After the incident one day.
Following the attack incident, a new routine was added to Jung Se-ah’s daily life.
“Um, this is a lot of pressure, you know.”
It was none other than an evaluation of her temporary disciple’s skills.
Like her, he had the potential to use nervous system enhancement, and his talent for swordsmanship wasn’t bad at all.
In terms of pure combat sense, he was on par with Jung Se-ah—or perhaps, even slightly superior.
“Hey, are you listening?”
More than anything, he knew how to handle a sword.
He possessed an extraordinary perceptive ability to understand swordsmanship—not just how to wield a blade, but why it was created, what it was meant to fight against, and how it was meant to be used.
Compared to others, his comprehension was on another level.
With that, his lack of formal training in swordsmanship was more than compensated for.
What others needed to swing their swords dozens, even hundreds of times to grasp, he could understand in just a few swings.
“Are you seriously just going to stand there and keep watching?”
“Hm?”
A voice rang out from below, snapping Jung Se-ah out of her thoughts.
She had already been making meticulous plans for Si-woo ever since taking him in as her disciple.
Only now did she realize that her temporary disciple had been calling out to her.
Without hesitation, she descended at high speed, landing lightly from the top of a tree that had to be at least 20 meters tall.
Tilting her head, she asked,
“Did something happen?”
“Hunter Jung Se-ah… that’s exactly the problem.”
“Isn’t it better to watch openly rather than sneak around?”
“Well… I did give you permission, but how have you managed to come watch every single day for the past week?”
It wasn’t as if he was undergoing any particularly special training.
It was just the usual swordsmanship drills and physical conditioning that all Hunters did.
Occasionally, he practiced mana control, but even that was just mimicking techniques that could easily be found online.
For the past few days, he had even worried that he might have somehow enchanted an S-rank Hunter without realizing it.
But that wasn’t it.
‘There’s not even a trace of affection in her eyes.’
The emotions reflected in Jung Se-ah’s gaze were curiosity, a bit of sympathy,
and a spoonful of excitement.
‘If she’s not under the effects of my allure, then why the hell is she doing this?’
Especially when she was a ridiculously busy S-rank Hunter.
Jung Se-ah made a slight “ah” expression at Si-woo’s suspicious gaze.
Now that she thought about it, she had already given him the nickname temporary disciple and had been trying to get closer to him.
But she had never actually explained why.
After all, if things didn’t work out, she had no intention of taking him in as a real disciple.
She didn’t want to give him false hope—there was nothing crueler than that.
That’s why she never explained.
Beyond that first time when she had asked if it was okay to watch his training, she had kept her distance. It was the least she could do as a courtesy.
‘But that ends today.’
She had just made up her mind.
‘There’s no issue with his skills or his potential. On top of that, he has a strong will and great character.’
Despite being constantly overwhelmed by the attention of women, he always maintained the utmost politeness when speaking with her.
Of course, that was only possible because he was certain Jung Se-ah wouldn’t fall for him and because she showed no signs of affection toward him.
“Your name was Kang Si-woo, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I just decided this a moment ago, but… do you want to become my disciple?”
“… Are you insane?”
The words that popped into his head slipped out unfiltered.
But Jung Se-ah just nodded with a knowing expression.
She had taken her time to observe him, watched him train, and come to the conclusion that he was worthy of being her disciple.
But Si-woo?
He had no idea what was going on.
An S-rank Hunter had spent a week watching him from a distance, only to suddenly declare, “You! Be my disciple!”
If he hadn’t been surprised, that would’ve been more shocking.
“Flirting with me right in front of my eyes, and now you’re trying to run away?”
“…”
“Flirting? Me??”
“Yeah. You managed to copy my enhancement technique after just seeing it once—something no one else has ever been able to do. From a teacher’s perspective, what could be a bigger act of flirting than that?”
It was like a college student who had slept through all their lectures suddenly solving an unsolved scientific mystery for fun.
And not just solving it—doing independent research, analyzing various scholars’ arguments, writing a rebuttal, and then handing in a full report to the professor.
