LV. 99 The Princess of Dark Flare

She always thought of that time.
1997.

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If a hunter had been there, or if she had awakened then, would her mother not have had to die?

Could she have shown her mom her college acceptance letter?

— Mom, was she happy?

It was like being in an endless swamp.
When she woke up, Eunha was fiddling with her left wrist like she always did.

“You must’ve been very scared by yourself.”

Pause.

Her hand, which was stroking her wish bracelet, stopped.
As she slowly lifted her head, she saw the back of Mobius, who was soothing the little kid.

“Do you like candy?”

He took a strawberry flavored candy from his pocket and handed it to the child.
The child whimpered but held the candy tightly in her hand.

“Don’t worry, the ahjussis will definitely find your mother.”

tl/n: ahjussi means uncle but it can also be used to refer to middle aged men 

“Re, really…?”

“Of course.”

Mobius smiled sweetly and wiped the child’s wet eyes.
He brushed the dirt off her cheeks and even tied her messy hair back.

“What’s your name?”

“Yeri… Ahn Yeri.”

“That’s a cute name.
What kind of clothes is Yeri’s mom wearing?”

“A red dress.”

“Oh? You’re wearing a matching outfit with your mom.”

“Yes.”

As if he had been through this many times before, he handled the child very naturally and skillfully.

As the girl’s face, which had been drenched in anxiety, gradually dyed with relief, Mobius entrusted the child to the hunter by his side.

“Take the little girl and go back to where we found her.
Send a search party over here.
Two… No, three people would be good.”

“Yes, Leader.”

The girl who was quickly put into the hunter’s arms waved her hand.

“Ahjussi, thank you!”

Mobius waved his hand back until the child disappeared past the wall.

“…”

Eunha leaned against the inner wall, staring at him quietly.

The child’s bright smile, full of relief, was firmly stuck in her mind and did not leave for a long time.

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***

February 1998.

It had been about a month since she had been drafted and entered the training camp.

It was a time when the hunter system was not fully established yet.
Monsters often escaped from gates where clearing was delayed, so the weak were captured and used as training monsters in many cases.

“Wow… That’s amazing.”

Someone exclaimed in an amazed voice.

“How many monsters did they kill alone…?”

From the fierce flames, Eunha walked out.
What she held in her hand was the severed head of a monster.

The trainees who had weak stomachs vomited everything they ate the moment they saw it.

The monster’s blood had a peculiar and foul odor.
Eunha, who appeared with the nasty blood all over her body, stood in the middle of the training ground.

“You must be crazy.”

“It’s clear that I’m not insane.”

The moment where admiration turned into criticism came faster than the change of seasons.

Eunha kicked the monster’s head like a ball.
She watched the head as it rolled over and slowly lifted her foot.

Stomp!

Stomp! Stomp!

She mercilessly trampled the already severed head and crushed it.
Its eyeballs popped out and an unidentified liquid gushed out like a fountain from its broken head.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Eunha did not stop.
The trainees who had been watching the bizarre scene couldn’t bear it in the end and slowly crept away from Eunha.

In the end, all that was left was Eunha,

“Stop.”

And the training grounds.

He grabbed the neck of the monster Eunha was stepping on with his bare hands.

“Give it to me.”

The head of the training camp threw the monster’s head away at Eunha’s voice, which was as empty as the look in her eyes.

“That’s enough.”

“No, not yet.”

As if possessed by something, Eunha took a step toward the monster’s head that flew far away.

“The Hunter’s Code of Conduct.”

The training camp commander said gravely.
Eunha stopped walking and turned back slowly.

“… One, recognize that your inherent ability is a double-edged sword and abide by the law.
Two, protect the people with honor and faith.”

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The dry voice mechanically recited the Hunter Code.
The head of the training camp, who was looking at the blood clinging to Eunha’s lips, sighed heavily.

“Do you know why there’s nothing mentioning the extermination of monsters in the Code of Conduct?”

“…”

Eunha shook her head quietly.
Her black gaze remained fixed on the monster’s head.

“Because those two things are much more important than catching and killing monsters.”

“…”

“Cha Eunha.
Everyone here has lost a family member.
I also lost my daughter.”

Eunha’s gaze slowly moved from the monster to him.
She saw empty pupils that resembled her own on his face.

‘This won’t bring your mother back to life.’ She didn’t want him to say those words.
She’d heard enough of them already, and she’d already felt it too.

He clasped her shoulders tightly with both hands.
The eyes of the two similar people met.

“There will be far more people you will save in the future than the people you didn’t save.”

In the midst of the strong sand-filled winds that made her eyes stiff, he patted her on the shoulder.

“I hope that will comfort you.”

Eunha slowly blinked her eyes.

***

“Did you call me, Leader?”

Three burly hunters appeared.
They seemed to be the members of the search party, meticulously bringing the necessary equipment like flashlights, weapons, and ropes.

“Ah, you came sooner than I thought.
Did you hear the story?”

“Yes, the child’s mother is missing.”

“Okay.
Let’s go back then.”

“Yes, Leader… What?”

The three hunters stood still in the same place.
Mobius, who was ahead of them, looked back at them.

“What?”

