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Chapter 71
The Mysterious Flame Mage
It took a while at first to understand.
Were they talking about bringing in a new magician?
It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The guild already had the Sword Wraith and the Snow Wraith — two S-rank hunters — but that didn’t mean there was no reason to recruit hunters of other ranks.
Dungeons have rank restrictions. Even S-rank hunters can’t easily enter some trap dungeons; you still need strong hunters of lower ranks.
There’s a reason hunters’ bounties climb through the roof.
They might need personnel who can coordinate and clear a dungeon together with Yujin.
“That’s not what they mean, I think.”
Then… no way?
Seohyewon’s eyelid twitched.
She wasn’t certain, but the wild thought was taking over her mind.
“…Yujin. I’ll ask just in case.”
“Yes.”
Seohyewon said, “A person can’t have two identities.”
“Why not?”
“Because… it’s illegal?”
“Since when did that matter? As long as you don’t get caught, it’s fine.”
That… that…?
Is that right?
“…Is that so?”
Baek Arin, who had been listening with them, put on a confused look.
Wasn’t she the one who had firsthand experience with that line of thinking — that if you don’t get caught it’s not a crime?
She’d even been the target of far worse deeds, bound up because the law lacked proper regulations.
Given that, it almost didn’t sound wrong…
“Arin?”
“Ah.”
Baek Arin snapped herself back from nearly being convinced and shook her head.
Yeah, technically, if you’re not caught it’s not a crime.
The words were correct, but morally wrong.
Baek Arin had endured being taken advantage of because of lines like “great power brings great responsibility.” She wasn’t the type to be tricked so easily.
Seohyewon, trying hard to hide her embarrassment, asked, “Don’t tell me the mysterious flame mage is you, Yujin?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Right?”
“I’d use a different name, obviously. Like Woojin, for example.”
“….”
Then that’s basically you!
“Why would you want to use another identity?” asked the Sword Wraith, who was leaning against the wall with folded arms.
“You’re fine for joining a raid with your current ID.”
“I might be fine, but not enough.”
D-rank enhancer Yujin.
There was a lot known about that.
Just being labeled an enhancer would make them a target.
Killing people gives no experience points. Meaning useless fights only waste mana and mental energy.
And…
“My area of activity would become narrower.”
“Area of activity?”
“It means I’d have to be careful about everything I do. I wouldn’t be able to operate abroad, either.”
Above all,
“It’d be a problem if all my power were revealed.”
Yujin’s main skill was enhancement.
But she also knew that enhancement alone couldn’t win fights.
So, building on the Heart of Flame, she had mastered numerous fire skills.
She needed an identity that could use those skills freely.
“If the opponent ever lets their guard down even once, it’s over. You know how important that is in a fight.”
“Planning for a war or something?”
“With villains, it’d have to be like that.”
Yujin answered casually.
“To finish off a dungeon you have to kill every villain. There might be a war.”
“…Huh. Scary.”
The Sword Wraith, who said that, looked more like he was enjoying the idea than being scared.
“But it’ll be fun.”
“Freedom is an issue too, but right now this setup is a bit inconvenient for me.”
“?”
“?”
Baek Arin and Seohyewon looked at her as if to ask what she meant.
Instead of answering, Yujin flicked a flame to life on her fingertip.
The mana contained within it — an amount far beyond that of a lowly D-rank.
…How on earth?
“Did you… re-awaken again?”
“No. It’s not that.”
Before answering further, Yujin scanned them with her eyes.
Should she tell them about her ability? That she could grow stronger in the future?
Normally it would be right to keep that secret. Who could she trust?
Still, Yujin opened her mouth.
“Do you all know what leveling up is?”
“Level? Yeah. I used to play lots of games.”
“What’s that?”
The Sword Wraith — known for swinging only a sword since long ago — asked again.
Seohyewon shook her head. “Ignore him. He’s a bit ignorant…”
“What?”
“Am I wrong?”
Seohyewon and the Sword Wraith bickered as usual.
Yujin turned her gaze away from them and said, “One of my traits is ‘Level Up.’ I get stronger the more monsters I kill.”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
The Sword Wraith didn’t know much about leveling, but he understood one point: the more monsters you hunt, the more you can grow.
That meant she didn’t have to rely on lucky re-awakenings.
Results would depend on how hard the hunter worked.
Seohyewon stammered in a shocked voice, “R-really?”
“Yes. The re-awakening rumor came because my rank changed and I was evaluated — but it wasn’t a true re-awakening.”
“…I see now.”
Baek Arin propped her chin on her hand.
“I didn’t understand why you insisted on personally killing monsters… but it was all to become stronger.”
“That’s right. Until now the growth probably seemed negligible, but…”
“From C-rank and up it’s different.”
The rank itself hadn’t changed by the trait.
Ranks are decided by two stats exceeding the C-rank thresholds.
