Chapter 46

Sizzle.

The meat hit the grill. Thick, red, and marbled with white streaks like snowflakes—it was the finest Hanwoo beef.

The shape, the sound, the smell. All of it was intoxicating. The only thing I didn’t like was the price…

“Will this be enough? Let’s order more after we eat. Some special cuts, too.”

A rich C-rank Hunter was paying, so whatever.

How long had it been since I’d last had Hanwoo?

Food in Murim was spicy, salty, and bland. And even then, more days than not, I couldn’t eat properly. For thirty days, my stomach had been abused with beef jerky, bigu pills,¹ and rice balls.

Chomp. Chomp-chomp.

The best thing about beef was how quickly you could eat it. The moment it looked more or less done, it went straight into my mouth.

Every chew felt like walking on clouds. This piece, that piece, the one over there—every last one tasted like heaven.

“Hnnngh.”

Team Leader Choi watched me with that peculiar look of his.

“Would you like some more?”

“No. I should hold back on overeating.”

“We’re at twenty-five servings…”

“Twelve servings each isn’t all that much.”

“I’ve only eaten three servings.”

“Oh, can we order some yukhoe?²”

“…Yes.”

“Rice, too.”

“…”

And so that storm of a meal came to an end. At last, Team Leader Choi opened his mouth.

“I said I was the one who killed them. The Priest and the Great Warrior, both.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Let’s call it a fair deal. If anything, I have something to thank you for as well.”

A fair deal.

He wasn’t wrong. I’d bought myself time to think, and he would gain a reputation. After all, he had led five low-rank Hunters and killed two mid-grade Rare Monsters.

The fact that nobody had died in the process would be a huge help for Guild publicity, too.

What if I hadn’t found my strength through Synchronization?

Who knew? Someone probably would have died. Maybe nobody would have made it out alive.

“You were already thinking along those lines.”

He wasn’t just some eccentric. Not with instincts that sharp.

I smiled awkwardly.

“It’s good for both of us.”

“Good for both of us. Both of us…”

Team Leader Choi muttered to himself, then abruptly asked,

“Would you like to join the Guild?”

“Pffft!”

Team Leader Choi lifted the tablecloth and blocked the water, then smoothly produced a business card with practiced elegance.

Peace Guild, Team 1 Leader Choi Minwoo

What the hell was this? For a second I was completely thrown.

“Y-you’re trying to recruit me? Right now?”

“That’s right. We always need talent.”

I took the card, and for some reason I felt deeply moved.

It seemed like only yesterday that I’d been going to interviews with my back bent like a shrimp…

Live long enough and you really do see everything.

An actual recruitment offer—and he was treating me like talent. F-rank Hunter Jin Taekyung, you’d come a long way.

“Our Guild is still new, and we don’t have many members yet, but we’re excellent where it counts. For example…”

Team Leader Choi elegantly swirled his wineglass. When had he even ordered that?

“Our finances are extremely solid.”

“Oh, finances!”

“And because of that, our employee benefits are excellent.”

“Oh, benefits backed by solid finances!”

“Our Guild Master is a B-rank Hunter.”

“Oh, a high-ranking Hunter—the source of those solid finances!”

“There’s no need to worry about restructuring.”

“Oh, a stable workplace!”

Team Leader Choi asked with an affluent smile,

“Will you join us?”

I scratched my head.

“No. That’s a little…”

“…Pardon?”

“I have some circumstances that make it difficult right now. I need time.”

If I followed my heart, I wanted to sign the contract right away—signature, stamp, thumbprint, even a kiss mark.

But what if the System vanished tomorrow?

I’d be dead broke.

Overnight, I’d go from being called talent to being called a human disaster.³

“Is it about money?”

Money was always a problem.

But this was more important than that. I couldn’t let the wad of cash right in front of me dazzle me into making a snap decision.

“It’s difficult to explain. I’m sorry, but this isn’t something I can decide right now…”

“One hundred million won.”

“One hundred million?”

“That’s just the signing bonus. We’ll match the rest to the minimum terms for a C-rank Hunter.”

That was dangerous. This time it was really dangerous.

But I held out with superhuman patience. Hadn’t I learned long ago that life wasn’t that easy?

It could be money I’d end up choking on.

