X-Rank Hunter
I naturally started dialing my mother. The door was left open.
“…”
“…”
I hurriedly wrapped my ears in magic power to block my hearing. It didn’t feel right for an outsider like me to eavesdrop on a family conversation. Honestly, I was dying to hear what they were saying, but I held back.
About five minutes passed like that before Maru returned. He had a strange expression on his face.
“Are you done with the call?”
“Yeah… Did you hear everything?”
“I blocked my ears with magic power, so I couldn’t hear. I only knew it was your mother on the other end.”
“Ah, the truth is my mom runs a lodging business.”
“I see.”
So that’s why he was so confident. The reason he hadn’t wanted to use this method—was it because he didn’t want to ask his parents for help? Or maybe he just found it awkward.
“The reason all the nearby accommodations are fully booked is because a really famous foreign hunter is coming to Gwangalli.”
“A foreign hunter? Who?”
“Eirik Halvorsen.”
“…Huh?”
Eirik Halvorsen. Also known as the Deep Sea Fisherman. An X-rank hunter from Norway who currently drifts across the oceans, hunting giant marine magic beasts purely as a hobby.
Gates normally appear in places where people can enter. They don’t suddenly pop up five hundred meters in the air, for example.
But they do appear in the ocean. The magic beasts that emerge from gates usually resemble creatures native to the environment where the gate formed. Jungles spawn venomous snakes or tigers, snowy fields produce bears or wolves. Naturally, the ocean produces fish-type magic beasts.
Of course, there are exceptions. Sometimes completely unrelated monsters appear, like the orcs we caught last time. There have even been cases of venomous snakes appearing in snowy fields. In any case, ocean gates are almost impossible to clear, so they virtually all result in gate breaks. The deeper parts of the sea have already become lairs for these beasts.
I got a bit sidetracked, but he’s a hunter who specializes in hunting marine magic beasts. Thanks to the privileges of being an X-rank hunter, he’s the only one who can freely travel through any nation’s territorial waters without special procedures.
“Why is he coming?”
“I don’t know. That much hasn’t been made public.”
Since he’s an X-rank hunter, his mental state is far from ordinary. He doesn’t go around slaughtering people, but he’s not exactly someone who can’t hurt them either.
“Anyway, that’s why all the nearby lodgings are sold out.”
“So it’s not just tourists—business owners are flocking in too.”
He occasionally comes ashore in random countries to sell the magic beasts he’s hunted. This time, it seems he’s planning to sell them in Gwangalli, Korea. His catches are all incredibly rare, so they fetch exorbitant prices. But at least the quality is guaranteed.
“That’s why my mom’s place is already completely booked too.”
“Ah… Then what do we do?”
Should we push the date back? But then it might be hard for Chaeeun to match the schedule.
“There is one place that might work… but it’s a bit…”
“Where?”
“My family home.”
“?”
Family home? The house where Maru’s parents and Nuri live?
Even after I called about the lodging situation, Chaeeun’s determination didn’t waver. If anything, she seemed even more fired up.
“But is it okay for us to show up at a family meeting like that?”
“It’s not a family meeting!”
What kind of family meeting? We’re not even dating yet.
No, wait! It’s not that we’re “not yet”—we’re not going to date at all!!
“Anyway, I’m fine with it. I’ll ask Unni myself. I actually had something I wanted to talk to her about anyway.”
“Thanks. I’m counting on you.”
Once we got Unni’s permission, staying at Maru’s family home seemed like the best option.
“By the way, have you ever met that Deep Sea Fisherman?”
“Of course. We’ve even fought together.”
“What kind of person is he?”
He’s one of the more peculiar individuals among the X-rank hunters. From the moment he awakened, he’s focused solely on confronting marine magic beasts. The world has no idea why. People can only speculate—maybe it’s revenge, or perhaps just a sense of adventure.
“He’s just someone who really likes deep-sea fishing. It’s just that his version is extremely dangerous and over-the-top.”
I had heard the reason directly from him. It really was that simple. It was just a hobby. He loves the ocean and enjoys catching fish. That’s all.
“They say all X-rank hunters are weird, right? Even their own countries consider them a headache.”
“Were you looking at me that way?”
“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant.”
Watching Maru show such a refreshing reaction for the first time in a while, I continued.
“In the first place, it’s not normal to head toward a place where even hundreds of lives wouldn’t be enough, all for a hobby. And that guy is actually disliked in Norway.”
“Why? Isn’t having an X-rank hunter in your country supposed to be a good thing?”
“He hasn’t done anything for his home country. He openly declared that if the government tried to profit off his name, he’d wipe them all out.”
X-rank hunters aren’t mass-murdering terrorists. If they were, it wouldn’t be special treatment—it would be a national all-out subjugation war.
The problem is that while he isn’t that kind of person, he has the power to become one. If an X-rank hunter went on a rampage, that country would be finished. If they couldn’t stop him, the nation would collapse. Even if they somehow managed to stop him, the public order and infrastructure would be utterly destroyed.
…Looking at it this way, we really are dangerous people. It’s like giving a single individual the nuclear launch button. And out of the seven, five of them have screws loose. It’s honestly a miracle their countries are still standing.
