Chapter 27
“Ugh, ow….”
When Ophelia came back, I was going to teach her a lesson with my secret skill, EX Beatdown (which doesn’t even exist), but after moving around, all my stamina had completely drained away.
I heard on the gallery that if you do home workouts and stuff, estrogen starts flowing and you turn into a woman, but thinking about it, I’ve already turned into one.
“Minyum.. give me some water….”
ㅡclack!
Originally, I used to drink tap water straight from the sink, and actually our country’s tap water is incredibly clean, so it’s usually fine to drink. I’m not sure whether that still applies to a run-down house like this, though, but for now I’m drinking the bottled water Ophelia bought.
“Ah, thanks.”
Minyum seemed bored too and was following along with my exercise routine beside me, and surprisingly its joints are incredibly flexible. Weren’t machines supposed to have a small range of motion and squeak when they moved like that?
I’m surprisingly less flexible than Minyum, and physically I’m such a hopeless case that there’s no comparison. Whenever I started getting tired in the middle, Ophelia would appear in the video and explain something like ‘500 million reasons why the princess needs to exercise.’
It kept doing that whenever I started thinking about half-assing it and taking a break.
“But what was Ophelia going off to do? Does she know someone or something?”
* * * * *
The 81st floor of the headquarters building of Nova, the Hunter Guild under Oseong Group, located on Gangnam’s Teheran-ro.
“This concludes the administrative procedures currently required on our side.”
“..I see.”
Yoo Chaerin nodded as she looked over the documents Ophelia handed her. The contents included records on an unfamiliar man, along with a real physical ID card and other details.
The existing identity would be administratively processed as deceased, and after a new resident registration was issued, a number would be assigned. New biometric data—fingerprints, DNA, and iris scans—would then be registered, with everything entered into the national database from scratch.
Through the creation of substitute birth-registration documents, the process would be based on foreign naturalization procedures, with the listed characteristics used to differentiate it somewhat.
A legal guardianship designation process was also necessary. Since the minor could not perform legal acts independently, the newly created Ophelia identity would be registered as the legal guardian so she could handle contracts, medical care, and property matters on the minor’s behalf.
Existing social welfare records would be terminated and reregistered under the minor welfare system; all adult insurance, taxes, and contracts would disappear. New registrations such as minor health insurance and a guardian-linked bank account would also be added.
“Indeed, if everything written here is carried out perfectly, there won’t be any identity problem.”
“That’s right.”
For Yoo Chaerin, who wanted to bring Eve into Nova, Ophelia’s creation of a social identity for herself and the establishment of legal guardianship over Eve were exactly what she wanted.
After all, for a hunter guild to accept a hunter under the age of 13, the conditions of ‘having a guardian’ and ‘the guardian agreeing’ made it so difficult it was practically impossible.
If there was no guardian or they refused, it was simply impossible.
“I think we can handle most of it. The tax issues below would require close cooperation with the related parties, but if we have time, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I see.”
“Then... would it be all right for Nova to present some conditions as well?”
“I’ll check.”
“Yes, the documents.”
The man in a suit standing behind Yoo Chaerin calmly placed the contract-like document he had been holding in front of Ophelia. It was a reasonably lenient draft regarding Eve’s temporary affiliation with Nova Guild.
“So it says she will act as a Nova Guild hunter until she comes of age.”
“Yes. Since we want to respect free will after she becomes an adult, it would be better to do it this way unless she voluntarily chooses to remain with Nova Guild.”
After slowly reviewing and analyzing the contents of the document, Ophelia gave her answer.
“Unfortunately, I have no intention of joining Nova Guild directly.”
“Would that be all right?”
Yoo Chaerin tilted her head slightly. She meant whether they could reject a request document like this, even after everything Eve had received from Nova Guild or was currently asking for, and after they had already softened the conditions to some degree.
“Staying on good terms with Nova Guild would definitely be beneficial, but there are many things Princess will have to do going forward. I’m skeptical of joining a guild that comes with so many restrictions.”
“Hmm….”
“That said, it doesn’t mean I want to pick a fight with Nova Guild. In fact, it may be much more convenient for Nova Guild as well if Princess Eve remains an outside ally rather than a member of the group.”
“Why is that?”
“From the standards of the World Hunter Management Association Federation, CHAD, the management rank Princess could reach with proper financial support is ‘quasi-national power.’”
“..What do you mean?”
Quasi-national power.
It was a management rank granted when an organization possessed military power equal to, or greater than, that of a nation or government. The benchmark country varied from case to case, but most of the time it would be something like Italy—the bare minimum for what people call a great power, I guess?
A representative example is ‘Starwell Syndicate.’ A guild made up of a coalition of Saudi and UAE oil tycoons, it is one of the hunter guilds classified as quasi-national power, composed of hunters recruited from numerous countries.
Basically, it’s a form you can sometimes see in countries where the state is weak and the guilds happen to thrive exceptionally well. Of course, the military power needed for Eve to reach that ‘quasi-national power’ management rank was, in this case, being measured against the Korean government.
