◈ Episode 20. A Being of Love and Hate (1)
A high contribution to the kill.
That was why I was checking the automatically acquired loot.
But what caught my eye first was none other than a necklace.
A demon's item.
The necklace that had been chosen as the sacrifice for the Demon Subjugation Ritual.
I had thought it would naturally vanish, but……
[Necklace of the Solemn Promise]
[Rank: Rare]
[Limit: Lv. 300]
[Effect: When hit, low chance to activate the skill 'Intermediate Protection'.]
[Description: A necklace for a lover marching onto the battlefield. Magic dwells within from the wish for their safety, granting it outstanding effects.]
It was there.
And in a state where the curse had been lifted.
'Did the Demon Subjugation Ritual handle the purification instead?'
To think I had to offer my first Rare item as a sacrifice.
Thanks to Granfel's character setting of being unconcerned with wealth and glory.
I couldn't show it outwardly, but how bitter I felt inside!
But if this was the case, that changed things, didn't it.
Moreover, the effect of activating 'Intermediate Protection' when hit.
Even if it wasn't a jackpot, wouldn't it at least be a winning ticket?
[Vampire Count's Orb]
[Rank: Unique]
[Limit: Lv. 400]
[Effect: Sealed]
[Description: A demon's curse dwells within, sealing its effect. To know its proper effect, it must be purified without fail.]
Getting that was already enough of an achievement, but even a Unique item.
I admit it.
This was something impossible not to be surprised by.
However, as if I wasn't shaken in the slightest.
I moved my unwavering gaze.
The orb.
It was a bright red sphere.
It flickered as if filled to the brim with fresh blood.
So this was a demon's item too.
Since its effect was sealed, I couldn't yet be certain what kind of item it was.
However, one thing was certain: its rank was [Unique].
And a Unique item with a whopping level 400 limit.
……
Won't this sell for a really high price?
I couldn't help but think that.
I recalled articles I had glanced at in the past.
Hadn't they said items went for hundreds of millions, even billions?
But that thought didn't last long.
Handing over what was mine to someone else?
Just to make money?
Granfel's lofty pride would never permit such a thing.
Yet I felt no regret.
Level 400.
For some reason.
Though it was a number that should have felt impossibly distant to me right now.
I felt as if I would surely reach it.
Was it simple confidence, the recklessness of youth?
No, this too was a conviction based on solid grounds.
I opened my status window.
[Name: Granfel Claudius Arpheus Romeo]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
[Level: 134]
[Stats]
Strength: 27 / Agility: 33 / Mana: 51 / Luck: 2
[Available Points: 34]
The EXP obtained by hunting Count Ascura.
Despite splitting it with Pointed Hat, my level had risen by a whopping 34.
A sudden 34-level jump in Arcana's EXP system……
At this point, it was a new record.
On top of that level increase.
─Hunt the vampire. (In Progress) ▲
●Inform them that the hunt has begun. (Success)
●Make them feel the fear of being hunted. (Success)
●Hunt the vampire. (Success)
Even the class quest.
Because of these grounds.
I was able to stand as firmly as I was now.
Even before the acquired items.
"Wow! What could this be?"
Even before that Pointed Hat who had reached a realm I couldn't approach right now, that is.
By the way…….
I shifted my gaze to look at Pointed Hat.
So what is that, anyway.
Tap, tap─She prodded the ashes that had been Count Ascura with her staff.
Even calling it ashes, I wondered if it was barely a handful.
Yet smoke was rising endlessly from those remains.
"It doesn't smell like anything!"
My brow furrowed without me realizing it.
Though it was partly due to Granfel, who lived and died by dignity.
My own feelings weren't so different either.
No, she didn't need to go as far as sniffing with her nose…….
However, it was certainly strange.
It was too vivid to be mere smoke.
As if it could be seen even from far away.
The moment I thought that.
"!"
The quest window flickered.
[Class Quest: Awakening]
The prelude rises and the beacon flames flicker.
The last Demon Hunter.
Go forth and illuminate the world shrouded in evil.
─Train your weakened body. (Repeatable)
From 'Prelude to Counterattack' to 'Awakening'.
