Chapter 272. The sequel to Destruction.
Maybe it's because it's only been a year since I reincarnated, I still often feel a sense of disconnect when dealing with Earthlings.
Extraterrestrial beings are hard to understand. But perhaps that's why I found myself even more drawn to them. Just like that, I fixed my gaze, openly showing my curiosity without restraint. And the dark-furred mammal, who had just heard an Alphaurian's true na for the first ti, narrowed her pupils—as if she had realized sothing from my observation stare.
"...!"
The reason why the eyes of an S-rank hunter often lingered on her was purely for observation from the very beginning. By now, even she couldn't possibly be unaware of it.
***
Buzz—
About 25 minutes ago. It's sumr.
Seonwoo Yeon, for so reason, decided to go out after a long ti and took out her cherished Arican-made denim jeans to wear. Today was a day to go see soone else's face. Though she usually valued manners highly, this ti she broke her own rules rarely, driven by concern for the person involved. That much shows that at the very beginning of this incident, there was soone's boundless good intention.
"Hmm..."
Soon, Seonwoo Yeon, dressed in casual clothes, stepped out of the house. The sunlight was warm, and the green leaves along the road seed to welco her. The weather was so nice that, for a mont, she felt like everything was going to go well.
However, the reality that soon ca to her was quite different from her expectations. On top of that, it was shocking.
"I'm actually an alien!"
An alien really exists. And now, the hunter standing right before is that very alien.
Seonwoo Yeon thought to herself. Maybe this is just a worthless B-rank matter, and I'm getting punished for foolishly getting caught in a whale fight. Normally, she would have dismissed talk about aliens and such as nothing more than a joke without giving it a second thought.
But right now, right in the center of the battlefield, Justitia was verifying the credibility of the conversation. Because of that tangible thod of proof, her mind had instantly beco a tangled ss.
Aliens. Binary star systems. And magic. No matter how many tis she chewed over the words, they remained concepts that simply wouldn't dissolve—like oil floating on water.
"Hello. I am a Lemming."
Could it really be true that beneath the polished exterior of that man was an alien being? And on top of that, such an unfamiliar entity had been hiding—at all places—among South Korea's hunters?
"Since we've properly introduced ourselves, we're friends now, right?"
Justitia's verdict. And the blonde Hunter, who had always made flawless decisions as if she were the very embodint of rationality.
The man possessed several traits that compelled others to listen to his claims, but Seonwoo Yeon chose to prioritize her own experience above all else. And with that, this was the conclusion she reached.
"Alien..."
A thought crossed her mind—that maybe, just maybe, the things that the blond man was saying might not be lies after all.
"H, huh?"
Only now, in this mont, did Seonwoo Yeon finally interpret a mysterious scene she had buried deep in her heart all this ti. A blond man had taken an ice cream from a child who looked no older than a first grader. Co to think of it, sothing had felt off from the very beginning. Moreover, upon closer reflection, many of the uneasy feelings she'd had before now fit together with this current conversation.
"Could that be why he called himself a 'retired'?"
If you really listen to his claim, the man in front of you is, in so ways, indeed a retired soldier. And even the single word Kim Giryeo muttered under his breath was explained by this situation.
The possibility that what she heard wasn't just empty boasting grew stronger.
Even so, fully digesting it on the spot was too much of a bombshell for an Earthling.
Seonwoo Yeon wasn't foolish.
But being sincere and straightforward, she quickly began to respect the other's request to trust his words, just as was her usual nature.
The possibility that what she heard wasn't just empty boasting grew stronger. Even so, fully digesting it on the spot was too much of a bombshell for an Earthling. Seonwoo Yeon wasn't foolish. But being sincere and straightforward, she quickly began to respect the other's request to trust his words, just as was her usual nature.
"But surely you're not feeling wronged in this situation, are you? If you think about it, it was you who recklessly trespassed into the mage's territory in the first place."
Honestly, in a desperate crisis like this, deep reflection was hardly possible anyway.
A few minutes later. The Earthling, cursed by an unknown spell after contact with Lemming, who had completed the magic.
"No, seriously, Seonwoo Yeon, I didn't expect this from you. I've helped you out so many tis before, and now you just blindly believe whatever Kang Changho says and co at like I'm so kind of monster? Did you really think I was a bad guy or sothing?"
