Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 149 : Monster (1)

Monster (1)

After filming 'Awakener Survival' for seven consecutive days and editing it, the show would be broadcast over six weeks.

Naturally, since the awakened participants were trapped on a deserted island for seven days, the conditions were quite harsh.

A wild forest with no special tools, and nowhere decent to sleep.

At least the monsters were being managed, but the wild animals in the forest were not, so it could be dangerous at times.

"I caught a rabbit, anyone want to eat?"

"Still, this is better than being inside a dungeon."

The issue was that every participant was a high-level hunter.

They called it a survival show, but before long, it had turned more into a camp.

"Fire."

"Isn't there a mage around?"

Lighting a fire could be solved with a single spell.

"Hey, a rabbit just ran by over there."

"Hold on a second."

At the man's words upon spotting a rabbit, someone nearby picked up a stone and easily hit the mark.

"I think this'll be enough food for today, right?"

Hunting was very simple because they had overwhelming physical abilities compared to the animals.

Although it was a deserted island, for hunters who sometimes couldn't leave a dungeon for up to a month, it was basically a place to relax.

So compared to a regular survival program, the intensity was lower... you could say that.

But from the start, producer Do's intention wasn't that anyway.

"What is the Alencia team doing right now?"

There were a total of twenty personnel participating in the survival.

A considerable number of people were scattered throughout the deserted island.

PD Do had told them the following:

【Over the seven days on the island, we'll be scoring each team in various ways depending on what happens. For example, gathering food, building shelter, and so on.】

The method didn't matter.

Raiding food other teams had found, destroying or stealing their shelters—none of it was against the rules.

As such, it was only natural that it helped survival to maintain a moderate-sized faction rather than going solo, so currently, they were divided into groups of four scattered across the island.

"There it is!!"

A mage-class awakened, sensing a slight fluctuation of magic power, shouted.

At the same time, a golden flash shot in.

"Catc—....."

Since attacking each other was banned in this survival show, they had to somehow catch and stop whoever it was.

But how could a person possibly catch lightning?

"Is this even possible...?"

When the brilliant light disappeared, not only the rabbit meat they'd been keeping but also the shelter they'd managed to cobble together lay smashed to pieces.

"Honestly, isn't this cheating?"

"Wait up. You know Alencia's characteristic. There can't be much left now, right?"

The filming period was a week.

For the other awakened, that wasn't a big problem, but Alencia was a different case.

"We just have to wait until her electricity runs out."

There was no way to recharge her electricity on a deserted island.

***

'This is bad.'

Alencia checked her remaining magic power and broke out in a cold sweat.

She'd been having a blast being so active up until now, but already had less than half her magic power left.

Especially since, unlike the others, Alencia hadn't formed a team, making her situation awkward.

"I'm not the only one without a team, but..."

Form a team, and you gain stability, but it's hard to win first place.

According to PD Do, the top five would receive cash and prizes, but what Alencia was after was the first place prize, the 'Saintess's Bracelet'.

"Alencia. You must get first place. I believe in you. You can do it, right?"

Jung-woo had said that and talked at length about the artifact, the 'Saintess's Bracelet', the prize for first place.

It was a bracelet worn by the famed 'Saintess of Wishes', and said to hold a portion of her power.

While he didn't know the exact effects, he'd insisted Alencia absolutely had to get it and verify it.

"Is there any way to recharge electricity?"

Obviously, there was no power plant on the deserted island.

She'd briefly considered wading into a stream to search for an electric eel, but that was just nonsense.

"There are currently four teams, and the other four are solo."

Including Alencia, four were operating alone without joining a team.

They were all A-rank hunters and contenders for the bracelet.

"At least food is plentiful, and for shelter..."

She could just live rough and, before the survival ended, take over a suitable place from someone else.

Alencia had no knowledge of how to build a shelter.

"It would've been nice if I could stream this personally, what a shame."

Alencia glanced at a camera installed up in a tree.

Cameras were installed everywhere on the deserted island for the broadcast, and in some zones none were put in for privacy.

'But to Jung-woo, Saintess Estella must be special, right?'

Alencia had heard stories of the past from Sarah in the form of "fairy tales."

Stories of heroes and saintesses.

She hadn't told Jung-woo, but according to Sarah, in those stories Jung-woo and Estella were treated like lovers, saving and leading each other. Was that why?

'I always thought it was just an exaggeration since Jung-woo never seemed that way.'

But seeing how sensitive he'd reacted about the bracelet this time, she was beginning to think it might be true.

"I'll get the bracelet first and then ask in detail."

Just as she thought that and took a bite of rabbit meat—

Rustle.

"...?"

She sensed a strange presence from the thicket.

Alencia immediately thought it was someone targeting her among the survival participants.

'Tch.'

If someone knew Alencia couldn't properly replenish her electricity, they'd try to force her to continuously use energy until she ran out.

It hadn't happened up to now, but for an A-rank hunter or higher, that was a valid enough tactic.

"Huh?"

As she braced herself to run, Alencia suddenly spotted something glinting in the thicket.

A hand axe, the sort one could swing in one hand.

The edge, covered with sticky, bright red blood, gleamed in the light.

"Aren't weapons not allowed?"

She muttered, and just as she blinked, the blood-stained axe blade came flying at Alencia's face.

She didn't even have time to use her powers.

