Discipline, Not Persuasion
The blizzard had died down.
The violence that had torn the snow mountain apart mere moments ago had vanished as if it had all been a lie.
"…Is it over?"
Someone murmured. No one could answer—except, of course, the B-rank hunters who had already passed out cold.
The A-ranks. Even the elites of the 5 Great Guilds, arriving late to the scene. Everyone had gone silent.
There was only one thing to see.
A colossal Giant Bear. And standing before it, turning to face the hunters—
"Ji-hoon… hyung?"
Only Seon Woo-jae, recognizing Lee Ji-hoon, managed to whisper the words.
And with that, the hunters began to stir.
"That just… that just happened, right?"
"He… stopped the boss?"
"Baek Kang-hyun didn't kill it. He stopped it."
"Who's the guy standing there? Is he a hunter?"
The battlefield, so quiet a moment before, finally began to seethe.
"Hoo…."
Baek Kang-hyun lowered his sword and drew a breath, then looked at Ji-hoon.
"…You called it persuasion, I believe."
"No."
Ji-hoon shook his head. "It was discipline."
"About what."
"Well, if you want to get wailed on that badly, feel free to stay crazy forever."
"No remorse at all, this one. Tsk."
Just then, Seon Woo-jae came sprinting over to Ji-hoon.
"Ji-hoon hyung! You okay? You're not hurt?"
"I'm fine. I've got the Branch Chief here, don't I?"
Ji-hoon stretched his arms wide to show off that, thanks to Baek Kang-hyun, he didn't have a single scratch. Woo-jae let out a relieved sigh once he confirmed it was true.
"Still, hyung, that was way too reckless. What were you thinking, an F-rank diving in here?"
"An F-rank!?"
The ponytailed supervisor who'd been following behind them shrieked.
"What does that—! You could have gotten Branch Chief Baek Kang-hyun killed!"
"Ah… I'm very sorry."
Ji-hoon apologized in a flash, then shot Baek Kang-hyun a meaningful look.
"Ahem. Actually, I brought him in myself."
The moment Baek Kang-hyun said it, the atmosphere around them froze solid.
"Branch Chief, why would you bring an F-rank into an S-rank Gate…"
"Well, that is… I was planning to make an announcement soon, you see."
Good luck with that. Make it convincing.
Baek Kang-hyun, catching the shape of Ji-hoon's silent words, figured in for a penny, in for a pound, and opened his mouth.
"The truth is, I recently learned that it's possible to form a contract with a boss monster."
"A—a contract!?"
"Insane. So you tame one and ride it around?"
"Or use it as a supporter?"
As the crowd grew even more restless, Baek Kang-hyun swept his sword aura through the air.
Crack— CRACK!
The ground split open, shards of rock erupting skyward before raining back down.
"The Administration will be making an official announcement. So if any of you spread strange rumors…"
Baek Kang-hyun's sword aura flashed teal.
"I'll kill you with my own—"
"Please remain quiet until the official announcement! Otherwise, we won't measure your contribution for the S-rank Gate clear!"
Ji-hoon cut in, intercepting him.
"Are you insane? You can't have the Administration Bureau going around killing hunters!"
"But there's no other way to—"
"Why wouldn't there be! You're the Bureau's Branch Chief! Use some of that bureaucratic power for once! God, I swear I'm losing my mind here!"
That, I don't think is true.
At Ji-hoon's muttering, Baek Kang-hyun sheathed his sword.
"In any case, we should hurry out. There's quite a crowd gathering already."
He was right. Rescue teams and additional forces were pouring in through the Gate entrance.
"Then let's shrink Choco down. You too, Poppi."
"Yep."
As Choco suppressed his mana, his form shifted into that of a tiny bear cub.
Choco, clinging tightly to Ji-hoon's leg, pulled something out of his pocket.
"Wait, this is—"
◈ Premium feed crafted in a magic brazier. The ultimate snack for meat-loving monsters.
◈ Edible by humans, though the effects are halved.
"You brought this from Hell Farm?"
Which meant…
Someone had packed seeds from the weeds of Hell itself.
"Good boy, good boy, Choco! Aigoo, aren't you precious!"
They would inventory the loot properly once they got home.
Ji-hoon looked over at Baek Kang-hyun, who cleared his throat with a theatrical ahem.
"For now, I'm afraid you'll need to come with us to the Administration Bureau."
Called it.
"What a pain…"
"Come you must. You have a family to protect, don't you?"
That much was true. Today's Gate-clear credit had to be handed entirely to Baek Kang-hyun. He had no idea what scenario the man was weaving, but still.
"Commissioner, we're heading out now."
"S-ranks would've pounced on it right away. Thankfully, all the guild masters happen to be overseas at the moment."
"…I'm sorry?"
Ahead of Baek Kang-hyun, who was still holding his communicator, a woman appeared—tall, with flawless features and perfect proportions, dressed in a black dress.
Click— click—
High heels, of all things, in an S-rank Gate. With every step she took, the air around her seemed to sink under its own crushing weight.
"H-hunter Jin Seo-yoon…?"
Woo-jae, the first to recognize her, blinked rapidly.
And then—
"I'm, I'm a huge fan, Hunter-nim!"
"Please sign my—"
Ji-hoon sidled over and quietly asked Woo-jae, "Why are they all doing that?"
"She does commercials."
"The Branch Chief?"
"Obviously he does. He's popular."
