Chapter 365

But just as I was lost in thought...

"Oh, by the way, Giryeo-ssi."

"Yes?"

"Would it be all right if I told Hunter Jung Haseong what I just heard?"

Esther asked.

Jung Haseong, the person she mentioned, had recently been considering dissolving the Garion Guild. However, the plan had been delayed due to his busy schedule and objections from the government...

"This week, word even got around that I'm founding a guild. And that delayed the Garion issue even further? No, seriously, what kind of logic is that?"

Anyway, the moment I heard her suggestion, I nodded.

The company I was about to establish existed purely for tax benefits. It had no other purpose whatsoever, so I had no interest in recruiting high-ranking personnel.

"Do as you like."

If Jung Haseong tried to join the new guild, that would only make things more troublesome.

"You can tell anyone you want. I don't mind."

That should settle the explanation about founding the guild...

Slurp.

I took a small sip of the tea I'd brewed for my guest. Then, doing my best to pass myself off as a native of Earth, I smoothly shifted the conversation to another subject.

"Hmm. Since you've come all this way, I may as well bring it up—actually, there's something I've been meaning to ask you too."

"Giryeo-ssi? Me?"

There was one serious problem I absolutely had to solve before next February.

"I need a hunting ground that can generate a large profit."

About 30 billion won.

That was roughly how much debt I needed to repay in the immediate future.

So I spent some time trying to persuade her—or, more accurately, explaining to the head of the Korean Magic Tower just how capable I was and asking her to stop monopolizing the dungeons.

"Oh, damn it."

Unfortunately, achieving my goal today still seemed a long way off.

The moment Esther saw how healthy I looked, she immediately brought up the difficult subject of the high fever I'd suffered two months ago.

While I desperately scrambled for an excuse, the Earthling sitting across from me on the sofa took the exact opposite approach and began trying to persuade me instead.

"Even if it's only for cosmetic reasons, you really should have your lungs restored later..."

Then she started rattling off a list of so-called "healthy foods" from Earth.

At that point, I completely lost my composure.

***

So, after that unofficial housewarming attended by an alien mammal, how did their relationship develop?

[Me: So you're saying Hunter Kim Giryeo plans to establish a guild for the sole purpose of reducing his taxes?]

[Seo: Yes. Just like Garion.]

A few hours later.

Haseong received a text from the head of the Korean Magic Tower Guild.

He was standing in front of a gate that was about to be cleared, casually eating kimbap, when he paused and typed out a reply.

[Me: Does that make any sense?]

Suspicion surfaced once again.

At first glance, it might have seemed like an overly prickly reaction, but in truth, it was perfectly reasonable.

[Seo: But that's literally all he said (T.T; )]

[Me: This may be a rather rude thought, but whenever I listen to Hunter Kim, I often find myself wanting to borrow Justitia.]

[Seo: Ah, right. We happened to mention that item afterward, but Hunter Giryeo asked me not to bring up Justitia in front of him if possible.]

[Me: Why?]

[Seo: It seemed like... there were a lot of circumstances he couldn't explain...]

Kim Giryeo.

A hunter who, in the mere few months since his rank had officially been revealed, had saved the country two or three times.

That alone was enough to summarize what kind of person he was.

And yet, such an extraordinary superpowered individual was now claiming to act purely for the sake of money?

"So he has no intention of telling us the truth?"

Moreover, that same hunter had bypassed the traps in the dungeon [Labyrinth of the 13th Month] using an extraordinary method.

It was difficult to reconcile such a person with someone whose greatest fear was supposedly falling behind on his taxes.

"That's completely unlike the Hunter Kim Giryeo I know."

There was no way someone that meticulous would simply have neglected to pay the taxes properly assessed against him.

Jung Haseong popped the final piece of kimbap into his mouth and continued thinking.

As he chewed, his reasoning gradually shifted toward a different—and, in his mind, far more plausible—possibility.

"Could Hunter Kim be acting under government orders again?"

Unless something major happens, a person's established way of thinking rarely changes overnight.

The world was still in the midst of fierce international competition to recruit Awakened individuals. Under such circumstances, it was hardly unusual for hunters to change their nationality altogether.

"I remember reading an article about the rising immigration rate among Awakened people."

For ordinary citizens living through the age of Dungeon Shocks, however, such reports could only be a source of anxiety.

Perhaps South Korea's senior officials were trying to use this situation to ease that widespread unease.

With that possibility in mind, Jung Haseong tilted his head.

An S-rank Hunter, Kim Giryeo, establishing a corporation in Korea.

Once that became public knowledge, it would serve as a powerful declaration that a certain individual had formally tied himself to the Korean Peninsula.

"Hmm."

In other words, unless some larger objective was involved, it was difficult to explain why that man would suddenly take such action.

"More than anything, the timing is far too strange."

Why would someone who had already been operating as an S-rank Hunter for quite some time suddenly decide to establish a company now?

National tax.

Despite having gone through essentially the same procedures himself, Jung Haseong somehow failed to make the obvious connection at the crucial moment.

And so, almost by habit, he returned yet again to the same misunderstanding without ever growing tired of it.

"Keugh."

For reference, it was currently around noon, and Mr. Yoon—the man actually affiliated with the National Intelligence Service—was peacefully eating his lunch.

"Seriously, what on earth is going on in this country...?"

Once again, innocent Mr. Yoon was falsely accused.

And for Jung Haseong to ever dispel this misunderstanding, S-rank Hunter Kim Giryeo was simply far too secretive.

His secrecy.

His composure.

Even his habit of pretending to be ordinary.

Strangely enough, all of those traits happened to overlap with characteristics shared by both extraterrestrial beings and government agents.

