Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Side Story, Song of Ice and Fire (2)
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2.
“Isn’t this…… a throwing weapon?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong picked up the ice orb and struck a shot put pose.
“It’ll b-break if you do that!”
“No, fuck. We need to figure out how to use it.”
“Fine, give it here!”
Shin Tae-yeop hurriedly snatched the orb from Jeong Ha-kyeong’s hand.
“Whew, Lead Hunter Uncle is an angel.”
He caressed it as gently as if handling an injured kitten.
“Why?”
“You stick around with a savage woman like her. If it were me, I’d have run off in a day.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s forehead vein twitched for a moment.
“Yeah, right. If Kim Baek-jun were a wimpy little brat like you, I’d have ditched him first.”
“No, I’d run first~”
“Yeah~ I’d run first~”
That was when the office door opened.
The first person visible…… was the one Shin Tae-yeop had been waiting for.
“Lead Hunter Uncle!”
“Shin Tae-yeop?”
The next person to appear.
A woman wearing silver-rimmed glasses over curious eyes, her white coat fluttering.
“Tae-yeop? Where? Where?”
It was Seo Hwa-yoon.
“For real?!”
Seo Hwa-yoon adored Shin Tae-yeop, so every time they met, she’d hug him and rub her cheek against his head.
“Our Tae-yeop, dragged around by Choi Uk and worn out, huh? Bored, right? Big sis will comfort you.”
It was the same this time.
“Ugh, sis, wait! Don’t drop this.”
While that went on.
Kim Baek-jun was asking Jeong Ha-kyeong why Shin Tae-yeop had come.
“That’s a boss mob equipment item, but he says he doesn’t know how to use it.”
“Oh…… that’s Scesari’s?”
“Anyway, since you have so many boss mob equipment items, he figured you might know something.”
Kim Baek-jun draped his [Shadow Exoskeleton Cloak] over the back of his office chair, then approached Shin Tae-yeop.
“Here. Let me see it.”
Kim Baek-jun.
He was no handsome man.
But for some reason, everyone he met—man or woman—felt drawn to him.
Probably for two reasons.
His gentle demeanor.
And his warm, comforting smile.
Talking with Kim Baek-jun made you feel more respected than anyone else in the world.
“Yeah, here.”
Kim Baek-jun took the orb.
He spun it around, squinting his eyes, widening them, repeating—then suddenly inhaled sharply.
“Tae-yeop. This thing…….”
His voice carried an ominous tone.
The boy’s heart began to pound. As expected, Lead Hunter Uncle was different!
“What? What’d you figure out? Don’t tease, just tell me.”
“About this…….”
“About this?”
“……Why isn’t the tooltip showing up? Isn’t this a Subordinate item?”
Uh…… excuse me?
You think I came here without checking that?
Shin Tae-yeop let out a deflated sigh.
“Aha!”
Then Jeong Ha-kyeong clapped her hands.
Hope surged back in Shin Tae-yeop’s heart in an instant.
“This clever shit faked it to escape Choi Uk, huh? Right?”
“……Huh?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I get it. What’s the deal with guys in their 50s? They’re lonely, so once they start chatting with kids, they never let go. They just keep talking and talking.”
Then Kim Baek-jun.
The legendary Hunter shook his head at his partner as if scolding her.
“No, Ha-kyeong. That’s not quite right, is it?”
“Uh…… yeah?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s trait.
Fierce with everyone else, but endlessly soft in front of Kim Baek-jun.
That’s what Shin Tae-yeop muttered inwardly.
“Maybe I went too far.”
“Yes. Apologize. Tae-yeop isn’t a bad kid!”
No…… what?
What’s with these people today?
Shin Tae-yeop’s head began to ache.
“Of course he wanted to see me, so he made up this excuse, right?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong snapped her fingers as if it all made sense.
“Oh! That’s it! Fuck, that’s exactly it! Tae-yeop, you sneaky little genius.”
Kim Baek-jun patted Shin Tae-yeop’s shoulder with an expression like he might tear up any second.
“Tae-yeop. Bro is so happy. But lies are bad, you know. Good kids don’t lie.”
“No, wait, Uncle…….”
“No need to apologize. Just don’t do it next time.”
Aaaah──!
This must be what they call a <misunderstanding>.
If he stayed quiet, this conversation would drag on forever. Time to push back hard.
“Uncle, think about it. Why would I lie just to see you?”
“………?!”
“This really is a Subordinate item! Don’t believe me? Ask Choi Uk Uncle.”
Kim Baek-jun hesitated, then cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Ah…… sorry.”
“Knowing you’re sorry is enough.”
Kim Baek-jun looked crestfallen.
“I’m not the sharpest. If this is real, I really don’t know what’s up.”
“…………?”
“All my Subordinate items had tooltips from the start.”
No answers after all.
Come to think of it…… yeah. Lead Hunter Uncle…… isn’t the genius type for this stuff.
“Hm, hm, hm.”
Unexpected help came then.
“Wanna give that to sis?”
Seo Hwa-yoon.
Right…… she was here!
Logistics Section Chief, <Workshop> leader, and former defense industry lead engineer.
“Here…… let’s see.”
The moment she took the ice orb.
Seo Hwa-yoon’s ever-smiling eyes sharpened instantly.
“Pretty heavy. Not cold at all. Dull sound when tapped. Something inside…… fascinating in every way.”
Seo Hwa-yoon was always like that.
She became a completely different person when researching something.
“So even the Star Messenger doesn’t know what it is, and Choi Uk doesn’t either?”
“Yeah, sis. She said even 《Piercing Sight》 doesn’t show anything.”
“Can’t give it to sis?”
“Huh?”
“N-Not give…… just lend it?”
That instant.
Seo Hwa-yoon leaned in close.
“Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Her face flushed beet red, she gulped saliva, eyes gleaming fiercely.
“I won’t break it. Won’t shatter it! I’ll be super careful, hit it lightly, touch it, study it…… above all, ice that isn’t cold…… it’s driving me crazy!”
“…………?”
“Gently, super gently! Lending it isn’t that hard, right?”
Break? Shatter? Hit?
Those words spun chaotically in his head.
“Never playing with Hwa-yoon sis again!”
He snatched the ice orb from Seo Hwa-yoon and bolted out of the Association President’s office.
A brief silence.
“Huh……? Wha……? What?”
Seo Hwa-yoon tilted her head in bewilderment, and Jeong Ha-kyeong shook hers with a sigh.
“Knew it.”
“You knew Tae-yeop would do that?”
“Knew you’d cause trouble again! Hey, study your own damn personality before other materials, got it? Got it?”
“Trouble? What trouble? I really just wanted to help…….”
Seo Hwa-yoon wiped her eye corner with her index finger like she was tearing up, then measured about 1cm between thumb and index.
“Of course, personal greed was this much…… like Ha-kyeong’s chest size──”
“──W-what the fuck?! You crazy bitch?! What the hell is this shit?!”
“Wow, such an intriguing reaction.”
“Th-that shit? Fuck? When we fuck, you’re zero help, really zero?”
“Yeah, true.”
“Fitting armor? Extra hassle with custom orders.”
“Yeah.”
“And……? Uh…… yeah, Heteromorph hits increase. Waist hurts when running.”
That was when.
Seo Hwa-yoon placed a hand on Jeong Ha-kyeong’s shoulder with a pitying look and shook her head.
“Hang in there, Ha-kyeong.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong blanked out for a second, glanced at Kim Baek-jun, then ran out of the office sniffling.
“Hey~ Jeong Ha-kyeong~!”
Seo Hwa-yoon cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted.
“Don’t go too far~! I’ll be back soon~!”
Kim Baek-jun, who had watched that fierce battle from start to finish, finally broke the silence with a sigh.
“Seo Hwa-yoon…… you tease Ha-kyeong every time you see her.”
“Her reactions are too cute. Admit it?”
“Well…… she hates it that much.”
Kim Baek-jun smiled wryly, and Seo Hwa-yoon looked apologetic.
“Sorry……. Tae-yeop’s weird reaction shocked me, so I lost it…….”
“You seemed sharper than usual. I figured as much.”
Kim Baek-jun nodded.
Since Shin Tae-yeop had always followed Seo Hwa-yoon well.
“I’ll hold back next time. So why’d Tae-yeop act like that?”
“You wouldn’t get it even if I explained in detail…….”
Who’d believe Shin Tae-yeop had ties to Subordinates.
Believing it would cause bigger problems.
Rumors he might be in league with Nightmares could spread.
“He just acts like that when he sees it—reminds him of a close friend.”
“A close friend?”
Mulling it over, Seo Hwa-yoon let out an “Ah” of realization.
I see.
He had a friend who used ice-type skills, but they died. Must’ve triggered that trauma.
“Like Ha-kyeong said, did I really fuck up…….”
3.
“Section Chief……?”
“What?”
“What exactly…… were the Subordinates……?”
Reconnaissance Section Chief Lee Sung-mi.
She shook her head at the podium.
“That question remains unanswered to this day.”
Reconnaissance Section Advanced Training Center.
A place to teach the new stars rising as squad leaders in the Reconnaissance Section.
“What you new Reconnaissance Section members need to focus on isn’t their identity.”
Thirty of them.
The <Association>’s forces were replenished smoothly amid eager volunteers from rear Hunters.
“But their affinities.”
Lee Sung-mi pointed with her baton to the portraits on the blackboard one by one.
[Subordinate 1: Shadow Worm, Cha-Ratevil].
[Subordinate 2: Raging Despair, Arishel’rab].
[Subordinate 3: Whirling Chaos, Erjerzta].
[Subordinate 4: Nightmare Weaver, Yujulem].
“We didn’t subjugate Subordinate 5, so no affinity confirmed, but probably the same.”
[Subordinate 6: Guardian of the Old Holy City, Artsurehid].
[Subordinate 7: Final Dragon, Scesari].
“All Abyss affinity, see? Decisively, the Exalted One was too.”
“……………?!”
“One clear fact here.”
Lee Sung-mi raised her index finger to draw attention.
“Know one Subordinate’s affinity, and you know all Subordinates’ and the Exalted One’s affinities.”
Then a boy raised his hand.
Park Ji-won. He’d shown intense focus from the lecture’s start.
“What’s your question?”
“Hypothetically. If all Nightmares are Abyss affinity, what happens?”
…………Huh?
Lee Sung-mi stared at Park Ji-won for a long while, then snapped out of it with an awkward cough.
“Hypotheticals mean little in Reconnaissance.”
“………!”
“We deal in reality. Precisely locating Subordinates is why.”
Lee Sung-mi wasn’t even sure what she was saying.
Just bullshitting.
Because of…… some deep-seated doubt in her mind.
“Now that you’re the stars of Reconnaissance, do you grasp the gravity of your duties?”
Something’s off.
Lee Sung-mi ended the lecture early and hurried to her private quarters.
‘Something…… doesn’t add up.’
That’s what preoccupied her then.
‘If the tooltip isn’t lying but telling only truth……?’
This incident would be the [Nameless Demigod]’s solo act.
Then…… then……?
The Holy Apostles really…… were helping humanity.
“……Sis.”
Huh……?
Lee Sung-mi startled to a stop.
Leaning against the hallway wall…… a boy with the world’s purest eyes.
A teary-eyed boy.
And…… holding some weird ice ball.
“Tae-yeop?”