<Episode 25>
Fortunately, before the argument could continue any further, Hunter Lee Hyunwoo returned.
“Ugh–!”
“S-slow down a little…! Ack!”
The men he dragged back by their ears like disobedient schoolchildren all looked pale as ghosts.
He casually tossed them onto the ground.
The large men rolled helplessly across the cave floor.
“I brought them back. What shall we do with them now?”
He stared directly at me as though waiting for instructions.
Why was he looking at me? What would I know about this?
I waved my hands in disbelief.
“Why are you asking me? Wouldn’t Hunter Lee Hyunwoo know better how to deal with criminals?”
“Wasn’t that why you entered the gate in the first place?”
“That wasn’t my reason for coming here…”
The reason I’d entered this gate wasn’t those vicious men.
It was the A+ rank talent standing in front of me.
Though the problem was that the talent I’d set my sights on had a personality that was… less than ideal.
“Hey! Are those guys going to prison now? Then what about my share of the magic stones?”
Ari kicked the trembling men with her foot as she asked.
Lee Hyunwoo looked down at her with indifferent eyes.
“All illegally collected magic stones will be confiscated by the Management Bureau.”
The bold attitude Ari had moments ago immediately faltered the second she made eye contact with him, and she instinctively stepped back.
“…What’s with the way you talk? You sound like a robot.”
The captured men stared desperately at the floor while trembling violently.
Apparently, they too had heard the rumors that Hunter Lee Hyunwoo killed anyone who got in his way.
“At least we caught them in the act.”
“Correct. Using gate bait is a serious crime. They’ll most likely rot in a hunter prison for the rest of their lives.”
And the child they’d used as bait was a minor.
Their punishment would probably become even harsher because of that.
At the words ‘hunter prison’, the men visibly flinched.
Even I, someone who had only recently awakened, knew how infamous hunter prisons were… places that held hunters guilty of major crimes.
Once you entered, you never came back out.
Thank goodness we’d caught them red-handed.
I let out a relieved sigh.
‘Good thing we rushed over here.’
There was a reason the system had labeled this an ‘Emergency’ and forced me into the gate.
If we hadn’t arrived in time, those men might truly have harmed Ari.
First, these criminals needed to be dealt with.
Afterward, I planned to slowly explain the situation to Ari and persuade her.
Just as I was about to tell Lee Hyunwoo that we should head back…
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t kept whining for your damn magic stones–!”
One of the men suddenly jumped to his feet and lunged at Ari.
Something gleamed in his hand.
A sharpened knife.
“I’d rather… than rot in prison!”
He had instinctively realized his life was over and was making one final desperate attempt.
For a split second, our eyes met.
Eyes blazing with madness.
My heart dropped.
Without even thinking, I pulled the gun from my inventory and fired at him.
Bang
“Ghk!”
Clutching his side, the man collapsed onto the ground.
I blankly stared back and forth between the gun in my hand and the fallen man.
“…Your reaction speed is impressive.”
Lee Hyunwoo, who had already drawn his own blade, looked at me with the eyes of someone who had just discovered something interesting.
I shot someone.
Only then did panic hit me, and I dropped the gun.
“H-he’s not dead, right?”
“Unfortunately, the bullet only grazed his side. If you learn how to aim properly, I believe you’ll perform even better next time.”
“I wasn’t trying to kill him!”
His completely off-target response made my voice rise instinctively.
The man writhed on the ground, clutching his side and groaning in pain.
Thankfully, the cave wasn’t brightly lit.
Otherwise, I would’ve had to see blood splattered everywhere.
“…No way.”
A small voice came from beside me.
Turning around, I saw Ari frozen stiff with both hands covering her mouth.
She must’ve been badly shocked…
“How did you do that? That was amazing! Did you shoot him, Unni?”
“…Huh?”
“Wow! Your reaction speed is insane! What rank are you? C-rank? B-rank?”
No, F-rank…
I hadn’t expected myself to react that quickly.
Had I just discovered some hidden talent?
“We should leave now. It would be best to hand these men over to the Bureau.”
After tightly restraining the trembling men, Lee Hyunwoo spoke calmly.
The man who had charged at Ari with the knife had already passed out from the pain.
“Shouldn’t he get treatment?”
“He’s an awakened. This level of blood loss won’t kill him. Even without treatment, the wound will eventually heal on its own.”
Thankfully, awakened bodies were very different from ordinary humans.
I secretly sighed in relief.
No matter how terrible a criminal he was, I didn’t want to kill someone with my own hands.
“Then let’s exit the gate first.”
This time, because criminals needed to be transported, Lee Hyunwoo sent a signal to the Management Bureau to open the gate.
“Hunter Lee Hyunwoo! Thank you for the report!”
“We’ve confirmed their identities. We’ll handle the rest from here. Thank you!”
A short while later, several people poured out of vehicles, bowing repeatedly before dragging the unconscious men away.
Everything happened with astonishing speed.
“Thank goodness everyone came so quickly. Things could’ve gone really badly… Huh? Where did she go?”
Ari, who had definitely been standing beside me moments ago, had disappeared.
As I frantically looked around, Lee Hyunwoo, who had been speaking with someone nearby, approached me.
“Is something wrong?”
“The girl disappeared. She was just here.”
“She must’ve escaped while everyone’s attention was divided.”
Lee Hyunwoo clicked his tongue lightly, saying she’d probably run away because she didn’t want to be investigated.
