Chapter 84

Fuck. If this gets exposed here, I’m screwed.

And Sung Uijae’s on friendly terms with Song Hwayoung. I’d just barely untangled her suspicions, and now I was about to wear the con artist label again.

'No—technically, I haven’t been exposed yet, right?'

I was busy cooking up an unrealistic plan «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» to just kill Sung Uijae on the spot when a thought hit and I froze. Come to think of it, he didn’t have anything solid to be confident about. Him thinking I don’t have an appraisal skill is only a guess, isn’t it? And whether I have it or not—at this level, I’m doing a fine job as an appraiser.

'It’s not like anyone took a loss because I fudged a résumé.'

While I was wondering how to spin it, he lazily tapped the table and kept talking.

"Going around calling yourself an appraiser without an appraisal skill.... I’m purely curious. How do you appraise without one?"

He was already talking like it was a settled fact that I didn’t have it.

'But just because he has an acquaintance with an appraisal skill, is that enough to be this sure?'

He wasn’t someone who’d watched me work consistently. It was strange that he’d be this certain after seeing a single example.

I decided to brazen it out.

"It’s just an appraisal skill that applies a little differently."

"Not sure about that...."

Judging by that answer, he wasn’t buying it in the slightest.

Which made the natural question: why was he this convinced? He didn’t have any sort of "piercing insight" skill.

I realized mulling it over alone was pointless and asked without hesitation.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Hmm."

He paused, like he wanted to build tension, then slowly let a smile creep up. He flicked a finger toward me.

"I’ve got a few reasons."

A few?

I almost knit my brows. The best I’d guessed was the amount of mana that shows when you fire a skill.

In a voice laced with amusement, he laid out his reasons.

"First off, when you used your ‘appraisal skill,’ I barely felt any mana at all. Even a low-rank hunter has to route mana when they use a high-rank skill... but you didn’t, at all."

Yeah. I’d expected that one. What else?

With a clear smile now, he paused, then continued straight on.

"...And liars don’t tell just one lie."

What kind of bullshit was that?

Like I’d lied to him a bunch already? No way. This was our first real conversation.

"When did I ever—"

"Hunter Seo."

I opened my mouth to clap back, but he cut me off, calling my name.

Then he leaned forward, closing the distance in a blink.

'Shit, I almost decked him.'

I barely stopped the reflex to swing, and instead tried to defuse the discomfort by leaning back. He lightly caught my arm, blocked me from pulling away, then slid down to clamp my wrist.

"The most convenient thing about Korea is that you register everything."

"......."

"Of course, that system doesn’t suit me."

With that sudden confession, he pressed so my palm opened, then slowly stroked it with his thumb. The faint warmth of mana seeping into skin made a surge of disgust flare.

'This bastard....'

His gaze drifted down to my palm.

"But... it’s useful at times like this."

"......."

And there, where his thumb had passed—faint, a white snowflake-shaped mark surfaced.

Smiling, he said,

"You didn’t register as a beast-fusion hunter with the state. Far as I know, there are only two in this country. One’s in a hospital bed."

"......."

"And you’re not him."

Ah... hell. A second ago I’d thought I could deny this clean.

I clenched my fist on reflex, but he instantly caught my fingers and pried my palm open again.

Lowering his voice with a laugh, eyes flashing, he said,

"If you were really an A-rank appraiser, you wouldn’t need to fuse with a beast, would you? Right?"

"......."

"So does that thing handle the appraising for you?"

Now his logic made sense. He’d started from "you’re a beast-fusion hunter" and then doubted I was an appraiser.

I had a brief, perverse admiration for the unexpected dopamine hit—then the curiosity returned.

How?

The Cave Giant’s fragment in my palm wasn’t visible on the surface. It only woke temporarily when I used the skill; usually it was effectively in hibernation.

'You wouldn’t know unless you ran a scanner.'

And spotting it from the mark on my palm? Nonsense.

Even Im Haekyung and Song Hwayoung—both of whom had spent way more time around me—hadn’t noticed. In pure mana control, Im Haekyung outclassed the guy in front of me by a mile.

'No way.'

Regardless, with my hand pinned, Sung Uijae let out a thin chuckle and started channeling mana properly across my palm.

Mana flowed along the snowflake lines; the mark throbbed faintly.

I twisted free, raised my hand out of reach, and put distance between us. Without sustained mana, the mark quickly settled down again.

