Chapter 126 – SSS-Rank Hunter (1)
[Chapter 7 – Section 1] A Difference of a Single Sheet of Paper
“Taking the shot! Three, two, one—”
Click!
I thought I might be able to work as a swimsuit or sportswear model, but it seems my build doesn’t look particularly impressive for an athlete.
Click! Click! Click…!
Because of that, there were lots of requests for commemorative photos instead.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Kang Moon-soo!”
“No, not at all. Rather… it’s an honor for me to meet someone I used to watch on late-night TV back when I worked part-time at a convenience store.”
“Haha! I only faithfully followed my aptitude test result. Mr. Kang Moon-soo, you’re the truly amazing one!”
“Ahem.”
Even being praised didn’t make me happy at all. The more famous I became, the lower my sports-toto odds would drop!
I got depressed again.
Bzz—
The smartphone I’d set to silent during the shoot vibrated in my pocket.
“Hello?”
(Hello, Mr. Kang Moon-soo!)
“…Ms. Yoon So-ra? This is Chief Seo Hye-joo’s number, though…”
Why was Yoon So-ra using Chief Seo Hye-joo’s phone?
(This is the chief’s 8th work phone. My own phone got suspended due to long-term unpaid bills.)
“…Aren’t you going to reactivate it?”
I’m frugal myself, but I can’t give up a smartphone—it’s just too inconvenient. If you look carefully, there are plenty of cheap promotional plans, too.
(Is there a need? The only person I want to contact is you, Mr. Kang Moon-soo.)
“…I see.”
I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.
(The Chief is in surgery with a regular patient, so I’ll relay the message instead. We selected several good candidates among patients suspected to be related to Ranuvel.)
“Please send me the details by text. I’ll check them later.”
(Many of the good candidates are very sensitive about personal information. You’ll need to come to the hospital in person to choose.)
“…Hmm. I’ll head over right away.”
(Yes! I’ll be waiting at the hospital entrance!)
“No, there’s no need to—”
(Don’t worry about it. I’m just bored.)
“…Alright. Then I’ll see you at the hospital entrance shortly. It’ll probably take about thirty minutes by car.”
“Great Hero, welcome.”
Tap.
A beautiful woman stepped out of a black luxury sedan waiting in front of the broadcasting station and greeted me with a martial clasp salute.
She was dressed in a pure-white martial outfit—the kind female warriors like Mi-bong often wore in the world of Is <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>
In other words, it didn’t suit the modern era at all.
‘Jeon Ji-eun… you said you were becoming a movie actress—was this what you meant…?’
Mao Zhai second round of atrocities inflicted upon his nurses!
At least he still valued his own life enough not to have her disarm the guards of their guns. He only had her wear a sword at her waist as decoration!
Glance, glance.
People hurrying past slowed their steps, stealing looks at Jeon Ji-eun’s unusual outfit and striking face.
Even in a broadcasting station frequented by handsome men and beautiful women, her looks stood out.
She really was the face of a great family. It was a bit pitiful that she now had to act in real life, though.
“You must be having a hard time, having met such a strange family head.”
“No. It’s something this young lady does willingly, so please don’t concern yourself.”
“…Alright.”
After exchanging those meaningful pleasantries, I got into the back seat of the sedan.
“Great Hero, where shall I take you?”
“Please go to Elmolance University Hospital.”
Vrooom—!
The moment she heard my request, the car took off with a loud engine roar.
For a brief moment, I wondered whether it was really okay to use someone who’d had their driver’s license for less than a year as a chauffeur—but with all the traffic lights in the city, she wouldn’t be able to speed anyway, so a major accident seemed unlikely.
“……”
“……”
Since I didn’t particularly have anything to say to Jeon Ji-eun while she was driving, I absentmindedly watched the city streets rush past the window.
She was the one who broke the silence.
“I’m on my eighth full reread of the martial arts novel Is <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>.”
“All 215 volumes…?”
“Yes.”
“Looks like you really like that womanizing protagonist who abandoned his master.”
A protagonist who turned his back on the Heavenly Demon who raised him and taught him martial arts, only to busy himself taking care of his women.
