026 - Kurenai
He didn’t know why they weren’t shooting at him.
He wondered if it was a trap, but the Elves on the fortress weren’t just Elves; they were Elves that had been turned into monsters. They weren’t beings with enough of a self to engage in high-level psychological warfare.
A monster is a being left with nothing but aggression and instinct.
The only times a monster won't attack is when the level difference is so vast it freezes their fighting spirit, or when their instincts command them to.
'It’s not the former, so it must be the latter.'
Was it instinct?
Were the Elves' instincts telling them not to attack him?
'Rona felt a whim when she saw me, and Chartia has been friendly since we first met. Come to think of it, even the Dark Elves' assault was a little weak for their reputation.'
The Dark Elves had pursued him and Bulkar as if to kill them, but compared to the infamous reputation of Elves he’d heard about, they had been easy opponents.
At the time, he’d thought it was simply because he had gotten that much stronger, but perhaps there had been an issue on the Dark Elves' side as well.
'Are they instinctively afraid of my ability to perceive souls?'
Fear would explain everything. When faced with a fearsome being, you either submit or flee.
Of course, the complete opposite emotion would explain it just as well.

"Jinwoo? Do you have an ability that makes the Elves' arrows heavy?"
"Jinwoo! So you had an ability to repel projectiles!"
Chartia and Ayaka each interpreted the phenomenon in a way they could understand.
Chartia, an Elf in her past life, thought it was an Elf-related ability. Ayaka, who specialized in defense, thought it was an ability to block projectiles.
Neither was the correct answer, but the problem was that Jinwoo didn't know the answer either.
However, just as you don't need to know the principles behind a smartphone to use it, it seemed he could make use of this phenomenon.
"Chartia, Ayaka. I'm going to go up alone and find the Erosion's Core, so please wait here."
"What? Will you be okay?"
"No matter how you look at it, isn't that dangerous? It could be a trap."
Naturally, they both objected, but Jinwoo shook his head.
"It's probably not a trap."
…Probably.
"If it is a trap, I'll just run. If that happens, please be ready to cover my escape."
Even if it was a trap, he was confident he could get away by himself.
The two agreed to Jinwoo's proposal, and the party decided to remain where they were, setting up a solid defensive line in case Jinwoo had to flee.
"You still have the amulet I gave you, right?"
At Chartia’s reminder, Jinwoo took a handkerchief from his pocket and opened it. Inside, the flower Chartia had given him rested safely.
Seemingly reassured, Chartia saw him off, and Jinwoo began to climb the mountain fortress alone.
Zig-zag. Jinwoo walked along the path that wound up the mountain.
His eyes were fixed on the Elves atop the fortress, ready to react the moment an arrow flew his way.
But there was no need. The Elves didn't attack Jinwoo at all.
He soon arrived at the castle ruins on the mountain summit.
A place where a sturdy castle must have once stood. Now, only the foundation remained, conveying a mere fragment of the grand old castle's past.
Still, the castle walls and a few defensive structures remained, and the Elf monsters were positioned there in dense formation.
'One, two… no, I can't even count them.'
At a glance, there were too many to count by eye. Weren't there at least 300 of them?
No wonder the arrows had rained down heavily enough to blot out the sky…
As Jinwoo approached, the Elves stepped back, naturally creating distance. It was less that they were moving away from him and more like they knew they shouldn't block his path.
"Can you understand me?"
Jinwoo tried speaking in Elvish. But no one answered.
It wasn't that they couldn't speak or hear; they simply lacked the self-awareness to answer him.
It felt like talking to a mechanical doll.
These dolls, left with only instinct, would attack enemies indiscriminately, but conversely, that same instinct was telling them not to attack Jinwoo.
It was a contradiction Jinwoo had no way of explaining.
'The Core is this way.'
Jinwoo walked slowly toward the place where he could feel the black flame.
The Elves consumed by the Erosion swarmed before him, but they voluntarily moved aside to clear a path.
Walking along the path that had parted like the Red Sea, Jinwoo finally arrived before a single tree.
A tree that held a black flame.

