Episode 79. Difficulties always happen at once (3)
“Maybe we should have worked harder. If we had cleared the Rift quickly, it wouldn’t have affected the area outside……. The Analysts said the mana concentration was so high that it must have caused changes to the outside of the Field.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Now that we’re done, I think it’ll be okay to make rounds outside and clear things up. Staying here won’t lead to much anymore. We should get ready like you said before… Um, Si-woo. What are you doing? Are you listening?”
“Yes, I’m listening. Why?”
“Well… you’re dipping your pork cutlet in doenjang stew right now.”
“Oh, I was thinking about something else. But this is still delicious. Korean traditional food is the best.”
“…….”
I saw Kim Seung-hyun’s face and laughed it off. I pretended I was okay, but I guess I was really distracted. Normally, after clearing a Rift, I would have been starving and would have eaten in a hurry. But right now, I couldn’t taste anything, let alone feel hungry.
‘Why the hell is she here?’
My head was full of Seol Ah-rin, the Third Disaster that suddenly appeared. I couldn’t take my eyes off Seol Ah-rin, who was acting like a mournful woman as she picked at her food for an hour.
“Si-woo, you must have a lot on your mind. Go get some rest.”
“Oh, no. It’s okay.”
The people nearby thought I was feeling guilt. But in fact, I was distracted because I was nervously wondering when that ticking time bomb would go off.
‘…I can’t beat her on my own yet. And honestly, even if I ask the Field hunters for help, I’m not sure we’ll be able to defeat her.’
If Seol Ah-rin was the opponent, it was better not to make any uncertain moves.
This was an opportunity to stop the tricky Third Disaster in advance. But it was also a dangerous situation that could end up blowing up the Monster Fields’ office building, as well as countless hunters.
And…
No matter how much I analyzed it in my head, all I could say was that it was impossible to defeat Seol Ah-rin right now.
‘Because of her damn characteristic.’
An all-out war against her was the worst possible scenario. The best course of attack was to snipe her swiftly from a distance so she couldn’t notice, or use something to disable her ability.
“Well… I’m tired, so I’m going to head in now. Thank you all for your kind words.”
Looking like she had gone through all the hardships in the world, Seol Ah-rin stood up from her seat. The hunters around her said a few last words of consolation.
‘She’ll go back to her room and laugh all day.’
I took a deep breath and held back the urge to jump in and blow her head off. Hang in there. Seol Ah-rin was powerful enough to wipe out the Monster Fields and casually cross over to North Korea. I didn’t want to see the horror I already saw once in the past.
“I’m heading in now. I’m a bit tired.”
“Oh, yeah, Si-woo. Good job. Get some rest.”
I put my spoon and chopsticks on my half-finished pork cutlet and left, dragging my feet.
I was going to look at the notes I wrote down on Seol Ah-rin earlier and revise my plan.
But…
“Hunter Jeong Si-woo… right?”
“…….”
Seol Ah-rin stood looking at me. She was leaning against the wall of the hallway leading to the lodgings.
“I saw you watching me. It’s not your fault. I know you work harder than anyone else.”
“Oh….”
“I read a lot about you on the internet. Actually, I admire you the most. You’re such a righteous hunter. You destroy Rifts to save more people instead of making a profit.”
She smiled chillingly. Others would have seen an ordinary female college student smiling, but I could strongly feel the faint coldness in her smile.
“You’re entirely different from the guilds and the Association that treats Rifts as farms. They use monsters like livestock and try to accumulate more money. To me, you’re the best hunter.”
“Oh, thank you.”
What was she playing at? It was as unpleasant as a knife in my throat.
“So… stop looking uncomfortable.”
Tap, tap.
Seol Ah-rin smiled and patted me on the back. Then she came closer and whispered very quietly in my ear.
“I won’t harm you, hunter Jeong Si-woo. It’s not like you’re that damn head of the Association.”
And with that meaningful whisper, Seol Ah-rin casually walked towards her room. I stood frozen in place, thinking over her words for a long time.
* * *
[What kind of person is she?]
“What?”
[What kind of person is she? I’m asking because I can’t tell for sure from her appearance.]
The Traveler asked me as he watched me writing notes back in my room. He was probably asking about Seol Ah-rin.
[And what did she say in the end? I’m asking because she seems different from the villains you’ve taken care of.]
“She is different.”
Hmm. How can I explain this? I tapped on the table as I thought for a moment. Then I spoke.
“Do you happen to know that saying?”
[Which saying?]
“The saying that men with strong faith are the most dangerous. That they don’t care to know the truth.”
[I know it. Isn’t it a saying by a philosopher who said many famous words?]
Although he talked about Moorim all the time, he was strangely familiar with famous quotes.
“Seol Ah-rin fits the saying perfectly. To be exact, she’s an example of how ignorant people with great power can become terrible monsters when they are trapped in their beliefs.”
I put down the pencil I was holding in my hand. My notepad was covered in letters.
“I don’t know what happened to her in the past. What’s certain is, she went through something terrible a long time ago, and it has caused a mental problem.”
[A mental problem?]
“Yes. She went crazy. Like me, she hates monsters and Rifts. But her case is extreme.”
I couldn’t say I didn’t hate them that much. However, compared to the hatred that Seol Ah-rin felt, my hatred was nothing.
“Seol Ah-rin is a madwoman who cannot accept the fact that she breathes the same air as monsters. She can only relax if she destroys all Rifts and exterminates all monsters.”
[Then doesn’t that make her a good hunter? You said that she was also powerful.]
“That’s where the problem lies. Because she just focuses on the extermination of monsters and the elimination of Rifts, Seol Ah-rin became a villain.”
A person who doesn’t consider their surroundings and insists on their beliefs will inevitably become a villain.
“She blows up whole cities to destroy Rifts. Even when thousands of people are dying and screaming for help, she’s more eager to kill one more Goblin and one more Orc.”
[…….]
“And she thinks everything that interrupts her is just like a monster. If someone diverts her from her goal even a bit, she kills them.”
[She’s insane.]
“Yes, she’s crazy. But some strange people are attracted to her. People who are sick and tired of the Association sacrificing people to pursue profits, people who don’t care about the process and only see the results, and people who praise Seol Ah-rin as a dark hero. Extreme madness tends to fascinate some people.”
Just looking at the facts, Seol Ah-rin’s actions only aggravated the situation. If you destroyed Rifts without thinking about mana concentration and dimensional strength, it would distort the structure, and more Rifts would appear.
But she had no intention of considering such things. She only focused on immediately destroying and killing monsters and Rifts.
[Fortunately, she won’t kill you. Your goals are the same.]
“Well, she doesn’t view people like that. She might kill me just because she’s in a bad mood, same goals or not.”
[…….]
“She’s one of the worst self-centered villains I’ve ever seen. She’s the boss monster.”
Moreover, her ability was enough to fascinate generations that missed the old days, unable to break away from their pre-Rift pasts.
So much so that if I were born 30 or 40 years earlier, I might have been captivated by her way of thinking. I might have ended up hunting alongside her.
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