Villain (3)
"Ah, shit, why does it have to be us?"
"Wow, we're really getting the leftover, huh."
There were a total of 50 qualifiers.
With teams of five, that meant everyone had no choice but to be placed in a party.
Thanks to that, Lee Soo-ah didn't even have to go looking for a party; she was automatically assigned to a four-person team that had failed to find a fifth member.
"Lee Soo-ah-ssi. We've heard the rumors, so don't try anything and just stay in the back."
"Ah, okay..."
Soo-ah retreated with an awkward look on her face.
The only saving grace was that none of her teammates were familiar faces.
'Thank goodness there's no one I know.'
If there had been, she wouldn't have even been able to lift her head from embarrassment.
It wasn't as if she hadn't caused a scene or two in party play before.
'I should just stay quiet.'
Since Soo-ah didn't protest and stepped back as told, the other party members shook their heads with displeased expressions.
"Why did they even pick someone like her?"
"Exactly. Only we're going to suffer for it."
The rumor about the 'party breaker' was pretty well-known among C-rank Hunters.
It was no wonder, since Soo-ah had messed up on more than one occasion.
In dungeons, it's standard to act as one body, moving seamlessly as a group.
But while Soo-ah stayed quiet up until entering the dungeon, as soon as combat with monsters began, she'd suddenly flare up.
She'd abandon her position and go wild, disrupting the team's play and often causing discord among party members.
'It's just luck that no one's been seriously hurt yet.'
The curious thing was that, despite everything, there hadn't been a single death, or even a major injury, among her teammates.
'That must mean she's actually pretty skilled.'
The Hunters teamed up with Soo-ah glanced at her sideways.
Of course, none of them thought they'd be left behind by someone like Soo-ah, who had a low C-rank score.
But if Soo-ah didn't participate much, wouldn't that mean the rest of them could rack up more points?
"Just the setup I was hoping for."
Around the time all ten teams had been assembled, Super Hunter K's main producer, PD Do Yung-sun, who had been watching the proceedings, wore a satisfied smile.
"Amazing~, your insight is spot-on again, PD-nim. The lineup actually looks pretty good, I must say."
"Right? The key is, the show needs some excitement to really work. We need a character like that, someone who spices things up!"
"Exactly! But what if she just stays quiet? She can't be a villain unless she acts up..."
At the staff member's words, PD Do shook his head.
"That won't happen. She's pretty well-known, you know. She might look meek, but you'll see once the monsters show up."
"Really?"
PD Do hadn't planned to use Soo-ah as the villain at first, but once he did some digging, he found a lot of interesting information. Especially when he heard that she always rushed forward at the monsters, breaking formation, he had to laugh.
'And she seems to have some kind of connection with that guy, too.'
Otherwise, she wouldn't have volunteered to join Unique.
In any case, Soo-ah was the perfect candidate for making waves early in the season.
'Her burned face means there's no risk of getting too many fans, and her personality's awful too. How could it get any better?'
From the viewers' perspective, she ticked all the boxes for an infuriating contestant—she was a gold mine for any PD.
'Besides...'
PD Do's eyes softened.
This season of Super Hunter K had gotten lucky. Never mind the villain—someone completely suited to be a 'protagonist' had appeared right from the start.
And the person PD Do had pegged as the 'protagonist' was currently putting on a spectacular show in the first mission.
"Ah~~! Team 4's Hunter Ju Ji-sang! Incredible skill! Three B-rank monsters, minotaurs, taken down in just 10 minutes! All three completely smashed in just 10 minutes!!"
Baek Hojun exclaimed in an excited voice.
As an S-rank Hunter, he explained just how impressive Ju Ji-sang's performance was.
"The Minotaurs, being so large, are slower to react when you attack from below. He took advantage of that, targeted their lower bodies first, and then, with teamwork, brought them down one by one. A perfect strategy."
The B-rank monsters appearing in the hologram room during the first mission were random.
Before Team 4, the best any team had managed was two B-rank kills—this was considered the hardest round yet.
