Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Aftermath of a Single Wing Flap
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“Pew!”
“This spirit... had wings?”
“There was another spirit?”
Four pairs of eyes fixed on Seol-i as it fluttered down onto the table.
Jin Tae-san, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, and Seol A-yoon, who had missed it while blocking the landslide. Cheon I-ryeong and Lee Jae-hoon, who had watched it live on the news.
They had all gathered together, replayed the highlight(?) footage, demanded an explanation from me, and in the end, I had brought out Seol-i.
Aside from Jin Tae-san, who hadn’t known I handled spirits, the mood was somewhat accepting.
But Cheon I--ryeong had contacted the guild’s spirit user, Yeon So-ah, and received confirmation that spirits couldn’t physically transform their forms. She shot me a suspicious look.
No choice but to show them directly, then.
I called Seol-i back in and reformed the wings.
A gentle breeze swept through the quiet office as a pair of pure white wings unfurled wide.
“Ho, up close it really looks like an angel.”
“Miss Iroha, can I touch them?”
“As expected of Lady Iroha...”
Amid a chorus of varied reactions, Cheon I-ryeong approached as if entranced.
She brushed her fingertips along the spread wings, then began touching them all over without restraint.
“They’re so soft! They feel light somehow, like touching air itself!”
“Eut... S-stop...”
The sensation of the wings being touched was unexpectedly vivid.
It felt like my body was being kneaded. I hurriedly retracted the wings.
Cheon I-ryeong sat back down with a disappointed expression, and Jin Tae-san—who had only gasped in admiration from his seat—finally spoke up.
“Lady Iroha. Let’s officially promote you as an angel.”
“Pardon? I told you, it’s not that—it’s a spirit.”
“But that’s what it looks like. And word’s already spreading like wildfire that an angel has descended.”
The tablet Jin Tae-san showed me was a compilation of reactions from various communities.
A dizzying array of posts spreading like memes—or were they serious?—almost like fanatic worship.
“...The first one’s weird...”
“Pardon? Isn’t it referring to the rank of archangel?”
...Ahh.
“Anyway, absolutely not. The moment you say that, I’m out of the association. I mean it.”
“Oh dear... This is such a golden opportunity...”
What opportunity?
An opportunity to rebrand the association as a church and hold a holy war?
“Miss Iroha’s right. No matter how sacred, awe-inspiring, and cute her appearance is—or how her actions fit the archetype—this is too much. It could backfire, and above all, Miss Iroha would be overwhelmed by the excessive attention.”
Cheon I-ryeong stepped up on my side to oppose it.
Even if it came with some ambiguous nuances.
“But a live broadcast went out without us anticipating this. Even if it’s a double class, it’ll cause an uproar.”
This was the same issue that had cropped up before when Dal-i got exposed.
Still, double class sounded better than angel, right?
“We can just say this bird is a divine beast.”
“Pew?”
“Ah, right, that divine beast setup.”
“Divine beast...? But ‘do’...?”
Cheon I-ryeong, Seol A-yoon, and the others nodded, while Jin Tae-san—who couldn’t follow—tilted his head.
Ah, he doesn’t know about Dal-i either.
“(｡・▿・｡)”
“Huh?”
“There’s one more. Her name’s Dal-i, a water spirit.”
Jin Tae-san’s face twisted through a series of expressions as he faced the blank-looking Dal-i.
It was the first time I’d seen him so flustered, but eventually, he gave up trying to understand and burst into hearty laughter.
“Ha ha, haw haw. Well now? This is impossible to keep up with. When did you awaken the spirit user class?”
“It just... happened suddenly...”
People really shouldn’t lie, after all.
Well, it hadn’t started as a lie, but I’d gone along with it since I couldn’t find a reason to explain otherwise.
That had snowballed into consequences too big to handle.
And it wasn’t like I could say my class was singular and I just happened to be able to do everything...
What if they found out I could use magic too?
Wouldn’t something unimaginable happen?
* * *
“For now, the association will announce it was the help of a divine beast. It’s like something out of a fantasy movie, but what can we do?”
After hearing the overview of the divine beast setup from Cheon I-ryeong, Jin Tae-san reluctantly nodded.
There would be a fuss about the divine beast’s existence for a while, but there was no other way.
Angel or double class.
