No Way—It Makes Perfect Sense
'No freaking way.'
The black-bobbed woman, Korea's rank 4 hunter Baek Yena, held her breath.
She'd just handled a C-rank monster wave and chased the last fleeing monster up the mountain, only to find a girl collapsed on the ground, covered in massive wounds.
It looked so severe that it was a miracle she was still alive, but Baek Yena first brushed aside the girl's messy hair to check her condition.
'A fairy?'
Younger-looking than expected, with round eyes slanted slightly downward. Chilly indigo irises that gave an ethereal, dreamlike chill, prominent indigo lashes fluttering with each blink. Soft cheeks flushed red from the winter wind. An overall impression of utter harmlessness. And something strangely otherworldly, like she didn't belong to this human realm.
Unfamiliar yet familiar, evoking an inexplicable comfort and fondness.
'She looks just like she stepped out of another world.'
Baek Yena cautiously placed her hand on the girl's cold cheek. She couldn't bring herself to believe this was a creature from the same Earth as her.
Baek Yena pulled her hand away and gazed at the adorable being. A primal protective instinct surged to its peak within her.
'I have to protect her. I don't know what she's doing out here alone, but anyone who could just walk past this girl has to be a psychopath.'
So when the girl introduced herself as having fallen from another world, "Of course! I knew you looked the part!" Baek Yena found it harder not to believe her.
'Do people around here always take kindly to folks who claim they fell from other worlds? Do they drop in often?'
Seoya pondered this as she clung to the hand of the human who'd introduced herself as Baek Yena, trotting down the mountain after her.
Baek Yena, who called herself a 23-year-old hunter, ignored Seoya's bewildered expression and seemed thrilled all on her own.
"But hey, you really mean it's okay for us to live together?"
"Call me Yena-unnie."
"Got it, Yena-unnie. Anyway..."
No, of course providing shelter and food was more than welcome for Seoya.
"You sure it's really okay?"
"Yeah. I have a spare room."
Seoya, think first before you act. Thinking comes before doing.
Ibin's constant refrain suddenly popped into her head.
Right, let's think this through.
Hm, if a stranger suddenly offered to help me out of nowhere?
Say thanks.
No, beyond that—something more fitting for the situation. Ah.
"Unnie."
"Yeah?"
"Tell me about this world."
First rule upon arriving in a new place: scout the environment!
"Well, I've only known this world, so it's hard to explain..."
"What's a hunter?"
"...A few years back, this world went through some massive changes. If you're asking what Earth is like, I should start with that."
Brushing off Seoya's out-of-left-field question, Baek Yena murmured reminiscently with a strange expression, as if recalling the old days.
"One day, the exact same message appeared all over Earth."
Baek Yena typed something into a rectangular device she called a phone and handed it to Seoya. The text on the phone read as follows.
Hello, World!
One day, the exact same message appeared all over Earth.
It took a bizarre form—an intangible, unblockable phrase hovering in midair as a translucent window.
Hello, World!
And a month later, the disaster began.
In the first month, dungeons sprang up everywhere. Strange spaces resembling gates to other worlds appeared in the air, with labels like "A-rank dungeon" or "B-rank dungeon" floating in front.
Some people got sucked inside, but no one ever came back out. Outsiders could never know what lay within.
In the second month came the monster waves. The dungeons from a month prior remained open, and new gates spewed monsters into the world. Countless people died.
All civilians could do was hide indoors, far from the beasts, while soldiers firing guns at the monsters died in vain.
Everyone thought Earth was doomed.
But in the third month, hunters emerged, turning the tide.
People awakened randomly into hunters, gaining scientifically inexplicable powers called skills to slay the monsters.
Hunters ventured into dungeons for resources, discovering that "clearing" one freed trapped people inside and sealed the gate. Of course, most who'd been pulled in early had already fallen to the monsters.
With hunters on the scene, things stabilized fast. Within half a year, daily life resumed. Hunters formed guilds for profit, and nations began regulating them.
The hunter system included rankings. Top-ranked hunters amassed wealth and honor from dungeon rewards, becoming the new power elite.
"...And that's the state of Earth today."
Once Baek Yena finished explaining, Seoya pondered briefly.
According to her language magic, the word "hunter" meant...
"So what does that 'hunter' mean, exactly?"
"It's English for 'huntsman' or 'hunter'."
Her language magic hadn't failed her.
They call people with strange powers 'hunters' in this world?
In Seoya's world, those with mana like her were called pioneers.
And huntsmen—that was another term for pioneers.
Exiled randomly to some world, it just happened to be inhabited, with a similar level of civilization.
And here too, people with powers were called "hunters".
Is my landing here really just coincidence?
A sudden doubt crept into Seoya's mind.
"System."
Seoya stared blankly at the translucent window that popped up before her eyes.
Baek Yena had clearly said "System", and this weird window appeared.
Is this their source of power?
"Chat."
▶ Korea Ranks 1-10
▶ Party: Monitoring the Trouble-Makers
Lee Gayeon, Park Haejun...
"Party."
"Seventeen."
"What?"
Baek Yena jumped in shock, whipping around to stare at Seoya.
"I'm seventeen. Wasn't that what you were wondering?"
Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if this country's age unit of "one year" matched her world's, but whatever.
"You... can you see this window?"
Baek Yena pointed at the floating window in midair, her finger trembling.
"Of course I can see it?"
"W-what...?"
Why wouldn't she see something right in front of her face?
"Your own system window is supposed to be visible only to you..."
"I can clearly see it."
Unable to pinpoint the cause, the flustered Baek Yena decided to keep chatting for now.
"Hop in here."
Baek Yena opened the door to a red car parked at the base of the mountain.
Seoya had never seen such a small car before—only massive military vehicles back home.
This really drove home that she'd come to another world.
"Hey, Baek Yena. What kind of nonsense are you—"
As soon as they got in, a woman with her hair tied high in a ponytail from the driver's seat unleashed on Baek Yena in the passenger seat.
Mid-rant with a look of utter disbelief, she naturally turned to the back seat and locked eyes with Seoya.
Seoya met her gaze steadily, blinking her indigo eyes a few times.
The woman stared at her face for a long moment, then turned back to Baek Yena with dead seriousness.
"Yeah, totally makes sense. You absolutely have to take responsibility and protect her."
So the face was the plausibility factor.