The Awakened Management Bureau Hunter Training Center.
A facility built to provide intensive training to high-rank Hunters of A-rank and above.
“I’m telling you, that’s what he did! Bwahahahaha!”
In the situation room prepared to oversee the Returnee Training Camp taking place within the facility, Eden’s Guild Master Yoon Do-ha kept bursting into laughter.
“No, hic, I never thought, hic, hic, he’d actually lie down! Ahahahahaha!”
–Let’s play.
–Let’s play.
–Let’s play.
The footage of Ji-hoon flopping onto his back inside the maze played on an endless loop across the screen.
“You find it that funny?”
When Jin Seo-yoon sighed, Yoon Do-ha wiped away his tears and said,
“Come on, Guild Master Seo-yoon, don’t you find this funny? Is that a posture an F-rank should be taking?”
“That’s true.”
Lee Ji-hoon.
Just who was he?
He never allowed himself to be intimidated, even before S-rank Hunters.
He roamed freely through an S-rank Gate alongside Baek Kang-hyeon.
And he was on close terms with unidentified S-rank Boss Monsters.
“Even I didn’t expect him to go that far, though.”
When one thought about it, the method of solving the maze was simple.
Holding a strategy meeting naturally kept them in one place, which caused the maze to open.
“Hunters may be impatient, but this is a bit much.”
Baek Kang-hyeon entered the situation room, grumbling.
“Good work, Branch Director Baek.”
Baek Kang-hyeon glanced at the smiling Jin Seo-yoon before asking Yoon Do-ha,
“So, have you found anything?”
“We know for sure there’s one lunatic among them. Heh heh.”
“Not that.”
His gaze turned cold.
Yoon Do-ha shrugged as if conceding that it was no longer time for jokes.
“Nothing out of the ordinary yet. We checked all the cameras we confiscated, but I don’t know.... They really do seem like nothing more than kids obsessed with broadcasting.”
“Are you certain?”
Yoon Do-ha spun his chair around, pulled his knees up, and curled himself into a ball.
“That’s why I’m saying I don’t know.”
“Was there no one whose mana flow seemed unusual?”
Yoon Do-ha shook his head.
“There were.”
“I knew it!”
“The problem is, there weren’t just one or two.”
FLUTTER—
Jin Seo-yoon handed him a sheet of paper.
“These are the kids our Guild checked out. We thought we might try recruiting them.”
Baek Kang-hyeon’s brow furrowed as he examined the paper.
“...Did you only look at people who returned within the past year?”
“Yes, that’s right. Do you know why we checked them?”
Lee Ji-hoon’s name was on the list as well.
“Don’t tell me you threatened them again...!”
“Oh, come on. I told you, we don’t do that. That’s not it. Look at this.”
Jin Seo-yoon pointed to one side of the paper. At the same time, Yoon Do-ha played a video.
“There’s a Returnee among the Management Bureau Proctors as well?”
Baek Kang-hyeon’s eyebrow twitched.
“Are you saying someone infiltrated the Management Bureau?”
“Either infiltrated it... or was turned?”
“By whom?”
“We’ll have to find that out in due course.”
He tapped the screen.
–Let’s play.
–Let’s play.
–Let’s play.
“That indomitable mentality... that steely nerve...” Yoon Do-ha murmured.
“...I want it.”
The corners of his lips rose slightly.
“All of it, if possible.”
“...You’re joking, right?”
Jin Seo-yoon frowned.
“Of course.”
Yoon Do-ha answered with a smile.
“But this really is hilarious. It’s a full-blown variety show! Ahahahaha!”
The footage of Ji-hoon played on a loop.
Yoon Do-ha never took his eyes off it, not even for a moment.
***
After thoroughly enjoying themselves at the team dinner, the next day arrived.
Ji-hoon was exchanging greetings with his teammates in the center of the training grounds.
“Hello, everyone!”
First came Kim Ji-eun’s cheerful greeting.
“Did you get some good rest, Mr. Ji-hoon?”
“Ahem. I’m counting on you again today.”
“I look forward to working with you.”
Kim Jin-woo, Kang Gi-tae, and Lee Min-jae greeted him as well.
Ji-hoon was a little surprised by how different the mood was from yesterday.
“Is this the power of a team dinner?”
[As expected, humans also need full bellies before they can think properly.]
[Just like Choco.]
Well, it’s probably mostly thanks to what I did.
Ji-hoon raised his head as he thought that.
‘Damn... I’m screwed.’
He had joined so that he could keep a low profile and take the Hell Farm crew with him when they arrived.
But first place?
‘And Baek Kang-hyeon even gave me the card himself. Good grief.’