“I’m sorry.”

Team Leader Choi looked at me quietly, then nodded.

“I’ll wait for your call.”

One person left, and one person stayed.

Team Leader Choi—no, Choi Minwoo—looked in silence at the seat Jin Taekyung had left, then took out his phone.

Beep. Beep. Click.

“—You bastard, you’re a ghost. I was just about to call you.”

“What happened with that thing I asked about?”

“—I looked into it because you asked, but… is there something about this Jin Taekyung guy?”

“That’s why I called you. So? What did you find?”

—It’s a dime-a-dozen case. Seven years ago he Awakened at twenty and was assessed as F-rank. There’s a record of him graduating at the top of his class from the Hunter training center…

Jin Taekyung’s past seven years spilled from the other end of the phone. Then, at one point, Choi Minwoo’s eyebrows twitched.

“What? The Sangdong Station Mutated Gate?”

“—Yeah. You know about that incident, right?”

How could he not? It had happened only two years ago, so Choi Minwoo remembered it clearly.

“—He was the only survivor. I checked that part myself, and it surprised me, too.”

Choi Minwoo tipped his glass of water. Thinking he’d grabbed a lead on how an F-rank Hunter had killed a mid-grade Rare Monster alone made his throat burn.

“And?”

“—He took six months off. The Hunter Administration kept sending investigators, and I guess he spent the time trying to get himself back together. You know how serious the incident was.”

“And then?”

“—That’s it. He went back to his Guild, ran Gates his ass off for a year and a half, then got fired. That was exactly three days ago.”

“Why was he fired?”

“—It was technically restructuring, but a booger-sized little Guild, restructuring? Please. The incident probably had a lot to do with it. They kept glancing nervously at the Administration, then pushed him out. From their perspective, he’d have been awkward to keep around.”

“That’s all?”

“—As far as I can tell. Want me to send you the file separately?”

“Send it now. I’m hanging up.”

“—Hey, hey!”

Click.

Choi Minwoo tapped the table with his long fingers.

Jin Taekyung. F-rank Hunter. The sole survivor of the Sangdong Station Mutated Gate.

And…

At least a C-rank Hunter.

That was the absolute minimum. The image of Taekyung driving a C-rank Rare Monster into a corner alone, with overwhelming strength and skill, kept flickering before his eyes.

And yet he’s F-rank.

There were only two possibilities. Either he had been hiding his strength, or he had recently reawakened.

Choi Minwoo suspected the latter, but even that defied common sense.

It wasn’t as if only one or two Hunters retired without ever ranking up even once.

Reawakening from F-rank to C-rank was, without question, extraordinarily rare.

This isn’t some kind of game. What the hell is he?

Choi Minwoo shook his head. He felt as if a ghost had possessed him.

I’ll have to look into this further.

As he rose from his seat, the restaurant owner approached and held out the bill.

“That’ll be 1,937,000 won.”

“…”

He really did feel as if a ghost had possessed him.

“Shit. I’m fucked.”

I dropped heavily onto the ground. The recycling area was a mess. The thing that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.

“It’s gone. It’s gone. My capsule is gone.”

I’d been anxious ever since parting with Team Leader Choi. But I hadn’t expected someone to take it in less than half a day. I shouted into the empty air.

“Who the fuck was it?!”

And an answer came.

“Me, you son of a bitch.”

Jinho hyung was smoking on the roof of the goshiwon building,⁴ in the same spot where I’d seen him that morning. He exhaled a plume of smoke with a wistful look, then continued.

“I spent ten years crying, regretting, and vowing…”

“You want me to make you really cry and regret it?”

“You’re no fun. You haven’t seen this movie, have you?”

“Quit joking around. This is serious.”

“What, you come up empty today?”

“No.”

My voice drained of strength as I went on.

“The capsule.”

“…Huh?”

“Some bastard took my capsule.”

“Cough, cough-cough!”

Maybe he’d inhaled the cigarette smoke wrong. Jinho hyung coughed like a maniac before he finally managed to speak.

“D-didn’t you throw it away because you didn’t need it?”

“I did.”

Until the System came back.

I hadn’t expected the situation to change this much in just a few hours.

I should’ve kept it for one more day.

