Chapter 252: α
“What did you say?”
“If you don’t like this, maybe you’d prefer a question confirming if the Hunter’s real name is Kim Gi-ryeo?”
“Ha.”
“There were several items on the list picked by Hunter Kang. To be honest, most of them are just strange nonsense.”
… A long-standing question.
What in the world does Kang Chang-ho think about on a daily basis?
‘This is something.’
Seonwoo-yeon, with a completely nonchalant face, lightly guides the conversation.
I quietly pondered this as I watched her.
In my life, I’ve never been cornered in such a ridiculous predicament.
During my prime, I never once thought about living off in this distant world after leaving my beautiful hometown planet.
First of all, Kang Chang-ho’s approach as an Earthling is extremely bizarre.
I felt something was off when an association employee suddenly came to visit.
Flash.
‘It’s not like I bought a hitman to kill a swindler with money or power.’
Justitia.
‘I can’t believe they’d just pass around such an expensive artifact to someone else.’
I glanced at the artistic scale that doesn’t match the cheap flooring of the studio.
Even at this moment, the same question keeps flowing through my mind.
What on earth was Kang Chang-ho thinking when he did this?
And what could that Earthling possibly know that they could threaten me ‘like this’?
“Hunter Gi-ryeo?”
Seonwoo-yeon tilts her head.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Those questions were so offbeat that I momentarily froze.”
I hurriedly continued before her suspicion deepened.
“The truth is, I had a big fight with that S-Class Hunter not long ago, so Kang Chang-ho probably harbored a grudge and started getting close to… stirring trouble with my people.”
“You fought? With Hunter Kang Chang-ho?”
“That’s right. Otherwise, there would be no reason for that guy to suddenly pull such strange tricks.”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, I apologize for dragging you into this annoying matter.”
Fortunately, she has shown her appraiser abilities quite often before.
“But the [Justitia] that Ms. Seonwoo-yeon brought is likely just a cleverly disguised imitation. So these questions are meaningless from the start…”
I expressed my concerns about the authenticity of the magic tool that Kang Chang-ho had supposedly transferred.
Since I only glanced at it briefly, I can’t give a definite answer right away, but it could simply be a fake scale made by some nasty hunter just to slander me, so don’t take it at face value.
I whispered this discreetly.
I need to buy time!
Originally, I planned to take advantage of this moment to analyze the structure of Justitia.
“Uh, I’m sorry, but this item is genuine.”
But the staff member who was touching the scale immediately denied it.
“I am currently under contract with Hunter Kang Chang-ho…”
“Contract? You don’t mean the Knight’s Pact, do you?”
“No. It’s not a contract that has mutual benefits.”
Seonwoo-yeon’s voice continued.
“Have you heard of an item called Fairy’s Promise?”
“…!”
“This is a unique item where one side acts as the master and the other as the servant.”
“And?”
“The Hunter Kang Chang-ho who came to see me… ‘put it around his own neck’ while telling me.”
When the effect activates, a black wing tattoo appears behind the neck of the slave target in this Earth magic tool.
Seonwoo-yeon briefly explained the characteristics of the material—Fairy’s Promise.
“From now on, if the person lies to their contracting master, meaning if they lie to me, they’ll receive the maximum penalty instantly.”
“Divine punishment, huh.”
“The Fairy’s Promise allows you to set the severity of the penalty upon first use.”
So Kang Chang-ho did this to prove his innocence.
‘No matter how inferior an item it is compared to the Knight’s Pact, its magical potency can’t be weak if it’s conditional upon consent from the parties involved.’
I briefly closed my eyelids as I listened to Seonwoo-yeon’s continued words.
“But even with that contract, I still have my doubts.”
“…”
“I also went to the auction house to get it appraised separately, so I know for sure that this scale is genuine.”
As she fell silent, slowly, someone’s altered voice flowed into my ears.
“Mr. Gi-ryeo. I’m sorry, but why aren’t you answering my questions since earlier?”
Seonwoo-yeon seems to have caught on to something.
