“The reason we came here today is to assist with your registration.”
An unprecedented situation in which a director from Hunter General Administration Headquarters had come to assist with Hunter registration.
It was absolutely not normal.
“However, while looking into it to help with the registration, we were unable to clearly confirm Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong’s identity.”
Kang Ha-min flinched.
That was because it was a matter he had been worried about as well.
Normally, there was no need to verify someone’s identity for Hunter registration.
Hunter registration itself was simple as long as they could prove they had awakened.
But this time, a director from Hunter General Administration Headquarters had appeared.
There was no way they would not investigate.
‘W-What do we do?’
As Kang Ha-min froze.
“So, we created an identity for you on our side.”
An illegal statement came out of the mouth of a government official as though it were nothing.
“That saves us some trouble.”
And Baek Cheon-myeong accepted it as though it were nothing.
What kind of absurd conversation was this?
“Yes. Here is your identification, a Hunter-exclusive bank account that does not withhold taxes, and a mobile phone we opened just in case.
Use them if you need them, and discard them if you do not.”
“I will use it.”
Baek Cheon-myeong immediately snatched up the mobile phone.
It was the most satisfied expression he had worn all day.
He had a quiet interest in modern technology.
‘What is this?’
Kang Ha-min was still dumbfounded.
The government had taken the initiative to create an identity and a bank account for him.
He strongly felt that something was going terribly wrong.
[Master, is it not good when a good thing comes your way?]
‘Ah, no, well.’
[If the country created this identity, then it is not really illegal in the way the master describes either.]
That was true, but.
Kang Ha-min wore a complicated expression.
There was only one reason Shin No-seop was doing this.
Baek Cheon-myeong was a precious talent who could save South Korea.
Recently, Korea’s Hunter market had been weakening.
Incidents related to the Hunter market had occurred one after another, sending it into decline.
Then, a new talent had appeared.
They could never let him go.
They would prevent any unnecessary noise in advance.
Even if Baek Cheon-myeong was suspicious, it did not matter.
He was the precious S Grade Hunter who had shattered the Tower clear achievement record!
South Korea had to keep him in the country by any means necessary.
‘Moreover, the Tower’s recent clear pace is troubling.’
Several Hunters who had achieved Tower Ascension were likely devoting their full strength to updating the Tower.
But in comparison, the Tower’s update had been sluggish.
‘Once a year passes without the Tower being updated, the Trials begin.’
After the Tower appeared and Hunters awakened.
Every nation had barred everyone from entering the Tower because they did not know what it was.
They had gathered soldiers who claimed to have become Hunters and sent them inside, only for a disaster to occur in which many people died.
As a result, for around a year, they had merely repeated investigations.
Then came the First Trial.
The Dimensional Break.
When the first Dimensional Break occurred, how many people had died?
The world entered an unprecedented Great Depression, and its economy was devastated.
South Korea was naturally no exception.
The foreign exchange crisis was severe enough that the IMF nearly happened again.
In the end, the reason the IMF did not happen was not that Korea was in less danger than in 1997.
It was because even the IMF no longer had money left to lend.
A global Great Depression piled atop that situation.
It was only natural that the Korean economy would be shattered.
The time that followed had been more dreadful than any other era.
And now, it had already been half a year since the Tower was last updated.
If the Tower’s floors were not updated over the next half year, the Second Trial would come.
In effect, it was an unprecedented crisis.
The entire world was desperately trying to update the Tower.
If a country succeeded in updating it now, stock prices around the world would be shaken all at once.
And now, someone who had achieved a new Floor 1 achievement had appeared.
‘This man is South Korea’s chance to welcome a second golden age!’
Shin No-seop had been born into a family of independence activists and was a patriot by nature.
For Korea’s growth, he was the sort of man who would make a deal with the devil.
What did it matter if Baek Cheon-myeong was suspicious?
What did it matter if he had no identity?
He only needed to climb the Tower.
Climb the Tower!
“Min-ji, make sure he has no inconveniences. I will go have a cigarette.”
“Yes!”
Shin No-seop quickly left so that he would not put unnecessary pressure on Baek Cheon-myeong.
After coming outside, Shin No-seop quietly waited.
Naturally, he had no intention of smoking.
He could not risk Baek Cheon-myeong frowning because of cigarette smoke.
He even gargled, trying to remove the scent of a middle-aged man.
Others might be sick of asking why he went so far.
But to Shin No-seop, this was work and life.
After some time passed.
“Um, Director.”
Kim Min-ji cautiously came out after apparently finishing the paperwork.
“Oh, you finished?”
“Yes, but, well.”
