Chapter 11
Arrogant and greedy behavior.
A man who always wanted to stand above others, yet never reached the pinnacle in anything.
Lee Ho-jin.
It had remained a kind of trauma for him.
The moment he finally found himself unable to break through the wall to S-rank, even in the Hunter profession he thought was his calling.
What he chose was to lash out and destroy.
Unable to control his anger then and there, he killed one supervisor and two researchers,
then killed a janitor and fled the Association.
Even so, the underworld sent him quite a few offers.
An A-rank Hunter was a valuable asset.
More than anything, he knew that himself and thought he could use his authority.
So he founded an organization.
Its goal was petty in the extreme.
If I can't become S-rank, I can drag everyone else down.
Even if I can't climb higher myself, I just have to be above everyone else.
To satisfy that twisted desire, he put his name on the line and didn't care whether his members committed murder or rape.
As long as he could tarnish other Hunters' reputations and make them believe they were beneath him, nothing else mattered.
That was why Lee Ho-jin now looked at the woman before him and asked,
“What rank are you guys? If you managed to wound me while coming to arrest me, are you S-rank?”
“Is your view of the world really that narrow?”
“…What?”
“How many S-ranks are there in Korea? You can't even tell? Or did you deliberately not look?”
The platinum-blonde woman spoke as if it were obvious.
Then she snapped her fingers, and—
Horns suddenly sprouted from her head, and a scaled tail emerged from behind her.
‘…A demi-human?’
There weren't many in Korea, but demi-humans did exist.
However, the woman before him felt fundamentally different.
Besides, her gaze wasn't fixed on him, but boring into his chest.
As if she were bewitched by something.
“I'm C-rank. Still, I'll soon be national-level, so consider yourself honored.”
“….”
At that, a vein bulged on Lee Ho-jin's forehead.
C-rank?
Not A-rank, not even B-rank, but C-rank?
Whoosh!—
Overcome with rage, Lee Ho-jin swung his brass-knuckled fist at the woman before him.
But she didn't even try to dodge as she spoke.
“Ha-eun. Take care of the others coming from behind.”
“Y-Yes!”
Tap—
“I'll take the World Tree's Leaf.”
***
I caught the incoming fist and looked at Lee Ho-jin.
They'd asked me to capture him alive if possible.
Blowing up his head like a monster's was easy, but capturing him that delicately was quite a difficult request for me.
It hadn't mattered with Terra, since she was so tough… but humans weren't like that.
“The World Tree's Leaf? Ha! So that's what you want?”
Thud—
Clang!—
Clang!—
He stepped back, then immediately continued attacking with his knuckles held out in front.
Was that Lee Ho-jin's artifact?
After watching his fists a few times, I could tell.
Those attacks carried through to the inside.
A style that burst you from within and killed you.
Sneaky, but quite efficient.
But his attacks came in too straight.
I could dodge and hit him from the side to end it right away, but…
[Withdrawal 300,000 won - Details: [Physical Enhancement - Gold] skill usage fee]
I wanted to see more of that treasure's effects.
Bang!—
“Ghk….”
I countered his incoming attack with my fist.
Beyond the brilliant golden shockwave, I felt his bones shatter through my fingertips.
“Your fists hit like a bitch, you crazy woman… Is that your ability?”
“….”
The World Tree's Leaf glowed again, and I heard the creepy sound of his broken bones knitting back together.
Rapid recovery, huh.
Like a zombie.
Still, it was a good ability, of course, but it must have limits.
Shall I check?
“You're taking too long.”
I slid forward and grabbed Lee Ho-jin by the shoulder.
Then, with a crunch, his bone came loose.
“Ghk…!”
But the glowing World Tree's Leaf set his dislocated shoulder back into place.
So it could roughly heal relatively serious injuries, too.
Abrasions, fractures, dislocations… all within its limits.
Then what was the price?
Or did it have a limit on how many times it could be used?
Tap!—
He leapt high, thrust one leg out, and came crashing down.
Seeing energy gather at its tip, I jumped back a step.
