The apartment assigned to Song Ji-hu was in a sixty-story high-rise residential complex located in the middle of Gangnam.
As befitted the name S-rank-exclusive, even the security system was on another level. From biometric recognition at the entrance to the underground parking garage to the deployment of security Hunters around the clock.
One might wonder if security Hunters were needed in a place like this, but their purpose was not to protect the Hunters inside. It was to prevent intrusions by outsiders.
Following Yoon Yeong-su’s guidance, they arrived on the fifty-seventh floor and saw two doors standing side by side at the end of the wide corridor.
Units 5701 and 5702.
“This side is Hunter Song Ji-hu’s residence, and that side is Hunter Eun Seo-jin’s.”
When Yoon Yeong-su held up a card and unlocked the door lock, Song Ji-hu stepped inside and scanned the interior.
The kitchen, study, and bedroom. Every room in the home was spacious.
The living room alone looked five or six times larger than the studio apartment he was currently living in, and beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, Seoul’s skyline came into view at a glance.
However, what Song Ji-hu’s gaze lingered on was not the flashy interior.
“A private training room in the basement is directly connected to the unit. There is a helipad on the roof, and in an emergency, you can reach Seoul’s major hubs within fifteen minutes. The Association is also five minutes away on foot.”
It was not good simply because it was an expensive house with a nice interior. Its value lay in the fact that, in many ways, it was like an optimal tactical command center.
“Do you like it?”
Yoon Yeong-su asked carefully with a nervous expression.
“Yes. It’s decent.”
“If there are any items you wish to move from your previous residence, please tell me. I will take care of everything.”
Song Ji-hu shook his head.
“There isn’t much to bring, but I’ll take care of it myself. Just lend me a car.”
“No! I will drive!”
Yoon Yeong-su’s answer was quite fast. The purpose in his eyes beyond his glasses was transparently clear.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
When Song Ji-hu agreed, Yoon Yeong-su smiled brightly and guided him to the underground parking garage.
“I will go with you, too.”
Eun Seo-jin, who had finished looking around his new home, joined them as well.
“It’s not like I’m carrying a lot, the way you’d imagine for a move.”
“Even so, are we not in the same guild?”
“That is correct. Hunter Song Ji-hu is also the guild’s leader.”
With even Eun Seo-jin joining in, Song Ji-hu merely shrugged and laughed.
***
At the same time. The Association President’s office.
After hearing Yoon Yeong-su’s report, Park Jeong-ho was listening to the recorded call for the third time.
– And… the mental contamination levels of the Hunters who ran the dungeon with him decreased.
Every time he heard that recording, his temples throbbed.
“Hah….”
Park Jeong-ho dry-washed his face with his palm.
Mental contamination treatment. That alone was a bomb that could shake the power structure of the entire world.
He had lost sleep wondering how to safely confine that bomb inside a fence.
And now, they were saying contamination levels decreased simply by running a dungeon with him.
Combat ability beyond C-rank, tactical judgment, orders, and the ability to break through special gimmicks. Honestly, none of that was surprising, nor did he care.
Because those were not factors that affected him.
‘What a cunning bastard.’
Park Jeong-ho’s molars clenched tightly.
“He definitely could have hidden it. No, hiding it would have been normal.”
If he were an ordinary Hunter, that was. There was no reason to so blatantly show off all his abilities in his first dungeon.
Yet he deliberately showed them.
In a place where Yoon Yeong-su was watching, and with body cams recording.
The meaning was clear.
‘Look very carefully at my value. And do not even think of touching me.’
And the fact that he had shown this much in his first dungeon also meant there was more he had yet to show.
“…What else am I supposed to give him?”
A sigh slipped out at Song Ji-hu’s warning not to clumsily test the waters.
He had given him a home. He had approved guild establishment. He had even attached core Association personnel to him.
Was it enough?
No. It was clearly lacking. There was no way a figure with that level of ability would be moved by a single apartment.
‘In that bastard’s eyes, it probably looks like an obvious investment, not a debt.’
Park Jeong-ho leaned his head against the back of the chair and stared up at the ceiling.
What more did he have to offer to keep that monster inside the fence called Korea?
