Chapter 82
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: A Messy Reunion with a Friend
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The meeting with his friend had gone all wrong.
Only then did Jun-hyeok finally see a clue.
Why they had gone to such lengths to hide their identities, and why the intelligence agent's operative had insisted on naturalization over other options.
'Ordinary restrictions wouldn't be enough to believe in them.... So that's what it was.'
If he had chosen naturalization right there on the spot, it probably would have been hard to back out.
It might all have been exactly what they intended...
"Heh."
Amazed, he let out another hollow chuckle, and the ears of the woman he presumed was White Space twitched.
The presences he could sense had grown to seven or eight by now... and they kept increasing.
Even just the ones he'd noticed numbered nearly double digits.
They didn't seem intent on a killing blow...
A few of them, whose presences stood out more clearly, were brimming with tension, treating this like a genuine crisis.
It reminded him of newbies stepping into a high-density gate for the first time.
"Still, I helped out in an emergency, so isn't this a bit unfair?"
"Consider your usual behavior."
"Miss, you're saying the exact same thing as my secretary."
He'd tried to lighten the mood a little, but it only ramped up their hostility.
Hm, why was that?
"......"
Jun-hyeok pondered how to clear up the misunderstanding, while Brüel watched his every move without missing a beat.
Su-hyeon alone couldn't keep up with the tension and just observed the two of them.
"Um.... Brüel, why are you suddenly like this?"
Su-hyeon tapped lightly near Brüel's firm thigh and whispered softly.
"I'm sorry, Su-hyeon. It seems I let my guard down because we're near Lady Ok-rye's territory. I should have considered the possibility of him showing up."
Surprisingly, Brüel answered without taking her eyes off Jun-hyeok.
It was a far cry from her usual effort to meet eye level.
'...I don't know the details, but maybe I should apologize first?'
"Um, Su-hyeon? Sorry. It seems like this happened because I arrived late..."
Brüel's gaze sharpened even more at Jun-hyeok's words.
"Arrived late? Are you saying you had a reason to come here?"
Jun-hyeok realized his slip and hurriedly tried to correct himself.
"Ah, no, that's not it.... I came to handle the gate but got lost..."
"Got lost? You, an S-rank hunter?"
Sarcasm laced Brüel's voice.
For Jun-hyeok, the line felt oddly familiar.
"No, a gate popped up that no one else wanted to touch, so I took the initiative, but things got weird around here, and I wandered for a while, so I was late. As you know, gates like that should be fine for days normally, right? And I didn't expect something like this to pop out... Hm, even to me, that sounds like an excuse."
Shrugging and giving up on the explanation only fueled the elves' animosity.
"......"
"......"
But for Su-hyeon, there was one part she couldn't let slide.
"Your sense of direction got messed up, and you got lost?"
"Yes, Su-hyeon. That's it!"
Jun-hyeok clapped his hands and pointed at Su-hyeon triumphantly, prompting Brüel to shift slightly to shield her more.
"Um, Brüel. It seems like he might really be telling the truth."
Su-hyeon tugged at Brüel's clothes, and Brüel tilted her head slightly to listen.
*Whisper whisper*
"Grandma planted plants that keep strangers from wandering in carelessly. But it looks like the gate overlapped with that."
"Mm."
Brüel eased up a bit.
As the tension subsided, the man showed his open palms and spoke.
"So, has the misunderstanding cleared up a little now?"
Afterward, Su-hyeon and Brüel watched as the man made calls here and there to handle the aftermath.
As a rare single entity, it apparently required some cumbersome procedures.
"......What in the world is all this?"
"Grandma."
Before long, Grandma and Mom appeared out of nowhere.
Grandma clutched the back of her neck at the sight of the forest looking like it had been bombed.
"Yaaawn. Hi, Hyun."
Mom, barely able to open her eyes, squatted next to Su-hyeon and started rubbing her cheek against hers.
She paid no mind to the chaos around them.
"Mom, you okay now?"
"...Yeah, just sleepy otherwise?"
Grandma approached Mom and Su-hyeon and asked.
"No injuries?"
"Nope, I just checked."
"Then..."
Grandma sighed and turned to Brüel.
"Tell me what happened."
"...Yes."
It was a question loaded with meaning.
Why there were holes blasted in the forest after she'd stepped away briefly, where her helmet had gone, who this suit guy was.
"Grandma, I'll explain."
"Oink oink."
Su-hyeon spoke from behind Mom's shoulder.
Mom was stroking Honey's snout.
"Alright."
As Grandma turned at Su-hyeon's words, Brüel bowed her head and stepped back.
While Su-hyeon explained everything from the start, Jun-hyeok finished his basic calls and checked the measuring device.
This device fired a fan-shaped burst of high-purity mana and analyzed the reaction to measure the total demonic energy and density.
Normally inserted directly into the gate, but knowing the principle allowed adaptation elsewhere.
But...
'No demonic energy at all?'
Unlike modern demonic beasts that grew by stimulating gate expansion, these single entities were integrated with the gate itself.
That was why the gate closed immediately.
They didn't scatter demonic energy wildly, focusing on their own evolution rather than eroding surroundings.
"Still, this level of cleanliness is odd."
Not a trace left behind felt too contrived. It even looked like the demonic energy had been replaced with pure mana.
