Owner of the S-Rank Dungeon Campsite - Chapter 48

“Welcome! This is Spring Camping Site where special buffs bloom!”

The next day, Mo Gyeon had clearly changed. It wasn’t a lie when he said he was a quick learner.

“Oh? Aren’t you Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon?”

“That’s right. Is this your first time at the camping site?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then I’ll guide you this way!”

Mo Gyeon, who cut off the words anticipating a personal question, acted as he had learned. The guest seemed to have a lot to say while glancing around as they were guided, but they didn’t pry further, perhaps realizing Mo Gyeon was intentionally avoiding questions.

Now he didn’t even burn the meat. The meat grilled at the appropriate temperature was cooked to a golden brown.

“Then have a great time!”

“Thank you.”

Before long, the guests felt at ease with his skilled hands and received his service. There must have been times when he whispered warnings not to act overly familiar when they tried to talk too much.

‘But there’s one thing that bothers me…’

While everything was going smoothly, the monsters working at the campsite still avoided him furtively.

He couldn’t understand why.

‘The evaluation is done by those guys, so they’re the most important…’

It would be troublesome if he did the work well but received bad evaluations from the monsters. Mo Gyeon took off his gloves and gestured to them.

“Teddy, Gold. Come here for a moment.”

“Yes…? What is it?”

“…What is it?”

They looked at him with suspicious eyes. It seemed they were quite anxious, looking around for Bom.

‘Anyone watching would think I’m trying to extort money.’

Bom was busy cooking in the kitchen. When they hesitated and didn’t want to follow, Mo Gyeon reluctantly took something out of his inventory.

“I picked these up earlier when I went for a short walk. Do you want them?”

They were magic stones. Several rare A-grade magic stones at that.

“You picked up magic stones? Really?”

“Yes. I was lucky.”

“Can we really have them?”

“Of course.”

“I like magic stones, I like! Yum!”

Gold excitedly took the magic stones.

Mo Gyeon’s claim of picking them up during a walk was obviously a lie. Even in an S-grade dungeon, A-grade magic stones don’t just lie around like pebbles on the street.

He had purposely gone out early in the morning to defeat a unique monster and obtain them.

“Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon, you’re a good person!”

“I like Mo Gyeon! Like!”

As expected, the monsters quickly took a liking to him. Now that he had finished raising the monsters’ affection, he felt assured there would be no more variables.

But then.

“Welcome! This is Spring Camping Site where special buffs bloom!”

“Huh? Isn’t this Guild Master Seol Mo Gyeon?”

“…”

“What are you doing here?”

An unexpected guest arrived.

He felt the mask he had put on to score points with Bom cracking slightly.

Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon skillfully performed his work after learning. The difference between before and after was so remarkable, it was surprising even to see with one’s own eyes.

“Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon, why are you suddenly using formal speech? Did we do something wrong…?”

“No? I’m just someone who keeps work and personal matters separate. Don’t be so conscious, okay? Haha.”

He was told he didn’t need to use formal speech with guests he already knew, but he adhered to it meticulously anyway.

Though the listeners still seemed to find it awkward.

That wasn’t the only change.

“Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon! You must be tired, have a cola!”

“Popcorn! Eat some popcorn too!”

“Thank you, Teddy. Gold.”

At some point, the monsters had become friendly with Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon. When he took breaks, they started bringing all sorts of snacks.

‘What on earth happened…?’

This would ruin my plan. I might have to keep using him as a part-timer indefinitely.

‘There’s no need to refuse, but…’

The more I saw, the more I realized he worked diligently and his personality wasn’t as bad as I thought. Above all, despite his rough image, he showed no signs of it.

‘Did I look at him with too much prejudice?’

Rather, he was so polite it felt like he was overly deferential to me. Especially the way he called me “Miss Bom” made me feel that way.

I call guests “Hunter” too, but they only call me “owner,” so being called like this felt unfamiliar.

“Hey! Bring more skewers here!”

“Yes!”

Just then, a loud order came from one table. As soon as Teddy responded, that guest frowned deeply and spoke again.

“No, not the teddy bear, that guy. Tell him to bring it.”

“Who?”

Teddy tilted his head, unable to understand.

“That guy. The punk who throws punches first when he gets angry.”

“Hey, what if he hears you? Keep it down.”

The companions pretended to stop him while chuckling. I approached them, somewhat displeased by their offensive behavior.

“Sir. ‘Teddy bear’? Are you referring to my monster?”

“Huh? Did I say that? I misspoke. Sorry, our Teddy.”

The guest immediately changed his words and pretended not to know. Moreover, he didn’t seem to be apologizing sincerely.

The table was full of bottles of alcohol.

If they’re drunk, they should just sleep it off quietly. What are they doing?

