Chapter 50
What feels most different after becoming a government-backed, Ranker-level Hunter and buying a private jet?
First of all, entering the country.
Well, passing through immigration at Incheon Airport was easy enough for a Korean citizen, but the real difference was the airport itself.
Rankers were considered quasi-military assets, since they could be mobilized as military resources in an emergency.
So, if they wanted, they could use Seoul Airport, the military airfield in Seongnam.
Since even the chairman of Seonggwang, Korea's largest corporation, could only land a private jet at Gimpo Airport, use of a military airfield was a privilege unique to Ranker-level Hunters—one even conglomerate chairmen couldn't enjoy.
Since Seoul Airport was close to Gangnam, landing there meant I could get home while dealing with as little of Seoul's traffic as possible.
Of course, Seoul Airport had nowhere to park a plane long-term, so normally it had to be flown back to Gimpo Airport for storage. It was still more convenient to land at Gimpo.
For ordinary Ranker-level Hunters, it was no more than a symbolic perk.
But I got another privilege.
“They’re giving you a parking spot, and the Air Force will handle maintenance, too. From now on, you can use Seoul Airport.”
“Oh, what brought that on?”
“It means you've become that big a shot. Well, no matter how important you are, perks like this always attract controversy... Maybe the president wants to show he's paying attention.”
President Kang Min-guk... I'm liking him more and more.
Should I bring him some liquor or something?
...Would that get me in trouble for bribery?
When we landed at Seoul Airport and got off, I felt eyes on me from every direction.
The soldiers' envious gazes in particular were practically burning into my skin.
I thought I'd become pretty famous.
At least, until I happened to overhear the soldiers talking as I passed them.
“Hey, where's Kkyu-Kkyu?”
“I wanted to see Kkyu-Kkyu.”
“Why isn't Kkyu-Kkyu here?”
...Is the Kkyu-Kkyu fan club everywhere?!
As I passed the soldiers and headed for the car, someone suddenly appeared in front of us.
“Hunter Kim Segyun. I see Hunter Ryu is with you as well.”
“Director Cho? What brings you here?”
“First, I'd like to inform you that as a result of clearing the Gate in France that had been deemed impossible to conquer, Hunter Kim has risen to 19th place in the rankings.”
It was just a meaningless numbers game anyway, but rising was still better than falling.
“...You didn't come all this way just to tell me that, did you?”
“No. I came to give you this list.”
“A list? What kind of list...?”
“A list of Gates deemed impossible to conquer that you might be able to clear. We've already completed preliminary negotiations with each country. Once you make your decision, we'll immediately begin final negotiations with the relevant countries. Since this is a diplomatic secret, I couldn't send it digitally, so I came in person. I need to retrieve it after you've reviewed it.”
Hmm, they're more thorough than I expected.
Well... if word got out about which Gate I was going to clear, the stock market over there would already be in chaos.
Let's see...
There were Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE... Azerbaijan? Iceland?
There were even places I'd heard of without knowing exactly what kind of country they were.
The terms were more or less the same.
It was a far cry from the old days, when they could make the world dance to their tune with oil, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE had shrunk quite a bit as the dungeon industry grew.
Thanks to mana stones from dungeons supplying room-temperature superconductors and enabling nuclear fusion power, the value of Middle Eastern oil resources was scraping the bottom.
Countries with profitable reserves, like Saudi Arabia, were barely staying afloat by selling oil at bargain prices.
On the other hand, countries like Venezuela, with huge reserves that were expensive to extract from deep underwater, had been utterly wrecked.
“I don't have to decide right away, do I?”
“No. Please take your time and decide carefully.”
Where should I go?
“Oh, and from now on, please use this for calls with us.”
“...A cell phone?”
It looked a little clunky, though.
“It's an encryption phone.”
“What's an encryption phone?”
“A secure phone. It has anti-eavesdropping features.”
Zephyros answered in my stead.
Ah, so that's what it does.
“We've confirmed attempts by more than 38 intelligence agencies to wiretap Hunter Kim's calls, as well as spies assigned by government agencies in 11 countries.”
“...Me?”
“Yes. That's what the NIS determined.”
“Whoa.”
What could they possibly want from me?
“Fortunately, the attempts have decreased quite a bit since the SG Group was launched. Even so, we need to expand your security detail.”
“I'll take care of that.”
“Yes, understood.”
Director Cho bowed and left.
At the same time, I had a lot to think about.
So that many intelligence agencies were targeting me?
“I need bodyguards.”
“Bodyguards?”
“I was just about to bring that up. Still, most people would be more trouble than they're worth, wouldn't they?”
“That's true.”
I had my own combat abilities, after all.
“Ideally, you'd hire a high-level Ranker, but there's no way someone like that would be your bodyguard.”
“That's true, too.”
It might be possible if I paid them tens or even hundreds of billions of won, but the cost-effectiveness would be terrible.
“So here's what I was thinking... What about retired Hunters?”
“Retired Hunters...”
“Yeah, former Rankers. There are a few guys like me.”
