Chapter 9: Cheon Yuhwa

Reality isn’t a game.

Characters don’t appear at predetermined times to deliver scripted lines and actions.

Cheon Yuhwa was no exception.

She didn’t completely disappear like in the game.

She briefly appeared as one of the participants in the welcoming ceremony.

Since I had never encountered her in the game, I assumed I wouldn’t meet her this time either.

Carelessly, I held onto that belief.

I concluded that she wouldn’t directly approach the player at this time.

But reality wasn’t a game.

She deviated from the predetermined scenario and approached me on her own.

“How did you know?”

That was Cheon Yuhwa’s question as she stared intently at me.

“What do you mean?”

“That I’m here.”

I briefly closed my mouth upon hearing Cheon Yuhwa’s question.

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to answer or because I had used an unfair method.

It was much simpler but difficult to explain.

It’s just a feeling…

I just felt a presence for a moment and turned around.

I was so surprised to feel someone’s presence inside the detection barrier where there was no one.

I hesitated for a moment, and Cheon Yuhwa tilted her head.

“Is it hard to tell me?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that I sensed it instinctively, so it’s hard to explain.”

Cheon Yuhwa nodded at my answer.

“Instinct…? Yeah, I see. It’s instinct.”

To be honest, I couldn’t follow the context of the conversation at all.

Cheon Yuhwa unilaterally asked questions, and I answered them.

This process repeated several times.

I had no idea what she was aiming for or why she approached me.

Although Cheon Yuhwa naturally had a laid-back personality, she had never been this mysterious before.

It was difficult to figure out what she was thinking right now.

‘I don’t know what she’s up to, so it’s creepy.’

Cheon Yuhwa’s physical abilities allowed her to effortlessly fold a person’s spine in half.

It wouldn’t be strange for her to contort a person’s body while demonstrating origami.

I internally sweated coldly but didn’t show it externally.

My heart pounded as if it were about to burst.

I tensed up with all my might.

As sweat dripped from my palms, Cheon Yuhwa spoke again.

“I’m Cheon Yuhwa. What’s your name?”

“…Seong Yujin.”

She suddenly introduced herself and asked for my name.

I answered, trying not to stutter.

“Do you think someone without magic can become a hunter?”

Why did she ask me this question?

Although it was difficult to gauge what was going on in her mind, I didn’t complicate my thoughts unnecessarily.

I honestly responded to Cheon Yuhwa’s question.

“I think they can. What’s important for a hunter is not the presence of magic but saving people from dungeon threats.”

Saving people from dungeon threats.

This was a fact that no hunter in any era denied after the Great Change.

The debate over whether magic existed or not was meaningless.

“…Yeah, I see. That’s right.”

Cheon Yuhwa’s voice softened slightly, but her expression seemed somewhat relieved.

Nodding slightly, she smiled at me.

“Thanks for your opinion. Well then, see you next time.”

That was her farewell.

Just as suddenly as she appeared, she disappeared in an instant without a trace.

It was impossible to track her movements. Her speed far exceeded my visual perception.

What remained in the place where she had been was not Cheon Yuhwa’s figure.

There were just leaves swaying in the night breeze.

She disappeared as if she had never been there in the first place, concealing her presence in front of me like an illusion.

The barrier remained unchanged, not perceiving any changes until the leaves touched the ground.

***

Until before the Great Change, people regarded magic as a figment of imagination, treating it as a form of energy in fantasy.

They tried to explain the universe through mathematics and science.

It was an era when all things were explained according to mathematical laws.

But with the Great Change, the world suddenly changed overnight from one where everything moved by mathematics to one where magic, previously considered a figment, openly covered the Earth.

People absorbed magic into their bodies, becoming superhumans and using magic and abilities previously treated as fiction.

As monsters poured out and the existing civilization collapsed, a new world was rebuilt on the basis of magic.

Yes, in this world, magic is everything.

A person’s worth is determined by how much magic they possess and how skilfully they handle it.

That’s why I hated this world.

• No magic…? I apologize for saying this, but this child will have to live in this world without magic. Abandoned by their parents for not having magic.
• Even without magic, you’re complaining?!
• Teacher, Jae hit me!
• A kid without magic, and what’s so great about you complaining like that…

I wasn’t accepted by orphanages or schools, even after my own parents abandoned me.

No matter where I went in society, people scorned and rejected me.

Becoming a hero or a villain was impossible.

Even those labelled as the scum of humanity had magic, so why not me?

“Hey, this girl doesn’t look too bad, does she? Should we have some fun with her? Well, she doesn’t have magic, so let’s just play around with her for a bit and then dispose of her.”

Running away from perverts and criminals became routine.

Thanks to exceptional physical abilities and good health, I avoided dire situations until now.

But my heart, with nowhere to lean on, couldn’t escape isolation.

The mind of a girl who couldn’t find shelter began to crumble.

The social hierarchy plummeted to the point where I wasn’t even treated as human, let alone a commoner.

I wasn’t protected because I lacked magic.

I became an easy target for crime just because I lacked magic.

Naturally, I was targeted by many.

I was chased away and ran for years.

Each time, I wondered why.

Why was magic not given to me?

Why did I have to live such a miserable life just because I lacked magic?

Loneliness was the first emotion to sprout in my heart.

Wrapped in newspaper on a cold alley on Christmas, I shivered.

I saw a child my age holding hands with their parents, laughing happily under bright lights.

That sprouting loneliness grew into buds, creating a pair of leaves: resentment and injustice.

Those emotions, named sorrow and injustice, were born into the empty heart in the form of seedlings.

I envied that child. I wanted to be like them.

Why was my life like this?

Despair unknowingly revealed itself at every moment.

Despair, frustration, despair, depression, lamentation, confusion, discomfort, doubt, loneliness, sorrow, injustice — all forms of negativity tainted my heart.

