Mainstream (3)

If you asked people to name the most talked-about Hunter these days, most would answer 'Shin Ah-yeon'.

That's how—after returning for the first time in three years—Shin Ah-yeon caused a craze every time she appeared on television.

She made her first comeback appearance on a cable game show.

On 'Dungeon Exploration', she showed off that her S-rank Hunter skills were still going strong, and even in her brief appearance on 'Super Hunter K', she left a huge impression.

What's more, during the massive gate crisis in Jeju Island, she took the lead in closing countless gates; and above all, there was talk she had fought a legendary great mage—Ivan Hunt, a member of 'UnderStellar'.

"And now, to think she's gone viral again thanks to a trailer revealed at a movie promotion event."

Jin Su-hyuk, the President of Grand Nova, scrolled down from the online news he'd just been reading, letting out a dry chuckle.

Shin Ah-yeon had always been a famous figure.

The youngest S-rank Hunter, the first and only great mage in Korea.

If she hadn't belonged to the Mirae Guild, Jin Su-hyuk would have tried to bring her to Grand Nova by force if need be.

"But even back then, she wasn't as influential as she is now."

Of course, she was popular three years ago as well.

She was young and so beautiful; of course she'd be popular.

But it still hadn't been anything like this.

Her name adorned news headlines as if it was a daily occurrence, and searching for Shin Ah-yeon on online news brought up dozens, hundreds of articles. Rumor had it she was even set to do a commercial for a cosmetics brand owned by the Tae-yeong Group.

The funny thing was, it wasn't just in the entertainment field—her stature was also rising significantly among Hunters.

She hadn't only appeared on variety and entertainment shows; she'd also been involved with major incidents like the Jeju Island crisis.

"Did Park Jung-woo calculate all of this?"

"As if. If so, that would make him a god, a god!"

At Jin Su-hyuk's words, the man wearing sunglasses, Kang Min-gi, waved his hand dismissively.

Even as an S-rank Hunter, he thought this situation was something that couldn't possibly have been predicted or orchestrated.

"I guess you're right."

Jin Su-hyuk privately suspected that perhaps Jung-woo was using some ability as a returnee to orchestrate all this.

So many things Park Jung-woo had accomplished.

It was hard to believe they were all coincidences.

There had to be something more.

And the proof lay in the 'Javelin Guild'.

"Who exactly are the people backing the Javelin Guild...?"

"They absolutely refuse to disclose that, it seems. Given how hard we pressed them, you'd think they'd have said something by now."

Jin Su-hyuk had visited the Javelin Guild for a specific reason.

He had noticed a strange connection involving JM during the Jeju Island incident.

And then there was the rampage by Vice-Guildmaster Shim Chun-hoo.

The murder, and ensuing series of incidents, were more than enough to move even Jin Su-hyuk's heavy steps.

"Kang Min-gi, do you have any guesses who's backing the Javelin Guild?"

"No idea. But they don't seem like ordinary folks."

"Why do you say that?"

"There's something shady about the Javelin Guild. Not just a hunch—the concentration of magic power there is murky. Like it's contaminated by something. But..."

"But?"

Seeing Kang Min-gi hesitate, Jin Su-hyuk pressed him to continue.

"I've felt a similar energy somewhere before. I was trying to recall where, and I just remembered."

"Where?"

"It's the ultimate magic stone. The unique magic stone found in erosive-type dungeons. The same ominous energy I only felt from that magic stone was lingering in the Javelin Guild."

"... Ultimate magic stone."

At those words, several recent incidents began to piece together for Jin Su-hyuk, like a puzzle.

The rampage of Ji Yeon-hwa, and the recent appearance of UnderStellar in Korea, both reportedly related to that 'ultimate magic stone'.

After all, wasn't Ivan Hunt, a member of UnderStellar, present during the Jeju Island crisis?

"Kang Min-gi, keep an eye on the Javelin Guild and try to find anyone connected to that presence you sensed from the ultimate magic stone."

"And if I find them, what are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm not sure myself."

Still, Jin Su-hyuk had a vague premonition.

That what he was about to do might become a watershed moment of this era.

And he sincerely hoped that would be the case.

***

'He definitely... coughed up blood.'

Yeon-ji recalled Park Jung-woo as she had seen him in the Unique's training hall not long ago.

The blood running from the corner of his mouth had not looked ordinary in the slightest.

Just like Shim Chun-hoo when he was dying.

'I was so shocked, I left immediately, but it felt like he was calling me.'

She regretted not hearing what he'd wanted to say.

But now, it was awkward to bring it up.

What had he wanted to say to her back then?

Ask her to keep it a secret from others?

Knowing him, that would have been just like him.

Yeon-ji gave a faint, understanding nod, deciding to go along with his intent.

He wasn't a foolish man.

At least for now, he must have decided that it was better not to reveal this.

She would keep her mouth shut until he chose to tell everyone himself.

'The real problem is...'

Yeon-ji glanced at the two women nearby.

Shin Ah-yeon and Lee Soo-ah.

The two of them were chatting as they decorated Ah-yeon's mansion.

They felt the need to tidy up the house ahead of shooting 'Living Together'.

'If they found out, they'd be shocked for sure.'

She let out a sigh.

'Why must I be involved in this, too...'

The ones who would appear on 'Living Together' were Shin Ah-yeon, Lee Soo-ah, and herself, Hwang Yeon-ji.

Jung-woo had probably meant for her to relax and unwind—for her to do something lighter on a show while he was in the U. S.

One might argue that television appearances are hardly restful, but for a Hunter whose job involved risking their life for money, a simple TV show counted as rest.

That's why some Hunters who rose to fame chose to focus on broadcast activities.

'Hmph, I really have no time to waste here.'

