Chapter 232. Isn't it?

The karma that begins to approach quietly. However, the culprit behind it all—the one who had forged the ranks—arrived at the restaurant, and, without a second thought, began to eat. The well-cooked rice and chewy shiitake mushrooms were delicious as he scooped them up with his spoon.

***

A few days later. The Monday that had returned.

– Hoo, hoo, hoo.

Perhaps the scene resembled the fire play known as 'Jiwulbun' from the day before the full moon of the lunar new year. In the distance, a sorcerer is seen gracefully spinning his arm, weaving magic around his hand.

A striking shade of blue-green. It was a new color of flame, one that someone had painstakingly perfected through relentless effort. Jung Haseong was tirelessly adjusting to ensure that this flame remained within the radius of his hand. Soon, the flame he conjured traced a beautiful trajectory in the air, resembling the fins of an ornamental fish.

"Ugh!"

But at that moment, Jung Haseong flinched as if burned by fire and suddenly stopped the skill. No, to be precise, it wasn't like someone burned by fire, he actually got burned.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. No that much..."

Where I used to live, the fire mages had such terrifying elemental resistance that it was better not to even think about killing them with fire in the first place. Anyway, how are Earthlings so weak and fragile? And how is it that this F-rank body, among so many frail vessels, was the one strong enough to withstand my soul?

"There's a rumor that every time you sigh here, your lifespan is shortened. If that were true, I'd have already been dead by now."

Naa.

I started to secretly lament while Haseong wasn't looking.

It might be a bit of an odd question, but do adult Earthlings still remember their childhood dreams exactly? To start with my own childhood, my dream was to become a magic scholar, and in fact, I managed to achieve that goal to a very high level.

This means that the soul here already has experience with success. So, would it really be that difficult to achieve a dream twice?

"Hmm."

This morning, I finally completed the future plans I had been too preoccupied with survival to think about until now. After deeply pondering, I arrived at a conclusion: the new life goal I seriously want to achieve in this life is...

(A free, unemployed person with an abundance of money and leisure time, but not a single thing they are forced to do.)

It might seem a bit funny, but my perspective, this is a goal that's been set with a certain seriousness and urgency.

A lazy, carefree person, huh? But paradoxically, the very thing I need to do first in order to achieve that dream is to work hard.

"At the very least, I should take responsibility for the mess I've created."

The upcoming contract renewal for the lecture. The remaining period is the same 3 months as before.

From this point on, while the number of class days would remain the same, if I deemed it necessary, I planned to visit Haseong directly on off days to continue the lessons. If this process went as expected, Jung Haseong would learn one more new magic, which they called a "skill" here.

"Haseong-ah, stop. Stop."

"Yes?... Ha, no, it's fine. I still have plenty of magic power left..."

"I can clearly see your focus is slipping. If you push yourself any further, the progress you've barely made will slip away."

Thus, I finished the first lesson of the contract renewal, worth a total of 9 billion won, without any issues and stepped out of the gym. The clock on my phone now read 7 PM, but since it was summer, the outside was still fairly bright.

"Do you want to go eat samgyetang?"

"Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, Hunter-nim, you always mention the menu for the day right away."

"Do you not like chicken?"

"It's not that I dislike it, I just find it kind of interesting..."

What's interesting? 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Don't tell me... do normal Earthlings not think of what they want to eat every single day...?"

I pressed my mouth shut, which had a strong appetite, and took out my phone. In preparation for days like this, I had already searched for restaurants that high-ranking awakened ones could access, so I was planning to contact them and ask if they were still open.

.

.

.

...And fortunately, the restaurant responded positively, so we ended up sitting down in front of our food.

Tak.

By the time the samgyetang we ordered was brought into the separate room we were seated in, Haseong, sitting across the table, said.

"Excuse me..."

"Hmm."

"By the way, there's something I'd like to ask."

"Tell me."

"During the lesson a few days ago, you said something like that to me. You said that I've grown to the point where I wouldn't need to worry even if I quit the lessons now."

Since it was rare for him to bring up something personal, I listened carefully to what Haseong had to say.

"...Did you really mean that?"

I didn't expect such a deflating topic to follow.

When I teach him something, he follows along quickly. His attitude towards learning is so serious that, in terms of mindset, he's already halfway there. At first, I thought he was just a talentless wizard, but when I think about it objectively, the man in front of me is truly an exceptional talent to take as a disciple. Moreover, the fact that Jung Haseong's brain has a high level of comprehension definitely had a significant impact on the lessons.

Tak.

I placed the glass of water I had been holding down on the table and thought.

Earth. This world, having only recently discovered mana, is still somewhat violent... or rather, those who can't be satisfied with reality and inevitably carry certain desires, meaning those with a bit of deviation, have a high probability of awakening.

'Mutants are originally drawn to imperfection, after all.'

This tendency usually disappears rapidly as time passes.

My planet was the same. In ancient times, the Alphaurins, those with strong bodies who could withstand what Earthlings call "awakening," were favored by magic. However, after uncovering the countless mysteries of the world, it was the true scholars who ultimately harnessed the full power of magic in the most deadly way.

'At Earth's current level of magic, intelligence likely doesn't have that much of an impact yet.'

As expected, there is nothing wrong with a wizard having a brain for studying. I finished my thoughts and said a few words to my disciple.

"Since the one learning is doing well on their own, is that why the instructor can go around eating chicken without a worry?"

"Hmm..."

"And by now, you should be able to feel your own progress. That's a sincere compliment, so don't worry and accept it."

However, Haseong's response to this was...