So, when Team 4 entered, all the Hunters watched anxiously to see what Ju Ji-sang would do, and this was the result.
"Wow, I'm speechless."
Three hologram-generated B-rank Minotaurs.
Minotaurs were tricky even for B-rank monsters, but Ju Ji-sang took out all three in only ten minutes and walked out.
The other four members had done well, but their contributions were overshadowed by Ju Ji-sang.
【1st Place / Ju Ji-sang / 1,500 points】
【2nd Place / Lee Hyeon-sung / 900 points】
The gap with second place was already 600 points.
And yet, this was only the first mission—most Hunters were already losing their motivation.
'Why on earth is someone like him competing here?'
For reference, scores were awarded by the 100 active Hunters watching as spectators.
In the past, the management agency reps' scores had been decisive, but this time, with management agencies competing directly, it seemed there was a separate panel of judges.
"Alright, if the next team is ready, please come forward!"
Still, hunters who hoped to make the top ten did their best not to be overshadowed by Ju Ji-sang. Several teams managed to defeat all their B-rank monsters.
Of course, none of them cleared their rounds quicker than Team 4's ten minutes.
"Last up is Team 10! Team 10, please enter the hologram room!"
At Baek Hojun's announcement, the Hunters of Team 10 walked forward with tense expressions.
'I don't have to aim for first place. As long as I make the top ten, I can get into one of the Big 3 management agencies...'
They kept telling themselves that being first wasn't the goal, while still keeping a close eye on their teammates.
Of course, that did not include Soo-ah.
"Hoo, hoo..."
Inside the hologram room, the Hunters took deep breaths, nervous about what monsters would appear.
Each was hoping for a B-rank monster they'd faced before or at least something relatively easy.
Wooooong!
With the sound of machines spinning up, beams of light began to converge in midair.
The hologram room used special artifacts and magical engineering, so the holograms could exert some physical force.
They couldn't inflict serious injury, but they could hit or be hit, so high-rank Hunters used this setup for training.
"They're here!!"
With the Hunters' shout, three monsters appeared.
"What the—? Iron Golems?!"
Kugung!
With a massive rumble, the giant forms began to move.
Iron Golems were slow and thus considered easier B-rank monsters to face, but ironically, they were classed as difficult to kill.
The reason was simple: aside from their sluggish movements, they possessed tremendous defense, and unless you destroyed the core, their bodies would continually regenerate.
"Damn it!! Can anyone here break through an Iron Golem's skin?"
"We should've brought a mage into the party...!"
Unfortunately, there was no mage with enough firepower in Team 10.
Trying to pierce an Iron Golem's defense with only swords or spears was no simple task.
And here there were three golems.
They'd be wiped out before they could even begin to destroy all three.
"If it's come to this, let's just focus together and attack one at a time... huh?"
Just as one golem raised its fist toward the team—
A blue streak of light shot past.
Blue, glowing irises.
This was a trait of Hunters with magic power manifestation.
And of Team 10, only one Hunter had shown signs of magic manifestation.
"Y—you crazy bitch! I told you to stay in the back!!"
Kwaaaang!!!
"... What?"
With a thunderous crash, the first golem toppled backward.
"What the..."
Kwaaang!!
"Wha—"
Kwaaaaang!!
Only three explosions rang out.
As the smoke from the shattered golems and the holograms faded, there stood a single woman, quietly.
"Huh...?"
With a face that looked just as bewildered as everyone else.
***
Right before Team 10, which included Soo-ah, entered the hologram room, Ji Yeon-hwa looked at Shin Ah-yeon sitting next to her and sneered openly.
"Oh my, isn't that the Hunter who tried to join Unique last time? Seems like everyone's avoiding her—what a mess. How will she even work with her teammates like that?"
"..."
Ah-yeon was currently pushing her patience to the limit.
She was seated in the mentors' section, quite far from the judges' seats and the crowd where the management agency people were sitting.
That meant Park Jung-woo wasn't present—and therefore, no one was around to keep Ah-yeon in check.
'Does this bitch have no friends?'
