Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: A-Rank Lightning Mage Shin Seha
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An officetel in Incheon.
The windows were covered by thick blackout curtains, making it impossible to tell whether it was day or night.
The only things filling the room were the faint glow from three monitors and a low, humming noise.
The monitors' light illuminated the chaotic interior.
There was no room to step anywhere in the room.
Next to the bed stood a precarious tower of unopened delivery boxes, so many that she'd forgotten what even half of them contained.
Beside that sat containers from half-eaten takeout, claiming their own space.
The desk was just as much of a mess.
Empty energy drink cans and snack bags were scattered everywhere, with only a high-end gaming keyboard and mouse holding their positions.
At the center of that chaos, a girl was half-reclining in a plush gaming chair, sunk deep into it.
Her bobbed hair looked like it had been roughly cut with kitchen scissors at home, jagged and uneven.
Her silvery hair, tinged with a mystical blue sheen, stuck out in all directions, as if it hadn't seen a brush in ages.
A worn-out hoodie with a stretched neckline and dolphin shorts that rode up a good inch above her knees.
A-Rank Lightning Mage Shin Seha stared blankly at the monitor screen.
At the end of her gaze, the Hunter Gallery's post list scrolled endlessly.
She hammered F5 over and over, waiting desperately for new posts to appear.
Ding-dong—
A sharp bell shattered the silence, and Seha's shoulders jerked up like she'd been electrocuted.
"Eek!"
She nearly toppled backward out of her chair.
Her heart plummeted.
A stranger's male voice came from outside the door.
It was the delivery guy. The mala tang she'd ordered an hour ago had finally arrived.
'Ah, shit... I checked "leave at door"... Why do they always ring the damn bell....'
Swallowing a curse under her breath, she reluctantly groaned and rose from her chair.
That split-second moment of facing the delivery driver was the most stressful part of her day.
Seha pulled her hood down low, right below her eyebrows.
She somehow navigated the towers of trash without toppling them, silently making her way to the entrance.
Seha approached the intercom and whispered in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.
"Um... just leave it at the door, please...."
But there was no response from the other end.
Either the delivery guy hadn't heard her, or there was some rule about handing it over in person.
A moment passed, but the presence outside the door didn't fade.
Bang bang bang. If anything, he knocked harder on the door.
'Ah, fuck... why won't he leave....'
In the end, she had no choice.
Seha adjusted her hood one more time, pulling it down deep.
Then she cracked the door open just a sliver, like a squinting eye.
Just enough that the delivery guy's face wouldn't be visible.
She barely stretched her hand through the narrow gap and snatched the plastic bag.
Before he could even say "enjoy your meal," she slammed the door shut.
Her heart pounded like mad.
"Ugh, seriously...."
Returning to her computer, Seha opened the mala tang lid and habitually clicked over to another gallery.
She logged in with her fixed nickname and entered the Mage Gallery. She scrolled way down and started reading posts from oldest to newest.
At the very top of the gallery was a fresh post from the newbie she'd been following most eagerly lately.
[Title: Trained on 14F and it's pure bliss]
Author: ?? (D44.444)
Mana density here is on a whole other level from outside.
Just meditating in the tower fills your mana pool right up.
Tried the fruit too—tastes like shit but the effect is straight fire.
Come get some, everyone. Come on.
└ Fridge: If it's that good, don't hog it all—share some.
└ MagicIsFirepower: Curious. Sell one. I'll pay top dollar.
└ ?? (D44.444): You'd just tell me to come to Busan to trade.
└ MagicIsFirepower: That's why quick-witted kids are the best.
"This kid doesn't take a single day off...."
Unknowingly, a faint smile tugged at Seha's lips.
An anonymous floater with no nickname. No name, face, or gender known.
Yet she felt an odd kinship with him. He really reminded her of herself in so many ways.
A gallery addict who lurked there all day. Seha sensed a strange camaraderie from the anonymous guy.
But not everything was the same.
"...I'm holed up in my room, though."
She hadn't climbed the tower in months, using the strike as an excuse.
Not that many people could complain about it anyway.
She was still a precious A-Rank mage, after all.
The problem was the self-loathing. The guilt over doing absolutely nothing.
And yet this fearless newbie was climbing the tower without hesitation.
Solo, no less, on the unknown Extreme difficulty.
What Seha felt watching that newbie wasn't jealousy.
If anything, it was vicarious satisfaction.
Someone similar to her. But unlike her, he kept pushing upward. Observing that gave her a peculiar pleasure.
Seha set down her chopsticks and tapped the keyboard familiarly.
└ pkkatjoo: If you're gonna brag, at least drop some ham or something.
Just as she left the comment and scooped up a spoonful of the spicy mala tang broth—
Bzzz—
The phone on her desk, flipped face-down, vibrated noisily, shaking.
The caller's name appeared on the screen.
[Association President Park Sangcheol]
Park Sangcheol.
The man leading the recent Hunter strike.
An A-Rank Hunter like Seha, and the head of the Hunter Association.
