S-grade Hunter Promotion Ceremony Day.
At around 11 AM, the S-grade Hunter Promotion Ceremony, signed by the Hunter Association, the Returnee Management Bureau, and the President, was held.
Prior to the ceremony, from 9 AM, the event hall was filled with representatives from the Hunter Association, government officials, and invited representative hunters from various countries who gathered to celebrate the new S-grade promotion in Korea. Thanks to this, Seoul was unexpectedly in a festive mood.
However, even with the festive atmosphere, the personal information of the hunters participating in the promotion was to remain as confidential as possible.
While those in the Hunter Gallery and those who knew somewhat had a general understanding of the participating hunters, the hunters were advised by the association to remain hidden in the waiting room before the promotion began, given the potential for illicit actions or terrorist activities.
[Next, we will hear a speech from the President for the participating hunters.]
[Dear Hunters….]
[Next, we will hear from Representative Wang Soyoung, who is visiting as a friendly representative of the San Guild from Shanxi Province, China.]
[Greetings to all distinguished hunters. We are particularly paying close attention to this promotion event in Shanxi Province, and the numerous hunters gathered here….]
Of course, the hunters preparing for the promotion were so tense that none of them could pay attention to the holographic screen where the speeches were taking place.
“Ugh, please. Please….”
“This is the last one. The last one…”
“Mom. This time, I will definitely succeed.”
“Food. Supplies….”
“Hey, you crazy girl! Why did you pack a pot and a burner? Do you think there will be time to cook there?”
“Who knows! Why are you getting mad and going crazy!”
And the hunters challenging for the S-grade promotion were not just A-grade hunters.
Although they had confidence in their skills, some hunters remained in B or C grades due to insufficient achievements and were also participating in this promotion, including even unregistered awakened ones classified as criminals.
“Wow, it’s been a while.”
“Wow, who do you think you are applying for the promotion?”
“C’mon. Let’s see who can rank up inside.”
“Yeah, I don’t associate with junkie scum.”
“You bastard.”
“Hey, can you shut your mouth? Are only your little buddies here? Be mindful of your words.”
“……..”
Normally, unregistered awakened ones would be arrested, but for this national event of the S-grade promotion, it was an unwritten rule to let them go.
If any unexpected actions, crimes, or terror acts occurred here, the S-grade hunters hidden somewhere, including Yeonseo, would come out and impose sanctions.
“Shia, according to Director Lee, the S-grade promotion event is taking place in the Erosion Dungeon designated as an S-grade dungeon, located at Dongguchun.”
“……..Okay.”
And the two, Yeonhwa and Shia, challenging for the S-grade promotion were also among the hunters.
As it turns out, this place was where Shia had waited when she first returned to Earth and came to the Hunter Association.
Back then, everything was new and Shia was wide-eyed, but today she was simply staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.
“The goal is to either eliminate the dungeon boss as the top priority or survive for a week until the promotion ends. It tests not just the ability to hold out and hunt monsters but also the ability to survive if isolated in the dungeon or trapped by unusual gimmicks.”
“…….Okay.”
“Don’t worry about meals. We brought plenty of emergency rations and high-calorie hunter food. I even packed a deep fryer and oil just in case you felt it was lacking. Grandma’s large transport drone turned out to be quite useful.”
“…….Okay.”
Upon hearing Yeonhwa’s explanation, Shia appeared dazed, as if she had lost her focus.
Yeonhwa, sensing something was off with Shia, let out a small sigh and snapped her fingers in front of her face.
Snip!
“Sis.”
“……Okay.”
“Sis!”
“…Huh?”
Shia, reacting late, made Yeonhwa let out a faint sigh.
Though she understood the situation, Shia wasn’t in a fit state.
“Is something wrong? You seem a bit off since earlier… are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine…”
Yes, I’m fine.
I am…
“Sis. Is it because of that incident?”
“…You heard?”
“I’m sorry. I pressured Yeonju to find out.”
Typically, Yeonhwa would be nonchalant about everything except hunting and training, but when it came to Shia, she had to care.
