Chapter 17

Chapter 17. Branch Point

***

"Because the Hunter Association is weak."

The moment those words fell, the air in the VIP room froze cold.

Choi Seon-a’s calm eyes shook, and a deep furrow formed between Yoo Hye-sung’s brows.

Right in front of the people who stood at the center of South Korea’s Hunter world, I had judged their organization as weak.

This was not provocation.

It was closer to an insult.

"The current Association is, at least."

No sooner had I finished speaking than Yoo Hye-sung sprang to his feet.

He looked so agitated that I could hear his rough breathing.

A threatening aura bloomed from his entire body.

"You bastard, we indulged you a little and now you don’t know when to stop···!"

"Hye-sung."

When Association President Jung Eun-jin raised her hand slightly, Yoo Hye-sung clenched his teeth and sat back down.

His jaw muscles bulged as though he were swallowing his anger.

Even amid that bloodlust, I did not so much as blink.

There was no need to soften my words.

No matter how much I dressed it up in flowery rhetoric, the core was rotten.

In the previous world, the Hunter Association had walked the path to collapse in every sense.

During the early Gate days, it had been the central force leading the Awakened, but as private guilds armed with capital grew, it lost the initiative.

In the end, the Association ten years later had fallen into an administrative office that merely issued licenses while watching the guilds’ moods.

No one considered a Hunter license honorable.

'Even now, it must be barely holding on through the individual abilities of Yoo Hye-sung and Jung Eun-jin.'

The Association before my eyes was a patient wearing the mask of a giant.

Moreover, it held no merit in terms of the information and mobility I wanted.

It lacked both Kim Dae-han’s tenacity in sweeping the underbelly and the power to stand against the Gate G.A.R.M.

"Everything you said is correct. That is why it hurts even more."

Association President Jung Eun-jin closed her eyes.

Her wrinkled face twisted subtly, then soon regained its calm.

"But Mr. Kim Do-jin. Do you think you can fight that great wave alone?"

I recalled the true calamity that had swallowed the world before my regression.

The Mythic-Rank Monster, Evil God Dragon Zephyros.

Concerns such as the Association’s "power struggles between guilds" or "Gate crimes" were nothing but child’s play before that existence.

She called that a wave?

No, it was not.

"Beyond the Gates, there are beings far beyond what you can imagine, Association President. Disasters so great that even Legendary-Rank Monsters do not come up to their feet."

The temperature in the room plummeted.

My quiet but certain voice drove itself into their ears.

"···What does that mean?"

Association President Jung Eun-jin opened her eyes.

Her pupils had changed into something like a dark abyss.

"Those are the enemies I have to face. That is why the current Association does not suit me."

Yoo Hye-sung clenched his fists, and Choi Seon-a shook her head as though she could not understand.

Only Jung Eun-jin was different.

Her expression seemed to harden for a moment, but then took on a strange light.

"I see···. I understand now. Why your eyes look so sad."

Jung Eun-jin nodded and let out a deep sigh.

Then she tore off a sheet of notepaper lying on the table.

"I will tell you one secret. There is a side effect I gained from using my Trait, 'Wings of the Seraph,' for decades, and it is also another ability."

"Jung Eun-jin, that’s···!"

Yoo Hye-sung hurriedly tried to stop her, but she did not stop.

"I can see this world’s branch points."

What?

Cold sweat ran down my back.

This was something I had not known even before my regression.

Branch points?

Was she saying she could see the future?

"It is not some grand power of prophecy. It may only be a blurry afterimage, or the hallucination of a senile old woman."

Jung Eun-jin picked up a pen and drew one long straight line on the paper.

Then she split its end into two branches.

"Time flows in a straight line, then splits at certain singularities. A and B. They are moments of choice."

"What does that mean?"

"I do not know either. But I can understand a little of the outcome."

She placed her finger on one end of the branching line.

Amazingly, the illusion of a blue sprout bloomed from the paper.

Then, when she touched the other end, the paper burned black and turned to ash.

It was not magic.

I knew by looking.

This was pure visualization of causality.

"Survival and destruction."

She looked straight at me.

"I can very occasionally see the moment when those choices reveal themselves. Three years ago, and today."

I wound back the gears of my memory.

Three years before the point of my regression.

No particular incident came to mind.

At that time, far from being a Hunter, I had been a civilian who had not even Awakened.

I was studying at university to graduate.

That was why I remembered even less.

Unbothered by my silence, Jung Eun-jin continued speaking.

"I think that branch point is you, Kim Do-jin."

"You overestimate me."

"No. I mean it. Why else would an old woman throw away her dignity and cling to you like this?"

She smiled bitterly.

Goosebumps rose over my skin.

This old woman knew.

Her personally coming to the 25th exam site and raising the exam difficulty to hell had not been coincidences.

It had been to test and confirm.

Me, who had returned from a ruined world.

'Should I trust the Association?'

But my decision did not change.

I had not come back to become someone else’s game piece.

