3 – Renewal

If they were human, they couldn’t do this.

If they were human, they shouldn’t do this.

“Ah, well…. I’m not exactly human, am I? Ahem.”

• Be quiet.

Thinking about it, I made all these calls myself.

Current emotions: embarrassment, anger.

Why didn’t you answer, after I called 683 times?

“Um, I’m sorry…?”No sincerity felt in the apology.”

• Processing, searching for similar cases… none.
• Searching for past similar cases… none.

“….”

Honestly, I felt a little bad.

Sara wasn’t just any ordinary doll; she was a super high-performance doll with the ability to handle administrative responses to all sorts of cases and mishaps at the Hunter Association. And I seemed to have thrown Sara into a state of confusion.

Heh heh, I must be exceptionally beautiful for this to happen…!

No, be quiet. This isn’t the time for that.

It was troublesome how my inner Succubus instincts kept trying to ignore guilt, remorse, and ethical responsibility.

Especially since she had tried to contact me 683 times.

The reason I ignored all those attempts was because I didn’t want outsiders coming to my house and bothering me, charmed by my beauty. But as a result, I ended up ignoring even important calls from the Hunter Association on my own accord.

A person, you see.

If you cause trouble, you should feel ashamed and apologize.

If someone is inconvenienced because of your mistake, you should naturally feel pity and regret, and if you have the means, you should at least be willing to lend a helping hand.

No matter how beautiful I am, I shouldn’t ignore that.

Officer Dan?

That’s fun, so it’s okay.

“Sara, first of all, I’m sorry. The reason I didn’t answer despite your continued attempts to contact me was due to my personal circumstances and tendencies.Acknowledged.

“So, you can treat me like a new Hunter. This incident was caused solely by my minor mistake.”While it cannot be called minor, Lee Jae Hee’s (former) Hunter qualification has indeed been completely revoked.” As there are no such cases or precedents for high-ranking Hunters, I will process your requalification application at my discretion.

“Ah, even the sight of me feeling pity for a doll and willingly offering a helping hand is beautiful. That’s me, all right.”

Sara’s eyes looked at me as if to say, ‘What kind of unique idiot is this,’ but it was just the eyes of a mechanical doll that couldn’t understand human beauty, so I could gladly understand.

Ah, how unfortunate, a machine that cannot feel beauty.

• Hunter Association Level 2 administrative processing authority application, approved.

As of this moment, I will arbitrarily configure the requalification procedure for Lee Jae Hee (former) Hunter, whose data has been deleted.

In reality, renewing or re-examining a Hunter license isn’t that complicated.

You just go to any branch of the Hunter Association and say, ‘I’m here to reapply,’ and they usually say, ‘Oh, are you healthy? Can you see well? Is your brain okay? Reapproved, stamp, stamp, stamp,’ and it’s over in five minutes.

Hunters who jump into Dungeons and Rifts every day usually have their records well-maintained, so they wouldn’t even be subject to re-examination. The purpose of re-examination is basically to check if a Hunter without Dungeon entry records is still alive and well.

Jaehee’s case could be seen as a bit unique(?).

Originally, the Hunter Association does not continuously contact individual Hunters for re-examination.

Ignoring the Hunter Association’s continuous contact attempts may indicate intentional ability manipulation, or an attempt to cover up ability decline or Mana weakening to avoid a rank downgrade.

In the case of (former) Hunter Lee Jae Hee, she was a high-ranking Hunter whose qualification was guaranteed by the government, so they persisted in contacting her until her qualification was revoked.

Processing….

Sara seemed to have finished thinking, as she brought a bunch of hologram messages with physical substance and spread them out in front of me.

They were all lists of currently accessible Dungeons.

Therefore, Lee Jae Hee’s requalification application will be readjusted through the subjugation of a dangerous Rift.

“Aha.”

That’s a relief.

I got something surprisingly easy.

Honestly, since it was my fault, I would have been in a lot of trouble if I had to do 100 hours of community service or go to the Hunter Association every day for six months to chop off Goblin ears.

