I Went Hunting with Jjangryong
I Went Hunting with Jjangryong
— Ddiring!
My cell phone rang.
I stopped guarding the medicine bag placed on top of the refrigerator and checked the screen.
Did they finally schedule my Hunter Rank Examination?
[Awakening Rank Examination Notice]
[Due to a high volume of applicants, schedules are being assigned sequentially.]
[The examination date and time will be announced via text message at a later date.]
"......."
I scrolled down the screen.
What the, there's nothing else?
Thinking that maybe the text message hadn't fully loaded, I scrolled back up and then down again.
As expected, that was the end of it.
"When the heck is 'a later date'?"
They didn't even tell me if it was tomorrow or a week from now.
They might as well have told me not to wait.
If they send it like that, it just makes me keep checking my phone until the text comes.
"Jjangryongi. They said they'll let me know the exam schedule later."
"Kya."
Jjangryongi didn't even listen to what I said.
His gaze was fixed on the medicine bag sitting on top of the refrigerator.
Inside it was the mana stone fragment I found in my work clothes yesterday.
"No way."
Umjjil.
"You already ate your portion for today."
Jjangryongi turned his head as if he hadn't been interested in the medicine bag from the very beginning.
He looked at the ceiling once, looked out the window, and even nonchalantly licked his front paw.
"You've been staring at that exact thing since earlier, you know?"
"Kya."
He feigned innocence to the very end.
I put my cell phone down on the mattress.
The date for the rank examination was unknown.
There were only 320 won left in my bank account.
The only food left was one pack of ramen and pickled radish.
There was absolutely nothing I could do right now.
'I'm a complete unemployed bum.'
Before, I could at least go out to the day labor agency.
But if I went there in my current body, instead of getting work, I'd obviously be told to bring a guardian first.
I lay flat on the mattress.
Jjangryongi circled around the top of the refrigerator.
Then he sat on the window sill and looked outside.
A moment later, he circled around the ceiling.
Then he dropped onto my stomach again.
"Eok."
Jjangryongi sprawled out flat on his stomach.
"What."
His tail tapped my side repeatedly.
"Are you bored?"
"Kya."
I was bored too.
When I played a video on my cracked cell phone, half of a person's face would show up in rainbow colors.
Even if I posted on Hunter Gallery, I'd just hear people telling me to keep playing nicely with my imaginary friend again.
Above all, staying in this cramped room continuously made me feel suffocated.
I put my hands under Jjangryongi's armpits and lifted him up.
"Should we go for a walk or something?"
His wings spread wide open.
"We're not going far."
Jjangryongi had already slipped out of my arms and flown over to the front door.
He hooked his front paw on the doorknob and looked at me as if urging me to open it quickly.
"Humans need to put on clothes and tie their hair, you know."
Even though I said that, Jjangryongi's tail tapped impatiently on the door, wondering what the rush was.
"Don't rush me!"
The mountain closest to my house was about a fifteen-minute walk away.
Calling it a mountain was a stretch—it was just a small neighborhood hill attached behind an apartment complex.
The hiking trail was well maintained, and at the entrance, there were even exercise equipment and a pavilion.
Above all, there was no entrance fee.
That was the most important condition for me right now.
I put on the gray hoodie and black pants I received from the hospital.
I folded the pant hems twice and tied the waistband tightly.
I tried to gather my hair back and tie it with a hairband.
I failed the first time.
The loosened hair covered my whole face.
The second time failed too.
The hairband snapped off my fingers.
On the third try, Jjangryongi bit the hairband that fell on the floor and ran away.
"Hey!"
He flew around the room with the hairband in his mouth.
"If I don't have that, we can't go out, you know?"
Jjangryongi stopped.
"The walk is canceled too."
He came straight back and set the hairband down on my palm.
"Should've done that in the first place."
I barely managed to tie my hair into a ponytail.
The shape was a little weird.
It was lopsided to one side, and there were many stray hairs sticking out here and there.
Still, as long as it didn't block my view, it was fine.
Finally, I put on the shoes with pink bunnies attached.
Jjangryongi landed on top of my shoe.
He pressed the bunny ear with his front paw.
Ppik.
His eyes widened.
He pressed it again.
Ppik.
Ppik ppik.
"Stop it."
Unable to lose interest, Jjangryongi even pressed down on the other shoe.
Ppik.
"I told you not to enjoy it!"
I caught Jjangryongi and placed him on my shoulder.
As I opened the door, a cool breeze drifted inside.
Since becoming this body, this was the first time I was properly going somewhere other than the hospital and the convenience store.
