Chapter 49. The Hero of the People
“Seonwoo-yeon Hunter?”
“Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo?”
The two stared at each other with wide eyes.
“What’s going on? We received a report about an Awakened causing chaos in the park…”
“You came at just the right time. I need your skill. The criminal has escaped.”
“Excuse me?”
Kim Gi-ryeo immediately explained the situation to the police officers who had responded.
“So, the victim isn’t hurt or anything right now, correct?”
“Excuse me?”
Given that the victim seemed perfectly fine, the response was a bit lackluster.
“Do you remember the criminal’s appearance?”
“I’ll go check the CCTV!”
Fortunately, not all the police were clueless.
After successfully giving his testimony, Gi-ryeo sat on a park bench, blankly waiting for developments.
Then a woman with black hair approached and handed him a drink from a vending machine.
“Ah, thank you.”
It was a mugwort tea.
Seonwoo-yeon struggled to continue speaking.
“I just checked, and all the surveillance cameras in this area are down. So for now, I’m thinking of focusing on tracking the item the criminal had that you testified about.”
“You managed to find an item too?”
“Of course.”
She glanced at the pile of animal corpses sprawled across the park.
“By the way, you went through quite an ordeal. An attack in broad daylight, no less.”
“Hmm.”
“They said the captured Invisible Man used the same type of concealment, right?”
Kim Gi-ryeo, holding the edge of a paper cup with his mouth, began to elaborate.
He detailed why the Awakened had targeted him, what skills they possessed, and how they looked.
“Hmm, an Awakened with a cutting skill….”
Seonwoo-yeon paused for a moment while listening intently.
“What’s the criminal’s Awakening Level?”
“Not sure.”
“If I were to compare it to mine, is it above or below?”
“If we’re comparing, it’s above. Probably around Ahn Yoon-seung’s level.”
The expression of the B-Class Hunter stiffened.
“Then how did you escape, Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo…?”
It was an impolite thing to say to a victim, but one couldn’t help but be curious.
Didn’t he just testify that he’d been threatened with murder by a suspicious Awakened?
“He looked confused and didn’t make any rash moves.”
Gi-ryeo answered honestly.
He had no clue what had really happened.
“Seonwoo-yeon, do I come off as scary?”
“Excuse me?”
Gi-ryeo suddenly became curious and threw out a short question.
Seonwoo-yeon scrutinized his F-Class face and shook her head.
“No, not really.”
When he looked up from below, he did have the aura of a murderer, but there was no need to voice that.
‘It’s not that he looks scary…’
Seonwoo-yeon pondered while sipping the mugwort tea.
By the way, she didn’t know that Kim Gi-ryeo was the one who caught the thief at the shopping center.
She had always thought it was Ahn Yoon-seung’s achievement.
‘His actions are frightening.’
Emerging human trafficking rings, rookie hunters, Invisible Men.
How many crimes had he encountered thus far?
At that moment, Seonwoo-yeon realized that this man often seemed to get entangled in incidents.
“What kind of drink is this? It’s tasty.”
“It’s mugwort tea from that vending machine over there.”
And oddly enough, all the criminals who passed through Kim Gi-ryeo seemed to have unfortunate endings.
‘Suspicious.’
From the start, today’s events didn’t add up.
He hadn’t done anything, yet an A-Class Awakened had suddenly run away?
“Please contact me when you catch the criminal.”
After a while, Kim Gi-ryeo stood up from the bench.
Seonwoo-yeon bowed to him but couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling lodged in her heart.
*
[‘Murder of Crows’ Appears in Urban Skies: Is a Climate Crisis Coming?…]
Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.
Amidst the muffled knock against the TV report, a man who had been lounging on the sofa waved his hand irritably, prompting one of his subordinates standing in the corner to open the warehouse door.
“Are you all well?”
Then, a figure stepped in.
It seemed to be raining outside.
He wore a white raincoat, and the face underneath was oddly ambiguous in gender.
“Um, may I ask why you called for me…?”
A cautious greeting flowed.
But the only response was a furious tirade from Pyo Na-gil.
“Hey, you little jerk! Don’t you know why you were called? Because of that trash skill stone you brought…”
“Ow! Calm down, Brother.”
The figure in the raincoat spoke to the young boss of the organization.
“We couldn’t have predicted this situation. Globally, there have been no cases reported where that concealment was detected visually, so who could have known it would happen today?”
“Huh!”
“Moreover, that skill stone was something I gifted for free…”
Why was he so angry over something he hadn’t even paid for?
As the raincoat-wearing Awakened said this, Pyo Na-gil furrowed his brows.
“Cut it out. I’m removing my hands from the Esther business, so you understand that.”
“Excuse me?”
“I just received new information. The guy who caught the Invisible Man? It turns out he has very deep ties with the Magic Tower.”
Thump, thump.
Pyo Na-gil casually gestured to a nearby table.
On it lay some documents.
A contract between the Korean Magic Tower and an external Appraiser, alongside photographs from the scene of an A-Class Red Gate.
“What’s the problem with this?”
“Huh?”
“You confirmed this with our verification, right? The Night Walker has a skill capable of ambushing an S-Class.”
“I know that.”
“The fact that a Hunter figured out the concealment is just extremely rare. Just take him down first.”
If it’s so bothersome, just kill Gi-ryeo first, why not?
The raincoat figure asked lightly, and Pyo Na-gil twitched his eyes.
“…No.”
“Excuse me?”
“That guy, he’s a Hunter just like Esther.”
As the other stood blankly, Pyo Na-gil scratched his neck in annoyance.
“How could their ranks be the same? I checked yesterday!”
“Ah, you mean someone who disguises their Awakening Level like me? You should say that.”
Even as their conversation continued, the identity of the person in the white raincoat gradually became clearer.
