LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 114
Chapter 114 Grilled Unicorn 1
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The Hunter Gallery was buzzing with excitement due to the upcoming S-rank promotion exam.
[They say OO Hunter is a strong candidate?]
[People are saying that Yeonhwa, the granddaughter of Yeonseo, might become an S-rank this time. They say she killed thousands of monsters in just three months after reaching A-rank?]
[No way.]
[No, no, I doubt anyone’s going to show up this time either.]
[I’ll hold my breath until the gallery leader gets promoted to S-rank. Huff!]
[If it’s the gallery leader, S-rank is easily possible, haha.]
Even though the S-rank promotion exams were held in secret, the mere fact that the event was happening brought tourists from overseas and triggered large and small festivals.
It was a seat where a giant, next-generation S-rank hunter might emerge, someone who could potentially lead the future of the hunter world.
In 2088, Earth had become a hunter-driven society, and anyone uninterested in the promotion exams was considered strange.
Thus, the Hunter Gallery was the most active it had been all year, swarming with netizens, trolls, and hardcore Switch users, creating a bustling crowd.
Hundreds of posts took over the Popular Posts section each day, and even netizens from overseas stayed to gather information about the exams.
Then, out of the blue, one post appeared.
[Hey, I just saw the gallery leader while walking.](231)
Upvotes: 546
『I had to step out for a bit, and I saw the gallery leader holding hands with some kid, coming out of a blood-sausage soup place.
She was walking, and her holy power pouch was bouncing around so much that it was all I could see.
I didn’t get a good look at the person next to her because my attention was so focused on her, but judging by the strange appendages hanging from them, it looked like someone with a body mutation ability—possibly a beast-type or insect-type.
Nothing much else to say.』
[Kid? A kid? No way, is the gallery leader married?]
[Must be a cousin or just some younger sibling.]
[Married gallery leader confirmed.]
[Oh no…]
[Cut the nonsense. Why would Shia be outside during the S-rank promotion exams?]
[Quit with the fake posts, dude.]
[I’m serious.]
[Proof?]
[Are you kidding? How am I supposed to take a photo when the majestic holy power pouch is swaying in front of my eyes?]
[Hmm, plausible.]
[But seriously, even if it’s true, why would Shia be outside when the exams aren’t over yet?]
[Did she drop out?]
[Gallery leader, drop out?]
[Haha, what nonsense.]
[Forget dropping out—if Shia’s married, does that even matter right now?]
[Guess not?]
[SEX!]
[You crazy people, lol.]
Whether the post was true or not about seeing the gallery leader with a girl, it made its way to the end of the Popular Posts section, but the ripples it caused spread far and wide, like waves on a lake.
Since there was no photo to verify the claim, it could have been dismissed as a simple troll.
But the timing was too bad.
The gallery leader, Shia, was supposedly seen outside in the middle of the S-rank promotion exams.
Shia had firmly stated in broadcasts that she would participate in the exams.
Most users in the Hunter Gallery believed without a doubt that the gallery leader would proudly come back holding an S-rank hunter certificate.
Because of that, a small pebble thrown into the Popular Posts pool began to generate massive waves.
[Hey, if that post is real, does that mean the gallery leader isn’t doing the S-rank promotion exam?]
[Who knows?]
[I heard she quit?]
[Huh? Why?]
[Why? Because she drained herself dry using her skills too much and ran out of steam, haha.]
[I had a feeling they were over-hyping her all this time.]
[Yep, no more Saintess of Antics—now she’s just the Useless Saintess.]
[Ew, trolls everywhere.]
[You guys trust a post with no photos?]
[I knew it! All this talk about her being a guaranteed S-rank was bogus, haha.](5384)
『I knew from the moment those pathetic fanboys got infatuated with her that something was off.
Gallery leader, my foot.
S-rank isn’t something they hand out like dog names. Everyone kept saying she was a guaranteed S-rank, but where are they now?
I didn’t like her from the start—something about her didn’t sit right with me. Turns out she was all hype.
That Jinwoo Hunter is way better than her.』
[Gross. Are the trolls coming out of the woodwork now?]
[Didn’t she solo the Centipede Dragon and receive a commendation from the association? And you call her hype?]
[Who is this new villain? Lol.]
[Who’s Jinwoo, nerd?]
[For real, who the heck is that? Lol.]
[You guys don’t know? Haha, Hunter Gallery standards.]
[Just answer, you clown.]
[According to the wiki, he’s some B-rank hunter who does BL streaming with his friends.]
[Why are you here promoting your unknown BL streamer? Lol.]
