Abandoned Streets
"Pathetic bastard! Do you have any idea how much that thing is worth? And you just let it get away?" Min-jeong snapped, completely unaware of the real reason the puppy had slipped through their fingers.
"I swear it was perfectly fine." It was almost pitiful to watch Cheok-jeong standing there, unable to muster a single word against her sharp tongue-lashing, clutching the ruined net like a broken man.
"Did a rat get to it while we weren't looking?" When he muttered that while inspecting the severed rim, Mina glanced over too. The mesh looked as though something had chewed straight through it. The cut was so ragged and chaotic that even if someone claimed they'd done it with pliers, it would have been hard to believe. In a strange way, it was almost impressive.
"Since it's come to this, how about we team up with Lee Jun and sis? The more the merrier when it comes to catching—"
Cheok-jeong sighed as he made the suggestion, but Min-jeong cut him off instantly.
"Don't even joke about that. We're here for the bounty, not to hand the damn dog over to some kid." Sure enough, she crossed her arms and shot Mina a glare. "Besides, one A-rank hunter and three B-rank hunters all piling on a single puppy? We don't even go this hard on low-rank gates."
She was right. The lineup was absurdly overqualified for catching one dog. A single A-rank could clear a low-grade gate alone if there were no complications. Throw in three B-ranks and it became ridiculous.
So he's a B-rank too.
Mina snuck a sideways glance at Lee Jun, who was still completely encased in armor without a single inch of skin showing. It made sense if he worked at the same office as Seok-jun, but still.
Maybe he's specialized in defensive magic power?
Even though Yeeun was just a child, the girl had charged at him with magic power so intense it had made Mina flinch. The fact that he'd come out completely unscathed suggested her guess wasn't far off.
"If the net's broken, I'll just buy a new one. We don't need to cooperate." Min-jeong's firm declaration left a brief silence hanging in the air.
"Ah! It's getting away!"
Among them, only Yeeun had been watching the puppy the whole time. The one who reacted fastest to her cry was Min-jeong.
"Tsk! First one to catch it wins, so move!"
She dashed after the puppy, which was running with its tail wagging wildly. Watching her retreating figure, Cheok-jeong shook his head.
"Sigh, she still can't stand losing."
Unlike the aggressive Min-jeong, he lazily slung the torn net over his shoulder and spoke in a lukewarm tone. Mina watched him for a moment before asking,
"Are you two pretty close?"
"Well, we run into each other all the time and end up partying together just as often. It's the same for A-rank hunters, isn't it?"
"Y-yeah, I suppose so?"
He said it casually, but Mina could only force an awkward smile, unsure how to respond. Cheok-jeong gave her a puzzled look.
"Huh? What? A-rank hunters aren't like that? When you work together on tough jobs, you usually end up getting close whether you want to or not."
"It's just... I've only been an A-rank for a short time." Mina said it aloud, but inside she was clutching her head and rolling on the floor in embarrassment. How am I supposed to admit that even after becoming an A-rank, I've only completed one proper gate raid!
Thanks to the misunderstanding—not entirely a misunderstanding—about her supposedly seducing her superior, she'd been stuck doing the same paperwork she'd handled as a B-rank. She had actually fought more monsters back when she was in the Hunter Division. Aside from Manager Oh, she barely knew any of the other executives. Even when she tried to get a little closer to her colleagues, Gu Gang-woo would openly approach her and hit on her, so everyone else kept their distance.
"Aw, come on. With your personality, who'd ever not want to get close to you? People are all the same deep down."
Completely unaware of her circumstances, Cheok-jeong tried to comfort her, saying it would all work out.
"Hey! Kim Cheok-jeong! You gonna keep standing there yapping instead of helping? Don't expect your share of the bounty!"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you." At Min-jeong's shout from far off as she chased the puppy, he grabbed the hole-riddled net and ran after her.
Mina watched them go and let out a long sigh.
"Ugh, this just got complicated."
She still needed to catch the dog, but she hadn't expected competition. Yet what puzzled her most was something else entirely.
"No matter how you look at it, isn't the bounty way too high for a puppy?"
When she'd considered adopting a dog, Mina had compared Welsh corgis and dachshunds. She knew a dachshund puppy could be adopted for around five hundred thousand won. Simple math put the current bounty at three hundred and sixty times that amount. Was there really a reason for such a massive reward?
From what she could tell, the creature had easily evaded both her tracking skills as an A-rank and the pursuit of what appeared to be at least a high-tier A-rank child. It clearly wasn't an ordinary puppy. Even so, the price seemed excessive.
Before she knew it, she was watching Cheok-jeong and Min-jeong chase the dachshund along the promenade on the other side of the stream when Yeeun's voice reached her.
"Aren't we catching the dog? Should I do it?"
"J-just wait a little longer, sweetie. I'll catch it for you."
