Our work here was done. All that remained was to reach the safe zone, report to the Hunter Association staff who had surely arrived by now, and secure ownership of the dungeon. If we could do that, the day would be a resounding success.

As our group made its way across the dungeonized city after escaping the spider's den, we strangely didn't encounter a single zombie. Even the few we spotted shambling nearby acted as if they couldn't see us, wandering off in other directions.

'Hmm. I should probably talk to her.'

I glanced back to see Bora holding Eunsol's hand, chattering away.

"Bora."

"Yes, Yusin?"

"I need to talk with Eunsol for a moment."

"Oh, okay." She didn't seem to mind, walking ahead to join Seojin. I thought they were getting along for once, but they soon started bickering again. I doubted a more incompatible pair existed.

Now walking beside me, Eunsol kept glancing my way warily. When our eyes met, she flinched and turned away. It was clear she wasn't ready to open up to anyone besides Bora.

"The zombies aren't coming near us. That's your ability at work, isn't it?"

She gave a timid nod.

"And you were the one who stopped that giant spider from moving earlier."

Again, she simply nodded. I fell into thought. When we first met Eunsol, she had said:

"But the people who come to our town are all bad, so I have to chase them away…"

Who would have told her something like that? The answer was obvious: the people from the slums. My guess was that they had been living under the protection of Eunsol's power. A group of civilians couldn't survive for long in one place without the Association's support. It was a simple deduction: Eunsol had served as their shield, warding off monsters and outsiders.

'Well, that's fine up to a point, but…'

I studied her scar-covered body. Faint marks were visible on her nape, shoulders, and wrists—too precise to be wounds from a monster.

"Eunsol, what do you think of the townspeople?"

She hesitated, glancing around nervously before answering in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"…Family."

Family, she called them. It seemed this line of questioning wouldn't get me anywhere. I disliked the feeling of interrogating a child, but perhaps I needed to be more direct.

"Eunsol, have you ever…" I forced the words out. "Have you ever wanted to hurt the townspeople?"

She flinched. Had I hit a nerve? Or was she just shocked by the question? Her eyes darted about, lost, and her shoulders trembled. A soft sniffling sound escaped her lips, and then fat tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"Hey, Yusin! What are you doing, making her cry!" Bora rushed over to comfort the girl.

Watching Eunsol weep, I formed a few hypotheses. The strange phenomenon of the zombies targeting only the townspeople while ignoring outsiders like us… if my theory was correct, Eunsol might be a murderer.

* * *

Lost in thought, we reached the safe zone. Association staff and a rescue team, arriving shortly after us, were securing the scene, treating the injured, and evacuating anyone still trapped in the city. There must have been a construction-type ability user among them, as the entire city was being enclosed by a massive wall.

I found a bench and sat, watching the rescue efforts. My mind was a mess, tangled with thoughts about Eunsol. One idea led to another, spiraling endlessly.

"Yusin! Yusin!"

Just then, Bora ran over, her face pale. I had asked her to look into Eunsol's situation. I'd seen her talking with some of the slum residents earlier; had she found something?

"I heard everything!"

She relayed the shocking story she'd heard from a resident who had decided to leave the group. As I'd suspected, the people there had been using Eunsol to fend off monsters. To keep her from being taken away, they not only avoided reporting her to the Association but had also ingrained deep-seated obedience in her to ensure complete control. Of course, their methods of instilling that obedience couldn't have been anything but cruel. I didn't even want to imagine it.

It might have been better if it had ended with Eunsol simply being used. But the rumors—the girl who talked to stones, the child who made graves—had made people recoil. A common trait among those who wandered the unprotected zones was a deep loathing for anything related to the "other world." All of them had lost something precious in the Overlay. They were broken people who blamed all their misfortune on that cataclysm, their will to rebuild their lives shattered, living their days cursing the era.

To those slum dwellers, what was Eunsol? A necessary evil. A terrifying monster. She was treated as such and became a target of abuse. For their embittered minds, a young girl exhibiting strange behavior must have been a perfect outlet. Was it possible that this child, forced to endure such senseless cruelty, truly thought of them as family? What if resentment had been building? And then, what if the city had coincidentally become a dungeon, and zombies had appeared? And what if her ability allowed her to control them?

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Kim Yusin?" An Association employee approached me with a smile. I sent Bora away and discussed the incident with him.

"I heard you're still a student, but you handled this situation more impressively than most pros," the employee said, flipping through his documents. "Thanks to your swift response, we prevented a disaster and significantly reduced the number of casualties. This will be a major credit to your names."

I bowed my head. "Thank you. If it's not too much trouble, could I ask for the official casualty count?"

"Of course." At my question, the employee quickly rustled through his papers. "First, we found nine casualties in the supermarket that became the boss monster's lair." He rechecked the list a few times before looking at me with a bright smile. "Aside from that, everyone survived."

