EFME 105

The day before Valeria was scheduled to leave the country, Sunyul met up with her again.

“Actually, while I was out looking for you, I almost got kidnapped myself.”

“What?!”

Sunyul told Valeria what he had experienced, hoping to gain some information. Valeria jumped up in astonishment, letting out sigh after sigh in sheer disbelief.

“Oh, my goodness. You could have been in terrible trouble.”

“As a result, nothing really happened, though.”

“Thank goodness. Truly…”

Valeria brushed her chest, looking as shocked as if it were her own ordeal.

“So, assuming it’s the same culprit, I want to hear if you have any information on the bastards who tried to kidnap you. And I’d like to check your party’s status windows.”

“Our status windows?”

Valeria pondered for a moment. Checking a status window meant revealing the cards one held as a hunter, so everyone tended to be reluctant. After some thought, Valeria finally spoke.

“Hmm… it’s not a matter I can just order them to do. I’ll arrange a gathering where everyone meets up. Sunyul, you handle it skillfully and take a look.”

“Thanks.”

“It would be great if there was anything else I could tell you! I really don’t know anything else. However.”

Valeria, who had been speaking sorrowfully, suddenly let her eyes gleam with seriousness.

“The point is that I truly don’t know anything.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I can be certain because of my bodyguard’s traits. We weren’t struck by something, nor were we taken down by means like drugs.”

Excluding physical force or drugs, there was only one possible method left.

“Then… you mean you were hit by a skill?”

Valeria nodded vigorously.

“There’s no other way. I won’t say I’m certain since there’s no evidence, but what else could it be besides a skill?”

“……A skill capable of knocking out both an A-class and a B-class awakened user all at once.”

If they had been handled so quickly that they didn’t even know what hit them, nothing but a peculiar skill came to mind.

“Hearing your story, it makes sense now. The culprit wasn’t after me, Sunyul—they were targeting you.”

Valeria stated with strong conviction.

“……Why do you think so?”

“They gave up on me way too easily. You said they found me a lot easier than expected for a thorough kidnapping. They didn’t really do anything to me, either. Of course, it could just be that I don’t remember it.”

“…….”

“You’d better be careful, Sunyul. Seriously. I don’t know how possible it would even be to kidnap and hold an EX-class like you, but it’s best not to experience bad things.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Sunyul, I have one last favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Just take one picture with me to post on Outstar.”

“…….”

Sunyul felt somewhat empty inside, but he meekly took the photo with Valeria. He didn’t particularly like taking pictures, but he chose to think of it as the price for her favor.

Sunyul saw Valeria off with a promise to meet again next time, and then headed toward the office.

It was none other than Sunyul’s very own office.

“Ahem, humph.”

Sunyul stepped inside awkwardly, as if entering someone else’s office. He couldn’t get used to it.

At first, he had said he didn’t need one, but because they kept pushing, saying it was an empty office anyway, he had no choice. They said something along the lines of how it was too much to bring in an EX-class hunter and not even give him his own office.

When he argued that most hunters who went out to battle got along perfectly fine without their own space, he was told that S-class and above were different from ordinary guild members.

He had no choice when they added that wandering around the guild cafe every time would make it look like Sunyul was being mistreated.

Still, now that he actually had it, he was making decent use of it. When Muyoung was around, he played in the lounge, and when Muyoung wasn’t around, he spent his time here.

In any case, Sunyul sat down at the office desk, which still gave off a strong scent of being brand new, and turned on the computer.

Today, Sunyul intended to identify what kind of skill that white hand he saw last time was. In order to catch the tail of the human who had tried to kidnap Sunyul himself.

It would be great if he could also investigate the skill used when kidnapping Valeria… but there were simply too few hints on that side.

Having found his direction, Sunyul first filtered out the types of skills that detached a part of the body. There were more applicable ones than he thought.

In the case of lower-rank skills, the skill user had to be nearby. Sunyul hadn’t sensed any human presence nearby. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a skill of a rank that was too low.

“The ones with a high probability are… the C-class [Ghostly Touch] or the B-class [Magician’s Hand].”

With [Ghostly Touch], the area around the wrist becomes increasingly faint. He couldn’t remember precisely, but the hand Sunyul saw seemed to have a clean cut around the wrist. It also felt like it had a stark white cross-section.

Magician’s Hand (B): A hand placed inside a hat moves exactly as the magician desires. The area from the hand to below the wrist can be moved to any desired location. It is also possible to move while holding an object in the hand, but objects larger than one’s own hand are impossible.

The skill Sunyul saw had the highest probability of being this one.

Having tentatively settled on [Magician’s Hand], Sunyul immediately placed a phone call.

Yoonjae approached with joy plastered all over his face.

“Hi, Sunyul.”

“Ah, hi.”

He had asked to meet up to request a favor, but because the other was so happy, Sunyul felt a bit apologetic.

“Is there something you need my help with?”

Yoonjae asked with a smile the moment he sat down. Sunyul was startled, having his inner thoughts caught.

“H-How did you know?”

“Because you have that kind of face.”

What kind of face was that? Sunyul touched his own face. Somehow, the moment people looked at his face, they knew exactly what he was thinking… it was truly convenient yet uncomfortable.

“If I help you, what are you going to do for me?”

Yoonjae asked with a beaming smile. He hadn’t thought that far ahead yet…….

“……Anything?”

