A Ranker's Suspicion
"Alright, anyway, everyone be careful out there."
"Got it."
"Of course."
Everyone in the guild had wrapped up their agreement to act even more non-violently from now on—except for Seoya herself, who seemed utterly unconcerned about having lost all her childhood memories.
After dropping Park Haejun off at the guild building, the car pulled into the apartment parking lot. Seoya hopped out first, followed by Baek Yena and Lee Gayeon side by side.
Ding—
At the familiar system chat notification sound, Baek Yena opened the chat window, then scowled the instant she saw Go Heejae's name.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Baek Yena, I have something to ask.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: I got nothing to say to you;;
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Is that kid's name really 'Seoya'? In Korean? What's the family name?
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: None of your business, just die
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: This is a serious matter, so I'd appreciate an answer.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Otherwise, I'll raise suspicions about Neverending Guild and the transparent hunter in an interview.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: I'd rather you just go die^^
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Name's Seoya, and on resident registration it's Baek Seoya with the family name.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Neither shows up.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: What're you talking about? Her ID's fine.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: No, I mean the System.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Yeah our baby hunter isn't in it
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: And if you show interest in our baby one more time, I might bury you six feet under.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: If I showed that kind of interest, I'd be trash.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: What I'm curious about is this.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: That kid... she's not human, is she?
"We're screwed."
'Looks like Go Heejae figured it out.'
"What?! We said no swearing!"
Lee Gayeon poked Baek Yena, who was now muttering curses under her breath. But Baek Yena clearly wasn't hearing her, too busy fretting over whether Seoya had just seen her chat.
"Unnie. Take the baby inside first."
"Why?"
"Chat she shouldn't see."
Thankfully, Seoya didn't seem too focused on them. Her curiosity, which sometimes kicked in at the worst timings, was quiet today—a stroke of luck for them.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Yo what the hell lol
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Not human? What, you filming a horror movie solo? lol
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: At least among all the humans I've seen so far, none had a system window like that.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: The System was warning about her.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: lmao.....explain lol...
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: I used my skill 'Beyond Dimensions' to check her personal info.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: As you know, that skill reveals the target's name, hunter rank, etc.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: But her personal info was blocked. The System said it doesn't hold info on that person.
"Well, that's obvious..."
Baek Yena muttered in a dazed voice.
"Our baby's not from this world, so of course the System wouldn't have her info......"
But explaining that straight to Go Heejae was the biggest problem.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: I just tried an info lookup skill using the name you gave me, Seoya.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: For the first time, the System popped a warning at me.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: It said it won't permit info lookup since all means that could endanger target 'Seoya' are unsupported.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: And then, obey target 'Seoya'.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Obey?
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Exact word?
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Yes. As you know, this is highly suspicious.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: The System protecting a mere human and telling me to obey them.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: That kid's definitely connected to the System somehow. Maybe a very dangerous entity.
"Whoa~ Totally screwed!"
Baek Yena shouted in a tone of utter despair. Her fingers trembled as she typed.
'But why's the System protecting Seoya?'
Seoya could see others' status windows, predict dungeon breaks and monster waves. And now the System was blocking attacks on her and ordering obedience.
'It'd be weirder if Go Heejae didn't suspect her...'
But even Baek Yena didn't understand this phenomenon herself—it just left her frustrated.
"So, what happened?"
Lee Gayeon asked Baek Yena, who dragged her slumped feet into the house.
Baek Yena checked Seoya's firmly shut door. She knew Seoya's sharp hearing could pick up most of it, but...
"Go Heejae sniffed something out."
"What?!"
"Asked me if Seoya's really human."
"Go Heejae... guy has way too good instincts for his own good."
Lee Gayeon muttered, clutching the back of her neck with one hand.
They absolutely couldn't let paranoid Go Heejae find out Seoya was from another world.
'We still haven't cleared up that 'transparent hunter' thing from a few weeks ago...'
An interview about the transparent hunter was scheduled just days away. Lee Gayeon sighed and asked Baek Yena.
"What exactly did Go Heejae say?"
"Said he used 'Beyond Dimensions' on Seoya. You know what that is?"
"Yeah, that unique skill only Go Heejae in the whole world has."
"Right. He checked her, but her personal info was blocked."
"But that alone wouldn't tip him off she's from another world, right?"
Lee Gayeon plopped onto the sofa. Her dark circles somehow looked even deeper.
"Yeah. But the problem didn't end there—the System threw up a notice saying it won't support attacks on Seoya, then another saying to obey her."
"Why would the System do that for Seoya? Ugh, no clue how any of this works. Damn it..."
They no longer had time to worry about their no-swearing, no-violence pact from earlier.
"Even if he doesn't know she's from another world exactly, seeing those notices would make anyone peg her as dangerous."
"Exactly."
"Why won't the System support attacks on Seoya?"
"Why? Nothing special about it~?"
Ji Sein suddenly popped her head up from sprawled on the floor with her laptop, breaking the heavy mood between Lee Gayeon and Baek Yena. She didn't seem to take this as a serious issue at all.
"What do you mean?"
Lee Gayeon asked, one eyebrow raised.
Ji Sein snapped her laptop shut and stood up.
"Seoya's not an object the System recognizes. So it can't affect her at all. Attacks included!"
"What? Explain in detail."
"Well, I don't know the details, but... applying the System to a non-System object obviously errors out. Seoya's from another world, so she doesn't belong here. To avoid errors, hunter skills on Seoya have to be blocked."
"So the initial info lookup fail was..."
"Yeah~ Probably an error too? System errored once on Seoya, recognized her after, and now blocks skills to prevent more errors."
Seeing Baek Yena and Lee Gayeon not fully getting it, Ji Sein added,
"If the System applied normally to someone not from this world, that would be weird, right?"
"...Yeah, the System's never worked normally on Seoya."
"Right. Killing monsters doesn't affect her mental strength, she sees others' system windows, predicts monster waves! Stuff like that."
It was a pretty logical explanation. Thinking about it, Seoya had always been consistently exempt from the System. And unbound by this world's laws, that made her even stronger.
"The 'obey' part though..."
"Dunno about that! Maybe the System figured out she's from another world and stronger than Earthlings, so it's warning us for our sake!"
"Makes sense."
"Can't explain to Go Heejae, so shaking his suspicion's tough, but we don't need to worry more about this."
Lee Gayeon neatly concluded, and Baek Yena, her expression lightening, started teasing Ji Sein like old times.
"Whoa, your brain still works huh. Was worried all that internet rotting at home fried it."
"Hey!"
1 │ S │ Go Heejae
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: So what's her deal?
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: I've decided
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Decided what?
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: To kill you
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Yo lol whether it's errors or warnings or names or weights popping up in someone else's system, what's it to you
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: You Batman or something??? Gonna suspect and audit everyone???
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Just a system glitch probably;;;
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: This isn't something to brush off lightly.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: As you know, the System keeps updating.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: I think a new disaster might update too.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Not just dungeons or waves—something new. Maybe even human-shaped.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Go Heejae, you're my disaster;;;
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: The System itself telling me to obey a human.
1 │ S │ Go Heejae: Who knows what disaster that could bring. I won't drop my guard.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Yeah;;; obviously can't drop guard.
4 │ S │ Baek Yena: Gotta watch your back in dark alleys too;;;