The fact she hadn't resorted to personal insults yet was, in a way, proof of her self-control.
Watching Ji Yeon-hwa, who'd spent the entire shoot getting on her nerves, Ah-yeon seriously debated whether it was time to settle things once and for all.
'She's supposed to be known as the Seven-colored Sorceress, right?'
Something was off.
She definitely wasn't "seven colors"—she was just 'utterly unbearable'.
"Remember what I told you last time? Now that you're back, it's best not to stand out for no reason—just stay in the background."
Should I just punch her? At this point, not retaliating didn't really feel like the right thing to do.
After watching her act out at the end of rehearsals, Ah-yeon had somehow ended up agreeing to a movie contract—Ji Yeon-hwa had been pushing all of her buttons from the seat beside her ever since.
But she had to hold back. This was a broadcast, and if she started cursing on air...
"This whole show is meaningless if we're just going to let Ju Ji-sang go to our management, anyway. You may as well drop out now, right? Might help salvage what's left of your image."
"Lady, could you maybe shut the hell up?"
"... What?"
"Ah."
She'd slipped up. The second she thought it—
Waaaaaaaa!!
A huge cheer erupted from the audience.
'What the—?'
Ah-yeon finally turned to look at the broadcast of Team 10 in the hologram room.
She missed Soo-ah taking down the first golem.
But she saw, clear as day, from the second golem onward.
'That's...'
Elimination time: just 20 seconds.
That was all it took to smash the B-rank Iron Golems to pieces.
And most of those 20 seconds were spent while the holograms were still forming and the other party members were delivering their lines.
The actual fighting itself didn't even take ten seconds.
'She went straight for the core every time.'
Soo-ah's attacks were powerful.
But it wasn't enough to shatter a golem in one hit.
The reason all the golems broke apart instantly was simple.
She'd destroyed their cores—their hearts.
'Even for hologram-generated monsters, the weak point's the same.'
To be precise, the hologram room was designed so the monsters' weak point—their core—was artificially placed inside them.
It was to train for finding and attacking cores using magic.
But Soo-ah, without any detection magic at all, aimed straight for the core and destroyed it with a single strike.
And she'd done it with a short dagger, pin-pointed.
'I did have a hunch when Jung-woo was so fixated on her.'
She's not just C-rank, is she?
No, her official rank was wrong. She'd just been suppressed by something all this while.
Soo-ah must have already been "somewhat" complete from the very beginning.
'What on earth kind of magic did he use?'
The last time Ah-yeon saw Soo-ah, she'd seemed like just an ordinary C-rank.
So she couldn't understand Jung-woo's behavior.
She figured he had his reasons, but she couldn't see why he was going that far.
But now, after that display, Ah-yeon understood.
When Soo-ah's eyes shone blue, at the exact instant she struck the golem's core—
Flames burst from her arm and then disappeared.
She wasn't sure if Soo-ah herself even realized it.
From her expression, it didn't look like a planned move but more a fight based on pure instinct.
Ah-yeon didn't know the reason, but she was pretty sure Park Jung-woo did.
'A dangerous one, isn't she.'
Now it made sense why she was called 'Party Breaker'.
In those moments charging at the monsters, she was temporarily unleashing power that far surpassed her rank.
'I'll have to ask about it later.'
She'd found Soo-ah annoying before, but now something like genuine interest was starting to bubble up.
After all, as a mage herself, Ah-yeon couldn't hold back her curiosity in the face of a mystery.
"W-what was that?"
And looking at Ji Yeon-hwa, who was left speechless, made it even sweeter.
Plus, she seemed to have forgotten about Ah-yeon's recent outburst.
"She's our candidate Hunter, you know?"
Although Ah-yeon herself still hadn't actually spoken to Soo-ah yet.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
The sentence:
She definitely wasn't "seven colors(칠색)"—she was just "utterly unbearable(질색)."
seven colors(칠색/chilsaek)
utterly unbearable(질색/jjilsaek)
Due to the TL's severely lacking skills, he is not able to make an acceptable pun.
「( っ °､｡)っ」