Chapter 55

The shattered room slowly quieted as the Paradoxical Flame faded away. I let out a long breath, stepped outside, and rejoined Lee Se-eun and Han Sang-ah.

“For you to kill a Taebaek’s Partner Hunter.”

“I can’t afford to let myself be killed in there after all.”

There had been six capable thugs, and just as Lee Se-eun had said, Yoon Sung-hyun was Taebaek’s Partner Hunter.

With men like that coming to kill me, I couldn't afford to take it lightly. The fact that we fought inside a cramped room had not given me much of an advantage either.

“Taebaek will bare its fangs now and come after you.”

“It was never an organization I could be friendly with anyway.”

There was no reason to be.

“And as for Taebaek crushing me, well, even the Hanwha Eagles will win a championship someday.”

At that, Han Sang-ah frowned in confusion.

“If you mean the baseball team Hanwha Eagles, they have won the KBO League five years in a row. Everyone expects them to win again this year.”

“…”

I stared at her in shock. Who did what for how many years?

Ever since coming back to Earth, I had not had the time to care about baseball rankings. This was the first time such an absurd fact had hit my ears.

It felt like one more sign that the world was falling apart for all the wrong reasons. Still, no matter how much that rattled me, it was not important.

“Enough about baseball. Let’s talk about Taebaek.”

The company’s structure was famous enough that everyone knew about it. It was the only hunting firm with a representative. What I did not know much about was that representative himself.

I looked at Lee Se-eun. She answered immediately.

“Taebaek’s representative is Sung Sihoon. A narcissist with a handsome face, but strong.”

“How strong is he?”

“Strong enough that if it were just strength, he could lift Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the London Eye all at once with telekinesis and juggle them.”

So basically a walking natural disaster huh. Well, it made sense. Taebaek settled everything by force. They were like the insane anime characters who decided everything through duels. Their representative being weak was never an option.

“So doesn’t that mean he’s stronger than you, noona?”

Lee Se-eun replied to my question.

“There is a limit. His telekinesis only works within a radius of twenty meters.”

Inside that range, he could choke someone like Darth Vader or snap them apart. Beyond that range, he couldn't attack directly.

If he wanted to strike an enemy outside twenty meters, he had to lift something within his range and hurl it.

“That barely counts as a weakness though.”

Plenty of ways to attack him from beyond twenty meters came to mind. But once an attack entered his domain, his telekinesis would crush it instantly.

In truth, his ability was extremely troublesome. Given power like that, it was not surprising he turned into a narcissist.

“The transfer market will open soon...”

Lee Se-eun glanced toward London and continued.

“Because of you, the British Hunter Association will be very busy.”

“Really?”

“How many hunting companies do you think will rush to sign you? Britain’s infrastructure is in shambles, and the only place equipped for proper remote negotiation is the Association building in London.”

Meaning their phones would be ringing off the hook.

“I have to plan to go anywhere.”

Both Han Sang-ah and Lee Se-eun nodded as if they expected that answer. Our contract with Britain was nearly up anyway, and the shield generator in Dover had already yielded nearly all the data we needed.

“Originally I planned to stay for a while after the contract ended. But…”

I had to move quickly before the transfer market opened and push my reputation higher.

“Do you think we can handle Russia’s first-class Erosion Zone, the Refrigerator?”

Lee Se-eun answered.

“From that rank onward, it’s not just the monsters. The gimmicks become huge variables too. I can’t say for sure. But maybe… forty percent of the odds?”

Forty percent was far too vague to be comforting. She studied me and Han Sang-ah seriously.

“Adapting to a zone’s gimmicks is not about raw power. It depends on how much you’ve experienced. But you two have almost none.”

She thought for a moment, then added,

“For reference, the bounty on the Refrigerator is thirty-eight billion won.”

Han Sang-ah and I went silent for a moment. How much did she just say?

Lee Se-eun pulled out a calculator and tapped at it.

“Of course, just the three of us going in would be impossible. We need an operations team too…”

After a moment, she handed me a sheet.

“What’s this?”

“My juniors and seniors. Plus a Japanese hunting company where I have a contact. He owes me. They won’t help clear the zone, but they’ll open the way for us to reach it.”

Factoring in the cost of an operations team and other expenses, Han Sang-ah and I would each net about fifteen billion won if successful.

Of course, that was only if we came out successful. Right now I had nowhere near the assets to pay them up front. We would have to hire conditionally.

