< Horned Flame Lion (2) >

"It eats magic stones? That kitty?"

"Specifically, it eats grounded magic stones mixed with meat. It wouldn't eat just raw meat."

The kitty's mouth is super high-class. If it eats one magic stone per day, one month was 300 million and 1 year was 3.66 billion won.

Since he said 1 meal, if it ate 3 meals per day, the amount in one year was over 10 billion.

"...Could you lend me the feed price?"

No matter how fast, I had to raise it for half a year for it to become an adult, but of course, I didn't have money like several billions of won. When it becomes an adult, it'd be a familiar that wouldn't be able to live off even several hundreds of billions, instead of several billions. Make an investment for me.

At my words, Yoohyun laughed.

"Okay. Don't worry, it's not really an amount of money that will burden me."

You're saying one meal of 10 million won wasn't a burden. I'm jealous, S-Rank Awakened Person.

Even after getting 5 L-Rank skills, all were assistance so it wasn't possible to go around a diamond mine S-Rank dungeon. Shouldn't something like 'Dragon Slayer' give attack-type, defense-type skills paired together. Something like 'Dragon Breath', or 'Dragon Scale'.

Maybe I have rotten luck.

"For tamed monsters, as long as you have their owner's token, anyone can handle them. But if their owner is changed, they get confused and even disobey so you have to be careful. Especially if their owner has a lower rank, the possibility of that is higher."

Yoohyun said, as he pulled out a pendant with flat blue stoned embedded on it out of his inventory.

Now to think of it, I wondered what my actual rank was. My stats were F-Rank, but my skills were mostly L-Rank, so it might be higher than S-Rank.

But even if I was S-Rank in terms of the system[1], if you couldn't go into an S-Rank dungeon, the real rank would be A or lower. Saint Emily Spence was like that.

Then, my real rank would probably be around A-Rank, too.

After taking the pendant, the owner's token, I went back to the greenhouse. The Horned Flame Lion was still stuck to the glass wall, and was going kyareureu as if it was angry.

"Hey, kiddo. Your owner has changed."

I went toward the glass wall, shaking and showing the pendant. The Horned Flame Lion tilted its head and looked back and forth between me and Yoohyun.

-Keuheung

Oh, it became calm. It wasn't to the extent of intimacy, but it completely stopped barking and pouncing.

"Even if it's small, a monster is a monster, so don't go in by yourself for now. It'll take about a week for it to completely recognize its owner."

Yoohyun said as he unlocked the greenhouse door. To contain a C-Rank monster, they probably weren't normal glass walls.

"There aren't other monsters than the Horned Lion in the greenhouse, right?"

"I put in some flora and fauna from the dungeon's ecosystem, but there aren't any monster-class. No, there's one."

"What is it?"

"5th rank magic-tree-type[2] Gillotine[3]. Even as a 5th rank, there are only a few, but its fruit is useful, so I planted some."

…Isn't that the man-eating tree that grabs people with its tentacles and melts them to eat. Man-eating-tree-types were on the weak side, but if it was 5th rank, it was on higher side of D-Ranks. It'd be hard for F-Rank Level 1 me to deal with, even with A-Rank equipment.

"They're already pruned, so don't worry. As long as you periodically cut them, it's safe."

Yoohyun opened the greenhouse door as he told me not to worry. Hot air pushed out from the interior. Maybe because of the Horned Flame Lion, it seemed like the temperature was set high.

"Now that I think of it, isn't taking flora and fauna out of dungeons illegal?"

"There's no law related to that yet. Domestic dungeons are handled through domestic territories so they weren't smuggled either. They just told me to be careful about not spreading them into the wild since there's a danger of disturbing the ecosystem."

So it was before the law was established. When was it banned… was it because of the Shinho Group's Snow Flower[4] Butterfly incident?

I put on the slippers for greenhouse use and went inside. Among the mostly unfamiliar plants, there were a few trees and grasses that were familiar. That was a vine that was often found in E-Rank dungeons.

