Judgment Begins Now

The next morning, I headed to the Hunter Association building to register as an Awakened.

"Gulp..."

As I drew closer to the main entrance, sweat beaded in my palms, and I kept swallowing dryly for no reason at all.

Part of it was my old fear of these people, but honestly, the reason I died in the first place was because of a Hunter, too.

"Um, excuse me..."

"HYAAAK?!"

So when someone suddenly spoke to me, shrieking like a frightened little girl was a perfectly reasonable reaction.

No, I haven't.

"Ahem. What brings you here today?"

"H-Hunter registration..."

"Please head to the counter inside."

Crumpled up like a used ball of paper, I shuffled inside following the guard's directions.

"Shut it."

Barking back at the status window's nonsense, I stepped into the Association lobby, which was surprisingly luxurious.

Well, I suppose it made sense when individual top-ranked Hunters wielded more power than most politicians.

"Whoa, look at her."

"Her chest is huge."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Mmph...?!"

Still, the stares raining down from every direction were as uncomfortable as ever.

I was just wearing plain dolphin shorts and a T-shirt — maybe it was the very plainness that drew all the attention.

"Hello! Welcome to the Hunter Association! For new registrations and appraisals, please follow me."

"Ah, yes..."

Before long, I was following the brightly smiling employee deeper into the building, when—

"Huh?"

Outside the Association building, a group of about ten people had gathered, shouting themselves hoarse in protest.

"Who are those people?"

"Ah..."

When I asked the employee walking beside me what was going on, her expression hardened in an instant.

"Well... those appear to be people harmed by a crime committed by one of our registered Hunters."

"Ah, I see..."

That explanation made things click for me.

If it was Kwak Ducheol, he was one of the most notorious degenerates among Hunters, after all.

"I told you people to shut your mouths and get lost, didn't I?"

- ?!

But speak of the tiger and he shall appear — the very man at the center of the scandal showed up right in front of the protesters.

A hulking mass of muscle standing nearly two meters tall, with a face like a butcher's block.

And the heavy armor wrapped around his frame only amplified the crushing aura of menace.

"Ap-apologize to my daughter!"

"You bastard! You crippled my child and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still—"

"The hell did you just say to me?"

Far from backing off, he began taunting and threatening the protesters outright.

"Y-You raped my daughter! You claimed you were saving her from a monster!"

"Ah~ that? I'd gotten hit by a monster's aphrodisiac, y'see. And when I saw your precious daughter, I just couldn't hold back~"

"My son works for the monster corpse disposal crew! He was quietly doing his job when you beat him half to death for splashing a single drop of blood on you!"

"That was brand-new gear, freshly unboxed, understand? Your brat couldn't buy that shit in a lifetime of labor, so of course he took a beating for it."

And so Hunter Kwak Ducheol poured out his merciless, unrestrained abuse upon the wounded victims, sparing no one.

"Ugh..."

The protesters were nothing more than an elderly couple, a widowed mother left alone, the disabled...

Every last one of them society's weakest, so they could only tremble helplessly, unable to muster a single retort.

"Filthy trash... one day you'll face divine punishment for this..."

"What was that?"

But at one old man's muttered curse, a vein bulged on his forehead and his eyes went bloodshot with rage.

"Fine. I'll make you just like your son, then."

"Wh...?!"

"Crippling a person's no big deal anyway! Just a little service time and you're back on the streets!"

Whum!

In the next breath, Kwak Ducheol clenched his fist with bloodshot eyes and swung it straight at the old man—

"Stop."

"Hm?!"

I spread my arms to shield the old man and planted myself squarely in his path.

"Hey, you disrespectful piece of garbage. Who taught you to treat your elders like that?"

"Never seen this Hunter before."

"Hunter Kwak...? That person is still an unregistered Awakened."

"...Ha!"

Kwak Ducheol stared holes through me for a long moment, then scoffed after hearing the pale-faced employee's explanation.

"They'll let anything bark these days, even fresh spawn? This Association's really going places."

"And where'd you learn your family values, huh? Some online bootleg course? Whatever instructor you had, he clearly couldn't patch up the hole in your parents' legacy no matter how many times you rewatched."

"Hey, this girl hasn't even had her rank measured yet, right?"

"N-No, sir!"

Then he leaned in toward the Association employee, glinting menace swimming in his eyes, speaking as if he were chewing her up.

"Set up a duel arena. I'll pound the lesson into her personally."

"Th-That's not—"

"Good. I'll personally demonstrate, in a one-on-one face-to-face lecture, why your mommy and daddy never existed."

"Why would you accept that...?! He's a B-rank Hunter! He could actually kill you!"

The moment I agreed to his proposal without hesitation, the employee panicked and desperately tried to talk me out of it.

Honestly, I understood her feelings perfectly.

