S-Rank is My Side Character (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7

“Haa….”

[The Ruler of Chaos giggles again, saying, “You got caught again. You really did.”]

“You didn’t tell me on purpose, did you? Honestly, you enjoy stuff like this, don’t you?”

[The Ruler of Chaos feigns innocence, as if bewildered by what he’s even saying.] [The Ruler of Chaos looks as though raising a younger sibling is utterly pointless—only to be met with suspicion from an older brother.]

Anyway, that damn guy… Na Ri, glaring at the indirect message window with utter frustration, sighed deeply and turned toward Kang I Hyeon.

“Well then… you… how much did you see?”

Whoosh—Na Ri’s right hand filled with psychic energy. Kang I Hyeon flinched under her sharp gaze.

“I-I won’t say anything! Absolutely not…! So please, just spare my life…!”

“No, I don’t plan to kill you. I’m just asking how much you saw.”

An overwhelming presence emanated from her small frame. Sensing that lying would only make things worse, Kang I Hyeon spoke honestly.

“Right after clearing Stage 3 quickly… I immediately got a system alert saying dungeon difficulty had increased, so I came to help you… and then…”

“And then?”

“I saw Mr. Rude collapsed nearby, wounded… and you were checking him over, then blasted him with black psychic energy… and said you’d have to sew Rude’s avatar back together…”

“Ah~ damn it, you heard all of that…”

Na Ri sighed heavily and pressed her hand to her forehead. Truthfully, she’d been caught by Hunters before—enough times that post-incident cleanup was routine.

All she needed to do was manipulate his memory through mind control, completely erasing any recollection of seeing her—but the problem was this skill directly tampered with the mind, inevitably causing psychological trauma.

“This’ll be the first time I’ve tried it on an S-rank… I wonder if it’ll work?”

“W-wait! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Whoosh—Na Ri approached Kang I Hyeon, her hand wreathed in black psychic energy. Kang I Hyeon took a few steps back at her icy demeanor. Na Ri advanced with a wicked smile.

“Hmph! You can’t escape, Kang I Hyeon! You’ve been properly ‘checkmated’!”

“Huh?!”

Black psychic energy had already clung thickly to Kang I Hyeon’s ankles. Na Ri leaned in close, bringing her energy-charged hand near his forehead and smirking cruelly.

“Don’t take it too badly. Since you’re S-rank, side effects probably won’t last long… or so I hope.”

“…Huh?”

Kang I Hyeon’s voice trembled. Na Ri placed her hand on his forehead and murmured,

“Sorry. If I get exposed, it’d cause all sorts of trouble for me too.”

Then she activated a vessel-exclusive trait.

[Vessel-Exclusive Trait: Fragment of the Primordial Dream] [You are using the power of Constellation ◼◼◼◼.] [Borrowing a Herald’s skill.] [Herald ◼◼◼◼ Exclusive Skill: Chaos always arises from the unconscious mind of humans.]

Ting!

[Skill usage has been nullified.]

“Eh?”

She stared at her hand, dumbfounded. Kang I Hyeon also looked at her with a dazed expression.

It bounced. The skill—just like a computer program crashing. Bewildered, Na Ri tried pressing her hand to his forehead several more times.

[Skill usage has been nullified.] [Skill usage has been nullified.] [Skill usage…]

“…Eh?!”

Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. No matter how many times she pressed his forehead, only the same indirect message appeared. The Ruler of Chaos was clutching his stomach with laughter in the indirect message window. Na Ri’s expression twisted more and more.

“Why isn’t this working?! Why won’t it work?! Hey! Isn’t this cheating?! What even are you?!”

“U-um… sorry, but could you please… just stop hitting me…?”

“Why won’t mind control work?! Why won’t mental domination take effect?! This is absurd!!”

The menacing aura Na Ri had radiated moments ago had vanished completely; now, with a tearful grimace, she kept tapping Kang I Hyeon’s forehead. His forehead was already turning red, and he awkwardly apologized.

