Chapter 1. There Is a (Hunter) Ghost Living in My House
I awakened.
But…
[Oh? You can see me? Nice to meet you, homeowner!
From that day on, I started seeing ghosts.
[I was getting pretty bored, so this is great! Let’s live well together from now on!]
There was only one thing I had to say to this uninvited guest.
“Get out.”
When choosing a career, the most important thing to consider is always stability.
There are three things that matter most.
Does the salary get paid regularly without delays?
Is there any risk of the company going bankrupt?
Are the rights of workers properly guaranteed by law?
I wanted a job that satisfied all of these conditions, and I finally got one.
It was becoming a civil servant.
A perfect and stable job that was guaranteed until the country itself collapsed.
I had finally achieved the dream I had held since childhood.
There was nothing more I wanted from life.
Civil servants were famous for their low salaries, but I saw that as an investment in my future.
After all, civil servants had pensions.
I would save even the small amount I earned, little by little, and in my later years, I would buy a small house somewhere outside the city. After retirement, I could live peacefully while receiving my pension.
Civil servants also had guaranteed job security, so if I took out a loan at the right time, I might be able to buy my own home much sooner.
It was the perfect plan for my life.
At least, it was until a ghost appeared in front of me in my own home.
You’re a hunter, right? I used to be a Hunter too! So, when are you going to climb the tower?
“Be quiet.”
I never imagined that someone other than me would be living in the three-room apartment I had rented with a loan.
Someone… or rather, a ghost.
This was definitely a newly built apartment.
[If you’re a Hunter, you have to climb the Tower!]
I had absolutely no intention of doing that.
Being a Hunter was, by nature, a freelance job that required an irregular lifestyle.
There were guilds to provide some structure, and it was officially classified as a profession, but it was still an unstable way of life.
But I was a civil servant of the Republic of Korea, with a stable career guaranteed by the government.
And civil servants were forbidden from having outside jobs.
“Get out of my house before I come back from work.”
[Geez! You’re really strict! Are you a T?
“…”
I never thought I’d live to hear something like that from a ghost.
“Don’t ever show yourself to me again.”
Bang!
I usually closed the front door carefully, but today I slammed it a little harder.
It was a clear declaration of my intentions.
***
“Officer Lee, you’re here? You’re early again today.”
“Yes. But where is everyone?”
The people who were usually here at this hour were nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, about that. Apparently, the president is going to make a public address today. An emergency one.”
“A public address?”
Even if it was an emergency, news of something like this would normally spread somehow beforehand.
If there wasn’t an official notice, there would at least be rumors going around the office.
But this time, there had been neither.
“Yes. So the district mayor told everyone to gather in the auditorium. I stayed behind to guide the others.”
Now that he mentioned it, Officer Kim was holding some Scotch tape and printed sheets of paper.
[When you arrive at work, please come to the auditorium!]
“You should go ahead.”
“Okay.”
When I entered the auditorium, I saw many familiar faces.
“Hey, Officer Lee. You’re here?”
“Yes, Team Leader. But what’s going on?”
“It’s a secret, but…”
The team leader looked around before lowering his voice.
“You know about Hunters, right?”
“…Hunters?”
“Yeah. Until now, we’ve left their management up to the Hunter Association, right?”
“That was the case.”
“They’re apparently thinking about changing that.”
“What do you mean?”
An announcement about Hunters, right after I had awakened yesterday.
For some reason, I felt uneasy.
The team leader lowered his voice even further and whispered.
“They’re going to create a new government agency.”
“A new agency?”
“Yeah. The Hunter Management Agency.”
“Then…”
The team leader suddenly became serious.
“Officer Lee, have you awakened?”
“…!”
His sudden question caught me completely off guard.
But judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like the team leader hadn’t seriously suspected anything.
“They’re apparently going to create the Hunter Management Agency by recruiting only Awakened people. Until now, people would just quit their civil service jobs after awakening, you know?”
That was true.
Because civil servants were forbidden from having other jobs.
That was why I hadn’t said a word about my awakening either.
The team leader smacked his lips and continued.
“If only I had awakened, I would’ve applied immediately. What a shame. Apparently, they’re really going all out this time. The salary…”
“When you say they’re going all out… Is the pay scale completely different?”
“Yeah, don’t even ask. The salary of their first-year employee is about the same as our 20th pay grade. And that’s not all…”
20th pay grade?
Then the starting salary would be around 30 to 40 million won?
