Chapter 7
In the end, the Gate at the construction site was left to the other Devil Hunters, not Han Seorin.
Baek Seol-a handcuffed Han Seorin, then led her down from the building with a gun pointed at her back.
She put Han Seorin in the back seat of a van parked near the construction site, then got into the passenger seat.
‘What are those people up to all of a sudden…….’
I watched the scene through the mirror, stunned.
Reawakening is a phenomenon in which an Awakened Devil Hunter awakens again and gains new abilities.
It’s so rare that it’s considered valuable for research, but…….
Even so, detaining Han Seorin while devils were crossing through the Gate……
Even I had to admit that was a decision beyond all common sense.
A little while later, a middle-aged man started driving.
Baek Seol-a glanced at Han Seorin, who was sweating nervously, in the rearview mirror and spoke to her.
“The process is a little rough, but please don’t worry. We have absolutely no intention of hurting you.”
“……You’re already pointing a gun at me, and you’re saying that?”
“Some reawakened Devil Hunters become reckless, trusting in their own strength. Of course, I’m sure you’re not that foolish, Ms. Han Seorin. This is only a formality, so I hope you’ll understand.”
“…….”
A metal partition separated the front and back seats.
The interior looked like a police car, and Han Seorin seemed completely unable to trust Baek Seol-a.
As Han Seorin nervously shook her leg, I spoke into her mind.
“Han Seorin, don’t worry too much. They’ll never find out you made a contract with a devil.”
“…….”
Han Seorin gave a slight nod at my words.
The car jolted a few times, and the scenery outside the window changed again and again.
At last, when the car stopped in the Association’s underground parking lot, Baek Seol-a led Han Seorin to the elevator.
She pressed the buttons for the third and fifth basement levels in turn, then finally pressed the close button.
Then the elevator stopped at the fourth basement level, which wasn’t even on the panel, and she dragged Han Seorin outside.
“……Where are we?”
“That’s a secret. But you’ll see soon enough.”
Just as Baek Seol-a had said, the place looked like a secret laboratory.
A gray hallway dimly lit by overhead lights.
Countless people in white lab coats passed in and out, and the sound of welding came from beyond the doors.
Han Seorin and Baek Seol-a opened a steel door at the very end of the hallway and went inside.
-Zzzzzing.
“Ms. Baek Seol-a, you’re here. The reawakening examination is ready.”
“Good. Thank you for your work. Ms. Han Seorin, please do whatever this person tells you from here on.”
Baek Seol-a gestured with both hands toward a male researcher with short black hair.
The male researcher tapped at the tablet in his hand and spoke without much interest.
“Let’s start with a potential assessment. Ms. Han Seorin, please step into the examination pod.”
“…….”
Having decided there was no way to escape, Han Seorin
obediently decided to follow the researcher’s instructions.
*
A long time passed.
After Han Seorin finished the examination and sank onto the sofa, Baek Seol-a smiled and offered her a cup of coffee.
Just as Han Seorin silently accepted the coffee……
The male researcher tapped his tablet a few times, then jumped to his feet with a shocked expression.
“Th-this……! Ms. Baek Seol-a, take a look at this!”
When Baek Seol-a tilted her head, the male researcher hurried over and showed her the tablet screen.
The corners of Baek Seol-a’s mouth slowly fell.
“……You’re saying she didn’t reawaken?”
“That’s right! Ms. Han Seorin’s combat rank was assessed as C-rank, with no margin of error! And we didn’t detect the genetic markers found in reawakened Hunters!”
“That’s strange. Someone who hasn’t reawakened suddenly becomes a completely different person and starts exterminating devils?”
“But that’s not all. Ms. Han Seorin’s potential rank has been deemed impossible to measure!”
“……What?”
Baek Seol-a’s eyes widened, and she hurriedly pushed her glasses up.
The male researcher then elaborated.
“As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with the testing equipment itself. Ms. Han Seorin’s mana circuits are ordinary, and her physical abilities are also at a C-rank level.”
“…….”
“But if you look at this graph, it shows that Ms. Han Seorin has no growth limit! No matter how talented someone is, we can measure their limit, but there’s no sign of one for her! This is a result that’s never appeared in the Association’s records for any of its 320,000 Devil Hunters!”
“……Ahaha, Ms. Han Seorin. You’re quite an extraordinary person. I had no idea you were that remarkable.”
Baek Seol-a turned her gaze toward Han Seorin with a hollow laugh.
She unlocked the handcuffs around Han Seorin’s arms and continued in a sincere voice.
“Even if you had reawakened, I was planning to take you in. But the fact that you’re a Devil Hunter with no growth limit, despite not having reawakened, makes you all the more appealing.”
“……What’s going to happen to me?”
When Han Seorin asked in a worried voice, Baek Seol-a smiled warmly at her.
“What do you mean? Extermination Division, Section 5 will invest all its resources and funds in you, so you can become an S-rank Hunter who represents our section.”
“An S-rank Hunter?! Me……?”
“Hehe, I apologize for being rude earlier. I failed to recognize a future S-rank Devil Hunter and treated you discourteously. Please accept my apology.”
Baek Seol-a placed a hand over her chest and bowed politely.
……The renowned future S-rank Devil Hunter Baek Seol-a was bowing to C-rank Devil Hunter Han Seorin.
I wondered if this, too, was an effect of the devil’s power, and in that moment I grew even more afraid of my own strength.
*
Meanwhile, Han Seorin was still dazed by everything that had happened.
