I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over - Chapter 37

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Haruto

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◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 37: Announcement

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【 YouTube 】

[ Japan Gate Response Team Bodycam Footage Released!!! ]

(A short, five-minute combat video)

The Gate Response Team, made up of A-rank Hunters, was on the verge of annihilation.

A golem-type magical beast radiating immense mana merged with its owner, A-rank Hunter Kurogane Kaito, and pulled the team out of danger. It was a sight straight out of a movie or anime, and netizens had this to say...

[ Comments ]

ChocoDeliManju: Whoa... Is that a magical beast too? Fuck;; Where do I buy one? I seriously need it;;;

LevelXZero: Holy shit, that steel suit is insane... Why don't blacksmiths make stuff like that for us?

LoveMePlease: Hmm... A magical beast... I've got a perfectly reasonable suspicion here...

└ RamenCrunchCrunchCrunch: For real lol

└└ SensingTheEnd: It's Yoo Hyun lol An additional article just dropped

└└└ KimCheongShit1ChangSik: Ah...!! Incredible, Korean government!!! You let Japan take the miracle alchemist who turns A-ranks into S-ranks!!!!

TanakaIzumu: I'm from Japan. Thank you, Korean politicians. We'll put Yoo Hyun to good use here in Japan, and we won't be giving him back. Yoo Hyun is now part of Japan's unique culture.

└ KimCheongShit1ChangSik: Fuck, that got under my skin;;; Seriously, fucking hell;; Ah;;;

Yamada Daichi, thirty-two, returned from another day of construction work as usual, despite all the talk of the country being on the verge of collapse.

He couldn't take his eyes off the YouTube video playing while he ate.

"What is this...?"

He had seen yesterday's news that the A-rank Gate Response Team responding to the S-rank Gate had narrowly survived a crisis, but he hadn't known the details.

Not until he watched this YouTube video.

As if possessed, Yamada kept replaying it.

"Wow..."

A monster that looked dangerous at a glance appeared deep inside a cave and instantly took down one Hunter, creating a hopeless situation.

None of the Hunters could react. Panic spread through the group.

Only one Hunter was buying time against the monster.

But before long, his own magical beast pounced on him and brought him down with shocking ease.

Once the Hunter blocking its path fell, the monster turned toward the remaining Hunters and charged.

It was a desperate moment, one where someone could die.

Then a Hunter appeared, clad in a steel suit.

Incredibly, he neutralized the monster in a single blow and saved everyone from danger.

Just like a hero from a work of fiction.

Gulp.

There was something in that video that made a man's heart race.

The Hunter in the video was an A-rank Awakened, just like him.

'Could I maybe...?'

No, no. Even so... risking my life was a little...

"...Maybe if it were a Rider Belt instead of a steel suit."

Yamada Taichi, thirty-two, shook his head.

* * *

Hermes Research Institute Director's Office

"Pant, pant...!! Pant, pant...!!"

Slap! Slap!

Haengbok's panting and the sharp slapping sounds echoed through the director's office as I surfed the web.

Every media outlet was talking about Wearable Magical Beasts.

I knew it would make waves, but I hadn't expected this much.

"The timing and setup were just perfect."

The exact moment when an A-rank Hunter, helpless against an S-rank monster, merged with a magical beast, broke through the monster's encirclement, and escaped the Gate had been fully captured by the Gate Response Team's bodycam.

Since the footage had been filmed in such a hopeless situation, it made an enormous impact the moment it was released.

Naturally, I had also heard from Chairman Asakura, the person who brought me to Ars Magna.

[ Chairman Asakura ]: Mr. Yoo Hyun...! Can you mass-produce the magical beast from the video...!? Please...! No, I'll come over right now, so please wait just a moment!!

[ Me ]: Okay.

They seemed desperate, but I understood why.

"Hmm... Still, mass production... The Panoplia model's merging function isn't very efficient..."

Mass-producing them was one thing, but using that merging function required around twenty A-rank Hunters to inject an average of at least twenty to thirty percent of their mana. If fewer people participated, each person would have to inject even more.

When a Hunter's mana decreased, their combat power naturally dropped. That meant the entire group's combat power went down.

Well, Japan could probably live with that, but...

The Panoplia model's special ability allowed an A-rank to temporarily overwhelm an S-rank, but its duration was short and the activation requirements were difficult to meet.

'Looking at it realistically, would they focus entirely on short-term battles?'

They could charge it at the Gate entrance, go in, defeat only the monsters near the entrance, then repeat.

But there was a limit to that. Even if I mass-produced them, could they really use them properly? Refilling mana was no easy task.

