Yesterday’s lunch had been gukbap, thanks to the Commissioner’s strong recommendation.
“This is the place, Section Officer Lee. Since you went all the way to the uninhabited island, you should eat properly. Ma’am, we would like to order!”
The soup restaurant’s television was showing scenes from the memorial ceremony.
With a calm expression, the president read the memorial address.
[...The victims who lost their precious lives, the Hunters of the Republic of Korea who rushed here at once and protected Ganghwa-do, and our respected citizens, who stayed up through the night cheering them on and offered both material and moral support without hesitation.]
For a moment, the president’s gaze turned toward one place.
The television showed a bereaved family member wiping away tears with a white handkerchief.
[And also, the bereaved families who have buried beloved family members in their hearts. The government owes you a debt. We already know that no words we dare offer can truly comfort you. However...]
The president’s voice continued calmly.
[We will set things right, one step at a time. We will raise up the hope that has collapsed. Despite countless invasions by foreign powers, the Republic of Korea has never collapsed. Ten years ago, we shed tears on this land. But this sorrowful history must never be repeated.]
One by one, the bereaved families lifted their heads and looked at the man standing before them all.
[We will change history.]
“Your mixed gukbap is here!”
The server deftly placed seokbakji radish kimchi, seasoned chives, and two earthenware bowls on the table.
“The seokbakji here is incredible too! Section Officer Lee, eat plenty.”
The white pork bone broth was bubbling, filled with pork head meat and white sundae sausage.
“Please understand if things are a little hectic today.”
Since morning, inquiries from Hunters had been pouring into the Hunter Management Agency.
“It is fine.”
“It seems yesterday’s events improved our reputation among Hunters. That is a relief. Later, once the system is more established, I plan to transfer all Magic Stone-related work to our side as well.”
Considering the future, that was the right move.
“And the Association bastards’ movements have been quite suspicious too.”
“Is the Association plotting something?”
“Yes. When we go back up later, I plan to stop by Ms. Su-a’s office. Is that all right?”
“Yes, understood.”
“How is the office you were assigned? Is it usable?”
“I like it very much. Thank you.”
That morning, I had been assigned a new office.
It was not particularly large, but it was a practical private office with everything it needed.
I especially liked the fact that it was on the seventh floor.
I received Room 701, and Ms. Su-a received Room 702 right beside it.
After finishing the meal, I bought a few snacks and three fatigue-relief drinks from a convenience store, then headed to Room 702.
<Thank you for the Bacchus!>
Ms. Su-a, whose dark circles had sunk deeply beneath her eyes, welcomed us warmly.
“Section Officer Lee. You asked about the Tower before, did you not?”
“Yes, Commissioner.”
“Ms. Su-a finally broke through the U.S. TS security. For cross-verification, she also confirmed documents from China.”
“Then...”
“We did know about the Wish Right. But we did not know the details. After the Pentagon classified documents were leaked before, server security was strengthened. Thanks to that, even Ms. Su-a struggled quite a bit.”
If even Ms. Su-a, who possessed an ability practically on the level of a cheat code, had difficulty breaking through it, then hacking into the American classified document servers had to be considered almost impossible now.
“Was your question whether reviving the dead is possible?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
The look in the Commissioner’s eyes as he stared at me with a serious expression was unusual.
“What do you think?”
“Surely it is possible?”
If it truly was, there was someone I absolutely had to bring back to life.
“Yes. The answer is yes.”
For an instant, my mother’s face flashed through my mind.
My mother, who had known only hardship all her life and had passed away just when she was finally about to find stability.
Until the very last moment, my mother had smiled at me.
“Thank you.”
At my sincerely spoken words, the Commissioner smiled easily.
“It is nothing. This was information we were tracking anyway. We confirmed it together while looking into it.”
Even so, there was no reason for him to share classified information with an employee like me.
This meant the Commissioner had been especially considerate.
After briefly falling into thought, the Commissioner changed his expression and spoke again.
“Section Officer Lee, listen carefully. I said earlier that the Association’s movements were suspicious, did I not?”
“Yes, Commissioner.”
“A Hunter Association employee has infiltrated the Magic Stone Expo currently underway. Disguised as a booth.”
<Kim Hyeon-su. The booth name is “New Wave.”>
“Kim Hyeon-su is the Association Chairman’s secretary. His right-hand man. Section Officer Lee, why do you think he infiltrated the Magic Stone Expo? The Magic Stone Expo is originally an event hosted by the Association. So why would he hide his identity and do this?”
Ms. Su-a displayed several photos of Kim Hyeon-su on the monitor.
“These are images extracted from nearby CCTV data.”
A date from three weeks earlier was displayed beneath the screen.
There was a scene of Kim Hyeon-su meeting someone.
A scene of the two shaking hands and entering the Gwangjin Chemical factory.