KWA-BOOOOM!—
A huge crater formed where Lee Ho-jin landed.
Crack—
At the same time, I saw that one of his legs had broken from failing to withstand the impact.
He trusted in rapid recovery and launched an attack that even his body couldn't withstand…
That might be one way of exceeding one's limits, but relying on a tool for it would inevitably cause problems.
The treasure is mine to wield and control.
I mustn't let the treasure wield me.
The more dependent he became, the more he would fade away.
Swish!—
Right after that, I saw a quick roundhouse kick flying toward me.
It was aimed straight at my head, but it looked slow to me.
Thud!—
“Huh?”
I grabbed that leg and slammed him onto the floor.
Then I pressed hard on his chest with my left hand so he couldn't get back up, and—
Wham!—
drove my fist into his face.
His nose burst with blood, but then healed again.
Smack!—
This time his teeth came out, but they healed too.
Thump!—
Blood pooled in his eyes, then they healed again.
Even his concussion healed.
He even regained consciousness.
“W-Wait—!”
Wham!—
Wham!—
- Boss…?
- Shouldn't someone stop her??
- [BeardedGuard] This can happen when adrenaline kicks in during a fight
- Where'd Fire Sword Guy go!! Fire Sword Guy!!
- Emergency!!!!
Adrenaline?
No.
I was just testing the performance of the treasure that would soon be mine.
“…!”
Just as I was about to throw another punch, he got up quickly and put some distance between us.
I'd been too focused on the World Tree's Leaf and hadn't seen his hand.
“A gun?”
He had a pistol in his right hand.
Guns had lost their prominence with the advent of the Hunter era, but they were still deadly weapons to humans.
Besides, there were anti-Hunter firearms, too.
Of course—
“Man, this is so damn lacking in romance.”
I'm not an ordinary human, though.
“Guys, donate if you agree.”
Tap—
I charged at him.
Startled, he pulled the trigger at me.
Bang!—
Bang!—
[Withdrawal 200,000 won - Details: [Dragon Eye Awakening] skill usage fee]
I twisted my body, tracking the paths of the incoming bullets.
I dodged the first round and deflected the second and third with my fingertips.
While his expression filled with shock, I reached him and placed one hand over the other on his chest, then—
[Withdrawal 200,000 won - Details: [Shockwave] skill usage fee]
BANG!—
“Guhk—!”
When I gathered energy and released it in an explosion, a brilliant burst of light passed through his body and shot out of his back.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed, so I planted my foot on his chest.
Then I was about to slam my fist down once more, but the World Tree's Leaf no longer shone.
Had the mana in his body run dry, or had he used up his allotted number of activations?
Or perhaps I'd wrecked his insides so badly that a mere leaf couldn't heal him.
Thud—
I roughly tore the necklace from the unconscious man's neck.
“Pretty.”
A green jewel that shimmered brilliantly in the shape of a leaf.
The World Tree's Leaf was in my hands.
At that moment, a status window appeared, and—
[You have acquired the treasure “World Tree's Leaf.”]
[The World Tree recognizes you.]
[Treasure Collection: 0.2%]
For the first time since returning to Earth, my collection percentage had gone up.
But… the World Tree recognizes me?
“Unnie! …Unnie?”
“…Oh, yeah? Is that side done?”
“Uh… Y-Yes. I also found and rescued the civilians who'd been kidnapped, but… um….”
Ha-eun swallowed hard when she saw Lee Ho-jin collapsed unconscious on the floor.
“…You didn't kill him, did you?”
“Hey, hey. I'm not that barbaric, am I? He's alive and well. I made sure to avoid the vital spots.”
“….”
“Just cuff him or call someone, Ha-eun.”
More importantly, I wanted to focus on this jewel.
Its surface glowed emerald green, but inside I could feel the vast life energy contained within this little jewel.
Ah… so this was what he'd used to recover.
So it recharges.
Does it refill its own life force?
More than anything, its surface was warm.
And it was gorgeous.
“Haaah….”
