YouPipe

"Hey Marrin"

"I heard about you getting hospitalized."

"Are you still up for Saturday?"

"Yeah"

"I told you that I wouldn't miss out on free drinks."

"Maybe you shouldn't drink though…"

I looked at my phone with a slight smile on my lips. It'd be good to get my mind off this stuff by spending some time with Uma. He's a good friend, one that I can trust with my life. Honestly, a part of me wants to tell him that I got a Skill.

Of course, I wouldn't tell him anything too specific. I'll just tell him that I got a Skill and I might tell him what the Skill is. He might be disgusted by the Skill, but I trust him enough to believe that he wouldn't react badly.

I was currently sitting at home. My sister was at school and my dad was sleeping, so I didn't really have anything to do. I was discharged from the hospital pretty quickly, since my wound wasn't that bad after the healers fixed me up. It still confuses me… Why would that Monster, the Envious Glutton, spare me when it could've easily killed me like everyone else?

"There's no use thinking about this," I sighed, scratching my head. "Anyway, I really want to be working right now."

The hospital fee cost everything that I had gotten from the Green Dungeon the other day. If it weren't for my sister, then I'd be out in another Dungeon right now, but she forbade me from even leaving the apartment for today. Usually, I would've ignored her and just left, but after seeing the stressed out look in her eyes, I decided to stay still.

After a while of sitting still without doing anything, I decided to do some research on my phone. I tried not to think about the Envious Glutton, but I couldn't help it. On my phone, I searched up "Can Monsters speak."

When the search results came up, I saw only one answer. That answer was no. I clicked on a bunch of articles and all of them said that Monsters couldn't speak. That means that I must've encountered some special type of Monster, right?

Next, I hesitantly searched something else up. I typed "Is it safe to eat Monsters" on my phone. I really hoped that no one's able to see my search history. I clicked onto an article and read it aloud.

"If you find yourself in a situation where you're in a Dungeon and forced to eat Monsters, then it would be a good idea to make sure you know what kind of Monster it is first. Monsters are still living things, so of course it would be possible to consume them. The problem is that there is a wide variety of Monster types. It could be very possible for a Monster that you didn't think was poisonous turn out to be poisonous. There have been cases of people safely eating Monsters, but there's always a risk when it comes to these creatures. In conclusion, instead of eating Monsters, it would be a much better idea to make sure that you've packed enough food and supplies before going into a Dungeon."

After reading the article, I shut my eyes.

"So it should be fine to eat Monsters depending on the type," I thought out loud, " Hmm… maybe my Skill gives me some sort of protection when I eat things? It would suck if I tried to use my Skill and got food poisoning. But in this case, I think I could actually die if I eat the wrong thing."

After a while of researching on my phone, I somehow found myself watching YouPipe videos. At first, I was watching educational videos about Monsters and such. That somehow led me to a YouPipe channel that was all about interviewing Heroes, Hunters, and sometimes, well-known Mercenaries.

The first video I clicked on was of an interview on an A-Rank Hero who was known for her beauty and abilities as a magician. Her name was Cassidy Ellentine, though she was called the Enchantress by most people.

She was so popular that she was even asked to be in commercials and model for products. Only a few Heroes get that sort of opportunity. It was the sort of thing that they wouldn't ask of a Hunter unless it was someone highly reputable.

The interviewer asked the Enchantress some basic questions. Questions like "Why are you Hero" and "How does it feel to be so famous" popped up. She responded by saying that she wanted to help people and that she was grateful for the support that she has been given by her fans.

It would be natural to believe her, but I was less trusting. After knowing Uma for so long, I learned that, despite being called Heroes, there were a lot of Heroes that were in it for things like money and fame. It was only natural. Of course, Uma wasn't one of those people. He was just a genuinely nice guy.

The second video that I watched featured a Hunter called Beast Tamer and was uploaded recently. His real name was Steven Ark. He was a B-Rank Hunter with the rare ability to tame and control Dungeon Monsters. Supposedly, he is also able to tame Boss Monsters.

When I watched the video the first thing I noticed was the setting.

"Isn't that in City C?" I wondered aloud, "The Beast Tamer is in City C?"

The Beast Tamer was a popular Hunter even when I was still in high school. He was popular with girls because of his looks as well as some of his tamed Monsters, and he was popular with boys because of the cool Monsters that he had under his control. To be honest, I also used to be a fan of his.

As I was thinking about my high school days, I ended up tuning out the entire video on accident. I suddenly remembered the times that I spent with my old high school friends. I lost contact with them because I was too busy though. That also led me to memories of a crush I had.

"I'm 20 now," I said to myself, sighing, "I never confessed to her did I? Well, I wouldn't have had time for romance anyways."

As I shook myself out of my nostalgic thoughts, I clicked onto a video that was interviewing a Mercenary. Actually, there were two Mercenaries in the video. One of them was a man and the other was a woman, though they both wore dark hoods and masks that covered their faces. They were part of a pretty well-known Mercenary group called The Bane.

There were lone Mercenaries that worked and took contracts on their own, but there were also Mercenary groups that worked as a team. The Bane was a Mercenary group that had previously worked with Hero Agencies and Hunter Guilds to take down Villains and Monsters on various occasions. That's how good they were at their jobs. They'd get asked to do the jobs of professionals by the professionals.

It was rare for The Bane to make any public appearances like this, so to have not one, but two of its members participating in a recorded interview was surprising. While I was watching the video, there was a single question that the interviewer asked that stood out to me.

"With your abilities, you could easily be a Hero or a high ranking Hunter," the interviewer said to the pair of Mercenaries, "Why is it that you two choose to be Mercenaries?"

"...," the male Mercenary stayed silent.

"...," the female Mercenary glanced at the male Mercenary before saying, "We each have our own reasons."

With that, the interview carried on. The Mercenary's answer got me thinking about what reason there could possibly be. I understood why a person might not want to be Hunter. If this was the case, then they probably would have just said it, but Dungeons are always unpredictable. Towers are even more unpredictable, with only a few people ever being able to survive after entering one, though only one Tower has been completely cleared.

However, there wasn't any reason not to be a Hero. Heroes were loved by everyone and were pretty much becoming celebrities.

I really couldn't understand these two people. Then again, I'm a Hunter who has stayed at the E-Rank for 4 years. Despite this, I haven't given up yet. Maybe others will think that I'm the strange one.

I ended up watching more videos and before I knew it, it was night. When I realized, I hurriedly made dinner.

"W-when did you get back?" I asked my sister when I saw her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "I've been home for hours."