The Ministry of Disaster Administration, the supervising ministry above the Hunter Administration.
Commissioner Yoo Jeong-tae had been summoned by Minister Lee Cheol-su of the Ministry of Disaster Administration, and the two were now speaking in private.
The Minister stared intently at Yoo Jeong-tae and asked.
“So… you simply let him leave?”
Yoo Jeong-tae nodded as though it were only natural.
“Yes. What else was I supposed to do? Detain him?”
Naturally, the subject of their conversation was the identity of the person who had cleared the Legendary-grade Ruin.
The government had also been greatly shocked by the news that someone had awakened a Transcendent-grade Trait.
As it happened, Minister Lee Cheol-su had just received an unreasonable request from the Prime Minister to try recruiting that Hunter directly into government service.
“That is not what I mean… If that Hunter came to the Hunter Administration himself, should you not have made a serious effort to recruit him? You should have found some way to get him to contribute to the country.”
“Are you suggesting that I should have detained him and threatened him into joining the Hunter Administration?”
“You know perfectly well that is not what I mean. But when exceptional talent appears, is it not your duty as Commissioner to persuade them to cooperate with the country somehow?”
“As long as the resources keep coming into South Korea, what more could you possibly want? That young man already handed the Hunter Administration a valuable item before he left.”
“……”
Despite both being high-ranking government officials, the two did not appear to get along particularly well.
The Hunter Administration technically fell under the Ministry of Disaster Administration, but the Minister and the Commissioner held very different positions.
The Minister was an Unawakened civilian, while the Commissioner was an Awakened Individual who had spent many years working as an active Hunter before becoming a government official.
As Commissioner, Yoo Jeong-tae worked hard to prevent South Korean Hunters from leaving the country or selling resources obtained from Ruins overseas.
At the same time, however, because he was an Awakened Individual himself, he placed considerable value on the freedom of Hunters.
As far as he was concerned, it was enough for Hunters to remain in South Korea and cooperate with the country when necessary.
The Minister, on the other hand, preferred a system in which the state directly controlled Hunters themselves.
From the government’s perspective, it was naturally preferable for a powerful Hunter to belong to a government institution and remain under supervision rather than being free to act entirely on their own.
“What if a Hunter who suddenly awakened causes a serious incident?”
“What sort of incident are you referring to?”
“Do you really need to ask? You know as well as I do how easy it would be for someone who suddenly gained that much power to commit a crime.”
But if that happened, there would not be any practical way to control him anyway.
‘It is a fact that he is the strongest person in South Korea. What exactly do you expect me to do?’
Yoo Jeong-tae pushed the documents on the table closer to the Minister.
“Take a good look. This young man named Jeon Jae-woo is not going to do anything. He seems like an earnest young man, so what are you so worried about?”
Earnest, my ass. According to his profile, he had been unemployed right up until he awakened.
“If he possesses enough power to clear a Legendary-grade Ruin by himself, then should he not cooperate with the Hunter Administration and help us clear even higher-grade Ruins?”
“If we try to control someone who is doing perfectly well on his own, we will only provoke resistance.”
“Even so, there must be a limit to how high a grade of Ruin he can clear by himself. More importantly, is there not also a limit to how many Ruins a Hunter can enter for clearing purposes?”
“……”
The Minister did have a point.
From the moment Hunters awakened, there was a fixed maximum number of Ruins they could clear.
[Number of Ruins Available to Clear (10)]
Their Status Windows displayed the number of Ruins they could still clear in exactly that manner.
Jeon Jae-woo had already cleared two Ruins, so his remaining number had fallen from twelve to ten.
Once that number was exhausted, there was no ordinary method by which a Hunter could clear another Ruin afterward.
For that reason, most Hunters were extremely cautious whenever they chose to enter a Ruin.
But from the government’s perspective, allowing a Hunter as powerful as Jeon Jae-woo to enter whichever Ruin struck his fancy could itself represent a considerable loss.
As an individual, he might be perfectly satisfied clearing irrelevant Common- or Rare-grade Ruins instead of contributing to Legendary- or Ancient-grade clears.
From the perspective of the country, however, that was not something they could simply overlook.
Yoo Jeong-tae had considered that concern himself.
Clearing a Legendary-grade Ruin was difficult, but it was not completely beyond South Korea’s combined strength.
If Jeon Jae-woo used up every one of his available clears on Legendary-grade Ruins by himself, South Korea might lose any opportunity to challenge Ancient-grade or higher Ruins with his assistance.
Even so, Yoo Jeong-tae was not particularly worried about it just yet.
“There is no need to be overly concerned. He only recently finished clearing a Legendary-grade Ruin. He will need time to recover, so I doubt he will immediately attempt another clear.”
“……”
They had only just become acquainted.
There was plenty of time to gradually build rapport and persuade him.
Just then—
-KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
An urgent knocking sounded against the door of the Minister’s office.
“Come in.”
A Hunter Administration employee hurried into the office.
“I apologize, Minister. Commissioner, I have an urgent report.”
“Yes, what is it?”
The employee took a moment to catch his breath before delivering news like a bolt from the blue.
“Another one of the new Legendary-grade Ruins has just been cleared. Once again, it was cleared by a Hunter named Jeon Jae-woo.”
“???”
Lee Cheol-su and Yoo Jeong-tae’s eyes widened simultaneously.
In an instant, the incident completely overturned Yoo Jeong-tae’s assurance that things would remain quiet for the time being.
***
The Legendary-grade Ruin known as Grave of Swords.
True to the word grave in its name, the atmosphere inside the Ruin was generally subdued.
It was not even raining, yet the very air somehow felt heavy.
As Jeon Jae-woo looked around the Ruin, he found himself swallowing nervously.
‘It feels like I walked into a cemetery.’
There were not actually graves scattered everywhere.
Instead, hundreds of swords that appeared to serve as gravestones were embedded throughout the hills.
And unidentified ghosts drifted through the air around them.
‘Wow. Those are actual ghosts.’
Jeon Jae-woo checked the Exploration Requirement once again.
[‘Grave of Swords’ Exploration Requirement: Lay to rest all guardian spirits that wander even in death, unable to leave the swords they once protected. (0/138)]
Since they were being called guardian spirits, it seemed they truly were spiritual beings rather than merely being described metaphorically.
Jeon Jae-woo hid behind Myeolgeop and asked.
“What exactly are those things?”
[They are monsters in a spiritual state, commonly known as Vengeful Spirits. Among beings that exist in the form of souls, they are considered some of the most dangerous.]
Myeolgeop did not appear concerned about fighting the monsters, but it seemed even more attentive to its master’s safety than usual.
[Creator. They are extremely hostile toward living beings, so please remain behind me. You must not leave my side under any circumstances.]
Jeon Jae-woo obediently nodded and followed Myeolgeop’s instructions without complaint.
‘Yes. I was planning to do that even if you had not told me.’
He would have to be insane to step in front of Myeolgeop inside a Legendary-grade Ruin.
Fortunately, all of the Vengeful Spirits were Earthbound Spirits.
Each one was restricted to the vicinity of the sword it inhabited and could not travel beyond a certain distance.
If they had also been free to move around wherever they pleased, perhaps the Ruin’s grade would have been one level higher.
Even a single one of those guardian spirits was at least comparable to an A-grade Hunter.
“But are you going to be all right? It does not seem like you have any obvious way to fight them.”
Their opponents were incorporeal ghost-type monsters.
They were famous for being immune to ordinary physical attacks.
That made them particularly troublesome even among Undead-type monsters in the eyes of Hunters.
No matter how powerful Myeolgeop was, Jeon Jae-woo wondered whether its usual methods of attack would even work against them.
[You need not worry about that.]
“You have some way to deal with them?”
