200. US Monster Extermination Request (4)
200. US Monster Extermination Request (4)
'What? They're passing Yellow Dog around......?'
The short-haired woman with the spiteful face had simply blurted it out.
The atmosphere immediately went ice cold at her remark.
When was the last time Jin Yu-ha had faced such a direct, blatant insult?
No, never.
Of course, stories often circulated about low-class parties selecting Healers or Support based on looks rather than skill and using them as outlets for sexual frustration.
But Jin Yu-ha was someone who had proven his qualifications through sheer skill firsthand.
In fact, when he entered the academy, the label of "Male Quota System" and his extraordinary "looks" cast doubt on his abilities, forcing him to undergo endless scrutiny. Initially, those blinded by such prejudice dismissed him as a 'lucky guy' and belittled him.
But now, he was revered as a "Flower on the Cliff," standing shoulder-to-shoulder with prodigies like Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee.
'And yet, she dares to treat Yellow Dog like some party gigolo?'
To Kang Do-hee, who had watched Jin Yu-ha's endless struggles and bloody battles from right beside him, this was no different from touching a raw nerve.
Screech—
Kang Do-hee immediately kicked off the ground.
She was about to grab the woman by the hair and slam her to the floor.
"Stay still. Kang Do-hee."
If it hadn't been for that single utterance from Jin Yu-ha's lips, that would have become reality.
At that, the short-haired woman's lips twitched before she burst into laughter.
"Pfft! What is this, are you his master and not just a prince? Does the notoriously ill-tempered Fighting Dog wag its tail at a single word from you!?"
"......"
"Yeah, that's right. At the end of the day, you're all still just rookies among professional hunters."
She kept provoking him relentlessly. As if she had some kind of ulterior motive.
But Jin Yu-ha said nothing, merely staring at her intently.
"Huh? Say something, prince. How do you make those five women clam up like clams with a single word? Are you just huge and mighty? So much so that they can't move once you're inside them?"
Finally, Jin Yu-ha, who had been staring at her intently, opened his mouth.
"Is it that fascinating to you? How I made them shut up."
"Yeah, I'm really curious. Enough that I'd love for you to let me experience it."
It was at that moment.
Jin Yu-ha's aura shifted entirely.
Wooooong—
An overwhelming presence bore down on the crowd.
The very air seemed to gain a dense mass, pressing against those nearby.
Not only the woman in front of him, but even the other parties who had been watching with amusement hardened their expressions.
Step.
Step.
Jin Yu-ha walked forward slowly, looking at the short-haired woman.
At that, she began to backtrack, her face beading with cold sweat, as if her earlier teasing had never happened.
"W-what...! A-are you trying to pull something!?"
Jin Yu-ha let out a scoff, as if he found it ridiculous.
"Why, where's all that big talk now? Did you actually get scared?"
"W-who said I'm scared—!"
"Hm, you didn't just pick a fight for no reason, did you... Ah, you're streaming, aren't you?"
Jin Yu-ha's gaze fell on her chest.
There, a pitch-black, brooch-shaped camera lens was attached.
"!!!"
She bit her lip, looking dismayed as if things had gone wrong.
Jin Yu-ha merely shrugged and let out a hollow laugh.
"Ah, well. I get it. Younger and prettier kids are gaining fame as hunters by killing monsters, so you're a bit butthurt, aren't you?"
"......What?"
"Watching them, you thought, 'Oh? I'm a pretty famous hunter too, I could do that,' right? So you tried it, but you didn't get as famous as you thought, did you?"
"You, shut your mouth?"
"So you got your meager inferiority complex all riled up, and you're jealous. Ah, and then you heard Utopia was going to be in the same operation as you, so you thought, 'Ah, let me just take a jab at them and leech some fame.' Am I hitting the mark?"
By this point, the short-haired woman's face was contorting, flushing red and blue with rage.
"But you know what the problem is? A pathetic loser like you is backing down from even a guy like me. And this whole embarrassing scene is going out live on your stream."
"......"
"Hello, viewers of this sorry excuse for a hunter. Is this getting recorded well? She's too scared of me right now to say anything."
Jin Yu-ha looked at the camera lens and greeted it.
"What do you think you're doing!"
"Why? You were completely fine doing it yourself, but it pisses you off when you're on the receiving end?"
"......"
"Come at me if you've got the guts. I'll take you on any time. But if you really come at me, you'd better be prepared to lose an arm."
Jin Yu-ha said this, staring into her with those pitch-black eyes.
At that, the short-haired woman, who had seemed ready to pounce at any moment, swallowed hard.
She knew that backing down here was truly a stupid thing to do.
She also knew it would be a lifelong stumbling block in her hunter career.
But this was something else entirely.
'......Crazy.'
The killing intent that Jin Yu-ha emitted.
Standing before it, her body trembled uncontrollably, as if she were prey standing before a predator.
She had an ominous certainty that if she said even one more word, her arm would surely be cut off.
And yet.
When she subtly turned her eyes.
The chat window had gone completely wild.
Messages praising Jin Yu-ha for confronting her head-on.
Messages asking what she was doing not retaliating immediately.
And even messages mocking her, asking if she was chickening out.
'......It can't go on like this.'
Just then.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. The mission starts soon."
