The Association had reached a conclusion.
Since things had already come this far, they might as well fully integrate Kim Si-hyeon into the Special Division.
And that didn’t simply mean giving him a new combat suit and calling it a day.
“…We’ve uncovered evidence of illegal activity by the Baeksu Guild.”
They intended to involve Kim Si-hyeon in actual Special Division work.
“Transferring Gate Clearing Rights without the Association’s approval is strictly prohibited.”
Park Min-ho continued.
“Today, we’re investigating the Baeksu Guild.”
Normally, this would have been handled by the Association’s Investigation Division.
They would uncover a guild’s illegal activities and determine the appropriate penalties.
If force was required, the Enforcement Division would move afterward.
There were, however, a few circumstances in which the Special Division bypassed that entire process and intervened directly.
Cases involving enormous guilds that belonged to the Republic of Korea’s Top Ten Guilds.
Cases involving an S-rank Hunter or higher.
And lastly, anything related to an Anomalous Gate, regardless of how serious the incident itself was.
“The Baeksu Guild?”
Kim Si-hyeon muttered the vaguely familiar name, and Choi Ji-woong, standing beside him, answered.
“They’re one of the Top Ten Guilds, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. It’s also the guild Choi Yoon-seo used to belong to.”
“It’s officially just an investigation, so there’s no need for everyone to go….”
Park Min-ho looked over the Special Division Hunters.
“Choi Ji-woong. Take Yu Min-a and Oh Ha-seung with you.”
Special Division Team 3.
The team under Choi Ji-woong’s command.
And Team 3 now had another new recruit.
“…Hunter Kim Si-hyeon as well.”
Kim Si-hyeon had been assigned to Special Division Team 3.
If they were genuinely going to put him to work, they needed to give him a proper position and rank.
Normally, a Hunter of Kim Si-hyeon’s caliber would warrant an entirely new team of his own, or perhaps even a director-level position.
But Kim Si-hyeon was a Returnee.
He had no prior experience handling Association work.
-Ji-woong’s close with him, isn’t he? Let’s put him on that team and have Ji-woong teach him the ropes. For now, at least.
That was why the Association President had placed Kim Si-hyeon on Choi Ji-woong’s team, since the two were already relatively close.
Thus, Kim Si-hyeon was now technically one of Choi Ji-woong’s team members.
In other words, his direct subordinate.
However….
“…Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, would that be all right with you?”
It wasn’t nearly that simple in practice.
Even while assigning him work, they still sought his permission.
“That’s fine.”
Kim Si-hyeon nodded.
“Whew.”
Only then did Park Min-ho breathe a sigh of relief.
Ever since the incident involving the Yuseong twins, Kim Si-hyeon had become capable of controlling his Killing Intent.
Thanks to that, they no longer needed to take Death’s Illusion simply to remain in the same room with him, nor did they immediately suffer hallucinations of their heads being severed.
But did that mean they could now treat Kim Si-hyeon casually?
Absolutely not.
If anything, he was even more frightening.
‘How the hell does he conceal his Killing Intent that completely?’
Hunters who possessed Killing Intent could usually control it to some extent, but never to this degree.
Most still leaked at least a faint trace of it.
Kim Si-hyeon, however, gave off nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
‘This is making my skin crawl.’
Perhaps it was because Park Min-ho had already experienced Kim Si-hyeon’s original Killing Intent in its raw form.
The eerie absence of anything at all was somehow even more unnerving.
And besides, Killing Intent was the only thing that had disappeared.
‘What the hell is he thinking?’
The overwhelming pressure created by Kim Si-hyeon’s appearance hadn’t gone anywhere.
“…Still, it should be fine.”
After informing them of the assignment, Park Min-ho left the Special Division building and muttered to himself.
The incident with the Yuseong twins had been an extraordinary situation, even by Special Division standards.
This investigation into the Baeksu Guild, however, was as routine as it got.
‘It’s hardly the first time a major guild has been caught transferring Gate Clearing Rights.’
