A S-Class Hunter With Great Agility - Chapter 77

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 77: What Remains (3)

 

The answer was simple.

 

“No.”

 

Hong I-jo raised his gaze from the ground below. The city sky, devoid of any stars, was reflected in his eyes.

 

“Realistically, it’s impossible.”

[Why?]

 

Yeon Na-yeon asked with confusion.

Red Dog saying it’s impossible. And this was about catching a cult…

 

[I’d like to know the reason.]

 

Red Dog, led by Hong I-jo, was a guild specialized in dismantling criminal organizations. The criminal organizations they had destroyed so far numbered in the dozens.

Among them, the number of lives Hong I-jo had ended was beyond counting.

The red bird always took the lives of evil with emotionless eyes.

 

“One hundred days…”

[…?]

 

Hong I-jo closed his eyes as if tired.

 

“The time that has passed since the 2nd Unit was wiped out.”

[…Ah.]

 

It was an incident that had caused quite a stir for a while. Yeon Na-yeon remembered that time too. Red Dog’s 2nd Unit, who couldn’t return before the Gate closed.

Hong I-jo’s disappearance for several days at that time had also been a major issue.

 

“We haven’t recovered.”

[…]

“Can’t help.”

 

At Hong I-jo’s firm tone, Yeon Na-yeon closed her mouth.

Red Dog had probably lost more than thirty percent of their strength. In other words, even if they lent their power to catching the Strange People Cult, it wouldn’t be of much help.

What more could she say here?

 

[…I’ll keep that in mind for now.]

“Yeah.”

 

Yeon Na-yeon sighed and hung up the call shortly after.

Now no voice could be heard in Hong I-jo’s ears.

 

Whoooosh—

Beep—!

 

Only the sound of wind and the occasional car horn echoed.

 

“And…”

 

Hong I-jo put down his mobile phone and rested his chin on his hand.

 

…I want to

rest a little.

 

For Red Dog to exist as it does now.

The empty spaces left by those who had shared their lives were vast.

 

With his red wings folded, he had no thoughts of flying for a while.

 

* * *

 

The next day, I opened the window. Several reporters had positioned themselves in front of the Shaman House.

 

“How diligent they are from early morning…”

 

However, since the cause of all this was entirely my fault, I couldn’t blame anyone.

It wasn’t just winning the match. Normally, reporters wouldn’t be able to find a shaman house in some alley.

But I had…

 

‘The business cards I scattered before.’

 

The business cards I had scattered hoping to bring in some customers had somehow ended up in the reporters’ hands.

 

 

The address is written on the back of this too.

I crumpled the business card in my hand, one of the few remaining. Damn it!

 

“…Do I have to wait without going out until they all leave?”

 

Thud.

I closed the window and pondered how to overcome this situation.

 

“Ah, I need to solve that first.”

 

However, there was something I had to do before that. The interpretation of the Mountain Lord’s message that had been postponed somehow.

Thanks to the help of Choi Yu-il, who taught me about the Chinese character dictionary function, and Nam Jae-yoon, who taught me old words, it had been perfectly interpreted.

 

“Messa… no, message window.”

 

Soon, letters appeared before my eyes. When I put them together one by one, the content was like this:

 

| So this function exists too. Thanks to it, I was able to leave a message, albeit late. Since you asked about the Wave Tale Flower, I’m writing a reply about it. |

 

‘How did he write this? With his front paws?’

 

I continued reading further down.

 

| Wave Tale Flower, as its name suggests, is a flower that drifts like a tale . When I first saw it, it was hazy, but looking closer I could identify what it was. It’s true that it has the effect of restoring spiritual power. |

 

Certainly. When I chewed the Wave Tale Flower, my mana was completely replenished. I had been happy thinking I’d obtained an incredible elixir, but…

 

— Don’t eat that unless absolutely necessary.

 

As if emphasizing the warning given then, similar content followed.

 

| But never consume it again. If accepted into a human body, it will freeze you starting from the extremities. |

 

I flinched.

I instinctively looked at my fingertips. There were no particular symptoms yet, but…

 

‘I should be careful.’

 

Come to think of it, it was written that it was a flower that bloomed from ice made of seawater.

 

‘I’ll never eat it again.’

 

However, that wasn’t the part that surprised me most. I read the last line.

