<Episode 18>
“Hanyang-ah! Let’s go home!”
Business at the shop had already ended, but Hanyang was nowhere to be seen.
Sometimes she wandered around alone as a sort of walk, but she usually returned by closing time. Worried, I went around the Hunter Management Bureau looking for her.
‘…A person?’
Someone was sitting over there in that dark corner.
I thought the face looked familiar, and sure enough, it was Hunter Kang Min, whom I had seen just a few days ago. Under the faint moonlight, he was staring at his phone with a serious expression.
“Hunter Kang Min?”
“Ah… noona!”
He quickly lifted his head, and upon spotting me, smiled brightly. The serious expression that had been on his face vanished completely in an instant.
After turning off his phone screen and naturally shoving it into his pocket, he greeted me warmly.
“Noona, what about your shop?”
“I already closed. Hanyang disappeared, so I was looking around and happened to see you, Hunter Kang Min.”
“Ah, it’s already past seven….”
After checking the time on his watch, Kang Min trailed off awkwardly.
“The leader’s gonna say something again….”
Muttering that under his breath, he ran a hand through his hair. Unlike usual, he looked anxious and uneasy somehow.
Was it really related to the mission window I saw back then?
As I sat beside him, I carefully broached the subject.
“Did something happen by any chance?”
Staring silently at the ground, he slowly lifted his head and looked at me. His large eyes trembled precariously beneath the moonlight.
After maintaining silence for a long while, he finally spoke in a low voice.
“Noona… how did you feel after awakening? You were happy and excited, right? Like everyone else.”
Kang Min lightly scraped the ground with the tip of his shoe.
Without even waiting for my answer, he continued speaking.
“When I awakened, I wasn’t happy at all. I hated it so much. But everyone kept congratulating me on awakening, so I couldn’t even say I hated it… I never once wanted to become a hunter.”
The last words that slipped from his lips carried a faint wetness to them.
Nervously chewing at his lips, Kang Min eventually lowered his head deeply. The words flowing from his mouth were apologies directed at me.
“Sorry for suddenly bringing up such heavy stuff. I just… suddenly felt really suffocated inside.”
My friend Shinhye always brought up stories about Hunter Kang Min’s idol days whenever she got drunk. She said he was unbelievably sincere about being an idol… no matter how busy he was, he sent selfies every day through the paid messaging app, left long messages for fans, and even if it was dawn, he always turned on livestreams just to greet them.
Even though he had awakened and become a hunter now, she said she could stay his fan forever because she knew how brightly he used to shine back then.
Hunter Kang Min had loved his work that much. Even through the tiny phone screen Shinhye showed me, it was obvious how dazzling he looked on stage.
But thinking back to the moment he awakened as an A-rank hunter…
Every media outlet had celebrated the birth of a new high-ranking hunter. Amid all that, there was no way a mere twenty-year-old guy could say he didn’t want it because he wanted to remain an idol.
‘…Hunter Kang Min must’ve had a lot weighing on him too.’
Why was it that the things people wanted and cherished the most disappeared so easily?
Thinking of my parents’ restaurant that had vanished so helplessly, I smiled bitterly.
“Until recently, I worked at the restaurant my parents left behind. Even though it was physically exhausting, I never once thought about quitting. If I had awakened back then, I think I would’ve absolutely hated becoming a hunter too.”
Running a restaurant required an incredible amount of preparation. Prepping ingredients from dawn, boiling broth, and organizing tables. Doing alone what I used to do together with my parents was overwhelming. Even so, because my parents’ restaurant was so precious to me, I could never think of giving it up.
Imagining myself suddenly awakening back then made me understand just how lost and terrified the person before me must have felt.
At my words, Hunter Kang Min hesitated before carefully asking,
“By any chance… your parents…?”
“They passed away in a gate accident. And because of various circumstances, I can’t run the restaurant right now. So my goal now is to reclaim my parents’ restaurant someday.”
“By making lots of money from the bungeoppang shop?”
At his question, I burst out laughing.
What I wanted was for Hanyang to grant my wish. She said it couldn’t violate the law of causality, so I couldn’t ask for my dead parents to come back to life, but at the very least, I should be able to get the restaurant back.
“Just… in my own way.”
“Your own way….”
I wanted to give him some cool advice, but unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly eloquent. Still, I did possess one special ability unique to me, and I could use that to help Hunter Kang Min.
“Next time, I’ll make a bungeoppang just for you, Hunter Kang Min.”
“A… bungeoppang just for me?”
Kang Min tilted his head in confusion at my words.
Telling him he could look forward to it, I stood up from my seat.
I suddenly had something I needed to hurry back and do.
“So you were here, nya? I’ve been looking all over for you, nya!”
