chapter 196

Chapter 196

“I thought I’d gotten used to hunters’ faces changing back and forth...”

An Association staff member who had gone to check on Hunter Yoo Seongun, whose eyes were bloodshot, muttered.

“Guess not yet.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. It’s not common for Hunter Yoo Seongun to be like that.”

“Ah, it isn’t common?”

“Yeah. Basically, he’s someone who’s unflappable about most things, but...”

A staff member with enough experience to be dispatched to a disaster like this made an awkward expression.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen him get that angry.”

“When you say it’s been a while...?”

“You know how the Collection Merchant’s curators are by nature.”

“I know they aren’t easy people.”

“That too, but, well, there’s a clear trigger.”

As long as you don’t poke at their sensitive spots, they never cause problems.

“It’s a guild that manages appearances as something important.”

“Is that... because of the collector?”

“Probably.”

The Collection Merchant’s guild members were all Visabel’s collectibles. They had a duty to maintain dignity that met Visabel’s standards. That was also why they always wore their uniforms properly.

“But even so, it’s not like the Collection Merchant’s guild members go out of their way to worry and manufacture something.”

That was just how their personalities were to begin with. Humans who looked at the world through a cynical lens, yet were faithful to above-average responsibility. But there were times when even those Collection Merchant guild members—especially curators—couldn’t be like that.

“Usually it’s when there’s a problem with the work they’re in charge of...”

“The work they’re in charge of? Those monsters?”

“Watch your words a bit. Yeah, those dangerous items.”

“Curators sure cherish those terrifying things.”

“It’s connected to their sense of responsibility, too.”

It was likely that the enormous burden created by the guild’s demanded ‘affection’ and ‘free-range raising,’ plus ‘duty,’ manifested as that kind of obsession. The staff member, who had briefly done research institute work before, understood that feeling.

“But still...”

“...Hunter Seo Gio isn’t that kind of dangerous item, is he?”

“...That part is unusual.”

As I said earlier, it wasn’t a common case.

“It’s extremely rare for Hunter Yoo Seongun to get that angry.”

Even when an error occurred in the function of a work he’d been in charge of before, it hadn’t been to this extent. The staff member who had been out on-site then knew well what kind of hunter Yoo Seongun was.

“Even when he was younger, even if he had a bit of a temper, he wasn’t the type to tire people out.”

“You mean he didn’t pressure other staff like he is now?”

“If I put it bluntly, yeah, probably. The Collection Merchant guild members have personalities that really hate causing trouble for others.”

“Then why is he doing this? Hunter Seo Gio isn’t even Hunter Yoo Seongun’s ‘assigned work.’”

“Well, maybe I’m viewing it with too narrow a perspective.”

It might simply be that he was doing this because he was worried about a close friend’s safety.

“...Still, it’s hard to understand.”

The Collection Merchant guild members tended to show camaraderie in an extremely dry form. To the point where, if the reason was valid, they could use someone as bait and throw them away without leaving even a shred of ill feeling between them.

That didn’t mean there was no affection or trust. Rather, a strong belief manifested in that harsh form, and the side Hunter Yoo Seong-woon was showing now was far from what the staff member knew.

“...”

“...Um, there’s that story going around...”

“I know what you’re trying to say.”

It was a sensitive topic, but a rumor everyone knew one way or another.

‘The story that Hunter Seo Gio is the collector’s bloodline.’

That Visabel saw his own son as a ‘work’ and secretly locked him up and raised him.

‘I thought it was a truly ridiculous rumor, but if even Hunter Yoo Seongun is acting like that... even though I think it can’t be true, for some reason it starts to feel believable.’

Hunter Seo Gio, who was said to sometimes show a lack of common sense, and Hunter Yoo Seongun, who never reacted sensitively unless it involved a work-related issue. And the collector’s abnormal affection toward works...

“...”

With a groan, the staff member emptied his head. It was a topic where thinking deeply would do absolutely no good.

“However the Collection Merchant runs, it’s not our business to interfere. Once Hunter Seo Gio returns safely, Hunter Yoo Seongun will probably come to offer compensation as an apology too, so don’t worry too much.”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

“Usually, when an issue related to their work ends well, curators do that.”

“Then doesn’t that mean they really view Hunter Seo Gio as a work...?”

“I said it’s not our business to interfere, right? I hear he’s tall and his abilities are good. If that’s the case, isn’t he worth being treated as a work? These days, locking kids up and raising them isn’t even rare.”

“What makes it unsettling is that a conglomerate as big as the Collection Merchant did that.”

“It’s not even certain.”

It was a situation easy enough to picture, though.

“I inquired after receiving a suggestion from Hunter Yoo Seongun, but an official document came down from the Association. Until the coastal cleanup is more or less finished, full-scale dungeon entry is impossible. Even if we run a decoy operation, their position is that at minimum, prior suppression is necessary.”

“But...”

