Chapter 61

Chapter 61

I stopped petting Blackie and stared at Jeong Seojin with wide eyes. He was quietly watching me with his characteristic expressionless face.

I looked at Jeong Seojin’s perfectly straight golden eyes and gave an awkward smile.

“I suppose it could look that way… I just… want to focus my attention elsewhere.”

“What do you want to focus on?”

“Lovely things.”

There are so many purely lovely things in this world.

Right now, Blackie, who was calmly nestled in my arms wagging its tail as if in a good mood, and the warm sunlight streaming white through the window.

Things like the clear, transparent laughter of strangers that occasionally drifts by as I walk down the street, a child building a sandcastle in the playground while laughing purely with a friend their age, and the gaze of a parent watching that child with infinite warmth.

I liked those things. And I liked a life spent watching over them.

After all, if this world is one where malice without evil runs rampant, violence committed without intent overflows, and distant gains matter more than the goodwill right in front of you, then at least I wanted to live looking at the lovely things that still remained in such a world.

That was the kind of life I wanted to aspire to.

“Isn’t life busy enough just loving the lovely things?”

“…Seeing it like this, it’s similar yet different.”

“Huh?”

“It’s about my savior. My savior was a person who, in both a good and bad way, didn’t seem human.”

Jeong Seojin said that and pulled his head back from where it had been close enough to headbutt me if he wanted. I resumed petting Blackie in my arms and quietly gazed at him.

“The reason I call that person my ‘savior’ isn’t just because they saved me as an individual.”

“Then why?”

“Because they were exactly that kind of person. Someone who loved all of humanity.”

“…Does a person like that really exist?”

Even I had once been told by my ex-boyfriend, “You treat everyone as special. Even me, your boyfriend, and that bastard who bullies you.”

But even so, I wasn’t the type to “love all of humanity” like Mr. Jeong Seojin described.

“Yes. Whether rich or poor, clean or dirty, even whether good or evil, that person loved ‘all’ human beings.”

“Hmm.”

“Honestly, to the point where it even deviated from general ethical standards. Want me to share one experience I had?”

“An experience?”

“That person even called a bastard who killed an innocent child during a robbery a ‘lovely human being’ and went on about it.”

“……?”

How could someone who killed an innocent child… possibly be a “lovely human being”? I looked at Mr. Jeong Seojin with a rather serious expression.

As I mentioned, I too had been told by others that I seemed to treat everyone equally or whatever, but even I knew how to throw proper criticism at someone who did despicable things.

“I told you. They didn’t seem human. A bit… like someone who should exist on a higher level than us.”

“A higher level…”

“Contemplating all of humanity… Hmm. That’s it. Like the gaze of a biologist looking at the organisms they study.”

Hmm. When put that way, I think I understood at once. So… it was like the gaze of a penguin researcher looking at penguins, or an entomologist looking at insects.

“Um, I think I roughly understand who this person is. But… you felt I was similar to someone like that?”

“I said similar but different. That person also had no expectations of individual humans, just like you. Rather, they loved ‘without expecting’ anything. Like a contemplator. And you have that side too, Master. You treat others well, but separately, you don’t expect them to return it.”

“Hmm.”

When he put it that way, it did sound true… I let out a groan of strange frustration but nodded anyway. However, not long after, I lifted my head again to look at Mr. Jeong Seojin.

“Still, I’m not to that extent.”

“I know. Because I heard your answer to my question just now.”

Fortunately, Mr. Jeong Seojin seemed to fully understand that I was very different from the ‘savior’ he himself had mentioned. With a somewhat weary expression, he whispered softly in a voice that even carried a hint of languor.

“That person didn’t love ‘lovable things’—he just loved ‘everything.’”

* * *

About four days after I accepted Hunter Kim Miju’s request, Guild Master Kang Mujin delivered three pieces of news to me.

The first piece of news he conveyed was that a new commission had come in from a trustworthy source regarding ‘equipment adjustment.’

“Emma Miller? I think I’ve heard of her as a hunter from the American side.”

“According to my research, she’s a black female hunter currently ranked first in the American S-Rank. Her alias in Korean is ‘Champion,’ and in English, ‘Champion.’ It’s presumed the alias comes from the fact that she fights unarmed, without weapons.”

