Things Falling Into Place (1)
"Yeon-hwa is inside here."
"Yeah, yeah."
Director Jo Changwoo said that, glancing around nervously.
The person he was glancing at was none other than Ah-yeon, who was following right beside
with a sulky expression.
Because Ah-yeon had lightly smacked my back, reacting rather prickly to Jo Changwoo's sudden entrance.
"Ahem, I must have interrupted sothing, haven't I?"
"That's not it at all! It's just that this person went ahead and did things on their own without saying a word to !"
At Jo Changwoo's words, Ah-yeon shouted and gave my side another little punch with her small fist for no real reason.
From Ah-yeon's perspective, it must have been a playful jab, but since it was the fist of an Awakener like her, it hurt quite a bit.
I was sure I'd have a bruise when I woke up tomorrow morning.
"Still, I suppose you're reacting that way because you rely on Manager Park so much. I wish I could have been that for Yeon-hwa too......."
"Ah, wh-why are you suddenly saying things like that?"
Jo Changwoo started digging a hole for himself without warning, and now it was Ah-yeon who seed awkward and restless for no reason.
She always seed to be at a loss when dealing with soone who acted weak.
"More importantly, this is a training room, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's right. Remodeling the basent cost a bit of money, but now that we're in this situation, I'm really glad we did it."
According to Jo Changwoo, this place was a secret facility prepared just in case anything happened.
It seed it was equipped with all sorts of gear a Hunter would need, even a training room, so that if sothing happened at managent, we could use this place as a base of operations.
"Let's go in, then."
With those words, Jo Changwoo pushed open the heavy tal door.
The training room, which must have been spotless originally, had visible damage here and there, and debris from broken things was scattered all around.
And in the center, a young girl with black hair was engrossed in sothing.
That was Yeon-hwa, who now looked much younger.
"... Is that Ji Yeon-hwa?"
"Yes, you can't recognize her, can you?"
From her appearance, she now looked like she was in her early to mid-teens.
Given that Ji Yeon-hwa was around thirty, this was an impossible sight.
"That's my doing?"
"Yeah, for sure."
"How did I do it? Could I get younger too?"
It seed Ah-yeon was jealous of Yeon-hwa's youthful appearance.
But Yeon-hwa herself did not look happy at all.
The scattered debris seed to reflect her emotional state.
"Is there so problem with Hunter Ji Yeon-hwa?"
"... Yes. You'll see right away."
Yeon-hwa, seemingly unaware we'd entered, kept working with her small, infant-like hands.
'Is she trying to cast magic?'
The mana from her mana hall began to move, gathering in her palm.
Following the structure of modern magical formulas, the spell took form, beginning to resemble a fla.
Fireball—the most basic offensive magic.
For soone like Yeon-hwa, a master of fla magic, it should have been as natural as breathing.
Fssshhh!!
But the mont the fla ford, a shadowy power on Yeon-hwa's forehead pulsed along her veins and tangled with the magic. The red, blazing fire gradually darkened, its form wavering.
Kaboom!!
Unable to control it, Yeon-hwa flung out her arm and the fla solidified like ice, exploding in every direction. The black fragnts shattered the walls and floor of the training room, then crumbled like sandcastles and vanished.
"It's been like this ever since. Yeon-hwa can't use magic at all now. But..."
Jo Changwoo added in a troubled voice.
I could see why he had hesitated to report this to managent.
"It's unusual."
"Yes. Though her magic is ruined, the power itself is sothing different than any other Hunter I've seen so far. Since I'm a Hunter too, I could sense it imdiately. If upper managent finds out, they'll want to use her in so way. But that's... not what Yeon-hwa would want."
Yeon-hwa is a mage.
She took imnse pride in that.
But now, she couldn't use magic at all.
Even so, if she tried, she could probably fight by other ans.
Like when she went berserk before—using sothing apart from magic.
What if managent learned about that?
Even though she had gone berserk and caused a major incident, Yeon-hwa had survived in this state.
Possessing powers and abilities never before seen.
Her youthful appearance, too, would capture everyone's attention, and the incident she caused would be quickly forgotten.
But there'd be no more 'mage' Ji Yeon-hwa.
Managent wouldn't want that.
They'd want her to hone this new power and beco a one-of-a-kind asset.
"That's it, isn't it? The thing you talked about before, oppa."
Watching Yeon-hwa repeatedly trying to use magic, Ah-yeon muttered.
"You called it demonic energy (魔氣). It keeps mixing in like a contaminant, disrupting the formation of proper magic spells."
"Right. There's no way she can use magic with modern magic systems."
"What about circle magic?"
"That's still a system designed for human use. Of course it won't work."
"That's true. If you compare that system to her current state, there's simply no answer."
Even Ah-yeon was saying as much.
"I see. I thought that as Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim, you might have so kind of thod..."
Jo Changwoo looked disappointed, but I could tell he thought this couldn't be helped.
If it was sothing easily solved, Jo Changwoo wouldn't have asked
to take her into Unique to begin with.
