After a brief moment of thought, Brooklyn finally spoke again.
"Why..."
Tuk, tuk.
Her injured arm had already recovered. A faint, warm light lingered around her shoulder for a moment before even the bruising disappeared.
"Why is there another S-rank Hunter here...?"
Brooklyn stared at Kang Changho in surprise when she saw him standing in front of the hotel.
But the shock did not last long.
"I see."
She had previously studied the S-rank gate raid that had taken place in Kagoshima.
During the Dragon Raid, the man in his thirties had given the following interview to Japanese reporters.
[Kang, why did you participate in the S-class raid? "Protecting talent."]
[Kang Changho said, "I am a bystander. Don't expect any other help."]
He had not gone to the eastern archipelago to kill the dragon.
As Kang Changho himself had revealed, his participation in the raid had been solely to ensure Kim Giryeo's safety.
But why would one S-rank Hunter need protection from another?
"Interesting."
Brooklyn carefully chose her words while smoothing her disheveled hair.
"I thought your relationship only applied inside gates."
But instead of answering her question, Kang Changho merely glanced at her and said,
"Isn't behaving like this in someone else's country a diplomatic issue?"
The American S-rank stared at him in disbelief.
She had not expected someone who had kicked a foreigner without warning to say something like that.
Of course, that was merely Brooklyn's perspective.
There had been a reason behind the Korean Awakened's preemptive strike.
"You don't seriously think I failed to notice just because I was standing far away, do you? If you knew what my eyes were capable of, you wouldn't be saying that."
"..."
"You were about to attack Hunter Kim Giryeo, Brooklyn."
Kang Changho pointed toward his own eyes as he questioned her.
His [Dragon's Eye] could perceive the flow of magic even at the stage when an attack was only being prepared.
However, that information was visible only to Kang Changho himself.
To anyone else, the situation simply looked like a South Korean Hunter had assaulted a famous American figure without provocation.
"Hmm. I'm not really sure what you're talking about... But isn't there only one thing that's objectively clear right now?"
Brooklyn fixed her gaze on the green glow in his pupils.
"I was just subjected to your violent behavior. I doubt the international community will look kindly on that."
On CCTV footage, Brooklyn would undoubtedly appear to be the victim.
Yet Kang Changho remained utterly indifferent.
He did not even blink before replying.
"That's right."
But the moment he finished speaking, the veins in his arm twitched, swelling beneath the skin like liquid surging through a pressurized pipe...
"Then why is it that someone as clever as you hasn't realized that I don't care what you think of me?"
What happened next was too fast for Giryeo's F-rank eyesight to follow.
To him, it registered only as a sudden hollow burst, as though something had exploded out of nowhere.
By the time the cracking sound faded, the carefully maintained hotel garden had been reduced to ruins.
A dense cloud of dust surged into the air.
Broken paving stones flew in every direction.
In the span of an instant, the peaceful scene before Giryeo had transformed into a battlefield.
The Korean S-rank had attacked Brooklyn again.
"Ugh!"
Giryeo frowned and squeezed his eyes shut as the shockwave struck him.
By the time he steadied himself, both S-rank Hunters had already vanished from sight.
Brooklyn, an Awakened specializing in physical enhancement, was still no match for Kang Changho's monstrous strength.
She had been hurled nearly a hundred meters away.
And Kang Changho immediately pursued her.
She had allowed him to strike first twice.
There would not be a third time.
Brooklyn activated a recovery skill over the area that had been hit and quickly regained her balance with a practiced breakfall.
Mana surged around her.
A rapier appeared in her hand.
Under normal circumstances, she would already have unleashed a brutal counterattack.
"Wait a minute."
Tuk.
What was this?
After putting enough distance between themselves and the hotel garden, Kang Changho suddenly raised both hands and looked back toward the place where someone was still standing.
"I don't intend to fight. I only wanted to create some distance so we could talk."
"..."
"So lower your weapon. That's better for you too, don't you think?"
Talk?
So that was what he wanted.
In truth, Brooklyn had no desire to let the situation spiral any further.
She had considered testing Kim Giryeo's strength by force, but she had also accounted for the possibility that doing so might damage relations with Korea.
Naturally, if trouble could be avoided, she would prefer to avoid it.
"...To be honest, this is the most unconventional beginning to a conversation I've ever experienced."
Brooklyn Morgan calmed herself and accepted his attempt at dialogue.
"Morgan, I know why you were trying to attack that guy."
"Hmm."
"I understand. You had doubts. Your curiosity is rather famous, after all."
When the exotic-looking man said that, Brooklyn found no reason to deny it.
She merely shrugged.
Was Korea's fourth S-rank genuine?
That was all Brooklyn wanted to know.
"But coming all the way to Korea and pulling something like this is a problem."
Kang Changho studied her reaction, then tilted his head.
"Is it really appropriate for a foreigner to meddle in someone else's territory like this? So... why don't you settle for the information I give you instead? I can provide what you're looking for."
"Yes?"
The blonde woman's reaction was subtle.
Her smile remained perfectly intact, almost like a mask, but her delicate eyelashes trembled ever so slightly.
"You mean you'll give me information?"
When the American S-rank tilted her head, Kang Changho continued in a reassuring tone, as though trying to convince her there was nothing to worry about.
"I've been curious about that guy's identity lately too. And sharing information with a neighbor isn't exactly difficult."
