Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After the boss had fallen, the boss room was filled with silence and lingering heat. In the aftermath of the massive body crashing to the floor, fine dust drifted down from the ceiling like snow.

"Did we...... really just kill that thing?"

Lee Hyeonseok murmured, his expression blank. He readjusted his grip on his staff and stared at the gnoll chieftain's corpse sprawled across the floor. The monster that had dealt death's terror just moments ago was now nothing more than a cooling slab of meat.

Park Cheolsu likewise set down his shield, breathing hard.

"Jina, that final strike was truly a work of art. The kind of destructive power you'd never expect from a C-rank hunter."

Jina managed an awkward smile in response to her comrades' praise. Her gaze still lingered on her own blade. That strange sensation she had felt when slicing through the monster's hide. The way the blade had slid in smoothly, without an ounce of resistance—that power was clearly not from her magical energy alone.

But Jina decided to set that question aside for now. It was time to collect the spoils.

"Great work, everyone. Let's recover the mana stone first."

While the party members carved open the boss's chest and extracted a red gem brimming with magical energy, Somyeong quietly made his way to a corner. He pretended to pick up miscellaneous items off the floor, as if dutifully fulfilling his role as a porter.

Then his eyes came to rest on a crevice in the damp rock along one wall of the boss room. There, a single tuft of blue-green grass had sprouted, looking like an ordinary weed. Nine slender leaves fanned out from its center.

Somyeong's eyes narrowed.

'A Nine-Leaf Herb, in a place like this.'

Modern hunters would have dismissed it as nothing more than a common herb with a trace of magical energy. But to Somyeong, it was a treasure beyond price. The Nine-Leaf Herb was an elixir with outstanding efficacy in smoothing the flow of internal energy and, in particular, regenerating damaged sinews and bones.

For Jina, who had been overworking her body by recklessly channeling magical energy for so long, there was no better medicine.

Somyeong seized a moment when no one was looking and swiftly pulled the Nine-Leaf Herb out by its roots, slipping it into his pocket. The motion flowed seamlessly into his bag-organizing routine, and no one noticed a thing.

'With this, I can do something about Jina's condition.'

Somyeong allowed himself a satisfied smile and donned the porter's mask once more.

***

Stepping outside the dungeon, the crisp outdoor air greeted the group. The process of converting the boss's mana stone and spoils into cash at the settlement office went smoothly.

Lee Hyeonseok, who had been blatantly dismissive just earlier, was now bowing and scraping before Jina, watching her every reaction.

"Um, Jina. Please be sure to contact me next time you're putting together a party. I was a bit lacking this time, but I'll provide proper support next time!"

"Oh, sure. If the chance comes up."

Jina answered briefly and tugged Somyeong by the arm. Her expression was far more serious than when they had left the dungeon.

Instead of heading for the bus stop, the two turned down a path near a park where foot traffic was sparse. Jina suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Oppa."

"Hm? What's wrong? Hungry? I'll go grab us some pork belly real quick."

Somyeong answered with a deliberately bright smile, but Jina's eyes did not waver.

"Stop messing around and look me in the eye. What did you do in the boss room?"

"What do you mean, 'what did I do'? I was trembling in the back the whole time. You saw me yourself."

"Don't lie. The boss falling over, the floor turning to dust like sand—you did that, didn't you? And that voice I heard right next to my ear......"

Jina's interrogation was razor-sharp. Somyeong clicked his tongue inwardly. She really was his flesh and blood—her intuition was no joke. But he could hardly reveal right now that he was the Heavenly Demon who had pacified the martial world over a hundred years.

Somyeong scratched his head and averted his gaze.

"......Guess I got caught after all?"

"See?! I knew it!"

Jina's voice rose. Somyeong pulled out the excuse he had prepared in advance.

"So, being stuck alone inside a Gate for a year, I did everything I could to survive. After a while, I started seeing how monsters' joints get weak when they move. When that boss was bracing to jump, I picked up a really big rock from behind and threw it at its joint. It just happened to land perfectly and made it buckle."

"You're saying you toppled a C-rank boss with a rock? Does that even make sense?"

"Hey, I threw it out of desperation—you think I expected it to work like that? And the voice...... you were probably so tense you heard things. I mean, I was yelling, but still."

Somyeong put on the most wrongfully-accused expression he could muster. Jina looked him up and down with suspicious eyes. But when she looked at her brother's hands, they were smooth without a single callus, and the magical energy she could sense from his body was still no more than a faint F-rank trace.

'Was it really just luck? Or...... did he suffer so much in the Gate that his body moves on instinct now?'

Jina's suspicion slowly began to transform into pity. When she imagined her brother surviving that terrible place for a year by throwing rocks, a corner of her heart ached.

"......Fine. I'll believe you for now. But don't do anything dangerous from here on. What if the boss spots you throwing rocks and comes after you?"

"Don't worry. Your brother's a grandmaster of reading the room."

Somyeong breezed past the crisis with characteristic nonchalance. Jina's expression remained unconvinced, but she didn't press any further.

***

That night.

At the hour when his mother and Jina had finished their exhausting day and fallen asleep, Somyeong quietly opened his bedroom door and stepped into the kitchen. He took out the Nine-Leaf Herb he had pocketed during the day.

