Riette >
Yerim forgave Noah much more readily than expected. It seemed like she was angry that I was hurt, but fighting was fun. So she said that if I was okay, it didn’t matter.
“After I pay back my debt, I’m going to start by buying new detoxifying items. The best ones.”
-Kkyaaoo
Yerim said, throwing Blue high enough that she could touch the ceiling, and catching her. And apparently she wanted a 2nd round. She didn’t have a normal disposition from the start, but it seemed like she was becoming more aggressive as the days went by. Though it was rare for there to be cases where S-Rank Hunters weren’t aggressive.
“Rather than that, it should be better to focus more on practicing controlling Sigh. With your stats, avoiding attacks is the best, and you can freeze and block the miasma. And raise your cold resistance to S-Rank as fast as you can, too. For your own attribute resistance, it’s possible to adjust it if you get used to it. For your case, you can probably lower your resistance at the part that was poisoned and freeze it, as emergency measures.”
Yoohyun and Sung Hyunjae frequently did that in the ranking compet.i.tions, which prohibited equipment except for items. Cauterizing their wounds, I mean. Even if it was good as an emergency treatment, it was a sight that made you wonder what kind of crazy thing they were doing, from a spectating standpoint.
Even if it wasn’t your own attribute, if you were talented in mana control, you could adjust your resistance. Of course for me, with my Mana stat being at the bottom and my skill ranks, on the other hand, being disgustingly high, it was completely impossible. It was a relief at that, that I could turn them off.
“That’s right, you can turn off pa.s.sive skills. I’m talking about things like resistance skills.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. If you tell it to turn off two times in a row, it turns off.”
Fascinated, Yerim tilted her head.
“It doesn’t work though?”
“……It doesn’t?”
“Yes.”
……Why didn’t it work? I turned off my poison resistance and turned it back on again. It worked well. Just in case, I called Yoohyun and asked him. He said he hadn’t tried turning his off yet and said he would check, but soon he replied that it didn’t work.
“You too? …Is it different according to rank?”
[It might be.]
There wouldn’t be anyone other than me with an L-Rank pa.s.sive type skill, so I couldn’t check either. My resistance skills were all L-Rank, so I couldn’t compare between them.
No wonder even 5 years later, there wasn’t talk that you could turn off skills. It wouldn’t have been that there was no one who tried something ridiculous like me.
“It seems like if your rank is low, it doesn’t turn off.”
“Wasn’t Guild Leader’s fire resistance S-Rank? Exactly what rank is ahjussi’s poison resistance, then?”
“L-Rank.”
“Wow, crazy. There’s even L-Rank.”
“Yerim, let’s use nice words, polite words. The Seseong Guild Leader noticed and said that my poison resistance is S-Rank or higher, but the exact rank is a secret.”
I still wondered how he accurately picked it out. Did he know Noah’s poison skill rank? Looking at how he talked with Riette, it didn’t seem like they had a relationship where they would confess their skills. He didn’t give permission for the rearing facility visit either.
“Anyways, for most skills, the more you use them and become skilled in them, the more diverse uses are possible. And if the rank rises, additional functions appear. So rather than thinking of buying items, it’s better to first consider resolving it with your skills.”
Seeing how it was the future’s matters, I couldn’t give the examples I thought of. The current Yoohyun couldn’t use the Blood Flames[1] yet. At the time of the Babar, it seemed like he could only use up to the Black Flames. And he couldn’t adjust Green Willow Leaves to transparency. There were a lot of rankers who were p.i.s.sed off, saying that the Green Willow Leaves with its rank raised was a really horrid skill. If he could use Blood Flame now, Noah… It was really dangerous, huh. Of course it would’ve been impossible to recover with an S-Rank healing skill, and the wings would’ve melted altogether. Unlike normal flames, it was easy to adjust the range of damage, so there wouldn’t be surrounding damage, so it probably would’ve ended before I could stop them.
Pre-regression Yerim Awakened later than now, so she didn’t have an increase in her skills’ ranks. Still, the combination of Sigh and Pale Rain was good. Once she got skilled at using her skills, I should teach her.
“It is this way.”
When I went to the detention center for Hunters with Yerim, Song Taewon came out to meet us directly and guided us in. Even though it was exclusively for Hunters, low ranks were usually fitted with inventory sealing bracelets and sent to a normal detention center. So this was my first time coming here, too.
…Would that Yoohyun have come here several times already? I suddenly became a little unsettled.
“Yerim, you can’t be dragged to someplace like this.”
