Chapter 175: Affection
The next day.
“Here, I’ll pay for the gas. Just get lost already.”
Ahn Yoon-seung was chased back to Seoul without even being able to sit down with his relatives. They were both too busy.
Meanwhile, the Choi sisters quickly returned to their daily routine…
Choi Jin, being an A-Class Hunter with a high ranking, started tackling a Blue Gate as soon as her relative departed.
By the time she cleared the dungeon she entered during the day, it was evening.
After having dinner, she began working overtime.
Today, a high-grade Red Gate had appeared nearby. Her guild was responsible for dealing with Red Gates due to a contract with Chuncheon City.
“Sister, this one is huge!”
“Right? Must be an A-Class.”
They arrived at the scene.
The Gate hadn’t opened yet.
Choi Jin checked her equipment during the short waiting time. Suddenly, a man started walking towards them, his footsteps thud thud thud coming closer.
“Oh, hello.”
A man with dyed blond hair holding a popsicle.
“We meet again?”
Isn’t that the uninvited guest they saw during the day?!
‘W-What’s going on?’
Choi Jin’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw Kim Gi-ryeo approach, having thought he had returned to Seoul with Yoon-seung.
“Uh, Hunter Kim. Why are you still in Chuncheon?”
Choi Jin couldn’t help but question him. The blond Hunter replied,
“I just came to Chuncheon for the first time today. I heard the dak-galbi here is really good.”
“Excuse me?”
“I was checking out delicious restaurants alone.”
Rustle.
Kim Gi-ryeo showed the dak-galbi he had with him, curious about the local specialty and not returning home until this late.
Honestly, she thought he was crazy.
“Oh! It smells amazing!”
Amidst all this, her sister caught the scent of the food in the plastic bag and started insisting on buying dak-galbi on their way home…
But Choi Jin wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
How awkward!
No matter how much he was just a tourist, what were the chances they would randomly bump into each other like this? Could it be that this S-Class was tailing them all this time?
‘How annoying…’
She wanted to just withdraw and forget about everything, but given the circumstances, that was difficult.
“Hey, Hunter Kim. I’m telling you in advance, don’t lift a finger for this Gate. Unlike in Seoul, here, ownership matters even for Red Gates.”
Choi Jin pointed her finger, trying to assert her authority.
“Sure.”
Kim Gi-ryeo nodded and finished his popsicle.
Conflicting emotions swirled within her. At least Kang Chang-ho would throw some dangerous vibes around.
“Ha.”
Not knowing what that guy might do made her feel even more anxious…
“Sister, the Gate!”
While frowning, Choi Jin turned to the voice calling her. The monster wave was about to begin.
Clatter clatter clatter.
A monster, resembling a clump of twisted wire, appeared on the ground.
Such an inanimate being wouldn’t be affected by Hydra’s poison, regardless of its rank. But that was fine.
Today, she wasn’t the one in charge.
Whoosh…
A wide blaze erupted in the open ground.
The sudden light pressed the enemies from all sides, resembling three snakes flicking their tongues.
An Awakened who swallowed the Dragon’s Heart and could manipulate fire at will.
This almost felt like a mythical being spitting out flames as if it had turned its guts inside out.
‘The most common class on Earth.’
Boom!
This powerful heat was Choi Jin’s Awakening Ability. Moreover, it was an element showing how much she had grown.
Once, Choi Jin had been in the bottom 90% of B-Class Hunters.
But everything changed after she casually obtained the [Dragon’s Heart]. Now, she stood firm in the undeniable position of a strong person.
“Right side, monster breach!”
“I’ll handle it!”
The Hunters dispatched from Chuncheon’s Faith Guild moved in perfect unison.
At last, the monster’s advance was stalled. Things were going swimmingly as usual.
“Ugh.”
But…
Why did she feel so uneasy from earlier?
‘Damn it.’
Whoosh.
Choi Jin turned her head to check something.
Through the shimmering haze, she caught a glimpse of a mysterious gaze watching her closely.
‘Damn it, of course he’s watching…!’
S-Class Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo.
He was observing the battle from a slight distance.
For reference, Gi-ryeo deliberately stayed in Chuncheon to see how the Dragon’s Heart affected the spellcaster.
His thoughtless actions were truly a nightmare for that A-Class.
‘Not close to Kang Chang-ho at all, and yet his behavior is identical!’
It was terrifying for Choi Jin that an S-Class Hunter showed interest in her.
Having caught Chang-ho’s attention due to her superior ability led to all sorts of hardships for her, so she had a strong aversion to being observed.
Automatically, her body stiffened.
If she showed even a hint of being “okay” here… would she be targeted again like last time?
Slowly, her actions became passive.
Choi Jin reluctantly continued to subdue monsters using only her basic skills. She wanted to avoid revealing her full power to Gi-ryeo.
‘This is why I hate Red Gates! I can’t just tell it to get lost since it’s not my territory. Ugh, so frustrating.’
Thwack!
Choi Jin swung her weapon at the approaching iron beast.
Little by little, she reduced the number of enemies, managing to reach the boss without any trouble.
Screech, screech…
The boss of this Red Gate was a bizarre giant with a massive bell embedded in its center.
As soon as the boss appeared, the Hunters began firing at it in unison, but that’s when the trouble started.
The boss had defensive power that suited its hard joints.
Consequently, the Hunter’s skill barrage endured and retaliated.
Dong, dong, dong!
The enormous bell rang out.
Choi Jin, having faced such monsters before, knew exactly what it was about to do.
‘It’s a mental attack!’
But, it turned out to be a relief.
Unless it was a special case like a Siren, monster mental attacks hardly affected Hunters of the same rank.