But her mana already exceeded the C-rank threshold, so as someone in a producer-type field, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say she’d surpassed the rank criteria.
“People give no EXP?”
“Yes. People don’t give experience. Only monsters do.”
“What a ridiculous ability. Is there any way for us to get it?”
“No.”
Yujin shook her head.
“Unfortunately, this is a unique trait only I can have. Arin, you know how distinctive traits are.”
“…I know.”
Baek Arin nodded. “Traits have uniqueness. Others can’t get that trait.”
“That’s right. My level-up is a trait so I can’t give it away or obtain it again.”
“Can you ‘boost’ someone though?”
“Boost… what?”
“Like pinging kills to someone else — let them get the last hit so the EXP funnels to them. You never played games?”
“….”
The single-minded Sword Wraith fell silent.
“Anyway… to get the EXP I have to do like 90% of the killing; basically I have to kill alone.”
“So that’s why you hunt so actively.”
“Now you understand why I grandly said I wanted to end dungeons.”
The Sword Wraith nodded, pretending to act knowledgeable.
“That’s why you need a disguised identity. I’ll keep getting stronger; I can’t take the re-awakening test every time. Right now I have no way to hide my mana.”
“…I understand. You definitely need a way to hide it.”
If rumors that she re-awakened spread again, it would cause serious fallout.
Everyone knew rank changes were a taboo; that they didn’t just happen.
If that changed, it would cause a huge stir. She had to hide it.
“What name will you use?”
“Hmm. First I have to decide nationality.”
“You’re not using Korea?”
“Korea’s too small. Using this face, that face would be difficult. Better to go foreign. And it shouldn’t cause problems.”
“…Oh right. The ‘Rattlesnake’ notice came through.”
[Rattlesnake Subjugation Request]
Several guilds gather to clear a single dungeon.
Five or more teams have already been eaten, so they’re going in themselves.
Big corporations and mid-sized guilds under the quota system plan to attend.
“And foreign guilds said they’ll come too.”
“Yes.”
Yujin smiled.
“I plan to attend there. So — um.”
She looked at Seohyewon’s outfit.
Checking whether it fit the dungeon attendance conditions, she nodded.
“Seohyewon, do you like disguises?”
“Huh?”
“Also, do you have a favorite actor?”
—An identity, huh.
A quiet voice came from a rarely-trafficked street.
Once used for camping, the place had become somewhere people shouldn’t enter. In that quiet spot, a voice crackled from a radio.
The radio, a few years old, transmitted a small static and a voice.
—Why is that necessary?
“Isn’t it natural for someone to have at least two identities?”
—What nonsense.
“You have a lot of IDs yourself, don’t you?”
—I’m part of business. Traveling overseas requires multiple fake IDs.
“Same here. Make me one, too. I don’t care if it’s a criminal record. It’s an ID to be used when dealing with you.”
—…Do you really think asking me that is right?
The Master, baffled, answered.
He didn’t see why the one trading with him would ask him to make an identity on their behalf.
Usually you wouldn’t make such a request — those who don’t want the Master to see their identity rarely do.
But what Yujin wanted was a “masked freelancer.”
An identity that, if needed, the Master would endorse — but only used for freelance work.
“I want a foreign identity. A C-rank fire mage hunter should be fine.”
—C-rank fire mage hunter? Sure, making that’s not a problem. With money, anything’s doable. But the issue is — what if you get caught?
“Don’t worry, we won’t be found out.”
Yujin flicked a flame onto her finger.
“See this?”
—I can’t see it…
“You know I’ve been recording everything with cameras.”
-….
Silence from the Master.
Silence meant agreement.
Yujin spoke with a smile in her voice.
“Don’t be bothered. You already knew.”
—…You’re something else. Fine. I see it as C-rank on the meter.
“You spend on good stuff, huh?”
—I got a cost-effective camera. Used, but basically the same as new….
“So, can you do it or not?”
Yujin tapped the radio.
The Master sighed, seeing that reading or not reading the situation no longer mattered.
“Should I come to your bar then?”
—I’ve never opened up to you.
“That’s no reason I can’t find you.”
—I’d appreciate some respect for my privacy.
“You’re not even at the bar yourself; you have a proxy there.”
-…That power. Not D-rank. Did you get stronger, or did you hide your strength?
“Maybe.”
The Master snorted a laugh at Yujin evasively changing the subject.
“What I want is one thing. The raid slot. And one fake identity for me and another person.”
—…One more person?
Yujin glanced toward the forest.
A masked swordsman walked out.
A mysterious swordsman. Remarkably, his mask and sword were white, as if painted entirely white.
“He’s my friend.”
—…That one?
“I need two C-rank identities. If I do that, I’ll bring you the rattlesnake. You’ll be interested in the item it drops, right?”
-….
Probably so.
It was an item impossible to obtain at this point in time.
Yujin smiled and asked, “So? Think we have a deal?”
The answer had already been decided.
