At the Velvet Hunter Academy Chairwoman's Office
Lina, with her twin-tailed purple hair, sat with her arms crossed and legs folded, glaring at me with a scowl.
She had raised her chair so high that her feet dangled, unable to reach the floor. The way her toes twitched in midair was peak "bratty kid energy."
"You've been causing quite the stir, haven't you?"
"Causing a stir?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"You dare feign ignorance?" she growled, her forehead visibly throbbing with irritation.
She then slammed a stack of documents onto her desk, causing papers to scatter like a flurry of angry accusations.
"Look at these! All complaints about you!"
The headlines on the documents read:
-"Jin Yuha caught in a secret rendezvous with Lee Yoo-ri!"
-"A massage date with Cheonhwa?!"
-"Couple photo shoot with Sophia stuns the world!" — A confession from Marta, the photographer.
Ah. Yeah… now that I thought about it, I had been running around a lot lately with the others.
First, there was the dungeon trip with Soup that the academy students had caught wind of.
Then, my street date with Shin Se-hee, and finally, the chaos I caused with Sophia in Milan.
No wonder people had been talking.
I hesitated, trying to think of how to respond. Lina, however, sneered.
"Don't think for a second that I'm fooled by your antics," she said sharply.
"My… antics?"
"Exactly. Curses from demonic beings? Ridiculous. As if someone like Seol-hee would ever fall victim to something so trivial."
Lina had seen through the pretense.
She knew the so-called curse afflicting us was just an excuse.
As I quietly observed her, one thought crossed my mind.
"Is she… jealous?"
Oops. That thought slipped out loud.
"What?!" Lina's expression turned to one of utter disbelief.
"Me? Jealous? Of YOU?!"
"Please don't punctuate every word with a question mark. It feels like you genuinely hate my guts."
"Why wouldn't I? Do you seriously think every woman in the world is in love with you? If so, I know a great mental institution I can recommend."
Alright. Fair point.
Then again, with her name boldly listed in the Soul-Bonded Connections, I couldn't exactly deny the possibility…
But trying to explain that to her would only make things worse. I decided it was best to keep quiet.
"Tch. Enough with your delusional nonsense," Lina snapped, waving her hand.
The scattered papers magically gathered themselves and returned neatly to her desk.
"Do whatever you want in your spare time. But how do you plan to handle the upcoming Demonic Gates? The opponents you'll face next won't be the pushovers you've dealt with so far. Back in my day, anyone distracted by romance had their heads split open first. And don't even get me started on—"
Lina launched into a tirade of nostalgic complaints, her "back in my day" rhetoric threatening to rupture my eardrums.
Sigh.
If she didn't stop soon, I'd need a doctor for ear trauma.
"Well, sometimes actions speak louder than words…"
Without warning, I unleashed my full mana, letting it surge around me.
Whoosh!
"What are you doing—?! Wait… WHAT?!"
Lina's eyes went wide as she felt the sheer power emanating from me.
She stared, her mouth agape.
"I-is this… what the hell is this strength?! What have you done?!"
I smirked. "So, Chairwoman, does this make you feel a bit more confident about my ability to succeed you?"
.
.
.
Shortly after that exchange, a report came in:
"A new Demonic Gate has appeared!"
"Location?"
"Japan!"
After almost a month, the Demon World Gate appeared again.
This time it was located in Ichika's hometown and a country close to Korea.
Japan.
In the past, they were rival nations, always at odds with each other and fighting over interests. But in the face of a crisis that threatened humanity's survival, even these deep-seated emotions could be diluted. The disaster of the Gate situation was such that if countries didn't join forces, they would be left behind.
'And after the Gate situation, Korea has become so powerful that Japan has been pushed back... that's the setting.'
China, with its vast land and large population, was able to supply hunters in quantity rather than quality, at least preserving some national pride.
As I headed towards the spatial transfer device with my party members, I glanced at Ichika's condition.
I thought she might be feeling sentimental about returning to her homeland after so long, but she didn't seem particularly moved.
Perhaps Japan had a lot to say about Ichika. She was once a Japanese hunter, and Japan had let such a talented individual slip through their fingers.
'That's a bit unfortunate, but I can't give up Ichika.'
After all, it was the Japanese hunters who had rejected Ichika's request for the Jukai Forest mission. If we hadn't taken that mission, Ichika wouldn't be with us today.
Speaking of which, what happened with that?
"Se-hee."
