Mutants in Disguise
'Maybe there are even mutants mixed in with that group right now.' Seoya slowly scanned the huddled civilians.
There were three elderly grandfathers, one little girl in pajamas, a burly young man, a young couple clutching each other's hands tightly... and several more people besides. They all looked utterly ordinary.
'But I can't let my guard down just because of appearances.' Seoya stared intently into each of their eyes, one by one. They all seemed fine. Clear whites of the eyes. The way to distinguish a Type B mutant was simple. If the whites of the eyes were black, it was a Type B mutant. That's why Type B mutants sometimes disguised themselves by covering their eyes with hair or sunglasses to hide that they were different from other humans.
'No mutants here means they left this spot before the hunters arrived, after mingling with people.' She had to quickly find it before it could make contact with more people.
"How many hunters are here right now?" Seoya spoke to the hunter who had been standing politely beside her, hands clasped, ears perked up.
"Y-yes! A total of sixty-one entered the dungeon! Seven are here now, about ten are guarding other people, and the rest are scattered, searching for civilians while detecting monsters."
For some reason, the hunter seemed extremely tense, his voice trembling as he answered.
"Who's the leader here? That Gwak Mansu guy."
"Our guild master is leading the hunters on the search right now!"
"Hm..."
First things first, she needed to inform Gwak Mansu.
Pushing through the unfamiliar chat system and Na Seonghyeon, who seemed oddly off, Seoya finally managed a conversation. Now, to pinpoint her name being called from somewhere, she expanded her sound detection range.
"Seoya-nim!"
"Seoya-nim!"
"Seoya-nim!"
"Ah, I hear it."
The moment she caught her name, Seoya located the source and looked up. She knew where it was. Time to head there.
'But I'm worried about something...' Seoya glanced at the civilians still glaring hostilely at the hunters.
Who knew what the mentally corrupted civilians might do while she was off meeting Gwak Mansu.
'So I need to fix this before I go.'
Ibin had definitely taught her how to restore mentally corrupted civilians. Since mutant energy and pioneer mana were polar opposites, gently infuse mana to purify the mutant energy, or draw some complex magic circle...
'That's complicated.'
Just thinking about using such intricate methods made her head throb already.
'Either way, the point is to snap them out of it, right?'
There was a simple way. A strong shock should jolt them back and free them from the mutant energy. Of course, what Seoya was about to do was a massive rudeness, but it was still better than letting them get corrupted by mutants—even if it meant a bit of hardship to clear their minds.
"I can snap these people out of it, so you guys handle the aftermath and control, right?"
"Pardon? What are you going to—"
"I'm heading straight to the guild master, so save these people and keep them safe. Their minds will be clear by then."
"Yes?"
"Save them?"
While the hunters stood there baffled, not grasping her words, Seoya eyed the people still screaming hysterically. Then she turned to the cold, heavy Toda sea right beside them.
Toda's sea was far rougher and more dangerous than Earth's. Its depths were so profound it looked pitch black, long seaweed dragged at people's legs from below, and the powerful waves and freezing water ensured no one could last even minutes there.
"Step back for a sec."
"Pardon?"
Bam—
With a deafening crash, Seoya unleashed her blue mana outward, sweeping the people away like trash.
"Aaaah!"
"Save us!"
"Kyaaah!"
The people thrashed in the sea, screaming wildly. Those whose eyes had been half-glassy moments ago now burned with the sharpest clarity. Their gazes were filled with the agony of the icy sea and raw desperation to survive.
"Hm, minds cleared!"
Leaving just those short words, Seoya kicked off the ground and raced toward Gwak Mansu.
"Hey, use your skills quick!"
"Ah, swimming might be faster!"
"Newbie! Get that rope out now!"
In the spot Seoya left, the hunters frantically rescued the people, sharing one common thought.
That world rank 0th person. Not malicious, but zero brakes for real...
"Found you!"
Meanwhile, Seoya, racing toward the voice calling her, spotted dozens of hunters gathered and bolted straight there.
"Wh-what the?!"
The hunters buzzed in shock at the white-clad figure landing from the sky. Among the three teams Seoya had seen so far, the Tongyeong Dungeon assault team seemed to have the oldest average age. And overwhelmingly more men.
"Seoya-nim...?"
A man standing in the center strode forward. A sturdy, somewhat rough-looking middle-aged guy. Unlike the others, he seemed to accept the situation without much surprise.
"You're world rank 0th Seoya, right?"
"Yeah." Seoya quickly added, "Just call me Seoya casually."
Having grown accustomed to Korean culture, hearing a much older uncle speak formally to her felt weird. Not that Seoya, who hadn't fully grasped the formal/informal dynamic, planned to use formal speech with this Gwak Mansu either.
"...How old?"
"Hm..."
That was tricky to answer, so Seoya trailed off.
For whatever reason, Gwak Mansu's face grew grave, and he suddenly raised his voice, venting to the world.
"The world's gone mad, mad! A kid like this entering a dungeon!"
Her voice and build already gave away that she was a young girl anyway.
"Isn't this some law violation? Child labor... something like that."
"It's the Juvenile Hunter Labor Law, bro."
"Right, that! What kind of dangerous—!"
"...Enough already."
Seoya waved one hand dismissively in a bored tone.
"Anyway, can you trust me now?"
"Trust isn't the issue! When we get out, don't enter dungeons just 'cause you're rank 0th! You know this isn't a game, right?!"
"I don't play games."
"Sigh, if only my daughter took after even half of you... Game addiction, addiction! Anyway, let the adults around you handle dungeon clears!"
"No one else can."
Now used to this overprotectiveness, Seoya brushed off his words and got to the point.
"Like I said in chat, the monsters here look exactly like humans. They might even talk like humans, so they're hard to spot, but check the eyes closely."
"Got it. We search, right?"
"But don't make contact, and if they attack first when you're close, dodge quick, um..."
Earth's humans would struggle against mutants. They were affected mentally.
"Only I can kill them, so you need to stick with me for now."
"We were sticking together since scattering blindly without knowing the monster is risky. Should we split into teams?"
"No, that'd be dangerous."
Glancing around, there were about forty hunters here. They probably couldn't do much in the dungeon anyway.
"Let's keep searching like this."
Seoya resolved to lead them personally in the search.