The Skill Maker

“I’m home-! Oh?”

After noticing Kim Yoo-Na sitting in the living room, Hyuna stood by the door.

“Ha, ha ha ha, is that-! Hyun-Soo’s girlfriend?”

“It’s not like that so come inside.”

“Oh, really?”

Even though Hyun-Soo denied it, Hyuna walked in stiffly and awkwardly.

“I’m going to go change!”

She said it as if she was reading a book and quickly ran inside her room and exited not too long after.

Her face was filled with curiosity.

“Hello, my name is Kim Hyuna.”

“Hello, I’m Kim Yoo-Na. I’m a hunter that’s working with Hyun-Soo.”

“Wow.”

“…Stop making fun of me.”

“Okay. But, why is she here?”

Hyuna asked Hyun-Soo quietly.

However, since the house was so small, there’s no way a hunter like Kim Yoo-Na couldn’t have heard it.

“I’m here to recruit Hyun-Soo into my team.”

“Wow?”

Kim Yoo-Na started explaining it to her calmly since she was shocked by it.

After hearing her explanation, Hyuna’s mouth dropped open.

“Heh, it sounds like it’s from a movie. But, there isn’t going to be a problem, right?”

“There won’t be any issues. Our side will continuously take care of the surroundings, including your parents.”

“Your father and I think it’s a good idea. We’ll probably have to close the restaurant and it’s not good for your father to continuously work at his current age…we don’t want your brother to keep worrying about us.”

After hearing his father talk, his mother kept on thinking about it and finally made her decision.

“But, what do you want to do? Wouldn’t it be difficult for you to go study overseas now?”

“Hm…I think I’ll be fine. I’ll be going with Hyun-Soo instead of by myself so it’ll be better. If I get a degree overseas for the area that I want to study in, I’ll have an advantage when getting a job and I can work on my language skills.”

Maybe it’s because she was young, but she wasn’t afraid about going overseas.

Her eyes sparkled and thought of this as a good opportunity.

It seemed like she was contemplating a bit, but Kim Yoo-Na said,

“If it means that we can take Hyun-Soo, this is the least we can do.”

After hearing that, Hyuna kept on saying that she wanted to go.

Kim Yoo-Na received confirmation from her and after talking to his mother a bit about hunting, she stood up from her seat.

“Thank you very much for approving. I’ll come visit again very soon.”

“Please do. Be careful on your way home. Thank you for thinking about us.”

Kim Yoo-Na calmly said good-bye and left.

***

“Is this enough?”

Kim Yoo-Na asked after Hyun-Soo walked her to a big street.

“Yes, thanks to you, I think my parents understood better than when I explained it to them. Thank you for helping my family.”

“It’s nothing. If it’s for you, this is the least I can do.”

‘…I think I heard something similar not that long ago.’

Hyun-Soo wasn’t sure how to answer her.

Since Kim Yoo-Na had such a calm expression, he wondered whether he was the only one that was having odd delusions.

Because of that, Hyun-Soo decided not to add any meaning to what she said.

“Anyways, thank you.”

“We’re just helping each other out.”

Kim Yoo-Na smiled after saying that.

Even though her lips slightly went up and her eyes were slightly curved, it was definitely a smile.

‘…..’

Hyun-Soo was spacing out after seeing her small smile, but immediately came back to his senses.

“Oh, and the men that came with me today, they’ll leave the day after tomorrow if there aren’t any issues. They’re pretty skilled when it comes to being discreet, so don’t worry about them. If there aren’t any problems after that, a team of two will take turns guarding.”

Kim Yoo-Na explained while pointing around the house.

They must be good at being discreet, because he couldn’t find them.

“Since your parents approved, I can assume that you’ve made up your mind, right?”

“Yes.”

Hyun-Soo thought a lot about his.

Hyun-Soo became powerful after becoming a hunter, but there were still restrictions.

But Kim Yoo-Na’s offer severed those restrictions and gave him the chance to go higher.

A bigger world.

A better chance.

Those were right in front of him.

Hyun-Soo wanted to see whether his skills will be useful in other countries and if they were, how far he could go with them.

‘I want my skills to be acknowledged.’

It’s a desire that all hunters had.

That desire existed within Hyun-Soo.

He wanted to be higher than most, earn a lot of money through his skills and get to a position where people won’t be able to look down on him.

‘Would anyone decline this?’

Hyun-Soo asked himself.

He couldn’t answer it. But, there was one thing he was sure of.

He wanted to give it a try.

He had the desire to try.

That desire was moving somewhere deep within his heart.

“Great.”

Kim Yoo-Na seemed satisfied by his answer, because another smile appeared on her face.

“There’s a lot that needs to be done. We’ll see each other real soon.”

***

After seeing her off, Hyun-Soo came back home.

His mother was cleaning the table with a slightly upset expression.

“Even if you two leave, we’ll be fine on our own. But, it’s still upsetting.”

After Kim Yoo-Na left, his mother mumbled to herself.

But after regaining her energy, she tapped Hyun-Soo’s shoulder.

“I’m proud of you for becoming a hunter, but I didn’t expect someone from overseas to come all this way to recruit you. I’m very proud of you. I haven’t done anything to you, but you’ve grown up into a fine gentleman.”

