Chapter 18

Chapter 18. Civil Servant Hunter

***

I looked at the HR Team Leader in front of me.

No, beyond him, I stared at the towering edifice of desire called Invictus.

"I have no interest in Invictus."

"······Pardon?"

The man’s face went blank.

He looked as if he could not understand what he had just heard.

"What?!"

"He refused? Ten billion won?"

"Is he insane?"

The gymnasium turned upside down.

Shock and confusion.

Invictus’s face turned red and blue by turns.

It was rather pleasant to watch.

"A-Are you serious right now? It’s ten billion won! It’s Invictus!"

"That does not matter. I choose the guild."

I walked past him.

I heard him shouting something behind me, but I ignored it.

The reporters clung to me like hyenas.

"Mr. Kim Do-jin! Then where are you going?"

"Is it Guardians? Arang Guild?"

"Please answer us!"

I pushed through the barrage of flashes and approached Kim Dae-han.

Then I smoothly snatched the coffee he was holding.

"Wait a moment, Hunter Kim Do-jin."

At that moment, a familiar voice blocked my path.

A female reporter thrusting out her microphone with bold confidence.

Kim Min-seo, a reporter from [Daily Gate].

She was my older sister.

'Seriously, when did she get here?'

Her eyes held the murderous look of someone saying, "We’ll talk when we get home," but her mouth threw out a professional question.

"Hunter Kim Do-jin. You have refused the greatest guild in South Korea. Then where will you be headed?"

Everyone’s ears perked up.

I slung an arm around Kim Dae-han’s shoulder.

Then I grinned at the camera.

"Well··· it’s nothing grand."

I took a sip of coffee.

The cheap vending-machine coffee tasted sweet.

"I’m thinking of becoming a civil servant near home."

"······Pardon?"

My sister’s dumbfounded face was caught in close-up.

The hand holding the microphone trembled faintly.

It was a situation that rendered even a veteran reporter speechless.

"Puhahaha!"

The one who broke the silence was Kim Dae-han.

He clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.

Like an audience member watching the funniest comedy in the world.

"Everyone, you heard him, right?"

Kim Dae-han draped an arm around my shoulder and winked slyly at the reporters.

His old suit and disheveled hair formed a strange contrast with the gleaming army of Invictus suits.

The Invictus HR Team Leader’s face crumpled like aluminum foil.

It was not merely that his pride had been cracked.

It had been shattered completely.

Invictus, of all things, had been pushed aside by some petty City Hall civil servant.

"M-Mr. Kim Do-jin! Are you in your right mind? A civil servant? What on earth···!"

"I am in my right mind. Extremely clear-headed, in fact."

Any further conversation was a waste of time.

"Please move aside. I have to go home."

The reporters’ barrage of camera flashes poured down.

My vision was almost turning white, but I cut through the crowd without blinking once.

Kim Dae-han followed behind me as though escorting me.

Behind my back as I left the gymnasium, a storm of shouts and questions rained down, but the moment the door closed, all noise was cut off.

***

"You worked hard."

In a corner of the parking lot.

Kim Dae-han opened the door of an old midsize car.

Paint was peeling off in places, and the bumper was dented.

It was a shitbox far too shabby for a man who had just refused ten billion won to ride in.

"The car’s a bit dirty. I didn’t have time to clean it."

"It does not matter."

When I sat in the passenger seat, a musty old smell mixed with the scent of paper.

The leather seat was worn out, and piles of unorganized documents were stacked like mountains on the dashboard.

Kim Dae-han casually tossed the documents into the back seat and started the engine.

CLATTER-RATTLE, PUTT-PUTT-PUTT.

The engine sounded as if it were coughing.

The car set off.

"Haha, well, this is embarrassing. I’m making an A-Rank Hunter ride in an old junker like this."

"The driver matters more than the car."

At my words, Kim Dae-han gave a small laugh.

He held the steering wheel with one hand and adjusted the rearview mirror with the other.

The back seat reflected in the rearview mirror.

There sat one old child car seat, all alone.

An old thing covered in dust and faded with age.

"······That was where my daughter used to sit. I could not bring myself to remove it."

His voice sank low.

The family he had lost ten years ago on the way back from the market.

The daughter who had disappeared, leaving behind only a single finger.

I did not need him to explain why he could not scrap this old car, or why he was so obsessed with Gates.

This car was not his means of transportation.

It was time itself, stopped in place.

"I am sorry."

There was no need for false comfort.

What a vengeful ghost needed was not comfort, but a blade.

The car crossed through the city.

The evening sunset seeped red between the forest of buildings.

The road was jammed with rush-hour traffic.

The faces of the people outside the window looked exhausted.

Even after the Gates opened and the world turned upside down, daily life kept turning with cruel normality.

'I want to protect this ordinary daily life.'

I remembered what my brother used to say like a habit before my regression.

In order to protect that ordinary life, he had to become extraordinary.

And as the price, his very existence was erased.

"Mr. Do-jin. To be completely honest, I expected B-Rank at most."

Kim Dae-han broke the silence.

"But A-Rank? And an A-Rank with an unmeasurable evaluation? What on earth did you do inside for the Association President herself to step in?"

