Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 78
"Hey, Kang Ayeon!"
Thwack!
The moment she opened the door, a milk carton landed forcefully on her head.
White milk dripped down her hair.
Laughter spread like paint.
"Ah. I was about to tell you to be careful. Too bad. Too late."
"Ugh, you could have told me a bit sooner."
"Wow. Smells like spoiled milk."
"..."
Ayeon stared blankly at the milk drenching her face and dripping from her chin.
But there was nothing else she could do.
Casually brushing off her hair, Ayeon returned to her seat and was about to sit down when—
Screech—
The chair slid back abruptly, as if waiting.
It was the doing of a classmate sitting behind her.
"Oh, were you about to sit? Sorry. My lip tint fell underneath. Can you pick it up for me?"
"..."
Ayeon hesitantly bent down.
And in that instant.
"No, not there."
Stomp. Her hand was stepped on hard.
"Here."
At that time, Ayeon was 14 years old.
She had just started her first year of middle school.
Ayeon, having lost her parents in a gate accident, grew up in an orphanage.
However, for some reason, that fact had spread throughout the entire school from the moment she enrolled.
Ayeon thought that was probably the reason for this relentless bullying.
But thinking back now, perhaps there was no reason for bullying at all.
Lunchtime.
"Hey, eat this too."
Splash—
Bean paste soup poured over her meal tray.
Towards Ayeon, who stood frozen, spoon in hand, a classmate abruptly leaned in.
"Heard you're a basic livelihood security recipient? You probably only eat ramen at home, so you should eat a lot of school lunch at least."
"Heard she's just an orphan, not a parasite."
"Hey, eat mine too."
Here you go.
Leftover soy-sauce-braised beef seasoning mixed with the already ruined meal tray.
"What are you doing? Not eating?"
"..."
Ayeon lifted her trembling spoon.
The moment she brought the disgusting food waste to her mouth, ugh, a wave of nausea washed over her.
With tear-filled eyes, she quickly scanned the classroom.
She made eye contact with a few classmates, but they quickly averted their gazes.
Snicker, snicker...
A familiar scene.
In it, no one offered Ayeon a hand.
"At that age, kids gradually become friends by fighting sometimes. Ayeon, why don't you take the courage to approach your friends first? Teacher will cheer you on."
The homeroom teacher was the same.
For Ayeon, school life was hell.
The orphanage was much better than this place.
At least there, children in the same situation as Ayeon were gathered.
I want to go back.
After school, in the empty classroom.
Ayeon thought, staring blankly at the hateful scribbles on her desk.
'Ayeon, I'm sorry. Teacher can't run the orphanage anymore.'
The director, who was ill, had said so when sending Ayeon away from the orphanage.
It was a disease name so difficult she couldn't even remember it properly.
'But the new orphanage you're going to is a really good place. Teacher made sure to tell them to take good care of our Ayeon, so don't worry. Okay?'
'...Yes.'
'When Teacher gets better, I'll definitely come back for you.'
...When?
Ayeon squeezed her eyes shut.
Even while enduring terrible things at the new orphanage, even while running away from there and wandering through youth shelters, even while suffering relentless bullying at school, she continued to believe and wait.
That someday, she would be able to return to her teacher's embrace.
But now, it was different.
Ayeon had given up waiting.
Instead, she just prayed.
For these terrible days to end quickly.
—However.
The hell that seemed like it would never end collapsed far too easily, marked by one special day.
[Korea's Fourth S-Class Emerges. The Protagonist is a 14-Year-Old Girl?!]
[Korea's Fourth S-Class, Kang Ayeon.]
Excluding Maestro Baek Yijun, who was the first S-Class, she was the first S-Class hunter to appear after Baekya Shin Gwihoon, Doctor Plant Keum Roje, and Monkey King Yoo Hwan.
The number of S-Class hunters directly signified national power.
Korea's existing three S-Class hunters were S-Classes among S-Classes, positioned in the upper ranks of the world rankings.
All of them were recognized globally.
Baekya for his outstanding combat prowess, Doctor Plant for her excellent healing abilities, and Monkey King for his unbelievably monstrous strength.
However, it was undeniable that the number of S-Class hunters was small compared to neighboring countries.
Therefore, Korea fervently cheered for the appearance of the long-awaited fourth S-Class.
The protagonist's personal information spread nationwide in less than a day.
The middle school Ayeon attended was no exception.
Whisper, whisper...
"Ah, Ayeon."
As soon as she arrived at school, Ayeon, who had put down her backpack, glanced back.
A classmate from the same class.
A child whose name she couldn't even remember.
"Want to go to the snack bar together?"
At first, she was bewildered.
Her classmates' attitudes had changed overnight.
The children who had tormented Ayeon now tiptoed around her, and those she had never spoken to before began fighting over the seat next to Ayeon.
It wasn't just her classmates who had changed.
"Ayeon, how's school life these days? If anything is difficult, feel free to tell Teacher anytime."
"There's nothing like that."
"R-really? That's a relief then. Teacher was unnecessarily worried."
Ayeon glanced up at her homeroom teacher.
That was all.
The homeroom teacher flinched and then forced a smile.
"Oh, are classes hard to follow? You've been leaving early often due to Association matters, so if it's difficult, let me know. Teacher will help you."
"...Thank you."
Thump.
Exiting the faculty room, Ayeon stared blankly towards the corridor window.
Her reflection in the glass.
Her irises, dyed a pink azalea color due to her awakening.
Her black bobbed hair had faded slightly, turning brown.
An unfamiliar appearance.
But her familiar face.
Ayeon traced the surface of the glass window with her finger.
Her reflection in the glass window was smiling.
Men carrying heavy camera equipment visited the villa where Ayeon lived every day.
