EFME 106

“Sunyul!”

“Our Sunyul!”

The moment he arrived at the Melior Guild, Heena and Haemin hugged Sunyul from both sides. Sunyul just smiled at the contact, which he felt he was finally getting used to.

“What brings you here today?”

“I’m here to commission a few things. This and that.”

“If it’s for Sunyul, I’ll give you a discount!”

“Yeah, it’s a blowout sale.”

“Thank you!”

Since he didn’t have a lot of money, he was grateful for a discount—though he intended to politely decline if they tried to lower the price too much.

“But do you have money, Sunyul? I heard you donated all of it before.”

“I know, right? It wasn’t even that much money, you should save it…”

‘Not that much money?‘

An amount that could buy a whole house and still have leftovers? Sunyul realized anew that the two people clinging to either side of him made an astronomical amount of money. Though it was said they spent so much that they didn’t make the rankings for the wealthiest hunters.

“I have money now. My salary and the allowance from the last dungeon run came in.”

“Oh.”

“Ooh.”

The two clapped in celebration. Sunyul gave an embarrassed smile.

“I also sold off all the miscellaneous items in my inventory. I brought a few of them to commission.”

“Good, good.”

“What kind of commission are you putting in?”

Sunyul recalled the list in his mind.

“Hmm, a longsword, accessories, vitality potions, tracking scrolls…”

“Right, let’s sit down and talk first.”

Since it wasn’t just one or two items, he had written them down on a notepad in advance. When Sunyul unfolded the piece of paper and handed it over, Heena and Haemin put their heads together to examine the notes.

“This is detailed. Did you think of all this yourself, Sunyul?”

“No, the Guild Leader gave me some advice. Bada, Dakyung, and Jihyun-nuna helped too.”

While there were custom-ordered items like the longsword, things like winter accessories or light-emitting items were purchased based on advice from those who had run the dungeons themselves.

There was a basic guide on Hunternet. However, this was a tailored list that fully considered Sunyul’s situation, as he would primarily be frequenting S-class dungeons managed by the Cheongyeon Guild.

“It’s quite a lot. I’ll send them over one by one as they’re finished. This might take a little while, is that okay?”

“Yes. Nothing is urgent, so please take your time.”

“Alright, alright.”

“Ah, Sunyul. I investigated the soil you gave me last time.”

Heena spoke as if she had been waiting for this.

“It’s a peculiar component. It’s a component I’ve never seen before, neither in dungeons nor on Earth…”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But the mana pattern almost perfectly matches minerals commonly found on Earth.”

“That’s fascinating.”

Sunyul didn’t really understand, but he played along for now. Heena nodded with a serious look.

“That box reacted to you. Meaning, that soil must be related to you as well.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a high probability it’s soil that got on you.”

“I think so too.”

“Could it be soil obtained from near the rift?”

Sunyul recalled his memory of when he saw the rift. His head throbbed slightly… but he managed to remember it somehow. That place was…

“There… there was something there. Like collapsed ruins. It might have been obtained from there.”

“If it’s ruins… does that mean it doesn’t hold much significance?”

“It didn’t really seem like anything was functioning. In fact, it was actively collapsing in real-time…”

“Is that so? Hmm… Alright. I’ll check into it further for now.”

“If you have anything else to leave with me, bring it over! I’ll investigate as much as you want.”

Haemin chimed in excitedly. Heena glared at Haemin with a disgruntled look.

“Don’t interrupt so presumptuously. You just focus on stamping out the things you’re asked to make.”

“Stamping them out?! Don’t slander my creative children!”

Sunyul stopped Heena and Haemin from bickering. Then, he chatted with the two of them for quite a while.

When it was time for Sunyul to head back, Heena and Haemin came out to see him off.

“Did you get your license?”

“Yes!”

He had been preparing ever since he cleared the Jeju Dungeon S-19, and he took the driving test and passed not long ago. Wanting to practice, he had intentionally driven his car out today instead of using [Warp].

The reason he got a license despite having a skill was because Sunyul’s [Warp] skill came with conditions.

He couldn’t go to places he had never been before. So Sunyul got a license, thinking he would often need it when traveling for dungeon work in the future.

“How is driving? Is it manageable?”

“No, it’s hard…”

“It’s like that at first. As you keep doing it, won’t you eventually remember doing it before?”

It would be troublesome if his memories kept resurfacing. He even wondered if buying the car had been pointless. Instead of agreeing, Sunyul gave a vague smile.

“The car is pretty. Did the Guild Leader buy it for you?”

“Yeees.”

The moment Muyoung was brought up, his previous thoughts evaporated. Sunyul replied, feeling a little shy.

“Must be nice being in that phase.”

“Yeah, a great time.”

Sunyul got into the car to escape Heena and Haemin’s playful teasing. Then, before starting the engine, he suddenly remembered something and rolled down the window.

