Work Text:
For the past couple of weeks, a heated debate had set fire to the r/S-RankHunter corner of Reddit.
It all started when a user by the name of SilentArrowStalker posted a simple question: “Between Baek Yoon-ho and Choi Jong-in, who would win a fight to the death?”
This was the sort of conversation starters one would expect from the average online powerscaler. Except, this was Baek and Choi being discussed—the world’s greatest rivals among hunters. And these rivals had their own fanbases, loyal to the death and just as petty as the guild masters themselves. So it came as no surprise that each side went to war to defend their beloved hunter from the other.
The reverberation of the online debate sent ripples into the real world, even into Hee-jin's workplace. She couldn’t go a day without overhearing her fellow hunters engaging in their own arguments on the subject.
Hee-jin wanted no part of the debate. Even if Ahn Sang-min was trying to bait her into joining.
“Come on, everyone’s talking about it! You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about who would win just once!” Ahn said.
Hee-jin internally sighed as she watched coffee stream into her cup from a coffee dispenser. She was never big on hunter-related powerscaling debates, despite their popularity among internet culture. So one could throw a stronger punch, swing a faster blade, or cast a more destructive spell than the other; so what? At the end of the day, they were all humans who bled red, who threw their lives on the line for the very people who would reduce each of them to their stats. A waste of time, all of it.
“Can’t you people just let this go? All this talk about ‘Baek can do this’ and ‘Choi can do that’ is starting to give me a headache,” Hee-jin groaned while drowning her coffee in cream.
“Well, prepare for your headache to get worse, because people have been talking more than ever since the OP who started the whole debate posted a poll last night.”
Hee-jin stopped pouring. “A poll?”
“Yep. Last I checked, Baek was winning by a large margin. I wonder if that’s changed by now.” With a cocky smile on his face, Ahn waved his phone in front of her face. “Curious to find out?”
Hee-jin gave her cup a disinterested stare, swirling around the steaming liquid.
She wasn’t curious. She wasn’t. But…
“Since you already have your phone out—” was how far Hee-jin got before Ahn started swiping excitedly across his screen. After a few seconds, his eyes widened. “Oho, how the tables have turned! It looks like Choi has Baek beat by 10%!”
Hee-jin felt her eyebrow twitch. Choi was commonly known as the “Ultimate Hunter” to the public. Anyone who held such a heightened title was bound to be revered like a god. It was only natural, then, that more people would side with him over her guild master.
… Not that any of it mattered, of course.
“A lot of folks seem upset about the poll results,” Ahn observed. “Some say Baek’s magic beast transformation wouldn’t give him a speed advantage over Choi because of its size.”
Hee-jin frowned. “That’s not true. From the few raid reports I’ve read where Baek fully transformed, his transformation increases his size while also enhancing his speed. As agile as Choi is, I doubt he could outrun someone with the blood of a literal magic beast flowing in his veins.”
Ahn lifted his gaze from his phone. His lips curled upwards, and she immediately regretted blurting out her thoughts. “And here I thought you didn’t care.”
Hee-jin’s cheeks flushed to a vibrant pink. Feigning a cough, she decided to change the subject. “Does Baek know about this debate?”
“Not to my knowledge.” Ahn placed his phone into his pocket and took a sip from his coffee. Then, under his breath, he added, “And I hope it stays that way.”
The fact that Baek remained oblivious to this debate buzzing around his guild after all this time was nothing short of a miracle. But like any feline, he was bound to pick up on its scent sooner or later, and she certainly wasn’t going to be caught in the crossfire when that day came.
“For the dignity of the White Tiger Guild, and for all of our sakes, it would be best if we didn't mention any of this around Baek," Hee-jin said.
Ahn nodded. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
"What do we not want to mention around me?"
Hee-jin and Ahn yelped in unison, coffees nearly flying in the air. Baek, who surely hadn’t been standing behind them a second ago, raised his eyebrows at their reactions.
“Ah, guild master Baek!” Ahn’s greeting was too chipper, his bow a bit too angled. He might as well have screamed, "I'm hiding something". “We were just, uh… Discussing a debate of sorts, that’s all.”
“A debate, huh? What about?” Baek asked.
“Ah, well... Er…” Ahn stammered, sweat dribbling down his forehead. Out of desperation, he flicked a pleading glance Hee-jin's way. Thanks a lot, Ahn.
“We were debating whether coffee was better with or without cream,” Hee-jin lied. “As you can see, Ahn likes his black, but I can’t handle the bitterness. How about you?”
There was a slight pause before Baek answered awkwardly, “Uh, I guess I like my coffee black, too…?”
"Yeah, two against one!" Ahn cheered, laughing in Hee-jin's face. Laughter that sounded way too strained to be viewed as natural.
Baek, catching onto this, looked between the two of them with a suspicious glare.
The atmosphere tightened. Hee-jin gulped, feeling goosebumps rise on her arms. Uh-oh. That look told her everything he didn't say—he knew they were hiding something.
"Baek!" Ahn clapped his hands, breaking the tension. Hee-jin and Baek shot looks at him. "Since you're here, how about I make you a cup of coffee?"
Baek eyes fluttered at the offer. "Oh, actually, I'm fine—"
"No, no, I insist!"
Before Baek could make another protest, Ahn scrambled for a cup and coffee grounds like his life depended on it, all the while Hee-jin wanted to curl into a ball and die. Did this man know nothing about subtlety? Did he not realize that the more he tried to act normal, the more he was actually feeding into Baek's suspicions?
Well, it was useless to salvage themselves, now. Soon, Ahn had the coffee dispenser going and a low whirring sound filled the air.
As they waited for the coffee to be made, no one spoke. No one met each other's gaze. In that minute, which Hee-jin could have sworn was the longest minute of her life, the break room held a silence so thick that she was certain she could cut through it.
Finally, the last black droplets trickled out from the dispenser. Ahn didn't waste any time grabbing the cup.
"Here you go! Black just like you like it!" Ahn said, pushing the cup into Baek's hands.
"I… appreciate it." Baek went silent. Stared at Ahn, then shifted his gaze to Hee-jin. Those keen eyes narrowed.
"Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression," Baek started, and Hee-jin could feel her pulse skyrocket, "but it feels like you two are trying to hide something from—"
BUZZ!
The sound of a phone vibrating cut Baek off. He pulled it out and stared at the screen.
“Sorry, I have to take this. Thank you, Ahn.” Baek raised his newly acquired coffee to Ahn and nodded to Hee-jin before turning away. Once Baek’s voice vanished from their vicinity, Hee-jin and Ahn deflated with a synchronous sigh.
“Maybe we should take our coffee breaks outside until this debate dies down,” Ahn suggested.
Hee-jin nodded. “Agreed.”
But Hee-jin had a feeling this debate wouldn't die down anytime soon.