The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 21

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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 21

“Oh? Hunter Seo Ganghyeon! You’re awake!”

As soon as Ganghyeon regained consciousness, he frowned at the gray ceiling that filled his vision.

It didn’t take long to figure out where he was.

When he rolled his eyes around, he could see the Crimson Moon Guild Yangpyeong Branch sign attached near the door.

In the cramped office reeking of the musty atmosphere of people who had suffered through several nights of overtime work, Seo Ganghyeon barely managed to sit up.

His body felt heavy, as if it wasn’t his own.

Fatigue and pain hit him all at once, and he needed time just to catch his breath.

“Hunter Seo Ganghyeon, how are you feeling? We were worried because you couldn’t wake up.”

When he reflexively turned his head, a young-faced Hunter came into view.

“Why am I here?”

The words came out in a cracked voice.

He was sure he had entered the Gangnam Station Gate, but his memories after that were fragmented.

Ganghyeon fumbled in his inner pocket. The smooth handle of a dagger touched his hand.

Right, he had been poisoned the moment he drew this. It seemed he had collapsed after that.

“Damn it.”

Ganghyeon rubbed his face with his dry hand.

That aside, why was he here instead of at the Gate?

Glancing at Ganghyeon’s expression, the young Hunter answered in a shrinking voice.

“We’re not really sure what happened either, but the doorbell rang and when we went out, you were sleeping in a cart.”

“…A cart?”

“Yes. You know, you were holding cherry tomatoes and Popcon tightly in your arms.”

The Hunter who was reenacting how Ganghyeon had been lying there quickly shut his mouth at the murderous look.

Then he pointed to a cart that had been carefully placed in one corner of the office.

A green cart that looked like it would be used on a farm.

Looking at it, a memory suddenly flashed by.

Come to think of it, it seemed like someone had carried his collapsed self out of the Gate.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, at the brown object that fell with a thud at his feet, Ganghyeon’s expression twisted viciously.

“Right. The garden.”

Yes, he remembered being slammed face-first into the dirt thanks to some crazy person.

What did that person look like again?

They had some strange sack-like thing pulled over their face…

“Exactly like that sack.”

Casually, Ganghyeon looked at the phone video the young Hunter had playing and muttered coldly.

The video was taken at the Gate entrance that had just burst open.

Perhaps because it was filmed from beyond the barrier, the quality was blurry and the screen was slightly distorted.

Ganghyeon’s gaze was immediately drawn to the center of the screen.

A person wearing a fertilizer bag over their head and suspenders.

The cameraman in the video was excitedly providing commentary.

[Everyone, can you see? There! That Hunter defeated the Boss Monster all by himself! My goodness. Has a new S-rank Hunter appeared in South Korea?]

“…”

Ganghyeon recalled the scene he had briefly witnessed when he opened his eyes in the garden.

The light from an electronic billboard that had flashed beyond his blurry vision.

Letters that had been particularly clear even in the night air.

Yangpyeong Nursing Hospital.

The moment his memory reached that point, Ganghyeon didn’t hesitate any longer.

He bolted upright from his seat.

“Huh? Where are you going? You can’t do that. The detoxification isn’t complete yet. You still need to finish eating this—”

The young Hunter hurriedly got up and held out a bag containing Popcon.

Without even looking at it, Ganghyeon shoved the cart into a subspace opened with his skill, then drew his sword and made a long cut through the air.

【SYSTEM】

【Skill ‘Space Slash (S-rank)’ is activated.】

Crack.

A fissure appeared in the air as if forcibly splitting a wall, and the gap gradually widened.

Through the opened gap, a completely different scenery from this gloomy office could be glimpsed—something that looked like a garden.

Toward the Hunter who was staring blankly at Ganghyeon’s skill, Ganghyeon handed over a Haechi Guild business card.

“If you come with this, Haechi will compensate you for the debt I owe today.”

With those words, Ganghyeon walked through the gap.

Just by taking a single step, the scenery had already changed to the Hospital Courtyard.

After briefly looking around, Ganghyeon soon found the garden from his memory behind the hospital.