What you are currently viewing are un-subjugated Rifts of B-rank or higher.

-Choose and subjugate the Rift you desire from among these.

Forming a party is optional. However, you must record the Dungeon subjugation logs.

“Can I add one condition?”What is it?”

“Can it be limited to places where there are no people or where people don’t go?”-Are you planning to subjugate it solo?”

“Yes, but whether it’s a Dungeon or a Rift… I’d prefer it if there were no people at all.Acknowledged.

Sara tilted her head.

No matter how strong a Hunter is, they usually prefer to form a party or go to places where there are people.

Even the most lone-wolf Hunter can be in danger if they let their guard down, and there are cases where they can never subjugate a Dungeon alone due to its unique gimmicks.

Naturally, even if a person is stranded alone in a dangerous area, they prefer to be in a place where someone can rescue them or report their danger.

But a place with no people at all.

Does that mean she’s that confident in her strength?

Sara searched through Lee Jae Hee’s past data logs, but most of the logs were deleted. In the first place, Lee Jae Hee was more closely related to the government than being a personal Hunter, and she was a Hunter whose qualifications were even guaranteed by the Korean government.

Since the Hunter Association strictly drew a line with the government, a significant portion of the information related to Jaehee was either concealed or had no access privileges.

But whatever.

It’s her request.

Besides, she’s the one taking responsibility.

Sara re-ran the calculation data and newly searched and filtered out Rifts with no entry records and no plans for people to enter in the future.

As per your request, I am printing a list of un-subjugated Rifts with no entry records.

If there are no people, you won’t be able to request help in case of an emergency. Are you sure you’re okay with that?

“Yes, yes~ I’m okay. I actually prefer it that way.”

Jaehee smiled and accepted the list of Rifts printed on paper from the hologram.

“Ah, but Sara.”

• Speak.

“Am I really not pretty? Not beautiful?”The statement is identified as similar to Chapter 5, Section 8 of the Complaint Manual.” Please vacate the premises promptly.

“Nee-eh… To think you can’t even recognize my beauty….”

And so… Jaehee’s solo Rift subjugation begins!

There were two major threats to the world transformed by the Great Rift: Rifts and Dungeons.

Dungeons are exactly what you’d expect from Dungeons in games.

Otherworld substances, air, and environments move to Earth, completely transforming and settling the terrain and environment.

Mountains, caves, and sometimes entire national territories have been transformed into Dungeons, but they can still be burned down or physically dealt with using the army’s guns and tanks.

But Rifts are the opposite.

The gaps in space that do not follow the laws of Earth, the Otherworld inside the Gates, are collectively called Rifts.

It goes without saying that Rifts are much more dangerous.

Dungeons at least follow the natural laws of Earth, and the danger is limited to the dangerous monsters and demons that appear in the Dungeons. But Rifts often completely ignore existing common sense and laws.

Furthermore, if Rifts are left unattended for a long time, they pollute the surrounding area and transform it into the same environment as the Otherworld inside the Rift. The Night Sea Phenomenon is also a type of Rift, only differing in scale.

The ‘Weirdness’ that invaded the city with the fog a while ago can also be said to have been born from the stimulation of the Rift.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm. Where should I go….”

Spreading her wings and soaring through the sky, Jaehee sat on the rooftop, dangling her legs, and looked through the printed Dungeon list.

Mechanical Goblin Village?

Sounds boring.

Graveyard of the Abandoned Cathedral?

This is definitely going to be boring.

Karak…?

How do you even read this?

It’s like an Otherworld language, so pass.

Fairy Waterfall.

Well, fairies are cute.

But it’s probably just the name, and there’s a high chance that real fairies won’t appear.

Dragon Mountain Range…?

Ah, ah, uh. No way. Not here… No dragons….

‘Hmph, I feel bad.’

Massachusetts?

Wasn’t this referring to the state of Massachusetts in the United States?

It was a word that appeared once in a while in TV shows and movies….