'I cut a Core made of rock and got a rock sword, so will it be a wooden sword this time?'
Jinwoo raised his sword and aimed it at the tree. No one interfered.
The Elf monsters stared intently at Jinwoo's sword with unreadable expressions.
They were certainly beings without a sense of self. And yet, strangely, it seemed as if he could see expressions on their faces.
With their gazes fixed upon him, Jinwoo lifted his sword.
And cut it down in a single stroke.
The tree split in half with one blow, and the black flame was likewise bisected.
The scattered black flame, having lost its destination, lashed out as if in a final struggle, but it all eventually flowed into Jinwoo's sword.
And the sky opened up.
During the first Erosion, he had destroyed the Core inside a movie theater and hadn't seen it, but now he witnessed the "opening of the heavens."
A thin crack appeared in the eroded sky, and Jinwoo watched with unfamiliar eyes as it split open like a door and vanished.
Simultaneously, the surrounding Elves began to disappear.
'When an Erosion is cleared, the monsters inside evaporate.'
It was a natural phenomenon. Jinwoo knew it, and everyone else knew it.
The forms of the hundreds of Elves vanished, leaving only their blue flames, which stretched up toward the sky.
This way, they would be able to be reincarnated.
Perhaps this was the kind of ending Chartia had wished for.
As he was thinking this and watching the hundreds of flames rise to the sky, the phenomenon suddenly changed.
The Elven flames that were rising to the sky suddenly changed direction, turned, and poured down onto Jinwoo on the ground.
'What the—!?'
Before he could even be surprised by the sudden waterfall of flames, they were absorbed into him.
Thump.
Jinwoo's flame pulsed, expanding in size. The flame, which had grown dramatically when he'd madly hunted werewolves on the 0th Floor, was now three times larger than it had been then.
…What was that?
He couldn't help but be genuinely bewildered.
They seemed to be ascending properly, and then they suddenly fell back to the ground. Wasn't that somewhat ominous?
'Is this a good thing or a bad thing…?'
For Jinwoo personally, it was undoubtedly a boon. A larger flame meant his soul had become that much stronger.
The problem was that he didn't know if the reason was positive or negative.
Did they turn back on their own because his soul could serve as a sanctuary for Elves? Or was it the work of some evil sorcery that coveted souls, forcing them to change direction?
"…"
"…"
…
A slight sense of unease remained, and Jinwoo licked his lips.
Still, he had resolved the immediate problem of the Erosion.
He had safely returned to reality, with its blue sky and shining sun. The energy of the Erosion was no longer present in this place.
Jinwoo left the castle ruins and looked down at the party waiting below. In the distance, he could see Ayaka and her guild members cheering with joy.
Jinwoo also relaxed and started walking toward them.
[A Fragment of a Past Life emerges.]
[That sword shall become greater.]

That morning, before entering the Erosion.
Ayaka had posted about her mission and her resolve on SNS.

[Ayaka] @AyakaSatomi 08:12
- To the citizens of Tokyo. We're finally heading out to resolve that Erosion. With Hunter Kang Jinwoo and Hunter Chartia, who came all the way from Seoul. Please watch over us!!

Tokyo #Erosion #Headache #HunterKangJinwoo #HunterChartia #ShirataGuild

A selfie with a determined look was attached. Her guild members could be seen scattered in the background, along with the figures of a handsome man and a beautiful woman she hadn't seen before on one side.
Many citizens heading to work saw the post, which had gone up around 8 a.m.
The Erosion was already the hottest topic of late, so any post with the #Erosion tag spread quickly.

Finally, that ominous Erosion is going to disappear!
Good luck!
Are those two people in the back Hunter Kang Jinwoo and Hunter Chartia?
Chartia! Isn't she the S-class Hunter who recently naturalized in Seoul?

The citizens rejoiced in the hope that the tumor-like Erosion would finally be gone.
While working at the office, taking a short cigarette break, or scrolling through their phones in the bathroom, the news spread far and wide.
How long would it take to clear the Erosion?
Everyone knew it wouldn't be easy, as it was located on a mountain fortress and the monsters were Elves. But with an S-class Hunter present, it shouldn't be too difficult to resolve.
Moreover, the Shirata Guild had a reputation for being a solid guild composed of capable A-class Hunters.
The guild leader, Ayaka, was said to wield a massive shield despite her small and cute appearance, and even some S-class Hunters had difficulty breaking through her defense.
With such people taking action, wouldn't it be cleared within the week? Some even dared to predict three days. The power of an S-class Hunter was on another level; there was no way a fortress conquest would take a whole week.

While they were actively exchanging opinions, another post went up.

[Ayaka] @AyakaSatomi 09:17
— Uh… everyone… the Erosion is gone. Hunter Kang Jinwoo went up alone and cleared it by himself…

Tokyo #Erosion #Headache #HunterKangJinwoo #HunterChartia #ShirataGuild

Attached was a photo of the mountain fortress under a clear blue sky.
It had been just over an hour since her first post.
The combination of the shockingly fast clear time and the testimony from the Shirata Guild's own leader, Ayaka, caused the tag #HunterKangJinwoo to spread explosively.