A ‘great hero’? Even calling him a petty man would be generous.
“Is there any woman who wouldn’t want a man who rules the world to look only at her? But reality is that heroes love women. That, too, has to be accepted.”
“Well…”
I’ll respect that opinion.
“I’ve been confirmed as the lead actress in the feature-length film Is <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>. Not a supporting role—the lead.”
“Oh!”
I immediately understood why Jeon Ji-eun was rereading the novel for the eighth time.
A debut role as a lead actress?
That’s huge.
‘Then that outfit makes sense.’
Actors are considered a “versatile aptitude,” but in a world filled with such actors, latecomers are inevitably at a disadvantage.
Everyone can act well.
Since the P Aptitude Tester doesn’t judge actors by appearance, exceptionally handsome or beautiful people used to land leading roles early—but that, too, is a thing of the past.
Those actors who became leads early hold onto those positions for over a decade, blocking newcomers. The only roles left are child roles—
But since the aptitude test is taken at nineteen, that’s unrealistic.
“So Mao Zhai really does plan to make the movie.”
“He said he’s investing the money he made from sports toto into the production.”
“…Ah.”
Sports toto again?
“A movie doesn’t succeed just by throwing money at it, but he’s experienced that world firsthand. Realism is guaranteed.”
“That’s true.”
Mao Zhai suffered greatly during the early days of the original novel. Even so, he seems to long for the martial world.
“What role are you playing, Ms. Jeon Ji-eun?”
“Mi-bong.”
“Cough!”
Of all people?!
“She’s the second most beautiful woman under heaven. To protect her beauty, she seeks a strong man. The protagonist met that condition, so she loved him—not out of romance, but as a realist.”
“You’ve already studied the role.”
“What was Mi-bong like when you met her in person, Great Hero Kang Moon-soo?”
“…She was a woman who knew very well how beautiful she was—and how to use it.”
A realist.
That was probably accurate.
In the law-of-the-jungle martial world ruled by strength, a beautiful woman has to either become strong herself or find a dependable man to protect her.
And second most beautiful under heaven?
It wouldn’t be strange for her to be abducted by ruffians just walking down the street.
‘The most beautiful woman under heaven was the same.’
She had considerable strength of her own, but still chose to disguise herself as a man to hide her looks.
Is <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?> Feels like a roughly written martial arts novel, yet at times you can see how carefully the author planned the setting.
Which is why Mi-bong—
“…Huh?! Wait a second!”
“Yes?”
“Please pull over! Now!”
“Ah—yes.”
Jeon Ji-eun pulled the car over to the shoulder without asking why.
“I’m sorry! I’ll explain later!”
Bang!
Before the car had even fully stopped, I threw the door open, jumped out, and started running.
‘A witch…!’
Unless today was Halloween—when people dress up as witches, zombies, Frankenstein, and the like—it was rare to see a woman in a black cloak and a pointed hat walking down the street.
“Excuse me!”
“Huh?”
Without time to hesitate, I grabbed a man who was passing by.
“Did you see a girl dressed like a witch? Which way did she go?”
“What?! Aren’t you—Olympic triple crown—”
“I’m sorry! This is really urgent!”
“That way…”
He pointed with his fingertip toward a dark alley between buildings.
“Thank you!”
Bang!
I felt bad toward the passerby who recognized me, but this wasn’t a situation where I could leisurely take commemorative photos.
‘She went somewhere gloomy—very witch-like.’
A dark alley even in broad daylight.
The passerby might have been mistaken, but I didn’t have time to double-check with anyone else.
“……”
“……”
The narrow alley was lined on both sides with vagrants slumped weakly against the cold concrete walls of buildings.
Swish—
Some of them stared at me with curiosity, clearly seeing that I didn’t belong here, but most didn’t even spare a glance, as if they couldn’t care less.
‘Found her!’
A witch standing beside a wheeled travel suitcase.
She was staring down silently at a man lying limp on the ground.
“Wi—”
Is it okay to call her a ‘witch’ to her face?
“Ranuvela the 13th.”
“Huh?”
