The day of the official departure ceremony.

"When are they coming out?"

"I think they said the departure was at ten."

"I can still only see the attendants."

Gangwon-do, where the aftermath of the Great Catastrophe still had not been fully dealt with.

Among its areas, near Hwanseon Cave in Samcheok, which served at least somewhat as a place to live, people had gathered beyond the barricaded danger zone.

Even in such a rough region, it was common for reporters and spectators to flock over when a famous guild set out on a raid.

Among the people holding cameras were reporters, but there were also people who had come all the way here out of fan devotion toward a particular Hunter.

"..."

Choi Raon, once called the woman who went splat, was one of them.

"... Has the Collector still not come out...?"

As she waited anxiously, a woman who recognized her spoke to her.

"Oh! Unnie!"

"Hurk...!"

"What the heck, it's been way too long!"

"Ah, you startled me."

Choi Raon clutched her pounding heart.

Perhaps because she had left the safe zone of Seoul alone and come all the way to that infamous Gangwon-do, her body seemed tense.

Fortunately, the one who had spoken to her was one of the fans who had once traveled all over the country with her to take fan photos of Hunters.

The woman, who had likewise brought a camera, grinned and looked Choi Raon up and down.

"After that Hunter Black Cloak dragged you off, you deleted your account and disappeared, and now I guess you've found a new light and salt of your life? Seeing you here, is it another Hunter?"

"Uh, yeah... a Hunter. But why are you really here? What happened to the fandom you were originally in?"

Fans like Choi Raon, whose feelings cooled quickly, were not the sort of people welcomed in the same fan club, but since the woman had a similar disposition to Choi Raon, they had been able to become close.

And they had once met while hanging around in the idol fandom scene.

In other words, they had become close while stanning idols.

Choi Raon remembered that the last time she had seen the woman, she had been stanning a male idol, so she was puzzled, but...

"..."

"... Ah, sorry..."

"... It's okay..."

Why else would someone who had been stanning a civilian idol come all the way here with a camera?

'Your fandom blew up too, huh.'

She had not heard any news of a group imploding, so it seemed the woman's bias had probably caused some kind of scandal and left her heart empty.

She, too, was someone sensitive to flaws in the target of her fandom.

'Though in this world, where would you even find a celebrity without flaws...?'

Usually, the flaws that made their affection cool were controversies over character with decisive evidence.

A video of them abusing their manager, or an audio file of them looking down on other people and badmouthing them, things like that.

They said most celebrities had those kinds of "flaws" in this world, but when Choi Raon saw the ugly hidden side of someone she had loved, she could not easily maintain her affection.

Unless there was a reason she could understand, or a face so good she did not even need to understand...

She was aware she was being a little fussy.

'Still... I don't know how everyone else sees that kind of thing and endures it.'

Out of basic courtesy, she did not say, "What the hell did that bastard do?"

She was curious, but there were things one could say and things one could not.

What was the point of rubbing salt into someone else's wound?

"... Ahem."

"Ahem."

The two silently agreed not to dig too deep.

"Then who did you come here to see?"

"Ah..."

"It's fine, I made a new account too."

"That's not it."

The woman answered with an embarrassed expression.

"Hunter Sanarae..."

"Hm?"

"I have my new baby, who embarrasses me no matter where I put him. He's a lunatic who causes nothing but trouble with that face, so he's famous for never getting famous because his incidents keep getting buried."

"Hm...?"

"Ah, fuck, just try crossing the line. Just cross it once. I really won't let it slide."

"Whoa..."

Choi Raon did not know this Hunter named Sanarae, so the woman's reaction was puzzling, but she roughly understood the context.

It seemed there was a Hunter who liked causing trouble while barely not crossing the line.

Around then, the woman asked,

"Who did you latch onto that brought you all the way here, unnie? Didn't you even take a half-day off?"

"No, I took a full day off."

"Wow, you must really be into them. Who is it? Which guild? Seeing as you don't know our Narae, it can't be Haeryeong. Eunwol? Or the Sun Cult?"

"Collector."

"Collector...?"

