The Flame King Disappearance Incident.
Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong remembered it clearly.
It had been a major incident in which a super rookie who appeared in South Korea vanished one day, right when competition among the guilds was reaching a fever pitch.
Eleven years ago.
A super rookie appeared who achieved an astonishing A-rank on the thirteenth floor of the Tower.
The rookie’s nickname was Flame King.
The reason for that nickname was simple. The rookie possessed a trait called Flame King, an extraordinary ability that allowed him to create flames using Magic Power and control them freely.
Flame King enjoyed attracting attention.
He showed off his incredible trait through social media, broadcasts, and every other form of media available.
Perhaps it was because he had obtained such an extraordinary trait at a relatively young age, or perhaps that had simply always been his personality.
Either way, Flame King became a superstar almost overnight.
-Korea’s hope!
-The future S-rank Hunter!
-Flame King! Flame King! Flame King!
The media, politicians, and practically everyone else praised him as a new hope that had finally arisen in South Korea.
His potential was that tremendous.
Although he had not climbed very high yet, people began to wonder whether South Korea might finally produce its first S-rank Hunter if Flame King simply continued ascending the Tower.
Naturally, the competition to recruit him became extraordinarily fierce.
Not only the Korean Awakened Management Agency, but also the guilds then known as the Seven Great Guilds, as well as organizations from other countries, entered the recruitment war.
A future S-rank Hunter.
The symbolic value and practical benefits that such a Hunter would bring turned the battle over Flame King into something resembling an actual war.
Offering him a blank check became commonplace.
The conflict grew so severe that clashes even broke out between guilds during the recruitment battle, resulting in deaths.
Public opinion erupted.
Several politically astute politicians publicly pressured Flame King to decide his affiliation as quickly as possible, and public sentiment soon followed their lead.
Perhaps conscious of that pressure, Flame King formally announced that he would not sign with any foreign guild or government.
Ultimately, Flame King signed a contract with the Comet Guild, one of the Seven Great Guilds at the time.
And then Flame King disappeared.
Suddenly.
Without leaving a single trace behind.
In response to his sudden disappearance, the National Assembly and the government personally intervened and established a special investigation team.
Yet no trace of Flame King could be found anywhere.
It was as though he had simply evaporated.
「There’s no evidence of anything. Didn’t he probably fail while clearing the Tower?」
As that argument suggested, when registered Hunters went missing, they were generally presumed to have died inside the Tower.
And in reality, that was the most likely explanation in most cases.
In the end, Flame King was officially declared dead inside the Tower, and the case was brought to a close.
-The government must reveal the truth!
-Where is Flame King?!
-Tell us! Tell us!
Countless conspiracy theories followed.
One of the other Seven Great Guilds, threatened by the Comet Guild, had kidnapped him.
A hitman sent by China had killed him.
He had entered the Tower while under the influence of drugs and died inside.
And so on……
But the truth remained unknown.
There was no evidence left behind whatsoever, and the moment public outrage began to subside, everyone seemed to act in unison to conceal and minimize the incident.
And so the super rookie who might have become South Korea’s first S-rank Hunter disappeared.
Along with South Korea’s future.
Park Gi-yong had also watched that incident unfold firsthand as an employee of the Management Agency at the time.
That was why he knew better than most just how many suspicious aspects surrounded the case.
The lesson left behind by the Flame King Disappearance Incident was remarkably simple.
Power that one could not protect for oneself became poison instead.
The world was no longer the same one that had existed twenty-five years ago.
This was an era in which Hunters, beings who possessed power far beyond conventional standards, could even treat the authority of nations with contempt.
People called this the Age of Savagery.
And in an age of savagery, power was virtually everything.
“…I understand what you mean.”
Choi Kang Hyuk had not said much, but Park Gi-yong understood perfectly well what he was trying to convey.
If Choi Kang Hyuk truly was the Hunter breaking the SSS-rank records, then he had only reached the eleventh floor so far.
As an SSS-rank record holder, he would certainly be far stronger than an ordinary Hunter who had reached the eleventh floor.
Even so, he could not help but remain weaker than Hunters who had climbed the higher floors.
Could he truly withstand the endless malice that might come pouring toward him from countless unknown sources?
No.
Even if Choi Kang Hyuk himself could somehow overcome all of it, what would happen if someone took his family hostage?
What would he do then?
Park Gi-yong was pessimistic.
In fact, the safety of his family was almost certainly included among Choi Kang Hyuk’s concerns.