[My Trait, Annihilation, automatically emits Mana suited to annihilating an opponent according to the nature of that opponent.]
“??”
-HUMMMMM.
A strange layer of Mana soon enveloped Myeolgeop’s Wrist Blade.
It was unmistakably Mana, yet it was somehow different from ordinary Mana.
Perhaps the difference was something like water, milk, and juice—all liquids, yet fundamentally different substances.
The Vengeful Spirits that had been directing hostility toward them suddenly flinched and showed signs of retreating.
But as mentioned earlier, the Earthbound Spirits could not leave their designated areas.
Myeolgeop immediately charged toward the guardian spirits of the swords, which had nowhere to escape.
-WHOOOOSH…
Myeolgeop’s blade tore through the guardian spirits with tremendous force.
A physical attack that would ordinarily have passed harmlessly through their spectral bodies struck them cleanly.
The guardian spirits that were sliced in half gradually faded one after another before disappearing entirely.
‘…I cannot even tell how these things are supposed to be stronger than Goblins.’
Since they were monsters from a Legendary-grade Ruin, they were undoubtedly incomparably stronger than Goblins.
But in the face of overwhelming strength, the distinction seemed meaningless.
Myeolgeop continued cutting down the guardian spirits of the swords.
[‘Grave of Swords’ Exploration Requirement: Lay to rest all guardian spirits that wander even in death, unable to leave the swords they once protected. (54/138)]
[‘Grave of Swords’ Exploration Requirement: Lay to rest all guardian spirits that wander even in death, unable to leave the swords they once protected. (77/138)]
[‘Grave of Swords’ Exploration Requirement: Lay to rest all guardian spirits that wander even in death, unable to leave the swords they once protected. (91/138)]
The number in the Exploration Requirement rose rapidly.
Still, perhaps because this was a Legendary-grade Ruin, it appeared to be taking slightly longer than clearing Old Golden Palace.
The Vengeful Spirits even managed to withstand several exchanges against Myeolgeop.
[‘Grave of Swords’ Exploration Requirement: Lay to rest all guardian spirits that wander even in death, unable to leave the swords they once protected. (138/138)]
And a short while later, Myeolgeop completed the entire Ruin clear without any real difficulty.
[The Exploration Mission has been completed.]
[The ‘Grave of Swords’ Ruin is now the property of Jeon Jae-woo.]
A notification window appeared announcing that the Exploration Mission had been completed.
Jeon Jae-woo clicked his tongue in amazement.
‘There really is nothing this thing cannot do.’
According to the description in its Status Window, Myeolgeop had once been the ultimate combat weapon of some ancient era.
Apparently, it had been designed with a countermeasure for practically any situation, whether it faced spirits or ordinary monsters.
In any case, now that they had finished clearing the Legendary-grade Ruin, it was time to collect the spoils.
Like the Altar of the Apostle of Death, this Legendary-grade Ruin did not appear to contain any special resource deposits or Mana Veins.
But the items that could be considered the Ruin’s spoils were immediately obvious.
-RUMMMMMBLE…
They were the more than one hundred swords embedded all around them.
The spirits attached to the swords had vanished, but the blades still emanated an ominous presence.
Jeon Jae-woo cautiously grabbed one of the swords and tried to pull it free.
Nothing happened to him despite touching the ominous blade.
The only problem was that no matter how hard he strained, the sword refused to budge from the ground.
“Urrrrgh…!”
He pulled with all his strength, but had it even moved a single millimeter?
What was this, King Arthur’s Excalibur? Why was it embedded so firmly?
Jeon Jae-woo eventually gave up and paused to catch his breath.
-CLANK, CLANK.
Meanwhile, Myeolgeop walked around the area, pulled every embedded sword out of the ground, and gathered them all together.
[Creator. I have retrieved all of the swords you may require.]
“……”
Jeon Jae-woo felt a faint sense of inadequacy at having his Golem do absolutely everything while he contributed nothing himself.