“Then you mean she could surpass the Korean government?”
“Hmm. You used that ambiguous expression, but I’ll interpret it appropriately and answer.”
Ophelia answered confidently to Yoo Chaerin’s trembling voice.
“Yes.”
* * * * *
[얀기견 : Today’s Manchuria Raid Yanpei.jpeg
He was going wild over in Heilong while taking down an S-rank giant beast, but he calmed down once Nikolai showed up lol ]
-ㅇㅇ : Nikol-ham again lol
-램즈카빌GOA : I’m telling you, that Yanpei bastard has selective anger-management disorder
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : What’s ridiculous as hell is that this bastard basically has [Berserk] hardcoded into his skill
ㄴ 김흑간 : Berserk (not crazy)
-후스타 : That Yanpei guy is basically just a combat-power meter, yeah.. anyone who can’t even stop Yanpei’s berserk state should have their S-rank tag taken off
ㄴ 인셍망헷음 : Are you saying Maxi isn’t S-rank right now;?
ㄴ 후스타 : Brazil Miku << if she didn’t have tits and ass, she’d be C-rank
ㄴ 인셍망헷음 : You’re dead;;
ㅡring-ring! ㅡring-ring!
“Ah, it’s Ophelia.”
After my exercises were done, I was taking a break and browsing the gallery on my computer when Ophelia called.
“Hello? Ophelia?”
“Princess. Have you finished watching all of the audiovisual materials?”
“Well... I did.”
“Well done. I’m proud of you.”
Did I just get praised like a little kid? How old am I to be hearing stuff like this? Doing toddler exercises thump-thump and getting praised for it.
“An appointment has come up for a bit.”
“Really? How late will you be?”
“No, it’s somewhere the Princess will need to accompany me to as well. If you change into the outfit in the second drawer, I’ll come get you within ten minutes.”
“Eeh.. me too..?”
“That’s right.”
I can’t help it. Something must have come up, and Ophelia is clearly hoping for my help. I’m the princess, so I’m the one who should step up and handle it.
Heh-heh.
“Okay!”
“Thank you.”
* * * * *
As Ophelia said, after I changed clothes and waited about ten minutes, Ophelia came to the door.
“Where are we going?”
“The Hunter Rank Assessment Center located in Yongsan.”
“Huh? A rank assessment? Right now?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Of course, I do need a hunter rank... but there are still all sorts of issues, so isn’t that kind of difficult? First of all, the identity issue is the biggest one... and there should be more than one or two problems left to solve.
As I followed Ophelia while worrying about that, I saw a vehicle waiting in front of us. A black van with the Nova Guild emblem stamped right on it.
“Eve-ya, we meet again. Nice to see you.”
“Ah, Yoo Chae.. Yoo….”
“Please call me Chaerin unni.”
“C-Chaerin unni….”
To think that Hunter Yoo Chaerin was accompanying us. Then the appointment Ophelia had mentioned must have been to meet Yoo Chaerin. Come to think of it, I had also received a business card from Yoo Chaerin at the Shilla Hotel last time.
“Shall we get in quickly? The air is cold.”
“Ah, yes!”
And so we got into Nova Guild’s vehicle and traveled together to the Hunter Rank Assessment Center in Yongsan. Along the way, we talked about all sorts of things.
“Eve-ya, Ophelia-ssi helps you out a lot, doesn’t she?”
“Ophelia.. yes! She takes really good care of me.”
“So, Ophelia-ssi came to see me this time for Eve-ya’s sake.”
“I-I see..?”
For Ophelia to have gone looking for Yoo Chaerin on my behalf, I couldn’t help wondering if she’d made some kind of deal again.
“Ophelia... well, legally? The law might still be a little difficult for Eve-ya, but would you like to hear it anyway?”
“Uh... yes.”
“Legally, Ophelia became Eve-ya’s mom. I guess you could call it an adoptive parent-child relationship?”
“Eh.”
Mom..?”
“So, the somewhat difficult problems Eve-ya had been dealing with have been resolved nicely... but that’s something Eve-ya doesn’t need to know. To sum it up, you can now get a hunter rank assessment and officially work as a hunter.”
“Really..? No, how..?”
I looked at Ophelia, who had been sitting quietly beside me. Ophelia noticed my gaze, turned her head, and only gave a slight nod before saying nothing else.
“I heard Eve-ya wants to work as a hunter. Is that right?”
“Ah, yes... that’s true, but...”
I hadn’t expected the problem to be solved this quickly. It felt like having an extremely competent private lawyer.
‘That aside, Ophelia is my mom.’
Even if this relationship was only written down legally, was that really okay? Sure, Ophelia looked like a person... but she was a machine? A golem? Or maybe some kind of summoned creature?
“You don’t need to worry. I’ll help Eve-ya a lot too.”
“Ah, thank you….”
Then what happens to things like the name on my phone account? The house contract was probably still under my original name, too.
Just thinking about that made my head spin. Though Ophelia would probably take care of it herself.
‘Ophelia is my mom….’
It feels kind of strange.