The class quest had progressed.
Reading the quest window that appeared, I understood.
So that smoke wasn't rising for no reason.
Other than physical training, there was no immediately given objective.
Just like until now, when the appropriate time came, the quest would start on its own.
Well, until then, let's think of it as personal maintenance time.
Since I needed time to struggle just as much as I felt the gap.
"Jesse!!"
Then, the sound of approaching people reached me.
Jesse, was that Pointed Hat's name?
It was certainly a name I had heard somewhere.
Anyway, perhaps because of the lightning Jesse had summoned.
Players were flocking in one after another.
And then they were shocked.
"Where is Count Ascura? Where is he? I don't see him?"
"Wait. Jesse, what are you poking with your staff? What's that?"
"……W-what. Jesse, you don't mean?!"
Staring─Without answering, Jesse looked at me.
Thanks to that, everyone's gaze focused on me.
It was Jesse who cautiously opened her mouth.
"Manners……. I'm not sure I understand them well, but I will try my very best!"
What followed was an untimely self-introduction.
"My name is Jesse Haines! If it wouldn't be rude, may I ask your name!"
At that question, I looked around my surroundings.
It was certainly different from the plaza battle.……
Gulp.
Everyone was holding their breath and focusing on me.
Just like Jesse.
They must all be players who had reached tremendous levels.
Yet such amazing people were waiting only for my words to finish.……
It was certainly a situation where I should feel burdened.
Rather, I was satisfied with their attitude.
I had felt decorum in that restrained silence.
It was a posture that the me from not long ago couldn't have imagined.
However, it was no delusion.
I knew this change too was my dark history.
Because I knew it was still me.
So answering wasn't difficult.
"I am Yi Hoyeol."
*Yi Hoyeol.
The unidentified player who had hunted Count Ascura together with Jesse Haines.
The spreading of those three syllables throughout the world was only natural.
Because it was an achievement difficult to express in words.
"Count Ascura's level was a whopping 430. Above all, the prevailing prediction was that he possessed strength beyond that level. Yet for just the two of you to hunt that Count Ascura!"
"Truly, it would be impossible for the world not to be surprised beyond Korea. What do you think?"
"The overseas reactions are truly heated."
VBC's flagship program, Today Arcana.
The expert panels were speaking fervently, but only for a moment.
"Cut."
At PD Hyeon Yongseok's sign, the footage came up.
Hyeon Yongseok took off his headset and let out a sigh.
"What am I going to do with you."
Beside him was camera director Yun Jongjin.
Yun Jongjin scratched his head vigorously.
"No, sunbae. I really didn't have time to think! Put yourself in my shoes. We were just trailing behind the Gaon Guild. Huh, suddenly the castle collapsed? And if that wasn't enough, rumbles and booms! And lightning struck there!"
Closing his eyes tightly.
And Hyeon Yongseok sending signs to continue likewise.
Then excuses that weren't excuses followed.
"Wow, I thought I was going to die. I figured whether I died like this or got killed by you, hyung, for missing the scoop, it'd be the same thing. So I just ran. I ran and……. There was Jesse Haines right there. But what is this. That silver-haired guy was there again then?"
"So."
"I thought my heart dropped. How much did I get scolded by you? Missing it during Berserker like that, and right after the plaza battle broke out. This is an opportunity I absolutely cannot miss. This time I was going to secure the interview no matter what. So……."
"So?"
So what you got was just this one line?
[I am Yi Hoyeol.]
Hyeon Yongseok was furious inside.
It was truly an opportunity that didn't come easily.
But who could he blame?
"……Yeah, you wouldn't have been in your right mind to ask properly."
Who would have thought someone would just say their real name there!
He accessed Arcana's official homepage.
No matter how much he searched the ranking page, there were no results.
For a player with the nickname 'Yi Hoyeol'.
Of course, there were some.
But they were merely using the same nickname.
It meant it wasn't the real Yi Hoyeol.
"……What the hell is that brat doing?"
How many incidents had Yi Hoyeol been involved in just from the new rift?
From the first clear of the Berserker Guild's new rift.
To the joint front between Gaon and Inazuma.
And the Count Ascura raid with Jesse Haines.
