< Now, Pretending to be Weak >

Bam!

A loud noise struck my ears while I was in a deep sleep. It was probably the sound of the closed door opening. Or breaking.

Continuing, The Weaks Premonition sent a piercing warning. Maybe because the effect was quadrupled, amazingly, even the opponents rank and aptitude were felt.

The guy coming over was a stat S-Rank with an SS-Rank skill and had a mainly attack aptitude with a flame attribute.

It was Yoohyun, huh.

And there was Yerim and Kim Sunghan too.

When Yoohyun came closer and closer, The Weaks Premonition became even more strongly stirred up. It felt like it was whining and asking right in my ear what I was doing not running away. At the same time, Fear Resistance was like its okay, theres no problem and emitted a calming effect.

Should I say it was like its a scary guy, super intimidated! VS its just an S-Rank, dont be intimidated!? Of course, the winner was the latter. It was an L-Rank skill.

Would it be this chaos for a week if I meet an A-Rank or higher? Its annoying.

Could you turn off a premonition skill too? Still, having it on would be good for hiding my state. I would be able to quickly tell when an A-Rank or higher was approaching.

Creak

I heard the sound of bars crumpling. Then, there was a noise of them completely breaking.

Would it be okay to start to pretend I woke up? Peace was so quiet, it might be weird for me to wake up first. But if it was the disgustingly perceptive little brother, I felt like he would notice I was pretending to be asleep.

Lets just say I took in less of the drug.

Hyung.

I heard a heavily weighted voice.

Lets see, should I act alarmed first? Being afraid because someone was coming, and then being alarmed but happy to hear my brothers voice and feeling relieved, would be an acceptable response.

When I slowly moved my head to the side, my little brothers face appeared in front of my eyes. It should be okay to put on a relieved smile around now. One that showed I hadnt completely woken up yet, but was pleased to see him.

Doing this wasnt easy either.

Yoohyun. Its you, right?

Yeah, hyung. Are you okay?

Uh yeah.

I was a poor helpless kidnapping victim. I was suddenly kidnapped and dragged to an unfamiliar place and locked up. And I had been living normally and faultlessly until now, as a stat F-Rank who hadnt been Awakened for long.

Of course I was frightened, and it was scary and terrifying, and I was pleased to see my little brother who had come to save me, and I was so thankful I clung on and even tears, fuck, lets be reasonable.

I put on a reasonable wow, what a relief, Im saved expression and held Peace, who was starting to shift, maybe from the effect of the drug wearing off. Then I raised up my body and,

Ugh.

Hyung?

I had forgotten that I had hurt my ankle.

Yoohyuns face, which was loosened as if to relax me, immediately hardened. It wasnt just this guy who reacted.

What was that sound just now? It was ahjussis voice, right? Could it be he is hurt? Crazy, what bastard did that!

Is he injured? What kind of thing to do to a weak person! I will call over a healer right away.

Yerims and Kim Sunghans voices also cut in.

Then, my little brother picked me up. Ack, wait. He said he would call over a healer.

I cant just push this aside either

It was a guy who would definitely be like hyung, it seems like youve gotten stronger than normal? and notice.

Ah, its not to the point of not being able to walk, though

But even so, I couldnt insist no, stop, go away. Since I was a kidnapping victim who had suffered from violence and was obviously frightened. How long did I have to be like this? Couldnt I slowly start to act normal? Was it too fast?

What bastard was it? What bastard made ahjussi get hurt?

Yerim stuck right next to Yoohyun, who was walking toward the door while holding me, and kept on pressing in an angry voice. I had already killed that guy, though.

I dont, really remember.

Maybe because I had just woken up, my memory really was blurry. Though what would I do with remembering a dead guy for a long time? What was his name? It was Kim something.

Not even a little? Age, or maybe height-.

Hunter Bak Yerim.

Yoohyun said in a stern tone.

Those sorts of things should be asked after stability is secured first.

Ah I apologize.

Yerim sullenly hung her head. Really, and I couldnt say it was alright either.

When we passed through the door, I saw the healer who Kim Sunghan had brought. They were a Westerner and looking at the skills and ranks, they werent a healer from Haeyeon Guild. Did other guilds provide aid? If it was an A-Rank healer, was it Seseong? Was there one in Breaker too I couldnt remember well.