At that point, it wouldn’t just be an association-federation issue—it could escalate into international recruitment disputes.
‘Keeping up with Lady Iroha’s pace is too much for an old man like me.’
He’d prided himself on living youthfully, but lately, cleaning up and capitalizing on Iroha’s explosive events was proving overwhelming.
Of course, it was exhausting in a good way, but this incident far exceeded his capabilities.
His mind had raced the moment Iroha sprang into action.
To resolve the massive disaster and assist Iroha, he’d dispatched available association hunters like Song Si-woo.
And as a politician, he hadn’t missed the chance to tag along Daily Hunters.
Of course, he’d made sure they filmed from afar to avoid exposing Iroha’s face—but something even more astonishing had been caught.
His phone kept ringing nonstop.
Messages from the National Assembly speaker, party leaders, desperate pleas from association staff for response plans, and even a direct call from the president.
He never imagined he’d ignore a direct line from the president, but right now, he needed time to gather his thoughts.
Jin Tae-san sank into deep contemplation in the moving car.
Soon the vehicle stopped, and still clutching his complicated head, he pressed the button for the office floor.
As the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by a swarm of National Assembly members and Blue House aides—he had no idea when they’d arrived.
‘Hah, even that heavy-assed old fart. They must be pretty desperate.’
Among them was the leader of the Hanmin Party.
The old snake, Choi Pil-hun, who had been scheming to plant his son as association head.
“Minister Jin! What the hell is going on?!”
“Minister, is the news real? An angel?”
“Is it related to awakening somehow?”
“Minister Jin Tae-san. His Excellency requests your presence.”
A cacophony of voices regardless of rank or status.
Jin Tae-san listened quietly before speaking softly.
The usually talkative assembly members fell silent in that moment.
“For now, the news is inaccurate. The Saintess is not a literal angel.”
“Then what were those wings! It’s total chaos out there!”
One assemblyman from a religious group was particularly agitated.
His gleaming eyes were those of a zealot.
‘Dodged a bullet by not announcing her as an angel.’
Otherwise, another war might have broken out.
“I’ll report the details to the president and make an announcement after. But as I’ve said before, Korea’s hunter world will be newly ordered under the association’s framework. Let me reiterate that.”
“You mean it’ll move according to the government’s will?”
“Then let’s pass the hunter tax bill and emergency conscription bill while we’re at it...!”
“We need assemblymen placed in the association! For smooth operation via recommendations from each party—”
“Enough.”
Jin Tae-san quietly cut off the suddenly energized assemblymen.
He nearly laughed at their doubtful, resentful glares.
‘What do they expect to see with eyes like that?’
The future should be shaped by those like Cheon I-ryeong or Iroha, who could gaze straight ahead with clear eyes.
“I said the association’s order. Not law bills tailored to your parties’ tastes, but an order crafted by the current association staff through their deliberations.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“Are you done talking? This shakes the sovereignty of the Republic of Korea!”
“Planning a coup or what?! Don’t forget the association is a government agency!”
A chuckle escaped despite himself.
“A coup? What’s a government that’s never accomplished anything properly and just fights endlessly after? The guilds were occupying land, and you lot kept your mouths shut—now what?”
Some assemblymen flinched at his angry tone.
Trash who’d taken guild money.
“Forgot all those past mistakes? You misjudged then too, stepped in half-heartedly, and look where that got us.”
“That time! We had no choice!”
“And now? No choice again? Don’t delude yourselves. The association isn’t a sword for you to swing freely. That’s not why it was created.”
“Then why has the government supported it all this time?! Do you know how much tax goes to hunters yearly?!”
“A lot, yes. But there are businesses from the mana stones we buy with it, aren’t there? And that support fund wasn’t created by you—it’s because nothing gets done without money.”
The assemblymen could only work their lips at Jin Tae-san’s sharp words.
He fixed them with a cold gaze before speaking again.
“And you asked why? Obviously to protect the people and safeguard this land, right? Has the government supported the association for any other purpose?”
No one opened their mouth at the blunt question. Jin Tae-san broke the silence with a scoff and turned to the Blue House staff.
“I’ll go to the president. And there, we’ll properly set the path forward.”
#Cheon I-ryeong's Camera (feat. Everyday Shot of Being Pestered to Show Wings)