The Egg I Got as a Reward
The object that fell out of the box I’d received as a so-called reward.
Just looking at it made my face tighten. There was no helping it.
“……What is this?”
What had dropped onto the bed, absurdly enough, was not a normal item.
[Reward acquired.]
[Egg (???)]
“It’s an egg…….”
That was all it was. An egg slightly larger than an ordinary chicken egg.
Why was this here? They’d given me this as a reward?
“……Why doesn’t the rank show up either?”
The rank that should have been written on it was hidden beneath a sea of question marks. Normally, this was the point where Corca’s Mirage or the Eye of Enlightenment should have activated and told me something useful.
But nothing happened.
They had just handed me an egg, plain and simple. And the reward had been SS-class.
“Hah.”
It was disappointing, but…
“……Still, if it’s an SS-class reward, it should be something good, right?”
I couldn’t help holding on to a sliver of hope. I still had no idea what this egg really was.
It didn’t take long for me to realize just how insane this egg really was.
* * *
Right after the Knight Order’s recruitment ended.
With the deputy commander settled as Ye Jiram according to Irene’s competition, the Association finally made its announcement as if it had been waiting for the moment.
Composition of the new Knight Order has been finalized.
A counterterrorism unit with an average rank of A-class.
The unit led by the world’s strongest hunter, Hale Irene, now includes the S-class superhuman known as the Lightning Empress, Jin Yeonhui—
And, perhaps most surprisingly, the deputy commander has been named the Black Night Witch, Ye Jiram…….
In the recent exploration of the labyrinth as well, the first to break through were none other than the members of the newly established Knight Order, among whom the standout performer was Lee Jinwoo, the hero of Yeouido…….
The articles flooded my phone. Unlike the usual chatter that revolved around the God of War, this time there was an unusual amount about me.
Ah, that sounds kind of awkward when it’s both of us.
Anyway, it wasn’t just the articles—the network itself was on fire.
-How does that even make sense? Can two A-class hunters really clear an S-class gate?
-Watching the footage, it didn’t even look that hard.
-Not hard my ass. There were traps with skills embedded in them, and my body literally exploded like jelly, so how the hell did they just walk through?
-Seriously, they looked like they knew everything.
-Did you see the Black Night Witch’s face? She looked like even she had no idea what she was doing.
-Seems like Lee Jinwoo was doing everything.
-What even is he? Some kind of reincarnation specialized in reconnaissance? Otherwise there’s no way they’d break through that easily.
-I’m telling you, this isn’t just about scouting. My party had an A-class scout, and I got my hopes up so high—he died in the first room.
-So what, you’re saying they just brute-forced it with luck? No way that’s all there is to it.
-It wasn’t just the room. How did they beat the final boss? The difficulty was supposed to ramp up to S-class. And yet they were just two A-class hunters.
The network was lively. No, more than lively—it was downright explosive.
“……Hmm…….”
It was quite the reaction. Apparently, the fact that two A-class hunters had broken through an S-class gate was that shocking.
Well.
……It was a huge deal.
The gap between an A-class gate and an S-class gate was enormous. The most important difference was whether or not one could use Authority.
That’s what they said, wasn’t it?
A privilege reserved only for S-class superhumans.
A power possessed only by those who had been something in their previous lives.
Since the difference between having it and not having it was supposedly enormous—
……Authority, huh.
That was why people said an A-class superhuman could never beat an S-class superhuman.
And that was also why controversy was brewing over how an A-class hunter, with no Authority at all, had cleared an S-class dungeon faster than Hale Irene.
-They say this Lee Jinwoo guy even took down the boss alone.
-Kim Hyukcheol couldn’t handle the increased dungeon difficulty and the footage got wiped. How the hell did they beat it?
-What if this bastard actually hid his rank?
I flinched.
I jerked at that comment. Sharp eye they had.
-What do you mean, hid it? The measurement at Association headquarters said A-class, didn’t it?
-Whatever else, if it’s the Korean branch, you have to trust it. Isn’t that the place with the most accurate measurements?
-It has to be, especially because of North Korea.
Korea was famous for having the highest precision and clarity in rank measurements.
With the kind of incidents they’d endured, this was one area they took seriously.
-Then how did they kill it, exactly?
While I was watching the debate swirl around this unsolved mystery, one post appeared.
[Author: Black Night Witch]
“Huh?”
It was Ye Jiram’s post.
The moment it went up, the view count skyrocketed.
What was she writing? I hurried in to read it myself.
[Black Night Witch: Why are you all making such a fuss? So what if they killed it? Are you that bitter that your unni took down an S-class?]
Sure enough, it was a completely unfiltered post.
Comments exploded instantly.
-What the hell. How did you do it for real?
└Black Night Witch: How do you think? We just broke through and smashed it. Didn’t you watch the video?
-I did, but it still makes no sense.
└Black Night Witch: Then what doesn’t make sense? It’s all in the video. We broke through and cleared it—what exactly is the problem? Seems like the problem is your eyes.
-Black Night Witch: Go wash them and put them back in. Stop talking nonsense if you’ve got time to waste.
“…….”
Whoa.
As always, I had to admit Ye Jiram really was impossible to deal with.
[Black Night Witch: I’m pissed, so keep it civil. If you keep spouting that bullshit, I might not even reveal what reward we got.]
That shut the network up for a moment.
-You’re gonna reveal it? The reward?
-No way. Seriously?
-Why would you do that?
Strangely enough, people seemed less interested than baffled. Not just any reward, but the reward from an S-class gate.
