LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 3. RUN
As I turned the corner of the alley, I saw someone I’d never met before.
A woman dressed in a sleek black suit, giving off a calm vibe.
“Seonwoo-yeon Hunter! What happened?”
“Officer. That is….”
Is her name ‘Seonwoo-yeon Hunter’?
I set the bird I was holding down and looked over at them. Then I spotted a familiar face.
“Uncle!”
“Aha, that little kid from earlier.”
“I came to find the police mister!”
“Police?”
At the tip of the child’s finger was an Earthling dressed in a blue uniform.
“Oh, thank you for your hard work, sir.”
The one called police smiled pleasantly.
“I received a report about a monster escaping and was on patrol when it seems a Hunter happened to pass by.”
“Hunter?”
“It’s fortunate that we caught this guy before he caused any trouble.”
I can’t believe he’s smiling while speaking to a stranger like this. What a kind alien.
But the Seonwoo-yeon Hunter next to me didn’t look pleased.
‘Is it possible that I was one step too late after the report came in? Did this person really just stumble upon a monster?’
Hmm.
What is she thinking?
‘Upon closer inspection, they used a straightforward method to kill it.’
The Seonwoo-yeon Hunter seemed to be deep in thought as she examined the traces on the ground and the dead bird.
‘The Beginner Killer is a monster that resides in soft sand terrain gates. It’s actually easier to catch outside. If you guide its charge angle well, it can be killed without any effort. But… that means she has the dynamic vision necessary to handle the speed of the Beginner Killer.’
After finishing her contemplation, the Seonwoo-yeon Hunter soon reached out her hand towards me.
‘Then this person must be at least C-Class?’
I vaguely understood what the Earthling’s outstretched hand meant.
So I shook her hand, and she gave a light nod of greeting.
“Hello. I’m Seonwoo-yeon from the Hunter Association.”
“Ah, yes.”
“You handled the Beginner Killer without a scratch. I haven’t seen your face around here before. Are you a freelance Hunter?”
Free… lancing?
Is she asking if I have a spear? My barely-functioning brain couldn’t fully grasp the question.
“So, what is your affiliation?”
“Uh?”
“I need to report the matter regarding the Beginner Killer to the Association.”
“………”
“You can just show me your Hunter ID, though.”
The mood suddenly changed.
Hunter ID? What’s that? Is it similar to a pass? And what Association are you talking about?
“Um…”
Let’s dodge this smoothly for now.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have my Hunter ID with me right now.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Phew. That was a close one.
Having passed that hurdle, I quickly surveyed my escape route and tended to the pressing matter at hand.
“Wait. Hey, you.”
“Yes?”
“Did you forget our promise?”
“Ah…”
I reached out toward the kid who had brought the police and the Hunter.
The kid fidgeted and handed me something they were holding. The orange food that I had desperately wanted.
‘Did I just snatch the food from that kid…?’
Regardless of what expression Seonwoo-yeon was wearing, I gulped down the orange liquid in haste.
As the sweet, refreshing liquid slid down my throat, my eyes widened. It tasted amazing.
“Wow! This is killer!”
“My sweet tangerine…”
I was pretty dissatisfied with this body when I first reincarnated.
I had long evolved to live without eating. But here I was in this primitive body, feeling quite frustrated about it.
But now, my thoughts had completely changed. The act of eating, which I had forgotten about, was… actually an incredible joy.
Slurp slurp.
I mindlessly sucked on the liquid courage.
“Excuse me.”
What stopped me was Seonwoo-yeon’s calm voice.
“Since we’re all busy, let’s make this quick. Please tell me your name. Then I can look you up in the Association.”
In that moment, my spine went cold.
“What’s your name?”
Well… I still don’t know the name of my body.
This was just piling on top of my problems. Unable to give a proper answer, I froze as Seonwoo-yeon continued to press me.
“…Did you not register as a Hunter?”
“Uh… Let’s see.”
“Did you take the Awakening Test? Have you gone through the Test?”
And after a brief conversation, Seonwoo-yeon’s eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me you used your Awakening Ability in the middle of the street without registering? That’s illegal!”
Yeah. I don’t really understand what she’s saying, but I know I’m in some serious trouble.
Seonwoo-yeon asserted in an intense tone that I had broken the law, and behind her were the little kid and the ‘police.’
Once I grasped the situation, I immediately took action.
“No. Of course, I registered. But earlier you asked for my Hunter ID, right? I have it at home. If you stay here, I can get it right away.”
A smoothly flowing lie.
I tried to sound as natural as possible, but I wonder how it looked in the eyes of the native Earthlings.
I dodged the situation and quickly made my way out.
Luckily, they didn’t pursue me as I hurried away.
‘Let’s never come back this way again!’
Now that things had turned out like this, I just hope they don’t have any tracking magic.
*
A few minutes later.
I returned to a familiar room. The room where I opened my eyes.
“Let’s see.”
As soon as I got back, my first task was to tidy up.
Thinking back, I realized I didn’t even know the identity of this body.