“You know about dungeon materials, right? Apparently, they’ll pay separately for those too. There are even tax benefits.”
“…”
“They’re planning to specially recruit some existing Hunters this year. Apparently, they’re sending out the official notice now to prevent more Hunters from leaving.”
I already knew about dungeon materials from the news.
They were basically called the Bitcoin that came out of the dungeons.
Guaranteed government employment, officially allowing a second job, and tax benefits for dungeon materials?
If that was true, buying my own home while maintaining a stable life was no longer just a dream.
I might even be able to do it next year.
And in old age, I could receive my pension every month.
“That’s me.”
“…Huh?”
“The civil servant you’re desperately looking for has awakened. That’s me.”
“Uh… Officer Lee, you mean… seriously?”
“Yes. I awakened yesterday.”
“You awakened?!”
“It’s true!!!”
“What? Officer Lee did?”
The auditorium instantly became noisy.
So much for it being a secret. Everyone had been listening.
***
There were still about ten minutes left before the scheduled presidential address at 9 a.m.
Then, there was something every Awakened person did first.
“Status Window.”
A transparent blue window appeared in front of my eyes, like proof that I had awakened.
<Name: Lee Jihoo Lv. 1
Class: Necromancer
Rank: Not Yet Measured
Country: Korea
Title: Sealed
Stats:
Health [20]
Mana [10]
Spirit Power [300]
Mental Strength [10]
Attack Power [810]
Defense [10]
Strength [10]
Intelligence [200]
Skills:
Summon Spirits Lv.1 (S)
Exorcism Lv.1 (A)
Materialization Lv. 1 (A)
Eye of Truth Lv.1 (A)>
<Rank Information:
Measurement location: Tower Floor 10.
Evaluation is based on the results of the Tutorial Floors (Floors 1–10), title, potential, and other factors. >
<Title Seal Information:
S-Rank Seal.
Information gathering after defeating the Floor 40 Boss.
Benefits after the seal is removed:
Priority in all judgments related to spirits.>
Sealed?
And what did it mean by having priority in judgment?
“Everyone, please take your seats!”
Someone shouted from the stage.
It was Officer Kim, who had sent us to the auditorium earlier.
A few minutes before the president’s address began, a video started playing on the large screens in the auditorium.
“It’s coming from the Presidential Office.”
The team leader sat down beside me and explained.
The screen was completely black.
Then white letters began appearing one by one.
[We will remember them.]
The screen brightened, revealing someone’s figure.
A single beam of light descended from a sky filled with dark clouds.
A woman stood within that brilliant light.
[Rebirth.]
She said only one word.
But then…
Whoooosh!
The light spread outward, lifting everyone around her to their feet.
People who had collapsed with serious injuries to their arms and legs, people who had blood pouring from holes in their stomachs, and people lying helplessly on the ground—all of them were suddenly enveloped in that light.
Then an incredible transformation began.
Their wounds disappeared as if they had been erased with an eraser.
Severed arms and legs began growing back.
One person who had been lying on the ground waiting for death shed tears and reached out a hand.
As if thanking God for His grace.
“Isn’t that Lee Sea?”
“Do you know her?”
“Don’t you know her, Officer Lee? She’s Lee Sea, who used to be ranked second among Hunters.”
Used to be?
Then had the rankings changed?
But the team leader’s next words were completely unexpected.
“It’s a shame she died. About six months ago, I think.”
“She died?”
“Yeah. Where was it again? The Tower in Gwanak Mountain?”
“…”
Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing about it.
The district office had been noisy about the incident for quite some time.
Being a Hunter really was a dangerous profession.
It was a relief that the Hunter Management Agency was being created.
Otherwise, I would have had no choice but to keep my awakening a secret until the very end.
The screen changed to another person.
A vast stretch of land.
A man was surrounded by monsters.
At a glance, there appeared to be hundreds of enemies surrounding him in several layers.
Yet he remained calm.
The man raised his eyes and coldly surveyed his surroundings.
[Is this your answer?]
And then…
A magnificent sword passed dangerously close to a monster’s neck.
But that alone was enough.
Slash!
A dozen monsters’ heads instantly fell to the ground, cut off by the sword energy.
And that was only the beginning.
A feast of blood.
The battle was completely one-sided.
It was nothing short of an overwhelming massacre.
The district employees watching the screen cheered for the man.
“As expected! Korea’s No. 1 Hunter!”
“It’s no wonder he’s ranked fifth in the world!”
“That’s reassuring!”
