Chapter: 12
I Awakened Not Long Ago
Yesterday’s lunch had been at a gukbap restaurant, thanks to the Director’s strong recommendation.
“Here we are, Section Chief Lee. You’ve just come back from an uninhabited island, so you need to eat well. Boss, we’ve got an order!”
The scene of the memorial ceremony appeared on the TV in the gukbap restaurant.
The President calmly read his memorial address.
[…To the victims who lost their precious lives, and to the Hunters of the Republic of Korea who rushed here without hesitation and protected Ganghwa Island, and to our respected citizens who stayed up all night cheering for us and spared no effort in providing support both materially and otherwise.]
For a moment, the President’s gaze turned toward one place.
The TV showed bereaved family members wiping away their tears with white handkerchiefs.
[And to all of you who have buried your beloved family members in your hearts. The government owes you a debt. We already know all too well that no words could possibly offer you comfort. However….]
The President’s voice continued calmly.
[We will set things right, step by step. We will raise the hopes that have collapsed. Despite countless invasions by foreign powers, the Republic of Korea has never fallen. Ten years ago, we shed tears on this land. But this sorrowful history must never be repeated.]
One by one, the bereaved family members raised their heads and looked at the man standing before them all.
[We will change history.]
“Your mixed gukbap is here!”
The employee efficiently placed a dish of radish seokbakji, seasoned chives, and two bubbling earthenware bowls on the table.
“The seokbakji here is amazing too! Section Chief Lee, eat plenty.”
The white pork-bone broth was bubbling, filled with slices of pork head meat and white sundae.
“And please understand if things are a little hectic today.”
Inquiries from Hunters had been pouring into the Hunter Management Agency since morning.
“It’s fine.”
“It looks like the Hunters’ perception of us has improved a bit because of what happened yesterday. That’s fortunate. Once things become a little more organized, we’re planning to move all the magic stone-related work over here too.”
Considering the future, this was the right move.
“And the Association’s movements are suspicious as well.”
“Is the Association planning something?”
“Yes. I was thinking of stopping by Sua’s office when I head upstairs later. Is that all right?”
“Yes, understood.”
“How’s the office you’ve been assigned? Is it usable?”
“I like it very much. Thank you.”
I had been assigned a new office that morning.
It wasn’t particularly large, but it was a practical private room with everything I needed.
I especially liked the fact that it was on the seventh floor.
I had been given Room 701, while Sua had been given Room 702 right next to mine.
After finishing my meal, I bought a few snacks and three bottles of fatigue-recovery drinks at a convenience store and headed to Room 702.
<Thank you for the Bacchus!>
Sua, who had enormous dark circles under her eyes, greeted us warmly.
“Section Chief Lee. You asked about the Tower before, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Director.”
“Sua finally broke through the security of the U.S. TS. For cross-verification, she also checked documents from China.”
“Then….”
“Actually, we already knew about the wish ticket. But we didn’t know the details. After the Pentagon’s classified information was leaked before, server security was strengthened as well. Thanks to that, Sua had quite a hard time.”
If even Sua, who possessed an almost cheat-level ability, had struggled to break through it, then hacking the U.S. secret document server now had to be considered nearly impossible.
“Was the question something like, ‘Is it possible to bring the dead back to life?’”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
The Director’s eyes as he looked at me seriously were anything but ordinary.
“What do you think?”
“Don’t tell me it’s possible.”
If that were really the case, there was someone I absolutely had to bring back to life.
“Yes. The answer is yes.”
For a moment, my mother’s face flashed through my mind.
My mother, who had spent her entire life struggling, only to finally pass away just when I thought she might at last have found some peace.
Until the very last moment, my mother had smiled at me.
“Thank you.”
The sincerity in my voice made the Director smile warmly.
“For what? It was information we were already tracking anyway. We checked it while we were investigating.”
Even so, there was no reason to share classified information with an employee like me.
It was almost the same as saying that the Director had taken special consideration for me.
After thinking for a moment, the Director changed his expression and spoke again.
“Section Chief Lee, listen carefully. I mentioned earlier that the Association’s movements seemed suspicious, didn’t I?”
“Yes, Director.”
“An employee of the Hunter Association has infiltrated the Magic Stone Expo currently underway. He’s disguised as a booth.”
<Kim Hyunsoo. The booth name is ‘New Wave.’>
“Kim Hyunsoo is the Association Chairman’s secretary. His right-hand man. Section Chief Lee, why do you think he infiltrated the Magic Stone Expo? The Magic Stone Expo is originally an event hosted by the Association. So why would he deliberately conceal his identity and do something like this?”
Sua displayed several photos of Kim Hyunsoo on the monitor.
“These are images extracted from nearby CCTV data.”
A date from three weeks ago was displayed beneath the screen.
