Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

To America (2)

'What is KDC thinking? Are they really trying to go head-to-head?'

It wasn't something I couldn't understand.

They were probably trying to tip the scales, which had recently shifted toward HSN, back in their favor.

Of course, it was not exactly a welcome development for me.

After all, I had gone to the trouble of taking Yeon-ji off "Living Together" to bring her here, so if KDC stole the spotlight, I'd end up like a dog chasing chickens.

"Hm."

Just then, I saw Yeon-ji, sitting next to me, frown slightly.

Come to think of it, she hadn't looked happy ever since the check-in process earlier.

"Did I push too hard, bringing you here?"

"... Why are you saying that all of a sudden?"

"You just don't seem to be in a good mood."

Maybe it was the long flight, but most of the other staff members nearby had dozed off, and no one seemed to be listening in on our conversation.

Perhaps that's why Yeon-ji replied in a relatively comfortable tone.

"You knew I wasn't feeling great and still dragged me along? Haaah, well, on second thought, this is still better than being stuck with those two."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just one of those things. Anyway, the reason I'm not smiling isn't exactly because I'm suddenly appearing on the show or anything like that."

As she said that, Yeon-ji glanced around once more.

Then, she leaned over slightly toward me and lowered her voice.

"My temples feel weirdly itchy."

"Isn't that just 'cause you didn't wash?"

I joked lightly, and Yeon-ji jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow.

I didn't even get the chance to squeal, and as I looked away, I saw Yeon-ji glaring at me with murderous eyes.

"Sorry."

"... Anyway, it feels like a premonition of something. Do you know anything about it?"

"A premonition?"

Physically, Yeon-ji was a half-demon, but her body was almost entirely demon.

Her sturdy physique, the blood running through her veins—all of it was the same as a demon's.

The only difference was that her appearance was closer to human.

The slightly pointed ears and the jewel embedded in her forehead were just like a demon, but that was as far as the similarities went.

Skin tone varies from individual to individual, so that could be overlooked, but actual demons had sharper features, much more pointed and sharper fingernails and toenails. Their pupils were vertically slit like reptiles, and, crucially, they had horns on their heads...

"Don't tell me..."

"Do you have an idea?"

"Originally, demons have horns on their heads. The number and shape vary, but horns are a universal trait."

"H-horns?"

I had always assumed Yeon-ji didn't have horns because she was a half-demon, but if her temples were itchy, that could only mean one thing.

"More than that, a demon's horns are a sign of adulthood. Maybe your body is temporarily younger, but it could be rapidly maturing to catch up to your real age."

"... Ugh, surely I'm not going to suddenly grow up to my original age again, right?"

Yeon-ji seemed more bothered by that than the horns themselves.

Well, considering how old she was during her Ji Yeon-hwa days, that was understandable.

After going through the trouble to be younger, she probably didn't want to age quickly.

"Well, since I don't see any physical changes, your body probably won't age that fast. However, horns are also a sign of a demon's abilities awakening, so it could be different."

Even if I could hide the jewel in her forehead, what about the horns?

For the record, her forehead jewel was hidden under her bangs.

The jewel wasn't very large, so that was enough, but horns were another story.

'I haven't even landed in America and things are already getting complicated.'

I pondered for a moment before a good idea suddenly struck me.

'It'd be great if I could use illusion magic...'

There was never any such thing as illusion magic in dark magic to begin with, and now, learning circle magic for illusions was impossible since it was such high-circle magic. But didn't demons have a way of hiding their horns? Maybe there was a special method.

"I don't know what you two are talking about, but may I join you?"

Just then, a man sitting a bit farther away spoke to us.

Kim Seung-hyun, an A-rank hunter from Moon Halo.

He had a very gentlemanly smile, but for some reason, his eyes were quite cold.

Especially the way he looked at Yeon-ji wasn't pleasant at all.

"There are a lot of passengers around, so it might be a little difficult, don't you think? If you want to talk from there, you'd have to raise your voice."

"Oh, I suppose that's true. You two just looked so close, so I thought I'd try."

She shot him down without hesitation, but to my surprise, Kim Seung-hyun didn't argue further and withdrew.

Still, his gaze remained fixed on Yeon-ji.

"Hwang Yeon-ji, do you have some kind of grudge with that guy?"

"Hm, not sure. I'm just a 'rookie' who debuted recently, you know? You know I haven't even received a hunter rank yet, right?"

"That's true."

Yeon-ji was still just a 'trainee hunter'.

She was still too young, which is why she hadn't been given an official rank yet.

There were some rumors that she might be granted one early due to her unusual fight with Shim Chun-hoo.

Public opinion didn't like seeing a talented awakener being neglected because of age.

'I haven't even arrived in America and there's so much to worry about.'

There was all this about KDC filming something in America, Yeon-ji's strange premonitions, and even Kim Seung-hyun's odd attitude.

'Even Pyo Ji-yeol is setting off warning bells.'

No matter how capable a reporter he was, could he really dig up information about KDC so easily?

More than anything, it was suspicious that he'd share such an exclusive scoop so freely with us.

"Seems like more people here are interested in something other than variety shows."

"Oh my, I was just thinking the same thing."

Yeon-ji smiled as she heard my muttering, agreeing with me.

She'd been in agony before getting on the plane, but maybe because of Kim Seung-hyun's suspicious stare, she now looked combat-ready and feisty.

'Come to think of it, Ji Yeon-hwa was quite the scrapper.'

Remembering how she always picked a fight with Shin Ah-yeon, that kind of personality would never let anyone look down on her.

There's a reason she was called a "witch" back in her Ji Yeon-hwa days.

Getting that openly hostile glare from Kim Seung-hyun must have poked at her long-suppressed temper.

