Jeong Ji-hwan couldn’t believe the reality unfolding before his eyes.
‘What is this situation?’
A girl who didn’t even look ten years old was petting a Flame Wolf, a Grade 5 monster.
No, it was now lying on its back, wagging its tail.
“Good, good. Good boy.”
Sure, maybe the Flame Wolf went crazy and fell over, but how is that girl not burning?
Jeong Ji-hwan doubted he was dreaming when he saw the girl touching the Flame Wolf with her bare hands without feeling any heat.
“B-boss… what do we do about that?”
“…”
But the guy talking next to him made him realize this was reality.
“You handle it.”
“What?”
“I said, go handle it!”
Kim Heung-soo, a Level 4 physical type awakener.
He was already a multiple-time violent criminal. The number of times he had beaten up fellow awakeners in a fit of anger couldn’t be counted on ten fingers.
But even he couldn’t attack a little kid.
“B-but boss, how can I… to such a kid…”
“Then deal with the guy behind her!”
Seeing Cha Si-hyun barely standing in a battered state, Kim Heung-soo nodded and rushed forward. Cha Si-hyun, too, focused on Kim Heung-soo running toward him rather than the mysterious girl.
“Die!”
“Fighting is bad!”
“Huh?!”
Ara grabbed Kim Heung-soo’s ankle as he tried to pass her. He fell flat on his face and yelled with his eyes blazing.
“You little brat!”
“The mask you’re wearing is cool. I want one too!”
“Is she crazy?!”
Kim Heung-soo, his temper flaring, stood up intending to throw Ara. But Ara jumped up and snatched his mask.
“Ugh!”
“Wow!”
Ara wore the mask she snatched and puffed out her chest, shouting confidently.
“I will punish the bad guys!”
“You, you brat!”
Kim Heung-soo, his face now exposed, charged roughly at Ara. But Ara quickly sidestepped and clenched her small fist.
Thud!
“Aargh!”
Kim Heung-soo screamed in pain despite Ara’s light punch. Seeing this, Jeong Ji-hwan froze.
‘An awakener?’
Now he saw she had animal ears.
Judging her to be a physical type awakener, Jeong Ji-hwan summoned another familiar immediately.
“Blade Swallow! Attack that brat!”
The summoned bird-like monster flew straight at Ara. But as it got closer, it suddenly slowed down and landed on Ara’s head.
-Tweet tweet.
“Wow, so cute!”
“What the hell are you doing, Blade Swallow! Attack now!”
Jeong Ji-hwan, unaware of Ara’s terrifying affinity, couldn’t understand the situation. Ara’s affinity was strong enough to break the master-servant relationship between a summoner and their monster.
“We’ve gathered all the stuff! But what on earth…?”
A support-type awakener, who had been raiding the shop and came out late, was startled to see Kim Heung-soo down and the Flame Wolf.
“D-did the awakening police already arrive!?”
“Shut up!”
“Huh? But why is there a kid…”
Jeong Ji-hwan couldn’t accept it.
Even though his original ability as a summoner was insignificant, he was still a Level 5 awakener. He could easily be a mid-tier guild executive, a higher-grade awakener.
He couldn’t allow his plan to be disrupted by a mere child.
“Kim Heung-soo, get up, you bastard!”
“Ugh.”
Kim Heung-soo, holding his head, staggered to his feet, his eyes blazing.
“Aaaargh!”
Using his awakening ability, his body turned red and grew 1.5 times larger. Unlike before, he swung his fist at Ara without mercy.
“Hmph!”
Ara clenched her fists and met Kim Heung-soo’s punch head-on.
Bang!
“Huh?”
“W-w-what…”
Even though a giant over 2 meters tall clashed with a girl who barely reached his waist, the result was clearly in Ara’s favor.
Kim Heung-soo, pushed back the moment they clashed, turned red with embarrassment but couldn’t overpower Ara.
“This… can’t be…”
Considering the overall ratio of awakeners, Level 4 awakeners were quite rare. Being just below the top tier, they could easily join the top 10 guilds.
For him to be pushed back by a mysterious little girl was an unbelievable reality.
“Heuuup!”
Ara took a deep breath and swiftly grabbed her opponent’s arm, throwing him over her shoulder.
Crash!
The ground shattered, and the surrounding area trembled.
Jeong Ji-hwan and the other onlooker instinctively stepped back, feeling the immense power in that brief display of strength.
“…Flame Wolf! Attack from behind!”
He issued a command to the Flame Wolf, who had been sitting idly by, hoping for a miracle. But the Flame Wolf just sat there, scratching its ear with its hind leg, as if wondering who had spoken.
“B-boss. Why isn’t the familiar obeying?”
“I don’t know either, so shut up. Damn it, this isn’t good.”
Without the familiar’s obedience, Jeong Ji-hwan was just an ordinary person. If the girl dealt with Kim Heung-soo, they had no means left to resist.
– “Attention! Awakeners inside, surrender immediately!”
A voice came through a loudspeaker at that moment.
Due to Ara’s interference, too much time had passed, and the police had arrived. Jeong Ji-hwan harshly spoke to his accomplice beside him.
“Give me the bag.”
“What?”
“Give me the bag!”
Jeong Ji-hwan forcibly took the spatial expansion backpack and realized he had no other options. He quickly made a decision and summoned another Grade 5 monster.
-Neigh!
A Phantom Steed, a ghost horse, appeared.
