章 4: Chapter 4
"What?"
Jin Yuha asked, sounding confused.
"I mean, you don't seem like you need to be a hunter. I was just curious why you do it."
As soon as those words left her mouth, Lee Yoo-ri's face hardened.
'What the hell is she talking about? How dare she say that to someone who came to help us?'
The dealer, who agreed to be hastily added to the party, was now insulted by the other dealer spouting nonsense. Lee Yoo-ri already felt bad enough for not being able to take better care of Jin Yuha.
Lee Yoo-ri turned away, still holding the dealer's neck in her arm.
"Ouch! That hurts!"
"Come here for a second. You too, Yuna, and So-yeon."
Lee Yoo-ri's face was cold as she addressed her party members.
"Jin Yuha, I'm sorry, but I just remembered something we need to discuss. Can you wait here for a moment?"
"Oh, sure… I'll wait here."
Lee Yoo-ri walked away, gathering her party members at a distance from Jin Yuha.
.
.
.
"Are you thinking straight, Yoon-seo? Asking someone who came to help us that question?"
The yellow-haired ponytail, Go Yoon-seo, hung her head low. This was their dealer.
"Haa, I already feel bad because he's a man. Go and apologize properly."
Yoon-seo nodded, but her expression showed that she still had doubts. Lee Yoo-ri rubbed her temples, trying to ease the throbbing in her head.
"What's the problem? Tell me."
"It's suspicious… isn't it, Soup? Why would someone with that face be a hunter? And he's poor! How can someone with that face be poor!? He could just sit on the street and do nothing, and women would line up to take care of him!"
Yoon-seo protested, feeling wronged.
"Keep your voice down. You idiot. I only shared Jin Yuha's situation with you because I needed help in convincing you yesterday. Do you want to advertise that we know his private information?"
"...But I'm still curious."
"If you're so curious, why don't you ask him why he's poor?"
"I just don't understand…"
Yoon-seo couldn't let go of her suspicions, despite Lee Yoo-ri's reprimand.
To be honest, Lee Yoo-ri agreed with her.
When she had received his resume and saw his face, she had thought it was unusual. But she hadn't believed that was his real face.
'Who would think that's his real face? I thought he was obviously using a photoshopped photo.'
After all, he was probably a guy who liked to dress up, so she had assumed he had heavily edited his photo.
But when she had actually met Jin Yuha at the station earlier, she hadn't recognized him.
His face in person was completely different from the one in the resume. The photo had failed to capture his true appearance at all.
The unexpected twist was that the resume had lost to reality?
She shook her head vigorously, remembering the near-kiss moment.
"I agree with Yoon-seo. It is suspicious."
"See? Unni, you think so too!"
The healer, Choi So-yeon, spoke in a calm voice.
"I think he might be lying about being a cadet at Velvet Academy. These days, there are a lot of men who approach hunters like us and try to take advantage."
"Why hunters?"
Lee Yoo-ri's younger sister, Lee Yuna, the porter, chimed in.
"Because hunters die quickly. If you marry one, you get danger pay, and if they die, you get a death benefit."
"Eek!"
Lee Yoo-ri shook her head at her party members' outrageous suspicions.
She understood where they were coming from.
Dungeon raids were no joke.
Even an E-grade gate could be life-threatening if one let their guard down. A small mistake could mean that one of them might not make it back tomorrow.
'But they're on edge because of this unusual addition to the party, and it doesn't help that he stands out with his gender and looks.'
Normally, they wouldn't be like this.
But right now, the entire party was tense due to the dealer who had bailed on them the day before.
'I understand their concerns, but this isn't good.'
As the team leader, Lee Yoo-ri needed to take control of the situation before they entered the dungeon. She took a moment to gather her thoughts and then spoke.
"So, you're suspicious of Jin Yuha's identity and his credentials, right?"
The party members nodded.
"If we can clear that up, will you be somewhat reassured?"
"...For now."
Choi So-yeon nodded slightly.
"Well, Jin Yuha being a cadet at Velvet Academy is probably not a lie."