“Aha, here it is!”
Fortunately, I found something that might help in just a few minutes.
[Resident Registration Card]
[Kim Gi-ryeo(金技勵)]
Kim Gi-ryeo.
This is my new name.
I memorized the words written on the card and continued searching the room.
However, in my continued search, no sign of a ‘Hunter ID’ was to be found.
“Seems like this body didn’t register as a Hunter after all?”
Having searched every nook and cranny of the small room, I was left with only one place to check.
“Hmm.”
I headed to the bathroom. There was a square mirror attached to the wall. Thanks to that, I could finally see the appearance of this reincarnated body for the first time.
‘Looks oddly unique.’
I calmly examined the reflection in the mirror.
First, Kim Gi-ryeo had peach-colored skin.
Over slightly thick eyelids were dark, bloodshot eyes glaring back at me.
Anyway, all the kindred I met earlier had black hair.
Kim Gi-ryeo, oddly enough, had golden hair. Oh, looking more closely, the roots were slightly mixed with black.
“Spotted-looking.”
I glanced down.
Now I could finally see what kind of clothes I was wearing.
Kim Gi-ryeo’s outfit was… familiar. Right. It resembled the clothes Seonwoo-yeon was wearing earlier.
I wore a white shirt and a black jacket.
“Well, whatever.”
Let’s put my impressions of this new body aside for now.
The remaining task was to check if anything was hidden in the bathroom.
And during this search, I made an unexpected discovery.
“Huh?”
When I opened a small shelf in the bathroom, something caught my eye.
A square box lined up inside a transparent bag…
Seeing that brought back a forgotten memory from my brain.
“Cigarettes. The owner of this body used to smoke them frequently.”
Another memory was added. Yes, this corpse was addicted to cigarettes!
“Wait, I was a heavy smoker!”
Was it the sugar from the ice cream I just ate?
Finally, my brain began to work again, and in this moment, I realized something important.
“This damn body was a heavy smoker!”
So… that’s why my magic wouldn’t activate!
I immediately lost strength in my legs and collapsed.
A chain smoker.
Do you know how deadly this issue is for a mage?
Up to now, I had been lumping everything under the term ‘magic power.’
But actually, the fuel used for magic is classified as ‘external magic’ and ‘internal magic.’
External magic.
That is, mana wandering around outside. Scattered across Earth.
Then what is internal magic?
It’s the mana that circulates within a living being’s body.
Mages combine a small amount of their internal magic with external mana to create a compound.
That compound is what they use to cast spells…
Now, let’s pause for a moment.
If a mage wants to meet their internal magic with external mana, what organ would they use?
That organ is… in the respiratory system.
The lungs.
“What the hell!”
For a mage, the most vital organ is the lungs.
But Kim Gi-ryeo is a smoker. The moment I found the cigarettes, I instantly understood why I couldn’t activate magic.
This body’s lungs were already blackened and damaged to the point of being unable to exchange magic!
“What the hell was I thinking to damage my lungs while having magic?”
This was something unimaginable in Alphauri.
Unless one was born with a disability that prevented them from wielding magic, the majority of the populace treated their lungs with utmost care, as everyone had the ability to use magic.
The idea of inhaling smoke to sabotage one’s own lungs was something only an Earthling could come up with.
You crazy people!
“Why…?”
But the sadness didn’t linger for long.
Before long, I gathered my thoughts and stood back up.
“Let’s calm down.”
What’s done is done; there’s no point in dwelling on it.
This is my fault for being blinded by the amount of magic and not filtering out the flawed corpse.
I steeled my resolve. Even if I can no longer use magic…
“There must be a way to fix this body.”
I couldn’t give up on my life on Earth. I would live out the rest of my days in this new land.
Happily.
Absolutely.
*
After finishing my bathroom inspection, about ten minutes went by.
I had both good news and bad news.
First, I’ll start with the bad news.
“Ugh.”
As soon as I finished identifying myself, I groaned from the hunger pangs in my stomach.
‘There’s a mountain of things still to investigate about Earth.’
All I had eaten was the little ice cream I snatched this morning.
I was starving.
For now, I couldn’t use magic, so I had to somehow resolve the nutrient deficiency on my own.
Now for the good news.
I remembered where humans get their nutrients.
“I can’t believe there was food so close!”
If I head out of the building and into the right alley, there’s a place with the sign [Soonhui’s Pork Soup] written on it.
I could easily get food there.
When the shopkeeper asked, “One Pork Soup?” I simply answered, “Yes, just one.” and a mountain of food was served.
Finally free from the hunger that had plagued me.
Huh! This is delicious too.
The food of Earthlings was so hot I had a hard time cooling it down. But well, it was tasty, so it was worth it.
Hmm…
I retract what I just said.
Scratch that good news and bad news bit.
There are two bad news.
It was good that I figured out where to get an energy source, but it only dawned on me belatedly that I’d have to pay for it.
So, to cut to the chase.
I am currently in the police station.
The shopkeeper reported me for dine-and-dash, and I’m in the custody of two police officers.