"..."
"Just say the word and I'll investigate him for you. So you people can leave now. That Awakener isn't something the United States needs to concern itself with."
Kang Changho spoke casually, both hands tucked into his pockets.
But when Brooklyn remained silent instead of giving him a definite answer, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"No answer? Ah, maybe your translator isn't working and you can't hear me properly?"
He pointed toward the area near her ear where Piny's translator was worn.
Then fluent English came from his mouth.
"Get out of Korea. C**ker."
Brooklyn immediately understood him and raised an eyebrow.
So the Korean really was every bit as rude as she'd heard.
But harsh language did not necessarily mean negotiation was impossible.
His offer to share information about Kim Giryeo was undeniably tempting.
And even if the proposal turned out to be a lie, she could no longer afford to act recklessly with an S-rank Hunter from another country behaving this aggressively toward her.
"I understand. If that's what you're saying..."
Brooklyn backed down.
She still wanted to verify Kim Giryeo's level with her own eyes.
But there was no need to reveal that to Kang Changho.
Kim Giryeo was someone who could potentially enter the overseas market at any time, provided the right conditions were offered.
His usual behavior hardly suggested a particularly strong sense of patriotism.
But then why?
Why had Kang Changho also refused to be tempted by America?
"Why don't you leave this small country?"
In fact, Kang Changho's circumstances were even more extreme than those of the blond foreign hunter.
He had accumulated penalty after penalty for ignoring government orders, to the point that he was now barred from using even the official Hunter market.
Anyone in that position would ordinarily have considered moving elsewhere.
Yet he remained in Korea with an almost obsessive stubbornness.
"Do you have some kind of treasure hidden here?"
At Brooklyn's question, the man gave a strange laugh.
His lips barely parted.
"That's..."
Kang Changho expressed his sense of territorial attachment in the simplest way possible.
"Because I like bibimbap."
"Yes?"
"Bulgogi is good too. Korea has pretty decent food. You said the same thing at the airport."
Just as Brooklyn had lied to reporters, it seemed there were certain truths behind his words that no one should ever try too hard to uncover.
***
How much time had passed after that?
Following a brief conversation, one of the S-rank Hunters who had vanished beyond the hotel's bushes returned to the garden.
His hair, stained a celadon-blue hue by the pigmentation caused by his awakening, shimmered faintly in the light.
The returning figure was none other than Kang Changho.
"Are you okay?"
Giryeo had been seriously {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} worried after sensing the tremendous burst of mana from the direction where the two had disappeared.
But the returning S-rank Hunter was surprisingly unharmed.
If anything, the annoyance that had clouded his expression earlier had vanished, replaced by a faint smile.
"Don't worry. We finished talking. I warned her that if she tries anything like that again in this country, I won't just stand there and watch."
"Oh."
"It should be quiet for a while."
Dmnk.
Kang Changho turned his alligator-green eyes to the side as he continued.
"By the way."
His voice echoed through the spacious garden.
"Do you know why that foreigner did that?"
"Yes?"
"According to Morgan... she wanted to attack you to check whether Korea's fourth S-rank really is an S-rank. She wanted to verify your abilities personally."
Giryeo said nothing.
"It's ridiculous, but I understand it. I understand why Morgan acted like that, and I understand the insubordination from a few days ago too. In the end, it's all happening because you keep hiding your awakening level."
Again, Giryeo gave no answer.
"Come to think of it, even I have never actually seen your true awakening level."
Although his expression remained calm, sweat was currently pouring down Giryeo's back.
"Kim Giryeo."
While Giryeo desperately searched for a response, Kang Changho offered him a suggestion.
"Why don't you stop hiding your magic for once? You keep suppressing it without explanation, and that's exactly why these pests keep showing up."
From Giryeo's perspective, the suggestion was absurd.
There was no magic to hide in the first place.
He was a bottom-tier Awakener.
'So this day finally came.'
Still, it wasn't as though he had absolutely no way out.
If he drank the potion made from the magic stone he had used during the third awakening test, he could temporarily make it look as though he possessed a tremendous amount of mana.
Unfortunately, doing so was practically equivalent to chewing raw stones.
It was terrible for his body.
'Now even an American is suspicious of me.'
But at this point, he had no choice but to dispel those suspicions.
After thinking it over, Giryeo came to a decision.
He would use the same method he had once used to fool the awakening tester.
Unfortunately, the homemade potions that had worked back then had expired and been discarded the previous month.
For now, he would have to buy himself some time with an excuse.
"Hmm. Responding to every little provocation like this feels like a waste of time..."
His voice was utterly dry.
On the surface, he sounded like someone casually brushing aside even a threat from a person like Brooklyn.
In reality, the tone was the result of an alien using every ounce of concentration he possessed to control the muscles throughout his entire body.
Truthfully, merely remembering the moment Brooklyn had drawn her rapier was enough to make his legs tremble.
"But you're right. There have been quite a few annoying incidents lately. If something like this happens again, I'll reveal my magic next time."
The blond fraud threw out an empty promise in order to buy enough time to make the potion.
Kang Changho quietly nodded.
"Yeah."
However, unlike what Giryeo assumed, it was not a particularly agreeable gesture.
"Next time, for sure."
This genuine S-rank had not been fooled by the swindler's quick thinking.
If anything, he harbored even deeper doubts than Brooklyn did.
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