Chapter 54:

Wembley stadium, London.

Whoever could use this stadium as their stage was so famous that if you asked anyone in the world if they knew about these people, 8-9 out of 10 would say they know them.

A celebrity in the world of celebrities, a Legend. This place which was only attended by the so called legends of the pop-star industry could hold over 90,000 people at once.

Her name was ‘Heloni’, the Goddess of Pop.

Long ago, when she still used her real name and wasn’t as popular as her right now, only few people knew about her. Those people were the ones behind the name ‘Heloni’. It was a combination between ‘Harmony’ and ‘Melody’. The name that was created jokingly by her very few first fans was now known all over the world.

“I want to go home.”

…..Known all over the world, Probably.

Heloni sighed.

In the waiting room, she was accompanied by one make-up artist and one bodyguard. But, as always, she couldn’t control her anxiousness. Her beautiful face was tainted by ugly deep dark circles under her eyes.

When she sighed once again, Taylor Nine, a bodyguard who was lying on her back while watching a video on her smartphone, opened her mouth.

“You can crawl back to your room to take a nap or just sleep if you want.”

“I can’t really sleep these days…”

“Why can’t you sleep? I can easily fall asleep as soon as I lay down in the middle of New York intersection.”

“…. Are you talking about the seventh monster wave that happened in New York? You are really brave to do something like that…”

“It’s not that I am brave, you are just a big coward.”

“…..”

Taylor yawned and said boredly.

“Ah, I’m so bored. It is a good job to earn some easy money but…. Do you really have someone stalking you?”

“There is! There are dozens of people who stalked me these days.”

“Wow, You can just hang them all up in the time square. And the rest of your stalker would disappear.”

“A, A, Are you crazy? Who would do something like that?”

“Huh? I’ve done something like that.”

She looked at Taylor who said something scary like that without any changes on her face. Then, Heloni remembered an article from a few years ago. It was an article about twenty superhumans screaming for help as they were hanged by someone on New York Time Square.

‘…. Was that your doing?’

Heloni looked at Taylor as if she was dumbfounded. But, contrary to her, Taylor just stared at her smartphone with an apathetic expression.

To be honest, Heloni didn’t really care about some stalker with a decent manner. However, she was afraid of the ‘ominous gaze’ that she had felt for quite some time now.

The highest ability in all of the detection level abilities, even topping her ultrasonic detection.

Moreover, letters were delivered to her house sometimes. The content of the letters were something like ‘Why did you go home late yesterday?’ or ‘I saw you wearing makeup today, I like it’. It was driving her crazy because she couldn’t find the sender.

The other party probably has some kind of ability that could completely hide their presence from a S-Rank detection ability. She was so afraid because of that.

That’s why she hired a S-rank villain hunter, Taylor Nine……

“You.. Is it okay for a bodyguard to not care too much about their client’s well-being?”

“Don’t worry, if anyone comes near you, I’ll crush their heads.”

There was no point to keep looking at Helonia. Because Taylor used her detection ability to protect her.

“Okay, then.”

Heloni looked at Taylor quietly. She didn’t really like the fact that Taylor was always looking at her smartphone for the past few days.

‘Is she watching some baseball game?’ 

Taylor was a bodyguard who was commissioned all around the world, and she was also a big baseball fanatic.

“You said, you watch KBO these days, right?”

Taylor had been into Korean baseball these days, probably because of her long-term work in the country. But, Hellonia knew, Taylor would get tired of it soon, just like any other baseball league she had loved before.

“Huh? Yeah, I said that. There’s this interesting team called ‘Hwade’.”

“Looks like they’re playing well?”

“I don’t know if they play well, but they are fun to watch.”

“…….?”

“Anyway, I’m not watching baseball right now…”

There was a subtle smile on Taylor’s face every time she looked at her smartphone. It was so unlikely of her to make that kind of face. If she really wasn’t watching a baseball game, Then…

“……Perhaps, is that another video where Yoo Seodam appeared?”

“Yeah, How did you know? What! You got the eyes of an eagle now?

“Don’t you know that I have better power than yours?”

“My ability is in light speed, while yours is in the speed of sound. So, of course I am faster.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever..”

Taylor nine was a superhuman who could manipulate spheres of light. Meanwhile, Heloni had a very unique ability to handle sound waves.

Her Ability power output alone was S-Rank. But, it was because the utility aspect of her ability was so high. If her output power had been a little bit higher, her ability would be classified as SS-rank. Though, these days, her ability was only used as a sound amplifier on the stage.

That’s why she didn’t like to talk about superpowers.

15 years ago, 8 young boys and girls became a hunter at the same time.

She was the first among the group that awakened her skill, and the first one to achieve A-Rank.

And also, she was the first amongst the 8 to quit being a hunter.

Nowadays, she couldn’t help but feel sorry every time she looked at her past colleague.

However, Taylor was someone who liked to poke on other people’s sore spot. So she always mentioned ‘Power’ in front of Heloni to make fun of her.