Rustle[5]

Along with the sounds of pushing through the grass, the baby Horned Flame Lion appeared. Now that it stopped leaping around and became docile, it was really cute. Its size was about that of a grown cat, but the shape of its face retained the roundness characteristic of baby animals. Its big golden eyes were pretty like gems.

"Does it have a name?"

"No."

You didn't even name it. Heartless guy.

With about half its body hidden under a wide leaf, the Horned Lion searched our gazes. It looked like it was confused by its owner suddenly being replaced.

"You're a good boy[6] aren't you, kiddo?"

I squatted down and lowered my eye level as I called to the Horned Lion.

"Come here, jjong jjong[7]."

I'll raise you well. The Horned Lion hesitated before coming to right in front of me. It was just then.

[Title 'Perfect Caregiver' has increased the effect of item 'Owner's Token'

The tamed target shows goodwill toward the Caregiver.]

A sudden Message Window popped up. What, there's an effect like this?

-Kkeeang

The Horned Lion slightly opened its mouth and cried adorably[8]. Ack, so cute. And after rubbing its cheek on my hand, it flopped down.

Ahh, what is this cutie pie! It waved its chubby feet that looked like they were wearing golden socks, and purred[9]. The thick tail wagged back and forth. Its fur was soft.

It's warm, cute, that's crazy[10], cute!

"How could you think of killing such a cute guy."

I said, petting the baby Horned Lion attached to my arm. A tiny thing like this already knows how to hide its claws. Alright, alright, I'll hold you. Oojjoojjoo.[11]

"It didn't act particularly cute for me."

"Even though you fed it for two months?"

"Yeah. It did act well-behaved since it was tamed, but it didn't wag its tail or stick to me."

It seemed like the Perfect Caregiver's effect was stronger than I'd thought. was it because it's a baby? If I succeed in growing the Horned Lion, I could collaborate with a tamer and pick out high rank familiars.

If I raise one or two per year, how much[12] would that be. The whole world would come looking for me.

"I'll put myself in your care[13], kiddo."

As I imagined a pleasant future, the Horned Flame Lion I was holding seemed more and more cuter.

'If I succeed in applying the skill, in about two months, I could say that I gained something like a monster caregiving skill.'

If I said that I got the skill while taking care of the baby monster, it's natural, and around then I'd have about three to four A~S-Ranks protecting me. Or I could grow a lot of baby monsters and keep them with me.

Would my nickname be something like Magic Beast Tamer[14]? It sounded a little cool, hm hm.

"Can I take him outside?"

"Not outside the guild building. It's still illegal to go around with tamed monsters unless you're attacking a dungeon. And even inside the building, don't take it around to floors 1~3 where Unawakened people go in and out of."

In 5 years, people make appearances on broadcasts with cool-looking magic beasts that you can barely call a pet. About when did the law change, again?

Holding the Horned Flame Lion, I left the greenhouse. Yoohyun said to leave it for one more day just in case but I ignored him.

My rank should at least be S, and I even have the effect of an L-Rank skill, so what problems would there be. It'd probably keep on docilely following me.

I wondered what I should name it.

"But hyung. You shouldn't easily accept and drink things like orange juice."

"...What?"

Orange juice? Suddenly what orange... Hunter shopping mall.

I looked at my dongsaeng with bitter eyes. Leaving aside Black Poison Fog Circles, he even knew what I drank.

"Did you plant a spy in the Hunter shopping mall or something."

"Yeah."

A nonchalant answer came back.

"What? Really?"

"On the 6th floor, even other guilds must have put in one or two. Since B-Rank Hunters and higher are the main customers. If you know what they're buying then it helps you grasp what their goals and schedules are."

...So the influence war between guilds was a lot more intense than I had thought. I mean, even so, saying that you have to be careful in a public institution like the Hunter Association. Wasn't that too much?

"So you can't be relaxed just because it's the Hunter Association. It's getting more and more dangerous to eat things others give you, and don't go around by yourself again. It's also better not to go to any outside restaurants near the Association. Ah, vending machine drinks are okay."

