Chapter 6
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Blue dokkaebi flames began appearing around me.
“W-what is that!?”
The policewoman was startled by the dokkaebi flames appearing around me and stepped back.
Beside me, Kim Hye-seong let out a word, his face full of shock.
“You awakened…?”
Just as he said, this strange phenomenon was the moment of awakening, which occurred when someone with mana turned seventeen.
The kind of ability someone had could be guessed from the strange phenomenon that appeared during their awakening.
In my case—that is, Yoo Seol-a’s case—it was safe to say that I could use abilities related to dokkaebi.
—Of course, as the Dokkaebi Princess, my powers were tremendous.
[Our princess. I have only awakened you temporarily, and there is a time limit. Please resolve this as quickly as possible…]
‘Thank you for helping me.’
[Think nothing of it, our princess.]
Thanks to the temporary awakening, I felt power surging through my entire body.
More than anything, the mana that had simply been stored in one place spread rapidly throughout my body with my awakening, and I could feel just how incredible Yoo Seol-a’s innate power was.
“Please step back, officers. I’ll take care of things from here.”
“A-Are you a Hunter!?”
“No. I’m an aspiring Hunter.”
“Then how can you use your ability…?”
“I’ll explain after we take care of the immediate danger.”
Since the Lizardman Warrior could attack at any moment, I ended the conversation there.
Clap.
I clapped my hands once.
A translucent, blue-glowing barrier enveloped the police officers and Kim Hye-seong, shielding them.
It was a protective barrier created through sorcery, one of the Dokkaebi Princess’s abilities.
I tried copying the pose Yoo Seol-a used in the story, and thankfully, it worked.
“That will protect you. Don’t come out—just stay where you are, everyone.”
Leaving them with those words, I walked toward the Lizardman Warrior.
When I approached, it stared at me, then—
“Kerrk.”
It laughed at me.
Apparently, it thought someone as small as me was funny.
Honestly, I understood why it reacted that way.
In the story, Yoo Seol-a was portrayed as an extraordinarily beautiful and cute girl, and even when she was twenty, several characters said much the same thing to her.
Of course, I hadn’t expected her to be this tiny and precious, like a little rabbit.
That was why the Lizardman Warrior, a brave warrior among the Lizardmen, looked at me and laughed.
—After all, wouldn’t it be funny to see such a tiny creature challenge someone two meters tall?
But that was its fatal mistake.
The dokkaebi from folklore had two abilities: ‘superhuman strength and sorcery.’
Naturally, I could use both, and since I had mana equivalent to that of an S-rank Hunter, my abilities were extremely powerful.
So, for example—
“Hup!”
Whoosh! Thud!!
If I clenched my fist and struck the Lizardman Warrior in the stomach with all my strength—
“Guh…!?”
Thud!
Even a brave, well-trained warrior like that had no choice but to groan and fall to its knees.
The dokkaebi’s ‘superhuman strength’ had been greatly amplified by my immense mana, and the punch had landed beautifully.
‘Not bad.’
Even though the Lizardman Warrior’s stomach had looked solid, I didn’t feel any pain or numbness in my hand.
All I felt was the sensation of punching something firm yet soft.
【You have defeated a Lizardman Warrior.】
【Experience cannot be calculated while you are in a state of temporary awakening.】
Apparently, the Lizardman Warrior had died from my earlier attack.
Even with a temporary awakening, I had the power of an S-rank Hunter, so it seemed I could take down a Lizardman Warrior in a single hit.
More than that, it was a shame I couldn’t receive the experience points for defeating a monster right now.
The story I’d possessed myself into had a different concept from other Hunter stories with system windows: experience points weren’t tied to levels, but to abilities.
Experience points were what you needed to raise an ability’s rank, and the higher its rank, the greater the power it could wield.
I could defeat a Lizardman Warrior right after awakening because I had the mana of an S-rank Hunter. Normally, that wouldn’t have been possible.
I had to clear lower-rank Gates first and raise my ability’s rank before I could become a proper Hunter.
—Though if you were born with too little mana, you would eventually hit a wall.
‘First, I should clear out the Lizardmen surrounding the house.’
Snap.
I snapped my fingers.
It was a preparatory gesture for using dokkaebi sorcery.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure it would work, just like when I made the barrier earlier.
I’d only read about it, and as things stood, I didn’t know exactly how this sorcery was activated.
But if I could imitate it well enough, surely I could make the sorcery work somehow.
Dokkaebi sorcery began with the mysterious and supernatural.
It could create all sorts of treasures or weapons, control the weather to make it rain or snow, or control the weather more powerfully to cause natural disasters.
I thought of sorcery that could slaughter a large number of enemies while causing as little damage to the surroundings as possible.
Then I unleashed it.
