Chapter 300

Chapter 300. Holiday

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Once, twice—even after repeating the experiment from the beginning a third time, the result didn't change.

Eventually, I stared blankly at the characters displayed on the device, lost in thought. A cold sweat had started to form along my forehead.

'I was just going to check if it was working properly.'

I measured my magic without giving it a second thought, but if these readings are accurate, how am I supposed to interpret this?

"_"

Seeing the result in front of me, a sudden new hypothesis about Kim Giryeo's body formed in my mind. But honestly, if possible... I'd rather this theory turn out to be wrong.

Yeah... it's probably nothing. Come to think of it, I did stumble across some vaguely related search results online recently, but still—it must just be my imagination. No matter how magically primitive they are, surely Earthlings' bodies couldn't be hiding something that absurd. At least, I really don't want to believe that.

"Please."

All I want is to regain even a quarter of the power I had in my prime and just quietly rest somewhere out in the country side. That's it.

There was no one around to hear me anyway. I stopped mumbling stories meant only for myself and began filling the foldable bathtub I'd left in the bathroom. It might've seemed like a sudden move, but in truth, this was the main reason I'd come to the studio in the first place.

'R, right. Stop thinking and just take a bath for now.'

I need to reapply the defense-boosting coating from the [Sacred Tree Seedling], after all.

Clank.

I took out the coral blood I had stored in the mini fridge, poured the liquid into a cup, and diluted it in cold water I had stashed away somewhere.

'The depth seems right for what I bought, but it's a shame I can't stretch my legs in this cylindrical portable bathtub.'

Splash.

And it's around this time that I should probably admit something—while browsing the internet here and there, I came across a neat little trick. If you put your phone in a ziplock bag, you can actually use Earth's electronic devices while taking a bath. Touch works just fine, too.

"Yahoo!"

Listening to people chatter from the other side of the world on a palm-sized electronic device. Finding joy in a kitchen item that costs 5,490 won at the supermarket. What a second life this is. ꞦάℕỗβÈʂ

'Maybe I'll head out and test the new gear once the bath's over. I really want to see if these gloves I made perform well in actual combat.'

I'm satisfied. Seriously, I reincarnated on a planet this comfortable—so even if it means tossing aside all of a mage's pride, right now, I just want to live well for a long, long time... with plenty of money poured into my gear.

***

Meanwhile, just as someone was busy recharging with some hydration—the afternoon sunlight was streaming in through the window.

"Maknae, you're only just eating now?"

A human voice echoes in the sprawling living room, decorated in a Mid-century Modern style.

This is a villa in Pyeongtaek. Someone was dining at a long table, the kind you'd expect to see used by chaebol families in a drama. When a sharply dressed man passing by spoke to her, the person at the head of the table soon replied.

"Because I'm hungry."

Lush eyelashes, but drooping eyes. Her eyebrows and hair were carefully dyed a deep wine color. And since she worked in the violent field of hunting, her nails were always neatly kept—ready to grip a weapon at any time.

At this point, what more is there to explain? The one currently seated at the dining table is Seo Esther of the Korean Magic Tower Guild.

The one walking down the hallway was Seo Yohan, a member of that famous hunter's family.

"You said you were hungry, and you're just eating a bowl of rice with some seaweed? That's it? You think that's enough? Should I call the housekeeper for you?"

"It's annoying—"

Tak.

Seo Yohan stops walking and turns around.

The only younger sibling in a family with two older brothers. When Seo Esther became locked in her room during her school days, he worried a lot inside, even if he didn't express it on the outside. But such is the way of life—full of unexpected twists.

As life goes on—nowadays, there are even days when he worries because his youngest sibling is too active in social life. The woman absentmindedly wrapping seaweed around her rice had just returned to the main house after a whopping 220 days. There were times when it felt more natural to see her face in the news than in person—so really, wouldn't it be reasonable to suspect she's overworking herself?

"Anyway, this business bloodline, it seems to have been passed down to everyone but me. How is it that there isn't a single child in this family who isn't obsessed with work?"

Dmrk.

Yohan walked into the dining room and dropped into an empty chair. Whenever he saw his youngest sibling—Esther—barely getting through a meal with that tired, disheveled face, he found himself fighting the urge to say, "Forget this hunter business. Just quit and go into exile already."

"We have a lot of money at home anyway."

But no matter how overworked she seemed, the truth was—that line of work suited her. And ever since she started working, she'd definitely grown more energetic.

"Hmm."

Yohan held back any unnecessary comments and decided to keep things smooth by simply bringing up one confirmed item on the schedule.

"Esther, by the way—the new clothes you asked for last time since you ran out of things to change into... Looks like I'll have to deliver them myself. Is the passcode for your place in Seoul still the same?"

"Oppa is coming in person?"

"There are a lot of winter coats, so the volume's kind of too much for regular delivery. I figured it'd be easier to just load everything in the car at once—so I was thinking I might as well just drop them off at your Seoul place."

"Do whatever you want—"

But Esther's reaction was less than enthusiastic.

"Phew."

As Seo Yohan had worried, today truly was a rare day off.

A week. Recently, Esther realized her immunity had dropped due to a string of continuous work, so she decided on that length of vacation. Of course, she was still on standby, ready to be dispatched anytime if a major incident broke out for the company or the country.