“Mother…”

“That young woman was very nice. Now that I think about, she could’ve seduced you and just taken you with her, but it seemed like she was really worried about us.”

It seemed like she really liked Kim Yoo-Na.

Well, there aren’t a lot of people these days that would actually visit someone’s parents and calmly explain every detail until they understand the situation.

“It’s not that we’re not worried, but since she’s offering her help and I’m sure you’ll do well, so we’ll be fine.”

After seeing the current situation, he assumed that they somewhat understood the situation, so he started talking.

“Mother, have you thought about having your own shop? I don’t want you to try to find a new job after quitting this one. Do it with father.”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“It’s something I’ve thought about for quite some time. It’s time that you guys work comfortably. Since your son is a hunter, you should use that to your advantage.”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t do that. It won’t happen in one day. Look at the restaurant that I worked at. I’m having problems with the landlord because of it.”

“Don’t worry about that. I want to buy you a building instead of borrowing a store. I’m looking at places that are located in a nice area. If it’s difficult to open a restaurant, you can make a living by collecting rent.”

“No, I know you don’t have that much money…even if you do, you should use that for yourself.”

His mother waved her hands.

This was her. Since she was busy taking care of her kids all the time, she never took the time to take care of herself.

Tears started filling his eyes, but he tried to hold it in and continued talking.

“It’ll be beneficial to have a building. People prepare their retirement through this method, so people buy a building when they have enough money. Opening a restaurant in that building won’t be an issue.”

“But, this is so sudden…”

She spoke as if she was in a difficult situation, but her expression brightened.

His mother was feeling down at the thought of Hyun-Soo and Hyuna moving overseas, but her facial expression changed.

“Take your time in thinking about what you want to do. If there’s a specific area or building that you like, please let me know.”

“Okay. I didn’t think the day would come where I would be thinking about something like this. It’s all thanks to my son.”

His mother looked at Hyun-Soo proudly and had a bright smile on her face.

“But, Hyun-Soo. Who was that woman just now? She’s really not your girlfriend?”

Hyuna was in her room and she quietly butted into the conversation.

She had a big smile on her face and it looked like she wanted to make some jokes.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“But when she called you by your name, my heart started pounding.”

“Jeez, it’s not like that. If you keep making fun of me like that, I’ll really tickle you.”

“You’re really not interested? If I was a guy, I would keep looking at her and then I might start liking her and then my body…”

“Hey! Watch what you’re saying!”

When Hyuna started making odd comments, his mother slapped Hyuna’s back.

“Ouch! Mom, that hurts-! Don’t you like her too? I feel like the roles have been switched, but it felt like she was here to get your approval for marriage.”

His mother mumbled as if she was agreeing to what Hyuna said.

“Having a tough daughter-in-law is fine with me. Since the world is a dangerous place, being tough can be helpful.”

“…Mother, please stop.”

Hyun-Soo gave up once his mother sided with Hyuna and started making fun of him.

Kim Yoo-Na was definitely strong.

…But a bit too strong.

She killed a monster with her bare hands.

However, just from her outer appearance, Kim Yoo-Na didn’t look like a close-range attacker.

“Hyun-Soo, give it a try. She looks like a pretty nice person. Okay?”

“Not okay. I don’t know.”

‘I know I’ll give it a try. But, it’s different from what mother and Hyuna are thinking about.’

Business partner. Or teammates.

That was his relationship with Kim Yoo-Na.

Hyuna was right though.

Her opinion of her was that Kim Yoo-Na was nice and a good person.

‘Thanks to Kim Yoo-Na, my parents were able to understand. Even though it’s an issue they feel uncomfortable about, they probably trusted Kim Yoo-Na enough to believe what she said.’

It would be a lie if he said he didn’t want to go.

But, there was an issue.

He was worried about his family’s safety.

It couldn’t be helped.

If something happened, he wouldn’t be able to resolve it in time.

‘Now I can relax a bit.’

Anyways, his family now understood and thanks to Katrina’s suggestion, his family was now safe.

Now, it was all up to him.

Since the biggest issue was resolved, he was now able to focus on other things.

Hyuna and his mother continued making fun of Hyun-Soo and his father was busy watching the TV.

This was how his family usually spent their time together.

‘It’s great…’

Hyun-Soo liked his peace.

***

“Hyun-Soo, please come to this location.”

A few days later.

Kim Yoo-Na contacted him.

It’s been a while.

‘No, I’m sure it’s just me that feels that way.’

During the time they weren’t talking, Hyun-Soo did a lot

He continued searching for a building for his parents.

‘I was honestly worried a bit at first.’

Maybe it’s because he purposely didn’t go to the area where he met those guys. He didn’t run into any issues.

He was afraid that they might follow him home and bother him, so he always had his guard up.

‘Thankfully, there weren’t any issues. But I should still keep my guard up though…’

He didn’t hear anything from the people that Kim Yoo-Na brought along and Hyun-Soo didn’t see anyone odd or suspicious.

However, he was still worried so he helped his parents when they went to work and when they came home from work. He also helped Hyuna when she went to school.

During this, one of Kim Yoo-Na’s people called Hyun-Soo and suggested that they stick with his family since they could be in danger if he stayed by their side.

Thanks to that, Hyun-Soo had a lot of time so he continued searching for the right building.