There was a scene of Kim Hyunsoo meeting someone.
Then a scene of the two shaking hands and entering the Gwangjin Chemical factory.
And then….
Kim Hyunsoo came out wearing completely different clothes from when he had entered.
As if he were an entirely different person from the one who had gone inside.
“I already told you that the price of magic stones has recently plummeted, right?”
Tap, tap.
The Director lightly tapped his index finger on Sua’s monitor.
“And Gwangjin Chemical is a magic stone processing company. They’re currently handling around 80% of the supply coming out of the Towers and dungeons.”
Pictures of magic stones appeared on the screen one after another.
Five magic stones were laid out like pieces of criminal evidence, numbered one through five.
“There are synthetic magic stones circulating on the market…. They seem to have come from Gwangjin. Their processing methods are remarkably similar. They’ve managed to produce them at a quality that could easily fool someone who isn’t in a class specializing in identification.”
Synthetic magic stones.
This was more serious than I had expected.
“Of course, Hunters can distinguish them immediately, right?”
<Yes! Synthetic magic stones can’t actually be used.>
“The problem is ordinary people.”
Magic stones were currently considered a kind of safe asset.
Even people who weren’t Hunters collected them separately as an investment.
Just like gold prices, magic stone prices fluctuated in real time, and the stock market even had products that tracked the spot index of magic stones.
Therefore, producing and selling synthetic magic stones was essentially the same as producing counterfeit banknotes and putting them into circulation.
“They’ve really gotten bold. But he wouldn’t have done something like this alone, would he?”
A new person appeared on the monitor.
He had been waiting inside a car, then took Kim Hyunsoo’s bag and moved it into the trunk.
“Here. Do you see him?”
“Could this person be….”
I knew him too.
No, there was no way we couldn’t know him.
“Yes. It’s Officer Kim, who joined through the special recruitment this time.”
Sua displayed comparison photos of Officer Kim on both sides of the monitor. When she pressed the Enter key, red dots began appearing over the photos.
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
The match rate was 99.99%.
The result made it impossible for him to be anyone else.
“We expected something like this might happen, but it’s still rather troubling.”
<That’s why we’ve decided to add several more identity verification procedures for new recruits from now on.>
“Sua, you’ve been working hard.”
<It’s fine. I like this kind of thing. I’ll catch them all and take them down in one fell swoop!>
Where had the dying office worker from earlier gone?
Sua’s eyes had begun sparkling again.
“The Magic Stone Expo will be held at the Course Dungeon for a month. You only need to go sometime during that period. Buy some magic stones from Kim Hyunsoo’s secret booth. Sua will tell you how to do it. Bring them back and let’s compare them with the synthetic magic stones we’ve obtained.”
“I’ll go tomorrow.”
As it happened, tomorrow was Friday.
If I missed tomorrow, I’d have to wait until the following Friday.
“Tomorrow? That’s good, but is it all right for you this week, Section Chief Lee? The uninhabited island assignment and then an SSS-rank Tower conquest. It seems like you’re pushing yourself too hard.”
In truth, I wasn’t pushing myself at all.
“I’m fine.”
“All right. Then, as I said before, if you think things are getting dangerous, leave immediately. You’re much more important than something like this.”
“Thank you.”
That was how I had received the mission yesterday to investigate the booth operated by Kim Hyunsoo of the Hunter Association.
The shuttle bus continued smoothly through the dungeon.
The convention center came into view in the distance.
[We’re here! Let’s get off!]
[Here?]
[Yeah. From here on, it’s the convention center area, so vehicles can’t enter.]
[Why?]
[They stop immediately. Apparently there’s some kind of mana pulse or something? Small things are fine, but something as large as a vehicle isn’t allowed. They say you can shield vehicles with magic stone panels to block it…. But who’s going to do that?]
[Ah! It must be incredibly expensive to cover an entire bus!]
So that’s why smartwatches worked but shuttles didn’t.
“We’ll be walking from here! Everyone, get off and follow the instructions!”
The people who had seemed to belong to the same guild earlier all got off the bus in a group. Then they spread out at regular intervals, one person at a time, and began guiding people toward the entrance of the expo.
Kim Seongho of the Storm Guild was in a very bad mood right now.
‘Those bastards from the Association. How dare they threaten us?’
He had been called here before he could even enter the Tower today.
It was supposedly an escort duty for the shuttle, but it was practically forced volunteer work.
The Association had notified them that if they refused to follow the instructions, the amount of magic stones they purchased from them would be reduced.
The mission itself was simple.
First, they took the shuttle in and covered the section where vehicles couldn’t enter because of the mana pulse.
Then they would switch places with the Hunters currently riding motorcycles and escorting the shuttle.
The time was from 1:00 to 3:00.
They would have enough time for roughly three round trips.
