Chapter 13
Silence fell as the people in the Emergency Response Center Situation Room of the Hunter’s Bureau lost count of how many times they had replayed the scene captured by Hunter Yoo Mi-Ra’s emergency cam.
“Play it again,” Young-Chul said.
The video started playing again from the point of recording.
Young-Chul gestured and said, “There, rewind it a bit. Start from when the ogres appear.”
Ziiiing.
The video resumed at triple speed for a while, then resumed normal speed when dozens of Dark Ogres, led by the Monarch Ogre, began walking toward the Hunters.
“They’re here! Everyone, stay sharp!”
“So that’s the Monarch Ogre…”
“Try not to get hit!”
“Slow it down from here.”
The footage then played at half speed.
Young-Chul leaned forward, focusing on the video.
He was looking at a Hunter wearing a white mask in casual clothes picking up a branch and drawing a large circle around the three members of the Mejai Guild.
Fwoosh!
Then, a translucent blue barrier enveloped them.
“Do not leave this circle.”
The masked Hunter pulled out a sword from their waist.
No, could it even be called a sword? With its broken blade, it was less than twenty centimeters long. The only intact part was the hilt, making it a ridiculously poor excuse for a sword.
Crrrrackle!
The sword flashed, and an ink-black blade as dark as pitch extended from the hilt.
Boooooom!
The Fissure shook violently from the impact, so strong that it felt palpable even through the screen.
The Mejai Guild Hunters clutched their heads or started dry heaving, unable to maintain their composure.
Crrrrrackle!
And that’s where the video cut off.
Young-Chul leaned back against his chair, an expression of disbelief on his face. He closed his eyes and replayed the scene in his mind.
“What did you say that guy’s name was?” he asked.
An aide responded immediately, “His name is Kim Hyun-Woo.”
“And the info on him?”
“About that…”
“Don’t make me wait. Spit it out.”
The aide scratched his head awkwardly. He swallowed hard, then said, “There is none.”
“What?”
“His resident registration number, address, and all the other information on file is false. Even his Hunter registration date is listed as December 99, 9999.”
Young-Chul frowned. “Are there no witnesses? He must have left the Fissure. Didn’t Min-Hyuk and Min-Ji go there? They must have seen him.”
“No one saw him leave,” the aide answered, sweating profusely.
He thought Young-Chul would soon explode in anger, demanding they find the masked Hunter no matter what.
“Tsk, forget it.”
“Sir?”
Even though the video cut off in the middle of the battle, anyone with half a brain could deduce who defeated the Monarch Ogre, the boss monster of the A-rank Great Fissure. The issue at hand was his identity.
He must’ve worn a mask to conceal his identity.
The puzzling question was, why would he want to hide?
His skill level was clearly at S-rank, probably even higher.
The way he imbued mana into the sword using Infusion and the barrier he placed around the Mejai Guild members was likely an application of some other technique.
However, based on these two pieces of information, he knew of no Hunters among the S-rankers who matched this description.
Young-Chul stood up. “A person with skills like that will come to light soon enough. Let’s just wait and see.”
“Yes, sir. In the meantime, I’ll continue the investigation.”
“One more thing. Bring me a list of any new S-rankers from the Hunter ranking evaluations.”
“Understood.”
***
Returning home, Do-Jun placed the hoodie and jeans he had been wearing into the laundry bag and quickly changed his clothes. Checking that Yoon-Hee had gone out, he placed the mask in the desk drawer and set the mana stone he obtained from defeating the Monarch Ogre on the desk.
He felt the condensed mana from the palm-sized mana stone.
In terms of internal energy, it amounted to about ten years’ worth of training. Do-Jun divided the mana stone into ten pieces, thinking that bringing the whole stone to the Korean National Smithy might raise unnecessary suspicions.
Do-Jun looked at the Hunter ID card in his hand and contemplated, Should I destroy it?
Thinking ahead, destroying it seemed prudent. The best strategy was always to avoid leaving a trail. However, Do-Jun shook his head and gently placed the Hunter ID card in the drawer.
I didn’t leave any traces. There’s nothing for them to track me with.
He might need the ID card in the future. If he needed to enter any more Fissures after destroying this card, he would have no choice but to use his civil servant ID.
Besides, the information he had entered for Kim Hyun-Woo in the Seoul Administrative System registration was false.
Of course, the Hunter’s Bureau might find a way to track him down somehow, but that was a problem for later.
Do-Jun walked out of his room and pulled out a thick envelope hidden between small bookshelves beside Yoon-Hee’s mattress.
He alternately looked at the enrollment notice and the Payment Reminder.
Fifty million won.
Do-Jun looked at the mana stone fragment he had on him.
He wasn’t sure how much he could sell it for, but considering the average price of a mana stone obtained from an A-rank monster was around 200 million won, he thought he could at least get tens of millions of won.
***
Do-Jun arrived at the Korean National Smithy by subway and immediately entered Zone 1, which housed a general store selling potions and various miscellaneous items for Hunters. It was also a place where Hunters could bring monster corpses and mana stones they obtained from them.
[Customer number forty-eight, please proceed to counter number three.]
