Face-to-Face
Somehow, I ended up heading to an underground arena. I hadn't been particularly interested, so how did it come to this?
A few days ago, I found out that one of our guild members had visited an arena. Having returned to Earth barely over a year ago, there was still a lot I didn't know. These hunter arenas were one of those things.
For the record, my current companions were my younger sister, Seohee, and the crooked monk.
"Why did you come along, crooked monk?"
"For the sake of guidance and enlightenment."
"Guidance? You don't mean taking lives?"
The crooked monk offered a serene, beaming smile. "Taking lives? I have no intention of killing anyone, Benefactor Nix."
Whoa... look at that faint trace of bloodlust leaking out. See? I told you he's a total fraud of a monk.
"And what brings you here, Benefactor Nix?"
"Just... curiosity, I guess?"
I didn't really care about the fights, but I was curious. What was it like? What kind of entertainment did it offer? And so, we were currently driving down to Gyeongsangnam-do. Apparently, there was an underground arena down there.
"But still, does the guild really need to get involved?"
I was curious about that too. It didn't seem entirely illegal, but wasn't it unofficial?
"It is because the arena has been continuously exploiting the Murim Alliance's name."
Ah, was that it?
"They're advertising that they defeated the Murim Alliance," Seohee added.
If I recalled correctly, the Murim Alliance hunter who lost at the arena wasn't even B-class, but a mere C-class.
"That hunter had been with the guild for quite a while, but... he was hardly a core member. Yet they've been bragging as if they took down the Murim Alliance's finest."
"Is that so?"
According to my sister, they had crossed the line by constantly dragging the Murim Alliance's name through the mud.
"Therefore, I intend to go and demand an explanation. If necessary, I shall step into the arena myself," the monk declared.
He wanted to guide and enlighten them...? But was "guidance" really the right word? His expression looked downright murderous.
"A crooked monk through and through."
At any rate, from what I gathered about these arenas... they existed in almost every country, and some even operated them legally. Apparently, they were treated similarly to horse racing or cockfighting.
They were especially popular in China, and quite a few were held in Japan as well. As for South Korea...
"We only have underground arenas. They can't operate out in the open," Seohee explained.
Even those underground arenas couldn't exist in the metropolitan area, where government authority was strong, so they were relegated to the provinces.
"The real issue lies with the organizers of these arenas," the monk said.
It wasn't Koreans running them...
"They are Chinese—or rather, Joseonjok. In most cases, they are the ones running these operations."
Apparently, they copied the Chinese model directly and imported it to Korea.
"These Joseonjok can be broadly categorized into two types..."
The first were refugees who genuinely struggled to make a living and sought their ancestral homeland to put down roots in Korea. The second were parasites who merely used their heritage as a convenient excuse.
"Naturally, those who run the arenas belong to the latter category. They are vicious parasites."
Bats who considered themselves Chinese but would cry and plead, claiming to be Joseonjok, only when it suited them... They were the ones responsible for the notorious reputation and negative stereotypes associated with the group.
"China again, huh?"
"It makes money, so it's inevitable."
They took bets on the matches, extorted money, and even sold food and alcohol inside...
"What an impressive amount of effort."
Seeing how some people actually traveled there as tourists just to watch, it was highly likely that the government—or at least the local municipalities—knew about it and were simply turning a blind eye.
In any case, after driving for several hours, we arrived at our destination. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary building... but the moment we stepped inside and headed down to the basement, the atmosphere shifted entirely.
It was a dark, destructive feast for the eyes. The skull of some monster hung as a decoration, and the entire place was styled with a post-apocalyptic, end-of-the-world aesthetic.
People were milling about, holding sheets of paper.
"What's that?" I asked out of curiosity.
"They're probably checking the match schedule," Seohee replied.
So they were checking today's matches and fighters to place their bets... I walked over, grabbed a sheet of paper, and looked at it. It listed the times of today's matches, the fighters, and the "talked-about" stars.
And among them, a highlighted section caught my eye.
★ THE TALKED-ABOUT FIGHTER WHO DEFEATED THE MURIM ALLIANCE! ★
"So this is it."
The moment the crooked monk and my sister saw it, their auras turned menacing. Indeed, this was the problem. Before I could even ask what they planned to do... the monk smashed the reception desk with his fist.
"Bring out the person in charge!"
Naturally, a commotion erupted, and security guards rushed over. However, they couldn't even bring themselves to approach, completely suppressed by the monk's overwhelming pressure.
"Hey, look here! You can't just go around destroying property!"
"We are from the Murim Alliance."
At those words, the surrounding crowd began to buzz with whispers.
"A bald monk from the Murim Alliance?"
"Isn't that the Bloody Monk?"
"Ah, damn it. We're screwed. It's over."
The Bloody Monk...? Well, even if his targets were monsters, he was still a monk who engaged in slaughter, so the title wasn't entirely inaccurate... But it was still pretty funny.
