This is the Kind of Person I Am (2)

“Gasp, I’m so sorry!”

I had only meant to shoo away a mosquito. I apologized hurriedly.

“Kim Se-hyun-ssi?”

“…….”

He looked as though he might say something, but once again, he remained silent. I watched him daze out while staring at his own finger, wondering what was going through his head—but the moment didn’t last long. The emergency phone line filled the office with its piercing ring, and I snapped my head toward it.

“Everyone, get ready!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

I don’t know why dungeons have been appearing so frequently lately. The saying that they manifest at least once every two weeks feels like it should be updated to at least twice a week by now.

Perhaps because of the unexpected dungeon appearance, my entire body tensed up. As I straightened my back, something brushed against my cheek again, and my hand moved instinctively.

“…Ah.”

I had just confirmed it was Kim Se-hyun’s finger, yet here I was, grabbing it a second time. In my embarrassment, I tried to pull away quickly, but when he caught my hand instead, my heart nearly dropped into my stomach.

“…….”

“…….”

Was it because of our height difference, or was it just that my hands were on the smaller side?

I saw Kim Se-hyun’s hand completely enveloping mine. I was momentarily dazed by the warmth radiating through the back of my hand, but the sound of the camera shutter snapped me back to reality.

Clickclickclickclickclick!

“Hyung, you know you’re really cute, right? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

He spoke even faster than he was fiddling with my hand. Not only that, the shutter sound—faster than his words—assaulted my eardrums, making it impossible to keep my wits about me.

“Hey, let go of his hand and knock it off, will you?”

“How great would it be if you had the ability to turn tiny, Hyung? I’d carry you around with me every day.”

“Hey! Kim Se-hyun!”

Despite the Team Leader’s roar, Se-hyun was too busy saying what he wanted to say. I’d noticed it before, but he really was the ultimate ‘my-pace’ individual. I tried to twist my arm to slip away, but the person holding me tightened his grip, making it impossible.

“…Come to think of it, if your body got smaller, you wouldn’t have any clothes to wear, would you?”

“That bastard, seriously! Are you going to stop? Do you want to get banned from this office?”

“Hyung, I’ll study tailoring really hard from now on, so just wait a bit.”

“Um, Kim Se-hyun-ssi.”

“Yes, Hyung?”

He answered instantly, as if he’d been waiting for me to call him. The hand that had been massaging mine also stopped its movement at my voice.

His eyes sparkled so intensely I wondered if they could possibly get any brighter. I met his gaze and spoke, trying my best to sound calm.

“I don’t have a power like that.”

“Pffft!”

“I’m gonna die, seriously!”

Once again, the team members burst into fits of laughter. I had only been stating a serious fact; I didn’t expect them to laugh like this. I scratched my cheek with my free hand, only to notice Kim Se-hyun’s shoulders slumping forward.

“…….”

Looking at him like that made me feel strangely guilty. His downcast eyes and the way the corners of his mouth drooped toward the floor made me feel like I’d said the wrong thing. Feeling self-conscious, I cautiously added a few words.

“Um, but… thank you for worrying about me.”

Even though I wasn’t going to shrink, it was a kind gesture for him to say he’d personally sew clothes for me with that possibility in mind.

At the word ‘thank you,’ the slumped Kim Se-hyun peeked up at me. Along with that look, his shoulders slowly returned to their original position. His expression, too, began to brighten.

“Youngest, we’re heading out, okay?”

Ah.

Because of the unexpected situation, I had momentarily forgotten about the dungeon. At the greeting from Officer Han, I hurriedly stood up.

“Yes! Please be safe!”

“Officer Kim and Officer Park, you go too. The Deputy, the youngest, and I will handle things here.”

“Understood!”

The culprit behind the website crash and the flower incident had been revealed, but since the difficulty and scale of this dungeon were lower compared to others, it seemed even the Team Leader didn’t feel the need to step out. Once Officers Han, Kim, and Park left, the Team Leader moved to the control tower. I immediately headed toward the relay station.

I opened the relay and returned to my seat, accessing the traffic center to monitor the site.

“What’s the status?”

“All CCTVs within a 50m radius of Haseo University in Sector Z-2 are down. Judging by the CCTV status, the dungeon size doesn’t seem to have changed yet!”

“Deputy!”

“Yes.”

The Deputy Team Leader, who had moved to Officer Park’s seat, began typing away at the keyboard. After reading the emergency disaster message that arrived shortly after, he checked the CCTV status around the dungeon again.

“Hyung.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you guys have satellite views or anything here?”

“…I know, right?”

I remembered how shocked I was when I first arrived here and learned we didn’t use satellites. Of course, I now knew exactly why we couldn’t access them.

Saving people should be the priority, yet I couldn’t understand why people valued money more. Recalling that the Hunter Department was denied satellite access rights due to the Association’s lobbying, my hand tightened around the mouse.

“Whew.”

Whenever I thought about the Association, all I could do was sigh. Shaking my head, I focused back on the CCTV footage of Haseo University. Suddenly, a finger reached out and pointed at a spot on the screen. I looked where he was pointing.

“Hyung, here.”

“Yes?”

“Zoom in on this part.”

Kim Se-hyun must have found something. I immediately clicked it and blew up the window.

“Gasp!”

What… is that?

A red, monstrous creature was crossing the road. I gasped for air, only to be further startled by Se-hyun’s next words.

“That’s called a Mutant Chimera.”

“A Mutant Chimera?”

“A muuu-tant?”

