LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 32 - The Failed Party 2
Chapter 32: The Failed Party 2
The Hunter Brokerage, managed by Ark-certified corporations, was as bustling as ever.
When the radiant light of the artificial sun streamed through the windows, Hunters would take their seats, ordering late lunches or coffee.
Unidentifiable jazz music mingled with occasional disputes, creating a nostalgic, almost affectionate melody that had become familiar over time.
As Hunters immersed themselves in the rhythm, they often found tasks suited to them and moved to accept them.
For reference, in Ark, a Hunter was defined as someone who dealt with monsters or completed requests in exchange for rewards.
Usually, they handled tasks related to dungeons or Gates, involving external threats, but for the right pay, they could be hired for city affairs or personal tasks, effectively serving as troubleshooters.
However, this was a city.
Not just any city, but one teeming with the magic-engineering, sorcery, and over-technology brought back by countless Returnees, resulting in a chaotic mishmash of advancements.
Among these Returnees were those without power who dreamed of becoming millionaires by declaring, “I’ve brought new technology!”
But how many succeeded in that dream?
Sometimes, a Returnee’s rare and treasured technology barely surpassed basic science by Ark’s standards, and even if they managed to secure a patent, finding users was an entirely different challenge.
The world had already undergone transformations wrought by Returnees, Gates, dungeons, and calamities.
If lucky, a patent could lead to widespread use, generating steady subscription income, but such cases were rare.
At any rate, Returnees with unique abilities or strength typically became Hunters.
What this meant was that Jinhyung had to fend for himself with his power while competing with other Returnees and veteran Hunters.
Naturally, Jinhyung initially thought everything would be easy.
With his enchanted sword and status window, he believed he could quickly rise to the top here as well.
It wasn’t impossible.
But it required unscrupulous actions, like exploiting and killing party members to claim rewards.
He justified it to himself, thinking, “In the end, who should survive—me, who will one day bring peace to the world, or ordinary Hunters?”
Thus, Jinhyung rationalized his actions to scrape by. However, unlike his previous world, he didn’t have a beautiful partner or adoring angels or demons clinging to him, which gradually brought on a sense of loneliness.
“Excuse me… Are you looking for a request?”
And loneliness emboldened him.
Depending on the observer, Jinhyung was either bravely pursuing the proverb that bold men win women or engaging in foolish bravado.
“…..?”
That’s right.
The women he met in life were drawn to his overwhelming power and wealth. But here, Jinhyung took the initiative to approach a woman himself—a bold move.
Alice’s gaze met Jinhyung’s.
Seeing her up close, Jinhyung thought her eyes sparkled like glass, and she seemed more doll-like than any doll he’d ever seen.
Simply put, it wasn’t just love at first sight.
He felt as if Cupid had cursed him, compelling him to make her his.
“Nice to meet you. My name’s Jinhyung. I was just looking for a party, too…”
“Buzz off.”
Despite the sharp response from the girl, Jinhyung didn’t back down.
Though such reactions weren’t common, he wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with them.
He recalled how a tsundere elf who initially despised humans had eventually fallen for him.
He assumed the white-haired girl belonged to the same category.
“Ahaha, there’s no need to be shy. Judging by the looks of things, you’re a newbie who just registered as a Hunter today. If you have time, how about we explore a dungeon together? I’m something of a veteran—I even soloed a Calcified Kobold last time…”
The girl, Alice, glanced at Jinhyung before turning her attention back to the hologram displaying a list of requests.
Jinhyung, mistaking her reaction for shyness, persistently hovered beside her. But Alice wasn’t thinking about the clingy man next to her at all.
‘What the hell… How do I read this?’
She couldn’t read it.
Alice had assumed the language used here would be Korean, English, or the Imperial Common Tongue she had seen in her second life.
However, the language used in Ark was a chaotic mix of various cultures and artificial constructs.
In India, it’s said you need to know at least seven languages to communicate easily.
Meanwhile, Ark officially used 42 languages.
This was after the Ark administrators painstakingly excluded languages with smaller populations and consolidated the rest.
‘I thought I could read that Hunter contract or whatever earlier…’
Until now, Alice had managed to read and speak because Theresa continuously analyzed and explored human languages and cognition, dedicating a significant portion of her processing power to assist Alice’s communication.
To Alice, it felt as if she naturally understood the language, but in reality, Theresa had been drawing on energy and computational resources to translate for her.
By the way, Alice’s blunt speech wasn’t due to a lack of manners.
It was because the substitute brain cortex conductors couldn’t fully interpret all the languages in Ark, leading to curt expressions.
Even if she mastered the language enough to use honorifics, Alice likely wouldn’t bother speaking politely.
For now, however, she couldn’t read the request details on the holographic display.
‘What does this say? Futaba Park Subjugation? I can’t even decipher that part. Unive Eserlantia? Idillaze? What the hell is that?’
While she could read bits and pieces, the letters appeared distorted or broken, making only fragments understandable.
Even if she managed to read it, the content of the requests posed another problem.
Alice knew nothing about Ark.
She didn’t understand the proper nouns, locations, dungeons, monsters, or objectives, so she’d probably have to ask the strict women at the help desk about every single detail.
“So, I’ve been a veteran for a while, but that exploration agency or whatever keeps refusing my approvals.”
“……..”
After ignoring him for a long while, Alice finally realized the man was still sticking to her side.
Oh, right.
That guy was still here.
For the record, Alice didn’t like men much.
It wasn’t outright hatred but an instinctive, subconscious repulsion based on a feeling of, “Ugh, why is this stupid male trying to rub shoulders with me?”
