Chapter 176. Affection (2)

Do Earthlings have a culture of keeping pets? Of course, there must be. After all, right now, information about it is flooding through Kim Giryeo's brain like a tidal wave.

So, what I'm about to do is much like... dealing with a pet rodent that escaped into the living room while I was cleaning its cage.

~Crash!

The plan was to lure the target in with the scent of food she liked, in an attempt to capture her.

~Heuk!"

"Kyaaah!"

"Wait...!"

Slash!

I stabbed my left wrist with the dismantling scissors Choi Jin had given me and sprayed the blood that burst out all around. Even in a sealed state without a single wound, a vampire could detect the state of someone's blood. There's no way she'd be able to resist this.

~!!

As expected, within a few seconds, a reaction came. The shapeshifter, seemingly excited by the scent of blood that matched her tastes, flapped her wings twice as fast. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she charged in this direction.

"H, Hunter Kim Giryeo! N, no. What on earth is that!?"

"Calm down and keep an eye on your sister."

Immediately after, I took a bottle filled with crimson liquid from my pocket and drank its contents in front of Choi Jin. At the same time, the bleeding from my wrist stopped abruptly.

The truth is, it's just a grapefruit drink I bought at the convenience store... but hey, I have at least some sense of the situation.

"It would look strange if I healed my own wounds without being a healing-type Awakened. At least I should pretend to drink a potion when recovering."

While I was lost in these thoughts, the sky predator finally took the bait.

"Ahhhh!"

Choi Jinhee screamed as she flew towards me. Her speed was no less impressive than that infamous beginner killer. I in fact, by the time I turned my head after hearing her scream, she had already reached right in front of me.

The overwhelming flying creature. The vampire plunged fiercely into the blood-spattered clearing. At the same time, Choi Jin realized her sister's grab and hurriedly grabbed one of its wings, but...

The problem was the acceleration. The kinetic energy of Jinhee, who had repeatedly accelerated, was on an overwhelming level. Even if an A-rank tried to stop her with their whole body, they would easily be knocked over by such a predator.

"Ugh."

Drrrrk!

What followed was the sound of asphalt cracking.

I was grabbed by Choi Jinhee by the neck and slammed into the ground. The road cracked, and streetlights were ripped out. I was sent sliding at least 30 meters from my original spot, but despite the flashy assault, there wasn't much damage. Thanks to the coating effect of the Sacred Tree Seedling, I didn't even get a scratch, even in the chaos.

"Whew."

Items are the best!

I held my breath for a moment, waiting for the surrounding dust to settle. However, after observing the situation, it seemed like suffocation would come faster than the dust disappearing.

"Haaak! Aaaaahhh!"

"Jinhee-ya, stay still!"

"Ugh, what kind of strength is this...?"

Soon after, the A-rank hunters from the Faith Guild began to engage in a fierce battle with the vampire on top of my body. Choi Jin and the team were doing their best to subdue Jinhee, who had fallen into confusion, but it wasn't easy. After all, how could someone like Jinhee, a B-rank hunter, even be part of this team? The hunter society is strictly meritocratic. Just because they're sisters, they can't afford to carry a weaker person.

"Aaaah!"

"Jinhee-ya, please..."

"Let go of this! Let go of this!"

Originally, her strength was sufficient, but once she lost her reasoning due to the abnormal status, the shapeshifter's tremendous strength surged to an uncontrollable level.

Chomp

! Choi Jinhee harshly bit into my bloodstained wrist. If it weren't for the enhanced defense, my wrist would have likely been torn off.

Attacked by a crazy vampire, and after waiting for 30 minutes, the packaged chicken galbi from the popular restaurant was swept away by the wind. It's just one of those days when nothing goes right, but I guess this is the end of it.

"Ahhh!"

Soon after, the vampire was thrown backwards as her wings were caught by her older sister's hand.

"U, ugh...!"

Finally, she was pulled away. Even after being subdued, the shapeshifter twisted her body and struggled, but Choi Jin pressed down on her with her entire body to restrain her.