"What are you looking at so intently?"
Inside the returning bus, Jinwoo asked Ayaka, who was sitting next to Chartia. Of course, the conversation was happening through Chartia's interpretation.
She had been tapping furiously on her smartphone, looking as if she were messaging someone.
"Oh, uh, it's nothing. I was just on SNS… haha."
Ayaka jumped in surprise, hiding her phone with an awkward laugh.
SNS was something that had absolutely no connection to Jinwoo's life. A man who barely checked his email was not about to use something like SNS.
Seeing that Jinwoo didn't seem very interested, Ayaka let out a sigh of relief.
"You're going to the Tokyo Hunter Management Bureau to report, right? I'll go with you. I have to go anyway."
"Sounds good. To be honest, I don't even know where it is."
"The report itself will be over quickly. Do you have any plans afterward?"
"Plans?"
"You might not realize it since you resolved it so quickly, but that Erosion was recently Tokyo's biggest headache. Since we solved it, I was thinking we could have a small celebration party."
Jinwoo was indifferent. As Ayaka said, he had dealt with it so quickly that he didn't feel moved enough to have a party.
He wanted to investigate that Tsukikage Guild that had attacked them yesterday… and he wanted to find the guy who ran away.
"I know a good yakiniku place. How about it? Do you like beef tongue?"
"Let's go."
The answer was reflexive.
He had eaten a good amount of beef since awakening, but never beef tongue. And a Japanese-style yakiniku restaurant was something that had never crossed paths with his life.
He apologized to Chartia for accepting on his own without thinking, but she said it was fine.
Since the Erosion was resolved more easily and quickly than expected, she said it would be okay to do some sightseeing in their spare time. It was his first trip abroad, after all; shouldn't he have at least one fun memory?
"I'll make a reservation right away. There's a place that's open at this time."
Ayaka immediately called somewhere and reserved a room. It was a room that could fit all twelve of them: Jinwoo, Chartia, Ayaka, and the guild members.
The bus first arrived at the Tokyo Hunter Management Bureau, where they reported the resolution of the Erosion.
It wasn't a time-consuming task, so the report was over quickly. After this, once the Erosion site was checked and stamped off, the job would be completely finished.
That was the job of the Bureau employees, not Jinwoo or Ayaka, so their time afterward was free.
It was still a little early for lunch, but the group headed straight for the reserved yakiniku restaurant.
The quiet restaurant had no other customers besides Jinwoo's party.
They took their seats in the best room in the establishment, and a server continuously brought them meat and drinks.
In the center of the table was a brazier and grill, so all they had to do was cook and eat.
"Wow… it's melting in my mouth."
The taste of his first beef tongue was beyond imagination.
It was lightly coated in a soy-based marinade and topped with chopped green onions, and the balance of the marinade and the aroma of the onions was fantastic.
Of course, beef tongue wasn't the only meat they ordered, so Jinwoo grilled and gobbled up every kind of meat available.
"!$@#$#%"
"@#%!$@$"
"@%$@@#$"
Meanwhile, it was very noisy around them, but Jinwoo, who didn't know Japanese, couldn't understand a word.
Still, he could tell from the atmosphere. They were all relieved that the tumor-like Erosion near the city was gone.
"Everyone is amazed by your performance. They only knew you as an E-class with a search ability, but you ended up solving the whole thing," Chartia briefly relayed what they were saying.
Most of it was praise or words of gratitude directed at him, but even the more embarrassing compliments were bearable when heard through Chartia.
"I was just lucky. Please tell them it was an Erosion that had good synergy with my ability."
"I will. But what kind of Elf were you in your past life, Jinwoo? Seeing the Elves with only their instincts left avoid you on their own, you must have been some incredible royalty, right?"
"I could have been the worst criminal they all feared."
"Hey, no way."
Chartia laughed as if that couldn't be possible, but Jinwoo was seriously considering the latter possibility.
As they shared such small talk, the party atmosphere grew more lively.
It was hard for Jinwoo to join in since he didn't know Japanese, but that was actually for the best. It meant he could focus solely on the meat.
Just then, a news report came on the TV that had been playing as background music in a corner of the room.
"#$@%±7|7|7||@#%!$!$."
Hearing a word he recognized, Jinwoo looked over. Not just him, but Chartia and the others were also now watching the reporter on TV.
The reporter was on location inside a building, the scene of a tragedy.
The floor was marked with the outlines of several bodies in white tape, and the walls bore indelible bloodstains.
Police forensics teams were seen bustling about, continuing their investigation of the scene.
"Chartia, what's the news?" Jinwoo asked.
Chartia frowned and answered.
"It says the Tsukikage Guild has been wiped out."
The reporter on the TV was delivering the news with a serious expression.
The police suspect a conflict between assassination guilds and are continuing their investigation. They are focusing on guilds that have had previous disputes with the Tsukikage Guild…

Early that morning.
Jinwoo, who had returned to the hotel and was sleeping, opened his eyes.
An empty room. A room in a five-star hotel that boasted the best security in Tokyo, and it even had the security plant Chartia had left him.
In the dark room where all was silent, Jinwoo quietly drew his sword.
"Christmas is still a long way off."
As he spoke while staring into the darkness, a soft chuckle was heard, and something fell with a thud.
It was a human head.
"There's no rule that says only Santa Claus can give presents, is there?"
It was the voice of an old man, like a cracked, withered tree. As if being considerate of Jinwoo, he spoke in fluent Korean.
Without letting down his guard, Jinwoo nudged the fallen head with the tip of his sword. It was a familiar face.
The assassin from the Tsukikage Guild who had attacked them yesterday and then fled.
"I am Kurenai Masato, leader of the Kurenai Guild," the unseen old man said, sounding amused. "I intended to leave it quietly, but I never imagined you would be able to see me."