EFME 19

“You two…”

When he carefully spoke up, both of them snapped their heads toward Sunyul.

“You, uh, don’t seem to be on good terms.”

It was an exceedingly obvious question. Bada nodded his head reluctantly.

“Well, yeah. With this asshole, for one reason or another…”

Bada trailed off and tilted his head.

“But why did we fall out in the first place?”

“Hmm, I know, right?”

He had thought it was an obvious question, but upon careful reflection, he couldn’t recall the reason they had fallen out. He was sure there had been a reason. It was as if a screw was loose, and his mind wasn’t working properly.

“I guess it’s just because you’re a pain in the ass.”

“You’re the pain in the ass, you phony bastard.”

Setting aside the forgotten reason, Sunyul regretted asking such a pointless question as he watched the two of them start growling at each other again.

Soon, the two, tired of fighting, reached some sort of agreement to just ignore each other, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the office.

About two hours passed like that, and Muyoung visited Bada’s office, which had been as quiet as a funeral home.

Sunyul was several times more pleased to see him than usual and beamed. Muyoung walked closer to him. After lightly stroking Sunyul’s head, Muyoung finally turned his body to Yeonjae.

“Good day, Hunter Kwon Muyoung.”

“I heard you had business with Lim Sunyul.”

“Yes. I would like to request not only Mr. Lim Sunyul’s company but Hunter Kwon Muyoung’s as well.”

It was an unexpected request.

“Why.”

“It’s just that, similar to when Hunter Kwon Muyoung acquired the box that contained Mr. Lim Sunyul, we have discovered a box with black square marks instead of letters in the system window. We tried to check it on our end, but the box showed no reaction at all, so we are requesting that you check it, just in case.”

At those words, Sunyul felt a bit of curiosity. Muyoung, too, had become interested.

“If that’s the case, I’ll cooperate.”

“Thank you.”

“What do you want to do?”

Muyoung asked Sunyul. Sunyul, who had assumed he naturally had to follow Muyoung’s decision, pointed to himself with his hand.

“Me?”

“Yes. Go if you want to go, and don’t if you don’t.”

At those words, Sunyul pondered for a moment.

He was curious about what was inside the box. Since he knew nothing about himself, he wanted to get even a small hint through other things.

But on the other hand, he didn’t want to go to the research facility that had frightened him. Even though he knew there wouldn’t be any problems as long as he was with Muyoung, he had nothing but bad memories of the place.

After a brief moment of deliberation, Sunyul spoke resolutely.

“I’ll go. I’m curious, too…”

“Then let’s do that.”

Sunyul beamed, happy that Muyoung had been so considerate. He then started to clear the table, preparing to leave. Muyoung watched him for a moment before looking back at Bada.

“Lee Bada, thanks for your work.”

“It’s a job I get paid for, so whatever.”

“Nothing happened, I assume.”

“He was sick once.”

“Sick?”

“He went to the infirmary and the lab, but they said it was nothing.”

“…”

Muyoung’s heavy gaze fell upon Sunyul.

“I’m okay now. It was just a slight headache this morning.”

At Sunyul’s energetic reply, Muyoung gave a short nod.

It probably wasn’t anything truly serious… but the fact that he had been sick, and sick in a place where he wasn’t present, didn’t feel good.

He wanted to at least be by his side. He would have preferred Sunyul to be sick next to him rather than finding out about it late like this. And that was a rather unfamiliar emotion for Muyoung.

“Don’t push yourself.”

“Okay.”

“Well then, Lee Bada, keep up the good work.”

“Yeah, see you.”

After giving Muyoung a perfunctory farewell, Bada glanced at Sunyul.

“…You take care too.”

“I’ll see you again next time.”

Sunyul bowed deeply to Bada. Muyoung wrapped an arm around Sunyul’s shoulder, gave a light pull, and promptly left the room.

Sunyul rode in Muyoung’s car to the research facility. His heart felt heavy, having returned to a place he didn’t particularly want to come to.

“There’s no need to be nervous. Nothing will happen today.”

“…Okay.”

“If it looks like something might happen, I’ll stop it even if I have to smash the place to bits, so don’t worry too much.”

Muyoung’s words were both violent and gentle. They felt sincere and were incredibly reassuring. Thanks to him, Sunyul was able to relax more than before.

“Let’s go.”

Yeonjae, who had parked his car in a different spot in the lot, soon joined them.

“This way, please.”