Where was I even supposed to start looking? I sighed heavily.

“Hyung, you didn’t happen to see who took it, did you?”

“Uh… well.”

Jinho hyung scratched his head.

“If I saw them, I saw them. If I didn’t, I didn’t.”

Was that even an answer, or just crap?

When I glared at him, he smiled sheepishly.

“Look, it’s not like I’m asking for a finder’s fee or anything…”

He was definitely asking for a finder’s fee.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point. I shot to my feet and asked,

“You saw them? You’re sure?”

“If I have to pick, I saw them.”

“Who? Where did they go?”

“I’m not asking for a finder’s fee, but what’s the expected amount, roughly?”

“…100,000 won?”

“Oh, dear. Maybe I’m getting old. My memory’s a little hazy.”

“For fuck’s sake.”

“Right. It’s hot out, so good luck with that.”

“The finder’s fee is 180,000 won.”⁵

Apparently satisfied with the amount, Jinho hyung broke into a bright smile.

“Your capsule. I picked it up.”

“…?”

It took me exactly three seconds to understand.

Have you ever seen a daylight robber like this?

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even breathe. He’d hit me in the back of the head like this?

“But there wasn’t anywhere suitable to put it. My room’s too small, you know.”

“So?”

“I put it back in your room. I did good, right?”

How was I supposed to hit this guy so cleanly that people would say I’d really done it right?

My fists trembled.

“It really is here.”

Seeing the capsule taking up half the studio as if nothing had happened, all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.

Should I call this lucky?

Of all the people who could have taken it, it had been Jinho hyung.

I opened the capsule lid, picked up the user manual tossed onto the worn seat, and flipped to the last page.

Main Features

• A customized capsule for one person! Once a user is registered, the capsule becomes permanently bound to that user and remains so until their death.

…Come on. No way.

It has to be a simple coincidence.

But I couldn’t shake the unease. I glared at the capsule, the source of everything that had happened.

What even is this thing?

The reason I’d thrown the capsule into the recycling area that morning was so I could forget everything. My life was already dry enough; I wanted to write it off as one nightmare and keep living my life as I was.

But now the situation had changed.

Because the System is here.

The System…

Then something occurred to me. I placed my hand on the surface of the capsule and murmured,

“Item check.”

Ding.

Just as I thought. The corners of my mouth had just begun to rise when—

System

This Item cannot be read.

“…It can’t be read?”

This had never happened before.

Is it because I’m not in Murim?

Flustered, I checked every object in the room at random. The television, a ballpoint pen, even the pillow. Every time, the System displayed accurate information.

But there was one exception.

The capsule couldn’t be read.

“Wow. This is driving me nuts.”

Just in case, I picked up the user manual. The result was the same.

Ding.

System

This Item cannot be read.

I flopped onto the bed. I stared blankly at the old, yellow-stained ceiling and thought.

What’s going on?

For now, none of it made sense. But one thing was certain.

I’ve become stronger. Incomparably stronger.

Power had soaked into every fiber of my body. Internal energy writhed in my dantian.

Synchronization had given me strength. Strength far beyond that of an F-rank Hunter. Strength enough to defeat a C-rank Rare Monster alone.

Would you like to join the Guild?

It was the first recruitment offer I’d ever received. But I refused. When someone recognized me, fear had come before joy.

Can’t blame me.

I’d endured seven years under the name of F-rank Hunter. A caterpillar that had only ever crawled through the dirt had, one day, grown wings called the System.

Fear was only natural.

But what if I can keep using this power—keep using the System?

My heart pounded at the mere thought.

At the same time, the past seven years flashed through my mind. The name F-rank, stamped on me like a brand despite all the insane effort I’d put in. Even the memories from two years ago, when I’d trembled at other people’s contempt, at the guilt and the helplessness.

“Fuck…”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I shot to my feet, burst out of the goshiwon, and flagged down a passing taxi.

“Where would you like to go?”

I already knew the destination.

“Take me to the Bucheon Branch of the Hunter Association.”

A Hunter rank reassessment.

An F-rank Hunter. I’d start by breaking this loathsome shackle that had tormented me for so long.

Let’s give it a shot.

As I clenched my fist, the taxi driver said,

“This is a Seoul taxi.”

“Oh.”