/
A few days had passed since then.
Today was the second mission for the Princess of Dark Flare.
“The CEO is very busy. He wanted to see you off in person today, but it seems that he didn’t have time.”
“Really?”
Eunha responded indifferently to Jehwi’s words.
“He was very sorry.”
“I see.”
Seeing her nod her head briefly, she didn’t look particularly disappointed. Maybe she wasn’t very interested in the topic itself.
Jehwi, who coughed a little, decided to change the topic.
“Hmm. Do you like the house?”
“Yes, very.”
The house that Wolf had provided was like a palace.
She had never lived in such a luxurious house, even when her mother was alive. And even after that, she had lived in a shack that was on the verge of collapse.
Meanwhile, Jehwi, who was holding the steering wheel, thought.
‘Well, it would be weird if you didn’t like it.’
It was such a luxurious officetel. Even Jehwi, who had been an assistant to Siwoo for a long time, was surprised.
‘What? That officetel… Are you talking about that?’
‘Yes. It’s not far from the mansion. Oh, it’s also nice since it’s a place where you can see the Star Forest.’
Star Forest was a very expensive apartment complex built recently. If he wanted the officetel with a view of the apartments, the sale price would be enormous just because of its location.
‘There should be CCTV in the hallway as well as in the lobby on the first floor. The higher the floors, the better, so no one can spy from outside.’
Jehwi was aware that he was giving her special treatment, but it seemed that it was to a greater extent than he’d imagined.
Sure, she was a good person. But she was a bit quirky and bizarre, and it was surprising that she showed results that exceeded expectations despite her being an F-Class.
However, it was still unknown why the CEO cared so much. Perhaps there was more to her that he didn’t know.
“So, it’s a B-Class gate today?”
Jehwi looked at Eunha through the rear-view mirror at her sudden voice from the back seat.
“Yes, it is.”
An F-Class hunter going into a B-Class gate. In general, it was a nonsensical story.
Jehwi constantly emphasized it right before entering the gate.
The fact that Eunha killed the Lv.30 monster didn’t have much of an impact. There weren’t many people who believed that Eunha killed the Lv.30 monster in the first place.
The most influential theory among netizens was the so-called ‘last hit’, that is, the theory that all she did was finish it off.
But how did they manage to get a seat to a B-Class gate?
There was a clear and simple reason.
“This is the power of Wolf and Silver Moon.”
Jehwi laughed as a representative.
From then until arriving at their destination, Jehwi carefully explained information that could be given to Eunha in advance as a manager.
He explained that it was as dangerous as it was great for an F-Class hunter to be put into a B-Class gate. If you entered a gate that didn’t match the difficulty level, you would have no choice but to face an annoying situation in battle.
“Hey, isn’t that her? Something about dark flare?”
Even before the battle could even begin, Eunha already faced an annoying situation.
“It’s not about dark flare. It’s the Black Dragon, you idiot.”
“Wow, she’s not a hunter. Isn’t she a complete cosplayer?”
“Do you want to go and talk to her?”
“No thanks. There’s something strange about her eyes.”
Thanks to the contract with the cat, Eunha’s hearing was improved along with her night vision. Even if she didn’t want to hear them, she had no choice but to listen.
Eunha pretended not to hear anything and carelessly wiped the mud off her body with a towel.
The gate had occurred in the aquarium. Gates often inherited the characteristics of the area where they appeared. Because of this, the floor was now covered in a sea of water. Damp mud would splash from even the smallest step.
Eunha went through the bag Jehwi had brought her and pulled out a towel. With it, she began to meticulously wipe the mud off her shoes and clothes.
“If you have time to clean up, stay alert and follow along. There’s no one from Wolf here. If you fall behind, there’ll be no one to look for you.”
A hunter pointed at Eunha and warned. It happened at the same time a lump of mud came from somewhere.
As Eunha flicked away the lump of mud, laughter was heard from all around. Eunha glanced at the pile of mud that had fallen to the ground and opened her mouth.
“What if I didn’t clean it?”
Eunha asked, looking straight at him.
“If the mud hardened like this, wouldn’t it interfere with future battles?”
The man’s eyebrows twitched at Eunha’s attitude. In the cold silence,
Ha!
He burst into a short laugh and walked over to Eunha.
“Look, you think you’re so cool just because you killed a Lv.30 monster. All the hunters here are capable of that. Of course, experience matters more than that. Do you know what that means?”
“…”
“I’m telling you to stay in the back row. Don’t pretend to know things. Annoying.”
He deliberately kicked the ground hard and turned around. Dirty mud splashed all over the place from his kick. If Eunha hadn’t twisted her upper body slightly, she would have had mud all over her face.
