Five Minutes, Please
[Emergency! Emergency, you lot!]
[Mmmgh... Bro, what's wrong?]
[Elder Brother?]
Poppi beat his wings frantically, rousing Choco and Ddubu from sleep. Choco rubbed his drowsy eyes, while Ddubu ran her tongue over scales that had gone dull and dry overnight.
[Elder Brother has vanished!]
[Elder Brother—!?
[What did you just say?! Where could Brother Ji-hoon possibly have gone?!]
Poppi had watched Ji-hoon leave that morning, telling them to wait for him. Just a quick meeting, he'd said, and then he'd head straight into the mission — so wait for me.
[And he has not returned.]
[That can't be...]
[Our brother... missing...?]
The moment Ddubu murmured the words—
KU-BOOM!
The hearts of Poppi, Choco, and Ddubu all plunged at once.
[Can you sense anything, Choco?!]
[Not yet-sim. There's something tingling, but I can't tell what it is-sim.]
[If only I had known, I would have given him every scale on my body... Brother, wherever are you!]
My brother! My dearest brother!
To the people outside, Ddubu's cries sounded only like Hssst— Hssiiisss-shshshsh!
And the instant the Administration Bureau staff reacted to that grotesque noise and tried to force the door open—
Peep–
CRASH!
Choco's massive arm smashed the door to pieces.
Behind it stood the giant-sized Choco and Poppi, with Ddubu — still in her compact form — cradled safely between them.
[Where is our Elder Brother, you lowly humans?!]
Grrrrrr–
SKREEEEEOOOOW!
The roar of Poppi, the Griffin King, flooded the training grounds with terror in the space of a single breath.
Grrr– Grk, grk.
[I will ask only once more.]
Goooo–
[Where. Is. Our. Elder. Brother.]
While chaos erupted outside over Poppi and the others searching for Ji-hoon—
"Haah... Hahaha..."
Bae Yu-na twirled a dagger between her fingers, tongue flicking across her lips, radiating the unmistakable aura of an assassin.
Watching her, Team C tightened their guard.
"Be careful. She's not normal."
"Right. At least B-rank... or maybe even A-rank."
Kang Gi-tae chugged a top-grade potion and flung the empty bottle over his shoulder.
Clang—
"Hey, we don't actually have to fight, you know?"
"Oh, and who was it that attacked us out of nowhere?!"
Lee Min-jae charged at Bae Yu-na.
Whuum—
A sweeping one-handed slash. Bae Yu-na evaded it with ease and fell back a step.
"All we need is Hunter Lee Ji-hoon."
Her voice had gone calm — but it rang out like an unmistakable threat.
Still, Team C struggled to keep their composure.
"Ha! Coming after our little brother again, are you?"
Kang Gi-tae smirked — but he could see no opening for a win. The enemy was just one woman. Not S-rank, true. But she'd gained her power illegally through a forced mana rampage, which made her impossible to predict.
"Everyone, listen up."
Then, from the very back, Ji-hoon murmured:
"Can you buy me exactly five minutes?"
"Five minutes? For what?"
Ji-hoon raised a finger to his lips.
"Can't let my strategy leak. So just yes or no, everyone. Five minutes — doable?"
Even in this crushing tension, Ji-hoon remained perfectly calm. Just what kind of life had he lived before his return?
And then—
"Pfft."
Kim Ji-eun was the first to snort. Kang Gi-tae followed, then Kim Jin-woo, then Lee Min-jae — all of them.
"Ha, that's the big ask? Like we can't even manage that?"
"We'll buy you seven."
"You should finish it in one."
They hurled out the bravado like it cost them nothing — and privately, each of them felt a pang of shame at how full of themselves they'd been, thinking they'd seen it all.
"Camaraderie... brotherhood... it's the season for all that sprouting, isn't it?"
Watching Team C, Bae Yu-na twisted the corner of her mouth.
"I know it well. And I know exactly what that word means, too."
"Then why don't you just leave us alone?"
Bae Yu-na raised her dagger and aimed it at Ji-hoon.
"Because it makes me sick, that's why. Humans, I mean."
Whirrr–
As the dagger spun across her palm, her eyes flared crimson.
"So I'll be the one to put things in order."
SHWAAAA—!
Bae Yu-na flung out a single dagger and then launched herself toward Ji-hoon like a bolt of lightning.
In that instant, mana bloomed once more from Kim Jin-woo's hand.
"Mana Tracking (A)!"
