After closing the Hell Market, Ji-hoon stared at his Status Window for a while.
The flashing did not return.
‘Is that really Abel?’
Whenever that guy got bored and summoned Ji-hoon, he would play around with light from far away.
And since it is called the Hell Market, that really might be Abel.
‘I don’t know.’
There is no way to know right now.
So this time, Ji-hoon opened the Hunter Market.
“Is there anything worth buying…?”
The Management Bureau had agreed to prepare A-rank equipment for him soon anyway.
He searched to see whether there was anything he could give Poppy or Choco.
There was nothing like Demonic Beast feed.
Do I have to make it myself after all?
He had learned the Skill, so this could serve as a test.
Ji-hoon took the pork left in the refrigerator and a carton of milk.
[Gasp! Big Brother, that looks delicious.]
Ignoring the drool streaming from Choco’s mouth, Ji-hoon plucked at Poppy’s wing.
“…Synthesis.”
FWOOOSH–
Poppy’s mana scattered in a brilliant glow.
Ji-hoon infused the chilled pork with mana and murmured.
“Demonic Beast Feed Crafting.”
FLOAT–
The pork rose into the air.
PLOP–
Then it dropped back to the floor.
“It doesn’t work.”
Does it only work with monster meat?
Come to think of it, I had made jerky in Hell using the meat of Hell’s animals.
“Hmmm….”
That complicated things.
[Big Brother, what is wrong?]
“Wait. Demonic Beast Feed Crafting.”
FWOOOSH!
This time, he used the milk from the refrigerator.
The milk, now imbued with mana, flashed SPARK–SPARK and gave off a small wisp of smoke.
[Low-Grade Mana Cheese (D): Cheese made from mana. Low commercial value, but useful in an emergency]
“Poppy, try this.”
[Is this not cheese? Since it is from you, Big Brother, I will gratefully eat even low-grade cheese!]
“I’m so, so sorry I only made you something low-grade, you brat.”
Poppy saw the vein bulging on Ji-hoon’s forehead.
CHOMP–
[Ahem, ahem! Big Brother! Thank you for the food!]
He hurriedly pecked the Low-Grade Mana Cheese apart with his beak and ate it.
[Mm… mm… munch… smack, gulp.]
“How is it?”
Poppy tilted his head, then replied.
[It is not bad. But as expected, it is very different from what you made at Hell Farm.]
Then this needs monster milk too.
Ji-hoon searched the Hunter Market further for Demonic Beast milk or Demonic Beast meat, but what he found was prohibitively expensive.
“Haa….”
[For Sale] Mid-Grade Monster Meat (C-rank Crafting Material) – 30 million won.
[Mid-Grade Monster Meat (C): Meat extracted from an Orc Warrior.]
[This pathetic meat costs thirty million won? That is absurd, Big Brother!]
[Is thirty million won expensive?]
[I don’t really know either. But look at Big Brother’s face!]
Yeah, yeah.
I must look like I’ve been chewing shit.
“They’re charging thirty million won for something I wouldn’t even give the kids as emergency rations?”
And that was for a single serving.
“Choco, did any of the kids ever bring in anything like Hell King’s Farm Weed or Orc Warrior meat?”
[Hehe! Who’d bring in trash like that?]
“…Right, right.”
[By the way, Big Brother, how much is thirty million won?]
Ji-hoon raised his head and stared at the ceiling.
“Fifteen hundred fried chickens.”
[F-Fifteen hundred?!]
[Gasp!]
“Does that give you some idea?”
Poppy and Choco flattened themselves against the floor.
[Big Brother, I have committed a mortal sin. I should have brought the entire corpse rather than just Orc Warrior meat!]
[I’m sorry, Big Brother. This Choco should’ve at least brought Orc excrement.]
“No, even so, that….”
[For Sale] Low-Grade Monster Excrement (D-rank Crafting Material) – 10 million won.
It reeks, but it is used to craft Mana Bombs. Highly recommended for Magic-Type Hunters!
“…You’re right.”
Now even excrement was being sold.
Ji-hoon felt dizzier by the minute.
***
“What about Hunter Lee Ji-hoon? Did he get home safely?”
The Commissioner handed Baek Kang-hyeon a cup of coffee as he asked.
“Yes, he arrived home safely.”
“Did you assign him a security detail?”
“I was going to, but decided against it.”