[The divine beast ‘Cat Wandering in Darkness’ asks why all hunters are rude and wild like savages.]
[Why aren’t you doing anything? You didn’t show your true self! The angry cat’s breathing grows rough.]
‘Forget it.’
Eunha drew her attention away from the message window that vibrated excitedly.
What would she gain by flipping out here? Satisfaction? She’d never craved anything like that.
Although it was only for the contract period, Eunha wasn’t a solo hunter. She carried a responsibility for being in Wolf. She was well aware that any of her actions could turn into an arrow for the Wolf Guild or Siwoo.
Accidents caused by a moment of anger were something children would make.
‘It’s rather nice because I don’t have to do any bothersome things.’
Eunha only watched from the back, but she would still earn her share after the sweep was completed, so she had no regrets.
Eunha decided to relax and watch the battle.
[Lv.32 ‘Predating Great White Shark’ is approaching at its full strength.]
[Lv.26 ‘Ferocious Giant Jellyfish’ stretches out its poisonous tentacles.]
As the gate difficulty increased compared to the last time, the level of the monsters that appeared was also greatly increased.
However, as such things were not a problem to them, it showed that their skills could not be compared with the previous hunters.
While Eunha stared at the battles indifferently, someone approached.
“Hello, we meet again.”
They had a thin body with a sad impression. He was the D-Class hunter and popular BJ ‘King God’.
e/n: in ch 17, they called him a c-class hunter but in this chapter they’re calling him a d-class so we’re just as confused. It’s hard to misstranslate too because of how the classes are written in the raws (ex: C급 헌터) so maybe the author just tripped…
“Why are you here?”
He belonged to the Roar Guild. Eunha heard that it was the Hwarang Guild, not the Roar Guild, who had won the bid for this gate, so why was he here?
e/n: hwarang = flowering knights, an elite warrior group of young males in an ancient kingdom in the korean peninsula that lasted until the 10th century.
Perhaps reading the question in Eunha’s eyes, King God scratched his cheek and opened his mouth.
“Actually, I got a seat after hearing that you were coming to this gate.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because I wanted to talk to you one more time.”
Eunha’s black eyes scanned him as if searching. No malice was felt. The cat was also quiet.
After that, King God naturally started walking according to Eunha’s stride.
The fact that she was being judged in either a good or bad way on the Internet was well known to King God, who was active as a BJ.
However.
He saw the moment that the camera couldn’t capture with his own two eyes.
‘She didn’t even seem intimidated.’
Like a beast in front of its prey, she stood in front of the monster. She was like that even now.
Moreover, she was a person introduced by Siwoo, who was appointed as the next guild leader of Wolf.
He was King God, famous for surviving the BJ world’s red ocean. His nose was sensitive to smells that would benefit him in the future.
tl/n: “Red oceans are all the industries in existence today – the known market space, where industry boundaries are defined and companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of the existing market.” – a google search
“Some people think you only finished the monster off, but I don’t think so.”
As he was walking alongside Eunha, he suddenly lowered the tone of his voice.
“Are you an incarnation?”
There was a question mark attached to the end of his words, but his eyes were full of certainty.
A divine beast could have dozens, or even hundreds of contractors, and could share some of their power with those contractors.
However, an ‘incarnation’ was quite different. A person who fully inherited the power of a divine beast, not just part of it. Each divine beast could only choose one incarnation.
The criteria for selecting an incarnation varied for each god, and there were far more gods who did not choose an incarnation compared to those who had one.
If a person met a divine beast’s high expectations, the target chosen as an ‘incarnation’ would gain tremendous power.
A typical case was the Chinese S-Class hunter, Wang Wei. He was the incarnation of the ox, and rumor had it that he was strong enough to lift a bus with one hand.
Among the hunters, there were even jokes about whether he would be able to move an airplane with his bare hands if he were to become a ‘manifestation’.
“There’s no other way for an F-Class hunter to kill a Lv.30 monster in one hit. Whether or not you have a contract with a divine beast it wouldn’t have been displayed on the measurement results. Which of the twelve divine beasts are you the incarnation of? The dragon? Or is it the tiger? Judging by your destructive power, I don’t think it’s the rabbit or sheep.”
As if waiting for her to evaluate his reasoning, he looked at Eunha with anticipation.
“… I.”
As Eunha bit her lip, someone’s urgent cry was heard not too far away.
“Hey, there’s ordinary people here?!”
Ordinary people? Everyone, including King God and Eunha, turned their heads at once.
“… It looks like they got caught up in the gate.”
