▶ Chapter 27. Smash Them and Threaten Them (1)
“Han Dongju!”
The man sitting beside me suddenly jumped to his feet and shouted excitedly.
Han Dongju raised one hand with a pretty smile that showed his dimples.
“Yes! I’m Han Dongju! And over here we have~”
“Ice Wolf-nim!”
The woman accompanying the man shouted before he could finish.
Her eyes had practically turned into hearts as she stared at Han Yonghwan.
Han Yonghwan’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly at the nickname Ice Wolf, but he showed no other reaction.
“Han Grizzly too!”
“He’s so handsome…”
“Han Yonghwan-nim, I love you!”
“Please give me your autograph!”
“Haha! As expected, First Hyung is the most popular! But we came here to eat. Sorry, but we can’t accept requests for photos, and please don’t take pictures either!”
Han Dongju spoke smoothly while lightly pushing his two older brothers toward the hallway by their shoulders.
Han Yonghwan and Han Junggeun quietly disappeared into the corridor.
Han Dongju left everyone with a wink before quickly following after them.
“Wow!”
“We hit the jackpot!”
“Ice Wolf-nim is so cool!”
There were only ten customers seated at the bar, but everyone was so excited that the restaurant suddenly sounded like a noisy marketplace.
I was the only quiet one.
…Should I leave? No! I barely managed to get a reservation at this two-star Mashulin restaurant!
Still, I was worried they might notice me.
We’re in different areas, so surely they won’t.
None of the three had even looked in my direction just now.
Yeah. It’ll be fine!
It wasn’t because I hated wasting the 500,000 won.
Really.
But why are they at this restaurant?
After deciding to make the three brothers my disciples, I had searched the internet extensively to learn more about them.
I thought I already knew them reasonably well.
But they were far more impressive, admirable, and unfortunate than I had expected.
Until seventeen years ago, the three brothers had lived ordinary lives with their parents.
When Han Yonghwan was fifteen—
A Gate had unfortunately appeared inside their home.
Their parents and youngest sibling died instantly.
By sheer luck, Han Yonghwan awakened as an SS-rank Healer.
But at the time, he was only Level 1 and had never received any training, so naturally, he couldn’t properly use his skills.
Even so, he had squeezed out everything he had and created a Barrier to protect his younger brothers, who were three and six years younger than him.
For twelve hours.
Surrounded by vicious monsters.
Until Hunters finally arrived and rescued them.
I can’t even imagine what he must have felt during those twelve hours…
Even after that, Han Yonghwan’s life remained difficult.
Hunters aged fifteen or older were legally treated as adults, but he was still young and had no parents.
On top of that, the house where he had lived with his family his entire life was completely destroyed.
And he had two young brothers to take care of.
Quite a few people approached him hoping to take advantage of him.
Apparently, Han Yonghwan had suffered greatly because of scammers in the beginning.
Even so, he kept working hard as a freelance Healer.
I heard it was unbelievably difficult.
Freelancers who weren’t affiliated with a guild earned more money, but they also had much more work to handle.
Most importantly, it was dangerous.
Despite all that, Han Yonghwan leveled quickly, climbed the rankings, and raised his younger brothers at the same time.
He did that for five years.
Then, when Han Yonghwan turned twenty, seventeen-year-old Han Junggeun awakened as an SS-rank Swordsman.
It was an unbelievably huge stroke of luck.
That was when some people tried to squeeze the two brothers dry.
They were their relatives.
Until then, those same relatives had taken money from Han Yonghwan while pretending not to care how much he struggled balancing Hunter work with raising his brothers.
Now, they fabricated all sorts of lies and made it look as though the two brothers were ungrateful.
I heard public opinion became extremely hostile toward them.
Other guilds also joined the manipulation.
They wanted to keep the brothers in check before they became even more powerful and eventually bind them with slave-like contracts.
Then—
One of the Rank 6 Fixed Gates managed by those guilds suffered a Break.
Fixed Gates regularly respawned ordinary monsters.
As long as they were properly managed, guilds could continuously harvest monster materials and mana stones from them.
They were basically treasure vaults.
But if they aren’t managed properly, a Break happens.
And that particular Gate happened to be located near a densely populated apartment complex in Gimpo.
If they had failed to stop it properly, the result would have been a horrific disaster.
Fortunately, the incident ended without a single death.
And that was entirely because of Han Yonghwan and Han Junggeun’s outstanding performance.
