Chapter 14
<Domestic Hunter Gallery>
[Title: Summary of the current mess in Gangnam (3-line summary)]
Poster: Fact Bomber
I’ve only gathered the practically official information regarding the current situation in Gangnam.
1. The Black Cow Guild’s Gangnam Headquarters and remaining branches were completely wiped out.
2. The boss and all the executives were supposedly slaughtered.
3. They haven’t found the culprit. Yeah.
- Such a Large Guild evaporated in a few days? That’s crazy.
- What the fuck, why did they all suddenly die?
- Didn’t the Association make a move?
└ Fact Bomber) The Association is tangled up with them, so they can’t touch them recklessly.
└
But why does this guy know this info so well?
[Title: Did Black Cow go under? I heard all their branches closed down]
Poster: Gangnam Native
I heard the news from an older brother I know who’s involved in that kind of stuff.
He said all the executives died and the guys under them scattered.
Basically, they completely dissolved into thin air.
- Let’s Do Business and Live) Kya, Black Cow is finally fucked, nice lmaoooo. Those sons of bitches extorted so much protection money from my shop. It serves them right.
└ Damn, you’re a Registered User. So brave. Is it okay to mention their name?
└ Let’s Do Business and Live) It’s a fucked Guild now anyway, so it doesn’t matter lol.
- Gangnam’s security is going to get better, sweet haha.
└ Fact Bomber) It won’t. The other two will just absorb them anyway. Or another new Force will appear.
- Still, upvote if you’re happy about it lol.
└ Upvote lmaooo.
[Title: Breaking) It’s confirmed the Black Cow boss is dead, damn]
Poster: News Wrecker
(News article photo attached)
If there’s an article about it, it must be true, damn.
- Whoa, wasn’t that bastard a massive big shot that even the Government was reluctant to deal with?
- Wow… I really couldn’t have imagined it. He just died overnight.
[Title: No matter how you look at it, something fucking huge is involved in this incident]
Poster: Hunter Wannabe
Just what kind of big shot intervened for such a Large Guild to be erased in a few days? Even the Association and the Government couldn’t catch it.
- You have opened your eyes. Come to the Mystery Gallery.
- There are so many monsters in the World these days lol.
- Those Black Cow punks fucked around and found out.
The gallery Users were spinning their own headcanons, claiming that a massive Force or a state institution had intervened.
Watching their fuss made a hollow laugh escape me before I knew it.
[No. Actually, all I did was sit in my Home Base with the AC on and send two kids out with a click…]
Compared to the massive conspiracy theories they were thinking of, the truth was nothing much.
Of course, those two were super strong vampires, but still.
Anyway, seeing another huge topic circulating in the gallery because of me, I felt a bit awkward inwardly, yet secretly proud.
A bad criminal organization had disappeared cleanly. Wasn’t it a good thing in the end?
“Hmph. Everyone is making such a noisy fuss.”
I absentmindedly muttered a word as I closed the gallery.
Then, the two Retainers standing beside me immediately opened their mouths.
“How could those foolish, lowly creatures dare to fathom the greatness of my Liege Lord?”
Katarina’s Blood-red Eyes sparkled as she began her blind praise.
“With their shallow intelligence, they won’t even be able to chase Master’s Shadow.”
Not to be outdone, Si-Yeon chimed in with a calm voice.
“…”
I kept my mouth shut.
[Sigh. Now the two of them are doing this as a pair.]
It was burdensome even when it was just one, but with two of them taking turns acting like fanatics, the fatigue was doubled.
But well, it was better for them to get along like this than to growl and engage in a battle of nerves with each other.
I checked the calendar on my Smartphone.
[It’s already this time.]
Tomorrow will finally mark the end of the one-week Cooldown to enter the third floor of the Tower of Trials.
The annoying homework of wiping out the Black Cow was also perfectly finished.
I stocked up on a hefty amount of slush funds and eliminated any future troubles.
[Alright. Tomorrow, I’ll take both Katarina and Si-Yeon and push through the 3rd Floor. Today is for resting!]
With a light heart, I logged into the AOS Game I often played, “League of Hunters”.
But there was a green light on my Friend List Window.
[Ice Coffee (Online)]
[Oh? It’s been a while since I saw this guy.]
Seeing his nickname in an online state, I felt gladness before everything else.
In truth, I had practically no acquaintances or friends in reality.
Being an orphan and living cooped up in my Home Base as an Unawakened Dark Gamer, I naturally lost touch with people.
But if you asked if that made me unhappy, the answer was absolutely not.
Rather, it was a relief that I wasn’t a social butterfly.
What if I had a real-life friend I met and contacted every day?
How would I explain the fact that a 22-year-old man suddenly turned into a silver-haired, red-eyed Vampire Bishojo?
In that regard, I was deeply grateful for my situation as a complete loner.
But humans are social animals.
