Ji-hoon looked up at Poppy.
Anyone could see that he was a Griffin straight out of legend.
The mana pouring from him naturally made it clear that he was S-rank.
“Hmmmm….”
“Are you truly going to take him outside?”
“I have to. Poppy is my family.”
“You do not release a fierce beast like a lion into a city merely because it has a name.”
That was true.
This lion listens to me, so he’s safe!
Who’d believe me if I said that?
Besides, I’m an F-rank, and I’m going to take an S-rank Boss Griffin outside?
If this made the news and my parents saw it while frying chicken, they’d faint.
Ji-hoon shook his head.
“All right. I’ve thought of a very good solution.”
“What kind of solution?”
“Poppy.”
[Yes, Big Brother.]
“You can shrink, right?”
Even at Hell Farm, Poppy had often made himself smaller and slept in Ji-hoon’s arms.
[I can. How small should I become?]
“About the size of a pigeon?”
Golden mana spread from Poppy’s body.
His enormous wings folded, and his lion’s body shrank. Even his blade-like talons transformed into adorable little hooks.
Ji-hoon gave the shrunken Poppy a firm thumbs-up.
“Good.”
[Thank you, Big Brother.]
“D-Did the Boss Monster just shrink to the size of a pigeon?”
Baek Kang-hyeon’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Why?”
“What do you mean, why? This should not be possible… No, for an F-rank to be with a boss in the first place….”
“Good grief, you’re no fun. Anyway, there shouldn’t be a problem now.”
“Surely you do not mean that leaving in that smaller body will solve the problem….”
Ji-hoon grinned at Baek Kang-hyeon.
“Of course that’s not the end of it.”
“Then…?”
“We need to keep everyone quiet.”
A short while later.
Everyone who had been watching the situation near the boss room gathered together.
The field supervisor, the collection team employees, the trainees, and the three C-rank Hunters.
Even Baek Kang-hyeon.
Every gaze turned toward the shrunken Griffin perched on Ji-hoon’s shoulder.
They all knew.
That tiny bird had been the gate’s S-rank Boss Monster, a Griffin, until only moments ago.
“All right, everyone, pay attention!”
CLAP CLAP–!
Ji-hoon clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention.
“Now, everyone. We’re going to do a very simple fact-check.”
“….”
“Who subdued the S-rank boss that was here and cleared the gate?”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Ji-hoon at once.
Someone answered in an exceedingly quiet voice.
“You….”
“Ahem.”
Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow.
At his signal, Poppy gathered golden mana at the tip of his beak.
WHOOOOOOOSH–
“E-Eek!”
“Again.”
The field supervisor’s face turned deathly pale.
“Hunter B-B-Baek Kang-hyeon!”
“Correct! Excellent!”
Ji-hoon nodded in satisfaction.
Baek Kang-hyeon stared at Ji-hoon with a dumbfounded expression.
“W-Wait. Why…?”
“You’re the strongest S-rank Hunter in the Republic of Korea. Don’t you clear S-rank gates by yourself?”
“That is true, but a Raid Team is generally required….”
“Then this is the first successful solo clear! Isn’t it great to have another title?”
“Hmm….”
Ji-hoon ignored Baek Kang-hyeon as he tried to say more.
“Good. Then, the next question!”
He looked around at the people again.
“Our Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon subdued the Griffin, made him safe, and even tamed him, right?”
“…Tamed?”
“But the Tamer is you….”
Ji-hoon narrowed his eyes again.
“And who, exactly, do you mean by ‘you’?”
“O-Over here! Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon!”
“My, you’re all so clever. That means Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon tamed the Boss Monster. How amazing is that~? Everyone, applaud!!”
WAAAAAAAAH….
CLAP CLAP CLAP–
The hollow sound of applause echoed through the room.
“Now, the final question!”
Poppy tilted his head slightly and rubbed it against Ji-hoon’s cheek.
“This tiny, adorable creature, no bigger than a pigeon, is my pet, right?”
“….”
A Boss Monster was his pet?
That Griffin?
The people desperately held back the words rising to their throats.
No one said a word.
Ji-hoon smiled.
Poppy raised his beak into a slight curve as well.
Mana sparkled at the tip of his beak.
“Is. That. Right?”
The field supervisor was the first to nod.
“Th-Th-That’s right.”
“I can’t hear you very well. What did you say this bird is?”
“Mr. Lee Ji-hoon’s pet!”
“Perfect! Absolutely perfect! What about the rest of you?”
Everyone began nodding frantically.
“He’s a pet!”
“He looks like a parrot, and he’s adorable!”
“I-I think he’s so cute that I want one too!”
“Thank you, everyone.”
Ji-hoon raised an index finger toward them.