Whatever else, I had to find a healer for Haeyeon. Should I set aside some time to travel around the country?

The healer fixed my ankle and even removed the drug effect from Peace. But that little brother still didnt put me down. If it was an A-Rank healer, they fixed, not just fractures, but even breaks immediately, so let me go already.

Now, put me dow-.

I will come back after taking hyung back. Hunter Bak Yerim, please investigate this place. I think you know well which points to pay attention to.

Yes. I will take care of it for certain.

Did he mean her using White Corpse? And telling her to pay attention seemed to be about her skills not getting caught. I had thought it would be better for Yerim to use that skill after a longer while. But it was a skill that was too useful to keep unused.

In the end, until I was lowered to the backseat of a car, my feet couldnt touch the ground. When I settled down, Peace went kkiing softly and snuggled into my arms. With his ears and tail drooping, he looked really listless.

Okay, okay. You were really alarmed, right? Its okay now.

Even if you said he was a dungeon boss monster, he was still a kid, a baby.

Yoohyun got on the next seat and the car started. Speaking of, where was this? Was it outside of Seoul?

Lets go straight to the hospital first. While were there, get a general health check-up, too.

That little brother said, taking out his cell phone. Why were you saying something difficult all of a sudden? The healer already treated me!

Im not hurt anywhere besides my ankle.

I would have a bit of a bruise on my belly. And some of my hair was pulled out. When I was being thrown around, my shoulders and back also actually there was a lot. I had rolled around more than I had thought.

And right now, I want to go home

I said in a purposely weak voice. Hospitals were definitely a no. If I got a health check-up right now, there would be a commotion. All my stats had risen so starting from my durability, things would be different, so after seeing the injection needle unable to go through, immediately they would be like it seems you arent stat F-Rank.

Cant I just go home and rest? I dont want to meet unfamiliar people anymore today, and for the examination, Ill probably have to get something like anesthesia again I dont want to think about stuff like that for a long time.

Even though it wasnt kidnapping trauma, I didnt like hospitals. Anyways, I couldnt go for at least one week. At my words, Yoohyun put his cell phone away again.

Sorry. I wasnt thinking. Lets go straight home. Youre really not hurt anywhere, right?

Im okay.

It was a relief. Now he wouldnt say anything about getting a health check-up for a while now. I was relieved of a worry, and changed the subject.

But you found me faster than I had thought you would? The guy who kidnapped me assured me that you wouldnt know until we were on the boat.

The MKC Guild Leader tipped us off.

The MKC Guild Leader? He was related to it?

He wasnt behind it; should I say it was negligence of management? It seems like it wasnt the person he was originally going to send. The system of command transmission in MKC has a bit of a problem its a bit tough to talk about it in detail here, and that person shouldve been different from the people sent from the other guilds.

So it really was like that. The rank was different, but more than anything, he had too little interest in familiars.

I had just thought MKC was saving manpower. I guess the situation there isnt good.

They had held out for 3 more years originally. Like this, wouldnt they crash faster than before the regression?

Itll be okay from now on. For now, MKC will be exempt and for the other guilds, the guild leaders said they would directly let us know the visitors information.

The guild leaders would? Arent they busy? They have to go into dungeons too.

Theres no helping it. Unless theres the danger of the information changing in the middle, thats the most certain method. Of course, among the other five, there arent any guild leaders who cant properly manage their own affiliated Hunters, like in MKC, but just in case.

Now, I really wouldnt have my safety threatened. No, still, you couldnt guarantee it 100%. Where would you find a perfect place in this world?

Even if they paid attention like that, there arent any ways to make the guild members not betray you, right?

How could you know what was inside someones mind? At my words, Yoohyun hesitated a little and then opened his mouth.

Thats, affiliated guild members are a little different. Normally, if they had attacked a high rank dungeon with the guild leader, they wouldnt really do something like betray. That is to say something like camaraderie?

Really?

Camaraderie, huh. There wasnt anything like that at all in low rank Hunter teams. Of course, it wasnt that there werent good people. The problem was that they didnt go far and all died.

There were fixed low rank teams united through trust and friendship, but in long term cases, they were extremely rare. As much as they stuck together, if one of them died, they couldnt bear the shock and would break up, or even if that didnt happen, if they seemed like they were doing pretty well, they would be attacked from the outside, since there were many Hunters would would find it unpleasant.

