Chapter 26 : New Family Member (2)
by fnovelpia
Yang Chanseok was dumbfounded.
“Chanseok-ah.”
“…What.”
“You still don’t believe me? I’m saying we should go in together.”
“Ah, screw off.”
The guild master seemed to have lost his mind.
Just before entering the Gumiho Tower, he’d been sighing like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“…Why don’t you believe me?”
“Master… Please get a grip. Junghan almost died, you know?!”
“…….”
S-rank tanker Junghan had nearly died.
Granted, he wasn’t part of their guild.
Once the Gumiho Tower was confirmed to be safe, he fled to Hawaii—a towerless zone—saying he needed rest.
Either way, Chanseok couldn’t understand his guild master, who seemed to have been brainwashed after being kidnapped, or like he’d gone on some kind of recovery retreat.
“…The tests showed nothing abnormal.”
“Wait—are you seriously doubting me right now?”
Hanseong stared at Chanseok with an expression full of attitude.
Chanseok just couldn’t make sense of him.
“…Hyung, are you saying you’re friends with a monster? Does that even make sense?”
“…….”
“You’re a hunter! A hunter!”
“…How is someone who kills everything in sight a real hunter?”
“…….”
“We can communicate with it. Then how is it any different from a resident?”
“…What?”
Hanseong was saying something completely unimaginable.
Chanseok wanted to argue, but he couldn’t think of anything solid to say back.
It was friendly toward humans, helpful, and could freely travel through the tower.
Before the Break occurred, maybe things would’ve been different, but the Gumiho’s boss room had experienced a Break, and now all three conditions applied.
Just looking at the conditions alone, it wasn’t much different from a resident.
“…It’s different. Totally different! It’s a monster. The system imposed restrictions for a reason!”
“Those restrictions don’t matter anymore. Why would we need to eliminate a powerful monster that’s friendly toward us?”
“There is a reason—it’s dangerous!”
Chanseok raised his voice at Hanseong’s words.
“How long do you think people will keep trusting that thing?”
“What makes you so sure it’s that friendly?”
“It’s SSS-rank. It’s the first of its kind. Shouldn’t we keep doubting it?”
A question that, in a way, was only natural.
The Death Knight under that boss was overwhelmingly stronger than a normal Death Knight.
If you asked, Who the hell made that Death Knight such a monster?
There was only one answer.
“…Obviously, the tower boss…!!”
It wasn’t strange that Chanseok was making such a fuss.
Sure, the general public and various online communities were accepting the Gumiho as friendly,but not the hunters.
The moment you logged onto sites commonly used by hunters, what you saw was distrust—toward Hanseong, the Committee, and the organizations under them, like the Hunter Surveillance Bureau and the Hunter Management Association.
Just look at the top post’s title:[WTF, trust a monster? Then lift the control on that tower LOL. I’ll go check it out myself.]
That pretty much summed it up—there was zero trust in the Committee.
And understandably so.
Hunters, by the nature of their profession, constantly live with the risk of losing comrades to monsters.
They fight for survival inside the towers, side by side with death.
Even if a companion beside them falls to an elf’s arrow, they have to keep fighting as if nothing happened.
Only after safely making it out of the tower do they finally allow themselves to break down and cry for the comrade they left behind.
Those were hunters.
The ones who had suffered the most at the hands of monsters.
The ones who hated monsters more than anyone.
So when the very organizations meant to protect them, the very top of the chain, say, “This one’s nice~”.
How could they possibly believe it?
Of course they thought it was just an act.
“Then go see for yourself.”
“…What?”
“Go inside and check it out for yourself.”
Chanseok couldn’t believe his ears.
The guild master was practically telling a guild member to walk into danger.
Expressionless—cold as ice.
But that’s how Hanseong had always been, as far as Chanseok could remember.
The reason Chanseok had followed Hanseong was because, despite that icy face, he took care of his people with a warm heart.
Now, looking into Hanseong’s cold eyes—eyes colder than his expression—Chanseok clenched his teeth.
“…Fine. I’ll go.”
Bang!!!!
Slamming the office door behind him hard enough to nearly break it, Chanseok came face-to-face with Hanyul standing outside.
“…You, what are you doing? Not going to school?”
“…”
“You said you were gonna graduate high school. Get going.”
With a deep frown, Chanseok tried to pass her, but Hanyul grabbed his arm.
“…If you’re going, I’m coming too.”
“What?”
“You’re going to that dangerous place alone?!”
“…You heard everything?”
“…Yeah.”
Hanyul, who had heard the entire conversation between Hanseong and Chanseok, had a determined expression.
“…I’m a Hunter ranked in the top 10 too.”
“……”
“I’m the second strongest mage after you, oppa!”
“Sigh… If it looks like I’m going to die, just run away by yourself.”
“W-What are you sayi—!”
“Nope, if you don’t promise that, I’m not taking you with me.”
