Chapter 309

After clearing the Tower of a Hundred People, about three days passed.

"Huh?"

A street in Seoul.

Recently, a certain type of restaurant had begun gaining popularity among a small group of young people in Korea.

Most people chose where to eat based on the quality of the food.

But this was now the age of gates and sorcery, and magic users had become a common sight on the streets.

"Hey, isn't that Hunter Ahn Yoon-sung?"

"Where?"

"Oh, he slipped into that alley while you were looking the other way. But no matter how I look at it, that style was definitely Hunter Ahn Yoon-sung's."

"Wow. Did a monster show up?"

"There wasn't any alarm, so maybe he was just passing by?"

Earth's magicians had emerged in the wrong era and, as a result, ended up attracting attention they had never asked for.

With the rise of social media, stories of their monster-slaying exploits spread rapidly, while broadcasting companies, riding the wave of admiration for these modern-day heroes, seized every opportunity to put the hunters involved on television.

On one Earth-like planet, even sports stars—people whose profession revolved around physical performance—were expected to uphold certain moral standards.

So there was no chance the Hunter class, whose members were literally saving the world in real time, would escape even greater public scrutiny.

Lately, the hunting industry had been repeatedly voicing its discomfort over one particular problem.

[Anonymous Bulletin Board]

[#: It's impossible to eat out comfortably anywhere!]

It might have been different if they had willingly chosen careers as celebrities or politicians.

But most hunters were merely ordinary people who had happened to awaken, and the excessive attention directed toward them was beginning to cause problems.

[Anonymous Bulletin Board]

[#: People with low awakening levels probably won't understand how inconvenient this is. High-ranked Hunters have to call restaurants in advance just to ask whether awakened people are even allowed in during peak hours. = = Sigh... Before I awakened, my hobby was visiting famous restaurants, but now I get complaints just for standing in line—=]

[#: The guy above, are you seriously trying to start a rank fight here too?]

[#: Even as an A-rank, it's this uncomfortable for me. I can't imagine how the S-ranks live.]

[#: I'm an S-rank and I eat out just fine, yup.]

[#: How?]

[#: You know that item that suppresses magic power? I wear one of those and regulate my mana separately on top of that, yup. If you do it properly, nobody can even tell you're awakened. Honestly, the only reason you're having trouble is because your control is bad.]

[#: You can suppress it so well [N O V E L I G H T] no one can even tell you're S-rank? Hey, which one are you—Jung, Seo, Kim, or Kang?]

[#: Me? Me, Kim Giryeo =]

[#: = = =]

[#: = = =]

[#: Right, of course. A global integrated site supposedly used by forty S-ranks. Makes perfect sense, you idiots.]

...And so, for various reasons, private restaurants where awakened people could dine comfortably had recently begun appearing.

They operated somewhat like the rumored celebrity restaurants that supposedly pulled down the shutters if the customer paid enough.

The food itself was not particularly exceptional considering the price, but they offered one thing hunters exhausted by constant attention valued greatly—a quiet place where no one bothered them.

A thoroughly modern business model.

"Huh?"

Tat.

Someone muttered near the staircase leading to the second floor of a small building hidden between alleyways.

His head was shaved close, as always.

In contrast, the man himself was dressed fashionably, in the sort of trendy outfit that would probably earn compliments on social media.

"He's usually always here before the agreed time... Could he have gotten lost?"

A hunter dressed like that paced anxiously in front of the private restaurant mentioned earlier.

Then, suddenly, the young man's face brightened with a wide smile.

"Hyung-nim!"

"Sorry. I couldn't figure out where the entrance was... I had to follow your mana just to get up here."

Ahn Yoon-sung and Korea's fourth S-rank Hunter.

Those were the two hunters entering the restaurant today.

"Am I still on time for the reservation?"

"Of course!"

For all the grand talk about private service, the establishment actually served perfectly ordinary things like fried chicken and beer.

.

.

.

Correction.

Now that I thought about it, perhaps the menu wasn't quite as ordinary as I'd assumed.

"They serve alcohol made with [God's Droplet]?"

"Huh? Wasn't that why you wanted to come here?"

"I kept seeing the name online, so I thought the food was supposed to be good."

"I heard there were already cocktail bars around Yeonnam-dong using God's Droplet, but I guess this place got famous because it's the first one in Korea to serve it in beer."

Tak.