“U-um… I’m… immune to evil-aligned mental attacks because of my Constellation… I’m really sorry…”

“Argh! Aaah! How is this even possible?!”

Shocked by Kang I Hyeon’s words, Na Ri grabbed her own head in dismay. In the black indirect message window, the Ruler of Chaos was spamming laughing emojis.

[Heehee, since you’re an Archangel’s vessel, that probably explains why something like this happened—the Ruler of Chaos is laughing uncontrollably.]

“Shut up! I’m supposed to be the strongest! The strongest aren’t affected by nullification or anything like that! Uwaaaah!”

“U-um… things like this happen sometimes, right? There are seven billion people on Earth… s-so surely… it can happen, right? Please don’t worry about it too much…”

“No… no…! It can’t end like this…!”

Now the tables had turned: Na Ri was utterly flustered, while Kang I Hyeon was relatively calm.

“It’s fine! I swear, seriously—I won’t tell anyone!”

“Shut up!! How am I supposed to believe that?! Come here! If you disappear inside the dungeon, your body won’t even remain! Might as well just kill you…”

“Young Master!!”

Just as Na Ri, deciding enough was enough, pulled out the Black Half Scissors, a loud voice echoed through the air.

“Huh?!” Kang I Hyeon and Na Ri both snapped their eyes toward the entrance of the boss monster’s chamber. Kang I Hyeon’s face turned deathly pale.

“Young Master! Where are you?! I already know you’re here! I heard you skipped evening prayers and rushed here long past work hours—how dare you leave your partner behind like this?!”

It seemed the dungeon had been cleared, and other Hunters and rescue team members were beginning to enter one by one. Kang I Hyeon turned to Na Ri and whispered fearfully,

“My… my partner.”

“Eh?!”

“Q-quick! Run somewhere else! Hurry! My partner’s incredibly persistent! What excuse do you plan to give once you’re caught?!”

“Eh?! Y-yeah… r-right…”

Kang I Hyeon did his best to block Na Ri’s view with his own body. His expression was so unnervingly calm that one might wonder who the real victim was here. Na Ri, swept up in the moment, immediately opened a dimensional rift.

“C-come on! Hurry!”

“Hey, isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?!”

Clearly, in a situation like this, the flustered Na Ri should’ve grabbed Kang I Hyeon by the collar and dragged him in—but instead, Lee Hyeon tucked Na Ri under his arm and leaped straight into the rift.

“Young Master—!”

The voice calling out to him echoed all the way as they entered the dimensional rift. Na Ri looked up at Kang I Hyeon and said,

“But your honorific… you really are called ‘Young Master,’ huh…”

“Huh?”

“Never mind… I guess people’s thoughts really are all pretty similar…”

[This is the timeline separator]

They thought they’d crossed the portal somewhat peacefully… and surely they had…

Kang I Hyeon looked around, bound tightly in black psychic restraints.

A small rented room in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Neon signs outside cast their glow through the thin curtain on the tiny window. From beyond the walls came neighbors’ daily noises; from outside the window, the sounds of cars and drunkards poured in unfiltered.

Rude—or rather, Na Ri—was muttering something in the adjacent room visible through the doorway, apparently chatting with his Constellation.

[The Constellation Staff of Purification marvels that Rude would turn out to be such an ordinary person.]

‘I… me too.’

To the general public, Rude might be a popular Hunter—but within Hunter circles, his reputation was dreadful. Arrogant, greedy, constantly lying to the Awakened Association, hoarding every dungeon item for himself…

He flagrantly violated the unspoken rules of the Hunter world—like a solitary loach muddying the entire stream.

Just within Seongjeon alone, many guild members mocked Rude, claiming he acted like he was the protagonist of a web novel. Ironically, Kang I Hyeon, who actually liked Rude, was often labeled the weirdo.

Wild rumors about Rude abounded: that he’d bought Disneyland with his personal fortune, owned fifty penthouses, lived exclusively in luxury hotel suites because he had no home, or was the secret illegitimate child of some chaebol family…

‘But he’s really just… an ordinary person.’

