward with a jolt. With that impact, the earpiece popped out of Seomun Hyeok’s ear, and the other party’s voice came through the car’s built-in speakers.
A new hunter recruited into Eclipse — and I have to find out from a news article?
“…….”
Tell me everything, from start to finish, in detail — leave nothing out!
The sharp, ringing voice stabbed at Haram’s eardrums. Seomun Hyeok glanced at Haram’s reaction in the rearview mirror, then let out a sigh and said:
“…I’ll be there now. Let’s talk in person.”
The light changed. The car they were in glided off into a different lane than before.
* * *
“What did the guild leader say? Is this article for real?”
“Ugh, I don’t know! Looks like he’s on his way here.”
Inside the Eclipse guild lounge. Three guild members, sunk into plush sofas, each had their phone in hand and were fuming.
(Breaking) “Breaking Two Years of Silence” — Eclipse Recruits Unknown New Hunter
News has surfaced that Eclipse, the elite guild led by Seomun Hyeok — S-rank hunter and widely hailed as a national hero — has taken in a new guild member for the first time in approximately two years.
Since its founding four years ago, Eclipse has maintained only a small core of carefully selected members. In particular, external recruitment had been completely suspended for the past two years, making this decision likely to send considerable ripples across the industry.
Eclipse, currently operating as a small elite unit, has three guild members: A-rank defense-type Hunter Gi Taebeom, A-rank fire magic-type Hunter Ma Geumi, and B-rank healing-type Hunter Eom Jihan.
Comments (42)
— ip23.41: Wait, they’re taking people? When’s the announcement? Why haven’t I seen it lol
└ ip57.93: There’s no announcement. Nothing was said in the industry. Given how fast the rumors started flying, this is probably just noise.
└└ ip95.38: It’s not noise. Eyewitness accounts and verification photos are coming out. Not just one or two people either.
— ip49.16: This place doesn’t take just anyone — so who did they pick up, out of nowhere and without a word? Did some S-rank show up or something lol
— ip27.75: Rumor has it the new recruit is someone’s dad. Looking at the eyewitness photos it checks out (link)
└ ip85.33: Is that real?? Seomun Hyeok and a kindergarten just don’t go together at all, looks photoshopped lol
└└ ip53.55: My acquaintance’s kid goes to that kindergarten and they heard it directly — it’s real. Apparently Hunter Seomun Hyeok went along to the new recruit’s kid’s kindergarten to get in his good graces. They say he held the new hunter’s kid and chauffeured them in his own car.
└└└ ip33.52: An acquaintance at a kindergarten lol does your acquaintance happen to be 5 years old?
└└└└ ip53.55: My acquaintance is a teacher at that kindergarten
└└└└└ ip33.52: Oh;; sorry sorry lolol
The internet was in an uproar. It had started in some parenting forum. A screenshot of a chat, posted as a conversation someone had with an acquaintance, and a photo that supposedly came directly from that acquaintance, drew all the attention.
“Has our guild leader actually lost his mind? He went to a kindergarten? And without even covering his face?”
Geumi pressed a hand to the back of her neck as she stared at the photos circulating online. Jihan, looking at the photos alongside her, frowned and shook his head.
“Isn’t this just someone who looks really similar? None of them are even head-on shots — they’re all blurry. Our guild leader is such a careful person. There’s no way he’d do something like this.”
“I don’t know.”
It was then. Taebeom, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, added one line.
“Given that he asked us to meet up and talk in person, I’d say the rumor isn’t entirely off the mark.”
Taebeom’s voice as he said it was pitched even lower than usual. His expression was blank enough that it was impossible to tell what he was thinking — but the displeasure threaded through his voice was not something that could be concealed.
He’s angry. That man is genuinely angry.
What do we do — is he going to hit the guild leader when he gets here?
Geumi and Jihan exchanged looks. They had known Taebeom for three, four years now. And yet this was the first time they had seen him this unsettled.
“A, ahem! W, anyway. I wonder if things will finally have some breathing room once a new guild member comes in? Ahaha.”
“R, right! Our guild leader is a careful person — I’m sure he’ll bring someone good.”
Geumi and Jihan awkwardly tried to salvage the atmosphere and started chattering about the rookie who would become the subject of the article.
In truth, neither of them was opposed to bringing in a new guild member. The reason everyone was upset was that they had found out about it through a news article first.
“I’m a bit hurt by the guild leader — but if he’s bringing someone good, then bring it on. Jihan, what position do you hope shows up?”
“Hmm, for me — a healer, first of all. I’m still far too lacking on my own. At minimum, I’d like a C-rank healer to come. Other guilds have one or two support healers each.”
“Oh, a healer. Not bad.”
“What about you?”
“Hmm, for me… ideally a buffer? We still don’t have one in our guild. I think a B-rank buffer who can boost mana would be ideal.”
Geumi’s and Jihan’s gazes drifted back to Taebeom once more as they chattered between themselves. Taebeom, who had been sitting stiffly in a way that didn’t suit the relaxed setting at all, slowly opened his mouth.
