Chapter 176. Affection (2)
Could there be a culture of keeping pets on Earth?
Of course there is. Right now, information about it is flooding Kim Gi-ryeo’s brain.
So, what I’m about to do is akin to… dealing with a situation when a pet rodent escapes its cage and dashes into the living room.
–Crash!
I plan to lure it back using the scent of its favorite food.
“Huh!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“Wait…!”
Thud.
I slammed the dismantling scissors I received from Choi Jin-hee into my left wrist. Blood gushed out and splattered around me.
Even a vampire can recognize the state of someone’s blood in a sealed state. There’s no way they’d be able to resist this.
-!!
Sure enough, it didn’t take long for a reaction.
The Transforming Hunter’s flapping grew twice as fast, probably excited by the scent of my blood.
At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before it charges this way.
“K-Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter! No, what on earth!”
“Calm down and keep an eye on your sister.”
Shake-shake.
Right after that, I pulled out a bottle filled with red liquid from my pocket and drank it in front of Jin-hee.
At the same time, the bleeding from my wrist abruptly stopped.
In fact, the substance was just a grapefruit drink from the convenience store… but I at least have some minimal sense.
‘It would look weird if a non-healing Awakened just regenerated a wound on their own. When recovering, I should at least pretend to drink a potion.’
While I was thinking this, the Sky Predator finally took the bait.
“Ahhh!”
Choi Jin-hee screamed as she came flying in, her speed rivaling that of the famous Beginner Killer.
In fact, by the time I turned my head at her cry, the opponent was already right in front of me.
An onslaught of flying creatures.
The vampire swooped down fiercely into the blood-splattered open area.
At the same time, Jin-hee hurriedly grabbed one of its wings, recognizing her sister’s charge…
The problem was the acceleration.
The kinetic energy built from Jin-hee’s repeated bursts of speed was astonishing. Even an A-Class could easily topple their prey with their whole body.
“Ugh.”
Skreeeetch!
Next came the noise of asphalt tearing apart.
I was slammed to the ground by Choi Jin-hee grasping my throat. The road cracked open, and streetlights were uprooted.
Thanks to that, I got pushed at least 30 meters away, but I sustained no real damage thanks to the Divine Tree Sapling’s coating effect, leaving my skin unscathed amidst the chaos.
Phew.
The items are the best!
I held my breath for a moment, waiting for the dust around to settle.
But watching the situation, it seemed like it would be faster to suffocate than for the dust to disappear.
Hah! “Aaaahhh!”
“Jin-hee, hold still!”
“Whoa, how can someone be this strong…!”
Soon after, A-Class Hunters from the Faith Guild began a fierce battle with the vampire on my body.
Choi Jin and her team worked desperately to subdue Jin-hee, who was in a state of confusion, but it was no easy task. How could a B-Class Hunter like Jin-hee even belong to this team in the first place?
The hunter society is strictly meritocratic. You can’t just carry around the weak just because they’re your sister.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Jin-hee, please….”
“Let go! Let go!”
Originally strong, having lost her reason due to the status effect, the Transforming Hunter’s extraordinary power surged to an unbearable level.
Crunch! Jin-hee fiercely bit down on the bloody wrist I had.
If it weren’t for my improved defenses, my wrist would’ve surely been ripped apart by now.
Attacked by a crazy vampire, my carefully packaged chicken galbi that I waited 30 minutes for was swept away like debris in a whirlwind.
Another day of misfortunes, but I guess this is how it ends.
“Aaaahhh!”
In the next moment, the vampire was thrown backward as its wings were seized by her sister.
“Ugh, ughhh…!”
Finally, it was thrown off.
Even after being subdued, the Transforming Hunter twisted and struggled, but Jin-hee pressed down on it with all her might.
‘Oh, the Dragon’s Heart is something else!’
Shall I slowly get up too?
I had been lying beneath Choi Jin-hee like a corpse.