Aside from being slightly desolate, this was truly just a regular renter’s room. If asked whether it was shocking, the answer would be no—but still…

‘Still, I feel I understand Mr. Rude a little better now. I even want to know his real name.’

He admired Rude—so much so that saying “I became a Hunter because of him” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

‘I’ve always… always wanted to meet him, so I’m glad I got to see him like this… I wish I knew his real name too… I want to know even more about him…’

Lost in thought, Lee Hyeon smiled faintly despite being bound in restraints. He looked so happy that even his Constellation interjected with disapproval.

[The Constellation Staff of Purification looks utterly disgusted watching you.]

“What’s with that smile?”

Just then, Na Ri, having finished her conversation with the Ruler of Chaos, opened the door and approached. Seeing Kang I Hyeon smiling happily despite being tied up, she sat down in front of him with an exasperated expression.

“Listen, I’ve been thinking—and unfortunately…”

Na Ri shook her head slowly, genuinely regretful. Then, with a swift motion, she pulled out the Black Half Scissors from her inventory. Kang I Hyeon’s eyes widened in shock.

“I’ve decided to kill you.”

“Ugh—!”

Kang I Hyeon writhed and shook his head frantically. His Constellation sent a disheartened indirect message: Hadn’t he just said he felt better understanding Rude?

“Since it’s my first time killing someone, I’m a bit nervous… Sorry. But this is all your fault for being completely immune to evil-aligned mental attacks…”

“Mmmph! Mmph!!”

Na Ri raised the half-scissors with an air of mercy. Her eyes were serious—deadly serious! Kang I Hyeon panicked and dashed away immediately. The scissors stabbed into the floor with a thud.

“Don’t worry—I’ll make it quick… It won’t hurt…”

Those eyes… that look… that’s not normal. She’s lost her mind! He’d never sensed such madness from any monster he’d ever faced!

Startled, Kang I Hyeon activated his skill. Whoosh—golden holy flames burned away his gag and bindings. Now free, he pleaded desperately,

“W-w-wait! Time-out! Time-out!! P-please spare me!!”

“No! You’ve seen my true self! If anyone finds out, I’ll…”

“I swear I won’t tell anyone! I promise! Really!”

“I can’t trust you!”

Buzzzz—Na Ri wildly swung the half-scissors.

Panicking, Na Ri screamed and wildly slashed the Black Scissors around, dashing through the apartment while Kang I Hyeon desperately dodged, furniture shattered… Bang! A chair toppled over…

The Constellations popped popcorn… How long had this gone on?

“Excuse me? I live downstairs. It’s way too loud pounding around like this at night—could you please keep it down?”

A stern lecture from the downstairs neighbor through the front door finally brought them to their senses. Right—the importance of noise between floors… We shouldn’t bother others…

Now sitting again across from each other at the table, Na Ri glared at Kang I Hyeon with a pout. She looked quite deflated.

“…I’m sorry. I got too worked up.”

“N-no, it’s fine. Anyone would panic if exposed to someone else…”

“Don’t tell anyone else. If you do… if you do, I’ll really kill you!”

“I absolutely won’t say anything! I promise!”

“How am I supposed to believe that?!”

Back to square one. Kang I Hyeon sighed and asked his Constellation for something. Flutter-flutter—a sheet of paper drifted down from above: the ‘Oath of Holy Flame.’

“Let’s make an Oath of Holy Flame—it’s my skill. If I break it, I’ll drop straight into hell on the spot. Will that be enough?”

Na Ri took the still-blank contract and pondered deeply. Her demeanor was far gentler than before, and Kang I Hyeon unconsciously smiled in relief.

As Kang I Hyeon watched Na Ri ponder intently, a message from his Constellation appeared.

[The Constellation Staff of Purification asks: Since we’re at it, why not propose what you’ve wanted to ask all along?]

…Would that… really be okay?