Chapter 336

However, no one could interfere with the alien's plans, and time continued to pass mercilessly.

Before long, the sun had climbed high into the sky.

Although quite some time had passed since ipchu—the official beginning of autumn on the calendar—the midday sun was still warm enough to draw sweat on clear days. In the midst of this peaceful season, a certain man was walking through a park. Yet he was not strolling with wireless earphones in his ears, listening to music, nor was he walking a dog on a leash.

A notebook that looked as though it could be bought for less than 2,500 won at any stationery store, and a pencil that seemed to have been hastily acquired from somewhere—those were the only things he carried.

Dressed lightly, the man wandered through a park near a certain hospital. With the writing tools in hand, he kept jotting things down.

"H, huh? That person under the tree over there—isn't that Hunter Kim Giryeo?"

"Hey, you must be seeing things. Why would Kim Giryeo suddenly show up in our neighborhood...?"

"No, seriously. The longer I look, the more certain I am. Come on, look for yourself."

"Huh? What the—you're right. It really is him?"

"Wait here. He doesn't look too busy. I'll go talk to him first."

Was there something about his appearance that particularly stood out?

Golden hair untouched by the passage of time. Apricot-colored skin utterly devoid of luster, dry-looking enough that one might imagine it brittle to the touch.

That was the unmistakable outer shell of this individual.

Naturally, the citizens walking through the same park had no trouble recognizing him.

South Korea's S-rank Hunter, Kim Giryeo, was here.

"Excuse me— Sorry to bother you, but are you perhaps...?"

"Wow! It really is Hunter Kim Giryeo!"

Having encountered a top-tier Awakened in person, they were delighted as though they had won the lottery.

"Wow, hello, Hunter! I saw on the news that you got injured again because of a dungeon and were recovering... So this is the hospital you're staying at? That's crazy! I only came here because my friend got hospitalized with appendicitis!"

"U-um, excuse me. I'm really sorry, but... if it's okay, could I maybe get your autograph? I mean, it's not even for me—my girlfriend is a huge fan of yours. Like, seriously obsessed..."

But the alien in question was becoming increasingly irritated.

Precisely because of situations like this.

Take one step, and someone starts talking to him. Take two more, and someone snaps a photo.

How was he supposed to calmly observe humans under these conditions?

"sigh"

Flinch.

The moment the blond Hunter let out a short sigh, the civilian instinctively froze.

"Huh? I came over because I thought he'd be more approachable than other Awakened, but now that I'm actually standing in front of him... his expression is kind of... scary..."

Anyone would tense up if someone stared down at them with the same fierce gaze one might expect to see on a wanted poster.

However, what followed was nowhere near as unpleasant as the civilian had feared.

"I'm not the type to casually scribble my signature just anywhere, so I can't do that for you. But instead, tell me the name of the person who's supposed to receive it."

Kim Giryeo's manner was unexpectedly mild.

For a brief moment, a scene unfolded that did not suit his intimidating appearance in the slightest.

"Ah! Thank you so much."

It would have been perfectly understandable if he became annoyed when strangers invaded his privacy on the street, yet he was this kind?

Could it really be true that Korea's fourth S-rank Hunter possessed the remarkable character everyone claimed he did?

"Thank you. Then have a nice day!"

If that had truly been the case, things would not have turned out like this.

Kim Giryeo gave a slight nod to the Korean walking away, who was clutching the few words he had written as though they were precious.

And the instant the man disappeared from sight, Kim Giryeo raised his pencil and completed the sentence in his notebook.

At this point, it would've been better to just get angry at them to their faces.

As the passerby's reaction had just demonstrated, the details of the recent Beast incident had not been fully disclosed to the public.

The civilians entering the park had no idea that Enzo Chiano had been the leader of the fake Beasts.

Nor did they know that Kim Giryeo had spent several days hospitalized afterward.

That was why they could approach an S-rank Hunter so casually.

Kim Giryeo, however, reacted very sensitively to the phenomenon.

Three consecutive failures that had nearly blown his lungs apart.

After experiencing something like that, from a researcher's perspective—especially one who had never possessed the gentlest temperament to begin with—it was only natural to start seething over why everything kept going wrong.

"The standards for deducting points keep getting lower."

He was gradually losing his objectivity.

Kim Giryeo himself was well aware of that fact.

Yet even as he told himself not to be swayed by a momentary impulse, he could not help wondering whether going to such lengths for the sake of Earthlings was truly worth the effort.

"Still, I'm at least trying my best not to stray too far from fairness."

He took out his phone.

"Normally, I relied on media outlets to obtain accurate information. But news reports tend to focus on sensational and negative events, so they're actually useless for this particular task."

Even while staring at the screen, Kim Giryeo spread his newly awakened senses outward and continued scanning his surroundings.

"But anyway, the crowd around here just keeps growing..."

Apparently, word had begun to spread that an S-rank Hunter was in the park near the hospital.

"Hmm."

If that was the case, then his walk through the park was over.

It was probably time to move somewhere else.

Having made his decision, Kim Giryeo left the park and stepped into the city carrying nothing but his notebook.

He had concealed only the faintest trace of mana.

Even so, because he was not dressed in a suit, many people seemed uncertain whether he was truly the Hunter they thought he was.

Thanks to that, he blended into the crowd surprisingly well and was able to continue recording what he saw without attracting much attention.

But the longer he continued, the more negative numbers accumulated in his notebook.

"It's already -23 points."

The outsider hidden beneath Kim Giryeo's skin finally realized something in the middle of the process.