And then...
Kim Hyeon-su came out wearing an outfit completely different from the one he had worn when he entered.
As though the person who had entered and the person who came out were entirely different people.
“I already told you that the price of Magic Stones has crashed recently, did I not?”
Tap, tap.
The Commissioner lightly tapped Ms. Su-a’s monitor with his index finger.
“And Gwangjin Chemical is a Magic Stone processing company. At present, about eighty percent of the supply from Towers and Dungeons is processed there.”
Next, photos of Magic Stones appeared on the screen.
Five Magic Stones had been placed with numbers from one to five, like criminal evidence.
“Synthetic Magic Stones are circulating in the market... and it seems they came from Gwangjin. The processing method is highly similar. They produced them at a quality that could fool anyone who did not have an appraisal-related class.”
Synthetic Magic Stones.
This was a more serious matter than expected.
“Of course, Hunters can distinguish them immediately, can they not?”
<Yes! Synthetic Magic Stones cannot actually be used.>
“The problem is ordinary people.”
At present, Magic Stones were considered a kind of safe-haven asset.
There were even people who collected them separately for wealth-building, even if they were not Hunters.
Just like the price of gold, the price of Magic Stones also fluctuated in real time, and the stock market even had products that tracked the Magic Stone Spot Index.
Therefore, producing and selling synthetic Magic Stones was essentially the same as making and distributing counterfeit money.
“Their audacity is truly astonishing. But they would not be doing something like this alone, would they?”
A new person appeared on the monitor.
He had been waiting inside a car, then received Kim Hyeon-su’s bag and moved it to the car trunk.
“Here. Do you see him?”
“This person is perhaps...”
He was someone I knew.
No, he was someone none of us could fail to know.
“That is right. It is Administrative Officer Kim, who entered through special recruitment this time.”
<The facial comparison analysis confirms it.>
Ms. Su-a brought up comparison photos of Administrative Officer Kim on both sides of the monitor.
When she pressed the Enter key, red dots began appearing over the photos.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
The match rate was 99.99%.
It was a result that left no possibility of him being someone else.
“We expected something like this might happen, but it still feels unpleasant.”
<That is why we have decided to add several more identity verification procedures for new recruits from now on.>
“You are working very hard, Ms. Su-a.”
<It is fine. I like things like this. I will catch them all and round them up in one sweep!>
The half-dead office worker from earlier was gone, and Ms. Su-a’s eyes began sparkling again.
“The Magic Stone Expo will be held at the COS Dungeon for one month. You only need to go there within that period. Buy some Magic Stones from Kim Hyeon-su’s secret booth. Ms. Su-a will tell you how. Bring them back, and we will compare them with the synthetic Magic Stones we obtained.”
“I will go tomorrow.”
As it happened, tomorrow was Friday.
If I missed tomorrow, I would have to wait until next Friday.
“Tomorrow right away? That would be good, but will you be all right this week, Section Officer Lee? You had the business trip to the uninhabited island and an SSS-Rank Tower clear. It feels as though you may be overexerting yourself.”
In truth, I had not overexerted myself at all.
“I am fine.”
“All right. Then, as I said before, if you think it seems even a little dangerous, leave immediately. You are far more important than a task like this, Section Officer Lee.”
“Thank you.”
That was how I had received the mission yesterday to investigate Kim Hyeon-su’s booth, which belonged to the Hunter Association.
The shuttle bus traveled smoothly through the Dungeon.
In the distance, the convention center came into view.
[We are here! Let us get off!]
[Here?]
[Yes. From here on, it is the convention center zone, so vehicles cannot enter.]
[Why not?]
[They stop immediately. They said it is because of something like a Mana Pulse. Small things are fine, but large things like cars do not work, apparently. They say you can block it if you shield the vehicle with Magic Stone panels, but... would that even be possible?]
[Ah! It would be incredibly expensive to cover an entire bus with them!]
So that was why smartwatches worked, but shuttles did not.
“From here, we will walk! Everyone, please get off and follow instructions!”
The people who had seemed to belong to the same Guild as the man earlier got off first in a crowd.
Then they began standing one by one at regular intervals all the way to the front of the expo hall, guiding people.
Kim Seong-ho of Storm Guild was currently in a very bad mood.
‘Those Association bastards. How dare they threaten us?’
Today, he had been called here before he could even enter the Tower.
It was some mission about escorting the shuttle, but although they called it volunteer work, it was practically a semi-forced assignment.
After all, the Association had notified them that if they did not comply with the instructions, their Magic Stone purchase volume would be reduced.
The mission was simple.
First, they would ride in on the shuttle and cover the section where vehicles could not enter because of the Mana Pulse.
Then they would switch places with the Hunters currently escorting the shuttle on motorcycles.