Especially if it related to family she thought she’d never reclaim.
“I’m sorry for prying into your affairs. But I just wanted to help you in any way I could… but it seems I can’t be involved this time.”
“No, just knowing and comforting me… your feelings mean a lot.”
Even if she couldn’t help, the mere intention and desire to support felt like a strength to Shia.
“…And I’m okay now.”
“Huh?”
“It just… turned out this way. I am Isia. That child is Park Yoonjeong. That’s all there is to it.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is. It would be a lie to say I have no regrets, but I really am fine. The bond isn’t completely severed. Even before coming here, she sent me messages encouraging me before the promotion. I decided to be grateful just to hold on to the new bonds that will continue.”
Yeah, that’s all there is to it.
With their confidence in their skills, Yeonhwa and Shia fell silent; after all, cooperation between hunters during the S-grade promotion was allowed, so as long as they stuck together, the S-grade promotion shouldn’t be that hard.
Of course, to maintain differentiation, there might be mutant gimmicks or additional tests created by the Hunter Association towards the end of the promotion, but even considering that, Yeonhwa and Shia weren’t overly worried.
“To all participating hunters, we hereby announce the official start of the promotion.”
“All hunters should board their designated vehicles. From this moment on, all communications with the outside using the hunters’ drones and smartwatches will be blocked.”
“Any attempts to communicate or contact the outside through illicit means will be considered cheating, resulting in disqualification.”
“Before entering the promotion dungeon, we will stop by the provided Hunter Market, so please purchase any last-minute supplies and survival gear you may need.”
Time flew by swiftly.
Even while boarding the vehicles in the association’s waiting room, staff from the Hunter Association briefed them on the schedule and precautions for the promotion, but Shia couldn’t remember any of it.
She merely stared blankly out of the window, and Yeonhwa could only glance at her with a worried expression.
“We’ve arrived! All participating hunters, please disembark!”
It seemed right to say her mind was elsewhere, but seeing Yeonhwa’s face, filled with both concern and anticipation, made Shia force a smile.
Yeah, there’s someone right next to me worrying about me…
I shouldn’t dismiss Yeonhwa’s kindness and worry.
Focus now, Isia.
Let’s tackle the promotion.
I need to get promoted so that Um… I mean, Yoonjeong will commend me.
Then, we can celebrate the promotion together with Yoonjeong and Yeonhwa, enjoying a feast.
By then, Yoonjeong’s birthday would have passed, and I could drink freely. If I brought a gift to celebrate her birthday… yeah, it would be another wonderful memory created.
“Now, I will start the entry! The moment you step into the dungeon, if you attempt to escape arbitrarily or if it is deemed impossible to continue in the promotion, the association will disqualify the corresponding hunter.”
“Each hunter will be followed by a stealth-enabled personal drone camera recording their actions!”
“As previously informed, this promotion focuses on survival and hunting. You must stay in the promotion dungeon for one week, killing either one dungeon boss or over fifty monsters to pass the first promotion.”
“However, if you escape before the week is up, or if the total number of monsters hunted within the week is below fifty, the association will review the recorded footage and determine disqualification; hence, all hunters must exert their utmost in the promotion.”
For now, let’s concentrate on this.
Rather than an uncertain, foggy future, I should focus on the present.
One by one, the hunters began to enter the dungeon with their personal drones and the filming drones provided by the association.
What would happen inside, I do not know, but…
Boom!
“…….Huh?”
At that moment, Shia felt her heart pounding powerfully as if she were having a cardiac arrest.
Of course, Shia did not feel pain from this pounding in her heart.
But at this very moment, the throbbing felt more terrifying and painful to her than anything else.
“Sis?”
“…………”
Yeonhwa’s eyes widened as she saw Shia suddenly collapse to the ground.
Shia sat there, staring blankly at the void, unable to even react to Yeonhwa’s voice.
Boom, boom, boom!
Shia knew well what this sensation was.
Her divine power, connected to her heart, was cut off.
The cut-off of divine power from the outside rarely happens.
Shia doesn’t spill her divine power around.