"At this rate, no matter how generously I grade them, the result is obvious."

The one who dreaded seeing the negative score continue to rise—

was none other than himself.

A man who opened fire on strangers simply because he hated the world.

A thief who robbed his friend's home out of greed.

And then there were people who appeared kind on the surface, yet refused to spare even a moment of their time for things they considered less important—dogs, wild birds, bees, environmental issues.

From the perspective of an outsider like an Alphaurin, Earth already looked like a planet that had missed its chance to choose its own course.

And so, Kim Giryeo genuinely wanted to help.

Yet as the score gradually crept closer to the target of -100, his criteria strangely began to soften again.

Even when he personally witnessed a merchant aggressively pressuring an elderly man right in front of him...

"Excuse me. Judging by appearances, this gentleman seems to have hearing loss and probably doesn't understand the terms of the deal properly, so let's leave it at that."

"Gasp! I, I'm sorry!"

He hesitated to add another negative number.

"Isn't this exactly the loss of objectivity I was worried about?"

The reason was simple.

Whether it was Du Seohyeong, Jung Haseong, or Ahn Yoonseung—

if any of them learned about his plan, their reactions would certainly be anything but pleasant.

"For the record, if I were to judge Seo Esther strictly, she'd actually be closer to failing, so she's out of the question..."

This was purely hypothetical, but...

What if someone like Ahn Yoonseung's family were judged unfit by those standards?

How would he react?

Could he eliminate them?

"If you've drawn your sword, you might as well slice the radish. This is turning into a complete mess because of favoritism."

Surprisingly, Kim Giryeo's answer to the question he had just posed to himself was "no."

And so, his expression soured.

He had already been appalled by the primitive limitations of this species, which could not even wield nation-level magic.

And now he could not even do as he pleased simply because he had to take the feelings of a handful of mammals into consideration.

To be told to sit back and suck his thumb while this selfish world continued unfolding however it pleased—

it was infuriating.

Tuh.

It was around then, while the alien was lost in thought.

"Oh my... Thank you for helping me. What a kind young man you are."

"Where were you headed?"

"It's fine, I was just going to the market up ahead anyway. I'm almost there, so don't worry about me. Here, take this. Go on, take it."

The elderly woman, who had escaped the pushy vendor thanks to his intervention, suddenly reached into her belongings with a dry, wrinkled hand.

[Goguryeo Baekje Silla Red Ginseng Candy]

It was a single crudely shaped piece of candy.

The moment Kim Giryeo looked at that small token of gratitude, he felt an even stronger determination not to let sentiment sway him.

Even if what he intended to do was something the people he knew on Earth would undoubtedly condemn.

"If I step in and purge the irredeemable chaff, wouldn't good people be less likely to be deceived or harmed?"

However, if an S-rank Hunter they knew suddenly began massacring their own people, that would undoubtedly cause severe psychological trauma as well.

"In the end, either way is a loss."

The extraterrestrial lamented the fact that he was wavering over such a trivial reason.

Even so, he did not stop what he was doing.

Once again, it was worth remembering that only a few hours earlier, during the corpse investigation, his lungs had ruptured for the fourth time.

"After all, I'm practically powerless again today because I'm busy regenerating organs that were wrecked into the shape of the Korean Peninsula. I should probably postpone the discharge procedure until tomorrow..."

This otherworldly land called Korea was far too broad and interesting for him to spend the entire day lying still in a hospital bed.

And so Kim Giryeo wandered outside without any particular destination, passing noon and continuing into the early evening, when faint streaks of orange finally began seeping into the sky.

"Hmm?"

But just as he decided it was time to return to the hospital—

"What is this?"

An irritating sensation entered the archmage's detection range.

At that moment, the alien had stepped out onto the street without knowing that taxi-hailing applications even existed, simply intending to flag down a cab.

But while wandering through an unfamiliar city center, he suddenly detected a familiar magical presence.

Naturally, his curiosity was piqued.

"It's Seonwoo Yeon."

It was still broad daylight.

So why was Seonwoo Yeon's magical energy coming not from the Association, but from some completely unrelated building?

"Aha."

Kim Giryeo instinctively turned on his phone and checked the time.

The answer presented itself immediately.

[04:23]

[Saturday]

[Battery—80%]

She had not gone to work because it was the weekend.

"Typical of a Hunter—I've completely lost track of what day it is."

Which meant that the place Seonwoo Yeon was currently inside was most likely her home.

"She used her [Search] skill to come find me a few times too. So if I go this far, I guess that makes us even, right?"

A flicker of curiosity stirred within him.

Come to think of it, he had visited the homes of Kang Changho, Jung Haseong, and Ahn Yoonseung before, and every one of them had lived in completely different surroundings.

But he had no idea what sort of place an ordinary civilian like Seonwoo Yeon might call home.

He suddenly found himself curious enough to take a quick look.

"If I'm following the magical trail correctly, it should definitely be this way..."

If it turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary apartment stairwell visible from outside, he intended to turn around without investigating any further.

But the alien soon discovered that every assumption he had made was completely wrong.

"Huh?"

A playground painted in bright, colorful shades.

The sight suddenly struck against memories etched into the brain, making his cold body shudder.

And then there was the building itself, with its characteristically low number of floors.

[Tomorrow's Daycare Center]

Kim Giryeo absently rubbed one eyebrow as he sank into thought.

"Huh. Seeing something like this all of a sudden made me completely forget. Up to what age are people considered minors on Earth again...?"

At the very least, the sign told him exactly what kind of place this was.

But then—

why on earth was Seonwoo Yeon inside that building?