Master of Persuasion
Ji-hoon gazed up at Poppi.
Anyone could see it was a griffin straight out of legend, and the mana it radiated made it abundantly clear that this beast was S-Rank.
"Hmmmm…."
"Do you truly intend to take him out of here?"
"Of course I do. Poppi is family."
"Just because a creature answers to a name doesn't mean you release a lion-like beast into the middle of a city."
He had a point.
'This lion obeys me perfectly, so he's perfectly safe!'
And who on earth would buy that?
Besides, an F-Rank like me walking out with an S-Rank boss griffin? The story would hit the news, and my parents would faint right there in the middle of frying their chicken.
Ji-hoon shook his head.
"Alright. I've just thought of a very good solution."
"Which is?"
"Poppi."
[Yes, Boss.]
"You can shrink down, right?"
Even back at Hell Farm, the griffin would often make himself small enough to curl up in his arms and doze off.
[I can. How small would you like me to be?]
"Pigeon-sized or so?"
Golden mana rippled across Poppi's body. The massive wings folded in, the lion's frame dwindled, and the talons that had once been as sharp as blades shifted into adorable little hooks.
Ji-hoon gave the shrunken Poppi a firm thumbs-up.
"Nice."
[Thank you, Boss.]
"Th-that boss monster just shrank down to the size of a pigeon?"
Baek Kang-hyun's eyes went wide.
"Yep. Why?"
"Why? Because things like this simply shouldn't be possible… no, wait, how does an F-Rank even bond with a boss in the first place—"
"Geez, you're a tough crowd. Anyway, no more problem."
"Don't tell me… walking out with him like that actually solves things…."
Ji-hoon flashed Baek Kang-hyun a sly grin.
"Of course that's not the end of it."
"Then…?"
"We get everyone on the same page."
A short while later, everyone who had been watching the situation unfold near the boss room gathered together — the on-site supervisor, the collection team staff, the trainees, the three C-Rank hunters, and Baek Kang-hyun himself.
Every gaze turned toward the tiny griffin perched on Ji-hoon's shoulder.
They all knew perfectly well that this little bird had, until minutes ago, been the gate's S-Rank boss.
"Alright, everyone, listen up!"
Clap clap—!
Ji-hoon clapped his hands to gather their attention.
"Now, folks, we're going to confirm a very simple fact."
"…."
"Who was it that subdued the S-Rank boss in here and cleared the gate?"
Every head turned to Ji-hoon at once.
Someone whispered, barely audibly.
"You… did…."
"Ah-ah."
Ji-hoon raised an eyebrow.
At his signal, Poppi gathered golden mana at the tip of his beak.
Vuuuum—
"H-hiiik!"
"Let's try again."
The on-site supervisor's face had drained completely white.
"It was Hun-Hun-Hunter Baek Kang-hyun!"
"Correct! Excellent!"
Ji-hoon nodded in satisfaction. Baek Kang-hyun could only stare at him, dumbfounded.
"Now hold on just a moment. Why—"
"You're the strongest S-Rank hunter in South Korea. You clear S-Rank gates solo, don't you?"
"I do, but normally there's supposed to be a raid team—"
"Then congratulations on your first-ever solo clear! One more title for the record. What's not to love?"
"Hmm…."
Ji-hoon brushed right past whatever Baek Kang-hyun had been about to say.
"Good. Next question!"
He swept his gaze over the crowd again.
"Our Hunter Baek Kang-hyun here subdued the griffin, stabilized it, and then went ahead and tamed it. Isn't that right?"
"…Tamed?"
"The tamer is that—"
Once again, Ji-hoon's eyes narrowed into slits.
"That. Person. Would be… where, exactly?"
"Th-the… over here! Hunter Baek Kang-hyun!"
"Aigoo, what a sharp bunch you all are. So then — the boss monster was tamed by Hunter Baek Kang-hyun~! Incredible, isn't it? Everyone, a round of applause!!"
Waaah… clap clap clap—
Hollow applause rippled through the room.
"Now, one final question!"
