Chapter 244. The Prelude to Destruction (2)
A 5-pyeong rented room with aging walls and gusty winds?
Ha-seong paused for a moment at the words of his fellow S-Class Hunter.
After a while, the conversation resumed.
“So, do you usually rest here when you’re not working…? In this room?”
At that, Gi-ryeo looked at him as if questioning why he was asking such an obvious question.
With a nonchalant expression, he pointed to a navy-blue blanket strewn nearby.
On it lay his smartphone, complete with a white charging cable plugged in.
A lifestyle that was indeed straightforward.
Of course, living in a room fiddling with a mobile phone wasn’t unique to Korea; there were probably many.
‘An S-Class Hunter?’
Where did the tutoring fees I gave him go that he’s living like this?
Such questions tickled his throat, but Ha-seong barely swallowed them down with a hot cup of green tea.
After all, the person across from him was practically his teacher, albeit younger. Naturally, he felt a bit cautious and also felt some kind of innate difficulty with the situation.
‘It’s impolite to pry into someone’s private life.’
Ha-seong quickly attempted to redirect the topic of conversation.
“Then I’ll send the things to this address.”
And at that moment,
Gi-ryeo got up again, rummaging for more snacks to serve his guests.
In the cupboard, he discovered a blue luminescent device that was somewhat out of place in his shabby studio.
‘Now I understand why Jeong Ha-seong’s magic power has suddenly become unstable.’
It was the Infinite Power Core.
Twinkle…
That invincible device that had helped fend off pesky thieves and ferocious beasts was now running out of energy.
Perhaps he had made a slight error in calculations, as its energy depletion rate seemed ambiguous—enough to last until autumn if used sparingly.
‘Still, I need to move out soon.’
Contrary to the worries that Earthlings constantly shared, the alien seemed perfectly fine with moving into a mansion.
Clack.
Having finished pondering about his residence, Gi-ryeo found appropriate snacks and brought them to the table. However, Garion’s Awakened friends waved their hands hurriedly.
“Thank you so much for the tea, but you really don’t have to serve snacks…”
“Y-Yeah, that’s right.”
“It must have been an inconvenience to have us here. We’ll just drink this and leave soon.”
They weren’t particularly introverted, but given the presence of guests, they had to refrain from any behavior that might make them seem suspiciously alien, so their hurry to leave was understandable.
Gi-ryeo nodded in response to their words and sat cross-legged.
However, just a moment later, Garion’s Guild Master subtly glanced around and, for once, brought up a topic first.
“Mr. Kim Hunter.”
He was about to move soon, but that was merely a concealed plan within his nervous system.
After all, for outsiders, all they could see was that Korea’s fourth S-Class Hunter lived in a place that didn’t match his income.
GLancing around at the small room that seemed to fit easily in a 200-degree field of vision, a sudden curiosity struck him.
“So, what does the Hunter do when you’re not working?”
“Uh?”
“Hobbies… I’m asking about your hobbies right now…”
Was this too personal?
Ha-seong had been living with some self-censorship during everyday life, even if it wasn’t particularly late at night.
Thus, he worried whether his last words had displeased the other person.
Despite such concerns, Gi-ryeo revealed his interests promptly, without any hesitation.
“Hobbies?”
In his previous life, he had been a Great Mage who mastered one particular field of study.
Now, an alien navigating the vastness of space, mingling with unfamiliar mammals.
Taking these traits into account, a certain blond man’s leisure activities typically condensed into one.
Acquiring information.
The common concepts used for knowledge transmission were the same in both his hometown and here, which were voice and text.
“Probably that one?”
Whoosh.
Gi-ryeo turned his head and looked somewhere.
At the tip of his gesture were several books stacked.
Learning Made Easy: Latest Smartphone Usage
After realizing there was a lot of inaccurate content on the internet, the alien had gradually increased his usage of reference books.
He wasn’t yet aware that the library kept records of book borrowing, but even so, his naturally cautious personality ensured he carefully selected the books he borrowed in public spaces.
The Law Dictionary in Life
In simpler terms, he avoided subject matter that screamed “I’m an alien.”
Such level of information was something that even the locals on Earth would occasionally be curious about, so it wasn’t too bad.
“Reading is… your hobby?”
“For now, yes. To be honest, it’s mostly for learning rather than entertainment, so I’m not sure if I should classify it as a hobby.”
Lying unnecessarily during a light everyday chat would only lead to being unable to keep up with his own fabrications sooner rather than later.
So, Gi-ryeo aimed to maintain a clean attitude to avoid creating falsehoods he couldn’t recall.
Smartphone Usage… Then let me ask one more thing—what do you usually do on your mobile phone?”
“Um, well, I read digital news or watch Y-Tube…”
“Ah, Y-Tube! I used to always have it beside me while eating back in school. They do upload a ton of old variety shows, so it’s convenient and nice.”
“Um… Sorry, but I don’t watch variety shows or dramas, so I wouldn’t know about that.”
“Hmm?”
“Y-Tube is for watching real-time news. Occasionally, I’ve watched interviews with acquaintances out of curiosity, but I generally don’t watch entertainment videos.”
However, as the conversation progressed, the Hero’s expression became noticeably stiff.
“Wait, you use the video streaming app… only to check news?”
Could this have been an awkward slip of the tongue for Earth standards?
This time, Gi-ryeo began worrying excessively.
After a short while, Jeong Ha-seong, appearing serious, inquired if there was a particular reason behind it.
But to that, he couldn’t exactly say:
“Actually, I’m a semi-transparent intelligent lifeform from a massive oceanic planet where a year lasts 640 days, making it hard for me to discern the truth of the information you speak of. Therefore, I’m careful only to engage with reliable news and books.”
