Chapter 52: The People’s Hero (4)
“Why, why are you apologizing…?”
At this point, it’s hard to tell who actually got into trouble.
Jeong Ha-seong frantically rummaged through his pockets with a pale face.
He was looking to pull out a recovery potion.
“Ha-seong! Behind you!”
“Wh-What?”
“A monster behind you!”
But right after that shout, Gi-ryeo’s treatment had to be postponed.
“Ugh…!”
Ha-seong quickly turned around and activated his skill.
Suppressed flames, at maximum efficiency.
But it was enough to send the monster flying.
“KAAAAAAAHHH!”
Zzzzzzzzzzz.
The Minotaur’s scream echoed through the forest.
For some reason, that scene triggered a reaction that seemed all too familiar, and cold sweat dripped down Ha-seong’s back, but Gi-ryeo stopped him.
“I’ll handle my own body, so please keep the recovery potion for now. Let’s focus on getting out of the gate.”
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter.”
“And my eyes are pretty good, you know? I can assist from the side, can’t you protect me too?”
“Uh….”
“I’m asking you once more.”
The blond man asked politely.
In response, Ha-seong nodded.
Honestly, he was in a daze and didn’t even know what he was responding to.
“Shhh, phew….”
Jeong Ha-seong took a deep breath.
What followed was an S-Class one-man show that needed no further explanation.
“That’s the last one.”
Thud!
Not long after, the final boss collapsed.
Once all the bosses had been defeated, a familiar exit appeared before them.
Worried that this passage might suddenly disappear, Gi-ryeo and Ha-seong hurriedly escaped the gate. Fortunately, their worries did not come to fruition.
“Ahh!”
The F-Class Hunter took out his phone and began to report the situation right away.
Seemingly relieved to be safe, his complexion brightened significantly.
Yet, Jeong Ha-seong’s face remained pale even at this moment.
“….”
His gaze was still fixed on someone’s arm.
*
The F-Class Hunter vanished the moment he escaped the gate.
“Recovery pot? No thanks. I’ll manage this much on my own.”
Even after suffering such severe burns, he wasn’t blaming anyone, which made Ha-seong feel quite guilty.
By now, all kinds of thoughts had crossed his mind.
At first, he thought a negligent hunter tried to deceive the association by downgrading his rank….
But was he really just a powerless person?
If that were the case, he should’ve just said so from the start.
Still, in such a chaotic dungeon, wasn’t it likely that mischief would happen anyway?
“Ugh….”
It would have been better if that F-Class had gotten angry and said he should take responsibility for injuring him.
Gi-ryeo didn’t seem to desire anything at all. Not a single complaint came from him.
That only made it more concerning.
And after clearing the gate.
Korean Hunter Association.
“Oh my, what a tough experience! To think the gate entrance would just vanish like that. Don’t worry, Ha-seong. The association will mobilize all resources to get to the bottom of this.”
Ha-seong sat quietly on the couch, eyes cast downward, explaining the situation that had unfolded.
“Is there something else bothering you?”
Seeing Ha-seong like this, an association manager cautiously probed.
After the S-Class Hunter explained the incident involving Gi-ryeo, the manager was taken aback.
“You mean a hunter got caught up in your skill? An F-Class, who’s practically an ordinary person?”
“Yes.”
“This could lead to a bad reputation… If reporters catch wind of this, it’ll be a disaster.”
An S-Class who couldn’t control their power and harmed another hunter.
What a perfect incident to tarnish the name of the people’s hero.
“You said the hunter didn’t even talk about compensation? This is going to be the subject of some gossip for sure!”
“Excuse me?”
“This isn’t the time for chit-chat. Let’s get in touch with the victim right away. What was his name? Something like Kim…?”
Ha-seong was briefly taken aback by the manager’s attempt to portray the victim as a scoundrel, but he quickly nodded in agreement with the subsequent remarks.
“We can’t just let all the hard-earned image go to waste over something like this.”
“……!”
“If it were any other hunter, that’d be one thing, but if Ha-seong gets embroiled in a scandal, honestly, no one in this country will sleep easy.”
True.
If an S-Class gets tarnished, many would fall into worry.
Ha-seong kept muttering the line he’d always recited.
“That’s right. I need to avoid problematic situations….”
And in that voice lingered an unnamable guilt.
Before long, he successfully contacted Kim Gi-ryeo using the association’s network.
“Hello.”
Well, since he was involved in the incident, he should have come for a hearing anyway.
“I heard Jeong Ha-seong Hunter was looking for me?”
“Ah! Welcome. Please, have a seat.”
Gi-ryeo was incredibly uncomfortable in this situation.
With the illegal entry weighing on him, having to face an S-Class made it worse.
‘For now, I managed to cover up the fact I was inside a B-Class gate, but…’
Kim Gi-ryeo sat across on the sofa, his legs shaking slightly.
He felt anxious about what would be said next.
“The reason we called you here, Hunter, is simple. So, Ha-seong, please go ahead.”
Yet, he never expected the reason for the summons would be this.
“I didn’t manage to express myself properly at the time, but I want to compensate for the burns.”
Gi-ryeo tilted his head slightly.
Burns?
“Oh, that? It’s all healed already.”
He lifted his arm lightly to show.
Yet Jeong Ha-seong continued in a serious tone.
“Even if the burns are healed, there must have been mental anguish during the process…. And the costs of treatment will be there too, right?”
“Um.”
“I’d like to offer you a compensation.”
For some reason, it felt distinctly unsatisfactory.