‘Dokkaebi fire.’
The sorcery Yoo Seol-a used to kill a specific individual or a group without harming the surroundings.
Dokkaebi fire was the most basic form of dokkaebi sorcery—and could also be considered its ultimate form.
That was why it could be used as easily as breathing. And because it was so easy to control, it could kill one person or many without harming the surroundings.
That didn’t mean it was weak, either. It was a fearsome flame that would never go out unless the caster wanted it to, and it could erase its targets without leaving so much as a handful of ashes or a trace.
“Kieeek!!”
“Kraaagh!!”
As soon as I used the sorcery, cries like screams rang out from the Lizardmen outside the house.
Through the window, I saw the Lizardmen engulfed in blue flames.
‘It burns well.’
◈
【Temporary awakening has ended.】
As the notification window appeared before my eyes, the strength surging through me began to fade.
I’d braced myself for some sort of backlash, but thankfully, there wasn’t any.
“Citizen, are you a Hunter by any chance?”
The senior police officer approached me and cautiously asked whether I was a Hunter.
Since I obviously wasn’t one, I shook my head and explained what had happened earlier.
“If what you’re saying is true, then this is an unprecedented phenomenon.”
After hearing my explanation, he nodded with an amazed expression.
Honestly, just like the police officer said, I knew this was an unprecedented phenomenon.
I’d reread the story several times while waiting for the latest episode to be uploaded, so I knew better than anyone that the story had never mentioned anything called a temporary awakening.
“Still, thanks to your temporary awakening, all of us survived. We’ll make sure you’re rewarded for this. Thank you.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
I didn’t really need a reward, since it might attract unwanted attention, but hearing his gratitude warmed my heart.
I could only be grateful to the Dokkaebi Princess’s follower for granting me a temporary awakening after hearing my wish.
“That was amazing, Miss Seol-a! You were just like the heroes I admire! Whew~! If I’d had a temporary awakening too, I could’ve fought alongside you. It’s a shame!”
Kim Hye-seong approached, looking excited, clenched both fists, and rattled off his words.
Since he dreamed of becoming a great Hunter, he was already looking at me with sparkling eyes.
It was a little overwhelming, but it also felt good, as if my favorite character were being praised.
“Huh!? What’s with that hole in the house?!”
Just then, we heard someone else’s voice—not one of ours.
“Huh? Police officers and civilians?”
The owner of the voice came into the house through the hole the Lizardman Warrior had made earlier and spotted us.
“You must be one of the Hunters deployed here.”
“Ah, yes. I was patrolling this area. I saw some blue flames appear here while checking for anyone who hadn’t evacuated and for monsters, so I came to investigate.”
The person speaking was a Hunter dispatched by the Association.
From what he said, he must have seen the dokkaebi fire I’d used during my temporary awakening and come straight here.
“Was there a Hunter here? From that hole, it looks like you were attacked by monsters, but I don’t see any injured or dead people.”
“Ah, well… This citizen here underwent a temporary awakening and wiped out every monster that had come inside.”
“A temporary awakening…?”
The Hunter gave me a look at that unfamiliar explanation, then approached me.
“Miss, is that true?”
“It is.”
“You’re not an unregistered Hunter or anything, are you?”
“I’ll turn seventeen next year. So will my friend here.”
“Hmm…”
He didn’t seem convinced.
Well, that was only natural. A temporary awakening had never occurred in this world before.
But what could I do? It was true.
“If you don’t believe me, here’s my ID… Ah…”
I rummaged through my bag, but couldn’t find my ID.
I probably hadn’t brought it from home.
The morning had been hectic, and I’d assumed my ID was in my wallet without checking properly.
“I can vouch for my fiancée’s identity, senior.”
Seeing me at a loss, Kim Hye-seong approached the Hunter and spoke up.
Then he pulled out his wallet and took out his ID.
“Kim Hye-seong? Wait, are you the second son of the Myeongun Guild Master?”
The Hunter saw the information on Kim Hye-seong’s ID and stared back and forth between it and Kim Hye-seong, looking shocked.
“I never expected to see the young master of the Myeongun Guild here. And the young lady beside you must be Miss Yoo Seol-a of the Sword Emperor family, your fiancée?”
“Yes, that’s right. So you’re certain I’m not an unregistered Hunter?”
“Of course. You’re from the Sword Emperor family, so there’s no way you’d be one. Haha…”
Thanks to Kim Hye-seong’s quick response and his family’s reputation, no one brought up my situation again.
What a relief.
I’d nearly been threatened for being an unregistered Hunter.
“I’ll take responsibility for escorting you to another shelter. Please follow me, everyone.”
And so, under the protection of the Hunter who had joined us, we were able to make our way to a shelter.
Without a single person left behind.