‘Why do we have to do something like this?’
Kim Seongho knew the reason.
It was because of people like those.
A rookie Hunter getting off the bus entered his field of vision.
‘Tsk. Why is someone who can’t even kill a single dungeon monster coming in here?’
Was there any reason to cover for people like that?
Just because they were high-level?
The old days had been better.
A low-level Hunter at an expo?
What a joke.
People who didn’t have the qualifications couldn’t even come near this place.
‘They don’t even know enough to be grateful. They need to learn their lesson by making us stop doing this.’
But the Hunter Association was being stubborn.
The Association had turned this entire course into a tourist attraction.
And now they were reportedly developing a new product called Monster Safari as well.
‘Have these guys become obsessed with money?’
Hoo.
Even taking a deep breath only made him more irritated.
If they wanted to operate something like this, they should just pay money and hire Hunters.
Damn bastards.
But the Hunter Association?
Paying money?
What a crazy idea.
It was ridiculous from the beginning.
The Course Dungeon itself was like that.
Originally, the Course Convention Center had belonged to the Jinsung Group, but the Association had practically seized it under the pretext of management and supervision.
Even while cursing the Association inwardly like this, Kim Seongho kept checking the watch on his wrist whenever he had a moment.
‘I don’t have time for this.’
He barely had enough time just to conquer the Tower.
Thanks to the 20% buff on Gwanaksan Tower, Kim Seongho had finally broken through the infamous Floor 20 wall.
It was an achievement that had taken nearly half a year.
‘While the 20% buff is active, and while the Growth Buff is active….’
He had to conquer Floor 21 of Gwanaksan Tower.
Even if he entered right now, he couldn’t predict how many days it would take.
And because of those damn people from the Association, he was simply wasting this precious time.
‘It’s because of people like that in the first place.’
The rookie Hunter who had been approaching was now close enough to enter his field of vision.
The low-level Hunter looked around nervously, making it painfully obvious that he was a beginner.
‘Some people appear like a comet, steadily conquering Floors 1 and 2 and even creating Tower buffs for everyone.’
While others were leisurely coming here to play at an expo.
‘He really doesn’t know how to get his act together.’
So Kim Seongho decided to teach the rookie a lesson.
To show him that it was better to go to the Tower and experience actual combat even once rather than waste time like this.
To teach him that time was truly precious.
For the rookie’s sake, he needed to make sure the lesson stuck.
That guy probably hadn’t even killed a single goblin before.
‘I’ll show him what actual combat is like.’
He’d just scare him a little.
There were plenty of high-level Hunters around, so he wouldn’t actually end up in a dangerous situation.
With that calculation in mind, Kim Seongho stepped a few paces away from the designated route.
This was an area where Sandworms appeared, monsters that normally didn’t show up until Floor 5 of the Tower.
There were magical letters engraved on the soles of Kim Seongho’s shoes.
When several people stood in precisely designated positions, the letters formed a magical barrier that prevented monsters from entering.
But what if he shifted his position just a little?
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud─!
A long line appeared in the ground.
Something was moving underground.
And that line headed straight toward the approaching rookie.
He had deliberately calculated his position so that this would happen.
A scream would be heard soon.
And that guy would fall to his knees in front of him, tears streaming down his face as he begged to be saved.
Then Kim Seongho would stand there solemnly and give the rookie some advice.
‘Actual combat is this realistic. The moment you let your guard down, you can lose your life. That’s why you have to work hard and climb the Tower instead of playing around. The desire to improve is a Hunter’s basic quality.’
Thinking this made Kim Seongho feel considerably better.
Shraaaaaaak─!
At last, the ground split apart, and a Sandworm burst through it.
“W-what?”
“A Sandworm? Why did a Sandworm suddenly appear?!”
The people around them began to panic in surprise.
But the high-level Hunters calmly drew their weapons and backed away.
They were preparing for the battle with the approaching Sandworm.
And then it happened.
Kim Seongho suddenly felt someone’s gaze.
‘Where? Who’s looking at me…?’
The owner of the gaze was the rookie standing directly in front of the Sandworm.
The rookie swept his gaze over Kim Seongho with cold eyes, and then….
Slash─!
It lasted only an instant.
The rookie’s gaze briefly passed over the Sandworm.
That was all it took.
The Sandworm abruptly stopped moving.
But that wasn’t all.
The Sandworm’s body, like a log—or rather, like a pickled radish—began breaking into pieces, each section falling separately onto the ground.
Thud! Whack! Splatter─!
All of this happened in an instant.
Kim Seongho stared blankly at the scene before him and then suddenly remembered what that rookie had said on the shuttle.
‘I awakened not long ago.’
“Ah…, no!”
By the time he came to his senses, the rookie had already disappeared far into the distance, completely out of sight.
