Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: How Do They Know Each Other?
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How do they know each other?
The explanation session began, with promotional ambassadors from various companies taking the stage one after another.
Finally, it was Mystic's turn.
Click-clack, click-clack—
A murmur spread through the students as the woman ascended the platform.
"Is that for real?"
"Looks like her."
"Whoa, no way."
"She went through all that and came to our school?"
The figure who appeared with dignified steps was Seo Na-rin, the A-rank hunter whose face was known everywhere these days.
The students woke up their dozing friends and most pulled out their phones to snap photos.
Even Ga-eun was covering her mouth in slight surprise.
Who would've thought an A-rank hunter would personally visit to promote a company affiliated with her guild?
These kinds of events were usually handled by B-rank hunters.
She was the highest-caliber talent among those who'd appeared today.
It was like asking a store employee to demo the latest J-Pad model, only for the company chairman to show up.
Huh, now that I think about it, it's exactly that situation.
Na-rin, who had already captured everyone's attention just by appearing, waited for the murmurs to die down before speaking.
"Have you all woken up the sleepyheads?"
Yes—
"But I'm starting to get camera-shy these days, so could you please put away your phones? Thank you. Phew, I can breathe now."
A small ripple of laughter spread through the students at this superhuman showing such a human side.
"You all know who I am, right? I've been all over TV lately."
Her tone was as if it were obvious.
A confident smile paired with a voice brimming with pride.
Instead of an introduction, Na-rin stepped aside and bowed her head.
"Before we begin, I want to sincerely apologize for the inappropriate behavior of one of our guild's hunters that caused such a disturbance."
The auditorium fell deathly silent in an instant. The students exchanged shocked glances.
Na-rin lifted her head and took a deep breath once more.
"We'll take this incident as a lesson and redouble our efforts for stricter self-regulation. Since this isn't a formal hearing, I have to keep it brief—please understand. Mystic will do everything in its power to regain your trust."
A moment of silence followed before someone started clapping, and soon the entire auditorium erupted in thunderous applause.
A pleased smile lit up Na-rin's face.
"She's so cool."
Su-hyeon clapped her plump hands together in admiration.
"Yeah. They really do live in a different world."
Ga-eun replied.
"How can a person be like that? It's not even her fault."
She was incredibly mature.
Ga-eun smirked at Su-hyeon's mutter, resting her hand on her head and slowly shaking it.
"Who knows? It might be some high-level marketing ploy targeting that exact reaction...?"
As someone with a public-facing job, Ga-eun seemed to see things a bit differently.
"Eeeeeven so, if it were me, I'd be so indignant I couldn't sleep."
"True enough."
As Su-hyeon rolled her neck along with Ga-eun's touch, Na-rin began her main presentation.
"Mystic boasts a large roster of high-grade supporters, and our core business is providing tailored dispatch services leveraging them."
This was precisely why Mystic could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with major guilds despite its lack of combat strength and small size.
The revenue from tailored dispatches, combined with their vast network of connections, earned them an extremely high valuation and a market cap no one could ignore.
They virtually monopolized domestic supporters and held strong competitive power in the global market as well.
On top of that, they invested heavily in talent cultivation, so even their low-rank hunters were highly skilled.
"However, we do have a weakness. We lack the number of front-line and combat hunters, making cooperation with other guilds absolutely essential."
It was both the strength and weakness of a guild specialized in one field.
They dominated their specialty but were inevitably vulnerable elsewhere.
To compensate, Mystic had acquired and invested in guilds specializing in front-liners, Na-rin explained.
She also emphasized their extensive efforts to improve equipment quality for supporters.
"The gear we make for our supporters is different from what frontline combat hunters use."
Na-rin elaborated in detail.
"Rather than focusing on lethality or ability amplification, we need more modern, specialized equipment—while still maintaining a certain level of durability."
"Oh..."
I'd wondered what the point of learning this stuff was. Turns out it all has its uses.