She wouldn’t just pour her divine power into someone else either.
Hence, the only reason Shia was experiencing this sensation was one.
Did the pendant break…?
For some unknown reason, it broke.
An external shock? An attack?
It was something that shouldn’t break easily, so she knew well.
As she sensed the crystal pendant made from the divine power she had given to Yoonjeong shatter, the world around her turned dark.
What should I do?
What the hell… what do I do now…?
What happened to Yoonjeong?
What is this?
What in the world is happening?!
“Shia, sis!!”
“Ah…..”
It was Yeonhwa who pulled Shia back from the brink of panic.
“Hurry, go check.”
“Uh…?”
“Go, quickly!”
“B-but the promotion….”
“Is the promotion more important? Or is what you treasure more important?!”
Yeonhwa did not understand what situation Shia was in.
But seeing her face, which looked like it was about to collapse, she reminded Shia of what she needed to do.
“Do what you have to do.”
“….Thank you.”
No more words were needed.
Bam!
Ignoring the promotion, Shia disregarded the gazes directed at her and immediately took off.
“Wait, Isia Hunter!?”
“W-what?!”
“She’ll be disqualified if she does that….!”
“No, the drone camera is following Isia Hunter!”
Leaving the flustered trainees behind, Yeonhwa began secretly dialing a number with her smartwatch.
Though she couldn’t follow and help her sister, it didn’t mean she had no way to assist.
Bee-doop!
“Hello? Yeonseo’s Grandmother?”
*
It looked like a café, but it was currently the temporary office of the San Guild.
This was the building where the San Guild previously took Yoonjeong to “persuade” her.
Looks like they really came just as they said they’d be waiting…
Yet, Yoonjeong was not there, and the red-clad members of the San Guild, as well as Baek Wisin, the Hunter from the Baekun Division who Shia had knocked down last time, were glaring at Shia as if they had been waiting for her.
Fortunately, thanks to the newly patched translation module, Baek Wisin’s voice was heard clearly in Korean.
Still, Shia was not looking for Baek Wisin, but Yoonjeong.
“……”
“Huh, this is becoming more bothersome than I expected.”
Baek Wisin, with his extraordinarily muscular body on display as he shrugged off his coat.
“….Where is she?”
“What are you asking for?”
“…..Yoonjeong. Where is she.”
“Hah, why are you asking us to find her? Do you think we would take Yoonjeong away?”
Crack!
“Stop spouting nonsense. Just answer me quickly.”
The moment Shia took a step forward, the asphalt below her crumbled, sending dust flying up.
Even so, Baek Wisin merely laughed disdainfully.
Baek Wisin, along with his subordinates from Baekun Division, appeared not to feel any remarkable threat from Shia.
“Seems like you were too proud of a lucky ambush on the first day,” he smirked.
Baek Wisin had confidence.
The ambush on the first day was a fortunate success by chance.
He wouldn’t be fooled again by a lucky attack that had succeeded.
And he had also learned something from that ambush.
That girl is weaker than I thought.
While he had initially believed her to be strong, that strength only proved effective in ambush or surprise attacks.
To have only fainted after receiving a proper blow to the head?
That meant her strength and decisive strikes were lacking.
Her speed might be quite fast, but nothing beyond that.
Once Wang Soyoung returned from her inaugural address, Shia would be swiftly subdued given her speed.
It was an event where he just had to stall for time.
By then, Wang Soyoung would join, and the suitable candidate, Park Yoonjeong, would cross over to China through the West Sea.
Then Shia would be unable to do anything.
But, how ridiculous.
Dare to ambush and look down on me?
I will not let that woman go unpunished.
“Hahhh!”
“…?!”
Baek Wisin was an S-grade hunter specialized in front-line combat, and also… a suitable candidate for the Evil Fragment.
The moment he caught scent of the familiar malevolent energy, Shia’s eyes widened.
The 3-meter-tall Baek Wisin’s body swelled more than double in size.
The mana emanating from his rapidly inflating muscles exerted a threatening pressure that felt authentic enough to suggest he had surpassed existing S-grades.