And he discovered boxes of cherry tomatoes stacked on one side of that garden.

The leaflet tucked into the box lid was familiar.

It was the same leaflet that Yun Taegyeom had once waved around while praising the cherry tomatoes he bought from the Hunter Trading Post.

“This is an unexpected harvest.”

It seemed the seller from the Hunter Trading Post, whom Yun Taegyeom had been searching for without any news, was probably the owner of this garden.

Just as Ganghyeon was about to look around the garden, a circle appeared in the air with blue light, and something dropped from within it.

“Ow ow ow.”

At the groaning sound echoing through the dark garden, Ganghyeon reflexively held his breath.

It was a very familiar blue light.

‘1’.

Because it was the same blue light that his senior had left behind every time they used their skill.

Could it be?

Ganghyeon unconsciously approached the figure that was grumbling and getting up.

With faint hope.

But as soon as the other person took off and threw away the bag they had over their head, that momentary hope was swept away like a tide.

The light brown bob swaying below the ears belonged to the F-rank Hunter he had seen in the Simulation Room before.

‘It’s not my senior.’

The strength left Ganghyeon’s fingertips.

The tension that had been building up snapped in an instant.

But at the same time, a sense of déjà vu remained.

An inexplicable sense of déjà vu that wouldn’t disappear even after confirming it wasn’t his senior.

Back to the present.

A brief silence fell over the garden.

Emerging from his thoughts, Ganghyeon was quietly looking down at Yun Hana standing before him.

Normally, he should take Hana to the Hunter Association as things stood.

The abnormal biological reaction detected in the Gate that the higher-ups were talking about seemed to be because of the plants growing in the garden.

But Ganghyeon had no intention of doing that.

‘There’s no reason to do those old geezers any favors.’

Then what should he do with Yun Hana?

It was while calculations were running through Ganghyeon’s mind.

“…?”

Suddenly, two small hands grabbed both of Ganghyeon’s cheeks with a clap.

At the unexpected force, Ganghyeon’s upper body tilted forward.

“Wait—”

Having lost his balance, Ganghyeon ended up with a thud, kneeling on one knee on the garden floor.

Ganghyeon’s eyes widened as he belatedly recognized the situation.

Gone was any trace of being intimidated, and Yun Hana was pressing Ganghyeon’s cheeks with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Seo Ganghyeon. You didn’t finish eating all the Popcon, did you?”

…What?

Before Kang Hyeon could answer, Hana was already examining his face from various angles.

She pressed under his eyes and tilted her head slightly, changing angles to check his condition.

“I thought you were fine…”

Hana clicked her tongue.

“But seeing you up close, you’re still in pretty bad shape.”

As soon as she said that, Hana quickly rummaged through her back pocket.

She pulled out a few pieces of Popcon that she had put in a bag earlier, then pushed them into Kang Hyeon’s mouth without hesitation.

“Here, eat this first.”

Kang Hyeon reflexively closed his mouth.

He hadn’t said anything, but the poisoning symptoms had been rearing their head again.

He thought he had hidden it well. How on earth did Yun Hana notice his condition?

As the savory taste spread from his mouth down his esophagus and through his body, blood began flowing to his fingertips that had been growing cold like a lie, and breathing became easier.

Kang Hyeon lost his words for a moment, only blinking his eyes.

And only then did he realize.

That this woman was treating him right now.

“Is this a bribe? To overlook the violations you’ve committed, Ms. Yun Hana?”

“Will you turn a blind eye? Then let’s call it a bribe.”

Was this boldness, or was it naivety?

When Kang Hyeon thought there was no need to sharpen his edge over Hana’s trivial matters, he relaxed his body.

“…Where on earth do you keep pulling all these things from?”

Hana shrugged as if it was nothing.

“These clothes have more pockets than they look.”

The corner of Kang Hyeon’s mouth twitched ever so slightly.

After a moment of silence, he asked a question that suddenly came to mind.

“The seller who posted cherry tomatoes on the Hunter Exchange, that’s you, isn’t it.”

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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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