* * *
Three days later, at the Hunter Association building.
Helping prepare tteokbokki ingredients early in the morning ended up taking longer than expected.
I thought I’d just do a little more before heading out, and that mistake cost me.
I hadn’t checked the time properly.
Trying to take it easy had only made me late.
“Ugh, where’s the third floor?”
If I had known, I would’ve just waited for the elevator.
I rushed up the stairs without even checking the floor number, and now I wasn’t sure which floor I was on.
In short, I was doing stupid things from the moment I woke up.
By the time I finally reached the meeting room, I was already ten minutes late.
Out of breath from running all the way from home, I tried my best to steady my breathing as I entered.
“Hyung!”
Feeling guilty, I glanced around nervously, only to immediately catch sight of Woo Jaehyun, who raised his hand toward me.
As if he’d been waiting the whole time, he patted the empty seat beside him.
But something about his clothes and hairstyle looked different from usual.
It felt… subtly polished, as if touched by a professional.
Even the few loose strands of hair looked deliberately styled.
Was it like this in the movie, too?
It wasn’t a particularly major scene, so I couldn’t clearly remember anymore.
“Sit here.”
“Uh…”
I answered automatically and glanced to the side—right into Cha Rui’s eyes.
Now that I looked properly, not only Jaehyun, but all three of them were dressed impeccably.
Clearly, they’d taken care with their appearance for this formal occasion.
No wonder people say they look like actors.
All dressed up like this, it felt like we were at the premiere of “I Am S-Class.”
I had planned to dress properly, too, up until yesterday…
How did I end up looking this disheveled?
“……”
Even as I sat down beside him, Do Soohyuk didn’t spare me a glance.
He just stared at his phone in silence.
Not even a flicker of acknowledgment since I entered.
Hard to explain, but ever since we left the restaurant on that weird note, something had definitely changed.
His attitude toward me was different.
That dream had already messed with my head, and now this behavior was just adding to the confusion.
Was I reading too much into things…?
Thinking back, it’s true we only grew closer during the EX Dungeon incident.
Maybe it was just a misunderstanding on my part—assuming we’d become friends just because we went through that together.
Still… even if I told myself not to care, I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.
“Hyung, why are you so out of breath? Did you run from home?”
“Uh… Still, I’m ten minutes late.”
“I heard that piece of trash came all the way to your house.”
As I sipped some water from the table to calm my throat, Woo Jaehyun sat beside me, watching intently.
Then he said something completely absurd.
He had obviously already heard about the situation from that Chinese Hunter.
Pretending not to know was incredibly shameless.
Sure, I appreciated how he had stepped in to help clean things up—but the memory of the damages he caused made my eyes narrow instinctively.
After all that help, I couldn’t exactly ask him to pay up now.
So instead, I found myself feeling petty.
“You should be an actor.”
I meant it in the sense that his acting skills were impressive.
But Jaehyun seemed to interpret it differently.
As if he’d just been complimented, he flashed a bright smile and cupped his face with his hands like a flower.
“Am I that pretty?”
He tilted his head with wide, innocent eyes—like a complete angel.
Yeah, hot iced Americano.
It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t pretty, but I’d seen too much of his real self to be fooled by the looks.
Expressionless, I slowly pushed his dazzling face away.
Creak.
Just then, the meeting room door opened, and someone walked in.
He looked to be a head shorter than me, dressed in a clearly expensive suit, and had a kind, mature demeanor.
A middle-aged man, unfamiliar but polite.
As expected, he introduced himself as the President of the Hunter Association and came directly over to me.
Smiling warmly, he offered his hand, so I stood awkwardly and shook it.
It was surprising that he approached me first instead of the three others.
Was it because we still had a contractual relationship?
“I should’ve gone to greet you at Langtou Airport myself, but I apologize for not being able to.”
“Oh… It’s fine. The Hunter Association had a lot going on at the time.”
“Ah, thank you for understanding.”
