The SSS-Class Hunter’s Garden Log Chapter 51

Thud!

 

Hana woke up from her sleep as she rolled right off the bed.

 

“….”

 

The overturned room door entered her view first. 

 

“…What a dream….”

 

Hana, who had been lying there blankly, suddenly sat up.

 

Even though it was only the second time, this vivid, non-dreamlike sensation was familiar to her.

 

“Wait. That wasn’t a dream!”

 

Hana hurriedly opened her system window.

 

【SYSTEM】

 

<The distribution of the reward ‘A Fragment of Lost Memories x2’ has been completed.>

 

As expected, what she had just seen wasn’t some random dream; it was her memory.

 

“Let’s see, but how did this happen? I clearly only recently became a hunter.”

 

However, her self in the dream had already completed rookie hunter training.

 

She used her skills proficiently.

 

And she was someone’s senior. 

 

“What is this? Is this really my memory?”

 

【SYSTEM】

 

<OxO>

 

“Anyway. You never answer at times like this.”

 

The system window, which usually prattled on to the point of being obnoxious, kept its mouth shut at a time like this.

 

Hana closed her eyes again and carefully retraced the dream.

 

Then, the moment she recalled the last voice she heard right before waking up, her eyes snapped open.

 

‘It’s Seo Kanghyun. Let’s see each other often, Sunbae.’

 

“Gasp!”

 

Seo Kanghyun.

 

The moment she repeated that name, the light-gray eyes she had seen in the dream came vividly to mind.

 

“Could it be… the Seo Kanghyun I know?”

 

Had Seo Kanghyun and she known each other before?

 

But why did Seo Kanghyun call her Sunbae?

 

“None of it makes sense, from start to finish.”

 

Thinking she couldn’t just sit still, Hana stood all the way up.

 

She felt like this frustration would only be resolved if she went to Kanghyun and asked him anything.

 

However, Hana let out a silent scream when she saw her own appearance reflected in the mirror.

 

Her hair, which had risen toward the sky in a disheveled mess as if she had slept hanging upside down all night, was truly a sight to behold.

 

And what about her puffy eyes?

 

“If I go like this, I’ll be kicked out before I can even ask anything.”

 

Hana quickly began tidying her hair. 

 

Taking advantage of that gap, her original status window floated faintly above Hana’s head.

 

Even though Hana failed to see it this time as well.

 

【SYSTEM】

 

[※ Information Restoration Rate 25% —- ※]

 

[Hunter Name: 1]

 

[Title: Guardian of █████]

 

[Rank: SSS-rank]

 

<Restoring Main Weapon Information : Equipment Name — 『Gunshot of Clear Sky』>

 

<Status: Incomplete Recovery / Form: Simplified>

 

<Only 10% of original performance is implemented. A certain amount of stamina is consumed upon summoning.>

 

The window then vanished without a trace.

 

When Hana looked up, only a new system window was floating there.

 

【SYSTEM】

 

<The upgrade for the weapon ‘■■■ ■■’ (User-bound) (■-rank) has been completed. Would you like to summon it? [Y/N]>

 

The weapon was upgraded?

 

Hana, who was pressing her hood down over her messy hait, hesitated for a moment then pressed the accept button. 

 

Then, a golden effect wrapped around her palm.

 

The shimmering light gradually condensed, taking on a shape.

 

“Will something decent come out this time?”

 

Watched by Hana with half-anticipation and half-anxiety, the weapon that had finally changed its shape revealed itself in her hand.

 

So, the new weapon was, well.

 

A water gun.

 

Yes, it was a water gun.

 

To be more precise, a water gun in the shape of a pistol.

 

Even then, how well it embodied the shape made it look like an unmistakable pistol at a glance, making it all the more appalling. 

 

“….”

 

The strength left the shoulders of Hana, who had been hopeful for a moment.

 

Hana pressed down on the lever of the water gun, which was designed to look exactly like a trigger.

 

Immediately, a pathetic squirt of blue light shot out with a pfft.

 

It was an effect with neither threat nor dignity.

 

“Is this really an improvement?”

 

A slingshot seemed like it would have been better.

 

Hana, embarrassed over having held expectations if only for a moment, unsummoned the water gun in disappointment. 

 

“I had useless expectations because of that strange thing I saw in my dream.”

 

Hana, tucking even her stray hairs into her hood, left the bed and grasped the doorknob of the guest room.

 

She had wasted enough time on useless things.

