Chapter 40
“Wow! So cute!”
Against my will, Maxi snapped dozens more photos of me from all sorts of angles. After staring at her phone for a while, she finally seemed satisfied, shoved it back into her back pocket, and suddenly started poking at my face.
“So soft! Like pudding!”
“Heehee....”
She looked rough, but her hands were surprisingly skilled. As expected of S-rank Hunters, who specialize in physical combat, she was kneading me with just enough force not to hurt.
At this rate, my cheeks might end up sagging like mochi that’s been left in the microwave too long.
“M-Maxi... stop...”
“Stop? Okay!”
With my pitifully limited English, I managed to stop Maxi from kneading my cheeks, but then she wrapped her arms around my waist, lifted me up, set me on her thighs, and started patting the top of my head.
“U,uu....”
“Mmm~ You smell like baby powder!”
And then she even buried her face in my scalp and started sniffing. Coincidentally, at that exact moment, Ophelia arrived in the lounge. The instant the elevator doors opened, she flew over at incredible speed and snatched me away.
ㅡVwoooom!
“Waaah!”
“Princess, are you all right? It seemed like a difficult situation, so I came to your rescue at once.”
“O-Ophelia..!”
Oh! My super, ridiculously amazing AI guardian, Ophelia. I do like Maxi, but since we couldn't communicate, there was nothing to talk about. If Ophelia were here, maybe I could actually talk to Maxi properly.
Maxi, who had been snatched out of her arms by Ophelia, stared at her with her mouth wide open in shock.
“Adorable! Two cute things!”
“S-rank Hunter Camila Torres, nice to meet you. I am Princess Eve's guardian, maid Ophelia. For the princess's safety, I had no choice but to force some distance between you.”
“It's okay! You're incredibly good at Spanish!”
“Indeed. Please speak in whichever language is most comfortable for you.”
“Ophelia..? What are you two talking about..?”
“Princess, could you please call Dangdang for a moment?”
“Dangdang? Ah, okay.”
Dangdang would probably be lazing around at home by now, but since Ophelia asked me to call it...
“Dangdang, summon!”
ㅡFlash!
Using the summon skill, I called the lounging Dangdang into my arms. Maxi, who had been watching from the front, clapped in amazement.
“Amazing! You said you're an A-rank Hunter, right?!”
“That's right. She is currently A-rank, but she has enough potential to reach S-rank.”
“Yeah! I think so too! She's this cute!”
I didn't know what cuteness had to do with Hunter rank, but since it was praise for the princess, Ophelia nodded happily.
Dangdang, who had no idea what was going on and had just knocked over the feed bucket at home, was suddenly called out by the summon skill and ended up in my arms.
“Ophelia? I brought Dangdang.”
ㅡBeep, beep..!
“Hold on.”
Ophelia grabbed Dangdang's tail with one hand, then connected her index finger to a USB port. After that, she took out a SIM card from her hand and shoved it into Dangdang's... uh...
butt.
“Huh.”
ㅡBeep!
“Done. I activated a new SIM card for Dangdang.”
“Dangdang got a SIM card activated..!”
“Princess?”
“Ah, no...”
“After holding Dangdang in your arms, please try talking with Camila.”
“Uing.”
I didn't really know what was going on, but maybe Ophelia had done something. Come to think of it, she'd just plugged something into Dangdang's USB tail a moment ago, right?
“M-Maxi?”
“Eve! You called me?”
“Gasp..! How did this happen, Ophelia?!”
To my surprise, Maxi's words started coming through to me in Korean, with the simultaneous interpretation perfectly matching her voice.
“I installed a self-developed AI translation application on Dangdang. It needed internet access.”
“Wow..!”
“Ophelia, that's amazing!? It's so cute!”
It felt like Dangdang was vibrating and directly translating the speech to me. This is amazing. Come to think of it, since Dangdang is right next to me, having a translation function would be so much better.
“Ah, um... Maxi! I'm a huge fan!”
“Really?! You said you loved me, right?!”
“Yes! I even watched videos of you fighting at the Puebla Gate...”
“Heehee, I'm embarrassed!”
Being able to talk made this feel so much more comfortable. And because the translation came through in Maxi's exact voice, there was no sense of strangeness at all. Through Dangdang's speaker, my own voice was also being blasted back to Maxi in Spanish.
“Maxi, are you going to post the picture you took on Instagram?”
“Yeah! Is that not okay?”
“N-no! It's fine, but...”
Maxi's Instagram is full of posts with photos taken alongside all kinds of Hunters. Just looking at the lineup, it's practically full of S-rank Hunters, or actors. There are also plenty of photos with famous singers and idols.
Would it be okay if I joined in too..?
Honestly, I was happy about it... but, well. I saw this online, and Instagram comments can be nastier than you'd think. It kind of feels like a global gallery.
What if they start leaving comments like, "Who is this random no-name brat—" and cursing me out.
“It's okay! Eve is cute!”
“I-is that so..? Then may I ask for one favor too..?”
“Yeah! What is it?!”
I placed Dangdang on top of my head, then fished my phone out of my pocket.
“Um... I want to take a picture with Maxi and post it somewhere!”
“That sounds fun! Where to?!”
But how was I supposed to explain Hunter Gallery to Maxi?
“U-um... Korean Reddit..?”
“Oh! Reddit! Got it!”
“That works?”
