Chapter 22

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RP: Kim & Sebastian • TL: Whee • PR: Sebastian • Editor: Kim

On their way back.

A hunter approached Mobius.

“Leader, are you going to leave that woman alone?” 

“I’ve warned her enough, yet she still chose to leave on her own.
If this causes problems, she’ll be solely responsible for it.”

Don’t worry.
Reassured by their leader’s smile, they scratched the back of their neck and backed away.

On the other hand, at the end of their shifted gaze, they saw the face of their colleague who had their mind elsewhere.

“Hey, is something wrong?”

“Oh, no…”

The colleague who closed their mouth hesitantly turned their head and looked back at the passage they had walked past.

In her black dress, the Princess of Dark Flare had already disappeared in the opposite direction.

It seemed that she was really going to look for the child’s mother alone.
An F-Class hunter, in a B-Class gate.

“… I heard her say she’s from the first.”

“What?”

“A graduate from the first training camp.”

“Who?”

“That woman.”

“…”

“…”

Pft!

Another hunter who was walking by caught their words.
After laughing for a while, he looked at the person as if they were more curious about them, who had believed it straight away.

“Do you think that makes sense?”

The fellow hunter’s tone seemed to be slightly sarcastic, but there was an unwavering conviction in it.

If she was a first-generation graduate, that meant she graduated in April of 1998.
That was more than 30 years ago, even before government agencies took concrete measures against gates.

It was a time of chaos.
During that time, the number of hunters gathered by mandatory conscription far exceeded the number of modern hunters.
However, the number of first-generation graduates who had survived that period was now only in the single digits.

It was natural.
At the time, hunters were not treated as well as they were now, and there were no specialized training courses.
After only three months of short training, they would have been thrown into gates almost naked, so it would’ve been stranger not to die.

For this reason, the surviving first-generation graduates were still talked about for more than 30 years, with their pictures hanging at the entrances of training centers or in textbooks of the Hunter Training Academy.

Of course, that woman was not among them.

“You must have heard wrong.
Or maybe that girl really is mentally ill.”

“That’s true, but…”

They knew very well that it didn’t make sense.

However, the strange, inexplicable sensation they felt the moment they met her eyes was still fresh in their mind.

The person glanced back once more.

The passage was dark as if it were swallowed by shadows.
In the end, they couldn’t take their eyes off of it for a long time.

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***

“Hah, haa…”

Without a moment to catch her breath, the woman ran.

“Yeri, where are you? Yeri!”

She called out her daughter’s name anxiously.

Who would have imagined that she would be swept away by the gate at the aquarium she visited for her daughter’s birthday?

She was going to wait patiently for hunters to come, but waves suddenly hit the two of them, and she was separated from her daughter.

How would you feel if the sky fell? Now that even her shoes were washed away by the water, the woman ran through the gate with her bare feet.

Even though she knew the sound of her own urgent footsteps could alert a monster, she couldn’t stay still.

Even at this moment, the thought that her daughter could have been eaten by a monster was heartbreaking.

“Yeri…!”

The hoarse voice of the woman echoed through the empty gate.

How deep had she gone? Little by little, her light source disappeared as her phone ran out of battery, and she could no longer rely on its flashlight.

The darkness that enveloped her was as thick as the despair she felt.

Clack.

“Oh, no…”

Her body was so weak that she momentarily dropped the camera she was holding.

The memory card in her camera was filled with important work data as well as memories with her daughter.
It was at the moment when the woman bent her torso, carefully holding her camera in her hand as it might’ve broken.

Screeeech!

A terrifying cry resounded through the air.

Oh my God.
The woman couldn’t even raise her bent upper body, and her whole body stiffened.

‘Yeri…’

A light passed in an instant in front of the woman’s eyes.
She clasped her camera with trembling hands.

Splash.

Splash.

Splash.

She could feel the monster behind her coming closer.

Screeech—!

The woman closed her eyes tightly.
However,

… 

… 

Nothing happened.

Very slowly, she opened her eyes.
Her pounding heart wouldn’t calm down.
She covered her mouth with a hand and turned around.

“…!”

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There were golden irises.
The colour was inhuman, shining eerily brightly in the dark. 

‘Mon, monster…?’

The woman was so startled that she stuttered and dropped the camera in her hand again.

Black flames wrapped around her like a snake.
The roaring fire engulfed everything in front of her.
In the middle of it, Eunha lowered her gaze indifferently.

“…”

“…”

Eunha was looking at the woman, or more precisely, the dress she was wearing.
She showed no signs of hostility.

Suddenly, the woman noticed that her surroundings were unusually quiet and turned her head.
A gigantic jellyfish was seen hanging in a corner, twisted.
Its thin tentacles were all cut off, scattered over the floor like torn threads.

‘Did she… kill it?’

Was it the woman in black? The woman once again turned her gaze to Eunha.

Drops of blood were dripping from the tip of the parasol Eunha held.
Her pale face was reflected in the pool of blood that had formed on the floor.

How many seconds had passed like that?

“Excuse me…”

The moment when the woman gathered her courage and opened her mouth—

Swoosh!

Suddenly, Eunha swung the parasol.
The woman’s widened eyes followed her.

Fwooom!

The black flames, swimming in the air as fluidly as fish, seemed to be connected to its owner by an invisible thread.

Screech!

The screams of monsters were heard everywhere.
There was no way to grasp all the monsters’ positions in such a dark space.

Fwoom!

Swish—

Thwack!

For a brief moment, unbelievable sounds were heard one after another from a very close distance.
It smelled like something was burning.
The woman could only close her eyes tightly and earnestly hope that this hellish situation would pass quickly.

Eventually, complete silence came around.

“Are you okay?”

