SSS++++++
Hyun Jisu pulled the smartphone from his pocket. The first thing he did was log into Bitstorm.
Why is it lagging this badly?
A prickle of unease ran through him, and he sat there willing the screen to load faster. The raid, whatever Chaerin was doing up ahead, whatever Ayeon was up to — none of it so much as entered his mind. In this moment, there was only Jisu and Bitstorm.
An eternity!
That instant ruled by the Reaper of Traffic, the specter that had revealed itself with the dawn of the internet age!
It's up!
Jisu's eyes snapped to the main screen. He didn't even need to search. Masterchef had overtaken Bitcoin at the very top of the list — naturally enough, given that it currently held the number-one spot in trading volume.
The screen read 159 won, but the number was crashing at a speed almost impossible to follow. He had no idea how it had gotten this low, but one thing was certain: it was tracing a downward line, and it was still falling.
Dump.
The fate every mooning coin eventually had to meet. Just as you climb a mountain only to come back down, in this market it was simply the way of things.
Good. Sell it. Sell it all, right now!
Jisu yanked up his status window and mashed the Sell All button. Even the message prompt felt sluggish today, as if the universe itself were dragging its feet.
Sell all Masterchef (MCF) coins?
Yes! Yes! Sell it already! Sell!
There was nothing in this world that could stop Hyun Jisu from dumping those coins.
Sold all Masterchef (MCF) coins at 143 won.
It had slipped a little further in those few seconds, but he'd still managed to get out without taking a loss. He pulled up his status window at once.
✦ Magic Power:0(Unlocks upon acquiring a magic-related skill)
Hah — SSS++++++ rank?
Compared to the overwhelming power he'd been throwing around earlier, it was a steep drop — but that hardly mattered. What filled his vision were those three luminous letters: SSS. And then six plus signs stacked on top of them.
Did a Hunter of this rank even exist in the world? An SSS-rank Hunter, the kind people only ever spoke of, the kind that had been passed down like a legend — and he had blown straight past it. The moment he'd gone all in, he had become an SSS-rank Hunter.
Of course, he had no way of knowing then that he had already reached the G-rank that lay beyond even that.
With the coins fully liquidated, he opened the group chat and scrolled through the flood of messages.
Apparently he'd been calling the trade the entire way up.
It went all the way to 257 won?!
Of all the rotten luck — it had mooned and hit the sell window right in the middle of the raid. If it had climbed as high as 257 won, just how far had his stats gone?
Selling after the drop stung a little, but SSS++++++ was an absurd figure in its own right, so he couldn't really complain. The feeling wrapping around his entire body wasn't dissatisfaction at all. It was joy. Pleasure.
That's it. That's it!
Jisu tried his best to keep the delight off his face. He'd been right. More than anything, he was thrilled that his own judgment had been correct. He wanted to praise himself over and over for recognizing that now was the moment to throw the dice.
Nice job, Jisu! You're the best, Hyun Jisu! You were right all along!
He was seized by the urge to ruffle his own hair in congratulations — and that was when it happened.
"Hyun Jisu. You seem pretty absorbed in that."
"GYAAAAH?!"
Jisu yelped and stumbled backward. Chaerin was standing a handspan in front of him. He had no idea when she'd gotten there.
Wasn't she just over there talking to that Ayeon woman a second ago?
Did you have to come equipped with stealth skills as a basic requirement to become President of the Hunter Association? The useless thought flickered through his head — and then another one caught up with it.
But why did she just stand there watching instead of joining the raid?
When the monster had first appeared, the one barking orders and throwing herself into the fight hadn't been Chaerin. It had been Ayeon. Simply put, you'd think you'd have to be the strongest Hunter around to sit as President of the Hunter Association — which would put Chaerin, at minimum, among the strongest Hunters in Korea. Or was it one of those things you always saw in novels? There's no need for me to use my power on something like this.
Even so, something about that didn't sit right. Why was she just watching? He was still turning it over when Chaerin let out a long sigh.
"Even if the finances are in that much trouble, watching you get this absorbed in a gamble like Bitcoin — and in a place like this, no less — isn't a good look. Are you short on money? I'll give you more if you need it. So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop staring a hole through that thing in the middle of a raid."
