“Aah, it sucks. Really.”
On the brink of crashing. Five centimeters above the cement floor in the parking lot. Yoo-shin's body, which had been falling, stopped abruptly.
Hyeon Gyu-ha lifted his floating body with both arms and smiled brightly.
“This is the first time in my life that my heart is beating like this. Would you like to touch it?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha guided In Yoo-shin’s hand to his chest once more. There was a heartbeat thumping loudly under the leather texture of the riding jacket. It was beating more violently than the heart of In Yoo-shin, who almost fell to his death.
Thump. Thump. Endless thumping. It was the cry of the heart that witnessed the near-death of In Yoo-shin.
“The first time I attacked the gate was when I was 9 years old, right? I’m more afraid that you might die than I was afraid back then.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha laughed loudly.
“This is really interesting. So this is how it feels to be tamed.”
The status window cluttered In Yoo-shin's vision.
[Current Status: Murderous. Murderous. Murderous. Murderous. Murderous.]
***
It was only today that In Yoo-shin realized, eyes that did not match the sound of laughter were bloodier than openly swearing. He also realized that Hyeon Gyu-ha would never kill him, but that was even more frightening.
Hyeon Gyu-ha, who flew through the air and returned to the rooftop, sat next to In Yoo-shin, unlike before. He was determined to listen.
“What is Henry Raymond Charles Francois VII?”
“That’s the name I set automatically when I tamed you……”
“How is it possible to tame people?”
“W-well, Be……because the system said bats are also rats……”
“What?”
While explaining, In Yoo-shin felt like an idiot, and Hyeon Gyu-ha seemed to feel the same way. He couldn’t even laugh when he saw him wearing a bewildered expression.
“My taming abilities are limited to rodents.”
He even explained that after mistaking Hyeon Gyu-ha for a real bat and taming him, he even learnt that his hidden characteristic was vampirism through the status window. For the first time, the smile disappeared from Hyeon Gyu-ha’s face.
He thought for a while as he rubbed his face, while In Yoo-shin only looked at him.
“So, even if the issue of bats not being rodents is overlooked, since vampires can turn into smoke or bats, the system identified them as bats?”
“Yes. Maybe……”
“It's true that my hidden trait is a vampire attribute, but I can’t transform into smoke or a bat. I’ve never sucked human blood. I’m a human. Not a rodent.”
Do I have anything else to say? In Yoo-shin just felt like hitting his head on the ground and atoning for his sin.
“Honestly, do you admit that this is hard to believe?”
“……Yes.”
“Haven’t you heard from anyone that I have vampire traits? A few people know.”
“No. This is also the first time I saw Hunter Hyeon Gyu-ha in person.”
“In the past, no matter what, I killed every person who knew.”
“......!”
In Yoo-shin’s mind shriveled at the casually thrown words. His buttocks flinched instinctively, and he slowly distanced himself from Hyeon Gyu-ha. I had nothing to say to Hyeon Gyu-ha even if I died, but that didn't mean I wanted to die.
“Prove that what you said is true. What did you see in the status window?”
“Your Hunter stats and abilities.”
“That’s something you can find out with just one internet search.”
“I also saw that you also have two Attribution Artifacts.”
“......Ah, I've never shared about those two in public. Okay, I’ll admit it. Anything else?”
“And the characters on the other hidden attributes were glitched.”
“……”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s mouth closed again. Did I say something wrong? Feeling anxious, In Yoo-shin’s heart started pounding loudly once more.
“......Those glitched characters.”
“Yes.”
“Can you draw them?”
Of course, it was possible. All I had to do was open the 7-se’s status window.
When he nodded, Hyeon Gyu-ha took out a tablet from his subspace. There is a weight limit in the subspace, which is an inventory for Awakeners. That's why Hunters only crammed in important weapons, but he didn’t seem to care.
“Right, but there’s no application that can draw pictures.”
“Install it.”
“Yes.”
The one-minute time to search for and install a painting app from the store felt awfully long.
In Yoo-shin drew only the glitched characters among the hidden attributes.
®ÀÇ and µ¡©±Ï¶.
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s eyes widened.
“......Fuck.”
And with his words, I realized that even Hyeon Gyu-ha had no choice but to believe in this absurd situation of taming people.
So In Yoo-shin mustered up the courage to say the following.
“Actually, I also have glitched characters in my hidden attributes.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s true……”
In Yoo-shin looked at his eyes and drew his own hidden attribute.
¦°ø¾Îð.
Hyeon Gyu-ha raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t believe him. It was natural. He couldn’t see the status window of In Yoo-shin. The characters were glitchy encoding errors, and In Yoo-shin could only draw them.
“I am still very offended and confused. Anyone would feel the same way if they suddenly had a Master. But is the perpetrator trying to trick me with lies?”
Not only the way he spoke, but even his tone was bleak. In Yoo-shin felt it. He was really angry.
“I can’t kill you myself, but I wonder, is it possible for me to ask someone to kill you?”
“I-I really am telling the truth. It has been there since I awakened.”
However, he couldn’t lie about there being no glitched characters, so he desperately appealed to him with the truth. Hyeon Gyu-ha sighed at the attitude of In Yoo-shin, who shuddered with his life but did not bend his will.
“Great. Then go to a dungeon and prove it.”
“A dungeon?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have a Hunter license……”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s my private dungeon.”
He glanced at the time. Lunchtime is over, but…… When he raised his gaze again, Hyeon Gyu-ha’s amber eyes were staring at him. That gaze, which was very sober and cold, even when he kept a smile on his lips.
I couldn’t bear to say, ‘Can I go after work?’ to that.
‘I might get fired……’
In Yoo-shin nodded his head calmly. If that were a problem, I thought that I should at least make an excuse that Team Leader Hong pushed me to go.
