Colin walked down the corridor and naturally started making conversation.
“There are other Hunters spending time in the building before the meeting starts as well, from what I understand. Quite a lot of Hunters have already arrived....”
“Very organized. You must’ve been in chaos with an S-rank Gate having broken out.”
“Yes. Looking at the cases of other countries where an S-rank Gate broke out recently.... Ah, damn. I’m sorry.”
Maybe he had forgotten our nationality, because Colin had been speaking absentmindedly and then hurriedly added an apology.
'So they used our country’s S-rank case as a cautionary example?'
Well, that made sense. The domestic and international buzz had been intense because we had resolved it with our own power, but since quite a few A-rank Hunters had died in the process, criticism had come out over how it was handled too.
I gave an absent little nod and turned my gaze elsewhere.
“If that offended you, I’m truly sorry. I’d like to apologize again.”
When I didn’t answer, Joo Seowon glanced at me and replied instead.
“No, it’s fine. Using a previous case as reference to... prevent damage is still a positive thing in the end.”
At the calm voice, I looked at the bastard for a moment. The meek, quiet act from a second ago had already vanished somewhere, and now they were smiling naturally and dealing with people like it was nothing.
'Not bad.'
Before long, the two of them were chatting comfortably enough that Colin seemed to be relaxing bit by bit and started talking to Joo Seowon with a bright smile. I watched them for a moment, then started randomly pulling up Status Windows for the people nearby.
'Most of them are awakened... and the ones who aren’t must be government staff?'
I had never once thought I’d end up meeting this many humans in high-ranking positions all at once in my life.
'At this rate I’ll probably meet the president someday too.'
Thinking stupid shit like that, I walked along while half-listening to the nonstop conversation.
“Ha ha.... You’re witty. So then, Hunter Seo....”
At Colin trailing off and looking at me, I glanced back at him a beat late. The hand Joo Seowon had placed on my arm tightened. Wondering if they had something to say, I turned to them and asked,
“What.”
“...He’s asking if there’s anything you need.”
Anything I needed, huh. I checked the time and immediately asked,
“Where’s the restaurant?”
***
I went into the restaurant, where the food quality wasn’t bad, and wandered around piling various things onto a plate.
“Buffet style.... I like it. I’m in favor.”
“You... already ate airplane food! And earlier the context was asking about things like artifacts or the condition of the hotel rooms!”
Joo Seowon, who had kept their mouth shut for a pretty long time even when it was just the two of us, now finally seemed to have come back to life and started throwing words at me in a rapid stream, keeping only their voice low.
“Seowon, maybe you don’t know because you’re tiny as fuck, but my basal metabolic rate is high.”
I sat down and explained kindly, and Joo Seowon’s expression, which had looked ready to argue a second ago, instantly turned dumbfounded.
“...What? Tiny as.... We’re basically the same height, asshole. What the hell happened to your brain on that flight....”
“I know. Tiny as fuck, right? It’s a compliment.”
“Hey, for fuck’s sake, take the translator out before you say shit like that, please....”
I was definitely tired, because the words were coming out smooth and easy without passing through my brain.
'I’m sleepy as hell.'
If I went into a Dungeon like this, I’d die minimum.
Chuckling under my breath, I scrubbed my face hard with one hand to wake myself up. Then I obediently pulled out the translator from my ear and shoved a suspicious-looking piece of food onto Joo Seowon’s plate.
“...What’s this for?”
“Eat it and check if there’s jalapeño in it.”
“I don’t really want to.”
“I’ll eat it, so just take one bite and pass it over. If it’s not spicy.”
At that, Joo Seowon turned their head away and clamped a hand over their mouth. I chewed the meat soaked in tomato sauce and looked around.
The restaurant was quiet, but it wasn’t empty. Some people had come in pairs and were eating together, and some were sitting alone, scraping their plates clean.
'All Hunters.'
Even without pulling up Status Windows, it was obvious from the combat uniforms. I kept stabbing at my food with my fork while looking through their Status Windows.
Then I spotted the Status Window of a Hunter I recognized.
Name: Chase Holt
Age: 29
Rank: S
Title: -
Primary Skills: Fire Shot (S), Flare Burst (S), Rain of Fire (A)
Growth Limit Rank: S
'Fire-type Hunter.'
He was the bastard currently holding the number one spot among fire-type Hunters in a world where Kwon Taehan was still relatively green from lack of experience. Even if you took out the fire-type category and ranked Hunters overall, he was always in the top three.
