Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 16
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On days when a big gate like an A-rank one opens, all the kids head out, leaving me all alone at the association.
My rank as an unawakened hunter is still N1 Rank.
The gates you can enter vary by rank, and as an unawakened, I'm limited to F- to E-rank gates.
My GAL Rank (Gate Adaptation Level, comprehensive rating of ability utilization. Our country started using it first, but it's recently been revamped in the US and we're following that system now) is rated at 1, so they occasionally let me into D-rank gates too.
That doesn't mean I absolutely can't enter C- or B-rank gates, though. Honestly, as long as you don't get caught, you can slip into any rank.
‘Maybe tomorrow I'll sneak into a C-rank for the first time in ages.’
After safely clearing an E-rank gate with the other hunters, I draped a sweat towel around my neck and opened the ‘Korea Gate’ app.
Several gates popped up around my pinned location.
Most were E- or F-rank. I set the rank filter to ‘C’ and checked for any nearby.
‘It's way down there.’
There was one C-rank gate two hours away by car.
If a gate's too far from the association building, I can't sneak over there. Unawakened hunters don't get transportation support.
“Dawn! Here's your food!”
I clicked my tongue while staring at my phone, and a worker from the association cafeteria handed me a tray.
Since I'd been glued to my phone, it was only after grabbing the tray and heading back to my seat that I belatedly noticed something off.
“Apart from this, where are my vitamin pills?”
“Out of stock. Eat this until the new shipment comes in.”
“Ehhh....”
I stared at the steaming vegetable chicken porridge right in front of me.
After bickering with the cafeteria worker about whether any vitamin pills were left, I finally checked the empty bottle and meekly accepted the porridge.
“......”
Seated at the table, I picked up a spoon and brought some chicken porridge to my mouth.
It tasted decent enough, but it just didn't sit right with me.
We usually ate together noisily at this hour, so the place suddenly felt kinda empty.
What time did the kids say they'd get back? Nine? Ten?
I hadn't really planned on eating so much as grabbing my vitamins and crashing in my room, but of all days, they were out today.
I did my best to ignore the cafeteria worker eyeing me from afar with this super awkward stare and spaced out, mechanically shoveling porridge into my mouth.
“Oh, Dawn? Why're you eating alone?”
I was midway through my meal when a group of active hunters plopped down next to me with their trays.
Both faces rang a bell.
One guy with dyed hair and pretty round features, and a snake-faced uncle with sharp eyes.
Joo-ho from Sticky Rice Cake TV... and I couldn't remember the snake-faced guy next to him.
Han-soo... Han Soo-what was it.
He was apparently another key technician hunter for Safe Home, just like Joo-ho. Connected to Seol Do-yoon somehow.
What was his name again.
“Han Soo-ral uncle?”
“Han Soo-hwan! It's Han Soo-hwan, Dawn. Please remember!”
Ah, right. Soo-hwan uncle.
I'd taken a wild guess, and predictably missed.
Han Soo-hwan was a top-tier defensive magic hunter, but he'd chosen to protect civilians' homes over safeguarding gate-clearing hunters.
The Joo-ho from Sticky Rice Cake TV sitting next to him was the same. Ah, or was it Mochibol.
The two cowards teamed up, building Safe Homes by layering defensive magic on structures to minimize building damage from monsters.
This was one of the organizations Seol Do-yoon had structured back during the Kim Woo-sung downfall plan. Unlike Happy NPC, I had no stake in it.
Seol Do-yoon had offered me a cut, but I'd turned it down out of stupid pride, and I still regretted that decision to this day.
So faces like Han Soo-hwan's or Joo-ho's stung a little whenever I saw them. They reminded me of those Safe Home shares I'd passed up.
“Dawn, anything else you wanna eat? Just say the word. Uncle'll buy it all for you.”
I was silently spooning porridge into my mouth and zoning out when Han Soo-hwan spoke up.
“Porridge? You sick or something? Why eat alone here—it's breaking our hearts.”
Joo-ho gave me this really weird look as he asked.
“......Not sick. They gave me porridge, so I'm eating it.”
“Ah, gotcha?”
The vibe and stares from both of them as they looked at me were super off. Off in a kinda unpleasant way.
Both had droopy eyebrows, gazing at me all pitifully like I was on death's door. Imagination, or were their eyes actually misty?
“Why're you two looking at me like that?”
Han Soo-hwan sliced off a big hunk of juicy steak, plated it on a small dish, and slid it over to me.
I scowled at the meat, and he grinned, urging me to eat it.
“Dawn, see anything you want?”
“You done with gates? Wanna hit a movie with us? Soo-hwan hyung, didn't that Disney flick just drop or something?”
“Ooh, movie sounds great! Dawn, you free? School's on break, so no homework, gates look cleared. C'mon, let's go!”
Out of nowhere, the two of them started scheming an outing with me like it was rehearsed.
“What the—cough—fuck. Way too much. What's this about all of a sudden.”
Porridge lodged right in the middle of my throat. Joo-ho shoved water at me, telling me to drink.
I chugged the offered water and eyed them.
“Nah, it's nothing. Just figured you could use a change of pace now and then.”
“Change of pace? What change of pace.”
“Nah, just—students need regular breaks, y'know!”
“Yeah? But I've already seen all the new ones with the kids.”