“Yoo seodam….. um, is he doing fine?”

“What did you say?”

Heloni stood up slowly and took a look at Taylor’s smartphone.

“Wh….. What is that?”

[Unique commander of the SS-rank great rift! His identity is?]

[The reason he rushed towards the SS-Rank monster was because he wanted to help his team?]

[(Breaking News)Is it Psychic power, Or Strength-Type power? The real identity of Yoo-Seodam Power]

[The first ever great rift raid that ends without any casualties!]

The entire screen was covered with the news regarding Yoo Seodam.

Among them, the word ‘Ideal ability’ was seen a lot. Also, there were a lot of things about sacrifice and Hunter spirit.

Taylor clicked on the video link that was written on the article. In that video, what happened inside the great rift was vividly recreated.

“Are you telling me that is Yoo Seodam?”

In the video, a hunter clad  in black suit flies freely across the storm. That man was luring the giant SS-Rank monster away from his group. Yoo Seodam judged that the situation wasn’t optimal for them to hunt the Giant SS-Rank monster, and he decided to ‘sacrifice’ himself as he glided towards the monster.

“…..I don’t think he was sacrificing himself though. Isn’t he just having some fun?”

“I know right? He wasn’t someone who would sacrifice himself for others.”

However, because of Yoo Seodam’s actions, other hunters were able to successfully insert the stone plates into the disc.

With the successful blockade of the Great Rift, the Giant monster also lost its energy source and went far away.

In the end, Yoo seodam made an extraordinary achievement by successfully closing the great rift with zero death.

All the hunters on scene showered praises on the leader of team 7, Yoo Seodam. Thus, making the media write something about F-rank hunter’s potential shouldn’t be ignored.

“Yoo Seodam is still working as a hunter, huh?”

“Right? Just what the hell is he hunting for?”

“How about you?”

“Of course, to make money.”

Certainly, S-Rank hunters were people who could make several millions of dollars in a single mission, but that wasn’t the case for a F-Rank hunter.

That’s why F-Rank hunters had an image of people who raided the dungeon out of ‘sense of duty’. That image was the reason why Yoo Seodam’s achievement was so glorified.

As a F-Rank hunter who had survived countless dungeons, people said Yoo Seodam was fighting that giant monster out of ‘sense of duty’.

“…. With his personality, I can guarantee it wasn’t a sense of duty.”

He certainly had some kind of goal.

But Taylor didn’t want to dig deeper about it. She didn’t think she deserved to be curious about him.

Taylor who looked at her smartphone blankly, suddenly said something as if she had thought about it for a long time.

“I heard you are going to Korea soon. Why don’t you ask Yoo Seodam to take care of your stalker while you’re performing there?”

“Why?”

“Your mission is boring. I want to go to do something else.”

“…….”

Taylor was a villain hunting expert. However, she wasn’t an expert who found something and dealt with it. Yoo Seodam was way more professional in that field. Even for an enemy which Helloni, who had S-rank sonar superpower, could not detect. Perhaps it is much better for Yoo Seodam, who had  countermeasures against all kinds of superpowers, to do it.

But, Heloni just shook her head with a gloomy expression on her face.

“I’m a little bit scared of him.”

The makeup had magically erased the dark circle under his eyes. But the darkness on her face was still there.

“Scared? Why are you scared of him?”

When Taylor asked her with a sincere look of bewilderment. Heloni nodded.

“No, Uh… I’m not scared of him. I’m just scared of meeting him.”

Pak!

“Keuk!”

Taylor slapped Heloni’s back with the palm of her hand.

“Forget it. Just think about it when you get back.”

A knock could be heard from the door. It was almost time for the show.  If Heloni was in her normal state, she would have noticed much earlier. However, the fact that her detection reacted later than Taylor’s who handled light, showed how distracted she was right now.

“You need to calm down.”

At Taylor’s words. Heloni nodded and let out a long heavy breath.

And then,

“… I really want to go home.”

“This crazy bitch, Really!”

Scared of what Taylor might say next, Heloni dashed off out of the room, her light purple hair flying messily. Looking at Heloni’s back as she ran further and further away, Taylor shook her head as if she didn’t understand.

“What’s the point of being a singer when you are a bastard who is scared of looking people in the eyes….”

After that, she looked at her smartphone once again and muttered.

“Ha…. I want to go to Korea.”

***

Things went pretty well.

Although i didn’t know that I was this famous.

“Hunter Yoo Seodam! Did you fight the SS-Rank monster alone because you were worried about your comrades?”

Nope, that’s not it.

“Yes, that’s right.”

But, let’s just pretend that that was the case.

“I just did what I had to do.”

I’ve been told that particular phrase would make you look great if you added those words in these kinds of interviews. It was my first time saying something like that in my whole life but strangely those words felt so natural. In fact, wasn’t most of what I had to say already been decided?

I did it for my colleagues!

I did it because of my sense of duty!

I did it for my comrades, for my family, for my friends, and, for all the civilians!

If I fell down, I thought someone would die, so I never stepped back!

