Chapter 31
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Airport Reunion
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“Huh?”
My reflexive exclamation made everyone turn to look at me. Even my brother eyed me with puzzlement.
‘On-yeon Guild’s A-rank hunters are Kang Si-yeon, Kwak Sang-hoon, Park Ha-guk… No, there’s no one like her anyway.’
No, calm down. She never said she was from On-yeon Guild or that she was A-rank—
“You don’t know me?”
“Uh, well…”
“Wow. And here I thought I was pretty famous.”
The mysterious hunter who’d just walked in feigned disappointment. I rolled my eyes around before my gaze met Ji Hwa-yeon’s. She seemed to think for a moment before speaking up.
“Han Ji-eon, this is Yoon Sia, an A-rank hunter from On-yeon Guild.”
“Yoon… Sia.”
I’d never heard that name. No, there hadn’t been any A-rank hunter by that name before.
‘Did my brother do something?’
Yeah, that could happen. Like using novel info to manifest a pattern or whatever.
‘But looking at her, doesn’t seem like it. No, to begin with, how could he manifest someone he’d never even seen in the previous loops? Patterns are random anyway.’
I was still standing there looking lost when the woman named Yoon Sia tilted her head and asked,
“You really don’t know me?”
“Ah, uh, sorry. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to hunters.”
“Oh, really? You don’t seem like it!”
“Ha… ha.”
“Anyway, I’m Yoon Sia from On-yeon Guild. Let’s do our best together this time!”
“Yeah. Looking forward to working with you.”
For now, I’d just have to watch and wait. No point in doing anything suspicious.
Once the situation settled down a bit, Ji Hwa-yeon spoke up.
“Then let’s start with a quick briefing.”
♧♣♧
A week passed, and another day went by. I checked in my meager luggage and sat waiting in a chair.
I was at the airport right now. Our destination, naturally, was Washington, D.C., in the United States.
‘Mom and Dad…’
When I told them I was heading to the tower, they’d freaked out at the news that both my brother and I were going to America.
‘…It’ll be fine.’
Even if things went wrong, it didn’t matter. If they did go wrong…
I subtly turned my gaze to look at my brother.
‘We can just regress.’
It was our first time dealing with this, so we were bound to be unprepared. Of course the odds of screwing up were higher.
‘Wonder how many tries it’ll take.’
Lost in thought, someone stepped in front of me. I looked up from the shadow falling over me to see my brother standing there. Puzzled, I asked him,
“What?”
“……”
My brother’s mouth worked silently for a moment before he finally spoke.
“Once we get there, don’t wander off. Just stay put. Or go back home right now.”
“What, you think I’m some dog who’s gonna run around on my own? We’re going there to work.”
“You do wander around like a dog full of curiosity…”
“What…”
I was so flabbergasted I couldn’t even respond properly and just shut up. No point wasting energy on something dumb.
“Fine, got it. Now you go sit somewhere.”
“……”
At that, my brother quietly sat down right next to me.
‘Plenty of empty seats, but he has to sit here being annoying.’
Ever since I announced I was going to the tower, my brother and I had been clashing a lot. His stance was, ‘You don’t need to go to a dangerous place like that.’
‘Speaking of which, why is Ji Hwa-yeon taking me along? I’ve only been S-rank for two or three months. The bit about my brother not listening was obviously a lie. Or… was it actually true?’
I couldn’t read Ji Hwa-yeon’s intentions at all. I’d only been officially S-rank for a month or two, so it would’ve made more sense to bring Yoo A-han instead.
Zing. The automatic doors slid open and closed repeatedly. Familiar and unfamiliar faces came and went. Wondering who’d come in next, I looked up—and spotted an unexpected familiar face.
“Park Woo-yun?”
“Ah! Uh, long time no see.”
Park Woo-yun. The B-rank hunter I’d saved as a bonus when I went to shorten my pattern harmony time. He’d probably joined the association and trained his way up to A-rank by now.
But before that.
“Why are you here…?”
“I, uh, applied.”
“You applied yourself, willingly?”
“…Yes.”
Park Woo-yun was among the top A-ranks in overall stats. High enough that he was even a bit above me.
‘Not someone we want to lose here.’
You never know what might happen down the line, so you want to hold onto talents like that as long as possible. Of all the luck.
‘…No. Actually, with the tower being unpredictable, having him along might not be a bad idea.’
I lifted my head, which I’d briefly lowered in thought, and gave him a bright smile.
“Glad to see a familiar face. Let’s do our best out there.”
“Yes!”
I had nothing more to say and just smiled, but Park Woo-yun hesitated like he wanted to add something. I asked,
“Something else you want to say?”
“Ah, well, actually… I applied because I heard you were going.”
“Huh?”
“I had something I wanted to say… I, uh…”
Park Woo-yun let out a breath, then inhaled deeply. He seemed to steel himself before opening his mouth.
“Thank you!”
“…Ah. No big deal. I just… said some encouraging words, that’s all.”
“Still, you helped me out so readily—”
“Hey, we’ve got a long trip ahead, so you should rest up first.”
“Huh? Oh, yes!”
With that, Park Woo-yun scurried off somewhere else.
I glanced sideways at my brother, who was predictably staring right at me. Noticing my look, he asked,
“You two know each other?”