"But, not even anywhere else, but inside the Association, would they do that sort of thing? If they get caught the backlash will be big."

And if Awakened People can't trust in the Association anymore, then the guilds would suffer damage too.

"Of course, inside the Association, trouble probably wouldn't occur. But sending their targets away in an ambulance or police car is possible."

"…Do those ambulances and police cars go missing?"

"So, you get it."

Yoohyun smiled. Is it time to be smiling.[15]

Somehow, as time went by, I felt like I should stop being involved with Yoohyun and go off to live on my own. Though if I don't give up on the Perfect Caregiver name, I'll be involved with A, S-Ranks so in the end, I'll still get interference.

If I think like that, might as well get my trustable brother to have my back.

"The Hunter world is difficult too, huh."

"It's relatively peaceful for lower than C-Rank."

No, it's not always like that, ok? Rock bottom was its own battle. There's a difference between sending out spies and gracefully working in secret, and openly throwing out punches.

"If there's anything else I need to be careful of, tell me in the morning."

"You just have to look out for basic things. Don't take things from people you don't know, don't go to places that are dark and don't have people, even if an elderly person asks for help don't follow them."

"Ah, yes. I will come home before 9 o'clock, and send you the number when I ride taxis, and if it seems as if I will be late, I will diligently call you. Should I get a lost child prevention necklace[16] too?"

"I'd rather a tracker."

…I couldn't even joke. People of the world, please get along with each other. That way, I'll be comfortable.

I looked down at the Horned Flame Lion purring in my arms.

"Your name from now on is Peace[17]."

The world was definitely love and peace[18].

[1] system is transliterated from the eng word, idk if that's significant. It probably means the game-like Awakening mechanics.

[2] 마수목종: 마수 = (see last ch.'s footnotes), 목 = tree, 종 = species/type

[3] 길로티네, pronounced 'gill-lo-tee-neh' with a hard g.

[4] 눈꽃 lit. means "snow flower" but it's a word used to express snow that has landed on trees & such, making it seem like flower have bloomed. In other words, it's kinda like 'dew' except with snow instead of rain/mist/atmospheric water.

[5] 바스락 (pronounced ba-seu-rahk): onomatopoeia-ish word referring to rustling, crunching (like when you step on fallen leaves), muffled/indistinct sounds

[6] lit. "[You are] kind/good-natured [aren't you?], kiddo." where the stuff in the [ ] are implied by the context or grammatical structure. There's no gender or any sort of noun involved with the adjective (except for the 'kiddo' at the end), but the adj is often used when speaking of children or toward little children, the way eng speakers say "good boy" or "good girl".

[7] nonsense sound words that are like clicking your tongue.

[8] 애교 (aegyo): it's specifically an extremely childishly cute/charming way of acting

[9] 'went kyareureung (갸르릉)' which isn't exactly purring, more like just sounds that baby animals make, but it's similar

[10] this is just an exclamation-like phrase

[11] these are nonsense cooing noises that people/parents make at babies

[12] it's a word often used with money, so that's what he means here.

[13] lit. "from now on, [I] request well" which is a standard (polite) phrase you give to someone who you will be spending a lot of time with, living with, depending on their assistance with, etc. It's also like "please take care of me from now on".

[14] 마수사: 마수 = magic beast (as established before), -사 = someone with an expertise. So, not technically "tamer" but I thought that would fit best.

[15] lit. "does a smile come out" but the tl I gave is the general meaning of the phrase.

[16] this is a necklace with a tag that has a child's name and address and parents' contact information. Also, YJ and YH talk to each other informally, but YJ used polite speech here for sarcasm except for the last sentence. I tried to get that through in the tl by not using contractions and using '9 o'clock' instead of just '9' but idk if I succeeded…

[17] this isn't the krn word for 'peace'; it's the eng word transliterated into krn

[18] 'love and peace' is transliterated from eng.