A gunshot.
A flock of birds took off all at once.
Not far away.
Baek Dohyun lifted his head.
Was there someone in this cohort with a marksman-related Trait?
Of course, last time there hadn’t been anything like weapon distribution, so it wouldn’t be strange not to know.
Not that it would matter much anyway if the marksman wasn’t mana-specialized, given the limits of a shooter.
If someone did have such talent, there’s no way he wouldn’t remember.
The power seemed tremendous… might be my imagination. I’m not who I used to be. I must not forget that.
A variable had even arisen, hadn’t it?
Confirming the rankings were still unchanged, Baek Dohyun pulled his sword out of a monster’s corpse.
Difficulty change and the monsters’ sudden mutations.
All of it was stuff that wouldn’t have happened originally.
Whether it was a simple butterfly effect from his regression or something beyond that—he didn’t know, and that was the problem.
For now… let’s do what needs doing first.
He had to finish the Tutorial as fast as possible and meet his Constellation again. That was the top priority.
Baek Dohyun raised the body that had paused for a moment’s rest.
The Special Points from dispatching fellow humans were gone, and the mutations had made the difficulty a mess.
It was time to change the plan.
[Trait, ‘Tracker,’ is activated.]
[Your five senses increase slightly.]
I need a healer.
Hoping she wasn’t dead yet, he traced the trail from the fork where he and Na Jo-yeon had parted.
About thirty minutes later—
“Huh? Mr. Dohyun…?”
Since the Trait ‘Tracker’ wasn’t a skill, it fell somewhat short in specialization, but it was quite usable.
Before long, Baek Dohyun found Na Jo-yeon at a secluded stream.
More precisely, Na Jo-yeon in oneness with the wild.
“…Ms. Jo-yeon. I’ve been looking for you. But that look…”
Na Jo-yeon, who had been spearing fish like a caveman, hastily hid the wooden harpoon behind her.
But Baek Dohyun had already seen everything behind her—the fish threaded on rope after a slaughter.
They’d even been neatly gutted and cleaned.
What happened… Why did you suddenly turn into Bear Grylls?
“N-no. This is, um…”
“No… I’m glad you seem okay. Even in a Tutorial, you can get hungry.”
It’s only been two and a half hours, though.
“Your survival skills are remar…kable.”
“I-I’m not the one who’s going to eat it!”
“Pardon?”
Na Jo-yeon on the verge of tears. The reaction was rather fierce.
Suppressing his bewilderment, Baek Dohyun calmly looked her over again.
Tangled hair, blotchy, dirty cheeks, raw tear tracks.
Looking again, it wasn’t Bear Grylls; it was something else. Like an ancient slave being driven…
Baek Dohyun’s gaze cooled.
Having lived as a Hunter a long time, it wasn’t hard to grasp the situation. He carefully took a step closer.
“Ms. Na Jo-yeon, are you perhaps in a state where you feel your safety is threatened?”
“Y-yes?”
“It’s okay. I’ll help you. I’ve confirmed there’s no sign of anyone nearby. If you’re being forced to do unwanted labor, just give a slight nod.”
“N-no! It’s absolutely not like that! It’s just, just—!”
“Yes.”
“I—I don’t even know myself. I don’t know. My body just moved on its own.”
Murmuring, Na Jo-yeon suddenly snapped her head up.
“You’re not thinking of harming h-him, are you! Don’t! Please don’t! Leave us alone!”
…What trash. He even finished the brainwashing.
A mental-specialized type? Not an easy opponent.
With a grim face, Baek Dohyun pried off Na Jo-yeon’s hand that was clutching him.
“Understood. But your load looks heavy, so I’ll carry part of it to where you’re going. I’ll confirm you’re safe as well. You’ll allow me at least that much, right?”
With a hesitant look, Na Jo-yeon reluctantly nodded.
“…If it’s just that, fine. But promise to Babel you won’t harm him.”
“Yes. I promise.”
Babel would understand a well-meant lie.
Baek Dohyun looked up at the sky for a moment and followed.
The sky was clear, the breeze cool.
You could bury a fool deep in the ground and no one would know…
Baek Dohyun sincerely thought so.
The place Na Jo-yeon led him to was a clearing—like someone had snipped and scooped out the middle of the forest with scissors.
And when the figure sitting there came into view—
Before he could react, Na Jo-yeon ran ahead and cried out, flushed with excitement.
“I’m late! I ran into someone… Mr. Dohyun, say hello!”
“…”
“This is Na Jojo-nim!”
“…”
“J-Jojo-nim. I don’t know if it suits your taste, but this is my small token of—”
“Fish is meh. I’m an extreme meat-itarian.”
“Khk! Is that true! Damn it!”
“This house’s Dobby has no sincerity.”
“Bad supporting role! Naughty supporting role!”
“Hey. Enough.”
“H-how merciful you are…”
Mental control, my ass.
With eyes gone cold, Baek Dohyun looked at the excited face of the pervert.
He’d briefly forgotten the pervert Dobby who looked so very happy.
Na Jo-yeon.
More precisely, ‘Zealot’ Na Jo-yeon.
In the first run, she’d been a globally famous follower of Jio.
The very maximum output of the fandom, which Jio’s fans proudly touted—acknowledged even by the extreme fans—a zealot.
