At Kang-hyeok's murmur, Ho-seok nodded.
"That's right. The press will likely start paying close attention to you, Hunter Park Kang-hyeok."
"I'd rather avoid the attention if I can......"
"We'll do everything we can on our end. Still, we'll have no choice but to announce that Korea's first State-Power-Class Hunter has been born. You are, quite literally, a being who can raise the nation's standing another notch. And to reassure a public living in fear of the demihumans and monsters...... the government will want to make your existence known on a grand scale."
"Haah......"
I really should have dialed the power down to low-grade Grandmaster.
"In return, various benefits will be provided. Tax exemptions and the like go without saying...... and a highest-grade potion, capable of regenerating your left arm, will be granted to you free of charge, one each year."
Kang-hyeok's eyes went wide.
They'd give him a highest-grade potion worth tens of billions of won, one every year?!
"And under the name of a dignity allowance, you'll receive 10 billion won annually."
"......?!"
"In exchange, we'd ask that you take part in the Association's commissions whenever possible. Especially in the event a Dungeon Gate ruptures and a raid breaks out......"
In a situation on the level of a national emergency, accepting the commission would be mandatory.
That clause applied equally to every S-rank Hunter.
"You can review the details when you receive your Hunter license later."
"Yes, understood."
"Lastly, I'd like to ask whether you have any interest in joining the Association."
"The Association...... you mean?"
"At present, Korea's Hunter community is sustained by the Three Great Guilds. The Association lacks the power to regulate them."
Even President Lee Ho-seok before him was no more than an S2-rank Hunter.
Meaning he could pose no threat to the S1-rank guild masters.
"I'll promise you the position of Vice President. I'd like to have you, Hunter Park Kang-hyeok, as my successor."
It was a tempting offer.
He could become the number-two figure of the vast organization that was the Hunter Association in a single stroke.
But an equal number of constraints would come with it.
Kang-hyeok gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"My apologies."
At his answer, Ho-seok looked disappointed.
"Might one of the Three Great Guilds have made you an offer......?"
"No. I've received no offers from the Three Great Guilds. And...... I have no intention of joining them, either."
"Ah......"
If Kang-hyeok were to enter one of the Three Great Guilds, Korea's Hunter community would tilt drastically.
His claim that he wouldn't join them was hard to fully believe, but for now that single sentence was all the comfort Ho-seok could take.
"If any trouble should ever arise, please contact me."
Ho-seok handed Kang-hyeok his own business card.
"You directly, President?"
"For smaller matters, going through my secretary's office would be appreciated, of course."
Kang-hyeok looked at the card, somewhat dazed.
"Thank you for your consideration."
"I look forward to your continued service to Korea."
Ho-seok extended his hand.
"Yes, I'll do my best."
Kang-hyeok clasped it, exchanged farewells with Ho-seok, and left the testing room.
At the reception desk, an executive handed Kang-hyeok his Hunter license in person.
"This booklet lists the benefits and various obligations provided to S1-rank Hunters. Please give it a look."
"Yes, understood."
"As for the dignity allowance...... shall we deposit it to your existing Geumhwa Bank account, number XXX-XXX-XXXX?"
At the account number the executive read out, Kang-hyeok nodded once.
"Yes, please. Ah, and would it be possible to sell you Mana Stones as well......"
"Of course."
At the sight of an executive personally handling even the menial tasks, the staff looked baffled.
Kang-hyeok handed over his pack.
"......These are all A-rank Mana Stones."
"Yes, from the Dullahans and Liches I slew yesterday."
"And the Death Knight's Mana Stone......"
"I gave it to Teinen Guild in exchange for a high-grade potion. My internal injuries were severe, so......"
"I see. Ah, and we'll issue your highest-grade potion right away. Without your left arm, fighting will be......"
The executive stopped mid-sentence, recalling the half-wrecked testing room.
Even without his left arm, Kang-hyeok could surely clear an A-grade dungeon with ease.
He could subdue the country's S1-rank Hunters in an instant, too.
"Ahem...... it will be inconvenient for combat, so it's best you take it right away."
Inconvenient was inconvenient.
The executive hurried off and brought back a highest-grade potion for Kang-hyeok.
A glass vial resting in an elegant wooden case.
Kang-hyeok gave the red liquid inside a single swirl and drank it down at once.
The reception staff stared blankly at Kang-hyeok, who had just swallowed tens of billions of won.
"......!"
From the severed left shoulder, an arm slowly began to regenerate.
Kang-hyeok looked at his newly regrown left arm and gave the executive a slight bow.
"Thank you."
"Not at all. For someone who will devote himself to Korea from here on, this much is only natural."
In other words: please take part in the Association's commissions as much as you can.
"I've just deposited the 10 billion won and the payment for the Mana Stones to your account. Please check it, and if there's any issue, contact me anytime."
The executive held out his card.
Commander of the 3rd Knight Order, Korea Hunter Association, Park Gyeong-min.
To hold a commander's post meant he, too, was a considerable talent.
"Understood. Well then, I'll take my leave......"
"Get home safely."
As Kang-hyeok stepped out of the Association building, the Hunter Association reported Park Kang-hyeok's existence to the higher authorities.
The government hastily prepared a press conference.