 

She was just about to turn the knob to go quickly to Kanghyun and ask about the dream when—

 

Creak.

 

The door swung wide open without warning.

 

Because of that, Hana, who had been standing defenselessly in front of the door, jumped in place.

 

“Whoa, you scared me!”

 

Seo Kanghyun was standing outside the door.

 

Seeing Kanghyun already neatly dressed, Hana wiggled her toes awkwardly.

 

Unlike the dapper Kanghyun, she felt humiliated by her own disheveled, “natural” state.

 

“There was an energy fluctuation just now. Was it you, Yoon Hana-ssi?”

 

Hana blinked her eyes and then clapped her hands with an “Ah.”

 

“Ah, could it be because of this? My weapon changed, so I summoned it for a second.”

 

Hana summoned the pathetic water gun once again.

 

After the golden effect flickered briefly over her palm and vanished, the pistol-shaped water gun revealed itself.

 

Kanghyun’s gaze naturally dropped toward it.

 

Having confirmed the energy fluctuation, he nodded once.

 

“It seems so.”

 

Then his gaze lingered a bit longer on the water gun held in Hana’s hand.

 

But was it just her imagination that his eyes looked as if he were seeing something pitiful?

 

Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, Hana hurriedly unsummoned the water gun.

 

“Anyway, I was just about to go to you, Seo Kanghyun-ssi. This worked out well.”

 

“To me? Do you need something?”

 

“No. It’s not that, but I had a dream, and in it, Seo Kanghyun-ssi was—”

 

Hana, who was prattling on, unconsciously looked up.

 

Then, Hana’s words were momentarily cut off by Kanghyun’s eyes, which were staring directly at her.

 

Seeing him in person, the empty light-gray eyes she saw in the dream looked even more similar to the eyes of the Seo Kanghyun before her.

 

Was the person in her memory really Seo Kanghyun?

 

Kanghyun, failing to notice the serious Hana, lazily curled the corners of his mouth.

 

“Did you dream about me?” 

 

That, again, overlapped with the image of the person who was her hoobae in the dream, smiling smoothly.

 

From Hana’s mouth, cutting off context rather impulsively, her instinct was about to burst out. 

 

Just before she could ask point-blank if they had known each other before, instead of speaking coherently—

 

Kanghyun’s phone rang.

 

Kanghyun checked the caller, Han Taeho, on the screen and answered the call.

 

“Yes.”

 

Through the speaker, a low voice speaking something quickly carried over in glimpses. 

 

Listening silently, Kanghyun’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Are you certain?” 

 

Hana’s ears perked up.

 

The call wasn’t long. In less than a minute, the other party finished the main point and ended the call.

 

“Understood. I’ll have her stay here for the time being.”

 

A furrow formed between Hana’s brows as she also listened to the contents of the call.

 

Although she couldn’t hear the contents, there was such a thing as intuition, wasn’t there? 

 

Hana vaguely guessed that the subject of that call was herself.

 

“That call was about me, wasn’t it?”

 

Kanghyun gave a short nod.

 

“The Vice Chairman is said to be certain that Yoon Hana-ssi is the hunter he’s looking for. It seems the situation is beyond what the Red Moon Guild Master can handle.”

 

“Then what should we do?”

 

“I’d like you to stay here for a while until the situation stabilizes.”

 

“Until when?”

 

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to see how things go before I know the exact timing.”

 

Hana was overwhelmed by a sense of dismay.

 

Learning about her regained memories was important, but there was something else more important right now.

 

“I can’t.”

 

“What can’t you do?”

 

“The garden.”

 

Kanghyun’s eyebrows rose minutely.

 

“The crops in my garden change status if I leave them for even a day. The leaves wither like magic if the watering time is off by even a little bit!”

 

Hana spat out words in a stream without even taking a breath.

 

Moreover, she had to plant the lettuce she obtained yesterday. She had to leave the garden unattended indefinitely?

 

“And do you know how fast weeds grow? If a day or two passes, it’s just a jungle.”

 

There were so many things she had to do every single day!

 

What should she do?

 

‘What if I can’t get EXP and can’t find any more memories because of this?’

 

That couldn’t happen!

 

Hana, who was clutching her head in thought, suddenly looked up.

 

“It seems this is the only way.”

 

And she declared solemnly.

 

“I have to raid the garden.”

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

Hana clenched both fists, the veins in her neck bulging.

 

“The crops in my garden. I have to bring them all here before they wither and die.”