Chapter 4: But you're still an S-Class Hunter

"Ughhh..."

Having dozed off completely during a lecture I hadn't attended in a long time, I stretched as soon as I stepped out of the classroom.

Smashing a dungeon doesn't even make my body this stiff. As expected, lectures for students who hate studying serve as excellent sleeping pills.

'I should just go home and finish my game.'

With that thought, I walked slowly.

On the phone in my hand, I was watching a live stream of the game I played.

[ "Demon Impact! The power of the Demon Race explodes! I feel refreshed!" ]

The character spat out cringeworthy lines that no one would ever say in real life, as if it were nothing. And the person playing that character...

— Shit, can't you please turn off the character voice? I don't have earphones, and it's embarrassing to watch outside.

I sent a donation with a small amount of cash attached to the streamer.

The streamer responded immediately.

[ "Wooooah! Thank you, Alheim-nim, for the 30,000 won! You asked if I can turn off the character voice? No way. I'm going to do it even more!" ]

And then, he started spamming the skill that shouted, "I feel refreshed!" over and over again.

This son of a bitch.

If I followed my heart, I’d tear him apart right now. But I have to be patient.

I decided I’d figure out whether to take revenge or whatever once I got home, and continued walking.

"Heheh..."

I couldn't help but snicker to myself, grinning like a creep at the thought of killing him in-game later.

As I walked toward the main gate to go home, a voice called out from behind. "Excuse me."

I stopped and turned my head.

"Yes?"

"You're just so pretty, so I was wondering if I could get your number?"

"I have a boyfriend."

"Ayy, even if you have a boyfriend, you can still give me your number."

It was a male student from the same school whom I had never seen before.

As someone who went from being a man to a woman, this wasn't exactly a situation I wanted to experience. Still, I thought I had been polite enough.

"Haa."

"Huh? Why the sudden sigh?"

"I said I don't want to give it to you, so fuck off. Do I really have to be this direct for you to get it?"

There are always guys like this.

Saying "I have a boyfriend" is a polite, indirect rejection. But there are always those who pretend not to understand and try to cling on persistently.

Of course, whenever that happens, I tend to speak bluntly to properly shatter their delusions.

"Tch, thinks she's all that just because she's pretty."

I was used to hearing things like that.

So what if I hear I have a bad attitude? Dealing with them like this makes everything easier afterward.

"Being pretty is everything~!"

The guy, walking away to badmouth me to his friends, probably couldn't hear me. Still, I shouted the kind of line a brat would say—something that would piss him off if he heard it—at the back of his head.

After all, if they knew what I originally was, they'd either avoid me calling me a pervert, or try to hit on me saying, "You used to be a man? Even better."

'Thank god for telekinesis.'

Past bad memories almost resurfaced, but I shook my head left and right to shake off the useless thoughts.

Let's just go home quickly and crush that streamer bastard.

Thinking that, I hurried my steps.

That is, until my phone suddenly vibrated, blasting a Gate Appearance Alert nearby.

"What the."

A Gate right when I’m trying to go home?

This doesn't feel good. Two dungeons in one day is way over-pace. Just as I was debating whether I really had to go, a call came in from a woman named Yu Ha-young.

[ Hunter-niiiiiim! ]

"Ack, I thought my eardrum ripped."

[ Gasp! I'm sorry. But did you happen to see the alert? ]

Since the Gate appeared close to my school, she must have checked my current location before calling. Damn location tracking authorization.

"Yeah. So, you want me to go?"

[ Ehehe, but you are still an S-Class Hunter, after all. Since you're close by, could I ask you for this one favor? ]

I let out a small sigh so she wouldn't hear it over the phone. If it wasn't for that Gate that appeared near my house back then, I would have just rejected requests like this.

"Haa, I shouldn't have fallen for your smooth talk back then. I was too young..."

[ Huh? You'll go, right? Thank you, Hunter Hwang Eun-ha! ]

"This is my second dungeon today, so if I clear it, make sure you calculate the additional support funds properly."

Tch.

I hung up and turned around.

That streamer bastard sure is lucky. I was planning to completely destroy him today to relieve my stress.

'Kang Tae-woo, that jerk, will probably be there too.'

A sigh escaped me naturally at the thought of seeing a face I didn't want to see.

If they were people I wouldn't see again, I’d just use my power openly. But for people like him, doing that is basically advertising exactly what kind of abilities I have.

"You came too?"

