“… So that happened.”
Nodding—
Yeon-hee called me out after she returned home and finished her recovery, detailing the backstory I hadn’t seen.
‘Maeng Seong-yong, right? He’s got a good eye for the White Knight Guild.’
Hearing Yeon-hee’s story, my fondness for the association slightly increased.
The White Knight Guild has a very favorable public image.
They value honor over money and won’t engage in meaningless conflicts without justification. They won’t even participate in guild competitions that are just about raking in cash.
At the same time, they’re the number one guild in South Korea for spending a significant portion of their dungeon earnings on protecting and supporting the weak.
But that man seemed to already know about the dark side of the White Knight Guild. It means he has a line for gathering information on every guild.
‘Is there no way to use the association…?’
Lost in such thoughts, Yeon-hee snuggled closer and spoke again.
“So— what’s left now is… to meet Joo-ah’s friend and to find one more new member.”
She noted down “Today’s Tasks” in a cute handwriting in a small notebook. Under the title, the completed tasks were underlined, and there was a red note saying “Bad guy in a red hood!”
I reflexively patted her head, and she sparkled her eyes as she got even closer and asked.
“What do you think? What does Il-wol think about Bae Joo-ah?”
Without pondering too deeply about what she meant, I answered right away.
“Clap, Clap, Clap!!”
‘Good! At first, she didn’t show it, but she seems to have good combat sense and decent stats. Her judgment is impressive too.’
“Hehe, Il-wol likes her too, right?”
Nodding—
As I kept nodding, she suddenly became serious and said.
“… But aren’t you too positive? Why… does Il-wol, by any chance, like people with glasses?”
“Tap—”
“Hehe— Il-wol got flustered! So cute!”
‘Huh? How did she know?’
Honestly, I do like girls with glasses. To be precise, I like how pretty girls look while wearing glasses.
‘What a surprise…’
Sometimes when Yeon-hee makes that scary face just to tease, it feels like my heart drops.
“Shall we take a look together?”
Yeon-hee used Wang-wang as a pillow and laid down, placing her phone screen on the floor.
“Ah, it seems like Joo-ah’s friend, whom Il-wol really likes, is quite diligent. She’s already sent me a few candidates!”
“… Tap…”
‘Save me…’
“Pu-huh- okay, I won’t tease you anymore.”
Nodding—
The recruitment post on the current site was written by Bae Joo-ah’s friend, who has been active at a higher level than us from D-grade. It should give them an advantage.
Moreover, apparently, that person is somewhat famous in the D-grade line. The reason, it was said, would be clear once you see them, which gave me a rough idea.
Anyway, I browsed through the candidates that Bae Joo-ah had selected with Yeon-hee.
‘As expected— everyone thinks similarly.’
She had picked five people, and except for one, they were all support types. Considering Yeon-hee’s summon setup, it made sense.
Yeon-hee read through the introductions of the five candidates meticulously, then pointed to the profile of the only female applicant.
“I’m most curious about this person. Isn’t it amazing that she sings during combat? I can’t even imagine it.”
‘Looks like a bard class. Usually, they’d be in high demand, so why is she living as a drifter? Anyway, she’s exactly my type.’
They’re a very unique class that provides buffs to teammates through singing or playing instruments while applying debuffs to enemies.
“[Calm Mind]” and a very weak continuous heal seems to be their specialty. Honestly, this person is straightforward. No need to use “very weak” to describe it.
Nodding—
‘Hmm… I wonder if there’s a circumstance behind it? Maybe she couldn’t meet the expectations of the party because that heal isn’t enough?’
Regardless, it was a bit disappointing that the skill wasn’t “[Mental Protection]”, but it wasn’t bad. We shouldn’t have high hopes for the healing as indicated.
“What do you think? There are cleric and paladin types too. If we want healing, it would be better to go with these folks, right?”
