The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood Chapter 409. Daily Life [5]

Chapter 409. Daily Life [5]

In truth, from an alien's perspective, a certain planet was rather cold in the face of imperfection. In India, for instance, tactile paving for the blind was sotis removed for being unsightly, or even when soone with bad legs managed to obtain an electric wheelchair, the places they could actually use it were very limited. Of course, no matter how un kind it was, it was still better than Alphauri. That is to say—far better than those marine creatures who used to commit infanticide against newborn mages born with congenital disabilities preventing them from wielding magic.

In any case, on that particular planet, contempt toward the weak only grew harsher in the wake of the Dungeon Shock. Patients had to endure the hardships of evacuation several tis more painfully than others. And with so many other concerns already at hand, humanity found it difficult to spare the effort to protect their ailing brethren separately.

"This isn't a problem that can be solved just by blindly pouring in more tax money..."

Thud.

The blond-haired man lay on the ground sowhere, organizing his thoughts for a mont. First of all, the person nad Jinhee—an otherwise common na—possessed a rather admirable trait.

"Her resistance to ntal attacks is extrely low."

To put it into perspective, it was like a naive neighborhood resident who never bothered to lock their front door. Moreover, in contrast to her strong mory, she had no complicated thoughts, making it easy to rummage through her mind.

"Let's start from the most recent mory and work backward."

A few minutes later.

"And then organize them in chronological order."

The information the archmage obtained through his sorcery was roughly as follows. As soon as he cast the spell, just as expected, Choi Jinhee truly was a person whose intelligence fell slightly below average. This drawback had been administratively recognized, but it wasn't severe enough to be classified as a serious disability—aning that with proper training, she could still fully participate in social life. In other words, the state regarded her as part of the potentially productive population. Because of that, the Choi sisters received very little support.

"It's not at all that different from the upbringing that the young man Kim Giryeo went through."

A life story that, if simply listed out, would seem to lack any real distinction. However, once he entered that person's own mories and drew them out bit by bit, like dipping litmus paper into water, his impressions shifted in many ways.

"Oh, how can a child smile so brightly and look so adorable?"

Her parents' hands caressed her face, still downy with peach-like fuzz from youth. She briefly felt that rough but tender touch—then, from the Awakener's mind, such mories surfaced one after another.

"Oh, she should have been tested much earlier. Why did you only bring her in now?"

The first thing that caught the eye was a pair of brightly colored enal shoes—the kind only children would usually wear. And when the little girl nervously darted her head about, the adults soon showed signs of unease. As the circumstances made clear, Hunter Jinhee's parents had been unaware of their child's condition for quite so ti. More precisely, they had simply failed to pay proper attention to their daughter's health issues. But that didn't an they didn't care for their family.

'...'

Simply put, ordinary folk were often so busy just trying to make a living that it was easy for things to turn out this way.

"Honestly, I'm sick of money problems. I really wish they'd stop coming up soon."

Although Choi Jinhee always wore a bright smile and was a natural optimist, she still endured many hardships due to her family's lack of wealth. In particular, the mont she had to prove her own inadequacy to the state was etched into her very cells as pain. Her parents stood beside her, pressing her relentlessly with words like, "You're not usually like this, are you?" and "Why are you acting normal only now? If you do that during the evaluation, we won't receive any support."

When soone beside you keeps calling you stupid, of course it's hard to feel good. You get angry, your heart pounds. And then, lying down at night, suddenly the thought flashes through your mind—"Am I really that stupid?"—a mory of soone's self-reproach.

"It's not a pain I've experienced myself."

The Alphauri-style sorcery of [mory Search] was so advanced that it beca a problem in itself.

"Still, it's not to the point where I can't understand it."

Sounds, scents, and scenery—the fragnts the corpse had experienced in life were passed on intact to the mage, who fell silent for a mont.

"Hmm."

The one small relief was that this Choi hunter hadn't lived a life filled only with sorrow...

"The structure is simple. But this head... it's cluttered with far too many useless thoughts."

I love my sister. My sister truly is the best family!

While Jinhee lived with thoughts like these filling her heart, it was impossible to easily judge how the woman standing at the side of the funeral hall felt about her younger sister. As it turned out, this B-rank younger sister had, knowingly or unknowingly, caused quite a bit of trouble for her older sister over the years.

***

Flipping through the mories in fragnts, the mage soon reached scenes from her early twenties. Many parts could be skipped over, but the important point was this: the relationship between the Choi sisters wasn't all that bad.

"She's your younger sister. As her older sister, Jina, you should take good care of her.

Though it was only in one or two subjects, Choi Jin was intelligent enough to often rank first in her entire school in certain fields. While examining the corpse, a surprising piece of information was uncovered. The future bearer of the [Dragon's Heart], Choi Jin, had in fact cherished her younger sister greatly. By nature, she was deeply suspicious and found it hard to trust others. Living each day so warily was exhausting—so when she happened to have such a good family, it ant everything to her.

"Wow, Jinhee, you're really terrible at lying.