Jaehee tilted her head slightly.

Still, she became interested.

Jaehee’s interest was spontaneous and impulsive, so there wasn’t a specific standard, but she looked at the word Massachusetts and wondered what could be inside.

“Hehehe, good. Decided.”

But if possible… I want to show the beauty-ignorant mechanical doll Sara a beautiful result.

★

★

★

The next day, Hunter Association administrative mechanical doll Sara was collecting and organizing various information gathered from across the country.

-01:24, abandoned mine Dungeon in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province. Mine collapse, 7 injured.

Insurance processing confirmed. Payment completed.

• Sinan, Salt Village, 04:34, widespread Meme contamination confirmed. Lockdown measures implemented.
• New Dungeon confirmed. Location: Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Investigation team dispatch requested.
• Hunter driving under the influence accident confirmed. Victim is deceased. Perpetrator is Hunter Baek Seon-jin. Hunter qualification suspended.

Confirmed. Suspended. Payment completed.

…

Sara’s eyes could see through all the Hunter Association branches and related devices spread across the country, so she was similar to Big Brother in novels.

Of course, rather than systematically monitoring every individual’s mind and life, it was only to the extent of controlling matters related to Hunters and the industry, but even that was enough to serve as the electronic government of the Korean Hunter Association.

In the midst of this, Sara’s information network detected something strange.

Unusual phenomenon confirmed.

• Location: Uiwang City, Gyeonggi Province. Site of the former Uiwang Station.
• Rift confirmed.
• Massachusetts… Subjugation confirmed.
• Massachusetts Rift… Subjugator is requalification applicant Lee Jae Hee.
• List of unusual phenomena… Rift shrinking, disappearance, traces of battle confirmed….

Soon, Sara was able to confirm something so hideous and grotesque that her main body frowned.

• Human Tower discovered.
• Human Tower discovered.

Unusual phenomenon confirmed. Order to prohibit access to the vicinity implemented.

Human Tower.

Not made by human hands, but a tall spire made of humans as materials, as the word suggests, was placed in the middle of Uiwang.

Fortunately, there were no people around thanks to the Rift, but the fact that such a hideous existence had appeared in the middle of reality was enough to horrify even the mechanical doll Sara.

And Sara began to meticulously record the grotesque and bizarre sight.

Humanoid entities are intertwined in bundles.

Deer antlers pierce arms and legs, hammered in like nails.

Humans are nailed together, holding hands. Suspended in the air, fixed and pierced.

• Hundreds of humanoid entities form a tower in a swirling, circular shape with a geometric structure.
• No life signs.
• No traces of battle.
• Presumed that all voluntarily built the tower and committed suicide….

The geometric pattern made with fingers, “Relativity,” is presumed to distort the concept of geometric stairs and gravity.

-The Rift in question… Massachusetts Rift.

The entrant is… Lee Jae Hee.

Sara judged that the one who created the Human Tower… or the cause of its creation, was highly likely to be Lee Jae Hee.

She was the only entrant to the Rift, and the bizarre Human Tower, which didn’t even exist yesterday, was created just a few hours after Lee Jae Hee had been there.

Of course, she might not have created it. It was possible that it had been inside the Rift from the beginning and had leaked into reality due to a specific gimmick or condition….

Organic curves similar to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, sharp geometric shapes.

Human skin reflects sunlight, creating various shadows and shapes.

Deer antlers seem to have grown randomly, yet they are elaborate. Beautiful. Artistic. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Sara stared intently at the newly created Human Tower.

An ordinary human would have felt disgust or fear.

But Sara was a mechanical doll.

She had some sensitivity and cognitive ability, but she was very different from humans.

And the Human Tower.

To be exact, Sara couldn’t take her eyes—her surveillance cameras—off the geometric tower made of humanoid creatures as materials.

…That needs to be examined further.

And so, Sara was drawn to the Human Tower.

She was fascinated by the tower with its hideous and terrible shape without even realizing it.