[Go back to your gallery.]
[Get lost to your corner.]
[Gross. Promoting some streamer I’ve never heard of, lol.]
[You guys are getting distracted by the wrong thing here.](2311)
Upvotes: 4348
『(Insert meme of a holy power pouch swaying)
So you’re saying the gallery leader is a married woman with a kid, and you’re still talking about the S-rank promotion exam?
Look at her youthful face. At most, she looks like she’s in her early twenties.
No wrinkles.
Her skin is smooth and taut.
Her body is absolutely killing it—destroying celebrities with lean muscle.
Her holy power pouch is absurdly huge.
And you’re telling me this gallery leader is a married woman with a kid?
Lol, if an anime character or a manga plot had a setup like this, people would eat it up.
I’m in. How about you?』
[Are you underestimating Jangboongies right now?]
[Is this a challenge? Lol.]
[Time to show what’s possible.]
[Lol, more important than the promotion exam is whether the gallery leader is a single mom.]
[Guess so.]
[You guys are something else, lol.]
[Your academic insights have cleared my mind.]
[You crazy people.]
[Haha, can’t believe this.]
[But seriously, is the gallery leader really married?]
[Go find out.]
[Haha, it’s hilarious how we’re discussing whether Shia is married during the S-rank exams.]
[Technically, it’d be more accurate to say she’s a widow with a kid, right?]
[Then who’s the husband?]
[No idea.]
And so, another day passed with Jangboongies and nasty netizens spinning the silly rumor that Shia might be a married woman with a kid while the S-rank promotion exams continued.
That evening…
[‘Hunter Shia’s broadcast has started!’]
Shia’s broadcast turned on.
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While the Hunter Gallery descended into chaos, Shia’s home remained peaceful.
“Huh… What is this mess…”
Such a disaster.
Waking up, Yoon-jung sighed as she looked at the wrecked kitchen.
It wasn’t a dream.
The bizarre scene she had witnessed wasn’t a dream.
“…Kuuuurgh…”
“Eeee….”(Save me…)
A kid with some sort of bug mutation ability lay unconscious, foaming at the mouth.
Shia, too, had succumbed to a hangover and was passed out in a corner with her head buried.
Who knew what kind of mess they had made before falling asleep, but a large pot sat on the counter, filled with a cold, black liquid that resembled poison.
Chopped green onions, garlic, cooking oil, and other ingredients were strewn across the sink and table, as if they were in their own playground.
It wasn’t just Yoon-jung and Shia who had been drinking—every dish and ingredient in the kitchen seemed to have joined in the drunken chaos.
Simply put, the kitchen was a complete wreck.
But Yoon-jung found herself smiling despite it all.
Her dependable son… no, her dependable and strong daughter had returned, but she was still clumsy in unexpected ways.
Even if she was exhausted, she should have cleaned up after cooking before passing out.
Falling asleep after playing hard, just like when she was a kid.
Yoon-jung picked up an apron hanging in the corner of the kitchen.
She had bought the apron for the kitchen when she moved in, but she had never used it—not even once. The packaging ties were still intact.
“Ugh, this girl’s heavy… What has she been eating to get this heavy…?”
Both Shia and the Centipede were quite heavy, but fortunately, Yoon-jung was a D-rank hunter.
She had gone through intense training, building muscles so firm they seemed to form on their own.
Moving Shia and the centipede to the bed wasn’t too difficult.
Once they were moved, Yoon-jung skillfully began tidying up the messy kitchen.
It wasn’t the first time she had done this. Yoon-jung had always been
good at cleaning and organizing, but living on her own for years had made her nearly a master at household chores.
She separated the oils and seasonings into different types, storing them neatly in the overhead cabinets.
As her hands swiftly wiped down the greasy kitchen, the once pigsty-like space was reborn, as clean as a brand-new home.
“Uuuugh….”
“Oh, you’re up?”
Shia, rubbing her eyes, woke up to the sound of the kitchen being turned upside down.
The lucky centipede wasn’t so lucky—it hadn’t woken up.
It wasn’t just tired; it had fainted entirely from shock.
“Uuuurgh…”
Shia winced, her face showing the strain of a hangover.
While the Saintess of the Dead’s body wasn’t one that should suffer from a hangover, the emotional release of finally living with her mother had caused her to let down her guard. She had eaten and drank recklessly the previous night.
As usual, Shia tried to use her purification miracle to clear her system.
“Hey, don’t bother with that. Drink this honey water first.”
“Huh?”
Shia paused at the sight of the honey water suddenly handed to her.
