Returned With Horns

○

"Here."

As soon as I arrived at Craft House, the usual impolite employee handed me a scabbard. Wondering what it was, I took the scabbard, and he looked at me with a blank face.

What, what is it? Explain. As I looked at him with a bewildered face, the employee quietly opened his mouth.

"It's a scabbard. The workshop master, that old man, has collapsed, so there's no point in looking for him. Try testing it out once."

"Ah, okay."

I examine the pitch-black scabbard from various angles.

It doesn't seem to have anything special.

Can this scabbard, which hasn't even undergone magical processing, let alone a blessing, really hold this demonic sword? Thinking that, I pushed the sword into the scabbard.

"Huh, huuh?"

It slides in smoothly, then suddenly stops. What, why did it stop? However, unlike before, half of the blade was hidden.

Since no scabbard had ever taken in even this much of the sword until now, I couldn't help but be surprised. But the employee frowned as if he wasn't satisfied with the scabbard.

"Tsk... A failure. Give it back."

"Huh? Okay."

"I'll tell the workshop master it failed. We'll make it again, so come back later."

"Huh?"

"The workshop master probably didn't expect to succeed on the first try anyway, so don't worry. Well then."

Watching the employee disappear inside with the scabbard, I could only stand there blankly. The bladeless sword was still dangling at my waist. They could have at least given me that...

"Ah, let's just go."

Since it was awkward to chase after the already disappeared employee, I scratched the back of my neck and went outside.

I noticed people flinching when they saw my horns, but what do I care? I started looking for a restaurant nearby. Is there anywhere with fewer people? As the Chae Seohyun who had just earned 300 million won, price wasn't an issue. But because people's stares were annoying, I wanted to find a place with fewer people.

Since I had left quite early, I wasn't in a hurry time-wise, so I leisurely looked for a restaurant for lunch.

In the meantime, I found a beef restaurant that wasn't too crowded. Looking at the prices, it seemed like a restaurant that was sustained by company dinner parties.

"Welcome!"

As I entered, an employee greeted me with a bright, friendly smile. Nodding to the employee, I took a seat in a corner.

Should I indulge in beef after a long time? With that thought, I placed my order.

"Here, three sets of assorted meat."

"...What? Three sets?"

"Yeah."

"Um, one set is for three people..."

"It's fine."

"Uh, okay... Are you perhaps a broadcaster?"

"No."

Why ask that? Are there a lot of people coming to broadcast?

I shook my head, pondering this question. The waiter then went inside with a visibly relieved face. In less than three minutes, she came back with plates full of meat and started laying them on the grill.

"You must be a hunter."

"Ah, I'm a Hunter Association employee."

"I see."

The waiter, who had been watching me yawn lazily, suddenly startled. What's with her?

"Are you speaking informally to me?"

Seeing her surprised as if she had just noticed, I was momentarily dumbfounded, but then I offered something close to an excuse.

"Despite how I look, I'm quite old. And I don't use formal speech unless it's someone I respect. I don't even use it with the Association President."

In fact, it was almost a habit. In the Granterasia continent, I went around speaking informally to everyone while shouting "I hate the world!", and there was no one worthy of my respect anyway. That's why I habitually speak informally even after coming to Earth. This is all because those Magic Tower bastards messed with my head.

After cursing the innocent Magic Tower, I quietly started eating the side dishes.

"Ah, if you're that kind of person, then..."

"You're accepting it more easily than I thought?"

"There are worse customers than you. In the first place, you're just speaking informally, but you don't seem to lack manners."

Could those two things coexist? I tilted my head but soon closed my mouth. If they're willing to accept it, there's no need for me to argue about it.

As I was eating, receiving the meat the waiter was grilling for me, the door of the restaurant opened.

"Are you open for business?"

"Ah, yes. We're open."

"There are ten of us. Is that okay?"

"Yes."

A group of customers? It's going to get noisy. As I was thinking that and picking up meat, the door of the restaurant opened and a huge man entered. Huge, that's the only way to describe him.

"Ganghyun. There seems to be plenty of space here."

"...It's an expensive place."

"A guy with more money than he knows what to do with shouldn't be stingy in places like this, or he'll get a bad reputation. Ah, miss. Could you show us to our seats?"

