Chapter 160: Chapter 160
And Jio had no thoughts at all.
"The Mangdung Fruit dried out too much again."
"Kkung."
"This is all because there are too many suns."
How could there be three suns under the sky?
"This isn’t right."
He was screaming in despair in front of the Mangdung Fruit, which had taken on a form like gold.
"We’re too warm."
Giovanni, who held the divinity of the sun.
The teddy bear contains the former Sun God and Honey, the light attribute-evolved water bird who had received the love of both.
The fruits in the cabin, where three suns large and small resided, dried out in an instant.
"We must overturn this divinity right now."
"Kkungkkungkkung...!!"
"Kkuu...!!"
Leaving behind the water bird and the teddy bear, who were trying to stop the pig who gets angry when he can’t eat delicious things, Dana stretched out, peacefully giving herself a cat wash.
The toasty warm house, full of sun, was no different from a celestial paradise to her.
Jio collapsed in the yard.
"Grandmother, I’m sorry. This potato has now become a fool who can’t even dry a single fruit properly."
"Kkuu."
"I am a talking potato. All I know how to do is talk. I think this is my identity."
"Kku...?"
The former Sun God was confused, unable to understand why this son-sun was referring to himself as a potato.
His identity was closer to the sun than a potato, and closer to the Source than that.
At that, Jio, gathering his sorrow, swept up the hardened Mangdung Fruits like Net bag grandma and spoke.
"I also know well that I don’t resemble a potato."
It was something I admitted whenever the thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t seem to be as harmless as one either.
A real potato can’t turn people into paint.
"I resemble the silkie chicken in the yard a little more than a potato. Being all black...."
"Kkurururu."
"You seem to like it because it’s the same avian species, Honey. I should try painting a feather cape next time."
If one had to compare him, who had enjoyed wearing all black since his Seo Jio days, one would definitely have to find something entirely black.
"It’s even more so these days because I’ve been coveting shiny things thanks to Mr. Argio."
Or maybe the soot from the fire pit or a crow the size of a house.
Even to Jio’s eyes, it seemed difficult to find a connection between him and a potato.
Nevertheless, the reason he couldn’t let go of the potato lay in his childhood.
"This is all because of the elders."
To the residents of the mountain village in Gangwon-do, Jio was just a high-functioning potato who spoke well.
It wasn’t that Seo Jio lacked self-awareness.
It was impossible not to, when teaching high school students who were so full of energy they were practically exploding.
Besides, he didn’t exactly have a harmless impression.
"It’s a little funny, but."
People treated Seo Jio as a very special great man even if he just breathed, doing nothing in particular.
It seemed they thought he did something even when he did nothing, and what that ’something’ was, nobody, including Seo Jio, knew.
I didn’t know why they acted that way, but I remembered just leaving them be because it was funny to watch.
"I think everyone finds me too difficult."
"Kkuuuu...."
"That’s why I keep going on about potatoes, at least in my mind."
To remind myself that I was just one ordinary human who wasn’t anything special.
"The rebellious psychology of humans."
If you all hadn’t found me difficult in such an interesting way, I wouldn’t have had to go on about potatoes.
Seo Jio knew well how un-special of a human he was.
He knew how to do a lot of miscellaneous things, his grades were decent, and he had a decent number of friends, but that didn’t mean he was perfect in every field as people around him imagined.
"I’m such an ordinary person, but everyone treated me like a very special being."
On top of that, his face was exceptionally handsome, so people around him often perceived him as a very difficult existence.
Jio knew that was a ridiculous misunderstanding, but other people didn’t.
"Only the elders of our mountain village saw through my fleeting essence."
So the nickname potato was all the more welcome.
"It feels stable."
It was, so to speak, a spiritual hometown.
"It’s a bit funny how everyone gets flustered just by looking at my expression, but...."
"Kku??"
"I get scared that I might really mistake myself for being something special because of that, you know."
"Kku, kkuu."
"No, I’m not special."
Seo Jio knew his place.
"I’m ordinary."
