Chapter 212 - Chapter 212 (1/2)

"Hey, isn't that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?"

"Where? Where??"

"Hul…. It really is Seong Jin-Woo."

It was the weekend and many people came to visit a certain theme park. They all recognised Jin-Woo's face among the visitors and stared at him with eyes filled with amazement.

"Who's the lady next to him? Is she his girlfriend?"

"Hold up…. Isn't she Hunter Cha Hae-In from the Hunters Guild??"

"Hul! This is huge!"

"What the heck? Are the two of them dating now?"

There was a woman next to Jin-Woo. She was famed for always maintaining a clean short hairstyle to ensure that nothing would hinder her movements.

She was Cha Hae-In, of course. She slightly lowered her head as if she couldn't really get used to all the attention from the people surrounding them, and whispered in a small voice.

"Do you enjoy going to places like this theme park?"

Jin-Woo replied with a grin.

"It's not that I enjoy it, but I wanted to come here at least once in my life, you see."

Cha Hae-In stared at Jin-Woo's current child-like expression with his previous ice-cold demeanour when slicing up monsters nowhere to be seen. Only then did she realise how fast her heart was racing right now.

Too bad for her, the man walking alongside her just so happened to be truly exceptional among the rank S Hunters. Cha Hae-In's cheeks flushed red by a lot after realising that he must've heard her pounding heart as well.

She tried to divert Jin-Woo's attention, even if only by a little, by changing the topic of the conversation.

"If you wanted to come here, then why me...."

"Miss Hae-In is the only friend I have."

"Pardon?"

Since when did she become friends with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?

She racked her brain trying to recall the memory she clearly didn't possess before she unconsciously looked up. That's when her eyes locked onto Jin-Woo's rather mischievous grin.

"You know, in front of that strange stone statue...."

'Ah, that day.'

Back on that day when she and her colleagues entered the dual dungeon to rescue Jin-Woo, that angel statue asked her the question, didn't it?

- "What is your relationship with Seong Jin-Woo?"

- "....A friend."

It seemed that Jin-Woo remembered that brief exchange.

"You were listening back then?"

"Well, yeah. Somehow, I could hear you. I have better-than-average hearing, you see."

She felt a tiny bit wronged here somehow, but she knew that even back then, she ended up being saved by him rather than saving him, instead.

It was then she became conscious once more of just how many times Jin-Woo had saved her life.

"By the way…. What was the identity of that strange dungeon?"

She had been waiting to hear his explanation on this one ever since that day. Unfortunately, he figured that now wasn't the right time to tell her.

"Can I tell you later when I've managed to properly sort out my own thoughts first? Even I can't tell what's what at the moment."

Cha Hae-In nodded her head to say that she understood.

When their conversation entered a bit of a lull, Jin-Woo began taking a look around their surroundings.

"Excuse me! Please look over here!"

"I'm your biggest fan!"

Just like when a celebrity was walking on a busy street, people crowded around the two like a swarm of bees and were busily snapping away with their smartphones.

Jin-Woo's face was far more well-known to regular people than some superstars nowadays. That was because, regardless of which TV channel they tuned into, they would always play clips containing Jin-Woo's face ever since that super-massive Gate appeared in the air.

If this was any other day, he'd simply smile and let it slide. However, he didn't feel like having his day off being disrupted like this, especially when he had a company.

'Come out.'

The moment Jin-Woo issued his command, his own retinue of bodyguards willing to work their butts off for absolutely nothing revealed themselves.

They were none other than Igrit and the elite knights.

Around thirty or so knights emerged from his shadow and surrounded both him and Cha Hae-In in a protective cordon. They walked in perfect synch with their boss's pace, too.

Igrit was especially proactive as he personally went around wherever cameras flashed and wagged his finger to warn the would-be paparazzo.

Meanwhile, Cha Hae-In became even more flustered by the fact that they were now being escorted by a cordon of well-armed knights.

"Wouldn't doing this be even more eye-catching?"

"Well, as long as we aren't bothered, isn't it fine?"

His words carried this inexplicable persuasive power and Cha Hae-In found her head nodding all by itself. Truth be told, she really did feel somewhat better now that all those gazes pouring down on her had disappeared.

When she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she went out for fun with a relaxed mindset.

It had already been almost two years since she became a Hunter. During this period, not even once did she take a day off to relax.

She always remained tense and wasted each hour feeling nervous – on days she wasn't participating in raids, she'd be worried about her colleagues, and when she was in the raid, then she'd be worried about making mistakes.

