GM Ch19

For the past three days, Soohyuk had been going to all sorts of experts trying to figure out how to unlock bound items, and they all said the same thing: you can’t unlock a pair of active bound items unless you die.

Soohyuk hated situations he couldn’t solve on his own, and his mood worsened with each passing day. He went into the dungeon and took out his frustrations on the monsters, but only a small compliment from Minjun brought a smile to his face.

It was strange.

Soohyuk realized that he wasn’t being himself when dealing with Minjun. It started out as a favor simply because he looked a lot like his benefactor, but they had gotten tangled up in more ways than one.

Unable to find a way to unlock the stolen item, Soohyuk had no intention of using force, so he had one last thing to check.

“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“I’ll regret it more if I don’t do it.”

From the beginning, Minjun’s thoughts had been the same; it was to prevent the stat drop.

“Then, fine. The non-disclosure agreement is simple. You have to pay a huge penalty. Your life will be in danger if the penalty of the bound item becomes known. Do you understand what I mean?”

“That there might be someone out there who’s going to kill me, just to get guild leader’s stats down.”

There were plenty of people who detested Soohyuk, an S-class hunter and the leader of one of the top guilds in Korea. Those who couldn’t take on Soohyuk would be tempted to do so, thinking that a C-class hunter would be easy to handle.

“Are you fine with that?”

“What?”

“The average person doesn’t think that far, and if they do, they’re usually scared.”

“I guess I have a fearless personality.”

Minjun was taken aback by Soohyuk’s sharp remark. He was speaking based on what he knew, but he didn’t know that it would catch Soohyuk’s attention. He was supposed to be a twenty-year-old kid who had just gotten his hunter’s license, but it wasn’t easy to consciously put on an act.

“I wonder what you did for a living before you lost your memory.”

“I don’t know either.”

Unable to tell the truth that he went beating up monsters and demons, Minjun shamelessly replied.

“Right. It’s a simple non-disclosure agreement, but you’ll have to watch what you say because the penalties are huge. And this is a blank contract. I’ve put my stamp on it. Whatever you want, whatever I can do, I’ll give you three provisions. I’ve written it down here.”

“Uh…?”

Minjun’s eyes widened and he looked back and forth between the contract and Soohyuk. At the top of the contract, it said that Soohyuk would fulfill the three things listed below. But the middle was blank, so it was a blank contract. Did he hand out a blank contract knowing what he was going to write here?

Whether Minjun was staring at him or not, Soohyuk put his pen to the blank contract and non-disclosure agreement.

“Go ahead and sign it.”

“Do you know what I’m going to write?”

“Write down anything.”

“What if I ask for all of the guild leader’s property?”

“I could give it to you, but I know you won’t.”

Minjun felt unnecessarily flattered by Soohyuk’s smirk. He thought about asking for his entire fortune, but stopped himself. Instead, he wrote down what he wanted.

[Yoon Soohyuk does his best to help Kim Minjun complete his 100 dungeon raids quickly and safely].

He signed and stamped four contracts – two non-disclosure agreements and a blank contract – and pushed them toward Soohyuk. After reading them, the latter raised an eyebrow.

“One hundred times? For a secondary awakening?”

“Just in case.”

“That is very unlikely.”

“I’m sure the guild leader will help me, so I’ll do what I can.”

As Soohyuk said, it was a very slim chance, but some of the hunters have had what was called a secondary awakening, where they’d gotten a rank increase or a new skill.

Nothing was known for sure about the requirements for the second awakening, just inaccurate rumors about how many dungeons you had to clear, how many monsters you had to kill, or how many times you had to use a skill. Most people failed, but there were a few who succeeded, so people kept trying. Minjun was planning to capitalize on that, too, so he’d have something to say when he returned to S-class. The reason he said “100” instead of “99” was to pretend he was aiming for a second awakening.

“Write down one more thing besides this.”

“This is enough.”

“Then I’ll write whatever I want.”

“Yes?”

Before Minjun could stop him, Soohyuk filled in the blank contract, stating that Soohyuk would give Minjun three S-class magic stones.

“Guild leader?”

As far as Minjun knew, S-class magic stones weren’t easily bought with money. They usually sold for ten figures, and he doubted Soohyuk’s sanity for giving him three of them. Nevertheless, Soohyuk took three real magic stones out of his inventory and placed them on the table. The baby-fist-sized gems glowed brightly, and Minjun’s eyes widened at their unusual appearance.

