No matter how many times I tell him I’m not a little miss, he won’t listen. Too tired to argue further, I just gave vague responses and followed him. Min Yu Shin, who had followed me in disguise, struggled to hold back his laughter.

This guy.

To explain how I ended up in this situation, we need to go back a few days…

The day after meeting elder sister Min Young, I spent a long time lying down and thinking.

I’m not sure what was stirred within me, but that night I dreamed of elder sister Se Jin, whose face was blurry, and when I woke up, my head was slightly throbbing.

I thought, what am I doing?

I’m no longer that helpless little kid from back then. Whether Cheon Shin Woo tries to control me or not, I am who I am. Why should I be wary of him? Thinking about it, there was no reason at all. I was now an S-rank awakened, stronger than most people.

So I decided to take the hunter exam while I was at it.

“Oh, that’s a great idea!”

Min Yu Shin actively supported me. He brought me books summarizing the content of the written subjects while avoiding Cheon Shin Woo’s surveillance network, and even gave me lectures himself.

As for the practical exam, he said that as long as I was a combat-type awakened, I should be able to pass it easily enough.

While looking at such strange phrases, I studied for a week.

“There’s verbal magic, formula magic, synesthetic magic, and special magic in magic… What does this even mean?”

Skimming through the textbook that I couldn’t understand at all, I somehow passed the written exam. There were quite a few revised contents, but mostly it was things I already knew.

When I went to take the practical exam, I almost got caught by Cheon Shin Woo, but I passed without any problems anyway. I hadn’t thought about it because my stats weren’t that good, but for the lower-grade hunter exams, it was enough to just beat monsters with a staff.

The examiner in charge gave me a pass with an expression that said, ‘What kind of force mage is this…’, and that’s how I got my B-rank hunter’s license.

Looking at my awakened registration card and hunter’s license, I felt strange. It was B-rank, two levels lower than my actual rank, but I felt indescribable.

So that day, I ate meat with Min Yu Shin to celebrate.

And then I got caught by Cheon Shin Woo and got scolded thoroughly.

“…What is this you’re doing in secret right now?”

“It’s not like I did it in secret.”

“…”

“It’s not like I particularly kept it a secret?”

“…Min Yu Shin.”

Cheon Shin Woo glared at Min Yu Shin. It was a glare that could kill if looks could kill.

“Ha, haha. Shin Woo? It’s good to have it just in case, right? You need a hunter’s license to use combat awakening abilities anyway?”

“I’m thinking about what I should do with you right now… Try to convince me.”

“Spare me. I’m too young to die.”

Cheon Shin Woo wasn’t as angry as I expected. He just scolded us. He explained a few potential dangerous situations that could occur while getting a hunter’s license, glared at Min Yu Shin like he wanted to kill him, and just sighed a few times at me.

But I, who had decided not to be wary of Cheon Shin Woo anymore, declared that I would also do hunter activities while I was at it. Min Yu Shin’s expression, who was prostrating himself before Cheon Shin Woo begging for his life, changed to resemble Munch’s The Scream. Cheon Shin Woo just looked at me without much change in his expression.

“…If you’re saying that much, I guess you have something in mind.”

“Uh, huh? Yes?”

“Tell me.”

And then he was giving in more easily than expected! It was an unexpected reaction, but I soon calmed down and continued my explanation.

“You know how each guild has personnel dispatched once a month, taking turns? The association support, that one. I was thinking maybe I could just do that work for a bit.”

“…That, of all things?”

“What do you mean ‘that, of all things’. It’s a meaningful job in its own way…”

It was a job I had chosen after much deliberation, in my own way.

Officially registered guilds dispatch personnel to the association once a month. Then the association uses—no, assigns the dispatched personnel to appropriate positions to work.

It doesn’t pay much, and it’s really just something that has to be done because it’s legally required, but it was the most appropriate job for my current situation.

Because of the backlash that they’re exploiting high-level personnel, they don’t usually assign really dangerous work, and it’s moderately rewarding and good for gaining experience.

‘Yi Hyun actively recommended it too.’

On the day we were drinking, Baek Yi Hyun slipped me a business card. An association business card, that is. I wondered why he was giving this to me, but it seems there was a great meaning behind it.

“…Sigh.”

Cheon Shin Woo let out a small sigh. He was now looking troubled.

“I thought I told you… everything else is fine, but gate raids are not allowed.”

“…Did you say such a thing?”

“Shin Ah.”

“…What?”

“Let’s look for something else instead. I’ll help you find whatever you want.”

“It’s not like they’ll necessarily make me raid gates just because I’m going for association support. And, this is what I want to do.”

“…”

Cheon Shin Woo’s brows furrowed. I had now become a person who wasn’t frightened even when seeing those furrowed brows.

In fact, there was one more reason why I was insisting like this.

‘…I lack experience.’

My abilities are tremendous. I felt it myself, and those who saw me were amazed by my skills and characteristics. There probably aren’t many people in Korea who could face me right now.

