2023.08.06.
“No!”
I ran desperately and blocked Teddy’s path.
“Hah.”
The man’s sword stopped before my eyes, and I found myself face-to-face with him.
A few strands of hair had been cut, fluttering lightly through the air. Through them, sharp eyes and distinct facial features came into view.
His pupils were strikingly vivid and large. So much so that, for a moment, he didn’t feel like a fellow human being.
Handsome though he was, he felt grotesque in that instant, sending chills down my spine.
“A Hunter?”
“Y-yes! This monster is one I tamed!”
I, who had frozen stiff, spat out words urgently.
“The Blue Starlight Bear?”
The man knew Teddy. Whether his pupils had dilated from excitement, they shrank noticeably once more.
‘Why does it feel like I’ve seen this phenomenon somewhere before…….’
I rummaged through my memories at the sudden déjà vu, but I couldn’t recall what it was.
“A Taming Hunter?”
“No, it’s not that, but…….”
Generally, Hunters refrained from revealing their class or unique skills to one another. Because their weaknesses could be exposed.
Even when they did speak of it, they broadly classified themselves as combat-types, production-types, or healer-types. But ‘Campground Owner’ didn’t belong to any of those, so I was at a loss for what to say.
“I-I run a campground here!”
I gestured toward a sign that, while somewhat shabby, clearly had letters written on it. My fingertips trembled from the tension.
Even after reading the sign, his expression remained uncomprehending.
“A campground… in a dungeon.”
“Yes… If you stay at the campground, you can receive a special buff. Would you like to try using a tent?”
His demeanor had softened somewhat as he spoke politely. I mustered my courage and made the offer.
I judged that experiencing it would be better than mere words.
Since a buff was generated inside the tent, he could experience it for himself and prove the truth of my words.
“But you have to pay coins to use the tent. Teddy, how much is it to rent one for a day?”
“300 coins! The tent key should be in Master’s inventory!”
When I opened my inventory, there was an item I had never seen before. When I took it out, it was a bracelet flickering with red light.
‘I think this is the tent key. But 300 coins for a day’s rental? Isn’t that too expensive?’
I was wavering because the price was higher than expected when the man asked with a deeply furrowed brow.
“A shelter is a public area; it belongs to no one. Are you telling me you’re conducting business in the shelter right now?”
“No, that’s…….”
He spoke again in a rigid tone. I knew it too.
A shelter was a designated public area within a demilitarized zone where weapons and military activities were prohibited. With no personnel or rank restrictions, anyone could use it.
However, occasionally thug-like Hunters would occupy a shelter first and trade coins. Naturally, it was illegal, so if reported to the Hunter Association, sanctions were applied.
“Don’t you know that if reported to the Association, you’ll be arrested immediately?”
While he wasn’t wrong, the man was deeply mistaken.
“I know……. But this shelter has no time limit because of my class, and it’s an area that won’t disappear.”
“That’s right! If Master demolishes the campground, the shelter will disappear as well!”
Teddy, who had been watching the situation from behind, added.
‘So it disappears if demolished—I hadn’t known that.’
Despite our explanation, the man’s furrowed brow didn’t easily smooth out. His eyes were filled with disbelief.
“If you’re suspicious, check the shelter’s time limit through the system. If you look closely, my name is written there as the owner.”
The man manipulated his own system window, perhaps checking the time limit. Even though I had done nothing wrong, my heart shriveled.
After staring into the air for a long while, the man continued with an expressionless face.
“So you’re saying I must pay an admission fee to enter this shelter?”
“There’s no admission fee; you only need to rent a tent. You can receive a special buff just by standing on the campground grounds, but if you enter the tent, you can receive an even better buff!”
“…….”
“Since you’re Spring Campground’s very first customer, Hunter-nim, if you’re feeling peckish, I’ll give you a drink from the vending machine on the house!”
“…….”
“Or perhaps breakfast service delivered right to your tent……?”
Because of the man’s increasingly rigid expression, my voice naturally trailed off. I tried to lighten the atmosphere by making up services that didn’t even exist, but it wasn’t easy.
“That’s enough. So is 300 coins sufficient?”
“……You’re really going to rent it?”
“Haven’t you been saying all that precisely because you wanted this?”
“Yes! Here!”
I stood there blankly for a moment, then quickly handed over the tent key before he could change his mind.
The moment it touched the man’s hand, the bracelet’s light turned blue.
[Small Tent <1> has been rented.]
[‘Yubom (F)’ has acquired 300C.]
Even thinking it over again, my eyes widened involuntarily at the shameless price. It was far too expensive.
“Where should I go?”
“I’ll guide you!”
Teddy guided the guest to the tent. The man followed behind Teddy, looking around the unremarkable campground here and there.
The reason he had paid so readily didn’t seem to be because he believed my words, but because he wanted to confirm whether this was truly an illegal place or not.
“Master, that guest seems a little scary…….”
Teddy, who had returned after guiding the guest, trailed off. Perhaps startled, his body was trembling.
I clasped Teddy’s hand.
“To be honest, I’m scared too. I think we got an incredible guest right from the start, didn’t we?”
“Do you know him?”
“Yes. Though he doesn’t know me…….”
The man entered the tent and immediately locked the entrance zipper. Perhaps he had turned on a lamp inside; a shadow was cast on the fabric.
“But how do you know him, Master?”
“In our world, he’s a Hunter so strong that there’s no one who doesn’t know him.”
