I Tamed the First Rank Chapter 29

“It seems like you’re overthinking this. There are many accounts of people witnessing how lovey-dovey Hyeon Gyu-ha is right now, so would you like me to show you a few?”

“My eyes are rotting.”

The man pushed away the tablet that his secretary handed to him without even looking at it, and gestured lightly.

“Take a thorough look at In Yoo-shin. So thorough that you can even find out what he ate this morning.”

After the secretary left, the man, who had been thinking while rubbing his chin, tapped his temple.

“Hey.”

『……』

“Please wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”

『Huaaahm.』

After a few proddings, a loud yawn rang in his head. The man closed his eyes once and then opened them again.

『Why did you call me?』

Before his eyes, a huge whale was floating in the air as if swimming. Eyes larger than those of most young men blinked slowly. The whale, which was an almost opaque illusion, was not content with merely occupying the wide office and writhed its body, which extended out through the building.

If witnessed from outside, it would look as though the building were piercing the whale’s massive body. However, the only person who could see the whale was the man.

Though its body was so breathtaking that merely looking at it could cause one to lose their senses, the man knew that this too was something condensed and clumped together, miniaturized as if made from molding clay. If this whale were to manifest in its true form, the Earth could potentially split apart.

“I heard Hyeon Gyu-ha has a lover.”

『Whoaa. Is Prince-nim getting married?』

“I don’t know that. Anyway, they say it’s this person; do you sense anything about him? Is he by any chance the same age as Hyeon Gyu-ha?”

The man took out a photo of In Yoo-shin from a document he had received from his secretary the other day and showed it to the whale.

The whale’s large eyes were glued closely to the photo, which was smaller than its pupil.

『Umm. This is just a meaningless snapshot of a moment made by humans. I can’t tell from this alone. I guess I’ll have to see him in person to find out.』

The whale spoke slowly in a dull tone, opened its huge mouth again, yawned, then closed its squinting eyes.

『Call me again when the time comes. I’m going to sleep.』

When the whale closed its eyes completely, the illusion disappeared as if it had never existed. Returning to his original office, he looked down at the photo he was holding in his hand.

There was a young man there who had a fairly clean and cute face, but no one would have paid any attention to him if it weren’t for the rumor that he was ‘that lover’ of Hyeon Gyu-ha.

He was In Yoo-shin.

The man, Narsha’s guild leader Gong Tae-sung, pondered that name for a long time.

4.

23:00 sharp. ‘Munin’s Eye’ floating in one corner of my field of vision. Cell phone in one hand. Location: rooftop. Today was perfect, too.

After tearing open the scroll containing the skill that prevented any sound from escaping, Hyeon Gyu-ha calmly made a phone call.

“Yoo-shin-ssi, it’s time to go to sleep, right?”

- I’ve spread out my bedding and was just about to sleep. What about you, Gyu-ha-ssi?

“I’m going to sleep too. What pajamas are you wearing?”

- They’re pajamas with a hamster pattern.

“That sounds cute. Show me next time.”

- Would you like to come over to my house and spend the night?

“I’m going to go now.”

- I-I’m going too…….

After some trivial chat, the call ended. In Yoo-shin had a regular schedule of going to bed by 11 o’clock at the latest. The light shining in the rooftop room soon went out.

Hyeon Gyu-ha closed his eyes on the roof, listening to the rustling noises that soon became quiet. Then, exactly three hours later, he woke up.

‘Where is In Yoo-shin?’

As soon as Gyu-ha woke up, he checked the coordinates of Yoo-shin’s location. In Yoo-shin was still sleeping in the room under the roof.

There was still a long time left until sunrise. If there were a dungeon, I would’ve gone hunting again, and if I were in an officetel, my terrible boredom would’ve made me drink alcohol that couldn’t even get me drunk, but right now, In Yoo-shin was under this roof. Hyeon Gyu-ha remained motionless on the rooftop until sunrise.

They say you could call just having the thought of wanting to die depression, but was this, an weariness so exhausting that it wouldn't matter if I died, also depression? Hyeon Gyu-ha thought. Even those worries soon disappeared, and Hyeon Gyu-ha’s head became empty. Just like always.

As the eastern sky began to brighten, Hyeon Gyu-ha realized a subtle abnormality from In Yoo-shin last night.

The lights inside had been shining brightly through the window until he turned them off.

‘He fell asleep without closing the curtains again. If he had blackout curtains installed, why wasn’t he using them?’

Hyeon Gyu-ha leaned his upper body over the roof’s edge. He didn’t properly close the curtains on the window again. He used psychokinesis to quietly move the curtains to cover the window. The succulent plant pots on the windowsill were safe and did not fall.

It’s a shame that I couldn’t see In Yoo-shin sleep because of the curtains mounted on the wall. But since I wasn’t a real stalker, I didn’t open the window and go inside to check his sleeping face.