In fact, the way the members of the other teams looked at Ji-hoon had changed as well.
Their gazes now seemed to ask, He may be F-rank, but is there something special about him?
Until yesterday, they had only thought, What could a piece of F-rank trash possibly do?
“Those were the good days....”
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
As they talked, a woman in a suit stepped onto the platform.
“I-it’s Hunter Jin Seo-yoon!”
“It’s Jin Seo-yoon!”
WOOOO—!
The Hunters erupted in cheers.
Jin Seo-yoon took the microphone, tapped it twice with an “Ah, ah,” and smiled brightly.
“Hello. I’ll be guiding you through the second day. I look forward to working with you!”
The atmosphere heated up when Jin Seo-yoon, a celebrity of the Hunter world, appeared.
“Did you have fun yesterday? We watched everyone’s performance closely from the situation room.”
Jin Seo-yoon raised a finger and pointed at several people.
“There were even a few of you whom our Guild would like to recruit.”
“Orpheus wants to recruit people!?”
“They really were watching!”
“I’m definitely taking first place today.”
Jin Seo-yoon’s words set the participants’ motivation ablaze even more fiercely.
After looking at them with satisfaction, Jin Seo-yoon raised a finger.
“Gates come in many different forms to begin with. Even among Gates of the same grade, there are maze-type Gates like yesterday’s, prison-type Gates, and places where you might encounter traps or natural disasters.”
Those who had tried to solve yesterday’s challenge through brute force alone lowered their heads slightly.
In truth, that was nearly everyone except Ji-hoon.
“In that respect, Team C was quite entertaining yesterday.”
WINK—
At the same time, she winked at Ji-hoon.
Ji-hoon scowled fiercely and growled.
“Everything through yesterday was merely a tutorial. Today, you’ll be entering another new Dungeon.”
VROOM—VROOM—
The roar of engines sounded at the same time.
The curtain drew back, revealing dozens of trucks with their engines running.
“Today’s team mission will take place off-site. The destination is Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province.”
Jin Seo-yoon sharply pointed at the video displayed before them.
“A total of twenty-five Dungeons have appeared there to date. You will gather byproducts from a randomly assigned Dungeon and bring them back.”
“Do we have to farm the byproducts ourselves?”
A rough-looking man from another team asked the question.
“Yes, you have to do it yourselves. Were you planning to hire temporary workers?”
“That’s not it, but porters usually handle this sort of work. I’m saying we don’t know how we’re supposed to do it.”
The man was proudly declaring that he could not do such work.
Jin Seo-yoon cast him a sidelong glance.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to do it. But what will you do if there’s no porter around when you fight the boss?”
“Well....”
“There’s no point talking to someone who’s never defeated a boss alone. Tsk.”
The mutter carried through the microphone, and veins bulged on the man’s forehead.
“You bitch! I went easy on you because you’re pretty!”
FWOOSH—!
The man swelled his muscles.
He was a typical Enhancement-Type close-combat Hunter.
“I’m A-rank too. Just because you’re S-rank doesn’t mean you can look down on...!”
WHOOSH—
The man’s body floated into the air.
It was lifted by the mana gathered in Jin Seo-yoon’s hands.
“H-huh...?”
And then.
“Waltz of Death.”
BAM—! BAM—! BAM—! BAM—!
KABOOM—! BAM—! KABOOM—!
The man’s body was slammed up and down over and over, then sent hurtling from side to side as his face was crushed.
Only when his face had been mangled so badly that it was nearly unrecognizable did she stop.
“Phew... I’m sorry. I got a little worked up, didn’t I?”
Jin Seo-yoon withdrew both hands with a radiant smile.
“Now, where was I?”
“....”
“....”
Silence followed.
They all knew Jin Seo-yoon was S-rank, but she was also a pretty-faced celebrity.
The truth was that they had all underestimated her because of that.
And after seeing Jin Seo-yoon’s skill and the sheer amount of mana she possessed moments ago, everyone could only—
GULP—
GASP—
—remain silent.
“You were saying, ‘There’s no point talking to someone who’s never defeated a boss alone,’ ma’am.”
Only one person, Ji-hoon, raised his hand and spoke.
“As expected of Hunter Lee Ji-hoon.”
Jin Seo-yoon gave his steely nerve a thumbs-up, then continued her explanation.
“Like yesterday’s maze, you must be able to overcome any situation you face, so you’ll have to gather the byproducts yourselves. Understood?”
“YES!!!! UNDERSTOOD!!!!!!”
Unlike before, an earth-shaking roar answered her.
Jin Seo-yoon smiled in satisfaction and stepped down from the platform.