Oh, right…
I live with my mom now.
Mom.
With my mom…
Hehe…
“Hehehehehe…”
“Why are you giggling like that, weirdo?”
“Mom, your son isn’t a guy anymore.”
“Quiet, you. Just drink it already.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It was sweet.
Sweet.
Using a purification miracle would have been a much more effective way to cure the hangover.
But there were no words to describe how wonderful it was to receive a warm cup of honey water from someone else, someone who cared.
“Is it that good?”
“Gulp… Yes. Hehehe…”
It was good.
It was just good.
No reason. It just felt good.
Simply existing, being by her side, made everything feel better.
“Hey, girl. Don’t just sit there—start explaining.”
“Huh? Explain what?”
“That one! The one over there with the bug or centipede tail or whatever that kid is.”
“Oh…”
Yoon-jung pointed at the luckless centipede, who still lay unconscious, its eyes rolled back.
It was hard to tell if it was asleep or had passed out from some torturous level of pain.
‘Who is this? What’s going on? It kind of looks like Shia…’
Though the skin color and form were obviously different, the shape of the face, the large chest, and the curves of the arms and legs somehow made Yoon-jung think that if Shia’s body were younger, it would look just like this kid.
Of course, the first sight of the bug-like chitinous limbs and long centipede tail had startled her, but in 2088, the Hunter Era was full of mutant ability users living among regular people.
Not to mention the various alien species and beastkin that had migrated to Earth through gates, so a centipede person wasn’t that unusual.
“So, is this your friend? A colleague? Who is she?”
“Hmm…”
How should she explain?
She had dragged this 15-meter centipede out of the Rotting Mountain Dungeon, forcibly brought it along, shared some food, done some food shows together, even taken a bath on a stream.
They had spent some time together, and then one day, the centipede had suddenly transformed into a person, devoured 53 bowls of blood-sausage soup, and blamed it all on her.
‘Hmm! Even I know how crazy that sounds!’
Shia could already picture her mother saying, “What nonsense are you spouting?”
Her mother, Yoon-jung, was a straightforward, tough woman, and Shia knew that trying to explain this insane story in detail would just make her seem more unbelievable.
Still, she had to say something.
“My kid.”
“Huh?”
So, Shia decided to keep things as simple and vague as possible.
“Yeah, my kid.”
“………”
Yoon-jung fell silent for a moment.
Shia was convinced her mother had understood and accepted the situation in her own way.
But wait, the centipede was still foaming at the mouth.
[Miracle – Great Healing]
“Krr… Ki…?” (Where am I? Who am I?)
After receiving the Great Healing Miracle, the centipede blinked, rubbed its eyes, and sat up.
Its movements were so cute that Shia couldn’t help but smirk as she patted the centipede’s head.
“Kii…?” (What’s going on…?)
The fact that the centipede didn’t seem scared of Shia’s touch suggested it had no memory of the horrific events that had occurred earlier.
“Sh-Shia?”
“Yes, Mom?”
“So, what’s this one’s name?”
Hmm, what should I call it…
I can’t keep calling it Lucky Centipede forever, right?
“Oh…”
Now that she thought about it, the centipede had cursed at her earlier, saying “Sshibal!” (Damn it!).
It seemed to have some intelligence but hadn’t quite mastered vocal cords, so it probably just spat out the most familiar word it knew.
Sshibal… Sshibal… Sshibal sounded like Yabal… Yabal Centipede.
Okay.
“I’ll call her Yane.”
“…Sounds like a Japanese name.”
“Does it?”
“Is she Japanese… by any chance?”
At Shia’s words, Yoon-jung bit her lip, lost in thought.
‘Which Japanese bastard…’ she muttered under her breath, but Shia didn’t catch her words.
“Haa, but aren’t you hungry?”
“…Huh?”
“Kiiiek!” (Hungry!)
At the mention of hunger, Yoon-jung’s eyes widened, and Yane raised her hand as if she understood Shia’s words.
“Wait, Shia. Didn’t we just eat?”
While hunters and awakened beings had exceptional digestion abilities, it was odd to feel hungry again right after waking up.
“No, Mom. You know how you get really hungry after drinking?”
“…Really? Never heard of that before.”
“Yane, aren’t you hungry too?”
“……Kii…?”
It seemed Yane still hadn’t fully grasped human language, and she didn’t even realize that “Yane” was her name.
Left with no choice, Shia grabbed Yane’s antennae and whispered close.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Kiiiek!” (Hungry!)
Luckily, Yane at least understood the word “hungry.”