If you stay stuck in your Home Base, there are bound to be times when you crave someone to talk to.
This guy was a game friend who suited me perfectly in that sense.
Although he was an online acquaintance whose face I had never seen, our playstyles matched well and we clicked, so we became quite close while playing duos.
I only roughly knew that he worked as a Hunter in reality.
[Jin-Yu: hihi long time no see]
I sent a message with a light heart.
For reference, I found out while playing the game that [Exalted Dignity] didn’t apply to things like chatting in cyberspace.
Was it because there was no need to keep up appearances since it was anonymous? Whatever it was, it was a relief. It would have been really troublesome if it had happened on the internet too.
[Ice Coffee: Hi. Couldn’t come on lately because real life was busy. Business trip just ended T_T]
A reply flew back instantly.
[Jin-Yu: Hunter work, right? Good job lol]
[Ice Coffee: I thought I was going to die. How are you these days?]
[How am I these days? I’m doing incredibly well.]
I raised the corners of my mouth and tapped away at the keyboard with my small hands.
At first, I couldn’t get used to my hand size becoming so small, so I made typos and stuff, but after playing games for a few days, my hand movements became fast again.
[Jin-Yu: I finally awakened too haha while you weren’t logging in]
He wasn’t a real-life friend, so this level of bragging should be fine.
[Ice Coffee: Oh really? Congrats. What class did you get?]
[Jin-Yu: Hmm… That’s a secret lol]
I couldn’t bring myself to say I was a scrub Vampire who threw up when eating garlic and got motion sickness when seeing Sunlight.
[Ice Coffee: It’s fine. It’s personal info, so you should be careful.]
[Jin-Yu: Yeah, gonna climb to the 3rd Floor of the Tower tomorrow]
[Ice Coffee: Already? You just awakened, but your progress is fast.]
[Jin-Yu: Anyway, wanna play a duo match?]
I immediately pressed the Party Invite button.
However, unfortunately, a rejection message came.
[Ice Coffee: Sorry, someone called me just now. Let’s play together next time.]
[Jin-Yu: Too bad, next time, let’s go.]
The chat window closed, and his status switched to Offline.
[Well, it can’t be helped if he’s busy.]
I thought nothing of it and queued up for Solo Rank by myself.
For tomorrow’s Tower Climbing, I planned to empty my head and just enjoy some games today.
* * *
At the same time
Republic of Korea Hunter Association Headquarters.
There was a woman walking down the corridor of a high-rise building where the panoramic view of Seoul could be seen through the window at a glance.
Shoulder-length hair with a subtle blue tint.
A beautiful woman with an elegant and cold impression.
Baek Eun-Seol.
With the alias Ice Empress, she was one of only four S-rank hunters in the Republic of Korea.
She turned off the screen of the Smartphone she had been holding in her hand until just a moment ago.
[Haa. I was going to play some duos for the first time in a while.]
Baek Eun-Seol let out a short sigh.
She had just returned after completing a month-long raid on an S-rank Gate in Europe.
What she had really wanted to do all that time was play games.
And it is.
She also occasionally thought about the nameless friend she had met in the game.
It was a pity because right before she left, he had said he probably wouldn’t be able to log into the game much because he was preparing for employment, but it was really great that he had awakened in the meantime.
[…If he said he was having a really hard time, I was going to make a position for him at the Association, but I guess there’s no need for that.]
He was her only 'real' friend. A faint smile brushed across Baek Eun-Seol’s lips.
Currently, she has returned immediately after successfully clearing the gate on a private jet.
Because communication was cut off inside the gate, she had absolutely no idea what had happened in the outside World over the past month.
She had just wanted to enjoy her long-awaited rest and play a round of games with her friend, but…
“You’ve arrived. The Association President is waiting inside.”
The polite greeting from the Association President’s Secretary brought her steps to a halt.
“Yes.”
She rejected the duo just a moment ago with her friend.
It was because of an emergency summons from Association President Kim Tae-Seong, the head of her affiliated organization, the Republic of Korea Hunter Association.
To call an S-rank Hunter who hadn’t even rested after completing a gate raid the moment she returned meant that a matter of national importance had occurred.
[Just what happened while I was gone…]
Creak - .
As she opened the door and entered, she saw Association President Kim Tae-Seong.
He was standing and looking out the window.
“Association President. I’m here.”
At her voice, Kim Tae-Seong slowly turned around.
Fatigue was evident on his face.
“Hunter Baek Eun-Seol, thank you for your hard work. You must be tired having just returned from the gate, so I apologize for calling you so urgently.”
“So, what is it?”
At her straightforward question, Kim Tae-Seong let out a heavy sigh and opened his mouth.
“While Hunter Baek Eun-Seol was cut off from the outside World for a month, quite a lot of things happened. That is to say…”
He seemed to carefully choose his words for a moment, then spoke concisely.
“a Monster Beyond Specification has appeared in the Republic of Korea.”