Mina felt a chill at the girl's words and quickly calmed her down. Lee Jun seemed to specialize in defensive magic power, but she remembered that Min-jeong and Cheok-jeong used body reinforcement types. She had no idea what kind of disaster might occur if they collided, so she turned to Lee Jun.
"We should hurry and catch it too."
He stood still, stroking his chin as if deep in thought, then suddenly snapped his fingers.
"Instead of that, how about we just rob them if they catch it first?"
"That's a crime!"
"The romance of a mountain bandit stronghold!"
"What kind of bandit boss are you supposed to be?!"
Weren't bandits usually the ones who ended up getting beaten? Mina's head throbbed at his incomprehensible way of thinking.
"If you don't feel like catching it, you can just go play with Yeeun again—"
"Let's go catch it right now!"
The moment she spoke with a hint of doubt, he suddenly took off like he'd never been lazy a day in his life. Mina followed after him.
Lee Jun quickly crossed the stone bridge and ran toward the others from the opposite side they were chasing from. If he kept going like that, they'd end up surrounding the puppy. Mina had just thought he was finally getting serious when—
"Double Lariat!"
"Ugh?!"
"Cheok-jeong!"
The puppy froze at the sight of him charging from the opposite direction. Even though an opportunity had presented itself, Lee Jun ignored the dog completely and slammed into Cheok-jeong with an outstretched arm. Mina was stunned.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Min-jeong watched the puppy seize the opening and bolt, then ground her teeth as she shouted at Lee Jun.
"When there's a competitor, the fastest way is to eliminate the competition!"
"This bastard is for real!"
Seeing him declare it so boldly, as if he hadn't done anything wrong, Min-jeong bared her teeth and pulled her hammer from her waist.
"Eliminate the competition? You do realize we can do the same to you, right?!"
"Dunno~"
The moment he saw the hammer glinting in the sunlight, he spun around and started running.
"Hey! Stop right there!"
"You'll hit me if I stop!"
"Who started this in the first place?!"
Mina shook her head as she watched the man flee from Min-jeong, who was now chasing him with her hammer raised. While she was looking around for the escaped puppy, she spotted it.
Again?
It was trotting across the stone bridge on its short legs. If it had gotten out of the stream area, they should have lost it for good by now. Wondering what was going on, Mina calculated the distance. This was her chance. She approached carefully, muffling her footsteps. The dry grass made it impossible to move completely silently, but—
"Ow! I'm dying here!"
"You're wearing full plate armor, you idiot! Stop whining!"
The loud clanging of Lee Jun's armor as Min-jeong beat him hard enough to raise dust perfectly masked Mina's approach. The puppy had just crossed the bridge and was heading her way when she dove forward and snatched it up.
"Yip?!"
"Got you!"
The moment she felt the short but incredibly soft fur in her hands and the puppy's characteristic warm body heat, a smile spread across her face. The texture was different from her own Pomi's, stirring an irresistible urge to pet it.
"What?! You made me miss it!"
"Ughhh!"
Hearing Mina's voice, an even angrier Min-jeong pounded on Lee Jun harder. Thinking it was his own fault, Mina was about to hand the puppy to Yeeun when—
"Grrrrr."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Mina felt the puppy in her grasp begin to squirm. That was natural if it was struggling, but this went beyond simple wriggling. Its body was actually swelling up. What shocked her most was—
Magic power?!
The magic power gathering toward the puppy she was holding. It felt exactly like when an awakened individual of a certain level drew in their strength. The same phenomenon she'd sensed from Yeeun. The moment the continuously wriggling puppy slipped from her hands—
The dachshund exploded outward in mid-air like an airbag deploying.
"What the...?"
But what now stood before her was no longer the cute little puppy with short legs.
"Grrrrrr."
A beast's warning growl, larger than the lions she'd seen on television. Its smooth gray skin had no fur at all, gleaming slickly. The body was covered in bulging, angular muscles like a bodybuilder's. Sharp claws like daggers extended from its paws, and its head was encased in armor-like plating that resembled a helmet, running all the way down its spine to the tail. From between its razor-sharp teeth, pure white smoke continuously flowed out, dripping viscous, foam-mixed saliva onto the ground. It was so massive she had to look up at it. Mina could only stare blankly, unable to process what was happening before her eyes.
"Grrrk!"
"Whoa!"
The moment its jaws split wide open, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, Mina quickly leaped backward to avoid it. Having learned through fighting monsters exactly which situations demanded the most caution, her reaction was swift.
"Why is a puppy—?!"
At the same time, she formed a rapier with her magic power and assumed a combat stance. But she had no idea how to explain how the small, adorable puppy had vanished and been replaced by what looked like a hound that had crawled straight out of hell.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Even Min-jeong, who had been busy beating Lee Jun, seemed to have noticed Mina's situation. Her voice was filled with shock. Then it hit her—the bounty of one hundred and eighty million won. An amount far too large to be placed on an ordinary puppy.
"Don't tell me that's the reason...?"
"GRRRROOOOOOAAAAAR!!"
The creature that had once been a puppy let out a thunderous roar.