The Magical Hunter Girl Decorates the Dungeon! - Chapter 32

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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 the Dungeon! Episode 32
How to find composure?
Simple.
Face reality head-on.
‘I’m a rabbit right now.’
……In an instant, his mind went ice-cold.
‘Right…… That’s it. I’m in no position to daydream about good fortune!’
If he didn’t recover his soul in time, he’d have to keep living as a magical rabbit.
And if the day ever came when Iji grew tired of the Magic Girl role, his rabbit life would be finished too.
He’d waste away slowly in a hospital bed and die.
‘I refuse to spend my days nostalgic for my time as a rabbit!’
Still, there seemed no reason to panic like he had at first.
‘That Grimoire bastard scared me, saying my soul might get absorbed by someone else if I didn’t find it quickly.’
But after thinking it over, his soul fragments had been left untouched for three months after the Dungeon Break.
Which meant they had to be in dungeons where no one ever ventured.
‘Low-rank dungeons people overlook, like the Alice Dungeon—’
Or Chicken Rib Dungeons that guilds ignored because the danger wasn’t worth the meager rewards.
Either way, there was a good chance they wouldn’t be found for a while.
‘Unless some idiot who doesn’t know the value of his own life goes around clearing Chicken Rib Dungeons.’
……Like he used to do.
More precisely, like he did right after becoming S-rank.
Back when Jin Siheon was just an ordinary E-rank hunter.
A close friend had introduced him to a clinical trial job for hunters. They said he’d easily double his Mana if he got lucky.
Of course, he hadn’t believed them. But he went for the money.
After the experiment ended, the measuring device at the research lab showed Siheon’s Mana had genuinely increased by about twenty percent.
All the researchers celebrated. They began preparing a business briefing to recruit investors. Siheon agreed eagerly to perform on stage.
‘Not knowing it was all a scam.’
The trick was hidden in the lab’s Mana measuring device. A Mana Stone planted inside had distorted the readings.
Confined to the research facility’s bed, Siheon never had a chance to test his abilities directly in a dungeon—only believed what the researchers told him.
Or rather, he wanted to believe them. He wanted the people he’d worked hard with to be happy.
Only when the business briefing day arrived did Siheon discover the suspicious Mana Stone installed in the measuring device.
With terrible timing, the Stone was slowly crumbling at that very moment, showing signs of anomaly.
Siheon desperately called for help from those around him.
But the colleagues who’d conspired with the scammers feared the situation would escalate and abandoned him.
Only the friends closest to him rushed to his side.
……They were soon caught in a newly spawned A-rank dungeon.
Even those who fled first didn’t escape unscathed. But they probably survived an hour or two longer than Siheon’s friends.
As Siheon and his companions fought desperately, the dungeon exploded. Siheon lost consciousness in agony as his body was torn apart.
And when he woke in the hospital room.
Siheon had become an S-rank hunter.
A rare miracle brought by the Dungeon Break.
‘Most people would covet such a thing.’
The mirror reflected a man with sun-darkened skin like a survivor from a desert, his survival instincts carved roughly into his frame.
His eyes were as dark as those of someone who’d buried his family one funeral after another. Not a trace remained of the bright-eyed E-rank hunter Jin Siheon.
Siheon felt as though he himself had become a monster—one stitched together from his fallen comrades.
After that, he’d thrown himself recklessly into all manner of dangerous dungeons.
He formed no new companions.
‘Those trying to leech off me were annoying anyway, and I was terrified of betrayal…….’
But truly, if the day ever came when someone who answered his call and fought beside him collapsed behind his back…
He felt he would never be able to rise again.
‘Ha. My mental state was so fragile back then.’
Now he’d grown used to soloing. He’d simply decided there was no need to form companions anymore.
Brushing aside the sentimental feeling, Siheon turned his focus back to the present reality.
The shameless book and Geum Hui, who’d been through everything under the sun, wouldn’t try to play at being his companions.
The problem was the innocent Iji.
‘Kid. We will never be companions.’
The moment he recovered all his soul fragments, he’d compensate her financially and cleanly cut ties.
‘I absolutely won’t grow attached.’
He resolved to move forward only through efficient work.
He wouldn’t awkwardly fit in at tea time just to go along with the mood! He’d only exert his strength in dungeons that benefited him!
‘I’m a wise and composed adult, after all!’
But in one corner of Siheon’s resolute heart.
The refreshing sensation from forcing that scammer MC to his knees was rippling through ever so slightly.

