The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 37: Selection

"How are you feeling now?"

"Better than yesterday.. I think?" Aria's mind was still fuzzy.

Whatever the dream was, she was certain that it was an unnatural occurrence- something that should not have happened.

It was understandable how she was now facing quite the harsh repercussions.

'A connection with master, who has been gone for forever.. Is it really possible?' Aria thought.

Of course, Aria would be doubtful.

Perhaps, her mind just got too creative and made up the interactive dream by herself.

But then, why would she be presented with information that possibly came from the future? Things that she did not know?

The unknown map she saw?

Aria sighed.

"That's great to hear,"

By the side, Sung-ha fidgeted uncomfortably, grumbling in displeasure multiple times.

After listening to Aria and Arin engage in small talks for more than five minutes, he finally stood up and left for the door without saying anything.

Aria's gaze followed in the man's direction until his figure was completely gone.

"Why is he so pissed?" Aria tilted her head, unable to understand the cause.

Arin looked troubled, wondering internally if she should disclose her explanation or not.

She knew why he was acting like that.

After consideration, Arin weighed the choices and thought that if she waited until Sung-ha himself told Aria of the matter, many misunderstandings would've been caused.

Sung-ha never told people to keep it a secret anyway, although he refused to talk about it.

Arin clasped her palms together and stationed it on her knees.

"Sung-ha lost an important person early on in his life. It was due to a car accident. He was on that ride, too, but the woman.. his guardian protected Sung-ha from an incoming glass shard that ended up.. going through her head and effectively ending her life," Arin disclosed.

With a shaky breath, she tried to continue.

"Later on, investigators revealed that judged by the positioning of the broken glass shard, Sung-ha would not have died. It would've pierced his left shoulder, but the guardian's life should've been salvaged," Arin said. "He blamed her death on himself, although his guardian's decision should be a separate thing from him,"

Aria pursed her lips, taking in the explanation and relating it to Sung-ha's actions.

Indeed, if she was in Sung-ha's position, she would've blamed herself as well. In truth, the guardian was the one who acted on impulse.

"Simply put, he dislikes health complications and the hospital as a whole. He gets irritated," Arin softened her gaze, thinking about the man's unfortunate condition. "He also worries a lot. He might not show it openly, but he's very considerate,"

Arin's eyes were glazed with a complicated mixture of emotions.

Aria, who had just recently joined the team didn't experience the first few moments of its establishment.

She didn't understand the extent of 'familial bonds' that they possessed. Even so, she was able to tell that Arin held Sung-ha in a place higher than the others, only lower to Jin-kyung.

"I can tell," Aria lifted the bed, which had a mechanical compartment that allowed her to fold the upper half of said bed through just pushing a button.

"That aside.. What went wrong? I don't think you collapsed due to exhaustion..?" Arin asked.

When she explained for the first time, Arin wasn't there.

Sung-ha took her explanation without much doubts. Now, Arin also asked.

"It was a dream. I fell asleep after talking with you, and then.. somehow, according to you guys, three days have passed," Aria herself couldn't believe it.

She instinctively connected her mind to her contracted spirits, wanting to check how they were doing during her absence. She wondered if they were affected in any way, shape, or form.

After checking their conditions and confirming that they were fine, Aria felt relieved.

Arin studied Aria's expressions and relented back from asking more. It seemed to be an internal problem.

"Well, I have some good news to tell you," Arin coughed, clearing her throat and pulling out a file from inside her bag. She handed it over to Aria.

It was a brown envelope.

"This is?" Aria received the file and rummaged to look for the opening.

After finding it, she tore the seal imprints and took out paper documents.

On the paper were profiles, profiles of fellow Hunters who were each assigned to a team. They belonged to quite the respectable entities.

Their team names were ones Aria had heard before, and some were explicitly mentioned during a discussion with Lein about the plans surrounding the Gangnam gate.

With just a glance, Aria was able to connect the dots between the reasons Arin gave this to her.

'Good news'.

"Congratulations, you're getting the chance to secure the last position at the infamous gate," Arin said, making Aria frown.

It wasn't that she was unhappy, scared, or anything of that sort.

She once looked forward to this chance, but now it was a bit different.

Remembering the map she saw in her dream, Aria's attention was drawn to this peculiar gate's darker shade of red.

Darker shades meant more danger.

She didn't know to what extent would it be considered stronger, but her heartbeat quickened up as she imagined the horrors if everything went wrong.

Then again, other powerhouses would be coming too.

If the strongest in South Korea couldn't even take on this dungeon, then wouldn't they be doomed?

Aria had a bad feeling, but she was not willing to acknowledge it because it was simply stupid to decide prematurely without a hard supporting evidence.

Her desire to roam the dungeon surpassed that.

"I see. What will be the decider?" Aria fully knew that her position wasn't locked on yet. She still had to fight for it.

Regardless of what happens in the future, she would secure the position for starters.

"A battle. Fast rounds, five minutes each. Whoever comes out as the lone survivor lands the position. Simple, eh?" Arin said.

"Straightforward. I like it," Aria commented, agreeing with the method.

The thing they needed the most was power. Deciding with this method was probably for the best.

She read up on the other participants' information.

There were several candidates, ranging from High C-ranked to Mid B-ranked Hunters.

The strongest out of all of them was a man named Roy, who possessed a Main of the Wind element.

He was noted for his speed and dexterity, being able to become one with the wind and take down his enemies without them even catching a glance at the agile assailant.

Like an assassin, he used short daggers to allow him to maximize his potentials as someone who teamed up with the arts of concealment.

"To be honest, I can't see you losing to these folks. Even though they are decent, they definitely aren't as powerful as you,"

"We'll have to see!" Aria shook her head, not wanting to grow too confident before going through the battle.

Aria memorized the data provided by Arin and soon closed it and set it aside.

"When is the selection?" Aria took a bite of the peeled apple served on her bed table, munching on it with high spirits after tasting the rich flavor.

"In a week, most probably. The Association was urged to take care of this dungeon as fast as possible because of the chaos it has been causing. They promised that it would be gone by next month,"

Many things were disrupted just because of this one gate.

The complaints and negativity piled up quickly. Criticisms and unkind comments.

Even though Hunters were now an essential resource, there were still some who didn't appreciate their existence fully.

They treated the Hunters and the gates as 'extra existence', and that the subjugations should happen fast since it was their jobs.

Of course, not everyone thought this way.

There were still quite a lot of people who acted like they were entitled to the Hunters' efforts, though.

"Next month.. I just hope they didn't cut on corners and make rash decisions," Aria furrowed her brows.

Rushing against time was rarely ever a good thing.