Hyeon Gyu-ha took out his helmet from his subspace and stopped next to the bike parked in the parking lot. At his side was the load of In Yoo-shin.
“Consider it an honor because it’s the first time I’ve put someone else on Gap-sik.”
“……The name of your bike is Gap-sik?”
“Is there any problem?”
“No.”
I thought he had a devastating naming sense, but it didn’t seem that someone like me who gave him the name, Henry Raymond Charles Francois, should say that.
It was my first time riding a bike. Wearing the helmet that was handed to him, Hyeon Gyu-ha clicked his tongue as In Yoo-shin clumsily grabbed onto him, who was sitting in front of him.
“Hold on tight. It flies.”
Hearing that, In Yoo-shin only held onto him with a little bit of strength, but soon, as soon as Hyeon Gyu-ha started the engine and accelerated, he got frightened and hugged his waist. It was fast. It was insanely fast.
“Huaaah!”
Even while screaming inside the helmet, the bike sped on the road for a long time. The place where In Yoo-shin arrived—after seeing a playback of his entire life nine times—was a hill in northern Seoul. This was where the 38th Parallel, the border between North and South Korea, used to be.
“Heugh……”
The strength was drained from my body. Hyeon Gyu-ha was dumbfounded when he saw In Yoo-shin collapse on the floor with his legs wobbling.
“No way, you look like this just because you were driven here?”
“I almost threw up.”
“If you vomit on my back, I’ll hire someone to kill you.”
“Okay……”
With him unable to even walk properly, Hyeon Gyu-ha carried him on his side and climbed the mountain. In Yoo-shin also just sagged.
The dungeon owned by Hyeon Gyu-ha was in a forest. When a certain mana pattern was injected into the barrier, which was disguised as an ordinary tree, the landscape shook and the Gate was revealed.
It was the first time I have seen a Gate so close. In Yoo-shin’s eyes widened, but Hyeon Gyu-ha did not give him time to enjoy the surprise.
With him on his side, Hyeon Gyu-ha stepped into the gate. Unfamiliar sensations swept over his body and his eyes flickered black, so In Yoo-shin inadvertently closed his eyes. Then, the moment he opened his eyes with slight nausea…
“Whoa!”
In Yoo-shin was above the sea.
[Time remaining until dungeon reset: 07 hours 28 minutes 31 seconds]
The scenery was the same as Earth’s, but the feel of the land and the sea here were distinctly different. Surprised, when he reflexively struggled, Hyeon Gyu-ha just let go of his hand.
Fortunately, he didn’t mean to drop him into the sea. In Yoo-shin crawled through the air and clung to Hyeon Gyu-ha's waist. Hyeon Gyu-ha frowned.
“I won’t drop you, so let go.”
“I-I’m scared……”
“Aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Scary.”
“Let go.”
“Scary……”
“……”
Why did the entrance of the gate open over the sea and why did I receive the annoyed glare of the First Rank?
A low sigh flowed over the head of In Yoo-shin, who was desperately clinging to him while breaking out in a cold sweat. He didn’t know if it’s because of his gut, but Hyeon Gyu-ha felt like he was sighing a lot today.
“Let’s do this quickly and leave. Check the status window.”
“Does the status window change in dungeons?”
“……If you don’t know that, why did you obediently follow me?”
“Cause Hunter-nim told me to prove what I said……”
Hyeon Gyu-ha looked down at him for a moment and gestured at him to process. And In Yoo-shin obediently called the status window, and his eyes widened.
“The characters have changed! They’ve never changed before!”
“How have they changed?”
On the tablet he took out again, In Yoo-shin drew and wrote.
¦°ø¾니ð.
“How does my status bar look?”
“Some of the glitched characters in Hunter-nim’s status window have also been changed!”
[Hidden Attributes]
- Vampire Attributes
- A Hybrid of Iron Age and this ÀÇ
- ̵¡©±Ï르
- King’s Illegitimate Son
In Yoo-shin, who was shouting excitedly, tilted his head.
“Ah, this doesn’t seem to have changed much, but some glitched characters have been revealed……”
“……Who are your parents?”
I was startled, thinking it might be a question about my parents’ well-being, but Hyeon Gyu-ha’s face was extremely serious.
“I don’t know because I’m an orphan. I was abandoned in front of an orphanage.”
At the end of that conversation, Hyeon Gyu-ha was silent. The arms clinging tightly to his waist were gradually aching, and by the time In Yoo-shin got used to the desolate sea where not a single seagull flew, let alone fish, his smooth lips slowly opened.
“There's nothing we can do. Let’s just date.”
HM: he’s the most casual person on earth. And it’s Hyeon Gyu-ha.
Editor M: 7-se, the fastest man alive. That aside, I would like to thank my fellow editor, Stallion, for explaining to me what the 38th Parallel is.
Summary: In Yoo-shin mistakenly tames Hyeon Gyu-ha, a high-ranking Hunter, believing him to be a bat due to a system error. Hyeon Gyu-ha, initially furious, demands proof of In Yoo-shin's claims about glitched characters in their hidden attributes. They visit Hyeon Gyu-ha's private dungeon, where the characters in their status windows change, revealing hidden information. Hyeon Gyu-ha, learning of In Yoo-shin's orphan status and the connection to his own hidden attribute, proposes a surprising solution: they should date.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Stallion, Editor M
nothing we can do, let's just date/ LMAO i wish i have this confidence in RL >///<
???????????? Nah I didn’t think he would ask him so fast💀💀💀💀💀
That is one way to start dating. Lol
The "let's juste date" just threw me lmaooo so random and so logic at the same time hahahahaha
Thanks for the translation! Have a good day :))