Chapter 456: Cho Hyejin’s Instruction Manual (1)
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
“O-O-Oppa, are you okay?”
“Cough!”
“O-Oppa.”
“Cough! Cough!”
Due to Cho Hyejin’s words, my saliva had down the wrong pipe. My chest started hurting due to the constant coughing.
I had no choice but to stop Jung Hayan from calling a priest by urgently raising my hand since she was anxious if there was anything wrong with my health.
“I’m fine. It just went down the wrong pipe. Ahem! Hmm! Ahem!”
“Should I bring some w-w-water?”
“No. I’m going to go in anyway, well…”
“You’re really okay, right?”
“Yes. It’s not enough to worry about. It really just went down the wrong pipe.”
“S-Still…”
“I’m fine, don’t worry.”
After coughing for a long time, I still couldn’t figure out the exact situation.
‘What is that nonsense now?’
It was clear that Cho Hyejin was mistaking something.
She must have imagined what she wanted based on the trivial circ.u.mstances. It was no wonder my heart fluttered. Her misconception of this was too ridiculous.
I wanted to brush it aside, saying that was nonsense, but Cho Hyejin’s desolated face remained.
Meanwhile, she kept pacing around outside. I had a rough idea of ??how things were going.
Kim Hyunsung would have said he was going to the Crack Inn alone, and Cho Hyejin, who felt anxiety rising inside, would’ve paced around in front of the guild with her anxious mind.
Waiting for him in the room would have been impossible because of her personality.
‘If you’re so anxious, then go follow him. Or you should have insisted on going with him. This stupid woman.’
Of course, Kim Hyunsung would notice her following, but it was better than doing nothing and being anxious.
Kim Hyunsung was frustrating to watch, and she was no different. I could see why there was no progress between the two of them.
I scolded her in my mind for being a stupid woman before talking carefully. I had to hear what happened.
“First, let’s go inside.”
“What?”
“Some people may have weird thoughts, and pacing around here won’t change anything. I want to listen to the story inside.”
“That means… even you haven’t heard about it?”
“Yes. This is the first time I’m going to hear this. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about… is it that certain information? As far as I know, the one Hyunsung is meeting… is Yeon-joo from the Black Swan. I can’t really say that they’re dating.”
“I-I don’t know… Actually, I’m not sure, but Deokgu…”
“Yes?”
“Said that it’s almost certain…”
“What?”
‘What did Park Deokgu say now?’
I now felt a little worried. He was a guy who helped in weird situations but also trolled in weird ways. That time seemed to be the latter.
Unsurprisingly, a loud voice began to come from behind.
“Huh? Is that Hyung-nim?”
“…”
“Hyung-nim!”
The old saying about speaking of the devil and he shall appear wasn’t wrong.
As I turned my head to locate the voice source, I saw the giant Park Deokgu. It hadn’t been that long since I last saw that pig, and I wasn’t happy to see him either. Rather, I started to worry about the situation more and more.
That was because I was curious what he had heard to make him go around saying to change the status of Kim Hyunsung to ‘in a relationship.’
‘That pig, really…’
For some reason, his joyful and uplifting face started to make the anxiety rise in my heart. The anxiety didn’t go away even when he hugged me tightly.
“It’s been a while… It’s so nice to see you. Anyway, brother, did you hear the news?”
“What?”
“Oh, you mean the fact that hyung-ssi enjoyed a late-night date with a young woman? It was last night!”
He said it like that, but he must’ve read too much into it and spread useless rumors.
“There are only a few witnesses since it was really late at night, but I’m certain. I was startled too. Honestly, I thought hyung-ssi wasn’t interested in women. I guess he is still a man after all.”
“Explain it slowly. What exactly do you mean?”
“Ahem. Oh, have you not heard of it yet? You would hear it later anyway, but I’ll tell you in advance, so listen well. I don’t know what’s going on, but hyung-ssi created a very intimate atmosphere with a beautiful woman at a restaurant nearby. They drank wine while staying close to each other, and with that alone, we can say that it’s true. I think it’s a bit strange considering his personality. Think about it. Is he the kind to clink gla.s.ses of wine and to make out with another woman late at night?”
It wasn’t an intimate atmosphere. We didn’t make out, either.
“They say it’s always the quiet ones, but who would have known that he would be involved in a scandal first? This is just a feeling, but… I think that she’s no ordinary woman too. I don’t know what kind of vulpine woman she is, but her experience must not be ordinary. On the one hand, I’m a little worried about him. I even thought about him being fooled by some gold digger.”
‘She’s me, you pig b.a.s.t.a.r.d.’
It seemed that he hadn’t even noticed that Cho Hyejin’s face next to him was becoming darker and darker. It was certainly worth saying that he was a genius of agitation, considering how determined he was to say what he wanted to say.
If I let him keep talking like that, it felt like the rumor would reach a point where the young woman would be carrying the Blue Guild Master’s child in her belly in less than a few months.
Since I was paying attention to Kim Hyunsung and others, I hadn’t calculated that the pig before me would be interested in these kinds of baits. His face was even flushed with excitement.
Fortunately, it seemed that he hadn’t investigated the woman, but if Park Deokgu decided to dig into it, the ident.i.ty would be revealed soon.