“...You mean treat them to bring them back to full strength, then hire them as bodyguards?”
“Yeah. They weren't all dungeon-crazy like me.”
“Retired Rankers would all have plenty of money and be enjoying a comfortable retirement. Would they really want to come back just to work as bodyguards?”
“At least one of them definitely would. Honestly, I think he'd be enough by himself.”
One person would be enough?
Was he really that amazing?
“Who is it?”
“Choi Kang.”
“You mean the strongest Hunter? Who?”
“His name is Choi Kang. Choi is the family name, Kang is his given name.”
“Choi Kang... Choi Kang...”
Ah! My eyes lit up.
“You mean the guy who was your rival back in the early days? Choi Kang the Iron Wall?”
“Yeah, that's him.”
“Wow, now that you mention it, he disappeared without a trace.”
“Want to go see him?”
“Let's go tomorrow. I already have plans today.”
“All right. Let's meet at lunch tomorrow.”
Choi Kang the Iron Wall.
It's been a long time since I'd heard that name.
Since he'd been Zephyros's rival, he hadn't exactly been a Hunter I was fond of.
Still, it was a name more than enough to stir up nostalgia for the old Hunter days.
I wanted to go right away.
But I had somewhere else to be today.
**
I stopped by the Gangnam headquarters for a bit, quickly cleared the backlog of approvals, and headed straight to Cheonan.
As soon as I met Ms. Gyuseon, I handed her one of the bottles of wine I'd brought back.
“What is this?”
“Just try it first. It's good for you, so drink it all down.”
Maybe I sounded like some medicine peddler, because Ms. Gyuseon chuckled and drank the wine.
“What is this, alcohol?”
“How is it?”
“...It's really delicious? I don't even like alcohol.”
“Right? And apparently, it contains an ingredient called... Nectar.”
“Nectar? You mean the stuff from Greek mythology?”
“That's what they say.”
“...I feel like I've heard that name somewhere else, too.”
There wasn't much point in hiding it from Ms. Gyuseon, so I told her I'd acquired a subclass.
She stared at the wine in surprise for a moment, then grabbed it and hurried off somewhere.
“Uh, where are you going?”
“I need to analyze it first.”
And much later.
Ms. Gyuseon came out of the lab and began explaining.
“First, I couldn't find any unusual components scientifically. It's just wine.”
“...Really?”
But it definitely did feel different.
“Yes, but alchemically, it's different. Science can only grasp a limited range of things.”
“Oh-ho.”
“And I did feel like I'd heard of it somewhere. I was right.”
“...Huh?”
“It's in the preface to the recipe for the Elixir. ‘I make this in the hope of reaching even the foot of something like Nectar or Amrita.’”
The alchemical liquid, Elixir.
Something that could be called the ultimate endpoint of the alchemy tech tree...
“Nectar and Am...”
“Amrita. It's the drink consumed by the gods in Indian scriptures. Nectar is the same.”
“...So, if that's true... Is the Elixir an artificial Nectar or something?”
“A very crude form of one, at that. That's what the founder of alchemy says.”
...I knew it would be impressive, but it was even more incredible than I expected.
An Elixir was something you could barely make by using a rare ingredient called Elixir at the final proficiency level of alchemy, and that was just an inferior version of Nectar?
“You can use the Alchemy skill to extract it. It isn't possible to extract 100%, but you can still get about 80%.”
“Hmm.”
It said 0.1% Nectar was infused into it, right?
At 80%, that meant I could extract pure Nectar amounting to about 0.08%.
From one liter, that'd be about 0.8 milliliters.
“This is Nectar.”
A liquid that shone with an enigmatic, rainbow-colored glow.
It was contained in a tiny vial.
“Would you mind if I tried making something with this?”
“Be my guest.”
“I can't get any more, can I? There's so little...”
“...I'll try.”
I was a little disappointed I'd left some behind in France.
Still, I could make more.
Maybe I should build a brewery first?
**
The next day.
The place Zephyros had picked for us to meet Hunter Choi... was completely unexpected.
A veterans' hospital in Gangseo-gu.
Hunter Choi was there.
Was he sick?
“You're here?”
When I entered a private room with Zephyros, a high school-aged girl bowed to us... or rather, to Zephyros.
“Yes. How is your father?”
“......”
“He seems to be getting worse.”
The girl's eyes welled with tears, and then they began to fall.
“Don't worry. This man might be able to treat your father.”
“...R-Really?”
“This old man isn't the sort to go around lying to people, is he?”
After gently calming the girl, Zephyros drew back the curtain around the bed.
There was a large man lying there, eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling.
He was terribly emaciated, but there was no hiding his massive frame.
“Hey, old friend. I'm here.”
“...You came.”
“I brought you a get-well gift. Actually, it's a gift from this guy.”
Zephyros set a box of Power-Q Elixirs by the man's head, then sat in the chair beside him and said,
“Do you watch TV these days?”
“...No.”
“You should keep up with what's going on in the world.”
“Even if I hear about it, it's a world I'll never be able to visit again.”
