Feeling the pressure on his neck ease, Cha Seohu let out a groan.
‘What is my life...’
Just a few days ago, he’d been pinned down to a bed by Cha Sahyeon under the pretense of applying ointment, and today he’d been slammed into a sofa under suspicion of being in a cult.
‘At least there’s no visible injury... I guess I should be thankful for that.’
With that kind of force, there should have been marks on his neck, but apparently, it hadn’t triggered the system to register it as a “wound.”
Relieved that the reception room was still quiet and no one had barged in, Seohu muttered,
“You said you weren’t very patient. That seems about right.”
“...Hey, Supporter Cha Seohu.”
Yoon Jeha, now clearly developing a headache, spoke in a tired voice.
“Are you not grasping the situation right now? You don’t look it, but are you maybe a bit dumb?”
“Dumb? It’s actually pretty hard to find someone as smart as me.”
Seohu replied with a face that made it impossible to tell if he was joking or serious.
“You’re the one who said it. If I were actually involved with those damned cult freaks, I wouldn’t have come here alone to face you.”
“Oh, so now you’re saying I should trust you based on that?”
“Still feeling uneasy, aren’t you?”
With the pressure on his neck easing slightly, Seohu turned his head to face Yoon Jeha pressing down on his back. He curled one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile.
“Let’s stop with the pointless intimidation. Do you think this’ll scare me? Or that you’re really capable of killing me?”
“Haa...”
“If you seriously thought I was one of them, you wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble just to meet me.”
“......”
“So let’s cut the crap and have a proper conversation. I won’t say anything in this position. No information, nothing about me.”
Yoon Jeha quietly stared down at him.
Her red eyes, peering through her long, flowing hair, narrowed slightly, as though gauging something. After a long pause, she clicked her tongue irritably and stepped back.
The crushing weight on his lower back lifted, and the uniquely suffocating killing intent of an S-rank dealer vanished along with it. Only then could Seohu finally breathe properly.
‘Phew.’
One crisis down.
Just as he thought that and sat halfway up from the sofa—
Whoosh!
With a sharp sound that sliced through the air, something white struck into the sofa with a thud.
“...!”
A blade grazed Seohu’s cheek and embedded itself in the cushion beside him, gleaming ominously just inches from his face. Cold sweat ran down his temple.
Still frozen, Seohu heard Yoon Jeha speak.
“If you start spouting bullshit, I’ll take your head off right away.”
Their eyes met. She smiled sweetly.
“You seem to be good at running your mouth, so I’m sure you’ll clear up my misunderstanding very nicely. I’m looking forward to it, Supporter Cha.”
“...Haha.”
As his brain caught up, all he could manage was a hollow laugh.
He glanced between the sword buried in the sofa and Yoon Jeha, then muttered loud enough for her to hear,
“I’d heard rumors... but I didn’t realize you were this insane.”
“Oh, and I didn’t expect the oh-so-kind Supporter Cha to be such a mouthy little brat.”
Unfazed, Yoon Jeha gave as good as she got. She casually yanked the sword from the sofa and sauntered over to sit across from him again. Now they were back to the positions they’d started in.
“Well? Go ahead and explain. How’d you manage to be at every site where those bastards made a mess?”
Crossing her arms and legs, Yoon Jeha tilted her chin up arrogantly. It was clear that no matter what he said, she didn’t plan on believing him easily.
‘Seriously now.’ Seohu raised one eyebrow.
“Let’s see... Even if I explained, you wouldn’t believe me. So what’s the point?”
“Hm? Did my little sword trick look like a toy to you?”
Of course not. It was so sharp it made his neck crawl just looking at it.
Swallowing that very honest answer, Seohu smiled even more brightly on purpose.
“Like I said earlier... that kind of threat doesn’t really shake me. You can’t kill me.”
“......”
“Because you need information.”
“...You’re really no fun.”
Yoon Jeha whispered coldly, but she didn’t refute the point about needing information. Seohu swallowed dryly.
‘Just as I thought.’
He’d already suspected it.
Yesterday, when she had forced her way into his car just to speak with him, the way she acted was oddly unnatural.
She approached with jokes and casual chatter, but her eyes still carried a trace of obsession—an intensity only seen in the truly desperate.
It wasn’t just his imagination. He’d sensed it because he recognized the same desperation in himself.