Honestly, with a clear career path like computer science, it's one thing, but Gate Environment Design Engineering? The name alone sounds ridiculous.
No clue what they teach or what jobs you get.
"That's why we teach extensively about gates, but we also need people like you with engineering knowledge."
"So Gate Design grads don't end up working at chicken joints."
"What are you even saying...?"
After Na-rin's coherent explanation wrapped up, it was time for questions.
One student raised a hand, and Na-rin called on them.
The student took the mic from the TA and asked.
"What's the minimum GPA required to join?"
A brazen fastball.
But probably what everyone wanted to know.
Na-rin fired back just as directly.
"Worried about grades? Second-year, right? What's your GPA?"
"3.3."
Slightly below average.
Not impressive by our department's standards.
"Nope, rejected! Get it to at least 3.8 or do grad school first. Next!"
Hahaha—
Laughter poured out as the student got cut off at the gate.
"Pfft hehe."
Ga-eun poked Su-hyeon's cheek as she laughed gleefully at someone else's misfortune.
"Enjoying this way too much, huh?"
"Ow, if you wanna get a job, study hard too."
It was the one thing Su-hyeon could boast about right now—her first-year grades, mostly A+'s.
...The natural result of spending every day in the library with no friends.
But even as Su-hyeon bragged, Ga-eun didn't seem fazed.
She even tilted her head slightly as she replied.
"I already have a job."
"Oh?"
Right, she's a NewTuber.
"The company's under Da-hye unnie's name right now, but it'll be transferred to me after my birthday."
"......"
So she's basically been the boss since she was a minor?
What is this sense of defeat?
What the hell has my life been?!
To reclaim some dignity, Su-hyeon wracked her brain desperately.
"I... I... Um, I can survive without eating."
The best she could come up with...
But it really was an impressive ability—photosynthesis.
Even that Seo Na-rin over there couldn't do it.
"Who cares? Heh, does that mean I can have your sandwich?"
"You're crossing the line... Ah, no!"
Su-hyeon hugged her sandwich tight and scooted as far away as possible from Ga-eun reaching for it.
As if she could escape from a chair.
She was getting squished against the armrest when she happened to glance forward...
Huh.
For a split second, it felt like Na-rin's gaze had turned this way.
'There they are.'
Na-rin spotted Ga-eun and Su-hyeon playfully tussling over the sandwich.
She'd read their memories when she ruffled Jae-hyeok's hair earlier.
She'd come to Korea University in person because she wanted to see them with her own eyes.
'If I'd spotted them earlier, I could've called them up for a question. Too bad.'
People thought memory reading was some amazing power and feared it vaguely.
But it wasn't that convenient, really.
It felt like peering into an incomplete, chaotic dream.
No sequence, just hazy images from which she had to glean the rough facts.
And sorting the information was entirely up to Na-rin's skill.
'Not sure.'
In Jae-hyeok's memories, he feared the girl sitting next to Ga-eun even more than Ga-eun herself.
He was convinced that the light-green-haired kid was the reason he'd been attacked online.
But to Na-rin, she seemed utterly ordinary no matter how she looked at it.
Aside from the leaf on her head and how adorably pinchable her cheeks were.
'Just paranoia after all?'
Na-rin concluded Jae-hyeok's suspicions were mere delusions.
No way that little kid had ties to some foreign group that even Ye-rin couldn't identify.
Instead, she took note of Ga-eun.
A civilian who'd just turned twenty had beaten a veteran B-rank hunter barehanded into a pulp the other day.
Sure, there were excuses if you nitpicked, but they were all just that—excuses.
To Na-rin, she looked like she could reach B-rank before turning twenty-five, if trained right.
Na-rin descended the stage with a smile at this promising prospect.
But that good mood was soon flushed down the toilet.
The man approaching to take her place.
Neatly combed hair, glasses, a friendly-looking face.
It was Jun-hyeok, disguised as a B-rank HR hunter.
"...What the hell are you doing here."
Na-rin's mood soured instantly.
'That bastard... I told him not to get involved, and he still...!'