“…Well, where do you want to go?”
“Hehe, I know lots of delicious places.”
Fortunately, after returning from the previous world, Shia had already scouted out all the delicious restaurants in the area.
Unfortunately, blood-sausage soup was off the list.
No matter how much she wanted to celebrate her reunion with her family after so many years, blood-sausage soup didn’t seem like the right dish.
So, Shia called a fancy beef restaurant near Hapjeong Station, one that Yeonhwa and Yeonseo often took her to.
“Hello, this is Shia. Do you have any reservations available today?”
[Oh… Sorry, we can’t take any more reservations.]
“…What?”
This response was unexpected.
[You came with Yeonhwa a few days ago and cleared out all the meat, remember? We’re out of stock and closed until next week.]
“Oh…”
That’s right.
After the S-rank promotion exams began, she had met up with Yeonhwa for a “simple” dinner at a beef restaurant. While Yeonhwa had eaten five servings, Shia had demolished 80 servings of beef, even forcing the owner to bring out his stock from the freezer.
That “simple” dinner had gotten so out of hand that Shia had needed to use the purification miracle twice to rid her clothes of the grease smell.
“Yes, I understand…”
“What did they say? No luck?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, with the S-rank promotion exams going on, I heard most restaurants aren’t taking reservations. I didn’t realize there were festivals and events happening outside.”
“…”
Shia couldn’t bring herself to tell her mom that she had single-handedly cleared out the restaurant’s meat supply just a few days ago.
“Hello? Is this the chicken place… Oh, you’re closed?”
“Hello, can I make a reservation… Ah, it’s not available?”
“Hi, this is Shia… Ah, sorry. Is it possible to reserve… Oh, okay, thank you…”
After making several calls, Shia found herself with the same results.
With the S-rank promotion exams happening, festivals and events were taking place nationwide, causing restaurants and service industries to boom, leaving no availability anywhere.
More importantly, Shia was a big eater.
Most of the restaurants she contacted had already experienced Shia’s voracious appetite firsthand.
While she was undoubtedly a great customer, during this busy period, they couldn’t afford to turn away other guests just to accommodate her.
Hmm, what should I do…?
“Mom, is there anything you want to eat?”
“Huh? Me? Well, I’m fine with anything Shia chooses…”
It was a sweet and kind answer, but from a decision-maker’s perspective, it was a headache.
“Anything is fine” usually means, ‘I won’t give you any hints about what I want, so you better figure it out. And if I don’t like it, I’ll subtly express my displeasure. Good luck.’
Shia knew this because of a previous experience with Teresa.
They had gone on a picnic, and when Shia asked what Teresa wanted to eat, Teresa had replied, “Anything’s fine. I’ll like whatever you choose.”
So, Shia had taken her to a place serving duck soup similar to Korean blood-sausage soup, only to get scolded badly for it.
Shia had a similar experience with Menelapie, which is why she no longer trusted the phrase “anything is fine.”
Of course, since Yoon-jung was her mother, she would probably be happy with whatever Shia picked. But there was no harm in being careful, right?
If she was going to treat her mom, she might as well go all out and pick something luxurious and delicious.
But the usual restaurants Shia frequented were packed due to the promotion exams.
On the other hand, trying a new place was risky if the food turned out to be bad.
‘Maybe I should just cook myself?’
Shia wasn’t a master chef.
Before her food shows, she would usually study recipes for about ten minutes on the internet or her smartwatch and then jump into cooking.
Still, it wasn’t as if everything she cooked ended up being a disaster.
In fact, her track record wasn’t too bad.
Wyvern Egg Braised in Soy Sauce.
Centipede Dragon Fried Tempura.
Walker Bone Broth and Lava-Bearded Whale Soup were perfect successes.
Orc Butter Pork Belly Roast… Well, that was a failure.
But Fried Red Chicken and World Tree Leaf Pancakes from the Elf Great Forest were big wins.
And though she failed the Corn Bug Tempura… her overall performance wasn’t terrible.
With cooking skills like hers, surely she could make something nice for her mom, right?
Yes, filial piety isn’t just about giving cash.
Parents feel even more joy when they receive something hand-made by their child.
Shia quickly searched nearby dungeons on her smartwatch and found one that caught her eye.
A-rank dungeon, Waterdrop Forest.
Thanks to the S-rank promotion exams, the place was practically empty.
The monsters there… perfect.
This will do.
Unlike the Corn Bug Tempura, which was divisive, the monsters here practically screamed delicious.
“Mom, have you ever eaten unicorn?”
“…What?”