Immovable
Clink—
As Na Su-han took a step, the battered bastard sword hanging at his hip gave a dull ring.
Heavy, yet antique. Large, but somehow not an unpleasant noise.
"Why is he here…?"
"How should I know? …Guess something finally caught his interest."
"Immovable, moving for something like this?"
Immovable.
It meant exactly what it said—someone who does not move. I didn't know much about hunters, but a moniker like that probably meant he was the kind of hunter you rarely ever saw.
Clack—
"…You are Goldy, I take it?"
"Yeah."
"Na Su-han. Sit, for now."
He said it as he settled into a chair with an almost regal air. Judging by appearance alone, he sat somewhere between middle age and old age. And the presence rolling off him…
A knight-captain's level—or higher?
For a human, the energy and latent power he carried were extraordinary.
"Unnie, you didn't…"
"Ah, yeah. I called him. Asked Ansusa to pull a few strings."
During the last cleanup of The Ark, Ansusa had mentioned it herself—that a man named Na Su-han had some connection to Ha-eun. And seeing him with my own eyes confirmed it.
Yeah. He could definitely draw out someone's potential.
Clack—
"Hi. Name's Goldy. I'm Ansu—well, more like Rachel's master, I guess."
"…"
Na Su-han nodded without a word, then offered his hand for a handshake.
"You've got a lot of scars, huh? Doesn't look like you're just some random nobody, like I heard."
Cuts large and small covered his hand. One scar on the back of it was massive—big enough that the whole hand must have been severed and magically reattached at some point. I couldn't even begin to imagine how that had happened.
"…You talk too much."
At those words, the air around us sank a little.
"Talking to Immovable like that…"
"He's out of his mind."
"…Is there a single hunter who isn't?"
It wasn't that Na Su-han had threatened me. It was the surrounding hunters, reacting to what I'd said and watching their step, that had soured the mood.
"I hear you taught Ha-eun once. Think of this as an extension of that training—that's the favor I'm asking."
"…"
"Rachel already paid you, right? Might as well make it worth the price."
"Do not worry. I repay what I am given."
I didn't ask what he'd been paid. I didn't need to know, and there was no reason to spoil the atmosphere when he was already willing to take the job.
"Great. And in case you haven't heard—Park Sang-hyeok is probably coming too. I'd rather you didn't go out of your way to talk to him. We're here to work."
"…"
He nodded silently, then rolled his eyes just slightly toward Ha-eun.
"In the short time since, your swords have increased by one."
"Ah… this is, uh…"
His brow twitched, almost imperceptibly, as he started to ask—and in that exact moment.
Thud—
"You lot! I knew you'd come here! You filthy Holy Sword thieves! Return the Holy Sword—"
Mikhail had spotted us and came storming over, roaring at the top of his lungs. Na Su-han's gaze cooled. He exhaled a short breath—
Shing!—
"Ghk?!"
"Too noisy."
A blade tore free at impossible speed and carved a line of light through the air. A sword scar etched itself into the space right in front of Mikhail's face, and sensing the threat, he leapt back in a hurry.
"Immovable… What is the meaning of this? Are you looking for a fight in here?"
"I merely cut down a loud voice. And as for a fight—"
Shff—
Na Su-han's eyes flashed with a chilling light. If a gaze alone could sever matter, the entire room would have been sliced clean through. The pressure was that absolute.
"—that is not a word to be thrown about so carelessly."
And the more astonishing part: through that entire sequence, he had not moved at all. Literally Immovable.
"Whoa."
Of course, it wasn't that there had been zero movement. A minute adjustment of mana. The angle of his eyes. The timing of a single breath. From where I stood, it looked like a technique refined enough to cut even an instant of time itself.
Dragon Eyes would probably make it clearer… but what I could already tell was that it was purely a matter of skill. Compared to the ones I'd seen who actually manipulated time, this was child's play. Then again, a mere human cutting time at all was already outside the bounds of what humans should be able to do.
Anyway—I'd look into it again later. Right now the situation was…
"Those people stole my sword—"
"You were weak, and so you lost. The sword was taken as the price of defeat. There is nothing wrong with that principle."
"Do you even know what that is—"
"I told you not to make a scene."
Na Su-han's hand closed on his sword hilt once more. Mikhail gripped his own blade in answer—and then, from behind him, a very familiar voice cut in.
"Mikhail. Couldn't even hold out that long?"
"Immovable. Forgive him. The child is still short on manners. An Imugi is like that, after all, is it not?"
"…"
Whether he understood the implication or not, Na Su-han released the hilt and closed his eyes—looking for all the world like he had no further interest in opening his mouth. So I asked her instead.
"You're participating too?"
"I am not. I simply came to check, knowing Mikhail would inevitably cause a disturbance."
