Chapter 41 : Moving Rice Cake Instead (1)

The enormous conference hall of the committee.

Hunters ranked in the top 20 of Korea’s rankings began filling the seats one by one in the massive hall.

Originally, a total of 100 hunters, known as “rankers,” were supposed to fill the seats.

However, due to the recently exposed “broadcast ban gate” incident by the Hunter Audit Bureau, 80 hunters were arrested.

Moreover, some hunters with particularly serious crimes were stripped of their hunter status.

It took a long time and a complex process to be recognized as a ranker, so it was difficult to fill those seats right away.

By chance, the court, which considered the 5 rankers who were thought to have lesser crimes, delayed their sentencing.

They were released under the condition that they wore binding stones to prevent escape and were accompanied by at least 15 A+-level Audit Bureau staff members.

These 5 rankers were also included in the 20.

Among them was Choa-rin, whom Yubin had personally taken down.

She was a succubus who had brainwashed Chanseok and killed the real Choa-rin, stealing her identity.

‘…If only the clone wasn’t so stupid, I wouldn’t have to deal with such bothersome things.’

When she was staying at home, she could leave with a clone behind.

However, because the clone was sometimes too foolish, such activities had to be done by her real self.

Anyway, Choa-rin, who was now equipped with binding stones made of magic stone, entered the conference hall.

“Hello~”

“…Tch.”

As soon as she entered, she greeted Chanseok, but all she received in return was a cold stare.

‘…If only the brainwashing wasn’t undone.’

Thinking that, Choa-rin found her seat.

Yawning, she hoped this boring meeting would end soon as the Chairman of the National Hunter Management Committee, Sung Myungho, confirmed the attendance of the hunters and signaled the beginning of the meeting.

“…We have confirmed the attendance of 20 rankers, 30 guild members, 5 members from the Hunter Audit Bureau, and 3 committee elders from the Disaster Management Department of the Tower.”

“This meeting is about the victims and not about the strategy for the Gumiho Tower, which has already been given a friendly rating. Please remember that this discussion is about coexistence.”

“Now, we will begin the discussion on the future treatment of the victims caused by the creation of the Gumiho Tower.”

A meeting about the coexistence of humans and monsters.

This meeting, being held for the first time globally, was simultaneously and transparently shared in real time to the entire world.

Five minutes after the meeting had begun.

I finished apologizing but couldn’t turn off the broadcast, asking the viewers how things were going.

“…So, what happened?”

The chairman just started, they say.

Choa-rin is yawning so much.

She just doesn’t care.

I don’t get how there are still people who like her.

Wow, they should just lower the ranker exam standards and quickly pick up more people, those criminals are definitely it.

There should be 20 people for the meeting to happen, how do they do that?

It’s hard.

‘Why the hell is she already released and attending the meeting?’

For a moment, that thought crossed my mind but then quickly disappeared.

The number of casualties has been announced.

Chanseok’s face turned pale.

🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂;;

Ugh

“The, the number of casualties was announced…?”

The shocking news that the number of casualties had been announced.

My heart sank.

I never imagined I would kill someone in my life.

I never thought I’d be someone capable of killing, even if I was the one who was going to be killed.

I had been killed before.

I had many grudges against me, so I guess it was inevitable.

The thought of having killed someone rushed into my mind, and my stomach churned.

I barely held back the nausea and asked the people around me.

“…How many… how many have died?”

Why is your body shaking so much…?

How pitiful.

☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️.

Are you okay?

Good people who still worry about me, even though I killed someone.

It was the same in the past.

Even though I couldn’t protect my sister, the world still tried to embrace me again.

If only, for once, someone had thrown me away.

If that had happened, would it have been possible to forget this guilt?

“…I’m fine. Please tell me.”

After hearing my words, people began to chat.

35 injured.

There are 35 injured.

“…What about the dead?”

For a moment, the chat window stopped.

Could it be that there are many deaths, or perhaps none at all?

I hoped for the latter.

If there are any, I hope it’s a small number.

Deaths unable to be confirmed.

Deaths unconfirmed.

They haven’t confirmed yet.

Seems like there aren’t any so far.

There were no confirmed deaths yet.

They couldn’t verify it.