After a long conversation, when the blonde man started grumbling in a displeased tone, Seonwoo Yeon quickly jumped in to explain.
"N, no. Wait a mont. That's a misunderstanding!"
Fearing that the angry alien might bust her head open, she first clearly corrected the purpose of her visit here. The creature using Kim Giryeo's resident ID card was taken aback by Seonwoo Yeon's intense anxious reaction.
However, objectively speaking, her reaction was understandable. Though the alien had ntioned throughout the conversation that he used to be impressive only in the past and that his power had greatly diminished since then, he still hadn't revealed the crucial fact—that he was currently ranked F-rank...
"U, um, to be precise, it's a bit different. I actually ca because I was really worried about you, Hunter."
"Hines?"
Where was she even supposed to begin? The roles had long since been reversed, and now it was the blond man who had taken control of Justitia and placed a hand on the scale's head. As an Association employee, Seonwoo Yeon chose her words with the utmost care, doing her best to avoid any phrasing that might be flagged as a lie.
"I heard this report from Kang Changho! He said he suspects that sothing bad has possessed Hunter Kim's body—like what happens in dungeons such as (Naless Cave) or with (Doppelganger). And isn't it already a chaotic ti because of those monsters that take control of people's minds?"
"That's right."
"If such a demonic beast had possessed your body, that would be an extrely serious situation. I was just worried—what if, even by the slightest chance, Hunter Kim was in trouble? I-I never thought of you as a bad person based on how I've seen you before..."
"Ah. So your suspicion wasn't directed at the identity of Kim Giryeo itself."
A little.
At those words, a tiny tear—barely the size of an ant's eye—gathered in the corner of Seonwoo Yeon's eye.
"You said I shouldn't carelessly speak your real na, right?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll call you the way I usually do. Um, Hunter Kim Giryeo always jumps into bizarre gates without hesitation, so... I thought there was a decent chance you'd be exposed to so unusual dungeon catastrophe."
Contrary to the suspicion of so alien, Seonwoo Yeon had co to the one-room apartnt with nothing but pure intentions. But around this point, a small doubt began to arise.
"Wait a minute. But if your sole purpose was to confirm whether a monster had possessed soone, wouldn't it have been obviously more efficient for Kang Changho, the owner of Justitia, to co himself? Didn't you find anything strange about that guy's insistence on entrusting the scale to soone else?"
But hearing Seonwoo Yeon's reply that followed, even the archmage Lemming soon nodded in agreent.
"Hunter Kang Changho thought that if he went alone, no one would believe him... so he hoped that the Association, as a public institution, would diate this matter as much as possible."
"Aha."
"Before he inford his coworkers about the incident, I judged that it would be better for soone like , who is familiar with the hunter, to first verify the facts."
"Hmm, Seonwoo Yeon, now that I think about it—if everything Kang Changho said was true, and I really was a monster, then it's obvious you'd be in danger. What were you planning to do about that?"
"...That, whenever I head out to a dungeon or any site, I always send a dispatch location email in advance. So if anything unexpected happens, the Association would find out, and sohow you'd be helped."
"Oh."
Most of the reasons were predictable.
"Since you brought it up, how about we cancel that dispatch email first? We're friends who've exchanged nas, and from now on, we're just going to have a peaceful conversation in this room."
"Ugh..."
Kim Giryeo accessed Seonwoo Yeon's email on her phone and continued speaking.
"So to sum it up, Seonwoo Yeon, you were convinced by that guy's seemingly ethical argunt."
If only Kang Changho had tried to suppress her by force, things might have been different. But Seonwoo Yeon was thin skinned enough he was, by nature, prepared to break rather than bend when pressured by others. She wasn't so machine, yet she had a strong obsession with fairness. Therefore, if Kang Changho's demands hadn't seed right to her, even if a convicted criminal had threatened to kill and ordered her to harm Kim Giryeo, she wouldn't have co to the studio apartnt in the first place.
"I'm sorry."
A miserable voice flows out.
"To be honest... I'm human too. There was actually a case inside the Association where soone was disciplined for leaking information to Hunter Kang in exchange for money. And maybe because I saw all of that firsthand, it really wasn't easy to stay neutral. So honestly, up until the mont I ca here—I almost didn't believe what he was claiming at all."
The innocent B-rank sorcerer regretted her actions and soon offered an apology.
