The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Magic Girl Hunter Decorates Dungeons! Episode 016
“Kang Junseo. Did you just… see?”
“Didn’t see anything myself, but I heard someone besides you yell ‘It’s a person!’ and then go quiet.”
……
He’d caught all the important parts.
Junseo lowered his voice and launched into something like twenty questions, except not quite.
“It’s a goddess, right? You’re really ‘that’? You usually carry that jeweled rod thing, spin around all floaty-like and you’re invincible, wear all those fluttery clothes—”
“I might be able to say ‘that’ now.”
“…Really?”
Junseo carefully pronounced the words aloud.
“Magic Girl.”
Words that had been locked away by Iji’s skill.
Junseo’s eyes went wide.
“It actually works? It didn’t before!”
“There’s magic protecting my identity. It’s fine as long as no one who shouldn’t hear us is around.”
“Wow, seriously… Wait! That’s not why I came to talk to you.”
Iji tensed.
‘So he really did follow me on purpose!’
She felt like she was standing at a crossroads in her Magic Girl life.
In cartoon stories, people who discovered a Magic Girl’s secret usually fell into three categories.
First, someone who would become an ally.
Second, a villain who would blackmail her with the secret.
Third, an extra who would spread the word.
‘Junseo isn’t a villain, but…’
He didn’t seem like the type to become a Magic Girl’s ally either.
Even with her Secret Keeping Skill, it seemed wise to be as cautious as possible.
‘No matter what he asks, I won’t tell him anything else!’
Iji straightened her posture and asked, determined not to look easy prey.
“Kang Junseo. Why did you follow me?”
An answer she hadn’t anticipated came back immediately.
“I thought you were going to shake someone down for money.”
“What? Why would you think that?”
“Fifth graders have been calling over the quiet kids and extorting them lately. You were glancing around and heading somewhere secluded, so I thought maybe you were their target.”
……
“Never mind, then.”
Junseo spun around and walked away. Iji called after him hastily.
“Kang Junseo. Is that really the only reason you came?”
“Yeah.”
“For real? You didn’t want to ask me anything?”
“Ask you what?”
“…Magic.”
“I’m not a girl, so I can’t use it anyway. What’s the point of asking?”
Before Iji could respond,
Junseo was already heading back down the hallway, his footsteps echoing.
Grimoire promptly whispered from behind her shoulder.
[That’s the one who fell into the dungeon with you before, isn’t it?]
“That’s not a nice way to put it.”
[Better than ignoring him, anyway. Still, it’s suspicious that he followed you without anything to ask.]
“…He said he came to help me.”
[Were you two close before?]
“No.”
[Then he was just making excuses. Don’t trust classmates too easily.]
Junseo had said only a few words before leaving,
but Grimoire just kept rattling on and on.
‘Why is he being so prickly?’
Jin Siheon’s first meeting with Grimoire hadn’t exactly been peaceful, but…
it was strange to be so hostile toward an elementary school student he’d never even spoken to.
Iji pondered briefly, then asked.
“Grimoire, do you… not like Junseo?”
The magical companions in cartoon stories typically sensed danger instinctively and grew wary.
‘Watch out for that one. He seems suspicious.’ That sort of thing.
She’d asked half-expecting an answer like that—
[What? Why would I, I dislike such a pipsqueak?]
……
[Stop thinking such nonsense! I don’t dislike him, and I’m not even paying attention to him!]
‘You seem to be paying plenty of attention.’
If she asked more, his volume would only increase.
Iji changed the subject.
“I’m going back to the classroom.”
Grimoire didn’t answer and retreated back into the Math Workbook.
Iji walked, clutching the textbook to her chest.
But at the end of the hallway—
she spotted an unexpected figure in front of a pile of chairs.
“What are you doing here?”
Junseo gestured with his chin at the pile of chairs. Iji understood immediately.
“Oh, you couldn’t get past them?”
“You’re the one who can’t get past them.”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Both wore matching question marks, and Junseo pieced it together first.
“My ankle’s completely healed. It was just muscle soreness, and after resting a day it’s fine.”
“That’s good… but wait, how did you get in here then?”
A tall kid like Junseo shouldn’t be able to squeeze under the chairs.
Then Junseo gripped the window frame—
put his weight on it and lightly vaulted clear over the pile of chairs.
“Like this.”
……
‘Long legs mean you don’t have to crawl on the ground.’
A rather depressing realization.
From the other side of the chairs, Junseo said something correct but annoying.
“You don’t look like you could jump over this…”
……
“If you need help, I can… sort of lend a hand.”
‘Is he teasing me about being short?’
Irritation welled up inside her.
“I don’t need your help.”
Iji answered sharply and crawled under the chairs.
She popped out like a mouse squeaking from its hole, and Junseo was staring at her in disbelief.
“Wait, you can do that?”
“How else do you think I got in?”
“Of course, the stable, no wait, garlic, gaga… I didn’t say that!”
As the classroom drew near, the Secret Keeping Skill apparently clamped down on his mouth.
Junseo’s face reddened at the sound of “gaga,” and he hastily changed the subject.
“You go into the classroom first. It’ll look weird if we go in together.”
“Huh? Weird?”
“…Or I’ll go first. If you want to go together, follow me.”
Junseo turned away.
Well, if Junseo didn’t like it, there was no need to force the matter.
While Iji waited, hugging her textbook,
Junseo disappeared around the corner of the hallway, walking slower than usual.

* * *
Every break, Iji read Jin Siheon’s essay on selling Magic Stones.
True to his hand, the first line was brutal.
Without a Hunter Certification or Guild membership, you will never sell Magic Stones at their true value. The story about doing good deeds and earning a fortune exists only in fairy tales.
‘…I know that!’
She had harbored some hope, it was true.
But what he’d explained below was, as far as she knew, the safest method.
He’d tried his best to write it simply.
If you can’t understand it, give up.
‘Just adding “~thus” doesn’t make it sound affectionate!’
Honestly, his explanation contained many unfamiliar words, but Iji gritted her teeth and wrestled with a Korean dictionary until she understood every bit of it.
It seemed manageable, more or less.
Just that there was a lot of work involved.
Later, Grimoire clicked his tongue.
[So basically you have to pretend that ‘expensive electronics from our house produced Magic Stones when disposed of,’ and sell them to a scrap dealer. But if you go yourself, you’ll be suspected of being a reckless brat trying to raid the family coffers, so you have to go through an electronics recycler. You need to find someone to deliver the goods to this recycler, then hire another person to avoid tracing back to the original owner, and…]
“It’s long.”
[By the time you finish all this, you’ll be old enough to get your Hunter Certification.]
“Really? Will it take that long?”
[I was joking. Don’t be alarmed.]
Even after saying it, Grimoire added,
[Well… joking, that is.]
……
She postponed the next dungeon exploration until after selling the Magic Stones.
There was a lot to prepare.
Installing multiple apps, sneaking items to the Meeting Point while her sister worked her three-shift rotation and avoiding the neighborhood grandmothers…
The next week.
After finishing school.
Iji carefully opened the envelope of cash she’d received at the Meeting Point.
Before the eyes of a girl who’d never held more than two ten-thousand-won bills in her life,
there appeared an actual stack of bills.
‘I… I’m rich!’
She thought she might faint.
[How much did you make?]
“Don’t be shocked. One, two… Eleven notes!”
Grimoire seemed surprised.
But in an unexpected way.
[The expected sale price for the first batch was much higher. So many middlemen mean astronomical commissions.]
“There are still more Magic Stones left.”
Jin Siheon had emphasized multiple times not to sell too much at once, lest she be traced.
“Tomorrow there’s another payment coming! There is.”
[Good then. Will you get more than today?]
“The next payment is a full seventeen notes!”
Through this transaction, she’d also learned that adults called goods payment by the word for payment.
Earning money was nice, but she felt even better realizing she’d become more grown-up herself.
Grimoire didn’t seem to notice what Iji was emphasizing, though.
[Once you’ve saved enough, you were going to buy Hunter Equipment, right?]
Normally, Hunter Equipment is traded on a Hunter-exclusive application.
It was naturally out of reach for Iji, but…
exceptions always exist.
Cheap Hunter Equipment occasionally appeared on neighborhood second-hand trading apps.
Hunter Combat Bludgeon!! My son finally got his act together and started studying, so selling cheap before he changes his mind
This thing claims to be a Mace but it’s clearly just a club no matter how you look at it
Hunter Buff Accessory Set. Got it as collateral on a debt, seems cheap… has a certificate but it’s worn. Please take it with that in mind
[Listings are coming up pretty regularly even now. Have you decided what to buy?]
“Yeah. I already marked some before and contacted the seller!”

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