Maxi nodded, then told me to wait a moment before dashing off somewhere. The one she ran toward was Utaha, who had been talking with Han Dohee. I don't know when she got there, but Ophelia was there too, talking with Utaha.
“Utaha! Could you come here for a second?”
“What's up, Maxi.”
“Come on!”
Maxi pulled the seated Utaha by the arm and brought her over here. Since Maxi, who was on the short side for an adult woman, and the tall Utaha were standing together, the contrast was really striking.
“H-hello..?”
“Why, hello.”
I'm a little embarrassed, but I can understand Japanese to some extent. Hearing Utaha's actual voice say "Ara, konbanwa" was surprisingly powerful. Ara << so Japanese people really do use that, huh....
“Utaha! Eve wants to take a picture and post it on Korean Reddit!”
“I see, but why me?”
“Eve, I already took a picture to post on Instagram. So this time it'd be nice to take one with Utaha, right?”
“Ah, yes! I really like Utaha unnie too!”
“Unnie... I see. Thank you.”
Utaha nodded at the word 'unnie' and smiled. She usually had a very expressionless face, but when she smiled, she somehow looked even prettier.
I looked around, pulled one napkin from the table, and handed it to Ophelia as I said,
“Ophelia, could you maybe write my gallery handle on this?”
“Yes, understood.”
Ophelia conjured a pen from her fingertip, then wrote 'Insaeng an mang hetda' on the soft napkin in handwriting so crisp it looked typeset.
How did she write it so neatly? If it looks like this, people will accuse me of using a composite edit...
“Hmm.”
In the end, I brought over a marker pen and paper from somewhere else and wrote it myself. My handwriting was crooked and messy, but this feels more real.
“By the way, Ophelia, what were you talking about with Utaha unnie?”
“We were discussing how it would be good to have a connection point in Japan as well.”
“Oh, I see..? I guess.”
I didn't know what kind of connection point she meant, but maybe Ophelia had a plan for everything she did. I had Maxi hold the napkin with my gallery handle on it and took a picture, then had Utaha hold one and took another picture.
“Would this be okay?”
“Gasp.. y-yes. I think it looks really pretty.”
“But... what does this mean?”
After taking the photo, Utaha looked at the handwriting I had written and asked. How was I supposed to answer that?
“U-um... "Life is good"..?”
“I see.. that's a nice meaning.”
Utaha nodded as she looked at the paper with my gallery handle written on it. I feel like something is wrong here... will this be okay?
“Can I take this paper with me?”
“Huh? Ah, um... yes! If you'd like...?”
“Thank you, Eve.”
“Eve! What about mine?”
“Ah, then I'll write the same thing for Maxi too....”
“Write my name on it too!”
“Eve, please do mine too.”
“Hwaeek.”
In the end, I gave Utaha and Maxi papers that respectively read 'Tennoji Utaha Insaeng an mang hetda' and 'Maxi Insaeng an mang hetda.' Something feels terribly wrong about this... but whatever.
If I translate it loosely, it's "Life Is Good," right...?
“Ophelia, that should be okay, right..?”
“..I'm not sure.”
“Waaah.”
What's more, both Maxi and Utaha put the papers I gave them on the table and are taking a picture of each one. They're not planning to post them somewhere on SNS, are they? If they do, those obnoxious Ugly Koreans might swarm in and say who knows what.
...Or I might get branded as an Ugly Korean myself. I shoved some weird slogan into the hands of an overseas S-rank Hunter and made her take a photo with it.
“Eve! Hurry up and post the photo on Korean Reddit!”
“A-ah, sh-should I?”
“I'm curious about the reaction!”
Maxi is going to post the photo we took together on Instagram, and Utaha unnie is going to post the picture with my gallery handle on it. I did call it Korean Reddit, but is this okay? Well, Ophelia did explain it as an awakened-fan community...
[Insaeng an mang hetda : .
(crown-wearing mint twin-tail emoticon)]
-Utaha's Waterdrop-Shaped Fan: What the hell
ㄴ Utaha's Waterdrop-Shaped Fan: Shit
ㄴ Utaha's Waterdrop-Shaped Fan: What the hell is this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ㄴ Insaeng an mang hetda: (I'll scratch it for you!)
-Anon: Is this for real?
ㄴ Insaeng an mang hetda: (That's me!)
“Um... the reaction is amazing.”
“Is that so?”
Utaha can't really read Korean, but I showed her the screen anyway. She just nodded along after seeing all the comments.
“This... is Miku.”
“Ahaha.. it's a popular emoticon.”
Surprisingly, within five minutes it got 50 upvotes and shot straight into the featured post.
[52(43) Featured★] [↓Downvotes 141]
“This side... isn't good.”
“W-well... I think it's probably because they're jealous...”
“Hmm, I see.”
And as expected, just a few minutes later, even a leech thread appeared. In the Active Hunter Gallery I'd been dying to see.
[Jeonbuk Waryong: Live verification photo that popped up in the gallery.jpg
Insaeng an mang hetda << what the hell is this fixed-nick account? Didn't you say the Hunter verification was a lie?]
-Manguk-i: I just saw it.. it might be fake
-Hmmcheong: AI tech has gotten so much better lately, haha;
ㄴ Mogigit: Doesn't seem like AI to me
ㄴ Hmmcheong: Then did the gallery user really meet Tennoji Utaha?^^*
-Nmmn: At least it's true that Utaha is in Korea, but they probably posted fake proof to capitalize on thatㅡㅡ
“Haah..?”
So that's how you want to play it, huh.