Though in Seha's mind, what kind of authority did an association without any S-Ranks even have?
Seha immediately hit reject.
But the phone rang persistently again.
Once, twice....
On the third call, Seha let out a deep sigh and finally answered.
Ignoring it would just make him show up at her door for sure.
And that would be several times more horrific.
"Hello...."
[Hunter Shin Seha! Why aren't you picking up?! I was worried!]
A booming voice exploded through the receiver, loud enough to deafen her ears.
"What's it about...."
[What do you mean?! The protest tomorrow! We need every A-Rank Hunter we can get so the government bastards can't ignore us!]
"I, um... I'm not feeling well...."
[How so?]
"Huh?"
[I asked what's wrong.]
"C-cold... flu...."
[Pfft, an A-Rank Hunter whining over a little cold?! This is about all our survival! We need you, Hunter Shin!]
"I, I'm not good at fighting or anything...."
[Haha, no worries!]
Park Sangcheol laughed heartily, but there was a subtle pressure laced into the sound.
[Hunter Shin doesn't need to grab a mic or throw punches or anything. Just zap some lightning into the sky a few times! That alone will make us feel so much more secure. It's not even hard.]
[And if you keep skipping out like this, it looks bad. I know you well enough that it's fine! But what will the other Hunters think? Why isn't Shin Seha showing up? Did she cut a deal with the government...? Rumors like that would be trouble, right?]
It was half-coercive pressure.
But a protest? Just thinking about it made her suffocate.
Crowds of people, flashing cameras, hundreds of eyes pouring down on her.
Imagining herself standing in the middle of that, sweat slicked her palms.
As Seha hesitated, Park Sangcheol landed the finishing blow.
[If that's how it is, then I'll have to come visit in person and convince you. We can't have misunderstandings between us, right? Right?]
The words "come visit in person" sent chills racing up Seha's spine.
The thought of a stranger—let alone such an energetic man—entering this room made her feel like she was suffocating.
In the end, Seha answered weakly.
"...I'll think about it."
With that, she hurriedly hung up.
She had no energy left for more conversation.
A deep sigh burst out.
She opened the gallery again. Her only sanctuary from the dreadful reality.
The newbie had just posted something new.
[Title: Time to go for it... S-Rank]
└ Fridge: Ugh, at least knock out A-Rank first.
└ MagicIsFirepower: How do you even get S-Rank certification? By floor too?
└ DungBeetle: Output-based. S-Rank certification is strict; gotta go to the World Association.
└ DungBeetle: S-Rank testing draws way too much attention just by showing up. Hate it.
└ ?? (F44.444): Sounds too good.
└ Fridge: Gonna lose my mind.
A post filled with vague expectations about becoming an S-Rank Hunter.
"S-Rank, huh...."
Unconsciously, Seha's eyes drifted to the dusty picture frame on one corner of her desk.
In the photo was her past self, with much longer hair than now.
Holding her A-Rank Hunter certification, smiling like she owned the world.
When she first awakened, it felt like she could do anything.
She believed she'd reach the top of the tower, earn everyone's recognition.
No one—not even herself—could have imagined she'd end up a shut-in, holed up in a dark room eating delivery food.
Seha thought of the newbie again. A fellow gallery addict and weirdo like her. But he kept moving forward without stopping.
Reckless drive and overwhelming talent. She envied him, yet it comforted her somewhere deep down.
That guy might actually become S-Rank. Unlike her, slumped in place....
Seha took a bite of the now-cold takeout and left another comment.
└ pkkatjoo: ...Are you an idiot or what.
A phrase loaded with multiple meanings.
Seha couldn't tear her eyes from the monitor for a long while.
The only sound in the room again was the occasional clack of the keyboard.
***
After several days of training, I stepped onto the 15th floor.
My third boss floor encounter already.
But by now, some mid-boss wasn't going to scare me.
What I feared was elsewhere.
"Crazy old man...."
Just the thought of facing that mad old geezer again made my head throb.
For now, I'd deal with the boss in front of me.
"Desertification."
I cast the skill familiarly.
The sticky swamp turned into a dry sand field in an instant.
But something was different this time. There was an area where Desertification didn't take hold.
In front of me lay a black swamp, distinctly different from the normal ones, emitting an eerie steam.
Insight Eye showed it brimming with poison energy several times denser and more vicious than anywhere else.
It felt like all the jungle's poison originated from this swamp.
And that wasn't all.
"Ugh, the smell."
A nauseating stench stabbed my nose. My brow furrowed involuntarily.
"Just come out already...."
I fired a few sand bullets toward the center of the swamp.
Soon the dark red surface boiled violently, and a massive form rose up.
The 15th floor boss, master of the corrupted swamp. A swamp slime.
It was a monster that wielded the entire swamp like its own body.
Dozens of sticky tentacles erupted from the ground, shooting toward me.
Fine. The swamp's your domain, huh.
"Then it's a domain clash."
I murmured lowly, gazing at the desert unfurled behind me, with the swamp as the boundary line.