Yuseong Group.
There was no one in South Korea who did not know that name.
Even before the Great Upheaval, it had ranked first in the business world. Now, it was also leading the Hunter industry, making it nothing less than one of the pillars of South Korea.
Choi Tae-woo, Yuseong's second-in-command and fixer as well as its Chief Secretary, was now facing the greatest crisis of his life.
“What in the world…! What in the world were they thinking, doing something like this…!”
The ones who had driven Choi Tae-woo this far were none other than the twins of the Yuseong family.
The twins, who had never had anything to fear with Yuseong behind them, had finally caused a major disaster.
“Chief Secretary! You are here!”
The place Choi Tae-woo had arrived at was a Gate deep in the mountains of Gangwon Province.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have had any reason to come here.
“You fucking bastards!”
Choi Tae-woo normally refused to use vulgar language because he considered it beneath his dignity, but things were different now.
“What the hell are you people doing?!”
“…We are sorry!”
Every member of Secretarial Team 3, which managed the affairs of the Yuseong family, stood with their hands clasped behind their backs and their heads bowed deeply.
“Report the situation first!”
“…Less than an hour after the twins entered the Gate, the Gate developed an anomaly.”
A D-rank Gate had appeared in a quiet mountain village in Gangwon Province.
Ordinarily, there would have been no problem at all.
That was, if the people who had entered it without permission had not been the Yuseong twins.
No, the twins seemed to have hired Mercenaries and gone in with them, so even without permission, Yuseong's influence could probably have smoothed things over as long as they had come back out.
The problem was that the Gate had developed an anomaly, trapping the two of them inside.
“The Gate's rank is A-rank now. The problem is….”
“The problem is that once a Gate develops an anomaly, no one can enter it.”
Choi Tae-woo clutched his head.
He glared at Secretarial Team 3, but there was nothing he could really say to them.
“Th-those… lunatics actually went and did it…!”
If anyone was at fault, it was ultimately the twins, who had secretly hired Mercenaries and entered a Gate on their own.
Choi Tae-woo had suspected that something like this might happen someday.
—Uncle, I am going to become a Hunter.
—Me too.
They had been born into Yuseong's bloodline and lived in a castle built by money, yet they were immature fools harboring the ridiculous ambition of becoming Hunters.
They had a future in which merely breathing would eventually place ten percent of South Korea's wealth in their hands, and they already enjoyed riches others could not even dream of. Yet apparently even that was not enough for them.
‘Even so, I never thought they would actually enter a Gate.’
They had clearly been taken in by that ridiculous rumor.
The insane rumor that if someone entered a Gate and experienced the fear of death, they could become a Hunter.
“Haa…….”
There was another problem.
Corporations in South Korea were forbidden from owning Guilds.
It was a nationwide restriction intended to prevent financial power and military force from being concentrated in one place.
“Contact… the Myth Guild.”
“The Myth Guild?”
Even Yuseong would have to seek the help of another Guild to resolve this situation.
And it would have to pay an astronomical amount of money for it.
Of course, the money itself was not the problem.
For the sake of his own bloodline, the Chairman would hand over his entire fortune without hesitation.
The problem was—
‘Every one of those S-rank Hunters knows that too.’
There was no telling how much money they would demand.
And even if Yuseong paid it, Choi Tae-woo had no idea whether they would actually be able to rescue the twins.
There was one more place he needed to contact.
“What about the Association?”
“We have already contacted them.”
“…In a situation like this.”
Choi Tae-woo stared at the Anomalous Gate rippling before his eyes.
“The Special Division will come.”
The Association's Special Division.
The reapers of the battlefield and the Association's enforcers.
Even Hunters from the highest-ranking Guilds feared them.
They were the sort of beings who could make an ordinary person wet themselves merely by coming face-to-face with them.
“…I do not care whether it is the Special Division or the Myth Guild. They just need to come and save the twins, no matter what it costs.”
Choi Tae-woo looked at the Gate with a troubled expression.
