The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 19

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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 19

Meanwhile, unlike the noisy outside, the inside of the Gate was peaceful.

Hana was brushing off the rice grains stuck all over Popcon’s paw pads while nagging.

“Popcon, you can’t just eat anything like that!”

Then, feeling an oddly hot gaze, he stopped just before passing through the entrance.

And then he discovered it.

The gazes of people crowded beyond the entrance were all focused on him.

“Uh, huh?”

Hana rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things wrong.

Usually when a Gate burst, everyone was busy running away, not gathering in crowds like this.

But no matter how many times he looked again, outside the Gate people in pajamas were huddled together bustling about.

Someone was even taking photos, as camera flashes went off from someone’s phone.

“…What?”

Hana squinted and surveyed the outside.

“Why are so many people gathered like that?”

With flashes pouring toward him, Hana hastily put the fertilizer bag back over his head.

It was wrinkled since he had just tucked it into his overalls waistband, but it was still decent enough to cover his face.

“Everyone must have come out because of the Gate alarm.”

Now that he looked, he could see Hunters about to enter the Gate too.

Hana scratched his chin.

Is it okay to go out?

“It won’t get unnecessarily troublesome, will it?”

Being the center of attention was the last thing he wanted.

Maybe he should have just made a side path like usual.

Just as he was thinking that and about to activate his skill.

A Hunter with a chestnut-colored bob cut suddenly rushed into the Gate and pointed at Hana.

“You there! Stop!”

“Oh-.”

Hana, who had been bending his knees and sticking out his butt to squeeze into the side path that was about to open, froze in that exact position.

The chestnut-haired Hunter, Choi Kwon, was equally startled.

“What, what is that?”

After being momentarily flustered by the fertilizer bag greeting him.

Choi Kwon immediately drew his weapon and took a defensive stance.

“Are you a Hunter? Isn’t this a humanoid monster?”

“I’m human! And I am a Hunter too!”

Hana felt quite wronged.

No, Seo Ganghyeon did this earlier too, why does everyone keep treating people like monsters?

Choi Kwon still didn’t withdraw his suspicious gaze and placed his hand firmly on his waist.

“If you’re a Hunter, did you apply for entry?”

“Suddenly-.”

“Huh?”

He was about to say that a Gate suddenly opened under his feet and swept him in.

Suddenly, Choi Kwon’s eyes widened.

Wondering why he was acting like that, he had discovered the Boss Monster lying dead on its back behind them.

“What, did you take care of that?”

“I did take care of it, but it was kind of by accident-.”

“By accident?”

Kwon’s eyebrows shot up.

The Boss Monster wasn’t something you could take care of ‘by accident.’

The person who knew this fact better than anyone was Choi Kwon.

Kwon slowly looked Hana up and down from head to toe.

The suspicious appearance with a fertilizer bag over his head.

No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t the appearance of a veteran Hunter.

Meanwhile, Hana’s fists clenched with strength due to Choi Kwon constantly interrupting.

Regardless, Choi Kwon consistently poured out only what he wanted to say.

“Are you A-rank? But among the A-ranks I know, there’s no human that looks like this.”

“No.”

“Then B-rank?”

Hana shook his head.

Kwon stuck out his chin and paused for another beat.

“Don’t tell me C-rank?”

“I’m F-rank. Haha.”

Suddenly, the air became quiet as if it had stopped.

Soon Kwon shook his head as if dumbfounded and looked around.

“Stop joking around, where’s the Hunter you came with? That person must have taken care of the Boss Monster.”

“…”

“Don’t tell me there isn’t one? Don’t you know that D-rank and below must be accompanied by at least one C-rank or higher Hunter to enter Gates?”

Sigh.

Hana looked at the distant mountains.

“I didn’t know… that.”

“…”

Choi Kwon, who had also been speechlessly looking at the distant mountains for a moment, suddenly got angry.

“What kind of situation is this? You don’t even know such basic things? You didn’t even apply for Gate entry either, did you!”

It’s not like I wanted to come in here.

What could I do when a Gate suddenly opened under my feet?

Just as Hana was about to speak, Kwon’s gaze dropped to Hana’s pocket.

The red rice grains sticking out caught his attention.

“Well, well. Don’t you know that unauthorized taking of byproducts is illegal if you’re not the conqueror?”

“I am the conqueror though!”

“Oh please, as if an F-rank could be a conqueror. Hand over the byproducts first. I heard there are sneaky people lately who sneak in and just take the byproducts. This is exactly that kind of case.”