When I saw that, the unease that had been churning in my stomach began to ease.

My ears and tail, which had been shaking, returned to their usual rhythm.

“Th-thank goodness…”

But why can’t they disclose the reason for the unconfirmed deaths?

Why is that confidential?

Could it be because they’re buried under the tower, so they can’t check?

No, no, even if they’re buried under the tower, the system can notify.

There must be another reason it’s not confirmed.

Is there really a reason for the system to hide it?

I don’t know.

The committee will have to figure that out.

After that, the viewers kept chatting, but I couldn’t pay attention because a sense of relief was flooding over me.

About 10 minutes later, I focused on the news being sent by the viewers.

The property damage is enormous.

What can you do?

One building collapsed and crushed everything else.

The Myth Guild is offering support.

By themselves!?

Yeah, Choi Hanseong is just that kind of guy, haha.

Top guilds are great because they’re so big.

The amount is in the hundreds of billions… Hmm, isn’t that too much?

How could someone try to cover all the property damage by themselves?

It seemed completely irrational.

I could hear the guild members arguing in the background.

Chanseok is trying to stop it again, haha.

Hanyul seemed to have already given up.

Hanyul’s suit looked amazing on her.

Chanseok was laughing while hitting Hanseong’s side, thinking no one noticed, haha.

But despite acting like that, he still donates millions every month.

“…Hundreds of billions?”

Ehh?

You demolished a house, haha.

Because of that, a lot of people now dislike the Gumiho.

Half of the building under construction was destroyed~ Now they can’t continue the work there~.

Did no one die on the construction site?

No, the workers were on strike that day.

What’s going on?

Seems like it was already a problematic place.

It seemed that the property damage was massive. …Money, well, being an F-class hunter, I had lived in poverty before becoming a wreck.

I know how important money is because I’ve felt it deeply. …I do have a bad habit of spending everything when it comes to artifacts.

Anyway, money is important.

But what’s just as important is friendship. ‘…Maybe I should help?’

I glanced at the floating TopCoin balance next to me.

[TopCoin: 1,243,879 → 2,723,033]

It was rising in real-time.

The number of coins was increasing vertically at a terrifying pace.

Now that I think about it, I had moved to a new place and still hadn’t handed out rice cakes.

I looked at the chat window, which was discussing the Myth Guild’s donation and the ensuing debate.

“U-um, would you all accept rice cakes if I offered them after moving in?”

•???

•What’s that all of a sudden?

•What?

•So suddenly?

I had asked a question so out of the blue that it felt a bit awkward, so I laughed nervously and corrected myself.

“Well… I mean, I’m technically the new neighbor here, right?”

Ehh?

Well, I guess that’s true.

Yeah, that’s true.

Why though?

“So, I just wanted to give something as a greeting and to say thank you.”

Even though it was an unexpected question, people answered with smiles.

What are you suddenly going to give, haha?

Haha, what are you going to give?

I would gladly accept it.

I’m not sure I can accept something without knowing what it is, though, haha.

Some people were hesitant to accept without knowing what it was.

Well, I understood.

These days, if someone offers something, people tend to be suspicious.

The world is rough, so humans are like that—how can we trust something given by a monster?

But I decided to understand them.

After all, there were few of us.

“It seems like most people are saying it’s okay.”

What are you going to give?

???

What are you going to give, haha?

People started giggling, thinking I was joking.

It wasn’t a joke, though.

I really was trying to give them something.

“Well, um, I’m sure some of the committee members are watching this, right?”

Ehh?

Yes, probably.

They said they were always monitoring last time.

Always monitoring?

‘…That’s a bit embarrassing.’

I cleared my throat and respectfully greeted the camera.

“Hello, committee members.”

“My name is Gumiho Yubin, and I’ve moved here…”

Oh, right, you had a name.

Is it really Yubin?

“I heard there are some people who have been hurt by my moving in.”

“…I, I want to make peace with those people…”

“Ho, could you help me offer some compensation to those who were affected?”

“…As a replacement for the rice cakes.”

I said this and then shaped the TopCoins I had into my hand.

Clink!

With the sound of coins jingling, coins appeared in my palm.

“…How about TopCoins instead of rice cakes?”