Chapter 39
When foreign hunters move from South Korea to North Korea, they open the gate for them easily, but when they head back to South Korea from the Manchurian punitive expedition, they get a little annoying about it.
Because the North Korean authorities know that the longer foreign hunters stay in South Korea, the more South Korea's national standing rises.
It's to hand them expensive plane tickets to go back to their home countries right after the Manchurian punitive expedition.
Of course, that doesn't mean they really block them from coming down. If they did, it would spiral into an ugly international issue.
“Ms. Camila Torres, Ms. Tennoji Utaha. Thank you for all your hard work.”
With fluent English, Yuchaerin greets Camila Torres and Tennoji Utaha. Using Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area as the benchmark, dozens of black limousines visibly greet the two hunters the moment they arrive in South Korea.
Of course, since Camila Torres and Tennoji Utaha know each other, they can ride in the same car, so they don't need many vehicles. But if a car carrying an overseas top-tier hunter were attacked for some reason, it would instantly become a matter for national condemnation.
For anyone paying attention, the time when Nova's limousines show up on schedule is easy enough to guess. It's obvious at a glance that they're carrying overseas S-rank hunters.
Since fanatical hunter fans often block the cars, they tend to deploy dozens of decoy vehicles.
“I heard the news. Apparently Nikolai came all the way down to southern Heilongjiang this time.”
“Oh, Chae-rin, you knew too?”
“Yes, to some extent.”
Nikolai Petrovich Orlov is the Russian hunter ranked No. 4 in CHAD's worldwide hunter rankings. He originally only guarded the Russian border in northern Manchuria, so why he came down here is a mystery.
While Utaha and Yuchaerin were chatting about this and that, Camila suddenly thrust her phone right in front of Yuchaerin's face.
“Hunter Chae-rin! Do you know this kid?”
“Who are you talking abo— Ah.”
The screen was showing someone's Instagram.
[_Princess_Eve and 2 others]
Macarons and a strawberry smoothie, yum
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“Oh, this kid... Yes. I know her to some extent.”
“Really?! Where does she live?!”
“And why do you ask that..?”
“Eve told me she loves me! Jealous, right?”
After Yuchaerin took the phone from Camila and scrolled up a few times, their conversation history popped up. Camila Torres is the type to start talking first if there's someone she wants to befriend, and that's how she became close with Utaha too.
‘Come to think of it….’
If I trace my memory back a bit, I remember that Eve once said Maxie was the hunter she liked best. Coincidentally, Maxie found Eve's Instagram account after she started it and sent the first message.
Tennoji Utaha and Camila Torres are scheduled to stay one night at the Shilla Hotel. Utaha is set to leave the very next day, but Camila, who doesn't want to go back to Mexico, still has no departure schedule.
“Eve and I know each other. She's an A-rank hunter too.”
“Really?! She's a real hunter, Utaha!”
“Chae-rin. How old is this kid?”
“She's 10.”
“She's young, but A-rank... her future looks bright.”
“That's right.”
* * * * *
After dropping Eve off, the phone in Han Dohui's car rang while they were driving.
ㅡQuru quru kyung~ Quru quru kyung~ Even if I can't be honest~
“Dohee, your phone's ringing?”
“Who's calling? Let me see the phone.”
The caller was Yuchaerin. After dropping Eve off and moving into the passenger seat, Kim Chaea took Han Dohui's phone from her bag and handed it over.
“Hello? Dohee?”
“Unni, I'm driving right now. What's up?”
“Are you with Eve right now? Didn't you say you'd be going somewhere together today?”
“Ah, I just dropped her off at home. Why?”
“Ah... is that so?”
“What is it? Why are you suddenly asking about Eve?”
“What should I do? Is it hard to turn the car around? I'd like you to bring Eve to the hotel.”
“Hmm...”
Han Dohui checked the road for a moment. They hadn't even gotten that far yet after winding their way through the narrow streets of the hillside neighborhood, so it was still possible to turn back if they wanted to.