I called out to Se-hee, who was standing next to me.
"Yes, Jin Yuha."
"How's Ichika's naturalization process going? Has it been approved?"
"Ah, yes. It's just a matter of going through the procedural steps now. She wants to keep her name, so her surname will be Lee and her given name will be Chika. We could have pressured them to expedite the process because of our fame, but..."
"No, you did the right thing. There's no need to create unnecessary trouble."
By the way, the surname Lee and the given name Chika... that's kind of funny.
Oh, right.
Since I was already talking to Se-hee, I decided to give her something else as well.
"Se-hee."
"Yes?"
"Take this."
I took a green gemstone out of my spatial tattoo and handed it to Se-hee.
"What is this?"
"A video transmitter."
"Huh? A video transmitter? Why are you giving this to me all of a sudden?"
Se-hee stared at the gemstone for a moment, then suddenly shuddered as if she had been electrocuted.
"Y-you don't mean... that I can use this to transmit video from inside the Demon World Gate to the outside, in real-time?"
"Yes. I asked Lina for it. You mentioned it before."
.
.
.
It was during our one-night, two-day trip.
On the first night, we had a few drinks, and Se-hee passed out after just one glass of wine. On the way back to the inn, she was slumped over my shoulder, and in her drunken state, she had mumbled something that had stuck with me.
-Jin Yuha doesn't know... the party members and Jin Yuha goes into the dungeon, and they might die... I'm left alone outside... everyone is in danger, but I'm the only one who's safe... do you think I feel comfortable? I want to go inside... I've been holding back so much... does Jin Yuha know? No, you don't know... please don't get hurt, Jin Yuha... please...
That memory had left a deep impression on me, so I made a request during my last meeting with Lina.
-Lina, we're about to tackle the next Demon World Gate. Could you give us a gift?
-Huh? A gift? Didn't I already promise to help you? You're about to transcend, so do you really need more support?
-No, that's not it. I was thinking that as a bonus, you could make one artifact for us.
-Huh?
Lina gave me a puzzled look.
-A bonus...? You don't think of me as a gacha artifact vending machine, do you?
I quickly waved my hands, denying any such notion, but I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
'How did you know...?'
I had to beg and plead to get this item.
A pair of gemstones, one green and one blue.
A drone camera specifically for the Gate.
With this, we could transmit video from inside the Gate, even though machinery doesn't work there.
This idea came to me after learning about the new 'Connection' trait that I had never seen before in Velvets.
'I didn't think it was possible, but I asked anyway, and it worked.'
Lina's class was truly something else.
'She was going to make it for me anyway, but she had to be so difficult about it.'
-The reason I'm making this for you is that it won't directly affect capturing the demons in the Demon World Gate! Do you know how much effort it takes to make this? Only someone like me, who can connect dimensions, can make it! Don't look at me like I'm a treasure goblin! And no mass production, I said!
As expected, Lina, with her ambitious tsundere devilish little girl personality, didn't make it easy.
The drone camera she gave me consisted of one blue gemstone for recording and two green gemstones for video transmission.
I had already given one of the green gemstones to my master.
My master was busy hunting down the demons who were causing trouble all over the world, so she couldn't participate in the Gate missions.
When I gave her the gift, she was even happier than when she regained her sense of taste.
Se-hee's voice was filled with emotion as she hugged the gemstone tightly and bowed her head.
"Thank you, Jin Yuha... thank you so much..."
"Well, this time, there probably won't be anything to worry about."
"But you said that last time, and you were late."
"No, this time it's different."
That's right.
From the second Demon World Gate onwards, the difficulty increases exponentially.
So what?
The previous members were already capable of handling the challenge, and now?
All of us have completed the personal side story and leveled up once. I even completed the Savings story.
On top of that, we obtained the demon skill book, from the previous Demon World Gate, and gave it to Sophia.
Although the previous Healing Mist was already useful, with its reduced mana consumption and longer healing duration, it pairs perfectly with Sophia's new skill, "Divine Grace".
Divine Grace originally only creates a barrier on one side, but with the mist form, it can cover a wider area, creating a dome-shaped barrier that can protect against all status ailments.
"So this time, I want you to showcase our improved abilities by broadcasting it live. Can you do that, Se-hee?"
"Yes! Leave it to me, Jin Yuha!"
Se-hee clenched her fists and nodded her head. I chuckled and patted her head.
"..."
For a moment, I felt like the other party members were giving us disapproving looks, but whatever.
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