With my weak F-Class strength, I couldn’t even move a finger in that situation…
‘Did dust get in my eyes? Suddenly, I’m about to cry.’
I swallowed my secret and got up.
“Quick, use your skill!”
“Y-yes!”
And while I was shaking off the dirt from my now soiled suit jacket.
I could hear that they seemed to have managed their situation over there.
While we had been dealing with that chaos, fortunately, a healer with high resistance to status effects managed to escape the confusion first.
Upon recovering, the healer cast a spell to awaken Jin-hee’s consciousness.
“Huh!”
Finally, all team members returned to their usual state.
As the status effect lifted, Jin-hee suddenly slumped, as if the effects from her earlier outburst hit her all at once.
“Jin-hee, are you conscious?”
Swallow.
But it seemed she still couldn’t grasp the situation. That sister blinked her eyes at the question.
“Sister… I’m sorry.”
It took a while for Jin-hee to open her mouth again.
She hid the awkward mechanism created from her skill and softly extended her hands and feet to ask for forgiveness.
In response, her sister reassured her, saying it was okay and that this was her own mistake, pulling her sister in for a comforting hug.
It was a rare display of sisterly affection.
Hmm?
But at that moment…
What is this?
While I was observing the earthlings without a care, I sensed a peculiar reaction directed my way.
Choi Jin, while petting her sister, suddenly lifted her gaze. She seemed to fixate her black irises on me as if she was keeping her eyes glued to mine.
Long eye contact.
Come to think of it, every time I’ve made such moves, Earthlings had gotten angry, thinking I was picking a fight with them.
Huh? Picking a fight?
I was momentarily flustered by their hostile expression. But no matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t easily guess the cause of my behavior.
*
A-Class Hunter Choi Jin.
She thought to herself as she caressed her sister’s back.
It was extremely foolish to hide her strength in front of monsters.
Because of her own bravado, even her comrades had to suffer through all kinds of hardships.
Hah.
Choi Jin continuously blamed herself.
For a moment, the sharpness of that blame had pointed externally.
Isn’t there a separate root cause behind this?
If it hadn’t been for that S-Class Hunter, she wouldn’t have thought to hide her skills either.
‘……’
Choi Jin gently closed her eyes.
Yes. The truth is, she knows it all.
Those recently considered thoughts were just pitiful excuses, and the situation, on the contrary, had resolved thanks to that hunter.
Choi Jin opened her eyes and looked at the ground in the park. There were still fresh bloodstains displayed prominently on the ground.
Crazy bastard.
She usually shied away from calling someone ‘crazy’ in reference to a person.
But this time, she had no other words.
– Could you lend me the scissors for a moment?
– Scissors?
– Yes. The finely sharpened disassembly scissors you’re holding.
Thud.
The reason that individual had cut into their own flesh was simply to call Choi Jin-hee down to the ground. Who wouldn’t be astonished by that?
There was no time to intervene.
The moment Kim Gi-ryeo received the disassembly tool, he performed that act without a moment’s hesitation.
Crazy…
Choi Jin repeated the vulgar term she had been reluctant to use.
But on the other hand, she was convinced that Kim Gi-ryeo was clearer in mind than anyone else.
Top-tier Awakened don’t get intoxicated by alcohol. Hunters like him hardly lose their ability to think like ordinary people.
It’s even more chilling to think he did that sober.
Then why did Kim Gi-ryeo choose such a reckless means among so many alternatives?
“Sister, are you okay? Are you hurt too?”
Choi Jin felt like she somewhat understood the reason.
Kim Gi-ryeo is an S-Class Hunter.
One that her cousin had praised repeatedly for his skills.
But if a character like that decided to directly capture a vampire upon somebody’s hasty request…
Her sister might not have been intact at this point.
An S-Class is definitely that kind of being.
An A-Class Hunter’s bones could snap like a twig with just a small error.
I know that power well because I got hit by an S-Class Hunter myself.