I slowly looked over his body as he walked along carrying his plate.
He looked about the same height as me, but his build clearly showed he had bulked himself up on purpose. Maybe it was because fire-type Hunters had to endure flames with their own bodies, but most fire-type Hunters tended to put on a bit of size.
Well, even our country’s S-rank fire-type Hunter had started doing that at some point too.
'Though Kwon Taehan was originally on the skinny side, so that probably made it stand out more.'
Chase had a few other distinctive features too. His dark red hair looked fully dyed rather than naturally red like ginger hair, and the geometric flame design painted on his cheek was especially noticeable.
The former was a physical change caused by magic after awakening, like what you sometimes saw in certain Hunters. The latter was just voluntary dumbass behavior by someone trying to look cool.
'Interesting.'
It almost made me want to applaud the brainless idiot who apparently had never considered that if awakening could happen suddenly, abilities could be taken away suddenly too. Was this his way of saying that since you only lived once, you might as well try whatever you wanted?
For reference, Chase, who was considered one of the strongest in the world in raw stats, unfortunately did not have entirely good public opinion behind him. Like S-ranks on average, Chase too was closer to the fucking asshole side of the personality scale.
There was a difference, though. If the other S-rank Hunters had naturally stepped a little away from ordinary humans because their abilities exceeded normal people’s limits, this one was more like... a born fucking asshole.
'He’s had a lot of controversies.'
From his school days into his early and mid twenties, he had gone around beating people up and making frequent visits to court, generally displaying behavior that was not exactly morally sound. If anything, public opinion had improved after he awakened as a Hunter and started chasing money and dopamine by clearing Dungeons.
More precisely, it wasn’t that public opinion had improved so much as that once he became famous, idiots had spontaneously appeared to cheer for even his scumbag behavior.
'Hmm.'
At that moment, Chase, who had been looking around the restaurant for a seat, met my eyes exactly. The instant our eyes met, he crooked one eyebrow and grinned like an asshole, then strode over.
“There isn’t. You can just eat—”
“Hello.”
I dragged over the sausage Joo Seowon had bitten halfway through and swallowed and ate it off the fork while lifting my eyes to look at Chase.
'The translator’s out.'
Because I had taken it out earlier thanks to Joo Seowon’s light little tantrum and set it beside me, I glanced at it from the corner of my eye and answered roughly.
“Good morning.”
“Let’s see.... It’s noon right now, though?”
Joo Seowon, who had been quietly watching the exchange, went wide-eyed the moment our gazes met, then furrowed their brow again.
'What.'
When I tilted my head slightly, not understanding, Joo Seowon squeezed their eyes shut and turned their head away.
“So why are you here?”
What the fuck is this guy...?
I kindly pointed around us and explained the obvious to the idiot.
“This is a restaurant.”
“...No, no, that’s not what I’m asking. An S-rank Gate broke out, so why did people like you, who aren’t S-rank Hunters, come? That’s what I’m asking.”
Well.... If I told him an S-rank Hunter had made me come by force, would he get it? I nodded blandly while chewing green beans.
“So you just came sightseeing?”
I glanced at the translator still lying out and answered calmly.
“I get what he’s saying, but answering’s a little hard. I can read pretty well, but my speaking’s not great.”
“.......”
“What do you mean?”
For a second I considered telling him to shut the fuck up, but picking a fight with an S-rank Hunter from another country didn’t seem like a particularly good idea, so I put the translator back in with some fumbling.
“Let’s talk after I’m done eating.”
After saying that, I silently focused on my meal. They’d said the meeting started at two, so at the very least I’d need to finish eating and get a little rest before then.
Chase looked at us for a moment like he still had more to say, then let out another scoff and disappeared to another table with his plate.
After I finished eating, I was finally in the mood to listen to whatever shit Chase wanted to start, so I looked around for him, but it seemed the bastard had already finished eating and left.
“...What are you doing?”
“Looking for where that asshole from before went. He looked like he had something to say.”
“Hey, do you know Chase or something?”
“No? That was the first time I saw him.”
“You... why do people pick fights with you so easily?”
Who knew. Ever since I became a Hunter, the number of bastards trying to start shit with me had suddenly increased exponentially, but I’d never really thought much about why.
“No idea.”
