If You Mess with Little Sia...
If You Mess with Little Sia...
Looking at her standing embarrassed while continuing to reach out her arm, I grabbed her hand for now.
"U-uh, right. I mean, yes. The pleasure is mine."
"Wow! We finally get to greet each other properly. Last time you came, it wasn't an atmosphere to exchange greetings, and I was very busy catching 'rats'."
"R-rats?"
"Ah. You didn't know yet. The terror attack that happened at school last time—originally, we should have caught those terrorists as soon as they entered the country, but there was an insider accomplice who paved the way for them to sneak in."
So... you're saying there was a person inside the Association who colluded with those terrorist bastards?
No wonder the reward list Appa gave me the other day seemed suspiciously stacked.
So that was the reason.
And here I thought Appa had blackmailed them or something to get it. The Hunter Association just had a guilty conscience and took care of it on their own.
Then I don't really need to feel guilty about receiving a lot, do I?
No, wait, more than that, if there's something I need later, couldn't I use this incident as an excuse to make a few favors?
Mm, not a bad idea.
"Of course, now they've all turned into rat meat, so nothing like that will happen in the future."
"Rat meat?"
"Yes, once you skin them and remove their internal organs, all that's left is just a hunk of meat, isn't it?"
As expected, let's forget about asking for any favors.
It's not like I'm lacking anything in particular, and if I ever need a favor, I can just ask Appa or the uncles and aunts at the Changgung Guild. One should definitely not ask favors from a woman as ridiculously dangerous as this.
At the sight of Dan Cheonghwa casually smiling while talking about skinning a person and removing their insides, goosebumps rose straight from the hand touching hers.
I didn't even get goosebumps like this when I killed that villain before, ugh....
I added Dan Cheonghwa to the very top of my blacklist of dangerous people never to get close to, and let go of her hand.
At that, Dan Cheonghwa stepped back a pace and bowed her head politely to apologize.
"I sincerely apologize for your being caught up in the recent elementary school terror attack. The Association will provide an apology for this matter and a reward for magnificently stopping the terrorists so that you will be thoroughly satisfied."
"Yes, that's fine, so please raise your head."
Please stop pretending to be a normal human being only now.
Swallowing the words that rose right to the tip of my throat, I accepted the apology.
Only then did Dan Cheonghwa straighten up and step back, and Maria-eonni was also able to move.
Being able to move, Maria-eonni immediately came over and checked my condition.
"Sia-ya. Nothing's strange or hurting anywhere, right?"
"Nng, I'm okay. We just shook hands."
It's not that I didn't suspect her either, but despite that suspicious appearance, speech mannerisms, and actions, Dan Cheonghwa really just shook hands normally and backed away.
There wasn't any magic power flow the moment we shook hands either; she just held my hand, shook it up and down a few times, and that was it.
Even so, as if unable to feel relieved, Maria-eonni checked my condition several times before finally stepping aside.
"If you doubt me like that, even I would feel hurt, you know."
Dan Cheonghwa raised both arms and shrugged her shoulders, appealing her unfair treatment as if she were truly wronged.
Her attitude only stoked Maria-eonni's vigilance even further.
Grrrr—
Even at the sight of Maria-eonni letting out a sound like a beast growling, Dan Cheonghwa chuckled softly, took another step back, and spoke.
"Our meeting ends here for today. Princess, when you go home, please be sure to give my best regards to Cheonryeok-nim. Well then, let's meet again in a nice setting next time."
Finishing what she had to say, Dan Cheonghwa left the examination room just like that and zoomed away.
Did she really come just to say hello and apologize? Being a whole Director?
As I was looking at the door through which Dan Cheonghwa had left with a slightly bewildered face, the examiner who had set up the testing equipment during that time looked over here and spoke.
"Can we start the test now?"
At that face that looked like she just wanted to get it over with quickly and rest no matter what, we nodded with dazed expressions.
"Now, come over here."
At the examiner's call, I went in front of her and sat on the chair provided, and she stuck patch-like things connected to the testing device all over the place—my head, neck, solar plexus, and so on.
If she sticks just a few more like this, wouldn't she be able to turn a person into a mummy with patches alone?
While I was looking at my reflection in the mirror on one side of the room and imagining myself turned into a mummy, the examiner woman who started up the device made her next request.
"Preparation for the test is complete. Now just stir up magic power throughout your whole body like that."
"Is that all?"
"For the magic power test."
Nodding at her request, I summoned magic power just like when meditating.
Bluish magic power imbued with cold chill surged from my whole body, and numerical values that I couldn't comprehend appeared on the testing device.
The examiner, who was examining those values for a moment, thrust her hand between her cleavage.
And out came a portable tablet along with her hand.
Why is that coming out from there?
I knew they were big as soon as I saw them, but is it physically possible to store that in there?
Or could it be some mysterious ability known only to Hunters?
Thinking Maria-eonni might know something, I turned my head, but she too seemed to be seeing such a sight for the first time, looking back and forth between the tablet and the cleavage with a startled face.