While Ahn Yoon-sung arranged the tableware at astonishing speed, I took off my newly acquired equipment, the Midnight Gloves, slipped them into my pocket, and wiped my hands with a wet tissue.

"But you don't have to worry. Since you said you wanted to try this place, I actually came by yesterday to check it out in advance."

"What?"

"It just happened to have one open slot two days in a row. And yes, the chicken here is seriously delicious!"

As you can probably tell from this scene, I was eating out for the first time in quite a while.

Originally, I was supposed to visit that famous restaurant opened by a foreign awakened person about two days ago.

But thanks to some pathetic F-rank suddenly collapsing because of the [Tower of a Hundred People] incident, that reservation had gone to waste.

"I caused trouble without meaning to."

I had assumed I wouldn't get another chance to eat with him for a while, since I'd failed to keep the promise we'd made earlier.

But even after the cancellation, Ahn Yoon-sung didn't give up on the meal.

According to what I'd heard, he had originally been invited to that restaurant as part of a family gathering, but his father, who strongly disliked Western cuisine, had backed out, leaving them in need of someone to fill the empty seat.

Even so, Yoon-sung remembered a passing remark I'd once made about being interested in another place and went out of his way to make a reservation there instead.

"How can there be a creature in this world that's so easy to take advantage of..."

If I'm being truthful, I've become nearly half-addicted to the internet by now.

And yet, because my soul still belongs to an alien life-form, even the simplest aspects of daily life remain awkward.

"These days, a lot of businesses only accept reservations through social media, so for an alien like me, they're surprisingly difficult to use."

Thanks to the help of a native Earthling, I was getting to experience the latest pieces of Earth culture.

It was enjoyable in more ways than one.

"Here's the food you ordered—"

"Ah, thank you!"

"Thank you."

Even so, I still couldn't understand why people deliberately paid high prices to consume poison.

Crunch.

As Ahn Yoon-sung talked about the golden liquid infused with [God's Droplet], I absentmindedly picked up a piece of fried batter from the edge of the plate and thought.

'Indefinitely postponing retirement, huh.'

Postponing retirement.

A few days earlier, that had been nothing more than a passing thought.

But after a certain experiment, I had begun seriously considering the possibility.

'Back when Jung Haseong caused a scene at the budaejjigae restaurant, I only postponed retirement because I was afraid he'd beat me up for damaging the morale of the permanent team...'

If someone with an F-rank awakening level continued following S-ranks around, injuries like the one from the Tower of a Hundred People incident were bound to happen again and again.

'It would be a waste to simply let the results of that reagent experiment disappear like this...'

But because of various circumstances, I still couldn't give up my status as a hunter.

The biggest reason was accessibility.

This occupation allowed me easier access than almost anyone else to information about the gates created by the spirits.

And since I was pretending to be an S-rank, I could even contact the Association President directly whenever I wanted.

How could I possibly throw away such a valuable position?

"H-Hyung-nim, I know this might be a little presumptuous, but... would it be alright if we made a toast before we properly start eating?"

"Is 'presumptuous' really the right word for something like this?"

Enough with the pointless thoughts.

At the voice from across the table, I lifted my head.

The Earthling sitting there, now a familiar face, was smiling as he held out his glass with both hands.

Ahn Yoon-sung.

An Earthling with whom I'd somehow managed to maintain a steady relationship right up until this very moment.

"Hmm."

Actually, calling Seonwoo Yeon my friend had only ever been a joke.

By sheer coincidence, a magical Scale had forced us close enough together that we ended up revealing the truth to each other in order to survive.

I had no doubts about her humanity.

But even now, it still felt awkward to say that she and I shared a genuinely close bond.

Frankly, in this unfamiliar otherworld...

The only Earthling I could honestly call an acquaintance was Ahn Yoon-sung.

Look at me now.

Even if it was only over food, I was clinking glasses with an Earthling and taking part in this thoroughly inefficient ritual.

'Hmm. Is this that Chinese item that's supposedly capable of knocking out even high-ranking Awakened people?'

Clank.

The sound of glasses meeting rang through one side of the private room.

I hadn't mentioned it before, but in truth, the Earthling named Ahn Yoon-sung had done quite a lot for my safety whenever trouble arose.

[Gram ↗]

[nayunsang (Ahn Yoon-sung) ↗]

[2,137 people like this post]

[Hello.

A lot of people have been asking whether this article was fabricated.

But in my opinion, he actually went easy on them again this time.

