The Weight of Attention
The elevator doors opened with a crisp ding. Hundreds of people gathered in the B2 lobby all turned their heads toward us at once.
“Hngh…”
Yeonhee lowered her head deeply, as if she had committed some terrible crime. I carefully wrapped an arm around her and guided her through the crowded lobby, searching for an empty space. Of course, that process inevitably caused a massive commotion.
Some people only noticed me because of the dense crowd, while others twisted their bodies into acrobatic poses to avoid the blades protruding from my frame. Their reactions were far more intense than what I’d seen on the first floor, which I found rather amusing. Yeonhee, however, looked utterly mortified.
‘Come on, it’s not like they’ve never seen a monster before. Why the overreaction?’
Eventually, association staff cleared a spot for us to sit and made another announcement over the speakers. Only then did the uproar finally die down. But soon, people swarmed in to gawk at me, and we found ourselves surrounded by a living wall of humans for quite some time.
“Haa…”
As time passed, Yeonhee’s sighs grew deeper. Still, the people who had come to stare weren’t here just to sightsee, so the crowd eventually thinned out.
“Why are there so many people? Whew… I’m sweating.”
Even excluding those I had unintentionally cornered, the sheer number of people was overwhelming.
‘This is definitely abnormal. Did everyone who survived the recent dungeon break all gather here?’
Considering how much Helen’s group had grown from the last raid, it made sense that a large number of people had reached the upper end of E-grade. Of course, not all of them had fought a bloody battle against orc warriors like we had. But simply surviving a large-scale outbreak was enough to earn experience. If they were lucky, they might have even received minor achievements.
‘This is going to take a while.’
We had arrived just before 2 p.m., right in the middle of the busiest hours.
“Hmm… Maybe we should do something else first.”
In the end, we only completed the registration and headed back up to the seventh floor.
“Please unsummon me.”
Our visit to the seventh floor was due to the association’s repeated requests regarding yesterday’s events. Since I couldn’t enter the office with her, I had no choice but to return to the Dark Space.
A short while later, I was summoned again and realized we were back on B2.
The moment Yeonhee called me out, she immediately began complaining about what had happened on the seventh floor.
“It was nothing special. They asked the exact same questions the civil servants did yesterday. If they’re just going to repeat everything, why not just share the information among themselves?”
It was rare for Yeonhee to voice her dissatisfaction like this. The questions must have been especially half-hearted.
‘The government doesn’t like the association, so cooperation between departments doesn’t go smoothly.’
The association’s influence had grown so large that it had become a significant burden on state institutions long ago.
“Oh, right. I decided to sell the spare runes. Let’s go over there, Ilwol.”
Clack-
We no longer had any use for ordinary runes or low-value inferior runes. We planned to sell the ones that wouldn’t provide much benefit even if distributed to the other summons.
“They said it was around here—”
Yeonhee moved toward the central pillar in the B2 lobby where rune trading took place.
“Red baseball cap, red cap— Ah, there he is.”
A man wearing a baseball cap backwards and covered in tattoos all the way down to his chin was looking around.
“Hello…”
“Ah! You must be Hunter Lee Yeonhee? Whoa! Is that the summon I’ve only heard about next to you?”
“Yes… H-here are the runes. You can look at them and choose…”
“Hah… They said it was a skeleton soldier, but this looks like a boss monster.”
The man seemed far more interested in staring at me than at the runes.
‘Why is he buying ordinary runes?’
He was clearly in the upper tier of D-grade—strong enough to be attempting promotion to C-grade—yet all the runes Yeonhee was offering him were low-grade. It was only natural to be suspicious. It didn’t seem like he would use them himself.
“…Um, p-please make your selection…”
“Ah! Let’s see— Rune of Mana and Rune of Mana Absorption, five in total. Yep, that’s right. I’ll just buy them all.”
“Y-you can transfer the money to the account I sent you…”
“Understood… Just a moment.”
The man answered cheerfully and began tapping on his phone.
“Money sent. By the way, I saw you on Nutube. In person, you’re even more beautiful. Are you here for your promotion test today?”
“…Yes…”
Yeonhee had been about to turn away after confirming the deposit, but she turned back at his question and gave a short reply. The man then began pouring out words like a contestant on a hip-hop competition show.
“Ah, I’m also taking the C-grade promotion test! It’s embarrassing, but I actually failed once before. This is my second attempt at C-grade. Sigh— The first time I got stuck in Test Room 4, but I’m not so weak that I can’t reach C-grade. Still, it’s a test, so…”
He kept talking nonstop for two or three minutes straight.
‘Another chatterbox. Just do the trade and leave. Why is he blabbering so much?’
“……Ah, yes… Well then, we’ll be going.”
Yeonhee seemed unable to listen any longer and tried to cut him off and turn away.
“Seriously… Not even once. Fucking—”
The man suddenly spat out harsh words and reached out to grab Yeonhee’s slender arm.
Grab-!
‘Is this guy insane?’
I immediately seized his arm. A strange tension instantly crackled between us.
“Whoa— Look at this guy. Pretty strong, huh?”