Right on time, Hanyang came strolling toward us. Emerging from the bushes, she was covered head to toe in leaves, apparently having thoroughly enjoyed some amazing hunting game.
“Then I’ll see you next time, Hunter Kang Min. I’ll prepare a really special bungeoppang for you.”
After scooping Hanyang into my arms, I lightly said goodbye to him. Still wearing a puzzled expression like he couldn’t understand what I was talking about at all, he gave a small wave.
After returning home, I immediately started packing supplies to enter the gate.
Watching me from nearby, Hanyang swayed her tail as she approached.
“You’re really going into a gate right now, nya?”
“Yeah. Waiting until next weekend would take too long. Let’s go quickly tonight and come back so I can open the shop tomorrow.”
The Hunter Kang Min I met today looked far too unstable.
Had the energetic version of him I saw before just been an act? In his large eyes lingered anxiety, nervousness, and a helplessness that came from not being able to do anything about it.
“He saved me from that troublesome customer. I can’t just pretend not to notice.”
Besides, he was someone my best friend Shinhye liked. And usually, someone your friend likes becomes someone you like too.
After carefully packing all the necessary equipment, I held my hand out toward Hanyang.
“Then shall we go in?”
“Nyaaaang–”
—
Would you like to enter the gate ‘Silent Cave’?
Yes / No
—
The moment I clicked to enter the gate, my vision shifted with a ripple.
Quickly regaining my balance, I looked around.
The entire massive cave itself seemed to be the gate. Damp, moisture-laden air clung heavily around me. Somewhere far away, I could hear the sound of water droplets falling
drip, drip.
“This time, the material I need to collect is called Bubble Rock, right? It looks pretty strange.”
—
Bubble Rock
: A stone with swirl patterns engraved on its smooth surface. Each varies in size, and when ground into powder and consumed, it has a calming effect on the mind and body.
-Habitat: Gate ‘Silent Cave’
-(Photo)
—
When I clicked the picture, it showed a white pebble marked with red swirl patterns.
Since it had such a distinctive design, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to find. The real problem was that the cave was fairly dark.
Using the flashlight I brought with me, I carefully searched every corner of the cave.
“Oh? There’s one here!”
“I found one too, nya.”
Unlike the Solsol Grass, which glowed silver and stood out immediately, this material could only barely be found by searching between cracks in the rocks.
By the time I finished wandering around, my pockets were full of Bubble Rocks, but strangely enough, the collection progress still hadn’t changed at all.
Could it be because the required material wasn’t Bubble Rock itself, but Bubble Rock powder?
“How am I supposed to turn this into powder?”
I tried smashing a Bubble Rock with the swirl pattern against the cave floor, but no matter how hard I hit it, it showed no signs of breaking.
Instead, only the hand holding the rock started hurting.
As I stood there pondering, Hanyang, who had been watching nearby, stepped forward.
“Move aside, nya.”
Placing the Bubble Rock on the ground, Hanyang aimed her fluffy paw at it.
One, twooo, threee.
After finishing her preparation, Hanyang raised her front paw high and slammed it down…
BAM!
“Now it’s powder, nya.”
The incredibly hard stone shattered into pieces.
When I tried, it wouldn’t budge no matter how much force I used, yet Hanyang crushed it with a single paw smack.
You… really aren’t an ordinary cat, are you?
Thinking back to all the times I forcibly squished Hanyang’s belly fat in the past, cold sweat ran down my back.
“From now on, if you say you don’t like it, I’ll never touch your belly fat again….”
“What are you suddenly talking about, nya?”
“There’s… a reason. A thought process necessary for my survival….”
Laughing awkwardly, I started gathering the finely crushed powder Hanyang had made.
Interestingly, although Bubble Rock looked like an ordinary white stone on the outside, once crushed into powder, it turned reddish. It even felt warm to the touch. Was that why it was called Bubble Rock?
“Good thing I brought extra bags.”
As expected, once the Bubble Rock was turned into powder form, the collection progress numbers started climbing rapidly.
Excited, I began running around the cave collecting Bubble Rocks everywhere.
Maybe because it was a cave-type gate and relatively safe, no monsters appeared, allowing me to gather materials without worry.
If only the last gate had been this easy. Instead, I ended up running into Hunter Lee Hyunwoo…
“Ah, right!”
Hunter Lee Hyunwoo had repeatedly warned me to contact him before entering the gate. But in my rush to get in, I completely forgot.
Ugh.
After hesitating for a moment, I shrugged.
Well, if I just pretend not to know, how would he ever find out?
Last time we only met by coincidence inside a gate, but this time there was nobody else in here, so there was no way he could know.
Quickly brushing the thought aside, I immersed myself in collecting materials again.
Completely unaware of what consequences that would bring.
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