“To say this now, but the attitude of Mr. Kang Chang-ho who asked me for a favor seemed quite serious.”
“…”
“That person… asked me for a favor. They even bowed down and requested my help, saying there’s something very concerning that a person from the organization like me should do.”
A B-Class Hunter in casual clothes slowly stood up with the scale in hand.
The tremor mixed in her voice intensified.
It was an attitude colored with tension, fear, or maybe anxiety.
“Hunter. But do you know that recently, not only in [Unknown Cave] but also abroad, the appearance of monsters that steal people’s consciousness has been increasing?”
“Wait.”
“Have you encountered a boss monster like [Doppelgänger]? Is it true?”
“Calm down…”
The scheme of someone began to take effect.
“Please answer my question. Just answer me. It’s such a strange thing, but is the man I’m looking at now—Mr. Kim Hunter—really a person…?”
Because the S-Class Hunter had some kind of hidden whispers, things had certainly become quite complicated.
It was as if she was meeting the Beginner Killer for the first time, holding firm muscles on high alert.
‘Every single question is critical and intriguing.’
I tried to calm the corners of my mouth that wanted to twist upwards.
Let’s slowly figure out how Kang Chang-ho meddled with my reversed curse later.
I hastily scanned with my senses. This person, the black-haired Awakened one, definitely had a curse presumed to come from the Fairy’s Promise attached to them.
But that was all.
‘There’s no magic spell that shares hearing, and aside from the phone that’s out of the pocket, there’s no substance with electricity in their possessions.’
The person in front of me has not attached any Earth-style surveillance devices to themselves.
Moreover, no matter how much in a state of dirt I may be, I’m a reincarnated Great Mage. There’s no way I wouldn’t notice an S-Class stalker reaching my doorstep!
‘That guy hasn’t even entered the alley of this studio, let alone Mapo-gu…’
Tap, tap. I gently drummed my fingertips on the flooring, lost in contemplation for a brief moment.
‘The Truth Scale.’
Why did Kang Chang-ho choose to send Seonwoo-yeon out of so many people?
At least I can understand that part.
That creature, with black hair, has a weapon that is more threatening than anything else.
Not the pitiful magic power of a B-Class, but rather their status.
‘A public institution affiliate.’
I had recently learned how to send emails with humanity’s books.
So I could come up with such an inference.
‘If I were to turn Seonwoo-yeon into a corpse here, would the criminal’s name be sent to those companions of hers through a scheduled email?’
Of course, even if that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t harm Seonwoo-yeon recklessly.
‘B-Class.’
I should have made sure not to teach that wind sorcerer engaging skills.
‘This is a completely different matter from fighting a low-intelligence monster. If I fought here in this 5-pyeong room, I would get completely wiped out.’
So, what should I do?
By the 2-second mark, I had realized I couldn’t subdue Seonwoo-yeon with force.
While the barrier magic attached may allow me to restrain her, the calculated probability of a weak B-Class dying was 2.1 seconds into this train of thought.
By 3 seconds in, I felt it would be impossible to evade her questioning.
I spent about 2 more seconds here and eventually came to the best decision.
“Have you ever stolen Kim Gi-ryeo’s identity…”
The complex structure of Justitia.
The unique combat power of a B-Class Hunter.
And when considering Seonwoo-yeon’s… individual personality.
It would be a very poor choice to craft lies just for the purpose of avoiding the current crisis.
It’s likely that this matter would take considerable time to resolve.
“‘Yes.’”
This is a gamble.
“Will that do as an answer?”
Clang.
With my plan completely set in my mind, the scale of Justitia made a metallic sound as it tilted.
To the right.
‘…Truth!’
Seonwoo-yeon exclaimed in shock, demanding what had happened to the real Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo.
But I maintained a calm voice.
The other party still held the silver scale.
What I would bring forth next would be a confession of a specialized subject that could pique the curiosity of others.
Crackle.