Yeonjae took the lead. Sunyul followed behind Yeonjae, sticking closely to Muyoung.

In the place the three arrived at, a man with a menacing expression was sitting. Seeing the man, Muyoung frowned.

“Jang Bumjin.”

“Took you long enough. I thought I was going to die of boredom waiting.”

Looking at the man who was showing blatant hostility, Muyoung sighed. Then he blamed Yeonjae.

“You should have told me who was here.”

“Because you wouldn’t have come if I had.”

Yeonjae smiled smoothly. He wasn’t wrong.

Jang Bumjin was the guild master of the Utopia guild and an S-rank hunter. He harbored an inferiority complex towards Muyoung and picked a fight over every little thing, so they were not on good terms.

“Let’s just get this over with quickly.”

Jang Bumjin urged. Having come this far, he couldn’t just turn back, so Muyoung agreed.

“The box?”

“One moment, please.”

Yeonjae asked for their patience. Soon, a researcher brought the box that had been under observation in another room.

Compared to the box Sunyul had been in, it was an incredibly small box. A size one could easily hold with one hand. The seamless, silvery metal box shimmered faintly under the fluorescent lights.

Muyoung checked the box’s information.

[■■■ ■]

Description: ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■. ■■■ ■■■■■ ■ ■■ ■ ■■.

Effect: ■■■ ■■■ ■■.

Owner: ■■■

The box Sunyul had been in had at least a few intact words, but with this box, there was absolutely no information that could be gleaned from the system window.

“The appraisal result is an EX-rank box. Though we couldn’t figure out what its identity is at all.”

The researcher continued his report with a serious face.

“The composition of the box itself seems to be identical to the one Hunter Kwon Muyoung entrusted to us… but judging by its size, it doesn’t seem likely that a humanoid something like I-21 is inside. What could be inside is completely unknown.”

Without much thought, Muyoung placed his hand on the box.

However, unlike when he had discovered Sunyul, the small box showed no reaction whatsoever.

“There’s… no reaction.”

The researcher muttered with a grave expression. At the researcher’s request, Muyoung tried to break the box and even tried to lift it, but there was no response.

Eventually, Muyoung took a step back from the box. The researcher gestured with his hand to the empty space in front of the box and smiled at Sunyul.

“Well then, Mr. Lim Sunyul, if you would please.”

Sunyul found the gazes pouring down on him incredibly burdensome. Bumjin, in particular, was staring at him with fierce eyes, as if he were about to eat him alive.

I have to get this over with quickly. Thinking that, Sunyul placed his hand on the box.

A cold, smooth sensation touched him, as if his hand would slide right off.

At the same time, he felt a sensation like wind rushing into his body. Along with it, something pushed its way inside of Sunyul. He couldn’t see it or touch it, but he knew.

Simultaneously, the box seemed to melt away and then disappeared completely.

It all happened in an instant.

“Wa-wait… where did it go?”

The researcher, flustered, looked around the area. But no one could give him a proper answer. Because the box had literally evaporated before their eyes.

“What the hell, this bastard.”

In that moment, Bumjin’s eyes flipped. He glared at Sunyul with an extremely menacing face.

“You, what did you do to my box?”

“I-I didn’t do anything.”

Sunyul hastily made his excuse.

He hadn’t done anything of his own will.

However, he had definitely felt the sensation of something flowing into him.

Because of that, he couldn’t be completely confident. It seemed like the box had entered inside of him.

Reading Sunyul’s wavering, Bumjin’s anger flared.

“You son of a bitch!”

Bumjin reached out for Sunyul. Before the savage hand could touch him, Muyoung used a skill to block it.

[Using skill ‘Hand of the Abyss’.]

Numerous hands shot out from the air and enveloped Bumjin. Bumjin, who had only intended to grab him by the collar at most, became furious to the tips of his hair and shot a glare at Muyoung.

“You bastard, you wanna go?”

“You’re the one who lunged at a civilian first.”

“Civilian? Civilian? Is this a civilian? It’s an item!”

Bumjin, shouting, immediately drew his weapon. Before he could even swing it, Muyoung used a skill. Bumjin choked and spat out black blood.

“You dog bastard…”

“Hunter Kwon Muyoung, Hunter Jang Bumjin! Please stop!”

Regardless of Yeonjae trying to stop them, Bumjin charged with bloodshot eyes. Yeonjae couldn’t step in, busy protecting the researcher and Sunyul.

Chaos soon erupted.