“But this puts me in a bit of a bind. You assassinate an S-Class, and the Nachalsawon supports you with items and money. That’s our deal.”
This figure was none other than a believer of the ‘Nachalsawon’ religious group.
However, Pyo Na-gil seemed reluctant to acknowledge this, clicking his tongue as he criticized the other.
“From the start, you should have prepared the skill stones properly, you pseudo-religious brat.”
Pseudo-religious…
Hearing this, the believer smiled gently.
“Isn’t it wrong that you couldn’t kill a single F-Class Hunter and had to run away with your tail between your legs?”
“What did you say?”
“We have already provided ample support. You said you’d definitely be able to kill Esther if you just obtained the concealment skill…”
Bang!
Pyo Na-gil stood up from his seat.
The androgynous believer looked up at the leader of the criminal organization.
“No matter how much you chop me up, nothing will change.”
“Hey.”
“If you keep breaking promises, it’ll be troublesome. No matter how benevolent my heart may be…”
Ideally, he wanted to split this unpleasant pseudo-religious figure in half right then.
But Pyo Na-gil couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“We’re not infinite in funds either. If you don’t kill that S-Class, there’s no longer any reason for us to support you.”
“Huh.”
“Besides, you’ve already taken plenty. Do you think you can just wipe your hands clean and move on?”
The unregistered organization.
And the Nachalsawon in front of him.
These criminal organizations and quasi-religious groups had a close, intertwined relationship.
In particular, the Nachalsawon held significant power over criminals based on the vast funds they extorted from believers.
‘Why are they so obsessed with assassination?’
The strange pseudo-religious groups always fixated on one thing.
“In any case, it seems like Esther might be in trouble, right? Then you can just deal with any other S-Class quickly.”
“Anyone will do?”
“Yes, anyone. Anyway, I’ve been pressured lately, so it’s tough for me as well.”
Killing an S-Class.
What these pseudo-religious groups thought was truly perplexing.
“Lady Nacha is watching over Jun-tae. So if you just act with faith, surely you will overcome this trial…”
Pyo Na-gil ignored the nonsense.
“Please concentrate and listen. I’m giving you one last chance. If you don’t succeed by the end of this month, the leader will truly cut off support.”
However, ignoring the request from the Nachalsawon was also out of the question.
He couldn’t easily give up the vast funds the pseudo-religious groups were freely offering.
In the end, it always came back to money. The issue of money.
“Oh, and there’s one piece of information that might help…”
“What is it?”
Was he trying to wrap up the conversation?
The believer flipped the hood of his raincoat back.
“Jeong Ha-seong is returning to Seoul.”
Rumble, a small thunder rumbled outside.
*
“When you hear the word hero, who comes to mind?”
In today’s society, 9 out of 10 people give the same answer.
“Jeong Ha-seong Hunter!”
“Of course it’s Jeong Ha-seong.”
Korea’s first S-Class.
The record holder for the most Dungeon clears.
The strongest in the Yoonhwa (念火) system.
All these titles pointed to a single individual.
“Are there even people who don’t know Jeong Ha-seong?”
He was the hope of the current generation.
[“Soloed White Tower, Jeong Ha-seong, A Grand Achievement” … Sweconds through three Dungeons including A-Class.]
As everyone knows, the world during the Dungeon Shock was like a hellscape.
Monsters that humanity’s weaponry couldn’t affect poured forth, killing many.
Meanwhile, Awakened began to emerge one by one across the nation, but it was insufficient to restore the previous peace.
“If it weren’t for Jeong Ha-seong, the map of Korea would’ve changed by now.”
But then one day,
A giant tide that would rewrite all fortunes crashed upon this peninsula.
The super-sized monster Kraken appeared off the coast of Busan.
That day’s Dungeon Break led to the awakening of Korea’s first S-Class.
“Wow! Jeong Ha-seong Hunter!”
“Look over here, please!”
“Oh, we made eye contact! Eyes!”
Among the current generation, few are unfamiliar with the footage of the Kraken hunt from six years ago.
At a time when the great city of Busan was on the verge of collapse.
The S-Class appeared like a comet amidst the breathless citizens, fiercely burning the brutal Kraken to ashes.
“Seeing it in person is really spine-chilling!”
“That Awakening Level is insane.”
“He’s so handsome!”
Afterward, thanks to Jeong Ha-seong’s monstrous feats, Korea could stabilize its society at a rapid pace.
He was undoubtedly the nation’s hero.
“……”
And now, that hero returned to the capital, drawing attention as expected.
“I was trying to keep it as quiet as possible, but it seems information leaked out somewhere. I apologize, Jeong Ha-seong.”
“It’s okay.”
Jeong Ha-seong briefly scanned the crowd that had gathered.
Having dealt with urgent Gates across various provinces without taking a moment’s rest, he’d just come back…
“Waaaaah!”
“He waved at us!”
“Hello!”
Without showing any sign of fatigue, he politely greeted the citizens.
It was the same image management as always.
“Has everything been okay here?”
“Yes. Well, there have been minor accidents, but with Ms. Esther’s help, we managed to handle them.”
Upon entering the association building, Jeong Ha-seong checked his attire in front of the elevator.
“Oh.”
Then a moment later.
He suddenly remembered and asked the staff.
“By the way, what happened with that F-Class case…?”
“Excuse me?”
“Before heading back to the provinces, I reported a Hunter for falsifying his rank. I was wondering if the results came out.”
Drrrrrr. Ding!
“Oh, regarding that re-examination, actually…”
The elevator arrived, but Jeong Ha-seong halted his steps, turning back at the staff’s response.
“What? It was cleared of charges?”
This was the first news he had heard about Kim Gi-ryeo in a long time.