To keep saying lies after lies like that was akin  to putting a salt on a banana. 

You don’t think it will taste good?

It’s amazing once you try it.

To be honest, Park Songho helped me prepare my statement. He was the former Vice President of the Korea’s branch of Hunter Association. 

I remembered him because, despite being an F-Rank like me, his position was pretty high. But nowadays he was working as a secretary for some strange guild.

After escaping the Great Rift safely, there were countless reporters, guild officials, companies and other officials that wanted to meet me. But I decided to meet the F-rank Hunters first because I thought they could understand me.

Unfortunately, most of them were approaching me with ulterior motives in their mind. They didn’t know what I really wanted.

And among all those people, Park Sungho stood out the most.

‘Why don’t you take advantage of your image here?’

‘Are you still saying stuff like that? If you’re done, I’m going to….’

‘I don’t mean to use it negatively. By using your image, let’s rebuild the prestige of the F-Rank hunters who have been trampled on.’

‘……….!’

Unlike others, he was approaching me for the sake of the F-rank hunters, not for a business-related matter.

So I listened to his advice so that I could know what to say in front of the press. Of course, I did not completely believe in what he said. I also asked some advice from various other people because there might be some hidden meaning in what he had taught me.

After three days and three nights of extensive research. I decided to go with “I just did what I had to do.”

At that time I didn’t know.

There were so many F-Rank hunters who had waited for this moment.

The retired non-superhuman hunters, who had been harmed by the superhuman hunters in the past were swaying public opinion into their favor using the waves that I created.

Those hunters weren’t directly related to me, so my ever-so-high public image wouldn’t be any help to them. Yet, they were still passionately spewing nonsense about F-Rank hunters on all kinds of broadcasts and press conferences.

Besides… I hadn’t said much about the identity of ‘My power’. Yet, the public still made a great deal out of it because I revealed a power that relied solely on talent unlike the other superpowers which 100% relied on ether injections. They also said anyone could learn my ability as long as they worked hard to get the result.

Because of that, there were many people contacting me. From a hunter wannabe who gave up their dream to a professional sport athlete and a Swordsman.

I even got a contract offer from a big guild that usually didn’t care about the existence of a F-rank hunter.

Even after all the attention that I got, I still felt unsatisfied. Because I know they wouldn’t have treated me like this if not for the power that I had.

If I could, I wanted to make a training hall to teach magic and swordsmanship to those who had been shunned just because they didn’t have ability.

‘But my level of magic and swordsmanship is still lacking.’

I need proper swordsmanship if I want to teach it to other people. Not ‘White swords’ but some swordsmanship that could be organized into a textbook. And for magic, I can get some teaching material from the witch’s library. The problem is, my understanding about magic wasn’t enough to teach it to other people.

My current level was 45.

On the Superpower ranking system, my level was equivalent to the D-Rank. Or ‘Sword beginner level’ in the world of swordsmanship. And in the realms of magic, I am barely a 1-circle magician.

To teach someone, you had to be at least, a 4-circle (B-Rank) in magic. And a sword expert (A-Rank) in swordsmanship.

For now, I would meet as many people as possible for networking.

The appearance of the Great Rift bought a lot of profit for the hunters. One could easily increase their magic and swordsmanship level when they raided the Great Rift. Next time, I would raid it together with some of my most trusted disciples.

I have no intention to lead many people. But I would let my disciple pass their techniques to other people to expand the size of my training hall. The real reason I made the training hall was to recruit a handful of elite to raid the ‘Hell Gate’.

***

“…. Yes, yes. Then I’ll call you again next time.”

Early in the morning.

After finishing an exclusive interview with a famous journalist from a famous media outlet, I left the cafe with the remaining coffee in my hand.

The reporter seemed to be excited to get an interview from me, but in fact, I was more excited than him. When would I get a chance to be interviewed by someone as famous as him ever again?

When I left the café, a cold morning wind was still blowing. But after leveling up several times, my body was no longer affected by the surrounding temperature. In fact, this wind only made me feel more refreshed.

I continued to walk home when suddenly…

“Stop right there.”

“……!”

That moment.

I had goosebumps all over my body.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My whole body tensed up. It was an animal instinct in me that kicked up. No- it was my ‘Sixth sense (F)’ skill.

Don’t move. Don’t do anything foolish! You must not rebel against him here.

[Protagonist hunter skill has leveled up to LV.3]

[Protagonist hunter LV.3 has been unlocked. Your ability will be boosted when fighting against a protagonist.]

[You have met an unfightable protagonist.]

[Preparing an emergency dimension escape protocol.]

Few seconds passed. I could barely move my body to make eye contact with him.

A handsome young man who seemed to be ten centimeters taller than me tilted his head slightly as he stared at me with his black eyes.

“What the? You are not someone from Moorim?”

Only then, I could see it.

#Seems_like_my_dad_is_Dharma

#Modern #Returnee #Dharma #Munchkin #Harem #DailyLife

The hashtag of the protagonist floated on top of his head.