"Let's go."
"Kyaa!"
We arrived at the entrance of the hiking trail without any incident.
The problem was after we entered the mountain.
"Haa......."
I hadn't even walked ten minutes, but I was already out of breath.
If it were my previous body, it was an incline I would have walked up lightly.
Now, even climbing just a few stairs made my thighs throb and my heart beat fast.
It seemed there was also an effect from feeding Jjangryongi too much mana yesterday.
I collapsed onto a bench next to the exercise equipment.
"Let me rest for a bit."
Jjangryongi came down from above my head and circled in midair.
It seemed mountain paths or flat ground were not much different to him.
"You should walk a little too."
"Kya."
"We came out to take a walk, after all."
Instead of an answer, Jjangryongi chased after a butterfly flying nearby.
When the butterfly changed directions, Jjangryongi changed directions too.
After flying back and forth between the trees, he quickly vanished beyond the bushes.
"Don't go too far!"
The sound of flapping wings could be heard for a moment.
That too vanished quickly.
I waited while sitting on the bench.
Before I knew it, about ten minutes had passed, but no sound could be heard.
"Jjangryongi?"
There was no answer.
I could vaguely feel where he was.
It wasn't as far as I thought.
However, whether he was concentrating on something, he didn't react to my call.
"What are you doing?"
I stood up from the bench.
I started to approach the bushes, then stopped.
There was no need to push my way through the thorny thickets.
There was a skill existing precisely to be used at times like this.
"Jjangryongi. Come back."
The surrounding air briefly distorted.
The next moment.
Puk!
"Euak!"
Something slammed into my chest.
I fell right over onto the bench.
Still, I guess it was a relief that it wasn't my face this time.
"Now you're coming properly......"
As I sat up, I stopped talking.
Jjangryongi hadn't returned alone.
In his mouth, something the size of his own body was clamped.
Gray fur.
A long, pointed snout.
Its back was covered with sharp black quills.
It was something shaped like a giant rat.
"......What is that?"
Jjangryongi dropped what he was holding onto the ground with a thud.
The gray rat's body went limp.
Jjangryongi puffed out his chest proudly.
"Euaaak!"
I climbed up onto the bench.
"Put that down! Wait, you already put it down! Don't bite it again either!"
Jjangryongi tilted his head.
"We came out to take a walk, not to hunt stuff like that, you know?"
He poked the gray rat with his front paw.
It was much bigger than I thought.
Including the tail, it seemed even longer than Jjangryongi.
Above all, there was no way an ordinary rat would have quills like that.
I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of the gray rat.
Searching on the cracked screen took a bit of time.
I found a similar photo.
[Thorn Rat]
[An F-rank monster frequently found on the outskirts of cities and in low-rank Gates.]
"It's a monster!"
Jjangryongi nodded.
"You bit it and brought it back knowing that?"
He nodded again.
"Monsters aren't toys!"
It was the moment I was scolding Jjangryongi.
The front paw of the Thorn Rat lying on the ground twitched.
I stopped talking.
"......Did it just move?"
Jjangryongi looked down at the Thorn Rat.
Its gray eyelids slowly lifted.
Red pupils appeared from within.
"It's not even dead!"
The Thorn Rat suddenly scrambled to its feet.
The quills on its back flared up all at once.
Keureureureuk.
Yellow teeth showed through its snout.
I tried to step down from the bench, but froze on the spot.
The moment the black mana stone exploded flashed in my mind.
The collapsing ceiling. The concrete crushing over my body. My fingertips turned cold.
The Thorn Rat spotted me.
Its front paws clawed the ground.
The next moment, its massive body leapt toward me.
"Uh......"
I had to dodge.
But my legs wouldn't move.
The Thorn Rat's open jaws lunged right before my eyes.
Kwaang!
Something slammed into the Thorn Rat from the side.
Its gray body flew straight through the air and slammed into a tree.
Leaves showered down.
"......."
Jjangryongi was hovering in front of me.
With his small wings spread out, he was glaring at the Thorn Rat.
The Thorn Rat, having fallen beneath the tree, staggered as it stood up.
However, it didn't pounce toward Jjangryongi.
With its ears pinned back, it was slowly stepping backward.
Jjangryongi turned his head to look at me.
"Well, I was plenty terrified, okay?!"
Jjangryongi looked back at the Thorn Rat.
His small back looked just like usual.
Stealing my pillow yesterday.
Reaching out his front paw to eat more biscuits.
And Jjangryongi, who had said stones tasted better while eating my mana.
Yet right now, he was standing in front of me to protect me.