“I live honestly even without laws.[2]”
The middle schooler who drank and didn’t wear helmets, said confidently. Well, she didn’t do anything illegal yet.
After pa.s.sing through several doors and even stairs, we entered a place deep inside. The further we went in, the worse the complexions of the people there looked. Still, an item that could subdue even S-Rank Hunters to an extent would come out later, so please endure for a bit. …For about a year.
The rooms for high rank Hunters were in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Entrances to the three-in-total rooms were each different, too. It was to prevent an unfortunate situation where the other two also left if one escaped.
“It is embarra.s.sing, but we surveil high rank combat apt.i.tude Hunters a.s.suming that they will escape. Instead of blocking the escape, quickly reporting it – it is this basic guideline. Of course, it is because this is the detention center. Since, in cases of the murder of Unawakened People, they are moved to a special isolation center. At the special isolation center, even if one is a high rank Hunter, escape through one’s own efforts is nearly impossible.”
I didn’t purposely ask about the special isolation center. It wasn’t that that place had a jail or equipment that imprisoned high rank Hunters. But even if you were a high rank Hunter, you couldn’t help but get weaker if you couldn’t be physically able-bodied.
“In Noah Luire’s case, he dissolved the lock with poison and escaped using the hiding skill. Still, he was on the more well-behaved side.”
Song Taewon said, opening a locked door. Apparently he had also used the minimum amount of poison possible, so disposing it later wasn’t hard. That’s right, he was a problem because he suddenly had a fit; he was polite starting from the first impression.
The inside was a normal room. It seemed like a ten-ish pyeong[3] simply styled studio. With a separate bathing room and no dining facilities, it looked even larger. Though it would probably look like a tiny room to high rank Hunters.
Noah had put a chair in the middle and was quietly sitting. He was still in yesterday’s training clothes. With him looking over as if insisting that he stayed there quietly with his two hands clasped on top of his knees pressed together, I thought of a golden retriever that listened well. It seemed like if you said ‘hand’, he would give one over.
“h.e.l.lo, Han Yoojin-ssi.”
There was a clear tension in the voice that greeted me. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the keyword effect, the t.i.tle, or if there was some other reason.
I gave him my warmest smile.
“It looks like you were waiting like you promised.”
“Yes. I just called someone, and was waiting quietly.”
A call? Was it to his guild? Speaking of, what should we do with his guild? Should I just tell him to bring them all over? It was a bit much to keep on being indebted to other guilds for security, and if they were trustable people, it would probably be okay to move them over as a whole.
It was a matter that ended with just the discussion, so the procedure for getting Noah out was simple. It was finished with drawing up one page of a Hunter-use contract. The contract’s employment period was one month. The other person was an S-Rank Hunter, so compared to the damage costs, far from one month, even a week was an excessive period.
Though Noah said that he would stay until he wasn’t afraid of his noona.
“For Riette, the prohibition of her entrance to the country has been handled.”
Song Taewon said, taking a copy of the contract.
“Sorry? Prohibition of entrance to the country?”
“Yes. Nominally, it is the business of illegal contracts, but it was judged that the possibility of her harming Han Yoojin-ssi because of the contents of that day’s call was high, so we have decided to block her entrance to the country. Was it possibly an unnecessary measure?”
“No, it was not. If you do so, then I am thankful.”
I didn’t want to see Riette for a long time. Once enough time pa.s.sed, I should try talking with her first through a phone call, and decide if I should meet her or not.
“Business with illegal contracts is cla.s.sified as a misdemeanor, so the prohibition of entrance into the country can only be for 1 year at the most. And this is a list of drugs that a poison resistance does not work on. I have also notified the Hunter exclusive hospital. It can be registered automatically in order to prevent medical accidents if it is revealed that you have a poison resistance skill.”
“I understand.”
I nodded my head and accepted the file. The list was really long.
“Even alcohol does not work, but it seems like there are drugs that get through.”
“The toxicity of alcohol is stronger than you would think. The drugs that get through hardly have any toxicity, or are weak enough to not be caught by the poison resistance, so they do not harm the human body. The majority are for medical a.s.sistance. In addition, there are special drugs that have been made with dungeon byproducts, like painkillers for Hunters.”
“I have that painkiller, too. The detoxification item is B-Rank, so one that works through up to poison resistance B-Rank.”
Yerim said. I also used painkillers for Hunters before the regression, but they were the cheapest ones. Currently, there were up to S-Ranks, so I wouldn’t be able to use painkillers unless I turned off the resistance skill.
