Minerva (4)

She was an Awakener in name only; truly, there was nothing Alencia could do now that differed greatly from before.

Like others, 'becoming a Hunter' was also impossible for her.

Since she couldn't grow, there was no guild or management willing to take her on, and being a freelance Hunter was out of the question.

She was not special.

Contrary to what her parents had always told her.

'I just had to act all high and mighty in front of Dad.'

If she were to make an excuse, she would say half of it was because of her father, James.

Don't take the Awakener aptitude test! By saying that, didn't they make her think there was something hidden within her? And her mother shouldn't have said those things when she was young, either...

"What's this? Isn't that Alencia?"

As she was walking while filming a video, someone recognized her and called out to her.

'Ah, damn it.'

Even without turning her head to check, she knew exactly who it was.

It was another streamer who had taken the Awakener aptitude test together with her.

Having seen Alencia by chance during the test, he had since pretended to be close and often spoke to her.

'He's probably just trying to use it for his broadcast.'

Anyway, being known as 'James Walker's daughter' was perfect bait for generating attention on a stream.

As a popular streamer, there's no way he wouldn't know that.

'Come to think of it, didn't he say he got scouted by Pandemonium?'

She recalled that he had even signed the contract right in front of her.

It seemed he was both gaining some real-world experience and heading home to deliver the news to his parents, having boarded the Minerva.

"Derick."

"Don't frown so much. At least manage your only attractive point—your face, right? You know you're on camera, don't you?"

A young man with dark brown hair swept to the side—Derick—said this as he strode confidently toward Alencia.

Just as he reached out toward her shoulder—

Tap.

"...?"

Someone grabbed his hand.

As he frowned and turned his gaze, he was met by an Asian man with sharp features.

'Huh?'

Derick didn't seem to know who this was, but Alencia was different.

This was someone Alencia had recently taken an interest in.

Park Jung-woo.

The manager of Shin Ah-yeon, an S-rank Hunter in Korea, and Lee Soo-ah.

And a man who shared the exact name her mother always talked about.

"What's your problem?"

Derick looked Park Jung-woo up and down and curled his lips in disdain.

'He even surprised me—I didn't sense him at all... but isn't he just an ordinary guy?'

Apparently, he'd been too distracted by Alencia.

She may have had a bad reputation as a scammer's daughter, but that face was something he wanted.

If only Alencia had played up her looks on her stream, she would be far more famous by now.

"Whatever your reason, it'd be best if you let go quickly...?"

Confidently, Derick tried to yank his arm free from Park Jung-woo's grip.

Tried, anyway.

"Whoever you are, miss Alencia Walker already has a prior engagement with us."

But Jung-woo's grip, firm as steel, didn't budge in the slightest.

Even as he tried channeling his magic power into his arm to break free, it wouldn't budge an inch.

'What the...?'

Derick looked at Jung-woo again, bewildered.

As before, he detected no magic power.

Did this mean that pure physical strength allowed him to overwhelm even a body enhanced with magic power?

'Is that even possible?'

He was a D-rank Hunter.

While not a particularly high rank, being D-rank at twenty was still considered fairly talented.

A D-rank Hunter's strength was such that lifting a hundred-kilogram barbell would be as easy as lifting a dumbbell.

Naturally, this was many times—perhaps even ten times—greater than an ordinary human's strength.

"So, would you kindly step aside? As a member of Pandemonium, I'm sure you know proper etiquette."

"A-alright! I'll go, so just... please let me go."

Derick, who had been speaking informally, hastily switched to honorifics when Jung-woo's grip tightened.

His right arm felt like it really might break if this continued.

'He's got to be an Awakener. There's no way I can't sense his magic power unless he's a truly powerful Awakener!'

Only after seeing the fear in Derick's eyes did Jung-woo finally release his grip.

"Huff!"

Derick glanced between Jung-woo and Alencia, then took off without looking back.

"Uh..."

With the situation resolved, Alencia let out a subdued sigh.

While she was grateful Derick had been chased off, she was bothered by Jung-woo's mention of a prior engagement.

"Wh-what are you? I've never agreed to anything with someone like you."

"Well, we can make that official starting now, can't we?"

For some reason, Jung-woo, who sensed Alencia's wariness, calmly pulled a business card from his sleeve and handed it to her.

It was an English-language card he had prepared for just such occasions.

"If you have a moment, could we talk?"

"... Not really. I'm busy."

Alencia admitted she was curious about this man called Park Jung-woo.

But being curious didn't mean she could suddenly open up to someone for a conversation.

'I bet he just wants to use me because I'm Dad's daughter.'

Many TV stations had approached Alencia before.

Not just American stations, but plenty of international ones as well.

Even Korean broadcasting companies from her mother's homeland.

James Walker's daughter.

Just that title alone attracted people to her.

Otherwise, they were just looking to use her fairly good looks.

Either way, none of it was to Alencia's liking, so she refused Jung-woo's offer.

Even if he really was the 'Park Jung-woo' her mother always talked about.

But perhaps anticipating her rejection, Jung-woo continued speaking nonchalantly.

"You can't increase your magic power at all, can you?"

"...?!"

At those words, Alencia turned around reflexively, her eyes wide.

This was exactly the issue that had been bothering her most lately.

"No, wait. What—you watched my stream, didn't you?"

She didn't let her surprise show for long and quickly shook her head.

Her entire Awakener aptitude test had been broadcasted.

If he was seriously scouting her, he'd surely already seen that.

"That's all common knowledge from the video. I'm not going to be a Hunter anyway, so why would I care about collecting magic power?"

Alencia spoke dryly.

"... Not that I have anything else to do, anyway."

"I see."