‘Having even one healer certainly brings stability to the party. It seems that combat times will increase in the future, so I guess that’s for preparation…’
But healing can be replaced with potions and our freshly sourced water, Irmana’s lakeside water. Of course, it can’t be compared to the skills of clerics or paladins, but for countering monsters that use mental-type magic, this bard type would be the most useful.
“Oh, Joo-ah’s added an extra note under this person: ‘Mentally unstable. Please consider the probability of her skills activating.’ Hmm…”
‘A mentally unstable bard supporter…?’
The received keywords triggered bits of memories I had forgotten.
Someone I saw fighting the Orc Legion Commander popped into my mind. Singing passionately while tossing pills in their mouth from the top of a rock in the midst of battle.
Even though it was just a brief moment I shared the same space on that fierce battlefield, it stuck in my memory because that figure was very out of place.
‘Just being at that scene makes her qualified. It means she must be at least B-grade.’
“I want to see this singing person once. What do you think?”
Nodding—
I would probably be unable to say anything once we met, but here I am, so curious!
Eventually, Yeon-hee chose the bard-type hunter named Ham Eun-young, and shortly after, we received a message from Bae Joo-ah.
– Do you have time in the evening? Let’s have coffee with the new members.
“Huh? Um… yes, yes…”
Yeon-hee looked clearly flustered as if she hadn’t expected to meet them right away.
“Ahh… what should I do, Il-wol? An appointment with people my age in the evening. I don’t have anything to wear…”
“……”
Finally, Yeon-hee realized she was low on outfits. What would she wear?
‘She could buy something on the way.’
Yeon-hee typically bought most items online. Could she handle the awkward stares from the store staff if she went in person?
Contrary to my small expectations, she just panicked and couldn’t come up with a solution.
Time passed, and eventually, Yeon-hee arrived at the café for the meeting spot dressed in padding. Of course, I was with her under stealth.
“Here!”
I saw Bae Joo-ah’s raised arm, and as I approached, the rest of the group had already arrived.
‘Whoa… it’s very dark here.’
“······”
The girl sitting next to Bae Joo-ah was fully decked in black attire, sitting still like a dead corpse, only staring at her hand mirror. The dark circles under her eyes enhanced that gloomy atmosphere, and her deeply sunken cheeks and bony fingers looked like they could snap at any moment.
“Hello!!”
“Hi there.”
Sitting across from Bae Joo-ah was an adorably pretty rabbit beastman. More accurately, a hunter whose appearance changed due to beastman traits.
‘I got it right.’
The “you’ll know when you see them” comment turned out to be accurate.
She had long white ears extending from her head and bright red eyes, with fluffy white fur-like patterns on the back of her hands. Just with this alone, it was easy to guess what kind of animal she resembled. Fortunately, there were few people on the second floor of the café, but she had a look that would attract attention the moment she stepped into a busier area.
‘Rabbit beastman traits… so rare. With looks like her and being from the Il-seom Guild, I couldn’t possibly forget her!’
The lack of memories could mean she hadn’t made much of an impact as a hunter in her previous life, or she might have already passed away or faded into obscurity when I was active.
‘Her movement speed must be fantastic. Good ears mean she can play the scout as well. Plus, being from Il-seom…’
It was strange that Bae Joo-ah hadn’t mentioned this earlier given how solid her conditions were.
“Hello.”
Yeon-hee warmly greeted Bae Joo-ah and the others, sitting next to the rabbit-eared girl.
As soon as Yeon-hee sat down, the hunter next to her, true to her beastman nature, started sniffing the air.
“Oh! Don’t mind me. This just comes out instinctively, hehe—”
Her bright smile, full of innocence, with a unique beastman sound in her voice made her even more special.
‘Thank goodness. She’s the complete opposite of the other one, much brighter.’
The still-silent and mirror-staring supporter, Ham Eun-young, was definitely a unique character. Oddly more eye-catching than the rabbit beastman.