"Oh, as expected, the heart of a dragon is different!"

Shall I start getting up now? I had been lying underneath Choi Jinhee like a corpse for the entire time. With my fragile F-rank strength, I really couldn't move a single finger in the situation earlier...

"Did dust get in my eyes? Suddenly, tears are welling up."

I swallowed an unspoken secret and got up from my seat.

"Use your skill quickly!"

"Ah, yes!"

And just as I was shaking off my dirty suit jacket, I could hear that the situation on their side had also been sorted out. While we were caught up in that chaos, fortunately, the healer, who had a high resistance to status effects, was the first to break free from the confusion. After recovering, the healer cast a spell to awaken Choi Jin's younger sister's mind.

"Heuk!"

Finally, all the team members returned to their usual state. With the status effect lifted, Jinhee suddenly slumped, as if the aftereffects of her earlier frenzy were catching up to her.

"Jinhee-ya, have you come to your senses?"

But it seems she still hasn't grasped the situation. The younger sister merely blinked at her sister's question.

"Unnie... I'm sorry."

It wasn't until a long while later that Jinhee finally spoke again. She hid the abnormal organ she had created with her skill, and with her softened limbs, she apologized. In response, her sister assured her it was fine, even saying that she was the one who made a mistake, and she gently hugged and comforted her younger sister. It was a rare display of sibling affection.

"Hmm?"

But at that time...

"What is it?"

When I was observing the Earthlings without much thought, something strange happened in my direction. Choi Jin suddenly stopped petting her younger sister and looked up, locking eyes with me. For some reason, her dark irises fixed on me and didn't move, staring at me intently.

"Long eye contact."

Come to think of it, whenever I did something like that, Earthlings would always get angry, asking if I was picking a fight with them.

"Huh? Picking a fight?"

I was momentarily taken aback by the other person's hostile expression. But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't easily guess the reason behind their behavior.

***

A-rank Hunter Choi Jin. That person was gently stroking her younger sister's back as she pondered.

It was truly foolish to hide her strength in front of the monster. Because of her arrogance, even her comrades had to endure all sorts of hardships.

"Haa."

Choi Jin continued to vent her self-criticism without pause.

For a moment, the blade of her self-criticism had turned outward.

This situation could, in a way, be seen as caused by someone else, right if it hadn't been for that S-rank Hunter, she wouldn't have felt the need to hide her skills in the first place.

'...'

Choi Jin closed her eyes tightly.

Right. In truth, she knows it all. Those thoughts were just pitiful excuses, and this situation actually ended up being wrapped up relatively peacefully thanks to that Hunter.

Choi Jin opened her eyes and scanned the park floor. There were still red bloodstains clearly visible there.

"Crazy guy."

She usually hated using the expression 'crazy' toward people. But this time, she really had nothing else to say.

~ And lend me some scissors for a moment.

~ Scissors?

~ Yes. Those sharp dismantling scissors you're holding in your hand.

The reason that person cut their own flesh was merely to summon Choi Jinhee to the ground. Who wouldn't be horrified upon seeing that? There was no time to stop it. As soon as Kim Giryeo received the dismantling tool, without a moment's hesitation, he carried out such an act.

"Crazy..."

Choi Jin repeated the curse she had been trying to avoid. However, on the other hand, she was certain that Kim Giryeo's mind was clearer than anyone else's. High-ranking Awakeners don't get drunk off alcohol. Hunters like them rarely lose their cognitive abilities, unlike regular people.

"It's even creepier to think that he did it while sober."

Then why did Kim Giryeo choose such an unusual course of action among the many solutions available?

"Unnie, are you okay? Are you hurt too?"

Choi Jin somehow seemed to know the reason.

Kim Giryeo is an S-rank Hunter. Not just any S-rank, but one praised endlessly by her cousin for his impressive skills. But, if such an individual were to try to capture a bloodthirsty awakened being at someone's hasty request...

