Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Frost Flower (1)
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"Hello, everyone, nice to meet you! Our guest today is a very, very special person. That's right! One of the few thousand A-rank hunters in all of Korea—a freelancer not affiliated with any guild! With dual US-Korean citizenship and stunning looks that have made her hugely popular, it's that very person! Let me introduce her!"
"Hahaha, nice to meet you all. I'm Seo I-an. Pleased to meet you!"
"Thank you so much for joining us on Daily Lives of Hunters, I-an. To be honest... high-rankers like A-rank hunters and above rarely appear on shows like this. A-rank! Such a prestigious, awesome title, and there are only a few thousand in the whole country, right?"
"You're hyping me up too much—it's embarrassing. I don't really see myself as that impressive."
"Ugh... so humble too! Perfect. Alright then, Daily Lives of Hunters—let's get started!"
"Hahahahaha..."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Haa... seriously. Sucking up to them is freaking exhausting."
Daily Lives of Hunters. A hit show pulling double-digit ratings.
And airing in the golden evening slot, no less—so most guests were celebrities or singers everyone knew, or fellow awakeners.
That's why Seo I-an wanted to use this program to reshape her image.
After all, that old incident—accidentally killing someone while drunk at a bar—was still clinging to her like a tag. She figured appearing on a variety show, laughing and chatting with celebs, would help wash it away.
"What the hell, so many damn questions."
But if she'd known filming would be this grueling, she probably wouldn't have done it.
At least, that's what I-an thought. Coddling celebrities' egos, forcing smiles nonstop, playing along to their dumb jokes... ugh.
"Good work today."
I-an dragged her weary body home and dove straight into bed.
The mattress sank along her curves, the soft comforter and pillow cradling her gently.
Just like that, her eyes fluttered shut as she lay there, and soon I-an plunged into deep sleep.
"..."
How much time passed with I-an asleep?
From beneath the bed where she slept, a shadowy figure cautiously emerged.
Right hand gripping anti-awakener rope meant for great awakeners, left clutching a dagger from the otherworld dungeons, face twisted with murderous intent.
The man crawled out from under the bed, slowly rising to his feet.
"...Got you."
His cheekbones twitched wildly as he methodically wrapped the rope around I-an's body.
Once fully bound, the ropes dug into her voluptuous figure, creating a rather lewd scene—but the man didn't spare it a glance. Silently, he administered an elephant-grade tranquilizer.
Then he hauled her limp body outside and loaded her into the waiting vehicle.
"Kyaaah! Help! Kidnapping! A kidnapper—"
As he shoved I-an into the car, someone suddenly called out to the man.
A high school girl, spotting I-an trussed up in thick rope, screamed in panic.
"Quiet."
Kwachik—!
The man swiftly hurled his dagger, piercing the girl's head clean through.
"Recall."
Muttering under his breath, the dagger yanked free from her skull and flew back to his hand.
Someone else would handle the CCTV cleanup, he'd been told. So the man hurriedly stuffed I-an into the vehicle, hopped into the driver's seat, and floored the accelerator.
"Kyaaah!"
"There's a body here!"
"Someone's dead!"
Not long after he left, passersby spotted the girl crumpled on the ground and frantically called the cops.
Rushing to the scene, the police scoured the nearby CCTV footage—but every camera had been tampered with, all blank.
No records whatsoever. The feeds just hung there, heads bowed in silence.
When word spread that A-rank hunter Seo I-an had vanished, police and guilds that had long eyed her joined the desperate search. But in the end, they didn't find so much as a strand of her hair.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 💬 Hadal Chat — rla10_User Thank you. Truly, thank you so much. — Frost Flower (☆) Save your thanks for Tree Tree. I wouldn't have helped if she hadn't asked. That otherworld dagger and anti-awakener rope? All her stuff. — rla10_User Still, thank you. I got I-an thanks to you. — Frost Flower (☆) I don't care what you do with her, as long as you stick to the deal. Turn her into a sex slave, scar her up—whatever. Just don't kill her. That's not your job. Got it? — rla10_User Understood. Thank you. — Frost Flower (☆) Thank Tree Tree, not me. I'm busy—logging off. — rla10_User Yes, got it. Thank you. "...I told him no thank-yous."