Positioned densely at both the front and back gates of the school, they relentlessly pressed their camera flashes at Ayeon in her school uniform.
If she threw a few words into the microphone, which looked heavy even at a glance, they cheered greatly just for that.
Large corporations, whose names alone were known to the entire nation, spared no investment in the dazzling rising star who had recently joined the S-Class ranks.
Money snowballed just from simple tasks like updating vlogs that only featured her commute to and from school.
"Huh. Isn't that shoe a collab between Chanel and Big Bang ZD this time? How'd you get it?"
"Freaking awesome. Never thought I'd see it in person. Can I try it on once?"
"Go ahead. I have another one at home anyway."
"For real? You have another one at home?"
"Yeah. Left it in the box. It's an autographed limited edition."
"Wow, insane. What's with this level of flexing."
Friends invited Ayeon to birthday parties every time, and Ayeon didn't miss any other various school events, class president elections, or any event.
The classmate who used to instigate Ayeon's bullying was now the target of bullying herself.
"Hey, Ayeon's bag got dirty because of you. Aren't you going to apologize?"
"S-sorry..."
"If you're sorry, then bow down on the floor!"
Thwack!
A classmate stumbled and fell before her eyes.
Ayeon, passing through the corridor, stopped and glanced back.
"Do you know how much Ayeon's bag costs? Your mom's salary for a whole year wouldn't be enough to buy it, you know?"
"Ugh, sob..."
She could have told them to stop.
Truthfully, she could just buy a new bag.
If she just said one word, "Stop," her friends would have stopped without a fuss.
But.
"..."
Ayeon, staring blankly at the classmate with her head bowed to the floor, averted her gaze.
—Why bother?
A life changed 180 degrees.
There was nothing to be desired.
And so, Ayeon became a second-year middle school student.
During summer vacation, Ayeon, her hands full of shopping bags, headed to a university hospital in Bucheon.
The director of the orphanage where Ayeon grew up was there.
'She must know.'
She must know I became S-Class.
What will she say when she sees the changed me?
A place she headed to with a heart full of excitement.
However, Ayeon couldn't meet the teacher she had missed so dearly.
"She passed away last winter."
It was already too late.
"Was the surgery unsuccessful?"
"No. She didn't even have the surgery in the first place."
"Why..."
The man, who seemed hesitant, slowly opened his mouth.
"...She couldn't afford the surgery fees. She already had significant debt from her long-term hospitalization."
"Th-that..."
Thump.
Shopping bags falling to the floor.
The shoulder bag, emblazoned with a famous international brand logo, also tumbled unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Money... Are you saying the director died because of money?"
"..."
"She could have... lived...?"
"..."
The man didn't answer.
Ayeon collapsed limply onto the floor.
The first thought that came to mind was this.
'If I had come a little sooner.'
No, if she had awakened a little sooner.
So she could have earned money a little sooner.
If so, she might have been able to cure the director's illness.
The seed of regret that began to sprout then grew enormously in the blink of an eye.
So fast that she couldn't control it herself.
Right, if only I had been a little faster, I might not have been bullied. I might not have had to leave the orphanage.
If only I had awakened.
If only I had money.
Painful things might not have existed from the start...
After that, Ayeon dropped out of school.
It was a simple whim.
Nevertheless, if she had to give one reason, it was just that it felt meaningless.
Attending school itself, that is.
She judged that it was more valuable to engage in hunter activities during the time she would spend sitting at a desk in a school uniform, spacing out.
Because the more she did so, the more money she made, and the stronger she became.
And so, Ayeon began to make a name for herself as a professional hunter at a young age.
However, less than a year after starting her full-fledged hunter activities, an incident occurred.
[Korea's 'Rising Star' Kang Ayeon, School Violence Perpetrator Controversy. Successive SNS Exposures Continue.]
[Famous Guilds, Previously Scheduled to Sign Her, Cancel Offers One After Another. Monkey King: "Character Comes Before Rank." Expresses Strong Disappointment in Rising Star.]
[Victim Kim XX: "Even now, just thinking about that time makes my hands and feet tremble." Complains of Mental Distress. Has Attempted Extreme Choices.]
It was absurd.
Ayeon, in her own opinion, hadn't done anything significantly wrong.
The things that child, who claimed to be a victim of school violence, had suffered were all things Ayeon had also suffered in the past.
Ayeon endured, changed, and succeeded.
What that child was claiming was merely the jealousy and resentment of a loser.
'I did nothing wrong.'
The ones at fault weren't her, but those who couldn't endure, couldn't change, and couldn't succeed.
Ayeon was confident.
However, the public turned their backs on Ayeon as easily as flipping a palm.
When they had fervently cheered and revered her, and now, everyone in the world pointed fingers, ridiculed, and slandered Ayeon.
The fact that she had closed the Hapjeong Station S-Class Gate, the fact that she had donated a large sum to the W Hospital Foundation—all seemed to have vanished from memory by now.
Eventually, even protest groups opposing Ayeon's hunter activities were formed.
Because of this, Ayeon was ultimately forced to temporarily suspend her hunter activities.
People made baseless speculations that Ayeon, who had disappeared from public view, had fled overseas, was hospitalized long-term due to severe panic disorder, or had made an extreme choice due to malicious comments.
Those who knew the truth remained silent, and only those who didn't know the truth eagerly chattered.
But they were all wrong.
An S-Class hunter directly signified national power.
The nation would not silently consent to Ayeon's retirement.
As proof of that...
"Alright, alright, everyone look here! Hero-grade item, only 20 chips today! Line up, line up!"
Alias: Phantom Thief (Gwaedo).
Unaffiliated free hunter.
She was currently doing a roaring trade at the Hunter Auction being held in Sejong City.
