The Boss Orc itself had never been a dangerous opponent.
Its skin was as hard as steel, and judging from its enormous build alone, it must have possessed tremendous destructive power.
But it had been bound by the red light, and I had enough strength to cut through steel.
The green light that poured from it after its death, however—
That was different.
For the first time, my survival instincts had warned me.
“…Plague.”
I had never dismissed the moment I met Death as a dream.
It had been far too vivid for that.
More than anything, this world and my transformed body were proof.
But until now, I hadn’t known anything about the Plague Death had spoken of.
“So it really does exist.”
Now I could feel it with certainty.
The target of my revenge existed somewhere in this world.
* * *
After the Boss died and the Gate began to close—
“I’ll do anything you ask…!”
Choi Yoon-seo begged and begged.
Well, considering they had nearly died, I could understand why they were acting like this.
Still, now that we had even cleared the Gate, it seemed a little excessive.
Besides, there was something else I needed to receive from Choi Yoon-seo.
“About the distribution.”
“……! The distribution… you mean?”
Choi Yoon-seo and the other party members looked as though the moment they had dreaded had finally arrived.
But soon, despite the cold sweat running down their faces, they adopted resolute expressions.
“…We’ve committed a sin worthy of death. Truly….”
A sin worthy of death?
“What distribution? That would be absurd…! All the Mana Stones belong to you, Hunter Kim!”
“……?”
I stared blankly at Choi Yoon-seo after that sudden declaration.
They had caused such a scene when they thought the Mana Stones had disappeared, and now this?
Wondering if Choi Yoon-seo had lost their mind, I asked—
“Have you gone insane?”
“Eek! N-No, I’m sorry. T-Take the backpack too!”
Hadn’t they said that thing was expensive?
“Are you in your right mind?”
“Ah…! I-I’ll give you this equipment too! A-And I have some money saved up. If you just spare me, I’ll convert it into Coins and give it to you immediately!”
“U-Us too!”
“Please…….”
Seriously.
‘They’re good people.’
So what if they acted a little recklessly because they were still young?
I had seen plenty of people who were worse than beasts.
People who survived only because someone helped them, then turned around and blamed their rescuer.
People who even pointed blades at the person who saved them.
But Choi Yoon-seo’s party was different.
“I-If there’s anything you want, just say the word…!”
Even after surviving, they hadn’t changed their attitude.
They were expressing their gratitude.
And sincerely, at that.
“I only need my share of the Mana Stones.”
I had no intention of demanding excessive repayment, so that was all I said.
“Aah….”
‘Why do they look like they’ve seen a ghost?’
Just then, the Gate completely closed and the transfer began.
“…He has no intention of sparing us, no matter what we do.”
Choi Yoon-seo seemed to mutter something strange, but—
At that moment, blue rather than gray filled my vision, and fresh air without even a hint of acridness wrapped around my body.
We had returned outside the Gate.
I had already experienced being automatically transferred outside once a Gate closed, so that part wasn’t surprising.
What did surprise me were the people standing outside.
“H-Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”
“Choi Ji-woong?”
A familiar face was there.
Choi Ji-woong, a Hunter from the Special Division.
And he wasn’t alone.
“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”
Park Min-ho, the Special Division Director.
There were other Special Division Hunters as well.
‘Why are all of them here?’
That was when—
“…It’s over. We’re finished. I’m sorry, everyone. …Huh?”
Choi Yoon-seo, who had been muttering continuously while emerging from the Gate, froze when they spotted the Special Division.
The other party members who followed them out did the same.
“Gasp! The Special Division!”
Their faces showed surprise and confusion.
But beneath that, there was unmistakable relief.
Seeing that made me feel proud.
The party members had remained anxious and unable to relax even though they had survived.
But the moment they saw the Special Division, they immediately calmed down.
“We’re alive! We’re alive!”
Was this the level of trust the Association’s Special Division Hunters inspired?
“It’s the Special Division!”
“It really is the Special Division!”
“Even Park Min-ho is here!”
I felt proud.
“S-Save—”
Just as Choi Yoon-seo tried to shout something toward Park Min-ho—
THUD.
Park Min-ho approached me and dropped to his knees.