He was just a commoner with bizarre social skills.
"..."
"..."
Jio, confirming the teddy bear’s wavering gaze, nodded.
I thought I knew what it was imagining and fearing. But it was a misunderstanding.
"...Even if it’s me, I don’t go outside and grandly shout ’I am a potato’."
"Kku."
"It’s not just that I don’t shout it, I just don’t say it. I know full well it would sound like I’ve lost my mind."
How embarrassing.
Jio was very fond of the other identity of ’potato’ given to him by the peaceful mountain village elders, but that was that, and this was this.
Jio, an introverted human who loved his homebody life most in the world, still had to live a social life.
"I only act this impudently inside the house. Outside, I am always living well with polite and courteous conduct. You don’t have to worry that your son will act immaturely in society."
Just as there are many grandchildren in South Korea who are treated like poop puppies, those grandchildren don’t claim they are poop puppies in public.
Even elementary schoolers don’t do that, and as a 29-year-old dark man, I had no intention of doing so.
"Kkungkung?"
"Why am I a middle-aged man?"
"Kkururu."
"That’s what it means to be almost 30."
There was an ambiguous feeling to being called a youth.
"It feels a bit ambiguous to be called a middle-aged man since my age still has a 2 in the tens place, but...."
For now, as a portrait, I wasn’t adding more years just because the year changed, but nevertheless, due to the various special circumstances surrounding him, Jio felt like being a middle-aged man was correct.
"My current self is also 32 years old, so I think a middle aged man is correct."
"Kkung...?"
"Or not, if it’s 24 plus 32 plus 29, am I just in the elderly...?"
In any case, it was a situation where my conscience pricked at being called just a youth.
"Anyway, what should I do with all these Mangdung Fruits?"
What else could I do?
"I guess I’ll just have to make Blood Dumplings."
Elixir Recipe: Make a powder from the thoroughly dried fruit, mix it with the juice of Rurupu to make a dough, form dumplings, and dry them in a dark place for at least a week to create a medicine good for bleeding and its recovery.
"I need to go get some more Rurupu."
At the mention of Rurupu, Dana, who had been lounging, raised her body.
Perhaps influenced by the clear day, she sported a clear blue tint, unlike her appearance from the previous night, which was like the Milky Way.
Dana sparkled with a light bluish light and bumped her head against Jio’s calf.
"Meungmangmang...."
"Dad’s going to use this batch to make medicine."
"Ae-aek."
"Ah, you just want to go together."
"Aek-ong."
"Then let’s do that."
The giant cat Dana often served as a reliable escort.
***
Meanwhile, there was another place stirring because of ’Seo Jio Hunter’s’ existence.
"I didn’t know the Anticat had such an ability."
"Hoho, it’s truly remarkable. To let one see souls...."
"It’s not a certain matter, so I believe a review is necessary."
It was none other than the Solar Cult and the Lady Moon Cult.
Religions that worshiped traditional gods basically followed providence, and naturally, they were very interested in the birth and death of life and these two were the religions closest to funerals, even before the cult of death.
"By the way, I heard that the monster called Anticat does not tame easily."
At the words of one elder priest, a younger priest chimed in.
"Yes, I looked into it, and it’s said to be a difficult monster that even Tamers can’t handle."
"Is that result based on all cases, not just domestic Tamers but overseas as well?"
"Yes. They say this is the first successful case of taming an Anticat globally."
"This is something that would be coveted overseas as well...."
"It seems there’s already been a commotion among the Tamers."
A Tamer’s authority and honor depended on how many, and how varied and difficult, types of monsters they tamed.
If it was true that he tamed an Anticat, the Hunter named Seo Jio would gain quite a high-quality reputation.
"I heard that Anticats don’t even give humans a chance to approach in the first place."
"I’m not familiar with that field, so I’m asking, but can’t they be captured by force?"
"It’s said that if you get on its bad side, it burns everything around it."
"What about a Hunter with fire resistance...."
"They say it’s a soul-burning flame, so it’s difficult even for Hunters with high resistance."