If a frail-looking woman like me got beaten to a pulp by a monster like that, of course she'd fight tooth and nail to stop it.

The status window was counting on me.

Counting on me to uphold my duty — to shield the weak and punish the wicked.

"Y-Young lady, please, if you get hurt sticking your nose in, it'll just make things harder for us..."

"Don't worry. I won't lose to trash like him."

"...I see. And... thank you for standing up for us."

Seeing the resolve in my eyes, the victims sent me desperate, hopeful looks and rooted me on.

"Beat me, and I'll give you a Hunter's license and my entire fortune."

"Fine by me."

"But if you lose, you become my slave."

As Kwak Ducheol raked his lecherous gaze over every inch of my body and licked his lips, the status window ground its teeth in furious outrage.

Practically speaking, whoever lost this duel would never be able to call themselves a Hunter again.

"Time limit is three minutes. No restrictions on weapons. Incapacitation means defeat. Understood?"

"Got it."

"Good! I'm gonna turn that pretty little face into mincemeat!"

Thwack!!!

And so the two of us stood facing each other in the Association's open courtyard, duel preparations complete.

"Yeah. I'll win. Promise."

"Yes."

FAAAAAASH!!!!

The instant I accepted the status window's offer, a sacred power began to envelop my body.

"Wh...what the hell is that?!"

Kwak Ducheol's eyes bulged at the radiant mana he had never once felt before.

And when the blinding light finally settled, what appeared before everyone's eyes was...

"...Hey, status window."

[?]

"Is this right?"

[Dead serious!]

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!!!!"

In the space of a heartbeat, I had plummeted from a brave young woman who couldn't abide injustice to a shameless exhibitionist who couldn't abide clothing.

A bikini would have been modest by comparison — only my most vital areas were barely, precariously covered.

They'd had the gall to call it a "saintess habit," complete with ornate trim and a cross, but with my voluptuous, sinful curves straining against the fabric, none of the fine details registered at all.

"C...calm down. Calm down, me."

Forcing down the heat burning across my face, I slowly took stock of my body's condition.

Saintess Unique Skill — Holy Armament.

And this skill did not end at transforming me into some deranged pervert's fantasy outfit.

"Hoo."

Feeling the exhilarating power surging through my entire body, I quietly exhaled.

The skill's nature was clear.

It granted stat buffs proportional to the target's accumulated sins — the more wicked the foe, the stronger I became.

Of course, even I had no idea just how strong this power actually was.

But the status window had saved my life — it would never hand me anything half-baked.

"As of this moment, I will judge you."

"Big talk from a lunatic in a stripper outfit!!!"

Thwack!!!

Gripping the revolver in my hand, I declared it to the enemy charging at me with murder in his eyes.

What kind of lunatic is this?

B-rank Hunter Kwak Ducheol gripped his massive axe and broke into a savage grin.

His opponent: a woman who had awakened mere days ago.

Himself, meanwhile, was a veteran who had climbed thirty-plus floors of the Normal-difficulty Tower.

Considering the rewards and experience he'd accumulated clearing the Tower, the very notion of losing was absurd.

Still, this could be fun.

Besides, winning the duel meant winning her, and that thought set his blood racing.

She seemed a little dumb, sure...

But with that voluptuous body and those pervert clothes, she was practically a succubus born for the sole purpose of seducing men.

"Chaaarge!!!"

Her face at least needed to stay unspoiled, so he planned to knock her out lightly — and swung the axe handle down with that intent—

"Silver Bullet."

"Huh?"

BOOM!

The round fired from her gun punched clean through his thigh.

"G...GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! MY LEG!!!! MY LEGGGG!!!!"

Even a man loaded down with every tank skill in the book couldn't endure that searing agony — Kwak Ducheol rolled across the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Wh...why?! That's impossible...!

Having been reduced to a grotesque spectacle by a single bullet, he looked up at his opponent with eyes bloodshot to bursting.

"Oh, fellas, are you seeing this right now...?"

Meanwhile, a man was filming the duel from far away.

This man was none other than a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers.

A professional drama-chaser who made his living digging up and redistributing Hunter-related scandals.

I was just killing time filming the protest, and look what dropped right into my lap...

With Hunter-related censorship clamping down harder than ever these days, genuinely profitable stories had become hard to come by — so this was the jackpot news he'd been waiting for.

"W-Wait! Time out...!"

"Looks like you're still standing, huh?"

BANG!

"GAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

What he'd captured on camera was none other than the famously controversial Hunter Kwak Ducheol getting beaten black and blue by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a woman of unknown identity.

The moment a rotten-to-the-core B-rank Hunter was exposed in such a pathetic display, the viewers erupted in delight, spamming the chat at full speed.

Strike while the iron is hot!

The professional drama-chaser racked his brain hard.

After agonizing over how to pull in even more viewers, the answer came to him...

Yeah. That's what the stream title should be.

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