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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: How to Deal with the Young Forty (3)
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Lee Geun-ho felt wronged.
He had clearly seen it.
Right in the middle of eating, that bastard had naturally grabbed Im Hyeji's breast.
It was so casual that even Lee Geun-ho, who just happened to glance over, thought to himself, Oh, he's groping her chest.
There was a 0.5-second delay before it hit him, and by the time he bolted from the spot, the look on Im Hyeji's face was pure bewilderment.
It was the most flustered and troubled expression he'd ever seen on her during their year together in F Team.
Lee Geun-ho couldn't just stand by.
No matter where this guy had crawled out from, how dare he molest Hyeji.
Im Hyeji was someone he had to protect.
Even back when she was an S-rank healer, his feelings for her hadn't changed since the day she first joined.
He still couldn't forget how kindly she'd smiled and welcomed him on his first day, when F Team was introducing themselves.
In reality, she'd just been passing by F Team and tossed out a perfunctory greeting after spotting the newbie welcome, but...
That's how it lived in Lee Geun-ho's memory, and that was the beginning.
In truth, over the nearly year they'd cleared dungeons together, Im Hyeji had always been kind.
She took good care of everyone around her, and that included Lee Geun-ho.
So he'd mustered up a bit of courage here and there.
"Hyeji-ssi... Could you take a quick look at this...?"
"Pardon? Sure. At what?"
Even as he closed the distance bit by bit, Im Hyeji accepted it readily(?), and he'd felt like he was slowly narrowing the gap in her heart.
One time, he'd gone from just lurking on her SNS to finally hitting the like button.
He'd been thrilled that she never pushed him away.
And just recently, after agonizing over it endlessly, he'd even sent her a DM.
[Geun__Ho85: Hi Hyeji-ssi^^ It's Geun-ho from F Team. I was browsing SNS by chance and saw someone who looked just like you, so I messaged^^ You're looking so cool these days. I'm happy things are going well for you. There's always a tall uncle cheering you on from behind the scenes^^ If you have any worries, tell your oppa in a secret message^^]
There was no reply, but soon after, a photo of her with a happy expression popped up on her feed, and Lee Geun-ho was convinced.
She was accepting his feelings.
Little by little.
Slowly.
That's why he couldn't hold back.
She might not have seen him watching, but that moment's gaze in her eyes had been a desperate, pleading cry for help.
"How dare he!! Touch Hyeji's breasts!"
That was why Lee Geun-ho had stormed into Kang Jik's tent, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him out.
He'd even considered hauling him off to some dark corner and finishing him off, but no—he couldn't do that.
Even in that moment, his baseline judgment had been not to do anything that could harm Im Hyeji.
Killing a porter would get him punished.
Especially if a hunter killed a civilian inside a dungeon—it fell under the Special Hunter Treatment Act, revoking his license and locking him away for at least twenty years in a special prison.
"If it's to protect Hyeji, I'd do anything. But it'd make Hyeji sad. Can't do it."
And that led to this outcome.
At Im Hyeji's sharp words firing right in his face, Lee Geun-ho's vision spun.
Hyeji, why are you doing this to me...
Why snap at me in front of all these people?
His heart felt torn apart, but at the same time, realization dawned.
I'm sorry, Hyeji. Oppa was too short-sighted.
He realized it after hearing F Team's leader speak.
He'd only thought of one thing, not two.
He'd just figured he'd embarrass this porter in front of everyone to protect Hyeji.
He hadn't considered the hurt or shame it would bring her the moment it went public.
It was a mistake.
So this reaction from Im Hyeji was basically just her throwing a tantrum.
He'd endure it.
It was his fault.
Seeing her shed tears ripped Lee Geun-ho's heart to shreds.
I made Hyeji cry.
Lee Geun-ho reflected as he followed F Team's leader.
The leader clutched his forehead and unleashed a barrage of curses.
"You fucking lunatic. Are you insane, old man? If you're gonna die, do it alone. Why drag everyone down?"
Hunters weren't always the nicest bunch.
Especially in a dungeon where lives hung by a thread—hauling around a hunter who pulled troll stunts was like carrying a ticking time bomb that could go off any second.
Lee Geun-ho endured it.
A C-rank hunter who just butchered corpses had no choice against an S-rank.
"We're fucked. For real. Sigh. You never act up usually—why now? You hear me? Don't let Hyeji catch sight of you till we leave. If she does, I'll kill you myself and rot in jail for it."