The woman slowly opened her eyes.

There weren’t golden eyes that shone like a wild beast’s, but dark, calm eyes looking at her.

Eunha saw that the woman’s shoulders were still trembling faintly.
Instead of waiting for her to answer her question, Eunha reached out to her.

The woman looked at the hand that came out to her and opened her mouth with a terrified voice.

“Who are you?”

“… I’m—”

Tch. As usual, her voice was blocked.
Being unable to say her name? It wasn’t the only problem.

Eunha shut her mouth and looked down at the outfit she was wearing.
The loose sleeves and the long ribbon that wrapped around her waist were both things that didn’t suit her as a hunter.

In many gates, they were not suitable for Eunha as she needed to cut and slash numerous monsters.

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Why was she here now?

What was she here for?

‘If Sunbae completes the contract for one year, you’ll get enough money to achieve everything you want.’

Eunha raised her gaze.

“I just—”

The woman in front of her was looking at her.

Yes.
Eunha was well aware of the anxiety in those eyes.
It wasn’t the first time she had seen them.
No, she had seen them countless times before.

It seemed like she was finally facing her death which was still far away.

Just like how a candle that is about to go out at any moment would struggle to hold on.

Those eyes, gripped by fear and terror, were bound to Eunha’s, as if barely hanging on.

Eunha knew.

What those eyes were looking for.
What she was waiting for.

“Hello… there?”

The woman tilted her head towards the towering Eunha.

Instead of her fancy dress, she wore old military uniform,

Instead of a parasol, she had bare hands covered in dirt,

Instead of thorn shoes, she wore boots with worn-out soles—

e/n: in case you’re confused (i am too) i’m guessing this is eunha imagining herself or remembering the past in a hunter’s outfit.

“I am—”

Eunha pursed her lips, thinking of a lie.
She wasn’t the ‘Princess of Dark Flare’ at this moment.

She was neither ‘Lee Yura’ nor ‘Cha Eunha’ either,

Just. 

“— A hunter.”

***

“Mama!”

“Ye, Yeri! My daughter…!”

The woman hugged her daughter and wept.
The moment she joined the main party and saw her daughter’s face, relief seemed to surge through her like a wave.

Eunha watched them from afar and quietly turned away.

When Eunha appeared, she could hear nearby hunters murmuring.
Pretending to be blind to her surroundings as she walked, her eyes met Mobius, who stood in the middle of the crowd.

“…”

With a surprised expression on his face, Mobius raised the corners of his mouth creakingly as if conscious of the gazes around him.
Unless they were an idiot, any person could tell that the smile was obviously not a sign of welcome.

He knew Eunha was going to say something as she approached, but Mobius turned his head away without saying a word.
Eunha didn’t even bother approaching him.

“Yu, Yura, where have you been? I was so surprised when you suddenly disappeared.”

Meanwhile, King God had noticed Eunha and ran to her side.

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[The divine beast ‘Cat Wandering in Darkness’ asks why he’s pretending to be so friendly and thinks that whoever sees it will misunderstand and think he is a close friend.]

The cat seemed somewhat uncomfortable.
Unaware, King God stood in front of Eunha as he panted.

“The reinforcements just entered the gate.
Fortunately, the sweep can be finished safely…”

King God’s eyes turned towards Eunha’s parasol.
The moment the bloody parasol met his eyes, he covered his mouth and shut it.

“Hey, there’s blood!”

King God began to screech and make a fuss.
Thanks to that, the gazes that had barely moved on were gathering one by one again.

“Are, are you hurt? Was it from just now? What the hell happened?”

“It’s nothing.”

Eunha opened the parasol indifferently, wiped the blood off the surface, and folded it back.

Shortly thereafter, reinforcements arrived, including a significant number of healing hunters.

Thanks to the B-Class reinforcements, they were able to clear the gate safely while protecting the citizens.
Fortunately, no major accidents occurred.

“Oh, Hunter!”

As soon as they got out of the gate, Jehwi rushed to Eunha.
Like a manager, he had a bottle of water in one hand and an emergency kit in the other.

“Where did you get hurt… Oh my God! Did you wash your face with blood? What the hell is all this?”

Even if it wasn’t her blood, the atmosphere was dark, but other than that, it wasn’t as bad as the brutal atmosphere of a horror movie.
It was the face covered in blood that she saw almost every day, so she wasn’t scared of it.

“It’s nothing.”

King God and Jehwi were very ferocious.
She was already mentally exhausted because of them.
Eunha moved forward, face covered in fatigue.

It didn’t look like she was injured from the back as she strode towards the car.
Jehwi followed her in fear.

“Are you really not hurt?”

“I’m not.”

“Still, I think you should check in case you didn’t notice something.
Once we’re in the car…”

Jehwi took out a first aid kit from the trunk.
The wounds inflicted on Eunha were scratches at best, but he provided first aid with care and attentiveness, as if he were performing surgery.

Watching his trembling hands and worried eyes, Eunha secretly burst into laughter.

This was because it reminded her of her mother, who made a fuss when she accidentally dropped a knife.
She had said several times that she was okay, but a bandaid was still put on her.

“Seeing that you’re smiling, I’m glad you don’t seem seriously injured, but…”

“It’s okay.
I’m really fine.”

Eunha answered while fastening her seat belt.
Jehwi, who was staring quietly at her figure, grabbed the cell phone he had left in the car and opened the door.

“Please wait a moment, Hunter.”

Click.

He closed the car door and stood up.

‘If something happens to Sunbae, please contact me immediately.’

After thinking for a while, Jehwi started tapping on the screen of his cell phone.

010-XXXX-XXXX

“Ah, President.
This is Park Jehwi.
Nothing happened, but…”