“Even outside the entrance it’s this noisy—how do you plan to get all the way to that deep sea? Just because your heart is urgent doesn’t mean things will work. The right thing is to clean up from the front, step by step.”

“Even so, how am I supposed to relay this? To Hunter Yoo Seongun, who’ll still be staring with eyes wide open right now... This time I really feel like he’ll grab me by the collar.”

“I’ll go and tell him this time, so don’t worry.”

“Is there no problem inland?”

“I haven’t heard anything separately, so, well, it’s obvious.”

The staff member clicked his tongue like he knew.

“Everyone’s probably trembling, aren’t they?”

Before the aftermath of the Great Catastrophe had even fully faded, for a disaster like this to come—truly, it was the end times.

* * *

Even now, there were many people in the world who remembered the Great Catastrophe.

“H-h-grandma...”

“Come on in, hurry! At a time like this, you don’t go outside.”

“I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, we don’t live seeing the sea. It’ll be fine.”

Of course that was true of elderly people of advanced age.

“Honey, how much food do we have left?”

“Probably enough to last about a month...”

“Let’s ration more just in case. I used my vacation days too.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to talk with the next-door neighbors?”

“No. At times like this, staying still is best.”

“I’m really scared...”

“It’ll be okay. The big guilds are stepping up like that.”

“I hope this dungeon matter ends well.”

It wasn’t much different for the middle-aged either.

“Goodness, they say people died at the coast because of this.”

“How did that happen?”

“They say the sea went crazy and thrashed like it was alive.”

“No, didn’t everyone along the coast evacuate?”

“Even if the place is packed with people, if some hide here and there, how can you drag them all out...”

An era of population overcrowding where even existing life was hard to sustain.

“Good grief... that’s why I keep telling you to come live with us.”

“What can you do when they got scared.”

The people who, during the Great Catastrophe, scattered and fled into deep mountain villages or sparsely populated areas to hide and live—most of them weren’t even registered as residents, and they couldn’t be found easily either.

When a disaster like this came, those people died first.

“Feels dangerous.”

“Yeah.”

The children were anxious too.

“Of all things, the sea...”

“Aren’t we surrounded by sea on three sides?”

“What if we get submerged in seawater?”

It was already a nation closely tied to the sea, and after the Great Catastrophe, sea levels had been rising little by little and land was getting submerged. With the appearance of a sea-related disaster, a sensitive topic, even young children began to grow restless.

It was the same for the Sun Church.

“Cha Isol.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Did you contact your family?”

“My sister and brother said they’re at the Collection Merchant right now.”

“At the Collection Merchant...?”

“Because we got help before.”

“Strange.”

Lee Ruda, who had come because she was worried about Cha Isol, tilted her head. The Collection Merchant had gained a citizen-friendly image through various events, but fundamentally, it was closer to a financial company that invested capital and managed things.

‘It’s not a guild kindhearted enough to separately worry about the well-being of a third-class citizen, though?’

But thinking there might be things she didn’t know, she nodded.

“Anyway, that’s a relief. If it’s the Collection Merchant, they’re trustworthy.”

“Mm. There aren’t hunters in the village unless it’s my sister, but they said they’d help with that too...”

“The Collection Merchant said they’d protect your village too?”

“No, Justitia? They said hunters got dispatched from there.”

“Ah, them.”

Cha Isol’s hometown wasn’t in an area close to the sea, but since the sea was an element that could bring about many disasters, it seemed hunters had been dispatched all across South Korea.

“Justitia is famous for volunteer work.”

“Yeah, we got help a few times before too, but...”

“You’re still worried, right?”

“It’s not like it’s just one village sitting alone, so it’s fine.”

Cha Isol had received all the help she could from the adults.

“...”

Even so, the reason she couldn’t find energy was simply because this whole situation was scary.

“...They said people died.”

“...In a situation like this, it can’t be helped.”

“I wish no one died.”

“In a dungeon break like now, it’s hard to hope for that.”

A dungeon break referred to the phenomenon of monsters invading outside the dungeon. It wasn’t the usual case of numerous monsters causing an uproar, but even like now, when a small number of huge monsters popped out, it could be seen as the same phenomenon.

Lee Ruda spoke of the information she’d heard from her mother.

“I heard all the villages along the coast have been devastated. They evacuated most of the people who were registered residents, but it seems casualties happened because of a few exceptional cases.”

“Casualties?”

“It’s obvious. People who weren’t registered, or people who didn’t follow the Association and government’s instructions and acted individually on their own. Or people who hid by their own judgment and then... got struck by misfortune.”

“...Could it be that the hunters who came to help couldn’t find them?”

“It’s sad, but there are limits to hunters evacuating people one by one. If there were hunters with search skills, they would’ve been able to find them, and there must already have been many such cases, but even so, there are people they couldn’t find.”

Among them, she’d heard some stubbornly stayed behind on purpose. Hunters who already had too much to do and too much burden couldn’t take care of all those people too. There were too many people who needed their help to also take care of uncooperative humans.

