“I pushed Il-wol into a trap, so you need to brace yourself even more.”
This was an act knowing that Il-wol was at high risk of dying.
95 lives.
Il-wol had now become someone with just 94 lives.
She wanted to somehow manage on her own without relying on Il-wol’s help, but her ridiculously lacking strength didn’t even allow her such concerns.
And if she could save hundreds of people with just one life out of the 95, she found herself persuading her own thoughts that it would be a worthy sacrifice.
Choosing not to save people and regretting it for a lifetime, or sacrificing Il-wol’s one life to save numerous others.
The scales easily tipped to one side.
And suddenly, she thought to herself.
Would she still make this choice if Il-wol only had that one life left?
‘…… I……’
“Yeon-hee, what are you doing? We asked you to help people, and you’re slacking off alone?”
“Huh? Ah, no! I’m coming right away!”
Lee Yeon-hee barely pulled herself out of the abyss when an unknown hunter approached and bluntly threw those words at her.
That unknown person didn’t know, but thanks to Il-wol’s sacrifice, many lives inside the gym were saved.
There was a commotion as some children inside were immediately rushed to the hospital due to acidic substances seeping from the ceiling, but thankfully, it wasn’t life-threatening.
Even so, little obstacles like that were something she’d have to live with for a lifetime.
As the hunter who had scolded her walked away and Yeon-hee followed, Cha Jin-hyuk approached her.
“Uh, excuse me…”
“Yes? Ah, Jin-hyuk.”
Cha Jin-hyuk had already exchanged greetings with Lee Yeon-hee once, but when things started to wrap up, he approached her again, bending down several times, nearly touching his back to the ground.
“Uh, really… thank you. I have no way to express this gratitude…”
“No, it’s because you stepped up that everyone could be safe.”
“Oh, I didn’t do much. So, if it’s not rude, could you give me your bank account number so I can at least repay you…?”
“Wh-what?! No! As I said before, I can’t accept such things.”
“Come on, Hunter-nim, don’t say that. Please—”
Cha Jin-hyuk wanted to repay this grateful person who saved the children he took care of, but Yeon-hee was more stubborn than she appeared.
‘Is it really possible for someone like this to exist?’
Despite being a much lower rank, she risked her life to save others, was humble, and had the judgment necessary to quickly extract people from the gym while baiting monsters.
Moreover, she pushed two tarantulas charging at her away using summoned creatures under her command.
And she showed no sign of displeasure at his appearance.
For anyone with normal eyesight, that would be incredibly difficult, yet she treated him as if nothing was wrong.
The glimpses of her clear face under the hood made him think, ‘If an angel descended to earth, it would look like this.’
But for Cha Jin-hyuk, such feelings weren’t based on logical thought; it simply felt like witnessing a divine being.
Was this what he received for years of prayers to a god?
“More importantly, Hunter-nim, take care of yourself. If you lose too much blood, you could go into shock.”
“Hehe… even if I look like this, I’m quite sturdy. I’m fine.”
“Still.”
When Yeon-hee reached into her pocket to get a brown bottle, a voice called out to her from a distance.
“Lee Yeon-hee Hunter-nim~! Do you have any time to spare? They’re asking if you can take care of a couple of orcs inside!”
“Ah, okay! I’m coming! I’m sorry, but I need to go! It’s easier to adjust my summoned creatures up close.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. I took up your time for nothing.”
“It’s fine. Take this! It’s a potion. I’ll see you again!”
“Wait, um…”
With that, the angel left behind only a warm smile and a wave.
Even though she was just going to take out the debris from the completely collapsed gym ceiling a few dozen meters away, Cha Jin-hyuk felt he wouldn’t be able to speak with Yeon-hee again.
However, just that brief conversation with her, who had looked upon him warmly, washed away his built-up feelings of anger, humiliation, and self-loathing.
That was a truly miraculous thing, even for Cha Jin-hyuk.
It was just a few words.
“What a relief…”
He murmured after glancing around the school.
He was struck by the thought of what would’ve happened if the children faced some misfortune and he was the only one to survive.
Certainly, the anger he had amassed for his lifetime would have exploded, and where it would lead him was something he couldn’t even imagine now.
And in this moment, Cha Jin-hyuk completely lost any possibilities related to his unique skill [Cursed Link].
“Wah~ why is the recovery here so fast?”
Cha Jin-hyuk was startled by a voice coming from behind him while he dumbly stared in the direction Yeon-hee had run off to.
‘When did they arrive?!’
He hadn’t even sensed their presence before they caught him off guard.
He turned his head, and there stood two men, easily identifiable as at least A-rank hunters.
One was a man with a great sword over two meters long slung across his back, and the other had white eyes.
“How come everywhere else is in chaos, but this place is holding up?”
“True. They said the most people were gathered here, so is your [Baek-ryan] really functioning properly?”
“Oh come on, old man. You can doubt a person, but you can’t doubt a skill.”
Cha Jin-hyuk had briefly escaped from the fierce battlefield, yet the tension was still heavy upon him, and when he saw them, his legs nearly gave way, almost causing him to fall flat on the floor.
“Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“Hehehe, you look incredibly uncomfortable, buddy. Just a sec, let’s see…”
The white-eyed man swapped glances between Cha Jin-hyuk and his phone before continuing.
