Chapter 65: |
“Uhm…”
I chose my words carefully for a moment. Of course, like a typical impatient Korean, Kang Changho didn’t wait for me to speak.
“Well, anyway, your real rank doesn’t really matter much.”
“Uh, then.”
“It means that even the F-Class can be made applicable.”
That’s because the standards are surprisingly low. Kang Changho mumbled like that with his arms crossed. My hands became damp with sweat again. Conditions can be fulfilled at any time.
“Then why haven’t you done that all this time?”
At that moment, a brief question arose. With the power of the S-Class, forcing equipment or even killing fellow awakeners should have been easy. Why did this guy still keep me alive?
“That’s well…”
“An ethical issue?”
But what are you talking about again?
“You often treat people like they are bad guys, but I also have morals.”
“….”
“How could I recklessly kill an innocent hunter?”
“Is that so?”
“When using the improvement, I plan to reach an agreement with the parties as much as possible.”
Today, among the stories we’ve heard, that does sound like the most reasonable one.
“What if you try to reach an agreement and the other person still refuses to agree?”
Bringing up the possibility of negotiation failure was a clever move, as expected. It revealed the true colors of the S-class hunter.
“I’ll have to think about it a bit.”
Kang Changho never said he was giving up.
“This is my first time experiencing something like this. Hmm, I’ve never coveted someone else’s skills in my life.”
“Even though you have ‘Improvement’?”
“Actually, it has quite a tight limit on usage. I have to use it carefully, so I haven’t paid much attention to ordinary abilities…”
What kind of awakened person does he think I am? But whatever he thinks, denying it now won’t make him believe me. It seems like Kang Changho already has some kind of conviction.
In that case, further conversation would be meaningless. I got up with a deep sigh.
“Are you going to leave like this? So, what’s your answer to my proposal?”
Despite my opponent’s relaxed tone, I ignored his words and simply turned away, leaving the cafe.
If you’re going to get angry, go ahead and get angry. After all, there’s nothing for me to see here as I face death.
‘How many days will Kang Changho’s good sense of ethics last?’
I left the unpleasant coffee shop behind and started looking for charnel house reservations on my phone.
Since it seems like I might die soon, I’d better reserve a spot in advance.
***
After Kim Kiryeo left, Kang Changho also left the café and stretched lightly. It had been a while since he had tasted this brand of coffee.
‘It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to a place like this.’
Indeed, times like these make him envy the F-Class. The waiter doesn’t tremble and drop change, and people around him don’t faint just because he let his guard down for a moment. Is this why that hunter goes around lowering his awakening rank?
“Ha.”
As Kang Chang-ho pondered the conversation from earlier, he couldn’t help but chuckle. It was truly amusing. To be able to calmly endure the pressure of an S-Class and steadfastly fight as a low-level awakened person.
‘Furthermore, the lowest of the low, F-Class.’
A real F-Class would have at least pretended to think about the suggestion from earlier. Even if they were afraid of the S-Class, they wouldn’t have dared to mock him lightly.
But what about Kim Kiryeo?
He flat-out rejected it with such determination.
‘He’s really fearless.’
Kang Changho walked down the street, lost in thought. First of all, Kim Kiryeo certainly meets the conditions of the strong people for Improvement.
The problem is…
If anything, he seems to excessively fulfill these conditions.
‘He killed Grid, so he must be at least A-rank. But is that really the end of it?’
Kang Changho quietly repeated his opponent’s last actions.
-Whoo…
-Are you going to leave like this?
The hunter, with eyes as fierce as a dry birch tree, answered his question like this.
-…
He just glances at him with a dry gaze, as if they are not worth answering. Through those eyes, Kang Changho was able to realize one fact. That guy, in his head, he thinks he can handle even an S-class. Otherwise, he wouldn’t show such arrogant behavior. Yeah, it would be a big problem if someone with ‘Improvement’ came after him.
“Hmm.”
The more he speculates, the more ambiguous the truth becomes. What is Kim Kiryeo’s true rank?
‘He took down Grid and, at the same time, got kidnapped by some nobodies.’
Higher than the standard for Improvement? Or lower?
Maybe it’s an S-Class.
‘No way, I’m sure that won’t be the case.’
Kang Changho decided to consider the possibility that the other person might be stronger than him.
***
How many days have passed since then?
“Are the repairs finished already?”
Inside the temporary shelter tent.
While I was filling my meal with baked eggs, I received good news for the first time in a while.
The construction of the studio apartments was finally finished. It took less than a month to restore the building, which was split in half. Earth’s magicians are quite skilled indeed.
“Then I’ll move back in starting from tomorrow. Yes! Please let me in. Landlord Elder.”
After finishing the call.
While quietly organizing my belongings, I suddenly had this thought.
‘In the end, nothing happened.’
It’s already been a week since I rejected that S-Class offer.
Contrary to the expectation that the opponent would attack soon, this week was truly a series of peace. But I couldn’t be happier with this silence.
Even at this moment, Kang Changho is probably continuing surveillance.
‘It’s the calm before the storm.’
What’s even more frightening is the fact that I couldn’t figure out how the other party is monitoring me!
First of all, there is no possibility that it is the same searcher skill as Seonwoo Yeon. That’s because the target’s condition is unknown. But if that’s the case, it’s really strange. No matter how much of a failure I’ve become, there’s no way I wouldn’t notice even one trace from a primitive magician.
‘I can’t feel Kang Chang-ho’s magic around here. Not just now, it’s always been that way.’
If he didn’t approach it himself, did he actually use the tool?
Eavesdroppers, location trackers, surveillance cameras.
Kim Kiryeo’s brain came up with several possibilities, but I shook my head.