“Still, once this dungeon raid is over, the Association and government will push forward reconstruction projects. They’ll also prepare places for people who have nowhere to go until then, well, that’s why they collect taxes.”

“Taxes... my brother and sister pay them too.”

“Right. The government collects taxes for times like this, and we pay them. You learned in class, right? Lowly creatures like us can’t endure disasters like this unless we band together.”

“Yeah, that’s why they said harmony and peace are important.”

“We help each other. Reconstruction will be after the dungeon raid is finished, but I understand the government is already working hard to find places for disaster victims to live and to supply food.”

“That’s a relief, but...”

Hesitating, Cha Isol asked.

“Won’t there be more damage?”

“How could there not be? Hunters are dying right now too.”

They were literally ‘dying’ ‘off.’

“They say strange hail is falling and turning into monsters, and waves are sweeping in like they’re alive—either way, they say the sea side is in total chaos.”

To reduce citizens’ anxiety as much as possible, a lot of information was being controlled, but Lee Ruda was able to obtain a bit of information through her mother’s authority.

“Not only were villages that had already completed evacuation destroyed, but they say aquatic life that had been doing its role in its place also left its place. Among those, the most serious is that the ocean currents are changing little by little.”

“What are ocean currents?”

“It means the flow of seawater. Even before, because of sea monsters’ movement, sometimes phenomena like this would be found, but they say this time it’s a little different. Different from before, when it could be controlled with magic.”

The sea itself was truly moving.

“There must have been a similar problem during the Great Catastrophe.”

“T-then what happened back then?”

“The climate changed.”

“If the climate changes, what happens...?”

“The weather swings around.”

To put it extremely.

“The whole planet becomes a steam cooker or a freezer. To the point where Earth’s life absolutely can’t naturally endure it.”

It becomes an environment where people can’t live because it gets too hot or too cold.

“It hasn’t even been that many years since the capable hunters of the world gathered their heads together and barely adjusted the aftermath of that time. The reason there are still so many people afraid of the Great Catastrophe isn’t for nothing.”

An ecosystem thrown into chaos by the influx of monsters flowing in from other dimensions. Horrific infectious diseases that seeped into daily life due to completely different pathogens and air. Space problems caused by all sorts of living things and objects crashing into a cramped planet...

To survive on Earth, humans had to artificially analyze and adjust all these problems. And they barely managed to do it.

“And now another problem like this happens...”

“Then what do we do now?”

“There isn’t much a mere apprentice priest can do.”

“But couldn’t we help with something?”

“Of course you and I could, since we have ability. But we shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“You’ll get pegged as suckers.”

“Huh...?”

“People will treat you however they like.”

Though there were, rarely, people who looked upon them with warm eyes, in most cases, apprentice priests who were young and inexperienced would only be high-quality prey in this chaotic era.

Lee Ruda decided that even if the Sun Church dispatched them, she would endure together with Cha Isol.

“That’s why I’m telling you to relax your heart a bit. I know you’re worried about people, but in a situation like this, the most important thing is ourselves. If not ourselves, who’s going to protect us?”

“Ruda will...?”

“...Of course we’ll protect each other, but...”

“...”

“...”

After a brief silence, Lee Ruda opened her mouth.

“Even if you act cute like that, it’s not allowed. I can’t permit it.”

“Ruda, I feel like sometimes you look at me kind of strangely.”

“I know you’re a natural monument who likes helping people, but even so, this isn’t when you step up.”

“...”

“...Don’t be too heartbroken.”

Lee Ruda comforted her as if she felt sorry for her.

“Since all the famous guilds have gathered, it’ll be cleared quickly. Your family is in Seoul, so they’ll be safe, and you said Justitia dispatched hunters to protect your village too.”

“...Yeah.”

She spoke only of the safety of the people who knew Cha Isol and loved her.

“...”

And Cha Isol worried about even more people than that.

‘...I’m good at healing. Wouldn’t it be fine if I hide somewhere that isn’t dangerous and treat injured people?’

She was worried about Brother Gio, too.

Cha Isol, left standing blankly alone, made a decision.

* * *

“Teacher.”

“What is it?”

“Cha, Cha Isol...”

“Yes?”

“Where is Cha Isol...?”

Lee Ruda asked with a haggard face.

“Where did my round pebble go.”

“What are you...”

“You guys didn’t dispatch that tiny kid to the coast, did you?”

“Dispatch? Sister Lee Ruda, calm down...”

“Give me Cha Isol! What did you do to my sucker partner!”

“N-no...”

Cha Isol’s decision had a big problem.

First, the fact that she, after deciding at an odd timing, barged into the portrait right away without telling her partner Lee Ruda. Second, that though she sent a letter late from inside the portrait, it was lost in the process of crossing the frame.

As a result, Lee Ruda’s face was bulging with veins.

“What did you do to my kid!!”

It was the sin of having a sucker partner who was capable, well-connected, and quick to act.

(To be continued in the next episode)