Hyeon Gyu-ha just felt like he would despair if he could not confirm In Yoo-shin’s presence, and the despair of being abandoned made him want to destroy the world, so he checked his Master’s safety from time to time. That was all.

Thanks to the anonymous stalker covering the window, In Yoo-shin woke up from a rough sleep. Hyeon Gyu-ha didn’t know that In Yoo-shin kept forgetting because Hyeon Gyu-ha was the one closing the curtains for him on the days he forgot to do it.

“6-seya, did you have a good night?”

“Squeak.”

After a night spent running on the wheel, escaping the cage to explore and returning, nibbling on food, having a good sand bath, and even seeing Hyeon Gyu-ha secretly close the curtain, 6-se cried happily.

With half-asleep eyes, In Yoo-shin reached out and patted 6-se, then yawned and went into the bathroom. It’s time to get ready for work.

Hyeon Gyu-ha also took a regretful step off the roof and flew to his officetel. He also had to wash up and give In Yoo-shin a bike ride on his way to work.

It was a typical morning.

*

On his way home from work, In Yoo-shin was waiting at the entrance for Hyeon Gyu-ha to come up on his motorbike, which he had parked underground. Taking advantage of a moment when Hyeon Gyu-ha, who was with him all day, wasn’t around, he quickly did a search. Searching again didn’t change the results he got last night.

‘There is currently no king in Romania……’

The Romanian-Serbian monarchy collapsed decades ago. Even in countries where the monarchy has been abolished, there were formerly royal claimants to the throne, but Hyeon Gyu-ha’s words did not seem to refer to them.

In Yoo-shin looked for descendants of the Romanian-Serbian royal family just in case, but he couldn’t find a man who looked like Hyeon Gyu-ha.

‘This one also has something in common: they’re both good-looking…… but Gyu-ha is more handsome.’

So then, was it really a joke? It only made my head spin even more. When In Yoo-shin sensed that someone was close by, he quickly put his phone in his pocket and raised his head.

“Excuse me, but are you In Yoo-shin-ssi of the Department of Public Welfare?”

“Yes, I’m In Yoo-shin. Who are you?”

“Haha. Sorry for the late greeting. I’m Lim Ji-hoon of the Seongho Guild.”

The man held out his business card with a businesslike smile.

“We want to invite In Yoo-shin-ssi to our guild. Our Seongho guild is still small in size, but it has several hunters, including Hunter Jang Seong-guk-nim, who is a top-ranked B-level hunter. If you’re interested, may we set up a separate meeting and give you a detailed explanation?”

“Uh, that’s……”

“If you are busy right now, please tell me a convenient time. After work hours or on weekends is also okay.”

As In Yoo-shin blinked in confusion, surprised by the sudden situation, a hand fell lightly onto his shoulder. It was Hyeon Gyu-ha.

“We’ll take a look and contact you later. We're on our way to a date now.

“Sorry to disturb you! Then, I’ll be waiting for your contact. Have a nice evening!”

The man, who was aggressively barraging In Yoo-shin—who at first glance looked young and seemed like a pushover—quickly bowed his head and bid farewell as soon as Hyeon Gyuha resolutely cut him off.

Hyeon Gyu-ha snatched the business card from In Yoo-shin’s hand, who was blinking since he still didn’t understand what was happening, then tore it up and threw it away.

“If you’re gonna join a guild anyway, go for a large one instead of some unheard-of crappy little guild like this. Since it looks like the competition is starting little by little, if you just hold out for a day or two, the annual salary will probably go up into the hundreds of millions of won.)

“A hundred million? My annual salary?”

“Sure. Now then, let’s go on a real date to make my excuse true. What do you want for dinner? That meat restaurant from last time?”

Hyeon Gyu-ha had dinner with In Yoo-shin, who still did not understand the situation, called him every two hours from the roof as usual and then put him to sleep.

And two days later, In Yoo-shin truly received an email offering an annual salary of hundreds of millions of won. It started with the Anpang guild under Yangsa Group, a large conglomerate.

Scout calls poured in from all directions. Sometimes from in front of his house.

Sometimes in front of the Ministry of Ability, sometimes by email.

Even a person filled with unfounded confidence would have no choice but to realize this: that he was bait to catch Hyeon Gyu-ha.

PA: I want to see Yoo-shin’s reaction when he finally found out about Gyu-ha being a stocker as side line-side line. ☭ ͜ʖ ☭)

Editor M: This author knows how to write comedy. ‘“I am not a real stalker,” said Hyeon Gyu-ha the stalker.’

Editor’s Daily Entries: PA

Feb 24/24: At 6 am I finished some orders for my business, and I drank the remaining double black. I woke super late, like 10 pm so I decided to edit again.

------

Credits:

Translator: Hoshi Miya

Editor/Proofreader: PsycheAsylum, Editor M

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