Virtual Reality (5)
Namgung Min had a dream.
Becoming the greatest hunter in Korea? Sure, that was part of it. But he had a dream far more important than that.
Meeting CivilianInformantA in person.
To him, CivilianInformantA was a god who lived on the internet itself.
I never imagined RichHikineet and CivilianInformantA were the same person.
She looked nothing like what he'd pictured. The CivilianInformantA in his head had been a gentle-looking man with a mild, refined air about him.
Well, looks don't matter.
Namgung Min had achieved his dream. That alone was enough. The fact that CivilianInformantA turned out to be someone he already knew was startling, sure — but by now even that had become a trivial detail.
"What do you plan to do going forward, O GOAT?"
"Can you cut that out already? Keep it up and I'll hack your SNS accounts and dump everything in them online."
"Huk."
That could not happen. His SNS — especially his private feed — was packed with worship posts about CivilianInformantA. How many? Well. One every day since he'd started believing in her, plus one more every time one of her predictions hit… so at least a few hundred, easily.
"First priority is calming people down. And we need to keep them from climbing floors as much as possible."
"Why prevent them from climbing floors?"
A sharp glare. Seo Eunha — CivilianInformantA — shot him a look for the formal speech, and Namgung Min flinched, clearing his throat as he pulled himself together.
The person in front of me is not CivilianInformantA… not CivilianInformantA… not CivilianInformantA…
He repeated it like a mantra until the figure before him started looking like RichHikineet again instead of CivilianInformantA. If anyone ever found out, this would go down as a textbook case of successful mind control.
"Because this place might be a gate. What if someone gets a death judgment while climbing floors? They might actually die. Their body in the real world might never wake up again."
"…That's true."
He'd never experienced one himself, but Namgung Min had heard enough about soul-interference-type gates secondhand. Veteran hunters with nearly a decade of experience — every time they drank, they talked about soul-interference gates with a full-body shudder.
"My guess is the gate-break condition is clearing the Trial of the Tower."
"Can you do it?"
"Of course I can. I'll clear it before the weekend's over, so you just keep people calm."
Seo Eunha said it with absolute confidence. No matter what happened, she would clear it herself.
"Just how much have you been playing this game while I've been working?"
"You logged out, and from that point on I've been stuck here climbing the tower."
"Hey — if something like that happened, you should've said something!"
"Sorry. Forgot."
Of course she did. Namgung Min shook his head at Seo Eunha's one-liner.
"I'll do whatever you say, so let's grab a meal together later."
"I don't want to leave the house."
"At least pretend to agree at times like this!"
RichHikineet. She really had nailed that nickname. She hated going outside, yet she was somehow fantastic at a virtual reality game.
"Anyway, let's talk again once the job's done."
"I'm not going outside."
"Go out once in a while, would you?!"
It felt exactly like dealing with a stubborn nephew. Namgung Min heaved a heavy sigh, thinking of the nephew who kept raising hell about becoming a hunter. Putting those two in a room together would probably be quite the show.
Well, that's not what matters right now…
People were trapped in the Trial of the Tower, and those people needed help. That alone was reason enough for him to move. Namgung Min was a hunter, after all — someone who worked to help people.
Squish— squish-squish—
"…Is it really that soft?"
"Yeah. Super soft."
My skin's no slouch in the softness department either.
Watching Eunseo knead Seo Eunha's arm, Kim Ye-eun let out a sigh.
She said it was urgent, so I came running, and now look.
Not that the situation was bad. She was alone with Eunseo, after all! The problem — if you could call it one — was that they happened to be at Seo Eunha's house.
Still, at least she doesn't keep the place like a dump.
Judging by the posts on the Hunter Gallery, Ye-eun had expected the interior to be a disaster zone. Surprisingly, the house was kept clean. Did she hire someone? She didn't look like the type to clean it herself.
"Can't we just leave her? She's fine."
"We don't know what might happen. Dad said there might be factions targeting Unni who could attack."
An attack seemed to already be underway — from the person targeting Seo Eunha, no less.
Ding-dong—
"See? Someone's here."
"Who rings the doorbell for an ambush?"