“……?”
“……?”
“Hm?”
I was confused.
So were Choi Yoon-seo and the rest of the party.
“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. If we have done anything wrong, please reprimand us. If there is anything you find lacking, please tell us!”
Then—
THUD!
Choi Ji-woong dropped to his knees beside him.
“I’m sorry I failed to attend to you properly! Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, please…! Please don’t leave us!”
What was going on?
Fortunately, I didn’t seem to be the only one unable to understand the situation.
“…Huh?”
Choi Yoon-seo and the rest of their party stared blankly.
“…Why are the Special Division Hunters…?”
Apparently, they also found it strange that the Special Division Hunters had suddenly knelt before me.
I didn’t understand either, so I asked Park Min-ho.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Park Min-ho flinched at my words, then immediately tried to bow his head to the ground.
Startled, I grabbed him and pulled him back up.
“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon…! Please, don’t abandon us……!”
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you see the note?”
I had definitely left a note.
A note saying that I would be away for a while to earn money.
I had even properly filed for Annual Leave.
“……Money?”
“So you did see it.”
“If it’s money, we have it prepared.”
Park Min-ho spoke with grave determination.
“We’ve significantly increased the amount you’ll be paid, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. And Yuseong has agreed to provide additional support as well!”
“Yuseong?”
“I know even that isn’t enough. But if you leave now, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, we’re dead.”
Park Min-ho pulled his arm free from my grip and dropped back to his knees.
“We’ll give you everything we have! Please…! Please! Spare us!”
“Please spare us!”
“Gasp!”
At the cries of the Special Division Hunters, Choi Yoon-seo’s party recoiled in horror and collapsed to the ground.
* * *
Park Min-ho was sincerely relieved.
If Kim Si-hyeon had truly left like this—or worse, become a Hunter for another country—it would have been disastrous.
For now, Kim Si-hyeon’s existence was classified as a national secret.
But if another country had recruited him, they would undoubtedly have publicized it on a massive scale.
They would announce that they had welcomed a Returnee whom Korea had mistreated.
If word got out that the Association had managed to secure a Returnee only to fail to retain him, the resulting backlash would have engulfed the entire country.
The Association would undoubtedly have been branded by the public as the worst traitors in history and Disaster-Class trash.
“Where is Hunter Kim Si-hyeon?”
“We escorted him to the Safe House for now.”
“Good.”
Park Min-ho and Choi Ji-woong exchanged solemn looks as though they had just cleared an S-rank Gate.
“…Did you properly explain how much he’ll be receiving?”
“I was worried he might think it was insufficient, so I only told him it would be a lot.”
“Good.”
Park Min-ho didn’t hold back his praise.
“Let’s meet his expectations as much as possible. As for whatever amount we’re still short… I’ll fill the gap even if I have to go head-to-head with the Association President.”
“…I’m counting on you.”
Kim Si-hyeon could never be allowed to slip away.
It wasn’t merely because of his unique status as a Returnee.
Kim Si-hyeon was dangerous enough to bear the title Slaughterer.
If he became a Hunter for another nation, it wouldn’t simply amount to the loss of a national asset.
It would be equivalent to having a nuclear weapon stolen.
And what if someone like him became dissatisfied with Korea’s treatment and turned hostile?
‘We’d be finished.’
No matter what it took, they had to keep him here and remain on his side.
“The Association President won’t hold back either. Fortunately, we’ve gained a reliable supporter in Yuseong.”
“That truly is fortunate.”
Moreover, this incident had revealed yet another peculiar trait about Kim Si-hyeon.
“…Anomalous Gates aren’t supposed to be this common.”
Three Anomalous Gates in such a short period.
Every single one had been connected to Kim Si-hyeon.
The incident at Yuseong could be treated as an exception, since the Gate had already become anomalous before Kim Si-hyeon entered it.
But—
‘The Ultra-Anomalous Gate. And this Anomalous Gate.’
At first, Park Min-ho had assumed that Kim Si-hyeon had returned through an Ultra-Anomalous Gate.
But after seeing the Gate he had entered this time transform into an Anomalous Gate, Park Min-ho had changed his mind.
