Chapter 78

His phone battery was running low, and he was beginning to feel hungry. He had stared at the first floor for so long that he could probably navigate the lobby with his eyes closed, yet there was still no word from Lee Cheongryong.

“Haa...”

An ordinary person might have realized by now that something was wrong.

Unfortunately, Kim Kiryeo possessed the soul of an alien.

‘I suppose work must be especially demanding in a guild this large...’

Rather than suspecting the staff, Kiryeo merely felt sorry for Lee Cheongryong, imagining how overworked the man must be.

Besides, waiting itself meant very little to him.

“Hmm.”

A few minutes later, however, he encountered a problem he could no longer ignore.

The clock mounted on the far side of the lobby already read five in the afternoon.

In South Korea, standard business hours usually ran from nine in the morning until six in the evening. The workday would soon be over.

‘What should I do? Should I ask the front desk whether Lee Cheongryong is available now?’

He hesitated.

‘No. If I keep bothering them, I’ll only make their work more difficult.’

Kim Kiryeo folded his arms and considered the matter for a while before finally rising from his seat.

No.

This wouldn’t do.

At the moment, saving the 1.3 million won took priority over everything else.

“Excuse me...”

Unable to wait any longer, Kim Kiryeo approached the reception desk and asked whether Lee Cheongryong had responded yet.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’ll be able to meet the chief today.”

The answer stunned him.

Only now, after all that time, did the receptionist finally tell him that meeting Lee Cheongryong would be impossible.

“What? But earlier, you told me I could wait...”

“The chief has a very busy schedule.”

“Seriously? He can’t spare even one minute? Not even thirty seconds?”

From eleven in the morning until five in the afternoon.

To be precise, Kim Kiryeo had waited for six hours and twenty-three minutes.

And this was the result.

Flustered, Kiryeo began arguing with the receptionist, but it accomplished nothing. In fact, once his voice rose, he nearly found himself being dragged away by security.

“If you continue causing a disturbance, I’ll call the guards!”

“I understand. I apologize.”

But at that exact moment—

“What’s going on? Why is it so noisy?”

Tap.

A man emerged from behind the employee barrier near the elevators.

Kiryeo might never have met him in person, but he recognized him immediately. Before coming here, he had looked up several articles about Lee Cheongryong.

‘He looks exactly like the photographs.’

While Kiryeo stood there staring, the chief of Neo Sisters approached the reception desk and spoke casually.

“You can’t shout in the lobby. Now, what seems to be the problem?”

The chief himself had appeared to deal with the troublesome visitor.

“Ah, Chief, this is...”

One of the receptionists hurriedly explained that an F-Class hunter had arrived without an appointment and was insisting on meeting him.

“Hello, Lee Cheongryong-ssi.”

However, Kiryeo paid no attention to her explanation.

He simply carried out the task he had come to complete and held out the item box.

“Huh? Why are you giving me...”

Even mass-produced items had individual characteristics, and Lee Cheongryong’s item box was distinctive enough to be recognized at a glance.

The chief immediately realized that it belonged to him.

“I came to return this on Yoonseung’s behalf. Hunter Ahn Yoonseung was unable to come personally because of a private matter.”

He knew Yoonseung.

Dyed hair.

Sharp eyes.

At first, Lee Cheongryong hadn’t recognized him, but as he continued looking, the man’s identity gradually became clear.

His eyes widened.

“W-wait. Could you be the person who helped our Yoonseung at the gate the other day?”

Kiryeo gave a small nod.

“If you mean the golem incident, then yes.”

Lee Cheongryong had never imagined that he would meet him like this.

The mysterious, unknown hunter who had saved one of the guild’s most valuable talents had suddenly appeared before him.

“What an incredible coincidence!”

A broad grin spread across Lee Cheongryong’s face as he eagerly reached out to shake Kiryeo’s hand.

He had long been curious about the mysterious man Yoonseung had mentioned.

And now that they had finally met, the man appeared to possess not only exceptional skill, but admirable character as well.

“I’ve wanted to thank you properly for what happened back then. Since you’ve come all this way, would you care to join me for a cup of tea?”

He smiled warmly as he made the invitation.

However, the answer he received was unexpected.

“Tea? That’s all right. You’re busy.”

Kim Kiryeo spoke with complete sincerity, without the slightest trace of sarcasm.

“I was told you didn’t even have time to meet me for a moment. I’ve been waiting in the lobby for six hours.”

What... had he just said?

Lee Cheongryong slowly turned toward the receptionists, silently demanding an explanation.

Neither of them answered.

They could barely form coherent sentences.

By now, they had already realized that they had made a terrible mistake.

“In any case, the item box has now been returned, correct?”

“Yes...”

“Then thank you for your time.”

As Kiryeo turned to leave, Lee Cheongryong hurriedly called after him, his expression filled with alarm.

“W-wait! Please, just a moment! Could we talk for a little while?”

But Kiryeo had already made his decision.

“Hmm. I’m feeling rather tired, so I think I’ll go straight home today. I apologize.”

There was no hidden meaning behind his words.

Kiryeo was merely stating his condition and intentions honestly.

But from Lee Cheongryong’s perspective, how could the statement sound like anything other than a deliberate rebuke?

Tap.

The moment Kim Kiryeo left the lobby, the reception desk descended into chaos.

Lee Cheongryong soon learned that the employees had dismissed the request of an F-Class hunter and left the visitor waiting for nearly six hours.

“Seola-ssi, have you lost your mind?!”

He roared so furiously that his vision nearly went white.

How extraordinary did a hunter have to be for Ahn Yoonseung to call him his lifesaving benefactor?

And now, of all people, this was the man they had treated so disgracefully.