Considering that S-class artifacts were managed by the state itself, Ye Jiram’s claim that she’d reveal it was insane.
[Black Night Witch: Whether I reveal it or not is my business. So if you want to know, sit there quietly and listen.]
After that, Ye Jiram didn’t post anything else.
“What the hell.”
Had the storm passed? One line from her had silenced the network. Not completely—posts were still going up—but it was nowhere near as loud as before.
No way.
Watching that, I felt a thought stir.
……Did she step in to take the heat off me?
Now that everyone was talking about me, maybe she’d stepped in to redirect the attention. That idea crossed my mind.
Still…
She talked rough, sure, but Ye Jiram didn’t seem like such a strange person beneath all that, somehow.
Just then.
Bang, bang, bang.
“Huh?”
A sound came from the door. Not a bell—someone was pounding on it.
“Who is it……?”
“Open up.”
“……Pardon?”
I jumped at the familiar voice and opened the door.
And standing outside my room was, surprisingly, Ye Jiram.
“What brings you here……?”
“Came to hang out.”
“……What?”
I didn’t even have time to recover before Ye Jiram shoved me aside and walked in.
“Wow, what is this?”
Then she looked around the room and let out a dry laugh.
“I’m the deputy commander, and yours is at least twice as big as mine?”
“Pardon? It’s bigger?”
“What is this discrimination?”
At her incredulous tone, my eyes widened. My room was bigger than hers?
“Maybe because that woman’s downstairs, but even the size is different. So original members get special treatment? Is that what this is?”
Ye Jiram sauntered in with a bored expression, though for some reason there was a delicious smell clinging to her.
And the source of it was probably what she was carrying.
“……Fried chicken?”
“Looks good, right?”
“Why would you……?”
“Why not? I bought it so we could eat together.”
Fried chicken, at this hour?
I glanced at the window. It was early evening. The schedule that had been set for today was canceled because of yesterday’s labyrinth gate incident, so everyone had been given time to rest in their lodging.
And yet she’d just shown up like this.
“And chicken,” she said.
“There’s beer too.”
She held it out casually with a smile. The faint scent of cigarettes brushed my nose.
“…….”
“Sit down.”
Ye Jiram sat at the table as if she owned the place and started setting out the chicken and beer.
Then she pointed to the seat across from her, as if telling me to sit. Anyone who didn’t know better would think this was her room.
Chiiik. The beer can cracked open the moment I sat down. I stared at it blankly, and she frowned at me.
“What? Why are you just sitting there? Is this your first time drinking?”
“Yes.”
“Huh?”
She looked genuinely surprised.
“You’ve never had this before… Ah, right, you’re twenty.”
“Yes.”
I’d never drunk before. Even after becoming an adult, I’d never really wanted to.
“…….”
Still not used to the way she addressed me, I let out a small laugh.
“Then learn now. You’re supposed to learn drinking from adults.”
“From adults?”
What, she was acting like there was some huge age gap?
“Oh? Open your eyes nicely, will you? I can read your mind.”
“My eyes are just like this.”
“Oh, sure. You’re hilarious. You don’t have parents, do you?”
“…….”
What was this?
She’d just thrown the mother of all rude comments at me. I stared at her dumbly, not having expected that at all, and she went on as if nothing had happened.
“You looked like it, so I figured. I don’t have any either.”
“……I don’t exactly look like someone without parents, if I say so myself.”
“I don’t exactly look like someone?”
“…….”
“You little bastard……?”
“Cheers, then.”
I raised my beer can in a toast.
“Unbelievable.”
I took a sip. So this was beer. It didn’t taste all that great.
“How is it?”
“Bitter. And not very tasty.”
“Exactly. That’s why people drink it.”
She picked up a chicken leg and took a bite.
Watching her, I asked, “What are you here for?”
“What do you mean, what am I here for? I already told you. I came to eat chicken.”
“……That’s the whole reason?”
“Look at this guy?”
Ye Jiram looked at me like I was fascinating.
“What else do you need? We broke a gate together, didn’t we? Doesn’t that mean we’ve gotten closer?”
“I guess that could be—”
But no matter how I looked at it—
“It doesn’t feel like you came here for that.”
“……Oh?”
The beer in her hand came down onto the table.
“Why do you think that?”
Ye Jiram’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Just a feeling.”
[Hero's Super-sensory has activated.]
It really was just a feeling.
A feeling like that.
“Seems you’re sharp.”
“Not exactly dull.”
“As expected. Kids who grow up without parents usually have that kind of edge.”
“……I’ll say it again, I don’t exactly look like the type—”
“Shut up. Shut up.”
What kind of conversation was this, between orphans of all people?
“Ah, well, now that you’ve figured it out, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Creak. Ye Jiram leaned back in her chair as if she’d made herself comfortable.
She downed the rest of her beer in one shot, like she was crazy.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Let me ask you one thing.”
Her expression changed. Propping her chin on her hand, she looked at me and said,
“You.”
Her tone was different now.
And at that moment, something inside me rippled.
“Could it be—”
Just as Ye Jiram was about to continue,
ding-dong—
Hm?
The doorbell rang. Someone else had come by.
“What? Did you have another guest coming?”
“No……? Not that I know of……”
Confused, I walked to the door and opened it.
“Who is it……. Huh?”
Outside stood someone I had absolutely not expected.
“……Why are you here?”
“…….”
A woman with blue eyes and black hair.
For some reason, Jin Yeonhui was standing at my door, looking at me.
And with a rather displeased expression, at that.