Besides that, I also received recommendations for common drugs that poison resistances didn’t work on, and we left the detention center. Unlike Yerim, who was sticking right next to me, Noah was following us a couple steps behind. When I stopped, as expected, he stopped apart from us.
“Noah-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“There isn’t a need to walk that separated from us, right?”
“Ah… This is more comfortable. Is that not okay?”
It was more comfortable, he said. It seemed like when he went around with Riette, he always chased after her from behind. It was easy to think of Riette confidently taking the lead without looking back once.
There wasn’t a need to tell him to fix it immediately, so I told him it was okay, and started walking to the parking lot again. Neither Yerim nor I had a driver’s license yet, so Hunter Kim Jiyeon came with us. When I had said I was going to get my license, Yerim had said she would too, and had scheduled her test, as well as mine, for next weekend.
“So I went to a screen game room, and it was fun in its own way, but reality really is the best. Next time, do you want to go to a shooting range with me? How about a dinner bet?”
“I’ll just buy.”
Would a bet work? There was quite a lot of time until dinner, so at Yerim’s pestering to go to a karaoke place, I nodded my head after turning to glance at Noah.
***
“I said to lodge a complaint to the Korean Hunter a.s.sociation for me. Hm?”
“It is not in my authority, so if you would wait for a moment……”
The Mexican Hunter a.s.sociation employee said, fl.u.s.tered. The normal employees in the lobby had already left their seats and only the Hunters were left, monitoring the cause of the commotion, Riette.
Riette, who was fittingly wearing a colorful poncho and a pointy sombrero, waved her fingertips and frowned slightly. At each of her motions, the surrounding people flinched and trembled.
“I’ve helped you a lot during this time, but you can’t even do this one thing for me?”
Riette generally indulged in new illegal dungeon attacks, but she was active as a free Hunter, too. With all of them escaping to the U.S. or to Europe, so that Mexico only had two S-Rank Hunters, the country had received her help several times. Specifically, it was a business deal where a reward was given, but it had degenerated to ‘I did them a kindness and helped them’ inside Riette’s head.
At any rate, the lacking side was the Mexican Hunter a.s.sociation, so they couldn’t refute her arrogant words.
“Exactly what did I do that I’m prohibited from entering the country. With just a few illegal contracts – aren’t they being too much?”
-Shwiik shwit!
Over the wide brim of the sombrero, a small snake pushed out its head and chimed in agreeably. It was a gem snake whose whole body was fancily sparkling. Riette raised her hand and rubbed the bottom of the gem snake’s chin.
“Our darling has to quickly take care of you. You want to grow quickly too, right, Bell?”
-Shwit shwit
The gold eyes similar to its owner’s became thin as if it was in a good mood.
“There, now think about sending me and Bellare to Korea.”
It was just then, when the tips of Riette’s eyebrows had lifted, and the Hunters had frozen at the creeping escape of bloodthirst.
Kwajangchang!
The gla.s.s door broke and a heavyduty pickup truck rushed into the lobby. Armed men jumped down from the truck that had left a long tire track on the clean floor and stopped.
Dududududu!
At the direct hail of bullets, the Hunters each dodged with their bodies or used defense skills or equipment. Should it be called a relief that it was during misfortune? Thanks to Riette’s tyranny, of course the Unawakened People, but even the Hunters who were low enough in rank to be harmed by gunshots, weren’t here.
“And what are those now?”
Dusting off the hem of the poncho she had taken off at some point, Riette tilted her head. The bullets that were wrapped around the poncho hem fell down. It was simple fabric clothes, but whatever move she used, it didn’t have a single hole.
“Dungeon breaks are the G.o.d’s providence! Don’t reject the G.o.d’s will!”
One of the armed men shouted, taking out a grenade. The other men also each took out an explosive. Between the other tense Hunters, Riette quirked her lips.
“Ahh, so they’re the terrorists that have popped up lately. I’ll handle those guys for you, so you’ll send me to Korea, right?”
She decided on her own and took out a knife. A long knife tilted down to the side and moved slowly. It sliced across through the air as if it was a game. The cut air trembled. Minutely, and then.
Ping-!
Along with the sound of a taut string being plucked, an enormous strength covered the men holding explosives. In the storm made from the blade, the human bodies were sliced up like weak bundles of straw. Limbs and heads were falling down, but not a single drop of blood flowed out. There were only half of the explosives left, but it was quiet.
The air reverberated one step late within the extremely unrealistic scene. The Hunters who were stupidly standing there, finally swallowed dryly and let out groans.
Riette put the knife in her inventory and went toward the corpses that were scattered like dolls.