- Boss, you can't keep your expression under control
- Shut up and look, this is important
- That was a good one
- Gaspㅋㅋ Haaahㅋㅋㅋ
It was then, while I was so focused on the World Tree's Leaf that I hadn't even paid attention to the chat.
[HarvestBumper donated 1,000,000 won!]
- ??
- What?
- 1 million won??
- Whoa, a big spender ㄷㄷ
“Huh? One…?”
A huge donation suddenly came in, and I turned my head.
[Check your whispers, Boss, urgent]
- Take your flirting elsewhere
- Fuckㅋㅋ Trying to butter her up like this
- I-I think a million is enough to hear them out…
- [GonnaDie] That's shameless, trying to buy her with money, meow. Ban them, meow.
Normally, buddy-buddy stuff deserved an instant ban.
Hmm… for a million… maybe it's worth hearing them out once?
- [GonnaDie] Look at that face, Boss is hopeless too, meow.
Tap—
[HarvestBumper]
[Greetings. My username is HarvestBumper. The reason I'm contacting you is that you've acquired a treasure belonging to us elves…]
Why were they suddenly using formal speech?
And… “us elves”?
***
The Elven Holy Kingdom, located in the Taebaek Mountains of South Korea.
Silvaria, its queen, had recently developed a new and unusual hobby.
Namely, watching a certain dragon's stream.
Dragons were often depicted as demons to the elves of the Holy Kingdom.
And so, as she watched the stream, she felt a strange sense of guilt and quietly searched her thoughts.
‘This absolutely isn't slacking off! As queen, I'm monitoring the situation outside and keeping an eye on dangerous creatures… that's all!….’
And, as one might guess from the fact that their country was located within South Korea,
the elves had already integrated with humans to some extent.
Naturally, they used the internet as a matter of course.
In the first place, though it was called a country, it would be more accurate to regard it as an autonomous district about the size of a city.
The South Korean government held actual diplomatic authority, after all.
And so, after finishing her work, Silvaria spent her free time watching streams like this.
Of course, not every issue concerning their race and country had been resolved…
Still, the elves themselves weren't particularly opposed to the situation.
They, too, knew the circumstances of having been dropped into an unfamiliar world.
They also felt that they needed more time.
Above all, they were quite grateful that their interests aligned well with those of South Korea, where they'd first arrived.
Especially given the rumors of what had happened to the Dark Elves who'd tried to settle in neighboring China.
Anyway, that day, too, she was watching the stream and drinking something called cola she'd gotten through interacting with humans, when—
[Just cuff him or call someone, Ha-eun.]
A familiar green jewel caught her eye on the other side of the screen.
“Pfft—Th-That…?”
Mother's leaf.
Shortly after arriving here, she had once sold exactly thirty leaves, carefully selected with a heavy heart, to raise the funds they lacked.
One of the leaves that had been scattered far and wide back then.
And the instant she saw it—
the World Tree, which had been silent for years, spoke to Silvaria.
It said it had sensed it the moment that person touched its leaf.
And that he could solve the problem now facing the elves.
The greatest problem they faced was… Mother withering away.
“I understand what you mean, Mother. However, that person is a dragon. There will surely be fierce opposition from within….”
In response, the World Tree said it understood their long-standing traditions and trauma, but they shouldn't judge by race.
“That's true. But—… I understand. I'll try to arrange an opportunity. However, the others won't be pleased.”
Then, at the World Tree's next words, she let out a faint laugh.
“Heh heh… That's right. Even if the others don't, I can understand that dragon at least a little.”
With that, she nodded and opened the donation window, entering an amount of one million won.
[Huh? One…?]
Then she sent the dragon a long message in a whisper.
The final sentence of the message was:
[Mother also asked that we prepare a rare treasure to bestow upon you.]
It would be best to dangle a little bait as well.
And when she heard the reply, Silvaria couldn't help but be shocked.
[Uh, thanks. But I don't have very good memories of pointy-ears—I mean, elves. Are you sure that's okay?]
“…Did he just call us pointy-ears?”
Mother, is this really all right?
I feel like I just heard a rather racist remark.