The problem is that I seriously lack experience.

Even in situations where I could win, I might end up in danger because I can’t make proper judgments, or because I lack experience.

To prevent situations where I’m exposed to danger despite being stronger, I needed to gain experience.

‘At least if I could deal with unexpected situations.’

When Min Yu Shin asked me before, “Can you guarantee it?”, it was probably because of this. The arrogant judgment that no matter how much difference there is in ability, someone like him could easily subdue someone as inexperienced as me.

And that judgment probably isn’t wrong.

So I need to become stronger.

For my own sake, too.

“Why…”

Cheon Shin Woo’s voice, which continued speaking, was trembling for some reason. Unable to believe it, I looked at him straight on. His expression, which was frowning as if gritting his teeth, was somehow far from anger.

“…Whoa.”

Min Yu Shin also let out an exclamation, apparently finding Cheon Shin Woo’s appearance strange. Cheon Shin Woo let out another sigh.

“…Gate raids are not allowed. But if it’s catching villains, that’s fine.”

“…Can I decide that? And catching villains is…”

That’s murder. I didn’t immediately voice the thought that came to mind.

Cheon Shin Woo looked at Min Yu Shin.

“Min Yu Shin.”

“Yes.”

“…I’ll let this one slide. But don’t cross the line.”

“Yes.”

And so Cheon Shin Woo left, leaving behind ambiguous words that could be taken as permission or prohibition. I watched his retreating figure and thought it was best to take it positively.

After Cheon Shin Woo left.

“Shin Ah.”

“Yes?”

“You really are the hope.”

Min Yu Shin… grabbed my shoulder with an inexplicably overwhelmed expression.

Sometimes when I look at him, this person also seems a little, no, very strange.

What happened after that was smooth sailing. Min Yu Shin was competent enough to understand why Cheon Shin Woo kept him by his side.

The position I went to, keeping secret which guild I was dispatched from, and somehow even my real name a secret. There were personnel from small and medium-sized guilds and public official hunters belonging to the association.

‘People I haven’t seen before…’

The association-affiliated hunter, who somehow looked worn out, flipped through the file a few times and then started explaining roughly.

“Yes, so you all will follow me and work for this week starting today. When there’s no special call, you’ll patrol this neighborhood and look for any awakened causing trouble, and if there are any, subdue them. Also, depending on the call, you might do rescue activities, gate cleanup, or even catching criminals.”

I thought upon hearing this.

‘A comprehensive set of public official duties.’

It was mostly content I already knew, but I didn’t know rescue activities would be included.

“We, we don’t go into gates?”

“Ah, do you want to go that way? I’ll first request a personnel exchange. You all were dispatched with me as a patrol team…”

“Ahem, well. It’s not that I particularly want to go into gates. It’s just, I heard that if you join that team, you can take byproducts…”

“If necessary, support requests will come in. If there are no more suggestions, I’ll continue with the explanation. For now, you’ll be working in teams of three, but since patrolling will be the main job unless something big happens, there’s nothing to worry about.”

And so I was assigned with an association employee I was meeting for the first time.

And his words that nothing special would happen… were a lie.

“You can’t cause a disturbance here like this!”

“Wh-who do you think you’re lecturing! Do you know who I am?!”

“The child has been trapped there for days. It seems they’ve been starving for a while…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll rescue them right away.”

“Thief! Thief!”

“You shouldn’t pickpocket in broad daylight, sir.”

There was really a lot to do during patrol. Accidents occurred all over the streets to the point where I worried about the neighborhood’s security, and we had to rush to help each time. In fact, there was almost nothing for me to do. Most of it was handled by Min Yu Shin, who was assigned to the same team as me, and the association-affiliated hunter.

After dealing with all sorts of incidents for about three hours, I asked the association-affiliated hunter who was catching his breath for a moment.

“Is it always like this?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by ‘always like this’?”

“Well… you know.”

“Ah, well… Today is actually a quiet day. We always do other public support work too… Oh my, yes. What is it?”

It seems my words acted as a flag, as the association-affiliated hunter received a radio call while answering. After repeating ‘Yes, yes’ several times, his face soon became even more tired.

“Everyone, I’m sorry but we need support. Is there anyone here with gate experience?”

“Gate experience?”

“I got a call saying that half of Team A has become unable to fight… It seems we need to go there now.”

Min Yu Shin asked with a smiling face.

“Hmm? I thought we weren’t going for gate support?”

“Well, it can’t be helped in this situation… I’d like to ask for your help. It’s about an hour and a half away from here, is there anyone with a movement skill?”

“…I don’t have a movement skill.”

“I see, then I’ll request vehicle support with that in mind.”

Min Yu Shin’s expression hardened. He seemed to be contemplating something, then soon sighed and said this to me.

“This is a secret from your brother, okay?”

I nodded. Min Yu Shin showed a troubled expression but tried to maintain a relaxed attitude.

And so we moved. Riding in a car making loud siren noises.