Hana thumped his chest with his fist.

He understood being looked down on for being F-rank, but that Boss Monster or whatever wasn’t even that strong.

It was frustrating why they couldn’t believe he had taken care of it.

And why were they treating an innocent person like a thief?

With narrowed eyes, Hana looked at Kwon defiantly.

It was a very timid revenge.

But since he didn’t want to clash unnecessarily, Hana was about to hand over the rice grains by taking a handful from his pocket.

At that moment.

Without warning, a blue circle appeared under his feet.

【SYSTEM】

【Troubled you! Don’t you want to go anywhere? Jjak-jjak-i will grant that wish right now!】

Hana’s cheeks twitched seeing the system window call itself ‘Jjak-jjak-i.’

“You actually really liked the name I gave you, didn’t you?”

Then he was startled reading the message that appeared next.

【SYSTEM】

【Skill ‘Opening Side Path for Monster Crop Cultivation Lv.1 (D-rank)’ is activating.】

“No, that’s not the problem right now!”

Feeling the ground sink beneath his feet, Hana shook his head frantically.

Meanwhile, Jjak-jjak-i was proudly sparkling its window.

【SYSTEM】

“How about it, user? If it’s a true system window, it should naturally accomplish what the user wants without even being asked!”

What are you being proud of! When did I ever want something like this!

I don’t want to leave! If I go like this, it’ll really look like I’m running away in shame!

But the skill had already been activated.

“Ah, wait a minute—!”

Before he could stop it, his body was sucked right in.

In the midst of it all, Hana threw the rice seeds he was holding straight at Kwon.

The rice seeds hit Kwon’s face with a thud.

Some even went straight into Kwon’s mouth.

“Ptui ptui! What the hell is this!”

While Kwon was making a fuss, Hana’s body disappeared into the shortcut.

Leaving behind a helpless cry in the air.

“I really didn’t steal it! I conquered it fair and square!”

The blue circle closed in the blink of an eye.

But Kwon couldn’t even think of catching Hana.

Because he had unconsciously swallowed the rice seeds that had hit his face and entered his mouth.

“…Huh?”

That was the moment.

Something surged up from inside.

“Aaaahhh!!”

Kwon reflexively clutched his stomach and screamed.

It was an absurd spiciness, as if he had swallowed a whole bowl of fire noodles with two extra rounds of capsaicin poured in.

“What the, hey, Choi Kwon! What’s wrong with him?!”

The other hunters who had belatedly entered the Gate rushed toward Kwon in a panic.

Kwon rolled around on the ground as if he was about to breathe fire, and the hunters who saw this simultaneously gasped.

“Water! Give me some water! Anyone with water!!”

Kwon shouted almost tearfully.

Only after snatching the water bottle someone handed him and pouring it straight into his mouth did Kwon finally catch his breath and sit down.

“Damn it, hell. I thought I was going to die from the spiciness. Damn F-rank! What did you make me eat!”

While extinguishing the fire in his mouth, Kwon felt something was strange.

The gazes of his colleagues surrounding him were particularly odd.

“Why are you all staring like that? It’s creepy.”

“Hey, Choi Kwon.”

“…What.”

“Your hair is…”

Kwon’s heart sank.

“What. What about my hair.”

Shit. Don’t tell me even what was left completely fell out during all this?

Anxiously, Kwon grabbed his head.

At that moment, a dumbfounded sound flowed from Choi Kwon’s mouth.

“…Huh?”

Instead of a rough texture, fine strands of hair cascaded smoothly between his fingers.

Choi Kwon hurriedly went to a nearby water source and looked at his reflection, then covered his mouth at the sight of his luxuriously grown hair.

“…Crazy.”

* * *

Along with the sensation of the shortcut closing, Hana’s body dropped from the air with a thud.

“Ow ow.”

Hana got up from the middle of the garden, rubbing his bottom.

Having taken off the fertilizer bag, Hana raised his eyebrows to protest to Jjak-jjak-i.

“Where do you suddenly activate a skill like that! It’ll just cause misunderstandings!”

【SYSTEM】

That’s so mean, I was only doing all of that for you 8ㅅ8 *sob sob*

“Ah, no, why are you crying again…”

Hana, who had been pretending to be stern, quickly softened.

As Hana was trying to comfort Jjak-jjak-i, who was shedding pixelated tears, something bumped into his foot.

Hana looked down and froze.

It was a cart.

The very cart that had carried Seo Ganghyeon.

“Why is this here? I definitely left it in front of the Crimson Moon Guild branch?”

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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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