CH 8

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!”

Faced with Yoo Ji-an’s suspicious gaze, Seo-ah immediately regretted that she had touched him.

“That is…” She froze.

Baek Eun-hee rescued her just in time. “Come on, get in my car. I’ll take you home.”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

“Are you going to take the bus again? No way. You’re our contractor now. That kind of thing is unacceptable in the Royal Guild.”

Seo-ah pretended to resist a little more but eventually went along with her.

‘Phew, that was ten years’ worth of fright right there.’

She knew that she was still being stared at, but she valiantly tried to ignore it.

***

After Seo-ah left, Han Seok-hyun also had to do something, so Yoo Ji-an was left alone in the building.

He stared at his fingertips.

Although it did not reflect obviously in his status window, the energy in his body fluctuated slightly before calming down.

No doubt, it was because they had touched.

“She must have noticed it too,” Yoo Ji-an murmured, looking at his own status window.

[ Title: Destroyer (Locked) ]

[ If you don’t activate your title as “Destroyer” within the given time period, you will die! (D-870) ]

“I have more time left.”

His title had been “Berserker” before he met Seo-ah and it changed and halved his damage output—perhaps in exchange for his sanity. Before, when he used “Thunderstorm”, the state would activate and he lost control of himself.

However, he currently still could not control his berserk state because the title was locked.  In his past life, a bead in a sudden gate had given him the title of “Destroyer” right away. This time, even if he had defeated the boss and searched all day, he hadn’t seen it at all.

The logical explanation was that Park Seo-ah was the person who would unlock the title, which meant that she was definitely someone he needed.

‘But…’

In his second life, Yoo Ji-an had clearly seen her face right before he died. He wasn’t angry, but he subconsciously still thought of her as a threat. That was why he had to suppress his instincts as a hunter whenever they were in the same room.

Still, he wasn’t able to hide it perfectly, so hostility occasionally leaked through.

Park Seo-ah’s face turned white each time.

He decided to continue his observations for now, although he hadn’t found anything suspicious about her.

‘I don’t know if she will be my savior or my downfall in this life, so I’ll keep her by my side for a while.’

Yoo Ji-an turned and his status window disappeared.

***

As soon as Seo-ah returned home, she checked her status.

[ Mission 1: Touch the Hunter (5/10) ]

“Hehe, I got one more.”

It was all thanks to her burst of courage that made it possible for her to touch Yoo Ji-an earlier.

“Why did he glare so much, though? Our fingertips just brushed.”

Of course, she had made sure that their skin would make contact, but it still wasn’t a big deal. Yoo Ji-an’s ambiguous attitude didn’t make sense to her.

His convincing words were at odds with his cold expression.

As such, she had been a little reluctant, but she accepted the contract with the Sun Guild anyway because he was her savior and also someone who knew about the warning on her status window.

She stared at it.

[ Supporter(!) (S-class/Locked) ]

“It must something to do with that…”

Baek Eun-hee’s strength had suddenly increased, and Yoo Ji-an had admitted that he would die without her help—though that might just be an exaggeration.

Maybe all of that was related to her unclear, undiscovered capabilities.

Seo-ah turned on her computer and typed in ‘supporter’ in the search box. The first entry was the dictionary meaning.

[ Supporter: A person who boosts morale, provides encouragement. ]

She skimmed through the page results, to no avail. She tried ‘hunter, supporter’ next, quickly running her eyes over the meaningless search results.

At the very end was something that stood out.

< …There no longer exists a perfect hunter in this world. Their power and potential were collected and compressed into ‘supporters’. When this is released… >

When Seo-ah clicked on the link, it turned out that the post had already been deleted.

“That’s enough for today.” She lay flat on her bed.

For an E-class hunter with low stamina, it had been a pretty tiring day. She hoped that her stats would improve once she unlocked her status.

Maybe she’d get better at using ‘Recovery’.

“The forecast said tomorrow would be rainy, so I’ll have to time when to go to the hospital, then come back…”

It would be reassuring to see her brother’s face before her first raid.

Idle thoughts circling through her head. Seo-ah slowly sank into unconsciousness.

***

“This is Park Seo-ah, whom I contacted before.”

“Oh, you’re here. I’m Kim Dae-hoon, the leader of the party. I’m a D-class melee damage dealer.” He reached out his hand to shake hers, but the man next to Seo-ah grabbed it first.

“My name is Ahn Ji-yoo.”

Kim Dae-hoon, mildly confused, smiled and accepted the awkward greeting. “You were one of the last two to join. I was in trouble because two people suddenly couldn’t be contacted yesterday. How did you find us?” He glanced at Seo-ah. “Thank you for being here as well, Ms. Park Seo-ah. Healers are precious, even if they’re E-class.”

“Ah, yes.”

Seo-ah was about to go for a handshake again, but this time a woman snatched Kim Dae-hoon’s hand and shook it vigorously.

“How are you, Mr. Kim Dae-hoon? I contacted you all of a sudden, so thank you for accepting me so readily.”

She seemed polite, but somehow overbearing.

“Yes… Ms. Seo Hee-eun.”

Seo-ah glanced sideways at the two hunters. They both seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place their faces.

“Ms. Park Seo-ah here is an E-class healer, and the two of you are—let’s see… Mr. Ahn Ji-yoo is a caster and Ms. Seo Hee-eun is a tank. Alright, we’re set.” Kim Dae-hoon gave up on shaking her hand, nodding as he checked his phone and glanced at the other two with a slight frown.

Even though they were D-class, they had almost no equipment. Seo Hee-eun wore fingerless leather gloves and Ahn Ji-yoo had on a crude-looking bracelet. Neither item looked like equipment no matter how much he looked at them.

‘They’re shockingly poor. I heard they were D-class, so I was expecting a bit more.’

“Over there is Ms. Kang Soo-jung, an E-class dealer. You two are D-class, but since you applied late, you’ll be part of the backup team, okay?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Me neither.”

In the meantime, Seo-ah disappointedly watched Kim Dae-hoon walk away.

She lost her chance to increase her mission points.

‘Well, there will be another chance.’

Kim Dae-hoon’s party consisted of eight people, four in the main team and the other four in the backup team. The first team seemed to know each other, and their gleaming equipment seemed expensive. On the other hand, the four members of the backup team had only just met today, and they looked relatively shabby.

Only Kang Soo-jung had twin knives on her belt. And looking at her closely, she appeared to be young enough to still have baby fat.

“How are you?” She approached them. “Hello, My name is Kang Soo-jung. As you may have heard, I am an E-class damage dealer. I’ve gone on a total of four raids,” she said with an adult-like tone.

“I’m Park Seo-ah, this is my first raid. By the way, Ms. Kang Soo-jung, excuse my question but… How old are you?”

“Why are you asking that? I’m perfectly capable,” she snapped.

Seo Hee-eun scanned her from head to toe. “You look like a middle-schooler, or a high-schooler at most.”

“How old are you then, ajumma? Is age important in raiding?”

“What did you say? Ajumma? This kid… Chasing gates when you should be going to school, huh? I’m not asking out of curiosity!”

Stuck in the middle of the conflict, Seo-ah felt restless. Ahn Ji-yoo, on the other hand, seemed entirely uninterested.

In any case, Kang Soo-jung was a child even to Seo-ah, who had little experience and no skills to speak of. She was a minor, deserving of protection.

Seo-ah casually and intentionally placed a hand on the young girl’s shoulder, speaking affectionately.

Ahn Ji-yoo and Seo Hee-eun flinched and raised their hands, but she did not notice.