"I just worked hard."

"Working hard doesn’t pulverize a Mirror Golem and make Hunter Yoo Hye-sung kneel."

Kim Dae-han chuckled.

He knew.

He had already grasped what had happened inside the exam site.

I had done well to refuse the Hunter Association’s offer.

"Ten billion won. Don’t you regret it? Honestly, if it were me, I would have wavered."

"Even if I had ten billion won, it would just be scraps of paper if I had no time to spend it."

"···No time?"

Kim Dae-han looked at me as though puzzled.

I stared at the red traffic light outside the window.

"The world will not stay this peaceful forever."

"How meaningful."

The destruction ten years from now.

That countdown had already begun.

Money? Honor?

They were nothing but ash that would all burn away with one Breath from Evil God Dragon Zephyros.

What I needed was power and information for survival.

The light turned green.

The car began moving again.

"While you were taking the exam, I picked up something interesting."

Kim Dae-han’s voice became covert.

“The Gate G.A.R.M’s movements are strange.”

Kim Dae-han spoke quietly.

“Recently, the coordinates of several closed Gates were transferred to a private company.”

“The coordinates of closed Gates?”

“Yes. Officially, it was a sale for research use. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with the procedure either.”

“On the surface.”

“Exactly.”

Kim Dae-han’s eyes sank.

“The problem is the bastards behind that company.”

“The Gate Cult?”

Kim Dae-han gave a short nod.

“That is right. And this has not been confirmed yet, but.”

He continued.

“The name of the Red Blood Alliance is being circulated as well.”

“You mean the Chinese villain organization?”

“You know of them.”

“I have heard rumors.”

“Then this will be quick.”

Kim Dae-han lightly tapped the steering wheel with his fingers.

“If the Red Blood Alliance is involved, this will not end as a simple coordinate transaction. Those bastards do not just hand over dangerous goods that can make money.”

“Gate byproducts.”

“It could be more than that. Something like Booster, a narcotic Awakening stimulant, may be circulating.”

The air in the room grew a little heavier.

Kim Dae-han closed his mouth for a moment, then spoke again.

“Well, for now, we have only caught the tail.”

“What about the body?”

“It will surface soon.”

His eyes gleamed sharply.

“Because it has already started moving.”

An answer without hesitation.

This was why I had chosen him.

A ticket that gave me access to truths ten billion won could not buy.

***

"Hunter, I will contact you again tomorrow. As for coming to work··· well, come whenever it is convenient."

I closed the car door.

With its old exhaust note, Kim Dae-han’s car drove away.

I looked up at the familiar apartment entrance.

My home, which I had returned to again.

But I had no time to sink into sentiment.

DING.

Blue light gathered in the air.

The system notification windows I had temporarily turned off during the exam poured down like a waterfall.

[Successor Archive System 'AIRI' reactivated.]

[Combat data analysis complete.]

[Unconfirmed notifications: 52.]

"It has started."

Airi’s voice rang in my ear.

[Congratulations, Successor. Through this exam, the synchronization rate of the Sword Saint skill has increased dramatically.]

[Current synchronization rate: 15% -> 22%]

A 7% increase in one go.

They said there was no teacher like real combat, and it seemed the life-or-death battle against Yoo Hye-sung had been the catalyst.

When the synchronization rate rose, aura efficiency improved, and the Sword Saint’s latent skills were unlocked.

"Not bad."

I opened the front door.

The familiar air, the smell of the old shoe cabinet.

As the tension released, fatigue rushed in like a tsunami.

I headed straight for the bathroom.

I turned on the hot water.

Steam filled the bathroom.

'I’m getting bigger.'

The body that had been like dry firewood was now packed densely with lean muscle.

It was not simply that my volume had increased.

Compressed muscle.

A balanced physique.

My shoulders had broadened, and my abdominal muscles were clear.

It was a body so well-made that it was hard to believe it belonged to a mage.

[The Successor’s body reconstruction is in progress.]

[Muscle fibers and bone structure are being optimized according to the Sword Saint’s combat data.]

Airi’s explanation.

My brother’s legacy was changing me.

Abandoning the frail body of a mage and turning it into a vessel for a swordsman.

"Can I produce aura like Yoo Hye-sung?"

It was a question that suddenly occurred to me.

That high-purity, steel-like aura I had felt in the fog.

I coveted it.

[Analysis result: impossible with the current mana circuit structure.]

[The Successor converts mana into aura, so you cannot match the density of pure aura.]

A cold answer.

Was there no helping an innate limitation?

But there had to be a way.

There were no impossibilities in magic.

If I pushed the Synchronization skill to its limit, or altered the nature of mana itself?

I sank into the bathtub and fell into thought.

The warm water melted away my fatigue.

***

"Hey! Kim Do-jin!!"

My peaceful rest did not last five minutes.

The moment I opened the bathroom door and came out, a thunderous shout erupted from the living room.

My sister was standing on the sofa in her suit, huffing.

I tensed without realizing it.

Because she looked like an ogre.

"Sis, when did you get here?"