Perhaps having moved far from the entrance, the shadow grew in volume.
Soon, like a demon with horns on its head, the shadow shook threateningly.
“Rank 1 Hunter, Chae Donghwa.”
* * *
My brother had fortunately awakened as an S-Rank combat-type Hunter in his second year of high school.
Although I had tried so hard to stop him, he followed Dad into the dungeon to find Mom.
“Can’t you work in an office too, Oppa?”
After awakening, my brother came and went from dungeons as if he practically lived in them. Blessed with great innate strength, everything went smoothly for him, whereas I often couldn’t hide my anxiety.
“How’s a combat-type supposed to work in an office?”
“Dad is looking for her, so you don’t have to.”
I wanted to find Mom too. But I didn’t have the courage to take that level of risk.
Because going missing in a dungeon is tantamount to death.
If my brother were to go missing in the dungeon too…….
That possibility made me anxious.
“Dad has a low rank. It’s dangerous for him to enter dungeons. It’s better for a high-ranked person like me to go.”
Dad was a prodigy who had been called a genius since childhood despite his low rank. When my brother gathered information inside the dungeon, Dad launched investigations outside.
The two devoted themselves to finding Mom by dividing the roles of inside and outside.
“Dungeons are dangerous whether your rank is high or low.”
Mom had told me not to worry because she was SSS-Rank, but she went missing in the end. High ranks could no longer reassure me in the slightest.
“You know, Hunter Chae Donghwa. Leave it to him.”
“How do you know Chae Donghwa?”
“If a Korean citizen doesn’t know Chae Donghwa, aren’t they a spy?”
Hunter Chae Donghwa was also an S-Rank Hunter affiliated with the 7th Recon Team. There weren’t even ten S-Ranks in Korea, so it was impossible not to know him.
Moreover, Hunter Chae Donghwa was famous for another reason. No one could find out what kind of life he had lived before becoming a Hunter.
Information such as his age, what he had done before his Hunter activities, and whether he had a family did not exist.
His handsome appearance and mysterious atmosphere were enough to draw fervent public attention.
“He’s still far behind.”
“What are you talking about? I heard rumors lately that you’re losing ground to him.”
“Who’s spreading such nonsense? Your Oppa is still going strong.”
And Hunter Chae Donghwa was famous for being my brother’s passionate fan. Rumors even circulated that he had joined the 7th Recon Team because of my brother.
In the first place, it was a suspicious situation for an S-Rank Hunter to be affiliated with the Association.
Unless they were tied down by family relations like my brother, high-rank Hunters would usually join guilds where they could earn a lot of money.
“That guy just looks strong because he’s stiff and taciturn. He’s not actually anything special.”
“If you two are close, maybe he’s letting you win.”
“What nonsense? I’m absolutely not close with Chae Donghwa.”
My brother denied it, overreacting more than necessary.
‘Didn’t he call him “Donghwa” without his surname just now……. And what’s with saying they’re absolutely not close?’
“So don’t talk to me about Chae Donghwa.”
Uncharacteristically, he hardened his expression and spoke in a firm voice.
How strange. There were so many photos of the two of them together circulating around.
“If you ever run into Chae Donghwa, absolutely hide the fact that you’re my younger sister.”
“What? Oppa, are you ashamed of me?”
At this point, it seemed there was another intention.
My family had hidden our family relations from me since I was young, fearing it would have a bad influence on me as an ordinary person, but they had never openly told me to hide it like this.
“It’s not like that……. Anyway, just do as I say. If you see him, avoid him. Because he’s a weird guy.”
My brother was strange that day. He was wary as if Hunter Chae Donghwa were an extremely dangerous person.
Even if he hadn’t said that, I had no intention of revealing it to anyone.
Because after Mom went missing in the dungeon, I had avoided everything related to Hunters.
“Well then, I’m off.”
“Yeah.”
That was the day my brother left on a dungeon expedition.
An expedition was an operation to subjugate over 50% of a vast dungeon. Only then would the monsters not come outside the Gate for a while.
The Association selected guilds to send on expeditions based on each dungeon’s difficulty.
There were also raid teams within the Association that participated in expeditions, and my brother, being on a recon team, often received support requests because of his high rank.
“Aren’t you even going to ask which dungeon I’m going to?”
“What do I know? You do everything your own way anyway.”
Expeditions were different from ordinary raids. Sometimes it took over two weeks to return.
So I was already displeased with my brother working as a Hunter, and this only fueled my resentment.
“It’s a place with the berries you like. I’ll pick a lot for you.”
“Forget it. I don’t like those anymore.”
Because I had harbored fantasies about dungeons after hearing the stories Mom told me. Because I had grown to anticipate the presents she would bring back.
Perhaps Mom had let her guard down because I had grown to like dungeons.
That thought tormented me constantly. That was why I had decided to cut off all interest in dungeons.
“Yeah. Listen well to Dad while I’m gone. I’ll be back soon.”
In truth, I wanted to tell him to be careful, and not to forget that I would be waiting outside the Gate.
But I knew he wouldn’t listen anyway, so that was the only way I could express it.
My brother enjoyed working as a Hunter, and that image looked so much like Mom’s, making me even more anxious.
I had hoped it was an unfounded worry, but in the end, my brother went missing in the dungeon just like Mom.
The dungeon that had once given me excitement and joy now left nothing but despair and hatred.