“The G.o.d’s intention, huh. Putting aside that they’re guys saying that kind of thing, there’s no decent b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
The tip of her foot kicked a cut off head. The bulging eyes of the head that rolled to the side stared at Riette.
[Riette]
“Oh my?”
[I’ll make a proposal one more time.]
A voice came out of the head that had stopped breathing. At the same time, the gold eyes thinned fiercely.
“You were quiet for quite a while; what is it now? I must’ve warned you not to appear near me and my younger brother.”
Of course, she didn’t say it mildly with words. It was a warning where blood spilled and chunks of flesh flew.
[Rie-]
“Shut up.”
Kwadeuk, combat boots stomped on the head and smashed it. Rubbing the bottom of her shoes on a corpse’s clothes to clean it, Riette turned to look back. The brightly smiling face was chilly to the point of being scary.
“If there are any guys with rock bottom curse resistance and Mental, why don’t you crawl over on your own? I’ll kill you painlessly.”
“What does that-.”
Kwak. The Hunter’s neck was gripped in Riette’s grasp, and the words were cut off. There was cold sweat on the confused Hunter, who hadn’t even felt her come over.
“Do you have a curse resistance skill or item? What about Mental?”
“A C-Rank item…”
“Then not you.”
She swung the hand grabbing the throat and threw them to the side.
“Then, next. Let’s do this quickly, quickly. Hm?”
Or should she kill all of them? In the middle of the a.s.sociation Hunters reflexively stepping back at the enduring bloodthirst, the eyes of a slightly pale man met straight on with Riette.
“So it’s you.”
[Curse and poison dragon Dio Valshesis’ eldest.]
The gold eyes immediately trembled. A deep furrow formed between Riette’s brows and the lines of the carefree lips also twisted.
“Just then, what…”
[Kill Korea’s Seseong Guild’s Sung Hyunjae, and bring over Haeyeon Guild Han Yoohyun’s hyung alive.]
“This b.a.s.t.a.r.d giving orders-!”
She ground her teeth. But Riette couldn’t move. The instinct as, not a human, but a curse and poison dragon, restricted her feet.
If she was a complete Dio Valshesis, she might’ve respectfully lowered her head. But Riette gnawed on her lips and used a skill. A furious energy that would’ve been more than enough without borrowing the strength of a weapon cut down vertically on and split the man in whom the curse and poison dragon king’s owner dwelled.
At the same time, a portion of the man’s body burst up to the surroundings like the debris of an bomb.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The Hunters who were pressed down by Riette’s energy listlessly collapsed without a chance to defend. In the surroundings, a thick miasma overflowed. The miasma crawled over to Riette’s feet too, but thanks to the high poison resistance, it only circled around nearby.
“……s.h.i.t, my head hurts.”
-Shwit
The gem snake that was hiding in its owner’s hat stretched its body out of it and looked at Riette. Riette wiped off the blood on her lips with the back of her hand and wrinkled her eyes.
“What was that, just then?”
Her memory was hazy. At any rate, the horrible guy she hadn’t seen for a while would’ve definitely disappeared. That possession was only possibly on Hunters whose Mental or curse resistance were low, and the distance it could move wasn’t that long either. So if there weren’t any humans around besides Riette, he couldn’t help but leave.
“I thought he had completely given up, but what whim is this?”
It was unpleasant. Just when she was kicking the corpses that were temperamentally cut up, a group of people appeared. The woman leading the front was a Mexican S-Rank Hunter.
With a bold presence, she saw the corpses surrounding Riette, and her face contorted.
“You couldn’t wait for just a moment and made a mess?”
“What? No, I-.”
“This time, stay quietly shut up in jail!”
“Ah, s.h.i.t! I really have horrible luck lately!”
She had to go to Korea! She had confidence she would win, but it was merely that it would become difficult if she made the issue bigger here. No matter if she lived however she pleased, she had to avoid souring her relationship with every country’s Hunter a.s.sociation. Riette clicked her tongue and quickly left.
[1] here yj uses 혈염, which was part of yh’s nickname way back in ch 1 or 2. Now that I’m a little better at figuring things out, I’ve looked up the hanja for 염, and the hanja it’s probably referring to means 불꽃, which I’ve been tl-ing as flame (it’s more like fire energy or sparks), so it’s not ‘blood smoke’ but ‘blood flame’
[2] lit. ‘I live even without laws’ which means she lives v uprightly, but in eng it sounds like the opposite, i.e. she lives lawlessly, so I added the ‘honestly’
[3] about 3.3 meters squared