Chapter 367

"Ah, right."

But then, just as he was beginning to feel relieved that such an extraordinary superhuman had arrived, Kim Giryeo suddenly tilted his head and looked up at the sky.

He remained like that for a moment before speaking.

"Although I said that, the truth is I've already started doing some unlicensed firefighting."

The remark made no sense.

"I'm a little worried there might be complaints afterward. Hopefully no one catches a cold because of this."

That was just as difficult to understand.

Jung Haseong was about to ask what he meant when Kim Giryeo abruptly fell silent.

Tuk.

Something unexpectedly cold touched his cheek.

Tuk.

Tuk.

And then the mysterious liquid seemed to call more of its kind, the droplets gradually increasing in number...

"A drop of water?"

Jung Haseong finally lifted his head as well.

The two hunters standing in the shabby alley stared blankly upward.

But what hung above them was not a bank of gray winter clouds.

It was a vast, oppressive shadow.

"Enough."

At someone's command, an enormous torrent of water crashed down.

Swoosh.

A downpour.

In subzero temperatures.

"An oil fire would be one thing, but who's going to be cooking outdoors in weather like this?"

One of the Awakened tossed out the cheeky remark.

But even without that blatant clue, Jung Haseong understood what was happening the moment he felt the icy water against his skin.

"On a day this cold... this water isn't freezing."

The rain fell unnaturally, as though someone had ordered it to remain liquid.

There could only be one explanation.

'...Wow.'

Swoosh.

An unexpected downpour swept across downtown Seoul.

Needless to say, this was no natural rainstorm.

It was artificial rainfall created through supernatural power.

And as the rain poured over the city, every fire that had spread through Seoul began to weaken.

***

With the greatest problem under control, all that remained was to clean up the stragglers.

'Keugh.'

Swoosh.

Heavy rain continued to hammer down from the sky.

Behind his expressionless face, Kim Giryeo allowed himself a sly smile.

It was not something he could ever say in front of people who had lost their homes and property to the flames.

Still, because of this incident, at least one person had finally found a small ray of hope.

"It's happening. It's really happening. I finally have work—!"

An S-rank superhuman who controlled water!

Of course, the archmage had never truly fit into Earth's elemental classification system.

But as an outsider, he could not simply ignore how the locals perceived him.

Somehow, word had spread that he was a water-attribute mage.

And now, he had finally found a chance to turn that accidental reputation into actual income.

"Even if we leave aside curse magic, which is inherently inconvenient when it comes to protecting other people..."

The man shifted his gaze.

"The number-one hunter in this country is a fire mage, isn't he? Haha! In a situation like this, how could anyone possibly refuse my help?"

His eyes landed on a young black-haired man nearby.

Jung Haseong.

The soot that had covered him was being steadily washed away by the artificial rain.

The Awakened known as the nation's hero was staring up at the sky with genuine admiration.

From Kim Giryeo's perspective, the reaction was perfectly understandable.

People capable of wielding magic on this scale were exceedingly rare on Earth.

But he had no time to bask in admiration.

Every second was money.

"Kyaaah!"

"Gasp. Oh my goodness—there's an incredibly unfortunate citizen over there being attacked by a monster—"

Swish.

A scream rang out nearby.

"All right, Jung Haseong. Let's talk after we've cleaned up the rest of this mess!"

The instant Kim Giryeo realized another monster had appeared, he took off running.

He intended to hunt down at least one more before the other hunters could get to it first.

...

...

...

Time passed.

Before long, deep night had fallen.

"Oh my, Hunter Kim Giryeo!"

The disaster that had struck Seoul came to a relatively uneventful end.

"Thank you! Of course, all the hunters worked hard, but if it hadn't been for you, Kim Giryeo-ssi, the homes of our citizens might have been completely destroyed!"

"Hmm."

"Hehe. And this is just between you and me, Hunter, but I almost lost my precious electric car too."

"Electric... car?"

"Truly, thank you. I'll see to it that you receive a certificate of commendation, and of course, a proper reward as well."

"There's money too?"

South Korea possessed a water-attribute Awakened who could easily be considered SS-rank.

True to his status as a fully recovered archmage, Kim Giryeo resolved the disaster at an astonishing speed.

The citizens showered him with praise.

