The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log - Chapter 82

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

Chapter 82

* * *

“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”

As soon as Hana returned to the room Kang Hyeon had given him and closed the door, he let out a sigh.

He dropped the bags full of newly bought items onto the floor with a thud and threw himself onto the sofa.

As his back sank into the cushions, he finally felt all the strength leave his body.

“What kind of chaos was that after just going out for no reason, seriously…”

It was supposed to be a brief outing out of boredom, but fertilizer exploded, items got damaged, and even an outbreak occurred.

It had been quite an eventful day.

Still, it wasn’t all bad things that happened.

A bright smile spread across Hana’s face.

He remembered how Seo Ganghyeon had readily attached the decoration to the end of his sword hilt.

It had been worth buying the gift.

“I should rest a bit before going to the garden.”

Sprawled out in the most comfortable position, Hana took out his phone.

He then searched for methods to install support stakes for cherry tomatoes.

The cherry tomatoes were already reaching near thigh height, so he needed to set up support stakes.

Until now, the stems had held up thanks to being strengthened by Bubble Puff excrement, but as the stems grew beyond a certain length, that effect seemed to be wearing off, so he now needed to gradually set up support stakes.

“Is there anything special I need to manage for the strawberries?”

Even though he had become quite familiar with garden management, a beginner was still a beginner.

Hana studied strawberry care methods by alternately checking the farming book he had bought along with his new purchases and his phone.

“For strawberries, you need to lay down black plastic so the fruit doesn’t touch the ground and rot…”

As Hana read along with the search results, a question arose.

But is it right to think of my strawberries like regular strawberries?

First of all, their growing environment isn’t one where they grow tall under warm sunlight, but rather they grow on frozen snowy plains, right?

So wouldn’t these freeze rather than rot when they touch the ground?

Anyway, I did buy mulching plastic to cover the potato field.

I’ll think about what to do with the strawberries gradually.

Yawn.

Hana yawned and shed a few tears.

“I’ve looked up everything I needed to, so maybe I’ll sleep for a bit.”

But less than a few minutes later, Hana’s eyes snapped open.

Just when he tried to sleep, all drowsiness had completely disappeared.

It was because of the memory that had surfaced when the alarm sounded as the outbreak approached earlier.

Of course, the system had immediately blocked it.

But that word “explosion” kept bothering him.

Hana turned on his phone screen again.

And opened the search window.

Gate outbreak. Gate explosion cases.

When he searched using several different keywords, related materials immediately poured out in streams.

“…There are more than I thought.”

The frequency was low, but it wasn’t something that never happened.

Most of the recorded cases were failures in control, and the scale of damage was considerable.

Hana slowly scrolled through the screen with his finger.

While browsing through various things like this.

Suddenly, what Damian had said earlier came to mind.

About Gangnam Station Gate.

He was sure there had been an explosion there too.

A moment later.

One related article caught his eye.

Hana tapped the screen to check the content.

“…It had gone right up to the point of explosion.”

The article content was simple.

Gangnam Station Gate had shown signs of explosion during conquest.

And the story of how a Hunter called ‘1’ had stopped it.

Sacrifice.

That word was naturally attached to it.

The names of other Hunters who were at the scene were processed with pseudonyms, with only their ranks disclosed.

But Hana quickly figured it out. Who it was.

“It was Seo Ganghyeon.”

Hana stared at the article that was several years old for a long time.

It was content he had roughly known about since awakening as a Hunter, but seeing it now felt different.

‘Don’t you think Hana somehow resembles ‘1’ in a strange way?’

Why did Damian’s nonsense have to come to mind right now of all times?

Hana cringed but unconsciously typed ‘1’ into the search window.

Naturally, no photo showed ‘1’s face.

All the remaining materials were combat videos filmed by drones, or images captured from them.

Moreover, even those were shaky or taken from far away.

Perhaps due to ‘1’s abilities, noise that looked like broken pixels was overlaid on the face.

Hana, who had been quickly flipping through photos, brought the screen close to his face.

“Huh?”

What caught his attention was one photograph.

It was blurry like the others, but if there was a difference, it was that ‘1’ was holding a weapon.