Where on earth did Avan get this kind of information? I stared at him with a strange look, since he seemed to know more about it than even Jeong Seojin, who held the top rank among Korean hunters.

I had noticed him using the tablet I’d received from Mr. Yoon Juyeong quite often lately, but… I never expected him to absorb public information this quickly.

“Her original profession was a human rights lawyer… According to reports, there don’t seem to be any major flaws in her character either. Quite a different figure from Korea’s top S-Rank.”

“That sounds like an indirect insult to me, Gardener.”

“If it sounded that way, it must be true, so take it as you will.”

Avan smoothly dissed Korea’s top S-Rank hunter before continuing his story about Emma Miller.

“I’ve heard she’s currently in the middle of conquering an S-Rank dungeon in the United States. Given that, it’s highly likely she didn’t visit Korea in person to place the commission, but instead just sent the equipment.”

“Uh-huh, I see…”

Honestly, isn’t this more like a secretary than a gardener? I watched Avan, who was adjusting his angular glasses, with a blank stare, then stroked Blackie, who was sleeping with its face resting on my lap, before turning my gaze back to the paper in my hand.

‘The incoming commission just needs to be carried out exactly as requested, and as for the second…’

The second piece of news was that I had to participate in the ‘judgment’ of this tutorial quest, alongside another production-type hunter that the Nuri Guild had discovered and yet another one that the government had unearthed after an extensive search.

‘I think the tutorial quest only completes if I get an S-Rank in this judgment.’

Fortunately, the judgment isn’t determined by the hunter’s skills or stats, but by the quality of the results the hunter has produced.

In other words, I needed to show results good enough to be judged as S-Rank by the Administrator.

‘I’ve already prepared for this part with Guild Master Kang Mujin.’

The past four days I’d spent without any external activities after accepting Hunter Kim Miju’s request were precisely a preparation period for this.

I recalled the results I’d worked hard to produce alongside Guild Master Kang Mujin, Jeong Seojin, Avan, and the other production-type hunters belonging to the Heewon Guild, and then read the next paragraph.

‘Ah.’

Unlike the first two, the third piece of news Guild Master Kang Mujin delivered was relatively personal. I stayed silent for a moment, staring at the familiar name written in the third paragraph.

“Looks like Fake-nice guy is coming back now.”

“Hmm. I’ve heard that the average time it takes an S-Rank hunter to conquer a dungeon of the same rank is close to a week… This is quite early.”

“Well, Fake-nice guy would have thrown himself into the conquest like crazy with the sole intention of seeing his master, so it’s not really strange that he’s coming back a bit early.”

While Avan and Jeong Seojin each talked about Mr. Yoon Juyeong, I said nothing and quietly stared at his name.

Considering that, as Avan said, the average time for an S-Rank hunter to conquer an S-Rank dungeon was about six to seven days, the news that Mr. Yoon Juyeong had completed the dungeon in just four days was truly astonishing.

‘I hope he didn’t push himself too hard.’

He already had a blind spot when it came to his ‘master,’ so I was worried he might have overexerted himself to conquer the dungeon.

I let out a faint sigh, barely a breath, then carefully folded the paper with the three pieces of news and placed it on the table.

“For now, the commission we received still has two weeks until the deadline, so we can put it off for a bit. What we need to prepare right now is the judgment side.”

“That ‘Administrator’ is bound to nitpick and torment people to no end.”

“Hmm. Can’t deny that.”

“Just as Jeong Seojin said, since we’re in a situation where we have to receive a ‘direct’ evaluation from the Administrator, we need to be fully prepared.”

Of course, no matter how much of a pain in the ass the Administrator was to humans, she didn’t wear the title ‘Administrator’ as mere decoration. She might nitpick over strange things, but she wouldn’t hand out a false evaluation over something nonsensical.

So in the end, all we could prepare for was to create the most excellent result possible, in the most standard and honest way.

‘I hope our efforts pay off. Not just mine, but for the other production-type hunters too.’

The date for the ‘judgment’ written on the paper was tomorrow. It seemed like a date set to match the Administrator’s personality, which hated waiting.

‘By tomorrow, the follow-up procedures after conquering the dungeon should be finished too… so Yoon Juyeong will be coming to that place as well.’