“You treated a guest who came to our guild like that simply because he was F-Class?”

“I-it wasn’t because of that. We couldn’t reach Hunter Ahn Yoonseung by phone...”

“Then you should have contacted me first! Even if you couldn’t confirm their relationship, how could you leave a visitor sitting in the lobby for six hours?”

“I’m so—”

“Is that all you have to say?”

Lee Cheongryong’s voice rose even further.

“Do you think working for this guild makes you a hunter too? Let me make something very clear. Even if I fired every one of you, your combined salaries still wouldn’t equal the salary of a single D-Class hunter!”

Ironically, the same man who had just warned them not to raise their voices in the lobby was now shouting loudly enough to shake the walls.

“And Seohwan-ssi!”

Lee Cheongryong rounded on another employee.

“You were promoted recently, and you still don’t know how to handle a situation like this?”

“Chief, I...”

“You should have stopped your juniors the moment they began behaving strangely. Instead, you joined them! In my eyes, that makes you even more responsible!”

How could ordinary employees remain calm while being berated by an executive?

The receptionists went pale and lowered their heads.

“I apologize.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Yet Lee Cheongryong’s anger showed no signs of subsiding.

Kim Kiryeo was the man who had saved an elite awakened strike team from annihilation.

A hunter powerful enough to defeat the golem of a Mutation Gate with ease.

That was the true value of the person they had just driven away.

“Ah, this is driving me insane. Why isn’t Ahn Yoonseung answering his phone either?”

And so the lobby staff endured the chief’s fury well past the end of business hours.

Much later, once the disciplinary committee had decided how to punish them, the incident finally seemed to be approaching its conclusion.

***

“Yoonseung, you...”

The next day.

Inside the chief’s office at the Neo Sisters Guild.

“That hunter you called your lifesaving benefactor... Why didn’t you tell me the moment you found him?”

Lee Cheongryong sat Ahn Yoonseung down on the sofa and questioned him in a grim voice.

The A-Class hunter seated opposite him thought quietly to himself.

‘So it’s finally come.’

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

In truth, he had always known this conversation would happen eventually.

“The matter was settled privately. Besides, even if I had reported my connection with him to the guild, it wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Ahn Yoonseung took a slow breath and calmly began to explain.

“He really hates being tied down.”

Kim Kiryeo had a peculiar aversion to joining organizations such as guilds.

Even if Yoonseung had informed the guild earlier, any attempt to recruit him would likely have failed.

Lee Cheongryong lowered his head in silence.

‘That’s true.’

He had already received the relevant records that morning.

To his surprise, Neo Sisters had attempted to recruit the F-Class hunter before.

And not merely as an ordinary member.

They had specifically offered him a position on the guild’s appraiser support team.

‘And when I checked, Kim Kiryeo was still unaffiliated!’

Lee Cheongryong bit his lower lip.

“However, Chief...”

Ahn Yoonseung’s voice became noticeably colder.

“I heard something rather shocking.”

Lee Cheongryong flinched.

“Apparently, one of our employees kept Hyung-nim waiting in the lobby for six hours yesterday. Is that true?”

“...”

“If it is, then frankly speaking, hasn’t our chance of recruiting him been completely destroyed?”

Fresh blood welled from Lee Cheongryong’s bitten lip.

His expression suggested that tears of blood might begin streaming from his eyes at any moment.

‘Damn it! How was anyone supposed to know that such an incredible hunter was disguising himself as an F-Class?’

How could the guild’s prospects be ruined by one employee’s rudeness?

Countless thoughts raced through Lee Cheongryong’s mind.

‘Could he have deliberately presented himself as F-Class to test how our staff would treat him?’

It was possible.

A hunter with strength sufficient to overwhelm a high-grade golem.

An appraisal ability capable of piercing the mysteries of the Magic Tower’s labyrinth.

And no current guild affiliation.

That blond man was exactly the kind of talent Lee Cheongryong had always dreamed of finding.

“We cannot give up.”

The guild’s official number had already been blocked.

In that case, he would simply call from his personal phone.

“Chief, what are you doing?”

“You stay out of this, you brat!”

Refusing to abandon even the slightest possibility, Lee Cheongryong searched for Kim Kiryeo’s number and placed the call.

Brrr. Brrr.

Fortunately, Kim Kiryeo happened to be the sort of person who answered calls from unfamiliar numbers.

Click.

The call connected.

—Hello?

“Ah, Hunter Kim Kiryeo! Hello!”

Lee Cheongryong immediately launched into an apology.

His plan was to offer a private meeting as compensation for the previous day’s incident, then naturally guide the conversation toward recruitment.

However—

—Oh my, Kiryeo-ssi. Who are you talking to? Could it be someone from Neo Sisters?

A woman’s voice suddenly drifted through the speaker.

—Could you hand me the phone for a moment?

—What?

—Come on. I know him very well. As it happens, I have something I’d like to say to him.

Lee Cheongryong already recognized that irritatingly cheerful voice.

—Hello? Chief Lee?

A thick vein bulged on his forehead.

—It’s unfortunate, but Kiryeo is currently on a private date with me. I’m afraid he’s rather busy.

“You...”

—Besides, when someone has made such a serious mistake, wouldn’t it be wiser to reflect quietly instead of creating even more trouble?

The person who had seized the phone was none other than the guild leader of the Korean Magic Tower.

—If you understand, I’ll hang up now. Have a pleasant afternoon.

The call ended with Esther’s mocking farewell.

Lee Cheongryong stared blankly at the dark screen for several seconds.

Then he slammed his fist down on the desk.

Thud!

“Aaaaargh! Why did it have to be that hunter?!”

At this rate, he was going to need medication for high blood pressure.