Chapter 260 – First Day at Work (4)

Queen bee.

The only female bee with reproductive function in the hive, the head of the hive who takes care of it by receiving honey or royal jelly from other bees.

Of course, this is just how common people perceive it, and in reality, the position of the queen bee within the hive is only an egg-laying component.

In the previous world, there was another inner meaning of the queen bee in that it sat still and craved royal jelly.

In a gathering where there are many men, he manages the fishery that manages the affection of the opposite sex, and in the end, the existence that makes the meeting itself sad or estranged.

Even in this world where male and female sexual concepts are opposed, there was a masculine slang term referring to the queen bee in the original world.

Rattlesnake.

I don’t know who first thought of it, but I think it’s a very appropriate metaphor.

It’s deceptive, cunning, and has ‘bells’ on it.

I never thought that the target it pointed to would be me.

“Why?”

“…”

“…”

After Cha Yu-ri’s last words, a strange silence hung over the conference room.

There was no way that Hye-eun could not have noticed her feelings because of Cha Yu-ri’s expression and her voice, which did not even try to hide her displeasure.

First of all, in a calm voice, I explained why you shouldn’t call me ‘Seongcheol’.

“… It’s because the target is confusing. I know that Tae-kyung worked for half a year under the name ‘Kim Seong-chul’ in the union, but if Tae-kyung calls his name in two ways in a melee, he may not be able to respond right away.”

“… To me, the name ‘Seong Tae-gyeong’ is more confusing, right?”

“Yes?”

“To me, Seongcheol was Kim Seongcheol from the first time we met. It’s not like Seongcheol is not hard to understand just because he’s called Kim Seongcheol. If you feel confused, Hye-eun can call you Kim Seong-cheol.”

“…”

There was no swearing or loud noises at all, but I felt something bloody moving between the two women.

In a sense, Minah, who became the starting point of the fight, was restless between the two.

Senior Cheon Ji-hee silently looked at the scene and quietly observed her current mood.

“Mr. Yuri.”

“Huh.”

“Do you know how many years I have known Taekyung?”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ve been childhood friends since we were five, so it’s already been 17 years. The year will change in a month, so it will be the 18th year.”

“So?”

“… Yes?”

“What does that have to do with me calling Seongcheol Seongcheol?”

Of course, in reality, Cha Yu-ri didn’t know what Hye-eun meant, so she wouldn’t have said that.

In other words, it must mean the same thing as saying, “No matter what you say, I will call you Kim Seong-cheol.”

I didn’t really care whether I was called Seong Tae-kyung or Kim Seong-cheol, but it seemed to be a matter of a fairly important part to the two of them.

The quarrel that started with a trivial occasion started to flare up little by little.

“The amount of time I knew Tae-gyeong as ‘Seong Tae-gyeong’ was overwhelmingly greater than the time Yuri-ssi knew Tae-gyeong as ‘Seong-cheol Kim’.”

“I know you don’t even have to say it. You said you were a childhood friend.”

“But why do I have to call Taekyung by a name I’m not familiar with, ‘Kim Seongcheol’?”

“I didn’t force it. If you’re going to change it, Hyeeun just said you can change it. You can just call me Tae-gyeong and I can call you Seong-cheol.”

“…”

Hye-eun’s mouth shut once at the stubborn logic Cha Yu-ri brought out.

Of course, everyone here knows that Cha Yu-ri is stubborn. It’s just that I can’t think of stepping into the atmosphere between the two of them.

Having party members with two names can cause confusion or misunderstandings during battles or when discussing strategies, potentially putting the entire party at risk.

It would be even more problematic in monster hunting, where quick thinking and clear communication are essential.

You could say it’s just calling one person’s name twice, but even wasting one’s brain on such things in the blink of an eye can lead to stress.

In this situation, I had no choice but to lend a hand to Hye-eun’s logic. … If you look at the logic itself.

The problem is that I’m worried that I might hurt Cha Yu-ri’s heart by blindly taking Hye-eun’s side in this situation.

I was a little psychologically unstable from the first time we met, so I was thinking about whether my hasty actions would lead to other misunderstandings.

Mina took a step ahead of Cha Yu-ri and started whispering something of hers in her ear.

“Yuri unnie, can you listen to Hyeeun this time?”

“…”

“Yuri unnie knows that it can be dangerous if names are confused on set.”

“I know that…”

“And Seong Tae-gyeong over there is also in trouble. She is also a person who lives with a sense of useless responsibility, so if Hye-eun and Yu-ri unnie fight, she might even go out to the party because of her responsibility.”

Cha Yu-ri’s eyes, which had been looking towards me, suddenly widened.

I couldn’t hear what the two were saying. It’s probably to the extent of guessing that he’s talking about me.

“You know how hard Seong Tae-gyeong worked to get a job at the company, right? But if rumors circulate that she caused a party feud from the first day of work, she will probably be active in the future…”

“… OK, I’ll apologize.”