The woman glanced once beyond the barricade, where only attendants were still clearing the path, then once toward the distant hotel where the Hunters would be staying, before quietly asking again.

"Could it be Hunter Seo Jio...?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Of course I do, his name's been getting around lately."

"I even met him last time."

"... Ah!"

The woman looked surprised.

"The woman who went splat."

"Thanks for not shouting it at the top of your lungs."

"No, am I crazy? No wonder your silhouette looked kind of familiar."

"Hunter Seo Jio saved me in a dungeon too."

"Wow... You really hit the jackpot."

Although it was a jackpot she had hit while nearly dying, living with one's life on the line was simply what modern people did now.

If one had not suffered a permanent disability and had only been threatened, then having one's life saved by the object of one's fandom was something worth envying.

The woman scrunched up her face.

"I'm jealous. My account is in a pitiful state where I don't know when it'll blow up again."

"Is he really that borderline...?"

"Kind of... in every direction... he is a Hunter who starts shit..."

"How did you even get into someone like that?"

"I spent over two years denying I was a fan."

"That was back when you were stanning another idol, wasn't it?"

"Exactly, fuck. It's bullshit."

The woman looked truly wronged.

"When I came to my senses, I was licking that bastard's photos."

"Well, that's usually how getting hit by a fandom truck goes."

There were fandom accidents that pierced the heart from beginning to end with a very honest stance, like Choi Raon's, and there were also ones like the woman's, where someone said, "No? No? It's not like that?" while their fingers diligently collected photos.

"... Oh, looks like they're about to come."

"Huh? You can see that? Where are they coming from?"

"The attendants are clearing the space."

"Ah, you're right."

When an official raid was underway, the Association often sent people to make things convenient.

Such people were commonly called "attendants," and if one observed the movements of attendants well used to receiving raiding Hunters, one could tell what was about to happen.

"Seeing as they've made an open space, I guess they're going to move by teleportation. Well, if they have that kind of method, there's no need to walk all the way here."

"The hotel where the raid team was staying isn't exactly nearby. And if they're as neat as possible before entering the dungeon, it'll look good to the public too..."

The woman, who had been roughly wiping her camera lens, nodded.

"Then I'll see you later, unnie. Let's grab a meal together after this."

"Sounds good. I saw a knife-cut noodle place right up ahead. They sold dumplings too..."

"Ah, dumplings are great. That place knows what's up. It'll be filling."

The two gave each other thumbs-up and went their separate ways.

When crowds like this, with reporters, spectators, and individual fans all gathered in droves, the fans too had to move busily to find their own way to survive.

The first to arrive were the priests of the Sun Cult.

"It's the Sun Cult!"

"Priests, please give us just one interview!"

"What do you think about the last raid's failure?"

"Priest Ahn Seohee, please look over here!"

"Priest!!"

As expected, the surroundings were already noisy.

'Wow, can I really get good shots and make it back alive from this...?'

Choi Raon was a veteran fansite photographer with a fairly long and rugged career, but even for her, this level of Hunter fandom was unfamiliar.

Seo Jio was the first Hunter she had ever spent annual leave to photograph at a departure ceremony.

Fortunately, perhaps because the Hunters were coming in one group at a time, no other guild's Hunters arrived immediately after the Sun Cult.

Choi Raon decided to put her mind at ease for a moment and watch the situation.

"..."

Choi Raon was a little impressed.

'As expected of priests, their atmosphere is sacred.'

Even amid such commotion, they had an orderly, clean atmosphere without agitation.

Their spotless white priest robes seemed to have been designed for battle, with the fluttering cloth fastened by sturdy equipment to improve mobility.

Then she met eyes with a priest who had green eyes, and when she awkwardly bowed her head, the other party also returned a small greeting.

As she watched the priests pass in a daze, the procession of the Eunwol Guild came in next.

"Senior, it's Eunwol."

"I heard there are that many healers over there..."

"They say this raid field is completely covered in poison. Could that be why?"

"Certainly, in that kind of case, healers are cheaper than potions. It isn't something that'll hurt for a moment and be over."