“B-rank hunter Cha Jin-hyuk, huh? Gravity Manipulator? Ho-ho, such an ability. Only five have possessed that skill throughout history. Quite interesting.”
“Is it what they call a legendary skill on the internet? Sounds intriguing. I’d love to experience it firsthand. So, uh, old man? No, Cha Jin-hyuk? Can I see your skill when you recover a bit?”
“Uh? Ah… well, I still have to clean things up first…”
His tone was subtly dismissive, and asking a hunter to show their skill was an incredibly rude thing to do.
Cha Jin-hyuk felt incredulous and upset, but he couldn’t dare express it.
‘Those two…’
Seeing the bulging leather pouches at their waist made him even more cautious.
The things in those pouches exuded a familiar aura.
‘Did they take down that many tarantulas? Just the two of them?’
Today’s dreadful monster.
Surely, inside that pouch were countless eyeballs, the spoils of the tarantulas.
Judging by the volume, it looked like there were at least 40 of them.
The disaster text said 20 tarantulas were released, and if that was added, it meant over 60 tarantulas altogether, leaving a ludicrous discrepancy.
The Hunter Management Bureau had clearly concealed the details of the incident.
‘They’re monsters…’
What was even more astonishing was that neither of the two showed any bloodstains on their clothing.
Gulp—
Cha Jin-hyuk swallowed hard as he noticed the white-eyed man suddenly widened his eyes while skimming through documents on his phone.
“Oh… Summoner Lee Yeon-hee? Why is she here?”
“What?! Really? Should we go take a look? I heard she’s super pretty?”
“She’s near the gym. What kind of dirty things are those? Are those her summoned creatures? Just a bunch of lousy trash monsters?”
“Ugh, they said she’s still a D-rank. How amazing could her summoned creatures be? Should we just check her face out?”
Hearing the white-eyed man muttering to the air and the sword-wielding man licking his lips made Cha Jin-hyuk feel uncomfortable, and he quickly stepped in front of them.
“Huh, Hunter-nims! It, it would be better if we went to a less crowded place to show you.”
“Huh? Oh, Gravity Ability?”
“Yes, yes! I’ll show you as much as you want until you’re satisfied!”
“Oh, sounds good. Shall we? You should get hit by a skill a bit.”
“Sounds good. Wow, this place is really nice. We can waste some time here, huh?”
“But the leader really chased after that hero wannabe?”
“Leave that guy alone. Has it only been a day or two.”
Seeing the top hunters divert their eyes from Yeon-hee, Cha Jin-hyuk sighed in relief. Listening to their conversation, it seemed there was another person they referred to as the leader.
It didn’t seem like someone of that level would come specifically to hunt the tarantulas.
But anyway, that wasn’t what’s important right now.
‘We mustn’t let the angel get tainted by filthy hands.’
As Cha Jin-hyuk led the hunters away while creating distance from the gym, Yeon-hee was diligently answering questions from late-arriving investigators.
They were really just formal questions.
The indifferent look of the public servant shoving a recorder in front of her felt bitter to Yeon-hee.
Though she answered sincerely to several questions, she lied about who had taken down more than ten tarantulas.
“Really, you don’t know? I heard that Yeon-hee’s summoned creatures vanished together. There were traces of a huge explosion too.”
“I sent them to lure the monsters, but how would a skeleton soldier deal with a tarantula… The explosion, I don’t know.”
“Hehe, that makes sense, right? However, we need to keep a record, so do you recall anything else—”
‘Ugh… I’m so nervous…’
Feigning innocence wasn’t one of Yeon-hee’s strong suits, but in a sense, she felt relieved the public servants were out of practice.
And from overhearing the public servant, it turned out creatures in the neighboring village had also been taken out by some mysterious person, so the investigators stopped probing into Yeon-hee’s reasons further.
“Ahh… What should I do for the remaining time…”
Having completed all her support, Yeon-hee felt a sense of emptiness as she exited the school.
She thought about just heading into the mountains to spend time with her summoned creatures.
Wandering aimlessly, Yeon-hee spotted a group walking on the opposite path, chatting loudly.
‘The triangle-marked people.’
They were the trio who had been Cha Jin-hyuk’s comrades.
The reason she referred to them in the past tense was that she had witnessed a minor altercation between them and Cha Jin-hyuk during the recovery effort earlier.
Cha Jin-hyuk had testified they were of the same rank but didn’t actively contribute during the investigation, and the trio argued that his testimony led them to face several penalties.
Cha Jin-hyuk said he had merely stated the truth, but in the end, one of the trio swiftly slapped him across the face.
Nearby public servants intervened, and things wrapped up in a hurry, but there was clear hatred in their glaring eyes, making her think they wouldn’t be able to form a team together going forward.
‘Hmm…’
Yeon-hee wanted to give Il-wol a gift when he was re-summoned.
‘Should I follow them?’
Her contemplation didn’t last long, and soon she began to stealthily follow the trio.
(Master, if you make your body as light as a feather, you could reduce your presence more.)
“Thank you.”
With the speed boost granted by Ran, Yeon-hee felt a surge of confidence.
After firmly wrapping herself in lime, she followed them along with Ran so they wouldn’t be easily noticed.
They had a late lunch and walked for about 20 minutes before entering a building.
Thinking it would be tricky to follow them inside, she decided to wait outside with some coffee.
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