Side Story: Karma Always Comes Back
Yu-rin had been serving as a vanguard operative in the gates as a C-rank hunter for two months now.
Park Hye-in, her fellow C-rank hunter and team leader, spoke up.
"These damn monster bastards somehow manage to hide in every last nook and cranny. That's why we end up having to call in a cleanup team for the finishing work, and it pisses me off."
Yu-rin asked with a curious look.
"Wouldn't it be easier if we just handled the finishing work together with the cleanup team?"
Hearing that, the team leader replied.
"No — it's better for us if the cleanup team never gets called in at all."
"Even for a small-scale gate, the area is pretty large. Wouldn't more people moving around mean we finish faster? Isn't that a good thing?"
"The problem is that once a cleanup team is deployed, we have to hand over twenty percent of the gate's revenue to them. Our income shrinks."
Honestly, Yu-rin had no need for that kind of money. Her family was wealthy, and she herself possessed a fair amount of personal assets. Still, she thought that if there was a way to finish faster, that would be good.
No matter which team you went to, there was a tendency to hate calling in cleanup teams because it cut into their earnings. So the meticulous searching after the monsters had been wiped out — all to avoid summoning a cleanup team — was one of the factors that made closing a gate take so long. Having to go back and forth every day to call one in was another reason things dragged on.
Then a good idea struck Yu-rin.
When she and Seona had been kidnapped — she clearly remembered that moment when the monsters had tried to abduct Seona first, because he was male.
"Isn't there a male among the supply hunters in the combat support team, rather than the cleanup team?"
"Hyo-won. Yeah, there's that kid. What about him?"
"I think monsters have a tendency to target men first. If we bring a guy into the gate, won't the monsters gather around him?"
"That's a violation of Hunter Law. Bringing a non-combatant into a place where the cleanup work isn't even finished — that's not something a human being should do. Are you really Executive Director Yura's daughter?"
Executive Director Yura was one of the more conscientious hunters out there. In fact, there were guilds that used male hunters as bait to finish as quickly as possible, just as Yu-rin had suggested...
"But our combat personnel are stronger than you'd think. We're almost done wrapping things up — we just need to protect the guy."
"Hmm..."
The team leader seemed to be deliberating. The question of whether to spend an extra twenty percent or bring a guy in and save the money. Apparently her conscience wasn't quite as solid as it seemed, because she decided to bring the boy along. And instead of the twenty percent they would have paid a cleanup team, they would give the boy five percent.
A short while later, Team Leader Park Hye-in gestured outside the gate and called for Kim Hyo-won.
"Hey, Hyo-won! Come here for a second!"
The team leader held the highest rank on site, so no one could ignore her. Hyo-won, a supply-line hunter in the combat support team — the lowest of the low among the rank and file — had no choice but to enter the gate at the team leader's summons. He had run so fast that his entire body was soaked with sweat.
As far as the team leader knew, he was twenty-one, the same age as Yu-rin. Hyo-won's ability was Regeneration. At first glance it sounded like a broken, overpowered ability, but it was a distinctly inferior version of healing or recovery abilities. It only allowed him to slowly regenerate his own body, and as a male hunter who had awakened a physical ability rather than a female hunter, his inherently weaker strength meant he couldn't properly fight in combat.
"Hyo-won, sorry about this, but let's just go as far as the center of the gate and come back. I'll make sure the compensation is generous."
For a man who knew what happened if monsters caught him, it was a truly terrifying prospect — but Hyo-won had no way to refuse, so he followed the team leader's words.
"Yes... I understand..."
And as they were all heading toward the center of the gate, a vampire — classified as a B-rank monster — spotted Hyo-won and approached the vanguard team.
Their combat strength consisted of four C-rank hunters. Even against a B-rank monster like a vampire, they could barely manage to hold their own.
The team leader spoke in a trembling voice.
"No wonder I couldn't find the boss of this gate. So this thing was hiding..."
Not every gate was commanded by a strong monster, but in most cases one or two powerful monsters would be mixed in to serve as commanders. The team leader, who had thought this time it was just a bunch of weak ones clustered together, broke out in a cold sweat.
Park Hye-in was only C-rank, but she was a veteran who had been going in and out of gates for thirteen years. That was why she could serve as team leader among teammates of the same rank. She spoke so the whole vanguard team could hear.
"Prepare for combat! The opponent is a B-rank monster! We're the weaker side, so don't try to surround it — protect Hyo-won while we fight!"
Following Hye-in's orders, the team members gathered near Hyo-won and took their positions. It was a formation that would allow three hunters to attack in concert if the vampire charged in first, so the vampire didn't dare approach recklessly either.
"You inferior creatures dare..."
The vampire snarled at the humans, seemingly displeased with the situation. Then it moved swiftly, attacking the team leader first — who was standing apart and couldn't join the coordinated assault.
The team leader quickly pulled her body back, and the three hunters behind her, including Yu-rin, swung their weapons at the vampire simultaneously. The team leader had made herself bait to draw the vampire's attack. The team members, already familiar with this tactic, protected Hye-in as she retreated and launched their assault on the vampire.
But the vampire caught the weapon of the female hunter on the far right with its hard hand — and with its other hand, drove its fist into the female hunter's head. Just like that, a corpse was created, toppling sideways.
The situation had suddenly become three-to-one, but the vampire hadn't come through unscathed either. The weapons of Yu-rin and her teammates had stabbed, slashed, and struck the vampire's body, leaving wounds that were clearly quite deep.