“W-why are you doing this? The trade is already over.”
Yeonhee quickly hid behind me and asked. The man irritably tried to shake off the arm I was holding.
Or rather, he tried to.
“Hey! Why won’t this come off?! Fuck, let go! You stupid skeleton!”
I held onto the arm of the man who was struggling to break free and pondered for a moment.
Crack-
“Aaaagh!! It hurts! It hurts, I said! You son of a—!”
I had never even entered a D-grade dungeon yet, while this guy was a hunter on the verge of graduating from them. But the gap in combat power between us wasn’t as large as one might think. The fact that he couldn’t overcome my current strength proved it.
The result of two class changes, bone armor, and the modest stat gains I’d earned from killing Blue Eye cultists.
If we entered combat, it would take some time, but I was confident I could gain the upper hand.
‘I silently listened to all his nonsense, and now this? Ha… He dares reach for Yeonhee’s arm? A few hits won’t be enough to satisfy me.’
Acidic slime suddenly came to mind. Pouring the slime’s acidic fluid all over his face would surely crush the arrogant momentum of this reckless man. Then I’d look down at his panicked, floundering figure with contempt. That was the perfect image.
‘No… Snap out of it, you crazy bastard!! He hasn’t actually done anything yet. Why is my train of thought like this?’
In my previous life, I wouldn’t have jumped straight to such extreme options. Maybe it was because my new nature leaned toward darkness?
‘Irmana-nim. Please grant me superhuman patience for just a moment.’
Huu—
Whether my prayer to Irmana had worked or not, my mind quickly regained its calm. I loosened my grip and released his arm.
The man violently shook his freed arm several times, then scowled deeply and said,
“Argh! Fuck! My arm…! I was just trying to have a little chat between fellow hunters. Don’t you think you’re overreacting?!”
‘You talked way too much by yourself for that. And the hand you tried to grab her with was full of malice. I’m one of the best in the country at catching that kind of thing, you bastard.’
The man clutched his now purplish arm and jumped around while screaming incoherently. It sounded like the cry of a monkey unable to contain its own rage.
“Agh! Seriously!!”
“I-I have nothing to say to you.”
“Fucking hell, so stuck-up? Just because you got one Unique class, you think you can look down on people?”
“I-I never—”
“Kekeke— That amazing class of yours. In no time, tons of other people will awaken the same thing. So stop acting like you’re hot shit, got it? You’re really unlucky, you know.”
“…N-no, when did I ever—”
Even though his face was twisted in pain from clutching his injured arm, the man couldn’t stop his filthy mouth.
“And I’ll remember exactly how this skeleton twisted my arm. Just wait, you—”
Yeonhee stood frozen with her mouth open, clearly shocked by the man who had suddenly shown her such malice. She truly hadn’t done anything wrong, yet he had gone off on her for no reason.
The man seemed satisfied by her stiffened reaction. He gave a smug laugh and moved on to another area. Yeonhee trembled for a long time afterward, trying to steady her breathing.
An association employee finally came over late and asked what had happened, but it was far too late, buddy.
‘That son of a bitch… You’re not the only one who remembers faces.’
Once I reach C-grade, I will definitely find you.
“Haa… Haa…”
Even though Yeonhee had slain countless monsters in dungeons, interpersonal conflicts like this were an entirely different kind of problem. So it was understandable that she was struggling so much.
“Huu— Every time I meet people like that, my heart just shrivels up. Ilwol, can you understand why that guy acted like that?”
I shook my head vigorously and patted her back. How could I possibly understand people who suddenly gained power and let their suppressed true nature explode?
‘I don’t understand it, but this scene feels strangely familiar.’
Envy, jealousy, inexplicable irritation and anger. The dark emotions directed at those with talent. They were the exact type of humans I had encountered many times before.
“Yun Han-gyeol? That bastard acted so arrogant just because he had a single sensory ability. I’ve been waiting for the chance to stomp him down.”
“He threw a huge tantrum just because he got kicked out of a party once. So damn annoying.”
“Should I try to catch him? I heard he doesn’t even have attack skills. If we corner him and beat him up, he won’t dare make a sound again, right?”
The mocking voices of guild members badmouthing me behind my back suddenly resurfaced in my mind. A damp, misty feeling spread through my chest once more.
‘Haa… It’s hard to hold back. I can’t even go invisible and beat him up.’
In my heart, I wanted to punish the guy who had picked a fight right this moment. But this place had Detect Magic active at all times. The second I used stealth, I would be discovered and restrained. And if I caused an incident here, Yeonhee would be the one to suffer. In the worst case, her promotion could be suspended for months.
With superhuman patience, I suppressed my emotions. I felt Yeonhee, who was gently leaning against my chest, gradually calm her breathing.
Hunter Lee Yeonhee, number 477. Please proceed to Test Room 4 immediately.
“Ah—”
When she had first entered the building, she hadn’t shown any sign of nervousness at all. But after what had just happened, her momentum seemed a bit dampened.
I clenched my fist tightly for her. Only then did she nod firmly and walk toward the test room.