Encounter (10)
I blinked, caught off guard as Min Soyeon stepped forward. What…?
She wanted to face the woman herself? Her spirit was admirable, but the opponent was all wrong. Things might have felt easy until now, but the woman wielding those iron chains was easily B-rank hunter level. The way she packed mana into every link without the slightest leak revealed masterful control. Ordering Soyeon and Gong Haeseon into danger would be far less efficient than handling this myself.
I quickly ran through spells that could subdue the enemy cleanly and spoke to Soyeon in a low voice.
“Soyeon. Let me take it from—”
Whish—! Whish—! Whish—! Whish—!
The masked woman shifted into an attack stance. At the same moment, Soyeon let out a sharp cry.
“Haaaaat!”
“Soyeon!!”
It was already too late. Realizing I couldn’t pull her back in time, I frantically drew up my mana to support her. But the enemy was faster. The woman swung both arms, chains slicing forward with a heavy whoosh that cut the air like a falling guillotine.
Soyeon wasn’t some amateur. She dove low, skimming the ground, and the chains whistled past her by a hair’s breadth.
The moment the chain lost momentum in empty space—
“Haaaaat!”
Soyeon closed the distance with an unnatural, gliding step and slashed at the woman’s leg.
Clang—!
The blade missed by a fraction. But Soyeon never stopped at one strike. She twisted her grip in a way that seemed to defy physics, both hands readjusting the sword before driving it straight toward the woman’s torso.
Kang—!
The woman barely blocked with the chains wrapped around her wrist. She yanked the second chain hard, aiming for Soyeon’s back in a vicious counter.
No…!
I had been waiting for the opening. I slammed my foot down, activating the spell I’d prepared.
Rumble—!
A jagged pillar of rock erupted behind Soyeon. The incoming chain smashed into it, shattering the stone before falling limp with a dull thud.
My mana pool was still pathetically small, but I had poured everything I could into that rock. It shouldn’t have broken so easily. And yet the heavy chain had pulverized it without resistance.
If that thing had hit Soyeon instead…
The woman realized her attack had failed. Soyeon was already pulling her sword back for another strike when—
“Ugh…!”
The pure white mask suddenly flared with blinding light.
Soyeon flinched, turning her head. In that instant the woman created distance and whipped her chain again.
Shrieeeek—!
Soyeon was completely exposed. She had no strength left to dodge.
“No!!!”
I squeezed out every drop of mana I had left, throwing up a small barrier around her. But the shield was brittle from my earlier spell. The chain shattered it with a crystalline crash and slammed into Soyeon’s stomach.
Thump—!
The sight of her flying backward, tumbling helplessly across the ground, made my heart drop like a stone. Ice flooded my veins.
“Soyeon!!!”
I was already sprinting toward her when a massive fireball roared past me from behind.
“J-Jihwan! Now!”
It was Gong Haeseon’s attack. The woman who had been standing over Soyeon with her chains raised high chose to smash the incoming flames instead. The heavy chains scattered the first fireball into sparks—only for a second layer of flames to burst out like nested bombs, clinging to the woman’s body.
Hssssss—!
She couldn’t swing her own chains at herself. For a split second she panicked.
Now…!
I seized the last dregs of my mana, burning my own life force to ignite sparks around my fist. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I charged.
Three steps.
The woman recovered and lashed out at me. The chain cut through the air, but she had swung too hastily—the motion was visible. I stepped inside its arc, planted my feet, and drove my sparking fist straight into her mask.
Boom!
Pain flared up my arm like I had punched solid steel. The woman staggered but quickly recovered, raising her arm again.
Not yet—!
“Haaaaah!!!”
I dropped low and slammed an uppercut into her chin. The mask cracked. Her head snapped back, arms falling limp as she collapsed with a heavy thud.
“Haa… haa…”
I watched her for a moment to make sure she was down, then rushed to Soyeon’s side. She didn’t look critically injured from the outside. I lifted the hem of her shirt carefully. Just below the solar plexus, an ugly bruise was already blooming across her pale skin.