“If you call Teddy a ‘teddy bear’ one more time, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Yes, yes. I understand. The owner is quite scary.”

His attitude remained flippant to the end. I was very displeased but for now, I held back and returned to where I was originally grilling meat.

My expression must have been quite bad, as the guests looked cautious as they spoke to me.

“Owner, just find a reasonable excuse and kick them out. Reporter Jo Sung Hyun is always like that.”

“That guest is a reporter? How did a reporter come here?”

They seemed to know each other.

“That reporter is a D-rank hunter, you see those people who came with him? They’re all high-ranking members of the Cheong Un Guild. That’s probably how he was able to come. It’s well-known that reporter takes money from Cheong Un to only write positive articles about their guild. He’s a total nuisance.”

“But… is that really something to call a nuisance?”

It’s clearly not right, but is it wrong enough to call him a nuisance?

I heard that working with media outlets to create a public image was something every guild did.

“That’s right. If it was just that, we wouldn’t call him a nuisance, but he’s also famous for digging into hunters’ private lives. Last time, he took pictures of Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon’s family members, so Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon smashed his camera.”

Ah, so that’s why he did that?

I knew about that incident too. But I didn’t know it was for that reason. I thought Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon had just lashed out at the continuous barrage of questions from reporters.

Because of that, I had the impression that he was a violent person, but it seems I had seriously misunderstood.

“So it seems he keeps bothering Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon? Like how he called him a punk who throws punches first when he gets angry earlier.”

“Was that referring to Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon?”

“I think so? Since he had that experience last time.”

Sure enough, Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon was serving skewers instead of Teddy. His expression was completely hardened.

“Oh my, our precious Hwarang Guild Master is here serving customers and working so hard? Why are you here? Are you originally acquainted with the owner?”

“Please enjoy your time quietly. It’s not a buff dish, so you can grill it yourself.”

“Come on, we know each other’s faces, why don’t you sit with us for a while?”

Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon, seeming unable to listen anymore, left the table pretending not to hear. Reporter Jo Sung Hyun continued to grumble about how he was still immature and arrogant.

‘What’s with that guy? Why is he harassing our part-timer!’

My eyes flashed with anger. I wanted to go back and say something, but since he had spoken as if talking to himself, I lacked justification.

After that, I watched closely with the mind to catch him if he did anything, but he only did things that were ambiguous for ejection.

Like asking about the best-selling items at the store, or requesting tent cleaning.

But he didn’t just do it once, he kept asking, claiming he had forgotten, and frequently requested cleaning, saying he had OCD and was sensitive.

Only to Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon.

Later, it seemed like he was deliberately creating work by littering here and there.

“Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon, I’m really sorry? Just one more time, please help us. You can do it, right?”

“Yes…”

At first, it was just Reporter Jo Sung Hyun, but now the Cheong Un Guild members had joined in. Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon frowned as he answered quietly.

‘Why is he just enduring this?’

Even if he’s not a violent person, I don’t think Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon would have just endured this given his personality.

“Clean this area too. You can’t just do the visible parts.”

Reporter Jo Sung Hyun kept picking on him while he was cleaning.

“Sir. Additional cleaning requires coin payment.”

Unable to watch anymore, I stepped between the two. When I appeared, Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon’s eyes widened.

“Huh? There was no such thing until yesterday.”

“Miss Bom. It’s okay. I’ll do it quickly.”

“It started today.”

I ignored Hunter Seol Mo Gyeon’s words that it was okay and informed the guest. The reporter sighed, “Ha,” as if dumbfounded.

“Come on, the owner really likes money, huh.”

“Is there anyone who doesn’t like money?”

“Fine. So how much is it? I’ll pay for that trivial thing.”

The reporter said while checking his inventory.

“100 million.”

“What did you say?”

“100 million coins.”

“…”

There was a moment of silence at the absurd amount.

“If you don’t like it, leave. We don’t accept customers without money.”

“Owner, you don’t seem to know, but I’m a famous reporter. One line in my article and no one will come to this camping site. I was going to write something nice because I felt sorry for your situation, but you shouldn’t treat me like this.”

The reporter muttered through gritted teeth. It was almost a half-threat.

“The uninformed public might be swayed by your articles, sir.”

People like me who aren’t particularly interested in hunters might just skim through sensational headlines, which could certainly have an impact.

“But most of our camping site’s guests are hunters. The rumors about you are already widespread among hunters, aren’t they? How much do you think they’ll believe your words?”

I spoke with some confidence. If other guests are tipping me off about the reporter’s misbehavior, isn’t the answer already clear?

Even without issuing a rebuttal article through my father or Hwarang, who offered to help if needed, hunters won’t believe this reporter’s words.