Perhaps Kim Gi-ryeo, understanding this fact, used the method of calling Jin-hee with blood in mind?
Looking back, that might have been the most gentle capturing method.
And that S-Class Hunter must have been considering their opponent’s welfare even when the Awakened descended upon him.
He waited like a dead body for Jin-hee to settle down.
If it had been Kang Chang-ho, he would have slapped the rude B-Class who grabbed his neck long ago, and Jeong Ha-seong would have been flustered and struggled to shake off the vampire in such a situation.
‘……’
As Choi Jin sorted through the incident, she ultimately interpreted the actions of an S-Class Hunter in this way.
He showed mercy.
He’s been considerate of her sister.
Truly ensuring she wouldn’t get hurt.
How is this possible…
In reality, Gi-ryeo was just a feeble, mediocre body that couldn’t respond at all, but she would never know the truth.
Then, Choi Jin rose from her position and bowed deeply to the approaching Hunter.
“Thank you for your help.”
Her gaze no longer harbored the previous malice.
“It seems like we disrupted your meal, so I will definitely compensate you for the chicken galbi.”
“Really?”
“And the potion you used earlier. Just let me know what rank it was, and I’ll immediately get an identical one for you…”
The moment she heard her sister’s words about how Kim Gi-ryeo happily let her drink his blood, she had a little bit of doubt.
Trying to exclude the first impression that had been nailed in late, Choi Jin slowly began to grasp the essence of that hunter. He was more generous and kind than she had thought.
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t worry about the potion. But how’s your sister doing?”
With such a cold expression, he was surprisingly compassionate.
No wonder Yun Seung hailed him as a noble soul repeatedly.
“Yes. Thanks to you, Hunter, no one was seriously injured, so everything is fine.”
Choi Jin continued the conversation in a much gentler tone. The misunderstanding had cleared up, and she now had something else she wanted to say to him.
“By the way, Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo, this is a word of caution, but…”
“Yes?”
“You often go on hunts with Hunter Kang Chang-ho, right? Um, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t know why you maintain a friendship with someone like Kang Chang-ho, but personally, I advise you never to trust that Hunter completely.”
Soon after, Choi Jin mentioned Kang Chang-ho in a small voice.
If a decent person was keeping a hunter like that as a colleague, the probability of Gi-ryeo being deceived was quite high.
Choi Jin began explaining who Kang Chang-ho was using words like ‘opportunist’ and ‘character aberration’ that she knew.
In return, Kim Gi-ryeo finally resolved his earlier confusion.
He understood the reason why the Dragon Hunter had been hostile towards him.
“Oh, so that’s why you’ve been uncomfortable all this time?”
I was wondering what that was about.
Gi-ryeo then comfortably admitted that he didn’t join that guy for fun.
“That guy is a bastard to me too, so don’t worry about it.”
“Really? Then why on earth would someone like that want to go on hunts with you? How can you even trust him?”
Choi Jin asked back with surprise, but what returned was an indifferent shrug from the S-Class.
“Explaining would be a bit complicated.”
“Ah…”
“It might be for a reason similar to yours.”
Hmm?
But what on earth does that mean?
Choi Jin’s head tilted in confusion as she looked up to hear what he had to say; Gi-ryeo quietly looked down at her.
“Hm, this was somewhat ambiguous until now…”
It was a few seconds later that the conversation continued.
“Choi Jin Hunter, just to ask, are you acquainted with Esther from the Korean Magic Tower?”
“No?”
Gi-ryeo began with a somewhat out-of-the-blue question. Every statement he made had its meaning.
He had detected another characteristic of the Choi sisters after long observation.
“Aha.”
In fact, the sisters had both been subjected to a curse.
And it was a pretty high-level curse.
Based on past experiences, there were only two cases that could exhibit a curse of this magnitude on Earth.
“Then you must be under a Knight’s Pact, right?”
Gi-ryeo laid out the other possibilities he had in mind. However, immediately after that, the atmosphere in the open area changed dramatically.