"The Bloody Monk..."
When I chuckled, the monk's face grimaced slightly.
What followed was surprisingly anticlimactic. The manager came out, apologized profusely, and promised never to use the name again. The monk warned him that if it happened again, the Murim Alliance would have no choice but to take direct action. The manager bowed repeatedly, stammering that he would be careful.
"By the way, the fighters here are pathetic."
In hunter terms, most of them were barely C-class. B-class? There seemed to be one or two who might fit the bill, but even that was questionable. It was disappointing that our guild member had managed to lose to such weaklings.
"Well, yes..."
Apparently, our guild's hunter had been tricked into coming here... and to make matters worse, he had lost because of a bad matchup, or some such excuse. They said he should have run away the moment he realized it was an arena. It was a truly pathetic story.
Regardless, the matter was resolved far too easily, and we headed back to the guild that very day. Since it was late, we grabbed a bite to eat at a highway rest stop before arriving...
"What's going on?"
The entrance to the guild was in an uproar.
"Looks like someone's causing a scene again. We get solicitors and peddlers from time to time," Seohee said.
Peddlers... I remembered those from the old days. Did they still exist?
I wasn't particularly interested, nor did I have any reason to pass by them. All we had to do was drive down to the parking garage, get out, switch to my sister's car, and head home.
But for some reason... I felt a strange, magnetic pull toward that spot. A feeling that I absolutely had to go to that noisy crowd... It was an incredibly bizarre sensation.
"Unni?"
"Hey, crooked monk, can you let me off here?"
Naturally, both of them reacted with confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know..." But the feeling that I had to go over there was overwhelming. "I just feel like checking it out."
My sister stared at me, her face practically screaming what are you talking about?
"Unni?"
"I just feel like I have to..."
It was a strange feeling. Back when I was living as the Saintess, this would happen from time to time. You could call it a sort of divine revelation. But the Goddess Hemera didn't exist on Earth. There was no deity here to grant me revelations... so why was I experiencing that exact same sensation now?
Though the monk seemed slightly taken aback, he pulled the car over as requested.
"Sorry, go on down to the garage and bring the car out."
It would only take a moment to check, anyway. Even without me saying it, my sister seemed to understand.
What on earth was this? The moment I stepped out of the car, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. Homesickness? There was absolutely no reason for me to feel that. Had my body gone haywire from sitting in the car for too long? Letting out a deep sigh, I walked toward the noisy crowd.
I saw the guild guards blocking someone.
"We already scheduled an appointment for you, didn't we? Showing up like this every single time is a nuisance."
The guard's voice was quiet, but the words struck my ears with crystal clarity even from a distance.
Ah... Don't tell me this was the man who had been constantly looking for me? This... Why on earth did I feel like I had to come here? This was literally the worst possible situation.
On top of that, Jegal Cheon had already conveyed that I would meet him later, yet he was still causing trouble? And at this hour? A sudden surge of anger welled up inside me.
Just who was this guy, and what kind of relationship did he have with me to act like such a nuisance? His behavior was incredibly irritating. But fine, this was actually perfect! It was a great opportunity to find out.
I had originally planned to meet him much later, but since the opportunity had presented itself, I might as well get it over with now. And if it turned out to be some pathetic excuse or a scheme to take advantage of me... I was going to plant my fist right in his face. With that firm resolve, I marched forward.
As I drew closer to the commotion, the sense of nostalgia grew even stronger. Why? The man standing there was reasonably tall for a guy. It was a strangely familiar eye level. Why... why was my heart fluttering like this? Shaking my head, I cleared my mind.
"Hey."
I reached out and pulled the man's shoulder. The moment my hand made contact, I felt an incredibly solid frame. A body far sturdier than that of any ordinary person... Even hunters didn't usually feel this solid.
And as he turned his head...
"Huh?"
"Uh?"
We could only stand there, staring at each other in utter disbelief.
The man before me was... reasonably handsome? No, he looked rather ordinary. However, a prominent scar ran across the bridge of his nose, giving him a rugged, masculine edge. No, that wasn't the point. Why... how...
The man standing before me was someone I knew all too well. Of course I knew him. He was the leader I had fought alongside for seven years in the other world. Since returning to Earth, this was by far the most shocking, absurd moment of my life. The man standing right in front of me... was Eugene, the Hero who had saved the other world.
"Eugene?"
I had vaguely suspected that the Hero might actually be here. But I hadn't been able to confirm it until now. And so, I called out his name.
"Saintess!"
The Hero recognized me instantly. Of course he did. My appearance was exactly the same as it had been in the other world, so it would have been stranger if he hadn't.
Eugene—the Hero—looked absolutely thrilled to see me. With a beaming smile stretching across his face, he opened his arms wide. And in response, I...
Kicked him.