Though rated as Grade 5, its combat ability was almost zero. The reason for its high grade was its exceptional stealth and agility.
When fully concealed, even a Level 7 awakener couldn’t find it. It was a monster solely focused on stealth.
Jeong Ji-hwan was confident he could escape even if things went wrong. He had spent a fortune to contract this Phantom Steed!
“B-but boss, you never mentioned having such a familiar…”
Ignoring his accomplice, Jeong Ji-hwan gathered the bag and climbed onto the Phantom Steed.
It was clear to anyone that he planned to escape alone, leaving his Level 3 awakener accomplice struggling.
“B-boss! You have to take me with you!”
“If I take you, we’ll be slower. If you have nothing to do, go down and buy us some time.”
“You bastard! Do you think you’ll get away with this?! If I get caught, I’ll expose everything about you!”
“With this much loot, I can make enough money to live abroad for a few years. Why did you trust me? You can’t leave everything to others.”
“You… you…”
Jeong Ji-hwan rose into the air on the Phantom Steed.
Just as he was about to use the steed’s unique phasing ability.
“I will catch all the bad people!”
Ara suddenly opened her mouth wide, shouting incomprehensibly.
What the? Jeong Ji-hwan felt a massive flow of mana.
‘What is this…?!’
He tried to escape quickly, sensing something unusual, but Ara was faster.
A blue beam formed in front of Ara’s mouth and struck Jeong Ji-hwan directly.
Boom!
The startled Phantom Steed and Jeong Ji-hwan, hit by the breath, fell to the ground. The impact wasn’t fatal, but it was so sudden that Jeong Ji-hwan couldn’t regain his senses.
‘What just happened?’
His vision blurred to sky blue, and his whole body ached.
It felt like he had been hit directly by an awakener’s spell.
Thud!
The fallen Phantom Steed and Jeong Ji-hwan.
Ara approached them.
“Eek!”
Jeong Ji-hwan, now seeing Ara as a demon rather than a small girl, crawled away despite his injuries.
“Are you alright? I held back!”
Ara paid no attention to Jeong Ji-hwan, comforting the fallen Phantom Steed. Fortunately, it seemed unhurt, merely nuzzling Ara.
“Strawberries will make you better! Here, eat this!”
She took strawberries from her bag and fed them to the Phantom Steed.
Meanwhile, Cha Si-hyun arrived at the scene with the police.
“Here they are!”
“Huh? Who’s that kid…?”
“She saved me and captured all the criminals. She’s incredible!”
“What??”
The crowd that had gathered saw the fallen criminals, several monsters, and Ara.
Ara, feeding strawberries to the Phantom Steed, stood up when she noticed the people’s attention.
“I punished all the bad guys!”
“…”
“Yes! She did it all!”
Everyone stood in stunned silence. Only Cha Si-hyun, who had witnessed everything, responded.
Ara, still wearing the mask, tilted her head curiously at the people.
“Why are you all looking at me like that? Oh! Is it because my mask is cool? I think so too! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
* * *
Crimes committed by awakeners were not uncommon, but this one was widely reported in the media.
Usually, illegal activities occurred in the shadows, but this incident happened openly in a civilian area.
The incident became even more sensational due to the potential for casualties.
“It was a situation where there should have been casualties.”
Inspector Park Kyung-heon of the Special Awakening Forces surveyed the scene and observed the detained awakeners being led away.
A Level 5, a Level 4, and a Level 3 awakener.
It was a formidable force, not something to be taken lightly.
Especially the Level 5; in his unit, there was only one other apart from himself.
‘The investigation isn’t complete yet, but he summoned two Grade 5 monsters. Could I have handled it?’
Park Kyung-heon shook his head.
Even if it were a one-on-one fight with Jeong Ji-hwan, the odds would be fifty-fifty. Additionally, there were the Level 4 physical type and the Level 3 support type.
The outcome would be certain defeat.
Park Kyung-heon judged the situation calmly.
Although he was proud of being a Level 5 awakener, he was self-aware. This self-awareness was why he could serve as a public official despite being a high-ranking awakener.
“Oh, oh! Can I have this?”
“Well, that…”
“One is a surprise gift for Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! A special surprise!”
Park Kyung-heon turned to look where the sound came from. There, Ara was holding a mask taken from the criminals’ evidence and smiling brightly.
As Park Kyung-heon approached, a police officer saluted him.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Well…”
Seeing the officer’s troubled expression, Park Kyung-heon looked at Ara.
“Wow, you look fierce.”
“You look cute.”
“Hehe, I am cute.”
Park Kyung-heon suddenly reached out with both hands, placing them under Ara’s armpits and lifting her up.
“Kya-ha-ha.”
“…What exactly are you?”
“Hmm? I am Ara.”
The standoff ended with Park Kyung-heon setting her down.
“Where is your guardian?”
“We don’t know anything about that. She keeps mentioning someone named Kyu-seong, so we think he might be her guardian.”
“ Kyu-seong, huh…”
“Ahhhhhh–!!!”
Suddenly, Ara screamed.
Everyone turned to her in surprise.
Ara was inspecting her hat, her tiger ears twitching cutely.
“Huh?!”
“What’s wrong, kid?”
“My hat… my hat…!”
Ara, eyes wide, clutched her straw hat and cried out.
“The hat that Kyu-seong Kyu-seong gave me is torn!”
Cliche Novel 