A camera captures a fallen child, but there is no magic.

If there’s no magic, it’s a corpse.

It’s a pity, but there’s no time to collect corpses now.

When the gate collapsed and monsters flooded the streets, the hunters, once hailed as heroes of the era, did not save me.

Just because I lacked magic in my body, they deemed me a corpse.

Only then did my world completely collapse.

Abandoned by parents who should protect their child, kicked out of an orphanage that sheltered abandoned children, and chased away from school where I should be educated — an unwanted existence in all societies.

But I thought it would be different if it was hunters.

If they, the heroes of this era who save everyone, were different.

“Haha… how stupid.”

Foolish hope like that crushed me, self-destructing.

I was angry at myself.

I hated this world that made me angry at myself.

But that’s my situation.

People didn’t care about my situation at all.

That’s why I find it ironic that the monsters are now right in front of me, just like my situation.

“Crunch!”

The monster exhales as it rushes at me.

Ah, right.

This is to survive.

[The Tianxia star of calamity focuses on you, devouring your will.]

Right. It’s to survive.

Survival is… Oof.

It’s not a sin, is it?

Without even knowing how, I suddenly came to my senses to find that all the monsters that were charging towards me were dead.

All of them, reduced to meat under my feet.

It was quite absurd.

Yeah, why didn’t I know this simple fact from the beginning?

The reason why the world didn’t listen to my voice was simply because my power was lacking.

“Ah.”

For some reason, my head lifted upwards.

Under the vast night sky, the “Black Star” was shining upon me.

Under the darkened night sky, the black star glowed.

A world full of contradictions from beginning to end.

That star seemed to like me, as if it understood my fate.

[The Tianxia star of calamity is concentrating on you.]

A strange sentence.

A peculiar message appeared on the hologram that was visible from the street.

After waving my hand a few times, the hologram disappeared.

However, since that hologram appeared, I became aware of the power I was born with.

A sensation of learning something, different from the sensation of forcibly acquiring information, shook my brain.

That information made me realize that I had a power innate only to me.

Although I lacked magic, I possessed physical abilities that could overwhelm ordinary hunters.

Magic or spells that touched my body either lost their effectiveness or, if they maintained their power, didn’t affect me.

So I fought. I fought, killed, and took away.

I killed and destroyed everything that denied me in this world, one by one.

Special holograms occasionally flickered into view, making me feel more rewarded for the path I had taken.

As time went by, the young girl who was just thirteen years old became a twenty-year-old maiden.

But age didn’t matter.

What mattered to me was this world.

Revealing my existence in this world, spreading my voice.

That alone was the reason for my existence, the driving force of my life.

One day, while wandering through the ruins of a city collapsed by the gate’s collapse, I met a woman.

She covered one eye with a blindfold, her blonde hair fluttering, holding a golden lance…

There was an inexplicable mystery about her.

Before I could reveal my presence, she noticed me and turned her head.

“You…?!”

The woman was astonished to see me.

Astonishment and despair were evident on her face.

After a long while, the woman, revealing her identity, spoke to me.

“I am Otinuus, the head of Eden. Tell me your name.”

“QEA…?”

As soon as I heard that name, anger surged within me.

The resentment that had been swirling in my heart for twenty years boiled up.

I wasn’t a person of good character enough to endure such an explosion of negativity accumulated over a lifetime.

I twisted my expression with anger and shouted at her, pouring all my resentment and grudges into my voice.

“Is this the paradise you wanted to create in this world?”

I know the speeches you made before the world.

A paradise where everyone lives comfortably and peacefully.

I remember your words about building such a utopia.

So, I ask.

“Is a world where those without magic are scorned, and where it’s acceptable to harm or kill for pleasure, the paradise you dreamed of?”

Answer me, Otinuus.

You built Eden to create a paradise in a world shattered by great upheaval.

But I, lacking innate magic, became a taboo to humanity in that paradise.

“Is that truly humanity’s paradise?”

I shouted at Otinuus with all my might, as if I was going to tear her apart in front of my eyes.

[The Tianxia star of calamity: is shining.]

[The Fantasy of murder is rising.]

But Otinuus, faced with my anger, did not answer me.

Before I knew it, the distance between her and me had narrowed.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I’ll bear your justified anger and resentment.”

Instead of elaborate excuses or persuasion, she apologized to me, embracing me.

Her embrace was strangely warm.

I thought that the reason my life had turned into hell was because of the world created by this woman’s hands.

That thought hasn’t disappeared.

I still haven’t forgiven her, and I can’t.

But in her embrace, I felt an emotion I had never felt before.

“Come to Eden. I’ll take responsibility for allowing you to express your intentions and voice.”

She proposed to me to become a disciple of Eden.

“Gain many experiences and broaden your horizons. That’s what Eden exists for.”

For some reason, I accepted Otinuus’s proposal at that moment.

I received a neat disciple’s attire from her directly and became a first-year disciple of Eden under the name Cheon Yuhwa.

“A hunter…”

A person without magic becoming a hunter is impossible.

When I was a girl who didn’t know anything about the world, I dreamed of becoming a hunter.

Everyone who heard that dream denied the possibility and mocked my future as just a dream.

“I think they can. What’s important for a hunter is not the presence of magic but saving people from dungeon threats.”

And today, for the first time, I heard a different answer to that question.

His figure, lost in thought outside the banquet hall, came to mind.

Black hair and black eyes.

His face was handsome, but there were no special features.

“You can become a hunter even without magic.”

His words echoed in my mind.

After discarding the dream once, I met someone who didn’t ridicule my future but positively affirmed it.

“…Yes, you’re right.”

His words made sense.

Because the essence of a hunter doesn’t come from magic.

Once again, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to dream of becoming a hunter.