“Thanks to those twins, those bastards are going to have themselves a feast of money.”
—I want to enter a Gate.
I carefully conveyed my request to the Special Division.
The Special Division handled everything related to ultra-anomalous phenomena, including Hunters and Gates, so I had not thought it was an especially unusual request.
“A Gate, you say?”
Special Division Director Park Min-ho looked more flustered than ever before.
“Well…….”
He hesitated to speak.
‘Is it difficult?’
Had I made an unreasonable request?
I looked at him steadily, a little worried.
“N-no… it is not! We should go! Of course we should go to a Gate!”
Fortunately, the kind Park Min-ho readily agreed.
“…I am screwed. Should I write my resignation letter?”
“What did you just say?”
“Pardon?”
“You just said you were going to write a resignation letter.”
“Me? No, of course not! I said I was so excited that I wanted to spend the rest of my life entering Gates with you, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon!”
I must have misheard him.
They really were kind people.
Even though we had not known each other for long, they sincerely welcomed me into their circle and liked having me around.
I did not want to disappoint them.
‘I need to become a Hunter as soon as possible.’
Once I entered a Gate and learned how to handle mana, there would be no problem.
But perhaps Gates were not places one could enter easily, because an entire week passed without any news.
“Deployment order!”
I had come to work as usual and was sitting on the sofa when the Special Division suddenly grew noisy.
Park Min-ho rushed into the Special Division building and shouted urgently.
“It looks like the Yuseong twins entered a Gate without permission and got trapped inside. It is an Anomalous Gate.”
Park Min-ho's briefing was short and concise.
“About three people should be enough.”
At those words, the Special Division Hunters who had been crouched in a corner reading books sprang to their feet.
“I will go.”
“No, I am going.”
“What are you talking about? I am going too.”
“What? Th-then I will go too.”
“You disloyal bastards! Trying to save only yourselves!”
“Should we all just go together?”
“Yeah, it is an Anomalous Gate! It is dangerous!”
“Right, right.”
As though something were chasing them, they immediately began gathering their equipment.
It took them less than a minute to become fully armed.
“And… gasp.”
Only then did Park Min-ho look at me.
“Well….”
Of course.
“I am ready.”
I had already received the deployment order and finished arming myself as well.
I wore the uniform issued to members of the Special Division and carried a combat sword.
A combat Halberd was strapped to my back.
“Uh… Hunter Kim Si-hyeon…….”
Park Min-ho hiccupped several times before speaking.
“…You can remain on standby.”
“Standby?”
Something serious seemed to have happened, and everyone else was preparing to deploy, yet he wanted me to stay behind?
“…Yes! Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, you can remain on standby! This is not even an incident that requires you to step in!”
Just how kind could this man possibly be?
When a horde of Zombies attacked a shelter, even the most saintly person became no different from anyone else.
They would throw even a child into a deathtrap if it meant making them fight the Zombies.
‘Park Min-ho. This man…….’
The look in Park Min-ho's eyes during the test that day.
And all the excessive consideration he had shown me afterward.
I had already vaguely realized it.
‘He knows that I cannot use mana.’
He knew I was a fake Hunter, which was why he was going so far as to make excuses just to keep me safe.
“Park Min-ho.”
“…Yes?”
Their kindness was meant to keep dead weight like me from being thrown into a deathtrap.
Unlike the world I had lived in after the Zombies appeared, where all warmth had disappeared, this was still a world where compassion and kindness existed.
For people like them—
“I am going too.”
“……!”
“I will go as well. If you refuse to take me, I will have no choice but to force my way along.”
I would become a Hunter.
I gripped the sheath of my sword, putting my resolve into the gesture.
I wanted to show them that I could fight too.
THUD. THUD.
Starting with several Special Division Hunters—
THUD!
Even Park Min-ho sank to the floor and stared up at me.
…Were my words moving enough to bring them to their knees?
Were they not all a little too softhearted if they were moved this easily?
