Chapter 9
“That’s certainly not a bad proposal.”
“That’s right. If Hunters are stationed permanently, they’ll lose the opportunity to grow stronger.”
“Still, I imagine there’ll be some complaints. Especially from Hunters who earn thousands or hundreds of millions of won a day.”
It was certainly a decent system, but it was also true that complaints from Hunters were inevitable.
After all, being a Hunter was a high-earning profession, and Hunters traveled from Gate to Gate to clear them and strengthen their abilities.
The president nodded at that.
“As you say, that’s likely. …But I’m sure you’re all aware that Hunters’ public image has been taking a turn for the worse lately.”
“There’s been plenty of talk about putting Hunters on a leash because of various controversies involving violence, abuse of power, and the like. Of course, only a tiny minority of Hunters are like that, but people tend to focus on the bad.”
“Now that the Sword Emperor household of ‘the late Yoo Jin-seong,’ a hero of Korea, is sealed off. …We must go through with this, if only for the future of our free Korea.”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean we intend to offer Hunters no benefits. We’ll naturally provide compensation to those who diligently participate in this system.”
“So please, lawmakers, do all you can to help secure the cooperation of the Hunter Association, private guilds, and freelance Hunters.”
Scrape. Bow.
President Kim Seong-hyeon stood up and bowed ninety degrees to the lawmakers from each party.
It was a clear display of how deeply he’d considered this plan and how determined he was to put it into practice.
“Please raise your head, Mr. President. Let’s all give it a try. Together.”
“That’s right. We can’t keep going down a different path from other countries.”
“Let’s give it a shot, Mr. President!”
At his gesture, the lawmakers nodded and expressed their willingness to support his resolve.
Only then did the president straighten up and look at the lawmakers.
“Thank you for your cooperation, lawmakers.”
“Then let’s discuss how to move these plans forward. We need to act as quickly as possible so the people can be safe sooner.”
And so their meeting went on for a long time. A very long time.
◈
“Phew—.”
“Here’s a towel, miss.”
“Thanks.”
For the month after that day, on the elders’ advice, I wasn’t allowed to set foot outside the house, so I threw myself into daily personal training.
My fiancé, Kim Hye-seong, seemed to be in a similar situation, so we would check in on each other through KakaoTalk.
“I want to go outside for a bit. Being cooped up at home is getting boring.”
“The elders are prioritizing your safety, miss…. I don’t think you’ll be able to go out until you awaken….”
This damn household was the problem.
I’d never seen anyone this overprotective.
Of course, it wasn’t that I disliked the elders.
They were the ones who believed in and supported Yoo Seol-a right until the very end.
Above all, it was thanks to them that Yoo Seol-a could be protected from Yoo Ho-ryeong.
Still, locking up a child who should be running around outside just because it was dangerous seemed like taking things too far.
Especially when the only danger in the story was the appearance of Gates in urban areas—a rare occurrence you could count on one hand.
—Even if it was for the safety of someone with the potential to follow in the Sword Emperor’s footsteps, it still seemed excessive.
“Wouldn’t it solve everything to just have an escort go with me? Even if Yura can’t, since she has to manage the house.”
“That’s under the head of the family’s authority. Even if the elders’ voices carry weight, it’s customary for them not to interfere with the head of the family whenever possible.”
“Have you talked to my father?”
“I did. But….”
“But?”
“…He threatened me, saying they didn’t have any personnel to spare for this.”
I hadn’t expected anything else.
Yoo Ho-ryeong had always been like this in the story.
He was always wishing for Yoo Seol-a’s death, and only cared for the direct descendants living in the main house.
It was obvious that, because of this incident, he’d assign plenty of guards to the direct descendants other than me.
—The younger siblings Yoo Seol-a had with her stepmother, who often appeared in the story and subtly kept Yoo Seol-a in check.
“So he’s only going to look after my younger siblings again.”
“I should have made my position clearer…. I’m sorry, miss….”
“No. What power do you have, Yura?”
Yura wasn’t at fault.
The only problem was that obnoxious man, whose greed was so great that he didn’t even see his own daughter as his daughter.
“I’ll stop here for today’s training. I’m starting to get hungry.”
“I’ll prepare lunch right away. What would you like to eat today?”
“Hmm…. Rabokki?”
“With gimbap too?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Hehe. Understood. Take your time getting cleaned up~. I’ll have it ready and delicious~.”
