"Hey, snap out of it. You have a gate to clear."
The Guardian Guild would come looking for him.
I lightly slapped Shin Taeyang's cheek. No response.
"Was it really shocking enough to make you react like this?"
『Skill Description』
Lv.10: Can cut non-material objects
Lv.11: Power and range increased by 35%
'...The Skill name changed.'
The original official name of Straight Slash was 'Shin Style Straight Slash.' Once it reached Level 11, my name was attached to the front.
'Reaching Level 11 added an effect that increases its power and range.'
There was already an enormous difference in base power between Level 10 and Level 11. But with an additional effect on top of that, the gap became impossible to catch up with.
I could understand to some extent why Shin Taeyang had been so horrified.
"Ugh..."
Shin Taeyang regained consciousness and sat up. He turned his head toward me and spoke expressionlessly.
"Master."
"Why."
Then he abruptly stood up. He gathered his belongings, stood in front of me, and bowed his head.
"I have a gate to clear, so I'll be going. I'll see you next time."
"Uh... sure."
He had suddenly become much quieter. After taking a few steps, Shin Taeyang stopped and stared for a moment at the mark Straight Slash had left on the wall.
Then he clenched his fist tightly and left the room.
'...Well, he'll probably be fine.'
Having motivation to work harder was a good thing. Shin Taeyang undoubtedly possessed talent that could blossom, so there was nothing wrong with giving him a little stimulation.
'I made good use of my time thanks to Shin Taeyang.'
The facilities in the VIP room had truly been fantastic. I had raised Strength, Agility, Throwing, and even Straight Slash to Level 11.
That had taken six days, which came to 180 million won if calculated in money. I still wondered whether that price could possibly be real, but since I had used it for free thanks to Shin Taeyang, I was satisfied.
It was about time for me to leave as well.
"Master."
Just as I stood up, Shin Taeyang came back.
"What? Don't you have to go clear the gate?"
"No, there's something I wanted to tell you. I asked the front desk, and they said you don't have to worry about paying for the wall."
"Ah, right."
The wall did not have restoration magic applied to it. However, the dummy area had originally been constructed under the assumption that it would sustain damage.
'I heard they actually like it when marks are left behind.'
Information about hunters was money. Since there were no CCTV cameras in training rooms, traces like these were apparently something the center managers responsible for aftercare would celebrate.
An employee from a center that later went bankrupt had told me that himself.
'They probably won't think I did it. Maybe they'll assume Shin Taeyang did.'
In any case, Shin Taeyang had gone out of his way to make sure I did not worry.
"Then I'll really be going now."
"Yeah. Good luck..."
I waved lightly. He really must have been deeply shocked. He looked completely deflated.
'Then I should get going too.'
As I gathered the belongings I had left in the locker room, my smartphone rang.
It was a number I had saved in advance.
— Baekmuk
I had been planning to contact him soon, but I had not expected him to call first. That worked for me. I answered the phone.
"Goodbye!"
The employees waiting at the center bowed ninety degrees toward Shin Taeyang. Once he had completely left, one of the female employees began chatting.
"The guy who just left is apparently a new recruit from the Guardian Guild. Isn't he handsome?"
"Really? He's incredibly good-looking. I'm becoming a fan starting today. What's his name?"
"Shin Taeyang."
"Wow, if he comes again, I'm going to ask him for a photo."
"He probably won't. I heard the Guardian Guild finished remodeling its training room."
While they chatted, the man who had entered with Shin Taeyang came down to the first floor.
"Goodbye!"
They bowed to him as well. Once the man disappeared, the employees resumed their conversation.
"Who was that guy? He went in with Shin Taeyang."
"Who knows? Maybe he's also from the Guardian Guild? He's handsome."
"Come on, I wouldn't go that far. Seems like the kind of face people would either like or dislike."
Ahem.
At that moment, someone cleared his throat behind them.
It was the center director.
"Stop talking about unnecessary things and get back to work."
"Yes—"
Hunters were sensitive to conversations like this. With their heightened five senses, even the smallest noises made by employees could reach a hunter's ears.
Especially since the customers who had just left were guests from the Guardian Guild. It was better not to indulge in pointless gossip.
The center director approached the counter.
