Ch.284Side Story: A New S-Rank

“Um… hmm. Hello, uh? How are you? My lovely, little, sister. The weather is quite nice, today. Isn’t it, right?”

“What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”

When I returned home after a long time, there was Kang Yuna, looking like she’d half lost her sanity.

She was forcing her voice to sound sweet and calm, while her eyes darted around nervously, and her legs kept pacing back and forth. No matter how you looked at it, she wasn’t in her right mind.

“Hey! Put yourself in my shoes! How would you feel if your sibling was getting cozy with your boss! It’s incredibly awkward! And it’s not just one person!”

In response to my dumbfounded look, Kang Yuna pointed her finger at me accusingly.

“Rahye unnie is actually someone from that world who was an extremely important person! The Guild Masters are the same! And you, Kang Yuseong, were apparently some super-rich young master over there! How could someone like you understand the position of a commoner like me! You jerk! Trash!”

“Since when has an A-rank hunter from the Eternal Guild been a commoner? Any hunter passing by would grab you by the collar if they heard that.”

“It’s just a figure of speech! Don’t you understand metaphors?!”

“Sure, whatever you say, noona.”

It wasn’t a metaphor by any stretch of the imagination. It seemed she’d completely lost her marbles after attending that birthday party in the other world.

She had plenty of “interactions” with Diana noona until the day before returning, so I don’t know why she’s acting like this now. The erotic novels she received then are probably still piled up in a corner of her room.

If she had been awkward then, I could understand, but why is she acting like this now?

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, go away. You’re bringing bad energy. Shoo.”

I waved my hand dismissively and sat on the sofa. Kang Yuna hesitantly followed and sat down about a leg’s length away from me, fidgeting. Her attitude suggested she had something she wanted to say.

Wondering when she would speak up, I checked my smartphone and watched her for about 10 minutes, but she showed no signs of talking. Even after a considerable amount of time passed with her just moving her lips, I got impatient and asked first.

“What is it this time? If you have something to say, say it. Stop fidgeting.”

“…No. I just wanted to ask something. Can I ask?”

“Why are you asking if you can ask?”

I wonder what question she’s trying to ask that’s making her act like this. Receiving my incredulous look, Kang Yuna cautiously opened her mouth.

“What did Mom and Dad say?”

It was a more serious question than I expected. I shifted my position slightly and chose my answer carefully. She must have seen our parents calling me with somewhat serious expressions earlier.

I turned off my smartphone and looked at Kang Yuna. She flinched when our eyes met. She seemed to think something serious had happened.

“Nothing much.”

“Nothing much, but both of them had those expressions?”

“It was the same question you got. They asked if I’d ever killed someone.”

“…”

Kang Yuna’s expression became solemn.

“It’s probably because of the excuse I made before. They still think I’m some kind of secret agent or something.”

It’s a question you inevitably face if you live as a hunter in this world. Not everyone uses their power solely to kill monsters.

Even if a hunter had lived righteously their whole life, they would have to consider killing as the first option to protect themselves from those kinds of people. Capture or restraint were options only if there was a significant difference in skill.

“Why did they suddenly ask that? Did you get in trouble?”

“No. When I said I had, they said they were just glad I was safe. They said there must have been some reason, one way or another. That it was unavoidable as long as killing people wasn’t the goal in itself. But they asked me not to let killing become my purpose.”

“…That’s exactly what they said to me.”

“They told me they said the same thing to you.”

It was such a reasonable statement that I just said, “Yes,” and left it at that. No parent would be happy to see their child become a serial killer who kills for the sake of killing.

That level of concern is natural for parents. Especially now that the concepts of hunters and gates have become commonplace, making it much easier for people to die than before.

“I was wondering why you were being so serious, but it was a more constructive question than I expected. That’s surprising, Kang Yuna?”

“…You’ll see later.”

She took a roundabout way to get there, but in the end, it meant she was worried about me. Since I could understand her true feelings, I just smiled and let it go.

Surprisingly, Kang Yuna didn’t go to her room afterward but continued sitting on the sofa with me. I was at the left end, and she was at the right end.

Given the decent salary of an A-rank hunter from the Eternal Guild, the sofa was long enough that we could both lie down with our legs stretched out in opposite directions without touching each other.

“You don’t have anything to do tomorrow, right?”

After a while of silence, Kang Yuna spoke again.

“No, why?”

“Rahye unnie asked what you’re doing tomorrow. But if you don’t have anything to do, why did you come here? Isn’t your house in the other world much better?”

“Oh, so I can’t come see Mom and Dad if I don’t have anything to do? Fine, I’ll just go to the parents over there—”

“Hey! That’s not what I meant!”

Thwack! A pillow came flying. I deliberately didn’t block it, letting it hit my face. Seeing me chuckling even after taking a direct hit from the pillow, Kang Yuna huffed and took a deep breath.

“But you really don’t have anything to do tomorrow? Aren’t you going to watch Rahye unnie’s S-rank promotion?”

“That’s obviously something I’m going to, so I excluded it from my schedule.”

“…”

Another pillow flew at me. I kicked it mid-air, setting it vertically against the sofa backrest. Kang Yuna looked at this with an expression that suggested her mind had left the building.

“…Still, our country is finally getting a new S-rank hunter. People have been talking a lot about how there were only seven until now. Many left because they didn’t want to stay as A-rank.”