Kim Jin-woo's skill. By predicting the flow of an enemy's mana, it mapped the trajectory of incoming attacks — and carved out a counter.
"Thanks, hyung-nim!"
Kang Gi-tae bumped fists with him, hard.
"Muscle Reinforcement (B)! Body Reinforcement (B)!"
THUD! THUD!
Kang Gi-tae's body hardened and swelled, thigh muscles bulging.
"Stop spoiling only our F-rank baby brother!"
BOOM!
Kim Jin-woo had read the arc of Bae Yu-na's attack — and with that vision shared to him, Kang Gi-tae's eyes lit up bright.
"Hah!"
KAANG–
Kang Gi-tae kicked Bae Yu-na away, then concentrated all his power into those bulging thighs. The instant his foot slammed the ground, his body rocketed skyward.
"HWRRRRAAAAAAAH!"
A brute-force leap, followed by a brute-force descent. Bae Yu-na eyed the incoming attack with icy detachment—
Slik–
"...Stealth (B)."
"Hah! Stealth? Just smash the whole damn ground around her to bits!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Kang Gi-tae pulverized the floor again and again. At the same moment, Lee Min-jae drove his shield against Kang Gi-tae's back with a kick, shoving him out of the line of fire.
CLANG–!
The dagger driving toward Kang Gi-tae's spine was deflected off Lee Min-jae's shield.
"...Blocking it again?"
"Her attacks are simple."
Kim Jin-woo's eyes blazed white, and that light was shared with Lee Min-jae as well. Shield still pressed against the two daggers meant for him, Lee Min-jae shoved forward and roared:
"Break Counter (B)!"
WHUUUM–!
A counterattack that returned one and a half times the force of the blow it absorbed. A faint pattern glimmered across the shield's surface — and Bae Yu-na was hurled backward along with her own daggers.
"Why you little—!"
"Mana Whip (B)!"
Kim Jin-woo lashed his mana whip around her flailing right leg.
"Oh no—"
CRASH!
Bae Yu-na's body was slammed into the ground. At that very moment, one of her daggers whipped around toward Kim Jin-woo's mana whip.
Snip–
The A-rank hunter's skill was severed in an instant.
Fweee–
And the thrown dagger — it didn't fly toward the three holding the front line. It curved toward the rear.
"Ugh...!"
Not at Ji-hoon. At Kim Ji-eun.
The mana-laden dagger tore through her backpack and punched through her shoulder. The items packed inside spilled out across the ground.
"All that 'acting tough.' It was all because of those."
"...You bitch!"
Ji-hoon grabbed an unbroken potion and rushed to treat Ji-eun.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm, sorry. Hhk... Aaagh...!"
"Ji-eun?!"
The wound itself would heal. Bae Yu-na swept her hair back and laughed.
"Right now, she's feeling her mana being torn apart."
"What... did you say?"
"Concentrate your mana just right, and you can brew poison like this."
Sure enough, swollen blotches were rising across Kim Ji-eun's shoulder. A growth like a poisonous mushroom pressed down on the mana spreading through her body.
"A... AAAAAGH...!"
"One support down."
Bae Yu-na drew another dagger out of thin air and kicked it away.
SHWAAA—!
"Break Counter (B)!"
"A thrown weapon carrying mana, you see—"
This time, her dagger's path bent — not toward Lee Min-jae, but toward Kim Jin-woo.
"—can change its trajectory mid-flight."
Whip–
The dagger headed for Lee Min-jae veered in a heartbeat and shot toward Kim Jin-woo's leg.
"Jin-woo hyung!"
"Kgh!"
I can't let it hit me!
Thinking exactly that, Kim Jin-woo twisted his body to the left.
"So that is your habit. Dodging this way?"
"!!??"
WHAM–!
Bae Yu-na's kick slammed into his temple.
Whuum— WHAM!
Kim Jin-woo crumpled to the floor.
"Jin-woo hyung!"
"Still got time to worry about your friends, do you?"
The dagger barrage continued. Under Bae Yu-na's twin-dagger flurry, gashes opened across Kang Gi-tae's forearm one after another.
Shlak– shlak–
"GRAAAH!"
"AHAHAHAHA! You're weak! You're weak — so live like the weak, that's all!"
A voice like outright mania. Laughter tangled with self-loathing.
"Don't bother beating yourselves up over this. You're not even side characters."
Thud.
KU-BOOM–
Kang Gi-tae collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from the blade wounds.
"Kch... Kch-kch..."
"? What are you laughing at?"
"Kch... Ku-heh... You — kch — your target... wasn't... us... was it?"