Jung-woo smiled gently at her.

"I see things a little differently."

"... What do you mean?"

What did he see as being different?

When she looked at him with those questions in her gaze, he continued without wavering.

"I believe Alencia is someone capable of accomplishing a great deal."

When had this man ever seen her to form such an opinion?

Alencia started to say something, but shook her head instead.

To someone who knew nothing about him, this might seem odd, but she actually knew a fair bit about the man named 'Park Jung-woo.'

"... Excuse me."

After a brief hesitation, Alencia finally spoke up.

"Yes."

"You're the Park Jung-woo who appeared on that Korean show, right? The manager of Shin Ah-yeon and Lee Soo-ah."

"That's right."

Alencia took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly.

There was a good chance he had approached her out of curiosity or perhaps for the sake of a broadcast.

'But still.'

Her curiosity about Park Jung-woo had led her to search for information about him.

He was always the first to reach out to remarkable people.

Shin Ah-yeon, and Lee Soo-ah.

Recently, Hwang Yeon-ji, a young genius girl.

So she couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation when he suddenly wanted to talk to her.

"... Fine, I don't mind having a brief conversation. But if you do anything suspicious, I'll run away immediately."

She simply wanted to know 'why' he'd asked to talk to her.

That was all.

"Of course."

Jung-woo smiled nonchalantly under Alencia's suspicious gaze.

His praise for Alencia's potential was no lie.

Of course, that was if she could fully control the strength she possessed...

***

"You really brought her?"

PD Jung stared in wide-eyed surprise as he saw me bring in Alencia.

He mustn't have believed I'd actually succeed in bringing her in.

"You did tell her this was for a broadcast, right? From what I've heard, Alencia refuses to appear on any show."

Because of her notoriety as a scammer's daughter, Alencia avoided appearing on TV.

There had been too many cases in her childhood where her words were maliciously edited for broadcasts.

That's why, rather than appearing on other people's shows, Alencia filmed her own videos and uploaded them to her channel.

Of course, even that didn't elicit positive reactions, but at least the videos weren't manipulated.

"..."

Alencia kept silent and dodged his gaze.

Just before meeting PD Jung, I had briefly explained the 'broadcast' plans to Alencia.

That had been just thirty minutes earlier, during our conversation.

"So the period lasts until Minerva arrives at Union Station in Los Angeles, right?"

That would be about a month.

For an ordinary Awakener, too short a time to expect much dramatic change.

"Yes, but during that period, you'll need to join the other guests from Korea."

"Why? I mean, why?"

"If honorifics are uncomfortable, you can speak casually to me. Just please use them with the others, if possible."

"Really? I mean—*ahem*."

At those words, Alencia broke into a bright smile, then quickly put on a coy expression and adjusted her tone.

Her continued wariness reminded me of a stray cat on the street.

"By the way, your Korean is impressive. Where did you learn it?"

"Oh, my mother's Korean, that's why."

Alencia took a sip of cola nearby.

"So it was easy for me to look up information about you. I use Korean internet communities a lot too. You saw my videos have Korean subtitles, right?"

"You added all those yourself?"

"Yeah, and you can just speak comfortably with me too. I'm not your Hunter, am I? I don't think there's any need to put on formalities."

"Well, I'll consider it."

When I hinted at avoiding informality, Alencia shot me a pout.

She was apparently very uncomfortable with my polite speech.

"Anyway, getting back on topic, you're not just bringing me in as a guest, but planning to make me the centerpiece of the broadcast, right? Did I get that right?"

Normally such a thing wouldn't be possible, but under the circumstances, it was hard to find anyone as newsworthy as Eugene Garland.

"Yes, you're as famous as Eugene is. And the fact that you're a Korean mixed-race should make you easier to win people's favor."

"Even as a scammer's daughter? Also, I may be well-known, but I'm not exactly popular. You'd know my numbers aren't that great, right, if you've watched my streams?"

Indeed, as Alencia said, her channel's stats were far from successful.

But that had a deeper reason, unrelated to her fame.

"That's simply because your videos are dull. Popularity needs entertainment."

"..."

"If you'd just shown your face a bit more, you'd have tens of times the viewership you do now."

"What?!"

At that, Alencia's cheeks flushed as she shouted.

'Still, for someone eight years younger than me, she really talks back.'

I'd told her to speak casually, but hadn't expected her to adjust this quickly.

My inner Confucian dragon reared its head briefly, but since it was a cultural difference, I let it go.

And after all, didn't Alencia herself tell me not to be formal with her?

Besides, it was far more comfortable to be informal than to be standoffish.

"Anyway, compared to internet broadcasts, the topic 'Alencia' is sure to draw attention. In terms of newsworthiness, you don't lose to Eugene Garland at all. At least, that's what I think."

In fact, there were similarities between Alencia's case and Ah-yeon's.

If the 'daughter of James Walker' who had disappeared from TV since childhood reappeared, it would certainly capture viewers' attention.

"... Hmm, I guess you have a point."

When I spoke firmly, Alencia looked flustered, nodded, then suddenly snapped to attention, widening her eyes.

"B-but I only said I'd talk to you, not that I'd definitely appear on the show! Don't get the wrong idea!"

She seemed to be making a point: I'm not that easy a woman, you know.

It was such an obvious and clumsy push-and-pull that I looked at her with a mildly amused face.

"Well, I suppose I haven't explained what advantage you might gain by appearing on the show."

"Y-yeah! Exactly. If you want me to join, you'll need to make it worth my while..."

"S-rank."

I cut her off before she could finish.

"I'll make you an S-rank within one month."

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Jung-woo's golden hands!Everyone he manages turns into S-rank!【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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