C9
The Proposal
“So, basically…”
“Yes. Other than you, Mr. Gwanghyun, there hasn’t been anyone who personally caught a villain and brought them in.”
Gwanghyun’s eyes widened in genuine surprise.
Seeing his reaction, Ryu Seyoung gave a small chuckle and continued.
“I said earlier that this sort of thing isn’t common, but to be more precise, this is actually the first time something like this has happened for both me and the people currently on duty.”
“I don’t really understand why. Are there really that few people who catch villains?”
Ryu Seyoung nodded and explained.
“Not many people are willing to risk their lives to catch villains like you are.”
“Is that so?”
Risk their lives? Is it really that dangerous?
Gwanghyun tilted his head slightly in puzzlement, and Ryu Seyoung continued.
“That’s right. When you try to catch villains, you can end up becoming a target for other villains yourself. Naturally, it’s something most Hunters prefer to avoid.”
So that’s the issue.
Gwanghyun nodded as if he finally understood.
Some villains shared common interests with one another.
So, just as ordinary Hunters formed guilds and operated together, villains also formed organizations under names such as alliances and coalitions.
If they discovered that someone had attacked a member of such an organization, they would naturally perceive it as a threat against the organization itself.
As a result, the villains would turn around and target the Hunter.
Even if the villain being captured did not belong to a specific organization, similar problems could still arise.
There were also cases where villains connected through personal interests would seek revenge.
Because of these risks, most Hunters were reluctant to hunt villains, no matter how large the bounty placed on them might be.
‘I vaguely knew about this, but I didn’t realize people avoided it to this extent.’
If one specifically searched for villains who had absolutely no connections with other villains, it would probably be relatively safe.
But there was no way an ordinary Hunter would have reliable information about which villains had such connections.
So rather than making an uncertain attempt that could put their lives at risk, most Hunters simply focused on clearing Gates.
“Monsters don’t jump out of Gates to get revenge just because we hunt them, but villains can always threaten us from somewhere nearby. We understand why most Hunters feel that way.”
Ryu Seyoung spoke with a bitter smile, and Gwanghyun remained silent for a moment.
Because of this reality, villains were able to operate more freely.
“Are you going to be all right, Gwanghyun? You may have been fine so far, but we don’t know what might happen in the future.”
Ryu Seyoung asked carefully, looking genuinely concerned.
He would certainly welcome it if more Hunters like Gwanghyun appeared.
But it wasn’t something he could simply be happy about.
‘I can’t exactly be glad to watch someone right in front of me throw themselves into danger…’
Naturally, he was worried.
Under normal circumstances, it would probably be right to dissuade this man.
So Ryu Seyoung waited tensely for Gwanghyun’s response.
“Well, I’m fine.”
But Gwanghyun answered without much hesitation.
“Isn’t it solved as long as I don’t let them escape?”
“…Pardon?”
“If I don’t let them escape, they can’t go to their organization or other villains and tell them that I was the one who caught them, can they?”
“Uh… well, that’s true.”
Ryu Seyoung scratched his head somewhat awkwardly.
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but it wasn’t nearly that simple, and there were certainly other variables to consider.
A witness could appear.
Information about the person who captured the villain could also leak out.
But after hearing Gwanghyun’s next words, Ryu Seyoung could no longer find anything complicated to worry about.
“Still, if the villains do find out, then so be it. I don’t care. I can just catch all the ones who come looking for me.”
At Gwanghyun’s answer, Ryu Seyoung had nothing more to say.
Instead, he simply smiled quietly and looked at him.
“As expected, I really do think you’re a little different from ordinary people, Gwanghyun.”
“I used to think villains were someone else’s problem, but I’ve changed my mind a little.”
“Hmm. In that case…”
Ryu Seyoung was now looking at Gwanghyun with a distinctly serious expression.
He felt that he really shouldn’t let this man slip away.
“Choi Gwanghyun, are you currently affiliated with any guild?”
“No. I’m unaffiliated at the moment.”
“Then, would you consider joining our Villain Special Task Force?”
Gwanghyun flinched at Ryu Seyoung’s sudden proposal.
He had never imagined that the first recruitment offer he would receive would come from a police organization.
“Anyone who’s a C-rank Hunter or higher can be hired immediately with a recommendation from me, the team leader. The conditions aren’t as good as those offered by the major guilds, but I’m confident they’re better than those of most guilds. If you’re willing, I’ll recommend you right away.”