“How about… the search operation…”

“Ah, the search operation.”

Mobius, who tapped one cheek lightly as if thinking deeply, smiled softly.

“We went to the center of the gate, but we were forcibly stopped due to the appearance of more monsters than expected.
There were no survivors or clothes that matched the description of the missing person.”

Mobius gently shook his head.
His lips drew a faint arc.

“Right?”

Faced with that smile, the hunters looked into each other’s eyes with sour expressions.

Drip.

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The sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling quietly echoed through the still area.

‘Whether we save ten people or one person, the allowance we receive is the same.
Why would we do anything that could endanger ourselves more?’

Yes, if you think about it, it was a very realistic story.
If ordinary people were found inside the gate, the leader would call for reinforcements through the terminal.

In other words, if they sat down and comforted the citizens, they could comfortably finish clearing the gate and take their share.

Even if the inside story was revealed later, it didn’t matter.
Because their only sin was following their leader’s orders.

Eventually, the biggest hunter among them stood in front of Mobius.

“Alright.”

It would be more comfortable now and in the future to silently follow his orders.

“Come on, let’s go back.”

“Yes, Leader.”

It was at the moment Mobius moved towards the passage, and the other three hunters turned to follow him.

“Ah, f*ck.
You scared me!”

A hunter jumped, cursing.
Clutching his chest, his eyes widened.

A woman in a black dress, hidden in the shadows, was emitting a sad glare from her eyes.

Since when had she been standing there? They didn’t notice her at all.

Her hair was dark enough to blend into the shadows that covered the inside of the gate.
She was wearing a black dress and holding her pointed parasol like a cleaver.

It was such an impressive scene that you couldn’t help but notice it.
She was the F-Class concept hunter, the Princess of Dark Flare.

“Wh, what? You almost made me have a heart attack!”

The black eyes that were deep enough to give you goosebumps just by meeting them were staring intently at him.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you going?”

They motioned towards the passage leading out.
However, Eunha looked up at him without moving, then quickly turned away.

Click, click.

And she started walking in the opposite direction.

“Isn’t that the wrong direction? Where are you going?”

The hunter grabbed her wrist.
No, they tried to catch her.
Eunha lightly avoided their hand and looked back at them.

“We have to do a search.”

“What? Didn’t you just hear the leader?”

“I heard.
They did a search to the center of the gate.
I’ll go look a little deeper.”

At that moment, the four hunters, including Mobius, noticed.
That woman, it was clear that she wanted to go alone.

‘You really are insane.’

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As it turns out, that woman wasn’t inexperienced nor a beginner.
She was just a crazy girl.

“It’s a thing of the past that hunters have a high mortality rate, but…”

Mobius let out a complicated sigh and scattered his bangs.

“I’m telling you because you don’t seem to know, but there are only two cases in which a hunter is killed or seriously injured in a gate.
First, it’s in the event of an unexpected accident.
Second, it’s if you fearlessly enter a gate that doesn’t correspond to your class.”

There were many other hunters besides her who wanted to play the hero.
Mobius had watched carefully and seen what their end was.

“So?”

Eunha responded by turning her head and throwing a glance at him.
Her body was still facing the opposite direction.

She was so carefree that he actually burst out laughing.
Mobius decided to point out the problems one by one for the novice hunter who seemed to have lost her fear.

“It seems you’re sure that the child’s mother is inside the gate, but if she’s not, you’ll be held accountable.”

“…”

“The crime of disobeying the orders of the person in charge must be quite large.
The damage inflicted on the guild cannot be ignored either.
Can you afford it?”

“…”

Eunha stepped forward without looking back.

At that time, one of the hunters who was watching the scene eventually couldn’t stand it and blocked Eunha.

“Look at you.
Are you ignoring the leader’s words now? Not only do you lack gate experience, you’re also ignorant of the hunter hierarchy.”

He leaned on one foot and looked down at Eunha as if showing dislike.

This was the problem.
In modern times, where the number of the awakened had increased remarkably, there was a riot that only believed what they saw in the media, and every dog and cow wanted to become hunters.
It was disgusting to the point that he couldn’t stand it.

In particular, the concept of a hunter entering a gate wearing a slinky dress offended him even more.

“Which generation are you from?”

He asked aggressively.
He had been the first 23rd-generation graduate from a training school back in October 2028.
It had already been three years.

The pitch black pupils that faced Mobius slowly moved and landed on him.

The conscription system had disappeared, and even Eunha was now well aware that this world was a world in which becoming a hunter was not forced upon the awakened.

In a modern hunter training center, only a shell of its former self remained.
For modern hunters, a training center was just like going to a four-year university to get a better job.
It was fine if you went, and it was okay if you didn’t.

Even so, it was surprising that there was still a hunter who was talking about hierarchies and other things.

“Can’t you hear me? Which one?”

The corners of Eunha’s lips rose slightly at his question.

The moment he met her black eyes, he felt a chill go down his spine.

Her lips, bright red as if they were dripping with blood, moved ever so slightly that the movement could not be detected.

“Me?”

The voice that melted into the darkness didn’t travel far.
It just barely touched his ear from in front of him.

“The first generation.”