The Returned Hunter (4)

"Did I ever actually tell you my name?"

At those words, Seolhwa's hand froze halfway to her mask.

Seolhwa smiled awkwardly. "I read an article about you a while back. Rising-star hunter Jeong Yuri."

Yuri's face flushed red. "You really read that article?"

"Every major guild in the country is just waiting for her probation period with the Association to end."

"P-please, stop."

Watching Yuri squirm, Seolhwa tilted her head. "Then shall we do that introduction we never got to finish?"

With a smile, she extended her hand. "I'm Yu Seolhwa. As you saw earlier, my position is—well, for now, ranged DPS."

"I'm Jeong Yuri. My position is tanker."

Yuri took her hand and gave it a light shake. Warmth bled through the touch, soft and unmistakably alive.

The hand Seolhwa held was nothing like the one she remembered—the hand of ten years from now, blanketed in scars and calluses.

"Then you're still with the Association too, right, Seolhwa?"

"For now, yes."

Yuri beamed at that. "Then—once my probation is over, would you want to work together?"

"Sure. If the chance comes up. Working together doesn't sound bad at all."

At Seolhwa's easy yes, Yuri lit up like sunrise. "That's a relief! Honestly, do you have any idea how hard it's been to find a dealer like you lately?"

"Is it? Everyone seems to be about this level, from what I've seen."

The viewers all sprouted question marks at once.

Yuri's reaction was barely any different. "Nobody can just do that! What kind of rookie hunter guts a High Orc the moment it shows its face?!"

Seolhwa smiled at her indignation. "Why are you smiling?!"

"Sorry. It just reminded me of the old days."

"The old days?"

"I had a friend who reminded me of you, Yuri. But she left this world before I did."

Reading the shift in Seolhwa's expression, Yuri asked carefully, "What kind of person was she?"

"Someone... far too good for the likes of me. And a fool, besides." Seolhwa forced a smile. "But warm—so impossibly warm. The kind of person who thought of others before herself."

She turned her gaze toward the setting sun. "Whenever I was struggling, she was always there beside me. That kind of friend."

Yuri's smile came back radiant. "Then it's an honor to resemble her."

Every time Seolhwa saw that smile, something in her chest ached a little more. She remembered the smile she had failed to protect back then, and regret closed around her throat like a hand.

But she couldn't afford to drown in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠regret. Whether this was a chance granted by God or a prank played by the devil, she couldn't say. This time—

Seolhwa clenched her fist, hard. This time, I will not let go.

Yuri reached out and took that clenched hand in both of hers. "Don't worry. I'm not going to die."

And she said nothing more—only smiled.

"Well then. See you next time."

"Yes."

Seolhwa waved as Yuri walked away.

"So it's over."

One by one, the objects around her shed their borrowed shapes and returned to what they had been. The shattered road, the streetlights, the benches—all of it overwashed in shimmering blue data. Watching it happen, Seolhwa murmured something under her breath, so quietly that no one watching the broadcast could possibly have heard it.

"This time, for sure...."

With that, she logged out. And the stream ended right along with her.

Once the broadcast ended, the viewers didn't stop there—they carried the hype over to the community and kept it burning.

And so, for a long while, the community was flooded with nothing but talk of Seolhwa. During all of it, Seolhwa herself had logged out and was standing outside the capsule.

None of it followed her here—neither the dazzling virtual sunset nor the faint metallic reek of orc blood. What greeted her instead was the papery smell of unread books pricking at her nose, and nothing more than the residual warmth of the capsule she'd just climbed out of.

"Hah……"

She lay on top of the capsule for a long time, staring up at the ceiling. The warmth of the hand she'd been holding just moments ago still lingered in her palm. It had only been a game—and yet that smile had been exactly, precisely the one she remembered.

It was real.

Even now, the heavy recoil of Aurora from earlier seemed to thump against her shoulder.

She dragged her leaden body out of the capsule. When her limbs refused to move with anything like the freedom they'd had inside the game, she let out a hollow little laugh.

"A year of lying around really does wreck you."

She gulped down cold water in the empty kitchen. Looking out the window, she found the night sky already waiting for her.

"Rehab starts tomorrow, then."

Having gone to bed early the night before, Seolhwa was up at the crack of dawn, running the walking trail that circled her neighborhood.

Naturally, her face and hair were wrapped up tight and hidden from everyone else. The early hour wasn't for the exercise—it was to avoid running into another human being for as long as possible.

"Whew. Ten kilometers in forty minutes, huh."

After the morning run, a shower, and back home, Seolhwa sat down to do what she'd planned all along: working on the assumption that Last Promise really was the world she'd once lived in, she began cataloging the hidden gates and NPCs that hadn't been discovered yet.

"Trying to organize it all after so long, my memory's getting foggy. Let's see—the Korean server's only updated up to Busan so far, is it?"

Among the information she dug up was the fact that starting locations differed from country to country.

She kept searching. The wiki, and every other corner of the internet where anything could be found in Korean—she turned over all of it.

"So in the end, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come back here after all."

Wait—is that about me?

At the familiar word, Seolhwa's mouse cursor moved on its own. The moment she clicked the top-trending post, a high-resolution video filled the screen.

On it, a silver-haired woman with a silver weapon was carving a High Orc to pieces.

That's me no matter how I look at it. ...Oh.

She racked her memory, and what surfaced was the broadcast consent notice buried in the terms of service. That "agree" button she'd pressed without a second thought—that was what had created this situation.

Seolhwa pulled the terms of service back up and read through them properly this time.

There it is, all right. I was too out of it back then to notice.

She closed the window, returned to the gallery, and began reading through the posts that seemed to be about her, one by one.

Of course, it wasn't all kind words.

Scrolling through it all, Seolhwa drifted into memories of the past.

I noticed it back then too. This place never changes.

An internet arena where people fought ten years ago and were still fighting today—she looked at it and let out a quiet snort of laughter.

Because among her old party members, there had always been one who lived glued to the community, posting things like "Look at this, noona! People are saying I'm stronger than you! Admit it already!"

Until the day he marched out to the front lines, the boy treated every single comment as though his life hung on it.

The other party members had told him, more than once, to ease off the forums. And every time, he had the same answer.

"You know why tier wars and rank battles happen? Because if things were truly hopeless, people couldn't mess around like this. It's proof we're doing fine—it's a kind of cheering, really."

And he'd say it, every time, with his fingers flashed up in a V.

But even that old joy came back to her now with nothing at the end of it but a bitter aftertaste.

"Then you should have stayed alive to see it…."

The moment Seolhwa closed her eyes and opened them again, she was no longer sitting in her study. She stood in the middle of a battlefield.

Back in the days when she'd been ringed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in on every side by enemies, pulling the trigger like a woman possessed.

Surrounded on all four fronts, she'd had no room in her mind for the arrow streaking toward her from far away. And then a great voice tore through the din.

"NOONA!!"

BOOM—!

A tremendous roar, and the dust bloomed skyward. The instant the searing blast of heat raked across her cheek, her eyes shut on their own.

"Hurts like hell…. Noona's stronger than me, so it's on you now, ya hear…."

And when she opened her eyes again, what met them was not the battlefield—only the glow of a monitor.

"Haah… haah…."

Seolhwa's breath came in ragged gulps. The tips of the fingers wrapped around her mouse were trembling, ever so slightly.

Calm down. Calm down.

She fished the pill bottle off the desk and swallowed one down with water. As the medication began to take hold, her pounding, careening heart found its way back to its proper rhythm.

"If Yuri is there, then you're there too—aren't you? Then I suppose I'll just have to come find you."