"Um, Miss Erdi. Lady Ji-woo here has come to seek your guidance——"
"Quiet."
With a look that said, *I wasn't talking to you*, Erdis silenced Arkiel without a word.
Almost instantly, Arkiel dropped her gaze. She bowed her head low and kept sneaking glances at Ji-woo. She was more flustered than when they'd met Hwaran.
Hwaran had been the same way, but honestly, from where Ji-woo was standing, Erdis didn't feel all that terrifying.
Not knowing any better, Ji-woo couldn't quite understand why everyone was so scared.
First impressions alone, Arkiel had been the scarier one.
Full armor, magnificent wings spread wide and everything.
And yet here was Arkiel, trembling before Erdis — who, to all appearances, was just a small mouse-eared beastfolk girl.
"I asked why you came. That's twice now."
"Oh… I was hoping you'd help me, Miss Erdi."
The sullen glare Erdis fixed on her carried none of the Hidden Boss gravitas Ji-woo had expected. No overwhelming aura. No crushing pressure.
Just… a lot of prickliness. That was about it.
She was definitely strong, of course. Arkiel could barely string a sentence together around her, and Hwaran had admitted Erdis was a cut above even herself.
That was exactly why Ji-woo had gone to the trouble of wearing this fluttery dress to make a good impression. It didn't seem to be working. Maybe she'd picked the wrong dress.
No, more importantly.
【Erdis Arcana】
【Favorability: ?】
【Favorability remaining until ❮(A) Avatar Manifestation: Unkillable❯ acquisition conditions are met: ?】
【Bless■d ■ign of ■he ■■■■… (Insufficient Clearance)】
*…Why is her favorability a question mark.*
The effect of Let's Be Friends should have raised Erdis's favorability by now.
But no matter how Ji-woo looked at Erdis's info window, the favorability stayed at a question mark.
The Avatar Manifestation skill still seemed obtainable, at least — but how much favorability it would take was anyone's guess.
"Well… Hwaran told me you'd be able to help me, Miss Erdi."
"What. You know the furball? You met her?"
"Yes. She's actually the reason I'm here."
"Tch. That wretched little fox…"
Above all else, it was becoming clear that Erdis wasn't exactly thrilled to see her.
The look in her eyes was that of someone staring at a walking headache.
Apparently she'd been this strict with Ji-woo's past self too — and it seemed that hadn't changed one bit.
But that was fine. Ji-woo had come here to get close to Erdis, and she wasn't leaving until that happened.
— Thud.
"Please, Master. Help me."
"…Hah?"
Ji-woo dropped to her knees with a look of solemn resolve and made her appeal.
Lee Ji-woo. A man (formerly) who got things done when it counted.
She was prepared to do whatever it took to earn Erdis's favor.
Whatever way she looked at it, Erdis was the most valuable Hidden Boss she'd encountered so far.
Hwaran had said as much, and Ji-woo's gut agreed.
And in her past life, Erdis had literally been her master.
"Why would I be your master. Since when."
"Since about ten seconds ago?"
"The nerve."
"That's one of my best qualities."
"That wasn't a compliment!"
Ji-woo pressed on with ironclad determination — today, she was going to befriend this woman no matter what.
She was invincible right now, anyway. Erdis might be terrifyingly strong, but she couldn't attack Ji-woo.
Once a conversation started, Ji-woo was untouchable.
"Please take me as your student!"
"And why on earth would I——"
"You must be so bored all alone in this ruin! I'll make things interesting! And while you're at it, teach me a thing or two — much appreciated!"
With no fear of being attacked, Ji-woo had decided to go full Dormammu on Erdis.
She wasn't giving up until she got a yes.
She couldn't let all the courage it had taken to show up in this frilly dress go to waste.
Honestly, she was still a little — okay, a lot — embarrassed about it.
"Hey… what is wrong with this kid."
Erdis pressed a hand to her forehead with a pained expression and, for the first time, turned to Arkiel instead of Ji-woo.
Arkiel, who had been keeping her eyes downcast this whole time, finally stirred and hesitantly opened her mouth to answer.
She explained that Ji-woo genuinely needed Erdis's help and guidance. That she meant it sincerely.
"She wishes to grow stronger. Strong enough that the people around her no longer have to worry."
"But why."
"Because I want to be famous! Like, get on the news, do interviews with reporters——"
"…I said tell me the reason. Not the goal."
Erdis turned back to Ji-woo with an expression that had shifted from annoyed to genuinely alarmed, and asked why she was so desperate.
And just as Ji-woo opened her mouth to fire back with another confident answer —
— Ding.
【Entity: Erdis Arcana has given Entity: Lee Ji-woo one last chance.】
【Chances remaining (1/4)】
【Warning: Speak your truth.】
Translucent message windows floated up before her eyes, warning her this was the last chance.
As if one wrong word now would make everything irreversible.
*Speak your truth*, they said.
*I haven't lied once.*
Everything she'd told Erdis had been genuine.
Wanting to grow stronger with Erdis's help. Wanting to be able to protect herself.
Wanting to get strong enough as a Hunter to clear even the most dangerous Gates.
Wanting to hold that press conference the association head had promised. Wanting to appear on the nine o'clock evening news.
Wanting to become a household name on the internet, like Kim A-rin and the other famous S-rank Hunters.
Every single word of it was the truth, without a shred of deception.
That was her truth.
