Hunters Keep Coming To My House - Chapter 130

Chapter 130

“Ellie?”

I blinked and read the message again. Despite being a text, it seemed to carry her voice, which made me chuckle.

“I’ll be seeing your face after a long time. But why are you coming to Korea?”

Moreover, intermediate to advanced hunters needed the permission of the country they were entering. Since allowing entities with powers beyond standard could pose a significant risk, they were cautious.

So, when hunters went to another country, it was usually for exchange purposes. By exchange, I mean assisting with Gate Clearing, or perhaps participating in auctions for new items… or maybe just for the sake of visiting dignitaries.

“I haven’t heard any rumors about an S-level gate recently, so are you coming for the auction?”

Ah, I don’t know.

It would be faster to ask the person directly rather than sitting alone and pondering in the corner.

I immediately began composing a reply.

[Ellie, it’s been a while. I’m really glad we’ll meet again in Korea. But what brings you here? And I’m curious about when you’ll arrive in Korea.]

This should seem casual enough, right?

I glanced over the reply once again before hitting the send button. As the blue message box disappeared, a notification indicating that the other person was typing popped up.

‘Are they living glued to their phone?’

I thought as another message from Ellie arrived.

[Oh, Yeon-oh! You asked when I’m arriving, right?]

[3!]

Is that in three days?

[2!]

[1!]

[I’m in Korea now! Let’s meet up right away, Yeon-oh!]

Huh…?

As I was suddenly bombarded with messages, I could only stupidly gape. She’s here now? Then when did she send the message? As various questions filled my mind, Ellie Kim herself alleviated my confusion.

[Are you really surprised? It was a surprise. How do you feel? Is your heart racing?]

Uh… my heart might burst rather than race.

After taking a deep breath and calming myself down by pressing my chest with my hand, I called Ellie Kim. A lively ringtone sounded, followed by her voice.

-Hello, Yeon-oh~!

“…Uh, Ellie.”

-I missed you so much. I want to see you, Yeon-oh. Where should I go? Is it okay if my friend comes with me? My friend also wants to see you! We planned to party together, remember?

“Just a moment, Ellie. Calm down.”

-Oh, okay.

Ellie Kim took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Judging by the loud noises behind her breaths, it seemed like she was with her colleagues.

“Ellie, aren’t you with your colleagues right now? Is it okay if we meet right away?”

-Of course! They’re just waiting to meet you.

“…They want to meet me?”

-Yes! I bragged about you. I told them I had a very cool and charismatic friend. They went crazy saying they wanted to meet Yeon-oh too. Especially Anna!

Ellie started explaining how much Anna wanted to see me. As soon as the conversation turned to me, Anna jumped up from her seat, sparkling with excitement, saying she wanted to meet me.

When I asked Ellie if she mistook me for a celebrity, she adamantly denied it. She added that she wanted to see me.

‘…But why me?’

I’m only famous in Korea for a brief moment; it’s not like hunters from other countries would be interested in me. 

Is she just interested in Korea? Or did she watch the video I took back then? 

Since it was a video taken inside the gate… If she did watch the video, it would make sense for her to be interested. Well, I can just ask her directly when we meet.

When I remained silent for a moment, Ellie started talking impatiently.

‘Yeon-oh, what kind of food do you like? We’re going to have a party at your place, and we decided to prepare the food ourselves.

Huh?

I didn’t even know there was a party planned at my house.

Unable to hide my confusion, I hastily interrupted Ellie. If it were any other time, I would have hesitated a hundred times before accepting, but I absolutely couldn’t do it now.

“Ellie, my place won’t work right now.”

-Is there a reason? Is someone else staying there? Family?

“No, it’s not that. There’s a patient at home, so it would be inconvenient for someone else to come.”

-Oh, I see. That’s inconvenient. Then why don’t you come to where we are! I’ll send you the address via text!

Fortunately, Ellie understood my situation and expressed her regret. She quickly said we should meet and hung up before I could respond.

“Ellie? Ellie, wait!”

No, please listen to me until the end.

I sighed deeply, covering my eyes with my hand.

Was Ellie always this impatient? She had a lively and outgoing personality, but she didn’t usually push people like this… Even if it’s someone else, I would believe it.

And usually, if someone says there’s a patient at home, they would suggest meeting another time.

…Why does she want to meet me so badly?

I felt sorry for Ellie, but her friends’ behavior puzzled me. I couldn’t tell if they were suspicious or genuinely caring.

Normally, I would have gone to meet her to find out the reason. But now, it was inconvenient.

“Hah, leaving Cha Jae-joon alone makes me uneasy.”

Today, neither Seung-hoo nor Tae-il could come.

…I should ask Ellie to meet another time. I’ll calmly explain my current situation, which makes it impossible for me to go now.

“…Texting would be better than calling.”

Another stormy call like earlier might give Ellie too much control.

After taking a long breath, I composed a text with a resolute expression. I hoped Ellie would understand my situation when she saw this message.

Two hours later.

“Oh my god, Jooni! What on earth happened?”

Looking at Ellie Kim, holding Cha Jae-joon’s hand and on the verge of tears, I thought to myself.

The world has forsaken me, for sure.

Why did this situation happen? Well… it’s because I forgot a crucial fact.

You see, Ellie Kim and Cha Jae-joon were quite close friends.

I thought since she was with a group of people, she wouldn’t act independently, but Ellie… wasn’t like that. She couldn’t pretend she didn’t see this situation where her close friend ended up unconscious in bed due to overexcitement caused by group activities.

Thanks to her persistence over two hours, Ellie convinced me to the extent that my phone almost caught fire. I understood perfectly well why it couldn’t happen, but she said it would be fine since she’s an S-level too.

At first, I adamantly refused, but after two hours of pleading, I had no choice but to agree reluctantly.

And so, Ellie Kim ended up at my house, seeing Cha Jae-joon.

“Ha-ha.”

“Ellie, today is really weird.”

As I pondered this strange situation, a friend who had followed Ellie Kim approached me.

It was ‘Anna,’ who had wanted to see me.

“I’m sorry. It must have been uncomfortable because of Ellie, right?”

“…Ah, no. It’s just because Ellie and Jae-joon are friends. By the way, you speak Korean very well?”

“One of my parents is Korean, so I know a bit.”

Anna, with her calm and gentle voice, smiled gently as she brushed her black hair behind her ear.

Unlike the flashy Ellie, Anna was a very neat and beautiful woman. Should I say she would look great in a Hanbok?

As I blinked and stared at Anna, she smiled and reached out her hand.

“Ellie was in such a rush, we didn’t get to properly introduce ourselves, did we? I’m Anna, as you might have heard from Ellie. Please feel free to call me Anna.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Seo Yeon-oh.”

“Feel free to speak casually. If you’re Ellie’s friend, you’re my friend too.”

“…I’ll get used to it.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

Anna smiled and shook my hand again as if urging me to grab it before I got too nervous. I ended up holding her hand, even though I’m not used to being pushed around by someone.

While trying to suppress my embarrassment, I finished the handshake and asked Anna something I was curious about.

“You wanted to see me, right?”

“Yes. I was really curious about who this friend Ellie was bragging about. Even though our Ellie has some quirky aspects, her eye for people is accurate.”

“…Ah.”

“And… I had personal curiosity too.”

“…May I ask what it is?”

In response to my cautious question, she chuckled and clapped her hands.

“My child was very curious about you, Ms. Yeon-oh.”

…What?