***
“Dungeon management?”
Ji-hoon was listening to Kim Ji-eun explain why they were visiting a Gate today.
“Yes, that’s probably it. I heard they’ve been short on management personnel recently because S-rank Gates have been erupting one after another.”
“Ordinarily, you monitor the Gate in case the Monsters respawn. If they do, you eliminate them and then farm the Gate again. That’s what Gate Management Rights entail.”
Kang Gi-tae nodded at Kim Jin-woo’s explanation and said,
“That’s why Guilds with a lot of Gate Management Rights wield so much power. Guilds like Orpheus and White Lotus.”
“Aha... So they’re using the camp as an excuse to dump their dirty work on us.”
“Dumping their dirty work on us? Hahaha! You might be right!”
Kang Gi-tae draped an arm around Ji-hoon’s shoulders, acting chummy.
“Still, something new is bound to show up, right? I’m counting on you, little brother.”
“Ah, sure, well....”
What could an F-rank possibly do?
While Ji-hoon muttered that, Poppy and Choco stood beside him with their chests puffed out proudly.
[Just trust Big Brother and follow me, you morons.]
[Right. And if you keep clinging to him and pretending you’re close, Choco will smash you.]
Don’t do that....
Ji-hoon muttered quietly to himself.
“It seems we’ll be arriving shortly.”
RATTLE—
The truck came to a stop.
“It’s the countryside.”
“I guess it’s managed even less because it’s a rural Gate. I heard even the Management Bureau considers places like this a headache....”
“You know a lot about this sort of thing, Ms. Ji-eun. You’re very knowledgeable.”
At the sincere compliment, Kim Ji-eun awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
“Well... my father is a civil servant with the Management Bureau.”
I didn’t know that.
But I don’t need this kind of personal trivia.
“Anyway, that’s why I’ve picked up a few things here and there. L-let’s hurry!”
“The Gate is up ahead.”
The Management Bureau employee who had driven them delivered the guidance like a machine.
And as everyone entered the Gate....
“Hmm....”
Ji-hoon alone spent a little longer observing the area outside it.
“Aren’t you going in?”
At the Management Bureau employee’s urging, he said,
“Oh, I’m sorry! I spaced out!”
He repeatedly bowed his head and entered the Gate.
And at the moment he stepped inside—
FLUTTER—
He dropped a small white feather.
***
Some time after Team C entered the Gate....
“...So it was here after all.”
With one hand resting on his sword’s pommel, Baek Kang-hyeon picked up Poppy’s feather, which Ji-hoon had dropped.
The employee responsible for management and surveillance was nowhere to be seen.
Baek Kang-hyeon brought a finger to his ear.
“It’s me. Tell me who’s assigned to the Geumbok-ri Gate in Hwaseong City—the one Team C entered.”
–Yes, Branch Director.
The sound of typing followed.
–...Branch Director.
“Speak.”
–Team Leader Oh Geun-taek is assigned to it, but....
The voice of the Management Bureau staff officer on the other end of the call trembled.
–He definitely had another appointment....
“If it’s Team Leader Oh, he went to the Commissioner’s office earlier for a meeting with the Commissioner.”
–Yes. There may have been an omission from the roster. Please give me a moment.
“No.”
CLENCH—
“I’m entering Team C’s Gate.”
–What!? Branch Director, wait! What about Team A?
“I carried them yesterday. Isn’t that enough? Do they expect me to be their driver again today? Right now, I need to check on Team C first.”
Hunter Lee Ji-hoon could be in danger if things went wrong.
The moment it mutated into an S-rank Gate, it would all be over.
Just then, a faint light emanated from Poppy’s feather.
“Poppy...?”
Feeling its mana, Baek Kang-hyeon gave a wry smile.
“Just who am I worrying about?”
He removed his hand from his sword’s pommel and gazed beyond the Gate.
“I’ll join you shortly.”
***
Meanwhile, Team C, who had entered the Gate....
“...What is this?”
“Is this how this Gate is supposed to be?”
“Good grief. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“How... does this make any sense...?”
“This is driving me crazy.”
Before them stood Teams A, B, D, E... all the way through Team N.
“Why are you here!?”
“Why are you here!?”
“Why are all of you here!?”
“Why are you guys here!?”
Though they had entered through different entrances, they had ultimately gathered in the same space, and now they stared at one another and shouted.
But Ji-hoon silently looked up at the Gate’s sky.
Then his expression hardened.
“Ha....”
He let out the sound like a brief sigh.
“I don’t think this is a test.”
At the same moment, Poppy’s feather and Choco’s Spines began to vibrate.