For whatever reason, Yoon Jeha was chasing the cult as earnestly as he was.
That was good news for him.
‘If we have a shared enemy, I don’t need to win her over. I can get her to cooperate regardless.’
And one more thing.
Yoon Jeha had listed off Seohu’s past movements, probably to intimidate him—but instead, it only raised more suspicion.
‘Why did she only mention resolved incidents?’
Every incident she’d brought up had already been dealt with.
There wasn’t a single mention of future events or the Nox Bio research lab.
Maybe it was because she still didn’t trust him and was intentionally keeping her information vague. But—
‘Then why the hell was she still overseas? She should’ve come to Korea ages ago.’
All of this led to the most likely conclusion:
Yoon Jeha, like him, was targeting the cult. But as the word implied, she was only “chasing” them. She lacked the information to get ahead.
That’s why she had come to meet him—because wherever the cult showed up, he’d been there to deal with it.
“Listen carefully, Hunter Yoon Jeha.”
Once he’d figured her out to some degree, Seohu was able to speak more calmly.
More than anything, he needed to make sure this relationship didn’t spiral into disaster.
“It’s true that I’m connected to those bastards. But that doesn’t mean I’m on their side.”
“...Got any proof?”
“Would you even accept it if I did? Don’t be stubborn. You already know no such proof exists.”
Erasing the smirk from his face, Seohu began speaking with a steady tone.
“I’m not asking you to believe me right away. And I don’t care if you aim your sword at my neck again. But if you want useful information, you’ll have to cooperate at least a little.”
At that, he suddenly remembered Chronos and added,
“Think of it as the price for information. If I’m going to stop those bastards, I’ll need the help of an S-rank dealer too.”
“How do I know the info you give me is real?”
“Even if you don’t want to believe it, you’ll find out soon enough.”
Cha Seohu reached his hand toward her.
“You’ll see the truth with time. But if we work together, you’ll be able to prepare ahead.”
Yoon Jeha furrowed her brow and stared at the pale hand held out to her.
“Ruining every one of those bastards’ plans, blowing up everything they’ve worked so hard for—”
“......”
“That’s going to be very satisfying.”
Yoon Jeha didn’t respond.
Silence fell in the reception room.
Then, finally, their hands met.
“Haah...”
Once Yoon Jeha had left, Cha Seohu leaned back on the sofa and let out a breath he’d been holding.
His head rested against the backrest as he closed his eyes, exhausted.
A short moment of peace passed—until the tightly shut reception room door opened again.
Kwon Taehyuk had come in, answering Seohu’s message asking him to come by now that the conversation was over. The moment he saw Seohu, he shouted in shock.
“What’s with that mark on your neck?!”
“Oh, this.”
Seohu touched his neck, where red fingerprints were blotched across the skin. There was no mirror, so he hadn’t seen how bad it looked.
“Is it that bad?”
“Are you seriously asking that? How did this happen...!”
Rushing over in a near panic, Kwon Taehyuk suddenly clenched his jaw in fury.
“Hunter Yoon Jeha... How dare she do this in my guild...!”
“Calm down.”
Seohu had called Taehyuk in first because he was worried that returning straight to his room might spike Sahyeon’s Seed progression—but even Taehyuk wasn’t exactly calm right now.
“I thought Sahyeon would get worried if he saw this.”
“Of course he would!”
“Could I get a healer? Sorry to keep asking you for things like this.”
“...Sigh. No—it’s fine. Honestly, I’m just relieved that you’re at least willing to be treated this time. I’ll call a healer right away.”
Finally regaining some composure, Kwon Taehyuk let out a deep breath and pulled out his phone to summon a healer.
“They said it’ll take about 10 minutes. Will you be all right?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t even hurt that much.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t hurt...”
Kwon Taehyuk winced more than Seohu did and slowly reached out.
His warm fingertips gently brushed Seohu’s neck.
With his head still leaned back against the sofa, Seohu blinked in surprise.
When he glanced up, he saw Kwon Taehyuk’s face filled with concern.
...He probably wasn’t even aware he was touching him.
“I really should’ve been by your side.”
“......”
Taehyuk murmured with a voice full of regret, his hand still lightly tracing the red marks on Seohu’s neck.
A ticklish sensation bloomed where his fingers brushed.

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