Chapter 211 – Basswood Tree

“Let’s go to your house.”
“There’s someone at home, so let’s go to the cafe.”

Basswood Tree.

Green bobbed hair, yellow earrings.
Jewels resembling the flowers of the basswood tree dangle in her ears.
Considering that she is wearing a warm hood, her face is quite dressed up.

Although her style is not prominent due to her short legs and cylindrical body.

“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”

After sending Seong Ji-ho away, we immediately left and found a suitable cafe to sit in.
As soon as Champi sat on the sofa, which was enclosed on all sides, she began to happily recite the menu as she glanced at the server.

“Let’s see~ I’ll have~ a Java Chip Frappuccino, three slices of blueberry cheesecake, a mocha cake, a vanilla croffle, and a cafe latte with the syrup doubled.”
“…Yes?”
“Oh! Right, right. I heard the green tea is delicious here. Please add that as well.”

Did we come here to eat, not to talk?

It’s not as though an S-class hunter would be short on money.

“Getting treated always tastes better.”

…Ah, so it just tastes better that way?
What a sly fellow.
I awkwardly smiled and ordered a vanilla latte.

Before long, the menu items arrived, and the table was filled with snacks that easily surpassed my usual meal portions.

“Lehu~”

Champi happily laughed as he stuffed his cheeks full.

Is this person truly an S-class hunter?
It’s a moment of doubt.

“Is it tasty?”
“Mmm, absolutely delicious. Want some?”
“Eat plenty. So why did you call me here?”

Champi chewed on the cake that filled his mouth, then pressed his lips to the straw of the café latte.

– Slurp.

The honey cake paired with coffee.
The sight of him eating would have made any elder beam with pride, thinking, “Oh, my child eats so well.”

“Phew, so good. Oh, right. Are you close with Sansuyu?”
“Well, among the cadets and peers at the academy, we’re probably the closest.”

“Really? I knew it.”

With that, a bite of cake was taken. The words continued, mumbled and mixed together.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Suyu. But I didn’t know you were her disciple.”
“Are you referring to Master Baekdo?”
“There are two more inside, right? Specifically… the red one?”

I was dumbfounded by the seemingly obvious fact that was uttered. Do S-rank individuals know a considerable amount of information about each other? The red one seemed to be alluding to Heaven.

“That’s true, but why?”
“Why? I came here to leave an impression on her disciple. Later on, when you succeed, if I tell Tristar, Twitter, and Tree Insight that I’m the one who dined with you… Wow, wouldn’t that be incredibly cool?”

The eloquence was remarkable. Byul hadn’t been like this when we first met.

It wasn’t reluctance, but rather the feeling of watching a moderately entertaining high school social studies teacher. Champi spoke while taking a sip of the Frappuccino.

“And there’s my sibling in Dowonhyang. Sumpy.”
“Ah, so that’s the connection.”
“S-class individuals generally know one another.”

Sumpy, a popular live streamer and partner to Paprika.
A few months ago, I had a brief encounter with them, along with Koroshi, a towering oak tree, and Baobab, a baobab tree.

Sumpy left such a strong impression that their face remains etched in my memory.

“Do you know our master?”

At my question, Champie chuckled.

“…It’s less about knowing and more about a fateful misfortune.”

A fateful misfortune? How so?
Upon seeing my curiosity, Champie cleared their throat with a ‘hmph’ and began to explain, raising a finger.

“How should I put it? That person is quite pitiable as well. How much do you know about them?”
“Just the basics, I suppose. The story from Dowon?”
“Well, then I can tell you. But remember, if you mention this to someone unaware, you’ll be immediately apprehended for blasphemy.”

Champie glanced around before confiding in me.

“Can you use magic? Something to eliminate noise.”

Silent.
Activating one of the more effective spells learned at the academy, a transparent barrier enveloped the area.

Champi, who tapped the wall once, continued.

“This should be sufficient.”

With that, he took another bite of the cheesecake. Rolling the blueberry on his tongue, he curled it and tucked the berry into his mouth.

Then, he grinned slyly like a serpent.

“I got to know him… It was during the downfall of Dowon.”
“Really?”
“The Hunter Association secretly struck Dowon three times, and I was there for the third. I was in charge of supplies back then. I was Grade F.”
“Ah…”

One of those responsible for Dowon’s ruin. His lips nearly twisted in disgust for a moment, but he managed to steady himself.

He knew that many of the hunters had been forcibly involved. It was impossible to hold everyone accountable when so many people were entangled in the matter.

“I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing. I didn’t know that what I was moving was meant for killing people. War is like that. It was practically forced labor.”
“I see.”
“After becoming S-rank, I received the news – apparently it was about killing the Heavenly Demon? But that’s a story for later.”

Champi laughed, reminiscent of an elderly person reflecting on the past.
She clasped her hands together and spoke.

“The sole survivor of Do-won. And an incredibly useful being in opposing Flower.”
“…You could look at it that way.”

I responded as composedly as I could.

“I feel great pity for their lives… They were cursed by the World Tree just to survive.”
“To assist the World Tree?”
“I don’t know the precise details, but it might be related. If not… there would be no reason for them to establish Do-wonhyang and undermine Flower now.”
“Is there really such a curse? It doesn’t seem like something the Master would approve of.”
“Ah, I’ve only partially overheard something about that.”

Champie smiled slyly.
A talkative one. Still, it was the best information I had received thus far.

“If you succeed in annihilating the Flower, the curse will be lifted.”
“…Can you break the curse of the World Tree?”
“They claim it’s possible, but how can we truly know?”