“Even if they left and got S-rank elsewhere, they’re still no match for your bosses, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

The reason why the Guild Masters of the Eternal Guild were so picky about S-rank promotions, and why they still maintained overwhelming prestige and authority despite hundreds of A-rank hunters leaving for other countries, was simple.

Even all the hunters who left combined couldn’t match those seven.

To begin with, except for Rosaria, they were all people who made a name for themselves in the other world, and recently even Rosaria had figured out how to utilize power with the help of the gods, reaching a completely different level than before.

It would be stranger if hunters from Earth could win against such people.

“…Anyway, there’s going to be a commotion. No, it’s already happening on the internet.”

“That’s why they’re doing the verification, to prevent accusations of favoritism.”

“Unnie will do well, right?”

The next day, I was sitting in the Colosseum stands with my sister. Beside me, Kang Yuna was bouncing her knee with an anxious expression.

Slap! I hit her knee once. Kang Yuna’s eyes momentarily turned fierce before calming down.

“Stay still. It’s distracting.”

“You heartless bastard, aren’t you worried at all? Unnie always asks about you so much.”

“Why would I worry about Rahye noona? She could win with just a toothpick.”

Worrying about the Sword Saint would be less constructive than debating whether Meteor is fire magic, earth magic, or spatial magic.

After seeing her take down gates dozens of times and witnessing the Emperor greeting her first in the other world, I couldn’t understand why she was so worried.

“No, she might not perform at her best due to nervousness. At this level, if she fails once, there won’t be a second chance.”

It was indeed a situation that would make an amateur nervous. At minimum, thousands of broadcast cameras were filming the Sword Saint.

Including smartphones and personal cameras, there must be tens of thousands. It was an environment where an ordinary person would try to maintain composure while extremely nervous and might be called a reptilian for the rest of their life.

“That woman is an S-rank? Ridiculous.”

“I know, right? She doesn’t look the part at all.”

Most people were talking like that, which made it worse.

Within the Eternal Guild, her reputation had spread so quickly that most people thought it was possible, but outsiders didn’t feel the same way. To them, Kang Rahye was just a woman who got in through connections and luckily displayed some talent.

As soon as the promotion announcement was made, the internet was ablaze with controversy about whether it was right to give an S-rank position to someone who had appeared so recently. The result was this: gathering dissatisfied hunters for direct verification.

They could prove it by taking down an S-rank gate, but this way would make a more lasting impression.

Numerous hunters volunteered to test her skills, and after a brief discussion, the Guild Masters of the Eternal Guild selected twenty. All were hunters who had left South Korea for other countries and attained S-rank there.

“The intention behind this lineup is obvious.”

“Oh, really? What is it?”

“They’re trying to say that you couldn’t get S-rank before emigrating not because they hindered you, but because your skills weren’t good enough.”

People around started glancing at me. Most were looks of mockery and derision.

“…”

And in less than 30 minutes, they averted their eyes.

Kang Rahye fully lived up to the expectations placed on her. The twenty hunters who had confidently challenged her achieved the feat of an average survival time of 3.3 seconds before collapsing.

From my perspective, even that was being lenient. If she had gone all out, they would have struggled to last 0.5 seconds.

Even as the twenty hunters, with sixty healers hastily attending to them, were carried off to the hospital, Kang Rahye stood there calmly, just as she had at the beginning.

“Does anyone else have questions? If so, speak now. I’ll let you fight.”

At her offer to fight right away if anyone wanted to, the Colosseum, which could accommodate nearly 100,000 people, fell silent.

Even those who had been red-eyed with the thought of tearing Kang Rahye apart, those looking for sensational content, and those trying to find fault to bring her down—all of them.

A few still grumbled and were actually dragged out, only to maintain silence in front of tens of thousands of cameras focused on them again before exiting.

“Let me make this clear right now. If you want to rise up, show the skills to match. I don’t understand why you look for reasons in us for your own shortcomings.”

After Laura’s stern declaration, the people who had filled the arena began to leave. Finally, when all the cameras were turned off, I went to the VIP room on the opposite side.

Inside, Laura and Kang Rahye were having a playful conversation.

“Congratulations on becoming S-rank, Hunter Kang Rahye.”

“Thank you, Guild Master?”

“You don’t need to use formal speech, feel free to be comfortable. There’s no need for formalities anymore, is there?”

“Alright. I won’t hold back.”

“One more thing. If you wish to become a Guild Master, I would consider it right now.”

After pondering for a moment, Kang Rahye shook her head.

“No thanks. I prefer to remain as a hunter affiliated with the Eternal Guild, like now.”

“Is there a reason?”

“I still have paid leave left from last time. I should use what I’ve received.”

“It will take another 50 years at this rate.”

The two looked at each other and laughed, then turned to me.

“Our little devil, you’re here?”

“…Devil?”

“I heard the news. You stepped in as a summon and got called a devil?”

“I’m still hearing it.”

Though I don’t openly take down gates like before due to all the talk, I still show my appearance consistently. People seem to understand on their own that the price is too high, but still.

“That’s surprising. I thought you already knew? You must have heard a lot of news.”

“Hearing news and participating directly are different things.”

“What?”

—Did you hear that news?

—What news?

—They say Rahye unnie also shares the burden of the summons called by the Guild Masters

—Really?

—You’re surprisingly calm? There was such a monster walking around next to you

—I was surprised when I first heard it too

—Just asking in case, but you’re not actually that summon, right?

—Little brother? Why aren’t you answering?

—Kang Yuseong

—Hey

—Answer the phone