Evil, that scent…
The smell was too rancid and thick to come from a human…
“I command the Baekun Division! I permit the sharing of fragments!”
“””””Yes!”””””
As Baek Wisin’s body enlarged, all members of the Baekun Division embraced evil energies, reinforcing their bodies.
Those who were B-grade became equivalent to A-grade.
And the S-grade Baek Wisin became something beyond that; his overall abilities heightened to an extent that if he faced any other S-grade Awakened, he would invariably hold the advantage.
“Whew, right. So we have Yoonjeong.”
Baek Wisin smirked as he looked down at Shia.
“However, Isia, you interrupted our process by barging into the building temporarily rented by our guild. Park Yoonjeong herself rejected the San Guild’s offer. So that’s as far as we go. After that, we only offered our ceremonial speech at the S-grade promotion taking place in Korea, then returned home. We’re set to come back a week later with the results.”
In reality, besides Wang Soyoung, the San Guild was probably returning to their base.
From various media covering the promotion as well.
“So our tracking drones’ location data, and records of our movement noted through official hunter IDs only take the situation up to that point… Of course, that’s just paperwork.”
And so?
“What’s the point of saying that to me?”
“Don’t you understand? What happened today will not leak to anyone, nor will it be recorded. What happens here ends here.”
Stepping closer to Shia, Baek Wisin generated an immense aura of raw power from his bulging muscles.
“There’s word from the top to bring back the traitor they’d finally discovered after so long. If you resisted, we would forcibly take you, even if it meant breaking a limb.”
Then, looking into Shia’s eyes he said,
“I’m honestly confused. I generally don’t concern myself with complicated political matters or affairs up above. What I don’t understand is you, Isia.”
Baek Wisin had already read the reports on Isia.
“If you’re a returnee, why not just adapt to the hunter’s era and live peacefully? Is it that Yoonjeong girl means so much to you? Do you have a crush on her or something?”
At that, Shia didn’t react.
Staying silent, she simply listened with an expressionless face.
“Anyway, this is the end. If you had quietly ended it when we proposed good conditions at the start, it would have been nice, wouldn’t it? But since you abruptly popped up and made it troublesome, it’s been a hassle for both me and my subordinates, and it’s no longer a joke.”
“……..”
“It seems like you are mad. Do you want to try something? If you think I would just hand you this victory again after your attack, don’t be deluded.”
The rancid smell of evil intensified.
“…I am a Seongnyeo.”
“Hah, so what? You think I would spare you because you are a Seongnyeo? Then you should just go back. Breaking someone like you wouldn’t even feel satisfying…”
“…I wanted to live like a Seongnyeo. I wanted to act like a Seongnyeo.”
You know?
I am not someone naturally filled with goodness.
I am human, too, easily swayed by desires and capable of falling.
So I bear and hesitate, thinking things through again and again before acting.
“But every now and then, I also break.”
Do you know when that is?
When I am insulted?
No.
When I am unable to wash away the disgrace?
No.
When I’m hurt?
When I’m in pain?
When I feel like I might die?
None of that.
“It is when someone I care for… when those connected to me are touched by others.”
I’m also human.
Even if I am the Seongnyeo of the dead.
I am still human.
Being human, I get mad.
“But did you try to stop me with that pathetic stunt? No, it isn’t even a stunt, but that lame threat?”
I am very, very angry.
“I thought I would despair and weep, and bow my head in this state? That you would think I would yield to you? That I would give up? No way!”
Haaah…
A deep, beastly sigh escaped from her throat.
The malevolent scent once felt from them… strangely, now feels like it’s dripping from me.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I sometimes forget. After experiencing all sorts of absurd turmoil for over 60 years in the past world… I forgot yet again.”
I guess there’s nothing as good as humans, but conversely, there’s nothing as foolish and vile as humans too.
Creak.
Crunch.
“Seems like I was naive even for a moment, trying to understand your situation.”
Yeah, let’s reflect. People can move on by reflecting to shed their past mistakes and move into the future.
“Thank you. You’ve taught me one thing. No, it’s something I’ve always known, but… I just rediscovered it in a new light.”