“But... um, did you tell Ophelia?”
“Not yet, but I can contact her. Is Eve busy right now?”
“I don't think so, but she said she'd be resting at home.”
Han Dohui was thinking that Eve must have been tired to some extent after walking for about three hours straight, even if she had been carried on older sisters' backs here and there. Even though she's an Awakened, she has no abilities related to physical strength.
If she does have one, it's her absurdly adorable face. If that counts as an ability, then I guess it is one.
“Mm, I see? Could you pull over for a moment? Unni will call Eve.”
“Whatever.”
ㅡTut... tut...
After the call ended, Han Dohui pulled the car over to the side of the road for a moment.
“Chaea, unni says to bring Eve to the hotel.”
“Did something happen?”
“How would I know? I'm asking what you're going to do.”
“Oh, right.”
Kim Chaea thought for a moment before ultimately deciding to stay in the car. There was nothing to do even if she went home anyway, and watching Eve was rest for Kim Chaea.
Kim Chaea is the kind of person who fills up on energy by meeting people, something an introvert could never understand even if they lived forever.
* * * * *
[Insaeng-Anmaengheotda: I went to the raid team gate for the first time today
I did the work of five hundred million people all by myself and just went wild, haha. Got praised]
-ㅇㅇ1 : What food did you order five hundred million servings of this time?
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : Not food;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ2 : If you weren't around, I'm sure African hunger would definitely be solved, lol..
ㄴ ㅇㅇ1 : For real
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : (Beep-beep?)
-갸홍 : Did you really take Windmill on by yourself?
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : I just got an apology and left it at that
ㄴ 갸홍 : Why'd you just end something fun like that, you wanna die?
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : (What am I supposed to do..)
ㄴ ㅇㅇ[나한테욕햇음나쁜놈] : @갸홍 Why should I be taking care of your fun?
ㄴ 갸홍 : @ㅇㅇ Boo, you trash
-김흑간 : (mint twin-tail emoticon wearing a crown)
ㄴ 인셍안망헷다 : (mint twin-tail emoticon wearing a crown)
“Oh, come to think of it, I should change my memo.”
Uncle Minho did curse at me, but I got an apology too, and I got to see something fun. Besides, he also stepped in to stop things when everyone was fighting during the raid. He might be a better person than I thought.
ㅇㅇ[ㄹㅁㅎ]
“This should make him recognizable, right?”
After putting my phone on the floor for a moment and trying to peel off the sandwich wrap, the phone suddenly started ringing.
ㅡDing-ding, ding-ding
“Huh, what is it? It's Chaea unni.”
“Hello~ Eve?”
“Yes, unni. What's going on?”
“Are you resting right now? What were you doing?”
“Ah... I was just lying down....”
Something, something... Chaea unni's high-pitched voice sounds ominous. For some reason, it feels like something's up.
“What are you going to have for dinner? Want to eat together at the hotel?”
“The hotel? The Shilla Hotel?”
“That's right. I'd be so happy if you could come with us. Okay?”
“Ah... um....”
I was just about to get ready to eat a sandwich. It's not even really dinnertime. Hotel food is tasty, sure, but I also kind of felt like staying home and resting... and I was tired and stuff....
“Ah... okay...”
“Really? We'll come pick you up now?”
Whenever Chaea unni says something, I can't bring myself to refuse. It's not that she's saying it in a bad way or anything, but if I turn down Chaea unni's request, it feels like bad things will start getting said behind my back.
Like the boss of some planet-wide women's cartel. 'You turned down Chaea unni's request last time, didn't you? Word gets around, so watch yourself. Things are going well for you lately, so you think you're somebody? Awakening means your life is over? And so on...'
“Ah, ah! But I have to ask Ophelia! Just a second.”
At times like this, you just use someone else as the shield instead of me. In fact, it'd be better to ask Ophelia anyway. Just call Ophelia for a moment and say that I'm really exhausted and want to rest at home, but another plan came up.
