Nonsan Dispatch (4)
Fortunately, those rookies didn't bother us again while I rested in the room with Nureongi and Boppi. They seemed to have given up cleanly, chalking it up to nothing more than a failed one-night hunt. An environment ministry official once mentioned offhand that hunter society was just as small and rumor-prone as our yeopsa circles. Because of that, they placed far more weight on reputation and appearances than we did. So those kids wouldn't risk damaging their own standing by stirring up more trouble.
The next morning, I told Nureongi and Boppi they were free to wander the city for the day. The two of them practically jumped for joy. The reward money from taking down the big elk last time was still sitting comfortably in my wallet, so I laughed at their excitement and handed them a card. They could buy whatever tasty treats they wanted and enjoy the sights. It was also a chance to smuggle real hunter gear, but that could wait for later. Those expensive weapons wouldn't see much use hunting monsters back in Dohoang-ri anyway, and even if something did happen, the environment ministry official would surely chew me out with eagle eyes before anything else.
With ears and tails perked up, the two led the way out of the shelter. Sure enough, yesterday's rookies were loitering in the lobby. They glanced our way and looked genuinely disappointed, as if they'd actually believed my story. Ordinary human kids might not have noticed, but these were beastmen. A woman with two beastman children in tow wasn't exactly an easy target for flirting.
A woman with two beastman children... right. That was the image I was projecting now.
I watched Nureongi and Boppi chatter their way out the shelter entrance, then headed in the opposite direction toward city hall. Unlike the kids on their outing, I was on my way to work. Before tomorrow's hunt began, we had to gather at city hall for safety briefings and instructions. Since the hunting grounds were in Nonsan's rugged mountains, even we yeopsa had plenty to learn in advance.
Inside the city hall building, large-lettered signs—probably designed with the average yeopsa's age in mind—kindly guided the way. Following them up to the second floor, I entered a small auditorium filled with the familiar musty scent of middle-aged men and a mix of faces I recognized and some I didn't. Most of the yeopsa gathered there were around the age I'd been before my transformation—now, from my current perspective, they looked like seasoned environment ministry officials. Sitting among them as a young woman with the exact same middle-aged mindset made the whole scene feel absurd.
Not exactly the look I want at a place like this. People are going to think I'm some gold-digging vixen preying on old men...
A sigh almost escaped, but I swallowed it. If I sighed, the yeopsa next to me might ask if I was feeling unwell, and that would only make things more exhausting. The best I could do was sit there with a blank, thoughtless expression.
It would have been nice if even one person who knew me had shown up, but apparently none of them were participating in this hunt. What a bunch of disloyal bastards.
Soon after, a civil servant from the city hall environment department stepped onto the stage and began his prepared explanation for the auditorium full of elderly men and middle-aged guys. The content was trivial—basic common sense that any veteran would react to instinctively before even thinking. The yeopsa on either side of me were either dozing with their heads down or openly scrolling through their phones. Watching the scene, it felt like both a throwback to my first hunts and a display of veteran arrogance. The official on stage clearly knew our attitudes well; he recited the material in a soulless voice, making it obvious this was just another routine administrative procedure. If they'd actually wanted to convey something important, they wouldn't have crammed us into this cramped little hall—they'd have called us to a recruit training center at the very least.
I let out a small sigh and pulled out my smartphone like the others. A message from Nureongi and Boppi had arrived. It was a photo of them sitting side by side at a café table covered in desserts, ears perked up. This was going straight to my wallpaper.
When the official finally asked in a perfunctory tone if anyone had questions, the entire auditorium stayed silent as if by prior agreement. Not a single question. If that was the case, why had we even come? But just before ending the session, the official finally got to the real point.
"Please arrive at the entrance to Gyeryong Mountain by 8 a.m. with your firearms. We'll send the details via text message as soon as this meeting concludes."
The moment he finished, a chorus of slow "Yes~" responses and the sound of chairs scraping filled the room. The yeopsa rose without hesitation and headed for the exit.
