Chapter 36.1: Something Unknown (10)

Hearing the cold rebuke, tears formed in Jiho’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was from the pain of having his wound pressed on, or from Joo Yiwon, who messes with people after saving them.

Yiwon tsked and activated his skill. A healing skill that Yiwon copied from someone with his ability appeared under his hand.

Now that he wasn’t in so much pain, Jiho could finally see where he was. 

Yiwon was still looking down at him coldly from a room Jiho’s never seen before. Yiwon’s eyes were still shining golden. As if his eyes were those of a beast.

A wave of sorrow suddenly welled up.

“Am I that annoying? Pressing on someone’s wound and all. To the point you want to pierce1 something through my skin?”

Yiwon, who was listening to Jiho’s words with round, blinking eyes, let out a snort.

“You’re dumb, Shin Jiho.”

“What?”

“I thought there wouldn’t be a second time where I hurt you…”

Yiwon’s heavy tone blocked Jiho’s anger.

“I feel like I did this for no reason. Since I managed to return, I should’ve just done whatever I wanted to do.”

“…”

“I just don’t know what to do with you. Of all things…”

Yiwon’s words full of guilt trailed off before stopping. All of the words he didn’t say were bottled in his heart, becoming a long sigh. Instead of letting it out, however, Yiwon looked at Jiho and stretched his hand out.

The hand that was once slightly smaller than Jiho’s, yet is now much larger, tapped Jiho’s leg. Before Jiho could ask what Yiwon was doing, his ankle was caught in Yiwon’s hand. In Yiwon’s hand, the pitifully thin ankle was much lighter than any other weapon. 

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Startled, Jiho tried to shake the hand off, but Yiwon was too strong. Yiwon fondled the ankle for a while, not saying a single word.2 In the end though, Yiwon simply sighed regretfully as he let go of the ankle. 

Despite this, Yiwon’s eyes still stayed on Jiho’s ankle before traveling up to his arms and legs. Jiho didn’t understand his actions.

It’s more stifling when Yiwon’s quiet than when he’s spewing nonsense. Yiwon’s expression was so full of worry and guilt that even Jiho, who usually labels Yiwon’s bizarre words and actions as strange and brushes them off, couldn’t deny it.

‘Why is he blaming himself so much? I got hurt on my own.’

But for some reason, Jiho felt that if he said that out loud, Yiwon would be even more hurt. Jiho stayed silent for a bit before lightly tugging on Yiwon’s clothes. 

“Hey… Joo Yiwon.”

Yiwon stared at Jiho silently. His golden eyes that make people feel suffocated glinted. For some reason, they make a person feel fear. Jiho stiffened.

Fear? Joo Yiwon?

Jiho soon denied that–that doesn’t make sense.

What’s so scary about a guy like this? Even if he’s an SS-rank hunter and Chungram’s guildmaster… Joo Yiwon is just Joo Yiwon. His childhood friend that he’s known since he was young, and a friend with a dirty personality that’s hard to love. 

As soon as Jiho remembered who the other was, all of his fear disappeared. Jiho let out the breath he was holding.

“Thanks for helping.”

Yiwon’s eyes widened slightly. It seemed that he didn’t think Jiho was going to thank him at this time. Yiwon froze from his shock for a second before curving his eyes into a smile.

“…Of course.”

It was only after Yiwon smiled faintly that Jiho realized that Yiwon’s mana was pressing down on their surroundings.

Yiwon, who was just acting like he was going to kill someone, returned to his usual self.

“Something almost happened to our Jiho today, right?”

“Right…”

“Don’t strain yourself next time, hm?”

“Alright, I won’t. So…”

Jiho hesitated, wondering if this was the right time to say this. Seeing this, Yiwon’s face darkened. Thinking Yiwon was misunderstanding something, Jiho asked directly.

“No, it’s nothing bad. It’s just that… shouldn’t you hurry back to Australia now?”

“Just that?”

It was something important, yet Yiwon simply chuckled.

“It’s fine. That’s not that important.”

“What do you mean it’s not import…!”

“Jiho-ya.”3

Yiwon smiled as he cut Jiho off. His eyes, which are usually devoid of emotion, curved as if pleased, and the corners of his mouth stretched high. His smile was, at one glance, an extremely bad sign. 

Flinching, Jiho tried to lean back, but he was immediately caught by Yiwon.

“I’m curious to see what Chairman and the madam will say if they find out that our Jiho was attacked by a monster. Should I tell our vice-guildmaster first?”

Jiho froze at Yiwon’s words. 

His family barely accepted him continuing as a hunter. If they find out he nearly died from a monster attack?

Absolutely not. 

His father and mother, who only agreed because it’s something their son wants to do, won’t step back anymore. Even if he’s able to continue as a hunter, they’ll block him from going on dungeon raids as he plans to.

Of course, they might agree again if he keeps acting stubborn, but he doesn’t want to keep acting stubborn in a situation that’s understandably worrying.

“What do you think, Jiho? They should know, right?”

“D-don’t tell them.”

Jiho begged. Towards this Jiho, Yiwon smiled victoriously. After mumbling What should I do and playing with Jiho’s heart, Yiwon bent down.

Jiho and Yiwon’s faces came closer together.

“Your life is indebted to me too.”

“R-right.”

“The price of your life AND the price of keeping quiet. For the price of all that, fulfill a wish of mine.”

“I refuse.”

Jiho doesn’t know what the wish is, but it feels ominous. Jiho tried to reject it. Yet the control is still in Joo Yiwon’s hands.

‘This petty bastard…’

Yiwon silently gazed down at Jiho with a smile. Towards this Yiwon, Jiho felt as anxious as Antonio, who had to give a pound of flesh to Shylock4. He nodded hesitantly.

“Let me hear it first…”

“If I hadn’t come and you died, you wouldn’t have even been able to hear the request.”

“But I didn’t die.”

“That’s right. Whose credit is that?”

“I could’ve with the sk-”

“You said the conditions are strict and the cool-time is long. I don’t think a skill like that would activate twice.”

“…”

“Whose credit could that be, Jiho-ya?”

It’s the esteemed Joo Yiwon-nim’s, of course…

“Alright, alright, all I have to do is do it…”

Jiho scowled. Yiwon had a pleased grin on his face, as if he was a person with everything in the world.

“Then let’s live together.”

“Are you crazy?”

Jiho really doesn’t want that.

Footnotes

1. I used pierce because it fits the sentence more, but it’s the same word that Yiwon used in the last chapter (“penetrate”).

2. The Korean BL experts in the comments debated on whether Yiwon was thinking of breaking Jiho’s ankle or shackling it. Whatever Yiwon was thinking, JIHO IT’S DANGEROUS, RUN!!!

3. Usually when I translate, I leave off the –ya ending and opt for simply their names. It’s a casual honorific, so it works out. But for this, I thought the –ya contributed to the tone.

4. A reference from Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice.