After returning from the dungeon, Seonghyeon’s feelings were complicated.
First came relief.
After confirming the ghostly Meteor, he could tell for certain that its weakness had disappeared.
Next came confusion.
What exactly had that Hunter wrapped in frost wanted to say……?
‘What is the problem?’
[Meteor (EX), level has increased.]
[Meteor (EX), please select a Level 7 trait.]
Size Increase: Diameter 10 cm
Speed Increase: 5 km/s
Add Effect: Flame Tail
Because of that, he had no choice but to choose the level-up trait without thinking deeply about it.
『Meteor (EX)』
Level: 7 (1▲)
Details: ……
Skill Mechanism:
……
Material – Iron Meteorite
Diameter – 30 cm (10 cm▲)
Speed – 10 km/s
Traits – Precision, Long-Range Sniping, Plunder, Spirit Form
Of course, the other traits were not different enough for him to need to think deeply about them anyway…….
After finishing the level-up process, Seonghyeon immediately accessed HunterNet.
It was the community where Hunter-related news appeared the fastest.
If the frost Hunter was going to post information, this would be the quickest place to see it.
[Review after actually seeing Meteor Lord]
Author: Seolmeng
Everyone saw the first-place system notification that just appeared, right?
I am someone who was in the same dungeon.
I personally saw Meteor Lord use the Meteor skill there……
It looks like he broke through E-Rank alone without any Association support or anything.
He had no equipment either. He was wearing only a hoodie and jeans.
Buffs? There was no trace of anything like that.
Honestly, I had been influenced by some people here and thought lightly of Meteor Lord,
but it makes no sense. I do not think I can ever doubt him again.
I saw a raw Meteor once, and then he fired a magic? Meteor.
Wow, it was just incredible.
In my opinion, he could break through B? Maybe even A-Rank.
The dungeon was “Ghost Mansion.”
You know what that means without me saying more, right?
He has no weakness.
‘Ha…… This quickly.’
After refreshing HunterNet and waiting,
a post containing what he had been worried about was uploaded on only the second try.
However, judging by the contents of the post, unlike when they had met earlier, the irritation seemed to have died down quite a bit.
‘What suspicion? What happens just because complete strangers suspect me?’
Negative views did not matter to Seonghyeon at all.
All Seonghyeon wanted was to earn a reasonable amount of Magic Stones and live well with his family.
But the important thing right now was that his face had been witnessed.
If his identity spread, he and his family could become exhausted.
Perhaps it could even become dangerous.
Seonghyeon was filled with worries about how he should resolve this.
Then comments began rapidly appearing on the post.
-Juryeong: Was this person not a named user? Why are you baiting people all of a sudden?
└Seolmeng: Ah, I am serious. Please believe me.
-andre: Oh, so he can even turn it into magic? That is insane.
└Seolmeng: I do not know exactly what it was, but the boss died while being scorched away.
└Ppoyong: Hahaha, boss fly meme.
-tkadbren: The dungeon name appears in the System Window. Why are people falling for bait like this?
└Seolmeng: I said I am serious. I can verify that I am a Hunter.
Contrary to his worries, most of the reactions said it was bait.
Even when that was not the case, they were mostly curious about the skill.
‘Oh? Then maybe I do not have to worry…….’
Just as he was about to put his mind a little at ease, what had to come finally arrived.
-injur: Oh, then did you see what he looked like too? Brother Theo somehow feels like he would be handsome.
A question about the identity he had worried about the most.
Perhaps other users agreed with the comment, because replies quickly increased.
└jj2: 222222222
└Iron Blood: 33
└FirPen: How would you know if he is handsome? Hahaha.
└Kenta: Please let his appearance be nerfed.
└injur: It just feels that way.
However, the comment from Seolmeng that many people were waiting for appeared only after quite some time.
└Seolmeng: I did see a little of his impression inside the hood…… but why can I not remember it? I am certain he was a man!