Mm. Hard to argue with that, given the mess we were already in.
"Then I shall take Mikhail and go."
"But—"
"Not yet, child. Would it not be wiser to come with me?"
"…Damn it."
Looks like I was going to keep getting tangled up with Mikhail. He'd probably keep chasing us for the Holy Sword… Not that I had any intention of giving it back. Come take it if you can.
"Su-han? Or should I just call you Immovable?"
"…"
He didn't answer, but the faint shift in his expression said he preferred Immovable.
"By the way, that was pretty impressive. At that level, aren't you National-Level?"
"…That is not a debate to be entered into lightly."
"Uh, Unnie…"
"Hm?"
"That topic… is better left unmentioned…"
Ah.
"If that's how it is, fine."
With that, I went back to picking at the snacks set out in front of the chairs. Focusing on the surroundings, I noticed the lobby—which had been quite noisy earlier—had shifted under the weight of the recent disturbance.
"…Unbelievable."
"So that's what 'provisional' was supposed to mean…?"
The atmosphere had gone taut with tension. Of course, it didn't last long—new hunters kept filing in, and the room soon recovered its energy.
"Hello. I don't think we've met—are you a beastkin, by any chance?"
"Ah, yeah. Something like that."
I was already tired of answering that question, so I just smiled vaguely and nodded him off. Once I'd gotten rid of him, I sat back down beside Ha-eun and let out a sigh.
"…When is this thing even starting?"
Seriously—if they told us to be here by one, they should start at one. It was already one-forty and nothing was happening.
"Probably… so people can introduce themselves…"
"Introduce themselves?"
"We're colleagues who are about to walk into a death zone together, after all. If you find people you click with, you form a party."
A social hour, huh. Come to think of it, even the dragons in my old world had gatherings every now and then. Most of them fell apart into fights, but every so often they made for entertaining events.
"It should start soon, though. This much is… standard."
"Being a hunter's harder than I thought. I figured you just had to be good at killing monsters."
"For you, Unnie, killing monsters isn't hard… but for ordinary people, it is."
"So you need teammates?"
"It's better than facing everything alone."
Ha-eun's expression dimmed a little as she went on.
"…And you can also find people to step on, or people to die in your place."
And right then—
Clack—
Bang!—
"…!"
"Huh."
A group of people shoved the doors open hard enough to nearly tear them off, and strode in.
"Yeah, no need to tell me who that is."
A white suit. Red hair. And a scabbard identical to Ha-eun's.
"Though his personality looks even worse than I expected."
It was obvious at a glance.
Park Sang-hyeok. Ha-eun's older brother.
"Man, though—he's gonna be popular. He's actually ridiculously good-looking."
Ha-eun and Ha-yeon were both beauties in their own ways. Looking at the same features on him, blood really did tell.
Thud—
One hand in his pocket, he casually returned the greetings of the people around him with only his right hand as he walked deeper inside. Then his eyes suddenly found us.
"I was wondering where that filthy stench was coming from."
"…"
"What's a girl disowned by the family doing here?"
He smiled, thin and nasty, and started toward us at a leisurely pace. Whether from tension or because some old trauma had been touched, Ha-eun's pupils shook violently. I was about to stand and step in—
Clink—
—but Na Su-han was already on his feet. He gripped his scabbard and, with his thumb, lightly pushed the guard free.
"Come no closer. You are about to make a scene."
"What—Uncle Su-han?"
Even under that threat, Park Sang-hyeok took another step—and Immovable's blade finally moved.
Clack—
"I will say it once more. It would be best if you did not approach."
"Whoa, whoa—okay, okay."
The sensation of a blade against the throat. The sword itself was still at Na Su-han's hip, but a hunter of Park Sang-hyeok's caliber could feel it clearly: move, and your head comes off.
"Seeing you crawl out of those back alleys alive, I figured you had a backer. But a bigger fish than I expected, huh?"
"…"
"And still as rude as ever when your big brother asks a question—just standing there with your mouth shut. Guess life isn't so bad for you yet."
Even so, his mocking didn't show any sign of stopping.
"…It's not like that."
"Oh-ho, talking back now too. Tch. If Uncle weren't here, I'd go another round with you."
With that, he seemed to lose interest. He turned, waved his right hand over his shoulder, and called back as he went.
"Try not to die in here. It wouldn't be any fun if you kicked it too early."
And he vanished into the crowd.
"Man…"
"…Unnie?"
"He's even more of a bastard than I thought."
The way he talked, the way he carried himself—he clearly thought he was some kind of king. Which meant hierarchy needed establishing…
Time to step in, right?
I was already thinking through how to take that guy apart when—
Clap!—
A large man stepped up onto the platform, clapped in front of the microphone, and spoke.
"Everyone, please settle down. We will begin the briefing."