No, That's Not It...
A C-rank gate had opened in the greenbelt of Gaehwa-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul.
It was a relatively recent gate, and the monsters nesting inside were hobgoblins—creatures known for ambushes and surprise attacks. Most Hunters who went in came back sporting at least a few scrapes and bruises.
As a result, word had spread among healers that the place was a reliable little gold mine.
I wonder if Ellie's on her way…
Yoon Do-ah had already arrived at the gate and claimed her spot. She kept glancing around. Ellie had a way of drawing strange attention wherever she went; the moment she showed up, Do-ah would know.
Ah. There she is.
In the distance, every head turned toward a single point. They were all staring at a small girl. It had been a while since Do-ah last saw her, yet nothing had changed. How did a kid manage to radiate an aura like that?
Anyway—Ellie was here. Do-ah raised a hand to wave and call out to her.
"El…lie?"
A woman was walking beside her. That had to be the companion Ellie had mentioned…
"That's weird. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"
She blinked. Rubbed them. Looked again. Nothing changed.
"Wh—are you kidding me?!"
Yoon Do-ah knew the woman standing next to Ellie. The woman almost never appeared on television—maybe she hated media exposure—so few people recognized her face. But Do-ah had seen her once, years ago, when she was very young and her father had taken her to a formal gathering.
M-Min Surim? Why is Hunter Min Surim here?!
Ranked second among all Hunters in South Korea. S-rank Hunter Min Surim. Guildmaster of Evergreen, one of the nation's four great guilds.
…Why?
Why was she with Ellie?
"…?"
Ellie spotted Do-ah, changed direction, and came toward her. A smile bloomed on Ellie's lips—pure, unguarded delight—and it was almost painfully cute. But Hunter Min Surim followed right behind her. So they really were a party.
Yoon Do-ah forced an awkward smile and opened her mouth.
"Ah—hi, Ellie. How have you been?"
—Nod, nod.
"So… the person next to you is a friend of yours?"
—Nod, nod.
"R-right. Okay. Um… hello?"
Watching Do-ah's reaction, I tilted my head. She looked far more awkward than I'd expected. Was she just that shy around strangers?
While I was thinking that, Ayla spoke up with her usual gentle smile.
"Hello. My name is Ayla. I look forward to working with you today."
"Ah—Ayla, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Yoon Do-ah."
The exchange was polished, almost professional. One of them still looked extremely uncomfortable, though.
"I look forward to today as well, Miss Do-ah."
"No, I—the pleasure's mine…"
All right. Time to get to work as a healer.
My spot was right next to Yoon Do-ah's. Sitting in a folding chair, I stared at my signboard and tried to decide how much to charge for heals. Then I snuck a glance at Do-ah's prices out of curiosity.
…Thirty thousand won?
Well then. I'd charge thirty thousand too. I picked up a marker and scrawled 30,000 won onto the whiteboard attached to my sign.
"…?"
Yoon Do-ah, who had been watching from the side, nearly jumped out of her seat and hurried over.
"Ellie. I told you last time—thirty thousand is way too cheap."
"…?"
I just stared at her. Then why was Unnie selling heals for thirty thousand?
She read the question on my face without me saying a word, sighed, and explained.
"Ha… Unnie's kind of famous in the industry now, you know?"
Apparently the last incident had made her a name among Hunters—a skilled healer who charged next to nothing. Raising her prices after that felt… awkward.
"Plus, Unnie's planning to leave this line of work soon."
"!?"
Leave the industry? As in, quit healing entirely?
"Heh. Unnie's studying to get a guild job."
Oh. Scared me for a second. She just meant she was done freelancing.
"Well, part of it's that the whole scene is just too filthy to stick around in."
The real reason Yoon Do-ah was eyeing guild employment was the Healer Coalition. Those people had connections everywhere—most of the healers squatting near the gates were Coalition members.
Keeping her prices at thirty thousand was partly about her reputation, and partly a deliberate attempt to undercut their business.
"Anyway, Unnie can't sit here and sabotage your sales, so I'm going to go tidy up my spot for a bit. Think about your price while I'm gone."
—Nod, nod.
Once she left, I thought it over. Thirty thousand really was too low. Last time she'd said fifty thousand was about right.
Okay. Fifty thousand it is.
I reached for the sign to wipe the number off—
"Excuse me…"
"…?"
"You're selling heals for thirty thousand?"
Ah. A customer had arrived before I could change it. Raising the price right in front of someone felt wrong, so I just nodded.
"I hurt my arm a little. Think you can heal it?"
I nodded again and reached for the man's arm. Pin was already tucked inside my sleeve. The moment my hand approached the injury, Pin slipped out a tiny arm of her own.
Saaaah—
Light poured out, and the wound on the man's arm vanished in an instant.
"Whoa… you're little, but your skill is incredible. Thank you, young lady. Here—"
He handed over the money—and somehow paid sixty thousand, double the listed price. I blinked in confusion. The man smiled kindly.
"Use the rest to buy yourself something tasty, and keep up the good work."