Gwanghyun rubbed his lips with one hand as though considering it.
But since he had already made up his mind, he didn’t deliberate for long.
“No. I don’t think that’ll work.”
“What? Ah… haha. I see.”
Ryu Seyoung laughed awkwardly, but it seemed he had held out some hope, because his expression immediately changed to one of disappointment.
“It’s not like I plan to spend my life doing nothing but catching villains.”
Ryu Seyoung slowly nodded.
“Ah… I suppose that’s true. Someone like you could join a major guild and still have no trouble dealing with villains.”
Although he had never directly seen Gwanghyun fight, Ryu Seyoung could roughly tell that he was at least a B-rank Hunter.
After all, Gwanghyun had managed to capture two villains in a short period of time—villains that even the Villain Special Task Force had struggled to arrest.
There was little reason for a Hunter of that caliber to settle for a place like this.
“No. I don’t particularly intend to join a guild either. I don’t want to be affiliated with anywhere right now.”
“Uh… yes?”
“I just plan to operate alone for the time being.”
Ryu Seyoung looked slightly puzzled by Gwanghyun’s answer, but soon smiled and nodded.
He was a little curious why Gwanghyun wanted to work alone, but he decided not to pry and simply respect his wishes.
“Anyway, I’ll keep catching villains on my own, so we’ll probably run into each other from time to time. I look forward to working with you.”
“Of course. We’re the ones who should be grateful.”
The two ended their conversation on good terms, without either of them feeling particularly uncomfortable.
“I gave you my business card last time, right? If you ever urgently need help, contact me directly through that number.”
“I will. Ah, now that I think about it, I’m currently only an E-rank anyway, so I wouldn’t have been able to join even if I wanted to.”
“Haha, what nonsense. You can just say you didn’t want to. That’s perfectly understandable.”
At Ryu Seyoung’s response, Gwanghyun looked as though he was about to explain something, but then simply chuckled and swallowed his words.
After talking for a while longer, Ryu Seyoung smiled and said goodbye.
“Anyway, I’ll request that the 40-million-won bounty on Jo Donghyun be paid out as quickly as possible. See you next time.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Gwanghyun arrived home much earlier than he had originally expected.
After taking a shower, he immediately went to sleep.
Although it was early compared to when he usually arrived home, it was still quite late, so he didn’t wake up until after 10 a.m.
The children woke him, complaining that they were hungry.
Gwanghyun yawned, leisurely got out of bed, and went to prepare breakfast.
“Oh.”
While preparing the food, Gwanghyun checked his smartphone during a spare moment and discovered that he had already received a text message.
[Police Agency Villain Special Task Force]
—Bounty payment has been completed.
—Payment: 40,000,000 won
He had previously received 100 million won, used half of it to pay off his debts, and spent the other half to buy a house.
In fact, he was already in a comfortable position when it came to living expenses.
Now that another 40 million won had been added, his situation had improved even further.
‘Should I use it to pay off my debt first, like last time?’
After thinking for a moment, Gwanghyun slowly shook his head.
He had already paid 50 million won just this month.
There didn’t seem to be much need to pay off even more.
Of course, paying it off early would reduce the interest, but that wasn’t something he was particularly worried about.
‘I’ll just spend all 40 million won.’
Having made up his mind, Gwanghyun turned his head and looked at his children.
Seojun and Seoyun were giggling and playing around with each other.
Gwanghyun watched them with a smile for a while before finally calling them over.
“Seojun, Seoyun. Come here for a second.”
“Huh? Okay.”
“Yes!”
The two children hurried over.
Gwanghyun crouched down and asked:
“Seojun, Seoyun, is there anything you need for the house? If there’s something you want, Dad can buy it for you.”
At Gwanghyun’s question, Seojun’s expression suddenly became serious.
‘Why is Dad suddenly asking this? Is… something going on?’
Seojun carefully tried to figure out the hidden meaning behind his father’s words.
Meanwhile, Seoyun shouted without the slightest hesitation.
“Me! A TV!”
“A TV?!”
“A TV?”
Seojun was startled by Seoyun’s immediate answer, while Gwanghyun calmly nodded.
Come to think of it, there wasn’t a TV in the house at all.
‘She’s definitely at the age where she’d enjoy watching all kinds of things, but all we have in the house are books.’
There had been no TV in Gwanghyun’s home for a very long time.
His two children had gone through their early childhood and teenage years without ever having a TV to watch.
