The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

This wasn’t a situation she could just brush off by saying she’d picked him up on the street.

 

From amidst the pile of fertilizer, Seo Kanghyun’s fingertips twitched.

 

Soon after, his upper body seemed about to slowly rise.

 

Uh-oh. This is bad.

 

Without thinking, Hana pointed her index finger toward the white monster next to her. 

 

“Popcorn! Lick him!”

 

At that, the monster sprang forward, climbing onto Seo Kanghyun’s chest and began licking his face vigorously.

 

She had impulsively called it Popcorn, but whatever.

 

From now on, your name is Popcorn, monster.

 

In the meantime, Hana flailed around the back of her neck with her hands, trying to find something to pull over herself.

 

But of all days, she didn’t have her usual straw hat today.

 

The root of the problem was that she had thrown it onto the cart because it was bothersome when she dragged Seo Kanghyun in.

 

“Dammit, what on earth is this…” 

 

Seo Kanghyun’s gloomy mutter as he half-raised his body was filled with killing intent.

 

Thinking she must not let her face be seen, Hana pulled whatever she could grab onto her head.

 

The temporary portal behind Kanghyun still hadn’t completely closed.

 

If things stayed like this, she’d naturally be caught sneaking in and out of the gate, and she might even have to pay the price for shoving Seo Kanghyun into a fertilizer patch.

 

Since there was no way she could physically handle an SS-Class Hunter, the only alternative she could think of was to at least hide her identity. 

 

Kanghyun, who was shakily pushing himself up after peeling away the monster that had soaked his face in saliva, blocked Hana’s path. 

 

Having suddenly lost her escape route, cold sweat trickled down Hana’s forehead.

 

But something was strange.

 

She didn’t know what she had put over her head, but through a hole the size of a coin, she could see Kanghyun’s face, and his expression was truly a sight to behold.

 

He looked both dumbfounded and like he was laughing, but also annoyed.

 

Just as she was wondering why he was acting like that, Hana belatedly realized.

 

What it was that she had pulled over her face.

 

This foul smell wafting under her nose was exactly the empty bag she had left piled to the side after scattering its contents in the garden this morning.

 

Meaning, a fertilizer bag.

 

Oh. Damn it.

 

Holding her breath, Hana offered a greeting in a nasal voice and awkwardly raised her hand toward Kanghyun, who stood blocking her way.

 

“…Haha. Hello?”

 

Ah. Guess this isn’t it.

 

Seo Kanghyun’s sharp eyes shot up even more fiercely.

 

Clutching her pounding heart, Hana eventually bowed deeply.

 

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose!” 

 

Hana wrinkled the bridge of her nose.

 

As she bowed her head, the pungent smell unique to fertilizer assaulted her sense of smell even more intensely.

 

Should she call this karma?

 

But it wasn’t like she had purposefully thrown Seo Kanghyun into the garden, right?

 

It was an accident, an accident.

 

Huff, puff. 

 

As she breathed in through her mouth out of stuffiness, the fertilizer bag she had pulled over her head repeatedly puffed up and deflated with her breaths.

 

Thankfully, because the top was slightly torn, she could see in front of her.

 

When Hana cautiously lifted her head, she saw Seo Kanghyun’s face through the gap, and it was quite magnificently distorted. 

 

‘It’s a bit much to take it off and greet him now, isn’t it?’

 

Hana began to edge backward. 

 

However, as if he had expected that, Seo Kanghyun’s eyes narrowed sharply.

 

Soon, red flames flickered at the tips of Seo Kanghyun’s fingers.

 

“…A humanoid monster?”

 

‘Why? Why! No, why is he calling me a monster!!’

 

Flustered, Hana waved her hands and head around, mobilizing everything she had.

 

“No! I’m a person! No matter how you look at me, I’m a person!”

 

Just as Hana was trying to prove her innocence, Seo Kanghyun’s body suddenly swayed, and he pitched forward just like that.

 

“Ah, wait a minute—!”

 

Startled, Hana reflexively stuck out both arms and caught the falling Kanghyun.

 

In that instant, as Kanghyun’s entire weight shifted onto her all at once, her back almost snapped.

 

“Ugh, so heavy…! Excuse me, Seo Kanghyun-ssi?”

 

Barely regaining her balance, Hana gently shook Seo Kanghyun’s shoulder.

 

But there was no movement.

 

【SYSTEM】 

<Oh my, oh dear! It seems to be a status abnormality due to poisoning. (◞ ‸ ◟)>

 

Status abnormality?

 

Hana’s brow furrowed.

 

If that was the case, even the hospital director wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

 

Hana carefully laid Kanghyun down on the garden patch and looked around.

 

Wasn’t there anything that could be of help?

 

Then, Hana’s eyes fell upon a perfectly ripe red cherry tomato.

 

“Could that cure a status abnormality?”

 

They had healing effects and helped recover from wounds, so perhaps they could alleviate a status abnormality at least a little. 

 

Hana picked a cherry tomato from the cluster and crept toward Kanghyun. 

 

Fortunately, as if completely unconscious this time, Kanghyun didn’t even twitch.

