Chapter 172: The Choi Sisters
The guide who was executed by fire was a few hours ago.
He said that if he defeated my enemy, the blue giant, he would provide a separate reward.
Until now, since a resident within the gate personally made that promise, I assumed it would surely be fulfilled, so I didn’t rush him.
Fortunately, even though the promised fairy disappeared, our contract remained intact.
“Here! Take this.”
The fairy in the plaza finally spread the rewards the guide had mentioned across the grassy area.
Small cubes that fit in one hand.
This was a substance that any hunter would recognize.
“Item Box?”
A magical storage box capable of holding equipment infused with magic power. I never expected something like this to be suddenly presented!
It’s of normal grade.
Among the types of item boxes, this one was the lowest class.
Compared to rare-grade, its internal volume was modest. But even this is quite impressive.
No matter how small the space of this magic tool is, it starts in the hundreds of millions.
So we began discussing what to do with the item box we were given, and it didn’t take long for people to conclude that it was right to give the reward to the leading S-Class hunter who spearheaded the raid.
Yes.
I had unexpectedly struck an amazing jackpot.
‘I originally sought an EX-Class for the purpose of getting stronger, but with this, I should just take what I’m given!’
Well then, having seen the entire story unfold and received my share, should I soon leave the feeding box?
“The sky has brightened a little.”
As I looked around, survivors wore various expressions.
Some were happy to be alive, while others were hunters scared of the bizarre customs of the fairies who kill their kind.
However, the most commonly flowing emotion was compassion bordering on sadness.
A few individuals, including Seonwoo-yeon, remained silent as they gazed at the burning corpse of the executed.
‘It’s dawn.’
Clap.
I clapped lightly to gather the attention of the raiders and directed them towards where we were to head.
“By now, the vines in that passage should have decreased, so let’s go check.”
Soon, the forest exit we arrived at had the barriers that blocked our way vanished as if they were a lie.
*
Some time later. Korean Hunter Association.
“Hmm….”
Seonwoo-yeon paused her fingers over a cheap membrane keyboard and leaned back against the chair.
The missing persons who had been consumed by the white gate returned safely. By now, about two days had passed since that incident concluded.
It had been quite a busy time.
She had witnessed the first appearance of a dungeon creature that perfectly spoke the language of humanity.
She had stayed in the fairy kingdom for an additional four hours, consulting with an association employee who came with her.
Dungeons do not collapse as long as survivors exist inside, so by doing that, they preserved the raid scene.
But that was finally over.
The association had ultimately failed to find a way to enter the one-way exit.
‘Even so, I wanted to be helpful, but if there’s no outcome, I feel a bit empty.’
As the last returnee, Seonwoo-yeon bore the fatigue coursing through her body and placed her hands on the keyboard.
From now on, she had to write the report before the memories of the raid evaporated. Why is society always so harsh on worker ants?
“Phew…”
Still, this time the higher-ups acknowledged their efforts and even granted her a special leave.
She just needed to endure today. Seonwoo-yeon thought of that one sentence as she busily typed away.
‘I want to drink coffee.’
But then, unexpectedly.
“Um, excuse me….”
It was clearly just a thought in her head, yet a refreshing Americano suddenly appeared beside her desk.
“Investigator, it’s still lunchtime, but could you have a moment to talk…? Maybe over coffee?”
By the way, the term investigator is Seonwoo-yeon’s current official title.
She stopped writing her report at the voice calling for her and lifted her head.
And indeed, there stood her colleague, someone she always faced in the institution.
“Yes. Let me just save what I was working on.”
This was the C-Class awakened who had been trapped in the fairy kingdom with her. This person, the chief.
They normally didn’t meet privately, so she wondered what had prompted him to suddenly bring coffee.
.
.
.
A little later.
‘So this is what coffee meant.’
As soon as Seonwoo-yeon made it to the rooftop, her prediction was confirmed.
The chief had bowed his head before starting a conversation.
“I truly apologize for what happened!”
“Hmm.”
“That, that time, I thought if ten minutes passed, I might die, so I couldn’t think straight.”
“Yes.”
“Since the team leader also had just left after entering the dungeon, I…”
The team leader of the investigation team, who had thought the fairies were monsters and made the first attack, ended up as the first sacrifice.
Come to think of it, there’s a funeral scheduled for Wednesday. Seonwoo-yeon recalled the date in her mind, sporting a glum expression.
It was then that her subordinate continued.
“I truly… apologize. If I hadn’t done that, Investigator Seonwoo-yeon would not have been injured.”
But Seonwoo-yeon felt the need to clarify something. She paused her sipping of coffee and spoke.
“I’m fine. But this is something I should apologize to Mr. Kim Hunter for, isn’t it?”
That employee had indeed passed the mark to some S-Class.
“Ah, Mr. Kim? Yes. I certainly don’t believe that a mere apology when we exited the gate was sufficient. However…”
The awakened standing on the rooftop chuckled as he rekindled his own mistakes.
“Who am I to approach someone like S-Class? Someone like me.”
With that, he took a sip of the coffee he held.
“To be honest, immediately after that incident, I could not even dare to think of seeking Mr. Kim’s forgiveness.”
“…….”
“I believed he would be incredibly angry. Or that he would return the tag he received?”