Bae Yu-na's gaze snapped down to Kang Gi-tae, sprawled on the floor. His blood was mixing with another liquid pooled beneath him — and turning violet.
In that moment—
Squelch... squelch...
The fluids pooled across the floor. No — that wasn't water...
"...Slime mucus?"
"Back where I came from, there was a thing we always said when wrapping up a game."
Behind the fallen Kang Gi-tae — Kim Ji-eun, wounds already treated, was spraying water across the ground in wild, sweeping arcs through her spirits.
And Ji-hoon stood with one of Poppi's feathers planted under each foot, holding in his hand a slime that was busily spitting.
Feather Resonance
You have been acknowledged by the Griffin King.
Your potential rises while standing upon a griffin's feather.
Would you like to throw a tamed monster?
Target Monster: Slime (F)
"Now seems like the perfect moment, don't you think?"
KIIIIIIIIING–!
Standing atop Poppi's feathers, Ji-hoon's whole body was wreathed in golden light. In the same instant, he hurled the slime.
Whuum—!
"Ha! An F-rank trick like—!"
SPLAT–!
The slime shot forward faster than her own throwing speed, flying straight for Bae Yu-na's stomach. But—
"Your attack pattern is so obvious!"
The moment she raised her dagger to slice the slime apart—
SHUUUUUUUUP–!
the slime sucked up every drop of mucus spilled across the floor in one gulp—
The slime regurgitates everything it absorbed — directly into the target's face.
Bae Yu-na wrenched her head aside to dodge — but the mucus pooled on the ground had been far too much for her to evade it cleanly, and a good portion of the slime's spray ended up in her mouth and nose.
"You— you DIRTY FEATHERED BASTARD!!!!"
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
Bae Yu-na's mana roiled and boiled over.
"Last time AND this time! Just how much humiliation are you going to dump on me, Lee Ji-hoon—"
Grin.
Ji-hoooon smirked. And at the same time—
"Kgh... khaagh...!"
"How's it feel?"
AAAAAAAAGH!!!!
Bae Yu-na thrashed and twisted in agony.
Slime (F)
A fragile monster, ideal for building the fundamentals of combat. Weak in both offense and defense.
Warning: Slime mucus is dangerous if swallowed. Do not eat.
"Slime mucus has the property of absorbing mana, you see."
"Y-you... AAAAAAGH!"
"The pain of your mana being torn apart — feel it yourself, you son of a bitch."
The moment Bae Yu-na's mana rampage flared out of control, what came to Ji-hoon's mind were the Hell Farm crew. Poppi, Choco, Ddubu — all three had surrendered to their primal urges during their rampages.
But what had Bae Yu-na's rampage been about? Her own obsessive fixation on balance and order.
So if the rampage came from mana — then all he had to do was erase the mana causing it. In other words, the impurities inside her — the unstable, contaminated mana — simply needed to be soaked up by the mucus.
"Ghh — AAAAAGH!"
Cracks spread across Bae Yu-na's body as she wrestled with the runaway mana, and through those cracks the corrupted mana began to pour out — hissing out like escaping steam, shreeeee–, in a plume of haze.
KU-BOOM–
Bae Yu-na's body crumpled where she stood.
"Ha... Haha...!"
"We... we won..."
Kim Jin-woo, limping back from a distance. Lee Min-jae, lowering his shield. Kang Gi-tae, hauling his bleeding body upright. Kim Ji-eun, with a spirit perched on her shoulder.
And—
Shhhhhh–
Ji-hoon, watching the spent feathers of Poppi crumble into dust.
"I know you're all there, by the way."
He spoke toward the figures hiding in the bushes.
"You might not want to stick around, though."
Ji-hoon flashed a smile.
"The S-rank hunters will be here any minute."
The lurking presences vanished all at once.
And then—
WHAM!
[Elder Brother! You okay?!]
Somehow already inside, Choco sent the fleeing man flying into the bushes with one giant paw.
"You work fast, you brute."
[Don't worry, Bro. Little brother'll smash 'em all to— Huh?]
Choco's gaze landed on Bae Yu-na, sprawled unconscious on the ground.
[Knew it was you, Bro. Bet it was frickin' awesome.]
Ji-hoon smirked and looked toward the bushes.
"Hey. You there."
Flinch–
"Your camera's still in one piece, right?"
Ji-hoon pointed at the man lying ragged and sprawled on the ground — or more precisely, at the camera he was cradling like his most precious possession.
"Edit it well. Make me look extra badass this time."