Richard, who had welcomed Utopia earlier, stepped in between them to mediate.
"You should consider yourself lucky."
She said that as she spun around, but she let out a sigh of relief inside.
Shhhk—
However, an ominous sound followed.
"Since I stopped here, I'm letting it slide with just your hair."
"What......?"
Swoosh—
"Otherwise, you really would have lost an arm."
She touched her hair with a stunned expression.
Her already short hair had become even shorter.
* * *
'Haa...... What a pain.'
I deactivated the trait I had newly awakened after hunting a Demon during the operation with my Master—Charisma. I let out an internal sigh.
It had really been a while since I'd faced such a raw, direct provocation.
'In the first place, since it's a world with reversed gender roles, it doesn't even bother me that much. And they're picking fights over shit like that.'
Normally, I would have just shrugged this off or taught her a lesson during the upcoming mission, but there was no helping it.
Not only could I, as the representative of Utopia, not afford to show weakness in a place where so many nations were gathered.
But among our party members, there was one person who would fly off the handle at this kind of childish provocation.
'......Did Kang Do-hee calm down a bit? Still, I even cut her hair off, so she must be okay now, right?'
It would be a problem if she wasn't.
Because if we incapacitated another party before the operation even began, the reputation we'd built up would plummet in an instant.
Still, we responded pretty firmly, so it should be fine.
'After handling it like this, they'd all be satisfied with the cool resolution and work hard for the mission, right?'
That was what I thought as I glanced back.
'Huh? W-what's up with you guys......?'
I had predicted that Kang Do-hee wouldn't hold back, so that was one thing.
But what truly baffled me was the other party members' reactions.
Lee Yu-ri was putting away her dagger, which she had raised as if to strike her shield.
Sofia? Why did you take out a Silver Arrow?
Ichika? Your shadows are still churning.
......Even Ga-eul sunbae?
The fact that Shin Se-hee, who was just quietly smiling, was the most normal one of all.
It was bewildering.
"That person is a hunter from China. She's called Ling Xiao."
"Uh, yeah. R-really?"
"Fufufu...... She gave us a solid provocation right from the start, didn't she?"
Shin Se-hee swept her hair back smoothly.
No, I take back what I thought about her being normal.
She's definitely the scariest one.
"You all saw that just now, right? I trust that no one here considers that sufficient."
Shin Se-hee watched Ling Xiao's retreating figure, then suddenly turned around to face the party members.
"While you are all conquering the monsters, I'll be doing the groundwork."
"......S-Shin Se-hee?"
Groundwork? What is she talking about?
I haven't heard anything about this.
"Fufufu...... You absolutely. Absolutely must not lose, okay? If anyone makes a mistake, that person had better be prepared."
"......U-uh, guys......?"
"Overwhelmingly. Sweep them aside so not even a speck of dust remains. So that a pathetic party like that never dares to raise its head in front of us again."
Shin Se-hee let out an eerie, chilling laugh.
At that, everyone nodded grimly.
"U-uh, guys? Can't you hear me......?"
* * *
《Channel, Utopia has started a live stream.》
─ ???
─ CRAZY!!! Utopia is streaming, how long has it been!
─ First time since the Blue Crab Wave!?
─ Yu-ha!
─ Yu-ha!
─ Se-ha!
─ Why haven't you been streaming! We've been waiting─!
Viewers quickly surpassed ten thousand as soon as the stream turned on.
"Hello─ everyone!"
Shin Se-hee brightly greeted, showing her face for the first time in a while.
"The reason I turned the stream on today is─! Today we received a Giant Monster Subjugation Request in the United States!"
─ The U.S.!?
─ You're in the U.S. right now?
"Yees, but since we're conquering an area where a dungeon break occurred, and not a dungeon itself, I'm able to stream it like this!"
However.
Shin Se-hee paused for a moment while speaking.
"This time, there's a slightly unique element to it! And that is, it's an operation where parties from other nations are participating as well!"
─ Oh?
─ Other parties?
─ Info) The U.S. Giant Monster Subjugation Request is an operation involving renowned parties from all over the world.
─ So it's a joint operation?
"A joint operation would be absolutely wonderful...... But there weren't any parties we were close enough with to do an operation together, you know? And since we're from different countries, it was hard to train together, too."
─ Ah, that's true.
─ True
─ If you do a joint op without being in the same party, your patterns get tangled and you end up team-killing instead.
─ Right. Right.
"So, it's actually a competition! I'd like you to focus on seeing which party catches more monsters! Or clears it faster!"
At that, the chat window quickly heated up.
It lagged from failing to keep up with the comments.
"Alright then, shall we take a look?"
Shin Se-hee's face minimized to the bottom right corner.
And the screen switched to the drone floating in the air.
The Utopia Party members advancing forward were captured on screen.
"All right, it's the Utopia Party! Please welcome them with a round of applause!"
Shin Se-hee tried to induce a reaction like that.
But the chat window was caught up in something else entirely.
─ ?
─ ?
─ ???
─ ???
─ What the......?
─ Why are they flying......?
Because the Utopia Party shown on screen was truly flying, stepping on the empty air.
And they wore fierce expressions, as if they had met their mortal enemies.
Only Jin Yu-ha had an ambiguous expression on his face, forcing an awkward smile.