Chapter 7 · 10 min

Chapter 7

An Ominous Feeling

[Title: The demon kill. If this is real, what changes?

Been fighting since I was little, so I don't know this stuff well. I get that it's amazing, but so what happens?

- Anon: First, they did what no one could, so they naturally take world rank 1, and national power rises on that, so they stand above in politics and economy. Then the won's value goes up, right? The exchange rate..(more)]

└ Author: Understood, thx (didn't;;)

- Fist King: Nothing much will change. The comment above is making a fuss. It'll change a little, but only around that girl, and we just do as usual.

└ Anon (224.22.4): Ahjussi jealous?

└ Fist King: At this age, what jealousy. Just saying.]

Looking at Vethun-gal, the reaction was better than I thought. Thanks to the hunter who filmed Kim Eun-ji, information on the demon kill was spreading faster.

"A reaction should come around now?"

At the posts updating in real time, the corner of my mouth twitched.

I don't know who or from where, but if there was a guy who had played a trick on Saebit Guild, it was his turn to show some move now.

-Ring ring.

Then a ringtone sounded from my phone.

It was Park Ji-hyeok of Ageil Guild, who had helped during the gate rampage.

"Hello?"

[Team Leader Park Ji-hyeok. Is this Lee Si-u?]

"Yes. That's me."

After moving the hunters who had fainted with Park Ji-hyeok to the rear, we had exchanged contacts. To ask a few things I was curious about.

[You said there was something you wanted to ask?]

"Yes. I joined Saebit Guild this time."

[Ah...]

A sigh mixed with thought came from beyond the phone, as if he knew what I would ask.

I didn't rush him, and waited calmly.

And around the time not even a minute had passed.

[You're a lifesaver. If it hadn't been for Saebit Guild's support, I'd have been a dead man, so I'll tell you.]

"Thank you."

Not a natural reaction. Even a lifesaver, he could have pretended not to know. As I saw it, Park Ji-hyeok was a fairly conscientious hunter.

[The Sword Saint gave an instruction. Not to give help to Saebit Guild.]

"The Sword Saint, that S-rank hunter?"

[Yes. Beyond that, even I don't really...]

A few questions and answers went back and forth after, but there was no meaningful gain. After ending the call, I needed a moment to sort my thoughts.

The strongest in Korea, and Hunter Association President, Fist King Kang Tae-jun. A figure half a generation ahead of him, an elder-class hunter who had survived from the early days of the age of the end.

I hadn't known that old man was putting a spoke in the wheel.

"I'll have to go say a word later."

No need to go find him right now. Anyway, with Kim Eun-ji, who had killed a demon, work would pour in like mad.

What mattered now.

"The safety of the guild master, who boasted she'd handle all the office work alone."

We had only been sent to respond to a gate rampage, and she wouldn't have known it would draw a line in human history.

-Ring ring.

Right on time, a call came from the guild master.

"Hello?"

[Si-u! What is all this?]

"It turned out that way."

I hadn't known it would turn out like this either. But what can you do. The situation is already over.

[I can't do it all alone! Please help!!]

"...I'll come now."

The Hunter Association, other large guilds. The Korean government, all kinds of groups from overseas, contacts would flood in. For a novice guild master, it would be hard to handle.

[Thank you!! Really!! But how long until you arrive?]

Hearing Guild Master Lee Mi-seon's urgent question, I finished getting ready for work.

"It's not far from my place, so about thirty minutes?"

[Yes! Come slowly, as fast as you can!]

"Heh heh. Yes."

Slowly, as fast as possible. At a line any office worker would have heard at least once, I raised the corner of my mouth and stepped outside.

Somehow, unlike life at Deungcheon Guild, the work here was enjoyable.

'More doable than I thought.'

Until not long ago, it had felt like I was only barely alive because I couldn't die.

"Seol-yeon. It's probably because your condition is bad, so go rest for today."

A tall height of 180 centimeters, and a neatly cut hairstyle. A man who at a glance looked like an executive of a large company, or from the finance industry, looked at Kim Seol-yeon with a pitying face.

"...I'm sorry."

At Kim Seol-yeon bowing her head and apologizing, he rather shook his head, as if flustered.

"What is there to be sorry for. Our fault is greater, for only relying on you until now. Don't mind it, go home and rest well."

"Yes."

Deungcheon guild master. Jang Tae-gyeong. At his kind tone, Kim Seol-yeon's expression loosened a little.

"Next time I'll do it properly."

"Right. Don't worry too much about today."

-Bow.

After greeting, Kim Seol-yeon came home, showered, and lay on the bed. A high-end villa she had never even imagined when she was young.

Flashy interior. Curious conveniences. Even a secretary dedicated to Kim Seol-yeon, waiting in the first-floor lobby at any time.

If she told the her of the past about this everyday life, would she believe it?

"Huht."

No way. To an ordinary girl student, pretty-faced at best, middling grades, no other talent, an everyday life like a dream coming to her made no sense.

At best, she would believe she was still living happily with the boyfriend of that time. That much.

'Lee Si-u.'