"Ah…"
At that, Jisu pictured how he must have looked from the outside. A man in his twenties who, the instant the raid ended, had frantically logged into a site for investing in Bitcoin and sat there staring at the screen with an expression that defied description.
Honestly, it was embarrassing, but—
Who does she think she is, telling me what to do?
Come to think of it, he didn't have a choice. He had to watch the coin charts because of his ability. A petty urge to get a shot in rose up, and he answered more curtly than he needed to.
"I don't think what I look at is really any of your business."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean — it's not like I was staring at your figure or anything. I was just looking at my phone. There's no reason for me to get chewed out over that."
He said it while cutting a glance at her upper body. They were huge. Overwhelming, even. Honestly, he wanted to touch them. He'd never seen a chest that big even in porn. It was a little much, sure — but wasn't he technically right?
That was when she answered.
"I'd rather you looked at my body."
"…Excuse me?"
"I don't mind. I'm used to men looking. Don't you think ogling a woman's body out of sexual attraction is a lot better than being so addicted to gambling that you stare at a coin chart?"
Uh.
He hadn't expected her to come back with that.
Chaerin looked at him as if none of it were anything at all, then turned her head toward Ayeon.
"Anyway, today's events have told us a number of things. Seo Ayeon — that should be all, then?"
Ayeon, who had somehow appeared at her side, answered.
"Yes. For the moment, we did win, however."
"Good. Then let's head back."
With that, Chaerin turned her back on Jisu and started toward the helicopter they'd arrived in.
Tch. The timing's too weird to even try explaining that this isn't gambling.
Being mistaken for a coin addict wasn't exactly pleasant, but Jisu said nothing and followed silently after her.
After the raid, Jisu, Ayeon, and Chaerin were spending time in the office. Chaerin went back through a few of the documents stacked on her desk, then started writing something, and before long she seemed to have sunk right back into her own work. Ayeon stood with her eyes closed and didn't say a word to her. Resting, maybe?
Either way, it was a fairly awkward stretch of time for Jisu.
I want to go home…
The raid was over. There was no reason to keep hanging around. He kept waiting for the right moment to say so, but the angle never quite presented itself. Standing there indefinitely was getting embarrassing in its own right, though, so he carefully opened his mouth.
"Excuse me."
"What is it?"
Chaerin answered without so much as glancing in his direction, still focused on her work. Strangely, it didn't feel dismissive.
"Would it be all right if I headed home now?"
"No, Hyun Jisu. Wait here for a moment."
So she hasn't forgotten about me, at least.
"Understood. Should I just sit here, then?"
"You sure ask about everything."
Jisu sat back down in the chair. She probably wouldn't have said anything if he'd gotten comfortable, but sitting properly put him more at ease. She was his superior, after all.
He wasn't sure how much time passed like that. Then Chaerin, still absorbed in her work, looked over at him and spoke.
"Hyun Jisu."
"Yes?"
"You're an SS-rank Hunter too, so you already know, right? About today's situation."
"You mean the raid earlier?"
"That's right."
"Not in the slightest??????"
Jisu answered with a face like he'd hung six question marks in the air — a look of genuine, utter incomprehension. Chaerin didn't bother responding to him. She turned to Ayeon instead.
"You didn't tell him?"
"He did not ask."
"Wait — so if I don't ask, you just don't tell me?"
"Is that not obvious?"
Ayeon answered Jisu's incredulous question without so much as a shift in expression. It didn't show as much when she was with Chaerin, but she was a cold, severe person by nature — the type who saw no reason to extend warmth toward anything that hadn't earned her interest.
"Whatever. It's not like we could be certain anyway. In any case… the raid earlier. Well. I've got some rather bad news."
For someone delivering bad news, Chaerin was remarkably composed. Jisu didn't know the circumstances, but he couldn't square this woman with the one who'd been hanging her head in worry just a short while ago.
"That monster didn't come out of a Gate."
"A Gate? You mean the one in the raid field?"
Raid fields had Gates. Monsters like wyverns came out of them. Not long ago, in a dungeon, a monster tasked with managing the place had opened a Gate and fled, hadn't it? No one knew why they appeared, or by what principle — but one way or another, monsters had been arriving from an unknown world.
"That's right. Someone sent those things to Korea. Most likely…"
Chaerin's voice as she went on didn't carry so much as a tremor. It was almost mechanical.