I’d been planning to explain my shop to her properly once we got out of the gate.
Disappointed, I slumped my shoulders and shoved my hands into my pockets.
“…Huh?”
Something crinkled inside my pocket.
When I pulled it out, I found a note Ari had secretly slipped in there.
[Thank you for saving me, unni.]
After reading the note, I smiled faintly.
“If you wish, I can bring her back.”
“Thank you, but it’s okay.”
He looked at me curiously, but instead of explaining, I simply smiled.
For some reason, I felt like I’d be seeing Ari again very soon.
***
Several peaceful days passed.
During that time, I ran the shop during the day and conducted employee interviews whenever I had spare time in the evenings.
But an A+ talent didn’t appear so easily.
“I thought I’d meet her again quickly.”
“You’re thinking about that child again, nya?”
“I’m telling you, the moment I saw her, I just ‘knew’!”
“There are plenty of other humans. You’re obsessing over someone weird, nya.”
After hearing me talk nonstop for days about the A+ talent I’d met at the gate, Hanyang looked completely fed up.
But that was only because he didn’t understand how difficult hiring people really was.
Besides, Ari wasn’t just anyone.
She was a talent personally recommended by the system.
“I should’ve recruited her right then and there!”
“Recruit who?”
A cheerful voice suddenly came from the front of the shop.
Lowering my gaze, I saw Ari, the person I’d been desperately waiting for, staring straight up at me.
“Who are you trying to recruit? That scary mister from last time?”
“That old ma– I mean, not him.”
I’d almost accidentally called Hunter Lee Hyunwoo an old man.
Clearing my throat awkwardly, I smiled brightly.
“It’s nice seeing you again. Have you been well?”
“Yep! I happened to think of you while passing by, so I stopped in. Your shop’s super famous. They say all of this is made with items too?”
Tilting her head, Ari stared at the fish-shaped pastries.
Did she want one?
After checking the remaining reservation list, I gestured for her to come inside.
“Want to wait here a little? The shop’s closing soon. I’ll make you some bungeoppang afterward.”
After thinking for a moment, Ari shook her head.
“Instead of bungeoppang, can you buy me dinner? I’m starving.”
So after closing for the day, we headed to a grilled pork rib restaurant a bit farther from the Management Bureau.
I’d tried suggesting somewhere nearby, but Ari had jumped up, insisting every restaurant near the Bureau was overpriced and tasted awful.
Sizzle
The meat cooked deliciously on the grill.
Clutching her chopsticks tightly, Ari swallowed repeatedly while staring at it.
“It should be done now. Go ahead and eat.”
“Thank you for the meal!!!!”
Shouting energetically, Ari stuffed three pieces of meat into her mouth at once.
Without even chewing properly, she swallowed and immediately raised a thumbs-up.
“This is soooo good!”
“I’m glad. Eat as much as you want.”
Ari devoured the meat as though she hadn’t eaten in days.
Only after most of the ordered meat was gone did her pace finally begin to slow.
I felt like now was the right moment to bring up the job offer.
Though first, introductions came before anything else.
I already knew her name from the system, but she hadn’t personally told me yet.
“So… what’s your name?”
“Ah! I’m Ari. Shin Ari.”
“Ari… that’s a pretty name. I’m Jung Haneul.”
Ari smiled shyly, saying her grandmother had personally named her.
During our brief conversation, I learned that she was only seventeen years old, and after awakening, she’d dropped out of school and drifted between dangerous jobs trying to earn money.
For a moment, I was speechless.
‘She looked even younger… She’s only seventeen. Whether fifteen or seventeen, that’s still far too young to risk your life as gate bait.’
Sliding the cold noodles I’d ordered for dessert toward her, I carefully made my suggestion.
“Would you maybe like to work at my shop? I’ll treat you really well.”
“At your shop?”
While slurping noodles, Ari widened her eyes.
After thinking for a moment, she shrugged.
“How much would you pay me? I seriously need a lot of money.”
“W-well, the shop’s still growing, so I can’t pay an incredible amount yet…! But I’ll definitely treat you better than most places. And at the very least, you won’t have to risk your life every day.”
Ari abruptly slammed her chopsticks down and looked me straight in the eyes.
“I don’t care whether my life’s in danger or not. My grandma doesn’t even have enough money for surgery, and they said if we wait any longer, something really bad could happen.”
Her grandmother?
Now that I thought about it, Ari’s expression had seemed unusually dark for someone her age.
I carefully asked,
“Is your grandmother very sick?”
“They said it’s mana accumulation syndrome. It’s already progressed too far, so surgery’s necessary. Otherwise… they said she might lose the use of her legs.”
Her grandmother’s illness was something that happened to ordinary civilians who lived near gates for too long.
Clumps of mana accumulated inside the body and had to be surgically removed.
But because it was such a rare disease, even finding surgery was difficult.
“We were lucky enough to find a hospital that can treat it, but we’re still way short on the surgery costs.”
“I see… and here I was, not even knowing any of that…”
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault, unni. Anyway, I can’t work at your shop. It’s not because I dislike you or anything.”
Ari picked up her chopsticks again and resumed eating her noodles.
But compared to before, she ate much more slowly.
“…Damn it, I’m already full.”
Even while claiming she was full, Ari kept her head lowered and continued eating.
Between the slow movements of her chopsticks, I could hear the faint sound of sniffling.
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