【Warning: Speak your truth.】
The warning pulsed again, as if insisting her real truth lay somewhere else.
Ji-woo felt a flicker of confusion.
***
"…I want to be someone useful."
After a long silence, the answer Ji-woo finally murmured out was something like that.
The boldness and bravado from moments before had faded, and in their place crept a small, hesitant uncertainty.
And only then did Erdis Arcana lift her eyes to look at Ji-woo.
At the former student who had returned even more shameless than she remembered.
"I only just awakened… and I've already gotten S-rank skills and everything…"
Wrapped in a dress that radiated the refinement of some noble family's daughter.
And yet the heart inside it was shabby and small — Erdis Arcana looked at that contradiction of a girl.
"……Kim A-rin keeps worrying about me all the time. And I keep thinking — what's even different from before?"
Ji-woo spoke to Erdis Arcana.
Her voice growing smaller with each word.
The real truth she had never told anyone — the one she'd buried deep inside her chest.
"…Even something tiny would be fine. I just want to be useful for something."
Ji-woo spoke to Erdis Arcana.
About growing up in an orphanage, never knowing her parents' names or faces.
*I'm going to become the most famous person in the world. Maybe then Mom or Dad will come find me.*
*You can do it, you can do it~! Ji-woo, fighting~!*
*…You can't just call your older brother by his name like that.*
*Ehehe.*
Gazing at the stars through the small attic window, dreaming of becoming someone who shone like that.
Scratching her cheek with embarrassed awkwardness at the sound of a younger sibling cheering her on right beside her.
*…I awakened. They say I'm S-rank.*
*What?*
The shock of a sibling suddenly awakening as S-rank, then pulling herself together to offer congratulations.
Telling them not to do anything too dangerous, that their life always came first.
Feeling a pang of envy — *you're going to make so much money, you're going to be so famous.*
*…Status window.*
*………Of course nothing's there.*
And underneath it all, a quiet, lingering bitterness.
Those memories.
"They say there's no hierarchy in work, but it feels like there is in life. Kim A-rin goes around saving people, and I……"
A life scraped together working part-time at a convenience store near home.
Looking up at the night sky, the same stars she'd watched as a child still glittered in their places.
But the Ji-woo who had once dreamed of shining like them was wiping down tables at the convenience store, sweeping up broken soju bottles.
The plastic square table she'd scrubbed with a rag gleamed brighter than she did.
What kind of face had she been making, looking at her own reflection in that table?
"…I've awakened now too. I want to actually do something. But they say I'm too young."
On the walk home after a late shift, the giant billboard on a building down the road would show her sibling's face.
The S-rank Hunter who had single-handedly stopped the Seoul Station Gate shock. The hope of Seoul's citizens.
That was the kind of thing the news said. Social media said it. Online communities said it.
Ji-woo was proud of that sibling, genuinely thought they were incredible.
And yet.
"Everyone says I'm so strong. But there's still nowhere that actually needs me."
Even now, having awakened like a miracle — why couldn't she become someone famous like that?
She wanted to be someone people praised, someone people thanked, someone people were grateful for.
She had the will for it now. She had the ability.
So why wasn't her life changing?
"Please help me, Miss Erdi."
Back when she was working the convenience store, at least she'd been useful for something.
Even a drunk stumbling in late at night had needed her, back then.
"I want to be… stronger."
She wanted to be someone worth something.
Anything would do. Really.
"…I mean it."
***
[ I said no. How many times do I have to tell you — we still don't have a clear picture of the situation. ]
"So you're saying we should just give up on an S-rank Hunter! I'll go myself right now——"
[ We can't afford to lose two S-rank Hunters. That is the will of the President, and the will of the nation. Hunter Yoo Do-a. ]
Bang. A furious fist slammed down on the expensive office desk with a thunderous crack.
And still, nothing changed.
｢Breaking news. The so-called Red Gate that appeared at 6:18 local time is currently turning the area near the Thames River in England into absolute chaos——｣
The news kept playing on the monitor.
Telling her that London, England — where an S-rank Hunter from the Haetae Guild had been dispatched not long ago — was in very bad shape.
That the other Hunters from various countries who had been deployed alongside her were unaccounted for, their fates unknown. That kind of grim news.
[ Don't worry too much. America has agreed to rush him to England shortly. ]
— Crack.
"…You know as well as I do that'll be too late, Minister."
[ If our Hunter Yoo Do-a is stronger than him, I'd give the go-ahead without hesitation. Why should we have to defer to America at all? ]
And yet here he was, saying something like that — Yoo Do-a felt a fire burning in her gut.
The government had personally requested the Haetae Guild send Kim A-rin to England, and now they were washing their hands of it.
That disgusting habit of treating Hunters like disposable tools hadn't changed one bit, then or now.
[ Bring me a Hunter more reliable than America's man. Do that, and I'll be the first to bring it before the President. ]
"……………"
Yoo Do-a hurled her phone down hard enough to break it and buried her face in the already half-destroyed desk.
How was she supposed to break this to Ji-woo when she heard about England?
It had been Yoo Do-a, as guild master, who had sent Kim A-rin to England. She bore responsibility for this too.
What on earth was she supposed to say…
｢B-breaking news! A massive unidentified flying object has appeared above the Thames River in London, England——｣
｢A… a dragon? Are you serious? That can't be right — are you sure you got this right?｣
