Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Mysterious S-Rank (2)

'Hm?'

Shin Ah-yeon became puzzled by the sudden turn of events.

She had definitely been with Park Jung-woo in the shelter, but suddenly found herself standing in the middle of a forest.

'What's this now?'

Ah-yeon quickly checked her own state.

It was clear she was seeing this scenery through someone else's perspective.

'Just now, I was holding Jung-woo oppa's wrist.'

If there was a culprit for this situation, that was probably it.

But then, why had something like this happened?

'This feels just like when I saw my own memories earlier...'

Thinking that, Ah-yeon recalled what happened today with Ivan's artifact.

The power of the artifact had dwelled in Ah-yeon's body and manifested her memories as illusions.

'Could it be? Is this the lingering effect of that artifact?'

It was only a hypothesis, but Ah-yeon was half-convinced.

There was no other reason she could think of.

The difference in point of view was most likely due to Ivan's manipulation with the artifact.

'To know for sure, I need to return to my original body...'

It was because she moved without checking her condition after hearing the news of Jung-woo's disappearance.

Normally, Ah-yeon would have checked her state first.

'Haaa. Oh well, nothing I can do.'

Anyway, at best, it would just be a leftover remnant of the artifact's power in her body.

She probably wouldn't last more than a few minutes in this state.

'Then, are these Jung-woo oppa's memories?'

If that's the case, this dense forest did make sense.

Jung-woo had said the world he traveled to was like a fantasy world.

'Well, it's not that different from Earth.'

If you go deep enough into Mount Seorak, which she had visited recently, it looked just like this.

Thinking there was nothing special about it, Ah-yeon started to feel a bit bored.

"What are you thinking about?"

As she was having these thoughts, a strange voice sounded.

'A woman.'

She didn't know who, but it was obviously a woman.

Lost in thought as she admired the scenery, Ah-yeon suddenly snapped to attention.

"Are you missing your hometown again?"

Only then did her point of view shift.

She saw a woman with beautiful pale violet hair, wearing a playful smile.

"It's natural to get sentimental when you think it's all ending soon."

This time, it was Jung-woo's voice.

This reaffirmed for Ah-yeon that the perspective she was viewing from belonged to Jung-woo.

"So, will you go back once it's all over?"

"......"

"Oh, don't tell me that's what you were agonizing over?"

The woman hopped over and patted Jung-woo's shoulder.

"Wow, you're already worrying about that before capturing the Demon King? Impressive~"

"...... Aren't you the one who's too carefree? The current state of the war is good, so if we keep winning like this, I don't think it's impossible."

"We'll see."

She replied with a vague smile.

"Isn't it a bit unromantic to worry about such things this early?"

"That romanticism of yours..."

"But, you know, Jung-woo."

She called Jung-woo in a very familiar tone, drawing even closer.

"Staying in another world for someone precious... isn't that kind of romantic?"

Sharing Jung-woo's viewpoint, Ah-yeon let out a curse at the woman's words.

Of course, since it was an illusion, it didn't come out in reality.

'What the hell, this woman?'

Who gave her the right to tell him to stay in this world or not?

Romantic, my ass.

She couldn't even send someone who'd fallen into another world back to his original one, and yet she was saying things like that?

'Serves you right. Jung-woo oppa came back to Earth anyway.'

The outcome was fixed.

Thinking that, even her swelling irritation started to subside.

"Someone precious, my ass. As if I have anyone like that."

And as if reflecting Ah-yeon's feelings, Jung-woo laughed incredulously and answered.

His straightforward reply made it clear that he didn't have any special feelings for that woman.

'So, there was nothing between them after all.'

Internally relieved, she was caught off guard by the next moment.

"Then, shall I become that person for you?"

"What?"

"Someone precious."

With those words, the woman took a step closer to Jung-woo.

And slowly rose on her tiptoes...

"You crazy bitch!!"

"... What was that?"

"Oh."

Ah-yeon, suddenly realizing she was back in her own perspective, smiled sheepishly.

In front of her was Jung-woo, looking at her with a bewildered expression.

Anyone would be startled to hear someone suddenly curse.

"Did I... do something that wrong? Well, I mean, I do feel sorry for not contacting you..."

"No, uh, it's just, there's a bit of a misunderstanding? You see, it's like this."

When she tried to explain, she couldn't think of any good excuse.

I happened to peek into your memory by accident, and the damn fox-woman in there pissed me off so I cursed her out. She couldn't say that, could she?

'But why did I get so angry?'

She hadn't thought much while cursing, but now, wondering why she'd done it, her head got tangled.

'Come to think of it, it's not the first time. Even when I heard he went to a baseball game with Soo-ah, it bothered me...'

Then, she just thought she was the first one to get close, and the two were just spending too much time together.

But ever since their trip to the museum in Jeju Island, she'd noticed something felt off.

'Wait, don't tell me...'

Even someone as dense as Ah-yeon could more or less guess the reason once she went that far.

Too many of her recent actions could be interpreted as 'those kinds of feelings.'

'Have I been gaming so much that all my romantic instincts died?'

She thought she must be a legend to only realize now.

And now that she noticed, it became even harder to talk to Jung-woo.

Even with Jung-woo right in front of her, she became self-conscious and embarrassed.

"J-just wait, please, c-can you move away a little? Why are you so close?"

"You're the one holding my wrist."

At Jung-woo's words, Ah-yeon realized she was still holding Jung-woo's wrist, startled, and let go. Then Jung-woo let out a low sigh and slowly put some distance between them.

Ah-yeon frowned ever so slightly watching that.

"You moved too far."

"What?"

Jung-woo, who kept a bit more distance than usual due to Ah-yeon's odd behavior, now looked confused.