Kim Duman, the president of the Hunter Association, shook my hand like a model professional.
His deferential attitude was noticeably different from certain others I’d dealt with.
Maybe he was still being cautious, having only recently taken the position.
He didn’t give off a bad first impression, and his appearance matched that.
“Thank you all for coming despite your busy schedules.”
But despite his arrival, the other three didn’t show any intention of standing up.
Not even a polite acknowledgment.
Their expressions were indifferent to the point that I started feeling self-conscious for him.
Even so, President Kim continued smiling, unfazed, addressing them with the same calm demeanor.
His gentle appearance hid a surprisingly strong mental fortitude.
“As you may have heard, we received an official invitation from the Russian government. They’re hosting a party exclusively for S-Class hunters, in hopes of promoting information exchange and camaraderie.”
“That kind of invitation isn’t new. What made them finally accept this one?”
Cha Rui, who’d been sitting with arms crossed, asked the question sharply.
But of course, Kim Duman wouldn’t know the answer to that.
As far as I knew, he was simply the face of the Association, unaware of the deeper internal politics.
Cha Rui probably knew that, too, and was just throwing the question out there.
“Must’ve gotten a fat bribe.”
He blatantly accused the government, and the president responded with an awkward laugh, saying nothing to agree or disagree.
Just blinking, looking mildly troubled.
Cha Rui let out a scoff, and I had to bite my lower lip to stop my mouth from twitching.
Otherwise, I would’ve grinned right then and there.
It was just… fascinating.
Watching a scene from the movie play out right in front of me—how could I not be thrilled?
Without realizing it, I was focused on the two of them, eyes practically sparkling.
The only major difference from the original was that the Hunter Association President had been changed from Jang Sucheol to Kim Duman.
This invitation from Russia had been a long time in the making.
Thanks to S3’s global influence, countries around the world had been reaching out to form connections.
They were desperate to establish even the tiniest thread of a relationship.
But these three weren’t the type to come just because they were invited.
The government knew this all too well, which is why they’d avoided issuing direct invitations until now.
Eventually, as Cha Rui implied, they were forced to accept after taking too much under the table.
Hmm… Living through it firsthand is fun, but…
I quietly raised my hand toward the Hunter Association President.
“I’ll be sitting this one out.”
Of course, it was a shame to miss the chance to watch everything up close.
But fun aside, the real problem was that I had no actual role to play there.
Once the story kicked into full gear, I’d clearly be nothing but baggage.
This episode took place at a banquet filled with S-ranks—literally a gathering of the strongest.
Naturally, ‘Seo Inho,’ who was already dead, hadn’t received an invitation, which meant there was no real reason for me to attend either.
“Honestly, weren’t the only S-ranks invited from Russia these three? I doubt they even considered me.”
At my blunt comment, the Hunter Association President looked a little flustered.
It seemed he hadn’t expected me, of all people, to outright refuse to go.
“The invitation only said ‘S-rank.’ That should include you, Hunter Seo Inho… right?”
“But…”
I was trying to figure out how to explain things calmly when—
CLANK.
Woo Jaehyun, who’d been silent all this time, suddenly kicked the table in front of him.
The loud scraping sound echoed as the table slid away, and he leaned back in his chair with crossed legs, completely at ease.
“If hyung’s not going, then I’m not going either.”
He shot me a bright smile, then shamelessly continued with that same smug face.
What the hell…?
I was so dumbfounded I completely blanked out.
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t you go?”
“There’s no point flying all the way to Russia if you’re not going. I’ll just skip it.”
Now he even shut his eyes and waved his hand dismissively.
Watching from the side, it didn’t look like any kind of persuasion would work.
My mouth hung open, lips twitching uselessly, while the Hunter Association President stared at me with a desperate look in his eyes.
His expression screamed, ‘Please, do something.’
But honestly, I was at my wit’s end too.
“Hunter…”
“…”
And just like that, regardless of what I wanted, it was practically confirmed—I was being dragged to Russia.
* * *