Poppi tilted his head slightly and nuzzled his head against Ji-hoon's cheek.
"This tiny, adorable little creature is my pet, isn't he?"
"…."
A boss monster as a pet? That griffin?
The people struggled valiantly to hold down the words clawing their way up their throats.
And no one said a thing.
Ji-hoon smiled.
Poppi raised his beak and curved it into a thin, elegant arc.
The mana at its tip glittered.
"Right. Isn't. That. So?"
The on-site supervisor was the first to nod.
"Th-that's right, yes."
"I can't quite hear you. What is this bird?"
"He's your pet, sir!"
"Perfect! Absolutely perfect! And everyone else?"
At that, the whole crowd scrambled to nod along.
"He's a pet!"
"He's adorable, like a parakeet!"
"So cute I'd want one of my own!"
"Thank you all so much."
Ji-hoon raised his index finger toward the crowd.
"Oh, and you all understand what would happen if you went outside and told the truth about today, don't you?"
In that instant, Poppi vanished from Ji-hoon's shoulder.
Fwip—!
A single golden streak sliced across the boss room. Faster than sound itself — the human eye couldn't even track it.
One lap.
Two.
Three.
A small golden shadow flickered between the gathered people.
Then he was back on Ji-hoon's shoulder.
Fwp.
Poppi settled down primly, as if he had never moved at all.
But the people couldn't move a muscle.
Near the nape of every single neck, golden mana had bloomed like a blade and then gently, silently drifted away.
No blood was shed.
No wounds, either.
But everyone understood.
That mana could have opened their throats.
"From what I gather, his top speed is about the speed of sound?"
"Th-the speed of sound!?"
"He could reach the other side of the planet in no time. A day or two, tops?"
A threat, plain and simple: sell the information and run, and you'd be dead within a day.
Everyone — no exceptions — rubbed their hands together in frantic agreement.
"Hiiik…!"
"S-spare me!"
"I won't say anything!"
"I'd die before I talk!"
"I saw absolutely nothing today!"
"My memory has always been terrible!"
Ji-hoon nodded with a smile.
"Wonderful, so cooperative. Thank you all!"
Baek Kang-hyun closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
"Lee Ji-hoon."
"Yes?"
"The blackmailing is a bit…."
"Then what, leave him here? What if he goes berserk again?"
He had grappled with the griffin just moments ago, and one thing was clear: an S-Rank alone would struggle to subdue this creature. It would take a full raid team, and the battle itself could cost countless lives.
And yet this griffin obeyed Lee Ji-hoon.
An F-Rank tamer capable of controlling an S-Rank boss monster.
If that information leaked to the guilds, the press, foreign agencies, or criminal organizations, the chaos the Bureau would have to manage would be only the beginning.
'The damage ordinary citizens would suffer could be catastrophic.'
Above all, mishandling that griffin would turn him into a disaster far greater than any gate.
Baek Kang-hyun nodded reluctantly.
"Very well. I'll handle the internal report myself."
"Thank you."
"Officially, I subdued the S-Rank, and you'll be recorded as having tamed and taken custody of a small mana beast."
He let out a long sigh.
"But understand — this is a temporary measure only. Once we're outside, the proper protocols apply: formal reporting, quarantine, safety verification."
"No quarantine. Not happening."
"I'll try to block that part."
"Oh? Really? Why, though?"
Baek Kang-hyun looked toward the crowd gathered at the entrance of the boss room.
An S-Rank gate had appeared without warning. A boss had emerged. The exits had been sealed. A true emergency, through and through.
In ten years, there had never been a gate like it.
Honestly, he had braced himself for a certain number of fatalities.
And yet — no one had died. Not a single person had even been injured.
There was only one reason.
A Returnee. The F-Rank tamer, Lee Ji-hoon.
"I have a favor to ask."
"Huh? What?"
"Help the Bureau."
"Uh… why?"
"What happened today could happen again. In ten years, this is the first time a cleared gate has ever reactivated. The Bureau couldn't respond properly. Neither could the major guilds."