“……”
Reluctantly, Hanyul nodded.
Chanseok let out a deep sigh and headed toward the Gumiho Tower, taking Hanyul with him.
At the same time.
•Our dear Yubin was—“Boo! Peek-a-boo!”
•“Kyaaaaa!!”
•“Oops.”
•Miho Miho, please.
•Damn, she’s practically a demon.
•Insane.
•What the hell is she doing LOL.
•That scream is freakin’ intense.
•This is group bullying.
•Are there only demons in this stream.
•I mean it’s fun though~.
Holy crap, is this what cyberbullying looks like?
She was spamming Peek-a-boo! at the Spirit clan.
Seventeenth repetition of turning her stealth on and off.
As the Gumiho appeared and disappeared all around, the Spirit sobbed and begged for mercy.
“H-hic… Please spare me……”
They had thought life would be easier in the tower.
While they weren’t in physical pain, the emotional distress was overwhelming, and the Spirit fell into despair.
‘…Damn that High Devil bastard…!!’
It was all because of that demon.
The Spirit glared at the already deceased demon’s corpse—now reduced to ashes—and hurled curses at it.
* * *
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Y-You’re not gonna eat me…?”
The trembling Spirit in front of me asked with terrified eyes.
“Me? Why would I eat you~?”
“T-Thank you so much……”
The Spirit bowed deeply in gratitude.
The first time I played peek-a-boo, I smashed a lump of mana into their face, but they’d improved quite a bit.
“W-What should I do first?! I’m good at work…!!” “Huh?”
I was feeling satisfied with the Spirit’s progress when they suddenly declared themselves my slave.
I was planning to brainwash them into becoming my friend, so I was thrown off—and so was the chat.
•LOL not a friend but a slave GET!
•You got a slave now haha.
•Perfect timing, get to work!
•Get over here!
•wwwww You got a slave DAZE~☆ wwwww.
•Congratulations! You’ve acquired a Spirit (slave)!
•That system-stolen friend cost just turned into a day’s wages www.
•Ignoring the chat going wild, I looked at the Spirit.
“T-The truth is, I called you because I wanted to be friends.”
“…Huh?”
The Spirit looked at me in surprise, and I stared blankly back, just as flustered.
“R-Really?!”
“Y-Yeah.”
I scratched my cheek awkwardly and smiled, and the Spirit gave me a look like, ‘What’s this guy’s deal…?’
“D-Do you not like the idea?”
“N-No! I-I like it!!”
Sweating bullets, the spirit glanced at me nervously and then awkwardly smiled to show their approval.
•Noon-nah, noon-nah LOL.
•So damn pitiful.
•Tragic.
•Poor little thing.
“Forget being friends, can’t you just let them go…? 😯😯😯They’re seriously so pitiful.”
What do you mean let them go?
They’re going to live here with me now.
“…What are you talking about letting them go? I brought them here with 500 Top Coins, okay?”
“…Wait, was I sold?”
“N-no! No, it was friend… friend money! I paid friend money for you.”
“Friend… money?”
“Yeah!”
When I nodded, the Spirit tilted their head in confusion.
Seeing that, I gave them an awkward smile.
“Sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to bully you—it’s just, your reactions were so good I couldn’t help it.”
“……”
It took quite a while to calm down the terrified Spirit again.
The chat exploded with boos.
•Booooo.
•What trash.
•“Your reactions were too good”???
•After bullying them??
•So if someone reacts well, it’s okay to torment them?!
•That’s messed up.
•Absolute trash.
•Mon-pyeong lol.
•Monster average.
•LOL.
•Is this normal among monsters?
•This gumiho’s raising the average for all monsters.
•Yes, this is daily life for monsters.
‘What do you mean “daily life”?! I don’t know either! Don’t ask me!’
I was already exhausted from trying to comfort the Spirit.
And now the chat’s being completely serious with their public shaming.
How’s a boss monster supposed to live like this?
As I frowned at the chat, the Spirit finally burst into sorrowful tears.
“Please don’t eat me…”
“D-don’t cry!”
•Telling the victim not to cry?
•Straight-up villain behavior.
•Wow, damn… this is what being a monster means.
•Truly a role model for all monsters! I respect you, teacher!
•Tower abuse scandal incoming.
“E-everyone! It’s not like that!!”
“Eek?!”
I shouted to calm the chat, and the Spirit, who had just barely stopped crying, started wailing again.
•Wowwww, what trash.
•Now they’re just scaring them for fun.
•Boohoo.
•This alone was driving me insane.
[An outsider has entered the Tower!]
‘?!?!’
What the hell is this now?!
Damn it.
***
Jang Hanyul.
TL Note – I apologize. It seems like the Character Jang Hanyul was a Female in earlier chapter but was miss translated to Male. The error has been fixed from previous chapters.. Happy Reading Everyone .
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