“…Of course you should go. You should go. Let us go. We are going.”
Kim Si-hyeon did not know.
The Hunters who had chosen an Anomalous Gate over staying near the calamity known as Kim Si-hyeon had begun screaming inwardly the moment it was decided that he would accompany them.
“…Hunter Kim Si-hyeon. Would you mind wearing this?”
“What is it?”
Inside the vehicle on the way to the mission, Choi Ji-woong handed me a bracelet.
“This is an item that suppresses your Kil—no, your presence!”
“My presence?”
“As you know, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, you are a treasure of South Korea! And one of our highest-level secrets! This is an item absolutely necessary to protect you!”
Protect me.
“We in the Special Division know of your existence because we have sworn ourselves by blood and soul, but everyone else is different.”
Come to think of it, aside from the few Hunters who had met me directly, I had been told that very few people knew about me.
“We want to spread word of your greatness far and wide, but that would be too dangerous… so if you do not mind, Hunter Kim Si-hyeon, please wear the item!”
It was embarrassing.
Even though they knew I was a fake, they were going this far just to preserve my dignity.
For someone like me, every member of the Special Division, even Park Min-ho, was looking at me with shining eyes full of expectation.
“…All right.”
I accepted Choi Ji-woong's kindness and put on the bracelet.
CRACK!
“……?”
“……!”
It broke the moment I put it on, so I wondered if it had always been a single-use item.
Judging by the expressions of the Special Division Hunters around me, apparently not.
“Uh… sorry.”
Why did it break?
But it seemed I was not the only one who did not understand what had happened.
“It was an S-rank Item… Can it not withstand it? Killing Intent that cannot be overcome….”
I heard Park Min-ho muttering from the front seat.
“For something like this… I asked the Association President for an entire year's budget for the Special Division. Take it, Choi Ji-woong.”
Without even looking back, Park Min-ho handed something to Choi Ji-woong.
“Brass knuckles?”
They were brass knuckles.
They were made from a collection of gleaming rings.
No, more accurately, they looked like a crude pair of brass knuckles made by loosely binding several rings together.
“Do not tell me! These are…!”
Choi Ji-woong seemed to recognize them.
“The Ring of Concealment! Honor of Stealth, Murderer's Death…! These are all S-rank Items, are they not?”
“That is right. With those… we may be able to erase Hunter Kim Si-hyeon's presence, at least faintly….”
“No way!”
Ring of Concealment… something?
To be honest, I did not really understand any of it.
The important thing was—
“I just have to put these on?”
“…Yes!”
So all I had to do was wear them.
I took the two brass knuckles and carefully slipped them onto my fingers.
Everyone's attention focused on me.
CRACK. CRACKLE!
For some reason, cracks began spreading across the rings the instant I put them on.
“Gah!”
“The Special Division's entire annual budget!”
The Special Division Hunters stared in horror.
Just like them, I was fairly desperate too.
‘Hold together! Hold together. I do not know what you are, but you look expensive, so earn your keep!’
I wanted to stay with these people.
I wanted to enter a Gate and become a real Hunter.
Perhaps that desperate wish got through to them.
SHNK.
Without breaking, the brass knuckles on my fingers began adjusting themselves to fit the size of my hands.
It was an incredibly strange sight and an equally strange sensation.
Even more surprising was—
CLINK.
They were clearly shaped like brass knuckles, yet I could still move my fingers freely.
“Ooh…!”
“Ooooooh!”
“Haa, haa, I can breathe!”
“I think I can cut back by one bottle of Death’s Illusion now!”
“Director Park Min-ho! I knew we could count on you!”
Seeing everyone rejoice as though this were their own accomplishment made me feel pleased as well.
“Thank you. I will put them to good use.”
They were taking such good care of me.
Was this what having a family felt like?
“No. We are the ones who should thank you! Thank you! Hngh!”
As I strengthened my bond of comradeship with the Special Division Hunters, who were even shedding tears—
SCREEECH.
At last, the vehicle reached its destination.