"Hunters really do live hard lives, don't they..."

"They make a lot of money instead. It's an equivalent exchange. You could call it the price of their lives."

Hearing the reporters' conversation, Choi Raon turned her gaze back to the Eunwol Guild.

'They feel kind of similar to the priests who passed by earlier.'

Choi Raon was an ordinary person who could not sense even the slightest presence, but even so, there was no way she could fail to recognize the unique atmosphere of believers.

Wearing outfits similar to the Sun Cult's priests but a little lighter, they followed the Sun Cult in white robes.

'I can't see their faces well...'

Seeing them bundled up even more tightly than the Sun Cult's priests, Choi Raon blinked.

'Are those white robes Eunwol's uniform? This is the first time I've seen people hide their faces this much at a departure ceremony.'

A departure ceremony with media exposure fundamentally had a strong purpose of promoting the guild.

In a world where image was important, people showed as splendid an appearance as possible, but Eunwol, which had an atmosphere similar to priests, felt extremely ascetic.

'Come to think of it, did they say Eunwol is the guild that supplies personnel to the Sun Cult and Moon Cult? I should've looked into them in more detail before coming.'

Temple attendants were people who served priests while suppressing their presence as much as possible, as though practicing silent meditation.

If it was a guild with many such people, that atmosphere was understandable.

"Ah, this time it's Daecheong."

"I did hear Daecheong would be joining."

"Aren't you going to take pictures of Daecheong?"

"Nothing fun will probably come out of that side."

"Come on, still..."

"Daecheong is too ordinary."

"Then I'll take them."

The Hunters of the guild called Daecheong were all wearing blue uniforms.

They looked different from Eunwol earlier, whose defining feature seemed to be their white mantles, but they did not draw much attention.

'Daecheong sounds like something I've heard of somewhere, but are they not that well-known a guild?'

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the flashes seemed to be going off less than before too.

'If the name feels this familiar, then they must have collaborated at least once with a guild that someone I used to stan was in... Strange, I really can't remember.'

Around then, another set of guild members appeared.

"That's Haeryeong."

"Wow, they're as freewheeling as ever."

"They're guys who hate feeling stuffy, so as for their outfits..."

"Does Haeryeong not have uniforms originally?"

"Of course they do. They have black uniforms originally, they just don't wear them."

"Doesn't their Guild Master say anything to them?"

"They're the type to casually ignore anything that's not related to combat. It's a gathering of all sorts of troublemakers."

"That's really terrifying..."

"That last reporter assault incident happened over there. They're nothing but beastly bastards."

Following the reporters' conversation, Choi Raon heard a familiar voice.

"-Hunter Sanarae! Please look over here just once! Hunter, please...!!"

It was the woman who had just wished her luck and gone her own way.

At her voice, a man reacted.

Among the Hunters moving in a leisurely slouch like a pack of beasts, he was one person who walked especially neatly, and when curiosity led her to follow him with her gaze, his face was quite flamboyant.

'... He practically looks like a captain of knights from a romance fantasy. That girl still has the same face-con genes...'

His long, straight blond hair, almost reaching the end of his tailbone, had a vivid color, and although no emotion could be felt from his unsmiling face, he did not feel oppressive either.

Together with his mannerisms, he had an air of wealth about him, and unlike his neat outward appearance, he was quite a flashy person.

Perhaps he soon noticed his fan's desperation.

The man turned his head toward the source of the sound.

"Hm?"

Then, after confirming his fan, he showed a bright smile on his languid, pale face.

Did those pitch-black eyes gain life for an instant?

The smile was so bright that Choi Raon, who had been looking at her friend's bias without much thought, flinched for a moment.

"Noona! We meet again?"

"Narae! You're handsome, our Sanarae!!"

"Wow, I'm touched. Should I make sure the pictures come out pretty?"

"Just trust noona!!"

Hunter Sanarae, who had gone right up to the barricade and acted cute in all sorts of ways, waved his hand lightly and then returned to his group.

As though this happened often, his fellow Hunters looked fed up yet used to it.