I mean, otherwise how would the bones of the Hunter who swung first at our hyung still be intact?

From what I've seen, even when someone picks a fight with him, he always stays calm and handles things gracefully!!

I really want to learn from Giryeo hyung's amazing personality too... Maybe meditation really is the answer? ↗]

[#Exercise #PetitionForHarsherSentencesForAwakenedCrimes]

Yes.

Quite a few things...

[icac_If Hey, your hyung is seriously ugly. Anyone who says someone like that is handsome must have something wrong with their eyes.]

[- Inayunsang Ah!! 😡 I've thought this for a while, but language really is amazing. It's fascinating how even one short comment can tell you whether someone has friends or not 😡 😡]

Wait.

Now that I thought about it, hadn't that guy done far too much for me?

'Come to think of it, Ahn Yoon-sung doesn't use social media that often, but because he's an A-rank Hunter, his words used to carry quite a bit of weight online.'

First, let me explain what happened around the time the third kidnapping incident ended...

There's no way the press releases circulated online by Kang Changho could be true. How could one S-rank Hunter subdue another S-rank without causing a single injury? The government must have fabricated it because they're afraid rumors will spread that Korea's awakened combat forces are weak!

...Apparently, for a short time, some people really were saying things like that.

What silenced them was Ahn Yoon-sung's active presence on social media.

The shaved-headed man sitting in front of me tirelessly described the everyday combat ability of Korea's fourth S-rank, based on what he had personally witnessed, all for the sake of putting an end to the smear campaign against me.

As a result, the theory that there was an enormous gap in skill between Kim Giryeo and Kang Changho gradually began gaining credibility.

More recently, a photograph taken at a Japanese airport showing Tori and Ito politely bowing to someone had unexpectedly become the subject of a news article.

"..."

For the record, I won't go into detail about the direction public opinion on the internet is currently taking...

'This drink called beer. I had fairly high expectations for it, but as expected, it isn't nearly as surprisingly delicious as the fresh, tangy fruit I tasted for the first time after reincarnating.'

To put it simply, after Jung Haseong, I had somehow become another regular fixture in South Korea's national-pride YTube videos.

'Why?'

I was chewing on a piece of chicken while lost in thought when—

Tiring!

A notification sounded from Ahn Yoon-sung's phone, which had been pushed off to one side of the table.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"There's nothing to apologize for."

According to the Earthling's explanation, that particular notification only appeared when someone who mutually followed him sent a message.

Even after hearing the full explanation, I still didn't really understand what that meant.

[Direct Message]

[archery_11: Yoon-sung, did you see the news that just dropped? The reporters are going crazy again, bringing up your hyung.]

News.

Chaos.

Even from that brief glance, it was obvious some kind of incident had just occurred in real time.

Worse, I had the unpleasant feeling that I was somehow involved.

In that case, what exactly was this "news" mentioned in the message?

"Ah, ah! So this is... um, well..."

Ahn Yoon-sung apologized to me and exchanged a few quick messages with his acquaintance.

And as a result, the details of the situation soon became clear.

"Eh, what is this? Now that I've actually checked, it's really nothing important."

"What happened?"

"They're saying the news is reporting that [Beast] caused another disturbance. And every time that awakened person goes on a rampage, attention-seekers start saying things like, 'Isn't that actually your hyung in disguise?' and all that."

After putting his phone back into standby mode, Ahn Yoon-sung glanced toward me and spoke in a slightly excited voice.

"..."

"Um... since we're already talking about it, would it be okay if I took a quick selfie while we're eating, Hyung-nim, and posted just one photo on my SNS feed?"

"..."

"Of course, I know you wouldn't care about some ridiculous rumor like this, hyung! Ah, it's just for an alibi. Just in case, you know? You can never be too careful in this world!"

It wasn't as if I had any portrait rights left to protect after that inevitably nasty incident.

I mean, my face had already been plastered everywhere.

What was the point of worrying about it now?

With a boneless piece of chicken clenched between my molars, I gave a weak nod.

The delighted Earthling immediately raised his phone and snapped a selfie that captured the two of us from his side of the table.

Click.

But the moment the mechanical sound came from Yoon-sung's phone, I swallowed the food in my mouth and asked my companion a question.

"Wait a minute..."

I had been planning to simply brush it aside, especially with this fried chicken sitting right in front of me.

But...

"The Beast reappeared?"

As expected, no matter how much I thought about it, something about the story that had just come up in conversation still felt strange.