"My goodness, a soul-burning flame, you say."
The priests, who couldn’t help but be sensitive to the topic of souls, stirred.
"I would like to get a glimpse of that power, would it be possible?"
"It won’t be easy, as he’s a talent The Collectors have hidden away carefully."
"He seems to be a Hunter who receives all of the Collector’s love... We’d get in big trouble if we approached him carelessly."
"But don’t we need to verify the authenticity of that ability?"
"How would we have the authority to determine that authenticity?"
"Ahem, my apologies. I got ahead of myself."
The command authority over a Hunter always belonged to the guild they were affiliated with, and interfering with that meant picking a subtle fight with that guild.
The Solar Cult did not want to get into such a power struggle with one of South Korea’s 3 Great Guilds.
"I understand how you feel. If the Anticat truly has the power to interfere with souls...."
"It could be a great help when the cult’s priests are mobilized for funeral masses."
"It will also be a great help to the Solar Cult’s image. The cult’s prestige has diminished significantly recently due to the dungeon opening incident."
"The prospective priests are still anxious, I hear."
"Isn’t it precisely at times like these that we must show the cult’s strengths and honor, so that the prospective priests and followers can be at ease?"
Another elder priest expressed his disapproval.
"But isn’t it the Tamer, not the priest, who can handle the Anticat. Even if the Anticat’s ability is real, the cult won’t be able to tame that child...."
"Couldn’t we receive some help from the Hunter named Seo Jio for that part? I hear he displayed healing powers close to the sun during the ’Kingdom of the Deep Sea’ incident, so his feelings toward our cult probably aren’t bad. Even if he was caught up in such an incident, faith is...."
"No, look here everyone. The problem isn’t that his feelings aren’t bad, shouldn’t we be worried about turning good feelings bad? I hear he’s been living as an unofficial Hunter until now because he dislikes attention so much."
"Seeing him openly reveal his face now must mean he’s thinking of living as a public Hunter. That said, I also agree that there’s no need to earn Seo Jio Hunter’s dislike. If that ability is real, we must approach him as politely as possible."
"More than anything, I...."
A middle-aged priest continued.
"I believe his ability is real."
"How did you come to think so?"
"Is he not the Collector’s Hunter, of all people?"
"Aha, indeed...."
"He is not a man who would show favoritism for no reason."
The Collector Bisabeol’s tastes were widely known, and if there was one basic condition, it was ’to be competent and diligent’.
There was no way that man, with his discerning eye, would dote on a Hunter full of hot air like that.
"True, if Guild Leader Bisabeol acknowledged him...."
"Then we have no choice but to believe it."
"What can we trust, if not the Collector’s eye?"
Isn’t he a man whose collection is his purpose in life?
"But I still don’t know about his exact abilities."
"Trying to snatch up another’s Hunter’s abilities without any effort would be a nasty fellow’s mindset."
"Th-that is true, but...."
It was an extremely rude act to completely dig into an innocent Hunter’s personal information when you weren’t even their guild leader.
Information like what his exact abilities were, what skills he used, and what his grade was.
"Now that things have turned out this way, what’s to be known will be known in due time."
The elder priests knew how to read the flow.
"He showed his face, and a guild as big as The Collectors could not control it... That means they are ready to show the Hunter named Seo Jio to the world."
"Isn’t a dungeon the best stage to debut a Hunter? It’s not a world without dungeons to conquer, nor is it a world without guilds curious about his abilities...."
"If there isn’t a suitable place, we can offer one. Why don’t we request a collaboration for the conquest of the dungeon previously discovered in Gangwon-do?"
"Anyway, the truth of Hunter Seo’s abilities will be known soon enough. Hoho, if possible, I am truly curious about the ability of that child called the Anticat."
The priests who said so then looked at one young priest.
"..."
Priest Kang Seo-dam, who had once gone on a dungeon conquest with ’Seo Jio Hunter’, secretly gritted his teeth.
’O Sun.’
Please grant this priest the courage to endure the given ordeal.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter