The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 23

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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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Magic Girl Hunter Decorates the Dungeon! Episode 23
Clear Reward Obtained
: Complimentary Black Tea
‘That’s kind of unfair!’
The clear conditions had been easy, but…
‘The black tea… tasted awful.’
If someone asks me next time what black tea tastes like, I’ll answer this way.
It tasted like warm autumn leaf broth.
‘Should I leave it?’
Iji stared at the liquid remaining in her teacup, then squeezed her eyes shut and lifted the cup to her lips.
‘Sister taught me better than that.’
You don’t leave food uneaten.
Especially not when someone’s treating you!
‘One shot!’
The half-dissolved sugar shattered between her teeth—it tasted like crunching one of those butterscotch candies Geum Grandma used to slip her.
She swallowed with a gulp, and immediately…
You have consumed the Lapsang Souchong Assam Grey Darjeeling Lady Black Tea.
Consumption Effect
: One skill strengthened
*However, this applies only to skills with names longer than this black tea’s name
Pop-pop-pop—a small burst of confetti exploded above Iji’s head.
The dormouse clapped.
“Jackpot! I don’t know what for, but jackpot!”
The next message appeared.
Select a skill to strengthen.
The black tea’s name was sixteen characters long.
Of Iji’s skills, the longest was “Magic Girl Wants to Chat!” at fifteen characters.
‘…What if the exclamation mark at the end and the (B+) are counted too?’
All together, that’s twenty characters.
Nothing to lose.
“I choose!”
[Magic Girl Wants to Chat! (B+)]
: You can converse with living creatures within the dungeon.
: However, the other party must also have the will to communicate.
A pure white glow shimmered across the description, and two new lines quickly appeared.
: Upon entering the dungeon, once per entry, you can draw forth the will to communicate from even the most resistant party.
*It is said that even those who despise conversation will one day cry out, “Let’s speak of this instead!”…
‘……’
When Iji first entered the Alice Dungeon—the memory of the Black Rotten Dragon being welcomed by the March Hare and the Hatter surfaced. This line reminded her of that.
Either way, it had been a good tea party in the end.
“Heh, what kind of ridiculous condition is that?”
Siheon had finished his black tea too, it seemed!
The tea party would open eternally again.
Iji announced she’d return and rose from her seat.
As she headed toward the exit, Grimoire spoke.
[Siheon. I did some investigating earlier. I found a dungeon that might contain your soul.]
“What? Where is it!”
[Seoul Metropolitan Area. B-Rank. Quite dangerous.]
“Alphabet means nothing to me.”
[That’s your problem. I can’t guide you there until Iji has proper defensive equipment.]
“Sigh… I could break a B-Rank dungeon with one hand.”
[Right now, you don’t have even one hand. How can I trust someone who can’t count?]
“……”
The air between them crackled with tension.
Iji jumped in.
“It’s fine! I’m EX-Rank, so I’ll fight hard in any dungeon—”
“Fine. I’ll wait until she gets proper armor.”
“Huh?”
His position had changed all of a sudden!
[Good thing we see eye to eye.]
‘We really don’t!’
Yet Siheon and Grimoire’s opinions had already aligned.
“Let’s earn some money, Iji.”
[Let us earn money, Iji.]
“O-okay……”
By the time they’d finished talking, the exit was right in front of them.
The moment Iji spotted it, she stopped in her tracks.
Siheon, who’d been pushing through the flower field, turned his head back.
“What is it. Aren’t you going home? You’ll be late.”
“I am going… But wouldn’t you be bored if I left early?”
“Huh?”
Grimoire had explained that the soul Siheon extracted from the crystal would instinctively seek comfortable spaces, and would only manifest in rabbit form when summoned.
At first, that had sounded ‘safe.’
But thinking about it more…
“You’d be alone, wouldn’t you? You can’t watch videos or anything.”
“……”
“I can stay longer and play!”
“Enough.”
Siheon shook his head.
“Kids need to go home at a decent hour. Ask your sister to play with you.”
“My sister isn’t the age to play with me.”
“Who says such a thing? ……But I’m not the right age to play with you either, so let’s not waste time.”
“……”
‘This guy really does have that loner personality!’
Still—
“Truly, it’s fine. The day you saved me, my lungs opened up quite a bit, honestly. Adults need to manage their own boredom.”
“……”
“Just as you try to act like a magic girl, I want to act like an adult.”
“…I understand!”
“Thanks. If you have questions, ask me straight away next time.”
He doesn’t seem like a bad person.
Iji waved her hand.
It was both a farewell to today and a joyful greeting for having met a good adult.

With that farewell, Siheon was buried within Grimoire.
His soul sank into a space that smelled of paper, and soon his eyes opened in the hospital room.
‘Kid. You asked if I get bored?’
That’s almost impossible.
Five different dungeons unfold in real time before his eyes.
Even as he tries to find clues about the dungeon where his soul is trapped, the tangled screens make his head spin the moment he tries to focus.
Whether it’s a defense mechanism against overstimulation or not, his brain reflexively dredges up every thought imaginable.
……Even the ones he wanted to forget.
Perhaps because he’d just remembered an old colleague.
The voices of those he’d wanted to suppress came back to life.
‘Siheon. You don’t want to die running only easy dungeons, right? I trust you. I’ll give you one chance.’
‘Your magical power will double. You’re E-Rank now, so you could reach D-Rank… Though it’s the first human application.’
The senior he’d followed. The long friend. The comrade he’d fought alongside.
He had trusted them all.
……The price of that naïveté was steep.
Betrayal, deception, a major accident that followed—
He had lost them all.
What he gained instead was an EX-Rank skill, an Awakening Rank that shot up to S-Rank, and the Hunter Association’s surveillance and suspicion.
In the hospital’s private room, the Vice Chairman had said this:
‘Your case of Awakening Rank elevation is unprecedented. To prevent chaos in the hunting world, keep this silent.’
After that, Siheon never made comrades again.
He was terrified of being betrayed once more.
‘Hunter Association spies could attach themselves to me.’
The solo play he’d started out of desperation turned out to be more bearable than expected, and it brought him fame.
Fame created followers, so he endlessly spouted words to shake them off. He meant them too.
I don’t need comrades.
……But then.
‘Ushushushu!’
An existence appeared that he couldn’t seriously suspect.
‘You wouldn’t be bored?’
When was the last time he’d heard such genuine concern?
‘Everyone’s my friend!’
And when was the last time he’d heard such elementary-school-textbook words?
Of course, he had no intention of being friends with such a kid. Making her an equal comrade would be absurd.
But…
‘Naive talent always attracts filth.’
If some blackhearted bastard got close to the kid, he could at least do enough to brush them away.
‘I’ll never genuinely become her comrade… So I suppose this much is acceptable.’

On the way home.
Iji’s heart felt lighter than ever.
‘Exciting! I’m really, truly an amazing hunter!’
Down the alley beside her light footsteps, a yellow van whooshed past in the distance.
And a moment later.
‘Huh? Just now—’
A familiar silhouette made her stop dead.
When she turned around, a dark shadow ducked behind a utility pole.
Of course, a utility pole was useless for hide-and-seek.
“……Junseo?”
“……”
The figure slowly turned, and it was indeed Junseo.
“Are you on your way to your academy again?”
“Y-yeah, that’s right.”
“Then why are you here……”
Before she could ask more, Junseo spilled out his answer.
“I wasn’t following you or anything! The Coach saw you on the way to the academy, and he told me to give you this and come slowly!”
What Junseo handed her was a Basketball Academy Flyer.
From kindergarteners to high school students!! Hobbies and career paths welcome!!
Your spirit soars and you grow tall!!
☆Pro hopefuls only—special consultation with Seoul GEG Dopamines player Kang Simsang!!!
The flyer was drowning in exclamation marks, which made it feel overwhelming.
“Basketball? You want me to do basketball?”
“I-it’s not me asking! It’s the Coach—”
“I know. I thought your academy was all boys.”
“……There are girls too.”
“Really?”
“If you come, I can help you out specially.”
“I see.”
“I learned shooting technique the fastest.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And I’m really good at dribbling too.”
He claimed the Coach made him come, but somehow Junseo’s eyes were getting brighter.
‘I’m not interested in basketball.’
But the words ‘you grow tall’ had caught her attention.
“Um. Does basketball make you taller?”
“Yeah! If you don’t grow, I’ll teach you until you do!”
……So there’s no downside?
She was studying the flyer intently when a familiar voice called out.
“Goodness, there’s a hustler’s pitch coming from somewhere, and it’s Iji!”
“Grandma!”
It was Geum Grandma.
They’d already reached the Apartment Complex.
Junseo quickly bowed his head.
“Hello!”
“Well, you’ve got manners.”
Geum Grandma looked Junseo over, then whispered to Iji.
“A boyfriend?”
“What? ……No! That’s absolutely, definitely not it!”
That’s something you don’t even think about until you’re at least ten!

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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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