I was the one who would arrange the board.

I slowly opened my mouth.

"I cannot belong to the Association. However···."

Her eyes widened.

"If you need help, I will lend you my strength."

That was my compromise.

Even if the Association was weak, there was no need to become outright enemies with them.

Their goal was the same as Kim Dae-han’s.

The disappearance of Gates, and humanity’s survival.

They were allies who would someday stand on the same battlefield.

And Jung Eun-jin’s words about the branch point were not something I could ignore.

"···Those words alone are enough."

Relief spread across Association President Jung Eun-jin’s lips.

When she gestured, Choi Seon-a, who was behind her, moved.

"Seon-a. Process Hunter Kim Do-jin’s documents."

"Yes, Association President."

Choi Seon-a held out a tablet PC.

Association President Jung Eun-jin manipulated the screen a few times.

Her fingers moved smoothly, and soon the evaluation categories appeared on the screen.

She checked them for a moment, then looked at me with a meaningful expression.

“Now then.”

Association President Jung Eun-jin set down the tablet as she spoke.

“It is time to prove your worth.”

Her tone was gentle.

But the contents were not gentle at all.

“Let us finish assigning your Rank.”

She smiled brightly.

“Ah, and for your reference, since you rejected my offer.”

“…….”

“Do not expect too good a result.”

I looked at her for a moment.

Should I retort?

Should I just let it pass?

It was ambiguous.

So I also made an ambiguous expression.

A face that was neither smiling nor frowning.

“Then I will not expect anything.”

I answered that way and turned around.

Behind me, I heard Association President Jung Eun-jin’s low laughter.

***

After Kim Do-jin left, a heavy silence lingered in the VIP room.

After a long while, Yoo Hye-sung spoke first.

"Hey, Jung Eun-jin. Isn’t this going too far?"

He smacked the table and voiced his dissatisfaction.

His brows were deeply furrowed.

"There’s no precedent for giving someone a Rank like that. On top of that, exclusive negotiation rights?"

Choi Seon-a also fixed her glasses and added in a voice tinged with concern.

"Senior Eun-jin··· no, Association President. Is this really right? Calling it exceptional is not enough. The other guilds will not sit still."

Association President Jung Eun-jin toyed with her teacup.

Her gaze remained on the empty seat where Kim Do-jin had sat.

"Hye-sung, what did it feel like after clashing with him yourself?"

Yoo Hye-sung closed his mouth.

His shoulder trembled faintly.

"···He’s a monster. It’s not simply that he’s strong."

He spoke as though chewing and spitting out the words.

"Even in the fog, he was reading all my movements. No, he guided them. He had calculated everything up to the moment I slammed my axe down. As if··· he’d fought me dozens of times."

Choi Seon-a added.

"It was the same during the Mirror Golem raid. Its patterns changed in real time, yet he responded without the slightest hesitation. That is not the realm of talent. It is an instinct that only a veteran who has gone through thousands of real battles could possess."

"On top of that, that bastard was saving his strength. It felt more like he was testing me. Seeing where my limits were."

"Then there is no problem."

Jung Eun-jin nodded as if satisfied.

“Hey, Jung Eun-jin. This is not the time to joke.”

Yoo Hye-sung spoke in a low voice.

“Imagine Kim Do-jin joins Invictus. Just like he said, the Association will be shaken immediately. Then who will stop Invictus?”

“He will not join.”

Choi Seon-a’s eyebrow moved slightly.

“Are you sure, Senior?”

“Yes.”

“What is your basis?”

Jung Eun-jin looked for a moment toward the closed door.

It was where Kim Do-jin had left.

“That man does not have the eyes of someone who would stand beneath another.”

“……Eyes?”

Choi Seon-a exhaled as though dumbfounded.

“Senior, are you saying that again?”

“Why? I have not been wrong often.”

“You probably remember the times you were right too strongly.”

“You are speaking rather sharply today.”

“The situation is sharp.”

Jung Eun-jin let out a small laugh.

But that laugh did not last long.

Soon, her expression sank.

“Seon-a.”

“Yes.”

“Hye-sung.”

Yoo Hye-sung, who had been leaning against the wall, only lifted his head.

“What?”

Jung Eun-jin looked at the two of them in turn.

“After seeing Kim Do-jin, I became certain.”

The air in the room grew a little heavier.

“That I do not have much time left.”

Choi Seon-a’s expression hardened.

“Senior.”

“And that the Association must not continue as it is now.”

Yoo Hye-sung no longer acted playful.

With his arms crossed, he quietly looked at her.

Jung Eun-jin spoke.

“Help me.”

The words were short.

Rather than a request, it was the voice of someone bringing out a decision that had been postponed for a long time.

Choi Seon-a could not answer right away.

Yoo Hye-sung was also silent for a while.

Then Yoo Hye-sung roughly scratched his head.

“Ah, seriously. You’re making things exhausting again.”

“You can say no if you do not want to.”

“Who said I don’t want to?”