“Put it in an emergency fund. It’s going to get more expensive in a few years.”

“It’s alright.”

“Do you want me to put it in a bearer account? No, never mind. If you don’t take it now, I’ll break it.”

“Are you cra… Oh, put that away! I’ll take it.”

It was a terrifying threat. Sure enough, Soohyuk pulled out a dagger from his inventory, a dagger that could have broken an S-class magic stone.

Minjun shouted and quickly picked up the S-class magic stone and put it in his inventory. He felt like he’d been played by Soohyuk’s prank, but he couldn’t watch the S-class magic stone shatter into pieces. Smiling with satisfaction, the dagger disappeared from Soohyuk’s hand.

“I’ll leave the other one blank. If you get to know anyone you want to kill, let me know, and I’ll make sure you get rid of them cleanly, okay?”

Soohyuk squinted one eye and laughed, as if it were a joke. Minjun knew it wasn’t a joke, but he pretended not to notice.

“Take this.”

This time, Soohyuk held out a black card with nothing written on it.

“What is it?”

“It’s a key card, I’ll text you the address, just make sure you get there before midnight.”

“Where do I need to get to?”

“Safe house.”

“Safe house?”

Remembering the dictionary meaning of safe house, Minjun was confused; it was strange to call it a safe house instead of Soohyuk’s house.

“Officially, that is my house, but we can’t do it over there.”

Minjun nodded as Soohyuk pointed to the June Guild dormitory building. If he had to keep his relationship with Soohyuk a secret, he had to avoid public places. There were too many pairs of eyes there.

“Do you want me to go buy condoms?”

“What?”

“We need this and that, and it won’t be in the safe house, and the guild leader doesn’t know my size.”

“You’re seriously…”

Soohyuk let out a sigh filled with laughter and covered his face with one hand. Minjun watched as his shoulders shook with laughter. Were condoms funny?

Soohyuk exhaled loudly and put his hands away, a smile on his face. He looked completely different from his sullen appearance he was a moment ago.

“What?”

“I’ll get what we need.”

“Okay.”

“I’m telling you in advance, I’m on top.”

Minjun, who had been looking up how to do it between guys, realized what Soohyuk was talking about half a beat too late. It didn’t matter which position he was in, Minjun respected Soohyuk’s wishes. Honestly, he didn’t know what he was going to do because Soohyuk had a big physique and looked so stiff.

“Okay. We’ll do that.”

“You don’t say you don’t like it?”

“I don’t dislike it, and I don’t know what to do with you, guild leader, the power differential is too great.”

“That’s too honest.”

In the hunter world, rank was king. If S-class Soohyuk insisted on being the boss, there was nothing C-class Minjun could do about it.

Though, he wondered what would happen if he returned to S-class while the bound item’s use period remained? Soohyuk was clear about what he wanted, and since Minjun was fine with anything, it didn’t seem like his position would change much. But he was curious to see how Soohyuk would react. When he realized he was staring at him, he gave him a look as if to say, “What’s wrong?” Minjun shook his head, saying it was nothing.

“I’m going to tell you up front, I’m not going to end it by just nailing you.”

“Ah…”

Minjun paused, understanding a beat too late what the explicit words meant. Physical mutual union meant sex, but they could choose how to go about it.

“I’m going to enjoy it.”

“Yes. It’s okay.”

“Don’t regret it.”

Not knowing the future, Soohyuk’s warning went in Minjun’s ear and out the other.

*

Minjun accompanied Seongwon to a lawyer specializing in hunters. The famous lawyer, who’d appeared on TV a few times, had gone over Minjun’s contract with the June Guild vice guild leader with a big smile on his face. He assured him that there were no toxic clauses and that the terms were very good. Minjun signed on the spot and stamped his name.

With the contract in hand, Seongwon headed to the National Security Agency, while Minjun took a taxi to the safe house Soohyuk told him about. Soohyuk said he only needed to be there before midnight, but he felt more comfortable going early and waiting.

“Oh.”

When Minjun got out of the taxi, he looked around the neighborhood of upscale homes and marveled a little. He had imagined a secret, mysterious place when he heard the word safe house, but the address Soohyuk gave him was just a very ordinary single-family house.

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