Perhaps that Gate had become an Ultra-Anomalous Gate because Kim Si-hyeon had been inside it.
‘Can this really be called a coincidence?’
Returnees were different from ordinary Hunters.
But even among Returnees, Kim Si-hyeon was exceptional.
And dangerous.
“…Anyway.”
Park Min-ho pushed thoughts of Kim Si-hyeon aside for the moment and looked toward one side.
“What about those people?”
He was looking at Choi Yoon-seo’s party.
“Please! Please spare us…! We’ll give everything to him!”
“I-I have some money saved up in Coins!”
“Please spare us! Uwaaaah!”
They were the Hunters who had cleared the Gate alongside Kim Si-hyeon.
The investigation had already been completed.
Apparently, they had hired Kim Si-hyeon through the Mercenary Office.
“It seems they hired Hunter Kim Si-hyeon as a Porter.”
“…As a Porter?”
They certainly had guts, trying to use the Slaughterer as a Porter.
But it made sense.
‘His cover ID listed him as D-rank.’
Fortunately, Kim Si-hyeon had honestly used the cover identification issued to him by the Association, which had allowed them to locate him quickly.
Apparently, rather than genuinely intending to leave this time, Kim Si-hyeon had probably been trying to warn the Special Division.
A warning that he could disappear like this whenever he wanted, and that they needed to remain mindful of how they treated him.
“But… apparently, they contracted him as a Porter under Contribution-Based Distribution.”
“What?”
Park Min-ho’s face twisted.
“Contribution-Based Distribution for a Porter? That means they weren’t planning to pay him anything. People still pull that kind of crap?”
“…Porters are hardly used anymore in the first place. And there’s something else….”
Choi Ji-woong lowered his voice.
“It looks like they obtained the Gate Clearing Rights through a back channel.”
A back channel.
In other words, the Gate Clearing Rights had been acquired through an irregular route rather than legitimate means.
Naturally, it was illegal.
And dangerous.
“Those crazy bastards!”
And they had even brought a Porter into a Gate acquired that way?
“So if something went wrong, they were planning to kill him inside.”
Obtaining Gate Clearing Rights through a back channel was unquestionably illegal.
There were cases where Hunters involved in that illegality would instead be blackmailed for money.
And if something went seriously wrong, there were also cases where people resorted to extreme measures to silence witnesses.
“Well, judging by the investigation, they’re basically just kids, so it doesn’t look like they were actually planning to go that far.”
“Ha.”
Park Min-ho let out an incredulous laugh.
Choi Yoon-seo’s entire party flinched violently.
“W-We’ll tell you everything! Please spare us!”
“We got the Gate Clearing Rights from the Baeksu Guild!”
“Seriously, we don’t need any of it! We’ll give everything to Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”
They were so desperate to survive that they were blurting out whatever came to mind without even realizing what they were saying.
“Please… spare us.”
Choi Yoon-seo was more desperate than ever.
When they had first emerged from the Gate and seen the Special Division Hunters, they had thought they were finally safe.
If the Special Division—especially Park Min-ho, known as the Fiend—had shown up, Choi Yoon-seo naturally assumed they had come to arrest Kim Si-hyeon.
Someone with Killing Intent like that had to be a wanted criminal.
But reality was completely different.
‘Just what the hell is that man?!’
The Special Division Hunters were the ones begging him to spare them, even offering him tribute.
Choi Yoon-seo couldn’t even imagine that Kim Si-hyeon was a newly hired civil servant in the Special Division.
“Take them to the Association and investigate them first.”
“Understood, Director.”
Choi Yoon-seo and the party members were hauled off to the Association like livestock being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
And yet the party members looked almost relieved.
If they were going to the Association, at least they wouldn’t die at Kim Si-hyeon’s hands.
* * *
“What did you just say?”
There were a handful of overwhelmingly powerful guilds in the Republic of Korea.
They were known as the Top Ten Guilds.
Every one of them possessed an S-rank Hunter, making them indispensable military assets to the country.
“…The Special Division arrested someone?”
One of those Top Ten Guilds.
Baeksu Guild’s Guild Master, Baek Hyeong-gyu, asked as a ferocious aura radiated from him.