In other words, pay later out of winnings.

“What happens if we fail?”

Han Sang-ah’s fair question made Lee Se-eun grin.

“Then you’ll have hired them without paying. You’ll be debtors. But you’re Hunters, so you could probably scrape together the interest and live with it for life.”

I looked at Han Sang-ah. She spoke first.

“I’m fine. Geumyang Group will cover me.”

“What about me?”

“Covering debts with Geumyang money is not wise. You’d end up more miserable than an ordinary debtor. But if you insist, I’ll help.”

What, would they chain me underground and put me to work or something? I could already see myself scraping a tiny salary together to buy chicken skewers and beer with tears in my eyes.

“But if we succeed, it’d be huge. Clearing a first-class Erosion Zone is no small thing.”

Lee Se-eun rubbed her fingers together as she finished.

“Money will pour in. Even if you don’t want to make it, you’ll watch wealth pile up.”

Either drown in debt or use this job to soar into the sky.

“Life isn’t as complicated as people think.”

I stood and met Lee Se-eun’s eyes.

“I’ll do it.”

There was no such thing as testing the waters. Life was like a scrap of burning tissue, flaring brightly one moment, snuffing out the next.

“Good. Then I’ll prepare what’s needed. First…”

She called someone.

“Hello, Nanami? It’s time to pay your debt. What? Magical girls don’t have debts? Don’t spout nonsense. Do you want to die?”

While Lee Se-eun handled business as the Partner Hunter of Jannabi should, Han Sang-ah and I continued our relentless training.

* * *

A week later, Lee Se-eun handed me documents. The preparations for the Refrigerator were complete.

“Know this beforehand. Everyone I gathered is conditionally hired. None of them will enter the zone itself. The Refrigerator only allows two Hunters to enter anyway.”

The rest would just open the way for us.

“Thinking about it, if we fail, only Han Sang-ah and I’ll die anyway.”

Once inside, you either die or destroy the core. There was no leaving otherwise.

Meaning if we died inside, the debt was irrelevant. To that, Lee Se-eun replied.

“There’s a way.”

With that said, she showed us a small orb.

“What’s this?”

“The Glass Candy of Salvation. You don’t eat it, but you input your mana pattern and carry it. I’ll borrow them under my name from the Korean Hunter Association.”

Simply put, it was an extra life. One so expensive it made you dizzy to think of the price. The Association kept about fifty in reserve for Hunters like Lee Se-eun.

“If you’re about to die in a zone, it forces you out. But the price is simple. You can never enter that zone again.”

Which basically meant failure.

“If you succeed and destroy the core, the candy will obviously be returned to the Association.”

But if we fail at the job… we’d be forced out of the zone, and I’d be in happy debt for the rest of my life.

And of course we would also have to repay the cost of the candy as well.

“Failure would be a big problem.”

“Exactly. And since I began recruiting, media outlets everywhere are in a frenzy.”

If we failed, I would not only become a debtor. I would lose all the reputation I had built.

“Alright, let’s go.”

If we succeeded, heaven awaited me. If not, hell. Han Sang-ah and I put in the earpieces Lee Se-eun gave us.

― Connection confirmed. This is Operator Team Seagull. Are you Hunter Yoo Chan-seok?

“Yes, connection confirmed.”

The calm voice continued. It was the operator team Lee Se-eun usually contracted with.

― Time 1357. Hunters Lee Se-eun and two others confirmed departing Dover. The final objective is elimination of the Refrigerator in Bratsk.

Details followed.

― The Refrigerator requires exactly two Hunters. No more, no less can enter.  

We already knew that as we heard it from Lee Se-eun.

― Confirming once more. The two entering will be Hunters Yoo Chan-seok and Han Sang-ah, correct?

“Yes.”

If Lee Se-eun came too, things would be easier. But then the impact would be weaker. Rank 10 of all Hunters, Lee Se-eun helping clear a first-class zone? People would just say we hitched a ride.

But if Han Sang-ah and I did it ourselves, no one could say that.  

I was gambling with my future, so I had to reach for the biggest prize.

― Honestly, I am worried.

Lee Se-eun’s voice came through the earpiece.

“We’ll be fine.”

I muttered and touched the glass orb in my pocket, the so-called Glass Candy of Salvation.

Even if I thought of dying rather than being a debtor, it no longer mattered. My mana pattern was already bound to the orb, and it would kick me out of the zone even if I wanted to die in it.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

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