Han Soo-hwan scratched his head awkwardly at that.
“Ah, uh.... For real?”
To polish off the rest of the porridge, I lifted my spoon and shoveled it in.
Uncle Han Soo-hwan kept right on talking.
“Dawn, you holding up okay lately...?”
“What.”
“Y'know, just life in general. School stuff? Need any help or anything?”
“Not really?”
If anything, I'd been in a good mood lately.
Things at work were going smoothly just like I'd planned, and Yeo Woo-hee's kids were behaving themselves.
“Dawn. When you need help, you gotta ask people around you. Bottling it up alone doesn't change a damn thing.”
“Soo-hwan hyung's right. Tell us if anything's tough.”
“......Hm. If I had to say, eating this porridge.”
Their pushy tones nearly had me snapping ‘I said nothing, fuck’, but I held it back as memories hit of Han Soo-hwan and Joo-ho treating the Abyss kids to good eats last time.
Still, they didn't seem satisfied with my answer.
Telling them porridge was the issue only soured their expressions more.
“Alright, tell us whenever you're ready.”
“Hey Dawn. You picked your next high school yet?”
Joo-ho asked me with this strange expression and tone.
“Yeah, Nagil High.”
What. How'd they know I'd transferred? Woo Ji-yoon must've spilled.
“Nagil High?”
Joo-ho rapidly blinked his round eyes, then frowned.
“Why go there of all places?”
He let out a long sigh after hearing the name. Nagil High apparently had a pretty nasty reputation.
“I'll go live for your enrollment. Always been grateful for how you helped me adapt to gates, so don't feel weird about it.”
Hm? What. I'd been feeling this slight cognitive dissonance since earlier.
What did Joo-ho going live for content have to do with helping me.
“Acting all benevolent is fucking hilarious. New gimmick?”
It was so ridiculous I snickered as I asked, and Joo-ho looked flustered too as he replied.
“Ah, no. N-no bad intentions at all. I just thought maybe it'd make your school life easier....”
“?”
“?”
“?”
What.
I'd meant it as a joke, but Joo-ho looked a little hurt, and now it felt like a sudden argument.
Kinda like we weren't connecting.
Ah, hold up.
My brain had been sluggish from zoning out and force-feeding myself porridge, but I finally got it.
I'd been wondering why they were acting so weird—they must've heard my latest news from somewhere.
Those awkward words and actions earlier were just that harmless busybodying unique to well-raised civilians.
“Ah, aaah. Scared I'll get beat down at the new school too? Not doing that shit there. Anyway, how does everyone know my personal business?”
Joo-ho clamped his mouth shut, eyes darting everywhere, before speaking in a placating tone.
“Ah. No, just—saw you looking rough by chance and guessed it might be school stuff.”
“Uh, y-yeah, yeah. Right, right.”
Han Soo-hwan, who'd been thrown by my question, jumped in to back Joo-ho up.
Guessed, my ass.
Joo-ho was the exact guy I'd earnestly warned before school not to mess with kids I didn't like.
No way he'd ‘guess’ something like that.
Looks like word of my situation had already spread through hunter circles—not just school staff—via rumors.
“Hear it from the horse's mouth. What'd you hear?”
“That you were having a hard time with the awakened kids at school, so you transferred?”
Tch, so damn embarrassing. Gotta shut that down hard.
“Nope. Expelled the assholes who bullied me, blocked their futures, still not over it—so I'm transferring to whoop their asses to the finish line. Butt out.”
I'd blackmailed those old school bullies over their futures to force them to transfer to Nagil High.
Planned to use those kids—who'd tremble at the sight of me—smartly to set the tone at the new school.
I set down my porridge spoon and kept going, and Han Soo-hwan broke into a huge grin. He looked thrilled.
He reached out with his big, broad hand and ruffled my hair.
“Aigoo, such a good kid. Aigoo, so proud. Aigoo, impressive. You're awesome, Dawn. Yeah, don't let it get you down. Love that spunk. Why do you always tug at my heartstrings like this? Aigoo, can't just hug you outta nowhere. Hit me up anytime if it's too much. Got it? I'll buy you tons of meat. Eh? Dawn left the meat? Gotta eat meat to build muscle and get strong~”
“No, fuck.”
“Tsk. Better not use naughty words! Here, go grab some ice cream.”
Han Soo-hwan slipped me about ten thousand won in pocket money.
“Did I swear?”
As I tucked away the ten thousand won, I shot back at Han Soo-hwan, and he let out a hearty laugh.
Man, why was this uncle acting so chummy.
Every time we crossed paths, he'd hit me with dumb questions like ‘Dawn, what's your English name?’ or I'd just see him from afar buying meat for the other Abyss kids.
Those sharp eyes made him look like a con artist, but he was surprisingly mild-mannered and personable.
The kinda guy who'd make physiognomy nuts eat their words.
“Dawn, not eating the meat?”
“C'mon, it's pricey—at least one bite before you go.”
Did they both have some meat fixation.
Still, turning down the meat they were offering with those expectant eyes somehow didn't sit right.
I took the chunk of meat Joo-ho had speared on his fork and chewed it up.
“......Why're you staring like that.”
He was watching me eat the meat with sparkling eyes, like I was some exotic creature.