First Friend: Kim Seung-hyeok's Noir Tale
As she emerged from the gate alongside her first friend, Kim Seung-hyeok, Yoo Haneul learned all sorts of things. From the wisdom of wearing a bracelet equipped with maps and GPS when entering a gate, to how it was more economically efficient to pick up simple requests from the Hunter Association or online rather than just hunting monsters blindly.
The first tip was self-explanatory, but the second usually came into play when someone needed monster byproducts to craft weapons or gear. Or when a research lab wanted specific monster organs. There were also cases where hunters took requests from illegal sites, but Kim Seung-hyeok flatly said he didn't recommend that. Of course, Haneul had no intention of heeding his advice. She was already planning to poke around any illegal sites she found someday, just to see what gigs they offered.
Sensing her train of thought, Kim Seung-hyeok suddenly launched into his life story without being asked. He spilled it all voluntarily, and since it was more entertaining than expected, Haneul got sucked in, listening with rapt attention. It really wasn't a lie that he'd been a gangster—his life could have been a noir film. Loyalty and revenge coexisting, wealth and poverty intertwined, honor and disgrace rubbing shoulders... Of course, since his audience was so young, Kim Seung-hyeok had self-censored quite a bit.
Oblivious to that, Haneul's eyes sparkled as she shouted,
"I wanna be a gangster too!"
"Even after hearing my story?"
"Yeah!"
At least she'd lost interest in illegal sites for now. That was something. Kim Seung-hyeok gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"...Don't get into this stuff."
"Whoa, even the lines are perfect!"
"I'm dead serious. Like I said, my story's heavily edited. There was way more... pathetic, sleazy crap than that. Look at me right now. Does this look like a cool story to you?"
His injuries had fully healed thanks to the potions, but with no mana left in his body and his blood depleted, he looked like he was half-dragged along by the much younger-looking Haneul. In his own eyes, he couldn't imagine a more pathetic sight.
"Yeah, okay, you do look kinda pitiful, mister."
"...Y-yeah."
"Guess I'll just be a hunter then."
Kim Seung-hyeok's expression darkened at her casual reply.
"Hunter... You really gotta do that?"
"Yeah. It's not like I know how to do anything that doesn't involve my body. Plus, you survived because I became a hunter, right?"
"Can't argue with that..."
A groan escaped Kim Seung-hyeok's lips. He'd known since she mentioned owning her place in Seoul that Haneul was an orphan. He hadn't pried, but orphans could spot their own kind. While he was a true stray with no roots, Haneul's situation seemed different. Maybe her parents had died in a gate accident while living together. Or perhaps they were hunters themselves. After they passed, the house became hers, and then she awakened one day, turning to hunting to survive. That would make her current home her late parents' legacy.
Of course... A hunter diving into a D-rank gate could afford their own place. But looking at Haneul, she didn't seem like someone who'd been a D-rank hunter for long—too many gaps in her knowledge. She hadn't even known about gate maps or the requests available starting from D-rank. That meant she'd only recently become a D-rank hunter.
In that case, scraping together enough to buy a place in Seoul was next to impossible.
"...Does the Association hand out licenses to kids like you?"
"Huh? I'm an adult."
"Best case, you look like a high schooler."
"I'm twenty."
Haneul pulled out her hunter license from inside her clothes as she said it. It was adorably imprinted with teeth marks. The holographic shimmer looked fresh, meaning it was newly issued. And by the birthdate on it, she really was twenty.
Twenty, with that face and build? It was shocking, but what puzzled Kim Seung-hyeok more was where the hell she'd pulled the license from. From inside her clothes... So, from top to bottom? Around the chest area? Or the solar plexus? No pockets anywhere, yet out it came.
'A Constellation's power?'
Constellations that handled sub-spaces... If she had that kind of ability, it was possible. Rumor had it there was a hunter in Japan who'd reached S-rank solely thanks to a sub-space power from her Constellation. Her personal combat prowess was nothing special, but the utility made it work.
Haneul might be the same. Maybe he should get chummy with her starting now? But on second thought, no need to force it. After she'd saved his life, he'd already vowed to do anything he could for her.
"Guess you really are twenty..."
"Right?"
Haneul tucked the license back inside her clothes and skipped along lightly.
"Not tired?"
"Nope."
"I'm a bit beat."
"Oh."
"...I was asking if you wanna take a break."
"Nah, no breaks."
"......Fine."
To talk with Haneul, it was better to be direct than beat around the bush... He'd remember that. Gritting his teeth, Kim Seung-hyeok dragged his heavy body forward.
After trekking nonstop for 14 hours like that, the two finally exited the gate.
Once outside the gate, Kim Seung-hyeok headed straight for the convenience store. No one batted an eye at his blood-soaked state. Back in the day, cops would've swarmed him, but ever since gates started opening, blood-drenched hunters wandering near them had become commonplace.
