Chapter 4

　　"Hunter Seong Dohyun?"

　　The kidnappers, who’d been tense and on edge, relaxed when they saw me. In contrast, Baek Hamin’s face went rigid. Even with that tiny brain, he must’ve realized I wasn’t on his side.

　　"Heh."

　　The hunters gave me awkward smiles and went back to what they were doing. Right—since the original Seong Dohyun hated Baek Eunseong’s guts, they probably assumed that if he saw Baek Hamin, whom Baek Eunseong cherished like his own child, being kidnapped, he’d look the other way.

　　But I wasn’t that Seong Dohyun.

　　I felt a little bad about using Baek Hamin, but the timing was perfect for me, who’d just decided to shed my bastard image.

　　I opened my skill window and activated Heavenly Conduct.

　　"Rock a bye baby…"

　　The moment I sang with the intent to put them to sleep, the hunters surrounding Baek Hamin dropped like flies. But the one actually holding him stayed standing.

　　Well, of course. There’s no way Baek Eunseong would entrust his nephew to some random schmuck. He’d definitely assigned only the very best to guard him. A hunter who’d dealt with those guys wasn’t going down easy.

　　"What are you doing, Hunter Seong Dohyun?"

　　His voice was obviously shaken. I pulled out my phone and replied flatly.

　　"What do you think? Don’t you know kidnapping a minor hunter is illegal?"

　　I snapped a photo of the kidnapper holding Baek Hamin, then snorted at the hunter who shifted into a fighting stance like he was about to charge me.

　　If he could withstand Heavenly Conduct, an S-Class skill, he was pretty strong—but that didn’t change the fact that he was still weaker than me.

　　[Splish Splash]

　　I flicked my fingers, and the hunter holding Baek Hamin suddenly started gushing blood from his nose. His brain had to be rattling like crazy, but he still didn’t let go of the kid and instead fumbled inside his jacket.

　　"Don’t even think about it."

　　I snapped my fingers again and dropped him before he could pull out a teleport artifact, then looked at Baek Hamin, who was shaking like a leaf.

　　"You okay?"

　　"…Yes. Thank you."

　　He couldn’t even stand. He stayed sitting and bowed his head.

　　"Get up."

　　When he still couldn’t get to his feet even with my hand, I just picked him up. He stared at me in confusion, then glanced once at the fallen kidnapper and suddenly wrapped his arms around my neck, clinging tight.

　　"I can’t breathe. Ease up."

　　I patted his butt, then reached out toward the kidnappers who were sinking into the ground and disappearing—then stopped.

　　Did I really need to chase them? I had photos. Baek Eunseong could track them down.

　　Turning away, I headed for the White Domain guild members I’d seen sprawled out earlier. They were still unconscious. Looked like they’d been hit pretty hard.

　　I waited a bit, got bored, then cupped my hands around my mouth.

　　[Heavenly Conduct]

　　"Gooood! Morrrrning!"

　　"Gah!"

　　With a weird shout, a guild member shot upright and then belatedly looked around.

　　"Young Master!"

　　"Mister…"

　　Even as Baek Hamin reached out toward the now-awake guild member, the hand around my neck didn’t loosen at all.

　　The guild member, who’d been patting his chest in relief at the sight of Baek Hamin, started to bow to me, then stopped and scowled.

　　"Seong Dohyun?"

　　"Man."

　　Who the hell was he to talk down to me?

　　I narrowed my eyes in warning, and he coughed and cautiously corrected himself.

　　"…What brings you here, Hunter Seong Dohyun?"

　　"As you can see."

　　I hitched Baek Hamin up a little. Maybe he thought I was about to drop him, because he let out a squeak and clung even tighter. One by one, the other guild members came to and flinched as they looked between Baek Hamin and me.

　　"He was getting kidnapped."

　　Not by me.

　　"Did you see their faces?"

　　At my words, the guild members looked at each other and bit their lips.

　　So they’d been taken out in a surprise attack without even getting a look. Someone strong enough to take out White Domain in one go was wasting that power on kidnapping a kid?

　　Well, sure, Seong Dohyun had lived like a complete wreck, so he might have done something like that, but why would people that strong risk their entire hunter career on something this stupid?

　　No, that wasn’t the important part. I waved my phone at the man standing in front. On the screen was a clear shot of Baek Hamin being kidnapped.

　　As I watched their expressions darken, I tightened my grip on the phone.

　　"Thank you very—"

　　"Five thousand dollars a shot."

　　"…much?"

　　The guild member broke off mid-bow and stared at me, baffled.

　　"Don’t tell me you’re saying you’ll sell us the photos."

　　"That’s exactly what I’m saying. Isn’t it better to report that at least you took pictures than to say you were knocked out cold while Young Master Baek Hamin was being kidnapped?"

　　He chewed his lip, thinking it over, then asked for my account number.

　　After confirming that fifteen thousand dollars had been deposited, I was about to hand over both the photos and Baek Hamin, but he was stuck to my neck like a piece of gum and wouldn’t let go.

　　Sighing, I nodded at the guild member who kept darting angry looks between me and my phone.

　　"Lead the way."

　　"Sorry?"

　　"What if those guys come back?"

　　"You didn’t catch them?!"

　　He snapped at me, and my brows drew together as far as they could go.

　　I’d woken these bastards up, saved Baek Hamin from being kidnapped, and taken photos as evidence, and instead of being grateful, they were yelling at me? It was like saving a drowning man, only for him to demand his things and then complain his clothes got wet.

　　As my expression turned ugly, another guild member, who’d been soothing Baek Hamin, quickly bowed his head.

　　"Thank you again for saving the Young Master. The Guild Master will see that you’re properly compensated for this."