“If something like that had been attached, I would have found it sooner.”
In that case, there are two remaining possibilities. First, he surveilled using Earth’s technology that I’m unaware of. Second, the problem is the “Dragon’s Eye.”
“Hmm.”
Personally, I leaned more towards the latter option. Looking back on my first encounter with Kang Changho, there are some hints that point in that direction.
‘He must be ‘seeing’ something from Kim Kiryeo’s corpse. That’s how he’s pinpointing the location.’
If this hypothesis is true, then perhaps there won’t be as much invasion of privacy as I feared. If the location can only be known by seeing it with his own eyes, then the other party must be somewhere high up on a building by now.
“Dragon’s Eye.”
Fold.
I was struggling while folding my spare clothes.
“If only I could deceive him…”
For some reason, Kang Changho is hesitating to activate his ‘Improvement’. And I know some good magic to use when escaping pursuit.
Isn’t this a perfect situation?
‘As expected, let’s run away!’
I clenched my fist as I made my decision. Let’s run away while that person with ‘improvement’ is caught off guard. But there was a major problem with this plan.
“Ah.”
Damn it. Come to think of it, I didn’t have any extra magic booster!
“Suddenly my bone hurts again.”
Well, since I’ve been drinking it without missing a day, it’s probably about time it ran out.
‘I can’t help it.’
But still, there’s no need to worry too much. Because most of the ingredients have surplus stock. There are probably only 1 or 2 types that need to be freshly harvested.
But, of all things, one of them happens to be extinct.
“What is this?”
I suddenly raised my voice.
The shocking result came up when I searched for information using the Hunter Association app.
It turns out that all the crucial gates for potion production have all been attacked and disappeared!
‘No! Without the [Killer Bee’s Nest], the medicine cannot be completed…’
In an instant, my heart sank. However, when I changed the region setting to All and searched again, the information I wanted appeared immediately.
Phew.
‘What the hell, I was scared for no reason.’
Although it has only disappeared from Seoul, it seems that killer bee nests still remain in other regions.
Let’s see. Then, the detailed location.
‘Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do and Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do. One of each like this?’
Both of them are unfamiliar to me. Well, wouldn’t it feel that way to an alien somewhere on Earth?
“Hadong, Hadong.”
At this moment, for some reason, the word Hadong-gun came to mind.
‘I’m sure I saw the word Hadong somewhere, and while searching for something…’
But even after thinking about it for a while, I couldn’t find a clear cause. So I just ignored this feeling of déjà vu and packed my bag. If I can’t remember it well, it was probably just some pointless web browsing.
***
On the way back to Kim Kiryeo’s studio.
Blink blink.
The traffic light flashes yellow.
‘Let’s go at the next signal.’
I calmly stopped. Because F-Classes are so vulnerable that they can easily die, so being cautious of car is absolutely essential.
“…”
And at that moment, a familiar face caught my eye as I waited for the signal.
“Hmm?”
Straight black hair that hangs down to her waist. And that unique, neat outfit. Now I couldn’t mistake it.
‘Seonwoo Yeon.’
The employee of the Association.
I unconsciously followed the Earthling I found with my eyes. Then, I observed some peculiar behavior. That Earthling across the intersection had both hands full of packages.
‘Ah.’
Seonwoo Yeon said something to the elderly woman standing next to her. The old woman nodded in response. Seonwoo Yeon then immediately bent her knees and piggybacked the woman. After that, well, as expected.
“I’m sorry. We should have fixed this quickly, but the road is all dug up, making it inconvenient for you, right?”
“Oh, no. Thank you for helping. Young student.”
“Can I leave the luggage here?”
With Seonwoo Yeon’s help, the elderly safely crossed the street. That was all.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
‘It seems Earthlings still have a conscience.’
My hometown, Alphauri.
The citizens of that planet lacked ethical consciousness in various ways. It was hard to find so-called ‘kind’ people there. There are various social analyses about this, but anyway, the advanced development of magic didn’t bring only positive effects.
‘Our planet has long since run out of altruistic genes.’
Thanks to this, I felt new emotions just looking at scenes like this.
‘She’s kind.’
I felt a small liking for Seonwoo Yeon’s action. And at this moment, the traffic light turned green. As I crossed the street, I ran into Seonwoo Yeon. She had been standing here all along, seeing off the elderly.
“Hello, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s been a while since I saw you. Where were you going?”
I gave a natural greeting, impressed by my own smoothness. Who would ever suspect me of being an alien after witnessing that?
“I just came out to grab some food. It’s lunchtime for the association as well.”
“Aha.”
“Since all my team members are out on fieldwork today, I thought I’d grab a quick meal alone.”
As expected, Seonwoo Yeon accepted the greeting without any problems. Although her expression was a bit stiff.
“What brings you here, Hunter Kim Kiryeo?”
“I’m on my way home.”
“Then the direction is the same. I’m thinking of going to that snack bar over there.”
After a brief conversation, we ended up walking together for a while since we happened to have similar paths. However, there wasn’t much small talk exchanged between us. Because we didn’t see each other often in the first place.
‘The conversation ended sooner than I expected.’
I glanced at the sidewalk block for no reason, trying to forget the awkward silence. It was just one of those moments.
“That, Kiryeo-ssi.”
Seonwoo Yeon, who had been quiet so far, suddenly speaks out her first words. I turned my head to that voice. What I saw was Seonwoo Yeon, who looked somewhat nervous.
“Uh, I know this might be sudden, but actually, I’ve had something to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“If you haven’t eaten yet…”
The hunter hesitated for a while and finally made up her mind.
“Can you give me a moment?”