'Feels like I already confirmed it for him, though.'

When I looked up, sure enough—he was smiling. I stood, immediately pulled up a Status Window. As expected... nothing had changed in his. No obvious "insight" item either.

Which meant he’d figured it out another way.

"Ah... I don’t like being touched."

"Mm."

"This is a problem."

"I do apologize for invading your personal space."

Spare me. I tilted my head slightly, looking down at him while he stayed seated and only lifted his eyes.

"How did you figure it out? That’s what I want to know."

"What do you think?"

"You don’t have an insight skill. You’re a single-skill hunter who only uses gravity control. And it doesn’t feel like you used an item; even if you did, it wouldn’t have worked...."

About the only thing that can tag a beast-fusion hunter is the Eye of Insight. And among the people I know, only one person has that.

Willow Reinhardt, a tamer-type hunter of the same nationality as him.

'No way...?'

I stared into his eyes, seeing if anything felt off. Not that you could tell just by looking.

'And anyway, his Status Window showed nothing.'

So what the hell?

He listened quietly as I talked myself away from that hypothesis, eyes locked on mine. Those eyes didn’t look much different from anyone else’s. I held my tongue for a second.

"...So how did you know?"

"Don’t be so on edge."

He’d just aired out two of my secrets however he pleased, and don’t be on edge? Then I needed to have a few of his secrets, too.

He dragged a chair back, as if to invite me to sit.

"Going to keep standing?"

I didn’t move; I just stared. Finally, he dropped the smile from his face and said,

"I won’t tell Guild Master Song."

"Which one?"

"Both."

Then why bring it up at all? My brows twitched without me meaning to.

"What you’re worried about is me reporting you to Song Hwayoung, or to the state. Isn’t it?"

"......."

Well... not exactly on the nose, but both were on the worry list.

As for the appraisal—even if I proved I didn’t have the skill, I’d done enough legitimate appraisals that I could probably talk my way through it. The other thing was the problem.

Beast-fusion hunter. Not just rare here—the stigma was bad. And the reason this couldn’t leak was that, strictly speaking, I wasn’t fused; I was cohabiting with this hairy punk in my palm.

Announcing that I could mimic the skill without fusing would never do. It’d seriously get in the way of future plans.

I slowly sat back down, leaning into the chair. Shame that Sung Uijae was a man with nothing he needed from anyone.

Seeing me sit, he smiled, satisfied. Watching that irritating grin, I realized there was a question I hadn’t asked because I’d been stuck on how.

'Why tell me any of this?'

Even if I was a beast-fusion hunter, he knew I wouldn’t be a threat to him. So it wasn’t to intimidate me.

Then he wanted a deal? With me as the target?

"Forget the ‘how’—why say it?"

"You’ve been dropping your honorifics since a minute ago. I may not be a Korean national, but I do know how to tell formal from casual speech."

He smiled, not looking the least bit offended.

After a short pause, he said,

"I’ve got a favor to ask."

A favor?

I just looked at him. He tapped a finger and grinned.

"Come somewhere with me and do one appraisal."

"I don’t have an appraisal skill."

"But that weird thing in your hand does."

At least he was willing to misinterpret in a way that worked for me. I couldn’t spin a lie about my Status Window on top of this.

Maybe he read my silence differently, because he added,

"You can take it as a threat rather than a favor."

"When?"

"Let’s see...."

He measured a moment, frowned, and said,

"Tomorrow?"

So that’s how we’re setting dates now.

I didn’t have personal plans tomorrow, but this would mess up tracking Cheonmyeonggyo. And like he said, I couldn’t really treat this as a "favor."

"I like oddballs, so don’t worry too much."

I ignored the crap and gave a small nod.

"Give me the location and a clear job brief... and come to the hotel tomorrow. To pick me up."

"Good."

Let’s see just how much of a pain in the ass this turns out to be.

With that, the door opened and Song Hwayoung came back in.

"Sorry. The call ran long."

"Did the Association talk go well?"

"It’s fine. The Association’s taking the geocron, and SH will get a cut of the proceeds. And Hunter Sung can take the demonic beast parts. They gave approval."

"Ah."

At that, Sung Uijae glanced down from Song Hwayoung to me.

"Great. I was leaning toward the beast parts anyway."

That bastard.

At this point, I was almost looking forward to how much entertainment he planned on squeezing out of my boring life.