Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Major Resolve
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"Master, see you next time!"
"Master. We shall meet again next time."
It was after Lime and Yorugamund exchanged their farewells.
The black portal had been enlarged just enough to accommodate Captain Jolly Roger's pirate ship.
A sight I'd only witnessed during monster outbreaks—to think a monster capable of creating one actually existed.
The layer lord Yorugamund appeared able to generate black portals at will.
Meanwhile.
"Yongchan, don't tell me... you're a Trainer Hunter?"
The moment I stepped back out of the pirate ship after a brief visit—having tamed the layer lord himself—Lee Gok's face registered considerable shock.
"Haha, well... I do have a bit of talent in that direction."
"No, but Trainer Hunters don't wear outfits that bizarre, do they?!"
They don't fight with guns, either.
Nor do they possess the ability to evade S-rank Hunters, even momentarily, at speeds surpassing them.
Above all, even Trainer Hunters require a minimum of several years to tame a monster.
Having witnessed my abilities—defying all common sense—multiple times before,
this time, she began prying relentlessly, insisting she needed to know.
"And that slime... it's the same species as the one we took down before, isn't it?"
"Ah, Lime is... just the same species. But he's my companion."
"That's right! I'm Master's companion!"
"I too am Master's companion."
"No, that's not the point. How on earth did it suddenly become your companion?!"
Well, because I'm a Female Submission Hunter whose specialty is submitting females.
...No way in hell could I say something like that.
In this world overflowing with women, revealing a Hunter job like that would drive them out of their minds—they'd line up for miles.
Of course, Lee Gok would be first in that line.
And so.
"Ahem! It's a secret."
"Wh-what?!"
I opted to play it straight as a secret.
"A s-secret?! Between us, how could there be any?!"
No... even husbands and wives keep secrets.
I had no idea what she thought our relationship was, but her expression turned utterly heartbroken.
"Sob... You're too cruel..."
"No matter how much you plead, this one's off-limits..."
"You know everything about me! How could you hide something like this only from me?!"
Lee Gok wailed dramatically, collapsing to the ground like the tragic heroine of some historical saga.
No, even so...
Lee Gok was a figure immortalized in Korean textbooks—how could her public life story be equated with my personal secret?
'But I can't just ignore someone crying...'
The pirate ship needed to set sail soon, yet I was breaking out in a cold sweat, frozen between options.
"Yongchan."
"Ah, Captain Roger."
The captain, who had been watching us quietly, leaned in to whisper.
"Try this approach."
"How?"
Whisper, whisper.
She acted like an absolute expert in matters like this.
And just like that, I received an utterly unforeseen 'countermeasure' from Captain Roger.
"Uh, Lee Gok?"
"Sob... Yes."
"Then I'll tell you my Hunter job. In exchange, could you share one little secret of yours?"
"A secret?"
Lee Gok, whose every major secret had long been laid bare in textbooks and news.
Even for a living national treasure like her, something she'd want to keep hidden.
"What kinds of dildos do you have?"
"Wh-what?!"
"Then I'll share my secret too."
This so-called humiliation play request instantly silenced her tears.
After giving the heads of my two summoned beast monsters one final pat.
"See you next time!"
I boarded the pirate ship as it advanced toward the black portal.
"Master! Next time, I'll be an even cooler slime!"
"Master. If there's anyone you dislike, send them my way. Understood?"
Until they vanished completely beyond the portal, I waved goodbye to the two monsters from the stern.
And at last, we entered the black portal's interior.
"This is the black portal?"
"Wow... Nearly 200 years since I last saw this sight, and it's just as mesmerizing as ever."
Normal blue portals linked to dungeons whisked you to another world the instant you stepped through.
But the black portal.
This one was like a vast 'passageway.'
It conjured an entirely alien realm, ablaze with starlight, as if sailing the cosmic Milky Way.
"Are we... crossing the sea right now?"
"Hmm... For a sea voyage, doesn't the ship feel more like it's swimming through the air?"
Indeed.
Leaning over the railing to peer below revealed nothing but the endless Milky Way, mirroring the sky.
This realm—enveloped by the universe in every direction—was far too surreal to call a 'sea.'
I nodded along with Captain Roger's description.
"......"
"Ah..."
The woman I'd forcibly quieted with that humiliation play moments ago.