“Name?”
“Ah! Jinhyung. The name’s Jinhyung.”
Seriously? When did we get so familiar that you’re addressing me informally?
Alice wanted to say this but stopped herself, realizing she didn’t even look like an adult yet.
Frustrated, she thought she should hunt down something like True Ancestor Blood or a Dragon’s Heart soon to upgrade her mechanical body.
“You seem pretty young. Feel free to call me oppa…”
“Is there any request worth taking?”
Alice cut him off quickly, realizing that if she listened to him any longer, her fist might fly.
It was better to like women if anything, but to be hit on by a man? Even if it was a past matter, the fact that she had once been a man made it utterly unacceptable to her psyche.
“Ah! Actually, I originally had party members coming, but they couldn’t make it today due to personal reasons, so I was about to head back. If you’re okay with it, there’s a dungeon I often visit.”
“…Fine. Let’s go.”
“Really? Really? I knew it…!”
What do you mean you “knew it”?
Who even is this guy, looking so smug and full of himself?
I really want to punch him.
Honestly, Jinhyung didn’t look all that reliable, but at the very least, he could probably find her a suitable request.
She needed to hurry and learn the language or whatever else was necessary.
If she couldn’t even read the official notices at the request brokerage, her future prospects looked bleak.
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There was no need to take a long detour to reach the outer wall.
Once Jinhyung accepted the request and registered Alice in the party, the help desk issued them a pass.
With that pass, they could simply take the elevator to the dungeon associated with their request.
“Pretty fast, right? I was really surprised the first time I rode this.”
“………”
To be honest, Alice wasn’t particularly impressed.
She could free-fall to the lower levels of Ark on her own if needed, so there was no reason to be amazed just because the elevator moved a bit fast.
“It’s not a particularly dangerous mission, but don’t worry. I’m here.”
“Ah, sure.”
Alice couldn’t bring herself to say thank you.
It was already noisy with his constant chatter, and she only responded half-heartedly, but Jinhyung thought she was just shy and kept talking nonstop.
On the way, he handed her some calorie snacks and water, insisting she take them.
Though she accepted them, thinking it was no big deal, Jinhyung seemed to interpret it as a sign of approval and continued pushing himself on her.
“By the way, do you know what a Returnee is?”
“I know a bit.”
“Then you must know that Returnees have made great contributions to Ark, right? Actually, I’m a Returnee too. The world I came from was the game world of Lost of Iseria…”
What even is that, you nerd?
What am I supposed to do with that information?
I’m a Returnee too.
However, Alice kept silent because she could already see how he’d react: “Wow! You’re a Returnee too? We’re in the same boat! Let’s get along!” and start clinging to her.
‘I wanted to experience being in a party, but… maybe I should’ve just picked a random request and gone alone.’
Still, he wasn’t entirely useless.
He babbled on about how to accept requests, navigate dungeons, place orders, exchange by-products, process payments, and the activation periods of various dungeons.
But while the things Jinhyung knew were helpful, they weren’t particularly rare or valuable information.
It seemed like the kind of stuff one could pick up just by eavesdropping on people working for the Exploration Agency or Barrier Agency.
Half-listening to Jinhyung’s rambling as time passed, Alice found herself looking out from the elevator at a new world beyond the wall.
“…Wow.”
It was a completely different world from the scrapyard forest she had first seen.
It wasn’t a world where rust-tainted rain poured down in torrents.
Instead of the artificial sun, a real, radiant sun illuminated everything.
The mountain ranges curved endlessly, a river flowed somewhere in the distance, and faint traces of Hunters remained along the paths.
There were small shops and camps set up for Hunters venturing beyond the wall.
When the Rust Rain fell, visibility was terrible, but the clear weather outside revealed a picturesque natural world straight out of a fairy tale.
‘I see why they’re so desperate to develop, explore, and reclaim the areas beyond Ark’s walls…’
It wasn’t just because of the scenery, but the world outside was a place humanity longed to reclaim—a dream they had to realize.
The problem was that disasters wouldn’t allow them to enjoy the precious jewels of this land.
No doubt monsters and calamities swarmed even in the midst of this beautiful natural world.
“Isn’t it fascinating? There are even villages beyond the wall. They’re more like roadside stalls and temporary camps catering to Hunters and Overseers who come out to hunt. Prices are high, but the food and supplies are decent.”
Seeing Alice’s eyes sparkle with curiosity and interest, Jinhyung spoke with pride as if showing off his own home.
Feeling slightly better, Alice decided to humor him.
“Oh, really. What’s good to eat?”
“Food? It’s not really my thing. The restaurants in the Nine Dragons District aren’t to my taste, so I’m thinking of heading to Ark’s Core someday.”
Like that’ll go the way you want.
From what Oriana said, even the strongest and most privileged barely managed to enter the Core.
When Jinhyung mentioned being a Returnee, Alice had briefly thought, “Wow, could he be incredibly strong or hiding his power?”
But seeing his scrawny arms and completely untrained body, she couldn’t hide her disappointment.
‘Compared to Oriana, he doesn’t even have any magical energy, and he hasn’t trained his body either. His hands don’t even have calluses….’
He had the frail physique of a teenager who had never exercised. There was no way she could have high expectations.
‘The hero who once tried to kill me in my previous world pushed himself to the brink in ways that made me wonder how a human could do such things.’
Though she couldn’t recall his face or voice due to her fragmented memory, she vaguely remembered how she had felt when facing him.
If possible, she hoped to recover those lost memories. But for now, resolving the electricity shortage came first before she could even think about retrieving those pieces of her past.