"You never know. Let's go check."
"I'll go. Eunseo, you stay here."
It wasn't about ranking people, but if this really was an attack, better for an A-rank hunter to step up than B-rank Eunseo. An A-rank title wasn't something you won at a carnival booth.
"Who is it?"
A sharp edge leapt into her voice. You dare separate me from Eunseo? Absolutely unforgivable.
"…Delivery?"
Granted, she did seem like the type to order a lot of packages. Seo Eunha was the kind of person who never left the house unless absolutely necessary. Even Kim Ye-eun, who hadn't known her long, had already figured out Seo Eunha's natural habitat.
Creak—
"I'll take the package. I can sign for it."
"Y-yes…?! Ahaha…"
The awkward reaction when the door opened made Kim Ye-eun narrow her eyes.
Startled because a stranger answered? Yeah, right.
Seo Eunha was the type who'd find even signing too much of a hassle and just tell them to leave it at the door. And yet a delivery showed up at this exact moment and rang the doorbell?
"P-please… sign here…"
"Hmm…"
The delivery person held out a cardboard box, arms trembling. That alone was more than a little suspicious.
"You."
"Y-yes?!"
"Take off that hat."
"Th-the hat?!"
Instead of removing it, the delivery person jammed the hat down even harder. That sealed it for Kim Ye-eun. The person in front of her was no ordinary courier — this was someone who'd come to attack Seo Eunha.
"Last warning. I said take off the hat."
"…"
Kim Ye-eun flicked her fingers, and a searing blue flame leapt up in a threatening flare.
Blue Flame. One of the monikers that referred to her. A title that made it clear the claim of being the strongest among the countless fire Awakened out there was no empty boast.
"D-damn it…!"
"…?!"
The delivery person suddenly spat a curse and yanked up a sleeve. What emerged wasn't a human hand, but a mechanical device that whirred with a menacing sound.
"Die, Blue Flame…!!"
"You…!"
She remembered. A memory buried deep in her mind surfaced. The day she'd been wiping out a criminal organization of Awakened. The face of the guy who'd taken one look at her and fled with his tail between his legs. She'd written him off as a nobody and barely given him a second thought — never expected to run into him like this.
"Nice to see you again. You ran last time, didn't you?"
Wrrrrrrr—
"T-take this…!!"
The mechanical device whined as if about to fire. Even with it pointed right at her, Kim Ye-eun didn't flinch. This was a member of a criminal group she'd already crushed. She wasn't so spineless as to freeze in front of a dog that had already lost once.
"Come on, then. This time I'll roast you nice and hot."
"DIIIIIE—!!!!!"
A beam shot from the device. A murderous ray glowing red. Anyone it hit would take a fatal wound for sure.
If it hit, that is.
Fwoooosh—!!
Flames bloomed. Flames meant to incinerate the enemy before her. She held nothing back. The opponent was a criminal — and not just any criminal, but the worst of the worst: murder, drugs, human trafficking.
"A-AAAAAAGH—!?!!!"
Trash like you dares go after Seo Eunha? Ha. Unbelievable. Looking down at the attacker whose limbs had been cleanly burned away, Kim Ye-eun clicked her tongue. How little must they think of her, sending garbage like this?
"I-I failed… I failed… I-I'll never come back… u-uagh, uwaaaaaah—!!!"
"Shut up. You're loud."
"Ghk?!"
She stomped on the howling attacker's mouth. The severed limbs sparked and crackled. Looks like the whole body had been converted into machinery.
"She's a weird one, so of course she attracts weirdos."
"Mmph, mmph, mmph…"
"…She's doing okay, right? That girl?"
No matter how foul her temper, Kim Ye-eun was a hunter. Worrying about a civilian caught up in an incident was only natural — even if that civilian had done something that amounted to smearing her. And this wasn't just any civilian. This was the civilian Eunseo liked. Of course she had to care.
Wiiiiiiing—!!
Fire detected. Fire detected. Fire detected—
"Ah."
"Guess I overdid the output. Got a little too worked up…"
Kim Ye-eun sighed as water poured down from the ceiling. At least it wasn't flooding inside the house. Small mercies.