No, did such a method even exist?
No matter how he thought about it, no answer came.
“Another huge mess is coming… Dammit.”
While Song Ji-hu moved what little luggage he had and settled into his new apartment, the internet was, as everyone expected, properly burning.
The first to set the fire was Yu Heon-sik, just as Song Ji-hu had expected.
From the group chat he belonged to, to the Hunter-only community.
The heroic tale that poured from Yu Heon-sik’s mouth after he had a drink spread in an instant like sparks across a dry field.
[[Verification] I Ran a Dungeon Today with Song Ji-hu, the Guy Who Was an Issue Last Time]
[Author : 30-Year Tanker, One Path / Views : 16,397,230]
[I went to Fortress of the Silent Sentinel earlier. Yes, the Gate where two raids failed. Bottom line, we cleared it.
It was Song Ji-hu’s first Gate, and Eun Seo-jin came with him. He really was healed. The two of them apparently founded a guild called Zero Point.
Anyway, that’s not the important part. Summary below.
Mental Barrier. It sharply reduces the debuff. You can barely feel the coercive force.
His ability is insane. He doesn’t feel like a Hunter who awakened recently, but like a veteran Hunter who’s spent about ten years rolling around in the field. He’s mental-type, but he’s good with a blade, and his orders are outstanding.
The most important part. I only entered and came out of a dungeon with him once, but my contamination level dropped. Only by 1, but it definitely dropped. Proof attached.]
↳ Yu Heon-sik posted this himself? This is the first time I’ve seen that guy post something like this.
↳ ???????
↳ Mental contamination level really decreased? Just by running a dungeon together?
↳ No, seriously… it did go down. Only by 1, though.
↳ Did you get scammed?
↳ No bait like this, please.
While everyone was throwing out question marks, asking whether they had really heard correctly, verification posts from Hunters who had participated in the raid began appearing one after another after Yu Heon-sik’s post.
[[Verification] I Ran It with Them Too. Everything Boss Yu Heon-sik Said Is True.]
[Author : Anonymous Hunter / Views : 15,129,880]
[First of all, the clear method wasn’t enemy annihilation. It was a special dungeon, and Song Ji-hu figured it out alone and solved it together with Eun Seo-jin. And my contamination level dropped by 1 too.
Everyone knows that after running a dungeon, it always either rises or stays the same. But I checked with the device three times and even went to the hospital, and it definitely went down.
Of course, there were people whose levels didn’t go down, but there were also people whose levels did.]
The flow of comments in the community, which had already been boiling from Yu Heon-sik’s post alone, stopped for a very brief moment.
Then it exploded.
↳ For real?
↳ If this is true, every Hunter with high contamination levels is going to rush over.
↳ No, I only half believed the rumors about Eun Seo-jin being completely cured, but what is this now?
↳ See? I told you Eun Seo-jin’s healing was real!
↳ No, honestly, think about it. Is it that easy to have a belief you’ve held your whole life shattered?
↳ If reduction is confirmed, it’s game over. It’s reduction, not delay. Something even Emilia Jones can’t do.
Hunter public opinion across the world, which had already been blazing over the news of Eun Seo-jin’s complete cure, was now beyond control.
↳ Why is there no announcement from the Association?
↳ Exactly. Shouldn’t something like this be announced immediately?
↳ Zero Point Guild? Are they not accepting people there?
↳ Isn’t the Association deliberately not announcing it because they’re trying to monopolize him?
The fire that began in Korea crossed borders in an instant. Ever since the previous Eun Seo-jin incident, people all over the world had been paying attention to the Korean Hunter community.
The posts were translated in real time and spread to Hunter communities around the world, including America, Japan, Europe, and China.
[Breaking News : Korean Hunter ‘Song Ji-hu’ Can Purify Mental Contamination During Battle.]
[Breaking News: Korean C-rank Hunter May Reduce Contamination Levels Simply by Accompanying Dungeon Runs.]
Posts in dozens of languages poured out. And at the center of them, two names kept surfacing again and again.
Song Ji-hu and Zero Point.
Hunter Associations in various countries began sending official letters to the Korean Association to verify the facts, and some giant guilds even launched private jets before any official statement had been made.