“What the hell… Chk-!”
“People should not treat things that aren’t human as they would humans.”
“Ugh…!”
“…Gah…!”
In that instant, the air changed.
The pressure from Baek Wisin’s mana receded.
No, it didn’t simply neutralize or offset it.
The members of Baekun Division, despite the tension, suddenly felt as if they were in a serenely peaceful countryside for some inexplicable reason.
Why did they feel this way? It was incomprehensible.
And no one could breathe.
It felt as if the oxygen itself was refusing to exist around them, and the sight of the Seongnyeo of the dead, whose posture creaked eerily, contrasted sharply with the tranquil atmosphere making it unsettling.
Even Baek Wisin, who had been confident, realized he and his subordinates of the Baekun Division were suddenly immobile.
Why the hell can I not move?
Mana?
No.
From this Isia girl it appeared that no power was radiating.
Yet, Baek Wisin couldn’t even move a finger.
No, it wasn’t just a finger.
He couldn’t utter a word.
To be exact, it wasn’t that Baek Wisin couldn’t move.
The fragments, the fragments are shaken…? No, it’s not me. The ‘fragments’ are terrified…?!
What on earth is she doing? What is that?
What could possibly frighten a fragment?
“I suppose I’ve met too many good people until now…”
So it makes sense…
If I’ve met many good people, bound to have opposite cases as well, right?
“So all this was just a conditional, and a leash, a mere threat?”
What had I expected?
Did I hope to plead with them for mercy and compassion?
What did I want?
What could I expect from these ridiculous beings?
Those dressed in human flesh, putting on a facade while sporting the likeness of humanity.
Ah, I am so foolish.
Yea, so young and foolish.
After more than 60 years of suffering, I continue to be naive.
I apologize, Menelapie. I’m sorry, Teresa. I am still such a fool.
So…
Today, I will give up.
I, Isia, the Seongnyeo of the Dead, speaking as the child of the Trinity.
I wished for no more prayers to be needed.
I wished for no more reunions to occur.
“In the name of the Father, I declare one thing.”
But you claimed,
“Evil present here shall not perish.”
The ways of the world don’t run true.
Ah. It hurts.
It’s sorrowful.
My eyes feel like they’re on fire.
Ahh, it’s sorrowful.
The world once brimming with vibrant hues is now painted a deep black.
What trickles from my eyes, is it tears?
Is it blood?
Or perhaps it’s the filth of vile evil?
“In the name of the Son, I declare two things.”
Creak.
Squeak.
Snap.
Thump!
“Evil present here shall not escape unpermitted.”
As the veil of deep darkness unfurled,
I am awakening.
Why didn’t I do this sooner?
Why didn’t I act this way earlier?
I should have done this from the start….!
The once brilliant Golden Eye now stained with agonizing darkness.
Her once pristine white skin fissured by sorrow and wails, fracturing like a drought upon mankind.
Into darkness, all must turn!
There shall be no place for light to sneak in!
“I pray.”
The Seongnyeo of the Dead, Isia, bore the role as the companion of heroes, the guide leading the afflicted, and the predator who devours evil.
She now prays to the starlight above.
Yes, I am the ugly jest of this world.
Yes, I am the monstrosity to behold.
Yes, I am the one who mournfully grins.
Yes, I, the Seongnyeo who laughs even when pelted with stones.
Yes, I, the Seongnyeo who bears insults.
Everyone ignores me, and they carry on with their lives.
Raise your raucous voices high.
I’re sure to shred them apart.
Do not cease your arrogant condemnation!
I will smash those fingers!
What would the lamenting starlight say for having created something like me?
Today, I shall cast aside the pretense and answer that query.
“In the name of the Holy Spirit, I declare three things.”
“Evil present here shall not see the light.”
Rest assured, no one shall die here. For those present, death is but a rest, a peaceful slumber, so close to compassion.
No, they shall not see the light.
And the world dimmed to black.
Ah, it’s sorrowful.
[I, the Death Seongnyeo, shall guide your wretched evil to hell.]