“True. With a Griffin and a Giant Bear around, what would he need security for?”
He was a peculiar man.
S-rank monsters clung tightly to either side of him, yet it truly felt as though a parent were caring for a child.
And the energy emanating from the man himself was genuinely only at the F-rank level.
That was separate from the King of Griffins Necklace, of course.
“What about his family?”
“His parents, who run a fried chicken shop, are his only family.”
“A fried chicken shop?”
“Yes. It seems to be doing reasonably well as a neighborhood business.”
“Then we will assign the security detail to them.”
The Commissioner’s gaze shifted to the people entering the Management Bureau.
“We must never let the Guild Masters of the Five Great Guilds take Hunter Lee Ji-hoon from us. Above all, his family must never be taken hostage.”
“I will also speak with Guild Master Jin Seo-yoon.”
“You will? Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon, who scores zero in politics?”
The Commissioner spoke teasingly, and Baek Kang-hyeon sighed.
“Politics is too difficult. It would honestly be easier simply to cut and smash things.”
“Do you think it is easy for anyone? In any case, I will handle Guild Master Jin Seo-yoon. You deal with the other Guild Masters.”
Hunter Lee Ji-hoon.
The F-rank Hunter who had saved the Republic of Korea from S-rank Gates twice.
An F-rank had saved an S-rank.
That alone was enough to turn the world upside down.
And because he was an F-rank, he was in danger.
“You know what could happen if word gets out, right?”
It could spark a battle over Hunter Lee Ji-hoon.
Baek Kang-hyeon gulped and gripped the hilt of his sword.
***
Meanwhile, at that same moment.
“Pardon? Where?”
–Hellooo, this is the Awakened Management Bureau.
“Oh, yes. What is this about?”
–Our branch director asked me to give you a present, sooo we have prepared some A-rank equipment.
It’s finally ready!
“Ah, yes, yes. You can send it to my house.”
–The thing iiis, you need to come in person before we can release it.
Oh, come on. What a hassle.
“You want me to go all the way to the Management Bureau?”
–Not all the wayyy to the Management Bureau. A café near your hooome will be fine.
That’s not so bad.
I can think of it as taking a short walk.
“All right, then. There’s a Big Star Café nearby….”
–Nooo, we have already chosen the place. You just need to come ooover.
“Are you already there?”
Then she should’ve given it to me earlier. What a hassle.
[Big Brother, where are you going?]
“To pick up my equipment.”
[Those insolent bastards. How dare they order Big Brother to come and go! Big Brother! I will go in your place!]
“Oh, will you?”
As he spoke, Ji-hoon clamped a hand around Poppy’s beak.
[Aaargh! Big Brother, it hurts! It hurts!]
“I told you not to cause trouble.”
Just imagine a Griffin roaming the streets.
Someone would report it in less than a minute, Hunters would be dispatched, Poppy would knock them unconscious with a griffin’s roar, and then a fight would break out. Ugh.
Ji-hoon did not even want to picture such a hopeless situation.
“Both of you, stay quietly at home.”
[Choco can go instead. Choco is strong even now.]
“You’re even more out of the question because you’re a bear.”
What if someone reported that a bear cub had escaped from the zoo?
At Ji-hoon’s words, Poppy and Choco both hung their heads.
“Instead, I’ll take this.”
Ji-hoon plucked a few spines from Choco’s body.
“Does it hurt?”
[It doesn’t hurt at all. Choco pulls them out and uses them as weapons anyway.]
[No, Big Brother! Why are you so gentle with Choco, but not with me?!]
“You’re the big brother, man.”
[Then I will follow you like a puppy!]
“The Management Bureau staff will know something’s up. I’ll go alone this time.”
Besides, I’m receiving equipment, so I have to try it on, right?
It would be difficult to do that while hiding Poppy and Choco.
[Understood, Big Brother. Then at least take Little Brother Seon Woo-jae with you….]
“Seriously, you two! Hey! I’m a full-grown adult too! Nothing’s going to happen!”
With that, Ji-hoon slipped Choco’s spines into his pocket.
He put on the King of Griffins Necklace made from Poppy’s feather and switched it to Concealment Mode.
“If something happens, I’ll break what Poppy or Choco gave me. Find me yourselves when that happens.”
[Yes, Big Brother!]
[Understood.]
Only then did the two finally relax.
Ji-hoon sighed inwardly, but he was grateful for their loyalty.
