Chapter 54 - Chapter 52: Episode 51 - B-Rank Hunter Park Yu-rin
Yu-rin had persuaded her mother, Yu-ra, to let her serve as a frontline combatant, despite her status as a Duty Hunter.
She'd been fighting like that for eight months.
It had been nearly a year since she returned from the Demon World.
In that time, she had gained significant combat experience, and her acceleration ability had improved even further. After a re-evaluation by the association, Yu-rin had been promoted to a B-rank Hunter.
A B-rank Hunter at twenty-one.
By the numbers, it was an incredible achievement, placing her in the top one percent.
Of course, there were those who had awakened special abilities at a young age and were rated S-rank from the start, but that was a truly rare case.
It was the kind of thing you could count on one hand, even searching the entire world.
And there were many other changes besides her rank.
Her mother, Yu-ra, had launched a long-term expedition project to cross the Gate and push into that world.
She had gathered hunters from all over the globe, not just from our country. With the government's approval, she'd set the condition that all land and resources conquered during the advance would be distributed among the participating hunters.
The recruitment target was 1,600 people. Currently, they were up to 1,400.
Some might think 1,600 was a small number to aim for, but 800 of the currently gathered personnel were A-rank Hunters.
Half of the recruits were high-rank hunters.
Even the non-combat personnel were required to be at least B-rank.
That minimum requirement was based on my advice; even I, a C-rank Awakened, had experienced a rapid decline in my physical condition when I first came into contact with the air of the Demon World.
It was the result of me providing accurate information about the Demon World.
A thousand A-rank Hunters alone would be powerful enough to devastate a country if they launched a guerrilla war.
My mother wasn't just calculating for this one expedition, either.
The first expedition consisted of 1,600 people.
She was already recruiting for a second expedition to provide support, even before the first team's quota was filled.
You could feel her desperation to find Seon-ah, no matter what.
Perhaps the participants didn't truly understand why my mother, Yu-ra, was going to such lengths.
The dawn air was always chilly.
Especially after Seon-ah, who had always been by her side, disappeared. The cold she wouldn't have felt otherwise seemed to bite into her body every single time.
Yu-rin would sometimes drive her car out to that highway, thinking of the day of the wedding when she and Seon-ah were dragged into the Gate.
It was as if the Gate might open there and Seon-ah might return at any moment.
It was as if she were waiting to welcome him home.
This highway, deserted only at dawn, was freezing.
She had turned the car heater to the max, but the chill showed no signs of subsiding.
There was no real purpose to driving like this.
She just mechanically drove out at dawn to relive the day she and Seon-ah were kidnapped whenever she had nightmares on nights she missed him.
In truth, she didn't really know why herself.
It might have been the guilt of not being able to bring Seon-ah out on the day she was pushed through the Gate by Miel at the end of those hellish days.
Were her tears blocking her view again? The road ahead started to blur.
Had she slowed down because it was dangerous to drive like this?
Even though she hadn't touched the brake, the car's speed gradually decreased, and then...
the car stopped completely.
Her eyes were fine.
There was only one reason why the view ahead had turned blurry.
The same phenomenon she experienced on the day that hell began.
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It was the same thing she felt the day the Succubus kidnapped her and Seon-ah.
It was the fog that formed before the Gate opened.
Miel was having a hell of a time right now.
She was escaping the Demon Lord's castle with Seon-ah, sprinting toward where the Gate was opening.
Perhaps they had realized what she'd done sooner than she thought, because two other sisters were on her tail—not the one whose throat she had slit.
If she stopped now, her and Seon-ah's safety would be in jeopardy.
She had barely reached the Gate while clutching Seon-ah, but the situation was dire.
The two sisters were right on her heels.
Even if she opened the Gate and ran, there would be enough time for those two to follow.
Still, she had no choice but to run.
In her extreme haste, Miel poured her magic into the nearest Gate and forced it open.
As the Gate fully formed, the two sisters caught up, standing right in front of her.
"You traitorous bitch who tried to assassinate our mother, the Lord—kneel. Then, as a fellow sister, I'll kill you without pain."
"I never liked you from the start. Miel, you mutant bitch with wings smaller than any other succubus. You've really done it now, living up to being the shame of the family."
Miel knew well that her wings were small.
But that didn't feel like a complex to her.
It was one of the reasons she had received so much love from her father, who cherished his sickest child the most when she was young.
She didn't feel it was worth talking back to those two.
The two sisters and I started a staring contest.
Since the Gate was about to open, they had to choose: attack me or try to stop the Gate.
If they tried to stop the Gate, I could attack or grab Seon-ah and run elsewhere; if they attacked me, I could grab Seon-ah and dive into the Gate.