Haneul, on the other hand, drew stares for all sorts of reasons. Her looks, her outfit... And walking with a scarred-up thug of a man? It was a combo that sparked all the wrong assumptions.
But the two ignored the looks. Haneul was like that by nature, and Kim Seung-hyeok was too exhausted to care.
"Pick whatever."
"You broke or something, mister?"
"...I can afford this much."
"Then I'll take this."
Haneul grabbed a Tungba, while Kim Seung-hyeok hauled two 2L bottles of sports drink. They downed them in seconds. By the time Haneul finished her Tungba, he'd already polished off both drinks. Still not enough, he bought a pile of hot bars and sausages from the store, shoving them in cold.
He didn't forget to get some sausages for Haneul, either.
"Finally feel alive."
"This tastes better than those 1+1 deals."
"That's 'cause it's not on 1+1. Anyway, where you headed now?"
"Home."
"Where's home?"
"Yangcheon-gu."
"Hm..."
With some strength and sense returning, Kim Seung-hyeok eyed Haneul thoughtfully. What if he let her go home like this? She'd probably crash alone, killing time on communities or social media like kids do these days. She must be used to long stretches of solitude, but he couldn't just leave her like that. Saving his life aside, he couldn't abandon a girl who seemed a bit short on common sense, left to her loneliness.
Plus, today... They'd seen a ton of corpses. Even he felt unsettled; no way this little girl felt it less.
"You eat properly? It's dinnertime."
Haneul munched on the sausages in both hands, mumbling around them. Looked like these were her dinner. Kim Seung-hyeok's face fell.
Then, steeling himself with resolve, he said to her,
"Come to my place. We'll do some pork belly."
"Munch munch?"
"I may not know much, but I make killer doenjang jjigae. Grill up some samgyeopsal, stir-fry kimchi, and have a proper meal with rice before you go."
Visions of a full pork belly spread filled Haneul's mind as she chewed. Crisply grilled outside, juicy with fat inside. When the lean meat got chewy, creamy, nutty fat would melt in, ravaging her tongue... A bite of stir-fried kimchi to cut the richness, a sip of doenjang jjigae to cleanse the palate, then back to pork belly, fat, kimchi, stew in endless feast...
Gulp. Saliva flooded Haneul's throat.
"Plus, this mister lost all his little bros. Must be lonely living alone."
"Mmmph..."
"Not just that—you gotta launder those jewels and cash you pulled from the corpses today, right?"
"Launder? Gotta wash this stuff too? It's dirty?"
"Obviously. Hunters are extra picky about that sort of thing—laundering's a huge pain."
Haneul tilted her head. Launder? Launder...? Laundry was for clothes, but for money and jewels? Not tossing them in a washer, so it must mean something else.
'I swear I know the word...'
While Haneul wracked her brain, Kim Seung-hyeok pressed on to convince her.
"Think of it as consoling a lonely mister? Free dinner, dessert drink after, and pocket some laundered cash on top—no loss."
True enough. Free meal, free dessert, free laundry service. Zero downside.
'Pork belly... doenjjigae...'
Above all, she couldn't resist the allure of homemade pork belly and stew.
"If you like it, come by anytime."
"Deal! Can't leave a lonely mister hanging!"
Kim Seung-hyeok's face softened.
"Good call."
"Your place far?"
"Twenty-minute walk."
"Sweet."
"We can grab snacks on the way. Ice cream or whatever. Like that trendy dwaekkum thing blowing up lately."
"Dwaekkum...? No clue. Just gimme lotsa pork belly."
"Heh, alright. You do you."
As the two hopped the fence around the gate area after leaving the convenience store,
"Th-this guy's insane, right?"
A hunter who'd overheard their chat—Yoo Sera, the first to spot Haneul—grimaced hard.
She'd frozen at first upon recognizing the girl from the disaster-grade gate. But as the conversation dragged on, her curiosity about the girl gave way to boiling hatred for Kim Seung-hyeok.
Consoling a lonely mister? Going home together? Taking money too?
"That psycho bastard...!"
As a fellow B-rank hunter, Yoo Sera knew his past. Ex-gangster turned hunter. A thug who lorded over his so-called "little bros," other lowlifes. For that scum to lure a tiny girl home and... do unspeakable things as "comfort"...
"Can't let this slide."
Yoo Sera immediately reported the situation to the Association. That gangster-turned-hunter Kim Seung-hyeok was about to do something vile to a small, young girl.
She could rush over and stop them now. But to nail a thug like that, she needed ironclad evidence.
'Sorry to the kid, but...'
The moment they stepped into his house—that's when she'd bust in and catch him red-handed. Arming up, Yoo Sera began tailing them to make sure she crushed Kim Seung-hyeok for good.