Chapter 4

“Goodness… she just won’t stop crying.”

On a snowy winter day, a seven-year-old girl arrived at the orphanage.

She cried so much that even the veteran caregivers, who had raised hundreds of children over the years, found it exhausting.

Unless she cried herself to sleep from exhaustion, she was always on the verge of tears or crying outright, no matter what she was doing.

They worried endlessly that I might be sick because, after losing my parents, all I did was shut myself off and cry.

But once I finally started talking again, those worries disappeared completely.

“It’s too noisy.”

“My nose hurts.”

“This tastes strange.”

It turned out that after being sucked into a gate, I had developed extreme sensory sensitivity as an aftereffect.

Eventually, I was classified as a potential awakener and transferred to the Hunter Training Academy, where I grew up enduring harsh training.

But even after becoming an adult, I still hadn’t awakened.

In the end, I became nothing more than a useless burden with overly sensitive senses.

I was the only trainee at the academy who never awakened, so I was constantly bullied.

While all of my classmates joined prestigious guilds and built successful careers, I was simply thrown out into society…

Without ever receiving the education that ordinary people needed.

For someone who wasn’t an awakened Hunter, these hypersensitive senses were nothing but a curse.

“I’m sorry to say this… but have you considered taking a Hunter-grade sedative? It’s illegal and rather expensive…”

There was no way someone like me, who couldn’t even function properly in everyday life because of my heightened senses, could afford medication made for Hunters.

Besides…

I was just an ordinary person.

“In that case, try smelling Herazen Oil. Hunters also carry it as an emergency calming aid inside dungeons. It won’t completely solve the problem, but it should help.”

The doctor handed me a small bottle of oil.

That one bottle…

Changed the direction of my entire life.

“Wihyang – A Comforting Fragrance for Sensitive Souls.”

Using my heightened sense of smell, I opened a healing therapy shop called Wihyang, where I made and sold essential oils and perfumes.

I wanted to help ordinary people and Hunters who suffered from sensory sensitivity just like I did.

…

And now…

I had been found collapsed in front of my own shop.

By Mimi.

The black stray cat that I fed every day.

“Meowwww.”

Rub… Rub…

Mimi rubbed herself against my leg, asking for food.

Watching her, I slowly opened my eyes.

“Why am I here…?”

“And why am I lying in front of my shop like a homeless person instead of sleeping on the sofa inside?”

“So…”

Without caring how embarrassing it looked, I lay there on the ground and tried to recall what had happened.

I had been sucked into a gate.

I awakened.

And with that power…

I found the exit.

[Gate Cleared! Would you like to claim your clear rewards?

I had even seen the Gate Clear message.

It still didn’t feel real.

It felt more like a strange dream than reality.

After hesitating for a moment, I quietly spoke.

“…Status Window.”

Flash!

A status window appeared before my eyes.

Name: Ye Bitna

Hidden Class: Beginner Owner of a Healing Therapy Shop

“So it really is real…”

When I found the exit, I had thought I was simply hallucinating.

But now the square status window, complete with little cat ears, was sparkling enthusiastically in front of me.

The status window I had first seen when I entered the gate had been a perfectly ordinary square.

But after using my awakened skill to locate the exit…

The status window had become…

Strange.

Just like now.

For some reason…

There were two cat ears attached to the top corners.

Title Acquired: Guide of the Labyrinth

Remaining Stat Points: 1

“Why did the status window suddenly change?”

I couldn’t be certain.

But I did have one suspicion.

Just before the gate exit appeared…

A black cat statue had suddenly appeared inside one of the maze walls after it shifted.

The moment I saw it, I instinctively knew it had something to do with the exit.

And sure enough…

The instant I touched the cat’s head…

The exit appeared.

At exactly the same time, the appearance of my status window changed as well.

“…Well, I guess there’s no rule saying a status window can’t evolve too.”

“Meow!”

Since I was still lying on the ground without moving, the hungry cat’s cries became increasingly sharp.

Hidden Class: Beginner Owner of a Healing Therapy Shop

“A shop owner…”

“Is it something like a traveling merchant?”

Like one of those NPC shopkeepers in games…

Or maybe one of those monsters carrying treasure sacks?

Even after attending the Hunter Academy, I had never heard of a class like this.

Besides special classes like Summoners and Enhancement Specialists…

There were other hidden classes too?

“And an extraordinary one at that?”

“I feel like I pulled something incredible…”

“…But I honestly can’t tell whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

I scrolled down the status window.