A desire to immediately reach out and touch her breasts to see what secret was hidden in them surged up, but doing this upon meeting for the first time would be rude, wouldn't it?
Let's try it later when we become friendly.
Meanwhile, the examiner was looking back and forth between the tablet and the measured values on the testing equipment with a subtle face as if something was wrong.
She spoke in a tone of utter incomprehension.
"How..."
"Pardon?"
"How is a value like this possible?"
"Even if you say that to me..."
"No, just look here first."
The examiner held the tablet she was looking at upside down and shoved it right in front of my nose.
Various graphs and numbers were written there, but it was full of things I couldn't make out at all.
"Look at this. No matter how rare a case might be, all rare and unique cases that emerged within the last 10 years are recorded in the Association's central database. But right now, your values are overwhelming the values of those rare case Hunters in every aspect. By simple multiplier alone, it's at least 3.57 times or more."
"I told you, even if I look, I don't get itttt."
Still, I get what the examiner is trying to say.
It's weird that my amount of magic power is several times higher compared to other Hunters of the same case, right?
If that's the problem, I have an inkling.
"Could it be because I took an elixir during the adaptation process?"
Elixirs are a faaaamous magic-boosting health food.
So isn't the reason my magic power is higher than others due to the elixir Appa gave me?
I offered a conclusion based on that guess, but the examiner seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head as if to say no.
"That can't be."
"But if not that, I don't have any other inkling though?"
"Ha, right. It could be an elixir. Generally, the difference in magic power between a newly awakened Hunter and a rare case Hunter is about 3 times, and the difference between a rare case Hunter and your magic power is about 3.5 times. For an elixir consumed when your body hasn't adapted to magic power yet—which makes its efficiency drop—to show this much of a difference, the elixir you took must have been at least a top-tier elixir made by grinding up the heart of a draconic species from inside an S-rank Erosion Gate. So, what was the elixir you took?"
"Umm, well..."
According to what Appa said before I took the elixir, he clearly said it was an intermediate ice-attribute elixir with just enough effect to help with magic power adaptation.
"Thought so. No matter how great Cheonryeok is, there are no rumors that the Changgung Guild cleared an S-rank Erosion Zone recently, so this just means you are special."
Having said that much, the examiner leaned her face in, flashing a smile so refreshing that any man would turn to look at least once, and grabbed both of my hands at the same time.
"Please. Won't you become my guinea pig?"
"Pardon?"
A guinea pig? A test subject?
In complete contrast to her refreshing smile, a sinister greed could be seen shimmering in her eyes up close.
"Cut the bullshit right there, you crazy scientist!!"
"Tch!"
Maria-eonni, who cut between the two of us in an instant, separated me from the examiner and stepped far back with me.
"I thought you looked familiar. I finally remember. Sa Hyeona, the mad scientist belonging to the Association. I heard that a scientist with a bright future couldn't suppress her desire for knowledge, reached her hands as far as human experimentation, got caught by the Association, and is working with a binding restriction engraved on her. To think I'd meet you in a place like this."
What? She was an even more dangerous woman than I thought.
In an instant, I raised the risk level of examiner Sa Hyeona to the same rank as Dan Cheonghwa.
I did think from the first sight that she was an impressive woman somewhere (her breasts), but to think she was hiding such a secret.
Sa Hyeona once again reached her hand between her cleavage, pulled out a cigarette from inside, and put it in her mouth.
Chik—
"Phew, and here I thought a good test subject was coming in after a long time."
"I will absolutely never let you conduct human experimentation on our Sia."
"Well, fine. It seems the opportunity has already sailed away."
"In the first place, I have done magic power tests myself. Didn't the test end with the measurement just now? Anything beyond that seems to be merely trying to satisfy your private curiosity."
"Yeah. That's true too. The contents of the magic power test were registered in the Association database as soon as the test ended anyway... Too bad, little Princess."
What could be too bad about it?
There's not a single thing I regret on my end. As expected, she must mean it's too bad she couldn't satisfy her own thirst for knowledge, right?
At the words that the test was over, Maria-eonni hurriedly took me and left the examination room.
"Bye-bye~"
And right up until the moment the door closed, the examiner looked over here with narrowed eyes and waved her hand.
Right on that path, Maria-eonni, leaving the assessment that "As expected, the Association is no place to trust," put me in the car and returned home. There, we happened to bump into Appa on his way home from work, and Maria-eonni reported everything that happened today to Appa with a little extra seasoning added.
This and that, like so and like that.
"And so, we returned home before fully completing the examination."
"...I just remembered urgent business. Head back inside the house first."
Nodding, Appa turned around and headed in the exact opposite direction of home.
Entering the house as Appa crossed paths with us, I ate a meal filled with Omma's heartfelt care, flopped down on the bed, and logged onto the Korea Hunter Gallery.
There, a photo of the Hunter Association headquarters half-destroyed by Cheonryeok was posted as a pinned concept post.