“No thanks. One should have some decency. I lived because of Jeong Ha-seong, so why would I accept compensation?”
Gi-ryeo waved his hands dismissively as if he had no interest in the conversation.
At that, both Ha-seong and the association employee who had prepared the room looked visibly surprised.
“Um… Hunter, if you don’t need compensation, how about something else? Perhaps an entrance ticket to the rare gathering dungeon owned by Ha-seong’s guild!”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s right. Just say the word and I’ll prepare anything for you.”
To be honest, Gi-ryeo felt increasingly awkward.
‘What’s with them?’
To fuss over a burn is one thing.
But this wasn’t even Ha-seong’s fault. It was Gi-ryeo who had intruded on a sorcerer’s battlefield.
Was there really a need for him to lower himself like this before an F-Class?
‘Something’s off.’
Gi-ryeo rested his hand on his chin, contemplating for a moment.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, if you’re interested in higher-class gates… I can introduce you to a good team of hunters.”
While he kept silent, the topic of conversation gradually began to shift.
“You mentioned you entered the B-Class gate out of curiosity, right?”
“Ah, well.”
“Then, to ensure your safety in exploring gates in the future, I’ll secure a professional security team for you….”
Watching Gi-ryeo sweat profusely as he appeared indifferent to the talk of money, Ha-seong finally proposed something else.
Entry to a rare dungeon.
Skilled team members.
Gates for transfer.
These are all topics any hunter would find intriguing.
“You’ll provide me protection?”
However, Gi-ryeo’s expression shifted to one of sheer fright upon hearing that.
He had misinterpreted the other party’s proposal.
‘Why are they so desperate to keep me from entering the dungeon? Could they be planning to quietly dispose of me somewhere?’
What a wild leap in logic!
Yet there was a good reason he had arrived at this conclusion.
‘Yikes!’
It had been several days since he arrived on Earth.
Within just over a month, he had already experienced kidnappings, broad daylight assassinations, and terrorist attacks.
In other words, he developed a high degree of human distrust.
‘That’s it! They’ve been pushing me to into rare gates since earlier!’
During this, Ha-seong’s attitude dramatically shifted.
The cold wind that had blown yesterday had vanished.
Suddenly, he wanted to provide millions in compensation. He even spoke of handing over a dungeon.
Each of those felt too excessive to consider merely due to the burns.
‘Earthlings can’t be trusted.’
Thus, Gi-ryeo thought.
‘Did they get wise to me trying to offload monsters in the dungeon? No, maybe the perjury I committed regarding the EX-Class gate might have been fatal.’
Whatever happened, it was clear he had touched a nerve with Jeong Ha-seong.
Now this guy was trying to quietly bury him.
‘So why did he even save me in the first place? Aha, maybe there was CCTV nearby?’
This crafty fellow!
‘He isn’t leaving behind any evidence!’
Moreover, this absurd idea only solidified as the conversation continued.
“I don’t need either money or dungeons.”
“Excuse me? But….”
“I’m perfectly fine without anything.”
“Then could you at least accept the offer of security personnel?”
“What?”
“From what I hear, Gi-ryeo, you’re an appraiser, right? It’s clear you’re here alone today…”
“Yes.”
“At least so that you never get hurt again….”
Jeong Ha-seong was obsessively fixated on compensation.
Usually, when someone rejects this level of generosity, they would back down.
But this was strange.
Where’s the such thing as a free lunch? Yet here was someone offering money, and they were being so painfully persistent.
‘Ah, there must be some conspiracy at play. Earthlings can’t possibly be this unconditionally nice!’
Gi-ryeo, lost in paranoia, began to shake.
The water in the glass he held trembled considerably.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter?”
At first, Jeong Ha-seong found the other’s behavior puzzling, but it only lasted a moment.
“I’ll take my leave now.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve told you several times. I don’t need any compensation.”
Thud.
Gi-ryeo placed the cup down and stood up.
Then, he turned to Ha-seong, his voice firm.
“When we live, mistakes can happen. It’s pretty strange to be trembling over this little incident, you know?”
This was a kind of warning.
It was a message conveying that he understood their motives. Don’t pull any nonsense that wouldn’t work.
Surprisingly, upon hearing this, Jeong Ha-seong fell silent.
‘I feel like I might just faint…’
Doubt transformed into certainty.
Before Gi-ryeo’s shirt became drenched in cold sweat, he hastily exited the room.
Bang!
The door slammed shut loudly due to the wind.
“Ahem, I wonder if I’ve left them with too much leeway. I should avoid saying anything foolish later.”
“…”
“Oh, don’t worry. This conversation has all been recorded. It’ll be difficult for them to manipulate public opinion.”
The association manager whispered right after the other left, though no answer came.
‘That much money, and a rare dungeon slip away…’
Jeong Ha-seong was simply stunned that the negotiation had failed.
This had never happened before.
Any time he exposed any of his skills, others tended to roll over, demanding compensation.
‘What was it that made him so angry?’
He took a moment to reflect on the earlier situation.
The ripples in the cup. Along with that cold, indifferent gaze.
It seemed Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter had felt a fleeting displeasure, but the reason behind it was unclear.
And then the sudden utterance right after that.
– “It’s strange to cower over this little matter, isn’t it?”
This was a phrase he had never heard before. But why couldn’t it leave his mind?
“This is no trivial matter.”
Jeong Ha-seong muttered once more in repetition of that sharp sentence from the F-Class.
“Strange to think I look like this…?”