Whoosh.
Choi Jin aimed her skill at the monster’s weak point. The thick rebar connecting the huge bell to its head.
After a while, that fragile structure melted away in the fire, and the boss crumbled like a creature deprived of its spine.
Having encountered this monster before, she finished the hunt with minimal magic power.
‘Finally time to go home.’
Swish.
As the red-glowing Gate closed, all monster casualties were confirmed.
Choi Jin took out her Hunter’s tool and scissors from her pack. The mission was over, and now it was time to collect the loot.
“Jin-hee, can you step aside? This monster is tough, so I’ll dismantle it myself…”
But then.
“Ah!”
As Choi Jin approached the boss’s corpse, her sister unexpectedly clawed at her.
“J-Jin-hee?”
Choi Jin gasped as she grabbed her ripped nose. Yet the shock was mutual.
“-Aaaah!”
“Jin-hee!”
Slash!
Suddenly, wings made from a membrane of blood unfurled from Jin-hee’s back.
The transforming Awakened screamed as she activated her skill and swiftly took to the air, moving like she was fleeing in panic. But what could possibly scare her?
“Ah!”
Choi Jin finally grasped the situation. This was due to the boss monster’s bell ringing.
Her sister had fallen into the [Confusion] status effect that the monster inflicted!
‘This didn’t happen last time? Could it be because I held back with my skill? So, I couldn’t stop the boss’s ringing quickly enough?’
This was the danger of A-Class Gates.
A bit of arrogance could lead to all sorts of damage.
Moreover, when she turned around to seek help, the situation behind wasn’t any better. There was a healer here who had a skill to remove status effects…
“Uwaaaah, don’t come near me!”
“Wow, this is insane.”
“What kind of healer only gets attacked instead of treating?!”
As it turned out, this B-Class healer had also become a victim of [Confusion], so he swung his staff around wildly at his teammates.
He was an Awakened with only healing skills, so thankfully, he was easily subdued.
But the real problem lay with her sister.
Jin-hee possessed abilities so fast that they could be compared to a bullet, enabling her to fly when her talent peaked.
“No way.”
Looking up, the transforming Hunter had already soared to a height where it became hard to track her.
Fleeing under a mental attack. What if she crashed into the city below and harmed a civilian?
Or misflying towards an airplane or helicopter and ending up squished…?
“Jin-hee! Jin-hee! Come down right now. Quickly. Please!”
A few seconds later.
Choi Jin was shouting up in a panic, worried that her sister’s anxiety might drive her crazy too.
But whether she understood the panic in her heart was questionable. High above, the shadow kept spinning aimlessly, its wings flopping.
“Come down! Choi Jin-hee!”
The Hunters on the ground were flustered and fretting about what to do.
Yet, as time went on, something felt off.
Contrary to her fears, the transforming Hunter had been circling repeatedly above their heads, not moving away.
“What’s going on? What’s she doing?”
“Isn’t she just up there because her sister is here?”
The Faith Guild Hunters speculated. Surely, she must be sticking around because of family ties.
Of course, that hypothesis was incorrect. Currently, that Hunter was so out of it she couldn’t even recognize her own parents.
Thus, her actions should be interpreted like this.
In this park…
Something else was exciting the desires of that vampiric beast.
*
This was a serious matter.
I don’t know how many times this has happened already this year, but whatever, it’s a big problem.
‘I just wanted to observe the Dragon’s Heart a little longer.’
Crunch.
I stuffed the last piece of my popsicle into my mouth.
Even now, an earthling who had lost reason continued rotating in the sky.
‘Confusion state.’
To elaborate, Choi Jin-hee was a mutant caster with a bloodlust side effect from her Awakening.
At this point, if her judgment had diminished to such an extent, she would no longer adhere to societal norms.
‘That earthling… is still hovering over my head…’
Shiver.
I could imagine the feeling of a rat that had encountered a hawk.
If I had known this would happen, I shouldn’t have fed her blood in the daytime. Looking back, that was almost like a sampling event that had whetted her appetite.
That Hunter was now under the temptation of a delicious treat, guarding this vicinity.
‘Help the mage.’
Of course, the defensive boost from [Divine Tree Sapling] would easily withstand a B-Class attack.
But the problem lay in my emotions.
Although I knew logically that the shield was strong…
When your life is actually in danger, it’s only human nature to worry whether something might go awry like a catastrophe.
‘Hmm…’
Should I ask Choi Jin for help?
But this thought didn’t come to fruition.
Curiously enough, perhaps having the same line of thinking, she suddenly dashed over to me, shouting.
“Ki-Kim Gi-ryeo! Can you help me for a moment? I’m worried something might happen… you’re an S-Class Hunter, right?! I’m sorry. Please capture Hunter Choi Jin-hee!”
You want me to catch her when she’s at least 100m away?
‘Seriously?’
If I were a real S-Class.
Yeah. I might be able to leap across the buildings and somehow catch her.
Honestly, anyone at that level would typically step outside common sense.
But even if that were possible, did I need to go through all that hassle?
In a brief moment.
I racked my brain to come up with a solution involving the corpse. And the final judgment of the Great Mage was this.
“Ki-Kim Gi-ryeo?”
Tap. I undid the button on the left sleeve and rolled up my arm.
“There’s an easier way.”
After that, while giving a simple explanation, I extended my right hand toward Choi Jin.
“I’ll just call your sister down. But once she’s near, you’ll be responsible for capturing her. After all, she’s family.”
“Excuse me?”
“Please lend me those scissors in your hands.”
“Scissors?”
“Yes. Those beautifully sharpened dismantling scissors you have.”