A dark room somewhere.
Whirr whirr whirr—
Dozens of computers, coolers, and fans humming in a near-futuristic setup.
There, a woman sat primly, gazing at her array of monitors.
"Haa... I'm tired, so tired, seriously tired, tired tired tired..."
Ding—
The white-haired little girl—or rather, young woman—in a baggy hoodie and short dolphin pants stretched languidly.
"So tiiiired..."
Whining about her fatigue, she slumped against her chair, head lolling.
Ding—
Or tried to.
A sudden message chime had her grabbing the mouse to check.
— Camellia Flower (☆) Today's work all done? "Ah..."
The reaper himself awaited.
— Frost Flower (☆) All done. — Camellia Flower (☆) Hmm... for real? — Frost Flower (☆) Yeah, all done. — Camellia Flower (☆) What about Tree Tree's requests? — Frost Flower (☆) Tree sis has tons of requests. Which one? — Camellia Flower (☆) You know, the Hunter Gallery thing? Doxxing those users Tree Tree pointed out? "Ah."
— Frost Flower (☆) ...I'll get right on it. — Camellia Flower (☆) I always believe in our Frost Flower. Do great today too, okay? "Haa, seriously annoying annoying annoying..."
Wrapping up with Camellia Flower, the woman clacked away at her keyboard with practiced ease.
She followed the link he'd sent, checking the post there.
"These guys, huh?"
Confirming the usernames from Camellia Flower, she traced their IPs and doxxed them one by one.
For someone whose hacking could go toe-to-toe with the CIA or North Korea's intel agency, this was child's play.
Riding the IPs effortlessly, Frost Flower dug up residences, phone numbers, names, resident IDs.
Then something caught her eye.
"Name... Kim Ja-wi...?"
Nickname: Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee.
The poor user who'd earned Tree Tree's ire... her real name was Kim Ja-wi.
Of all things.
"Uh, um, uh... um..."
Frost Flower lost control of her expression at the sudden word.
Should she laugh? Cry? Sneer? She clutched her head, genuinely torn.
Part of her wanted to blast it online—but thinking of the hell he'd endured because of that name, she pitied him too.
A real dilemma.
"Mm, mm, uuuuugh..."
She hadn't agonized this much planting porn on FBI servers or sticking hammers and sickles on the Pentagon site... post it? Or nah?
"Huuuugh..."
In the end, Frost Flower opted to quietly PM the user "Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee."
— frost You. — Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee ? Who? — frost You're Kim Ja-wi, right? "Pfft..."
How could anyone's name be Kim Ja-wi?
— Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee Who the hell are you? — frost Name: Kim Ja-wi. Phone: 010-XXXX-XXXX. Resident ID: 910725-1285407. Address: Mapo-gu, Seoul... — Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee How do you know this? — frost Want to live? Do what I say. — Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee ...What? — frost Leave Hunter Gallery right now. — Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee ? — frost One hour. Quit or I blast your resident ID, address—everything—across the net. — Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee Got it. Quitting now. "Let's see..."
Once he agreed to quit, she hopped onto the gallery and searched "Hunter Association Grade 4 Employee."
[Name does not exist]
"He quit."
Fast.
"Urgh... alright, time to handle the rest."
With one pest down, Frost Flower doxxed the others.
She sold some info to brokers and traffickers, others to necromancers.
Nice little profit on the side.
"Haa... miss Tree sis."
Finished with the nuisances, Frost Flower grabbed a beer from the fridge and chugged it down.
As she drank, she looped Tree Tree's video stuck on her computer.
Tree Tree in a maid outfit, blushing in dolphin pants, in a swimsuit, desperately propping up nonexistent cleavage...
"Hehehehehehe..."
Of course, Tree Tree had never worn any of that for real.
But with Frost Flower's god-tier editing and custom AI coding, pumping out hundreds was easy.
And so, she savored her private happy time with Tree Tree's pics today too.
A cool swig of beer—kuuuuh!
If this wasn't happiness, what was?