They would simply visit, investigate, receive an apology, and perhaps impose a minor disciplinary measure or fine.
Surely nothing worth worrying about would happen.
* * *
“We’ve decided to adjust your rank to S-rank, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon.”
Inside the car, Choi Ji-woong spoke from behind the wheel.
“Since you’ll be formally active from now on, we thought you should have a proper rank. However, we don’t intend to disclose it publicly. Would that… be all right with you?”
“I don’t care.”
He genuinely didn’t.
After all, he wasn’t even an Awakened Hunter to begin with.
More importantly—
Rustle. Rustle.
These clothes were fascinating.
A suit should have been uncomfortable by nature, yet this was more comfortable than anything he had ever worn before.
It even seemed to regulate his body temperature, maintaining a constant level of warmth.
“Thank you! It’s just that you’re an extremely important person, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon… We’re worried unnecessary controversy might arise, so we hope you’ll understand!”
“I said I don’t care.”
More than anything else, what he liked was the sense of belonging.
He had completed his military service, but afterward, he had never truly belonged anywhere.
There had been several survivor groups immediately after the Zombie outbreak, but he had never joined a single one of them.
“You probably won’t have many situations where you need to reveal your rank anyway. And as for the Baeksu Guild….”
Choi Ji-woong kept talking without pause.
What kind of guild Baeksu was.
What sort of person its Guild Master, Baek Hyeong-gyu, was.
What they would be doing there.
How Hunter Kim Si-hyeon only needed to stand by and watch.
How this trip would simply be an observation for him while the others handled everything.
He went on at considerable length.
Kim Si-hyeon understood why.
‘He doesn’t trust me to handle it yet.’
He would have felt the same way.
‘So that was the misunderstanding.’
He had taken the mercenary job because he needed to earn money.
Apparently, however, the Special Division Hunters had seriously misunderstood his intentions.
‘They thought I was quitting the Special Division, didn’t they?’
Considering everyone had rushed out to find him, that seemed to be the case.
“Transferring Gate Clearing Rights actually happens fairly often, but an Anomalous Gate occurred there this time. That means we need to investigate. Still, it was probably nothing more than a coincidence.”
Kim Si-hyeon considered Choi Ji-woong’s words.
‘An investigation into an Anomalous Gate.’
Now that he even had a combat suit, he was genuinely one of them.
In that case, he should do his best as well.
“What kind of person is Guild Master Baek Hyeong-gyu?”
He had already heard the basic explanation.
An S-rank Hunter.
A survivor of an Anomalous Gate called the Aeso Gate.
And apparently, some part of his humanity had been damaged by what he had experienced there.
“That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person, though.”
This time, Yu Min-a answered.
“His social skills are a little questionable, but he’s never caused any major incidents.”
…Why did Kim Si-hyeon feel a strange sense of kinship with Baek Hyeong-gyu?
“If anything, he’s actually pretty straightforward.”
Kim Si-hyeon silently nodded for a while.
Then Oh Ha-seung spoke.
“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon! It’s an honor to go on a mission with you!”
“…….”
It was nice that he was welcoming him.
But wasn’t that supposed to be the line Kim Si-hyeon, as the junior member, said?
‘They both look young.’
Yu Min-a was a young-looking woman with a long horizontal scar running across the bridge of her nose.
Oh Ha-seung was an enthusiastic young man who looked as though he might start wagging a tail at any moment.
Perhaps because their Team Leader, Choi Ji-woong, wasn’t particularly old either, the entire team felt young.
That only made them more difficult for Kim Si-hyeon to deal with.
His appearance might have become younger, but the person inside was still in his fifties.
“Anyway.”
Perhaps sensing the awkward atmosphere, Choi Ji-woong hurriedly wrapped up the conversation.
“Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, all you need to do this time is observe. It’ll probably end with a simple fine, and absolutely noooothing is going to happen.”
That sounded good.
Surely nothing unusual would happen again.
* * *
One S-rank Hunter.