‘Huh?’
Was it thanks to the fact that he had been wearing his hood?
Seonghyeon had definitely faced Seolmeng close enough to brush past him.
Yet he could not describe anything except that he was a man. It was a relief, but Seonghyeon could not understand it at all.
Then he happened to look down and saw his hoodie.
‘Ah, Recognition Interference!’
He had applied the enhancement voucher he had obtained while robbing the Burang Party warehouse to his hoodie as a test.
Was this thanks to the 10% Recognition Interference effect?
After understanding what had happened,
Seonghyeon took another enhancement voucher out of his Inventory.
[Would you like to use “Item Enhancement Voucher: Recognition Interference” enhancement?]
■ Applicable Target: Fiber Lower Garment
This time as well, the Item Enhancement Voucher shone and scattered, then was completely absorbed into his pants.
Jeans +1
Recognition Interference 10%
‘It needs to be at least this much for there to be no mention at all.’
If the person had been meticulous, he might have described him a little more.
Thinking that he would soon use all three remaining enhancement vouchers as well, he completely set his worries aside.
Starting from Seolmeng’s comment saying he could not remember, the replies lost steam.
└HunterJammer: Living up to your nickname. Hahaha. Did your eyes go blind?
└puls: It was fun, so have a drink~
└Seolmeng: No, I am serious.
└HunterJammer: Ah, we get it. You are a Meteor Lord fan. Please stop.
In the end, Seolmeng’s claim, which could not provide any evidence, was dismissed as fiction, and Seolmeng remained on HunterNet as a representative fan of Meteor Lord.
After that, posts claiming to have seen Meteor Lord occasionally appeared.
Most of them, however, were bait posts.
And.
└143440: So Meteor Lord’s skill was all fake too, right? Are you the guy pushing Meteor’s viral marketing?
Without fail, a comment claiming he was a “viral Hunter” appeared.
└Seolmeng: Who are you? Search my previous comments. I really doubted him before.
└143440: You just built a character and edited your story. Hahaha. I do not believe you.
Most HunterNet users paid no attention to the numeric-name user’s baseless repeated claims.
However, Seolmeng, who had become a fan of Meteor Lord, caught something familiar in the numeric-name user’s comments.
Similar arguments, similar patterns, and someone came to mind.
Someone he himself had briefly agreed with…….
└Seolmeng: Ah, wait. Are you Myeongwang?
└geer: Wow, hold on. 143440 = Myeongwangseong’s changed name.
└andre: Caught red-handed, are we? Hahahahahaha.
└SubiSubisu: This guy really likes Pluto. Hahaha.
The numeric-name user, formerly Myeongwang, disappeared from HunterNet again after that.
It would take quite some time before he changed his nickname and appeared again.
└rmswjekd: Sir, this time you need to cut one off. Where did you go again? Hahaha.
└kjun: This person is too much. Hahahahahahahaha.
***
The meeting room of the Hunter Intelligence Agency.
HunterNet was also a key community for gathering information at the Hunter Intelligence Agency.
And the post by the nickname “Seolmeng,” who claimed to have directly encountered Meteor Lord,
was the main issue that had led to this meeting.
“Does it make sense that he cannot remember his face? For someone who supposedly saw him right next to him, the situation description is vague too.”
The Public Relations Director sitting beside Kim Kang-hoon took the position that they could not focus on even issues like this.
In the first place, information collected from HunterNet tended to have low reliability.
In response, a team leader from the Support Department explained.
“There is a possibility that it is true. One of our team members says they went to the same dungeon, and their description of the situation was the same. To begin with, the Meteor skill itself becomes vague when described.”
“Then what makes you say it is true?”
“The claim that he saw a magic-converted Meteor can be considered as such. That was witnessed for the first time in this dungeon.”
“That is something anyone in the same dungeon could have known!”
“Ah, ah. Enough, enough.”
When the Public Relations Director raised his voice as if he could not understand, Kim Kang-hoon stopped him.