'At least there's no scheduled dungeon run this time—that's something, right?'

Crispy.

Seo Esther finished her meal with just plain rice and seaweed, then reached for the glass beside her. After rinsing her mouth with the kale juice she'd prepared earlier, she planned to stretch out and sleep again.

'I'm tired—'

Waking up with the dawn wind due to her usual routine, exercising, taking a warm half-bath, and then, after a light meal, being able to stretch out and sleep like a rich person's cat again—what a day this was!

'Hmm.'

At that moment, the face of someone from the industry briefly flashed through Esther's mind.

'Somehow, I ended up benefiting from that fourth rank again.'

Her decision to take a full seven-day break had, in fact, been prompted by the actions of a certain S-rank individual.

'Kang Changho... Who could've predicted that hunter would suddenly start getting active like this?'

It's something every citizen of South Korea knows. Lately, the news coverage from the three major broadcast network s has been buzzing with a particular topic. The country's third S-rank hunter suddenly reappeared in the public eye, citing reasons like damage compensation. Up until now, that man in his 30s had been so elusive it was hard to even tell if he was alive or dead—and now here he was, openly sharing updates. What truly stirred the public, though, was the nature of the personal news he revealed, he claimed to have reconsidered his life choices after losing to a certain hunter.

'Well, I'm an internet addict, so I've only recently met real people often. Even considering that, that guy Giryeo is a bit... He's a unique person.'

As you can tell from the current train of thought—

'I never would've imagined he'd be the one to get Kang Changho moving like this'

The truth is, Esther had firmly believed from the start that Kim Giryeo had easily defeated Kang Changho. And it wasn't just because respected outlets like YTV or Jeongseong Daily had reported it.

When someone with a temper as foul as Hunter Kang suddenly changes his tune, admits to crimes, and even willingly clears various dungeons to meet the settlement terms Jung Haseong offered, how could one not believe the fight supposedly waged by the two hunters? That golden spoon, Kang Changho, now reportedly shudders at the mere mention of Kim Giryeo's name, declaring, "Ah, I'll never even think about picking a fight with that guy again."

So Esther observed the series of events out of the corner of her eye and wondered. How were their past fights?

'Saying he was touched by the help he got in the dungeon? That's just an excuse... Did this guy literally break Kang Changho's pride—physically?'

The liquid in the glass had nearly reached the bottom.

'The older people get, the harder it is to admit defeat unless there's a clear gap in ability. So how in the world did Kim Giryeo manage to take down someone like Kang Changho, a close-combat specialist...'

But just as Esther was lost in thought about her fellow hunter, could it be that something Yohan had conveniently forgotten often suddenly came back to him at just the right time? The man in silver designer glasses spoke up the moment his sister set her cup down on the table.

"Oh! That's right."

He started talking about what happened last week.

"By the way, I ran into someone you know at the store recently."

"Secretary?"

"No, not someone from your company... I mean that male hunter named Kim Giryeo."

"Huh?"

"I don't know why, but he suddenly came to our store and bought a bunch of stuff!"

"What?"

"Did you know about this?"

"Not at all?"

"Really? Huh. I thought you were the one who invited him over or something."

"Huh?"

Esther suddenly realized this after hearing that.

She'd been too busy to pay attention, but now that she thought about it—wasn't there an incident a few weeks ago where that five-gyeong house collapsed?

'Oh my God! The clothes I gave him as a gift must've all sunk with it!'

Damn it!

Hunters tend to go through clothes faster than the average person. So it's not unusual for them to spend money on clothing. But hearing that Kim Giryeo had gone shopping alone, Esther couldn't help but show a flicker of tension.

"W, what did he b, buy from your store...?"

Compared to that crazy, almost blind chicken-themed freebie, what fashion isn't fair game? But just having worn something like that once was enough to completely shatter her trust in the other person.

"What do you mean, what did he buy? Just a bunch of those plain suits he wears every day."

"Phew."

Esther let out a sigh of relief after hearing the explanation of the clothes the industry insider had bought.

But it was at that moment—the man with the pomade-styled hair glanced over at his youngest sister's expression, subtly gauging her mood. Then, with a look that suggested he was hoping for something, he began to ask.

"Hey, so... are you close with that hunter named Kim Giryeo?"

Esther was planning to curse him right away if he started nagging her about something else.

"When you're working and the timing's right, do you eat together, and sometimes just sit and talk a bit?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

But somehow the conversation was going in a strange direction.

"Oh, well, it's just... I was worried our youngest might not have any friends to hang out with outside, so I just asked."

"_"

"Do you even have friends to hang out with when you have a day off?"

"I hav..."

"Not online."

"_"

"It just occurred to me, Giryeo seems to have a really good personality. Even for an S-class, there's no hint of him looking down on anyone. Oh, and more than anything, since he was a familiar face, I offered him the store items for free back then, right? But he flat-out refused and just paid before leaving."

"_"

"I think only someone with that kind of character could handle your temper. So, next time you see Giryeo, try asking him to be your friend."

"_"

"There's nothing shameful about an adult saying something like that. What's truly shameful are human relationships ruined because you lost your temper."