The time was from one o’clock to three o’clock.
That was enough time for roughly three round trips.
‘Why do we have to do this?’
Kim Seong-ho knew the reason as well.
It was because of people like that.
In his field of vision, a rookie Hunter getting off the bus appeared.
‘Tsk. Why crawl in here when you cannot even kill a single Dungeon monster?’
Was there any reason for them to cover for people like that?
Just because they were high-level?
The old days had been better.
Low-level Hunters at an expo?
Ridiculous.
Those without the qualifications could not even come near this place.
‘They do not even know how grateful they should be. They will only come to their senses if we stop doing this.’
But the Hunter Association was firm.
The Association had turned this route itself into a tourist product.
And now, it was said to be developing a new product called Monster Safari as well.
‘Have they gone mad with greed?’
Whew.
Even when he let out a deep breath, it only made him angrier.
If they were going to operate something like this, they should pay Hunters and hire them properly. Those damned bastards.
But the Hunter Association?
Paying money?
Nonsense.
It had been absurd from the beginning.
The COS Dungeon was the same.
Originally, the COS Convention Center had belonged to Jinsung Group, but the Association had practically seized it under the pretext of management and supervision.
Even as Kim Seong-ho cursed the Association inwardly, he checked the watch on his wrist whenever he had a spare moment.
‘I do not have time for this right now.’
Even clearing the Tower alone left him short on time.
Thanks to the 20% buff on Gwanaksan Tower, Kim Seong-ho had finally crossed the cursed wall of the 20th floor.
It was an achievement reached after nearly half a year.
‘While the 20% buff is active, and while the Growth Buff is active.’
He had to clear Gwanaksan Tower’s 21st floor.
Even if he entered now, he could not even estimate how many days it would take.
And yet, because of those damned Association bastards, he was throwing this precious time away on the ground.
‘It is because of people like that in the first place.’
In his field of vision, the rookie Hunter had now drawn close.
The low-level Hunter was looking around in every direction, making it painfully obvious that he was a beginner.
‘Some people appear like comets and faithfully clear the 1st and 2nd floors, even creating Tower buffs.’
While others leisurely went around playing at expos.
‘He truly has no sense.’
So Kim Seong-ho decided to teach the new recruit a lesson.
That at a time like this, it would be better to go to the Tower and experience real combat even once.
And therefore, that time was truly precious.
For the sake of that rookie’s future, he needed to make him understand clearly.
Without a doubt, that fellow had probably never even caught a single goblin.
‘I will show him what real combat is like.’
He would frighten him only a little.
There were plenty of high-level Hunters around here, so he would not be placed in a truly dangerous situation.
With that calculation in mind, Kim Seong-ho shifted a few steps to the side from his designated route.
This was an area where sandworms appeared, monsters that normally did not show up until the 5th floor of the Tower.
Right now, the soles of Kim Seong-ho’s shoes had magic characters engraved on them.
They were characters that formed a magic barrier to prevent monster intrusion when multiple people stood in precisely designated positions.
But if he shifted his position just slightly like this?
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—!
A long line formed in the ground.
It meant something was moving underground.
And that line went straight toward the approaching rookie.
He had deliberately calculated his position to make that happen.
Soon, a scream would be heard.
And that man would shed tears, beg to be saved, and kneel before him.
At that moment, Kim Seong-ho would stand solemnly and advise the rookie.
‘This is how realistic actual combat is. In a single moment of carelessness, your life can be lost. This is why you must diligently climb the Tower instead of wasting your time. The desire to improve is the foundation of being a Hunter.’
Thinking that made Kim Seong-ho feel rather good.
CRAAASH—!
At last, the ground split open, and a sandworm burst through.
“What, what is that?”
“A sandworm? Why did a sandworm suddenly appear?!”
People began to panic in surprise.
However, the high-level Hunters calmly took their weapons in hand and widened their distance.
Preparing to fight the approaching sandworm.
But then it happened.
Kim Seong-ho flinched as he felt someone’s gaze.
‘Where? Who is looking at me...?’
The owner of that gaze was the rookie standing right in front of the sandworm.
The new recruit swept cold eyes over him, and then...
SLASH—!
It lasted only an instant.
The rookie’s gaze brushed briefly over the sandworm.
That alone was all it took for the sandworm to stop moving.
And that was not all.
The sandworm’s body, like a log—no, like a stick of pickled radish—was sliced into pieces and dropped to the ground one by one.
THUD! THUMP! SPLAT—!
All of this happened in an instant.
Kim Seong-ho watched everything with blank eyes, and then, suddenly, he remembered what that rookie had said on the shuttle.
‘It has not been long since I awakened.’
“N-no!”
By the time he came to his senses, that rookie had already vanished far from his sight.
Using the updated glossary and instructions for consistency.