▶ Chapter 2. Kim Suyeon (1)
[Your nickname has been set to ‘NoHunter’.]
I absolutely loved it.
Yeah! Forget being a Hunter and suffering through all that. I’ll just live an ordinary life like I have until now. …No, wait. I shouldn’t work myself to death either. That counts as suffering too.
Anyway, I needed to clean up this situation as quickly as possible.
[Mission Progress: Monsters 1/50, Boss 0/1
Time Remaining: 9 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds……]
Words like these floated on the right side of my vision, almost like a game interface.
There was still plenty of time, but I needed to finish the mission before I ran into the Hunters dispatched by the Hunter Association.
I can’t let anyone discover my identity!
≪Search≫
I rapidly spread my mana and scanned the entire Gate.
Just as I had sensed when awakening the power engraved into my soul, fortunately, there was no one else inside the Gate.
There were only forty-nine ordinary monsters, each of which I could kill in a single hit.
I immediately started moving.
The moment I rounded the corner, I saw another spider monster.
≪Destruction≫
Two.
≪Destruction≫
Three.
≪Destruction, Destruction, Destruction……≫
After quickly dealing with the remaining monsters one after another—
[A boss monster is appearing.]
Just as the message said, a gigantic boss made its grand entrance.
So naturally—
≪Destruction≫
—I gave it an even grander welcome.
Once the battle was completely over, several messages appeared.
[You have defeated the boss monster and gained 280 EXP.
Loot materials and a Mana Stone will now appear.]
[Notification: Mission complete.
This Sudden Gate will close in 10 seconds.
At that time, everyone inside will return to the original world.]
[Mission contribution rankings are as follows.
1st. NoHunter (100%)
Reward: 7 Random Draw Boxes (Grade 5), 7 Inventory Slots]
[Rewards will automatically be placed in your inventory.]
Seven expensive boxes!
For a moment, greed nearly took over my brain, but now wasn't the time to pay attention to those.
≪Stealth≫
I hurriedly gathered the monster materials and Mana Stone before activating this skill.
My body turned invisible, preventing others from seeing me while also erasing my presence and any sign that I was there.
[Time Remaining: 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second……]
For a brief instant, the entire world flashed pure white.
Then everything changed.
The gloomy cave disappeared, replaced by a very familiar sight.
An old studio apartment building.
My home!
It had only been seven minutes since I'd last seen it, but an overwhelming sense of relief washed over me.
Let’s hurry home! I can just order meat for delivery!
A Grade 5 Sudden Gate was considerably dangerous, but perhaps because it had appeared right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, quite a few spectators had gathered nearby.
“You need to move back! You could get drawn into the Gate—huh? Where did the Gate suddenly go?”
“Did it disappear? Did a Hunter already clear it?”
“No way. The Hunters haven’t even arrived yet.”
“Look! The Hunters are coming!”
As the spectators exchanged comments and several Hunters who looked strangely familiar came running toward the area, I maintained Stealth and hurried into the studio apartment building.
I entered my small, run-down home.
Not that anyone would be able to sense my power anyway.
Still, just to be safe, I didn't use Search and only watched the situation with my own eyes.
Before long, people from the Hunter Association arrived and spent quite a while trying to locate the Gate.
However, when they couldn't detect anything, they shook their heads and gradually began leaving one by one.
Even after everyone had completely disappeared, there wasn't the slightest sign of anyone approaching my home.
They really didn’t notice me, right?
This was an old, poor neighborhood, so there wasn't a single CCTV camera nearby.
I'd always hated that fact.
But right now, I couldn't have been more grateful for it.
Yeah. It’ll be fine.
I wasn't going to be forced into becoming a Hunter.
I wasn't going to suffer brutally again like I had in my previous life!
In this life, I won’t become a Hero or a Hunter. I’ll just keep living the way I always have! …Maybe with a little less overtime.
I made that decision firmly.
Very, very firmly.
However, by the very next day, my opinion had changed a little.
Why?
+ Chapter 1. Kim Suyeon
Among all the causes of stress office workers complained about, there was one unquestionable number one.
A shitty boss.
“Kim Suyeon, this is urgent, so handle it as quickly as possible. Got it?”
I already had a mountain of work of my own, yet Director Oh dumped his work on me, just like always.
I had no choice but to skip having a proper lunch and work hard to finish it.
When I finally handed it over—
“Why did this take so long? Tsk, tsk. Your problem, Kim Suyeon, is that you’re too slow.”
“……”
“You took yesterday off, didn’t you?”
“…I didn’t take the day off. I just left work on time.”
For the first time in what felt like a million years, at that.
“That counts as taking time off. Work even later tonight to make up for everything you skipped yesterday.”
“……”
“But why do you look so terrible after resting yesterday?”
Because I hadn't slept a wink.