Ah... so the most important details were being sent by text. Everything finally made sense. That was why the official had given such a half-hearted briefing and why we'd listened just as half-heartedly.
Grumbling inwardly about being the youngest in body yet weakest to modern conveniences, I followed the receding tide of yeopsa outside. While buying a canned coffee from the vending machine at the city hall entrance, my phone buzzed briefly. The message that had just arrived contained detailed information: meeting points for each team, designated hunting routes, even individual ammunition allocations.
"If they were going to do this anyway, why bother calling us here and wasting everyone's time?"
I grumbled while calling Nureongi, who was probably still out playing. She said they were about to have lunch not far from city hall. When I offered to head over, she sounded alarmed and told me to stay put. I wasn't completely hopeless with directions—I just got a little lost in places with lots of buildings. Still, if she was coming to get me, I was grateful.
By the time I'd finished the canned coffee, I spotted Nureongi and Boppi walking toward me. Both were grinning from ear to ear.
"Did you two have fun?"
"Yeah! And Big Sis Nureongi is super strong!"
Boppi's sudden remark made me ask, "Strong?"
"Some weird hunters tried to touch Nureongi unni's ears, and she kicked one of them flying with a back kick~"
Ah... I had a feeling I knew who they were.
"And then?"
"They got mad and started yelling, so I told them off! Then they ran away!"
"What did you say?"
Boppi perked her ears proudly. "We're minors!"
Ah. Right. According to their IDs, Nureongi and Boppi were still minors. So... the picture was clear. Those idiots had hit on beastmen—who were treated as socially vulnerable—minors, and civilians with no awakened abilities, only to get thoroughly humiliated. It wasn't the kind of thing they could complain about anywhere. If they ran to the police or Hunter Association claiming they'd been assaulted, the police would kindly escort them straight to a holding cell... and the Hunter Association? Discipline? Expulsion? Either way, served them right.
Nureongi taking down those idiots was satisfying, but a part of me felt uneasy. Even if they were greenhorn rookies, they were still hunters. They weren't weak enough to be sent flying by an ordinary beastman's back kick. Logically, Nureongi's leg should have been the one that got hurt. Which meant... maybe what I'd been thinking about was finally starting to happen.
Awakening. Most people called it a blessing, but I wasn't so sure. Fighting life-or-death battles was far less appealing than just staying home and cooking delicious meals. Of course, if Nureongi truly wanted it, I'd support her. What else could I do?
I decided to push the complicated thoughts out of my head. Right now, all I could do was face the two of them and praise Nureongi for a job well done and for putting those idiots in their place.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around Nonsan, enjoying the city. We had lunch at a famous chain restaurant I'd only heard of, then stopped by a real department store instead of the neighborhood mart for some shopping. For that time, I wasn't a yeopsa facing a dangerous hunt tomorrow—I was just an ordinary older sister out with her two younger sisters.
As the sun began to set, we stopped at a convenience store before heading back to the shelter. I headed straight to the counter and bought a few instant lottery tickets out of habit—the little ritual I always did before something big. Whether they understood my intention or not, Nureongi and Boppi cheered beside me, "Wow! I hope we win!"
Their cheerful encouragement missed spectacularly. Every single ticket was a dud.
As I smiled in satisfaction at the scratched-off tickets, the part-timer stared at me in amazement.
"They say it's harder to miss every single one than to win something... You're impressive in a different way."
It wasn't exactly comforting, but this kind of misfortune was the greatest luck for me.
At that moment, as if reading my mind, the kids spoke up.
"Our unni has a habit of scratching lottery tickets before big events."
"If they all come up blanks, she gets really happy because it means the bad luck is out of the way~"
When Nureongi and Boppi explained proudly, the part-timer finally smiled in understanding.
"Ah, then something good must be coming your way."
"Haha... I suppose so."
I could only laugh awkwardly. The fact that even these kids knew my little habit—one that no one outside the police station was supposed to know—made it clear they heard everything. As the saying went, rabbits listen to daytime words and puppies listen to nighttime words.