In such cases, it was better to suspect foul play than chalk it up to coincidence, but...
'I can't probe any deeper.'
He wanted to keep good relations with them if possible.
Turning around this rock-bottom first impression would take effort, but he couldn't afford demerits just to sate his curiosity.
He glanced at Su-hyeon with cheeks stretched like rice cakes, the green-haired beauty fuming, the White Space woman at a loss, and even the massive boar that somehow looked smug.
"So you just charged at the gate or whatever without a care? Oh lord, I can't deal with you!"
"Ow ow, it hurts, Mommy, stop, waaah!"
That wasn't it—Su-hyeon wanted to say it normally wouldn't open, that this was a special case.
"Mom! She says it hurts! Stop it!"
"Lady Ok-rye, please calm down for now."
Mom and Brüel held back Grandma upon seeing Su-hyeon's cheeks puffed like sticky rice cakes.
"Oink oink oink."
Honey, who had worked hard, seemed to disagree.
Smack.
"Eek!"
The sound of cheeks snapping back into place.
Mom snatched Su-hyeon from Grandma's grasp and retreated out of reach.
"But if we leave it, it might head down to the village..."
"With Athenaia Skia around, you think that beast could find its way straight?"
"...It was chowing down randomly on everything nearby."
"Isn't that because you dragged it everywhere? A couple of bushes wouldn't matter."
"Hing."
Grandma let out a deep sigh.
It wasn't some grave sin, just a clueless kid trying to help others—how could she scold her more?
She'd only fussed because the girl hadn't taken care of herself.
"Next time, leave it be, and I'll handle it."
"How would you, Grandma..."
"Su-hyeon..."
Brüel shot Su-hyeon a pleading look to stay quiet, worried she'd get scolded for backtalk again.
Of course, Su-hyeon interpreted it a bit differently.
'Yeah, she'd probably call other elves to deal with it. Was that a dumb question...?'
"Do I look like some helpless old lady with no plan like you? Leave that to the adults, and you kids just worry about staying safe."
"Yees..."
"Yeah, Su-hyeon can't get hurt, or Mommy will be so sad."
"Mmph. Yeees. Uuuh..."
Finally satisfied with the answer, Grandma shifted her gaze from the mother-daughter pair lost in their world to the charred demonic beast.
"So those things popping out now and then when I wasn't looking were these.... They've been quieter lately. Were those holes in the sky sometimes gates too?"
Brüel answered Grandma's question.
"Yes, they've evolved to lure people in directly these days."
"Good grief..."
When old man Kim was alive, she'd stayed in the city briefly, but nothing like that back then.
Tsking her tongue, Grandma asked.
"The ones that showed up in your homeland were these too?"
"...Yes. Though they were so numerous they filled the land and sky."
"Nasty buggers."
Grandma expressed mild regret.
Thinking the conversation had wrapped up, the suit sidled over cautiously.
"Hello, everyone."
But the women's reactions weren't great.
"......"
"......"
"Sure~ Hi there?"
"Oof."
Only the petite green-haired beauty, Ji-hyeon, returned the greeting.
Even she was fiddling with Su-hyeon's face with one hand, barely interested.
'Huh...?'
Caught off guard by the unexpected reception, as Jun-hyeok faltered, Grandma stepped forward.
"All done?"
"Pardon? Oh, yes. For now..."
"Good work. You must be tired—off you go."
And she issued a curt dismissal.
"Pardon?"
"And it'd be wise to keep quiet about us and the child."
Grandma glanced at Brüel's openly visible face before turning away.
Ji-hyeon, beaming as she held Su-hyeon, turned too, followed by Brüel primly looking aside.
The giant boar as well.
"Wait, hold on, ma'am!"
They all halted.
Grandma turned back, and the other women followed suit, facing him.
The giant boar too.
...Was that boar female too?
"What now?"
Jun-hyeok was inwardly flustered.
His looks were decent enough that even before awakening, he'd never been treated this coldly.
He might be earning dislike now for good reason, but starting with negative favorability from strangers was a first.
He composed himself and politely introduced himself.
"Ahem, excuse me. I apologize for the late introduction. I'm S-rank hunter Go Jun-hyeok. As the person responsible for this incident, I deeply apologize and would like to discuss appropriate follow-up measures and compensation. Especially regarding Su-hyeon—I'd like to talk in detail if that's alright..."
"...Hunters?"
Grandma frowned at the unfamiliar term popping up again.
But while Grandma brushed it off indifferently, the name 'Go Jun-hyeok' struck Su-hyeon like lightning.
"......Go Jun-hyeok?"
"Oh my."
Su-hyeon bolted upright from Mom's arms, where she'd been enjoying pets.
"Yes, as expected, you know me, Su-hyeon. I'm the master of that Camellia Guild."
Only then did she recall him gazing up at the cherry blossoms at school with admiring eyes.
And with it, a flood of past memories.
"Y-You're Jo Seong-min, aren't you?"
"Pardon? Ah.... That was obviously an alias."
The healthy boy who loved soccer had become a man flashing an oily smile.
Lies rolled off his tongue effortlessly.
'......How did he evolve into this?'
He'd definitely been straightforward with tons of friends.
Seemed like gaining S-rank power had twisted him somewhere along the way.