A spark suddenly flew from Seonwoo-yeon’s smartphone. The effect of having secretly sabotaged the device just before executing my plan was now revealed.
“AAAH!”
“Please don’t scream. Did you forget this is a cheap studio?”
Only after I eliminated any potential for recording did I begin the conversation.
As I thought earlier, the public servant in front of me possesses power at the B-Class level, so it was a priority to calm her down if I didn’t want to get hit.
Electrocution, putting her to sleep in a box, or facing her with a Hydra, and so on.
Antagonizing her would only be a short-term solution.
If I could successfully persuade her, it would put me in a position to pressure Kang Chang-ho instead.
Alright, I can’t lie now, so I guess it’s a straightforward approach right before self-destruction!
“Anyway, I didn’t invade Kim Gi-ryeo’s will, I merely possessed a corpse that was left behind.”
“…?!”
“The original body died about a year and a month ago. So the blond Hunter you know is me from the start to finish.”
Sharp noises filled the cramped air of the studio.
“Oh right. I should probably mention this first for clarity.”
Click, click, click.
“───I’m actually an alien!”
The [Justitia] that tilted to the right now remains completely still.
“I’m not a monster, I’m an alien. But I absolutely have no intention of harming Ms. Seonwoo-yeon, okay? So, will you please sit down and listen to what I have to say calmly? I have lots of grievances to voice right now.”
Crash!
The poor creature, seeing the results of the scale, ended up ironically collapsing amidst all the chaotic shocks…….
.
.
.
The Moon.
That beautiful planet adorned with pale earrings. Earth.
A celestial body governed by mammals in the solar system may look to the cosmic observer like a small pearl ornament.
But someone’s hometown was different.
Three massive satellites, incomparable to the Moon.
That grand world, boasting such splendor, was the place of origin of an alien species.
The Great Mage often felt strange nostalgia deep inside whenever recalling the distinctive landscapes of their hometown.
*
… The blue sea stretches out.
Alphauri.
How many hundreds of millions of years had passed since life sprouted on this binary system planet?
The story begins with a certain war.
In truth, even Alphauri had been waging continuous warfare after reaching a certain level of civilization.
To seize dominance over the thermocline, various nations had pointed powerful weapons known as ‘Magic Studies’ at each other when the war began.
The asymmetric ruler from the first satellite launched an invasion per the resources of the main planet.
…What did you say?
It’s as if the Moon People from Earth unexpectedly became the arch-enemy of the world.
…Is that true?
So I’m saying, is it definitely a lie that there are rabbits living on that satellite? I’m feeling uneasy about it…
Following a convoluted translation method that a certain Great Mage arbitrarily devised, Alphauri was found to have a satellite called Beta Species.
But unexpectedly.
In fact, the underground world of that massive satellite had the same level of thinking beings rooted within, daring to compete with Alphauri.
However, the nature of the universe has a vacuum so deep, that it feels genuinely empty to marine beings as there’s no medium for sound to traverse.
Millions of kilometers.
Neither Alphauri nor Beta Species had the technological prowess to transcend that cosmic distance and, for hundreds of millions of years, they had remained entirely uninfluenced by one another.
In fact, due to the underdevelopment of Magic Studies, the main planet was almost unaware until the very end that its satellites harbored life forms.
Splash!
But one day.
They began to appear from the distant sky.
Splash, splash, splash.
For the Alphauri, who had merely gazed down at the ground, enchanted by the beautiful mana generated by the core of the planet, it was a shock of unthinkable magnitude.
Perhaps due to surviving in such a meager setting.
The Beta Species living on the satellite, having survived through their heinous environment, developed transcendent methods of mobility far ahead of the main planet’s inhabitants and, when their own home faced resource depletion, they immediately plotted a celestial invasion.
The emergence of beings that could rip apart space using magic—what an astonishing sight!
Oh…
What is that?
This doesn’t seem like the time for us to fight.
Can we just call a truce for now?
The great battle had begun.
Moreover, this became the first instance in history where countless Alphauri had perished in the hundreds of millions.