　　After bowing, he shot a glare at the guy who’d yelled at me.

　　"I’m sorry…"

　　I snorted at the guild member mumbling an apology and grabbed Baek Hamin under the arms. Even trying to peel him off didn’t work. On closer look, vines sprouting from his clothes were wrapped around me.

　　"Let’s go together."

　　Resigned, I nodded at the guild member who reluctantly made the offer, then climbed into the car, supporting Baek Hamin’s butt.

　　I got out of the car already planning to drop Baek Hamin off, collect my reward, and use it to buy some weapons—

　　"How am I supposed to know that’s really Hamin?"

　　—but the one who greeted us wasn’t the White Domain Guild Master, nor was it Baek Eunseong.

　　A man with dark navy hair glared at me and Baek Hamin, eyes narrowed to slits.

　　"Hunter Seong Dohyun, you never cease to amaze. Of all things, you wait until Hamin steps out for a bit and then bring back a fake?"

　　"A fake? Wait, you’re saying Baek Hamin stepped out? Where did he go?"

　　"That’s classified. I can’t tell you any more."

　　I had no idea what he was talking about, and honestly, I didn’t really care.

　　I stared at the man who was clearly on guard against me, then forcibly pried Baek Hamin out of my arms.

　　He’d been clinging like he’d die if he let go, but now that he was home, he seemed to relax. His grip loosened, and when he saw the man in front of him, his face lit up.

　　"Uncle Hwan!"

　　I watched him trot toward the man, then quickly followed and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He looked up at me like what are you doing, then reached out and patted at the invisible barrier in front of him.

　　The wall was so thick and solid that if I hadn’t grabbed Baek Hamin, he would have slammed into it hard enough to get seriously hurt. It seemed the man had thrown up a barrier to keep the "fake" Hamin at bay.

　　"Uncle…?"

　　The man Hamin called Uncle Hwan openly kept his guard up against me, completely ignoring the boy’s wavering voice. Instead, he turned and kicked the shin of the guild member who had been guarding Hamin.

　　"Hunter Yang Jihwan!"

　　The guild member behind Hamin shouted, and the man arched a brow.

　　So, that bastard was Yang Jihwan.

　　I didn’t even have to dig through my memories—he popped up right away. He was the guy who used to trail after Baek Eunseong like a lost puppy.

　　But seriously, where the hell was Eunseong while this clown was throwing his weight around? If anyone was going to kick this bastard’s ass, it should be Eunseong or the Guild Master. If I’m going to take a beating, it should at least be from the guy signing the checks. That way, it stings a little less.

　　"Why are you still here?"

　　"Forget that. Go get the Guild Master."

　　At my words, Jihwan folded his arms and leaned to one side, oozing attitude.

　　While he glared between the two of us, Hamin, his eyes brimming with tears, shuffled back toward me. I scooped him up as he reached out, then glanced past Jihwan into the building.

　　"Where do you think you’re going? The Guild Master isn’t here right now."

　　"Baek Eun—"

　　"Eunseong’s not here either. There’s a family event, so he had to step out…"

　　His voice trailed off as he looked at Hamin, whose face was buried against my neck. Then, he sneered.

　　"Of course, Hamin went with them. I don’t know where you dug up that fake, but I’m guessing you tried to slip in during the chaos with some mimic that looks like him. Snap out of it and go home."

　　I pressed my fingers to my forehead.

　　So, Seong Dohyun, you really did try to infiltrate the White Domain Guild.

　　If that was the case, I could understand why Jihwan was so wary. But he was supposedly close with Eunseong, yet he couldn’t even recognize the real Hamin? Wasn’t he the fake here?

　　No, that wasn’t it.

　　If I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t trust Seong Dohyun either. Who would believe that the guy who used to grind his teeth and swear he’d kill Eunseong had suddenly rescued his almost-kidnapped nephew? In their eyes, Seong Dohyun was exactly the kind of human who would not only ignore a kidnapping but pitch in to help the perpetrators.

　　"Uncle Hwan…"

　　Tears welled up in Hamin’s eyes as he watched Jihwan turn his back on him.

　　It was… strange. The Hamin I knew from the novel was the type to scream, "I said it’s me!" and grab Jihwan by the hair, shaking him. But this Hamin just swallowed his tears in silence.

　　Watching him, I turned and headed for the association to report the kidnapping.

* * *

　　"You’re saying this kid is Baek Hamin?"

　　"Yes."

　　The association president burst out laughing.

　　"Why are you laughing?"

　　Hamin, who had been on the verge of tears, stopped and looked up at me. He had been waiting for his uncle, only for some stranger to show up and try to kidnap him—he had poured his little heart out explaining that, and the old man just laughed in his face. Of course he felt like crap.

　　I patted Hamin’s bottom to soothe him and glared at the president.

　　"Wow, Dohyun. I really misjudged you. You went quiet recently, so I thought you’d finally come to your senses and cleaned up your act, but then you pull something like this."

　　Just like Jihwan, the association president didn’t believe a word I said.

　　It wasn’t just him—everyone around was glaring at me like they wanted to take a swing. Even Hamin, who had been glued to my side, started eyeing me warily after hearing the president talk, inching away as if I were suspicious.

　　"Well, if you’re right and he really is Baek Hamin, then Eunseong or Guild Master Baek Jiseong will give you a massive reward later. Go ahead and keep him for now."

　　At his snide remark, I had no choice but to take the kid clinging to me and head home.

　　Once we arrived, Hamin looked around my place with a face that screamed he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

　　"…This is your house?"

　　Hey, could you not talk like that about my place? I’m doing my best to live modestly.

* * *