Choi Jin regarded her younger sister's honesty as an incredible strength. Moreover, since they were bound by blood, I felt as though she had gained a companion who would never betray her, even if the world itself were split in two. For that, she even felt a mont of gratitude toward her parents for giving her a sister.

"When we're gone, it'll be up to you to take care of things for your sister. So keep your head straight and get ready for a job.

"Of course.

"Forget everything else, just make sure you get a stable job!

Being constantly told to take responsibility like this was a bit of a burden.

"Okay. Stop nagging.

It was okay.

"But why do Mom and Dad only ever worry about money? Jinhee's more than capable of getting a job later on. Just last year, she worked hard on her own and even earned a certification.

A pair of sisters born consecutively in the provinces grew up with a friendly relationship. In fact, they fought less frequently than many other siblings as they grew into adulthood. Moreover, by the ti the older sister reached her mid-twenties, the family even celebrated the birth of an evolved human... but...

"Yes? What did you say?

"It's an awakening. Whoa! Your younger sister is also B-rank. That's amazing!

A problem arose.

"X is done...?"

"X is done?

"No-no, no. Wait—don't repeat what you just said. That's a bad word you're not supposed to use carelessly.

"But if it's a bad word, why did you say it, Unnie?

What should have been a celebratory birth instantly turned into a disaster. An individual who could barely distinguish between what was permissible and what was not had awakened. Jinhee had always loved people and frequently played doll sorts of pranks during her school days. Yet now, soone with all these traits had beco a B-rank capable of snapping human bones like twigs. And on top of that, she had turned into a mutant with the ability to drain other people's blood?

"Wow, this is such a headache..."

Judging by the expression that remained in the deceased's mory, Choi Jin on that day must have firmly convinced herself of a troubling future. And in reality, that is exactly what happened. The transformation-type superpower, unwanted sorts of monstrous strength, caused multiple problems by carelessly touching people. And if it had only ended there, perhaps. But one day, she abruptly seized another professional from the hunting industry, imdiately triggering a major incident.

"Ah, you Kang Changho, you piece of sh*t! If I had known you'd do this to , I wouldn't have bothered apologizing when her sister bit you at the first dungeon entrance!

"Unnie, did you know? They say you're not supposed to use the word 'sh*t' carelessly. I heard it sowhere.

"Oh my, Jinhee!

For reference, this happened well after she had gained considerable experience in the industry. It's a tough situation, yet oddly enough, the younger sister's record of assaults was actually lower than that s-rank's... which is kind of funny.

The mont she awoke, property was damaged. Day after day, citizens suffered harm at the hands of her younger sister. Having experienced all this, Choi Jin began to closely monitor her sibling—but a person's life can never be perfectly controlled. Then, one day, a flood of docunts began arriving in their mailbox. Lawsuits. Lawsuits. And more lawsuits. Not long after awakening, even their parents—who had given birth to them at an older age—had passed away. There was only one person left to take responsibility for all of this.

"Ha...

As major incidents kept occurring one after another, the once-strong bond between the sisters gradually began to crack.

"Unnie. What are you doing? Rest? Sleep?

Moreover, the situation worsened in the blink of an eye. Controlling her younger sister had beco difficult, and it all started with the one Wednesday Choi Jin had ignored her. To be precise, it was a rare day when her sister went out alone to the local community center to turn on a broken fluorescent lamp. Amazingly, that single weekday beca the starting point for everything that followed.

"What's that you brought in your hands? Did sothing else already arrive in the mailbox?

How could anyone have predicted that her younger sister, Choi Jinhee, would be led by a complete stranger to sign so kind of "Fraudulent contract" and then return ho?

***

A woman in her twenties who was once famous as a first-generation Awakened. However, information about the hunter Awakened soon spread online. Relatively weak individuals with poor decision-making skills unexpectedly beco targets for certain organizations.

A for-profit company related to Gates called [Faith]. It was an unusual business hastily established by organized cri mbers who had made money through illegal online gambling and needed a way to launder their funds.

"W-what... What kind of contract is this..."

Moreover, in this era of Dungeon Shock, awakening itself was literally money. An entrepreneur—belonging to the so-called "vandals"—caught the scent of profits soon to flow through the hunter industry. He first summoned the younger sister, who had many vulnerabilities, and forced her into the extrely unfair [Knight's Oath]. Then, having lured her in, he imdiately used this leverage to threaten the older sister as well.

"From now on, your sister can die at my command at any ti. Do you understand?"

If she had ignored the threat at that ti, perhaps she could have at least prevented Anyoonseung from getting hurt. But in reality, Choi Jin had little choice. In today's world, where family structures are shifting from nuclear families to single-person households, she had had minimal interaction with others before awakening due to financial issues—especially since their parents often borrowed money. In fact, she only began keeping in touch with Anyoonseung after she started working seriously in the hunting industry.

So.

"--"

In this world, there was still sothing that money couldn't easily buy. That was the trust and support of her beloved family.