Any one of them would have been enough to tremendously raise one's stock.
From nameless to Ranker.
No, even beyond.
He could have raised his own value.
Yet the only thing he left behind was…….[Stand aside. My patience has reached its limit.][There is not an ounce of decorum to be found.][Therefore, I shall not accept questions.][I am Yi Hoyeol.]
That was all!
Moreover, the name he revealed wasn't even known to be his Arcana nickname or real name or an alias.
Despite having rolled around the broadcasting station and seen all sorts of celebrities and players.
"I've never seen one either. I should stop blaming you too. Now."
Yes, it wasn't just Hyeon Yongseok's first time seeing this.
The players were no different.*
"Hyung. Still, think of it as fortunate."
"……What's fortunate?"
Hoyeol's stock had shot up through the roof.
Realizing it was realistically impossible for Gaon to embrace such a Hoyeol.
Nam Cheolmin, who had been sprawled on the sofa from the sense of loss.
Nam Taemin shrugged at his brother like that.
"Your eye for people. Doesn't that show it's still alive and well?"
"What are you talking about? I didn't expect him to reach that level either."
"No, that's beyond common sense so it's not your fault."
However, the recruitment war for Hoyeol wasn't over yet.
Nam Taemin took out his smartphone.
"Even if the possibility has decreased, we are still the most advantageous. We have Hoyeol's number, don't we? And we have a very decorous pretext to approach him."
"……Pretext?"
"Why, the loot obtained from the plaza battle."
The knights of Count Ascura who had been defeated in the plaza.
Gaon had obtained loot from them.
They had split it half and half with Inazuma.
Yet the quantity and quality were considerable.
"We wouldn't have been able to obtain that loot if not for Hoyeol's achievements. So we're splitting the loot according to his contributions. Isn't that etiquette and decorum?"
Nam Cheolmin contemplated.
Judging by his behavior.
Hoyeol wasn't someone swayed simply by money.
That much was evident from his actions so far.
But here there was a justifiable cause.
Soon, motivation blazed again in Nam Cheolmin's eyes.
"……Taemin. From now on, you be the hyung."
Shining Guild.
Camilla asked while smoothing her red curly hair.
"Jesse. You really don't know anything~?"
"I don't."
"Really, are you going to play dumb?"
Camilla knew Jesse's abilities better than anyone.
The Chosen Mage.
Because she was the one who had watched that Jesse's firepower from the closest distance.
Nevertheless, this Count Ascura raid was close to impossible.
"I don't know. Don't ask me."
Persistent questions.
Jesse didn't tell anyone what she had seen.
Because that was her 'decorum' toward Hoyeol.
Camilla let out a sigh and raised both hands.
"I give up. I won't ask anymore. Don't speak so coldly~"
By the way, what had she been looking at so intently since earlier?
Jesse was staring at the tablet PC.
A peek─With her wide field of vision as an Archer.
Camilla, who checked the screen, spoke as if dumbfounded.
"Korean-style greeting? Hand on your navel? Why are you looking at that again?"
The world was abuzz with talk of 'Yi Hoyeol'.
Needless to say, in his home country of the Republic of Korea.
So it was only a matter of time before she found out.
"Huh?"
Puffy cheeks protruding.
Hair braided into two pigtails.
Tiny fingers pointed at the TV screen.
Grin─Then with a bright face, she desperately searched for her mother.
"Mommy, it's Uncle Hoyeol!!"
…
Buzz─I looked at the vibrating smartphone and thought.
The inevitable had finally come.
Checking the caller, it was Sister Number 3.
However, I knew.
The moment I answered this call.
The voices of Numbers 1, 2, and 3 would burst out simultaneously.
Thinking about it, it's a strange thing.
When we were young, they were so eager to fight each other.
Was it because we had grown older?
Now they had become beings who couldn't live without each other.
That's why.
Whether as children or now, it was always me who suffered.
I pressed the call button.
As expected, Number 1's cold voice came through.
-Hey, Yi Hoyeol. Don't you have anything to say to us?
I had a lot to say.
"Calm yourselves. My sisters."
……
For starters, I should begin with this manner of speaking.