No matter how powerful a trait might be, a Hunter’s true strength ultimately came from their stats.
The difference between a high-floor Hunter and a low-floor Hunter was literally like heaven and earth.
In the end, stats were what truly determined a Hunter’s strength.
Having understood Choi Kang Hyuk’s intentions, Park Gi-yong stood without hesitation.
“If you ever change your mind, please contact me. This is my number.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“And… Senior, I understand what you’re worried about. But I dare say that you won’t need to worry.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Please just keep my words in mind.”
It was only a brief statement, but Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong believed Choi Kang Hyuk had understood what he meant.
He did not stop there.
Park Gi-yong took out a card he had prepared in advance and held it out.
“What is this?”
“It’s a Government Official Rental Shop Pass. You should be able to freely rent equipment up to a certain grade without paying any additional fees.”
“Why are you suddenly giving me something like this……?”
“Please accept it as a small gift from the Management Agency, in the hope that we can maintain a good relationship with you in the future. Ah, and please don’t feel burdened by it. It truly is only a modest gift.”
Since Choi Kang Hyuk would probably refuse anything too extravagant, Park Gi-yong had chosen something that would be genuinely useful to him while still remaining within reasonable limits.
“I’ll accept it gratefully.”
“Then I should be going. It was an honor to meet you, Senior.”
“No, the honor was mine……”
“Then I hope we meet again soon.”
After offering a respectful farewell, Park Gi-yong left Choi Kang Hyuk’s home.
Once outside, he found himself looking again at the run-down neighborhood, which seemed far too poor for a Hunter to be living in.
“……”
There was no need to rush.
For now, this much was enough.
Thinking that, Park Gi-yong began walking away.
Still, if he wanted to prepare for the enormous storm that was about to come, he would need to move a little faster.
***
After Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong left, I remained alone and fell into thought.
“Hmm.”
I had expected him to press me relentlessly, but he had given up and left far more easily than I anticipated.
That was good for me, but something about it still felt strange.
‘No… Maybe he didn’t give up.’
Someone who had risen all the way to Deputy Commissioner of the Management Agency had probably been through every kind of political struggle imaginable.
Since I clearly was not going to accept his offer easily, he had probably chosen to withdraw for now after leaving me with a good impression.
‘And he really did leave a good impression.’
Seniority between Hunters was practically meaningless.
Strength was everything in this world.
And yet he had consistently addressed me as Senior……
‘He also sounded as though he understood what I was worried about.’
One of the reasons I had yet to reveal myself to the world was concern for my family’s safety.
No matter how absurdly powerful my current stats were, one man could not defend against ten enemies at once.
Yet Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong had acted as though the Management Agency would protect my family.
I was only human.
Even if I knew they were merely words, when someone treated me so thoughtfully and said exactly what I wanted to hear, it was impossible not to be moved at least a little.
More importantly, he had even left me a gift that suited my circumstances perfectly.
[Government Official Rental Shop Pass]
The pass was blue.
The highest Special-Class Pass was black, followed by the red First-Class Pass, and then the blue Second-Class Pass.
Its grade was not particularly high, but there was no question that it was an incredibly useful gift for me.
Besides, it would have been rather strange for someone who was still officially only an F-rank Hunter to rent extremely high-grade Hunter equipment anyway.
‘In any case……’
Deputy Commissioner Park Gi-yong’s sudden visit had delayed things, but there was still something I needed to do.
It was time to deal with the Random Skill.
‘It should be worth buying one at least once.’
I currently had 11,846,545 experience points.
That was just over ten million.
If my guess was correct and a Random Skill cost ten million experience points, then I should be able to purchase one.
‘If it costs more than that, the purchase will simply fail. There’s no harm in trying.’
I did not hesitate for long.
Even if it was not particularly efficient in terms of opportunity cost, I needed to see what kind of skill I could obtain before deciding whether purchasing more skills in the future was worthwhile.
‘All right. Let’s do it.’
Having made up my mind, I declared the purchase.
“Purchase Random Skill.”
[Experience points have been consumed to purchase a Random Skill.]
[Current Experience: 1,846,545]
Now then.
What kind of skill would I get?
An S-rank skill I had only ever heard rumors about?
Or perhaps a reliable A-rank skill?
‘I’d even be happy with a B-rank skill……’
Trying to calm my pounding heart, I checked the first skill I had ever obtained in my life.
“Check Skill.”
[Clone] [B]
Consumes Magic Power to create a clone.
The clone possesses 20% of the original body’s stats.