Chapter 422

After all, being pushed toward a path you didn’t want would be infuriating anywhere in the universe.

'Let’s not add any more unnecessary words here.'

It was around the time the Archmage wisely decided to keep quiet. Kim Giryeo and Seo Esther had talked quite a bit while browsing the item market, but as time passed, they inevitably reached the point where they had to part ways for a while.

“Oh, right. Giryeo-ssi, I need to use the restroom for a moment. Would you mind looking around at the items by yourself until I get back?”

“Me alone?”

“My lips will probably dry out in the meantime, so I need to reapply some lip balm. Anyway, I thought I’d use the opportunity to tidy myself up a bit. Come to think of it, even though this is a shopping building, I wonder why there are so few mirrors.”

The restroom—an unavoidable necessity for any living creature.

And yet, to suddenly be separated from the group like this...

'What if Esther gets into some kind of conflict with a foreign female S-rank in there?'

It was only a fleeting thought. Kim Giryeo stood still for a moment, considering a worry that was unlikely to come true.

'And what if the cursed sorcerer, unable to stand being ignored, suddenly explodes? A country with two S-rank individuals with assault records would be difficult to manage in all sorts of ways.'

For a moment, he considered keeping watch near the restroom.

But on second thought, an Archmage like him had no reason to waste time on such a trivial precaution.

'Well, even a fight between S-ranks can be sensed from far away.'

Kim Giryeo soon accepted the situation calmly and moved on. Following Esther’s suggestion, he headed toward the stalls alone to make efficient use of his time.

'There’s even a 50 million won necklace here. When I first came to Earth, I used to tremble just looking at a price tag like that.'

But as he wandered around alone, something gradually entered the Archmage’s awareness.

Thud.

The blond man took his eyes off the item he had been examining and stepped out of the store.

He was standing on the second floor of the enormous auction house. But because each floor had an unusually high ceiling, he could see almost the entire floor below simply by leaning slightly over the railing.

And only after doing so did a slow realization settle over him.

'It seems another S-rank hunter is approaching from the direction of the building’s main entrance...'

Perhaps because he had encountered so many powerful beings by now, distinguishing the level of someone’s mana had become a simple task for him.

'Could that be the Awakened Esther mentioned?'

But the person was still too far away for him to confirm their appearance.

'Hmm.'

The alien fell silent, thinking.

'By the way, what kind of person was that Earthling who supposedly proposed to Esther?'

If possible, he wanted to settle everything peacefully. But honestly, from his position, the future ahead was nothing but uncertain.

Step, step, step.

Heavy footsteps echoed across the marble floor, polished spotless by the cleaners.

When he looked up at the sound, he saw a face that seemed strangely familiar.

The man’s hair color was difficult to define, somewhere between brown and orange.

A pair of distinctive black-rimmed glasses stood out on his face, accompanied by a somewhat stocky build.

These days, with the advent of potions—the ultimate solution to all sorts of problems—the options for restoring eyesight had expanded dramatically. Yet perhaps because he was the cautious type who preferred to watch technological progress from a distance, this man still wore thick lenses without hesitation as he looked around the world.

“Ha.”

For reference, the place he had just entered was a world-renowned artifact auction house.

'As expected, I really am [cursed]. Otherwise, how else could I get caught in another airport taxi accident and end up an hour behind schedule?'

He hadn’t intended to arrive this late, but somehow half the schedule had already slipped away.

The man quickened his pace while glancing at the hunter’s watch strapped around his wrist.

'That hunter must be somewhere inside this building.'

Since he had recently gotten into a conflict with a certain Korean, he hurried along, worried that he might suddenly run into the person in question.

'It’ll be troublesome if we run into each other again while I’m unprepared. I should take care of my business first.'

But at that moment, the first person who came to mind wasn’t the one with purple hair, but the one with golden hair.

Come to think of it, while he had been stuck on the road because of the taxi accident, he had received a message from a friend who had already arrived at the auction house.

'That Awakened Giryeo must be somewhere in here too.'

At this point, the foreigner’s thoughts took another turn.

'I thought he’d come alone, but he’s with that Asian woman again. Then maybe the rumors circulating in Korea are true—that there really is some kind of relationship between those two.'

If Kim Giryeo had heard that thought, he probably would have been shocked and asked, “Why are you labeling me a pervert out of nowhere?”

But given the circumstances, there was certainly room for misunderstanding when it came to Seo Esther and Kim Giryeo’s relationship.