Yura went to prepare lunch, and I tidied up the training area and took a shower to wash off the sweat.
It had been over a month since I possessed this body, and I was gradually starting to think of it as my own.
I’d already seen all there was to see—and all there wasn’t—so by now I was used to showering like this.
When I’d first possessed her, I’d treated the body with great care and tried hard not to look, but humans really were frightening.
Once you got used to something, you became completely accustomed to it, and it stopped bothering you.
—Still, I wouldn’t cross that line.
“Whew—. That feels great~.”
I left the shower room in the training room, changed clothes, then climbed the stairs from the basement where it was located, heading straight for the living room.
The higher I climbed, the stronger the delicious smell of rabokki became.
“Gulp.”
After such grueling training, smelling that while I was hungry made my mouth water before I knew it.
More than anything, if I had a bite of that savory gimbap with the rabokki….
‘I should hurry upstairs.’
I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I took the stairs two at a time.
After climbing all the way up and opening the door, I saw the living room, where the TV was on.
But—
[At around 11 a.m. today, President Kim Seong-hyeon announced a new system. It’s called the ‘Hunter Rotation System.’]
I couldn’t help but fix my gaze on the breaking news playing on the TV.
It was because of the ‘Hunter Rotation System.’
‘Wait, already? Wasn’t this system supposed to be introduced two years from now?’
That system was supposed to appear in the story two years from now.
It was definitely a new system created after an emergency in which Gates appeared in urban areas.
But the fact that it had been announced two years early left me rather confused.
—But after thinking about it for a moment, I realized there was a good reason.
‘Ah. …I guess it was brought forward because of the Gate incident a while ago.’
There was no other reason.
Originally, in the story—
『An unprecedented disaster, unlike anything that had ever happened before, occurred. A Gate appeared in an urban area. Right in the heart of downtown Seoul. We—』
—It began with that line, but since this had happened only a few days ago, it was only natural they’d respond accordingly.
This incident had also caused public opinion to flare up very quickly, and criticism of the Hunters for failing to respond quickly had spread at an alarming rate.
The government’s response was the ‘Hunter Rotation System.’
Honestly, this system was clearly beneficial to everyone involved.
The government would no longer be battered by public opinion, the Hunters could prevent their public image from deteriorating, and the people could live more safely.
—Of course, there had been some public opinion asking, ‘Isn’t this being funded with taxes?’ But it quickly died down when it was confirmed to be far cheaper than building even more shelters, when there were already plenty.
In addition, the police firearms upgrade had begun alongside this system.
As a result, the police were to be supplied with rifles fit for military use and more powerful pistols instead of the revolvers they’d used before, producing the positive effect of dramatically increasing their survival rate against monsters.
Of course, guns couldn’t kill monsters, so they could only buy time, but it was still significant that they could be used against not only low-rank monsters but high-rank ones as well.
—Of course, against S-rank Gates and above, it was meaningless resistance.
“Miss, you’re upstairs?”
While I was watching the news and thinking about various things, Yura noticed me and spoke to me.
I was standing in the living room, right in front of the TV, so there was no way she wouldn’t see me.
“You were watching the news?”
“Yeah. It was an interesting breaking story.”
“That was on while I was coming up to prepare things, too. I guess they’re replaying it.”
“More importantly, if this works out, maybe the ban on going out will be lifted?”
Now that the system had been announced, I might get my freedom to go outside back.
Things were safer now, so they couldn’t keep insisting on the ban.
“I’ll check on that for you. Now, why don’t you stop watching the news and have lunch?”
“Yeah!”
After that, I ate the very appetizing rabokki and gimbap Yura had made for me.
Before possessing this body, I’d been so short on money that I couldn’t afford to eat food like this properly, so this really was a pretty good life after possessing someone.
—Still, I had to eat in moderation, since too much high-calorie food could make me gain weight.
I couldn’t ruin my favorite character, could I?
“That was delicious, Yura~.”
“Hehe. I’m glad you enjoyed it. More importantly….”
Swipe.
She brushed at the corner of my mouth with her hand, as if wiping it.
“You shouldn’t get it all over your mouth like that.”
“Ah, sorry. That was so unbecoming of me.”
“No, you were cute, so it’s fine.”
Me. No, Seol-a really was cute.
Scrape.
I pushed my chair back and stood up.
“I’ll take a walk around the yard to help digest.”
It was better to burn off the calories I’d just eaten right away if I wanted to keep this adorable body.