* * *
Counseling day for children affected by dungeon disasters.
Iji had arrived at the ‘Civilian Support Center’ at Hunter Association Headquarters.
With the most beautiful sister in the world, no less.
‘Exciting!’
It had been ages since she’d gone out on such a nice day.
Seeing other children clutching their family’s hands, it felt like they’d all come out on a group picnic.
But watching everyone hold hands made her think of someone.
Jin Siheon. The only friendless person Iji knew.
‘What would that mister do if he suddenly wanted to go on a picnic?’
Picnics were better with two or more people. That way you could bring kimbap and inari sushi and share them half-and-half.
‘That mister seems like he needs to relearn how to make friends…….’
It would probably take a long time.
‘If that mister suddenly wants a friend…… I should even become a rabbit friend for him!’
On this warm spring day, as Iji clenched her fist with a sense of responsibility as a companion.
A friend’s voice rang out.
“Iji!”
“Oh, Jun Seo!”
Jun Seo had run over at full speed and stopped before Iji.
Then he bowed at a forty-five-degree angle to Hyun Ji standing beside her.
“Hello! I’m Kang Jun Seo, Iji’s classmate!”
“Hi, I’m Hyun Ji, Iji’s sister. Iji says you two are close?”
“Yes!”
There wasn’t a 0.1-second hesitation in his answer.
‘Jun Seo, you’re an even better liar than I am.’
They weren’t actually that close.
‘Still, thank you…….’
“If anyone bullies Iji, I’ll rush right over!”
‘Grateful, but burdened!’
Her sister smiled gently.
“Thanks. But playing together is enough.”
“Yes, I’ll definitely play with you!”
“Um, well, I didn’t mean to insist…….”
“I’ll play with you often!”
“……Thank you.”
‘Completely burdened!’
The burden wasn’t just in his words.
Looking closer, the boy who always wore a crew-neck t-shirt and shorts had on a shirt with several buttons today.
‘Should I have dressed more neatly too?’
As Iji tried to straighten the wrinkled hem of her t-shirt.
A bell chimed, and an announcement played over the speakers.
[Children’s counseling registration has begun. Please proceed to the front of the Auditorium with your pre-completed test sheet…….]
“Oh, Iji. I should go. See you later!”
From a distance, a very tall gentleman took Jun Seo’s hand and bowed awkwardly in their direction. Her sister returned the greeting and asked.
“Jun Seo came with his father?”
“Yep. Really tall, isn’t he? He used to be a basketball player!”
“No wonder. Jun Seo must have inherited his height from his dad.”
“Jun Seo wants to be even taller. Last time, he drank plain milk straight in front of me without even mixing in cocoa—just chugged it. When I said my plain milk tasted bad, he even……drank mine too—slurp!”
…….
At Iji’s verbal slip, her sister broke into a Buddha-like smile.
She’d promised him that since he wanted to grow taller, he should request plain milk and drink it regularly!
“A-anyway! Sister, let’s go to our counseling too!”
“Yes. And next time, let’s request chocolate milk…….”

* * *
The group counseling was fun. They solved quizzes and sang songs.
The finale was moving. In the darkened Auditorium, sad music played and LED candles lit up.
“Children, hold your family’s hand tight and say thank you.”
The children grasped their family’s hands, swallowing tears.
“Sniff…… sob…… Thank you…….”
“Hunters will catch the monsters. But it’s your family that protects your hearts.”
“Sob……!”
Iji held her sister’s hand tight as well.
After giving them time to dry their tears, the lights came on and the counseling ended.
‘That was a good time……!’
An adult nearby let out a quiet chuckle and remarked.
“Wow. The legacy of that training camp still lingers.”
What was a training camp?
But the sister who might have answered had gone to get the psychological test results from earlier.
‘Grimoire would know, but I can’t take it out now.’
While she stood on her tiptoes wondering where her sister had gone.
A figure that stood out among the crowd of children and adults caught her eye.
A neat-looking boy who seemed to be about middle-school age.
‘Wow, puberty in action!’
Puberty. That magical time when your height shoots up and you become handsome.
As Iji gazed at the boy with admiring eyes, and their gazes crossed for the briefest moment.
‘……Huh?’
The bag holding Grimoire trembled noticeably.

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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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