Cha Eun-hyuk truly seethed with anguish.
"Cha Ara, you crazy bitch!!!"
With his own older brother—without whom, she wouldn't have anyone to share a meal with—standing right there, and with his younger sister, who had turned into some kind of monster, right in front of his eyes.
Even for Cha Eun-hyuk, who rarely raised his voice, this really did seem like Cha Ara's fault. She had left without answering once when he spoke to her out of worry, and now they were reuniting like this?
"Didn't I tell you to watch yourself?! I told you not to let your head swell just because you're stronger than ordinary civilians! I told you not to get fooled somewhere, to live selfishly, looking out for yourself first—did I or did I not?!"
Cha Ara didn't answer, but Cha Eun-hyuk didn't care. In any case, the journey to get here had been wretched and difficult, and now it even felt unfair.
What was he doing here with the body of a non-awakened civilian?
"If you're gone, who'll make snacks for Cha Isol?! Who'll taste-test my bungeoppang?! You always acted like you're the head of this household, like you're the only hunter, puffing yourself up with swagger upon swagger, and then what?! Missing?! Don't give me that missing bullshit—do you know how my heart shattered when I heard that?!"
"C-Cha Eun-hyuk… please calm down…"
"I told you to run if things looked bad! You're good at running, aren't you?! And you, huh?! You never even wear skirts normally, always saying your legs feel bare, but now what the hell are you doing dressed up in one with a bunch of frills?! Ever since you were a kid and said your dream was to be a magical girl, I knew it, but even so, isn't this too much?!"
The Collector employees who had gotten close to him in the meantime tried to stop Cha Eun-hyuk, but it was no use. What was even more absurd was that the clown—Cha Ara—was actually flinching at those words. Seeing that, the Collector employees muttered.
"…? So she didn't die—she got tainted?"
"Is there a chance her ego from when she was alive is still there?"
"There have been cases where they imitate their living behavior similarly."
"Uh, that's kind of cruel. That hurts."
Anyway, seeing her look like something was hitting home only made Cha Eun-hyuk boil even more. He got so choked up that tears came out.
He had been dragged into this damned garden or dungeon or whatever because he was worried about her, and he had been crawling along for months already—so what kind of mindset was it to show up dressed up all flashy like a monster, as if she were trying to provoke him?
"Aren't you even worried about me?!"
In the end, he even blurted that out.
"I was trying not to say this to some kid who got screwed while working and earning money as one of the pillars of the household, but aren't I pitiful?! Can't you see I'm all tattered like a towel that's been used for decades?!"
"…! …!!"
"If you've got a mouth, make excuses at least! Aren't you worried about your little sibling?! That kid's trying to clear the dungeon so she can go home with her brother and sister—she's got blood and blisters all over her feet, going through hell, you know that?! Do you even get it?!"
"……!!"
"If you really thought about us even once, it shouldn't be like this…!!"
Cha Ara—the clown—flinched briefly each time Cha Eun-hyuk shouted and scolded her, but that was all. The Collector guild members who were guarding Cha Eun-hyuk stepped up to block the clown as it attacked.
"Mr. Cha Eun-hyuk, it doesn't look like simply yelling will bring about any meaningful change!"
"The clowns aren't only targeting Hunter Cha…! At this rate, not only us, but you too will get hurt, Mr. Cha Eun-hyuk!"
"There's a limit to how long we can hold out, ngh…!"
It wasn't like they expected Cha Eun-hyuk to accomplish something amazing. It was simply consideration because Cha Eun-hyuk and Cha Ara were unusually close siblings, and because they were good people favored by the Black Cloak.
Consideration to buy time so Cha Eun-hyuk could collect himself.
"This is the limit—there are too many clowns!"
"Mr. Cha Eun-hyuk…!"
And Cha Eun-hyuk…
"……."
Yes, he agonized.
'He definitely said he would help.'
The Black Cloak had said everything would be fine.
He was a 'mystery' that could lie. But Cha Eun-hyuk knew he wasn't a 'person' who would lie even in a situation like that. 'Brother Gio,' who sincerely cherished and supported Cha Isol, would never swear a falsehood about that girl's safety.
And the Black Cloak had spoken of a jewel. Yes, that's right.
'A jewel, a jewel—Cha Ara must still have the jewel….'
He hadn't expected Cha Ara to react this much just from him yelling a few times. The other clowns were still acting like monsters, after all. Cha Ara was the only clown that reacted to her family's voice. Only she was different; there had to be a reason.
And then, as if possessed, Cha Eun-hyuk found something.
"……."
A black jeweled necklace.
Cha Eun-hyuk stepped forward.
* * *
Cha Ara blinked.
"……."
"…Uh…."
She was being held, sprawled over her older brother.
"…Oppa."
"…You crazy bitch…."
"No matter what, I don't think shoving a jewel into someone's mouth is the right move."
"You—are you even a person?"
"Th-that… might be… true."
With trembling hands, Cha Ara felt along the back of her family member who was supporting her. Because he had taken her attack head-on, Cha Eun-hyuk's body had holes in it. His back was damp with blood.
That would have been a fatal wound for a civilian, but thankfully, Cha Eun-hyuk didn't die. It was thanks to the Collector's recovery potion, famous as Korea's number one capital powerhouse. A guild member who had poured in a large-volume potion gave a thumbs-up.
"Congratulations on the family reunion!"
"Damn, I didn't think this would actually work… shit!"
"Kheuk!! These clowns, seriously…!!"
They didn't even have time to celebrate the siblings' reunion before the Collector guild members hurriedly moved again. Cha Eun-hyuk and Cha Ara's situation was touching, but the situation was too urgent to indulge in sentiment.