And because he had also been hunting monsters as they appeared, just as planned, he had gained a considerable additional benefit.

'Heh heh. Come to think of it, it seems all the unidentified F-rank monsters caught in my downpour were counted as kills under my name.'

Saving lives.

Making money.

Being a hunter in this world was actually a rather meaningful profession, wasn't it?

"Ah, of course. How could we possibly fail to reward a hunter who contributed so much?"

"Haha."

"Hunter, if it isn't too much trouble, would you mind taking a commemorative photo with us to mark the safe resolution of this disaster...?"

For reference, similar incidents began occurring in other parts of the country not long after the chaos in Seoul.

In other words, South Korea was soon covered in Red Gates.

However, based on the reports he heard afterward, the otherworldly passages that appeared in different regions seemed to possess different characteristics.

'So the unified attribute phenomenon really was limited to the capital.'

Fortunately, the other regions were able to deal with their monsters more easily than expected.

And now that every Red Gate had finally been closed, it truly seemed like the perfect time to celebrate.

"Haha. This is exactly what the power of magic can accomplish."

Who would have thought everything would go this smoothly?

And yet, even now, Kim Giryeo could not completely relax and enjoy himself.

Perhaps it was because of the humans nearby.

The head of the capital had come solely to express gratitude, and Giryeo was being showered with all kinds of honors.

Even so, he looked strangely dissatisfied.

The reason was simple.

'I'm really glad something I've worried about for so long got resolved because of this incident. But now... it feels like it got resolved a little too thoroughly.'

A problem caused by solving another problem.

A brief, self-indulgent complaint crossed his mind.

Still, once he looked at the expressions of the people nearby, it became difficult to blame himself entirely.

'Oh my.'

Gloomy.

He turned his head.

Several of South Korea's most powerful individuals were sitting nearby with expressions of utter defeat.

They were in an empty room at the Hunter Association headquarters.

As the principal contributors to resolving the recent Red Gate incident, they had originally gathered there to receive various follow-up reports.

But with the disaster safely over, all that remained in the room was a thick cloud of depression.

'They look like they're about to die.'

Esther.

Jung Haseong.

Both of them had completely lost their confidence after this incident.

"They say humans are powerless in the face of natural disasters..."

"We ended up receiving help from Hunter Kim again."

"Do you know something? The moment I heard Giryeo-ssi had arrived in Seoul, I was so relieved my legs nearly gave out. It was one of those moments where you instinctively start relying on someone else and then hate yourself for doing it."

They had worked themselves ragged.

At last, the woman whose hair had become disheveled enough to make her look like a ghost spoke up.

"Sniff... But seriously, why is that man several times stronger than us even while he's injured...?"

It was Esther's lament.

She had genuinely done everything she could as an S-rank Awakened.

Yet her contribution had been almost completely overshadowed.

The entire incident had shaken the other top-tier Awakened in more ways than one.

'Hmm.'

And even the alien scholar could tell that they were devastated.

'Maybe I was a little too harsh.'

Giryeo looked at the despondent mammals and reflected.

All he had wanted was to demonstrate just how exceptional his physical condition was.

He had assumed that if he handled the situation efficiently and proved his strength, they would finally stop pressuring him to rest.

He had never intended to crush the confidence of his fellow hunters.

'As expected, I went too far this time. I should have been more considerate.'

So after observing their expressions for a while, Giryeo finally performed an act peculiar to intelligent life.

He felt compassion.

'I even got annoyed for a moment because I thought they were interfering with my earnings. But now that I think about it, they only did that because they were worried about me.'

Unfortunately, the problem was his method of expressing that compassion.

Summoning every bit of kindness he possessed, he attempted to comfort them gently.

"It's all right. Don't be too discouraged, everyone. People can live perfectly well without talent."

"..."

"..."

A few seconds later, the words that had come out of his mouth sounded far more like an insult than encouragement.

"Sob, sob."

The Earthlings only became more depressed.

Whenever the alien was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} not actively trying to deceive someone, he tended to become excessively sincere.

This minor disaster was born purely from that sincerity.

'I didn't mean to make them cry.'

But then, an unexpectedly enticing subject came up.

"I wish everything could just be solved with money."

The so-called silver-spoon Earthling, Esther, said it with a miserable expression.

"Yes?"