“By the way, you all know what will happen if you go outside and tell anyone the truth about what happened today, right?”
At that moment, Poppy vanished from Ji-hoon’s shoulder.
ZIP ZIP–!
A single golden line crossed the boss room.
Movement faster than sound.
Their eyes could not even follow it.
One lap.
Two laps.
Three laps.
A small golden shadow brushed past the people.
Then it returned to Ji-hoon’s shoulder.
SWISH.
Poppy sat quietly.
As though he had never moved at all.
But the people could not move.
Near the nape of each person’s neck, golden mana bloomed like a blade, then slowly fell away.
No one was bleeding.
There were no wounds.
But they had all felt it.
That mana could have cut their throats just now.
“As far as I know, he moves at about the speed of sound?”
“Th-Th-The speed of sound!?”
“Even if you’re on the other side of Earth, he’ll get there quickly. Maybe a day or two?”
It was a threat that even if they took money for the information and fled, Poppy could kill them within a day.
At those words, everyone began frantically rubbing their hands together.
“Eek…!”
“P-Please spare us!”
“We won’t say anything!”
“We won’t talk even if we die!”
“I didn’t see anything today!”
“I’ve always had a bad memory!”
Ji-hoon smiled and nodded.
“I’m glad you’re all so cooperative. Thank you!”
Baek Kang-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
“Mr. Lee Ji-hoon.”
“Yes?”
“Threatening them is a little….”
“Then should we leave him here and go? What if he goes berserk again?”
Baek Kang-hyeon had exchanged blows with the Griffin briefly, but the Griffin would be difficult for a single S-rank Hunter to subdue.
A Raid Team would have to be assembled, and many people could die during the battle.
But this Griffin obeyed Ji-hoon.
An F-rank Tamer who could control an S-rank Boss Monster.
If this information reached Guilds, the media, foreign agencies, or criminal organizations, the resulting chaos would be something the Management Bureau had to handle.
‘The harm to ordinary civilians would also be considerable.’
Above all, mishandling that Griffin could cause an even greater disaster.
Baek Kang-hyeon nodded as though there was no other choice.
“Understood. I will handle the internal report.”
“Thank you.”
“The official record will state that I subdued the S-rank Boss Monster, while Mr. Lee Ji-hoon tamed a small Demonic Beast and is protecting him.”
He sighed deeply.
“However, this is only a temporary measure. Once we leave, you will have to undergo formal reporting, quarantine inspection, and safety verification procedures.”
“Isolation is not an option.”
“I will do my best to prevent that.”
“Huh? Really? Why?”
Baek Kang-hyeon looked at the people gathered near the entrance to the boss room.
An S-rank gate had suddenly opened.
A boss had appeared.
The exit had been blocked.
It had been an utterly unexpected situation.
In ten years, this was the first gate of its kind.
To be honest, Baek Kang-hyeon had prepared himself for at least some fatalities.
But no one had died.
No one had even been injured.
There was only one reason.
A Returnee. The F-rank Tamer, Lee Ji-hoon.
“I have a request.”
“What?”
“Please help the Management Bureau.”
“Uh… why?”
“Something like today may happen again. This was the first time in ten years that a Cleared Gate reactivated. Even the Management Bureau failed to respond properly. The same is true of the major Guilds.”
It could truly have become a dangerous situation.
But Lee Ji-hoon had handled everything.
“And I believe you may hold some kind of… key to these mutations.”
“What kind of key could an F-rank possibly hold?”
“It is fine even if there is nothing special. You said the Griffin’s name was Poppy, correct?”
Poppy gave a small nod.
“I would like you to clear gates with Poppy. The compensation will, of course, be top-tier, no, beyond even that.”
“But I’m F-rank, and he’s a Boss Monster.”
Baek Kang-hyeon nodded, then looked back and forth between Ji-hoon and Poppy.
“That is true. However, the Management Bureau does not wish to make an enemy of you.”
A brief silence followed.
Ji-hoon looked at Poppy on his shoulder.
Poppy quietly rubbed his head against Ji-hoon’s cheek.
Even after shrinking, he was still Poppy.
The eldest at Hell Farm.
The King of Griffins.
Family who had lived with him for a hundred years.
Ji-hoon sighed softly.
“Let’s leave first.”
“Does that mean you will cooperate?”
“Rather than cooperate, hmm….”
Ji-hoon tapped Poppy’s beak with a finger.
“I need to find out why my boy was bound here.”
“Thank you. Then let us go to the Management Bureau first. I would like to discuss the contract terms with you there, one by one.”
Well, if they’re offering to treat me properly even as an F-rank, why would I refuse?
Ji-hoon cradled Poppy in his arms and walked out of the gate.
And so the S-rank gate was cleared, allowing everyone to make it outside safely.