“That is my name—the one you call ‘witch,’ Mr. Kang Moon-soo.”
Beneath the deeply pulled-down brim of her pointed hat, the witch’s lips curved upward.
Was it a sneer? Or a welcoming smile?
It was an eerie expression that suited the atmosphere of the alley perfectly.
“…Ms. Ranuvela. What are you doing here? Did you do something to that man?”
“I have no obligation to answer, but since you went out of your way to find me, leaving you with a misunderstanding would just lead to more interference.”
“A misunderstanding? Are you saying that tricking me with wordplay and binding me to the rules of the dream was also just a misunderstanding?”
“You’re the one who went and misinterpreted things on your own. I never deceived you. If anything, I’m the one who’s been interfered with.”
“……”
Sincerity? Deception?
I wanted to see the expression hidden beneath the wide-brimmed pointed hat.
“And your accusatory tone, treating me like a criminal, is getting on my nerves. Are you planning to start a witch hunt or something?”
“That’s—”
“This country and this city are not your territory. I have every right to be here. And this man—I merely helped him a little because he was so pitiful.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Not everyone is happy in their dreams. For example… this man failed, despite having an SSS-rank supernatural ability.”
SSS-rank supernatural ability?
That didn’t really matter to me.
“Ms. Ranuvela. Are you, like me, someone whose aptitude is a shaman?”
“Do I look like a shaman to you, dressed like this?”
“……”
I felt like an idiot.
“Mr. Kang Moon-soo. This time, it’s only fair that I ask the questions, don’t you think? Why do you interfere with people’s happiness?”
“I don’t interfere. I simply bring them back to the reality they chose to turn away from.”
“For your own benefit?”
“As a secondary gain.”
“You’ve grown a lot in a short time. Treating an Olympic triple gold medal as mere side income.”
“……”
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind that I really was being shameless—and I couldn’t refute it.
“Nam Hae-soo.”
“……”
“If my plans hadn’t been disrupted by you, he wouldn’t have been betrayed by his subordinates. And he wouldn’t have become a Blade Demon either.”
“So the true nature of the Blade Demon is—”
“That’s something you should figure out on your own.”
“Hmph.”
“Mr. Kang Moon-soo. You still haven’t answered my question.”
“……”
I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t shameless enough to.
My purpose.
Except for Song Sun-young’s dream, which I was dragged into against my will, I became a shaman to earn treatment fees and gain abilities.
The patient’s happiness?
I had never once placed it first.
“I took an early-morning flight and came from the other side of the Earth just to help this pathetic man. Hoping he could die while dreaming a happy dream.”
“…What do you gain from that?”
“Self-satisfaction.”
“……”
“A saint who creates miracles and a witch are separated by only a sheet of paper. When a witch sells God, she becomes a saint.”
I couldn’t believe it.
‘You’re saying you’d help a complete stranger for free, even at a financial loss?’
I’d seen it countless times—politicians clumsily doing volunteer work just to win votes whenever election season came around.
So what was this woman?
No one came into this gloomy alley to witness her good deeds. She didn’t even boast about them herself.
To me, ‘Witch Ranuvela’ was an incomprehensible being.
Utterly alien.
“Mr. Kang Moon-soo. Stop doing things that make people unhappy.”
“…Song Sun-young, Choi Kang-min, Kim Eun-jung, Mao Zhai, Yoon So-ra.”
“The names of the unhappy people you awakened. And what of it?”
“They weren’t unhappy. Mr. Nam Hae-soo also repented at the end and passed away peacefully.”
“……”
“And this man—if you hadn’t helped him, he would have forced himself out of the dream on his own. Then he wouldn’t be lying in this gutter, waiting for the day he dies.”
“It’s a happy death.”
“No. There is no such thing as a happy death in this world. People die because living becomes too difficult.
Even a peaceful death from old age is, when you break it down, dying because the body has grown too weak with age.”
“You don’t understand.”
The smile that had lingered at the witch’s lips disappeared.
“That’s what I should be saying.”
“You materialistic bastard.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to that.”
Honestly admitting it, I laughed lightly and saw the witch off.
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