As for Gwanghyun, whenever he came home, he was always exhausted and immediately fell asleep.
But the children must have spent a considerable amount of time in the quiet of their room, with only each other for company.
He would reduce the amount of time they had to stay home alone from now on, but they had plenty of money now, so there was no reason not to buy them a TV.
“Okay. A TV.”
When Gwanghyun nodded, Seojun and Seoyun reacted completely differently.
“Yay! A TV! A TV!”
Seoyun was delighted.
“Huh? What? Really?”
Seojun looked confused, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
His thoughts became tangled as he quickly tried to process the situation.
After putting everything together, the boy cautiously spoke with an uncertain expression.
“Th-then… I want a computer…”
“Okay. A computer.”
“Huh?”
Seojun became even more confused by Gwanghyun’s cool response.
“Yay! A computer! A computer!”
Seoyun was still simply overjoyed.
Even after buying a TV, a computer, and various other household necessities and appliances, the total cost came to only around five million won.
He still had several tens of millions of won left over, and Gwanghyun began wondering what he should do with the money.
‘I think I’ve bought almost everything the house needs. Now I can really spend the rest however I want.’
After thinking for a moment, Gwanghyun scratched the side of his neck with one hand.
It was the spot where Jo Donghyun had stabbed him with the knife the previous night.
There was barely any injury, but the spot was still bothering him a little.
The reason Gwanghyun had allowed himself to be stabbed was because he knew Jo Donghyun couldn’t actually hurt him at all, so he hadn’t bothered to defend himself.
If he paid a little more attention from now on, there probably wouldn’t be many villains capable of landing an attack on him anyway.
But Gwanghyun thought he should also prepare for the possibility of eventually encountering a high-danger-level villain.
‘It would be better to have some equipment.’
Until now, Gwanghyun had essentially fought barehanded.
He didn’t own any equipment of his own.
Even when he had belonged to the Geumseong Guild in the past, he had always used equipment borrowed from the guild.
There was no other way.
Even the cheapest Hunter equipment generally cost hundreds of thousands of won, while higher-grade equipment could cost millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of won.
There was no way his past self could have afforded such prices.
‘Should I go buy something?’
But now he had money to spare, so it seemed worth doing some shopping.
He didn’t have to buy anything if he couldn’t find something suitable, so Gwanghyun decided to take a look.
“Where’s the closest place again…?”
The largest Hunter equipment free market in the country.
As always, it was crowded with Hunters.
There were also equipment stores operated by the government, but they couldn’t possibly compare to this free market.
The sheer scale of the equipment they handled was at least ten times greater.
“Come on in and have a look!”
“We’re having a special discount event! Come in and try something on!”
The atmosphere wasn’t all that different from an ordinary marketplace.
Gwanghyun leisurely looked around the various shops and considered which equipment might be worth buying.
“Hmm…”
But nothing caught his eye immediately.
Gwanghyun wasn’t looking for the equipment that was generally popular.
What he wanted was something that would be useful for someone like him, who possessed a body-enhancement-type trait, while also being versatile.
‘Something that’s good for catching villains but also decent for clearing Gates.’
For the time being, he intended to focus his efforts on catching villains.
But if necessary, he wouldn’t hesitate to clear Gates either.
So he wanted to purchase something as versatile as possible.
Unfortunately, most of the equipment sold at the free market was designed for fighting monsters.
There was very little equipment suitable for fighting other people.
And finding something that was useful for both purposes was even harder.
‘I don’t have enough money to buy separate equipment for both.’
After looking around several stores without finding anything he liked, Gwanghyun began wondering if he should at least buy something useful for human combat.
He moved on to the next shop.
“Excuse me.”
“Welcome!”
The shopkeeper greeted him with a pleasant smile, and Gwanghyun slowly looked around the interior.
As expected, the equipment displayed in the most prominent locations was all designed for fighting monsters.
So Gwanghyun began searching mainly through the more obscure corners.
But once again, finding something he liked proved difficult.
‘Another dead end?’
Just as Gwanghyun sighed and was about to turn around, he suddenly stopped.
His eyes had locked onto a particular piece of equipment.
After staring at it for a moment, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him, Gwanghyun quickly picked it up.
‘Why is this buried among all this junk?’
It was a necklace with a dull green magic stone embedded in it.
After confirming that it was the very piece of equipment he remembered, Gwanghyun hurriedly asked the shopkeeper:
“How much is this?”