Reporters and U-Tubers who happened to be nearby broadcast the entire thing live.
People all across the country watched it.
And after witnessing what happened, they began to wonder.
“Hunters who risk themselves like that are supposed to be shameless people who don’t know how to repay kindness?”
People actively began investigating whether the rumors were actually true.
Some reporters, deeply impressed by the brothers’ actions, did the same.
And then they found it.
The truth.
“Their relatives fabricated false rumors so they could squeeze money out of them, while several guilds joined in because they wanted to lower the brothers’ value and trap them in slave contracts? And reporters took bribes from those guilds to write fake articles?”
Public opinion completely reversed.
The guilds involved were hit so badly that some were reduced to a fraction of their former size.
And those damned relatives ended up in prison after their other crimes were exposed.
People who felt guilty for insulting the brothers immediately changed their attitudes and began praising them instead.
After that, when Han Dongju awakened as an SS-rank Item Craftsman at seventeen, the three brothers became even more popular.
That was how the three brothers eventually became the Hunters loved endlessly by the public today.
Still, the road to that point must have been incredibly painful.
They must have felt seriously betrayed by people.
And yet, none of the three ever mentioned how the public had once thrown stones at them.
They simply continued working diligently.
They’re even willing to risk their lives for other people.
The more I learned about them, the more impressed I became.
Maybe that’s why Confucian Guy told me I could trust these three?
While I was nodding to myself, the couple sitting right beside me began talking.
“Ah, I remember now.”
“Hmm?”
“That person who came in with bodyguards before Ice Wolf-nim arrived. I thought I’d seen him somewhere before. I finally remembered who he is.”
“Who?”
“The Hunter Association President. I heard he’s a regular here. Guess it was true.”
“Then maybe the three brothers came here to meet the President. But aren’t they on bad terms?”
The couple was speaking in very low voices.
But I could hear them clearly.
“They are. The Hunter Association President got his position through connections, and he’s used to being treated like royalty. I heard from a reporter recently that he keeps asking the three brothers for things that are basically bribes. Apparently, they really hate him.”
I perked up my ears, wanting to hear more.
Unfortunately, the staff began serving the food, and the couple immediately changed the topic to the meal.
Feeling slightly disappointed, I picked up my chopsticks too.
The first course was yukhoe.
It practically melted in my mouth.
This is amazing!
I was impressed, but at the back of my mind, another thought kept growing.
It sounds like they hate each other… They warned me to be careful of the Hunter Association President, so why are all three of them meeting him together?
A cloud of suspicion slowly formed.
…They’re not secretly plotting something with the Association President, are they?
Confucian Guy had told me I could trust them.
But as someone who had literally died in my previous life after being stabbed in the back, I couldn’t simply ignore the possibility.
≪Eavesdropping≫
I secretly activated the skill.
I can’t get caught, so slowly… very carefully…
My mana spread over the floor like transparent mist.
It flowed into the hallway, then slipped into the room where the three brothers and the Hunter Association President were sitting.
+ Chapter 9. Smash Them and Threaten Them
The owner of the two-star Mashulin restaurant was none other than the Hunter Association President’s lover.
That was why the President used this restaurant whenever he had the chance.
And whenever he brought guests with him, those people were given menus with prices three times higher than normal.
His lover would later give the difference back to the President as spending money.
Ugh. Disgusting.
Han Dongju knew all about it, which was why he didn’t want to come here.
But this time, they didn’t have much of a choice.
When they contacted the Hunter Association about allowing NotAHunter to use portals, the Association President personally told them to meet him here.
And he specifically demanded that all three brothers come.
“Haha! Welcome, welcome.”
Inside the private room they had been shown to sat three bodyguards.
And between them was a handsome middle-aged man with a strangely greasy impression, sitting with his legs spread wide apart.
I already feel sick.
That was what Han Dongju thought.
But outwardly, he gave the man a bright smile as though he were meeting someone he was genuinely happy to see.
Smiling calmly in front of awful people was something Han Dongju had been doing since before he became a Hunter.
Back when his two older brothers had been branded as ungrateful beasts who bit the hand that fed them—
When the entire country had pointed fingers at them—
Han Dongju had forced himself to smile so his brothers wouldn’t be criticized even more.
After doing it over and over, he had become very good at it.
And besides—
Honestly, it’s fun!
Smiling at bastards to their faces—
then finding all sorts of ways to smash their heads in behind their backs.