"I know how powerful it is because I've been hit by an S-class hunter myself."

Perhaps Kim Giryeo used this method of drawing Jinhee with blood because he knew this fact? Upon further thought, it was probably the mildest way of capturing her. And even when that S-rank Hunter descended and was about to strike, it seemed like he considered the safety of the other party as his priority.

"I waited for Jinhee to calm down, motionless like a corpse."

If it were Kang Changho, he would have already struck the rude B-rank who grabbed his neck. And Jung Haseong, in such a situation, would have struggled to shake off the vampire, even if he was flustered.

'...'

In the end, Choi Jin interpreted the actions of the S-rank Hunter as follows.

"He let slide."

He let my younger sibling off, ensuring she wouldn't get hurt.

"How could this be..."

In truth, Giryeo was just a weak, useless body and couldn't do anything to defend himself, but of course, she would never know that. Soon, Choi Jin stood up and deeply bowed to the Hunter who approached her.

"Thank you for helping me."

Her gaze no longer held the previous hostility.

"It seems like you weren't able to enjoy the packed meal because of us. I'll make sure to compensate for the cost of the dakgalbi."

"Really?"

"And the potion you used earlier as well. If you could just tell me what rank it was, I'll make sure to replace it with an identical one immediately..."

Indeed, when she heard her younger sister say that Kim Giryeo had willingly let her drink his blood, she started having doubts. Trying to disregard her initial impression that came a little too late...

Choi Jin slowly grasped the true nature of the Hunter. Giryeo. He was more generous and friendly than she had expected.

"No. That's fine."

"Yes!"

"Don't worry about the potion. By the way, is your younger sister okay?"

With such a cold expression, his personality was warm enough to make one feel a sense of kindness. This must be why Younseung constantly praised him as a noble person.

"Yes. Thanks to you, Hunter, no one was seriously injured, so everything is fine."

Choi Jin continued the conversation with a much gentler attitude. Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, she had something else she wanted to say to the other person.

"But Kim Giryeo-ssi, this is just something I want to mention out of concern..." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Yes?"

"You usually go on raids with Hunter Kang Changho, right? Hmm, please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know why you continue your friendship with someone like him. Personally, I would advise you not to trust that Hunter at ALL."

Soon, Choi Jin mentioned Kang Changho in a soft voice. If someone like Kim Giryeo had a Hunter like him as a colleague, there was a high chance that he had been deceived in some way. Choi Jin began describing Kang Changho, using terms like "opportunist" and "psychopath" to explain what she knew of him.

Then, Kim Giryeo finally resolved his doubts. He had come to understand the reason the Dragon Hunter had been hostile toward him.

"Oh, so that's what made you uncomfortable all this time?"

I did something again.

Giryeo finally clarified with a sense of relief. He wasn't traveling with that person because he liked it either.

"He's a b*stard to me too, so don't worry."

"Really? Then why on earth would you go hunting with someone like that? How could you trust him?"

Choi Jin asked back with a surprised look, but the response she received was an indifferent shrug from the S-rank Hunter.

"It's a bit complicated to explain."

"Ah..."

"It might be for a similar reason as yours."

Hmm? What does that mean?

Choi Jin raised her head in confusion after hearing the latter part of what was said, while Giryeo quietly looked down at her.

"Hmm, this was a bit unclear until earlier today..."

The conversation continued a few seconds later.

"Hunter Choi Jin, just asking in case, but do you know Esther from the Korean Magic Tower?"

"No?"

Giryeo asked a rather out-of-the-blue question. However, every remark he made carried some kind of meaning. After a long period of observation, he had picked up on another trait of the Choi sisters.

"Aha."

In fact, the sisters were both under a curse. And it was a rather high-level one. However, based on past experience, there were only two cases on Earth where such a strong curse was activated.

"So, as expected, it seems you're indeed under the knight's oath, then?"

Giryeo considered other possibilities he had in mind. But right after that, the atmosphere in the open space suddenly changed.