Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 50

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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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Episode 050

 

Yu Jin-chae struggled not to be conscious of the cold sweat that had thoroughly soaked her back.

 

‘Damn it, I’m on the verge of mana depletion…’

 

Her head was burning hot as if her brain would melt, and her entire body felt heavy as if submerged in water.

 

She knew that enduring like this would soon reach its limit.

 

Since being loaded into the kidnapping vehicle until now, she had been somehow holding onto her ability that was trying to unravel due to the Ability Suppression Skill.

 

‘Still, it was manageable to endure.’

 

Until now, she had only encountered people who didn’t matter if her identity was exposed, or had been in dark places where it was difficult to recognize faces.

 

‘At least I could release my ability briefly and rest.’

 

However, the situation changed from the moment the kidnappers recognized Na Hwi-yeon’s face.

 

Yu Jin-chae concentrated all her mana on her head area at that time.

 

While recalling the words of that arrogant An Param.

 

-It’s not that you can’t use it at all. It’s literally suppression, not nullification. You can use that level of ability, right? Though it’s incredibly difficult and hard compared to usual.

 

When going to media interviews in place of Moon Chae-yeong, she would completely cover herself from head to toe with her ability.

 

To the extent that anyone would think she was Moon Chae-yeong from any angle.

 

But now, with the Ability Suppression Skill covering the entire building, even changing her bone structure was too much.

 

Now she could really only mimic Moon Chae-yeong’s face.

 

Thus, although her short dark blue hair had changed to blonde long enough to reach her waist.

 

If her face was Moon Chae-yeong’s, couldn’t she stubbornly insist and get away with just having changed hair? And ridiculously, this even worked on the kidnappers.

 

‘Stupid bastards.’

 

Wiping away the sweat drops flowing down her forehead, Yu Jin-chae forced her lips to curl up with difficulty.

 

‘To stay by Na Hwi-yeon’s side, I have to remain in this form.’

 

If they belatedly realized that she wasn’t Moon Chae-yeong, there was no telling what these kidnappers might do immediately.

 

At least if they locked her away somewhere again like this, she could gather mana and reorganize her stamina to attempt another escape with Na Hwi-yeon.

 

Yu Jin-chae held her breath waiting for that moment to come.

 

And finally, when they headed underground and the door there opened…

 

Blindingly strong light poured out. Then screams-like cheers could be heard.

 

-Waaaaaaaah!

 

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

 

“Just endure a little more…”

 

But at that moment, she faced it.

 

“T-the sky?”

 

Dizzyingly high altitude.

 

Clouds, birds, and the forest of buildings spread between them.

 

The nightmare of that day overlapping with reality.

 

The A-Grade Chaos Dungeon with Seoul as the backdrop, ruined as if recreating an apocalypse.

 

Herself trapped within it.

 

Falling from above to below…

 

“Gasp!”

 

Yu Jin-chae’s breath became trapped in that day’s memory.

 

***

 

I felt like clicking my tongue.

 

People wearing white robes with black feathers pinned to their chests, shouting while looking at the platform.

 

-Coming! Coming! Coming!

 

No matter how hard I tried to think positively…

 

‘It’s a cult.’

 

Looking here and there, it’s all cult.

 

“Teacher…!”

 

An Param, who was trying to grab and cling to my clothes, was dragged away by the binding rope pulling from the front, unable to properly resist.

 

And Yu Jin-chae and I, tied to that same rope, were no different.

 

The moment we stepped into the Indoor Area, everyone’s gazes gathered on us all at once as if they had made some kind of promise.

 

They cheered briefly before cautiously making way for us. However, I read a very sticky emotion in their eyes.

 

Eyes that were measuring something.

 

Their bloodshot pupils were all equally disgusting.

 

[ This is strange. ]

 

See? If even this thing says it’s strange, there’s really a problem here.

 

I looked down at my feet with a complicated feeling.

 

Problem upon problem.

 

…It felt like walking on the sky.

