TSOT#1 Chapter 15

Joo-ah put down her glass and glared at the screen in front of her.

 

The footage displayed scenes of herself battling virtual monsters at the training center and taking down monsters that had emerged outside the tower.

 

She couldn’t understand when or why they started showing these kinds of videos to Hunters.

 

At that moment, Yeon-joo, sitting beside her, stifled a laugh and whispered to Joo-ah.

 

“Look at Yoo Chan-hee and Shin Jae-rim’s faces.”

 

Joo-ah turned to look at them with a puzzled expression. Their gazes were fixed intently on the screen.

 

“They look like they’re about to get sucked in, don’t they?”

 

Yeon-joo chuckled as if she found it amusing. Sure enough, Chan-hee and Jae-rim stared at the screen, looking a little dazed, almost as if they had lost focus on everything else.

 

Joo-ah, clearly uncomfortable with their reactions, glanced at them and then asked Yeon-joo.

 

“Why are they staring at it like that?”

 

Yeon-joo shifted her gaze to the screen showing Eun-young and smiled faintly.

 

“Do you know who the person in the video is?”

 

Joo-ah hesitated for a moment, feigning ignorance before finally responding awkwardly.

 

“…No?”

 

Yeon-joo smiled knowingly and spoke.

 

“That’s the strongest Hunter in South Korea.”

 

Joo-ah didn’t know how to respond and remained silent. Yeon-joo mistook her silence for shock and continued.

 

“The Special Awakener Association gathers the top-ranked Hunters to form an elite unit. South Korea has only two of these elite teams.”

 

Feigning curiosity, Joo-ah opened her mouth to ask.

 

“So, that person in the video is one of them?”

 

“That’s right. That’s Hunter Kwon Eun-young, the number-one-ranked Hunter.”

 

The elite unit was notoriously secretive about their identities, so not many people outside knew their faces in detail.

 

The general public could only recognize them by the basic information that leaked through the media, like their names, ages, or rankings.

 

Joo-ah frowned slightly and asked.

 

“When did the Chairman start showing videos like this?”

 

The Chairman had left the banquet hall after a brief greeting.

 

Yeon-joo rolled her eyes and answered.

 

“It’s been a while. Hunter Kwon Eun-young has been in the hospital for a while, but I think they started showing them even before that.”

 

Joo-ah looked perplexed and asked further.

 

“Why do they show them?”

 

“The Chairman says it’s for educational purposes. But honestly, I think it’s just to show off. One time, they even made us watch Kwon Eun-young’s videos all day long.”

 

Yeon-joo giggled and added.

 

“Because of that, there was even a rumor in the training center that Kwon Eun-young might be the Chairman’s secret daughter.”

 

Joo-ah’s face contorted in utter disgust.

 

Who was whose daughter…?

 

Returning to the topic, Yeon-joo glanced at Jae-rim and Chan-hee, who were still staring blankly at the screen.

 

“And those two? They’re as much fans of Kwon Eun-young as the Chairman is.”

 

“???”

 

Joo-ah replayed what she’d just heard in her mind.

 

Fans? Did she hear that right…?

 

Her face twisted into an even grimmer expression, as though she had heard something she never wanted to. She shot a resentful look at Yeon-joo.

 

“Yoo Chan-hee, I get. But Jae-rim? That’s unexpected. It’s kind of funny when you think about it, right?”

 

“…W-why do they like her?”

 

Yeon-joo shrugged casually.

 

“Jae-rim once had his life saved by Kwon Eun-young in the tower. After that, he started to admire her. And since he’s using someone as amazing as the number-one-ranked Hunter as his role model, his rank rose quickly too.”

 

Yeon-joo smiled slyly at Joo-ah.

 

“If you want to level up fast, you should make someone like Kwon Eun-young your role model.”

 

That part caught Joo-ah off guard.

 

She saved his life in the tower?

 

Joo-ah turned her gaze to Jae-rim. He was still staring at Eun-young on the screen, his eyes shining in a way she’d never seen before. His usually detached gaze now brimmed with something new.

 

When could they have met?

 

As she kept staring at Jae-rim, her gaze naturally shifted to Chan-hee. He, too, was watching the screen as if entranced.

 

Joo-ah frowned.

 

Could he have been saved by her too?

 

She turned to Yeon-joo and asked.

 

“What about Yoo Chan-hee? Did Kwon Eun-young save him like Shin Jae-rim?”

 

Honestly, she found it harder to believe about Chan-hee. Considering his flirtatious nature, the idea of him deeply respecting or being a fan of someone seemed odd.

 

Yeon-joo shook her head.

 

“No, Chan-hee’s never met Kwon Eun-young in person. He was so jealous when he found out Jae-rim had met her.”

 

She shrugged as if it was no big deal.

 

“Not many Hunters in the training center have met the elite unit, so it’s not that strange.”

 

The elite unit’s training facilities and dorms were far from where regular Hunters stayed.

 

The government had designated them as high-value assets, protecting them with top-level security. Losing a member of the elite unit was equivalent to losing one of the country’s most powerful weapons.

 

Treating people as weapons was a problem in itself, though.

 

Joo-ah asked curiously.

 

“Then why does Yoo Chan-hee admire Kwon Eun-young if he’s never met her?”

 

She couldn’t understand why he would idolize someone he’d never even seen in person.

 

Yeon-joo leaned in and whispered, her tone amused.

 

“For him, it’s pure fan devotion. No reason needed.”

 

Joo-ah’s eyebrow twitched.

 

No reason? Really?

 

Yeon-joo grinned.

 

“There’s always been a lot of buzz about the number-one-ranked Hunter. Most Hunters hope they never have to face an SSS-grade monster in the tower. Even the highest-ranked Hunters might not survive against one.”

 

“…”

 

“But Kwon Eun-young took down three SSS-grade monsters by herself. That’s pretty incredible.”

 

Yeon-joo took a sip of her orange juice and continued.

 

“When someone posted a picture of Kwon Eun-young taking down a monster by herself, the server crashed because too many people tried to view it at once.”

 

She smirked mischievously.

 

“I bet Yoo Chan-hee has tons of pictures of her on his phone. I saw him saving screenshots from those posts once.”

 

Joo-ah shot a look of pure disgust at Chan-hee, but he was too busy watching the video to notice.

 

When the screen finally moved on to another Hunter, Jae-rim quickly looked away, indifferent again, while Chan-hee visibly sulked. Noticing Joo-ah staring, he glared back at her.

 

“What are you looking at?” he muttered irritably.

 

Joo-ah scrunched her nose and turned away.

 

The elite unit received so much attention and admiration, not just from the general public but also from other Hunters.

 

It wasn’t surprising, but knowing what she did about Chan-hee and Jae-rim, it was harder for Joo-ah to accept their reactions.

 

Just as the video ended and the food began disappearing from the tables, the floor of the banquet hall began to tremble faintly. Small cracks started forming beneath their feet, and the crowd grew uneasy.

 

Joo-ah tensed, scanning her surroundings.

 

BOOM!

 

A sharp, cone-shaped object spun rapidly and burst up from under her table, shattering it into pieces in an instant.