The consumption was so intense that I had no idea how many times they could activate it in a day.

"Should I have lower-ranked Hunters fill it with mana?"

But the Panoplia model's mana storage function didn't last long. Even when filled to the brim, all its mana dispersed within ten minutes.

Lower-ranked Hunters would probably inject mana more slowly than it naturally dissipated.

Hmm... Then what about calling all those A-rank Hunters doing construction work to the front of an S-rank Gate every time?

They were the kind of people who kept working construction even during a national disaster, so there was no guarantee they'd come just because they were called.

"...Should I just lower the output and add an external socket?"

"Pant, pant...!"

Slap! Slap!

Like Rodin, Hunter Yoo Dusik's Rune Turtle. An external socket would solve these problems to some extent.

The output would naturally be lower than with direct charging, but it would definitely become more practical.

Just as I was considering ways to improve the Panoplia model, someone came to the director's office.

Knock, knock.

"Come in."

Click.

The door opened after I gave permission, and Researcher A, Asagiri, poked their head inside.

"Director... Kaito-hyung is here—"

Slap! Slap!

"Pant, pant... Pant, pant..."

"...What are you doing?"

"Oh, this? A Jellykko yo-yo."

When I tied Haengbok's tail around my finger and moved it like a yo-yo, the tail stretched and contracted, making its springy rump naturally slap against my palm.

"Um... Is Haengbok really okay...?"

"It's fine. Haengbok goes absolutely crazy for this. It keeps asking me to do it, to the point that it's a problem."

Slap! Slap! Slap!

When I sped up the yo-yo, Haengbok panted even more intensely.

"Pant, pant...!! Pant, pant...!!"

Maybe it was because slimes didn't have a sense of pain? Haengbok especially liked this kind of stimulation.

Should I say Haengbok liked seeing its jelly wobble around?

Anyway...

"They're waiting in the reception room."

"Okay, let's go."

When I arrived at the reception room, Kurogane Kaito and Kamishiro Aoi were there. They stood and greeted me when they saw me.

"Thanks to you, Director Yoo Hyun, we survived...! Thank you!"

"It was really dangerous, but we barely made it out alive thanks to the magical beasts!"

"I'm glad you're both safe."

The two told me how much the magical beasts had contributed inside the Gate. Both of them were testing my prototype technology and providing feedback through the Magna Beta Tester initiative, after all.

"It was an incredibly powerful function, though charging it was difficult."

"Right. I was already thinking about improving that part as well."

"Oh... As expected...!!"

Kurogane's eyes were completely different from when we first met. He looked at me with such warmth, as if he truly considered me his savior.

I wasn't thrilled about getting that lovestruck look from a man, but...

Either way, hearing that my magical beasts had saved someone always made me feel good.

As I continued talking with them, Researcher A, Asagiri, opened the reception room door and spoke.

Click.

"Director...? Chairman Asakura has arrived."

"Oh, already? He got here fast. Mr. Kurogane, may I excuse myself first? I have another appointment after this."

"Yes, of course."

Just as I was about to wrap things up with Kurogane and the others,

"No, there's no need. Hunter Kurogane is here too, so this works out perfectly."

Chairman Asakura burst into the reception room.

* * *

Chairman Asakura told me about a plan.

"...So you're asking me to mass-produce Attachment-Type Magical Beasts?"

"Yes... That's right! So many young Hunters are excited after watching Mr. Kurogane's video!! I think it's important to build on this momentum!"

Chairman Asakura showed me screenshots of social-media posts on their smartphone.

"...'I suddenly want a Rider Belt?' 'Could a freeter like me become a hero too?' 'I want to save everyone like Mr. Kurogane.'"

Hmm... I didn't use Japanese social media, so I hadn't known posts like this were going around. Most of the people posting them seemed to be Hunters working construction jobs.

"As you can see, this is the first time they've shown any motivation...! I want to make the most of this opportunity somehow...! Mr. Yoo Hyun, please."

Chairman Asakura bowed deeply.

I crossed my arms.

"So you want me... to make transformation toys to motivate these people?"

"Ah... N-no, that's not it... Could you make something like the magical beast you gave Mr. Kurogane...? I know it's an unreasonable request!!"

Seriously... What did they take me for...

Transformation?

Was Chairman Asakura asking me to personally create real-life Sentai heroes or Riders, where Hunters transformed and protected people from monsters?

Ha... This was...

"That's an incredibly stupid idea. Let's do it immediately."

"...?"

This was going to be fucking fun.

* * *