‘If that’s not flirting, then what is?’
No, at this point, it was basically a confession.
A confession that said, “Please accept me as your grad student (disciple).”
“I don’t think it’s a bad offer.”
“… Well, you’re not wrong.”
Becoming strong enough to make a decent living wasn’t that hard.
A few real battles and graduating from the Academy would be enough to reach D-rank as a Hunter.
Even without graduating, overcoming a few life-threatening situations in the field would be enough to reach C-rank.
But going beyond that required proper training.
Not just how to survive—what the Academy taught.
But how to kill.
Not just strength to protect himself, but strength to take down enemies.
That was what it took to break past the wall of B-rank and step into an even higher realm.
“Honestly, your talent isn’t bad at all. Even if I don’t take you as my disciple, if you just enter the Academy, you could live your life thriving as a C-rank Hunter.”
“C-rank, huh…”
“If you’re lucky, you might even make it to B-rank.”
Jung Se-ah said this, shrugging her shoulders.
She made it clear that there were limits to the kind of progress one could make with such haphazard training.
“No matter how hard you try, you won’t reach the level you want with this kind of effort.”
“By the way, if your goal is just to make a decent living, I’d recommend you not accept this offer. Even though I may look like this, the training will be Sparta-level.”
“Ah, it’s tough…”
“Is it because I’m a woman?”
“That’s part of it, yes. As you know, no matter my will, it’s hard for me to even talk to women without taking the medication, and if someone touches me, I’ll have a seizure.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll have to work on my side too. Would wearing full-body tights help?”
Seeing Jung Se-ah genuinely considering the situation, Si-woo couldn’t help but smile faintly.
“But the biggest issue is probably my resolve.”
“Did hearing about Sparta-style training scare you?”
“No, the training itself isn’t really that scary. It will be hard and painful, but with you as my mentor, I don’t think you’d push me to the point of death.”
“Of course not. Even in Sparta, if you die, it’s not training—it’s torture.”
“Right. So, I’m not scared of the training. What I’m scared of is…”
It was the change in himself.
“Hunter, you know what kind of work I do, right?”
Jung Se-ah nodded.
She had heard about his situation when he handed over the woman who had entered the mountain to the Association a few days ago.
“When I first started working, the customers looked like humans to me.”
Back when he was learning to be a host.
The senior hosts had advised him to treat female customers like ATMs or as waste, lacking any humanity.
Even now, thinking back on those comments, he thought they were garbage advice.
That’s why Si-woo, at that time, decided to set boundaries and learn from their mistakes.
“The customer is human.”
No matter what happens, I would treat my customers as humans.
Even if they made things difficult for me, I promised myself not to let them cross this line.
“But over time, the customers stopped looking human to me.”
They would casually do things that were hard to even put into words.
Not a single apology would be given.
‘It’s not my fault. This is all your fault.’
Every time I saw women who were more focused on avoiding responsibility than acknowledging their actions, my faith in humanity hit rock bottom, and customers started to look like something other than human.
“Then one day, that moment came.”
I greeted a customer as usual.
I acted like the ideal man and made myself the emotional trash can for her.
There was nothing special—no incident that would trigger anything.
But that day…
“I suddenly thought, ‘I want to kill the customer in front of me.'”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
The emotions I had been suppressing reached their limit and easily crossed the line I had worked so hard to maintain.
That day, I realized something.
It’s easy to cross the line, even without any special trigger.
What I thought was a firm belief is hard to keep but so easy to bend.
“That day, I barely stayed on the line without crossing it… But I knew that if I were just a little more broken, crossing it would be nothing.”
That was the day I started using drugs.
I felt like I couldn’t survive without them.
“If I become a Hunter… if I become strong, what will happen?”
Now, I think I have a belief that would never waver.
‘I won’t end up like that person…’
It’s easy to say.
But will this belief remain, even as time passes?
“Hunter Jung Se-ah, before I accept your offer, I want to make one condition.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“The moment I betray my beliefs and cross the line…”
“… Please stop me, even if you have to kill me.”