A Summoner's Silent Treatment
The five hunters, including the visibly irritated Yeonhee, skipped introductions and launched straight into questions. It rubbed me the wrong way, but I answered them honestly anyway. Not because they seemed like decent people, but because provoking B-rank hunters was a gamble I wasn't willing to take. I simply pictured four of those monsters standing in front of me—creatures that could speak and think. That made cooperation the obvious choice.
"Well then—Lee Yeonhee, was it? It's an honor to meet the rising star everyone's talking about. Mind if we have a little chat?"
One of the four senior hunters, the only woman among them, approached with that line. It was obvious this wouldn't be a friendly conversation so much as an interrogation.
Why do we have to act like we've done something wrong when we saved all those people? I'm going to stand my ground!
Yeonhee clenched her fists and glared with fierce determination.
"Hmm. You don't want to talk?"
The senior hunter's knuckles cracked ominously as she asked. Yeonhee's resolve crumbled instantly.
"N-no, that's not it..."
She became as meek as a lamb, exactly the opposite of her inner declaration, and followed the hunter away for a private talk.
Two hours later, the elders of the Blue Eyes organization sat around a round table in a sleek office building in Seoul. They were dressed in immaculate suits, holding a meeting.
"In short, things went exactly as we intended."
"I don't like the phrasing 'exactly as we intended,' but I'll hear you out."
"It all started with one investigator suggesting we search every hidden space inside dungeons. That led to the formation of the Dungeon Purification Task Force. But after the Guchang-ro Dungeon Break, I believe the Task Force's purpose is about to change."
"Instead of focusing inside dungeons, they're shifting toward finding hidden dungeons within the city itself?"
"Precisely."
The Blue Eyes organization still had plenty of work left to do inside dungeons, so the Hunter Management Agency officials constantly poking around various gates had become a thorn in their side. The incident at the Bulwonsungi Dungeon had only made things worse, with talk of forming a special task force. They needed to redirect attention elsewhere, and fast.
"Well, I'm sure that person handled it perfectly."
"Heh, of course. All we need to do is show our sincere faith."
"By the way, Elder Ak? I'd like to hear more about that 'exactly as we intended' part."
Since nothing mattered more to the Blue Eyes elders than their rituals, the Guchang-ro incident had already fallen out of their interest the moment they turned their eyes away from the dungeons. Still, curiosity lingered.
The handsome man called Elder Ak spoke after receiving the question.
"It wasn't a finished product, but even so, the 'Fang'—which no one was supposed to doubt in terms of performance—was stopped by C-rank hunters."
"Hold on, hold on... That 'Fang' thing. Didn't you say its stats were at least B-rank? It should've been able to sweep through hunters called in for a Level 1 disaster alert."
"If we're only talking physical ability, yes."
"And besides physical ability?"
"Intelligence, judgment, self-control, mana manipulation, field of vision—there are plenty of areas where it falls short. But its physical prowess covers all of that. Hmm. Honestly, five C-rank hunters could pull it off."
"I see. So why bring it up at all?"
"To make something like that possible, you'd need either an extremely skilled sensory-type hunter, someone with a sense stat over 15, or a powerful debuff mage. There was a rare 'Card Catcher' class, but even though they were all physical fighters, they apparently subdued it quite easily."
Another elder, now genuinely puzzled, asked, "Any other variables?"
"Well... there was a report that a summoner was involved as well..."
"A summoner? Since when is that a class?"
"You know, that class that was discovered recently. Haven't you been reading the news?"
"I've heard of it. The White Knight Guild snatched her up right away."
"Keh keh, she was quite the looker too. The White Elder was too slow on the draw, huh?"
"That's a real shame. Keh heh heh—"
Puhahaha—! The elders burst into laughter at the crude joke.
The 'Fang' had been defeated, and the keyword "summoner" had come up, but the other elders only showed fleeting, gossip-like interest. They were satisfied simply knowing their own domains remained secure. The low-quality conversation was just an added bonus.
Trash... Disgusting and vile. Just like...
Elder Ak studied their faces and decided there was no longer any need for him to participate in this meeting.
Nothing more to see here. Just a bunch of fools I can dangle carrots in front of before discarding later.
But he didn't notice the gaze quietly observing him as he let out a shallow sigh.
That same evening.
Ding— Well, not really.
'I'm glad it ended without anyone getting hurt, but still...'
