NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19
“Hey. Close your mouth. A bug will get in.”
Lee Sooah disappeared in front of me at an unbelievable speed.
Hyungseok had a completely stunned expression, reacting as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“Senior. Are you crazy?”
The first words he managed to spit out while keeping his mouth shut were those.
“What?”
“No!!!!! Um… how can… a Hunter like Lee Sooah be rejected?? I thought I was going to die from anxiety. I really thought I was getting fired today. No, I thought I was going to die!”
He looked so excessively shocked that it felt like he was about to bounce off the walls.
“What are you talking about? Why would you get fired?”
Hyungseok’s reaction was strange.
“I mean, in our Guild—no, in all of South Korea, you must be the first person to ever reject Lee Sooah’s proposal, right? Wow. That’s just unbelievable.”
His expression was one of disbelief, as if he couldn’t accept what had just unfolded before his eyes.
“What’s so unbelievable? We were already on our way, and then Hunter Lee Sooah suddenly tagged along. Plus, it’s completely the opposite direction from my house, so why would we go together?”
I responded nonchalantly.
It was definitely an odd behavior whose intentions were completely unclear.
She had just shown us a shocking display right in front of us.
Not only that moment but throughout the entire day, she had kept showing similar reactions.
‘Is she normally like this?’
“Wow… No, but that aside, what’s even more ridiculous is what happened afterward.”
He spoke with admiration.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Hunter Lee Sooah completely malfunctioned, right?”
“Malfunction?”
“Yeah. When you rejected her, she got so flustered that she just ran away, right?”
“Okay, it was a bit odd.”
“Wow… I think you’re the only person in our country who can break Hunter Lee Sooah like that.”
She seemed quite surprised, but she had been acting similarly throughout the entire day.
It didn’t seem particularly different.
I even wondered if she might just be like that normally.
Deciding not to take Hyungseok’s words too seriously, I moved on.
“Hey. Stop talking nonsense. First, let’s just head to a bar. I have a lot of things to do.”
I took Hyungseok, who seemed completely absorbed in what had just happened, and headed to the bar.
Swoosh.
Swoosh.
I was sitting at a bar, scrolling through my turned-on smartphone.
‘No way. Why has this f*cking girl sent me so many messages?’
‘What on earth is she babbling about?’
[ Oppa, why aren’t you picking up your phone? ]
[ Oppa, are you very busy? ]
[ I have something I want to ask, could you give me a call? ]
[ It’s not a big deal, but there’s something I’d like to confirm. ]
[ Please answer the phone. ]
[ No, seriously, what are you doing that you can’t answer? ]
[ Oppa, you weren’t like this before? Just pick up the phone. ]
[ Did you turn off your phone? Why did you do that? ]
[ Please turn your phone back on. ]
[ Oppa, you’re busy, right? I get it. ]
[ Please make sure to contact me again after you finish work. Please. ]
[ I’ll be waiting. ]
An endless stream of messages piled up.
‘What the hell. She’s sent an insane amount.’
This had never happened before. Just looking at the messages sent a while ago.
[ Oppa, please take care of this. ]
[ Didn’t I ask you to do this too? ]
[ When are you going to do this? Just because you’re tired doesn’t mean you don’t? Will it just do itself? ]
[ It’s frustrating. Really. Why are you acting like this? Don’t make me feel tired. ]
[ What could possibly be so tiring? ]
[ Annoying. Don’t contact me. ]
Not long ago, she had acted like that. But in just a day, her attitude had completely flipped.
‘I definitely feel like I’ve uncovered something here.’
I knew Chae Suhyeon very well. I understand that she wouldn’t act so submissively without reason. She only behaved this way when she needed something, or when she felt cornered.
‘Aaah… Oppa… could you buy me that bag? It’s really cheap these days, only 600…’
‘All my friends have it… It’s kind of awkward if I’m the only one without it…’
‘Ah, it’s expensive… I know… but still… you have to spend money on things you need, right? I really need this…’
Tsk. This is her true nature.
“Senior, so what happened with Hunter Chae Suhyeon?”
Seeing me slightly frown while looking at my smartphone, Hyungseok cautiously approached and spoke.
He asked as carefully as possible, trying not to be rude.
“Ha. Well… that f*cking b*tch abandoned me…”
“Uh… then… could it be that she pulled a fast one on you?”
Here, what he meant by “pulled a fast one” did not refer to Points.
My friends simply believed that Chae Suhyeon was supported by me to reach the S-Rank first place.
As I already mentioned, no one understood the concept of point investment.
Not even my acquaintances.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Wow… that’s really too much.”
That was a perfectly natural reaction.
Anyone who had witnessed my years of dedication would inevitably respond that way.
“Ha… I do feel a bit sorry… but I had a rough feeling.”
“Really?”