Twenty years after the Gates first opened.
The hope that mental contamination could be healed spread faster than fear.
***
Deep at night.
Song Ji-hu stood by the window, looking outside with all the lights in the living room turned off.
The nightscape of Seoul beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass was dazzling. In one corner of the living room sat the belongings he had brought from his previous studio apartment.
The luggage he had brought from the studio apartment was simple. A few sets of clothes, a framed picture, and a handful of miscellaneous things. That was everything Song Ji-hu owned.
Song Ji-hu stood by the window and toyed with the compass in his pocket.
He felt the cold, hard touch of metal, and the needle was still.
Ding-
When his phone alarm rang, Song Ji-hu took out his phone and checked the contents.
[Yoon Yeong-su : I have organized the community and international Hunter public opinion trends. It would be safe to assume that news related to mental contamination has already spread across the world.]
[Yoon Yeong-su : The whole world is paying attention, and there is news that several guilds are already heading to Korea. We need a response plan and a direction for the guild going forward.]
Seeing that Eun Seo-jin had also been copied, Song Ji-hu gave a faint laugh and opened the calendar.
Only six days remained until March 21.
The seventh life had been quite dynamic from the very beginning.
Mental Dive, Ryu Jin, Eun Seo-jin, and the Association.
Now that he had obtained the sword called Eun Seo-jin, it was time to obtain a shield.
Because he needed to save Im Jae-hyeok, the tanker he trusted most, the man who had gone mad in four of the six lives and had his soul harvested every time.
“There are many things to do before that, too….”
Song Ji-hu turned off his phone screen and lay down on the sofa just like that.
***
The morning after clearing the Gate.
Thanks to the iron rule that a Hunter who had entered a Gate must take at least twenty-four hours of mandatory rest, Song Ji-hu greeted the morning leisurely.
Of course, it was a meaningless regulation to Song Ji-hu, but a rule was a rule.
“I’ll need to talk about this too.”
While pretending to hand them a great deal in return, at that.
When he took the elevator down to the apartment lobby at the appointed time, Yoon Yeong-su was already waiting in front of the car.
“Good morning! Hunter Song Ji-hu, Hunter Eun Seo-jin.”
He looked exactly the same as yesterday, in a neat suit with a tablet and document bag.
When Yoon Yeong-su bowed in greeting, Eun Seo-jin gave a small nod half a step behind Song Ji-hu.
Once the three of them got into the car, Yoon Yeong-su handed the tablet to Song Ji-hu in the back seat before starting the vehicle.
“There are two items on today’s agenda. First, selecting a guild office. Second, advance registration for tomorrow’s scheduled C-rank dungeon.”
Song Ji-hu looked at the map and nodded.
“I will handle dungeon registration.”
When Eun Seo-jin took out his phone, Song Ji-hu jerked his chin.
“Please do. The Gate we discussed yesterday.”
At Song Ji-hu’s brief approval, Eun Seo-jin nodded, and Yoon Yeong-su immediately moved to the main topic.
“This concerns the guild office. Special approval from the Association President has been granted. I have currently listed A-grade offices in the Gangnam and Yeouido areas.”
Subtle pride seeped into Yoon Yeong-su’s voice. On the screen, photos of glamorous floor-to-ceiling glass buildings and offices with sophisticated interiors appeared one after another.
“I narrowed it down to only properties in the best locations. Property No. 1 is a five-minute walk from the Association building. It is around one hundred square meters, with a private parking lot and a fully equipped security system. Many guilds are currently housed in this building.”
Yoon Yeong-su explained the strengths and weaknesses of each location without pause.
As befitted a capable administrator, he had meticulously organized even the market prices, accessibility, and security grades.
Song Ji-hu listened to Yoon Yeong-su’s explanation and scanned the tablet screen, then set the tablet down with a tap.
“Hmm, these are good properties, but… they’re just crowded, cramped, and expensive.”
It was not the kind of place Song Ji-hu wanted.
“Is there a place you have in mind separately…?”
Song Ji-hu looked over the map and slowly opened his mouth.
“There is a place I’ve thought of….”
Though it was probably a location a little different from what Yoon Yeong-su had in mind.