 

| P.S. I’m not certain, but I heard it’s their sacred object. |

 

“…Them?”

 

I frowned. The word ‘them’ pointed to an entity that was all too clear.

 

“A sacred object of the Gwaemin Cult…”

 

If it was a sacred object, everything made sense.

They had their item stolen that they were desperately trying to protect, even bringing out a dragon. No wonder they would attack.

 

‘I need to think about how to handle this.’

 

“As long as I have the sacred object, I might keep running into them…”

 

I quietly pondered.

 

‘If it’s an item I can’t use anyway, I should throw it away. There’s no need to carry the risk of being attacked by a pseudo-religious group.’

 

I had already extracted enough compensation from the Association President for that dungeon anyway. It would be right to dispose of something that could gnaw away at my life.

 

Bang bang!

 

“Damn it!”

 

Let me deal with that first. The threat to my immediate freedom.

I closed the message window. And as I was about to open the window with the intention of yelling something about character controversies or whatever.

 

Ring ring—

 

The phone rang.

 

“?”

 

When I turned on the screen, a surprisingly welcome name appeared. Normally it wouldn’t have been welcome at all, but if the reason for the call was what I expected?

I grinned and pressed the accept button.

 

“Hello?”

[It’s the Association President.]

“Yes. What’s the matter.”

[We caught one of those dungeons I mentioned before…]

 

As expected, nice.

 

“Let’s meet and talk. I’ll come to you.”

 

Since it’s come to this, I’ll take refuge in a dungeon for a while.

 

* * *

 

I was going to take refuge in a dungeon… but.

 

“Why did you want to meet here?”

 

A cafe in broad daylight.

The gazes of several citizens were painfully intense. There was no point in having escaped through the back door of the Shaman House.

I asked Yeo Jung-eun while avoiding those stares.

 

“Ahem.”

 

She coughed awkwardly. In her black suit and black sunglasses, she seemed to shine more than usual somehow.

 

“You even put on makeup.”

 

White powder was caked under her sunglasses. As if praising that effort, the camera shutter sounds from people’s cell phones rang out continuously.

 

“Hey hey, that’s him right. From the Hunter Academy. The one who shot that blue fire!”

“He also summoned that scary summoned beast, right? So amazing. But why is he with the Association President?”

 

Hmm.

 

I could roughly guess her intention. I too had come to understand how important ‘public opinion’ was.

Stock prices fell and guild rankings changed just from that public opinion.

 

‘Since I’ve been drawing attention lately, she seems to want to ride along.’

 

A rookie hunter who’s been getting attention having a meeting with the Association President.

Well, it seemed like you needed this kind of headline.

 

“…If you get the gist, at least play along a bit.”

 

Yeo Jung-eun kept clearing her throat awkwardly, seeming embarrassed herself.

 

“Well, it’s not difficult.”

“…Thank you.”

 

I drank the grain powder drink that had just come out.

 

“More than that, I have something to tell you before we get to the main topic.”

“Hmm?”

 

Yeo Jung-eun asked back after swallowing her latte loaded with syrup.

 

“I thought you’d say let’s finish the main topic quickly and go our separate ways.”

“…Originally, that was the plan.”

 

‘Should I tell her this, or not?’

 

It just so happened that the Association President contacted me first, so I’m deliberating. Normally, I would have planned to keep my mouth shut and pass by.

But if not this opportunity, I don’t know when I’ll be able to speak about it again…

I barely moved my reluctant lips.

 

“About the flower I handed over to you last time.”

“….”

“Do you know what it is?”

 

Clink.

Yeo Jung-eun set down her coffee cup.

 

“…Exactly what about it?”

“Things like its purpose or identity.”

 

She furrowed her brow with a complicated expression.

 

“I don’t understand the intent of your question.”

“….”

“Eun Hae-dam, you accepted my request and brought me the flower, and I received it. The difficulty was clearly high. I think it’s amazing that you completed it perfectly.”

 

Yeo Jung-eun spoke firmly.

 

“So that’s the end of it. I don’t want to hear any more interference beyond this.”

 

I leaned back against my chair. If she has no intention of listening, I don’t particularly have the will to speak either.

However, the resulting damage is at a level that’s hard to ignore.

 

— There was one more thing to take.

 

The silver-haired man. His sneering smile. That was an aura completely different from anything I’d seen before.