“As expected…”
“It’s still too early to confirm it, Hyejin. Maybe it’s someone he met for business. Since it’s the early days of the Crack Land, he’ll have a lot of people to meet, from merchants to Clan Masters of influential clans.”
“You think so?”
“I thought so at first, but I’m saying it didn’t seem like that. To say that two people meeting for work had an intimate atmosphere… Isn’t that weird? Well, people said they looked like a couple who met after several years apart. Considering how shy he was with strangers, it would be weird for him to create such an atmosphere with someone he met for the first time. And this is just my guess, but…”
“Yes.”
“I think he’s been hiding this for at least one year already… There’s a good chance that he’s been in a secret relationship that we haven’t known until now.”
‘Shut up, you pig moron.’
“It’s not something to fuss about. It’s ridiculous in the first place, and it’s weird to talk about other people’s love affairs like this.”
“It is, but… isn’t it something worth thinking about? If he gets married and even gets children, we will also have a sister-in-law and a successor… Of course, we have to find out more about what happened. Something was weird about the two of them wandering around late at night… he even left the guild house this morning and hasn’t come back yet. Considering all of that, I’m 100% sure. Yes. I’m absolutely certain of this.”
“That’s…”
“Something is going on with them. He would definitely feel too embarra.s.sed to tell the guild members, and Hyunsung is now a celebrity, so he has to pay attention to the media. Seeing that he showed up with her this time, I think he may be thinking about publicizing it. In other words, he’s testing the waters.”
‘How are you so convincing?’
It definitely didn’t make sense.
No matter how I thought, the bullsh*t that Kim Hyunsung had been meeting a woman for a year didn’t make sense. In other words, it was a story where the puzzle pieces didn’t fit together.
However, the pig b.a.s.t.a.r.d had succeeded in sewing such a ridiculous story together.
He drew sympathy to simple false rumors with his appealing voice and forced bullsh*t to be believable.
It felt like Cho Hyejin was already sending a substantial amount of trust to Park Deokgu’s guess.
I had to admit that she had been properly caught in the trap that Park Deokgu had dug.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s ridiculous to say that he’s been dating for a year… I think it would be more proper to say that they had met for business. And he wouldn’t want it to go public right now. The timing is weird, and the situation itself is not natural. This time, Deokgu, it seems you’ve got it wrong.”
“Honestly, what you said makes sense too, but I smell something.”
“What smell?”
“The smell that he and the woman must have known each other for a long time. I don’t know how to explain it, but sometimes I get this feeling. In my experience, it’s almost 100% certain.”
‘You demon.’
At least it was correct that we had known each other for a long time. His sharpness was enough to make me swallow hard.
“And… even if you think about it a little differently, the answer comes out easily. He didn’t plan to go public right now.”
“What does that mean…?”
“What if they’re in a situation where he had to go public? For example, she got pregnant or something.”
“What?!”
‘That’s bullsh*t, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d.’
“It can be roughly explained. He suddenly brought his girlfriend, which he had been hiding until now, out in the world. When I think about it in terms of time, it seems to be roughly correct… there was a reason why he didn’t look good these days. I would be disturbed too. It’s peaceful now, but even thinking of raising a child on the continent makes me dizzy, sigh…”
‘Your thoughts are even more dizzying.’
“No wonder I heard that he’s been taking a lot of time for walks alone.”
“That’s very irrational…”
“There is another situation. Think about it, hyung-nim, Hyejin. Honestly, how many times has he disappeared without telling us? There were times we couldn’t even contact him for a week or two. He doesn’t even tell us where he’s been… He would have come and gone to do something, but he must have spent a few days meeting her. Now, I think my questions have been answered.”
‘How can this b.a.s.t.a.r.d connect all of it like this?’
He could even be called the master of storytelling. This even made me feel like I was learning from Park Deokgu. I knew I had to defend Kim Hyunsung, but it was not easy to make excuses after being pressured by the strange momentum.
We just had dinner together. The pig b.a.s.t.a.r.d turned it into a story about a pregnant girlfriend that Kim Hyunsung had been dating for a year.
It wasn’t strange that I had nothing to say. However, I couldn’t just watch it.
“You’re too hasty, Deokgu. If it were really such a big deal, Hyunsung would have told us. And I know most of the schedule when the Guild Master was out. He wouldn’t have time to spare to meet a woman.”
“But…”
“You don’t have to worry too much, Hyejin. Deokgu seems to be mistaken.”
“A-Actually… the atmosphere was unusual. I think he was writing some kind of letter last night.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t hear the details, but he was stuck in the library writing a letter…”
“Isn’t that to propose?”
‘It’s not, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d.’
It was probably a letter of apology.
The answer came when I thought about Kim Hyunsung’s disposition. He wasn’t satisfied with last night’s apology. He was probably planning to return my shoes and give me the apologetic letter.
I didn’t expect that he would get stuck in the library right away, but I thought there wouldn’t be much in the letter.
Naturally, I was worried that if I let Park Deokgu talk a little more, Hyunsung would be rumored to have a secret child.
As if to watch out for listening ears, I put my finger in my mouth, causing them to quiet down.
“… What should we do, Vice Guild Master?”
‘Why are you asking me?’
Cho Hyejin was currently wearing an expression that wasn’t like her at all.