The team leader moved to fill the position of the fallen teammate.
"Fuck... Ye-in... She said she was getting married next month..."
Do Ye-in had actually been set to marry the man she was engaged to next month. As proof, the ring on her finger was now wrapped in a dark, bloody red. No matter how frequently personnel were rotated and how often fatal accidents occurred in hunter teams, they couldn't help but be shaken by a person's death.
In that grim situation, Team Leader Hye-in began to work her mind. If they stayed like this and the vampire recovered and launched another surprise attack, their formation would completely collapse this time. They couldn't just sit still. It was their turn to attack.
"Fuck, I'll attack first — Yu-rin, you hit from the right, Se-yun from the left!"
Hearing that, Yu-rin and Se-yun waited. The moment the team leader launched her attack from the center, they immediately swung their weapons at the vampire's right flank. The hunter named Se-yun attacked as well, but she seemed gripped by fear and her reaction was a little late.
The vampire managed to dodge and block the two attacks to some degree, and once it had some room, it grabbed Se-yun's weapon just as it had before. Knowing what the vampire would do next, Se-yun immediately dropped her weapon. Thinking she could just use the fallen Ye-in's weapon, she pulled her body back — and the vampire lunged forward and tore into Se-yun's neck.
True to its name, the vampire was drinking blood. Se-yun was dying, but this was also an opportunity. Every living creature was at its most vulnerable when consuming food. Recognizing the chance, the team leader drove her blade into the vampire's neck. And Yu-rin, who had been watching, attacked the vampire the same way the moment the team leader moved.
But the vampire, nearly on the brink of death, moved swiftly and charged forward. In that direction was the male hunter Hyo-won — a D-rank hunter who had been left out of the combat formation as non-essential.
The vampire made a rapid hand gesture and shouted something. Yu-rin recognized that sight. She had seen it once before. It was the ability Miel had used when she kidnapped her and Seona. If they left it alone, Hyo-won would be abducted.
With that thought, she threw the sword she was holding and struck the vampire. It pierced the heart — instant death.
Then — whether the ability hadn't fully activated or not, a slightly crimson light flared as the vampire collapsed onto Hyo-won. And right there, the vampire and Hyo-won vanished. Miel's spatial transfer ability had activated unstably and taken Hyo-won with it.
Along with a sigh of relief at having survived, the team leader was filled with regret over losing two teammates and the disappearance of a supply hunter who wasn't even part of the combat team. If they had just called the cleanup team and faced it together, the casualties might have been fewer or nonexistent. A moment's greed had ruined everything.
Even if the idea had come from Yu-rin, she herself had made the decision, and she was the one who had called Hyo-won to carry it out. Once the disciplinary committee convened, her hunter career would be over. The world went dark before Hye-in's eyes.
The vampire had squeezed out its last strength to cast a dimensional transfer spell, but it failed. It knew an unstable warp would take place, but it didn't matter. A blade was already lodged in its heart. Even if it transferred, its breath would clearly be cut short immediately.
As consciousness faded, the vampire collapsed toward the male in front of it. An unstable warp was an extremely dangerous method that defied the laws of space-time — no one could know which space, which era it would lead to. Time-related transfer abilities had not yet been properly researched even in the Demon Realm, so the instability was all the greater.
When the vampire approached him, Hyo-won's feet wouldn't move. His heart and feet, shriveled by terror, refused to obey. The price was this: the corpse of the vampire collapsed on top of him now, a landscape he had never seen before, and a feeling that made it hard to breathe.
It didn't take long for him to understand what this place was. Hyo-won was currently imprisoned inside an iron cage. A chill ran through him at the sight of the monsters outside staring at him hungrily.
Ah...
There had been a time when he'd wondered where people kidnapped by monsters were taken. Now that curiosity had been thoroughly answered...
At the continuous sensation of something licking his body, Hyo-won burst into tears. Realizing there was no more hope.
After quite a long time had passed, a certain female monster came to buy him. It was a monster that appeared to be a succubus. The blonde succubus had tan skin and sheep-like horns. Listening to the slave-merchant monster, he heard congratulations. He was being sold to the lord of some territory, so his lot in life was a fortunate one, it said. Hyo-won could never forget the slave merchant's mocking words.
Contrary to his expectations, the succubus did not violate him. Instead, she treated him with lavish hospitality — as if welcoming a rare and precious guest. He found himself gradually drawn to her.
Eventually he asked her. Why are you treating me so well?
The Succubus Lord told him that succubi did not originally violate males as they pleased. And that she was treating him so well because she wanted to take him as her mate.
A few months later, I asked her to take me as her mate, and she carved the Yin Crest onto my abdomen. And after long years of effort with her, we were able to see many children. Even with my genes mixed in, they were all succubi — but they were such adorable children.
The youngest daughter had small wings and a small body as well. The child's name was Miel...
Monsters love strength. Because she had been born a premature succubus, my wife and my daughters wanted to abandon the child — but I promised to take good care of her.
Five years into caring for my youngest daughter, my wife, the lord, began to show jealousy toward our daughter. I only wanted to protect my daughter. But it seemed my values as a human and her values as a succubus were vastly different.
She said she would sell me off to another territory tomorrow. She had called me her mate, but she had originally bought me as a slave, so such a thing was possible, I suppose. I felt some resentment toward the woman who had treated me so well. But I simply thought of it as my fate.
Looking at little Miel, who would grieve at our separation, tears welled up in my eyes.
Grow up strong... Miel...
Karma always comes back.