Chapter 373

‘Somehow, I’m getting a headache...’

Come to think of it, the very first press conference had also taken place around this time of year.

For a moment, I recalled what had happened immediately after the [Inevitable Malice] hunt and pinched the bridge of my nose.

But compared to back then, a great many things were different now.

“Hunter Kim Giryeo! Please say a few words!”

“Could you look this way and strike a pose? A pose?”

“Now then, Hunter. Please come this way. By the way, I really enjoyed seeing the local reports about your outstanding work in Turkey. Goodness. At this rate, shouldn’t we be giving you a few more awards? Haha.”

Every reporter in front of me wore a bright expression.

Their gazes no longer held negative expectations, jealousy, curiosity, or anything of the sort.

“Thank you for your contribution during the domestic Red Gate Rush incident!”

The humans of Earth offered genuine praise to the ability user who had saved countless lives.

After all, once their work was done, even reporters returned to being ordinary citizens of the city.

The applause directed at me couldn’t simply be fake.

“Hmm.”

Soon afterward, I received a commendation from the mayor.

Then, somewhat awkwardly, I turned my body toward the east for the photo session.

But just as someone who appeared to be the host raised a microphone toward me—

“Hunter Kim Giryeo! Would you like to say a few words to the public to commemorate the occasion?”

Originally, I had planned to put on airs and say something like, “I merely did what any hunter should have done.”

Click, click, click.

But as I quietly watched the lights bursting from the Earthlings’ cameras, an unexpected thought crossed my mind.

‘The original owner of this body.’

In other words, the real Kim Giryeo.

‘If he were still alive, wouldn’t this honor have belonged to him?’

Now that I thought about it, the innate qualities of this corpse must have contributed at least somewhat to my recovery of strength.

Kim Giryeo, a Korean man in his twenties, would most likely have surpassed S-rank if he had simply remained alive.

As the years passed, his body would have become increasingly attuned to mana.

By the time he reached his thirties, perhaps even the slightest trigger might have been enough to release the restraints on his body.

And so, I found myself indulging in an even bolder assumption.

“-_-”

I pressed my borrowed lips tightly together as I thought.

Even if I somehow managed to painstakingly pay off the entire 40 billion won debt, I genuinely believed that if the real Kim Giryeo spoke even a single word, I could hand everything I had built back over to him.

And I meant it.

Of course, that would only be possible if a criminal capable of withstanding my soul appeared.

If all the magical conditions happened to align, I was prepared to return this body to him at any time and begin again from nothing.

I truly meant that.

But Kim Giryeo was already dead and gone, so...

Click, click, click, click.

Around the time the camera flashes began exploding like mad, my mood abruptly sank.

“Huh?”

No matter how many times I thought about it, this kind of honor felt as though it belonged to someone else.

Come to think of it, how had an alien who merely stole a decaying corpse ended up standing in a place like this? RâŊՕβÈṢ

“Hunter Kim Giryeo?”

Perhaps it was because the words I had heard during the pigeon-control experiment still lingered so vividly in my mind.

These days, thoughts like this had been coming to me surprisingly often.

I wanted to return this place to that pitiful soul.

But since things didn’t seem likely to go the way I wished, my heart had gradually grown restless and uneasy.

“Hunter Kim Giryeo!”

“Hunter?”

“Ugh!”

“J-just one word...!”

The interview request thrust toward me was soon met with refusal.

Unable to bring myself to finish even a single sentence, I quickly stepped down from the platform.

Naturally, my abrupt departure with such a stern expression caused a stir among the people around me.

But I had no room to care about any of that.

‘This wasn’t something I should be celebrating just because I made money.’

Now I was even starting to feel ashamed of the arrogance I had displayed until now.

After all, if I couldn’t even fulfill the one wish I genuinely cared about, what right did I have to call myself an Archmage?

‘Looks like I still have a long way to go.’

It seemed I really did need to meet the person called Kim Giryeo at least once.

Since reality was far from forgiving, a new goal quickly took shape in my mind.

Once I earned enough money—or, more precisely, once I finished paying off the entire debt—I would immediately resume all the research I had postponed and begin looking for some kind of method.

But no matter how many times I turned the matter over in my head, it didn’t seem like something that would be solved easily.

And so, carrying that vague, tangled feeling inside me, I trudged out of the hall.

All the while, my exterior remained wrapped in the skin of an idol, warmly welcomed by countless people.

“Haa.”

When I stepped outside, sleet was falling from the dark sky.

“It’s snowing again.”

Oh, right.

Since the subject of research had come up, I might as well mention this too.

“-_-”

When I thought about it, aside from my research into death, there were honestly still many things I needed to understand.

‘Because Earth was a planet with that kind of uniqueness.’

At that moment, things like moonlight and an abandoned building reeking of mustiness flickered through my mind.

Now that I admitted it, even after living for such a long time, there was still so much I didn’t know.

In hindsight, that was only natural when one compared the lifespan of a single organism to the age of an entire planet.

Besides, we Alphaurins had never possessed enough leisure to become distracted by the vast concept of the universe.

We had always been too busy refining whatever lay directly before us—what we called magical science.

‘Come to think of it, maybe I really did end up on an unnecessarily unusual planet.’

In my previous life, I may have stood at the pinnacle of magical science, but even then, it had been impossible to hold every truth in the world within the palm of my hand.

At any rate, to emphasize the point once again, I resolved to deepen my research into spirits while keeping in mind the body’s original owner, who had died in vain.

And alongside that, I would continue acquiring all kinds of other knowledge as well.

At my age, I had finally come to understand just how much I still had left to learn.

But setting aside the question of what the deceased themselves might think about resurrection—

once I seriously resolved to pursue the research, I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy.

