Castorice felt a little guilty as she kept reading.
Unknown Sender: I am Woo Jin-chul. My apologies for the discourtesy just now, but I hope Castorice-ssi can better understand how special and eye-catching she is. As an S-Rank Hunter, while enjoying better treatment, you should also lead by example.
Unknown Sender: Regarding the matters inside the gate, Hunter Son Kihoon has already explained the situation to us. May I ask if you have time tomorrow to come in and complete the registration?
After changing the stranger's contact name to Woo Jin-chul, Castorice typed a reply:
[My apologies, sir, I did not respond in time.]
Woo Jin-chul: [It's no problem. May I ask where Castorice-ssi is now?]
Castorice: [I just got home. I only checked my phone after arriving.]
Woo Jin-chul: [Understood. We have already grasped the details. Since this was done to rescue friends and other Hunters, this incident will be classified as an emergency rescue. Later, we will transfer the Hunters Guild's token of gratitude to you.]
Good, no crime committed. Amber had lived for so long, yet she had never once been an outlaw.
Thinking about how she had no classes tomorrow morning, Castorice continued typing:
[I'll come over tomorrow morning.]
Woo Jin-chul: [Thank you for your understanding.]
After wrapping things up on that end, Castorice went back to message Han Song-Yi: [If you're free tomorrow, Song-Yi, want to go to the Association again?]
Han Song-Yi: [It's for the registration, right! If nothing unexpected happened today, it should've been registered already.]
Han Song-Yi: [I just didn't expect you to be that fast, Castorice-unnie. I thought registration would take a long time.]
Castorice really couldn't bring herself to say that she hadn't registered at all, so she could only reply: [Don't skip class. Come after school.]
Han Song-Yi didn't actually like hearing things like that, but Castorice was now not only her pillar of support, but also the idol she admired.
When an idol said it, it was naturally different. She immediately agreed without hesitation.
Time quickly rolled over to the next day.
Afraid of delaying her afternoon classes, Castorice once again called on Pollux as her means of transportation.
In less than two minutes, she was already hovering above the Association building.
The dead dragon had spread across the entirety of Korea overnight.
News of the newly appointed S-Rank possessing a gigantic dragon as a summon had already gone viral.
After all… that was a dragon. You couldn't find two of them in the whole world, and the previous one had been hunted down and killed by several S-Ranks along with a national-authority-level powerhouse.
Even among dragons, there were probably differences in strength, but judging by the dead dragon's appearance, no matter how bad it was, it shouldn't be much weaker than Kamish.
And even if it really was far weaker, say only a third of the power, that would still be enough to stand firmly at the top tier among S-Ranks.
Castorice ignored the stares around her and jumped straight down from midair.
As she landed, several recruiters who had been squatting there for half the day prepared to swarm over.
Before they could even get close, however, another figure blocked their way.
It was Woo Jin-chul.
A dead dragon causing such a massive stir had naturally drawn his attention.
Having already learned from Son Kihoon that Castorice couldn't be approached casually, he was determined to nip any possible trouble in the bud.
"We've been expecting you, Hunter Castorice."
Woo Jin-chul spoke as he walked toward her, stopping at a distance of five steps.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir."
The smile on Castorice's face remained gentle and serene, betraying no particular emotion.
After exchanging greetings, Woo Jin-chul led the way, bringing her up to the third floor of the Association.
Compared to the other floors, the third had effectively been merged with the fourth, forming several spacious sparring rooms. They were sometimes also used to test a Hunter's abilities.
"Castorice-ssi, according to Son Kihoon's account, you specialize in close-quarters combat, possess a powerful dragon summon, and anyone who touches or even approaches you will die."
Woo Jin-chul summarized while looking at the report in his hands. "Is there anything you'd like to add?"
"No additions."
"Then, would you be willing to demonstrate on site for us?"
As Woo Jin-chul spoke, a white wall not far away slowly opened, revealing a wild boar tightly bound and fixed onto a cart.
The sight made Castorice frown slightly, her voice turning colder.
"In your view, sir, is life something that can be extinguished for a test with no real meaning?"
If it were a sacrifice made for some great experiment or lofty goal, Castorice could barely accept it. But this clearly wasn't that.
"My apologies."
Woo Jin-chul's expression changed slightly. He closed the door he had just opened and immediately moved on to the next test.
"Then, could you attack that object over there instead?"
He pointed toward a massive silver-white cube in the distance.
"That's metal retrieved from a dungeon. It can absorb incoming attacks and then release them in the form of mana. It has limited tolerance for S-Rank attacks. Too many hits, and it won't be able to convert them in time. So one strike will be enough, Castorice-ssi."
Castorice nodded, though she had no intention of using her full strength.
She had browsed the internet last night, and from the videos she'd seen, the overall combat power of this world really was quite weak.
Even S-Ranks were the same, actually weaker than the magical girls from her previous world.
With that thought, she summoned her scythe. After dispersing ninety percent of her power, she slashed once at the cube.
The cut surface was neat and smooth. Such blade work on ingredients would inspire awe, but when applied to the cube, it was downright terrifying.
"It… it cut through?"
There hadn't been any fluctuation of mana at all. Visually, it had just been an ordinary swing. And yet, this utterly unremarkable slash had split the cube cleanly in two?
Even with Woo Jin-chul's composure, his expression couldn't help but change.
Too fragile…
Castorice believed she had held back as much as possible, but the cube's brittleness still exceeded her expectations.
After that, she noticed Woo Jin-chul's attitude grow increasingly respectful.
He only asked a few more questions before directly issuing her registration file. Since she currently had no team or guild, even with this file, she was not permitted to enter dungeons under normal regulations.
According to the rules, entering a dungeon required forming a team of at least seven people. After seven, it didn't matter whether you added ten more or a hundred.
Although some guild-bid gates ignored parts of the rules due to a lack of Association oversight, Castorice hadn't joined any guild.
The entire process didn't take much time at all. It left Castorice with a faint sense of 'I woke up early for this?' boredom.
Should she head back to the Underworld? But if she went back, there didn't seem to be anything to do there either…
Her minor frustration didn't last long. She had just reached the Association's first-floor lobby when the red-haired man she'd seen yesterday came over to greet her.
"Nice to see you again, Castorice-ssi."
Unlike yesterday, when she knew nothing about this world, or rather, this society, Castorice now knew exactly who the man in front of her was after a night of surfing the web.
"Greetings, Chairman Choi Jong-In."
"It seems you've heard of me, Castorice-ssi. Still, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am the Guild Master of the Hunters Guild—Choi Jong-In. Like you, I am also an S-Rank Hunter."
Choi Jong-In wore a confident, warm smile. "Castorice-ssi, may I ask if you have any intention of joining a guild? If so, the Hunters Guild would be your most suitable choice."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.