“More importantly, there are a lot of other hunters here, right?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“That’s a relief. There have been a lot of disappearance cases lately. It’s reassuring to know hunters are around…”

“Ah, I heard.”

“Please be careful.”

Heena and Haemin smiled proudly, touched by Sunyul’s genuine worry for them.

“Yeah, we will.”

“You be careful too, Sunyul.”

“Yes, please head back inside.”

Sunyul said goodbye and rolled the window back up. After taking a deep breath, he slowly started the car.

The distance from his house to the Melior Guild was considerable, but it wasn’t to the point of taking that long. However, Sunyul only managed to arrive home after a very long time had passed.

“…That was exhausting.”

Sunyul walked into the house looking like a total wreck. Halfway through, he had felt the strong urge to abandon the car and warp back by himself. If this car hadn’t been a gift from Muyoung, he would have done exactly that.

After washing up, Sunyul went into Muyoung’s bedroom instead of his own. Up until the day before yesterday, Sunyul had been inside a dungeon, and today, Muyoung was inside a dungeon, so they couldn’t be together. Because of that, he felt incredibly lonely and empty.

He lay down on the side where Muyoung always slept. Sunyul curled his body up. The empty space beside him, where Muyoung should have been holding him by now, felt hollow.

Sunyul calculated the things he had to do in his head.

Starting tomorrow, there would be a lot to do again. He had to find the person with the [Magician’s Hand] skill, and there were other important matters…

Thinking over the series of events, Sunyul closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

An emergency meeting was called at the Cheongyeon Guild.

Sunyul had been planning to go to the laboratory, but he hastily canceled his schedule and attended the emergency meeting.

Since the Guild Leader, Muyoung, was absent, the Vice Guild Leader, Jaehoon, led the meeting. Because it was an emergency meeting, several high-ranking hunters who could gather immediately were present.

“You’re all aware that missing person cases have been occurring in clusters, right?”

Jaehoon spoke in a serious voice, completely stripping away his usual playful demeanor.

“A missing person has occurred among our guild members as well.”

At the matter being more serious than expected, everyone began to murmur quietly.

Jaehoon displayed someone’s picture on the screen. It was a photo of a woman who looked ordinary, and thus, looked completely disconnected from any kind of misfortune.

“This is Kang Jisoo, a D-class hunter. Since she’s in the production division, she has virtually no combat capability. The method of disappearance is the same as before. Suddenly, vanishing as if evaporating.”

Korea is a country with many CCTV cameras. Not only are CCTVs installed everywhere, but vehicles are also equipped with black boxes, making it difficult to avoid eyes anywhere.

Yet the recent victims disappeared during the brief moment when the CCTVs lost their track. Other than that, the missing persons had no particular commonalities.

“Kang Jisoo disappeared on her way home from work. The last place she was spotted was in front of a convenience store near her house. This is an area with many CCTVs, but she vanished in a split-second window.”

“Why would they be kidnapped?”

“For now, the Bureau of Ability Users is heavily leaning toward human trafficking. In the case of awakened users.”

Human trafficking…

Just thinking about it made him feel sick to his stomach. Humans buying and selling other humans was something Sunyul could hardly comprehend within his common sense.

“The Bureau of Ability Users has requested help, and our guild member is involved in the case. So, we intend to jump into this investigation as well. First, we plan to scour the black market.”

Sunyul was deeply shocked to hear that there were places where people were openly bought and sold. Fortunately, however, it seemed the black market was a place that sold slightly illegal items or stolen goods. Of course, that wasn’t desirable either, but still.

“As for scouring the black market…”

Jaehoon called out the names of several hunters.

“These eight people will pair up in twos and work together. And… there’s a thug group suspected of human trafficking, and we need someone to infiltrate them.”

“I’ll do it.”

Sunyul immediately raised his hand and volunteered. At that, Jaehoon’s eyes widened in sheer surprise.

“Why would you do something like this?”

“Why not? I’m pretty well-suited for it. After infiltrating, I can use homunculi to investigate, and if worst comes to worst, I can escape using warp in an emergency.”

And I won’t die, so it doesn’t matter if something dangerous happens.

Sunyul swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say aloud.

“Good grief…”

Jaehoon looked at Sunyul, who was speaking nothing but facts, as if he had a headache. It was too high-grade manpower to use for an infiltration. Yet, he couldn’t help but agree that this high-grade manpower was indeed appropriate for the job.

“Let me think about it.”

“Why think about it? I’m the perfect fit.”

“Does a kid who grew up sheltered like you even know the hardships of infiltration?”

“I didn’t grow up sheltered, though.”

“…….”

The surroundings momentarily fell into a solemn silence. Receiving the piercing glares of the surrounding hunters, Jaehoon lowered his head.