‘To be honest, even if I spent thousands upon thousands of years on it, there’s no guarantee I’d ever succeed.’

Even though I had been the first Alphaurian to succeed in planetary teleportation, the idea of gathering up a soul after it had already scattered like air still seemed impossible no matter how I approached it.

First of all, the creatures of this world...

To put it metaphorically, they were like debtors borrowing the essential components of their existence from the universe.

‘Funny that I’m using this kind of metaphor when I’m the one who owes 40 billion won.’

Just as mana, strictly speaking, never truly belongs to the mage—

our civilization.

Our bodies.

Our souls.

Everything living beings take pride in originates from nature.

And once a creature reaches the end of its lifespan, the ecosystem naturally takes back what it once lent.

For example, even if someone borrowed molecules for sixty years, upon death they merely had to repay the principal along with the modest interest represented by the additional weight gained during growth.

From the perspective of a living creature, there could hardly be a more generous arrangement.

And yet, research intended to defy nature itself—a force so generous to its debtors...

‘Besides, generosity usually comes from having power or abundance to spare.’

The structure of life was far more elegant and intricate than anyone could have imagined.

That was the conclusion I had reached back when I first began researching souls.

‘From the very beginning, the fact that we managed to create something so immense through our own efforts was already an excessive display of power.’

Therefore, deep down, I already knew that this goal of returning the body to its original owner was probably doomed to fail.

And yet, I didn’t abandon it.

‘...Ah, whatever. Somehow, it’ll probably work out.’

After all, that had always been my greatest weapon as an Alphaurin.

‘I’ve lived for so long that I thought I’d never feel passionate about anything again. But there are still things I want to know, so in a way, that’s actually a relief.’

Setting aside my regret for the kind soul who once owned this body, there was no harm in pursuing the research purely out of curiosity.

Afterward, the moment I left the building, I headed straight toward a nearby dungeon.

“Research, and yet you’re going into a dungeon?” you might ask.

Well, if you want to pursue what you truly desire, sometimes you first have to deal with all the unpleasant necessities standing in the way.

‘Still, the possibility of defaulting on 40 billion won in taxes is a little too unpleasant...’

Especially in a capitalist society, debt was difficult to ignore.

Before throwing myself into research, I decided to remove every obstacle first.

About twelve hours later, I finally began working seriously to earn money.

And, moreover, I did it together with Jung Haseong.

Pardon?

You’re saying you suddenly called me just to tell me... that you actually want us to work together as a team for a while...?

Having a Primitive Mage tagging along cuts my share in half, but what can I do?

‘If I don’t have enough money, I’ll simply do twice as much work.’

Maybe it was because I had been thinking so often lately about the kind person who originally owned this body.

Perhaps I had been influenced by him somehow.

For whatever reason, I could no longer bring myself to simply ignore the victims of my scam.

So now that I had gained some leeway in terms of strength, I decided to compensate them properly, even if doing so meant taking a loss...

.

.

.

Somehow, the dramatic collaboration between Korea’s #1 ranked hunter and the #1 ranked hunter (recently demoted) became a reality.

How could the industry possibly remain quiet after news like that?

A few days later, the alien wearing the skin of the idol Kim Giryeo lived up to his past bravado.

He began tackling A-rank gates all across the country, accompanied by his partner, Haseong.

What did you say?

After taking care of only the most urgent gates in Seoul, he was heading down to Jeju and then clearing every unattended gate nationwide?

For reference, an invitation to join this large-scale hunting plan had also been sent to an S-rank named Seo Esther.

But as the leader of an enormous guild, she simply didn’t have the time.

Above all, her schedule was already packed for the end of the year.

And so, the #1 and #11 ranked hunters continued their work as an extremely simple two-person team.

“--”

During the process, a subtle change gradually became apparent.

Somehow, the blond man grew increasingly proficient at controlling his abilities as time went on.

More precisely, he began producing crude spells in a way that actually suited the title of “Primitive Mage.”

This was largely the result of consistently imitating the exemplary Jung Haseong.

“--”

It was fine that he had genuinely raised his combat ability to a level comparable to an actual S-rank.

The problem was that the dyed-haired man strangely refused to let go of his obsession with money.

“Wait, wait! Stop. Why are you burning that? This monster’s legs are literally solid gold!”

“Then should we call the disassembly specialists?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll do it myself.”

“Ah...”

He carefully gathered even the most trivial items.

He fretted over something as minor as a commission fee.

If a foreigner unfamiliar with Kim Giryeo had witnessed the scene, they probably would have called him a miser.

But the Alphaurin was accompanied by Jung Haseong.

And because Jung Haseong already possessed certain preconceptions about him, most of Kim Giryeo’s eccentricities inevitably ended up being interpreted in a particular way.

Moreover, they were usually interpreted rather positively.

‘As expected of a veteran Awakened. Even his conduct has that kind of authority. Of course, distinguishing the value of monster materials is one of the most basic skills a hunter should possess.’

Thus, Jung Haseong’s respect for him increased unintentionally.

However, since Jung Haseong had even attended an ordinary university, after seeing Kim Giryeo repeatedly reveal such an extreme fixation on money, even he briefly entertained a certain thought.

‘Could he actually be completely broke?’

Why?

Of course, even on a global scale, there were virtually no cases of an S-rank being impoverished...

The more he tried to think of a reason, the more confusing the matter became.

As Jung Haseong continued raiding alongside Kim Giryeo, he found himself being influenced in a positive direction as well.

Originally, he had joined with the intention of taking down any weakened human prey himself, keeping that goal firmly in mind.

But as time passed, the hero began to realize that his judgment had been excessively protective.

Just as Kim Giryeo had claimed when he said his body had recovered, Korea’s fourth S-rank displayed overwhelming power across numerous dungeons.