When I answered blankly, Joo Seowon pressed a hand to their forehead and let out a sigh like I was hopeless. I neatly rolled up the cuff at my wrist and looked around.
“Whatever. Let’s get some rest.”
“...Where?”
“There was a lounge earlier, wasn’t there? We came here to help, so it’s not like they’ll throw us out.”
Answering carelessly, I started walking toward the lounge, and Joo Seowon tracked my path with their eyes before striding up beside me.
We went into an empty lounge space, sat on the sofa, and I idly scrolled through my phone before spotting the message belatedly.
Call me when you arrive
It was from Im Haekyung.
'Hmm....'
After seeing that quite a bit of time had already passed, I thought for a moment, then stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“To make a call.”
“To who?”
“That psycho bastard.”
“It was the Haeseong guild master, wasn’t it?”
It was funny how well they understood with almost no explanation.
I tipped my chin once to say yes, and Joo Seowon just nodded without comment. Leaving them in the lounge, I stepped outside for a moment and made the call.
'What the hell? They’re not picking up?'
Around the time I was dialing again, I spotted a familiar figure in the hallway.
Chase, who had been chatting away with fellow Hunters, noticed me at some point, stopped talking to them, and suddenly started walking this way. I looked straight at him and slowly pressed the end-call button.
“Looks like you enjoyed your meal, after sending me off like that....”
“Yes.”
I answered absentmindedly and sent a text. A hand came down over my phone with a smack.
“Hey, I heard your country has a fire-type Hunter now?”
“.......”
“So why didn’t that guy come, and you did? If anything, wouldn’t it have made more sense to send your S-rank fire-type Hunter here? Instead they sent a B-rank Hunter whose abilities haven’t even been verified yet, for no reason.”
“.......”
“It’s so obvious they sent someone useless to avoid losses among Hunters that it’s honestly laughable.”
I slapped Chase’s hand away from my screen and finished sending the text.
I’m here. Haven’t started any trouble yet, so call me when you see this message.
Only after sending it did I lift my head, and Chase’s expression looked strangely more heated than before.
“What is it?”
“Or is it that your country’s S-rank Hunter is so much more inferior than me that they sent a worthless one instead to keep it from being exposed?”
At this point in time, Kwon Taehan was a little lacking compared to Chase. Of course, with the fraudulent cheat key called Regression, he still wouldn’t lose even in a one-on-one.
When I didn’t say much, Chase suddenly made a gesture like he was crushing something in his hand and continued.
“When you meet Hunters of the same rank who look similar on the surface but are actually weaker than you, you get the instinct to test them. Though of course, your country’s fire-type Hunter doesn’t even look like someone I could really count as being on the same level.”
I still didn’t care about Kwon Taehan fighting, but hearing him talk like this, it seemed he’d been following news about Taehan pretty damn closely. I nodded idly and answered.
“Yeah.... Do whatever you want.”
“Ha ha.... Not much of a reaction. Did you get instructions not to respond? Or is it because... you can see the difference in build and rank?”
“If you want a match with Hunter Kwon, that’s your problem. What am I supposed to do if you tell me? Go visit Korea and fight him.”
I looked at Chase strangely as he stood in front of me yapping nonsense and kindly offered a solution. But the ungrateful bastard seemed unhappy with my solution too.
“Seriously... unbelievable. That’s the most ridiculous answer I’ve ever heard.”
“Then I’ll be going. I was on a plane forever, and I need some rest too.”
“.......”
“Would you move?”
But Chase didn’t seem to have any intention of stepping aside.
He stared at me for a moment, then suddenly twisted his lips up into a crooked grin and asked back,
“Why should I?”
And I briefly thought about the performance of the translator still stuck in my ear. A translator made using Dungeon byproducts, with extraordinary abilities...... just how good was it?
At the very least, I could understand every single stupid thing Chase was saying perfectly.... If that was the case, would Chase hear every word I said translated perfectly too?
I opened my mouth without hesitation.
“Move, you fucking piece of shit.”
“...What?”
Judging by the fact he still wasn’t moving, it seemed like he hadn’t understood.
“Get the fuck out of the—mmph.”
But this time I didn’t get to finish. Someone rushed up and clamped a hand over my mouth from behind.
“Ha ha.... Mm, I’ve got business with this one. So then... we’ll be going now, Holt?”
Sung Uijae’s voice echoed through the empty corridor, the intonation and cadence subtly different from when he spoke Korean.
