When Estella saw Yu Hanul, she gently smiled and pushed herself away from the wall. At the same time, she removed the piercing from her lips.
“It was just a simple scouting offer. Why don’t you at least mind your manners when entering a room?”
It seemed the piercing she had been wearing on her lips functioned as a translator. The awkward mechanical voice disappeared, replaced by smooth English in a soft tone, though the content itself was anything but soft.
Yu Hanul glared at Estella as he walked over and stood beside my bed. It almost looked like he was guarding me, and his attitude was far more aggressive than expected.
Not like Yu Hanul at all.
“Hunter Jeong Daon is still in mandatory service. Wasn’t that obligation something you yourself created? The one about keeping at least minimal loyalty to the country of your birth?”
That was a little surprising.
Yu Hanul had explained this to me before. Hunters from countries affiliated with the Hunter Association are required to complete mandatory service, and if they don’t, no country belonging to the Association will accept them.
But to think that the person who had created that treaty was none other than Estella.
Estella clicked her tongue, looking at Yu Hanul with a bored expression. “Young people these days.” One of the piercings in her ears must have been acting as a translator as well; she seemed to understand even though Yu Hanul spoke in Korean. “That treaty was made because if we hadn’t done so at the time, the world would have fallen into chaos. But as always, when the times change, the rules must change with them. If they remain frozen, they rot.”
“Some things don’t change even when the times do.”
“Such as?”
“That anyone would be flustered by an unwelcome guest showing up out of nowhere.”
“Oh, you’ve gotten better.” Yu Hanul had landed what was, for him, a pretty solid hit, yet Estella’s smile never faded. “Anyway, don’t be so on guard. I only came to say hello.”
“Do you really think it makes sense for you to come all this way for just that?”
“And does it make sense for someone to get caught up in four Dungeon Breaks in just three months since awakening? Wouldn’t anyone be curious what kind of person that is?”
“Even so, barging in like this—!”
“So?”
When I cut in, Yu Hanul turned around in surprise to look at me. I don’t know why he was surprised. I’m the one whose conversation was being interrupted.
“So, what did you think after observing me?” I asked.
At my question, Estella’s eyes widened briefly, then she smiled and casually popped the piercing back onto her lips. There was a strange glint in her gaze as she looked at me.
“Currently, East Asia can be described as a fierce battleground for Hunters. China has swept up talent from around the world with money, Japan is trying to contain China while also seeking to swallow Korea, which has a high quality of Hunters despite its size, and Korea, by contrast, has been lucky so far but hasn’t been very good at preventing brain drain.”
"Estella."
“Until now, a few talents like Hanul here, who don’t want to leave their homeland, have managed to keep the balance, just barely.” Estella continued, looking straight into my eyes, “But then a divine miracle of magic suddenly appears. Whether out of desire or jealousy, it’s more than enough to shatter the balance that had been maintained.”
So in short, it was “understandable,” then. Han Jaeyeong had said that foreign governments might target me, but hearing it from an outsider made it feel more objectively credible.
There are quite a few situations Orbis could take advantage of.
Within Korea alone, there were cults, illegal loan sharks, and even people who somehow followed me into the military and shoved me into dungeons. And now even international politics were like this. I’d wondered how they managed to reach this far wherever I went, but now it made sense. The place I had settled in to begin with was riddled with holes.
So I look easy to deal with, is that it?
Being called a “divine miracle of magic” may sound nice, but in the end it’s just empty glitter. Whether Orbis had a hand in it or not, everyone sees me as someone they can reach out and touch if they try; so they poke and prod. It’ll be the same even after I go back to Korea.
That really pisses me off.
“Don’t worry too much.” Estella smiled softly at me, as if telling me to relax. “With our Association—more precisely, with the Association headquarters—we can keep you safe. No one would dare lay a hand on a Hunter under my protection.”
“I’m still in mandatory service, though—”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with that.”
“...I already have a pre-contracted guild.”
“Oh, you mean the HP Guild? A penalty fee of that size isn’t even worth worrying about.”
“And I have family in Korea—”
“Would your family like to enjoy life in the U.S.? If you sign with us, their living arrangements and protection are included. We could even take responsibility for one or two playmates.”
The conditions Han Jaeyeong had offered when we signed with the HP Guild were already pretty good, but they couldn’t begin to compare with the ones Estella was casually throwing out. Is this the scale of an association based in a reserve-currency nation?
Honestly, it’s almost nauseating.
“...I’m sorry, but I’ll pass for now. It’s hard to consider at the moment.”
"Wow." At my refusal, Estella’s blue eyes went round. “You’re turning down such good terms? Oh, if it’s because you feel pressured by Hunter Yu Hanul—”
“I’m not sure which of you is the one being pressuring, Estella.” Yu Hanul, who had been quietly listening until then, spoke in an unusually sharp tone. “She’s refused, so please go back now.” It was a rare sight from him, who usually maintained a polite demeanor.
Seeing that, Estella clicked her tongue. “Young people these days really lack manners.”
“That’s something people say in every era. If someone says no and you keep pushing, that really is—”
“Going to call the police?”
“I’ll call the reporters.”
“You’ve really improved, Hanul.”
“Thanks to you.”
Estella shrugged and gave me a wink. “Well, that’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. I’ll head back for today.”
“…”
“If you can’t say anything because there are guards around, just hang a handkerchief out the window anytime, Princess. I’ll come rescue you.”
