Static in the Status Window

A full hour.

Calling it a squabble would be generous—it was a turf war. In the end, it came down to nothing more than who could whine louder.

Poppi and Choco snorted steam at each other, radiating completely different temperatures. To be fair, Ji-hoon had already asked them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to knock it off and let the matter go about half a dozen times.

Can't say for sure who'd win if they actually went at it for real.

S-Rank boss versus S-Rank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hunter. By everything the world understood so far, unless the matchup favored them, an S-Rank Hunter soloing an S-Rank boss was all but impossible.

"Still, you each gained a little brother and a friend. That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Indeed, Elder Brother! Our first sibling outside the Hell Farm family!"

"It stings a little, but it's fine-sim. Friends, who needs 'em-sim."

Baek Kang-hyun watched the pair—one grumbling in a low growl, the other whining like a kicked puppy—and spoke up.

"The Bureau will be making an official announcement tonight."

The S-Rank Gate clear. The spectacular performance of Director Baek Kang-hyun of the Hunter Administration. The discovery that monsters could be contracted with even without a Taming skill. Recent contract attempts focused primarily on S-Rank Gate boss monsters. And the possibility that Gates could soon be subjugated without fighting at all. That was the plan for the announcement.

"Can you keep it that way for long?"

Deep down, Ji-hoon was uneasy. If the pattern held—

The Hell Farm kids were inside S-Rank Gates. Did that mean every single time he rescued one of them, he'd have to work alongside Baek Kang-hyun? And what if he happened to stumble into one alone, once or twice?

"That's…."

The moment Baek Kang-hyun opened his mouth to answer, the door swung open.

Click.

"The Hunter beside you, Lee Ji-hoon, will be introduced to the public as a monster handler."

A low, level voice. Ji-hoon raised his head.

A middle-aged man. Nothing remarkable about his stride. No exaggerated air of authority either. And yet, oddly enough, he carried a soft presence wrapped around a quiet, measured pressure.

"Mr. Commissioner, weren't you away on a business trip?"

The Commissioner?

"Nobody said the Commissioner was coming today?"

"Who might that be, Elder Brother?"

"Not the highest person in this country… but fairly high up there."

"Gasp! About three rungs below Lord Abel-sim?"

"That much, huh…? Probably?"

At that, Poppi and Choco went rigid with tension and began to growl. The Commissioner regarded the two of them with evident fascination.

"So these are the ones."

S-Rank boss monsters. Rendered tameable.

The Commissioner murmured the words to himself, then continued.

"The ones who will carve a new chapter into the history of Korea's Gates."

"Uh…."

"And Hunter Lee Ji-hoon."

Snap.

Suddenly snapping to attention, the Commissioner gave a deep, formal bow.

"Thank you. From the bottom of my heart."

"Whoa—Commissioner, please, there's no need for…."

"We were able to hold off two S-Rank Gates without a single casualty."

S-Rank Gates. Under normal circumstances, they were battlefields where casualties simply came with the territory—which was precisely why they demanded such meticulous preparation.

The sacrifices of A- and B-Rank Hunters. Attacks and combos that wrung S-Rank blood dry. Gathering the five Great Guild masters, who were scattered to the winds, drawing up strategy after strategy. There had been no end to the things that needed thinking through.

The board has been completely flipped.

Taming a boss monster? What hunter could have ever pulled that off? And with zero deaths in the process, no less.

"We've had a wave of returnees lately, but none of them carried any truly exceptional ability."

The Commissioner's gaze settled firmly on Ji-hoon, Poppi, and Choco.

"Hunter Ji-hoon, you have quite literally saved the nation."

It was the kind of debt a man like the Commissioner couldn't help but bow his head for.

"Ah, well… hm…."

"Choco, did you see that! Our Elder Brother, truly! Even a man three rungs below Lord Abel isn't fit to stand beside him!"

"Elder Brother is the best-sim. How high are you planning to climb-sim?"

It was more than a little flustering for Ji-hoon—but this was an opportunity.

"Ahem. So, about the reward for the S-Rank Gate clear…."

"Of course! We'll make sure it's nothing short of generous!"

A short while later, Ji-hoon came strolling out of the conference room, a Poppi tucked in one arm and a Choco in the other, grinning from ear to ear.

Heh heh heh. Just how much is all this worth?

Transfer rights worth a billion won as the baseline. On top of that, a call voucher guaranteeing the Bureau's assistance whenever he needed it. And this time, the package even included full search-and-salvage rights over the cleared Gate dungeon.

Which means there might be Hell-made items dropped by other monsters lying around in there.

The money was money, but more importantly, it could be the clue that unraveled both Hell's dealings and whatever Abel was scheming.

And then there was the thing he still hadn't checked yet.

"Let's have a look, shall we?"

Between the mana and stamina drain from the clear and all the negotiating with the Bureau, there was one thing he still hadn't gotten around to examining.

"Status window."

At once, a translucent pane materialized in his field of vision. He tapped the reward section, and the S-Rank Gate clear reward from saving Choco appeared.

Everfrost Crystals, S-rank. They'd have some use somewhere, surely.

Proficiency, huh. And potential, on top of that?

Could it be he'd be able to put Poppi's feathers to even better use? He was mulling over whether to pluck a few more down the line and string them into a necklace when—

"Hyung!"

Woo-jae was waving at him from up ahead, waiting.

"Everything go okay with your talks?"

"Yeah. And you?"