Your body moved on its own?
It was probably just your instincts telling you to…
Unfortunately, instead of giving her a ghostlike zealot’s instinct, Heaven did not see fit to grant her the discernment to pierce an insincere alias.
Na Jojo—Gyeon Jioh—who had patted Dobby (Jo-yeon) on the head, raised her face.
Chewing a toothpick of unknown origin like an old Hong Kong actor, she lifted a hand, cool as you please.
“Oi-oi.”
Don’t be pointlessly cool…
“Who might you be? Ah, do you know each other?”
Don’t glare at me…
A total mess.
Baek Dohyun let out a deep sigh and started walking. With a face gone stiff, he delivered a reproof.
“…What in the world are you doing sitting there without even building a campfire when it’s this chilly? Isn’t the ground too cold to sit on!”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Hm, phoo-ENG-chek! Cough cough.”
“J-Jojo-nim! You, with the face of a purebred big dog, and yet a world-class white fox! To throw such a bone-crushing critique the moment you arrive!”
“That’s enough. That’s the limit of someone at ‘first meeting.’ As someone at ‘acquaintance level,’ I will deftly go gather firewood. Ms. Na Jo-yeon, who is ‘first meeting,’ please rest here. (Uselessly).”
“W-what did you say! What did you mutter at the end!”
“Pardon? What did I… Your temperament is quite violent. As expected…”
Listening to the two of them escalate into a campfire war, Gyeon Jioh yawned, Huaaah.
And with earnest longing, she thought:
I want to lie down…
It had been fine to charge in gallantly, blinded by the hunk of meat before her.
She’d forgotten that her motivation battery had a maximum life of three minutes.
Would it be a bit much to carry a bed around in my inventory?
Jio began to seriously ponder it.
Three hours since the Tutorial began.
Though the expensive S-rank relief pitcher Babel had paid for took the mound, the direction of the game was growing ever more uncertain.
/ First Run.
/ Interview with Na Jo-yeon, AA-rank Support-type Ranker of the D.I. guild.
Long, dark brown hair.
Light-pigmented eyes.
From a face that suits words like angel or princess, it isn’t easy to conjure the vicious nickname “zealot.”
Mid-interview, the reporter finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked:
“Ms. Na Jo-yeon, you’re a high Ranker at No. 14. And AA-rank at that, specialized in sacred power.
As a member of the privileged class who has both wealth and fame, one would think a position of being revered suits you more than chasing someone.
And yet, even at the cost of your image, you insist on the title of someone’s follower. Is there a reason? Of course, there’s no intent to disparage that person.”
“Reporter, why do you think people like Hunters?”
“There are no citizens who dislike heroes. And that’s been true forever.”
“And the reason citizens like ‘heroes’ is probably because they’re saviors who sacrifice themselves for you for no reason.”
“Well, I don’t fully agree, but I can’t say it’s flat-out wrong.”
“Think simply.”
Na Jo-yeon smiled.
“To me, that person is a Hunter. Not another Hunter viewed as a Hunter, but the Hunter of me, human Na Jo-yeon. My Hunter who saved me with no condition, no reason.”
“…Ah. Could it be! I wasn’t sure, but I’m right, aren’t I? Incheon Gate.”
“Wow, you recognized it. Right—I’m a survivor of the Incheon Airport 1-Class catastrophe. It wasn’t particularly a secret, but everyone treated it like one and protected it.”
As she retraced the past, Na Jo-yeon’s gaze softened.
“Reporter, when someone’s rescued—fewer things remain in memory than you might think. Isn’t that so? It’s chaos, everything’s a mess. But at the moment when you despair that it’s all over, the light that pours down…
A shaft of light like that—down to the sensation as it touched my face—is madly vivid. I probably won’t forget it even after I die.
So as Na Jo-yeon, as a supporting role, I suppose I’m ultimately chasing that.”
‘Survivor here, there’s a survivor!’
‘M-my mom… my mom is inside.’
‘Don’t worry. We’re rescuing now. It’s over. It’s all over…’
‘I thought I… I was going to die…’
When Na Jo-yeon asked what had happened, the agent pointed at the sky.
Unlike the dying darkness, the summer sky poured down blazing sun.
Like a sunspot on the sun, a black dragon was flying across the heavens.
In a reality more horrific than a film, a hero shining more brilliantly than a film.
Na Jo-yeon stared blankly up at the sky.
The radio she’d been clutching like a treasure amid the ruined rubble rang out clear.
The young announcer couldn’t hide his swelling emotion and cried out with force:
[ Fellow citizens! You may rest assured. The situation is over. The threat has vanished. Incheon Gate. The 1-Class rift—the catastrophe is over! Do not forget today. Please remember one name. Everyone, the name of the hero who saved us today is… ]
As if I could ever forget.
My savior. My protagonist.
“Why did the hero come there that day?”
“It’s simple.”
Because there were people.
As a person. For people.
“Honor as a Ranker doesn’t matter much. Looking at the big picture, chasing that person is about watching myself without losing my humanity, rather than as a Hunter.”
“…”
“If I live forgetting that, as a person, I was saved by a person—then that would be the end of my humanity. I want to live not ‘cool,’ but human.”
That’s all.