She heard the reporters talking.

"Hunter Sanarae's fan service is still good."

"If I were him, I'd give good service too to a fan who chased me all the way here on a weekday, in the morning, and all the way to Samcheok, Gangwon-do."

"I hear even if he doesn't go out of his way, if there's a fan who dotes on him, he lets himself get caught easily..."

"It could be image management, it could be an affection deficit, or he could simply find the squealing reactions fun. There are plenty of possible reasons for that punk bastard's diligent fan service, aren't there?"

"Anyway, I guess Hunters these days have to be good at that kind of thing too. It really is a tough job."

"You're not just young, you're a kid, and you're saying shit like Hunters these days? Just focus your lens properly."

Listening to the two of them talk, Choi Raon thought inwardly.

'So he feels like that normally too.'

A pale, languid man with a gloomy aura acting cute like that.

Indeed, he was the kind of impression her fellow fan would like.

'But how should I put it? He did have a slightly dangerous air...'

His behavior was neat like a knight's, and he smiled well too, but those pitch-black eyes resembling dead fish were somehow chilling.

Perhaps because his smiling face also had a foxlike or snakelike look, the way his eyes curved thinly like crescent moons was a little creepy.

It was not that he had shown any particularly strange words or actions, but should she say he did not look very sane...

"..."

It was far too rude a thought to have about a Hunter she had just met.

'I should worry about myself, why am I judging someone else's impression...'

It was then.

"... Oh, oh! Oh! It's the Collector...!!"

Choi Raon brightened and lifted her camera.

The familiar feel and weight snapped her mind awake.

"Excuse me, I'll move forward a bit! Excuse me!"

"Ah, what the..."

"I'm really sorry! Please let me through for just a moment...!! Just this once, please!!"

Some people were displeased, but there were also many who understood her urgency and nodded.

Their gazes were full of understanding, as if saying, "Ah, that's her main fandom."

At that warm humanity, Choi Raon nearly burst into tears.

Having barely made it right up to the barricade, she properly took her camera stance and exclaimed in admiration.

"Wow...!"

Perhaps because it was the guild her bias belonged to, it seemed like a procession more impressive than all the guilds that had come before.

At the very front of the Collector's Hunters, each wearing different uniforms harmonized in black and white, stood a platinum-blond Hunter.

He was her light and salt, who had led Choi Raon into this harsh Gangwon-do and made her wait with her heart in her throat.

'Holy shit, the Collector uniform is insane...!'

She had always seen him wearing a black cloak, but perhaps out of respect for the guild's image, Hunter Seo Jio was wearing a black-and-white cloak.

Even the Collector-exclusive suit visible beneath it suited him too well.

'Wow, wow, seriously... Did he just clock in from the Louvre Museum?'

It was a sight that truly had to be designated and preserved as cultural heritage.

"... Hunter Seo, Seo Jio!! Hunter Seo Jio...!!"

When she forced herself to raise her voice confidently, Hunter Seo Jio reacted.

"Ah."

"!"

"Choi Raon?"

"Hurk...!"

Just like Hunter Sanarae earlier, Hunter Seo Jio came to the front of the barricade and looked at Choi Raon.

With her bias standing in front of her, she felt her heart pounding.

Choi Raon covered her mouth.

"Um, um, over here... I..."

"Did you come to see me? I am grateful."

"A, a photo... just once..."

"As you wish."

"Thank you...!"

When she came to her senses, Hunter Seo Jio was waving his hand as he moved away.

"..."

"..."

The woman, who had come to Choi Raon's side at some point, asked,

"Did you hit the jackpot?"

"... I did..."

"Me too."

"... It looked like it..."

"This is why we stan."

"I'm glad I took annual leave."

It was still morning, but it had already been a worthwhile day.

"..."

A woman with pink hair watched Seo Jio like that.

"..."

"Young-won? What is it?"

"No, just..."

The woman's name was Jeong Youngwon.

"I was admiring him for a moment."

She was an acquaintance of Yu Seongun, and a Gardener belonging to Eunwol.