While Ji-hoon had been stuck in the conference room, Seon Woo-jae had been giving interviews to the press.

Rising Star Ace A-Rank Hunter Emerges!—that sort of thing.

"Yup, went great. By the way, the Bureau's gear is insane. Check this out."

Woo-jae's arm had already healed completely, and he swung it back and forth to prove it. Apparently the bone had cracked blocking Choco's quill-pillar attack.

"It's thanks to you, hyung. Really, thank you."

"I didn't do anything."

"You did. You're close with Hunter Baek Kang-hyun, aren't you?"

Close… with Baek Kang-hyun? Was he? Either way, he was just glad Woo-jae had made a full recovery. If he hadn't, how would Ji-hoon ever have faced Woo-jae's parents?

"Alright, let's head in. You've got to be beat."

"Yeah, but…."

Woo-jae's eyes drifted over to Poppi and Choco.

"So you seriously do keep…."

"Shh."

He'd explained the whole situation to Woo-jae on the way, so the kid already knew Poppi was a griffin and Choco was a giant bear. Knowing it, though, and wrapping his head around it were two entirely different things—which was exactly the reaction Ji-hoon had expected.

"My entire understanding of hunters is being destroyed right now…."

"I get it."

"Don't BS me. Hyung, you never knew much of anything to begin with."

"That's technically true, and yet somehow it stings."

"You insolent creature! Daring to call your Elder Brother a liar! Choco! Kick that man squarely in the rear!"

"I'm hungry-sim. When's dinner-sim?"

Shouldn't they be bros with Woo-jae too, at this rate?

Chatting away like that, the group headed home.

"Hyung, call me if anything comes up."

"Don't worry. You do the same."

And so they parted ways with Woo-jae. The moment Ji-hoon got home, he dove into digging up whatever information he could find.

Perhaps because the Bureau had kept things properly contained, the media and the internet barely mentioned him at all. Every now and then his name would pop up on hunter community boards—but everyone had written him off as a glorified porter on Baek Kang-hyun's payroll.

"A porter…."

Chomp, chomp. "Elder Brother, what is this-sim? It's truly delicious-sim."

"That, Choco, is what we call chicken. A wondrous dish from Elder Brother's Earth!"

Ji-hoon watched the two of them diligently tearing, chewing, and savoring their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chicken for a while.

"I'm bored—maybe I'll check the Market."

He held up one of the Everfrost Crystals. Beyond the fact that it was some kind of crafting material, there was almost no information available on it.

"Elder Brother, Everfrost is the item that drives frost mages out of their minds. Demand a steep price for it."

"Even Choco knows that much-sim. The Blue One wanted it badly-sim."

The Blue One? You mean Blue Dragon Ppeoreong-i?

Despite his species' name, the guy wasn't actually all that blue—which was exactly why Ji-hoon had named him Ppeoreong-i back in the day.

"If a dragon covets it, it must be good…."

And what do you do when you don't know the market price? You put it up for auction, of course.

"Oh, that was fast."

"Fast, yes—but still cheap. Unlike my feathers, this does not regenerate infinitely, you see."

"So it's worth more than your feathers, Poppi?"

"Most likely. The rarity is on an entirely different level."

He supposed that made sense. Items that respawned endlessly and items that didn't simply weren't in the same weight class.

Just then, Poppi seemed to remember something and expanded one wing to full size, spreading it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out with a flourish.

"Elder Brother! Pluck away! This humble one is ready and waiting!"

"I was planning to pluck some anyway, but when you announce it like that while showing off, you look like a pervert."

"Before you, Elder Brother, I would gladly be a pervert!"

"Cut it out. Last time you went all teary-eyed begging me not to pluck."

"C-cough, cough."

"Wait, Poppi-hyung, you cried over ONE feather-sim? Puhahaha! Grown beast crying, pathetic-sim."

"Silence, you whelp!"

Poppi's beak jabbed sharply at Choco's belly. While the two of them carried on, Ji-hoon set about plucking Poppi's feathers as gently as he could manage.

"Huh? It just shot way up."

And then, the finishing touch.

"Thirty thousand Dephor…?"

Not bad, that.

No further nibbles came for five minutes after that. He couldn't tell whether that was the average going rate, or if the price was still a steal and the bidders were simply reading the room—either way, he decided to treat the one crystal as a handy test case.

Ji-hoon immediately hit the "Accept" button, and thirty thousand Dephor landed in his account.

"Would be nice if I could convert it straight to cash."

He was thinking exactly that as he reached out and gave the hologram floating before him a light tap—

Flicker—flicker.

What the?

Did that just blink red?

And before he knew it, Ji-hoon's hand was reaching out again.

Tap—

The red light pulsed once more, and a static-choked voice shook its way through Ji-hoon's skull.

—kzzt-kkkch—kch-kzzt—

"Ugh, what the hell is this."

—kkch-tt—…me…h…you—

"…What is that sound?"

—…o…you—

Cut.

"Ugh, what was that? A horror movie or something?"

"Elder Brother, are you alright?"

"Choco heard it too-sim. Strange sound, that was-sim."

What on earth was that? Do all status windows act like this?

Then, once more, the far edge of the status window flashed red.

Flicker-flicker,

flicker-flicker-flicker-flicker-flicker-flicker!

Tap—

The light shuddered wildly, then died out as if the power had been cut entirely. And Ji-hoon, staring at the place where it had been, murmured:

"…No way."

That pattern of light—he knew it all too well.

"Abel…?"