Ten A-rank Hunters.
Thirty B-rank Hunters.
Fifty Hunters of C-rank or below.
The number of Hunters they possessed alone was enough to unmistakably classify them as a major guild.
Add in the ordinary employees who supported their operations, and their organization was larger still.
Their annual revenue exceeded the trillions of won.
Gate clearing.
Mana Stone sales.
Item sales.
Mercenary work.
Guilds possessed the authority to operate countless businesses related to Hunters.
The Baeksu Guild occupied an entire high-rise building in Cheonho-dong as its Guild House.
And now, guests had arrived at that Baeksu Guild House.
WHIRR.
As the visitors walked through the automatic doors—
Swoosh.
Everyone on the first floor stopped and turned toward the unfamiliar arrivals.
Not every guild was the same, but most favored a relatively relaxed culture.
Ordinary employees who handled administrative work came in every day as a matter of course.
Hunters were different.
They usually came in only when they had a Gate-clearing mission or needed to train.
Naturally, their clothing was casual as well.
T-shirts that made it easy to equip Items.
Training pants.
Unless there was an important meeting, there was little reason to wear a suit.
Yet every visitor who had just entered the Baeksu Guild was dressed in one.
And not ordinary suits, either.
“…Isn’t that one of those? A Combat Suit?”
Combat Suits.
The pinnacle of modern Mana Technology, costing tens of billions of won per set.
But the price wasn’t the real issue.
Even a B-rank Hunter could earn more than one billion won annually.
An A-rank Hunter could earn upward of three billion won a year.
There was a reason Hunter remained the number-one dream career among teenagers despite everyone knowing how dangerous the profession was.
Even fully grown adults dreamed of it.
Every year, ordinary people secretly infiltrated Gates hoping to Awaken rather than settle for buying lottery tickets whose jackpots rarely even reached two billion won.
“Yeah, that’s definitely a Combat Suit. Damn… Isn’t Goldmoon the only organization in Korea whose members actually wear those?”
“They’re not Goldmoon. There’s no guild emblem.”
The reason they were so shocked despite the fact that money wasn’t the real obstacle was simple.
Combat Suits weren’t something one could buy just because one had money.
They weren’t even meant for commercial sale.
They existed as demonstrations of technological prowess.
They were practically symbols of prestige granted only to a handful of Hunters within a handful of recognized guilds.
“…That emblem!”
“It’s the Association!”
“The Special Division?”
Attention poured toward the newcomers.
“Are you from the Association’s Special Division?”
A Baeksu Guild employee who recognized Kim Si-hyeon’s group approached them.
“Yes.”
Choi Ji-woong replied with a proud lift of his shoulders.
There had been plenty of moments when working for the Special Division had filled him with pride.
But this was the first time he had received such respectful treatment inside a major guild.
‘Yes! This is what I’m talking about.’
All this admiration just because they were wearing different clothes.
Of course….
“Who’s that guy? I’ve never seen him in the Special Division before.”
“…He’s handsome.”
“He feels kind of scary, though.”
Most of that attention was actually directed toward Kim Si-hyeon and his impassive expression.
“Your identities have been confirmed. I’ll escort you to the Guild Master.”
After checking their Association identification cards, the employee guided them to the elevator.
Glance. Glance.
Even then, several people continued sneaking looks at Kim Si-hyeon.
‘…Maybe he could lose control of his Killing Intent for just a second.’
For a moment, Choi Ji-woong entertained that rather wicked thought.
Unfortunately for him, the group reached the underground training facility where Guild Master Baek Hyeong-gyu was waiting without incident.
DING.
The doors slowly opened.
And in the very next instant—
WHOOOSH!
A crimson Sword Aura came hurtling toward the Special Division.
CLANG!
The Sword Aura slammed into Choi Ji-woong’s hastily raised sword and drove forward in a shower of sparks.
“What the…?!”
Just as the unexpected attack was about to force Choi Ji-woong backward—
Kim Si-hyeon’s Halberd tore through the air.