Amid the chaos like a battlefield, Cha Eun-hyuk was still holding Cha Ara.
"Fuck, I—I really… thought you… you died…."
"…Wasn't the one who almost died this time you, oppa?"
"You really don't want to lose even a single word that badly?"
"Just, uh… facts. Facts."
Cha Ara, who had been blankly held in his arms, finally felt reality hit and started to sniffle.
"…S-sorry…."
She hadn't meant to.
"Ah, it hurts. It hurt, didn't it. Sorry, I'm really sorry, oppa."
"What the hell were you doing somewhere for it to go to shit like this…."
"N-no, I—I was trying to run too. But that bastard ditched me and ran first. I really was trying to go home. But then, then, like… like, I got made to play doll… I…."
"Sorry."
"……."
"Thank you…."
"…Ugh…."
That was what Cha Ara should have been saying.
Cha Ara's tears dripped down as she hugged her older brother tightly. A civilian—weak, with no real training or education—and yet clearing a dungeon? What kind of nonsense was that. He was so thin he'd lost all fat and muscle; it wasn't the solid bulk she used to hug.
That body, grown gaunt because of her, made her feel so miserable.
"I'm sorryyy…."
Cha Eun-hyuk silently hugged Cha Ara tighter. Cha Ara couldn't see her older brother's face, but she could feel that he was smiling very happily. He was crying even more quietly than she was, and rejoicing even more quietly than that.
Cha Ara slowly blinked, feeling that warmth.
"……."
And, well, usually after a moment like that, what comes rushing in is embarrassment.
It was far too noisy around them to keep the situation purely touching. They were in the middle of a battlefield, and the two of them were adults who'd lived plenty long enough. They weren't the sort of people to keep crying rivers like this, and no one was about to die.
'No, and right now… something's weird.'
Fumbling, Cha Ara pushed her older brother away. At that sudden movement, Cha Eun-hyuk looked at her with a dazed face.
He asked, uneasy.
"…W-why, why? Are you hurt? Are you going somewhere? Stay still, okay?"
"Oppa."
"Uh, uh…? W-what, why."
"Do you love me?"
"Fuck?"
"You love me that much?"
Cha Ara said, her own face just as dazed.
"Did I evolve?"
"…What did you say?"
"How much do you love me? No, but—can you even love me this much?"
"…Side effects? Did I take it wrong? I thought it'd work because he's a god who likes eating, but I knew it, I shouldn't have stuffed it into your mouth?"
"Uh, no… huh…."
Staggering, Cha Ara got to her feet.
"Huh? Hey, hey, what are you—"
"What am I, some magical girl."
"…Huh?"
Crack!!!
Cha Ara threw her dress shoe and blew off the head of a clown that was trying to rush her older brother.
"……."
"How does it make sense to get stronger with the power of love…?"
What kind of insane harmony is this?
'This is fucking embarrassing.'
In sheer absurdity, Cha Ara's face turned red like a fully ripe tomato. She didn't understand the principle at all, but Cha Eun-hyuk's hot worry and affection were being felt in an oddly naked, blatant way, and it was mortifying.
That was how sibling relationships were. When a crisis hits, they can be that desperate for each other, but basically, clashing, cussing each other out, and insulting each other is daily life. Especially Cha Eun-hyuk—he was usually a blunt eldest son with no affection in his expression.
'No, and for a guy like that….'
Because of Cha Eun-hyuk's massive affection—something she'd never recognized in daily life—Cha Ara's head went fuzzy. It wasn't something vague she just sort of felt; it was as clear as numbers on a report graph. It wasn't a lie, and the clearer she perceived it, the more somehow humiliating it felt.
'What even is this…?'
And in proportion to that embarrassment, Cha Ara's monstrous strength grew.
"…? Uh, uh? Just now…."
"Wait, that—Hunter Cha Ara?"
"Whoa, what was that just now?"
Cha Ara's sudden participation startled Cha Ara herself, startled Cha Eun-hyuk who'd just managed a family reunion, and startled the Collector employees who'd been protecting their touching reunion.
Even the dungeon's owner, who'd seemed to be watching from afar, and the hunters across from him, including Jung Young-won, seemed startled.
Under those gazes, Cha Ara's face blazed red, to the point she thought it couldn't possibly get any redder.
"…Uh, th-that, uh…."
And most humans, once they taste emotions beyond a certain level, tended to lose their reason. Cha Ara realized her own state—wearing a cute dress that wasn't even her taste, with twin ponytails—and yes, she reached exactly that 'lost her reason' state.
In the end, Cha Ara gave up.
"Ah, fuck it."
"…Hey, what the hell all of a sudden."
"I don't know either."
She gave up on understanding.
"It'll work out somehow."
Cha Ara picked up a stupidly heavy club that had fallen on the floor.
"My frail oppa stays here, Ara's going to work."
"Have you seriously lost it?!"
"Fuck, come at me—!!!"
Kwa-jijijik—!!!
At Cha Ara's shout, three clowns that rushed in shattered to pieces with a single swing of the club.
"…Insane."
Cha Eun-hyuk shrank down instinctively.
'This really does feel like drug side effects.'
What the hell did I do?
For a moment, he regretted feeding his younger sister the jewel.
* * *
"Oh my."
At Jeorge's eyes, wet and glittering, Jung Young-won asked.
"…Was that awakening something you intended?"
"No, it's an unexpected situation."
"Still, it seems like you know something."
"A hunter who grows stronger with the power of love—how romantic…."
"I'm going crazy."
Jung Young-won gave up on grasping the situation too.
'Anyway, what matters most right now isn't Hunter Cha Ara's unusual re-awakening….'
It was that they'd roughly gotten a feel for how to clear it.
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