Clutching the envelope of money Baek Seol-a had given her, she returned to the Association lounge.
It contained two million won as compensation for the operation and an apology for the trouble she’d been put through.
‘Can I really accept this? Such a huge sum…….’
She passed through the lounge, took the elevator, and reached the floor where the suite was located.
The moment Han Seorin opened the door to her room.
-Paaang!
““Happy birthday……!””
“Aah! You scared me!”
Her siblings greeted her noisily, setting off party poppers right from the entrance.
Her siblings dragged her into the living room.
On the living room table sat a chocolate cake from Han Seorin’s favorite bakery.
“We bought it at a bakery outside the Association! We used up our hard-earned emergency money to get it!”
“I told you not to go outside on your own! Why would you risk your lives just to buy something like this…….”
……Huh.
Han Seorin’s eyes grew moist, and tears began rolling down her cheeks.
Why was she crying?
Han Seorin didn’t know why she was crying.
She only felt so deeply grateful.
“S-Sis?! Why are you crying all of a sudden!? Did something happen?”
“……Ah, no. I just got back from exterminating a devil that makes people cry uncontrollably. I’m still like this.”
“Wow, Sis. You’re the best! Then all that’s left is for us to laugh, right?!”
-Hug.
“That’s right. All that’s left is for us to laugh.”
Han Seorin hugged her three younger siblings tightly and began to cry her heart out.
……Even so, she forced herself to smile and patted her siblings on the back.
She couldn’t help but feel happy.
Her life had changed so suddenly, even though she’d been nothing more than an overlooked C-rank Devil Hunter.
And at the heart of that happiness was Asmode, the one she’d made a contract with.
Though Asmode hadn’t spoken to her directly, Han Seorin felt that Asmode was still watching over her.
‘Thank you. Thank you so much, Lady Asmode.’
From that day on, Han Seorin’s life changed completely.
“……Field infiltration complete. Begin extermination.”
Inside an abandoned factory on the outskirts of central Seoul.
Han Seorin and two of her teammates kicked open the factory doors and went inside.
There was one devil at the scene, a monster that looked like a centaur and was five times her size.
-Kiyaaaak!
A C-rank devil with a helmet in place of a bull’s head, clad in armor and armed with a spear and shield.
Han Seorin had only fought D-rank devils until now, so this was her first time fighting a C-rank devil.
……But.
For some reason, she didn’t feel nervous or afraid.
Until now, Han Seorin had fought only for the money.
Now she could fight with a sense of duty and pride.
Because someone believed in her.
Because someone shared their power with her.
Han Seorin was no longer alone when she fought devils.
She boldly unfurled her whip and charged at the centaur-like devil.
-Slash!
Her precise attack severed the centaur’s upper and lower halves.
“Impossible……!”
“She took out a C-rank devil that easily!”
“……Mission complete. I’ll report back to the Association.”
In less than a minute, Han Seorin reported that the mission was complete and that she would return to the Association.
Baek Seol-a, who had been watching her through a live bodycam feed, smiled from her office.
“I’m glad we brought someone like her onto our team.”
Baek Seol-a contentedly picked up the mug on her desk and took a sip of coffee.
For some reason, the coffee tasted especially sweet and rich today.
*
‘That girl’s completely hooked.’
Meanwhile, I watched through the mirror as Han Seorin, full of fighting spirit, exterminated the devil.
From the crack of dawn until evening, she was sent to sites where devils had appeared and exterminated them.
It was certainly praiseworthy that Han Seorin was working hard and building up her accomplishments, but……
‘If she keeps this up, her transformation into a devil will progress even faster.’
And sure enough.
A status window appeared before my eyes.
[Notification: Your contractor has defeated a devil!]
[Recovering the souls of the defeated devils.]
[Souls in Possession]
[Low-Rank Souls: 375]
[Mid-Rank Souls: 31]
[Time until bodily collapse: 2 days 21 hours 17 minutes 9 seconds]
[‘Han Seorin’s’ soul erosion rate has increased from 7% to 16%!]
‘……As expected. This won’t do.’
Sixteen percent.
It wasn’t enough to cause any major changes yet, but Han Seorin’s soul erosion rate had more than doubled in just a few days.
……At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it reached 100%.
On top of that, the time until my body collapsed was once again running short.
If I had to stop either soul erosion or my body’s collapse first, I’d obviously deal with my body’s collapse.
‘Once Han Seorin returns to the suite, I’ll talk to her about it. For now, I’ll deal with my body’s collapse first.’
Having made up my mind, I clicked the Soul Shop button in the status window and scrolled down.
[Low-Rank Contractor Draw Ticket]
[Price: 300 Low-Rank Souls]
- Randomly detects the prayers of humans with strong survival instincts, allowing you to make soul contracts.
‘At last, it’s time to buy this.’
Low-Rank Contractor Draw Ticket.
……It said that the more contractors I had, the more time I’d have before my body collapsed.
I felt bad for Han Seorin, but the souls she brought in were only enough to maintain the status quo.
Wouldn’t soul collection speed up even more as I gained more contractors?
I decided to take a gamble.
I had no idea who I’d draw, but I wouldn’t let them die, just like Han Seorin.
Having steeled my resolve, I pressed the button.
-Click!
[Notification: You have purchased a Low-Rank Contractor Draw Ticket!]
[Low-Rank Souls: 375 -> 75]
-Gulp,
Just what kind of contractor would I meet this time?
It was a moment when even I, the Contract Administrator, felt nervous.