As soon as Ji-hoon emerged, he headed to the Awakened Management Bureau Central Branch with Baek Kang-hyeon.
***
“Wow….”
The Central Branch building was quite spacious.
After briefly surveying the interior, Poppy extended his beak and grumbled.
[It is not even half the size of Hell Farm.]
Hell Farm is just too big, Poppy….
Poppy did not hear my muttering and continued voicing his dissatisfaction toward Baek Kang-hyeon.
Not that Baek Kang-hyeon could hear him anyway.
“Thank you for coming.”
“All right. Then what should we discuss first…?”
“I would like the gates and Dungeons you clear from now on to become the property of the Management Bureau.”
All recently appearing gates had been cleared at the Guild level.
As a result, the Guild that cleared a gate would convert it into Guild property and begin profiting from it.
In that process, the Awakened Management Bureau, with Baek Kang-hyeon as its sole S-rank Hunter, had been far too slow in building up its own gates.
“Moreover, the Management Bureau does not own an S-rank Dungeon. I am ignorant of politics, so I am something of an outcast as well.”
“Hmm….”
Because Baek Kang-hyeon was poor at politics, he had no one to help him. Ji-hoon also happened to be a Hunter who had not yet joined a Guild, making him an ideal choice.
So what I’d needled him about earlier was actually true.
“I need your help, Hunter Lee Ji-hoon. If possible, I would like your permission to make this S-rank Dungeon the property of our Management Bureau….”
“Since it’s already been recorded as cleared by Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon, doesn’t that make it Management Bureau property?”
“Are you granting permission?”
“Permission or whatever….”
Baek Kang-hyeon’s excessive politeness was making me uncomfortable instead.
Well, I did intend to negotiate, so that was fair enough.
“Ahem. Um, Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon… no, Branch Director?”
“Yes, Hunter Lee Ji-hoon.”
“How much will you pay? If I give you ownership of the S-rank gate?”
“One billion won, three pieces of A-rank equipment, and one hundred Dungeon-Exclusive Potions.”
Wow, really?
Ji-hoon was honestly surprised.
That much?
“Of course, that is not all. We will also share a percentage of the gate’s profits with you.”
I can work out the future terms as we go, and it wouldn’t hurt to know a high-ranking government official.
Ji-hoon nodded.
“But wouldn’t the other Guilds try to recruit me at these terms?”
“Th-That is….”
“I’m joking. I don’t want to get mixed up with strange people for no reason either.”
It had been the same in Hell.
Some would approach him with friendly intentions, only to steal the savings he had accumulated.
Others would ask him for help because something had happened, only for him to discover that they had been drinking themselves senseless.
They really treated kindness like it was their right, huh?
“Sounds good.”
“A-Are you certain!?”
“Of course. But may I add a few more conditions?”
I still don’t know much about Earth’s Guilds.
If I get mixed up with the wrong one, I’ll only be pushed around.
Baek Kang-hyeon, the Branch Director at the Management Bureau, is the better choice.
If I attract attention without knowing anything, I’ll only be dragged this way and that.
Ji-hoon had suffered like hell because of Abel’s Contract.
His gaze began to shine as sharply as a Griffin’s eyes, determined to extort, no, win even one more thing.
***
“Okay, then we have a deal.”
To the original terms, Ji-hoon added ‘the right to freely enter any A-rank or higher gate that periodically appeared,’ ‘twice the salary of a Management Bureau Hunter,’ and ‘the Management Bureau will control all matters inside the Dungeon.’
And finally, the most important condition.
“However, I will continue operating as an F-rank, just as I do now. You do not need to help me too openly, so do not worry about me.”
The contract explicitly stated, ‘The Management Bureau respects the activities and opinions of F-rank Hunter Lee Ji-hoon.’
In other words, Ji-hoon would never allow the Management Bureau to control him.
Baek Kang-hyeon smiled brightly, saying it was only natural.
“You do not need to worry about that. I will take responsibility and keep it secret.”
Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon bowed deeply once again.
Seriously, between Poppy and everyone else, is it fashionable to talk and bow like gangsters?
[Big Brother! Th-That, th-th-th-that human bastard has no right to try serving you as I do! I cannot tolerate it, Big Brother! Accept my bow!]
“Hold it in, Poppy. Please….”
Their conversation continued for some time. After Ji-hoon and Poppy signed the contract, they were finally able to return home.
Right on cue, the news was playing on the television.
[The S-rank gate that suddenly appeared in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, today was cleared by Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon, an S-rank Hunter affiliated with the Management Bureau. In particular, Hunter Baek Kang-hyeon entered the gate alone and rescued everyone inside, once again proving his status as the strongest S-rank Hunter in the Republic of Korea.]