* * *
[Johan Resenbrink. Let me get straight to the point. Why did you seek us out?]
Though Beom Sinje had spoken, Johan’s gaze never wavered from Doyoung.
His eyes traced downwards, examining him intently, as if studying a model or a sculpture.
[If there’s no real reason, we’ll be leaving.]
Beom Sinje didn’t wait for Johan’s response.
He simply wrapped an arm around Doyoung’s waist and turned to leave.
Only then did Johan’s expression shift.
[You’re leaving?]
[Unless you have something to say.]
[You’ll regret it.]
Johan found their reaction incomprehensible.
They wouldn’t have come all this way unless they had a reason of their own.
So why were they acting like this?
Surely, they weren’t really going to leave.
Johan had assumed they wouldn’t.
But he had been mistaken.
For Beom Sinje, this meeting had merely been an excuse to take some time off.
There was no need to be swayed by Johan.
Beom Sinje led Doyoung toward the exit.
Walter and the other hunters seemed visibly unsettled but didn’t intervene.
They assumed the guild master of Chunho must have his own plans.
Johan, on the other hand, stiffened.
It was only now that he realized they truly intended to leave.
[Wait!]
In desperation, he raised his voice, even going so far as to abruptly stand up.
Beom Sinje merely glanced back at him but remained silent.
As expected, Johan wasted no time this time.
[How did you track us down? We’ve gone to great lengths to stay hidden!]
The Dungeon Ecology Research Institute operated in a cell-like structure.
Members knew little about each other. He had no idea how they had been found.
That both frustrated and intrigued him.
After all, since they had come all this way, he needed to get the answer he wanted.
[That’s our ability.]
But Beom Sinje didn’t give him the kind of response he was looking for.
Growing increasingly desperate, Johan pressed further.
[All you had was a name. How could you possibly have tracked us with just that? It doesn’t make sense… Does Chunho really have someone with that kind of ability?]
Johan seemed to have overestimated his own capabilities.
His mistake was failing to recognize the genius known as Kim Jinsoo, who had been prepared for this very purpose.
[It just means our hunters are more capable than you. Is that seriously why you’ve been acting so high and mighty? That’s pathetic.]
At those words of mockery, Johan’s face contorted. He couldn’t accept it.
The idea that there existed a hunter superior to him—no, he needed to know who it was.
Sensing his desperation, Beom Sinje made a proposal.
[Cooperate fully in the interrogation. Then, I’ll tell you who they are. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll even get to meet them.]
Johan clenched his fists in frustration.
Doyoung, watching him, found it all a little underwhelming.
So, he had been holding out simply because of his curiosity?
Well, if this matter was settled, then that was enough.
Any more interest in this petty villain would be unnecessary.
◇◆◇◆◇
Later, at the hotel—
“Come to think of it, there’s something I haven’t properly told you yet.”
Doyoung leaned back against the couch as he spoke.
After their brief meeting with Johan Resenbrink, they had returned straight to their hotel.
The German guild had offered to provide accommodations, but Beom Sinje had declined and booked one himself.
“I had a bit of history with the Dungeon Ecology Research Institute in the past.”
“What kind of history?”
Beom Sinje pulled Doyoung closer, resting his head on his shoulder.
“Remember the terrorists who barged into the Hunters’ Night event?”
“Oh… Yeah. Don’t tell me they were from the Dungeon Ecology Research Institute?”
Doyoung found Beom Sinje’s quick deduction impressive.
Still, he made sure to clarify, so there would be no misunderstandings.
“They weren’t called that at the time. But in the end, I was the one who brought them in.”
“Hmm… I see.”
His reaction was surprisingly nonchalant, almost uninterested.
“Now that I think about it, that was when Antithesis started clashing directly with the government.”
As if recalling something, Beom Sinje absentmindedly played with Doyoung’s hair.
“Technically, it was the government that labeled Antithesis as terrorists and went after them. They were trying to shake up the government-affiliated hunters, weren’t they?”
“Yeah. How did you figure that out so quickly?”
Doyoung was genuinely surprised. Just from the little information he had shared, Beom Sinje had grasped the full picture.
“Because every statement Antithesis made was focused on improving hunter rights. It was never stated outright, but anyone paying attention would’ve seen it.”
Beom Sinje had noticed back then, too.
He had only learned later that Doyoung had been behind it all—and why he had done it.
“Well… yeah. So, you already knew, huh…”
Knowing that Beom Sinje had been aware of what he had done for a while now, Doyoung felt both a sense of pride and embarrassment.
“To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to it back then. I thought it had nothing to do with me anyway.”
“For someone who thought that, you were pretty quick to form a guild.”
“Well, someone set things up so nicely for me to do just that.”
Once again, Beom Sinje grasped his intentions in an instant, and Doyoung found himself looking at him with a bit of admiration.
He thought he had hidden it thoroughly—so how did he figure it out?
He debated whether to ask but decided it didn’t really matter.
If anything, the fact that Beom Sinje had seen through his plans all along felt somewhat satisfying.
“Hmm… So you knew.”
“There was no way I couldn’t.”
Beom Sinje lowered the hand that had been brushing through his hair and gently rubbed the back of his ear.
A chill ran down Doyoung’s spine, making him instinctively shrink his shoulders.
Yet, he didn’t think about pushing that hand away.
“When Yeo Giwon and I were in that dungeon, some hunters suddenly showed up and said, ‘We want you to be the guild master. That way, we can trust you and turn our backs on the government.'”
“So what?”
The warmth traveling along his ear—trailing from the back to the helix, then down to the lobe—slowly built up a heat inside him.
“They all gathered at once, saying the same thing, as if it had been a signal… How could I not notice?”
“Maybe they just thought you were reliable.”
“Then why did they all glance at me nervously and say, ‘We have no choice, so you’re the best person for the job’? How could that not be suspicious?”
“Who was it? Who said that?”
Doyoung raised an eyebrow.
He had told someone to bring up the guild matter to Beom Sinje at the right time—so who the hell had done such a sloppy job and given themselves away?
“You weren’t in on it together, were you?”
“No, I just stirred things up a little. In this country, the only S-rank hunters are you and Yeo Giwon. And when it comes to leading a guild, there’s no one better suited than you.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. You’re the protagonist, after all.”
At those words, Doyoung was met with Beom Sinje’s gaze—soft yet filled with warmth.
* * *