Something had felt off from the moment I was summoned. She hadn't tried to startle me with a laugh, run over to hug me, or burst into tears thinking I'd died. Instead, she just sat on the floor absentmindedly kneading Wangwang's belly. The moment I quietly approached, she spun away in the opposite direction.
Hmm. I know what this is.
'...She's sulking at me, isn't she?'
Probably. But why?
Hmm...
'It's obvious.'
She was upset that I'd charged in and self-destructed without saying anything. Even if it had led to a perfect outcome, that didn't change how she felt.
'How do I fix this...'
For now, I kept moving into her line of sight, hoping she'd look at me. Since I hadn't done anything truly wrong, I figured time would naturally smooth things over.
About an hour passed.
Glance—
'She's checking my reaction every so often!'
As expected, the longer time went on, the more frequently she stole glances at me.
'She probably wants to talk so badly her skin is itching.'
Twitch—
Her lips kept trembling, like she was barely holding back from spilling everything that had happened today.
'...No choice then.'
I activated Stealth, moved behind her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Kyaa!"
She whipped around in surprise. I gently began massaging her shoulders.
"Tch... tsk..."
She'd grown used to this ever since I'd first been summoned, so there was no awkwardness.
"Ugh... ah... mm..."
She pouted and tried her best to endure, but my expert hand movements slowly forced her lips to part.
I never thought the sports massage techniques I'd learned from a junior in the military for fun would come in handy after I died. Life really is...
"Hnnngh..."
Yeonhee's total mana capacity had increased dramatically recently, and so had her recovery speed. That meant she was using far more mana per day. And the more mana she expended, the greater her post-battle fatigue. While it varied from person to person, most high-rank hunters followed a routine of running a dungeon one day and resting the next.
'Doesn't apply to me, though... Skeletons are the best, heh...'
Anyway, when someone massaged a body like hers—even roughly—the pleasure was several times stronger than usual.
"Nn... ah..."
I kept kneading until she was fully satisfied. A skeleton without stamina could keep going as long as needed.
"Um... ah! H-hey..."
Only after her shoulders had turned to jelly did she finally start recounting what had happened today—the interesting stories from right before my death and after.
"The strongest one I felt was the spearman!!"
"Clack clack clack!!"
Adding sound effects to her words had become second nature. She went on to evaluate each of the five C-rank hunters one by one.
'Was the Card Catcher all hype? From what I sensed, he seemed the best.'
Maybe the Card Catcher was the type who couldn't fully demonstrate his abilities in real combat.
"That spearman didn't say a single word. He just silently did his job. Typical of his guild, I guess?"
The guild Yeonhee referred to was the Ilseom Guild. It was famous for only accepting hunters who had acquired the skill [Single Strike]. Their leader, Hyeon Jung-gil, was one of the earliest Awakeners and ranked among Korea's top five strongest.
'The Ilseom Guild is cool. Dedicating yourself to one thing like that wouldn't be bad.'
True to their name, they were a group of madmen who bet everything on a single strike. And groups made of such lunatics usually hid tremendous power. Because they only accepted people with a specific skill, their numbers were small, so they didn't earn the title of one of the major guilds. But if you judged by the top ten fighters, even the three great guilds couldn't confidently claim superiority over them.
"Hyah— Single Strike... second step...! Shhhk!! That sound didn't come from my mouth, you know!"
Yeonhee grabbed my club and demonstrated the Single Strike skill for no particular reason.
'Cute... If she showed even half this bright side when meeting people outside, her social life would be so much easier.'
At the same time, I felt a twinge of disappointment, though I figured she'd gradually improve with time.
After hearing her tale of dealing with the speakers, the conversation moved to her private meeting with the B-rank hunters.
"Given who they were, I was a little nervous, but they didn't ask as many questions as I expected?"
'...That can't be right.'
"They just asked who found the monster first, who blew the fourth whistle, who caused the explosion, what the monster's abilities and initial appearance were like, and how we defeated it?"
'They asked everything!'
"But I just kept saying I didn't know. Hehe— Besides, with the poison fog, I doubt anyone got a proper look anyway. It's not like I was being difficult on purpose. Hehe."
'She just brushed them off because she didn't feel like answering...'
"Oh! And when I said I wanted to buy the monster bones, they handed them over without any fuss."
"Clack clack clack!!"
'Oh?! That's my Yeonhee! I knew I could count on her!'