"I'm sorry, Leader."
He'd even put the leader in a tough spot.
It hurt, but...
He'd reflect and wait patiently until Im Hyeji's heart softened.
And so he spent the day.
He glanced toward where C Team was staying.
Nothing to see.
The moment he even peeked out, that oppa's little sister—or rather, Kang Hana from the same team—would glare daggers at him.
Kang Hana was pretty cute, too.
But her temper was way too bitchy, so she'd been disqualified as wife material.
"What're you staring at?!"
"..."
No one spared Lee Geun-ho a glance.
They just whispered contemptuous remarks while sneaking peeks.
A day passed, then the next.
Lee Geun-ho quietly did his job.
The butchering squad's work was separate from the main group, so he stuck to collecting corpses about 100 meters back.
Even his own team members finished their zones and ditched him coldly.
Yeah. Grit your teeth and bear it.
It's just a trial.
To be with Hyeji, he'd overcome ordeals like this.
He went about his tasks silently.
But at some point, Lee Geun-ho sensed something off.
"...The magic stones... they're a bit low?"
Distracted as he'd been, it took him a while to notice.
Still, he was someone who'd collected corpses for over a year.
He had a feel for it.
Magic stones dropped randomly, sure, but after collection, there was always a rough quota.
You'd compare and think, A bit low today, or Lots today.
"Why so few?"
Today, even compared to just yesterday, it was over half less.
Were there fewer monsters? No.
Hunting volume was higher than day one, and he'd collected nearly double the corpses.
In total, the stones were down by almost a quarter.
Puzzled, he checked other collection squads' hauls.
No big difference.
Some even had more.
Lee Geun-ho scratched his head as he eyed his own pile.
"What now?"
The dungeon was already wrapping up.
It wasn't just a little less here and there—even totaling the whole day, it was nearly half short, so he couldn't ignore it.
So he reported to the leader.
"What? Your stone haul's under half? Why?"
"Not sure... It just came out low after collecting."
"...? And the other team members?"
"No change for me."
"Same here. Actually, more than usual."
"Only Lee Geun-ho's low? By half?"
"Yes."
F Team's leader shot him a suspicious glare.
Then asked,
"What, since you're already screwed anyway, you weren't planning to just pocket the stones on the way out?"
"No, Leader. That's a crime."
"And you know that, yet you did it?"
He protested his innocence.
Smuggling stones from a dungeon was career suicide for a corpse collector.
Guild-cleared dungeons had their stones and byproducts officially recognized as guild property by the Hunter Association, so the moment a worker pocketed any personally, it was special theft—punishable under hunter special laws.
The punishment was bad enough, but getting blackmarked meant no one would hire you for related work ever again.
"Yeah, no sane person would. Got it. We'll see at the exit."
And so the dungeon cleared on day two.
Maybe because of the unpleasantness the night before, the S-rank hunters all rolled up their sleeves and butchered monsters left and right, finishing prep to leave by dusk.
Then the routine luggage inspection began.
Checking for smuggled goods—they usually trusted and skimped, but did a cursory once-over.
They rushed through, especially skipping S and SS-rank hunters' bags entirely.
Common sense: no reason for them to steal petty cash from the guild.
Unless it was blatantly short, no point ruffling feathers.
But when it was Lee Geun-ho's turn...
F Team's leader stepped up.
"Lee Geun-ho. Unpack your bag."
"...Pardon?"
"Let's do this clean."
The look screamed Go ahead, get caught. Lee Geun-ho bristled.
"See for yourself."
He was confident, after all.
Sure, the situation was suspicious, but still.
To treat a teammate of nearly a year like this?
He dumped out his magic backpack, shaking it empty.
A few random items and clothes spilled first.
"See? Nothing bu—"
Then, mana stones came pouring out behind them.
"...Huh?"
"...?"
"Whoa."
"What the hell?"
"Stealing stones right now?"
"That many?"
"Are you an idiot?"
Lee Geun-ho panicked too.
"No, why is this..."
"...Hah. Taking it all the way to the end, huh."
Lee Geun-ho scanned around.
No one shot him sympathetic looks.
Just contempt.
And far off, Im Hyeji's furrowed brow as she watched him.
"No, I don't know how this..."
Next to her, that bastard Kang Jik sauntering out whistling.
No one paid him mind, but he was tossing a pebble back and forth as he went—Lee Geun-ho tried to point...
"We'll talk outside."
F Team members grabbed him so he couldn't bolt.
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