Edited By: Sebas Tian
ââ¦â¦Excuse me?â
âIs there a reason to pressure you in making those potions? Before you joined, all the members were already above average hunters that received attention wherever they went . â
It meant that there was no reason to make the potions exclusive .
âWell, someone is overflowing with confidence . â
Even if other hunters increased their stats by using a potion, Kim Yoo-Na was confident that the members would still win .
She was definitely worthy enough to be the clanâs leader .
She was confident that they would rule over even without using those tricks .
And her dignity .
Hyun-Soo felt that Kim Yoo-Na was able to become this confident and have pride because she didnât question her skills .
âI knew it . â
He had a keen eye .
The more he spent time with her, the more he admired her .
The confidence that a strong hunter displayed was really beautiful .
âI see . I guess there was no point in asking . â
âItâs fine . I understand why you would ask . But, I am a bit sad though . Did I do something to make you not trust me?â
âNo, itâs not that . You already know all the things that I went throughâ¦â
âOh, right . You did . Right . â
Hyun-Soo was surprised, so he tried to come up with an excuse .
It felt like sweat was rolling down his body .
Hearing a beautiful woman sorrowfully express how sad she was wasnât good for anyoneâs heart .
Hyun-Soo felt like it was his fault .
When he mentioned the past events, Kim Yoo-Na mustâve understood because a small smile appeared on her face .
ââ¦â¦Sheâs not doing it on purpose, right?â
Hyun-Soo was confused by how quickly the conversation changed .
âAre you free this afternoon?â
âH-huh? Well, I donât have any plans . â
âThen, do you want to go to the black market together? As you know from Mr . Herhimâs personalityâ¦itâs better to go as soon as possible . â
Hyun-Soo felt a bit disappointed because there were some potions that were incomplete, but he nodded his head .
âThen letâs meet at the entrance in an hour . â
âOkay . â
When Hyun-Soo stood up, Riri, who was playing on his shoulder, slid off so they started flapping their wings .
Kim Yoo-Naâs eyes naturally turned to Riri .
âItâsâ¦Riri, right? When you do something with Riri, please call me too . I think itâll be good research material . â
Kim Yoo-Naâs eyes were filled with excitement and expectation when she made that request .
Even though she said it was for research material, it looked like she was trying to fill her personal greed .
She reminded him of Hyuna .
It didnât really fit well with Kim Yoo-Na, but Hyun-Soo thought it was pretty cute .
Maybe thatâs why .
âHa ha, okay . â
He laughed .
He felt Kim Yoo-Na looking at him with disappointment as he left the room .
âI guess Riri must be really cute . â
Honestly, Riri was pretty cute .
But since Hyun-Soo was a guy, it was hard to understand why Hyuna and Kim Yoo-Na were desperately trying to look at Riri .
âIs it because they both like cute things?â
Hyun-Soo assumed itâs because of Ririâs appearance and returned to his dorm to grab the potions .
Other than Hyuna and Kim Yoo-Na, Hyun-Soo never imagined there would be others that would react the same way .
***
âWelcome . So, you brought the potion, right?â
After they passed the security check, they were led to the most private in the black market and Herhim welcome Hyun-Soo with open arms .
Like the first time, Herhim walked towards him with a warm smile .
But Kim Yoo-Na already informed Hyun-Soo about Herhimâs personality, so Hyun-Soo smiled awkwardly and handed the shopping bag he brought with him .
âOh my! Precious items shouldnât be placed in a bag like this . Iâll provide you with a bag next time . â
Herhim was extremely shocked when he saw the shopping bag .
âDid Yoo-Na tell you?â
âYes . â
âGreat . That makes things a lot easier . Weâre going to auction it first so that we can promote it as well . Iâll make sure to give you a big share . After we deduct the processing fee, weâll give you the rest . If you want, we can give you that amount in cash . And in the future, weâll do whatever you ask, as long as itâs possible . But . â
Hyun-Soo didnât know much about this world, so to him, it sounded like a good deal .
However, Herhim wasnât finished .
âI want you to sell only through us . â
âDidnât we already agree to do that?â
âHa ha ha! Youâre right . We did . I just wanted to make sure . I look forward toâ¦huh?â
Hyun-Soo was nervous about what he was going to say, but released a sigh of relief when Herhim said something he already knew .
But Herhimâs smiling face turned into a serious one .
Hyun-Soo felt overpowered by his stern expression .
Hyun-Soo knew what it was regarding, so his body became stiff .
Herhim probably wouldnât do this, but Hyun-Soo thought that maybe Herhim would try to backstab him after getting Hyun-Soo to put down his guard . That thought made Hyun-Soo nervous .
âWhat is that?!â
Herhim yelled .
âThe thing on your head! That! Am I hallucinating?â
âThis?â
âYes! You can see it too, right? That means itâs actually there . What exactly is that?!â
He remembered putting Riri into his coat pocket, but it mustâve flew out and went to the top of his head .
The well-mannered gentleman quickly stood up and after running up to Hyun-Soo, he yelled because he couldnât contain his excitement .
Hyun-Soo almost fell, but after calmly stepping back, he extended his hand out .
Ririâs wings gently fluttered and flew in front of Hyun-Soo .
âGasp . Pantâ¦â¦!â
His heartâ¦â¦!
Herhim jokingly grabbed his chest .
It meant that he was that shocked to see Riri .
âThatâ¦what is that?â
âMr . Herhim . We came here to talk about selling the potion . â
Kim Yoo-Na intercepted when she noticed Herhimâs hand shaking like someone that was experiencing drug withdrawal .
Kim Yoo-Na mustâve felt embarrassed because her cheeks became red and she knew she reacted the same way as him .
But Herhim reacted more aggressively .
âIâll exclude two, no three percent of the processing fee . How about it?â
When he gave a specific amount, Kim Yoo-Na looked at Hyun-Soo and waited for him to make a decision .
âThereâs nothing for me to hide . â
He was going to show it off anyways .
On top of that, a lot more people were going to see Riri as time passes .
And thatâll raise Hyun-Sooâs and the clanâs value .
âItâs a monster . â
âMonster! Is it from the colorful portal? No . I heard the corpse was taken to the research lab . â
Even though they didnât tell him, Herhim already had the information and he mumbled as if something was wrong .
âThatâs correct . The fairy is from the colorful portal . It was in an egg when I found it and then it hatched . â
âTell me the details . â
âThere isnât much to say, butâ¦â
âOne million!â
âWhere should I start?â
***
Hyun-Soo was going to tell him anyways, but after stalling for a bit, he earned one million won .
âItâs really easy to make money . â
He never imagined this happening .
Herhim agreed to categorize the information into the special category and not reveal it to anyone .
Hyun-Soo asked why he was gathering information he wasnât going to sell and Herhim said .
âThereâs nothing more pleasing than satisfying my curiosity . â
After telling him about Riri, they finished talking about selling the potion and how they were going to share the money .
After talking about the official duties, they started talking about more private matters .
âRight, I heard . Youâre not getting approval?â
âYes and according to them, thereâs an issue in management, so thatâs why itâs being delayed . â
âBullshit . â
âThat kind of language isâ¦but I agree . â
âIs it because we got involved?â
âThatâs probably part of it . But itâs probably because theyâre disgusted by us . â
Herhim clicked his tongue .
âDid you know that the number of portal hunts are decreasing?â
âThe number of hunts are decreasing?â
âThatâs right . The number of approval have decreased significantly . Because of that, the portals that are closer to their pop-up time arenât being taken care of, so it has become a big headache . ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âWhy is that?â
Kim Yoo-Na was confused .
Hyun-Soo was also curious .
Other groups and guilds were probably getting approvals, but after listening to what Herhim said, the hunters refused .
âThe reason is simple . Itâs because of the colorful portal . â
âArenât ordinary portals and colorful portals different? Why are they avoiding the ordinary portals?â
Hyun-Soo had an idea why .
âAre they getting more scared of the colorful portal?â
Herhim nodded his head after being surprised by what Hyun-Soo said .
âYouâre right . Thatâs the answer . Since there arenât a lot of information regarding the colorful portal, everyone is trying to be careful . Not that long ago, two very famous groups entered and didnât come back, so it impacted heavily amongst the hunters . â
âDid they receive the request?â
âNo, they didnât . They said they were confident so they volunteered . â
Kim Yoo-Naâs clan was the only clan that succeeded in hunting the colorful portal .
Even though the information about the colorful portal was revealed through the black market, it wasnât that effective .
The colorful portal always changed .
It was different from the ordinary portal that had a majority of things set in place .
It meant that there was no information about what was inside or how they should hunt .
Everyone failed to attack the colorful portal before, but it was different now .
But one .
There was one clan that cleared it .
The two clans that failed to clear the colorful portal probably felt like they were in danger after hearing about the one clan that succeeded .
If they donât go for it now, theyâll be left behind .
That feeling drove the two groups to their death .
High risk, high return .
The more dangerous it is, the more profit one earns .
They knew it was dangerous, but if they clear it, they knew they would receive a big reward so they put their life on the line for that reward .
âWhen considering the rank, the group was pretty high up there . But in the end, they failed . Because of that, things got out of hand . â
Majority of the hunters knew of the colorful portalâs existence because of the information that was revealed .
Itâs all thanks to Kim Yoo-Na . She revealed that information to warn the other hunters to not throw their life away because of the reward .
But they didnât realize how dangerous it really was .
They knew other groups failed in the past, but since a clan succeeded in clearing it, they believed that the past groups that failed were just unlucky .
Because of that, when the hunters found out that the two, confident groups failed, they became more anxious .
âIf they succeeded, things would be the total opposite . â