However.

'The first S-rank retiree, huh...'

Even without such trivial excuses, the truth was that he had already been quite interested in the Awakened named Kim Giryeo.

The blond hunter known as South Korea’s fourth S-rank had long drawn the cautious attention of other countries.

After all, the S-ranks of that particular Asian nation—a country whose hunters had always tended toward an “every man for himself” mentality—were an unusual bunch.

Jung Haseong was a work-obsessed young man.

Seo Esther was constantly busy, always maneuvering to seize whatever influence she could.

And Kang Changho... Well, anyway.

Looking back, South Korea’s hunter industry had always been unusually lacking in interaction among its S-ranks.

'Well, it’s true that genuinely close friendships between S-ranks are rare even on a global scale.'

But then, in this fiercely individualistic world, a strange exception suddenly appeared one day.

Kim Giryeo.

And that superpower didn’t merely appear.

Somehow, he managed to strengthen the bonds between South Korea’s S-ranks, something that had previously seemed impossible.

How could anyone not pay attention to that?

Analytical articles about the phenomenon had already circulated overseas, so by the time the man entered the building, he already had a rough idea of the chain of events that had unfolded in Korea.

'They say the S-ranks who never cared about each other before started coming together after the fourth Awakened appeared.'

Half true, half false.

But the greatest mystery was how that newcomer had managed to persuade the notoriously headstrong first- and second-ranked hunters in the first place.

Setting aside the so-called cyber Lü Bu crowd—people whose only hobby was tearing celebrities apart online—most Koreans generally viewed the fourth S-rank favorably.

Still, that affection was nothing more than a natural response to a powerful mutant who happened to protect the public.

High-ranking Awakened were never particularly happy to see a new hero emerge.

After all, if you had spent years believing yourself to be the strongest member of society, only for another predator—with fangs of its own—to suddenly appear right beside you, it would be difficult to welcome them with open arms.

'Honestly, the fewer people there are who could hurt me at any moment, the better.'

So why had that blond figure received such enthusiastic support from the other S-rank hunters?

'Hmm.'

Ssshk.

If one had to give this man a nickname, “the failed suitor” would probably fit, and he lowered his gaze accordingly.

The reason he was being so careful about where he looked was actually simple.

'As expected, that Kim Giryeo likely dominated the industry through overwhelming strength...'

His guess was that the fourth S-rank hunter had established a vertical hierarchy through sheer power, causing even the first- and second-ranked hunters to cooperate without complaint.

If Kim Giryeo himself heard that, he would probably be astonished by such nonsense.

But from an outsider’s perspective, the scenario seemed fairly plausible.

Those proud, self-important S-rank hunters, accustomed to standing at the very top, had suddenly begun bending over backward for a newcomer.

And on top of that, all of them were sending gifts to the fourth S-rank almost daily.

Could such a complete reversal in relationships really be achieved through personality alone?

'It hasn’t even been that long since [Inevitable Malice] was defeated. There hasn’t been nearly enough time to build that level of trust.'

At least, this foreign hunter didn’t think so.

Without overwhelming strength or charisma—without some extraordinary factor like that—it would be almost impossible to tame those wild and unruly Korean hunters.

'Judging by the fact that he commands the respect of not only Seo Esther but also that other... hunter, he must be someone with truly remarkable abilities.'

The Western Awakened continued his train of thought while adjusting the shoulder bag he carried.

'So, the Magic Tower Guild Master is interested in that Awakened too?'

Even though Kim Giryeo had retired, the man reaffirmed to himself that he should never casually underestimate him.

'So that’s why I got kicked around and had to suffer because of the [curse]?'

But despite all that careful reasoning, something soon happened that seemed to shatter his resolve.

***

A few minutes later.

'Whoa.'

The Awakened hunter who had failed in his marriage proposal happened to run into Kim Giryeo.

For the record, it was by no means intentional.

As the empty surroundings suggested, the place they met was somewhere he generally preferred specifically because it allowed him to avoid other people.

'Oops. How did we end up running into each other right outside the restroom?'

It was the afternoon, one hour before the start of the highest-tier artifact auction.

Near the sinks in the men’s restroom on the first floor of the VIP-only building stood a famous figure.

Artificially dyed blond hair.

Eyes with features typical of East Asians.

And, most surprisingly—the very reason this encounter was so unexpected—his magical power was suppressed to an astonishing degree.