"I need to inspect the training room before it's cleaned. Give me the key."
"Ah, about VIP Room 701."
The employee at the counter, who had been handing him the key, spoke as though she had just remembered something.
"They said there was major damage to the wall in the dummy area."
"Really?"
"Since they were from the Guardian Guild, we processed it without any issue."
"Good. I'll inspect it first, so don't send anyone upstairs."
"Understood."
The center director patted the employee's shoulder and stepped into the elevator.
'I heard he's a hunter the Guardian Guild values tremendously. Let's see what he did in there.'
The center director kept himself well informed about developments in the hunter world through visiting hunters and acquaintances within various guilds.
Conversely, there were also many occasions when he provided information in exchange for compensation.
'Information is money in this day and age.'
Such information was useful when making future investments or establishing ties with a particular guild in advance.
Cooperation with other guilds was essential to running a center of this enormous scale.
Thinking that, he arrived at VIP Room 701.
'I expected them to have wrecked the rest of the place too, but they left it clean.'
There really were lunatics from time to time. People who smashed equipment to pieces and then acted as though it had nothing to do with them. As long as it was not that bad, things were fine.
'Let's see. His name was Shin Taeyang from the Guardian Guild, right?'
There had been another guy with him, but from what he could tell, that man did not belong to the Guardian Guild. He had asked an acquaintance, who said no such person existed within the guild.
He was probably just some kind of manager.
Thinking that, the center director continued walking.
He stopped in the middle of the training room.
His gaze turned toward the dummy area.
There was indeed a massive crack in the wall.
'Huh...'
The center director's expression began to change as he stared at it.
'I'm sure I heard he was only C-rank.'
The crack in the wall was by no means something a C-rank hunter could create. In particular, the walls of the dummy area were finished with special materials, making a mark like this impossible at that Rank.
And when it came to reading traces like these, no one could match him.
The center director took pride in that.
Unable to suppress the laughter rising inside him, he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! The Guardian Guild recruited a monster of a rookie. I can't believe I got information this valuable so easily."
He could not have been happier. After laughing heartily, he hurriedly called someone.
"Start sending sponsorship money to Shin Taeyang of the Guardian Guild immediately, and support his growth as much as possible. Pour everything into him! We need to be the first ones to offer sponsorship. We have to establish ties with him early while we still can."
It would be too late if they waited until Shin Taeyang became S-rank.
Greedy laughter continued spilling from the center director's mouth.
Thirty minutes until my meeting with Baekmuk.
'I arrived even earlier because I had to match the bus schedule.'
If this business went well, I should buy myself a compact car. I could not keep taking buses everywhere forever.
I stopped by a nearby bookstore. It was not simply to kill time. There was a magazine I wanted to check.
'Monthly Hunter.'
It was a magazine I had loved reading before my regression. It contained plenty of information that was difficult to obtain online.
I had read it diligently while promising myself that someday I would become a high-ranking hunter.
Flip.
As I turned the pages, familiar photos and articles appeared.
'It wasn't much help back then, but after regressing, the knowledge in here is extremely useful.'
For someone who had been a bottom-tier F-rank hunter, I had known quite a lot of information. That was why I knew so much about other dungeons.
'Oh, Kim Minsu is on the cover.'
The person gracing the cover was Kim Minsu, the Archmage who had been one of the Last Five. He had an earnest-looking face, but after being fully styled for the shoot, he looked impressive.
'He's really young here.'
I opened the magazine and looked through its contents. Memories of the past surfaced one after another. Most of it was information I could recall through Memory Search, but seeing it directly felt different.
'South Korea succeeds in world's first gate control, American hunter Gregs clears highest-rank gate alone...'
I carefully read through even the corners of the magazine that I had failed to examine in the past.
The Red Comet Cheon Seongho.
Saint Chae Ayeon.
Two heroes who had led me and the other Koreans of the ruined world.
Their names were nowhere to be found yet.
'As expected, their names won't become known until later. They were younger than me too.'
They were probably around high-school age now. They might not even have awakened yet.
'It would actually be better if they haven't awakened yet.'
That would eliminate any possible connection with the demons.
'The problem is that even if I want to find them, I have no idea where they are.'