But Yeon-ji didn't actually want to be on a variety show.

It was different from when she was Ji Yeon-hwa—back then, she was stuck at a bottleneck as a mage, and her desire for reward was strong.

As Ji Yeon-hwa, and now as Yeon-ji, her greatest wish was to reach the highest peak as a mage. Even though her body had changed and she had found a new path as a dark mage, she had no desire to squander her time on things like this.

"What're you doing?"

While lost in those thoughts and scribbling spells for dark magic, Yeon-ji was approached by Shin Ah-yeon.

Still, Ah-yeon was acting much friendlier to Yeon-ji than before.

Maybe it was because Yeon-ji had been giving her 'counseling' all this time.

"Oh, can't you tell by looking? I'm contemplating magic formulas, as you see."

"I know, but there's no need to worry over it. This is how you do it."

"......"

Shin Ah-yeon snatched Yeon-ji's pen and instantly interpreted the magic formula drawn on the paper.

Yeon-ji could only tremble with frustration when Ah-yeon effortlessly solved the 4th-circle dark magic spell, 'Shadow Step,' that Yeon-ji had been agonizing over for hours.

"Damn show-off."

"What? I just helped you, why get upset?"

She felt like an idiot for worrying over it for so long.

No, she wasn't an idiot.

No mage in the world could interpret spells so easily.

It just hit her again how inhumanly talented Shin Ah-yeon was.

"By the way, Hwang Yeon-ji-ssi. There's something I wanted to say."

"... What is it?"

"It seems Jung-woo oppa is trying to meet a woman in America."

What?

The statement was so outrageous that Yeon-ji momentarily didn't know how to respond.

Before she could even react, someone else had a much stronger reaction, making Yeon-ji lose her timing.

"What?! Unni, what are you talking about?!"

Soo-ah, who had been organizing some things in the mansion, practically dropped everything and rushed over.

Ah-yeon, flustered by her energy, pointed toward the mood lamp Soo-ah had just tossed aside.

"That, uh, that mood lamp you just threw is pretty expensive..."

"That's not what matters right now!"

Seeing Soo-ah speaking in an uncharacteristically strong tone, Ah-yeon shrank back.

She looked as if she wanted to point out, 'Isn't an expensive item important, too?' but couldn't bring herself to say it.

Come to think of it, Ah-yeon, with her relatively introverted nature, often couldn't resist when Soo-ah turned assertive.

In the past, she'd been able to suppress it with her S-rank Hunter authority, but now Soo-ah was also S-rank.

'Wait, meeting a woman in America?'

Yeon-ji had considered stopping Soo-ah but was also secretly curious, so she quietly waited for Ah-yeon to continue.

"No, so... I showed him this streamer on Dwitch recently, called Alencia Walker."

Ah-yeon began calmly recounting recent events to the two women waiting for her to speak.

While investigating 'returnees', she learned about the 'returnee con artist' James Walker.

And that James Walker had a daughter, who had caught Jung-woo's interest.

"... A stigmata?"

"Yeah, it's a special mark that only people like saints have in that world."

"Why does Alencia Walker have it?"

"How should I know? Even Jung-woo oppa seemed not to know."

Ah-yeon didn't bother to mention that she, too, might carry that stigmata, or that the appearance of a 'saint' meant the world was in danger.

Either way, those things didn't really matter to her.

The main thing was that Alencia Walker had caught Jung-woo's eye in a big way.

"So what does that have to do with Manager Park meeting a woman... Wait, could it be?"

Only then did Soo-ah realize what Ah-yeon was implying, and her eyes went wide.

"Is Manager Park going to America to meet this Alencia?"

"Well... he actually decided to go to America before that, so it could be different, but he did mutter to himself before, 'I should meet her once.'"

"......"

Soo-ah's expression turned serious at Ah-yeon's words.

After thinking for a moment in silence, she spoke in a calm voice.

"Is she pretty?"

"... Well, she looks like this."

Ah-yeon subtly showed Soo-ah the Dwitch video of Alencia she'd captured.

Soo-ah examined Alencia's face on Ah-yeon's smartphone with great care.

"Her eyes are too big; did she get plastic surgery?"

"My eyes are about that big too..."

"And her nose is too high."

"She's a foreigner, so..."

After Ah-yeon's explanation, Soo-ah fell silent.

Yeon-ji felt a subtle unease at the flow of the conversation.

And it didn't take long for that sense of foreboding to reveal itself.

"When does filming for Living Together wrap up?"

"Um... the next scheduled shoot is about a month from now?"

"Then Manager Park will still be in America at that time."

The timing of the Living Together shoot and Jung-woo's trip to America overlapped, but the show would finish a bit earlier.

He would return only a week after the shooting ended.

"Unni, let's go to America."

"America? But, you... you can't go without a business visa, right?"

"Can't we work something out?"

Soo-ah smiled meaningfully as she said this.

"We're S-rank, after all."

At the peculiar nuance in her voice, Ah-yeon swallowed dryly.

"You're one too..."

"I only got my license recently, so there's not much I can do yet. But for you, it's different, isn't it?"

She wasn't wrong.

Still, Ah-yeon hesitated for a moment.

Is this really okay? she wondered.

But remembering the AOS games she played, Soo-ah's point sounded reasonable.

'Ganking is all about catching the opponent off-guard.'

She had no idea why Jung-woo wanted to meet Alencia, but the surest way to find out was to be there in person.

'... I must be crazy.'

Hearing the conversation between the two, Yeon-ji quietly averted her gaze.

It seemed Ah-yeon was already half-convinced, and if Yeon-ji stuck her nose in, she'd get dragged along, too.

That was the one thing she really wanted to avoid.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Gank Jung-woo.【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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