'I couldn’t sense any mana at all, so I thought no one was here!'

Of course, distinguishing the facial features of someone from another country was always difficult.

But with this many clues, there was at least one person he could recognize.

'So this is Hunter Kim from South Korea.'

The foreign Awakened was startled the moment he saw Kim Giryeo in person.

He had read about him in articles before, but he had never imagined an S-rank Hunter could be so completely undetectable.

'At this level, he’s practically no different from an ordinary person.'

A fleeting thought crossed his mind.

'Is this really the Imoogi Hunter who amazed everyone? That long-hidden prodigy?'

Humans were creatures naturally influenced by their senses.

Perhaps because of that, a faint suspicion toward the superpowered individual began to creep into the man with the horn-rimmed glasses.

Yet the amount of mana he sensed was almost exactly zero.

Setting that aside for the moment, the person standing in front of him was already problematic simply in terms of appearance.

'There’s really nothing else to say. He just looks weak.'

Compared to the charismatic images circulating through various foreign news articles, the real person standing before him seemed far less imposing.

'Compared to the recorded footage, he’s so thin.'

The foreigner glanced sideways while entering the restroom.

Even in that brief moment, a thought crossed his mind.

'Did he lose weight?'

He considered it for a moment.

'I’m not sure. He never had much flesh on his face to begin with, so I can’t tell whether he actually lost weight.'

And at that point, another factor affecting a person’s presence became apparent.

Even before they left the country, Esther had quietly worried that the retired Kim Giryeo might be subjected to uncomfortable attention.

As a result, she had arranged for him to receive new clothes through an acquaintance.

'And maybe it’s because of what he’s wearing, but his presence feels... strange somehow...'

Clothes.

More precisely, jeans and a white T-shirt so ordinary that even the brand was difficult to identify.

Today, Kim Giryeo wasn’t wearing his usual work clothes or a suit.

Yet the man dressed in such plain fabric had dry, haggard-looking skin, as though he hadn’t been eating properly for days.

'He just looks like one of those construction workers in their thirties you sometimes see back home.'

In a positive sense, he looked familiar.

In a negative sense, he looked absurdly easy to underestimate.

The foreigner glanced sideways at him and then looked away.

'Is he trying to talk to me?'

He didn’t want to cause a conflict with the Korean already, so he deliberately refrained from greeting him first.

'What is it? Doesn’t he know who I am?'

And for some unknown reason, Kim Giryeo didn’t acknowledge him either.

'He just washed his hands and left...'

Their encounter, too brief to even measure in minutes, ended without either of them saying a word.

And at that moment, the Western Awakened concluded there was no need to observe Kim Giryeo any further.

“Phew.”

But what was going on here?

“Huh?”

“Leo!”

It hadn’t been long since he returned from the restroom.

Around that time, the failed suitor ran into a familiar colleague from the industry.

“You finally made it!”

“That damn taxi accident made me a little late.”

“I told you not to turn off your phone notifications. Why didn’t you answer me sooner?”

“As you know, we’re S-rank hunters, so our hearing is highly developed. Which means that if a phone suddenly rings loudly, a human’s delicate ears—”

“Don’t suddenly start spouting nonsense. You just turned it off out of habit because notifications get in the way when you’re relaxing.”

At first, their conversation revolved around ordinary topics.

“Anyway, even top-tier Awakened are still human! Who would’ve thought the restroom would end up making everyone run into each other at such close range?”

“Everyone...? What do you mean, everyone?”

“Earlier, I saw KIM coming out through this corridor.”

But because of the notoriety surrounding the people involved, the conversation quickly shifted in a particular direction.

“Have you happened to run into a South Korean S-rank Awakened around here?”

Of course, they had already met face-to-face.

“Anyway, whether you met him or not, just listen to me first.”

“Hmm?”

The Awakened man, whose eyesight was somewhat poor, frowned as if trying to read text from a distance.

While he was expressing his confusion with that look, his friend from the same country appeared in the hallway, smiling broadly as he began telling him a story.

“Something pretty interesting happened while you were wasting time on the road.”

“What happened?”

“Maybe that Asian hunter really did retire because something went wrong with his abilities. Earlier in the lobby, there was an ‘incident’ where someone needed cold water, but apparently one Awakened didn’t give them a single drop.”

“Maybe it was just because he doesn’t have a license anymore or something?”

“I just told you there was an ‘incident.’”

“Ah~”