"Even with that kind of power, Hunter Kim Giryeo has been obeying the state's orders all this time? And with a personality as strong-willed as his?"

The nation's hero soon sank into deep thought.

"And if what I'm imagining is true... is a country that exploits people even while they're sick really worth protecting?"

A truly alarming line of thought.

Fortunately, South Korea itself was in no genuine danger.

Ever since awakening, the man hailed as a national hero had received countless offers from foreign governments.

One country had even promised to grant him an entire territory, as though he were some medieval noble.

Yet Jung Haseong had rejected every one of those offers and remained a hunter in this country.

South Korea was where his beloved family lived.

It was also the precious homeland where he had accumulated countless memories of his own.

"Ha."

To put it simply, he was a young man with a strong sense of patriotism.

So rather than condemn his homeland on the basis of unverified suspicions, Jung Haseong decided to prepare for the situation in another way.

"Anyway, [...]"

He finally swallowed the kimbap he had been chewing and began tapping at his phone.

[I still have serious doubts about Hunter Kim Giryeo returning to active duty. I know because one of my relatives underwent cancer surgery. Even assuming the treatment was successful, that's not the kind of illness you recover from completely in only two months.]

Tuk.

Seo Esther's reply arrived almost immediately.

No matter how busy she was, she hadn't skipped lunch and thrown herself into a dungeon.

[Seo: By the way, Haseong, you wanted to team up with Giryeo so badly. Are you really okay with continuing to oppose him like this?]

Oppose him.

Indeed, when one person repeatedly objects to another's decisions, that kind of relationship can naturally develop.

But Jung Haseong answered with the expression of someone who had already made up his mind.

[Me: Of course.]

At first, Korea's fourth S-rank had seemed like an enemy.

For a while after that, he had merely been an awkward, peculiar colleague in the same profession.

But over time, that blond man had become someone worthy of respect.

A beacon to follow.

That was why Jung Haseong had clung so stubbornly to the idea of forming a team with him, hoping to learn even one more thing.

But...

"If that ends up becoming a nuisance to him, how could I keep forcing the issue?"

He fell silent, his expression bitter.

Then, in the quiet that followed, his phone lit up once more.

This time, it was another message from the leader of a major guild.

[Seo: Well, yes. I understand. I wanted that person to rest at least a little too, so I firmly refused the private lesson and came back.]

For once, a story capable of making even an alien shudder passed between them.

[Seo: Then all we have to do is this, right?]

Another message appeared on Jung Haseong's screen.

[Seo: Let's handle the Great Cataclysm this coming January together. Honestly, I think even Kim Giryeo-ssi would be convinced after that.]

[Me: Right.]

The Great Cataclysm!

A natural cycle in which enormous numbers of new monsters emerged roughly once a year.

If the two of them could shoulder such a disaster entirely on their own, then surely even the most extraordinary hunter would finally loosen his grip on the industry.

That was why Jung Haseong and Seo Esther were more determined than ever to sharpen their abilities.

"I've overcome a lot of the trauma surrounding my abilities thanks to that person."

It was a plan devised for one purpose alone:

to allow a hunter who was truly one of the pillars of the nation to focus entirely on his treatment, without having to worry about anything else.

"Sometimes the way he speaks is a little too harsh. But looking back, everything he said really was advice meant for my sake."

Of course, there was no chance Jung Haseong would ever throw those words back at him and say, "Aren't you a nobody too?"

Still, as he slipped the phone he'd been staring at back into his pocket, Jung Haseong made a solemn resolution.

Even if his way of expressing it differed, even if the process itself was different, he would still act for that man's sake.

"From now on, as a way of repaying the favor..."

Unfortunately, the rule that nothing in this world ever goes exactly according to plan did not apply only to aliens.

The workings of the universe were equally merciless toward the natives of this planet.

[Briefing on the Red Gate Rush Predicted for Mid-December]

The S-rank Awakened, who had long stood at the very top of the power hierarchy, were shaken in an instant by news of a single approaching incident.

***

Something smells burnt.

"Huh? What is it?"

And so the next situation began with a startled voice ringing out from somewhere.

It was only one in the afternoon.

Lunchtime.

The alien was cooking a reasonably priced meal for one—mini pork cutlets recommended by Seonwoo Yeon.

But judging from the noises now filling the room, he had once again managed to burn the frozen food.

He had nearly set this perfectly clean house on fire as well.

For reference, the word recipe is commonly used even outside the kitchen.

So how, of all people, could a top-class researcher fail to follow something as simple as the proper heating time?

"No! My mini pork cutlets————!"

It was all because of that insidious invention.

The cellphone.

Kim Giryeo had been preoccupied lately with everything involved in establishing a guild.

"Having people under me really isn't easy. S-social insurance? I have to deal with that too? Anyway, hiring subordinates sounds like an enormous pain."

He revealed an unexpectedly clumsy side befitting an alien.

But to summarize the situation, Kim Giryeo had become so absorbed in solving one problem after another that he could no longer even concentrate on the simple pleasure of eating.

As long as the guild was established without incident, his taxes would be reduced—or at least, that was the best way he could think to describe it.

If he could bring the amount owed down to around 20 billion won, he intended to work diligently from then on and pay off the national tax debt.

[Ting.]

But just then, while the alien timidly nibbled at a burnt mini pork cutlet...

"Hmm?"

A message appeared on his phone.

[Ahn Yoonseung ✉]

It was a call from an Earthling.

An Earthling's...

Or, to be more precise, a call from someone who lately wouldn't even offer a simple greeting without first sending a message that read, "Excuse me, Hyung-nim, are you available right now?" out of fear that he might be causing an inconvenience.

"A call."

The alien stopped scraping the burnt parts off his frozen pork cutlet and turned around.