"But soone like , worrying about a top-class hunter... Just the thought that, even in the smallest possibility, Kim Giryeo might be in trouble... I'm truly sorry for the disrespect..."
Of course, the room's owner didn't really mind. Whether in his past life or now, his temperant had always been arrogant—only varying in degree. And since his soul remained the sa, his preferences had hardly changed either.
The blond-haired man glanced at the scale that had never once tilted to the left and moved his lips slightly.
"If you ca because you were worried about , then that's enough. I'm actually grateful."
The alien who had introduced himself as Lemming soon waved his hand dismissively. Just from his gestures alone, he could have easily passed for a native Korean.
"Yeah. Co to think of it, I'm the one who picked a fight with Kang Changho and made things worse in the first place. It's not like Seonwoo Yeon did anything seriously wrong."
"Fighting...? Wait a second. Did sothing happen between the two of you?"
"You didn't know?"
"If I had known, do you think I would've co here?"
After that, news ca that the dia was currently under control—whether to protect Esther's awakened image or due to interference from Kang Changho's side was unclear—but it wasn't particularly important.
"The internet spreads information so quickly that posts might have popped up briefly. But at least in the news, there was no report about you two fighting, and I don't usually check social dia much..."
Now, the man with golden hair and black eyes lives on. Lemming.
He rested his chin on one hand and thought for a mont.
"Hmm."
For now, he had safely secured Justitia, so there was no risk of falling for the sa trick again. As for Seonwoo Yeon, well, even if it took the whole day, she would gladly take her ti and help with whatever needed to be done going forward.
To be exact, that Earthling was a useful card to play against certain ex-convicts.
The other party had outright said she ca because she was worried about Kim Giryeo. Even soone lacking in social awareness couldn't fail to recognize that this was the Korean concept of jeong—deep, empathetic affection.
"Yeah. After all the kindness I've shown, the least she can do is take my side."
As long as he wasn't lacking in justification, that upright public official was highly likely to resist another's unjust violence with everything she had. That's just the kind of person she was—which ant most of the problem was already solved.
But now, at this point—just one question kept circling in his mind.
I get it now—why Seonwoo Yeon ca all the way here without resistance. I understand why, out of so many people, Kang Changho chose that particular public servant. Among his acquaintances, Ahn Yoonseung is blindly loyal, while she's at least fair—and if I were to slip up, she's the one who could cause the most damage. So of course it makes sense. But still..."
The process had gone so smoothly that he'd montarily overlooked it. Now that he thought about it—how exactly had Kang Changho even guessed that soone's mind had been swapped in the first place?
"Hunter Kim Giryeo... I just have sothing I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind..."
"Why the sudden honorifics?"
A short while later, after so ti had passed, even the guest who had visited the studio apartnt voiced the sa question. She hesitantly asked, glancing around nervously, whether by any chance Kim Giryeo had recently done anything in front of Kang Changho that could have been mistaken for monster-like behavior.
But Lemming thought he was doing a pretty good job mimicking an Earth native. As proof, so B-rank hunter had been so shocked upon hearing he was an alien that he even stumbled backward. So, for Kang Changho to point out Kim Giryeo's identity—that seed like quite a leap in logic from Kim's perspective, didn't it?
"You're an alien... maybe you noticed that too? Now that I think about it, when Hunter Kang Changho spoke to , I don't think he ever explicitly confird you as a 'monster'..."
"Well, considering there's Justitia and, above all, that he used the contract item, looking back, all his expressions were probably vague and indirect overall."
His head tilted slightly. Even giving the benefit of the doubt, it seed impossible for an Earthling not just to recognize an alien, but to specifically identify him as an Alphaurian. And to be clear, the idea that they could tell he was the individual known as Lemming was even more absurd.
If they had realized that the corpse Kim Giryeo possessed was that of an old-era archmage freed from all restraints, the kind of person—no matter how many tis they had seen him appear weak—would never have thought to pick a fight so easily. When facing an Alphaurian, it was actually more reasonable to assu that a seemingly weak mage was just pretending to be fragile to deceive everyone. After all, there were many sinister individuals among the supermage clans beyond the universe.
But considering these conditions, soone's hostile behavior felt both unusually reckless and strangely cautious at the sa ti.
So from now on, the mystery only deepens.
What exactly is that man with the bluish-purple hair misunderstanding to be?
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