“I’m off!”
The destination is the café in the text message.
That’s where I’ll receive it.
At last, A-rank equipment!
***
“Hmm~ hm-hmm~”
Even my steps feel light.
An F-rank Hunter getting A-rank equipment.
No matter how I look at it, that Contract was a really good deal.
I can’t help humming.
“Then couldn’t I clear a C-rank Gate or so just by relying on my equipment?”
I should ask the Management Bureau employee later.
If that’s possible, I can farm the children’s feed ingredients myself.
“Let’s see, the address is….”
This is the right place, isn’t it?
It was a small café that had recently opened in the neighborhood.
But something was strange.
The café sign was definitely lit.
Yet there was not a single customer inside.
‘Is it empty because it’s new?’
JINGLE–
“Is anyone here?”
Instead of the owner, a woman in a neat light-gray suit emerged from the back.
“Hellooo, are you Hunter Lee Ji-hoon?”
“Ah, yes, that’s me. You’re the person who called….”
“Pleasure to meet yooou. I’m Bae Yu-na, an Administrative Officer with the Management Bureau’s Second Management Division.”
Both her expression and her face seemed languid.
She gave off the air of a stereotypical Korean civil servant who hated working.
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Do not be nervous. We are absolutely not trying to hurt you, Ji-hoon.”
Hurt me?
Why?
“I came to pick up my equipment.”
“Pardon? Oh, right, the equipment. Yes, yes. I need to give you your equipmeeent.”
Bae Yu-na pushed the suitcase she had prepared forward.
“The equipment is in heeere.”
“Ooooh, finally!”
A-rank equipment!
CLICK–
A-rank equipment, gleaming with a brilliant luster the moment he opened the suitcase.
That was what should have been inside.
“….”
“Why? Is something wroong?”
“It’s way too different from Woo-jae’s equipment.”
Even if it had not been long since Ji-hoon returned, the Hunters he had seen up close were S-rank Baek Kang-hyeon and Jin Seo-yoon, as well as A-rank Seon Woo-jae.
Their equipment had to be at least B-rank, even at the lowest estimate.
“Is this a knockoff?”
“Oh, come ooon. It really is A-rank. Look here.”
Bae Yu-na touched the equipment once and smiled.
“Oh….”
“Riiight?”
“Who are you?”
Ji-hoon’s eyes turned cold.
When a Giant Bear’s spines detect mana hostile to their owner, they bristle and sharpen like steel spikes.
The spines in Ji-hoon’s pocket were now standing on end.
“I’m a Management Bureau employeeee.”
“While radiating that much killing intent?”
Maybe I should’ve brought Poppy or Choco after all.
No. I have to see if I can handle this without them.
The moment Ji-hoon clenched a spine tightly.
“Hmmmm~ An F-rank, but you’re not even nervous… and you’re perceptive too…. No wonder they covet you.”
“…I’m an unpopular loser.”
“And you make good jokes.”
It isn’t a joke, though.
At that moment, two more men appeared behind Bae Yu-na and another two behind Ji-hoon.
So this is how you want to play it?
“You seeee, Hunter Ji-hoon~ You do not understand your own value.”
“…My value?”
“Yeees. That is why we….”
Bae Yu-na snapped her fingers.
Mana Handcuffs appeared in the empty air where there had been nothing moments before.
“We are trying to kidnap you, Ji-hoon.”
“Aha….”
“Did you hear meee? Kidnapping. We are kidnapping youuu.”
Bae Yu-na was about to fasten the handcuffs around Ji-hoon’s wrists.
“…Will you?”
“Pardon? I cannot hear you.”
Do not be too frightened.
Bae Yu-na approached with a languid smile.
Ji-hoon allowed the handcuffs to close around his wrists without resistance, then asked.
“Do I get meals?”
“Yeees…?”
“I’ll be fed, right?”
Meals, out of nowhere?
Bae Yu-na’s eyes narrowed.
“Ah, if possible, I’d like to be confined in a five-star hotel. It should have streaming services, a large bathroom, room service I can order whenever I want, and hotel massages would make it even better.”
“Excuse me…?”
“Why? You said I’m a hostage.”
Ji-hoon tilted his head slightly.
“From your perspective, you need your hostage in good condition.”
A brief silence followed.
“You should treat me well. I’m looking forward to it.”
The corners of Ji-hoon’s mouth slowly rose.