If I left the Association President alone like this, something that would surely be difficult for the Association to handle might happen someday.

I lowered the corners of my mouth.

 

“They attacked Blue Dragon precisely because of that flower. To retrieve the flower.”

“…!”

“The Association should also be careful.”

 

A few seconds of silence passed.

 

“I’ve already decided to dispose of it. Since it’s a plant, it seems like if you physically damage it, it withers quickly and can’t produce any effect. Please keep that in mind.”

 

This was information I hadn’t even passed on to Lee Cheong-ryu. If it became known that I possessed something like a sacred object of the Strange People Cult, it would become troublesome in many ways.

I would continue to pretend not to know, but I needed to give a warning to the Association President who was in the same position.

 

How she would interpret this was entirely the Association President’s choice.

As the head of a national institution, I could only hope she would make a wise decision.

 

“…It’s a Gate that appeared in Gyeonggi Province.”

 

Now for the main topic.

Yeo Jung-eun smiled lightly and brought up the story about the Gate.

 

“The rank is A-rank. The readings are at an average level.”

“That’s quite high? Higher than what I requested.”

 

High-rank dungeons don’t come on the market often, they said. So I deliberately didn’t make unreasonable demands.

 

‘This is actually better for me.’

 

After my mana stat exceeded 300, it’s been rising sluggishly. Probably below B-rank dungeons wouldn’t have much effect.

In this situation, an A-rank dungeon was a windfall rather than a danger.

 

“Originally, it was a place the Academy Guild had reserved, but it seems they can’t prepare for a raid right away due to this incident.”

 

Ah, that’s why. It was quite a pleasing butterfly effect.

 

“That worked out well.”

“…I saw the news article about the Academy’s recent incident. It was impressive.”

 

Yeo Jung-eun said while sipping her coffee.

 

“Any thoughts about joining the Association to contribute to society…?”

“No thanks.”

“…Yes.”

 

I refused outright.

 

“Anyway, this is perfect. I like the rank too. I’ll purchase it.”

“A-rank will be quite expensive. As I said before, you’ll have to pay the average market price. Otherwise, it’s illegal transfer.”

“You know the money you gave me back then.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

 

I smiled brightly and pulled out my wallet.

Inside was the quite substantial sum that Yeo Jung-eun had given me under the name of mental damage compensation.

 

“This should be enough.”

“….”

“Though I didn’t expect you to even buy it for me. I’ll gratefully accept the gift.”

 

‘The economy goes round and round, after all.’

 

Her hand holding the coffee cup trembled. I bowed politely and said.

 

“I’ll set the date for tomorrow. I’m going in alone, so preparations will be quick.”

 

The White Dragon Dungeon last time was among the highest tier of A-rank dungeons, so that was tough. An average A-rank dungeon should be manageable alone.

Where does this confidence come from? After stirring up the Academy once, it just naturally developed.

 

“…?”

 

But Yeo Jung-eun looked puzzled.

 

“You can’t go in alone.”

“What?”

 

I asked back in confusion. However, Yeo Jung-eun looked even more bewildered as she adjusted her sunglasses.

 

“A-rank dungeons require a minimum party of three people.”

 

* * *

 

— If you really want to conquer it with just three people, the party’s average rank must be A-rank or higher, and you must bring a healer. These two conditions must be met.

 

I recalled Yeo Jung-eun’s words. Well, when you think about it, it’s a natural regulation.

 

‘Who would give permission if someone said they were going to subjugate an A-rank dungeon alone? They’re not even S-rank.’

 

I understand it all. Safety is important. That’s all fine, but….

 

Ding-dong.

 

I pressed the doorbell at the entrance. An old corridor-style apartment. This was a place I had visited once before.

 

“…You’ll come with me, right?”

 

How many hunters do I even know?

That was exactly the problem. A shortage of manpower. A complete drought in my utterly dried-up network of connections.

I pressed the doorbell again with a desperate heart.

 

Ding—dong.

 

Click.

 

Not long after, the front door opened.

 

“What is it?”

 

Without even unlocking the door’s safety chain, the homeowner just poked his head out to greet the visitor.

 

Light sky-blue hair, and as always, a hoodie pulled down low.

 

Right, this is the home of the genius A-rank healer Baek Kyul.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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