I pressed my hand to my philtrum with a grave expression.
Baekyang had informed me that the curse would never be lifted unless the World Tree, which had placed the curse upon me, perished.

Of course, Baekyang, being a tree that had been dead for a long time, might have inaccurate information….
Regardless, if the conditions presented by the World Tree were accurate, Heaven would have to battle the Flower to lift the curse.

It wasn’t impossible that the World Tree could deceive Heaven.
My master must have felt as if they were grasping at straws.

“Lifting the curse means that the stigma afflicting the family will vanish…. The man’s father, in other words, would be able to cleanse the disgrace of the former Heavenly Demon.”
“We could also rebuild the family of the Peach Tree.”

“That’s right. They possessed such talent.”

Champi rested his chin in his hand and sighed.

“That’s why it’s a pity.”
“You aided in that, though.”

I wondered if he understood my cutting remark.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I didn’t help them when they were growing up. In fact, we conquered many dungeons together, didn’t we? I even saved their life once.”
“Is that so?”
“You’re being overly sensitive.”

Champi shrugged his shoulders.

“As they don’t hold any resentment towards me, I suppose there isn’t a significant problem.”
“That’s amusing to hear.”
“One shouldn’t dwell on such details. That’s just how the life of a hunter is. You’ve killed people too, haven’t you?”

I knew that.
It was just making me a bit edgy.

I relaxed my expression and scratched the back of my neck.

“Brush it off. Otherwise, you won’t survive in this world. That’s my advice as your senior.”
“I’ll take it to heart.”

It’s not incorrect.

“The death of a single Woodkin is a tragedy. It’s natural to feel compassion and pay tribute. But what do you think it would be like when the number reaches hundreds of thousands?”

Champi had a somewhat dispassionate expression.

“It’s just a number. So many people died.”

In the world I live in, it is recorded among Stalin’s quotes.

“That’s right.”
“Are there no pitiable people among the Flowers? Among the Flowers I’ve encountered, some run orphanages or protect Woodkin who have lost their status. There were many who were desperate in their sacrifices. In fact, more people trust the Flowers than the Hunter Association, especially in some foreign countries. The Flowers have a strong influence in the Middle East.”
“I suppose so.”
“Someone we killed might have been a virtuous person who saved hundreds of lives.”

Champi asserted confidently.

“But this is how the hunters remember it: one Flower, a villain killed. Just like that. And with that alone, they are etched in history as heroes.”
“…”

“Then let’s go back to when we killed a Flower. What if the children they were responsible for starved to death?”

It’s a familiar tale.
In the end, there’s no good or evil to be found anywhere.
I know this all too well.

“What emotions should I harbor after witnessing such a scene? Ah… I killed a Flower, and these children died as a result. Must I atone for the rest of my life?”

Among the many professions in this world, the one with the highest probability of developing mental illness is, without a doubt, the Hunter.
Frequent losses of comrades in dungeon accidents, and the numerous instances of killing people through dungeon crimes.

It was safe to say that there was no one who reached S-rank without having killed someone.

“Many people claim that being a Hunter is the best profession, as everyone offers praise. But that’s not the case.”
“Is that so?”
“We all know that. That’s why we don’t hold each other accountable. Why? Because we’re all bastards in the end.”

Champi emphasized.

Regardless of the circumstances, joining the ranks of Hunters—

“…Those who say they’ll thrive by stepping on others.”

I remained silent.

Indeed, that was the truth, and it was something everyone tried to avoid acknowledging. I instinctively understood it as well.

“One day, you’ll come to accept it too, little brother.”
“…”
“I’ve saved many lives, you know. Once, I stopped a Gate in the Pacific and saved 3,400 people.”
“You did well.”
“Doing well is bullshit.”

Champi crossed her legs, which didn’t appear sexy at all.

She was intently gazing at something outside the window. A poster featuring S-class Hunters. She chuckled while looking at it, displayed prominently in front of the building.

“That’s why the sort I hate the most are those bastards.”

She pointed at a poster where a woman with light green hair smiled benevolently.

Elemental Sorcerer. Elata.
An elm tree.

“Those know-it-all brats who proclaim their kindness with signs.”
“…It could genuinely be good intentions, or it could be a ploy.”

I couldn’t judge, having never met the person.

“Ah, it’s just managing their image. I haven’t seen a truly kind person among those types yet.”

Champi forcefully crammed the last piece of cake into their mouth.

“In the end, it’s all about living for oneself. Everyone in the world. Psychopaths? They’d be the same if they were in the same situation.”
“…Haha.”

I laughed with a bitter taste in my mouth.
It felt like I was being mocked for having advocated some level of goodness not too long ago.

Becoming a genuinely good person, as Champi described it, would require true resolve. It would be impossible without the power to upend this world.

Champi raised their coffee.

“Of course-“

They clinked it against my coffee, making a small toast.

“We must save as many people as possible.”
“At this point?”
“It’s the mark of a person and a hunter to endure such contradictions. Isn’t it impressive?”

Typically, I would seldom voice such thoughts. But I understand.
I took a sip of coffee.

A sweet vanilla syrup swirled on my tongue amidst the bitter aroma of the coffee beans.

“Are we closer now?”
“To some extent, yes.”
“Then give me your phone number, and I’ll contact you if I need anything. Feel free to use my name as well.”

Is this how one expands their network?
I thought there was only a cunning aspect to them, but it appeared they had their own set of principles.

Surprisingly, they are quite meticulous.
Perhaps all S-class individuals are like this.

“Starting today, we’re like siblings. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”

I entered my number into the phone that Champi offered.