Soyeon was destined to become the strongest hunter alive. For someone who had only just taken her first steps into this world, ending a fight against a superior opponent with nothing but a bruise was genuinely impressive.
But she wasn’t a hunter first.
She was my only daughter.
She deserved a life filled with nothing but beautiful things and gentle days. Seeing her crumpled on the ground like this, wounded, filled me with a complicated ache I couldn’t name.
What was the point of her becoming the strongest? What was the point of any of it?
It would be far simpler if I became the strongest. I had watched my wife climb that bloody peak. I knew every trial, every scar, every hellish step it demanded. And I was supposed to push my own child onto that same path of thorns?
I pulled Soyeon tightly into my arms and looked up at the sky, letting quiet, seething fury burn in my chest.
The stinging pain in my stomach dragged me back to consciousness. A warm, enveloping sensation surrounded me. I cracked my eyes open carefully.
J-Jihwan…?
He was holding me close, staring up at the sky. What the hell happened? I remembered fighting that weird masked woman and taking a chain to the gut, but everything after that was blank.
There was no way Gong Haeseon had finished the fight. It must have been Jihwan. Which meant…
I want to die.
The moment the situation clicked, crushing embarrassment swallowed me whole. I had rushed out wanting praise, only to get knocked out like an idiot. What must Jihwan think of me now?
He was kind. He wouldn’t mock me. But he might see me as a nuisance. A bothersome girl.
Ugh…
This was all Gong Haeseon’s fault. Jihwan had told us to wait. Why did she have to follow? Of course I was going to follow too, but if that pink-haired bitch hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have felt pressured to show off.
That pink-haired bitch… She really pissed me off.
I was busy blaming her for my own humiliation when Jihwan slowly lowered his head.
Eep!
I wanted to stay in his arms a little longer, so I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to still be unconscious. I waited for his next move.
But…
Huh?
He gently laid me down and began talking with Gong Haeseon in hushed voices.
“…Seon… thank…”
“You… did… great…!”
“…Huh…?”
“This…”
What were they even saying? Some rubble had fallen right beside my head and muffled their words.
“…Mouth…”
“……No. It’s…”
Gong Haeseon seemed to be suggesting something. Jihwan kept gently refusing. While I strained to eavesdrop on their back-and-forth, a thought occurred to me.
Maybe I should just wake up now?
There was no real reason for me to keep lying here. I could simply “regain consciousness,” act like I remembered nothing, and talk to him normally. And if I woke up, Jihwan would definitely comfort me. The injured spot was conveniently near my chest. I could complain that it hurt there and ask him to rub it. That seemed perfectly reasonable.
After weighing my options, I decided to get up—only to realize both of them had gone completely silent.
What now?
Wondering if Jihwan was coming over, I waited for the right moment to “wake.”
Then—
Smack.
A sound like lips meeting lips. Exactly like a kiss.
I shot upright without thinking and whipped my head around.
“Soyeon!”
Jihwan was walking toward me with a bright expression, casually wiping his lips. Behind him, Gong Haeseon was touching her own mouth with a dreamy, lingering gaze fixed on his back.
What… the hell?
Jihwan looked genuinely worried as he hurried over, but Gong Haeseon carried a strange, satisfied air. Something had definitely happened.
“Soyeon! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”
“…My chest stings a little.”
“Your chest? Let me see—ah. Um, how bad is it? Does it hurt a lot?”
“…It just kind of throbs.”
I leaned into Jihwan’s concerned hands while subtly glancing at Gong Haeseon, who had approached a step behind him. The dreamy look was gone. Now she wore an expression of quiet satisfaction.
This vixen…
What did you just do to my Jihwan?
I glared at her with open suspicion. Her face cooled into an icy mask as she met my eyes.
“…Haah, seriously. Soyeon, is your stomach alright?”
“…Not sure.”
“I see. Then rest here for a while and—”
I avoided Jihwan’s worried gaze and looked at her again. She was still staring down at me with that cold expression. I widened my eyes, refusing to back down. The corner of her mouth curved upward as she returned my stare with effortless composure.
That bitch…
She was clearly mocking me. It pissed me off.