Yoo Hye-sung turned his head away.

“We just have to do it, right? Then we’ll do it.”

Jung Eun-jin smiled quietly.

“Thank you, Hye-sung.”

“Don’t say things like that. It makes me more tired.”

***

Before my regression, I had been a perpetual E-Rank Hunter.

A third-time applicant, a talentless bastard, a porter.

This was the moment I stripped away those labels.

The empty gymnasium.

The old mercury lamps hanging from the ceiling buzzed and flickered.

The heat that hundreds of people had given off was gone, and only cold air drifted along the floor.

'It’s all over.'

I picked up my bag.

It had been a long day.

Then the large electric board at the center of the gymnasium flashed.

A mechanical voice rang out from the speaker.

[Final Rank Announcement.]

[Applicant No. 032, Hunter Kim Do-jin.]

[Final Rank: A-Rank.]

The "A" was stamped in red letters.

I blankly looked up at the electric board.

'A-Rank···.'

Since I had rejected the Association’s offer, I had thought they might act spitefully and lower my Rank.

But Jung Eun-jin kept her promise.

No, she had actually certified my value even more clearly.

For a newly licensed Hunter to receive A-Rank was an event that could be counted on one hand in South Korean history.

Even Kang Tae-yoon, called the Sword Saint and a genius, had debuted as B-Rank.

Before my regression, the time it had taken me to earn the title of A-Rank was seven years.

Years of endurance spent rolling at the bottom, coughing up blood, and swallowing humiliation.

And yet now, in just two days, I had leaped over all that time.

I had gained seven years.

'It’s fast. Faster than I thought.'

Rather than swelling with emotion, my chest went cold.

The faster my growth was, the heavier the weight I would have to bear.

CREEEAK—

The gymnasium’s front doors opened.

The quiet space was covered in noise in an instant.

"He’s out! It’s Hunter Kim Do-jin!"

"Camera, roll the camera! Hurry!"

Dozens, no, hundreds of people poured in.

The reporters who had been waiting, and the scouts from each guild.

Their eyes gleamed like beasts that had found prey.

"Hunter Kim Do-jin! Is it true that you defeated Hunter Yoo Hye-sung?"

"A-Rank as soon as you debut. Please give us a comment!"

"We are from Arang Guild. Please give us just a moment of your time."

"Buckler would like to make you a recruitment offer···"

Camera flashes burst without pause.

My vision blinked white.

Microphones were thrust forward like spears.

In an instant, I was surrounded.

There was no room to escape.

"All of you, fuck off!"

A booming shout tore through the gymnasium.

The noisy reporters flinched to a halt.

The crowd split like the Red Sea.

Through it, men in black suits walked in.

The axe-and-skull emblem on their chests.

'······Invictus.'

The strongest combat group.

South Korea’s number one guild, united by absolute performance-first principles and elitism.

And the lot I hated most.

"Isn’t that Invictus?"

"That’s the headquarters HR Team, right?"

"Shit, this is unfair."

The scouts from other guilds, overwhelmed by their presence, backed away.

Invictus’s appearance meant the situation was as good as over.

No one else could drool over merchandise Invictus had marked.

The man at the front approached me.

Hair neatly slicked back, and a smile dripping with arrogance.

Invictus’s HR Team Leader.

The very man who had shoved my résumé into the trash when I was E-Rank before my regression.

"It is nice to meet you, Hunter Kim Do-jin. I am Park Seong-hoon, HR Team Leader of Invictus."

He held out a folder.

"I will not waste words. Join us at Invictus."

"The conditions?"

"A signing bonus of ten billion won. Separate annual salary. In addition, support for all incidental expenses."

Gasps erupted from the surroundings.

It was not a simple number.

It was an amount comparable to an S-Rank Hunter’s transfer fee.

It was not money that should be offered to a rookie.

Had there been a case like this before my regression?

As far as I knew, there had not.

This was not a recruitment offer.

It was a declaration of war that said they would crush me with money.

An approach worthy of Invictus.

"Insane··· They offered ten billion?"

"As expected of Invictus. They really are in a different class."

"But have they ever named that kind of price before?"

The atmosphere of the gymnasium tilted toward Invictus.

Everyone was watching only my mouth.

The HR Team Leader’s lips curled upward.

He was certain.

His eyes were those of someone who believed there was nothing in the world that money could not buy.

'If it had been the old me··· I would have sold even my soul.'

To me as an E-Rank Hunter, ten billion won had been money I could not even imagine.

I let out a short sigh.

I turned my gaze toward the gymnasium entrance.

Behind the crowd, I saw a man leaning beside a pillar.

A wrinkled suit and disheveled hair.

In one hand, he held a paper cup of coffee, and with the other, he was waving.

Kim Dae-han, team leader of the Supernatural Ability Management Team in G City, Gyeonggi Province.

He was smiling.

What unbelievable timing.

Did he predict even this situation?

No way.

'What an irritating man.'

I let out a small laugh and turned my head.