Oh. My skill—or rather, Pin's healing—must have impressed him enough to leave a tip.
Nice one, Pin. Let's rake it in. First, though—change the price.
I reached for the sign again.
"Miss."
"…?"
"You have customers."
At Ayla's words I looked up. A whole line of Hunters had already formed in front of me.
Ah.
I set the sign back down and went back to healing. Looks like the price wasn't getting changed after all.
Oh Ji-ha was fuming.
She was already sick of Yoon Do-ah stealing all her customers, and now some green-haired little brat was undercutting everyone with absurdly low prices and vacuuming up the rest of the business. To make it worse, the kid clearly knew Yoon Do-ah.
"Unnie, Yoon Do-ah's here again. That bitch is selling heals dirt cheap and snatching every single customer. And her little sister or whatever is doing the exact same thing. The two of them, side by side, sweeping up the whole crowd at bargain prices—is this even fair?"
So she snitched to her unnie—Lee Ji-seon, head of the Healer Coalition. Ji-seon had been looking for an excuse to deal with Yoon Do-ah anyway. Ever since the girl got famous, she'd been ignoring industry rules and doing whatever she pleased.
—Don't worry. Unnie will take care of it.
And so Kang Dae-jin showed up.
B-rank Hunter Kang Dae-jin. A little over two meters tall, built like a wall of muscle.
"Hello? Oh Ji-ha, right? Yeah, yeah. Just hang tight. I'll handle this real quick. Let's see—Yoon Do-ah and a green-haired girl. Ah, there they are."
Target acquired. Kang Dae-jin's mouth curled into a grin as he strode straight toward Yoon Do-ah and Ellie.
There were a lot of customers. Honestly, it felt like most of the Hunters at the gate were lining up for me. I'd been healing nonstop without a free second to change the price—which, in hindsight, might have been a blessing.
"My, my. Little miss here has some serious healing talent."
"She's so young, but look how hard she works."
"You're good and you're this cheap? Here's a tip—go buy yourself something nice."
Every single customer said it was too cheap and left a tip. Mostly five or six thousand extra. No exaggeration—all thirty people who came through tipped me.
Why, though?
"I told you, Ellie. These guys are clearing a C-rank gate. You think any of them are short on cash?"
Ah. That made sense. Anyone tackling a C-rank gate was probably B-rank or C-rank themselves. Money wasn't an issue.
"And nobody wants to shortchange a little kid, you know?"
"…"
Yeah… no good answer for that one. Part of me wanted to announce that I was an adult, but my body was thirteen. My actual age had dropped. I kept insisting I was twenty, but I still hadn't decided when to tell Yoon Do-ah the truth. She clearly saw me as a total child. Would she even believe me?
That was when it happened.
"Hey! You little shits!"
A man came stomping toward us—about two meters tall, all muscle.
"Every other healer around here charges the standard rate, and you two are undercutting them from the next stall over? Where the hell did you learn manners like that? You think you're the only ones who get to make money? Have some damn consideration!"
Yoon Do-ah flinched at the shouting. Ayla just kept her usual calm, polite smile.
Me? I didn't feel particularly scared. Probably thanks to Dreamy King's Dignity. I just looked at him with a vague sense of what's this guy's problem?
"Pii…"
"Pyuu…"
"Pyaa…"
…Okay. Now I should probably start feeling scared.
G-girls?
I didn't need to look. I could feel the fairies' emotions. They were growling—vicious, bristling. They had clearly marked this man as an enemy, and they were one second away from bursting out.
I clutched my backpack tight, pinning them inside. I could not let my fairies commit murder.
The problem was that I only had two hands, and there were three fairies.
Slip—
Pin wriggled free of my sleeve.
"You sell that cheap, what are the rest of us supposed to do?! We can't just drop our prices and—"
He stormed forward and flipped our folding table with a crash—
"Huh? AAAAAAGH!!"
Whoosh!! Bang—!!! Bang—!!! Bang—!!!
Three times. Pin shot forward, seized the man's wrist, and swung him around like a rag doll, slamming him into the ground. The impacts were so heavy the earth shook and the pavement cracked.
Awawa…
I could only stare, blank-faced.
O-our Pin just committed murd—
"Guhhh—"
Ah. Whew. He was still alive. For a second I thought Pin had actually killed him.
But she wasn't done.
Crack!
"AAAAAARGH!!"
She started snapping his fingers one by one—bending them the wrong way, of course. There was no way he was getting back up after that.
P-Pin…
"Pii! Pii-pii!"
Pin flew back to me, beaming like she was saying, Did good, Master?
I swallowed hard and shook my head.
No, Pin. That's not it… Breaking fingers is way too cruel.
Pin tilted her head. Huh? Not this?
Then she zipped back to the man and bent the broken fingers the other way—back into place.
Crack!!
"AAAAAAAARGH!!"
No—that's not what I meant either…
"W-wow. Ellie's fairy is incredibly strong, huh?"
Yoon Do-ah just blinked at the whole scene, more impressed than anything else.