The Thorn Rat was terrified of Jjangryongi.
'That's right.'
Jjangryongi had turned concrete into sand.
He had cleanly pierced an empty can too.
On top of that, his race was a dragon.
I wasn't alone.
I forced my trembling fingers to uncurl.
"Jjangryongi."
He turned his head.
"Get him."
Jjangryongi's wings spread wide open.
The Thorn Rat turned around and began running toward the bushes.
Jjangryongi caught up to it in an instant.
He grabbed its gray tail with his front paws.
The Thorn Rat frantically twisted its body.
Jjangryongi's small body was swung around with it.
"It's dangerous!"
The Thorn Rat turned back around, trying to bite Jjangryongi.
"Return!"
The air shook.
Right before the Thorn Rat's teeth snapped shut, Jjangryongi vanished from in front of it and reappeared before me.
"Nice."
Jjangryongi turned his body straight around in front of me.
Silvery-blue light gathered at the corners of his mouth.
"Ah, that attack."
It was the attack that had blown a hole through the soda can yesterday.
"A little bit stronger."
The light became brighter.
"Just a tiny bit!"
Pong.
A single small speck of light shot out.
A neat round hole appeared on the Thorn Rat's forehead.
Its fleeing body tumbled forward.
Degururu.
After rolling over once, its movements stopped.
"......."
I looked back and forth between the Thorn Rat and Jjangryongi.
"Is it really dead this time?"
Jjangryongi flew over and patted the Thorn Rat's head twice with his front paw.
There was no response.
He nodded.
"Why didn't you kill it before bringing it over the first time?"
Jjangryongi didn't answer.
Maybe he had deliberately brought it back alive.
'To show off to me?'
That might be a little cute.
Of course, the fact that he brought back a monster in his mouth wasn't cute at all.
As the tension drained away, my legs went weak.
I flopped down next to the bench.
"That was really terrifying......"
Jjangryongi landed on my lap.
I picked him up and examined his body.
His wings were fine.
There were no wounds on his tail either.
No quills were stuck inside his mouth.
"You're not hurt?"
"Kya."
"Really?"
Jjangryongi pushed my nose with his front paw.
It seemed to mean he was annoyed.
I held him in my arms and stroked his head a few times.
"Good job."
Jjangryongi's tail wagged slowly.
"You did super well."
The movement of his tail sped up.
"I did well too, right?"
His wagging tail stopped.
Jjangryongi stared at me for a moment before reluctantly nodding.
"Why did you hesitate?!"
I told you to return so you wouldn't get bitten, and I even gave the order to attack.
That was plenty enough to count as a performance worthy of a Dragon Master.
Probably....
Feeling a faint light from inside the Thorn Rat's body, I looked closely and saw a blue mana stone embedded inside.
Its size was much smaller than a fingernail, but a faint blue light was moving inside.
"A mana stone?"
Jjangryongi opened his mouth and pounced toward the mana stone.
I quickly snatched the crystal away.
"No."
His mouth snapped shut in midair.
"You promised yesterday."
Jjangryongi reached out his front paw.
I hid the crystal behind my back.
"I'm going to sell this."
His front paw came closer.
"If I sell it, I'll buy you sausages."
His movement froze.
"Fine..., strawberry milk too."
Jjangryongi looked back and forth between me and the mana stone.
After pondering for a moment, he flew over to where the Thorn Rat had fallen.
Without being told, he rummaged through the fur around its chest first.
"How pragmatic."
After searching to see if there were any more mana stones, Jjangryongi returned with a disappointed look.
"Good job."
I slipped the mana core into my hoodie pocket.
Dalgeurak.
A small sound echoed.
I didn't know the exact price.
It probably wasn't a expensive item like the condensed mana stone Jjangryongi ate yesterday.
Still, it must be valuable.
'If I sell this, shouldn't I at least be able to buy some ramen?'
Maybe I could even get enough for 10 chickens?
By the way, what should I do with the Thorn Rat carcass?
If passersby saw a little girl carrying a giant rat carcass, nearby citizens would immediately call the police.
"Let's leave this behind."
Jjangryongi just stared at my pocket as if he had no interest.
"We took the mana core, so that's enough."
He reluctantly nodded.
As soon as we returned home, I washed my hands first.
I had to wash Jjangryongi's mouth too, since he had bitten a monster.
He resisted, saying no, but on the condition that I give him a little mana, I succeeded in wiping around his mouth.
"Then, shall we look up the price~!"
[Low-grade Mana Stone]
[12,000 won]
Forget 10 chickens, I can't even get a single one....