“What is it? Is something wrong? Did he demand a large contract fee? How much is it? I will grab the Head of Headquarters by the collar and get it for him if I have to.”
“Uh, no. It is not that. You will understand if you look at it yourself.”
With a slightly dazed expression, Kim Min-ji handed him a sheet of paper.
After receiving the paper, Shin No-seop was dazed as well.
Grade: Mythic
Mythic.
It was a grade he had never seen in his life.
“Could he have written it falsely?”
Shin No-seop had seen Baek Cheon-myeong’s personality himself.
That innate arrogance was not the type of character that would write something like this falsely.
If anything, he would have written it more honestly.
“Heh, haha, hahahaha.”
Shin No-seop simply laughed.
He could not stop the laughter that kept spilling out.
Seeing Shin No-seop laugh like a madman, Kim Min-ji quietly backed away.
“I-I will go get some snacks for Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong.”
She had judged that there was nothing good to be gained from staying here.
Regardless, Shin No-seop looked up at the sky and smiled brightly.
Great-grandfather, an independence activist who worked to reclaim this country, behold.
It seems that Korea may welcome a second miracle after the Miracle on the Han River.
A Mythic Grade Hunter.
The appearance of a Hunter who would change the rules of the world.
***
After Shin No-seop personally came out and offered to drive them, only for Baek Cheon-myeong to refuse.
Once they safely returned home, Kang Ha-min finally let out a breath.
So much fuss over a single Hunter registration.
“Maybe I should not have written Mythic Grade.”
“No, it is better to write it. It will make people less suspicious because of it.”
Baek Cheon-myeong sat down and fiddled with the mobile phone.
The upturned corner of his lips showed how much he enjoyed it.
He would have accepted it even if Kang Ha-min had told him not to.
Still, through Baek Cheon-myeong, Kang Ha-min requested strict secrecy about the matter.
“Yes, we will certainly keep it secret! It is actually the right decision.
On our end as well, for the sake of supporting Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong’s smooth Tower challenges, it would be better for him not to be known yet!”
Support from Hunter General Administration Headquarters.
It was unbearably burdensome.
“Support is unnecessary. When this body sells various things, simply make that easier.”
“Yes, of course. Ms. Yoo A-rin will handle that exclusively. And you need not worry about taxes either! I will report everything to those above. We will give you the best benefits, including a contract fee.”
“That is fine. Stop at that. I do not want to receive a contract fee and have my name reach those higher up.”
“I see. Understood. But please contact us whenever a problem arises. Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong is South Korea’s treasure and the greatest S Grade Hunter in the world!”
Whoa, that was burdensome.
Kang Ha-min answered through Baek Cheon-myeong, but every word felt burdensome.
Still, hearing Shin No-seop speak so far, he trusted him.
Shin No-seop seemed like the sort of person who would thoroughly keep a confidentiality agreement no matter what.
‘More importantly, S Grade.’
He had expected it.
Mythic Grade was a grade that did not exist anywhere else.
‘But it would be troublesome if Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong drew attention like other S Grade Hunters.’
S Grade Hunters became stars in an instant.
People capable of overturning a nation by themselves.
The power carried by that name was beyond imagination.
That was why S Grade Hunters stood out wherever they went, and the world cheered them with fervor.
Naturally, every S Grade Hunter had their own fandom.
They had far greater star power than celebrities.
If he got caught up in that, he would become entangled in every kind of troublesome matter.
For Kang Ha-min, who wanted an ordinary, safe life, it was not something he wanted.
Moreover, his identity as the master might be exposed.
‘If possible, I want to hide my existence for the rest of my life.’
Once it was revealed, it would become impossible to control.
Kang Ha-min decided to be even more thorough in guarding himself.
***
After Baek Cheon-myeong left.
Kim Min-ji took out a tablet beside Shin No-seop and spoke.
“Director Shin, the only information related to Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong is the first sighting that was circulating on the internet.”
Baek Cheon-myeong’s first sighting.
It was the bus accident from not long ago.
The incident where a bus skidded on an icy road and charged straight toward a bus stop.
A report that Baek Cheon-myeong had appeared before it and stopped it.
Even that was practically only speculation.
There was no information about Baek Cheon-myeong anywhere.
It was as though he had fallen from the sky.
A Hunter’s personal circumstances.
Everyone would speak of privacy violations and the like, but Baek Cheon-myeong was different.
He was a much more important person than he himself realized.
And naturally, this was not limited to Korea alone.
“What about China and the United States?”
“It seems they are already moving.”
“Ha, those bastards trample other countries with their boots as though it is nothing every time.”
“There are movements from Japan as well.”