“Thank you, Yuri-sister.”

Han Min-ah, who had finished her conversation, returned to me, and Cha Yu-ri, who had just been talking to her, met her eyes with Hye-eun and opened her mouth again.

“… Sorry, I was stubborn.”

“… No, Mr. Yuri. Me too a little… Because I made her hard…”

“Seongcheol… You can call me Taekyung instead of Lee, right? I’ll try to get used to it. … I may not be able to fix it right now.”

“I am sorry for making such an unreasonable request out of the blue. Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Yuri.”

The atmosphere of the party has softened slightly as they apologized to each other.

Watching the scene become calm after a storm passed, he quietly thanked Minah with Ando.

“Thank you, Minah.”

“If you’re grateful, buy me a meal.”

“I’ll buy you an expensive one.”

Up until this point, I hadn’t expected it at all.

That this light title argument was just the cornerstone of the fight that would follow.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And, back to the scene.

“No matter how you think about it, it is right for Taekyung to safely gain experience in the rearguard. She can’t entrust the ranks of an A-rank dungeon to a B-rank hunter. Also, there’s no guarantee that monsters won’t appear in the rear, right?”

“Even if there are monsters coming out from the back, few will come out, and I alone am enough to deal with that number. The logic of putting a great swordsman in the back in the first place is a waste of power.”

At the entrance of the dungeon, where each of our logics collided sharply, we had to stand still for dozens of minutes, unable to go anywhere.

“Therefore… Both of you are right, but…”

Even Han Min-ah, who is the mood maker, seemed to find it difficult to calm down this debate.

The debate about where it was more right to place me on the party line suddenly took a different turn.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Yuri. I know Taekyung best.”

“… What?”

“As I said before, Tae-gyeong and I are childhood friends who went to middle school and high school together. He knows who Tae-gyeong learned swordsmanship from, and he knows all of his fighting styles and mannerisms.”

“…”

“I’m saying that as the party leader, I’m going to place a new member in the rear, so why do you keep opposing it, Mr. Yuri?”

Yes, I’m sure Hyeeun knows a little about how I handle my sword and what my fighting style is.

Most of my swordsmanship is what I learned from her mother, ‘Berserker Kang Eun-yeong’.

I fully understand her insistence on putting me in the back with her own logic, but this time she protested strongly as if she wouldn’t even lose the glass of the car.

“… Okay? Hyeeun, you are Seongcheol… If Tae-kyung knows so well about her swordsmanship, she would rather know that putting her in the rear is a stupid idea, right?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I don’t understand why we need to deploy a manpower capable of cutting black slime with swordsmanship and using Stonerello with a single knife.”

“Taegyeong cuts black slime?”

“… Aha.”

Cha Yu-ri’s eyes narrowed slightly when she saw Hye-eun muttering with an idiotic expression on her face, and she smiled confidently and continued her logic right away.

“You said you were Tae-kyung’s childhood friend, but you didn’t know how strong Tae-kyung was at all?”

“… Oh no it’s not… !”

“Otherwise, there is no way I would bring up the idea of ​​deploying a manpower equal to that of Taekyung behind her. When she was told that she could cut black slime just now, she looked dubious.”

“…”

“I think I can understand now. Hyeeun why are you so sincere… Are you overprotective of Taekyung?”

In front of Hye-eun, who flinched at the word overprotection, Cha Yu-ri continued her words without stopping.

“You haven’t seen it yet, have you? How strong the awakened Taekyung has become.”

“…”

“I’ve been seeing it for quite some time. From the apprentice hunter days when Taekyung couldn’t even catch Woodrello, to the B-class promotion test where he was able to deal with Black Slime and Dustkelp without difficulty. At least I think I know better how strong Taekyung is as a hunter.”

In this debate, I had no choice but to listen to Cha Yu-ri.

Among the members here, of course, the only one who recently saw me using my awakening ability for hunting was Cha Yu-ri, and the only one who could objectively prove that my strength was sufficiently useful was Cha Yu-ri.

It seemed that the controversy would subside, so I came forward and finished the story myself.

“Even in my opinion, I think it’s right for me to stand in the vanguard with Hyeeun and you.”

“… Okay?”

“First of all, the weapon I use is also a melee weapon, and Cha Yu-ri, who knows my skills, says that I have enough skills to stand in the vanguard.”

“… Okay. If Tae-kyung says so, then.”

Her voice still had a little bit of her worry and sullenness, so she sneaked up to her and spoke her words in her ear.

“And the reason I say I will stand in the vanguard is also because I can finally wield my sword ‘by your side’.”

“… That, and so on. Oh, I can’t help it, hehe.”

I wonder if my last words had an effect, and we barely moved into the dungeon with the party leader feeling dramatically better.

With the thought in my head that if I had to deal with all the karma I had built up so far, I would be in trouble or rot.