Despite it being a Saturday, the place was crowded with people selling monster corpses and mana stones. Most of them were guild managers who handled the sale of the items hunted by their guild Hunters.
Since Do-Jun wasn’t affiliated with any guild, he had to sell his mana stone himself.
“Welcome. You’ve written here that you’re selling one mana stone. Please write down the date and time for the appraisal request, as well as the approximate grade of the mana stone.”
“Is it not possible to sell it right now? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
“You want a quick sale, I see. In that case, an accurate appraisal is difficult, and ten percent of the sale price of your mana stone will be taken as a fee. Is that alright?”
“Sure.”
“Great, do you have the mana stone with you?”
“Yes, here it is.”
The employee took the mana stone from Do-Jun. As they examined the small mana stone roughly the size of a fingertip, they sighed inwardly, knowing that individuals who came alone to sell a single mana stone were mostly F-rank Hunters just starting out hunting in Fissures.
It’s also a typical size for an F-rank mana stone.
When it came to F-rank mana stones, they varied in price depending on mana concentration, generally ranging from 40 to 60 thousand won. Assuming an average of 50 thousand won and deducting the fee, the Hunter would get only 45 thousand won.
The employee placed the mana stone on a device that measured mana concentration. The mana level displayed on the machine began to rise gradually, and as the increase continued, the employee’s jaw dropped further open.
The amount of mana contained in what they had thought was a negligible mana stone was equivalent to that of an A-rank stone. In fact, it was slightly above the average A-rank.
“L-let me measure it again. My apologies,” the employee said, evidently taken aback.
“Is there a problem?” Do-Jun asked them.
“No, it’s just... it looks like the machine might be malfunctioning.”
However, the result was the same even after several re-measurements and even when using a machine from the adjacent counter.
Finally, the employee showed Do-Jun the calculated number on the calculator: 27,850,000.
“Is that 27 million won?” Do-Jun asked, regretting not bringing another of the mana stone fragments he had.
But the employee’s next words were more surprising. “That’s the ten percent for the fee. After that, the amount you will receive is 250,650,000 won.”
***
Tap, tap.
[Welcome, Mr. Lee Do-Jun.]
[Current balance: 251,400,190 won.]
Seeing the balance on his online banking app, Do-Jun glanced at the nine mana stone fragments rolling around in his desk drawer. If he sold all these mana stones, he could receive over 2 billion won, but he had no intention of doing so.
Hearing the front door open, he closed the desk drawer and exited his room. Yoon-Hee had placed bags filled with groceries from her shopping trip at the entrance.
“You’re home, Father! How was work?” she asked Do-Jun.
“Thanks. That must have been heavy. Good job,” he said, pointing to the grocery bags.
“Hehe, it’s nothing.”
Do-Jun lifted the bags and placed them on the dining table.
“Thank you.”
At that moment, Yoon-Hee noticed a neatly placed envelope on the table. She looked at Do-Jun in surprise, and Do-Jun sighed at her reaction.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the tuition fees?” he asked her.
“Did you see it?” Yoon-Hee’s face darkened as she asked.
Despite calling each other father and daughter, their relationship was purely contractual. The reality was that they were complete strangers with no blood ties. Asking to borrow or even expecting 50 million won from such a person was out of the question.
“I thought it might make you hate me. I’m already grateful just to live here…” Yoon-Hee said.
“Hate you?”
“B-but... Fifty million won all of a sudden... I didn’t want to burden you any further…”
“Right. Fifty million won is certainly a burden for me. It’s also not covered in our contract,” Do-Jun said.
Yoon-Hee bit her lip and nodded slightly. Do-Jun’s reaction was understandable; after all, this was a purely contractual relationship.
“So we’d better add it.”
“Sorry?”
With that, Do-Jun pulled out the contract and spread it on the table while Yoon-Hee blinked in confusion.
8. Party A will finance any school-related fees of Party B.
Do-Jun then signed above the new addendum and urged Yoon-Hee to do the same.
“Go ahead and put your signature next to mine.”
“Sorry…?” she asked, looking back and forth between Do-Jun and the contract. “But... this is…”
“I’m not going anywhere until you sign it. I’m hungry, so it’d be best if you could hurry,” Do-Jun said with a smile, and that kindness made Yoon-Hee tear up without realizing it.
“Come on, dad’s hungry, sign it.”
She had always thought how nice it would be to have a dependable father.
When she was just a kindergartener, she envied the kids whose fathers came to pick them up. Her mother often yelled that it was her fault her father left.
Do-Jun’s older brother, whom her mother brought home as a boyfriend, was an alcoholic who beat her and her mother daily.
“You really make me do everything for you, huh?” Do-Jun helped Yoon-Hee up, placed his hand over hers, and made her hold the pen to force her to write her name.
“Dad... Dad…” Yoon-Hee hugged Do-Jun and burst into tears as if her long-suppressed sorrow exploded all at once.
Do-Jun patted her back and stroked her hair. After about a minute passed and Do-Jun tried to pull her away, Yoon-Hee clung on even more tightly.
“Just a little longer… let me be spoiled.”
At her words, Do-Jun chuckled and muttered, “Alright.”
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