“Wow, that’s insane!”
“Right? I bet our guild is the only one that can hunt an Imugi.”
Park Deok-gu and his team entered the Gate. Even from a distance, they couldn’t help but whistle in awe at the massive creature lying dead, bleeding out. It wasn’t a dragon, but an Imugi, something close to it. They had successfully completed what’s known as an A-rank Raid—the Imugi subjugation.
Though not quite a dragon, the Imugi possessed magical abilities and a tough physique comparable to one. Originally, it was an extremely difficult creature to hunt, but the Starlight Guild, which Park Deok-gu belonged to, had finally succeeded.
Even though he hadn’t directly participated in the hunt, being part of the guild filled him with pride. Just being a member was enough to make him feel accomplished.
“Alright, the main attack team did the heavy lifting, so let’s do our part, yeah?”
Park Deok-gu clapped his hands as he spoke. The main attack team had completed the tough job, so he and his team, who were assigned relatively easier tasks, couldn’t afford to fail.
“Leave it to us.”
Their mission was to search the surrounding area after the raid. Since the Imugi, which loved expensive and valuable items, had lived there, the chances of finding good loot were high. Exploring the area around the Gate after a raid had become a standard procedure.
As long as they didn’t go too far, it was fine. There were legendary rumors among hunters about someone who found a huge gold nugget while searching inside a Gate and turned their life around.
“If you find anything suspicious, report it immediately! And don’t forget your comms!”
With that, Park Deok-gu and his team split into pairs and scattered. Since it was an A-rank Raid area, they needed to search with caution.
In lower-rank raid areas, they could’ve searched while picking their noses, but in higher-rank areas, you never knew what might pop out, so a bit of tension was necessary.
As they were pushing through the dark underbrush, Park Deok-gu heard something moving.
“Hey, Jeong-gu, do you hear that?”
Park Deok-gu gestured to Jeong-gu to stop for a moment.
“A sound? Hold on.”
They paused and listened closely. The sound of someone trudging along reached their ears. If it were an ordinary person, hearing footsteps from this distance would’ve been impossible.
But Park Deok-gu was an Awakened, a hunter with superhuman physical abilities, so he could hear footsteps from far away like an animal.
“Let’s move. And contact the other teams to surround it. From the sound of the footsteps, it’s a small entity, so be careful not to let it escape.”
“Got it!”
Park Deok-gu and his team coordinated their positions via comms and successfully surrounded the mysterious entity. The unknown creature seemed to sense their presence and stopped moving, darting around nervously.
When Park Deok-gu got closer, he was surprised by the small figure. It was a humanoid monster, something rare to see. It looked like it had the body of a child under 10 years old. The tension in the air loosened at the sight of its tiny form.
Most monsters had strength proportional to their size, so this one probably had less power than a rabbit.
With his guard down, Park Deok-gu walked toward the small figure flailing its arms. Of course, he didn’t forget to grip his sword tightly, just in case something unexpected happened. He approached cautiously, ready to attack at any moment.
But as the darkness lifted and moonlight illuminated the area, it became clear. The figure had green hair and green eyes—it was a little girl. At that moment, all tension vanished. No matter how much you tried to stay on guard, seeing a fragile little girl would naturally make anyone relax.
Park Deok-gu lowered his sword and approached the girl. He needed to take her with him. As he carefully moved closer, the girl looked frightened and muttered something in an unknown language.
It wasn’t Korean, so he couldn’t understand her. In the end, Park Deok-gu managed to carry the girl back, securing her at his waist. Leaving her there would’ve meant certain death at the hands of other monsters.
Still, for an A-rank Raid area where they’d taken down an Imugi, the reward felt a bit underwhelming. Though, a humanoid monster…
It was rare, so if it had a special ability, it might have been a pretty good find. But judging by its appearance, it didn’t seem to have any special abilities.
I rolled my eyes around, trying to figure out the situation. The men were carrying me by the waist, chatting among themselves, and I strained to eavesdrop.
Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have any intention of killing me. Looking at how they were carrying me with one hand, it seemed like my body had shrunk. It wasn’t the size of an adult man who had been through the military.
“Should we put this Magic Restraint Collar on her?”
“Rules are rules… shouldn’t we? What if she goes berserk?”
“That’s true, but looking at her reminds me of my daughter back home…”
“She’s a humanoid monster found inside the Gate. We should follow the rules.”
“Right, better safe than sorry.”
From what I heard, it didn’t seem like a good thing to be wearing something. I could understand what they were saying, but when I tried to speak, some strange language other than Korean came out of my mouth. My brain was thinking in Korean, but my mouth was spouting something else, so I was completely confused.
Wait, aren’t Hunters supposed to protect civilians as a rule of law? These Hunters seemed to have completely forgotten about that.
I screamed and thrashed around, but the Hunters didn’t seem to care. In fact, they laughed, thinking I was throwing a tantrum.
After walking for what felt like dozens of minutes, I saw a brightly glowing Gate. If I could get through there, I could return to my original home. I waited quietly, biding my time. The moment the Hunters let their guard down, I would make a run for that glowing Gate.
And once I returned to reality, I would show those Hunters who tormented me what a harsh judgment of the law feels like. Then, I would return to my cozy home. No matter how I thought about it, it was the most perfect plan I could come up with.
But my perfect plan was shattered in an instant. We arrived at the gathering point, and a hairy Hunter with a full beard fastened a metal chain around my neck. It was a long leash attached to a collar.
“Ah… ugh.”
I tried to scream for them to stop, but no words came out. Instead, the Hunter who leashed me glanced at the others and patted my head, saying,
“If you behave until we get to the Guild Research Institute, we’ll take it off, okay?”
I felt like I had become an animal. Even if I couldn’t speak, I was still a person. Was it okay to treat me like this? The shabby treatment made me feel like crying. In fact, I could feel something wet streaming down my cheeks.
—
Life felt empty. Just yesterday, I was an ordinary person, but now I faced a huge ordeal. Sure, I lived in a tiny studio and barely scraped by with part-time jobs, but at least I was free.
But now, I was nothing more than a trophy with a restraint collar around my neck. It felt like the world had turned upside down in a single day, and my mind was overloaded.
Hunters were supposed to have a duty to protect civilians, but it seemed that didn’t apply to me. From what I gathered listening to the Hunters around me, I had woken up in the body of a small girl.
Maybe that’s why the Hunters around me didn’t see me as a threat.
And that was true. My current body was small and fragile, incapable of causing any harm. But even if I returned to my original body, I probably couldn’t have done anything either.
In this place filled with rough-looking uncles wielding swords, my presence was shrinking more and more. I wanted to give up and go home. I missed the comfort of my old, uncomfortable bed back home so much that I felt like I was at a dead end.
But the cold, rough restraint collar remained firmly fastened around my neck. Like a dog on a leash, I was dragged out of the Gate.