“Really?”
“I mean, when faced with someone like Kim Gi-ryeo, what could we do? We simply handed the choice over to him, the S-Class hunter. It’d be less upsetting if a human was the tagger, at least.”
As the C-Class awakened explained his feelings at that time, his voice gradually faded. The subsequent sentence was a heavier burden on his heart.
“……But I never thought he’d take the role of the tagger himself.”
Seonwoo-yeon remembered the situation too. When Kim Gi-ryeo declared he wouldn’t relinquish the tag, her heart had truly sunk.
She had witnessed the remains of humans who fell victim to the fairies.
“Even that was to calm the others…”
Had Kim Gi-ryeo not willingly embraced the bomb, the raid team would have experienced pure hell during those ten minutes.
They were indoctrinated by the balloon game that anyone who was tagged would die immediately.
In the midst of it, if she became the tagger, she would have spared no means to escape that state.
With no doubt, there might have been violent acts directed toward the weak.
Wouldn’t it have been cruelly common to break someone’s leg to shake off the tagger?
“The reason we were able to exit the dungeon without witnessing a horrific scene was all thanks to him.”
The woman with black straight hair agreed with that thought.
“However, thinking back, how could he not pass the tag? Did he genuinely consider hunting a fairy?”
When he muttered as he pondered, Seonwoo-yeon casually chimed in.
“That’s just who he is.”
“Pardon?”
He had always been like that.
Kim Gi-ryeo would sometimes engage in incomprehensibly bold actions with an indifferent expression.
Knowing this, Seonwoo-yeon had taken the mark from him.
If she didn’t do that, it seemed that man would never pass the tag until the very end.
“That’s just who he is? Ah, now that you mention it, Investigator, you had some familiarity with him, right?”
“Just a bit.”
“Regardless, that’s impressive. I never thought he could be this compassionate. Wow, how does he take care of others even in such situations…?”
The C-Class hunter was busy praising the blond man, yet Seonwoo-yeon exhibited a rather ambiguous reaction to this part.
‘Compassionate?’
Somehow, that description didn’t seem quite fitting for him.
Nonchalant.
Seonwoo-yeon unconsciously thought that word suited him better. This feeling lingered even after their experience with the tagger.
After all, Kim Gi-ryeo displayed that demeanor in the latter half of the raid.
‘…….’
Seonwoo-yeon vividly remembered.
The expression Kim Gi-ryeo had while looking at the burning fairy.
Tap, tap…
He showed no agitation even when seeing the guide who helped him being burned alive.
If he harbored resentment towards the wingless fairy for some reason after the tagger incident, that could be somewhat understandable.
But what Kim Gi-ryeo displayed was neither discomfort nor satisfaction. Just a neutral reaction.
So how could one expect compassion from such a man?
‘…….’
Moreover, there’s a saying that even butchers do not look at the cow’s face when slaughtering.
Somehow, Kim Gi-ryeo resembled a butcher, executing his work without blinking an eye, and that made Seonwoo-yeon feel oddly out of place each time she experienced his kindness.
She wanted to trust his goodwill. She truly did.
Yet that overly competent hunter continually evoked a chilling dread.
‘No, don’t think unnecessarily. He’s a good person who even took on danger for others.’
Seonwoo-yeon tried to think positively. Still, she could not suppress the worries deep within her heart.
‘Really…’
What expression did that hunter wear when she collapsed, punished by the fairy?
‘Really unnecessary thoughts.’
Perhaps even then, did he view her like how he observed the fairy in ashes?
If not for this apprehension, she wouldn’t have felt a distance from Kim Gi-ryeo at all.
*
‘Yahoo! I no longer have to stuff items into my pockets like a peddler!’
A quiet afternoon. Kim Gi-ryeo’s studio.
I sat in the corner of my room, reveling in joy.
I had long envied those who carried item boxes, and now I had obtained that high-class magical box.
“And to think I got such an expensive magic tool for free!”
The item box, which had room for [Hydra] and [Surprise Box!], still had plenty of empty space left.
I checked the remaining space while humming a tune.
“Just perfect~”
And as it turned out, the item box arrived precisely at the right time.
In reality, I hadn’t given up on obtaining the dragon’s lung, and I was considering re-challenging the Dragon Raid for that.
To be honest, even now, I was in better shape than usual for an F-Class.
‘I’ve lived a lifetime oppressed by work, and now I’m overworking again…’
I decided to be a little greedier. And I figured about 10% of this choice was influenced by last day’s gate.
An appearance of an entity mimicking intelligence.
The emergence of that scenario gate was not a very good sign.
Returning to the subject, I was constantly thinking about trying to hunt a new dragon.
I wanted to increase the probability of acquiring the dragon’s lung by even 1%.
Of course, this time, unlike in Japan, there was no nation’s survival at stake. It’s better to take my time and calmly conduct research.
But dragons always appeared in high grades, and gates themselves were rare, so hardly any information was available online.
“Hmm.”
Thus, I decided to meet with an expert in that field to prepare for the dragon’s nest that would appear someday.
And remarkably, I could leverage my connections for this.
The best dragon slayer in Korea. Moreover, the first owner of the [Dragon’s Heart].
It just so happened that this famous individual was a distant relative of mine.