Hyungseok spoke cautiously.
“What do you mean?”
“That Hunter Chae Suhyeon… There were some rumors in the industry about her. She’s been in contact with the Baekho Guild… it’s been going on for quite some time… but there was no way to confirm it. I guessed it might be true, but now it seems like that’s the case.”
“What?”
I couldn’t help but furrow my brows.
She was more than the enormous b*tch I had felt she was until now.
The more I dug, the more sh*tty stories emerged.
‘No, when did this b*tch even start planning this…?’
‘Was it like this from the beginning?’
‘This f*cking b*tch…?’
I couldn’t stop the curses from coming out.
‘Did she never have any feelings for me from the start?’
It was all content that I wouldn’t know unless I asked her myself.
‘Anyway, this is just f*cked up.’
My hand holding the smartphone trembled uncontrollably.
‘This f*cking b*tch needs to be thrown into the abyss.’
I resolved myself even more.
This wasn’t just a simple case of being dumped.
My entire life had been played with.
“Anyway, welcome to our guild. I think I understand what the Hunter Chae Suhyeon situation is about…”
I toasted with Hyungseok, who spoke meaningfully.
“Ha… originally, I was going to leave it alone, you know? I’m a man, so I didn’t want to be petty and clingy. But this? No way. She completely played with me.”
“It seems a bit… you know… slightly like that. Although I can’t say for sure.”
Nodding in agreement, the reaction seemed to convey understanding.
*
“Ha… why isn’t Baek Jihoon replying? It’s so annoying!”
Chae Suhyeon was pacing back and forth, her feet tapping restlessly.
She continued to glance at the clock anxiously.
“Excuse me. Is everyone in the guild really off work? For real?”
She even called the Blue Guild to confirm various things.
“No. Did they really clock out? Then shouldn’t they contact me? What the hell is he doing? Is he trying to play hard to get with me? Is he out of his mind?”
Her expression was quite displeased.
“Huh???”
Then, she glanced at her smartphone’s message inbox and her eyes widened.
“He… he read it… he finally read it.”
“But why did he read it and then ignore it?”
For a moment, the fact that Baek Jihoon had read her message made her slightly happy, but it quickly turned back into annoyance.
“No. If he read it, he should reply. Damn it.”
“Ignoring my calls and texts… this is really pushing it.”
“Isn’t he supposed to respond right away?”
“He’s always responded quickly in the past, so what’s up with today? Seriously?”
There was a reaction of disbelief; it was hard to adapt to someone who had been so prompt just the other day.
“Ha… damn…”
She seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.
And then.
“First of all… I need to confirm…”
She felt she had to slightly back down. Reluctantly, she decided on her next action.
[ Oppa, I guess you’re off work. I have something I want to ask… could you reply? ]
She thought she had given him quite a hint from her perspective.
‘Since I saw that you read it, hurry up and answer. If you don’t, I won’t hold back.’
Normally, she would have just said it outright, but it wasn’t a situation where she could do that now. Particularly since the point retrieval was in progress.
‘Ha… if it weren’t for the point retrieval, I wouldn’t have to send this kind of message to that bastard. Ha…’
Biting her lip slightly, she decided to wait.
“He’ll probably reply soon. He just got off work now.”
“Yeah. He was busy when he went in earlier.”
“Of course, he must have been swamped since it’s his first day at a big guild.”
“It’s just that I sent it when he was too busy.”
Chae Suhyeon nodded.
She thought it couldn’t be helped.
“Uh? He read it.”
This time, it was clear he read her message immediately.
“Phew…”
But no matter how long she waited, there was no reply.
“What the…? He read it, didn’t he…? You bastard… You read it! What’s going on!!! Reply already.”
She glanced at the clock as the second hand moved.
Time was certainly passing, yet there was no change in her message inbox.
Just in case it was an error, she even rebooted her phone, but there was no problem at all.
“Ah. What’s wrong with you, Baek Jihoon!!!!!!”
She finally let out the frustrations that had built up all day.
She was unable to accept the change in position that had occurred in just two days.
No matter how much she fumed and shouted, there was nothing she could do to control the situation.
*
“Ha. I can’t believe this.”
Baek Jihoon snorted while looking at his smartphone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Yeah. Chae Suhyeon keeps sending messages.”
“What? What did she say?”
Hyungseok looked at him, clearly curious.
“Yeah, she needs something from me and is trying to coax it out. But she’s being a bit clingy and can’t decide what to reply.”
“Heh. Senior, can I send something?”
Out of nowhere, Hyungseok asked, looking like he found it amusing.
“Sure, do whatever.”
I handed the smartphone to Hyungseok.
“What should I say to make her a bit angry?”
I was curious about what Hyungseok would send.
He replied very briefly and concisely.
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1. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-a-fast-one