Life is Sometimes Hazy
The old man sitting behind the counter rummaged beneath it without so much as a greeting in return and set the item on the counter.
"I adjusted the buttstock like you asked."
It was a long gun resembling a rifle, yet somehow different from anything Mina knew.
"It looks different from the guns I'm familiar with?"
She hadn't seen many firearms, but she had caught glimpses of soldiers guarding or controlling areas near Gates, so she at least knew the general shape. Those were usually matte black and strictly functional. This one, however, was mostly wood, with metal appearing only in a few places.
"Even if these are sold to Hunters, allowing military-grade weapons would cause bigger headaches, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose so."
After a mass shooting, catching the perpetrator efficiently didn't matter if dozens were already dead.
"That's why firearms sold for Hunter use are restricted to break-action revolvers and lever-actions. No automatics."
"Um… I don't really understand all that."
"Just think of them as guns with limited rapid-fire capability."
The man lifted the firearm, testing its weight, then pushed and pulled the ring-shaped lever beneath the trigger. A solid click sounded as it loaded. He aimed at an empty stretch of wall and squeezed the trigger. Mina flinched, but no gunshot rang out—there were no bullets.
"One box of HW rounds."
The old man had been waiting for those words. He handed over a small box, which the man accepted.
"How much?"
"Eight million nine hundred thousand won."
"Excuse me?"
While Mina stood there stunned by the price, he calmly finished paying with a card. She followed him out of the shop, but the question refused to leave her alone.
"Eight million nine hundred thousand won? That's way more expensive than most Hunter equipment! You're not getting ripped off, are you?!"
Usable Hunter gear usually ran around six million won. A gun and some bullets shouldn't cost that much, should they?
"The ammunition is Hunter-grade too, and once you add customs and taxes, the price can't be helped. The gun itself is mine—I only paid for the modifications."
"Wait, the gun didn't even cost anything? Just how expensive is it?"
"At least as much as the figure that just came up."
"Wouldn't it be better to buy proper Hunter equipment instead?"
Mina worried he was being wasteful, but he simply slung the gun across his back with a leather strap and continued walking as if he hadn't a care in the world.
"What would you like to drink, miss?"
"An iced Americano, please."
After picking up the gun, they had stepped into an unmanned café tucked inside the alley, hoping to settle their stomachs.
"There's even a café in a place like this."
Looking outside, the street seemed almost desolate; few people walked it. The occasional ornate structures overhead hinted that this had once been a thriving shopping district, but that only made the emptiness left by those who had gone feel heavier.
"Even when people leave, someone always stays, and others come."
Mina nodded vaguely and scanned the alley again. A cold wind sent fallen leaves tumbling down the empty street, and the sight looked lonelier than she expected.
"Do you live around here, Mr. Bear?"
"Are you really going to keep calling me that?"
"Hmph. You introduced yourself that way first."
Come to think of it, they hadn't even exchanged proper names yet. He seems oddly evasive about it. Despite his friendly demeanor, the clear line he drew only made Mina want to push back. That was why she kept teasing him.
"Mr. Bear, you live nearby, right?"
"Whether I live nearby or not, I run this place."
"You run this unmanned café?"
He answered while accepting a cup from the machine that had finished brewing.
"It's just a side job. I only have to refill the ingredients and do basic maintenance."
"A side job, huh."
"Syrup or sugar?"
"One of each, please."
The man gave her a slightly sour look.
"Then why order an Americano at all?"
"Well… plain is too bitter, and a caramel macchiato is too sweet."
"I think this is excessively sweet as well."
Even as he dutifully stirred in the syrup and sugar, his reluctant expression made her want to pout. Maybe he really was teasing her on purpose.
"Then how do you drink it, Mr. Bear?"
"Isn't coffee better black?"
"Ew, that's way too bitter. When your brain isn't working, a little sweetness helps so much."
"I can't argue with that, but why not get sweetness from something else?"
"I don't have time to eat anything else."
Mina would have liked to, but working at the Guild left her with almost no breaks. She could only sigh. For someone who usually drank instant coffee, even this felt like an indulgence.