"When did I get here? I just got here. Is that the problem? You crazy bastard! What the hell did you do?!"

She rushed over and smacked my back.

It hurt.

And she was faster than Yoo Hye-sung.

"Ow, why are you hitting me?"

"Do I look like I wouldn’t hit you? Ten billion? A civil servant? You’ve finally lost your mind, haven’t you? Huh? Why don’t you just spin around in circles for the rest of your life while you’re at it?"

"What are you even saying?"

My sister shoved her phone screen in front of my eyes.

[Breaking News] Rookie Hunter Kim Do-jin Refuses Invictus’s Ten Billion Won Offer

[Shock] Monster Rookie Chooses 'Civil Servant'? Hunter Industry in Uproar

[Analysis] Why Did an A-Rank Hunter Go to City Hall?

[First Report] Association President Jung Eun-jin Dismisses Controversy: "He Was Rankd According to Regulations."]

The portal site’s main page was plastered with my name.

I had swept the real-time search rankings from first to fifth.

The comment section was in chaos.

"He’s insane," "attention seeker," "big-brain move," and so on.

"Do you see this? This is what you’ve done!"

"······It is a bit noisy."

"A bit? A biiit?!"

She huffed for a long while, then finally calmed down and looked me over.

Then she paused.

"Hey. You···."

"What?"

My sister poked my forearm.

"What is this? You were an anchovy. And you were discharged from the hospital only recently. When did you build yourself up like this? Huh? Look at your shoulders."

You could not fool a blood relative’s eye.

In just a few days, I had changed.

I rubbed my hair with a towel and spoke as if it were nothing.

"Your constitution changes a bit when you Awaken. It’s like a second puberty."

"As if. Do bones grow because someone Awakens? Suspicious, Kim Do-jin. Very suspicious."

My sister did not withdraw her suspicious gaze, but she did not press further.

She flopped onto the sofa and let out a sigh.

"Haa···. Fine. What would a civilian know? But let me ask one thing."

Her expression turned serious.

"You refusing Invictus and saying you’ll become a civil servant. Are you serious? You didn’t just blurt that out in the heat of the moment?"

"I’m serious."

I took water from the refrigerator and drank it.

"Ten billion won? Of course it’s a lot of money. But if I take that money, I have to become a guild’s dog. Hunt when I’m told, and get dragged into fights I don’t want."

"So? Do you think being a civil servant will be different?"

"It will. Because I will be the one holding the initiative."

I sat in a dining chair and looked at my sister.

"Sis. There is something more important to me than money."

"What is that?"

"The truth."

"What?"

"The truth of the Gates. Why Father disappeared, and why this world works the way it does. I want to know that. A guild would only get in the way."

"······Hey."

My sister’s eyes shook.

The reason she had become a reporter.

It was also because of Father’s disappearance.

"And if I am going to dig up that truth, I will need your help too."

"My help?"

"Yes. Your information network. The Gate G.A.R.M, the Cult, and the rumors from the underworld. Share them with me."

It was not a transaction.

It was a request as family, and a proposal as a partner.

My sister stared at me for a long time.

Then she gave a small laugh.

"Ha, seriously. You leave me with nothing to say."

She rose from her seat.

"Fine. I’ll help. But I have one condition."

"What is it?"

"A solo interview later. You have to give it to me first, no matter what. Got it?"

"Fine. I promise."

My sister ruffled my hair.

"And call Mom. She’s on the verge of having a heart attack."

I answered with a light laugh.

"Got it, Reporter. Oh, and I bought some Oseong Electronics stock in your name."

"What, you trade stocks?"

My sister asked back with a sullen expression.

I shrugged.

"It’s just a gift. Sit on it for a while."

"You lunatic, getting all carried away. I’ll accept it for now."

My sister gave a small laugh and went into her room.

I had refused ten billion won, but I had at least prepared a minimum safety net for my family.

Because that was the privilege and duty of a regressor.

I remained in the living room alone.

Outside the window, it was already a pitch-black night.

***

The next morning.

When I went to the meeting place, I saw a familiar face.

Kim Dae-han.

But the car was different.

It was not the shitbox on the verge of being scrapped that I had ridden yesterday.

It was a large black sedan polished to a shine.

The emblem glittered on the hood.

"You’re early, Hunter Kim Do-jin."

Kim Dae-han opened the rear door wide and spoke playfully.

His face was cleanly shaved, and he had even put on a tie.

A chauffeur in uniform was even waiting in the driver’s seat.

"······What is this?"

"Ah, this? It’s the mayor’s official car."

Kim Dae-han chuckled.

"I stormed into the mayor’s office this morning and took the car keys. I could not put an A-Rank Hunter in a shitbox, could I?"

A hollow laugh slipped out of me.

"Get in. Starting today, Mr. Do-jin, you are G City’s VIP."

I drew a light breath and opened the car door.

Before my regression, I had been the deputy commander of Blade Guild, the strongest guild in South Korea.

Now I was about to begin life as a mere civil servant Hunter under City Hall.

THUNK-

"We will depart."

I got into the car.

The seat wrapped softly around my back.

It could not even be compared to yesterday’s shitbox.