I could not travel all across the country searching for them. I was already busy enough with my own growth. Someone else needed to find them for me.
That was another reason this meeting with Baekmuk was important.
I closed the magazine and was about to leave the bookstore when I heard a commotion outside.
An enormous crowd had gathered in front of the lake park.
"South Korea's top guild, the Silver Wings Guild, is about to complete its S-rank gate raid!"
"This is insane. It's a record-breaking clear time! If this continues, the Silver Wings Guild will definitely surpass the Five Stars and move up one place in the rankings!"
Reporters, streamers, and spectators were all mixed together in the chaotic crowd. Come to think of it, today was the day the S-rank Silver Wings Guild was scheduled to finish its raid.
'That's the guild Yoon Seohyeon's older sister belongs to.'
In reality, this raid would end successfully. The Silver Wings Guild would surpass the Five Stars and rise to second place.
'I wanted to buy some related stocks. But I don't have the money...'
Once I sold the magic stones this time, I should make some investments.
Then I spotted a familiar face among the dense crowd. Yoon Seohyeon was beneath a tent where Hunter Association personnel were waiting.
At this point, there was still no way to know whether the raid had succeeded. Even so, perhaps because she trusted her sister so much, she casually sipped coffee with a relaxed expression.
'Yoon Seohyeon was originally supposed to die...'
Yoon Seohyeon, who should have been killed by Kuhullen, had survived because of my intervention. Naturally, the future of her older sister, Yoon Jieun, must have changed as well.
Yoon Jieun, one of the Last Eleven, known as the Infinite Archer.
She had been a hero who hated goblins with an extreme passion, but now the reason for that hatred no longer existed. Her younger sister Yoon Seohyeon had not died.
Because of that, I could not know how Yoon Jieun's future would change.
'Even without that catalyst, she's a strong person. She'll probably manage just fine.'
She had been a true hero who fought the demons to the very end even after losing her younger sister and her guildmates.
At that moment, Yoon Seohyeon turned her head in my direction.
'Ah.'
Seeing her face reminded me of a promise I had forgotten.
'I said I'd buy her a meal.'
Fortunately, Yoon Seohyeon did not notice me and turned her gaze elsewhere.
'Whew. Good.'
It was not that I intended to break my promise. I was on my way to meet Baekmuk right now, so even if I wanted to buy her a meal, I could not.
'I'll do it next time.'
I could also ask how the Hunter Association had resolved the previous incident.
Before she could notice me, I hurried toward the place where I had agreed to meet Baekmuk.
A small café.
Baekmuk had arrived first and was waiting for me. Two cups of coffee sat in front of him. He waved with a relaxed smile.
"Ah, you're here. I ordered the drinks in advance. An Americano is fine, right?"
He had ordered my coffee without asking.
'How did he know I like Americanos?'
Actually, anything was good if it was free.
I sat down across from him. Baekmuk adjusted his glasses and spoke.
"What happened last time was an enormous help. I can't tell you the details, but thanks to that, the standing of our guild itself has changed."
He was talking about the incident one week ago, when I had raided the hunter agency.
It seemed the information guild Baekmuk operated, Horizon Information Guild, had gained tremendously from the soul contract document I had given him.
'Come to think of it, what was actually written on it?'
I still remembered the characters and patterns engraved on it. If I acquired an Interpretation Skill, I would be able to understand its contents, but it was not important right now.
"I suppose you could call it an incredible stroke of luck."
Baekmuk stirred his coffee with the straw. The floating ice cubes spun around with the coffee.
"We narrowed down the culprit who stole that document to about five people, but we couldn't exactly tear apart every possible location searching for it."
Baekmuk was both the head of an information guild and an S-rank hunter. Because of that, he had no hesitation about taking direct action himself.
What was interesting was that despite how active he was, his face was not widely known. At least, not at this point in time.
"That was when you appeared at exactly the right moment, Lee Jihan. You were practically my savior."
Baekmuk showered me with exaggerated praise, accompanied by his usual unreadable smile.
He took a small sip of his cold coffee and continued.
"So I'd like to repay you in my own way."
Baekmuk, who had been known as the information broker of the ruined world.
The network and intelligence resources he was building were probably far more extensive than I could imagine.
And now, I had gained an opportunity to make use of them.