"Didn't Giryeo-ssi say you came back to work because you didn't have enough money to live on?"

"Oh, yes."

"Then if I simply cover all your living expenses, will you quit? Ha... I'm seriously starting to consider it."

Huh?

Really?

The alien's eyes widened inwardly.

The offer was tempting enough to provoke exactly that kind of reaction.

If things could truly be resolved that way, then of course he would welcome it with both tentacles raised.

"Why didn't I think of this sooner!"

Perhaps he had picked up a strange habit after living on Earth for so long.

More precisely, he had developed the habit of avoiding blatant rudeness toward the other party.

That was why he had refrained from demanding money without a proper justification.

But now that the other person had brought up the possibility first, the thought of an unexpected windfall immediately began to bloom in his mind.

"Then... could you give me around 40 billion won?"

Without even pausing for breath, the alien named a specific amount.

"Forty billion!"

"My unpaid taxes are around that much... Though apparently, with the right deductions, it might come down to about 20 billion."

"Twenty billion."

"Still, if you're covering my living expenses anyway, I'd also like to travel abroad and indulge in a few luxuries... so let's keep it at 40 billion after all."

"Haha, travel..."

"If you give me that much, I can take a break from work. Oh, of course."

Unfortunately, the negotiation immediately collapsed.

The representative of Korea's Magic Tower assumed he was joking.

"In all my years as a hunter, even the total taxes I've paid on overseas income haven't come anywhere close to 10 billion. And you're telling me that Kim Giryeo-ssi, who's only in his second year of activity, has a tax bill of 40 billion?"

For reference, the money paid by the Japanese hunters had included compensation for attempted murder.

It had deliberately been transferred in a way designed to keep the entire matter quiet.

That was why the other S-ranks had no idea Kim Giryeo had earned one trillion won from the [Kagoshima Raid]...

'Now that I think about it, that's exactly why everything keeps getting tangled.'

Esther studied the man with a complicated expression.

Then she spoke.

"Besides, even though you're an S-rank Hunter, you lived in a tiny one-room apartment as though you had absolutely no attachment to material things, practically training in seclusion..."

"Yes?"

"And now you're saying you want to travel abroad and splurge on luxury. From my perspective, do you really think that's something I can take seriously?"

"But I'm serious... And besides, it's not like I'm planning to work for very long anyway. I'll just earn some money for a while, then take another break."

"Sob."

"Please stop tearing up. You're making my heart hurt a little too."

There could hardly have been a clearer example of karma coming back around.

Kim Giryeo felt the consequences of his lies sink straight into his bones.

Because he was fundamentally different from them, there was no way he could even explain why he had clung to that shabby little home for so long.

'Should I just gather all these humans together and announce publicly that I'm actually an alien?'

At least the shepherd boy eventually told the truth...

Kim Giryeo fell into thought for a moment.

But regardless of the mistakes he had made, in a harsh world like this, conscience alone could not keep a person alive.

"A-anyway."

Ahem.

The man in the suit, endowed with supernatural power, made a declaration before the assembled members of the industry.

"Just yesterday, I completed all the procedures for establishing a corporation, so I'm officially a guild master now too."

"..."

"From this point on, whenever a valuable dungeon appears, I'll be joining the bidding wars. I'm going to claim whichever gates I want."

"..."

"But if you keep interfering, then... uh, collusion? Anyway, something illegal like that. I'll have no choice but to report you, so keep that in mind."

Thanks to the [Prophecy]-type scroll artifact, he at least had something to rely on.

However, most of the gates recorded on it were predicted to appear overseas.

Naturally, if a foreigner recklessly crossed national borders and interfered with another country's dungeons, there was no telling what consequences might follow.

And so, for the thoroughly ignoble reason of being 30 billion won in debt, Kim Giryeo had no choice but to work harder than anyone else.

But the faint-hearted S-class hunters knew none of that.

Once again, they shed invisible tears.

They watched, deeply moved, as a mighty figure insisted on continuing his life as a hunter despite everyone's efforts to stop him.

"Why would Hunter Kim insist on doing something everyone else hates so much?"

"A fool who thinks only of the people."

"And hearing him say he'll only work for a while before resting again... just as I thought, he really did come back because January is approaching."

"Seriously, how can someone be that upright and pure..."