Even the Villain Has a Story

Dark-Haired Beast (8)

“You did this!”

“Huh? I was wondering why your people’s tone of voice was like that, but it was all your fault, Chunbok?”

“Call me Baekryong!”

“Yes, yes. Chunbok-ah!”

“Ugh!”

tl/n: sayun addressed chunbok as ‘춘복아’ which is chunbok-ah. the ‘-ah’ is also added at the end of a person’s name as a sign of affection, as well as when addressing someone of equal or lower status. if the name ends in a vowel, then it’s ‘-yah’

The Yongho guild leader grabbed the back of Sayun’s neck as he spoke recklessly. Sayun smiled playfully as he watched him gasp, then took one more step inside.

“Stop saying things like that, Chunbok-ah. You look old.”

“You’re still rude.”

“ And you still don’t understand the topic?”

“…”

Why would Chunbok want to fight a fight he couldn’t win? Sayun clicked his tongue in annoyance at the man who was unable to reply and handed the Changin he was carrying over his shoulder to Geonjoo. With the weight taken off his shoulder, Sayun headed to the table where the Yongho guild leader sat with a light gait, as if walking on water.

“Actually, Chunbok-ah, I don’t care what kind of tone you use or how poorly you understand the subject.”

“How many times have I said that it’s Baekryong…”

“By the way, Chunbok-ah.”

As if he had completely excluded the Yongho guild leader from the conversation, Sayun cut his words off in a heartbeat and sat down at the table. In that position, Sayun leaned towards Chunbok, looking at his trembling eyes, and smiled softly.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, but you should at least not be rude.”

“…”

“As far as I know, the merger was decided three years ago, so why are you complaining when we send our people over?”

Sayun spoke softly and reached out, touching the cheek of the Yongho guild leader. The man’s cheek froze slightly as a cold chill flowed from his fingertips. Chunbok’s eyes shook violently from side to side.

“If you receive something, you should know how to give back. How can you not achieve any results after receiving so much support? Now we don’t have any support or finances to distribute.”

“…”

“You set up a scarecrow at the head of the guild. If you’re going to run the guild like this, what do you have against me that won’t let you give the guild to me when I’m willing…”

Sayun’s eyes narrowed. Sayun gently patted his cheek and lowered his hand, grabbing Chunbok’s neck and putting enough strength to make his veins stand out.

“You made me come all the way here. Isn’t that right?”

“Ugh…!”

Chunbok groaned as Sayun spoke while strangling his neck before grabbing Sayun’s hand.

Fwoom—

Flames blazed from his hand. Sayun didn’t blink an eye despite the sudden fire, not taking his hand off Chunbok’s neck. On the contrary, he only put in more force.

The cold energy from the freezing ground and the flames from the Yongho guild leader collided. Whether it was an S-Class skill or not, the momentum of the red flames was very ferocious, but Sayun was strong even in the face of the threatening fire.

Nevertheless, the fire that had grown in size was large to the point that it devoured both Chunbok and Sayun. The guildmaster’s room that had been cold before was instantly filled with heat. It was so hot that even Geonjoo, who was near the entrance and far away from the two of them, was sweating heavily.

Sayun was engulfed in flames and twisted the corners of his mouth. The Yongho guild leader bit his lips tightly at Sayun, who was focused on strangling him and not letting out a single groan even when his fingers were burning with flames.

Pyrokinesis.

It was an SS-Class skill obtained by entering a gate where a phoenix lived. Just as how the gate was dangerous, the clear reward was obviously incredible as well. He knew after using the skill to deal with Taesik, who he had been in frequent conflict with recently, that it was effective enough against S-Class hunters, so of course he thought it would work on Sayun too.

Wouldn’t that be the case for him too?

No matter how great the Night Rats were and how strong Sayun was, in the end, he was a child who wasn’t even 30 years old, and he was also similarly an S-Class. He couldn’t live lying flat at his feet forever. The SS-Class skill he acquired when such thoughts dominated his head felt like a sign to Chunbok.

He could use this skill to subdue Sayun, get rid of his financial difficulties, and reign proudly.

Or so he thought.

“Keugh…”

The flames that could burn any hunter black didn’t seem to work at all on Sayun, so Chunbok broke out in a cold sweat. His face turned red from suffocation.

Sayun saw his confused eyes and burst into laughter. It was a cheerful laugh that didn’t match the aggressive atmosphere where it seemed like they could tear each other to shreds.

Sayun checked his blackened fingers and gripped Chunbok’s neck with a stronger force. An eerie smile that could not be erased filled his dark blue eyes.

“I was wondering why you were being so disrespectful. It seems like you’ve gotten an interesting skill. What, did you think that this would work?”

“Cough… Urgh.”

“Did you think anything would work just because I’m also an S-Class?”

The hunter rank measured by the system had S-Class as its maximum. So, Sayun’s and Chunbok’s grades were of the same S-Class, but Sayun knew that even if their rank was the same, their level was not.

Maybe Chunbok didn’t know that simple fact because he was the Yongho guild leader.

He most likely did know, too. However, he seemed to have mistaken that he had received a useful skill this time.

It was laughable.

The roaring flames completely engulfed Sayun’s hand and dyed his arm black. Geonjoo’s mouth gaped in shock at the scene.

“If you have a bad head, your body will suffer. Why do you choose to do stupid things like this?”

The Yongho guild leader’s limbs quivered silently in Sayun’s hold, as he couldn’t even groan anymore. Sayun stared at him wordlessly and clicked his tongue, since his eyes would be rolling over sooner or later.

“Withdraw your skill.”

“…”

“Withdraw it.”