"How do you know, Unni?"
Yuna asked, and Lee Yoo-ri pointed at Jin Yuha, who was standing at a distance.
"Look at his clothes. That's the training uniform they send when you get accepted to the Academy. We have one at home, too."
"I've never seen it because you keep it locked up, Unni. You won't even let me near your wardrobe because you're afraid the clothes will be stolen."
"Tha, that…"
Lee Yoo-ri's face reddened.
Her party members couldn't help but laugh at her reaction. The atmosphere had lightened a little.
Heh, heh─!
Lee Yoo-ri cleared her throat awkwardly and continued.
"Well, anyway!! That uniform is issued by the Academy. Even though the admission standards for male students are lower than for females, they don't just accept someone based on gender alone."
Of course, Jin Yuha had been accepted solely because he was a man.
"And drop the prejudice that someone with a unique appearance will take advantage of it for personal gain. Only a small minority of men are like that."
Of course, the real Jin Yuha had spent his entire time at the Academy mooching off female students, changing girls frequently.
"He must have some special skills. At the very least, he'll pull his weight."
Of course, Jin Yuha's original specialization grade was a pathetic E.
As she finished explaining, the party members' suspicious expressions gradually faded.
"And, Jin Yuha is better than Hyeji, that bitch."
Finally, Lee Yoo-ri dropped the bomb.
She brought up Hyeji, the dealer who had bailed on them.
The party members' attitudes changed instantly.
"That Hyeji, that bitch, didn't pay her gate entrance fee, did she!? She said she'd pay you back later, Soup, but she ran off without paying, right!? What a bitch!"
"I never liked her either. She wanted to ride the bus as a dealer, and she always complained about healing."
"I… I didn't like her either… She looked down on me because I was the porter…"
Nothing united a group like a common enemy.
As the atmosphere improved, Lee Yoo-ri secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, so Jin Yuha is here to clean up Hyeji's mess. If he does even half a person's share, we should be grateful."
"Hmm, now that you mention it… it makes sense… It might be heaven to go with the super handsome Jin Yuha instead of Hyeji, that bus-rider."
Go Yoon-seo's usual nonsense made Choi So-yeon and Yuna laugh.
"Okay, let's go introduce ourselves and get ready to go."
"Great! Team Leader!"
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Yeah! Unni!"
.
.
.
The party members left me behind and engaged in a girls' talk session, taking a long time to return.
But I wasn't bored.
Thanks to one of the traits I had awakened yesterday, [Perception], I could hear their conversation clearly by focusing my ears.
Soup lived up to her nickname once again.
She soothed the party members' concerns about my gender and appearance, and united them by creating a common enemy.
'And the party members seem fine, too.'
They had a high level of trust in their team leader, and if they were convinced, they would accept it.
As the great sage once said, out of five people, one is bound to be trash.
And that trash seemed to be Hyeji, the dealer who had bailed on them the day before.
The party members returned after their long discussion.
"I'm sorry, Jin Yuha. We took a while because of the issue with the missing party member yesterday."
Their choice of words showed that they were considering my feelings.
It would be strange for me to be included in their conversation about a party member who had bailed on them the day before.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it."
I nodded, pretending I hadn't heard their entire conversation.
"Okay, let's introduce ourselves and then get going."
First, Lee Yoo-ri introduced herself.
"I'm Lee Yoo-ri. I'm the team leader and a tanker."
After Lee Yoo-ri's introduction, the yellow-haired ponytail spoke up.
"Hello! Jin Yuha! I'm the dealer, Go Yoon-seo! Please forget what I said earlier! I have a habit of blurting out whatever's on my mind. I was just surprised because you're so handsome! I'm sorry!"
Go Yoon-seo bowed deeply, apologizing profusely.
"It's fine. Thank you for your kind words."
"Heh, a good-looking person with a good personality too."
Go Yoon-seo was being playful.
She seemed to have a simple personality with no regrets.
"My name is Choi So-yeon. My position is healer."