But if it was a high rank dungeon attack team where those sorts of unfortunate incidents barely occurred, they could from a strong camaraderie, and continue to stay together.

Still, trusting in something like camaraderie and thinking there wouldnt be a reason to be betrayed. Is he really still just young?

Was it still okay like this, Haeyeon Guild Leader? I knew the future where he was on a roll, but I worried a little. A flaw that didnt originally exist appeared in MKC too, because of me, so there was a possibility of anything else changing too.

But hyung, are you really okay?

Im fine? Why?

No, um Youre a little different from normal.

At the significant words, my heart skipped[1]. Could he have noticed my stats changing? I was staying still, though. But the continuing words were unexpected.

Something like a nasty reptile smell

What?

No, Im not saying that the smell is coming from hyung You didnt happen to get caught by a curse or poison?

Ridiculously sharp guy. Was he feeling the skill I received from Blackie? I slightly used Lizard Stuck on the Wall and shook my head.

If something like that was put on me, I would have known first. The healer didnt say anything either.

Maybe if it was poison, but if it was a curse, a healer wouldnt have noticed either. Just in case, here.

He took off a bracelet on his wrist and then pulled my wrist over to put it on there. No, that wasnt necessary. Then, he brought my hand over until the back of my hand was about to touch his nose, and sniffed me.

It seems like its definitely gotten weaker than before.

Is that so.

It was a relief that Wall Lizard had an effect. Stat S-Ranks really were troublesome.

If youre an S-Rank, you can feel things like that too?

I asked, pulling away my grabbed hand without giving my maximum strength.

A little if its right after the skill is used? If its the level I felt from hyung, rather than being the target of a skill, its more likely that you have the skill, though. Since its not absolute.

Wow, you really could know even things like that. It was a scam. I should be careful, very careful. But I had a lot of other skills; could he not feel those?

If he had felt them, he would have questioned me a lot already.

Seeing how he had only noticed the poisons and curses of Blackies skills, it seemed like attack skills were limited to attribute.

Here, take this back. If I had really been cursed, I probably wouldve been de-cursed now.

I took off the bracelet and handed it over. You wouldnt know, but I have an L-Rank curse resistance. You take good care to have de-cursing items instead.

Your detoxification and de-cursing items were taken away, right? Soon, Ill find even better ones for you.

Yoohyun said, taking back the bracelet. Um, I went around without them on so they were in my inventory, untouched. Should I pretend they were taken and give them to Myeongwoo? And speaking of, would that guy Myeongwoo be worrying, too?

Before that, mana increasing equipment is more urgent. My earrings were taken too.

Right now, even my mana was enough, but after one week, it would hit rock bottom again.

The one that I have now is just a ratio increase. Should I give you that at least?

I wont need to use the skill right away, so its okay.

It was a little embarrassing because that little brother kept on trying to take care of me. Setting aside that we were family, we had a relationship that was enough to get care in a business way, but if I was going to take advantage anyways, it would be more comfortable to do so to other guilds. Especially MKC, shouldnt I properly recompense them?

It was already dark when we arrived at Haeyeon Guild.

Home would be safer than the dorms, though.

Yoohyun said, pressing the elevator button. It was safer, but I had an ominous hunch that if I went in now, it would be hard to come back out.

No thanks. Anyways, you have to go back right away. Its more comforting to have another person around, even an F-Rank, rather than being alone.

I dont really have to go-.

You should go quickly, Guild Leader. I can go by myself from here.

Still

If you dig out the instigator and clean everything up even one day faster, wouldnt I also be more comfortable?

Did I pretend too much that I was weak? Stop clinging and quickly go work.

I said it was okay, but Han Yoohyun took me all the way to the dorm room door before he turned back. It would be great if it ended with this he wouldnt act more annoying from now on, right?

Peace, weve finally come back home.

Lets sleep early today. Should we sleep together for the first time in a while?

I coaxed Peace, who completely couldnt regain his energy, and opened the door. Then, when I also opened the inner door.

Yoojin.

I saw Yoo Myeongwoo with a devastated look on his face.

[1] its more like sting/burn but in this context, it means more like he was shocked/alerted, if you say sbs heart (was) pricked in eng it implies more that their conscience was roused (which this krn phrase can also mean, but thats not the meaning here).