 

The floor’s appearance was excessively realistic, neither a hologram nor using optical illusion drawing techniques.

 

“…?”

 

But the sensation of stepping on the floor was quite artificial.

 

How should I put it. It felt like they were trying hard to express a soft and fluffy texture to create the feeling of walking on clouds.

 

‘I can definitely tell this is fake.’

 

…Maybe because I found what seemed like a gap, the shock I felt when I first saw it seemed to be gradually fading.

 

But as I kept looking at it, my head seemed to be getting dizzy too…

 

“…Huhng…!”

 

The crying sounds from ahead didn’t stop. I lifted my gaze from the floor and looked forward.

 

‘I’ve been continuously concerned about this.’

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“…Hup! Huuuuung.”

 

An Param’s legs, walking ahead to the point where it was impressive he could walk at all, were trembling.

 

I couldn’t see properly, but he seemed busy shedding tears and snot.

 

An Param seemed too busy crying to think straight.

 

“Teacher, you’re okay, right?”

 

Still, just in case, I asked while glancing toward the back…

 

?

 

“Teacher?”

 

This was an emergency. This side was in worse condition.

 

Yu Jin-chae hung her head low, letting her long blonde hair droop as she swayed unsteadily. Then her face briefly came into view, and for a moment I thought I was seeing things.

 

‘Moon Chae-yeong?’

 

Seeing her with Yu Jin-chae’s hair and bone structure but only Moon Chae-yeong’s face, my body reflexively froze.

 

I quickly shook my head to regain my composure.

 

‘What am I getting surprised about?’

 

She said she’d been mistaken for Moon Chae-yeong, so it wasn’t strange that she had changed back to Moon Chae-yeong’s face given the situation.

 

‘These crazy Cult bastards would try to kill her immediately if they found out she wasn’t Moon Chae-yeong.’

 

I put strength in my voice again and asked.

 

“Teacher, are you hurt somewhere? Did you get injured?”

 

“…Huk, huk.”

 

I kept calling out to Yu Jin-chae, but only labored breathing could be heard with no response coming back.

 

But right now… it was a situation where not even one person could move freely.

 

At times like this, there’s only one thing I can do.

 

‘Status Window!’

 

I called for the Status Window internally and waited, but unlike usual, it remained quiet.

 

“…”

 

‘Don’t tell me this is also because of the Ability Suppression Skill.’

 

I lowered my head and brought my ear toward my bound hands. The earring brushed past the back of my hand.

 

-Beep… Ring.

 

 

It appeared!

 

 

And then two more Status Windows appear in succession.

 

 

Even the Status Window is fitting for that guy’s level.

 

 

I sighed after looking at both of their Status Windows.

 

‘So their strange condition was because of this.’

 

While I might not know about An Param, to understand Yu Jin-chae’s suddenly worsened condition, checking the Status Window was the only method.

 

I needed to get some kind of hint.

 

And as if my thinking wasn’t wrong, I could find noticeable problems in both of their Status Windows.

 

Status abnormalities.

 

An Param’s status abnormality was ‘Coward beyond imagination.’

 

Yu Jin-chae’s status abnormality was ‘High places are scary.’

 

Looking at this, I could easily deduce one fact.

 

‘They both have acrophobia.’

 

Especially Yu Jin-chae’s side seemed severe enough to be close to panic.

 

…By the way, this An Param guy’s status abnormality reaction is ‘ability overuse’. He even jumps from D to B grade.

 

To think his grade increases when he falls into panic.

 

“Is this a blessing or a curse.”

 

Anyway, now that I’ve figured out the reason, I should try doing something.

 

I immediately poked the back of the guy in front of me with my index finger.

 

“Param.”

 

“Huuuuuung!… Am I really going to die here?”

 

“Param. An Param.”

 

“…Why, why! I’m scared to death, so why do you keep calling me!!”

 

Seeing how well he’s responding, I guess he’s not in a panic state yet?

 

An Param turned around fiercely to look at me with both eyes reddened from tears.

 

‘Oh, he’s really crying and snotting all over.’