“Huh? Oh, uh… He came as backup when we were short-handed on a gate run! Met him then, and he looked like he was struggling, so I gave him some encouragement.”
“Oh.”
For the record, no one—not me, not Ji Hwa-yeon, no one—had told my brother about the illegal dungeon run. I could understand me keeping quiet, but why hadn’t Ji Hwa-yeon? No idea. I’d just said it was out of curiosity, no ulterior motives, so he probably just let it slide.
‘At least back then.’
I hoped it was the same this time and kept watching my brother. Fortunately, just like before, it looked like Ji Hwa-yeon hadn’t told him—my brother showed no suspicion and went back to fiddling with his phone.
‘Getting caught now would suck.’
Who knows what else might happen down the line? Explaining every little thing would just waste time.
‘He’ll forget it after we regress anyway.’
It’d be fine, I figured, and went back to waiting. A few minutes later, the doors opened and Yoon Sia walked in.
“Hello, everyone!”
I’d looked into Yoon Sia afterward. Surprisingly, she was a hunter whose pattern had manifested much earlier than mine. Made me realize just how little interest I’d had in other hunters, but fair enough back then… Anyway.
‘Her info was weirdly sparse.’
There was plenty on her as a hunter, but almost nothing about her life before that. Just that she’d lived quietly in the countryside. Of course, that explained the lack of info, but something still felt off.
‘Her attack ability was Plunder.’
I pressed my temples, recalling the details I’d dug up.
Plunder. Sounds like it steals other people’s abilities and uses them, but it was actually a bit different.
‘There was someone with a similar ability back then.’
From what I’d seen, it didn’t steal abilities—it hijacked and turned an opponent’s skill against them when they cast it. Plunder in name only; it was basically control.
‘Even Ji Hwa-yeon didn’t know much when I brought it up.’
My brother? No, that’d just make him suspicious. Guess I’d have to keep watching for now.
A few more minutes passed like that. Once everyone heading to the tower had gathered, Ji Hwa-yeon showed up and started herding people along.
After everyone had boarded the plane and right before I headed to the gate myself, a sudden question popped into my head, and I asked Ji Hwa-yeon, who was standing nearby.
“By the way, why’d you decide to go to America?”
She tilted her head at my question. I continued.
“Seung-hyeon’s going somewhere related to his attribute, sure, but you and Ryu Cheon-hwa don’t seem connected there.”
“Ah… Well, I have a friend who’s an American S-rank hunter. She asked me to come if any Korean S-ranks headed to the U.S.”
“She specifically asked you?”
“With people from all sorts of countries gathering, she probably figured one more ally couldn’t hurt.”
“Ally… Ah.”
Ally. Simple as that.
Sure, everyone gathering to raid the tower was an ally. But they could turn into enemies just as easily. Once you entered the gate, no one outside could see what happened.
In other words, inside the tower, you could get away with anything. With S-ranks overflowing with unstable power everywhere, the chance of some weirdo causing trouble wasn’t low.
‘But she stepped up because of a friend.’
Fair enough—wherever you went, it’d be the same, so might as well pick the place with a friend. I had a pretty good idea who that friend was.
‘They were close.’
I’d seen them messaging back and forth often, despite being in different countries. With a friendship like that, heading to America made sense.
‘Of course, allies or not, I’m going to every tower.’
Not just this one— all of them, one way or another.
Once I’d boarded the plane, I pulled out my phone before takeoff.
Videos of the live feeds from the tower in America were all over news sites and communities. I clicked into one at random and searched for the monster with teal hair. Watching the footage, which stuck faithfully to recording without commentary, only confirmed my suspicions further.
‘Definitely.’
Recalling that event always made me grimace. The scenery alone was enough to furrow brows on a regular basis.
Scenes from back then flashed through my mind. People pitifully skewered by spikes bursting from cracked ground. Others grabbed by claws like some claw machine and dropped to their deaths.
I quietly clicked my tongue.
「What’s this? That all you got? Get up already. Let’s party!」
Party. From fighting the thing back then, I’d learned it was a monster that loved amusement. Problem was, its playthings were us—humans.
‘It’ll be the same this time.’
At first, I hadn’t recognized it because of the different appearance. Hell, recognizing it would’ve been impressive. It looked that different.
But on a second watch, hearing the voice made me suspect. After looping it dozens of times, I was certain. Talking monsters were rare enough as it was—no room for doubt.
‘Even if the appearance is totally different.’
It was like it was doing us a favor, mimicking our human form just like it said we looked to it.
‘Wonder what wind’s blowing this time.’
As I thought that, the view outside the window caught my eye. Before I knew it, the plane was soaring through the sky toward America.
‘Damn, with everything all jumbled up, predictions are impossible.’
I had a rough idea about the owners of the other towers, but they might’ve changed in the meantime, so I couldn’t pin anything down for sure.
‘At least familiar ones would be easier to deal with.’
Relatively speaking, anyway. Bastards were bastards.
“Hmm.”
But I wasn’t the only one who knew. I turned to look at my brother sitting beside me.
‘The novel doesn’t have the voice, which is a problem, but he’s probably figured it out from the descriptions.’
Why, there’s that thing called depiction, right?
‘…He’s figured it out.’
Clutching that inescapable anxiety, I finally arrived in America after a dozen hours or so.