Once they seemed somewhat familiar with each other, Bae Joo-ah officially began introducing her friends.
“This friend’s name is Baek Ah-rin. Just like her name, she’s an incredibly beautiful friend of mine. We both graduated from the same academy, and she’s so talented that even though we started around the same time, she already made it to D-grade before me… um… anyway, she’s a really capable hunter!”
“Ah— nice to meet you! I’m Lee Yeon-hee. Please take care of me.”
“Hehe— Joo-ah told me a lot about you~ Wow— you’re so pretty!”
“Oh, no. You’re much prettier, Ah-rin.”
“No, seriously, you’re the prettiest person I’ve ever seen!”
“Ah, no, Ah-rin is—”
‘… What are you guys doing?’
Suddenly they burst into a compliment battle about each other’s looks. Were girls born with a passive ability for this kind of repertoire or something? Of course, they both have looks that could qualify.
“Oh, and the person next to me is Ham Eun-young. As you heard, she’s a supporter, so I think we’ll rely on her a lot!”
It seemed I wasn’t imagining things. Bae Joo-ah was also finding it tough to gauge Ham Eun-young.
“I’ll introduce Eun-young unnie. We did a dungeon run together a few weeks ago.”
“Ah, I see…”
Yeon-hee widened her eyes, glancing back and forth between the two.
“Any basic mental-type magic, she can help you with easily! Like the ghost’s [Stagnation], Night Hag’s [Sleep], and Gray Mold’s [Slow] and all the like!”
“Wow… got it.”
“She’s certainly capable, but there are a few ups and downs, you see. Unnie suffered from severe depression since she was young.”
“Ah…”
You didn’t need to explain; it was pretty evident. At that moment, the supporter Ham Eun-young seemed to put her hand mirror away and whispered in a very faint voice.
“I’ll… try not to… get hurt…”
She seemed to mutter something through a voice no louder than ants’ footsteps, but I couldn’t catch it. It probably meant she would do her best or something.
‘Shouldn’t she see someone at a hospital?’
Then Ham Eun-young seemed to catch the thought I hadn’t voiced and cleared her throat once before saying,
“If I take my medication… on time, I’ll be fine…”
‘Ah— this is frustrating.’
Yeon-hee was a bit stuttery, but whenever Eun-young tried to speak, there was a long gap in between her words that made it feel like I was suffocating just listening.
‘If we go out together just once, I think I’d get the hang of it. Let’s give it a shot for now.’
“Yeon-hee, you leveled up today too, right? Then shall we step out tomorrow? We’ll go with the minimum number of people, right?”
“Yeah. Four should be enough, shouldn’t it? With you, Yeon-hee.”
“Yeah, I’m fine! Eun-young, how about you?”
“……”
“Eun-young unnie will be okay if she says nothing. So everyone agreed, shall we head to tackle the orc warriors?”
The “Blue Moon Plains”, a dungeon heavily populated with Orc Warriors, is considered a mid-level challenge in D-grade. Since we’ve completed great achievements, we should be able to handle it more comfortably than other hunters.
“Come on, stop exaggerating. How can you ask us to go to a place you’ve never been to?”
“I’m saying we should go because I haven’t been there yet! And didn’t you get the orc achievement? What’s the issue?”
“No, it’s about being mentally prepared.”
“I don’t care. I’m done looking at Red Aul (Lesser Dire Wolf). I can hear howling in my dreams, you know?”
“That’s not the reason, is it? It’s because of those people—”
“That’s not true.”
Baek Ah-rin seemed to want to avoid a few of the most basic dungeons in D-grade. Then Yeon-hee suddenly looked my way and hurriedly voiced her opinion.
“U-Um, I would like to experience the very bottom dungeons just once.”
“Oh, really? Come to think of it… for experience’s sake, we should at least try them once… hmm.”
‘Yeah, we can’t skip out. We need to steal those skills.’
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