At Sunyul’s response, Yoonjae frowned.

“You shouldn’t just say things like that recklessly. Don’t tell me you spout that kind of nonsense to Kwon Muyoung too?”

“I, I don’t.”

“Don’t do it.”

Yoonjae spoke seriously. Sunyul gave an unreliable reply, uttering an “Uhh…”. Yoonjae clicked his tongue.

“Just hang out with me for the day, and I’ll grant your favor.”

“……I was planning to do that anyway.”

They were originally friends, and today was Yoonjae’s day off, so he had naturally intended to spend time together.

Sunyul sometimes found it burdensome when people narrowed the distance and approached him much closer than before, but he didn’t dislike it. First of all, it meant they liked him. And it meant his past self had liked them, too.

Although he had no memories, just as much as Yoonjae liked him, he also wanted to become close with Yoonjae again.

“Really? Then let’s go to my place to hang out and have dinner before you go.”

“Sounds good.”

Yoonjae laughed. Seeing Yoonjae’s face brighten up completely over something so trivial made him feel a bit better.

“So. What’s the favor?”

“Actually… I want to look for someone.”

“A person? Why?”

“I got kidnapped before, right? By that… strange group.”

“……You did.”

Yoonjae’s expression darkened.

The Bureau of Ability Users still hadn’t grasped even a single clue about that group. In his heart, he wanted to dive straight into the investigation himself, but the dungeon generation rate had become too high to allow it, which was a source of lifelong regret.

Sunyul briefly explained what happened when he was with Valeria. He omitted details like cutting his hand with the dagger, which had made Muyoung extremely furious. Fortunately, as a result, Yoonjae simply gave way to pure anger.

“So, you’re going to catch that bastard yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Yoonjae let out a sigh. Normally, this kind of thing fell under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Ability Users… but it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand the feelings of his friend who wanted to catch them directly. In the end, Yoonjae decided to grant Sunyul’s request.

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“About that hand. I think there’s a high probability it’s the B-class skill, [Magician’s Hand].”

“Then it means the culprit is an awakened user of B-class or above……. That’s quite a lot.”

“How many are there?”

“There are slightly less than 150,000 domestic hunters. Among them, F-class hunters account for about 120,000, D-class is 14,000, and C-class is around 8,000.”

“……That’s a lot.”

“Since F-class makes up almost all of it, it’s not that many. Also, B-class is about 3,900, A-class is 920. And S-class is 17.”

Perhaps because he heard the large numbers first, it seemed relatively few.

“I’ll investigate the awakened users of B-class or above who were in Seoul at that specific time on that day. Just in case, I should check starting from the S-classes.”

“Could it really be an S-class?”

“There’s no reason to completely rule it out, right? I should also investigate foreigners who were staying in Korea during that period.”

“Ah, you don’t need to investigate the people who entered the country with Valeria. I checked them all through their status windows.”

“As expected of Sunyul. Even after losing your memories, your handling of work is perfect.”

Yoonjae’s eyes sparkled brightly. It was a little overwhelming.

“But what are you going to do once you investigate? Don’t tell me you plan to go around to every single one of them to check if they have the skill?”

“I have to.”

“……That certainly is the most surefire way.”

Skills that allowed one to view another person’s status window were extremely rare. As far as Yoonjae knew, there were only three people in the entire country who possessed a related skill.

One of them was a public servant belonging to the Bureau of Ability Users, and the other was Kwon Muyoung, who was far busier than Sunyul. It was a task that couldn’t be shared with anyone else.

“Since they were people in Seoul, most of them will be in Seoul. It shouldn’t be too hard to find them.”

“I hope so.”

Yoonjae looked at Sunyul with pity, as if anticipating the hardships ahead.

“For starters, I’ll have to cook something delicious today to cheer Sunyul up.”

“Great.”

“Let’s eat something delicious, drink wine, play board games, and watch a movie too. Sound good?”

“Yeah.”

For someone who claimed to be just a friend, he knew all of Sunyul’s tastes inside out. Every single option was to his liking, so Sunyul nodded his head.

Title: Did you guys see Valeria’s Outstar?

Looks like the two of them met up alone. Sunyul is seriously so broad-minded. If it were me, I wouldn’t have forgiven her.

Comments 

— Honestly, if it were me, I wouldn’t even have met up with her. 

└ I probably would’ve met her just to splash water in her face lol 

└ Let’s give her head a refreshing shower first. 

— Still, it’s decent of her to apologize honestly. 

└ She did apologize before too, saying she was sorry for causing trouble with a wrong judgment, though she got criticized for only using words. 

└ lol Sunyul suffered actual damage because of that, but she only used words, so of course. 

└ She’s seriously so annoying, but I’ll endure it since Sunyul accepted the apology. 

— In the midst of this, Sunyul came out incredibly well in the photo they took together. 

└ So pretty ㅠㅠ 

└ Pictures can’t capture his real-life looks.

Title: Valeria gave Sunyul a ton of items as compensation money?

But they say Sunyul cashed it all in and donated almost all of it again ㅠㅠ He’s seriously driving me crazy ㅠㅠ Use that money for yourself ㅠㅠ

Comments 

— Wow, just how much did she give? Valeria’s scale. 

└ She should at least give that much. 

└ But to think he donated all of it, damn. 

└ Donation angel. 

└ Stop donating, Sunyul-ah. Keep it for yourself and buy some snacks ㅠㅠ