"All of them are public service ads, though."
As his group chattered on, Jin Seo-yoon came to a sharp halt right in front of them.
"Branch Chief Baek Kang-hyun. What in the world is going on here?"
"What do you mean, Hunter Jin Seo-yoon?"
"Guild. Mas. Ter. It's been ages since I became the master of Orpheus, and you're still calling me 'Hunter-nim'?"
Baek Kang-hyun let out a small sigh and started over.
"My apologies. Guild Master of Orpheus, Hunter Jin Seo-yoon."
"…Fine. In any case, I believe an explanation is in order?"
Jin Seo-yoon raised a leather-gloved hand and pointed at Ji-hoon.
"Who is that man? And those two beside him, dressed up as monster cosplayers—what's their story?"
He was done for.
Of all people, an S-rank hunter—and according to Woo-jae, one at the absolute peak of her fame, too. Judging by the fans swarming around her, wasn't this about to be all over Jin Seo-yoon's fan community forums?
Since when did he become your little brother?
He was still mulling it over when—
"He is my senior brother."
"Yes, your senior broth— I beg your pardon?"
Jin Seo-yoon's eyes narrowed.
"To put it plainly. The ones I hold my contract with are these very S-rank monsters."
"Ah, r-right… so you learned a taming skill or something? That'd be a first in recorded history."
"It's not a skill."
Baek Kang-hyun regripped his sword as he spoke.
"I'll say it again. It is a legitimate contract."
"Riiight… a contract…"
Watching Choco munching away at the jerky with happy little chomps, Jin Seo-yoon heaved a deep sigh.
"Understood. So this is about to become the Bureau's official announcement, is that it?"
"That's right. Well, it may get filtered through the Commissioner first…"
"Fine, fine. I'll play dumb about all this. In exchange, you tell me the whole story properly later."
As she turned to walk away, Jin Seo-yoon glanced back over her shoulder.
"Or, failing that, let Orpheus get some use out of this Gate dungeon from time to time."
"…We'll consider it positively."
"Yes! Then it's a deal?"
Her gaze slid over to Ji-hoon.
"And these are your senior brothers, so… that would make them my… juniors?"
"He's, uh, an assistant working with Hunter Baek Kang-hyun here. I'm feeling a bit… worn out, at the moment… hahaha…."
And truly worn out he was. He'd amplified his mana with Poppi's feathers, but that power had only ever been temporary. Having spent it all and finally gotten Choco safely back, every last shred of tension had drained out of him—he felt like he could collapse on the spot.
Wiping the sweat trickling down his forehead, Ji-hoon forced out:
"Wow… S-rank… just… wow…."
With a healthy dose of acting thrown in, of course.
Jin Seo-yoon's eyes swept over Ji-hoon from head to toe. Then they locked onto his necklace.
"Did the boss drop that one too?"
"Ah… yes, as the clear reward…"
"I see."
Keep a very good eye on that, won't you.
Murmuring the words half to herself, Jin Seo-yoon walked toward the Gate entrance—
Whoosh—
—and vanished in an instant.
The moment she stepped out of the Gate, Jin Seo-yoon paused.
"…Hm."
Shaking out her wrist once, she replayed the scene in her mind.
The griffin. The Giant Bear. And the F-rank hunter standing between them.
"It doesn't add up."
She murmured it quietly. Baek Kang-hyun. She knew perfectly well how strong that man was. But—
"That wasn't… that man's style at all."
He was the type to shatter everything head-on. Block, endure, cleave through. But that scene just now—
"…He stopped it."
He hadn't killed it. He hadn't even dominated it. Had they truly made a contract? How?
Unbidden, an image of the man who'd been standing there took shape in her mind. The hunter sweating through his forehead.
"For all his 'acting'… there wasn't a single trace of mana on him."
Not because he was F-rank. He had genuinely wrung something out of himself in that Gate. Or—
"Something had been wrung out of him."
She couldn't tell who had squeezed whom. But one thing was certain.
That necklace he'd been wearing.
"…I want it."
Her eyes narrowed. Those odd feathers, tucked in at intervals—and from those feathers, she could feel an immense surge of mana rippling outward.
Jin Seo-yoon turned slowly. As she walked, she pressed her phone to her ear.
"Connect me to headquarters."
"Hunting ban. Effective now."
"That S-rank Gate that opened today. Nobody hunts it. I said ban."
Silence stretched across the line for a moment.
"The Administration will be in contact soon enough. Tell them to hold out until then—when we can hunt it properly."
She ended the call the moment she finished speaking.
Well, flying straight back from overseas paid off.
The corner of her lips curled up, ever so slightly.
Meanwhile, having been whisked off to the Administration Bureau, Ji-hoon was enjoying a tearful reunion with Poppi and Choco.
Choco bowed deeply, tiny bear body and all—and then promptly launched into a forward somersault.
Choco bowed all over again.
No, hey, you don't bow twice.
"There, there. Good work, Choco. Let's all live together again from now on, alright?"
The jerky, probably?
"Huh?"
Poppi promptly joined the uproar. And soon, Baek Kang-hyun walked in on all of it.
"Ah, well, I just spouted whatever came to mind at the time, so…"
An F-rank hunter serving as interpreter between two S-rank boss monsters and an S-rank hunter.
That, ladies and gentlemen, was me—Lee Ji-hoon.
"…Honestly, I don't even know anymore."
Is this right? Really, truly, is this right?