“Cha Junhyuk! Cha Junhyuk!”
“This is so satisfying!”
But I…
No way.
No matter how I looked at him, he seemed strangely familiar.
He had exactly the same facial features as the ghost I had encountered at home.
There was no doubt.
The ghost living in the corner of my house was that very man, Cha Junhyuk, Korea’s No. 1 Hunter.
But the Cha Junhyuk on the screen and the ghost outside the screen were so completely different that it was hard to believe they were the same person.
I hadn’t known what Cha Junhyuk looked like very well in the first place, but this was also why I hadn’t recognized him immediately.
The screen changed again.
A presidential briefing room with blue curtains.
The president stood in front of them, his expression serious and heavy.
The president closed his eyes and spoke.
[We will now observe a moment of silence.]
Everyone looked confused.
“What?”
“Why are they suddenly asking for a moment of silence?”
“Ah, is it for Ms. Lee Sea?”
[Hunter Cha Junhyuk’s life signs stopped three days ago at 5:00 p.m.]
Everyone froze.
Not a single person made a sound.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
The president calmly looked around the briefing room before continuing.
[After confirmation, he is presumed to have died inside the Tower.]
“…No way.”
“Is that really true?”
“The news hasn’t said anything about it yet…!”
Confused voices filled the auditorium.
The reporters sitting in the briefing room also began to panic.
[Although the matter was kept top secret for accurate verification, his death was confirmed yesterday.]
“How…?”
Something impossible had happened.
Even though I rarely watched television, I had heard his name countless times.
Thanks to Cha Junhyuk, our country could live in peace.
He had conquered the higher floors of the Tower, allowing us to continue living ordinary lives as we had before.
The fact that I could live without even knowing what Cha Junhyuk looked like was, in a way, also thanks to him.
As the old saying went, when a country enjoyed peace and prosperity, even its people might not know the ruler’s name.
Two months ago, we had to send off an S-rank healer named Lee Sea. And yesterday, we once again lost an S-Rank Hunter named Cha Junhyuk.
Only silence filled the room.
Then someone’s quiet voice could be heard.
“…What are we going to do now?”
Everyone was probably thinking the same thing.
If a country could no longer conquer the Tower with its own strength, hell would begin.
That was even something mentioned in the public administration textbooks I had studied for my civil service exam.
San Marino, a small country in Europe, had ordered the evacuation of its entire population because of a tower collapse.
And Congo had repeatedly rented top-level Hunters from other countries until its foreign exchange reserves ran out. In the end, it had no choice but to apply for an IMF bailout.
The atmosphere in the briefing room was still as chaotic as if a typhoon had just passed through.
After all, becoming a reporter assigned to the Presidential Office was not something just anyone could do.
Each news organization selected only its most experienced reporters for the Presidential Office press corps.
Yet even these elite reporters were unable to hide their confusion.
[Mr. President!]
[Do you have evidence?]
[Are you certain he’s dead and not simply missing?!]
At that moment, the Blue House spokesperson stepped in to calm things down.
[After the address, there will be a separate question-and-answer session. So please remain quiet for now.]
The reporters clearly had many things they wanted to ask, but they stopped for the time being.
The president’s speech began again.
[My beloved citizens.]
For the first time, the president looked into the camera with an emotion I had never seen from him before.
[We are currently facing the greatest crisis in the history of the Republic of Korea since its founding.]
Sighs could be heard throughout the auditorium.
Someone even began quietly sobbing.
[Therefore, at this moment, I would like to make one promise to all of you.]
“A promise?”
“Ah, could it be…?”
[We will no longer simply stand by and watch. We will prevent any more innocent people from being sacrificed.]
The president’s eyes became determined once again.
His expression seemed to show just how firmly he had made up his mind.
[From this moment forward, the government will share the heavy burden they have been carrying.]
The crowd began murmuring again.
Whose burden was the government talking about sharing?
But if you thought about it carefully, there was only one answer.
There was only one organization currently responsible for Hunters.
[Until now, we have entrusted the management of Hunters to the Hunter Association. However, the burden was too great for a single association to handle.]
The president was directly targeting the Hunter Association.
[Therefore, the government recognizes its responsibility and intends to establish measures to improve the current situation. As the first of these measures…]
The president chose his words carefully, but what he was saying was essentially a declaration that the government would take the association’s authority away.
And the means of doing so was probably this.
[From this moment forward, the Hunter Management Agency will be established in the Republic of Korea.]