They passed the time with such trivial conversation until her gaze drifted to the gun he had set aside on the table. Opportunities to see firearms were rare even for a Hunter like her. Having only ever seen modern weapons, Mina found his antique-looking gun strangely fascinating.
"Is the gun that interesting?"
She lifted her eyes at his question and met his cloudy teal gaze.
"Guns are hard to see in our country, aren't they?"
That remained true even now, when Gates could open anywhere and spill monsters into the world. If anything, the swords and spears made for Hunters were far more common.
"Would you like to hold it?"
"Oh, is that really okay?"
"It's not loaded, so there's no danger."
When Mina brightened, the man pulled the gun closer and slid it toward her. She picked it up and examined it carefully.
"It really does look antique."
The main reason it had caught her eye was the beautiful contrast between the warm wooden stock and the dull metal that caught the light without glaring. It reminded her of the old dressers at her grandmother's house.
"Still… I can only see it as decoration."
"That's understandable. For most people, that's all it is these days."
It wasn't a joke. To her, a gun like this was exactly that—an ornament, nothing more. Yet it also looked cool in the way guns from old movies did.
"Um, is that all it takes to load? In movies they always spin the cylinder with a cool little flick."
The simplicity made her wonder if her memory was wrong.
"That's a different loading method. Not very efficient in normal situations."
"Figures. Movies really are just movies."
"Don't you think reality is more like a movie these days?"
"Pfft. You have a point."
In the old days, no one would have imagined firearms being treated so casually. Who could have predicted that humans themselves would become stronger than any weapon?
She handed the gun back with a small laugh and sipped her Americano. The syrup and sugar made it cloyingly sweet, just as she expected.
After spending a little more time like that, they stepped outside again.
"Where to next?"
The sun hadn't fully set, but the deserted alley between buildings was already steeped in shadow.
"Since we're out, how about going there?"
"Huh? That's…"
The place he pointed to featured a tower that rose sharply above the surrounding buildings.
"It's an observation deck."
"We rarely have a reason to visit, so why not go while we have the chance?"
"Sure."
Normally she wouldn't have felt like spending time so leisurely, but she had the rest of the day free anyway. She decided to follow him a little longer.
—Honk!
Leaving the alley, they were met with the enormous roar of a large bus and a line of colorful cars—red, black, silver—waiting at the intersection. While the traffic light held them, the two crossed at the crosswalk.
"Wow, I never noticed how loud it is. Coming from somewhere quiet makes it feel brand new."
It was almost disorienting, like stepping through a Gate and finding the world completely changed.
The observation deck was nearly empty when they arrived.
"There aren't many people here, are there?"
In fact, it seemed they were the only ones on the entire deck.
"It's a weekday, but the place was built as a tourist attraction and it failed."
"Tourist attraction?"
"Small festivals are held here once in a while, but it's still just an ordinary city most of the time."
"I guess I knew less about this place than I thought."
Mina glanced down through the window at the city below. The sun was setting, painting everything in hazy sunset hues. How many more chances would she have to stand still and watch a scene like this?
Far below, wide roads pulsed with cars and people, the city's veins carrying its ceaseless flow. She had lived among them, and she would continue to do so.
In the undisturbed silence, they watched the sunset for a long time.
A phone suddenly rang in the man's pocket.
"Excuse me for a moment."
She watched him take the call and disappear into the nearby restroom, then turned back to the window to pass the time.
—Thud. Thud.
At the sound of approaching footsteps she assumed he had returned, but the person who appeared was not him.
"So you locked me up in a cell and went on a date with this bastard?"
Her face stiffened.
It was Gu Gang-woo—the man she had believed was still locked away.
Mina immediately tried to summon her magic, but—
"Kyaa!"
"Pretty hands like those shouldn't be making dangerous things."
Before she could react, searing flames pierced her resistance as if it were nothing and burned her wrist. The sensation of skin charring brought involuntary tears to her eyes.
When she finally regained her senses and opened her eyes, Gu Gang-woo was grinning at her with a sleazy smile.