Chapter 2
The next morning.
Clunk-
“Once we get there, I’ll show you how to use the drone first.”
“Yeah….”
“…Unnie, just in case, you’re not upset, are you?”
“Hm? No, no. Yawn… I’m just a little tired.”
Having used magic to hide my horns and tail, I was riding with Ha-eun in the car the Association had prepared for us.
I don’t know if all Awakened are like this, but she has a pretty unusual appearance, too.
Red hair and eyes.
At least, it’s not an appearance you see often in Korea.
Does Awakening affect even things like this?
“You’re tired?”
“Yeah… I didn’t turn off the stream after you went to bed yesterday. I was at it almost all night.”
“…D-don’t tell me it was because of the money?”
Thanks to scraping together every last bit of money I could overnight, I barely got any sleep.
[150,750 won]
Still, somehow, I managed to scrape together 150,000 won.
It still wasn’t much to spend on skills, but considering I’d been begging in front of the camera… I’d worked hard enough.
“Well… according to Association policy, I… couldn’t lend you money. I’m sorry….”
“Yeah, I understand. Yawn….”
“But… are you going to be okay? You look really tired.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m a dragon, you know?”
“…You seem pretty proud of that.”
Well, dragons are a species with a strong sense of self-worth, so she wasn’t wrong.
Any dragon you met would have a great deal of pride in their species.
Of course, sometimes that pride could get so excessive that it became a problem.
“But… unnie. You definitely got enough in support funds. Where did all that money…?”
“Where do you think the streaming equipment came from? I spent it on that. I’m the type who doesn’t hesitate to invest in what I need.”
“Oh….”
After chatting about things like that for a while, the car soon stopped at the entrance to a mountain.
It looked like the Gate was somewhere inside.
“Okay… unnie, look here. Press the recording start button, and once it recognizes you….”
Following Ha-eun’s instructions, I started up the drone.
It rose into the air and filmed me. I found it quite fascinating.
“The tech’s pretty good.”
Even to me, humanity had achieved so many innovations in just thirty years that it was practically a leap forward.
They’d even reached the point of partially controlling Gates now.
Of course, most of that had probably been achieved through bloodshed.
“Would it be okay if I turned on the stream?”
“Huh?”
“Since we’re doing this anyway, I thought it’d be nice to turn on the stream, too.”
I asked, holding my Hunter Watch out toward Ha-eun.
These days, Hunter streams were all the rage.
They were one of the few ways to watch the inside of a Gate up close, something ordinary people couldn’t experience for themselves.
However, that only applied to people who’d officially received Hunter licenses.
Strictly speaking, I still didn’t have permission to stream.
At that, Park Ha-eun looked at me for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.
“…If you want to turn it on, go ahead.”
“Oh.”
Normally, that wouldn’t be allowed, but every rule had its exceptions.
And right now, the woman standing before Park Ha-eun was one of them.
‘Her strength is impossible to gauge.’
‘Do not provoke her.’
Those were the instructions that had come down from above.
That was why she’d even been ready to lend me money yesterday, but then another email came from higher up.
It said lending me money was prohibited.
She didn’t really know why, but as an employee caught in the middle, all she could do was follow orders.
[Gold Dragon’s Hunter Stream]
[Goldie]
[4 viewers]
“Hey~”
Regardless, I turned on the stream using my Hunter Watch, and a chat window appeared beside me as a hologram.
- Oh, what is this
- A Hunter stream?
- Did the boss finally get a job?
- Sob, today you woke up without your mom having to wake you
“Okay, we’ve got a guest today, too. Ah, can I tell them your nickname?”
“Uh… yes, yes. That’s fine.”
“This is Fire Sword. Give her a round of applause.”
- ?
- What, is the boss buddying up?
- Buddying up gets you banned
- So from now on, this stream is ruled by FireSwordRules?
- You kept calling her unnie, and she really was a woman?
- So she wasn’t an unnie (with a ding-dong)…
- Honestly, I’m more into her than the boss
The moment she appeared on the stream, the chat filled up with nonsense at lightning speed.
At the sight, I let out a deep sigh and said,
“You can say whatever you want to me, but don’t sexually harass her. Okay?”
- Gasp
- Does that mean we’re allowed to do it to the boss?
- Heh heh heh
“You little punks… Ah. How about this, then? I’ll let the person who donates the most get away with it once.”
As I said that, rubbing my fingers together, Ha-eun beside me fidgeted nervously and said,
“U-Unnie! Let’s hurry up and get going. We don’t have much time!…”
“Oh, right. Anyway, she’s helping me out today!”
The mountain we started climbing felt like an ordinary hill at first, but the farther we went, the more I could sense it.
A faint ripple of mana.
It was probably coming from the Gate.
“…Unnie?”
It was the first time since coming to Earth that I’d felt such familiar energy. Entranced, I walked ahead of Ha-eun.
I can sense treasure.
“Heh….”
For the first time in a while, my heart started to pound.
***
“This is the Gate?”
After arriving in front of the Gate, I looked around and asked.
“Y-yes!….”
“Hmm… It really does look like the air’s been torn open.”
- What rank Gate is it?
- They said it’s her first Gate, so F-rank?
- Would a self-proclaimed Archdragon go to an F-rank Gate? lol
- What? Big head?
- They do look kinda big-headed…
“Big-head comments, get out. From what I heard, it’s a D-rank? Something like that.”
“To be exact… considering your measured stats, we came to a somewhat challenging place.”
