Cheolgyu squeezed his eyes shut.
He felt like he was riding a roller coaster, and just as his insides twisted—
Paaat—!
He finally set foot on solid ground.
The moment he landed, he doubled over and vomited, unable to hold back his nausea.
“Then, I’ll be going now.”
Eric vanished without a trace.
Just like that, he slipped into the pendant.
“What is all this…?”
Cheolgyu sat in front of the villa, slumped and retching.
He still couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening.
“He said Jinwoo sent him… Who on earth was that guy?”
Questions kept swirling in his mind.
In this bewildering moment, he barely managed to push himself up, gripping his knees for support.
(Anonymous 1): Passed the persistence test.
(God of Rain and Sunlight): He got up well for someone whose body’s a wreck.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): …That’s not it. He’s been tainted by demonic energy.
Cheolgyu’s body was covered in wounds.
But as he rested for just a moment before rising, demonic energy suddenly gushed out, starting to consume his body.
The instant Eric disappeared, Kang Minseok sensed the demonic energy seeping out slyly.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): I guess being next to the altar for so long let the demonic energy settle into his body. The timing is suspiciously perfect—it happened the moment Eric vanished.
(Anonymous 1): Jinwoo, call Eric back. Detoxifying demonic energy isn’t something just anyone can do—it’s different from handling monster miasma.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): He’s right. Purging demonic energy from a human is not the same as detoxifying it from a monster’s corpse.
(God of Rain and Sunlight): Then what do we do?
(Oracle of Cheongha): I don’t have a skill to detoxify demonic energy.
(Father of Crops): I still don’t really have any crops that can purify demonic energy.
(Liberated Swordsman): Same here.
(Endless Waiting): Won’t someone help?
And they were right.
As Ben said, someone did help Jinwoo.
[Legendary-grade Constellation, Returnee of the Demon Realm, has sponsored a skill!]
[S-rank Skill: Demonic Energy Absorption]
—Effect: Can absorb the opponent’s demonic energy.
There was no other explanation; the effect was only one line.
‘An S-rank skill this unfriendly?’
But Jinwoo didn’t fully grasp the skill.
(Anonymous 1): No wonder you became the Demon King in the Demon Realm. It’s a broken skill.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Anonymous, you seem to know this skill.
(Anonymous 1): I do.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Jinwoo seems clueless. Explain it for me.
(Anonymous 1): It’s simple. You take the demonic energy from the other person. You can gain the power of demonic energy.
‘…Won’t that kill me?’
My body’s already suffering from mana addiction, and now I’m supposed to get demonic energy poisoning too?
Jinwoo stared at the chat window, speechless.
(Anonymous 1): You have the demonic energy detox skill, don’t you?
‘But it only works on animals, doesn’t it?’
Anonymous 1 chuckled and kept typing.
(Anonymous 1): You can’t draw out other people’s demonic energy, but you can expel it from your own body. That’s actually the easiest part. Just channel the skill throughout your whole body.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Exactly. And once you purify the demonic energy, you’re left with pure mana, so you get even stronger.
‘…Oh?’
Now that’s broken.
Jinwoo immediately placed his hand on Cheolgyu’s shoulder.
“Hyung, what are you—?”
Paaat—!
The demonic energy inside Cheolgyu flowed through Jinwoo’s hand into his own body.
With demonic energy detoxification added, every trace of the sinister aura was perfectly erased, leaving only gentle mana.
‘I’ll open the S-rank Random Box later.’
He’d gotten an S-rank Random Box as a Hidden Quest reward, but he decided to save it for later.
Now that he’d reunited with Cheolgyu, he wanted to enjoy the moment.
“It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“…Hyung, what’s going on?”
“Let’s talk inside first.”
*****
Early in the morning, I brought Cheolgyu back to the lady’s house.
She was shocked, asking what on earth had happened, but I calmed everyone down.
At that hour, all sorts of articles were popping up online.
[Villain Organization ‘Pagong Guild’: Headquarters Destroyed in 14 Minutes by a Mysterious Hunter]
[Masked Hunter Attacks Pagong Guild—Who Is the Hunter?]
[The Unregistered Hunter Strikes Again!]
[Hunter Who Toppled Pagong Guild—Is It the Unregistered Hunter?]
[The Unregistered Hunter Turns Villain Hunter!]
It seemed the reporters had already decided Eric was the Unregistered Hunter.
Well, nothing to be done about that.
‘Looks like I’ll have to give up the Unregistered Hunter title to Eric from now on.’
That was what I thought, and I nodded to myself.
Time moved on quickly.
The lady learned the truth about Pagong Guild, and relaxed once she knew Cheolgyu was safe.
She seemed curious about my identity, but after reuniting with her son, she didn’t press, instead heading to bed with Byul.
Now that her son had returned safely, all her tension melted away.
She collapsed beside Byul and immediately fell asleep, nearly fainting.
“…Hyung, who are you really?”
Cheolgyu was curious about my identity.
‘No wonder.’
He must have realized the person who destroyed the building and rescued him was somehow connected to me.
I hesitated for a moment.
Should I reveal I was the Unregistered Hunter?
To Cheolgyu and the lady, who were like family to me, it wouldn’t cause a big problem.
But they didn’t know how I’d become the Unregistered Hunter or why I was hiding my identity, so it would probably confuse them.
I didn’t want to give them unnecessary confusion.
I decided to mix in a bit of a lie.
“The person who saved me was the Unregistered Hunter, right?”