I'm going with the vibe of not wanting to leave home, so Ophelia, please smooth it over for me...!
“Chae-rin unni said she'd called Ophelia~ Put on something comfortable and get ready~”
“Awww.”
Boohoo, my life.
* * * * *
“Are you okay, Eve? We didn't force you to come out while you were resting, right?”
“N-no, not at all... I like eating with you unnis too.”
“Hehe, really? That's a relief!”
That's what socializing is all about. You go to gatherings you don't really want to go to, little by little, and everyone makes compromises. But then once you actually go out, they drive you around. You get to eat tasty food for free too. It turns out to be surprisingly not bad.
“Right, Eve. Did we tell you where we're going now?”
“Aren't we going to eat?”
“We are going to eat, but Maxie and Utaha are staying at the hotel. They said they were talking about you.”
“Gasp, really..?”
I never thought Maxie really wanted to meet me. Since Maxie is the type who can be seen sending first DMs from time to time, I thought she'd just receive my DM and leave it at that.
Maybe she remembered that I once told Chae-rin unni I liked Maxie, and called me on purpose to make us meet again.
“I should've come out wearing something cuter....”
“Huh? You're cute even now though?”
“Really..? Hm.”
On the way to the Shilla Hotel, Ophelia called too. She said she had finished work and would head straight to the Shilla Hotel. Right now Ophelia looks completely like a little kid, so I wonder if she really managed to do the job well.
“Alright, we've arrived. Get out first; I'll park the car and come in.”
“Okay, got it.”
Following Chaea unni into the Shilla Hotel entrance, I saw the same security lady from last time standing there. I don't really remember her name.
“Ah, you're here. I'll guide you.”
“Dohee is parking right now, so should we wait a bit?”
“I see.”
After that, Han Dohui, who had finished parking, came too, and we all followed the security lady's guidance up to the upper floor. Honestly, I had half expected that Maxie and Utaha might not really be here...
ㅡDing
“Gasp...”
Sure enough, Maxie and Utaha were inside the lounge. It wasn't that they were staying at the Shilla Hotel just to see me; it was closer to them staying there after finishing the regular Manchurian punitive expedition and then calling me over.
Maxie, who had been wandering around the lounge smashing desserts to bits, turned her head at the sound of the elevator doors opening, peeked over here, and then rushed over in surprise.
Seeing her in person, I was startled too, because her hair was a much more unusual color than I'd expected. I was like, 'Wow, so hair can really be that color.' And more than anything, seeing her in person...
‘She feels somehow even more provocative than I expected... isn't she embarrassed..?’
I had thought it was nice that she showed so much skin, but seeing it in person, it's at a slightly indecent level. Makes me feel like I'm still under the influence of Confucian values.
“Wow, so you really are a real person!?”
“Ah, hello..?”
I didn't really understand what was going on, but there was a 'real?' at the end. Was that something like 'Is this for real?'
“Eve knows Camila, right?”
“Ah, yes! I'm a huge fan!”
“What? What did you say?”
“Eve says she's a fan of Camila, Ms. Camila.”
“Really? I'm so happy!”
“It seems Camila is happy.”
“Heehee...”
After that, Chaea unni rested for a bit in the lounge with the security lady, and Han Dohui started chatting with Utaha in fluent Japanese. With Chae-rin unni's help, I chatted with Maxie for a bit, but...
“You look just like you do on Instagram! Want to take a photo?”
“She wants to take a photo together. Is that okay, Eve?”
“Gasp.. Really? I'd love to!”
“Aww, how adorable!”
Maxie took her phone out of the back pocket of her pants, grabbed me, and pulled me toward the sofa. Then she pressed herself right up against me and brought up the phone camera.
“Say cheese!”
“Ah... cheese...”
Yuchaerin, who had been watching this from the side, thought to herself.
‘This might not be good for education..’