“Anyway, his life goal is just catching big, strong magic beasts in the ocean. He has zero interest in anything else. He probably didn’t even care about the X-rank gate incident.”
I have no idea what kind of tricks the Pope used to drag him in, but it’s clear that guy had no noble purpose like saving lives.
“Hmm… That’s interesting.”
“Just in case, don’t get too close to him. He’s not exactly someone who can’t hurt people.”
“Got it. I’ll be careful. Can I ask about the others too?”
“The rest of the X-rank hunters?”
Maru nodded. It made sense that he’d be curious once the topic came up.
“First, the Pope… he’s the most normal one. He’s incredibly kind, easy to talk to, and cooperative with nations just like me. But he’s old and in poor health, so he’s retired from active duty. He’s the world’s greatest healer and supporter.”
The Pope is famous enough that everyone knows about him. There was even talk about him being the reincarnation of Jesus or something.
Incidentally, the Pope’s image in Korea isn’t that great. It’s not his fault—it’s because of the people shouting “Heaven for believers, hell for non-believers.” After the Day of Awakening and the Pope’s appearance, those people went completely insane for a while.
“He has a somewhat solemn and heavy aura in public, but in private he’s incredibly comfortable and gentle.”
“That’s kind of fascinating.”
“He’s an amazing person. A model for religious figures, you could say. Oh, and unofficially, he also acts as our leader.”
After all, it was the Vatican and the Pope who gathered the world’s hunters in the first place.
“I already mentioned the Deep Sea Fisherman. Zeus from the United States is a master of lightning magic and the halberd. He excels in mid-to-close range combat.”
Magic and physical abilities are technically separate, but they’re actually quite similar. That’s why talented hunters often use both at the same time.
“And just like the myths, he’s an incredible womanizer.”
“Womanizer?”
“His relationships are a total mess. Or should I say, his relationships with both men and women? He’s bisexual.”
If someone catches his eye, he’ll hit on them regardless of gender. He even came on to me once, completely openly. The moment he found out I was a minor, he ran away immediately. He does draw the line there, at least?
“Still, he doesn’t pester people who clearly dislike him. The problem is that if they don’t dislike him, he’ll go straight for it.”
His range includes married women and grandmothers. Everyone except minors is fair game. Maybe even Maru.
“Cheonma from China is publicly the most extreme and ruthless hunter. He doesn’t hesitate to kill at all. His specialty is offensive magic. He’s a walking disaster who sweeps away everything with overwhelming range and destructive power.”
He doesn’t kill people without reason. But if he decides someone deserves to die, he kills them without a second thought. If it weren’t for China’s extreme awakened supremacist ideology, he would have caused a catastrophe long ago.
“And Aegis from Colombia is the ultimate tank. He’s also an extreme strength worshipper. He respects the strong and trains every day to become stronger himself.”
He doesn’t look down on the weak. To be precise, he simply doesn’t care about them. Whether someone lives or dies next to him, he just does his own thing. In that sense, he’s similar to the Deep Sea Fisherman.
“Last is… Thoth from Egypt. He’s less of a hunter and more of a researcher. He tries to understand and collect every piece of information or knowledge he can get his hands on. I’m not sure about his exact position. He’s basically capable of filling any role.”
He once got caught trying to access information equivalent to national secrets. He doesn’t care about anything when it comes to satisfying his thirst for knowledge.
The reason I didn’t ask Thoth to look after my parents is simple. He values knowledge over human rights. I find this guy scarier than Cheonma.
“That’s the gist of it. They’re more ordinary than you’d think, and more dangerous than you’d think.”
“…They just sound dangerous to me?”
“That’s fair.”
To me, they’re people I can stop. But to others, they’re objects of terror that cannot be stopped.
“By the way, why is Zeus in America? Shouldn’t he be in Greece?”
“If we’re going by that logic, why am I in Korea? I should be in Northern Europe.”
The titles are just titles. They don’t actually have any connection to the myths. That’s why I’m called Fenrir even though I’m Korean.
“When you list them all like this, it really does seem like an incredible stroke of luck for Korea that you’re here.”
“Right? This country really needs to treat me better.”
If Cheonma or Zeus had been in Korea, the country would probably have fallen apart. Just imagining those thoughtless higher-ups acting out without knowing their place makes me think the nation might have been destroyed. The only reason it hasn’t is because it’s me holding back.
“Anyway, so staying at your family home is confirmed? Do you have enough rooms?”
“Yeah. Our house is pretty big. There are plenty of rooms. It’s a bit far from Gwangalli Beach, though.”
“Can’t be helped. We’ll just have to accept that much.”
There’s a chance I might run into the Deep Sea Fisherman. Thinking about that, staying a little farther from Gwangalli might actually be better.
“Then let’s call it a night. You should head back home—”
“Huh? Ah! Wait a second!”
I stopped Maru, who was about to fall asleep. I still had something I wanted to do. The thing I bought secretly today…
“What are you doing?”
“Just wait! It’ll only take a second!”
If I do it like this… Perfect!
“What the heck are you…”
“H-how does it look?”
Maru’s eyes were trembling and his mouth was hanging open. No wonder—the outfit I had just changed into was…
“It’s a swimsuit just for you today.”
It was the black string bikini I had secretly bought earlier.