But if they didn't act in unison—if one tried to stop the Gate while the other tried to stop me—
if I won, I could send the other one to the afterlife too, so they seemed cautious.
I had the advantage in the staring contest.
I could just run away as soon as the Gate opened.
They didn't seem to have realized that.
As soon as the Gate was fully open, I grabbed Seon-ah and entered, crossing over to Earth.
Miel was so rushed she hadn't thought it through properly.
There were two succubi chasing after those two.
Miel and that male, unable to go outside because of the Gate's fog, were rats in a trap.
Due to the trauma of being dragged into that Gate back then, Yu-rin had initially tried to run away from the fog.
Then, she soon changed her mind.
The monsters that would come out of the same Gate, and her improved skills.
The result of combining those two things was the hope she had always wished for—that Seon-ah might come out of the same Gate—and the confidence that she could win even if Miel attacked now.
In reality, the Awakened's power weakened and the demons' power grew stronger in the Demon World, but...
in this world, the demons' power weakened and the Awakened's power was strong.
It was a fact she knew well because she had felt her physical abilities decline due to the heavy, sticky air when she went to the Demon World, and conversely, felt Miel's power grow stronger.
Expecting whatever might come out of the Gate, she held the sword she had pulled from inside the car and waited.
Miel hugged Seon-ah and passed through the Gate with her eyes squeezed shut.
Coincidentally, the Gate Miel had chosen was the one used on the day they took Seon-ah and Yu-rin.
It was bound to lead to the same place, but...
Miel, who had chosen it in such a rush, couldn't know that fact.
She didn't even know where she and Seon-ah were going to end up, or that someone was holding a sword in front of the Gate.
Thinking about how her physical abilities would drop differently than usual once she went to Earth, she worried it might be difficult to protect Seon-ah.
But that was the same for the sisters chasing her.
If there was a hunter outside the Gate, she had no choice but to pretend to use Seon-ah as a hostage and receive help.
Thinking only of that, as soon as she came out of the Gate, she looked around.
It was a place that looked familiar.
And in front of the Gate she had emerged from...
Seon-ah's lover.
The one she had been using as a cleaning slave while inflicting all sorts of abuse on him.
Yu-rin was holding a sword and looking at us with surprised eyes.
When the succubus sisters stepped out of the Gate, they felt the air pressing down on their bodies.
It was a feeling they always felt when they came out on an expedition to Earth, but it was truly unpleasant that their condition worsened.
Bringing back spoils from a place like this was one of the truly difficult tasks, but...
they had come out on expeditions often because the value of the spoils was so high.
But this time was different.
It was work they were doing against their will, not to harvest spoils, but to follow their mother's orders.
If it weren't for their mother's orders, it was a place they wouldn't have even glanced at after that bitch ran away.
But this time, they had to follow.
It was a choice they made because they were afraid of the punishment they would receive from their mother if they didn't complete the task properly.
When the two succubi looked around, Miel and the human male were in front, and...
there was a woman holding a sword glaring fiercely at the two of them.
Humans holding weapons were mostly Awakened.
It was one of the facts they had learned through several expeditions.
In small-scale expeditions like this, they had seen from four to as many as eight, and...
in large-scale expeditions, an enormous number of Awakened had attacked them.
The fortunate thing was that there was only one hunter in front.
They were creatures whose abilities differed by individual, but she didn't look as strong as they had thought.
At best, she looked about the same level as them.
If they defeated those two individually, it was certain that they, who had the numerical advantage, would be at an advantage.
However, a word that changed that situation came out of Miel's mouth.
"Ha... It's been a while. Yu-rin, have you been well?"
"Give Seon-ah back!"
The Awakened, who had drawn her sword, rushed at Miel as if she had gone crazy, and at that moment, Miel set her fingernails long and brought them close to the neck of the unconscious male.
Then the Awakened stopped moving.
"If you touch even a fingertip, I'll tear you to shreds and throw you as dog food."
"That's not it. Look closely."
With those words, Miel pointed with her fingernails as if to make her look well at Seon-ah's neck, and then...
slightly scratched her own neck.
Then, surprisingly.
A small bloodline was drawn on the necks of both Seon-ah and Miel, and blood flowed out.
"What have you done!"
"It's a characteristic of a succubus who shares pain with a mate who has a Yin Mark engraved on them. If something goes wrong with me, something goes wrong with Seon-ah too."
In truth, it wasn't completely shared, so even if she died, the mate wouldn't die.
However, Miel hid that fact because it was obvious that Yu-rin would try to kill her if she knew.
Because Yu-rin wouldn't be able to kill her if she showed her just this much.
Yu-rin's head spun after hearing those words.