…That would be impossible to say.
Gi-ryeo shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to navigate the situation.
Yet, even at that moment, his demeanor exhibited a neutral expression, resulting in an atmosphere that had suddenly become tense.
‘So, does the popular animal videos circulate while you… gasp—Mr. Kim Hunter, haven’t touched them at all…’
After setting out to investigate the Mimic City at 4 AM,
Before clashing with Association President Go Byeong-do, he had been taking secret missions while hiding his rank. Was really just reading law books and watching the news during rest periods?
There are numerous tastes in this world.
So, surely there are those who find comfort in learning.
It wouldn’t be right to dismiss a resting method simply because it was different from his.
But why?
Even with all these thoughts crystal clear in his mind, a notion kept bubbling up in Ha-seong’s consciousness: “This can’t continue.”
‘Now that I think about it…’
This anxiety possibly stemmed from his upbringing.
In fact, Jeong Ha-seong was a well-known genius in his neighborhood, having gotten into veterinary school without substantial tutoring, a feat accomplished because of his unwavering diligence.
He often clung to his desk, reasoning there was nothing else worth immersing himself in aside from studying, while most adults would see his behavior and think, “That family must be lucky, our kids could take a fraction of that and they’d be worry-free for life.”
It was all strange.
For some reason, his mother often scolded the picture-perfect model student.
“Son, wake up!”
“Mom, I’m reading a book right now…”
“This week you finished all your homework and revisions, right? Ha-seong, you know this age only comes once in a lifetime. It would be such a waste to just hold paper all the time!”
Every weekend, she would nag him to soak up some sunlight, even though they didn’t have much money to go anywhere grand.
In spring, he’d see the cherry blossoms; in summer, it would be the ocean; and in autumn, he’d gather fallen leaves from the mountain, and make bookmarks to last through winter.
“Listen to your mother! If you just sit at that desk all day, you’ll get sick!”
During his adolescent years, he often found it hard to comprehend why his mom went to such lengths to disturb him in studying, sometimes thinking her persistence was annoying, wishing she’d just stop.
But in this moment, Ha-seong finally understood his mother’s heart.
That’s why he abruptly blurted out.
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to go out and see the sights?”
It was unavoidable. After realizing through their previous chat that Kim Gi-ryeo was leading a rather harsh life,
He recalled that the only activities for a pathological introvert that might help were outings like these.
“For example, like the ocean!”
In the traumatic moment when he lost all of his friends to Dungeon Shock,
The protective measure taken for Jeong Ha-seong, who was deeply troubled and couldn’t sleep at night, had been a trip to Busan.
That lead to an unprecedented event—encountering a Kraken and becoming the first S-Class Hunter in South Korea—but that was neither here nor there.
“The ocean?”
For Jeong Ha-seong, that experience was remembered with great fondness.
The serene scenery where they waited for dawn, blowing warm breaths into each other’s hands on a cold morning.
In a way, the National Hero had endured the storm of life relying on those memories from that day, and in the midst of that, he uncovered someone in the industry living in a state of unreasonable restraint.
“Ah, well…”
What kind of mindset was I in when I said that?
The fire mage with black hair widened his eyes in shock at his own words. Yet, the response that followed was even more shocking.
“Should we?”
The blond man suddenly began packing his bags with enthusiasm.
*
Three hours later, after a short tea time.
The West Sea.
Gull, gull.
“Oh…”
What’s going on? The scenery changed in the blink of an eye…
Swish, swish.
Rank 1 Hunter, Jeong Ha-seong rubbed his eyes lightly. Even so, the landscape remained unchanged.
Up ahead, Kim Gi-ryeo was enthusiastically observing seagulls. Not only that, but he’d just lost a shrimp-flavored snack to one of those monochromatic creatures.
Squawk~!
Thud.
A long bird bolted away with a factory-style fried flour snack.
In a not-so-S-Class-Hunter manner, Kim Gi-ryeo gazed at the seagull soaring into the sky. Meanwhile, Jeong Ha-seong pondered alone.
‘Why didn’t he reject that trip to the sparkling beach? No, more importantly, how could a person decide to go to Incheon so quickly?’
How could he possibly know?
Truth be told, a certain blond man’s body housed the spirit of a marine creature, and hence Kim Gi-ryeo had been personally interested in Earth’s oceans for a long while.
Unfortunately, luck had never followed him.
On his first attempt to see the ocean at Gampo Port, he had been caught trying to steal a corpse, drawing considerable attention and subsequently fleeing to prioritize his rank.
Should I mention the outcome of his visit to the aquarium, where he sought to observe fish?
1. Suggest the enhancement heart holder back out of the contract.
2. Devise a means to awaken Kim Gi-ryeo’s potential.
With two research topics looming ahead, it wasn’t exactly a leisurely situation, but since the topic arose, glancing at the ocean that had long been a desire of his was somewhat permissible.
‘Maybe it’s a thank you for listening to my thoughts. Ha-seong actually brought me all the way here.’
The planet predominantly encircled by vast oceans—with surfaces like these being rare opportunities in his past life.
Gi-ryeo shoved aside thoughts about living beings and focused on observing the ocean again.
However, perhaps because he still defined himself as a marine creature at his core, he felt an urge to dive into the water upon seeing so much of it.
‘I didn’t bring a change of clothes… And besides, there’s someone watching… using a drying magic without thinking would be reckless.’
Gi-ryeo glanced back and forth between the sea and his clothes, feeling ambiguous.
Then at that very moment, the observing eye next to him cautiously initiated a conversation.
“Um… this might sound sudden, but, Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo…”