I'd spent the entire night watching the place where the Gate had appeared, just in case something happened.
Obviously, I couldn't tell him that.
So I kept my mouth shut.
Then—
“Oh, it’s because you’re not wearing makeup! Kim Suyeon, you should put on makeup. That’s basic manners for a woman.”
“……”
“If you’re not going to wear makeup, at least walk around smiling! You’re always so gloomy and have no charm. No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend. Tsk, tsk.”
“……”
If I beat this bastard up right now, wouldn’t the judge declare me innocent after hearing the circumstances?
Just as I seriously began considering that possibility, Director Oh disappeared, saying he was going out for a cigarette.
Which means he’s going to slack off somewhere and come back later, just like always.
Still, that was better than having him stay in the office and continue spewing bullshit.
Don’t come back until after everyone leaves!
Unfortunately, my heartfelt prayer went unanswered.
Director Oh returned around quitting time.
His already unpleasant face looked even more rotten than usual.
I wondered what had happened, but I had absolutely no desire to speak to him, so I kept quiet.
Another employee couldn't suppress their curiosity and asked instead.
“Director, did something happen?”
“Looks like the third brother from Wish Guild is about to finish a new item.”
“What kind of item?”
“Apparently it has something to do with mana. I don’t know the details. But I heard all three brothers are extremely excited about it, so it must be something incredible. The Guild Master is really worried because it sounds like it’ll be completed soon. Our guild will fall even further behind.”
Our One Star Guild was ranked around tenth in Korea.
Meanwhile, the three brothers' Wish Guild was ranked number one in Korea and was also one of the top guilds in the entire world.
And yet our Guild Master somehow believes they're our rivals.
Perhaps because of that delusion, he was ridiculously obsessed with Wish Guild.
Whenever something good happened to Wish Guild, our Guild Master would explode with rage.
Then Director Oh—his cousin, who had gotten his position through blatant nepotism—would also become irritated and force us to work even more overtime.
Exactly like he was doing now.
“All right, everyone, back to work! We have to beat Wish Guild!”
It was already past quitting time, yet Director Oh actually said that nonsense.
With no other choice, everyone began working overtime with their shoulders drooping.
Around ten at night, employees started leaving one after another.
Eventually, I was the last one remaining.
I stood up to leave as well.
But Director Oh, who had stayed behind lounging around and playing games, gestured for me to come over.
“Come here for a second.”
I wanted to pretend I hadn't heard him.
Unfortunately, I couldn't.
So I reluctantly walked over.
“You know how much I care about you, right, Kim Suyeon?”
“……”
“I’ll introduce you to a man.”
“What?!”
“Honestly, he’s almost too good for someone like you. He’s a little older, but everything else about him is decent.”
“……”
“Why are you making that face? You don’t like older men? He’s only twelve years older than you. Ah, he has been divorced twice, though. But unlike women, it’s not really a flaw when a man has been divorced twice, right? Besides, everything else about him is excellent. It’s not like he’s an orphan and temporary employee like you.”
“……”
“And that man is…”
Director Oh grinned.
His yellow teeth, stained from years of smoking, came into view.
“Me!”
I was now absolutely convinced.
Even if I turned this bastard into a completely charred piece of dried fish right here and now, the judge would definitely declare me innocent.
That didn't mean I actually turned Director Oh into a completely charred piece of dried fish.
Hmm.
To be perfectly honest, I did turn him into something pretty close to it.
Which was why I restored him afterward.
≪Heal≫
I wanted nothing more than to leave him like that.
But—
There might not be CCTV inside the office, but considering the circumstances, they’ll figure out that I did this to him.
Then everyone would discover that I was a Hunter.
No way!
However, there was another problem.
Director Oh might remember the attack he'd just suffered.
In that case…
Pouring all the resentment that had accumulated inside me over the years into my fist, I slammed it satisfyingly into the head of the unconscious Director Oh.
“Agh!”
Director Oh opened his eyes with a very satisfying scream.
Before his half-closed eyes could properly focus on me—
≪Hypnosis≫
I used the skill.
It didn't work against people who were particularly strong or intelligent, so I had barely used it in my previous life.
Director Oh isn’t either of those things.
It should work just fine.
“After I left work, you were playing games alone. Then you fell over and knocked yourself unconscious.”
“Yes……”
“And after getting hurt like this, you’re going to hate coming to the office from now on.”
“Yes……”
Since I’m already hypnotizing him, I’d love to tell him to become a good person from now on.
But if I implanted too many ideas that were completely different from his normal personality, the hypnosis itself might break.
I needed to tell him something similar to how he already lived.
“From now on, keep chain-smoking, never brush your teeth, and eat lots and lots and lots of unhealthy foods full of sugar, fat, and sodium.”
May you live a long, disease-ridden life!