Eunha muttered in a low voice and turned towards it. The answer to King God’s question didn’t come in the end.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Oh, um… I’ll come.”
King God scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
‘Was it just a feeling?’
In an instant, it seemed that her eyes had changed. King God, whose hair had stood up, rubbed his arms and followed Eunha.
He thought to ask about the divine beast at another time.
***
“Seven, eight, nine… There are exactly ten.”
The gate leader in charge of this gate, ‘Mobius’, spoke.
Mobius was a C-Class hunter, but rumors said that he would rank up to B-Class soon. He was talented and had many followers as well.
“They’re tourists that were in the aquarium. I’m going to request reinforcements with my terminal. Let’s stop here and wait until they arrive.”
When a gate appeared in a densely populated area, it was quite common for ordinary people there to be caught inside the gate.
This was an aquarium. And, it was on the weekend. It wasn’t surprising for tourists to be swept away by the gate.
Usually, before hunters were put into a gate, a hunter-related association would check whether or not any civilians were swept in through a radar network first, but there were cases where they couldn’t determine anything.
But there were only ten people, so the thirty or so hunters gathered in the gate would be enough to protect them.
Mobius had already sent a request for reinforcements through his terminal before reassuring the civilians and had the hunters build a defensive line.
“The hunters are in the defensive ranks, so we just have to catch the monsters that attack us and sit while we wait.”
Yes! This gate is nothing! The excited King God’s shoulders shook.
“Did you say you were Yura? Would you like to try this? It’s hot among BJs that do mukbang these days.”
It was when King God was rummaging through his pockets.
“… Crying.”
King God raised his head at the sound of Eunha’s low voice and dropped the jelly he was holding.
‘Wh- what…?’
Her black eyes were tinged with gold. Like that of a beast who crouched in the dark, her pupils were torn vertically.
“I can hear a child crying.”
D-Did she hear a God or something? Or was this part of a concept? Her expression is too serious for it to be an act.
“You, your eyes suddenly…”
Swish.
Eunha turned around and started walking hurriedly to somewhere. The eyes of other hunters, including the leader Mobius, were focused on her.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
Mobius grabbed Eunha’s wrist.
“There. I can hear the cry of a child.”
He narrowed his eyes at Eunha’s words. It went without saying that the higher the rank, the sharper the senses. He had a higher rank and more experience than any of the hunters here, but he couldn’t even hear footsteps, let alone crying.
“It’s dangerous to act alone. Please sit down and do your duty as a defender.”
“No. I will go.”
Eunha hit the hand that was holding her wrist in an instant. It wasn’t a strength that could easily be missed. Mobius looked down at his hand and raised his head.
Eunha was already disappearing behind a corner.
“Whoa. They say that the more foolish one is, the less fearful they are.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have to follow her. If something happens to her, she might get Wolf involved. You two, can you come with me?”
Mobius chased after Eunha with two other hunters.
Even at this moment, Eunha continued to step in one direction without hesitation, as if she really heard crying.
‘What in the world are you hearing?’
This was why Mobius didn’t like bringing in novice hunters. From then on, he promised to never—
“…!”
Mobius, who was chasing Eunha, stopped. His eyes, unbelieving of the sight in front of him, were wide open.
“Eugh, waahh.”
A child was crying.
The child who held their doll tightly had tears dripping down their face but still held their breath, afraid that they would be discovered by a monster.
“Little kid.”
Eunha held out her hand.
“Ugh, wahhh! A ghost―!”
Suddenly, as if the child had a seizure, they burst into tears. It seemed that Eunha’s pale face and gloomy outfit was too frightening for the child. In front of the crying child with a runny nose, Eunha awkwardly pulled back her hand.
“Child, it’s okay now, so follow me. It’s safe over there.”
Unlike when it was Eunha, the child did not cry when he saw Mobius.
Eunha would be lying if she said she wasn’t upset, but it was okay since he was safe.
“Why are you like this, kid? Let’s go.”
Mobius scratched his head as if he was in trouble. As Eunha stood from a distance and watched, the child seemed to be stuck in one place, saying that they wouldn’t go.
Eunha made sure that the surroundings were safe and turned around. There was nothing more she could do.
But at that moment.
“Wahhh, Mama…”
Standing still, Eunha’s footsteps stopped. Her eyes met the child who was half sitting on the floor, crying.
“Mama… She, she’s not here… Wahhh.”
All of a sudden, dusty fragments of memories appeared in Eunha’s brain.
Crushed concrete.
A left arm, strangely bent under a broken piano.
‘… Ma… ma.’
A girl, collapsed in front of it all.
In front of her eyes, Eunha saw herself from 30 years ago.