"I understand."

A few seconds later.

"Then if I keep going like this, I'll be able to work with Hunter Kim safely, right?"

"Huh?"

"You just said I was doing well, didn't you?"

Work?

Work. As soon as the word in question came out of his mouth, I slowly stopped what I was doing.

"Ah."

After a brief moment of silence, a long and drawn-out realization flashed through someone's mind.

'Ah-'

That's right. Only now did he remember the other bait that had been dangling in this borderline scam.

The Hunter Association's regular team system! That's right, at the beginning of the contract, I had definitely tempted the Guild Master of Gaeon with such unnecessary rewards.

'In my mind, it was already a given that Jung Haseong and Seo Esther would be working together, so I hadn't been paying attention to it.'

However, just like from the very beginning of the contract, I never had the slightest intention of keeping that promise.

"Hmm."

I chewed on a jujube from the samgyetang with my molars for a moment as I carefully chose my words. Then, I continued the conversation.

"But this is something I'm genuinely curious about—do you really want to work with someone like me?"

Putting aside the thought of trying to separate the S-rank, I'm first just curious.

"Anyway, now that you can control your abilities well, things like team defense capabilities aren't that important. And with my personality—talking informally and never even calling you 'hyung' despite the 2-year age difference—honestly, anyone would say I'm not exactly the ideal coworker."

Gulp.

I said that and tilted the teapot next to me, filling the cup with cold water.

"Isn't that because you lived abroad? I've never thought that Hunter-nim's character was bad."

No, but what is this?

"Wait, what? Abroad?"

"Actually, back when Hunter Kim spoke informally to me, someone I didn't know once badmouthed you behind your back in the association's hallway."

"..."

"When I turned around to explain, Hunter Ahn Yoonseung was already the one giving the explanation."

Hyung-nim is someone who's been abroad for a long time, so he unconsciously behaves like that only with close people. Don't judge him behind his back just because he didn't follow the Korean hierarchy. True to his role as a defensive sorcerer, he thoroughly defended his acquaintance

'Why the sudden talk about abroad... Ah!'

This time, I had a hunch about what the source of the fabrication was. Specifically, it was a few conversations I had with Yoonseung in the past that caused the issue.

In the early stages of my reincarnation, I couldn't answer most questions about basic information on being Korean because I was inhabiting a body with incomplete memories. During those times, I would sometimes try to deflect suspicion with jokes about adjusting to jet lag. However, since an ordinary person doesn't have the authority to check someone else's entry and exit records, it seemed that Ahn Yoonseung took the excuse I gave—like an alien's—quite seriously.

I covered my head and opened my mouth.

"No, well, haha. I'm not sure how to explain this... Anyway, it's not because of that."

"Yes."

"Actually, the reason I speak informally is just because I prefer it... well, for economic reasons, anyway. It's just a bit quicker and more concise, so that's why."

"Aha."

Seeing me scramble for an excuse, Jung Haseong nods with a serious expression on his face.

'I thought that if you were from the National Intelligence Service, your actual age might be different due to an identity disguise, but it turns out that's not the case.'

From the outside, it was impossible to tell what Jung Haseong was really thinking. I awkwardly averted my gaze while vaguely denying the overseas story about Kim Gryeo that Ahn Yoonseung had spread. By the time I fished out a chicken rib from the bubbling stew and started eating, the hero across the table began speaking again.

"Anyway, I don't have any issues with honorifics. As I've mentioned before."

"Ah."

What I mean by that is, when I first revealed my actual age to the hero, we had a conversation on a certain topic.

– Jung Haseong. But now that you know I'm younger, why don't you speak informally to me?

– I feel comfortable with this.

– You feel more comfortable speaking formally?

– I'm not sure if it's a complex or what, but honestly, I've often felt dismissed because of my age while working as a Hunter. So, I intentionally changed my way of speaking for social situations.

– Ah-

– I guess it's because all the few friends I had died in a dungeon shock, but recently, I haven't had any opportunities to speak informally, so it's become really awkward to drop the honorifics.

– I see.

– F*ck, I shouldn't have asked.

The indescribable awkwardness of that moment... Anyway, Haseong, even though he had fully realized that his teacher was a person lacking in consideration, still seemed to want to collaborate. From my side, that was the most difficult request to deal with.

'I'm now a real F-rank Hunter with no chance of improvement left.'

Thanks to the basic traits of being an Alphaurin and the Sacred Tree Seedling, I somehow managed to build up physical and mental defense. However, my offensive capabilities were zero. To think that I would be partnering with Jung Haseong with my power barely even noticeable—no matter what tricks I tried, it was impossible.

"...It's good to hear that you don't mind using honorifics."

Then, from now on, let's go with the direct approach.

"But about the team thing... No matter how good your results are right now, it's still a bit... too soon for us to work together."

"Am I lacking?"

"That's right. I guess you could say it's a bit like that."

From the beginning of the contract, I clearly stated, 'If you don't have the skills that I can recognize, you can't be on the team.' I tightly closed my eyes and tried to downplay the level of South Korea's number one ranking.

"I knew you would say that."

Wait a minute, what did you say?

"Then there's one favor I'd like to ask, Hunter Kim Gryeo. If you have time, could you please watch the afternoon news on the YTV channel this Wednesday?"

While the aliens were absent minded, the young disciple of Earth drank the hot soup of Samgyetang like cold water and said this. I have other plans tonight, so I'm going first. I could help but tremble, and in my panic, I dropped my phone onto the blanket.

It was because that damn fire wizard caused a huge mess.