“Right, are those Japanese bastards planning to steal him away? Guard the information well. If it leaks outside, it means we have an enemy within. Every head will roll.”
“Eek, but Ms. Yoo A-rin is involved too.”
“That woman would never sell information anywhere if it did not benefit her.”
Baek Cheon-myeong had strangely little information available.
It was not entirely bad news.
At least it meant other countries would have as much difficulty gathering information as they did.
“His residence?”
There was a residence field on Hunter registration forms.
Baek Cheon-myeong had naturally filled it out.
Because Kang Ha-min, trembling in fear, had made him write it all down.
“One man named Kang Ha-min lives there. As a notable detail, he was recently dismissed from his civil servant post in the Hunter Department.”
“Was someone from our side involved?”
“Yes, it was a lower department, but he was a civil servant.”
“And he was dismissed?”
“You know that Dimensional Break from a while ago, the one whose grade was measured incorrectly and caused mass casualties.”
It had caused such an uproar above that it even appeared in the news.
Shin No-seop did not know nothing about what lay behind it.
He was a patriot too, but the way this country operated had been a complete mess for a long time.
The National Assembly had long become an arena where sly snakes twisted around.
The reality was that those who wanted only self-preservation were plentiful, while those who served the country were extremely rare.
“It was Representative An Cheol-woo’s doing.”
An Cheol-woo, a four-term member of the National Assembly.
His family had been involved in politics for generations, and he was deeply rooted in the National Assembly.
Furthermore, right after the Hunter crisis broke out, he had been one of the first people to move quickly.
While other members of the National Assembly dithered over the current situation.
An Cheol-woo introduced the Hunter Act to the National Assembly and naturally monopolized much of the authority related to Hunters.
Not to mention the number of company entities established under his direction during that process.
He was a much bigger figure than expected.
Kang Ha-min had been dismissed as a civil servant because of what that man had done.
“Hmm, what about family relations?”
“Family relations for someone with no information? Come on. It would make more sense if Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong were Kang Ha-min’s summoned creature.”
“If there were someone who could command an S Grade Hunter as a summoned creature, that would be a complete mess in its own way.”
Shin No-seop clicked his tongue and tapped on the tablet.
Then Kang Ha-min’s information, which they had already learned, appeared.
“But what if they really are family? From Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong’s perspective, his own family suffered something like that, so he would probably hate civil servants.”
Shin No-seop knew because they worked in the same field.
Few things were worse for civil servants than having their livelihood taken away.
Moreover, Shin No-seop saw the name of Kang Ha-min’s senior mentor.
An Min-woo.
The son of An Cheol-woo, and a man expected to become a member of the National Assembly in the future.
Anyone who knew him knew that his personality was complete shit.
“His hatred must be extraordinary.”
Shin No-seop felt the corners of his eyes grow hot.
This damned National Assembly.
Far from ever being helpful, it always created only the worst situations.
The S Grade Hunter who had gone to China had also done so because of the National Assembly’s bullshit.
Shin No-seop’s anger boiled over.
To keep Baek Cheon-myeong tied to Korea, they had to cut off the seeds of distrust somehow.
“I need to meet the Head of Headquarters.”
“Ugh, are you really going to fight a four-term member of the National Assembly? An Cheol-woo’s entire family is connected to the National Assembly.”
“I know. But there is no place where family counts for less than in this country’s politics.”
This country’s political world was a place where people could turn knives on one another at any time.
Even if they shared the same blood.
An Cheol-woo was certainly a solid iron fortress.
But even an iron fortress could not stop a black sword thrust from within.
“There is no information on Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong. Then we must protect the side that does have information, by any means necessary.
Block all information on this man, Kang Ha-min, and we will move directly.”
Achievements could be viewed by every Hunter.
At this point, hiding Baek Cheon-myeong’s existence forever was impossible.
“Later, the people above will instinctively understand who is more beneficial and who is more harmful.”
Shin No-seop handed the tablet back to her.
“So before then, our job is to make preparations so that we can act at any time.”
“That sounds like we are spies!”
“......Sometimes, when I look at you, I become very worried.”
Seeing the bright-eyed Kim Min-ji, Shin No-seop pressed a hand to his forehead.
Yes, this was probably why someone like her had survived so long in this field.
“More importantly, Kang Ha-min’s father, who is presumed to be Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong’s family, appears to be hospitalized. Begin providing the best possible support for that side first. Make sure to do it discreetly.”
“Yes!”
Even if it meant involving an innocent person, so be it.
No matter what it took, keeping Baek Cheon-myeong in South Korea.
That was the one thing Shin No-seop wanted.