While the two of them talked, I glanced over at his condition and asked Zephyros through the Ansible Earring.
‘Don't tell me... it's that?’
─Yeah. The cause is similar to mine. He just pushed his body a lot harder than I did.
‘Good heavens.’
Inactive mana had built up to the point where it couldn't even be burned away anymore.
That's why his entire body was paralyzed.
And unlike Zephyros, this man was all muscle.
No matter how strong his will was, trying to treat that would mean certain death from shock at the very least.
Besides, it would only be a temporary solution.
─His power is an external cultivation type, not internal energy, too. I think his class is Vajra Guardian...
‘It looks like his muscles themselves keep generating inactive mana.’
Even if he endured unimaginable pain and underwent treatment, the inactive mana would soon fill his muscles back up again.
He must've repeated that several times, then given up.
He'd given up on life as a human and chosen release from the pain.
─Can you... do something for him?
‘I'll have to see.’
Even so...
I'd powered up so much since the first time I treated Zephyros that there was no comparison.
“May I take a look?”
“...Who are you?”
“This guy really doesn't watch the news. This is Kim Segyun.”
“...Kim Segyun?”
A surprised voice came from behind me instead.
“Dad! He's the most famous Hunter in Korea these days!”
“...Is that so.”
His reaction was basically, So what?
Was that really how little it meant to him?
“And he's the one who got me back into active duty.”
Only then did Mr. Choi Kang's half-lidded eyes widen.
“He did?”
Zephyros smiled and showed him an article.
It was about the Gates in the 50s and 60s where he'd recently been breaking records.
“They even say I'm better than I was in my prime.”
“H-How...?”
Zephyros just shrugged and pointed at me without saying a word.
“H-Ha...”
“So, are you going to do it or not?”
“...I'm not rich like you.”
Mr. Choi had retired long before Zephyros.
And if he'd been confined to a hospital ever since, it wouldn't be surprising if he didn't have much money left.
“I don't have enough to pay someone as incredible as you for treatment. And at my age, I can't go back to being a Hunter, either.”
“If I can do it, why can't you? Well, I'm not saying you have to be a Hunter...”
“Either way, I'd rather leave what little money I have to my daughter.”
“Dad! What are you saying?!”
I gently stopped the girl as she cried out sharply, then smiled and said,
“There won't be any charge.”
“...There's...no charge?”
“In exchange, please protect me. My teacher said there was hardly anyone in the world who could match you when it came to protecting someone.”
A world-class tank who, as his name suggested, had competed for the title of the strongest.
That was the middle-aged man before me.
“You want me to protect you... Hah.”
“In your condition, Senior, I'll have to check on you regularly anyway.”
I could check on someone in Zephyros's condition every now and then, but with a severe case like his, the effect of the treatment wouldn't last long.
I'd have to treat him at least once every two or three days to maintain the effect.
“Come with me. I'll pay you a salary, too.”
“...If I could just stand up, I'd do anything.”
“Then let's get started.”
I took out a Botulinum strain from my inventory and activated it.
It wasn't difficult, since I'd already done this treatment on Zephyros many times.
It just took a little longer because the affected area and severity were so extensive.
“That's done.”
“...It doesn't seem like much has changed.”
“Now drink this.”
Zephyros took out a bottle of Power-Q Elixir and handed it to him.
The contents were actually a genuine Elixir...
It was an Elixir that could kill him from shock if anything went wrong, but Zephyros fed it to him with complete confidence.
“...An Elixir?”
“It's just an energy drink. Do you think I'd make you drink something that expensive?”
Maybe he couldn't be bothered to explain, because Zephyros lied and gave him a genuine Elixir—one with twice the effect, too.
Gulp. The Elixir slid down his throat and immediately began taking effect throughout Hunter Choi's body.
“Try moving.”
“I can't move... Huh?”
His legs began to move first.
Since the affected area was so widespread, and inactive mana had been building up for quite a long time, only some parts of his body moved.
That alone made Hunter Choi's eyes widen in astonishment, but...
“Drink all of this.”
An entire box.
Only after he'd drunk every last Elixir, worth over a billion won at market price, did Hunter Choi's body finally begin to move slowly.
The first thing he did after getting out of bed was...
Hug his daughter, who could only cover her mouth and cry.
After holding her for a long time, he looked at me and said,
“...You want me to guard you?”
“Yes, please.”
“...I can't.”
What, had he already changed his mind?
Even so... this was probably only temporary.
But fortunately, that wasn't the end of what he had to say.
“Not in my current condition.”
“...Pardon?”
“Hey, Zephyros.”
“...Yeah.”
Zephyros, who was unusually embarrassed to be called that, cleared his throat before answering. Hunter Choi asked,
“You still have a training facility, right?”
“I do.”
“Mind if I use it for a while?”
His muscles still bulging, though they had shrunk considerably compared to his prime,
Mr. Choi Kang said,
“I've lost too much muscle. I can't protect this guy in my current state.”
...No, you already look plenty strong to me.