"How long has it been since I've brewed an elixir?"

Somyeong filled a small aluminum pot with water and carefully rinsed the Nine-Leaf Herb before placing it inside. He had no modern alchemical equipment or elaborate apothecary, but he possessed a tool far more powerful than any of those.

Somyeong placed his palm against the bottom of the pot.

Though the gas stove had not been turned on, a crimson energy radiated from his palm and enveloped the pot.

The control of True Fire—a feat achievable only by one who had ascended to the Fire Realm. Somyeong vibrated his demonic energy at an infinitesimal frequency to maintain a constant water temperature. As the water began to simmer with a gentle bubbling, a rich fragrance seeped from the Nine-Leaf Herb.

'The energy is too potent. If Jina drinks this as is, her meridians won't be able to handle it.'

Somyeong focused. The precise power that had cut down thousands of enemies in his days as the Heavenly Demon of neither blood nor tears—he now poured every ounce of it into brewing a tonic for his sister.

He filtered out impurities from the herb and purified its energy to reduce the bitterness. He formed an invisible energy barrier around the pot so that not a single drop of essence would be lost to evaporation.

"Using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to brew a tonic. If my disciples found out, they'd keel over in shock."

Somyeong let out a wry laugh, but his fingertip control did not waver for an instant. About an hour later, only a clear, deep brown liquid remained in the pot. Somyeong carefully poured it into a thermos.

***

The next morning.

Jina was getting ready to head out to the training grounds, same as always. Her shoulders and wrists were stiff, likely from the previous day's battle, but she moved to apply pain patches as if it were routine.

"Jina, drink this before you go."

Somyeong came out to the living room and held out the thermos.

"What's this? A thermos out of nowhere?"

"It's an herb I dug up in a corner of the dungeon. When I tried it back in the Gate, it worked wonders for fatigue. I spent all night brewing it with care, so drink every last drop."

Jina unscrewed the thermos lid with a suspicious look. A fragrance both slightly bitter and sweet tickled the tip of her nose.

"This isn't poison, right?"

"You don't trust your own brother? Just drink it."

Jina squeezed her eyes shut and downed the liquid in the thermos. It was unexpectedly smooth and sweet going down her throat. The moment a warm energy spread past her esophagus and into her stomach, Jina's eyes flew wide open.

"Wh......?"

A burning energy that began near her heart spread through her veins and radiated across her entire body. The knotted muscles in her shoulders melted away like snow, and the throbbing pain in her wrists vanished in an instant.

This was no mere fatigue relief. The magical energy inside her body was swirling far more clearly and powerfully than usual.

"Oppa, what is this stuff?! My body...... my body feels so light!"

Jina clenched and unclenched her fists in astonishment. It felt as though her total magical energy, which had been stuck in the mid-range of C-rank, had leaped to the upper tier in one bound.

"See? Listen to your brother and rice cakes show up even in your sleep. Go easy at training today. Don't push yourself."

Somyeong chuckled with satisfaction. Examined through his inner eye, the meridians within Jina's body had grown far sturdier and wider than before, thanks to the Nine-Leaf Herb's effects. Her body could now withstand most impacts without faltering.

"Oh my god, this is way better than the potions they sell in stores! Oppa, where did you get this? Can you get more?"

"Come on, you think something like that grows on trees? I just got lucky finding one. Now hurry, you'll be late."

Jina left the house, marveling at her own body, checking it over this way and that. Somyeong watched his sister's retreating figure with a contented smile.

"One worry down, at least."

Somyeong stepped outside as well, garbage bag in hand. Just as he was about to toss it into the recycling station with a light heart, his steps froze.

A black luxury sedan was parked at the entrance of the villa complex, blocking the road. And before it, Jina—who had been heading to the training grounds—was surrounded by two men with menacing faces.

"Hunter Kang Jina, you should hear a man out till the end. Ignoring us and walking away like that—that hurts our feelings, you know?"

One of the men stepped in front of Jina with a greasy smile. The emblem of the [Black Lion] guild was etched onto his chest.

"I already told you clearly. The debt is fully paid, and I have no intention of re-signing. Please step aside."

Displeasure permeated Jina's voice. But the man did not back off—instead, he took another step closer.

"Word is you took down a C-rank boss yesterday? Rumors are flying that your potential suddenly exploded—we can't just let talent like that walk away. Do you know how much we invested in you?"

"Invested? The equipment costs and interest you forced on me have already been paid in full!"

"Hah, this young lady sure doesn't know how the world works. Maybe on paper, sure. But that's not how we feel about it. Sign while we're still asking nicely. Otherwise...... that sweet old mother of yours, and that brother who went back to being a porter—things might get tiring for them, don't you think?"

The threat drained the color from Jina's face.

The eyes of Somyeong, who had been watching the entire scene, sank into darkness in an instant. The warm smile he had worn just moments ago while watching his sister was nowhere to be found.

Thick veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping the garbage bag.

"Cockroaches crawling around my doorstep."

Somyeong set the bag down on the ground and slowly began walking toward the mouth of the alley.