“Heh, I am pretty strong.”
I think I’d heard that rookie Hunters usually worked their way up, starting from F-rank Gates.
Of course, even so, I couldn’t imagine there’d be anything particularly impressive here.
“All right, before we go in, let’s get some donations. Donate, and we might go in faster?”
- Here she goes again
- The prettiest streamer is the one who keeps her mouth shut…
[NewbieSensitivity donated 10,000 won!]
[Let’s go]
“Okay, ten thousand won! Anyone else?”
- [NewbieSensitivity] Fuck, no reaction?
- Reactions start at 100,000 won
- Bullshit lol
- Do you even know the viewers had to beg you to take that?
- “Begging” sounds kinda dirty, damn
“Unnie, we should get going.”
“Huh? Wait—”
As I was hard at work fishing for donations at the entrance, Ha-eun grabbed my arm and headed toward the Gate as if she couldn’t take it anymore.
I could’ve resisted if I’d wanted to… but she was a B-rank Hunter, after all.
I pretended to be dragged along.
Swoosh-
The moment we entered the Gate.
I felt as if my body had floated for a moment.
I’d felt this somewhere before.
It was definitely similar to the feeling I’d had when I returned….
Thud-
“Oh… so this is what it’s like?”
“A lot of people find it fascinating the first time. Unnie, you….”
“All right, then. The screen-on fee starts at 150,000 won.”
“….”
“Oh, sorry. Where were we?”
There was a strange hint of bloodlust in the faint smile she gave me, as if to say that I should go ahead and do whatever I wanted.
“Ahem….”
I cleared my throat and looked around.
It’s scariest when a normally nice person gets angry….
“Anyway, is this a forest?”
Since we’d been in the mountains before crossing the Gate, you might think it was more or less the same, but the atmosphere itself was subtly different.
“The tree species are different. The air is different, too.”
“You can tell even that?”
“There were trees that reacted to treasure, too. I can tell a little. Smelling the air now, there are probably monsters mixed in among the trees.”
A faint stench of rot was mixed in with the smell of grass.
Something must have been eaten.
“Wow….”
- The boss really has an insane nose
- The boss really is a dog…
- ?
- Don’t say mean stuff like calling Goldie a doggggg
- So when are you turning the screen on?
[DorumukHunter donated 100,000 won!]
[Goldie, there are over 100 viewers. Turn the screen on already]
“Huh?”
A hundred people?
At that, I fiddled with the interface and saw,
[102 viewers]
The viewer count had really gone over a hundred.
“H-Hunter streams have a limited number of streamers, so when one first comes on….”
“Ah-ha.”
I got what she meant.
They came to check out the newbie?
So that’s why the chat looked like this.
- Are you a newbie? Say hello
- Why the hell is your screen off?
- Newbie! Newbie! Newbie! Newbie! Newbie!
- All right, let’s gooooo
- Dragon? Another delusional Hunter?
The chat was moving even more frantically than usual.
Well, now there was only one thing to do.
Beep-
- Oh, it’s on
- Wow, she’s fucking pretty
- Unnie, your voice is pretty too ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- Where’d the dragon go?
“Okay, everyone calm down and listen. This is important.”
When I smiled and waved as I spoke, the chat fell silent for a moment.
Then, at my next words…
“It’s a donation event. The person who donates the most gets to see me use one skill they want. Of course, I’ll decide how powerful it is!”
- …?
- ?
- ?
- Look at everyone being stunned lol
- Ahhh, this is Goldie, newbies
- The viewers have completely lost it
A flood of hook emotes appeared.
Well.
It’s my stream!
I get to do what I want.
Kieek?-
“Hm? What are those, goblins?”
Just then, several small green monsters leaped out from between the trees.
They looked exactly like typical goblins, carrying crude clubs or swords.
The timing wasn’t bad.
“You want to see me fight, right?”
- Let’s goooo
- But what about a weapon?
- No artifact?
“Artifact? Oh, a weapon exclusive to Hunters? I don’t have one. I don’t need one, either.”
Kieek?-
From what I’d heard during my reintegration training, Hunters received a dedicated weapon called an artifact when they Awakened.
Of course, I hadn’t Awakened, and I was a dragon to begin with, so I didn’t have one.
Kieeek!-
“It’s been a while since I fought guys as pathetic as goblins.”
What use would a dragon have for a weapon?
A dragon’s very existence is a weapon—a living armament.
[Withdrawal 100,000 won - Details: [Acceleration] skill usage fee]
[160,750 won]
Bang!-
- What
- Where’d she go?
- ?
Crack!-
In an instant, I disappeared from the screen and, with my body accelerated to great speed, swung my fist at a goblin.
Unable to withstand the impact, its head burst like a balloon.
‘Thank goodness.’
With that little money, I could only muster that much power.
Honestly, I was lucky my opponent was a goblin with soft skin.
If a troll had shown up, I might’ve blown through all my money in one go.
Thwack!-
Crunch-
Before the other goblins could even react to their comrade’s death, I charged forward and swung my fist.
One, two.
From my perspective, I was attacking them one after another, but…
“….”
- Um…
- What is this
On the screen, which had only just started showing the action, it would look as though every goblin’s head had burst and they’d all died in the blink of an eye.
Like a dazzling fireworks display.
“Phew, perfect for a warm-up!”
The blood that sprayed out pattered down behind me.
For a Hunter debut, it was a pretty flashy performance, and the chat and Park Ha-eun froze for a moment.