But for today….

'….It's a different story when I'm with him.'

A man she can depend on.

When she was with Jin-Woo, it felt as if she no longer had to meet the expectations of her comrades that depended on her and could go back to being just a regular woman living her life.

She took one step closer. Her cheeks blushed a little more as her body grew closer to Jin-Woo even before she had noticed it.

'His scent…. I can smell it.'

Jin-Woo watched her complexion get so much brighter and belatedly reflected on his shortcomings.

'I should've done this earlier.'

He scanned the theme park's various rides, before pointing at the roller coaster falling at a scary speed from a dizzying height and asked her.

"Should we get on that one?"

"Okay."

Since she answered too easily, Jin-Woo felt unconvinced and pointed at another ride.

"How about that one?"

"It's okay, too."

"In that case, how about the one next to it?"

"That's also okay."

"Everything's okay??"

"Yes. They are all okay."

Jin-Woo stared at the excited face she made during her answers and simply chuckled to himself.

'What the heck. I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted to come here.'

Since she didn't seem to hate this place, Jin-Woo's mind could relax even further now. He lightly grasped her wrist and led her to the nearest ride.

"Well, then. Why don't we ride all of them?"

***

Unfortunately….

It wasn't as fun as he imagined.

"Kyaaahk! Kyahk!"

"Whoa-!!"

As luck would have it, Jin-Woo got to sit on the very front of the roller coaster. While the people behind were screaming their heads off, he spectated on the passing scenery without feeling much of an excitement.

'Huh? That kid's gonna drop his ice cream pretty soon. Oopsie, I knew it. Hold on, the food court was over that side? But, it's still too early to buy dinner, so....'

Hmm….

Even though the roller coaster was rushing forward at full tilt, everything seemed to have come to a crawl, like extreme slow motion, to Jin-Woo and he was feeling really bored right now.

If he was allowed to, then he thought that he could stand up straight until the ride was over and he'd be unaffected in the slightest.

'…..'

He did his very best to suppress a yawn trying to break out and sneaked a glance behind him. Beyond Igrit and a couple of knights sitting immediately behind him – they wanted to ride on the roller coaster for some reason – he could see the regular people screaming and enjoying themselves.

From every single muscle on their faces, he could feel the sensation of thrill and joy they were experiencing right now. He also heard their racing hearts, pounding away hard enough to seemingly explode at any second.

On the other hand...

Jin-Woo placed his hand on the chest to feel his heart beating as normal and broke into a slight grin.

Honestly, it was a lot more exciting to jump up high in the sky with everything he had so he could punch that titanic god statue in the face.

'What about back then when I was being chased around by those centipedes in the penalty zone?'

It was hundreds, no, ten thousand times scarier than right now.

'Oops.'

Jin-Woo quickly shook his head in order to get rid of the useless thoughts.

'I came here to relax, yet here I am, thinking about monsters.'

He began wondering if this was an illness or something. Around at the same time, he discovered his companion with a similar sort of expression on her face sitting next to him.

Smirk.

He couldn't help but chuckle here. Jin-Woo asked Cha Hae-In as she continued to swim in her dazed thoughts.

"Is it not fun playing around here?"

"Ah…. No, it's fun."

Since her conversation partner possessed sharp hearing, she found it convenient that she didn't have to shout at him.

"Then, why haven't you screamed at least once so far?"

They had already ridden on five different attractions so far. All of them could be described as top thrill rides to normal people, but she hadn't even muttered out the common "Ah!" once yet.

She too was a rank S Hunter. Maybe not as extreme as Jin-Woo, but she had also surpassed the realms of normal people by a wide margin as well. Suddenly, he felt rather relieved by the fact that he wasn't the only one so far removed from the other people here.

It was then.

He was tempted to show her the world that he saw.

Beru sensed Jin-Woo's desire and hurriedly began dissuading him.

[Oh, my king... It might be too dangerous for this woman.]

'It'll be fine. Besides, I'll put you in charge of catching her if she falls off. If you fail to do so…. You know already, right?'

[….Your wish is my command, my liege.]

Now that the voice of dissent had been suppressed, Jin-Woo spoke to Cha Hae-In next.

"Instead of this, do you want to ride on something really exciting?"

"Something.... really exciting?"

After the roller coaster came to an end, Jin-Woo led the still-puzzled Cha Hae-In out to a large plaza.

Whoa-!!

The theme park goers saw the cordon of black knights guarding the two of them and gasped out in sheer amazement. But then, their gasps soon turned into shocked screams.