A jolt went through me. 'What did he just say?'

Everyone survived? No one died?

"For a dungeonization event, the scale of the damage is remarkably small. It's all thanks to you, Mr. Kim."

No, it wasn't thanks to me. There was no way just three members of the Magic Tower could have covered this entire city. I had been sure there would be significant losses. But…

'…Haha. Right. Of course.'

If that was the case, Eunsol hadn't used the zombies to attack the slum residents. She had truly tried to save everyone—even the very people who abused her. Why hadn't I seen it? I'd seen many people with severe injuries, like bitten shoulders or mangled legs. If they'd been attacked by monsters with injuries like that, they should have died on the spot. The fact that they survived such grievous wounds had to be Eunsol's doing.

'Once you start doubting, everything looks suspicious…'

I turned my head. Eunsol, who had been talking with Bora, met my eyes, flinched, and hid behind Bora's back.

…Now I felt terrible.

"Shall we talk business?" the Association employee asked, spreading out a new set of documents. As if on cue, Seojin appeared at my side and pushed up his glasses.

"First, I'd like to congratulate you. After investigating the ecosystem of this controlled zone, the Association has deemed it suitable as a hunting ground."

"That's a relief."

"Congratulations, Tower Master."

I signed my name on the document the employee handed me.

"With this, you are now the temporary owner of this hunting ground. However, you're aware that there are a few conditions to become the official owner, correct?"

"Yes, of course."

A hunting ground, being a place where monsters spawn, required thorough management and control. The Association would manage it directly for a two-week grace period, after which the owner had to prepare their own control measures for approval. The employee added that the Association owed us a great debt for handling things so well, especially during such a chaotic time. He gave me his business card and told me to call anytime if I needed help. It seemed our work had made a strong impression. Gaining a contact within the Association was a significant asset. I carefully placed the card in my wallet.

"Hehe. This is fantastic," Seojin murmured, tapping away furiously on his smartphone's calculator. "Acquiring a grade-3 hunting ground is a huge deal. Once we get it up and running, it will be a massive boost to the Magic Tower's finances. We might even be able to move up the potion launch."

The thought of more income instantly lifted my spirits.

"How should we manage it? The evaluation is in two weeks."

"You needn't worry about that. There are plenty of companies that specialize in dungeon management. We can just pick one and outsource it."

"Alright. I'll leave the selection process to you."

"Consider it done."

In truth, Eunsol was the main reason we had achieved such a great outcome and impressed the Association. Thanks to her, we had drastically reduced the number of casualties. I went to find her. The slum residents who had remained in the safe zone were also preparing to leave. Since the city they had lived in was deemed irreparable and had become a dungeon, there was no reason for them to stay.

I scanned the area and easily found Eunsol. She was sitting alone on a bench, staring blankly at the darkening, zombie-infested city.

"Hey."

She hunched her shoulders warily as I approached, but thankfully, she didn't run. I sat a short distance away and spoke gently.

"Why did you help them? They were all so cruel to you."

She stared quietly into the distance. "…Just because."

"Just because?"

"They were mean and hit me sometimes, but… they were still my only family."

"…I see." Whether they abused her or not, in the end, this pitiful child had no one else.

"I'm sorry for doubting you earlier."

Her eyes widened as she looked at me, and then a faint smile touched her lips.

"You're strange."

"Strange?"

"You're the first person to ever apologize for something like that."

"Eunsol, where are you?"

An unfamiliar voice called out. The slum residents were approaching us—a crowd in tattered clothes, with dirty faces and dead eyes like fish laid out at a market stall. At first, their appearance had made me feel sorry for them, but now they all looked like demons.

"Eunsol," a middle-aged woman said, stepping out from the group and holding out her hand. "Let's go. We've found a new home."

Eunsol stared silently at the woman's hand.

"If you're going to wear a human face, you could at least have some shame." The sharp words escaped me before I could stop them. 'These absolute scumbags.' "You abused this child, didn't you? And now you want to take her with you again just so you can live in safety?"

The slum dwellers exchanged flustered glances, their faces asking, 'How does an outsider know?' Just as I was about to lash out again—

'Grasp.'

With her small hand, Eunsol took the woman's. She hopped off the bench.

"Bye-bye, Yusin."

Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she walked away, holding the woman's hand. The residents shot me a final glare before closing ranks around Eunsol and moving on.

So, that was it. Good feelings, bad feelings—none of it mattered. Eunsol simply had no other choice.

'She's going with them willingly. I can't just chase them down and drag her away.'

I had acquired the hunting ground and made a connection at the Association. I had gained a lot, but the night left me with a heavy heart and a mind full of questions.

What was my next move?

* * *

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