As soon as he gave a warning by applying pressure to the hand holding his neck one more time, the red energy gradually faded away. Sayun removed his hand from Chunbok after the flames had completely dissipated and glanced at his right arm, which had been burned black to his elbow. Chunbok grabbed his neck, coughed, and urgently inhaled in short breaths.

“If you don’t have the ability, you shouldn’t be greedy.”

“Khak, hack, cough… .”

“What? You want me to buy you porridge?”

tl/n: the word for porridge is 죽 (guk), which sounds like a cough. sayun is basically making a joke out of chunbok’s coughing

“…”

“Smile, you bastard.”

He had tried to lighten the mood, but he didn’t accept the joke. Sayun lightly slapped Chunbok’s cheek in warning as he stared at him with a serious face, and Chunbok burst out into laughter. Geonjoo stood behind and watched the scene, looking at the guild leader with pitying eyes.

“You want to, cough…! You want to kill me, is that it?”

Perhaps it was because he had been crushed by Sayun’s burning hand, but he had a hard time speaking and choked several times before finally forming a sentence. Sayun shrugged his shoulders, staring at the eyes that were now visibly frightened.

“Well.”

“…”

“Seeing that your newly gained ability is worth something, wouldn’t it be a waste to kill you?”

Sayun spoke skillfully and called for his inventory. Chunbok breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that he could keep his life.

Sayun checked the storage box that had most of its slots filled with items and took out a contract and a potion. Although he had S-Class regeneration, the arm burned by the high level skill didn’t heal easily. Even someone like him would have to live with a single arm if he left it as it was. Sayun poured some of the potion on his right arm before it became incurable and threw the small amount remaining to Geonjoo, who was standing behind him. Geonjoo, who had been standing absentmindedly while holding Changin, received the potion bottle that quickly flew towards him.

“Heal your hand with that, pretty.”

“Ah…”

Geonjoo looked down at the hand that was still bleeding from the previous battle and poured the potion on it. Sayun watched the scene before showing Chunbok the contract he had taken out with the potion. It was a contract that Jongsik had prepared in advance before coming to Yongho.

“You sign here, Chunbok-ah.”

“What?”

“What do you think? It’s a guild merger contract.”

To be precise, it was closer to a slave contract. There were only two actual contract terms related to the guild merger, and the other three dealt with what to do with Chunbok’s situation in the future.

In summary, this was the contract.

1. The Yongho Guild will be merged with and operated by the Night Rats Guild.

2. Regardless of the type, all of Yongho’s property will belong to the Night Rats Guild, and the debt owed by Yongho Guild to the Night Rats will be fully repaid.

3. Afterwards, Yongho’s guild leader, Park Chunbok, will belong to Kwon Sayun, the Night Rats’ guild leader, as a direct employee.

4. All of Park Chunbok’s private property will belong to Kwon Sayun.

5. Kwon Sayun may request Park Chunbok for help if necessary, and Park Chunbok must not refuse it.

The contract that was now presented to Chunbok was arranged and formatted in a long line. Of course, Chunbok checked the contract and got angry, saying, “What nonsense is this?”

Sayun watched him go wild in anger and grabbed the sheet with both hands, as if he would tear the contract.

“If you don’t like it, just don’t sign this kind of contract and die.”

Geonjoo, who had heard similar words, reacted with a flinch. But unlike then, Sayun was filled with the real intention to kill and twisted the contract without hesitation. Split. The end of the S-Class contract was torn. Chunbok freaked out when he saw Sayun tearing something worth eight billion won without any regrets.

“W-wait!”

“Why, I told you to just die.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it!”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then add one more condition. Clause six will state that ‘Park Chunbok is obligated to report everything that happens during the maintenance and operation of the merged Yongho Guild in the future to Kwon Sayun, and penalties such as physical damage will be allowed if false reporting occurs.’”

“…”

“Don’t like it?”

At Sayun’s question, Chunbok’s hand, which had gotten the contract back, trembled. After receiving a sharp glance, he reluctantly picked up a pen and added the clause to the contract. As he wrote, Sayun smiled sweetly while he watched his hand shake.

“Oh my, our Chunbok must be getting old. Your hand tremors have gotten worse.”

“…”

“When you’re done, keep it. It’s a binding contract after all, so I’m the only one who can tear it apart.”

“Urgh.”

“Don’t like it?”

As if “Don’t like it?” was some kind of magic question, Chunbok became quiet when it was asked. After confirming that he had signed it, Sayun stood up from the table and clapped. His burnt right arm was completely restored. However, his burnt clothes weren’t recovered along with his arm, leaving Sayun with no sleeve. Sayun spoke after looking at the neatly dressed Chunbok.

“Chunbok-ah.”

“What more do you have to take that you dare call me that?”

“That’s an S-Class dopo, right?”

tl/n: a dopo is a variety of po, or overcoat in hanbok

“…”

“There’s a fire resistance option on it, isn’t there?”

“…”

“Give it up.”

“That…”

“Give it to me, Chunbok-ah.”

He could give that much as a gift since they were working together now, right?

Sayun smiled sweetly and said. Chunbok opened his mouth and stared uneasily into Sayun’s dark eyes before reluctantly taking off his dopo and putting it on the table.

“Damn it, just take it all, you copycat bastard.”

“I’ll wear it well, Chunbok-ah.”

“I’d rather hold the devil’s hand. Why did I ask a bastard like him to help me…”

Sayun had achieved his goal, regardless of how Chunbok regretted his past choice in a miserable tone, and left the guild office wearing the S-Class dopo. Geonjoo glanced at Sayun, who had contacted Jongsik and told him to wait at the entrance, then looked at the former Yongho Guild’s leader, who was standing vainly in the empty guild office.

Seeing how his own experiences mirrored his, he briefly expressed his condolences before running off after Sayun. In the hand not holding Changin, he gripped the potion bottle that Sayun had given to him tightly.