He calmed the atmosphere and spoke.
“Does the Research Department have any guesses? About only the face being impossible to remember.”
“If it is a distortion-type effect from a skill, item, buff, and so on, there are many possible types.”
“It cannot be a skill because his skill is Meteor, and they said there were no buffs or equipment.”
“In that case, he may have used a Random Enhancement Voucher and applied it to an item…… but those are extremely expensive items, and the effect itself is applied randomly, so it is likely that the claim is false.”
“Whew…….”
The Research Department Director added support to the opinion that the claim’s contents were nearly impossible and likely false.
However, despite the positions of the various departments, Kim Kang-hoon was still favorably inclined toward the HunterNet issue.
After all, it was a claim that had never appeared before.
He added a few more questions.
“An enhancement voucher costs around thirty thousand Magic Stones, correct……. What if it was a Designated Enhancement Voucher?”
“If it was designated…… Recognition Interference is on the cheaper side, but we estimate it would cost at least one hundred thousand Magic Stones each.”
One hundred thousand Magic Stones meant one billion won.
No matter how impressive Meteor Lord was, there was no way he had one hundred thousand Magic Stones.
After all, the Burang Party’s criminal funds uncovered through interrogation amounted to around fifty to sixty thousand.
‘Right…… Even if he robbed the Burang Party, there is no way he got as many as one hundred thousand…….’
!!
“Wait.”
As Kim Kang-hoon thought it over carefully, something suddenly flashed through his mind.
He immediately asked the Operations Department, which was in charge of investigating Ji Seong-tae.
“What did you say were the sources of the Burang Party’s criminal funds?”
“Yes. Fundamentally, there were extortion, threats, kidnapping, and so on. After recruiting the Duplication Hunter, there were also various duplication scams, sales…… and so on.”
The Operations Director, who had been reporting the information they had found, soon stammered as though realizing something.
“Did any enhancement vouchers appear among them?”
“I will check immediately!”
The Operations Director left the meeting room together with Sa-hyeon.
The meeting was not over, but no one questioned it.
“Now, since it seems we have reached a rough conclusion, I will summarize.”
“Yes, sir.”
“For the time being, if you see a Hunter wearing a gray hoodie and jeans, put a tail on them immediately.”
“Since it became a topic, would he not change his outfit?”
“It is an outfit worth one billion won, so he will not be able to change it so easily.”
“Yes, sir!”
He had not yet been revealed or defined as an enemy.
However, from the Hunter Intelligence Agency’s perspective, uncovering Meteor Lord’s identity was quite important.
That was how much of a being Meteor Lord was. He could become a reliable ally, or he could become the greatest Villain in history.
Because of that, this issue was a great help to Kim Kang-hoon.
With the concentration of his agents, they could overcome 10% Recognition Interference.
‘Yes, if it is 10%, we should be able to find him…….’
Some time after the meeting ended,
they finally confirmed that the enhancement vouchers the Burang Party had stored had the “Recognition Interference” effect.
The moment they checked the program in order to write a detailed report,
BEEP!
An emergency report messenger rang once.
[Urgent) Appearance matching hoodie and jeans discovered in F-Rank Dungeon No. 0342.]
‘Already?’
Only two hours had passed since the meeting ended.
A report had come in saying the instructed appearance had been discovered.
Then,
BEEP!
BEEP!
[Urgent) Suspected Meteor Lord appearance confirmed in F-Rank Dungeon No. 0544.]
[Urgent) Target confirmed and tail attached in E-Rank Dungeon No. 3211.]
Reports with similar content began coming in one after another.
This was a phenomenon that neither Meteor Lord Yoo Seonghyeon, nor his fan Seolmeng, nor Kim Kang-hoon of the Hunter Intelligence Agency had expected.
Gray hoodie and jeans, this basic fashion style, began being called the “Meteor Lord Skin,” and many Hunters started imitating it.