And because Choi Jin understood the value of such blood ties, she could not bring herself to abandon the only remaining relative, and so she reluctantly agreed to the unfair contract. In an instant, it was as if she had beco a modern-day slave.

"Jinie Noona, by the way, when are you going to get that scar on your chin removed?

"I'm not getting it removed.

"Ah, co on. You're making plenty of money anyway. Just buy a potion and go to the hospital for surgery.

"It's a hassle, so don't bother.

Working so hard that she ranked among A-ranks, yet living a life where she couldn't even buy a single outfit freely—this was the reality of the [Knight's Oath]. It was a viable lifestyle. [Faith], the company that had imposed 21 different rules to control the sisters.

But such a specific scam was hard to replicate elsewhere, and both sisters of the Choi family were B-rank or higher. Of course, the failure couldn't have predicted the cause; it was just, about a week ago, they had a lot of tension. In a modern world where superpowers, magical hamrs, and the like actually exist, why force them to their absolute limits?

"Honestly... still, this month brought in almost as much money as working at a big corporation.

If they pushed too hard, the golden goose they had painstakingly captured might break down. The [Faith] guild didn't force the Awakened sisters to the limit with that calculation in mind. And Choi Jin had also perfectly noticed this series of patterns.

"Anyway, as long as I can make a living, that's enough."

A certain one-sided parasitic relationship sohow managed to continue. Of course, the regret of "If only I hadn't left my family alone that Wednesday..." still surfaced from ti to ti, even months later.

"Hey, Jinhee. This is all my fault. So really, don't bla yourself too much.

The two sisters lived fairly well for a ti. So why did such a chaotic situation suddenly occur? Even the bereaved keep in overhead the conversation above. From the perspective of this Transformation-type Awakened, Choi Jin had gone through a breakup with her partner.

***

"No, wait a minute."

A relationship.

To be precise, an office worker had confessed to Choi Jin, drawn by her responsible nature, her strong work ethic, and the way she cared for her sister. She accepted, and they ended up dating for about four months.

"Is this really the reason my acquaintance died? It's just sothing anyone young could easily go through, isn't it?"

The man, who had been deeply imrsed in the corpse's mories, returned to the present. He glanced at the cent-gray scenery before him and continued his thoughts.

A breakup with a partner.

As it had just co to mind, this might have seed easy to notice at first glance... But if one delved a little deeper into the mories of a certain B-rank hunter, the reason why that seemingly common event beca the trigger could be understood. Choi Jin's younger sister was weak when it ca to using her brain, but that didn't an she was completely oblivious. Because of this trait, she had blad herself for her family's breakup.

"So the younger sister must have overheard so that Choi Jin couldn't get married because she was busy taking care of her."

Moreover, it was hard to place the bla for this series of misunderstandings solely on the individual.

"To be precise, this child happened to overhear the sche that took place in the director's office of the [Faith] guild."

The [Faith] guild likely figured that if the golden goose were ever to marry, the slave contract would gradually be exposed through their partner. So, as soon as they beca aware of Choi Jin's romantic involvent, the company executives apparently started discussing ways to tear them apart.

"But, do we even need to worry about this? Fine, it's a romance, but honestly, who's actually going to think about marrying her?"

"Ey, still.

"But she's got Choi Jinhee right there with her.

During her life, the younger sister had felt various inferiority complexes. But now, a person already prone to depression overheard the conversation. And then there are those greedy bastards who took making a life-threatening revelation of the [Knight's Oath] was a viable choice, with the goal of keeping their family from suffering any further.

"Feeling guilty about her older sister's breakup, she exposed the slave contract... but she didn't report it to the police"

Soone's sambagean eyes rolled through the empty air.

"Because of the oath she had already signed, opening her mouth would an instant death. Asking for help from the police over the phone, without even showing her face... apparently, this Awakener didn't see that as a very trustworthy option."

The flow of the story is understandable, though.

"So she sent an SOS to the only person outside the company whose face she knew... to be precise, she left a ssage with Ahn Yoonseung to save her sister, and then she died right there."

For now, they had roughly figured out what the deceased woman in her twenties had been thinking during her life. As the reward for obtaining such abundant information, blood was trickling from the magician's nostrils. Yet, amidst this exhausting situation, an Alphauri lying sowhere suddenly had a thought.

"Why didn't Ahn Yoonseung request help any sooner?"

With a relative collapsing right in front of him and chaos unfolding, he could have just summoned an SS-rank or other top-tier powerhouse first. But setting aside the current frustration, the Archmage decided not to check the reason why it hadn't been a priority. The reason was simpler than expected.

"That damned intelligence."

Because he had already inferred the answer to the question.

"Yeah. This isn't their fault..."

In the end, it was all his own fault for leaving the Earthlings with a sense of trust. After all, it was precisely because he had praised the deceased for being independent and handling her own affairs so well that this entire situation had erupted. The Archmage, lying on the cold floor, clasped his hands over his chest. In that position, he briefly allowed himself a certain conviction.