[Yesterday, with the deaths of Hunter Yu Chan-seok and many others, Korea lost a great many heroes. But their sacrifice was by no means in vain. We have confirmed that E-rank Hunter Park Kang-hyeok, who accompanied Hunter Yu Chan-seok, Re-Awakened today as an S1-rank Hunter. Furthermore, having destroyed the Mithril Wall in Testing Room One, the news that he is a Hunter approaching State-Power-Class......]
A new S1-rank Hunter had been born.
At the news, the reporters all showed their astonishment.
The bigger issue was that this S1-rank Hunter had shattered the Mithril Wall in Testing Room One.
'S-State-Power-Class......!'
'A State-Power-Class Hunter, in Korea......?!'
The reporters scrambled to break the news.
At that same time, Kang-hyeok was on the phone with his parents.
[You're really all right?]
Worry laced his mother's voice.
"Yes, don't worry. I'm perfectly fine. More importantly, what do you think about moving? Somewhere closer to Yu-na's school might be nice...... I came into a fair bit of money from the Re-Awakening. Let me look into a house and a shop for you."
[What money do you even have......]
Yu-na had been accepted to a university in Seoul.
She'd probably commute from the dorms.
"Tell her not to move into the dorms. I'll find a house right away. Really, there's no need to worry."
[Haah...... talk it over with your father first.]
"I will."
After much persuading his father, Kang-hyeok finally managed to set the move in motion.
Meanwhile, Lee Seong-ho of Teinen Guild's First Assault Squad — who had taken a highest-grade potion to regenerate his severed leg — watched the TV and ground his teeth.
"Fuck!"
He'd even mobilized reporters, determined to crush Park Kang-hyeok socially.
But the public's attention was fixed on the new S1-rank Hunter.
Seong-ho scowled at the name "Park Kang-hyeok" burning up TV and the internet.
"Th-This bastard is a State-Power-Class Hunter?"
Park Kang-hyeok, who'd been an E-rank, had become an S1-rank Hunter?!
It made no sense.
Seong-ho bit down on his lip.
"I'll do it right now, this instant......!"
Seong-ho fed slander about Park Kang-hyeok to the reporters, but most of it was blocked at the Hunter Association level.
"Damn it!"
At the Association's countermeasures, Seong-ho could only fume.
Park Kang-hyeok had left them behind in the boss room and walked away.
Why were people holding up trash like that as a hero?
That man was evil — the villain who'd hidden his power and let Hunters die.
"I have to...... I have to kill him."
At the hour Seong-ho was glaring venomously at Park Kang-hyeok's name on the TV—
Kang Ji-hye, who had gone to Teinen Guild, took out a huge loan from the guild, bought a highest-grade potion, and regenerated her right arm and left leg.
"J-Ji-hye, me too......"
Kim Yu-jin, who had lost both arms, looked at Ji-hye with pleading eyes.
For a B-rank Hunter like Yu-jin, the loan wouldn't stretch far enough to buy a highest-grade potion.
Ji-hye met Yu-jin's eyes once, then turned her head away.
"They said they can't lend me any more, either."
"Th-That's......"
"Go to that bastard Lee Seong-ho instead of me."
"S-Seong-ho? Seong-ho's your boyfriend......"
"Fuck, what boyfriend? The bastard didn't get me a single highest-grade potion! When we were fighting the Dullahans, he shoved me away, said I was in the way!"
"......"
While fighting the high-tier undead, Seong-ho had found Ji-hye and Yu-jin clinging to his back a nuisance and shoved them off.
"You think I'm insane enough to keep dating that bastard?! I'd rather go crawling to Park Kang-hyeok!"
"I heard he became a State-Power-Class Hunter this time......"
"Fuck, this is what I get for ever running around with Lee Seong-ho......!"
Ji-hye seethed.
A State-Power-Class Hunter was a being on a wholly different level from the country's S1-rank Hunters.
To form a connection with someone like that...... no, to have become Kang-hyeok's girlfriend, her fortunes would have been made.
"I don't know if Lee Seong-ho's got 18 billion won lying around...... but I can't help you. Why not go to Park Kang-hyeok instead? A guy like that could get an 18-billion-won loan from the bank, no problem."
"I don't have Kang-hyeok's number...... and before we went into the dungeon, well......"
"You were too busy sucking up to Lee Seong-ho. Couldn't tell a diamond apart, latched onto a lump of coal instead...... anyway, that's your problem."
As Ji-hye walked off, Yu-jin sank to the floor in despair.
Having lost both arms, working as a Hunter was no longer possible either.
If she'd at least kept one arm, it would have been something.
"......Fuck."
Weeping, Yu-jin finally resolved to go to the guild master.
Even in the elevator, the discomfort of having lost both arms didn't let up.
"S-Sorry, could you press the thirty-first floor for me?"
"Ah...... yes, of course."
She couldn't even press a single button.
Just the other day she'd walked around with her shoulders squared, proud as a B-rank Hunter.
The woman who had brushed past ordinary employees, brimming with confidence, now shrank as she requested a meeting with the guild master.
"The guild master is away at the moment."
The secretary regarded Yu-jin with cold eyes.
"Wh-When will he be back......"
"He's away recruiting Hunter Park Kang-hyeok, so...... he likely won't return today."
"Ah......"
Park Kang-hyeok again.
Well, of course — a State-Power-Class Hunter had just been born.
Beyond Korea's Three Great Guilds, even the massive guilds led by S2- and S3-rank Hunters.
Every one of them was after Park Kang-hyeok.