“Maybe the description will explain it…”

Bring healing and therapy to those exhausted by everyday life! The peace of Earth and the salvation of humanity are…

“…Mimi, I’ll feed you.”

“Meow!”

Quietly, I pressed the X button and closed the status window.

Then I stood up.

“Let’s just pretend I never awakened.”

Meanwhile…

“Ah… Haha! Hahaha! Hunter Kang really does have a great sense of humor! Hahaha!”

“…”

“Isn’t that right, Ian? If Hunter Kang didn’t clear the Gate, then who did? Huh?”

“Hahaha!”

Chairman Maeng laughed loudly.

But his eyes trembled pitifully.

He desperately wanted the cold-faced Hunter sitting before him to tell him it had all been a joke.

Instead…

Only heavy silence filled the room.

Ignoring the chill creeping down his spine, Chairman Maeng turned toward Ian.

As Kang Jinseo’s personal secretary, surely Ian would tell him this ridiculous statement was just a joke.

“…”

Ian awkwardly shook his head.

At that moment…

Chairman Maeng felt his heart sink.

“Hunter Kang! Say it yourself! If you didn’t clear the gate… then who did…? Ugh!”

“C-Chairman!”

Unable to control his skyrocketing blood pressure, Chairman Maeng clutched the back of his neck.

Jinseo, meanwhile, remained expressionless.

“I already told you.”

“I wasn’t the one who cleared it.”

“…Then who was?”

“A woman.”

“I believe she was an unregistered Hunter.”

“Unregistered?”

“She was standing right before my eyes.”

“But it felt exactly like looking at an ordinary civilian.”

“I couldn’t sense even the slightest trace of her mana.”

As Jinseo calmly described what he had witnessed, everyone in the room gradually fell silent.

“I came here because I want you to find her.”

“She disappeared the moment she left the gate.”

“…Ha…”

Chairman Maeng staggered, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“D-Do you realize the president and representatives from countries all over the world are flying here to meet you right now?!”

“Tell them to go back.”

At those words, Chairman Maeng felt his vision darken.

“The entire world is watching Korea right now!”

“If it comes out that it wasn’t Kang Jinseo, but some completely unknown Hunter whose whereabouts are still a mystery…”

“And there’s no way Kang Jinseo would ever accept credit for something he didn’t do…”

“Damn it! This is humiliating!”

Just then, Ian spoke.

“If someone could avoid Hunter Kang Jinseo’s detection…”

“There’s a high chance they’re an SS-rank Hunter.”

“SS-rank…?”

“Yes.”

“The first one in the world.”

“The world’s first…”

Chairman Maeng blinked several times as he gathered his thoughts.

Then he suddenly shouted.

“Find that Hunter immediately!”

“Bring them to me!”

“And don’t let a single word reach the media!”

Jinseo quietly left the chairman’s office.

Ian naturally followed behind him.

Handing him a fresh carton of milk, Ian asked,

“Even you couldn’t detect or catch that person.”

“Do you really think the Hunter Association has any chance?”

“About 170 centimeters tall.”

“Long straight hair.”

“Thin build.”

“There are tens of thousands of women like that in Korea.”

“Find her.”

“Otherwise…”

“A gate will collapse.”

“…”

If even Kang Jinseo…

The world’s greatest hunters…

And the handful of hunters who possessed search skills…

Couldn’t clear the Gates…

Then if even one of those Gates broke open…

It could truly become the end of humanity.

No matter what…

They had to find that extraordinary Hunter.

“But how are we supposed to find her…”

Ian sighed dramatically, already imagining endless overtime.

At that moment…

A text message appeared on Jinseo’s phone.

The sender was the guild master who constantly annoyed him.

He was about to ignore it and lock the screen.

Then…

The preview caught his eye.

Thanks for clearing the Gate, Hunter Kang! ><! Thanks to you, our Hunter Academy alumni reunion will go ahead as planned! Attendees: Ye Bitna, Kim Woojin, Kim Seongtae, Na Iran…

Hunter Academy reunion.

Ye Bitna.

Those were the words that caught his attention.

Normally, he wouldn’t have given the gathering a second glance.

But this time…

Something was different.

For just a brief moment…

The back of the woman he had lost inside the Gate overlapped with the memory of a certain girl he had known at the Hunter Academy.

The girl who had always stood gazing out the large window.

As that long-forgotten image resurfaced…

The calm waters in Jinseo’s heart began to ripple ever so slightly.