***

"I'm sorry, even if you stay like that, I can't show you the artifact."

The hunter from the Taean Hunter Association shook his head as soon as he saw my face.

It was because I kept requesting to see the artifact, even just once.

"No, I'm just worried there might be someone after the artifact."

"I mean, would there really be such a person? Even if there were, we're here to protect it."

The hunter answered curtly, shaking his head.

It meant don't pester them any further.

'Can't be helped.'

Currently, the artifact was being kept in the vault of the Taean Hunter Association for security.

You couldn't break in easily under normal circumstances.

'The issue is, though, the ones targeting it aren't just your average folks.'

If it were demons, I'd have sensed them the moment I arrived, but if skilled awakened tried to sneak in, it wouldn't be easy.

"You just got back from the association? You must really be curious about the artifact."

"Yes, well... There haven't been any problems at the filming site, right?"

The filming crew was stationed in Youngmok Port in Taean, a bit of a distance from the deserted island.

It was so that a rescue team could be dispatched immediately if anything went wrong.

"I am a bit worried because Hunter Alencia is using her power so freely. We'd like her to stay active until the end... By the way, manager Park, does anything happen if she runs out of electricity?"

"Hm? Oh, no, that shouldn't be a problem."

"I heard she becomes about as strong as an ordinary person if she uses up all her electricity."

"Well, in terms of physical ability, yes, but..."

If she couldn't use magic power, there wasn't much to do about that.

"But she shouldn't get hurt."

"That's good, then."

Since it was a survival show, she'd manage to make it even if she used up all her electricity.

Alencia hadn't had an easy life, so she'd surely developed her own survival methods.

As PD Do and I watched Alencia cheerfully eating rabbit meat—

"Huh?"

Alencia suddenly stopped eating, as if she'd seen something, and turned her head.

Her gaze went somewhere the camera couldn't follow, making it impossible to see what had startled her.

And at that moment—

KKAANG!!

"Ow!"

Something flew in at an incredible speed and struck Alencia in the head.

"W-what is that?! That's a hand axe!!"

The thing that hit Alencia square in the head was a blue-edged hand axe.

The axe was caked thickly with dark red blood of unknown origin and was clearly not an ordinary object.

Had Alencia been an ordinary awakened, her head would certainly have been split open by that axe.

"Who are you?!"

The moment Alencia shouted, a dark figure lunged at her.

The way it moved was by no means that of an ordinary person.

It was definitely an awakened, and at least A-rank, if not higher.

KWAAANG!!

The monster that had suddenly appeared threw a punch at Alencia, who remained unscathed even after being hit by the hand axe.

But the punch never reached Alencia; it just slammed into the ground.

Because Alencia's body turned into blue electricity and instantly leapt out of the way.

"Is this part of the filming as well?"

Alencia stared uncertainly at the suddenly-appeared monster, confusion in her eyes.

But the assailant's appearance was far too creepy to be part of the show.

Unkempt black hair, a bloody hand axe gripped in hand.

Clothes in tatters, more beast than human.

"......"

While Alencia was momentarily flustered, the monster picked up its hand axe and instantly fled back into the thicket.

As fast as it was, while Alencia hesitated just a moment, the monster vanished from sight.

"PD Do, what the hell is that?"

I asked, watching the video on the camera.

I wondered if, as Alencia had said, the production team had planned this.

"D-don't ask me! I don't know! That was a person, right...?"

PD Do was flustered, repeatedly rewinding the footage to try and ascertain the monster's identity.

'There's no way a guy who throws an axe to kill would be part of a show.'

Alencia only survived because she was Alencia.

Her body was that of a Saintess, so she couldn't die from mere physical damage.

If she had taken actual physical harm, she would have been shattered when she moved at the speed of lightning.

But if it had been a regular awakened?

'At least A-rank, maybe even S-rank.'

That was how powerful it was.

Even if Alencia had let her guard down, it was a level where she couldn't even react properly.

"I think we have a problem, we should stop filming."

After checking the footage several times, producer Do seemed to think things had gotten out of hand.

Even though halting filming here would cause massive losses, he made that call—which showed how serious the situation was.

I felt the same.

No matter the bracelet, putting awakened unarmed in a place with a monster like that was dangerous enough for a real disaster.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. No boats are leaving today."

But when I tried to charter a boat at the port, everyone refused.

Even the captain who had ferried the crew and hunters to the island two days ago was the same.

"What's the reason? I haven't heard anything about a typhoon."

"Ah, well... For the past few years, there's been something odd around here. Especially, you want to head to that deserted island, right?"

The captain pointed his finger at the island where the hunters were.

"Yes, is there a problem? According to my research, nothing out of the ordinary should be going on..."

"City folk wouldn't know. Since everyone tries to hush it up."

After checking to see that no one was listening, he continued.

"Every month, as the full moon approaches, a storm rolls in. Ever since a dungeon? Or whatever started appearing on that island, it's always been like this, and tonight's the night."

"You're saying there will be a storm when the weather looks this good?"

"Yeah. And there's one more reason; when that time comes, that island... We call it Gwehyeoldo."

He said this, cringing as if just thinking about it gave him chills.

"No one who went there at this time of year has ever come back alive."

So, until the storm subsided, no one would go near that island.

The captain said this, trembling.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Then why the fuck did you let those people go to the fucking deserted island?

【(ʘ言ʘ╬)】