Having read the articles, Cheolgyu seemed convinced.
Since I’d decided to let Eric take over the Unregistered Hunter role, I nodded.
“That’s right.”
(Anonymous 1): Good luck, Eric.
(God of Rain and Sunlight): Jinwoo’s scary. He’s going to push all the troublesome stuff onto Eric now.
(Oracle of Cheongha): Our descendant isn’t that kind of person!
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): Maybe not, but dumping things on Eric is convenient. It’s not like Eric’s going to get caught, and if he does, he’ll just slip into the pendant.
(Anonymous 1): Exactly. And Eric can stand to have a tough time for once.
(Father of Crops): He’s a reliable summon, but thanks to Eric, I lost quite a few coins…
(Last Blacksmith): Cheapskates.
(Anonymous 1): Hey, Mr. Yul, go raise your disciples or something.
(Last Blacksmith): Seriously…?
Leaving the constellations’ chat behind, I smiled at Cheolgyu.
“Want to grab a drink together?”
“…Yeah, I need one.”
“Let’s go.”
“Hyung, you know what we are to each other, right? We’re practically sworn brothers, you know?”
I nodded.
He really did treat me like an older brother.
“I’ll be safe, right?”
The innocence in his question made me laugh.
I mean, of course he’d worry—the neighbor he hadn’t seen in years was suddenly ordering around the mysterious Unregistered Hunter like a lackey.
“Don’t worry.”
I did my best to reassure him, then headed to a nearby bar.
Spring was already over.
With the cherry blossoms gone and summer starting, it was pretty warm even in the early morning.
Downtown was bustling even at dawn.
We settled into the noisy atmosphere and ordered some beer, trying to get used to it.
“Wow… The Unregistered Hunter is insane.”
(Oracle of Cheongha): Our descendant is a star now.
(Anonymous 1): A real star… (Zl zone)…
The bar was abuzz with talk about Eric.
The world was still obsessed with the Unregistered Hunter.
“Did you see that article?”
“Yeah, but is this person really the Unregistered Hunter?”
“Probably.”
“Pagong Guild’s a major guild, and they got wrecked in minutes. Who else could it be but the Unregistered Hunter?”
“…If it’s true, it’s nuts. One-minute A-rank dungeon clears, S-rank dungeon clears, took down two villain guilds?”
“This time it’s confirmed.”
“Confirmed what?”
“That the Unregistered Hunter doesn’t work in a team. Just look at the leaked footage. It’s insane.”
“For real. The comment section’s exploding.”
Hearing the conversation from the next table, Cheolgyu and I both pulled out our phones.
Come to think of it, we’d seen the articles but not the comments.
— That’s freaking awesome…
— Now that’s a hero. Why even watch superhero movies when we have them in real life?
— Never thought I’d see something I could only imagine actually happen… Isn’t this life straight out of a comic? He’s super powerful but wears a mask to hunt.
— But isn’t it illegal to be an unregistered hunter?
— Maybe he’s a secret hunter trained by the Association.
— If he were with the Association or the government, would he show up like this? They’d keep him hidden.
— They say Pagong Guild tried to summon a demon. If he doesn’t show up at times like this, when would he?
The world really was in a frenzy.
(Anonymous 1): I know a bit about Earth—the Association’s about to get really busy.
(Returnee of the Demon Realm): I agree. Having a powerhouse like the Unregistered Hunter rumored to be with the Association or the government definitely helps them. They’ll do everything to make that rumor come true.
Constellations well-versed in Earth discussed the topic.
“…Cheolgyu, maybe we should move to a quieter spot.”
“Yeah, let’s do that, hyung.”
We headed for a private room together.
“Hyung, you can tell me now, right? What happened?”
“You want to know about the Unregistered Hunter?”
“Yeah. I can really keep a secret.”
I know in my head: a secret stops being a secret the moment you tell someone.
‘Only you can know, it’s a secret, seriously, only you.’
That’s how secrets spread through the whole neighborhood.
It’s something I’ve learned the hard way since school.
By the time I graduated, everyone knew I was an orphan.
Even so, I’ve revealed certain secrets to quite a few people.
Leaving out the most crucial streamer-constellation info, I told them things I could handle even if they spread.
(Anonymous 1): Now that I think about it, why did you even tell them? If you’d just gritted your teeth and ignored it, you could’ve avoided this.
‘Because I can clean up if I have to. And I guess I still believe in people.’
I still believe in human connections.
So I spoke honestly to Cheolgyu, too.
“It’s just as you saw. The Unregistered Hunter did save you.”
“…How do you know him so well? Wait, hyung, what’s your rank?”
I checked my status.
I’d absorbed the demonic energy earlier, and that should have boosted my mana.
[Congratulations! You have been promoted to S-rank Hunter!]
The demonic energy was completely purified and fully assimilated into my body.
Just like that, my rank advanced to S-rank.
“I’m S-rank now. The Unregistered Hunter’s just a good friend.”
“…That’s nuts.”
(Anonymous 1): Bet he’ll ask for your secret now.
(God of Rain and Sunlight): Or demand you pay him back.
(Father of Crops): Jinwoo’s the type to believe in human bonds. Do you really want to say that?
(Oracle of Cheongha): That’s right. I trust this child named Cheolgyu.
(Anonymous 1): People change in five years.
I glanced at the constellation chat and watched Cheolgyu’s reaction.
“…I’m glad.”
He was crying, relieved that I’d made it.