Lee Gok stood silently at the rearmost deck, staring back at our entry path. She had saved my life, after all.
'Time to smooth over her sulk.'
Thinking my prank had gone too far, I prepared to butter her up.
"Uh, Lee Gok?"
"......"
"Hahaha... I got a bit too personal back there, huh?"
I sidled up beside her, resting my arms on the railing just as she did.
"...Yongchan."
"Yes, Lee Gok."
"That... is it a hand?"
"......Pardon?"
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned to 'hand'.
Aboard the pirate ship gliding through galaxy-like space, she pointed astern with a quavering voice.
Wondering what she meant, I glanced back at the Milky Way we'd traversed.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
"?! Th-those are actual hands?!"
Hands, for real.
White hands, each bearing a massive eyeball smack in the palm's center, hurtled toward our pirate ship in a frenzy.
"Are those monsters too?"
"No idea! What the hell are they?!"
I pored over the Hunter encyclopedia cover to cover, and even Lee Gok—with her upper-layer combat experience—drew a blank.
Each one looked strong enough to pulverize our ship with raw grip alone.
For starters, I alerted Captain Roger up on the forward deck.
Then I hustled back, propped the railing as a brace, and readied the anti-materiel sniper rifle.
"Just checking—do Blood Commands work on those monsters?"
"...Not a chance. It's impossible, but those things... I can't sense blood or any material inside them at all."
Her face drained of color, as if she'd never encountered anything like this.
For the first time ever, I saw Lee Gok truly frightened.
She trembled like a terrified child, confronting what seemed an unfathomable cosmic horror.
So before squeezing the trigger.
I pulled her into a swift embrace.
"...!"
There was time enough to reassure her it was okay.
With my woman calmed, I returned to my post.
Click.
First, the nearest one.
Fire Cannon
Ready
I nailed the eye's dead center—the one rolling about between the palms.
Bang.
"Hit!"
"Did we get it?"
And right on cue, Captain Roger's inevitable question.
Fire Cannon—a spell that reshapes terrain—had struck true.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Just a momentary falter.
The white hands blinked a few times before resuming the chase—no, faster than before.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Damn it, those freaks aren't fazed?!"
"This is weird... My Magic Power is at 10."
"You lot! Crank up the ship's speed!"
"Can't be done, Captain."
"The ship's been navigating itself from the start, right—not us steering?"
I had 340 points left.
Stats past 10 cost 100 points per bump.
Maybe dump them all into Magic Power?
The thought flickered.
But before firepower could catch up.
Thud.
"？！"
"！！"
One white hand 'landed' right beside me, fingers splayed like feet.
"Yongchan! I'll hold it off—get below deck!"
Our eyes locked with the palm's unblinking orb.
Lee Gok sliced her own right-hand artery, forging a greatsword from the gushing blood to cleave one finger...
Clang.
"Huh?"
"The sword broke?!"
Far from harming the white hand.
Her hard-won weapon shattered instead.
"What the hell... what is this thing?"
Lee Gok ranked elite among A-rank Hunters.
Top 1% across all Hunters, easily.
Yet her blood blade—one-shotting upper-layer beasts—bounced harmlessly?
This 'thing' before us.
I couldn't even guess its nature.
[Pl, ayer!]
"Levi!"
[En, emy ship, un, der!]
"What?"
A garbled message in shattered font reached me from Levi.
A voice seemed to accompany it, but noise drowned it out.
One thing came through crystal clear, though.
[If you, want to save, eve, ryone...!]
"！！"
[Pirate, ship un, der!]
These unidentified white hands were gunning for me.
Kim Yongchan—the man no woman in the Reverse World ignored.
Thus.
"Hoo...!"
"Y-Yongchan?! Where are you going?!"
"Yongchan, what are you doing?"
A deep breath to steel my resolve.
This surely wasn't the end.
"They're probably after me."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Look. Every one of those white hands is fixed on me."
The mystery hands swiveled their palm-eyes to track me.
Just as they all lunged my way.
I flashed a grin.
"Lee Gok!"
"Yongchan!"
"Catch you later. I'll definitely call."
I deactivated Armament's helmet to spare her any awkwardness, beaming as brightly as I could.
Into the starlit void below the pirate ship,
I leaped without hesitation.
"Yooongchaaaaan!"