And that weapon was…

“A gun… isn’t it?”

Yes, it was a gun. A rifle at that.

Hana enlarged the image on the screen a bit more.

Even in the blurrily smudged image quality, the shape of the long barrel was clear.

It was a similar type of gun to what he had been holding in the memory he received as his second reward.

“Is it… a coincidence?”

Suddenly, Jjak-jjak-i spoke to Hana who was pondering.

【SYSTEM】

What if it’s not a coincidence? ₍ᐡㅇ_ㅇᐡ₎?

For just a moment, truly just a moment, a “what if” thought flashed by.

But Hana immediately shook his head.

“That’s ridiculous.”

The probability that ‘1’ was him?

There was no way.

If he really was ‘1’, would tending to a garden so peacefully be all his skills amounted to?

“Having such ridiculous fantasies. It’s because that bastard Damian said weird things.”

As soon as he reached that conclusion, mockery flew from the system window.

【SYSTEM】

【Pfft. ꉂꉂ ( ˆᴗˆ )】

This time it’s real mockery, not a mistake?

“You just laughed at me. Right!”

【SYSTEM】

【Oh come on, what are you talking about. More importantly, hurry and go to the garden! The Snow Rabbits are causing trouble!】

Trouble?

【SYSTEM】

【Quickly! At this rate, all the strawberries will die! ‧₊˚(✘﹏✘)!!】

【Emergency Mission: Save the Strawberries! Secure the stems before the seeds dry up!】

【Reward: Random draw ticket that can extract ‘A Fragment of Lost Memory’! (If you achieve 8,000pt experience points, you’ll get a chance to obtain one more memory fragment!)】

【Warning! The draw ticket includes ‘duds’.】

“Oh!”

Hana let out a scream that rose from his core.

A random draw ticket?

“I was already disappointed that this reward only gave one memory fragment!”

What a windfall this was.

The warning about possible duds was a bit concerning, but so what. He just wouldn’t draw a dud.

“Ugh, seriously. I just lay down. Now I have no choice but to go.”

Hana disciplined his twitching lips and reluctantly got up, pretending he didn’t want to go.

But his arms and legs were already hurrying with excitement.

In the process, the phone he had placed on his legs slid smoothly and fell onto the sofa.

However, hearing that the strawberries were dying, Hana hurriedly activated his Side Alley skill without even grabbing his phone.

And he gathered the items he had bought and disappeared into the Side Alley.

“These Snow Rabbits! I told you to stay put, but you couldn’t wait even that long!”

After such a commotion passed.

A system window appeared in the living room where Hana had disappeared.

【SYSTEM】

[※정보 복구율 25%—-※]

[Hunter Name: 1]

[Title: █████Guardian]

【A portion of the user’s memory has been abnormally accessed.】

【Blocking memory-.】

It was the same message as in the Flower District.

But soon the text on the screen flickered with noise and broke apart.

The message in the window changed.

【Part of the system functions are being restored due to user recognition.】

【Hidden title is being revealed.】

【SYSTEM】

[※정보 복구율 35%—-※]

[Hunter Name: 1]

[Title: ██God’s Guardian, ██ ██]

As the system window flickered several times.

There was a sound from the entrance.

Click.

At the sound of the door opening, the system window floating in the middle of the living room disappeared without a trace.

As if it had never existed in the first place.

Only silence settled over the space again.

Shortly after, Kang Hyeon, who had entered through the front door, stepped into the living room.

“Yun Hana.”

Kang Hyeon, who had been touching his darkened eyes from recent overwork as he entered the house, looked around.

And he realized he couldn’t sense Hana’s presence.

Looking around the living room, he saw a couple of plant nutrient bottles scattered on the floor.

“…Did he go to the garden?”

Kang Hyeon pondered for a moment.

Whether to just go back or wait until Hana returned.

Normally he would have gone back since there was no need to waste time, but for some reason his steps stopped.

After deliberating, Kang Hyeon walked toward the sofa.

Thud.

Kang Hyeon buried himself against the sofa backrest and tilted his head back.

Then he noticed something glinting between the sofa cushions.

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