Chapter 164 - Save us, Hunter Shin!

"They lost sight of us," said the Hunter, without looking at his student, "What happened there?"

"I don't know, but I think Ye Rim saw something," Eun Ha kept worrying about Ye Rim, as she hustled behind him.

"Your friend is showing all the signs of being a special person. Not only does she produce a lot of magic, but she's also being affected in some way. Ye Rim is very interesting, but we need to find out why this is so.  We don't wish her to get hurt."

"That's what I want to do, but the Professor wanted me to come!" she protested, but he paid no attention. After the trees, they came to a lane where the young fairy saw two female silhouettes under a lamppost.

"Who are those?"

"Our kin, Jung," he replied.

As they approached, Eun Ha could see them better. One was older in appearance, with a heavy body, a round face, and hazel eyes. Like them, she wore loose black clothes. The younger-looking one was small like Eun Ha herself and wore a completely blue Chima Jeogori, and a long braid. She looked like someone out of a Sageuk-era drama.

"Hunter!" the two women exclaimed, coming to the couple. Eun Ha could see the unwavering admiration in the bright eyes of the two fairies, even though they looked nervous. They bowed to each other, although they seemed to want to honor him more.

"Seol Hee, Chae Young, this is Eun Ha."

He didn't introduce her with a human surname or call her Jung alone, as he sued to do. Eun Ha felt included as kin, despite the strangeness of hearing her name for the first time being spoken by the Hunter.

The two fairies examined Eun Ha, and the woman in the blue hanbok, Seol Hee, said,

"She has no control over her magic. Did something happen? Was she attacked?"

"Yes, there was a problem just now. But you called me, so what happened?"

"Dear Hunter." Eun Ha raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips, while Shin remained motionless and stoic. "We found Kwang Min this morning, dead," she took a traditional calligraphy brush from her bag. Eun Ha soon understood that this wand belonged to the fairy found dead. Chae Young didn't look particularly sad, just scared. But she still had time to drool over the Hunter, who tried to conceal the annoyance of being idolized in this way. Seol Hee, a little more polite, said,

"'Shin', you are our only hope. The Devourer was slow to come to the capital, but he finally arrived. We cannot take any more chances after our friend's death. You have faced it once and you know it. Please help us. We are leaving the city, and as far as I know, we are the last now," looking at Eun Ha, she said, "You should go back to your parents."

"My parents are dead," she said, realizing a fact she didn't until this moment. The Devourer could have caused all fairy deaths, including those of their parents.

The pair opened their mouths in a penalized 'O', and Seol Hee said, "Come with us, Eun Ha. There is a place for you where we go."

"Ah, well… I have a protégé. I can't leave her."

"You should go. Seol Hee, would you take care of Eun Ha for a while? She will be presenting herself soon to the Elemental Council," said the Hunter at her side, and the young fairy widened her eyes. 'Uh? Professor Shin?! How can you say that without even hesitating a little? Won't you miss me?'

"Ah ... she's a ... lost child," said the fairy in the beautiful hanbok. Eun Ha knew the term was 'wild', and she didn't like condescension or being called a child. She didn't know how old they were, but she also knew that these two could be helping the Hunter to do something, and not putting all the responsibility on his back. She wondered if they could know that he was out of magic, or with so little he couldn't use. And if, even knowing that, they would leave all the work to him.

"I'm not going," she said, more resolutely. "I will stand next to ... Hunter Shin."

The two stared at her in disbelief. But Chae Young said,

"Hunter Hye Seong, we are counting on you. You are the only one who can contain this threat. But we just met him to say that he does not worry about us, as we will leave the city. And as you asked me here is everything I could find out," she handed him a bound manuscript, which the Hunter quickly flipped through.

He thanked her with a bow, and it was Seol Hee's turn to take two steps forward, staring at him as if he were her 'husband going to war'. Eun Ha has already imagined herself doing a flying kick and the older fairy flying like a balloon with her blue hanbok. 'Ha, why didn't I imagine that before? Hunter Shin is a hero and a man of action, and all fairies fall for him. As a superstar, he could choose the partner he wanted! And I see that they are all candidates! Grrr! I bet he's conceited about it.'

The blue fairy handed him an object wrapped in beautiful fabric, in the traditional way,

"I hope this helps, 'Shin'. It was all that I collected in that short time."

Shin thanked her again, and Eun Ha was curious about the content of the gift.

"Are you already leaving?" The Hunter asked, and the Artisans replied yes,

"We just came to warn you of it, so you wouldn't waste your precious time now," and they both looked at Eun Ha again, with icy looks.

"I am sorry to have disappointed you so far. Staying away from the capital will be the best for now," he said, and Eun Ha was very upset. 'Why is he apologizing? Why is the weight of this problem all over his back?!'

"We trust you, Hunter!" Seoul Hee hugged him suddenly, and the Hunter was taken by surprise and just didn't react. When Seoul Hee finally dropped him, Che Young did the same.

'Aish, what a bitch!' at least she realized that the Hunter was only showing slight discomfort. Anyway, they left quickly, and the Hunter handed over the manuscript for her to hold.

"WHY CAN THEY EMBRACE YOU?"

"Shhh. Don't be loud. They can't."

"But why did you allow it?"

"What you want? That I take their arms out?" he crouched down while saying it, and placed the package on the floor. In undoing the knot, he found a Talchum mask, the folk theater of masks, representing an old woman. He smiled, which made Eun Ha imagine it was something important.

She was going to ask what he was doing, when she saw him take a dagger out of his shirt, and she didn't have to think long to know that it was Hunter Hye Seong's magic wand, 'Shin'.

"Jung, get closer," he said, and she did, crouching beside him. Although her body was still tingling with her own magic escaping, she realized that it was a magical object, like the Blue Monocle. When the Hunter pierced the mask with his dagger, her heart ached, not from any physical effect but from witnessing the destruction of the object. She could perceive the object's magic passing through Hunter Shin's magic wand, and the way he gripped the dagger, and the twitch in his face, the magic was absorbed into his body very quickly. Little sparkling dots vibrated around the Hunter and seemed to be drawn to him. As they were absorbed by him, Eun ha felt the tingling in her body cease. He took a deep breath and looked up at Eun Ha,

"Jung, tonight you saw two rare things, and one of them, forbidden. I absorbed some of your energy. Not every fairy knows how to do this, and that, of course, is dangerous. I only did it because your magic is out of control and can be dangerous for everyone."

"But you also absorbed the magic of that mask."

"Yes. There is a rare path of magic that instills objects with magic. Like the monocle. I learned this path from one of the best teachers that have ever existed. Master Seong Hwan. But that path can also lead to an uncontrollable addiction: devour the magic of a fairy. It can lead a fairy to become a predator of others. So, obviously, what I did now was a crime, even if it was to save us trouble. Forgive me."

She looked at him with a start.

Eun Ha wanted to say many things, but a shout caught their attention. And she recognized that voice. It was Ye Rim!

Getting up quickly, she asked,

"This conversation can go on for later."

They ran in the direction from which the voice had come. As they approached the mall, they saw a group of beggars surrounding Ye Rim and Dr. Flamingo. But they didn't act normally. Loud music played through the speakers, and those people acted as if commanded or hypnotized. Shin ran towards them, leading the way, while Dr. Flamingo pushed people who came closer to Ye Rim. 

"Omo!"