I don’t know if he heard Se-hyun’s murmur or my question, but the Team Leader came running over instantly. Seeing him look at the monitor with such a serious face was quite a rare sight.

“…Kim Se-hyun, what rank do you think a Mutant Chimera of that size would be?”

“B-rank, at the very least.”

The two men, who had been busy talking past each other, were finally having a real conversation. Shocked by the mention of a B-rank, I looked back at the CCTV.

“Damn it! Tell Officer Kim and Officer Park to turn back! Send a cooperation request to the Association, and you two stay put! Deputy, send out a corrected message to evacuate people up to a 2km radius around the university!”

— Yes, we’ll return immediately! But did something happen?

“We’ve spotted Mutant Chimeras at the dungeon! Officer Han, are you listening?”

— Yes!

“Contact the other hunters and tell them to focus only on defense so the Chimeras don’t get out! If it looks dangerous, evacuate!”

— Understood!

“Hello, this is the Seoul City Hunter Department…”

The moment the Team Leader gave the order, the Deputy also contacted the police and fire departments via the relay. I couldn’t just stand by as an observer either. I began counting the Chimeras slowly emerging on the large screen.

“Fifteen.”

As if he knew exactly what I was trying to do, he stated the number instantly. I looked at Se-hyun; even though he was smiling radiantly, I couldn’t bring myself to smile back.

“Fifteen… you said fifteen?”

In a situation where the exact area of the dungeon couldn’t be confirmed, finding fifteen monsters meant things were incredibly dangerous. If there were fifteen B-rank Mutant Chimeras, the difficulty level had to be adjusted immediately.

“When you ask the Association for help, you should probably ask for a lot of A-ranks, or just have them attach an S-rank. This looks like at least an A-rank dungeon.”

“Ah.”

“Well, in my case, I possess exceptional abilities that can’t even be compared to other S-ranks.”

“…….”

He sounded a bit—no, very—shameless, but I couldn’t refute it because he actually had the power to back it up.

Right, a dungeon of this level could be cleared easily by someone like him.

On an impulse, I spoke up.

“Kim Se-hyun-ssi, could you please help us?”

“…Since you’re the one asking, Hyung, my heart feels a bit swayed.”

Kim Se-hyun’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected me to ask for help. He looked momentarily flustered, but as he rubbed his chin in contemplation, I saw a glimmer of hope. I asked one more time.

“Please.”

An increase in dungeon difficulty meant it would be harder to guarantee people’s safety. Moreover, as difficulty rose, the scale could expand in an instant, so the situation had to be settled as quickly as possible.

I looked at Kim Se-hyun with desperate eyes. When he shifted his gaze to meet mine, I swallowed hard.

“…Then, Hyung. If I do this favor for you, will you grant me one wish?”

A wish?

A wish meant Kim Se-hyun wanted something from me. I thought about it for a moment, then flinched as a thought crossed my mind.

“…….”

Surely, it couldn’t be.

The image of my small, precious bank account balance turning to zero alongside the word ‘money-grubber’ flashed before my eyes. But that wasn’t what mattered right now. I hardened my resolve and answered.

“Yes!”

“Who told you to answer so fast?!”

The Team Leader thumped his chest in frustration. But right now, settling the situation came first. I voiced my honest feelings.

“In this day and age, the Association is the only place that demands we hand-write cooperation requests! The situation is urgent, yet time is being wasted elsewhere! Besides… besides, we have the best hunter in the country right here, so I don’t see why we need to go the long way around!”

Right—if Kim Se-hyun weren’t here, I wouldn’t have even entertained the thought. But with the nation’s top hunter right in front of us, seeking help from the Association felt nonsensical. It felt like an insult to Se-hyun’s presence.

While my bank balance was pitiably small, it wasn’t a massive amount of money anyway, so I could just save it up again. And maybe, once he saw how tiny my balance was, Se-hyun might even take pity on me.

“Ahem, ahem!”

Suddenly, a loud coughing sound erupted. I looked over to see Kim Se-hyun covering his mouth with a clenched fist.

“Ahem, hmmm!”

When our eyes met, he cleared his throat again and looked away slightly. My heart sank.

Wait… is my balance so small and precious that it doesn’t even tempt him?

“Well, whatever. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

“Thank you, Kim Se-hyun-ssi!”

“Hah. I really am just too impressive, aren’t I?”

“You are!”

“…Well.”

He glanced around for a moment before jumping up from his seat. Tucking his phone into his pocket, Se-hyun headed straight for the office door. I followed him.

“Why are you following me?”

“To see you off.”

“Ah.”

He was doing me a difficult favor; this was the least I could do. I followed him into the hallway and offered a greeting to the man who was staring at me in silence.

“Please be careful.”

Even if he was an S-rank, it wasn’t good to be overconfident. Moreover, since he was heading to a dangerous place at my request, this kind of parting word was only natural.

“…….”

“…Kim Se-hyun-ssi?”

He was so still I wondered if he was even breathing. Panicked by the way he wouldn’t even blink, I called out to him again. Or rather, I tried to.

“Hyung.”

“Yes.”

“I… want to use my wish right now.”

“Uh….”

I didn’t expect him to state his wish here. Stunned that he wanted to say it so early, I looked around for a moment before bracing myself.

“Please, tell me.”

Whether it happened now or later, my balance was destined to disappear; it didn’t matter if it vanished a little sooner. I prepared myself to empty my account the moment he returned and listened intently to his words.

“In that case….”

I had already made up my mind, but I couldn’t understand why I was so nervous. My mouth felt bone-dry. I swallowed hard and waited for the rest of his sentence.