'What should I do.'
I was conflicted. To be honest, there was a way.
But I wasn't sure Yeon-hwa would be able to do it.
Because what I knew was, at best, the 'demon race's' thod.
"... You're here?"
Just then, as if finally noticing us, Yeon-hwa stomped over, face full of irritation.
Her attitude was as brazen as ever, but with the appearance of a child, it ca across as oddly cute.
"Wow, auntie got her youth back."
"You!!"
Seeming not to care about Yeon-hwa's annoyance, Ah-yeon responded nonchalantly.
Of course, Yeon-hwa glared at her in anger, but couldn't hold the glare for long.
"... Hmph, that's right. Thanks to that, I survived, too."
"But it looks like magic isn't working for you, huh?"
"Ah, geez! Are you just trying to aggravate ? Fine, it's not working!"
Yeon-hwa raised her tiny fist, her already-sharp gaze becoming even fiercer.
"That's why I asked you for help! I can't do this alone, no matter how hard I try. Do you know how frustrating that is?"
That was honestly a surprise to .
Given her past behavior, I thought asking Ah-yeon for help was the last thing she'd ever do, but for her to co out and say it now—
Of course, Ah-yeon didn't seem bothered by Yeon-hwa's change in attitude at all.
"That's why you shouldn't have used the ultimate magic stone."
"Eek! Other people try all sorts of things to get stronger too, you know! I just felt the sa, that's all!"
"Please, that's more like drugs than health supplents. Way to sugarcoat it."
"Ugh! Yeah, I admit it—I was an idiot!"
Ah-yeon looked thoroughly pleased as Yeon-hwa shouted in frustration.
It seed she hadn't quite let go of her annoyance over how things had gone up until now.
"I should've punched you when I had the chance back then..."
Whether out of genuine regret, Ah-yeon clenched her fist and trembled in anger.
Perhaps the regression hadn't just affected Yeon-hwa's appearance; her emotions were much harder to control than before.
I stepped between Yeon-hwa and Ah-yeon, soothing her gently.
"Now, now, hunter Ji Yeon-hwa. Calm down. More importantly, what do you want to do?"
"... What do I want?"
"Yes. Do you want to use magic again, or would you prefer to seek another way to use your current strengths?"
At that, Yeon-hwa blinked at .
"You sound like you think I could do both."
"I think you probably can."
"Probably?"
"Yes."
To be honest, this was my first ti encountering a situation like this, so I couldn't be sure.
But I didn't want to let go of Yeon-hwa now.
'No point in turning away good fortune that cos my way.'
First Soo-ah, now Yeon-hwa too.
Of course, with Yeon-hwa we'd need to make several preparations, unlike with Ah-yeon, but from what I could see, the potential was there.
'With everything that could happen in the future, it'd be best to keep Yeon-hwa close.'
The Javelin Guild was behind what had happened to Yeon-hwa.
I suspected that even behind Javelin, there was another force pulling their strings.
If the 'demons' existed in this world, and if they were plotting sothing, it only made sense.
So I needed to be prepared too, and Unique would be the core foundation for that.
"To be honest, the reason I reached out to you was because of that one."
"You an Ah-yeon?"
"Oh my, you two must be close? Anyway, she gets on my nerves, but I can't deny her skills."
As Yeon-hwa said this, she silently fixed her gaze on .
Unlike the way she'd just been bickering with Ah-yeon like a child, her look now was that of a seasoned Hunter.
"I noticed that Shin Ah-yeon leans on you almost unnaturally. That made
think there must be sothing about you... and after thinking alone in this state with no answers, I consulted with Director Jo Changwoo and we made a decision."
"You an joining Unique."
"That's right. Of course, only if you'll have ..."
Yeon-hwa nodded calmly.
"Honestly, I think this whole incident is a pretty big deal. The ultimate magic stone... yeah, there's really no excuse for using it. I wanted an easy path to strength. But because of that, not only I, but others might have died. At that point, the person known as Ji Yeon-hwa was finished."
Hunter Ji Yeon-hwa died that day.
Along with the magic she'd spent her life mastering.
"That's why I decided to leave Upstream too; they wouldn't have allowed
to die, after all."
While trying to figure out where to go next, Yeon-hwa rembered us.
The people who knew what she had beco.
"Even if it's not quite atonent, I'm ready to hand my leash over to you all. But I'm selfish enough to want to get sothing out of this for myself, too."
At this, Yeon-hwa cleared her throat once and spoke again.
"You just asked
what I wanted, right? Magic or new powers. I want both, of course. Otherwise, I'll never be able to beat that brat."
It occurred to
that maybe it was Ji Yeon-hwa who recognized Shin Ah-yeon's worth better than anyone else.
"I sincerely ask for your help."
She said this, bowing her head deeply.
Proud Ji Yeon-hwa probably had never bowed her head like this in her life.
I could feel this was her own way to apologize and thank us for stopping that disaster.
"In that case..."
I thought for a mont, then spoke.
Presenting her with conditions that might feel quite harsh to her.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
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