Behind her was a girl with brown hair, who spoke briefly before falling silent.
"My name is Lee Yuna. I'm, um, the porter!"
Lee Yoo-ri's younger sister?
So, she's Soup's little sister?
Now, this was interesting.
I had never seen her in Lee Yoo-ri's personal story, so she must be rare.
I took a good look at Yuna, who seemed like a smaller version of Lee Yoo-ri with long hair.
"You do look alike when I see you up close."
"Huh...?"
"Oh, I was just curious because you're Lee Yoo-ri's younger sister. Sorry if that made you uncomfortable."
"Oh, no, it's fine..."
Yuna's face turned bright red, and with that, the party members' introductions were complete.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Jin Yuha. I'm a dealer, and I use a sword. I joined suddenly today, but please take care of me."
Clap!
As soon as I finished speaking, Lee Yoo-ri clapped her hands.
"Okay, let's go now. It's just about time to go."
We put on our gear.
For me, it was as simple as strapping a sword to my waist.
Lee Yoo-ri led us to the female soldier who was checking our IDs.
"Team Leader Lee Yoo-ri, 8 a.m. reservation."
"Yes, Lee Yoo-ri. Confirmed. You have ten hours for the raid. Please make sure to come out before 6 p.m."
"Yes, we understand."
We passed through the checkpoint and headed towards the gate.
The gate was an oval-shaped ring emitting a blue light, just large enough for one person to pass through.
"I'll go first. Follow me in right away."
As Lee Yoo-ri spoke, we nodded with serious expressions.
And we stepped through the gate.
.
.
.
Beyond the gate lay another world.
The city buildings we had seen earlier were gone, replaced by a dense forest of trees and bushes. Still, hunters regularly visited this place, and a natural path had formed in the dirt.
"Ugh, I still can't get used to going through gates."
"...Really?"
Go Yoon-seo shook her head, and Yuna frowned in agreement.
"Quiet, everyone. Form up!"
Despite their earlier attitude, the party members quickly fell into formation, showing their professionalism.
As instructed on the way here, Lee Yoo-ri took the front position as the tanker, with Go Yoon-seo and I on either side behind her. Choi So-yeon, the healer, was at the back, and in the middle of our formation was the porter, Lee Yuna.
My role here was to protect Yuna.
'If I mess this up, I'll not only incur Lee Yoo-ri's wrath but also her little sister's. I don't even want to imagine the consequences.'
Yuna was Soup's sister, after all. I didn't want to incur any grudges from either of them.
'First, let's use Perception.'
I activated [Perception], one of the traits I had awakened yesterday.
Woooo!
As I focused my senses, my five senses became heightened, and information flooded in from all directions like a torrent.
The scent of grass became more intense, the rustling of leaves in the wind was loud, and I could even hear the pounding hearts of the tense party members.
Thump, thump.
I gripped the hilt of my sword and followed behind Lee Yoo-ri.
About ten minutes passed.
Slick!
Suddenly, my Detection picked up something moving.
Tap, tap.
As agreed beforehand, I tapped Lee Yoo-ri's shoulder and spoke.
"There are two Nakki about a hundred meters ahead."
Lee Yoo-ri narrowed her eyes, scanning the area in front of her.
"Where exactly? I don't see them."
"About a hundred meters ahead, directly in front of us."
Nakki were small and well-camouflaged, making them difficult to spot as they moved through the bushes.
Lee Yoo-ri gave me a skeptical look, clearly not believing that I could detect Nakki from a hundred meters away.
"You saw two Nakki a hundred meters away?"
"Yes, now they're about ninety meters away."
"Hmm… well, we'll find out when we get there anyway."
Lee Yoo-ri adjusted her shield and continued forward.
Soon…
"Ten meters ahead! Two Nakki detected! Go Yoon-seo, attack!"
Lee Yoo-ri spotted the Nakki and shouted.
"Huh? What… you were right?"
Go Yoon-seo drew her twin swords from her waist, looking at me with a bewildered expression.
......
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