After leaving that nonsense behind, Estella waved and strode out of the hospital room. Only then did Yu Hanul let out a deep breath.
“Whew…”
Which made sense. From the moment Estella entered the room, she had been completely controlling the surrounding mana. In fact, any mage who reaches a certain level does that as naturally as breathing. To cast spells quickly and precisely, you need to first control and refine the ambient flow of mana.
But Yu Hanul had intruded into a domain where Estella already held the initiative. Even if he didn’t show it, it must have been suffocating. I could feel Estella subtly pressuring Yu Hanul the entire time.
That one’s a monster too.
In Yu Hanul’s case, I’d checked his stats through physical contact, while with Estella I could only sense and infer things indirectly…
There was a reason the internet loved debating who would win if Estella and Yu Hanul ever fought.
After taking a few deep breaths, Yu Hanul turned to me. “Are you okay?”
“That’s my line.”
“You didn’t shake hands with her, did you?”
“Thanks to Han Jaeyeong, I already knew better.”
Of course, even without Han Jaeyeong, I had no intention of casually making contact with another S-rank Hunter. They’d be able to read my condition more accurately than any doctor. My current stats and status are the kind of secrets I’d rather not reveal to anyone.
“But how did you find out and get here so fast? Do you have an informant nearby or something?”
“The nurse told me that Association President Estella had come. Han Jaeyeong and me are both listed as your guardians, after all.”
"Oh, right."
Naturally, the hospital must have panicked. An unannounced visitor—and that visitor being Estella—plus the patient being a Korean Hunter admitted through embassy procedures after a dimensional accident. It could easily escalate into an international issue, so they must have contacted him right away.
That’s why Yu Hanul came running.
“Um, by the way.” Yu Hanul hesitated slightly, then began to speak. “I hope you don’t misunderstand… I’m not trying to interfere with someone else’s contract. Going to the U.S. is, of course, a choice you’re free to make. But you should reconsider signing with President Estella just based on the conditions she offered.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s dangerous.”
There was no hesitation in Yu Hanul’s voice when he said that.
“Think about it. That item we struggled against during the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break… the smoke that blocks mana circuits; that was made by Estella.”
“Right. She said it was created to stop criminals with supernatural abilities, didn’t she?”
“Yeah. It’s extremely effective at suppressing ability users. And Estella is also the head of an organization that commands countless Hunters worldwide.”
I frowned as I listened to Yu Hanul. “From the way you’re saying it, she sounds like a villain. Are you saying she uses those means to subdue Hunters who don’t listen to her?”
From what I had seen through my Eye of Observation, Estella’s soul didn’t reek of anything like that. If anything, it was the same kind of good soul as Yu Hanul’s. Could my Eye be fooled?
Yu Hanul shook his head. “She’s not a villain. Honestly… I think she’s closer to a good person without malice. The conditions she offered earlier were probably mostly sincere. Once she thinks of someone as her own, she protects them completely.”
“Then why are you rushing in like a swarm to stop it?”
“Because Estella is excessive.”
“Well, the offer was excessive…”
They were conditions more tempting than the hand a prince extends to a princess in a fairy tale. After all, she was offering to solve all the problems I was facing right now.
“Right. Now imagine you accept her offer, use a workaround to enter the World Hunter Association, and receive Estella’s personal protection.”
Hmm. It wasn’t hard to imagine.
"I'll probably get wings, right? I'm a genius."
“Sure. And then hundreds of supernatural ability users under the Association would be watching your every move.”
"Huh?"
“How many talents do you think Estella has coveted like that? The answer is: too many to count.”
Estella had offered extraordinary conditions to countless talents so far, and that in turn became a great source of power for the Hunter Association. The problem was that she had extended her hand to far too many people. They say there’s no such thing as cooperation at the Association’s headquarters, where so many top-tier talents gather. Those whom the legendary genius Estella personally brought in can only struggle and compete to monopolize the light their sun casts upon the earth.
“Estella is fair, but she doesn’t stop her subordinates from competing. She says competition is a tool for mutual growth.”
“She’s not wrong, but…”
“Usually, when people get swept up in that competition, they end up forgetting either their moral compass or their sense of reality.”
There was something about it that oddly overlapped with what Yu Hanul had said before. After all, supernatural ability users already possess abilities beyond ordinary people, and if, on top of that, they’re treated so well and forced to compete with others on a similar level… It was obvious they’d be living an even harsher organizational life than basic military training.
“Yeah, I don’t particularly want to go. I already turned her down anyway.”
The only thing I’d been curious about regarding Estella was whether that Association President was Orbis’ reincarnation or not. Now that I knew she wasn’t, there was no need to approach her further.
And if her soul is similar to Yu Hanul’s, that makes her the kind of person I don’t really want to get close to either.
Yu Hanul smiled as if relieved by my words. I could almost see the worry filling his eyes melt away.
“Yeah, you made a good choice. I was worried since the conditions were so good, but thank goodness—”
As Yu Hanul was speaking, he suddenly flinched mid-sentence.
“—I mean. Well then, I should get going now!”
“Wait—”
Before I could stop him, Yu Hanul abruptly left the room at a brisk pace.
They all came suddenly and left as they pleased; encounters that passed through like a storm.
And then, I realized something.
Yu Hanul, that guy… just like Han Jaeyeong said, he really never called me by my name!