 

I looked at those eyes for a moment, then raised only my right eyebrow slightly and said this.

 

“Scared?”

 

“…Huh?”

 

“You’re scared of just something like this? Looking at something that even kindergarteners wouldn’t be scared of? Like a baby?”

 

“…!”

 

Watching his face turn red and blue in real time, I finally heard a satisfying answer.

 

“…No! Ha! Geez! I’m not scared at all, okay? Ah! What do you take me for!!”

 

That’s right, that’s how you should react.

 

“Right, right. Our Param wouldn’t be scared of something like this. It’s embarrassing to cry over optical illusion tricks.”

 

An Param turned his head away and grumbled.

 

“It’s not scary at all, so why are they acting like that… Really, wow, ha, I, geez.”

 

Simple kid.

 

To think one word ‘scared’ would make him gain courage he didn’t have – anyway, boys at that age seem to have their thinking dominated by petty competitiveness.

 

Well, I’ve solved this side at least.

 

The problem is Yu Jin-chae…

 

I could see her footsteps following behind swaying left and right. With a complexion that looked like she’d collapse any moment, it seemed like I needed to take some immediate action…

 

The man who had been standing at the front untied the binding rope and locked me and Yu Jin-chae in iron bars.

 

“Don’t even think about trying to escape. High voltage current flows through this iron cage.”

 

Meanwhile, An Param was made to kneel nicely outside the iron cage with his shoulder grabbed.

 

“Hey, little kid. You stay here and wait, then go out to the platform when we give you the signal.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“The guy who brought you said to leave you here.”

 

“Jae-hong hyung…? What, what’s going to happen to me now?”

 

“Probably what you heard while hiding? Once you’re no longer useful, you’ll either become a believer or additional sacrifice? That’s not really my concern though.”

 

The man who had been laughing while roughly ruffling the dazed An Param’s hair left with his colleague.

 

“….”

 

“Huk… Huk…”

 

“Mommmm… Huuuuung…”

 

That bastard’s crying again.

 

Leaving Yu Jin-chae lying in the corner like a corpse, barely breathing, I got up from my spot and approached the iron cage.

 

I looked up at the young man wearing a crown standing on the platform.

 

‘Is that person the cult leader?’

 

The iron cage we were trapped in was located in a hidden space concealed below the platform.

 

Spotlight illumination falling on the man’s head. And the pleasant voice that could be heard.

 

“This time, we have put tremendous effort into summoning Lord Astaroth without fail.”

 

-Waaaaaaah! Cult Leader!!

 

Suddenly the man’s gaze turned this way.

 

“First, let’s hear a greeting from Chairman Lee Cheol-yong, who made a massive investment for the sacrifices to be used today!”

 

Along with the man’s announcement, an elderly man walked out onto the platform. The old man briefly clasped the man’s hands as if deeply honored, then carefully took hold of the microphone.

 

“I am truly overjoyed beyond measure to be able to contribute on such a wonderful day.”

 

-Hahahahahaha!

 

The old man bowed toward the heavens and floor, then rambled on for a few more minutes with an ecstatic expression before stepping down from the platform.

 

‘How bizarre.’

 

And finally, the man appeared again, this time pointing his finger toward the lower area where we were and spoke.

 

“And please give a round of applause to our G Detective Agency employees who safely procured those sacrifices.”

 

-Clap clap clap clap

 

Watching that spectacle, a hollow laugh escaped through my teeth.

 

‘Wow, complete living sacrifice treatment.’

 

I turned my body away and stopped watching that insane performance.

 

After all, I was only looking to see if there was a chance to escape.

 

‘Let me think.’

 

I recalled the current situation and the resources and manpower I could use.

 

A crazy cult group gathered to summon a demon.

 

The man who appears to be the cult leader.

 

Yu Jin-chae and me as living sacrifices.

 

An Param as the extra.

 

And… Nabi.

 

As a result of properly combining these elements.

 

A fairly… plausible escape method came to mind.

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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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