'... There's nothing to worry about with Kim Seung-hyun.'

If it's Yeon-ji, I'm sure she'll handle herself well.

Whatever else, when it came to this stuff, I had absolute faith in Yeon-ji.

***

Grand Central Station, New York, USA.

Grand Central Station was already a huge facility to begin with, but after the world's largest train, 'Minerva', began running, its scale became even greater.

Because the area nearby was prone to frequent monster incursions, there was a hunter guild stationed here, so it was set up for hunters to deploy anywhere in the U. S. at a moment's notice.

"Hey, guys. I'm going to be boarding the Minerva in two days! You wanna know how you can get on? Ta-da~!"

A blonde woman was walking through Grand Central, filming herself with her smartphone.

Alencia Walker.

The daughter of the infamous con man James Walker, and a streamer whose subscriber count had recently reached 100,000.

Of course, most of those numbers were inflated.

"I may be an F-rank, but I got my license. Turns out I have magic power, but only a tiny bit."

There were a lot of procedures required to board the Minerva, but if you were an awakener, the process was much simpler.

Even an F-rank awakener had physical abilities far superior to an ordinary person.

【Are you doing a train trip this time? If you're filming, why not just focus on one thing? XD】

【Stop wandering around and show your face at least.】

Because she was streaming in real time, she got sharp comments from viewers.

She wanted to kick them out right away, but there were so few viewers that she couldn't bring herself to do it.

'Well, at least I have 200 watching today.'

Compared to her 100,000 subscribers, it was a pitiful number.

The truth was, most of Alencia's subscribers weren't genuine.

People had just hit the subscribe button because she was 'James Walker's daughter'.

They were more interested in James Walker than in Alencia herself.

'At first, at least a few thousand watched me.'

But that only lasted a short while.

Once it became clear that Alencia wouldn't talk about James Walker at all, their interest quickly fizzled out.

The few who stayed were only interested in her looks—not her actual content.

Because of that, Alencia tried not to show her face as much as possible when streaming.

It felt like her only value was her appearance; without it, she was nothing.

"I thought people would be interested since it's the Minerva, but I guess not?"

She'd been so happy when she first got her awakened license.

After all, the expensive test fee hadn't been for nothing.

Even though awakeners were now about one in a hundred people, they were still very special.

So she thought she'd finally stepped out of the shadow of "James Walker's daughter" a little...

【You'll get a higher rank soon, Alencia.】

Just then, the now-familiar "$200 subscriber" sent her a Super Chat message.

Every time, this generous subscriber would reliably send her $200 whenever he spoke.

'wjddn9528'

She still had no idea what it meant, but who cared?

It was thanks to this $200 subscriber that Alencia hadn't starved and was able to eat three meals recently.

'I'm sure he's my biggest fan. See, he hasn't made any annoying remarks today.'

Normally, he had all sorts of troublesome requests.

At first he asked for her to show more of her back like some creep, then started giving unsolicited advice about how to use her magic power.

Annoying, but the thing was—his advice usually hit the mark.

It was thanks to wjddn9528 that Alencia, who was getting nowhere, managed to become an F-rank awakener and get her license.

【There's an S-rank hunter named Eugene at Grand Central, did you see her?】

This Super Chat came from another subscriber.

But since they'd sent a generous $10, Alencia replied cheerfully.

"I heard about her, but haven't seen her yet. S-rank hunter, huh... That's amazing. I'm jealous."

The mention of an S-rank hunter reminded her of an article about a new S-rank hunter that had been trending online recently.

A Korean woman in her twenties who became an S-rank hunter. She was sure the name was Lee Soo-ah.

Alencia could only envy her, but what really caught her eye in the article was not the headline itself.

It was a manager who had been mentioned alongside Lee Soo-ah.

【Alencia can become S-rank too!】

Another $200.

wjddn9528 was especially generous today. After buying a Minerva ticket, Alencia was strapped for cash, so she was extra grateful.

But she couldn't bring herself to agree with him.

"Ha, S-rank—yeah right, but thanks for saying so."

【I mean it. You just don't know yourself yet, Alencia.】

After that, the chat was flooded with people making fun of him, saying S-rank wasn't a joke, or that he was just trying to get her attention.

Alencia couldn't help but partly agree with them.

So why?

For some reason, there was a strange sense of trust in what he said.

Maybe it was just that Alencia wanted to believe it.

***

"All right, everyone, get plenty of rest tonight. We'll start the actual shoot tomorrow, so you'll need to save your stamina."

After arriving in America without any issues, we checked into a hotel near Grand Central to prepare for boarding the Minerva.

PD Jung warned us that the shoot would be tough, making Yeon Kyung-ho shudder.

"Come on, it's just a train trip—aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

"We may have to get off periodically to film 'Red Fields' along the route."

Red Fields were the monster danger zones along the Minerva's route.

Of course, the train stations where the Minerva stopped had safety nets in place, but it wasn't uncommon to see monsters roaming around not far off.

"Whew, this is intense. Manager Park, you won't leave me behind if you go anywhere, right?"

"You should ask Hunter Kim Seung-hyun instead, not me."

I grinned and glanced over at Kim Seung-hyun, amused by Yeon Kyung-ho's antics.

He was carrying his luggage up to the rooms for the night.

"You mean Hunter Kim Seung-hyun..."

But Yeon Kyung-ho, with a distasteful expression, watched Kim Seung-hyun disappear into the building.

"He's an A-rank hunter and clearly skilled, but honestly, I don't want to get close to him."

"You don't want to be close?"

I asked in puzzlement, and he slowly nodded before continuing.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Is there something wrong with Hunter Kim Seung-hyun?
Also, who's willing to bet that wjddn9528 is Jung-woo?
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】