 

Hana swallowed a nervous breath and crouched down. 

 

“Please excuse me for a moment.” 

 

After politely asking for understanding, Hana pressed the cherry tomato firmly between Kanghyun’s lips and squeezed out the juice.

 

At that, Kanghyun’s deeply furrowed brow smoothed out just a tiny bit, but that was all.

 

“As expected, this won’t do…”

 

Popcorn, who had sneakily approached beside the dejected Hana, rubbed its head against her.

 

Hana, who had been absentmindedly stroking its fluffy white fur, blinked rapidly.

 

Come to think of it, didn’t Popcorn have detoxification among its attributes?

 

Hana picked up Popcorn, who was panting with its tail wagging.

 

Suddenly picked up, Popcorn happily wagged its tail fast like a propeller.

 

“Your attribute was detoxification, right? Can you help?”

 

“Kkyang!”

 

Whether it really understood or not, Popcorn soon began popping its corn kernels with a pop pop.

 

Following that, as it spewed flames, the corn kernels were crisply popped and flew in all directions.

 

Hana slightly lifted the fertilizer bag and chewed on one well-popped popcorn.

 

Crunch—.

 

【SYSTEM】

<You have consumed a secretion from a fire-attribute crop-type monster.> 

<Detoxification effect is activated.> 

<Toxic substances in your body are being neutralized.>

 

As expected.

 

She had seen it earlier, but it became a bit more certain this time. With this, it should be enough to detoxify the poisoning symptoms.

 

Hana, whose eyes had widened, soon let out an “Ugh” and drooped her lips.

 

It came from a monster’s body so it wasn’t wrong, but being told she had ingested a secretion made her feel really strange.

 

Smacking her lips with a peculiar feeling as she stared at the excited Popcorn, Hana began picking up the popcorn scattered around.

 

However, the time of agony soon returned.

 

She couldn’t exactly turn these into juice, so how was she supposed to feed them to him? 

 

“Mmm.”

 

Hana, who came to a conclusion after a short deliberation, carefully began loading Kanghyun onto the cart again.

 

And she also picked up the popped corn kernels Popcorn had burst, one by one.

 

“I guess… this way is for the best, right?” 

 

* * *

 

A short while later.

 

The doorbell at the entrance of the Red Moon Guild’s Yangpyeong Hunter Branch building rang out. 

 

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

 

The Hunters, who had been on emergency duty for days due to the gate that occurred in the Yangpyeong area, were sprawled out on sofas or the floor, half-dead.

 

“…Who is it…”

 

“What time is it right now, who’s pressing the doorbell without manners, ugh.”

 

At the doorbell ringing in the middle of the night, the Hunters squirmed and got up one by one.

 

Among them, a man with red, chestnut-like hair who was sprawling across the best sofa stomped his foot in the air, full of annoyance.

 

“Ah, seriously! I finally get some sleep and who is it, at this hour! Do you want to die?”

 

“Hey, Choi Kwon! You’re being louder!” 

 

Choi Kwon, an A-rank Hunter belonging to the Yangpyeong Branch, couldn’t hold back and kicked off the jacket he was using as a blanket, springing up.

 

In a sleeveless top, ripped jeans, and slippers, he looked remarkably free-spirited. 

 

Kwon scratched his head and headed down to the first floor, looking ready to kill someone. 

 

But then, he soon began to make a fuss so loud it echoed all the way to the second floor.

 

“Hey, hey hey! Everyone get up and come down here! Hurry!”

 

At the commotion, the lounging hunters scrambled toward the stairs, wondering if another Gate had burst open.

 

The Hunters who gathered on the first floor like that all wore dumbfounded expressions.

 

Because a completely unexpected figure had been delivered to the front of the building, in an unimaginable state.

 

Kwon rubbed his eyes and asked the hunter next to him. 

 

“Hey, this is Seo Kanghyun, right?”

 

“I… think so?”

 

“But why is Seo Kanghyun here looking like this?”

 

At Kwon’s question, everyone silently looked down.

 

Seo Kanghyun was laid out neatly on top of a handcart.

 

He was even clutching a bag full of popcorn tightly in his arms.

 

And beside such Kanghyun was a box brimming with cherry tomatoes.

 

“What is all this?”

 

Kwon snatched up the memo attached to the popcorn bag and narrowed his eyes. 

 

“It’s a status abnormality due to poisoning. Please wake him up and make sure he eats this popcorn…?”

 

After a brief silence, someone let out a snort of laughter.

 

Starting with that, one by one, they all couldn’t hold back their laughter, their shoulders shaking.

 

Who could have ever imagined it?

 

That Seo Kanghyun.

 

The face of Haechi, who carried around cool modifiers like the Incarnation of the Battlefield and the Emotionless Monster Slaughterer, South Korea’s representative star Hunter.

 

To be neatly loaded onto a handcart where he couldn’t even fit all his legs no matter how much he crumpled them.

 

“Pfft-hah!”

 

Kwon eventually grabbed his stomach and laughed, tears even dripping down.

 

“Whose crazy masterpiece is this really?”