A selfish man who had deceived her and looked after his own interests for ten years. Kim Seol-yeon hadn't known at first either. But a long tail gets stepped on.

Becoming an adult, going through various things in society, and stacking wisdom, there were things she came to see.

'How is he any different from the other office staff.'

At best, knowing her tendencies and supporting her a little faster. That was the whole of the work Lee Si-u did at Deungcheon Guild.

And yet he received the salary allocated as a hunter, and under the name of Kim Seol-yeon's boyfriend, took in countless interests from behind.

The person who told her all of this was Kwon Do-hyeok.

"Haa."

She hadn't known he was that kind of man. Not even awakened as a hunter, getting his qualification recognized illegally, taking improper pay, and flaunting his tie with her to snatch interests.

It wasn't that she simply believed information heard from a man of another guild. Kim Seol-yeon was not that naive. She had asked Deungcheon Guild's hunter support team too.

Team Leader Kim Chang-hun. From him, who had entered Deungcheon Guild around the same time as Kim Seol-yeon, she heard the details. There were documents of evidence too.

"Why?"

If he had just quietly done the administrative work without lying, she would have pretended not to know. If it was only that he hadn't awakened as a hunter. She could have understood it as a childish lie from when they were young.

But the Lee Si-u Kim Seol-yeon knew was not that kind of man. He shouldn't have been.

Everything was already over, but.

"...Enough now."

Matters related to Lee Si-u had already been handled cleanly. She probably wouldn't have reason to face him again.

Setting the feelings about her ex-boyfriend behind her like that, Kim Seol-yeon looked at the empty air and moved her lips.

"Status window."

[Name: Kim Seol-yeon

Age: 25

Skills: Freeze (C), Body Reinforcement (C), Presence Detection (D)]

Hard to see as an A-rank hunter's skill composition. The highest-grade skill was only C-rank. It couldn't be.

Originally it should have been written Freeze (C) → White Night Ice Palace (grade unmeasurable).

'The signature line didn't come up either.'

Before, if she set her mind on using White Night Ice Palace, the line rose naturally. But during the gate clear a little while ago, her head was empty, and nothing rose.

She had only recited the line memorized over ten years.

"Why!?"

Nothing like this in ten years, and suddenly this happens? The hospital hadn't found any particular abnormality either.

Irritation surged at a situation whose cause she could not know at all, when.

-Ding.

A notification sounded from her smartphone. The letters on the screen were Do-hyeok (♥).

The ace of Asterion Guild, set to merge with Deungcheon Guild soon, and S-rank Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok.

[The main meeting ran long, so I only saw it now. Sorry. The status window skill changing? It happens more often than you'd think. Want me to introduce an expert?]

"Ah."

A relief. Because it was the word of S-rank Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok, it was all the more reassuring. Unlike her incompetent ex-boyfriend, her heart pounded at the wide connections and the professional look.

'As expected.'

Her judgment was right. Tying a thread with a man far above Lee Si-u in every way was the correct answer.

Thinking that, Kim Seol-yeon sent Kwon Do-hyeok a reply, then accessed Vethun-gal with a much easier heart.

A talented, beautiful hunter on a rising path. She must not step out of that image, so borrowing the power of anonymity to let off stress was her only hobby.

"Huh?"

Then a post caught Kim Seol-yeon's eye.

[Title: Kim Seol-yeon got trash-tiered. Couldn't use White Night Ice Palace even once today. How's that any different from a C-rank hunter?

Body: Seriously pissed. Thought it was an easy request and ran over excited, and almost died.]

"Tch."

After she left a comment, an absurd reply was posted. The guild master cursed Kim Seol-yeon?

"As if."

From ten years ago until now, the one with a warm heart always looking out for Kim Seol-yeon was Jang Tae-gyeong. There was no way he would curse Kim Seol-yeon behind her back.

"Time passes, and even guys like this get veteran qualification."

Skimming the post, it looked like one of the low-rank hunters who had supported Kim Seol-yeon's gate clear.

Kim Seol-yeon left a long comment, then looked at the other posts.

[Title: World's first demon kill video.]

"Vethun-gal is done for too."

Steady results for five years or more, at least C-grade. The bar to access Vethun-gal was so strict that fake information like this was filtered early.

And yet a recommended-post mark of over 100 was stuck on this fake-information post.

"Even my max was 73...!"

In the past, when she set a world record as a hunter who faced a demon alone and produced no casualties. The recommendations she received for posting that fact first, pretending to be an insider, were 73.

And this bait post has 100 recommendations. Kim Seol-yeon gritted her teeth and clicked the post.

[Title: World's first demon kill video.

A demon entered the gal from a gate rampage and I was running, then I saw Lee Si-u running over and came back, you know? If Lee Si-u's there, Kim Seol-yeon's there. Film White Night Ice Palace and it's a recommended post for sure, yeah

But he was with a girl I'd never seen? But huh? Look at this.

(Roughly a video of Kim Eun-ji activating Violet Heavenly Eye and cutting the demon and the rampaging gate in one strike. avi)