He'd felt it for a while now, but clearly Ah-yeon was acting strange today.

"A minute ago you said I was too close?"

"Well, the ideal distance has to be just right, you see. Not too close, not too far... a perfect..."

"Are you Darius?"

Thanks to Ah-yeon, Jung-woo had picked up some gaming knowledge recently.

In one of the AOS games Ah-yeon played, there was a character with precise skill shots, and Ah-yeon's words reminded him of that character.

"Argh, whatever!"

For some reason, Ah-yeon got annoyed by Jung-woo's words and turned away, walking off.

Appearing out of nowhere, behaving oddly the entire time, and then disappearing again—Jung-woo was left dumbfounded by her.

"So why did you curse in the first place?"

Ah-yeon, who could've explained, was already gone.

***

About a week passed after that.

The Jeju Island incident was mostly resolved.

All the gates had closed, and the remaining monsters were thoroughly wiped out.

There had been casualties, but considering the scale of the disaster, they were extremely few—and most of those were hunters. Civilian casualties were under a hundred, with virtually no fatalities.

Jeju's excellent response to the gate crisis became a hot topic globally, and in Korea, there was a real commotion.

There were even rumors of a special documentary featuring the heroes who protected Jeju, and talk of medals from the government for hunters who helped avert the crisis.

While most people felt relief and joy over the successful resolution of the incident, there were some who didn't.

Namely, the people of the Javelin Guild and JM Management.

"If you have a mouth, use it: talk, Shim Chun-hoo."

"... I'm sorry."

"Oh, really? Apparently for you humans, all's forgiven if you just say you're sorry."

At the words of Sebin, the current leader of the demons still remaining in Korea, Shim Chun-hoo clenched his jaw.

'If only Ivan Hunt, that bastard, had done his job...'

He'd thought it was an infallible plan if S-rank awakener and UnderStellar member Ivan Hunt was involved. Even Shin Ah-yeon wouldn't have been able to oppose Ivan, not until she fully regained her strength.

On top of that, he'd even provided the "Dollmaker" artifact, just in case.

"We wasted a rare artifact, and even lost another 'Demon's Heart'. Amazing. I never thought you'd squander our resources so generously."

He couldn't argue. And if he did so with some excuse, he knew he'd end up like those corpses strewn at his feet. Any hunters who failed in Jeju had all been 'dealt with'.

"Kang Gi-hun said this whole plan was your idea, by the way."

"... Yes."

"You'll have to take responsibility."

He didn't say what kind.

But it was basically a death sentence.

Sebin looked at Shim Chun-hoo bowing in defeat for a moment, then slowly turned her gaze.

【The most dangerous thing in the Jeju incident was the near-occurrence of an S-rank gate.】

Where Sebin looked, the TV was playing the news about the incident.

The Jeju multi-gate case.

The most famous person to emerge was the 'mysterious S-rank awakener'.

A man who erased an S-rank gate with a single punch.

Some speculated his level was among the very top of S-rank awakeners.

No less than Baek Hojun himself had vouched for that.

"... Park Jung-woo."

That was a very old name.

Sebin, being a young demon, had only ever heard about him in stories.

Among today's demon, at some point, his name became forbidden—a human no longer mentioned.

Probably, only a handful still remembered his name.

'Wasn't Shin Ah-yeon's manager named the same?'

The very person they tried to transplant the Demon's Heart into during the Jeju incident.

The person who recovered her mana hall and drew the attention of the prince.

In that process, Sebin had gathered lots of info on Ah-yeon, and naturally learned Jung-woo's identity.

'The odds are pretty high right now.'

Ah-yeon regained her mana hall after meeting him, and he was with her in Jeju this time too.

Calling it a coincidence would be stretching it.

'Still, I should confirm it just in case.'

He couldn't be one hundred percent sure until then, so Sebin decided to move as cautiously as possible.

If he really was who Sebin suspected, approaching recklessly would be dangerous.

Sending some random demon to confirm would accomplish nothing except waste valuable assets.

***

【Authorities are currently seeking information about the mysterious S-rank awakener, drawing great interest even from abroad.】

"......"

I didn't know.

Who would have guessed cameras in the sky caught me that day.

'Good thing I covered my face just in case.'

If my face had been exposed and aired on TV, what then?

There would've been a good chance the country would have pushed me to become a hunter.

'No way.'

The S-rank hunter every hunter dreams of being—I could honestly pass.

I wasn't even an awakener, and I couldn't output that much power whenever I wanted.

"Jung-woo, you didn't run into that S-rank awakener in Jeju, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

"Man, that's a shame. For some reason, I thought you might've met him."

Sung-hwan, watching TV with me, muttered, genuinely disappointed.

'In a way, we did meet. Since I was the guy himself.'

Thinking that, I picked up the remote to change the channel.

If I kept watching news searching for me, I'd get neurosis.

【Next news: the erosive dungeon incident in Mexico is expected to grow, with the situation dragging on.】

"... What?"

But the next news froze my hand.

There was an erosive-type dungeon in Mexico? When did that happen?

"Oh, you don't know. While you and Shin Ah-yeon-ssi were caught up in the Jeju incident, something went down in Mexico too. The situation seems really bad."

"It's that serious?"

I had no idea something this big broke out while I was in Jeju.

Not to mention, news was all about Jeju, so I couldn't have known.

Of course domestic issues took precedence over foreign ones.

"Yeah, apparently Mexico's almost half-destroyed now. The U. S. sent a bunch of hunters to help, but who knows what'll happen."

Apparently, the situation was much worse than I'd thought.

Thanks to that, I couldn't help but worry.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
A crisis was averted in Korea, but other crises are happening around the world.
【(⩌‸⩌ )】