Na-rin offered a handshake with a seductive smile.
Jun-hyeok had no choice but to laugh and take her hand.
A B-rank hunter refusing Na-rin's handshake in public would look bad.
But her words, contrasting her smile, were vicious.
"You little shit, can't even respect basic decency? Gotta follow me here? Wanna see this through to the end?"
Crack, crack, crack.
She couldn't use her strength in front of everyone, but weird noises started coming from her grip.
"No, really, this is just a coincidence..."
Na-rin snorted and let go as Jun-hyeok let out a laugh that may or may not have been genuine.
"Aren't you sick of playing B-rank hunter? You're so creepy it makes me wanna puke."
"Haha, you wouldn't understand, Miss Na-rin, showing off with all your might in front of the crowd."
As Na-rin passed, Jun-hyeok teased her politely before darting up the stairs.
Na-rin wanted to kick his fleeing ass but held back her anger.
Later, Na-rin arrived at the nearby parking lot.
"...Hold up."
Her attendants opened the door, and as she was about to get in naturally, she spotted something.
"That's that bastard's car."
Jun-hyeok's vehicle parked nearby.
Not the supercar he displayed at home, but a moderately expensive domestic sedan he drove while posing as a B-rank.
A wicked smile spread across Na-rin's face.
She'd thought of a way to screw him over.
Perfect, there's a flower bed right here.
After the session ended, Ga-eun and Su-hyeon stepped outside.
They were pondering where to eat their sandwiches.
That PC bang jerk from before turned out to be a B-rank hunter.
From Camellia Guild, no less.
Even though it was the weekend, he was in a suit, so they'd figured he was an unemployed guy pretending to go to work...
"Huh?"
As they walked near the parking lot, Ga-eun made a weird noise.
"What's up?"
"Oh, that guy hasn't left yet."
Looking where Ga-eun pointed, the B-rank hunter from the end of the session was scratching his head in front of his car.
"Whoa, he got pranked hard..."
The two approached the troubled-looking man.
"Everything okay?"
"Ah, Miss Ga-eun. Fancy meeting you here."
The man replied.
"Oh! The sandwich guy... You came to the session!"
"Yeah, sorta. Listened well enough."
"Thank you. Um... who's that next to you...?"
The man's gaze shifted sideways, much lower than when looking at Ga-eun.
"PC bang psycho uncle."
Su-hyeon said sharply.
"PC bang kiddo?"
The man asked in surprise.
"What?"
But the most shocked of the three was Ga-eun.
"You two know each other? PC bang? What's that supposed to mean?"
Su-hyeon was shocked in her own way.
"Hang on, Ga-eun, how do you know this uncle? How could you two even cross paths?"
Come to think of it, it was weird.
A thirty-something high-rank hunter and an ordinary internet streamer, twenty-year-old college freshman.
No common ground at all?
"Well... it's a long story."
As Ga-eun hesitated to speak, the man turned to Su-hyeon.
"You're really a college student?"
"Hmph, why act all proper now? Show your true colors already."
Su-hyeon snorted and stepped in front of Ga-eun.
Whatever his game was, the gap between his PC bang self and now was too jarring—it creeped her out.
She couldn't let her friend hang around a guy like this.
"Ga-eun, no matter how you met, don't get close to this guy. Even if he acts nice, he's a sadistic psychopath inside. And a pervert who hits on random girls."
"We're not really close or anything?"
"Hey, isn't calling me that just for chatting a bit at the PC bang too much?"
The man looked wronged, but Su-hyeon's attitude was firm.
"This polite act is fake. The PC bang version's the real you. Total split-personality psycho."
Su-hyeon growled like an angry kitten.
"Kiddo, that's called distinguishing work from personal life."
"Stop! I'm not a kid, I'm an adult! And why are you my friend?!"
"Eh? You are a kid though... Or should I call you little kid?"
"Kyaa!"
"What the heck even happened between you two...?"
Ga-eun sighed in exasperation.