"Ah, yes. This way, please. By the way... Are you perhaps White Whale?"

"That's right."

As the muscular man, who seemed to be about 193cm tall and definitely over 100kg, entered the restaurant, the tables looked like miniatures. He's at least 30cm taller than me...

"Ah, there was already a customer. Sorry for the noise."

"It's fine."

"What? Ah, yes. Please don't mind us and enjoy your meal."

I nodded to the man speaking in front of White Whale and started inhaling the remaining meat. Beef is indeed delicious.

"Here, three more sets of assorted meat."

"...Are you sure it's okay?"

"Yeah. I'm still hungry."

Like Hiddink. At my assertion, the waitress hurriedly went to the kitchen.

By the way, maybe because there aren't many people for lunch, it seems like the waitress is the only staff right now, is that okay? I thought about that as I ate all the remaining meat on the grill.

This is life. A normal life. Without having to beat up Demon Kings or being experimented on in the Magic Tower. A life where you eat meat with money earned from work. What could be more ordinary than this?

This level of ordinary life was more than enough to be considered a success for the normal life I wanted.

When I was in the Granterasia continent, I had to head towards the Demon King's castle eating dried-up jerky or digging up roots because we couldn't even get proper supplies.

In the first subjugation, they at least paid us some money, but in the second subjugation, they didn't even give money to me, who was already brainwashed, as if there was no need to support me, so we had to journey with money Abrahen received from his family.

Even that support was cut off during the journey when the family thought Abrahen would fail to subjugate the Demon King, so we really did end up digging up roots to eat as I said. There were many memorable things even then, but honestly, I didn't want to go back to that kind of life.

"Here you go. Ah, you'll have to grill the meat yourself from now on. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. It's fine."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

After saying that while putting the meat on the grill, I waited for the beef to cook.

The other side was quite noisy. Maybe because there was a monster-like huge person in the middle, or because that magpie-like man was loud, it felt like they were attracting quite a bit of attention.

"Ganghyun. Is this Tower conquest really okay?"

"Yes. This time, I think we can go up to the 55th floor. It would be better if we had a proper attacker, but..."

"Is there still no information about the EX-rank hunter that appeared recently?"

"No."

When my story suddenly came up, I almost spit out the meat I was eating, but I managed to keep it in my mouth.

What, why is my story coming up suddenly?

Come to think of it, Han Ayoung mentioned it today. That their Blue Dragon Guild had declared a Tower conquest.

In a way, I had met the cause, the enemy of my business trip, on a narrow bridge, but I didn't bother to show it. It was because they had just talked about me, and I could see that the strength of that guy called White Whale was not to be taken lightly.

"It's a shame. If we could recruit that guy, we might even see the 60th floor."

"Judging by how thoroughly they're hiding their identity, they seem to be either a fraud or someone who really doesn't want to be exposed."

"Well, that's true. But I don't think they're a fraud, right? It's an official announcement from the Association."

"Yes. I think the latter possibility is higher too."

By the way, what kind of relationship do those two have? White Whale speaks formally, and that magpie-like man speaks informally, so they seem to be quite close. I listened to their conversation while picking up meat and eating it.

"Ah, you can eat now."

"Oh my, thank you, miss."

"Yes. Enjoy your meal."

The waitress who left with quick steps approached me. With a flushed face, she approached me and whispered excitedly in my ear.

"It's really White Whale!"

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"Because there's no one else to share this joy with besides you, customer. The chef isn't interested in these things."

"How did you know I was interested?"

"You've been watching them the whole time. Wasn't that the case?"

...Well, that's true. Since I hadn't particularly tried to hide it, it was natural for the waitress to notice.

But I wasn't looking because I particularly liked White Whale. I was looking at him with the eyes of someone seeing the enemy of my business trip.

"Well, I guess so."

"Right?"

After eating all the remaining meat, I patted my full stomach and stood up. At that moment, my eyes met with White Whale's.

"..."

"..."

What, what are you looking at? As I glared at him, White Whale subtly averted his gaze. Feeling like I had won somehow, I laughed "Heh" and took out my wallet. After paying with my card, I slightly frowned at the price shown.

It is expensive indeed.

Thinking that, I left the restaurant. It was really time to head to Yongin now.