"Oh? Eun-ha, seeing you here again."

I couldn't help the sigh that came out.

Kang Tae-woo's heart raced when he received the dungeon raid message.

His savior, Hwang Eun-ha, who almost never participated in dungeon raids unless it was absolutely necessary.

He wanted to see her again.

Since she didn't step into the forefront of the Hunter world, people didn't know, but this was a chance to see her—the one who was practically the overwhelming strongest—fight again.

'For a Gate this close, if she's the person I know, she won't be able to ignore it.'

Kang Tae-woo remembered.

In the past, she had refused to participate in the raid, but she had been watching the situation closely enough to intervene the moment his guild members were on the brink of death.

"What? It's that girl from earlier?"

"That woman was a Hunter too?"

Since then, perhaps because she rarely raided dungeons, her existence was hardly known among recent Hunters.

'She did say she wanted to live quietly.'

Proving her words, not many among the Hunters who hurriedly gathered for the exploration recognized Hwang Eun-ha.

If anyone did, it was those two men over there... but they seemed to know her personally rather than as a Hunter.

'As expected, she couldn't ignore a dungeon this close.'

She came out of her own will, but she clearly didn't want to be here. The first thing Kang Tae-woo saw upon her arrival was her sighing.

"You came too?"

"Oh? Eun-ha, seeing you here again."

"Well, since they sent a deployment request, I have to come."

"Can't you just ignore that anyway?"

Seeing her display such incorrect knowledge, Kang Tae-woo was momentarily puzzled. Did this woman not even have the basic knowledge of Hunter Law that every Hunter receives?

Well, since there are only a few S-Class Hunters in Korea, the government probably can't touch her easily, he reasoned, finding his own answer before correcting her.

"Ignoring it is a violation of the law."

"Really? But when I registered, there was no mandatory Hunter education, so that's invalid for me."

The person in question didn't seem interested in listening, though.

"Hey, Hwang Eun-ha!"

While they were having that useless conversation, a man who constantly tackled everything she did appeared in the distance. Tae-woo frowned involuntarily.

That powerless civilian who had blocked him at every turn when he was trying to recruit Hwang Eun-ha.

"What, Jin-wook? Why are you here?"

"I came because I was afraid you'd be here, not coming to your senses again."

"It's just a simple exploration."

"You already smashed a dungeon this morning. Does it make sense to force two or more in a day?"

It seemed he intended to interfere with the dungeon exploration this time too. That annoying guy said, "Let's go back," and grabbed Hwang Eun-ha's hand, trying to drag her away.

For a Hunter, going to a Gate is both a duty and a right. Who does he think he is to stop her?

"Look here."

So, Kang Tae-woo blocked Jung Jin-wook's path, speaking with a voice that barely concealed his irritation.

It was annoying.

A guy who normally wouldn't even be allowed near a Gate was trying to stop what Tae-woo wanted to see, just because he was close to the S-Class Hunter.

"Why don't you let her be? She wants to go in of her own will."

I had expected Jin-wook to come here.

As the person who knew everything I had gone through after returning to the modern world, he used to worry about my safety more than his own.

This was probably just another one of those worries.

"Look here, Senior Jung Jin-wook. Don't you know civilians can't interfere in Hunter business?"

"I know that very well."

"Then why do you keep blocking what I'm doing, ever since last time?"

Kang Tae-woo seemed genuinely angry, speaking to Jin-wook in a tone that said he couldn't take it anymore.

Since last time... does he mean when he was chasing me around to get me into his guild?

"Because you keep demanding ridiculous things."

"Ha, it's natural for a Hunter to join a guild and raid Gates. This is absurd."

"Is that so? I wonder if you can still say that after seeing this?"

As he spoke, Jin-wook grabbed my arm and lifted it. Ignoring my will, he rolled up my sleeve, exposing my arm to the sunlight.

Embarrassed that my bare skin was revealed without my consent, I scolded him. "Jin-wook, what are you doing!"

But he kept a grip on my wrist, leaving my arm held up in the air.

"This is...?"

Kang Tae-woo looked at my arm, his eyes widening as he shot me a look demanding an explanation of what was going on.

Right.

A Hunter wouldn't usually have these symptoms.

Among those who are sick, some take the risk precisely because of the unique physical abilities of an Awakened.

"Haa. Jin-wook..."

I let out a sigh.

Now that it's come to this, I guess I can't avoid talking about it.

"Alright, Kang Tae-woo. Here is how it works..."