It truly could have turned deadly.
Yet Lee Ji-hoon had resolved all of it.
"And I believe you're holding the keys to this anomaly, Lee Ji-hoon. Some kind of insight."
"An F-Rank holding keys? What keys?"
"You don't need anything special. The griffin — Poppi, was it?"
Poppi gave a small nod.
"I'd like you to raid gates together with Poppi. The compensation will, of course, be top-tier — no, better than top-tier."
"I'm F-Rank, though. And he's a boss monster."
Baek Kang-hyun nodded, then looked back and forth between Ji-hoon and Poppi.
"Fair point. But the Bureau has no intention of making an enemy of you."
A brief silence passed.
Ji-hoon looked at Poppi on his shoulder. The griffin quietly nuzzled his cheek.
Shrunken or not, he was still Poppi.
The eldest of Hell Farm. The King of Griffins. Family he had lived beside for a hundred years.
Ji-hoon let out a soft sigh.
"Let's head out first."
"So you'll cooperate?"
"Cooperate isn't quite the word. Hmm…."
Ji-hoon tapped Poppi's beak lightly with a finger.
"I do need to find out why my boy got chained up in here in the first place."
"Thank you. Then let's proceed to the Bureau first. We can go over the contract terms one by once there."
Well, when an F-Rank was being offered proper treatment for once, what reason was there to refuse?
Ji-hoon tucked Poppi into his arms and walked out of the gate.
And so the S-Rank gate was cleared, and everyone made it safely outside.
The moment Ji-hoon emerged, he headed straight for the Awakening Management Bureau's Central Branch 1 alongside Baek Kang-hyun.
"Wow…."
The Central Branch building was enormous. Poppi, who had been peeking around at the interior, poked his head out and growled low in his throat.
[Not even half the size of Hell Farm, I see.]
'That's because Hell Farm is absurdly big, Poppi….'
Unable to hear his master's muttering, Poppi kept grumbling his complaints at Baek Kang-hyun over and over.
Not that the man could hear a word of it, of course.
"Thank you for coming."
"Of course. So, where shall we begin…."
"I want the gates you clear from now on — the dungeons — to become Bureau property."
Recent gates had all been cleared at the guild level. The guild that cleared a gate would convert it into guild property and reap all the profits that followed.
As a result, the Awakening Management Bureau — with only one S-Rank hunter, Baek Kang-hyun, to its name — was falling dangerously far behind in building up its own portfolio of gates.
"What's more, the Bureau doesn't own a single S-Rank dungeon. I'm hopeless at politics, you see, so I rather get ostracized."
"Hmm…."
So because he can't play the political game, he has no one to lean on — and Ji-hoon, conveniently, is a hunter who hasn't joined any guild yet. Perfect fit, huh.
So that gripe earlier was the real deal.
"We need your help, Hunter. If possible, we'd like your permission to make this S-Rank dungeon Bureau property as well—"
"Since it's already going on record that Hunter Baek Kang-hyun cleared it, isn't it Bureau property anyway?"
"You… you'll grant it?"
"Grant it? There's nothing to grant—"
The man was being so scrupulously polite that it was making things awkward instead.
Well, fine — he had been planning to negotiate, so fair enough.
"Ahem. Then, Hunter Baek Kang-hyun… no, Branch Manager?"
"Yes, Hunter Lee Ji-hoon."
"What's the offer? If I hand over the S-Rank ownership?"
"One billion won, three A-Rank pieces of equipment, and one hundred dungeon-exclusive potions."
Whoa. Seriously?
Honestly, Ji-hoon was stunned.
That much?
"Naturally, that's not all. You'll receive a percentage of the gate's revenue as well."
He can fill in the rest of the details as we go — and in the meantime, getting to know a high-ranking government official couldn't hurt, right?
Ji-hoon nodded.
"At this rate, won't other guilds come trying to recruit me too?"
"Th-that's…."
"Just kidding. I'd rather not get tangled up with any shady characters, you see."
It had been the same in Hell.
People would approach him all friendly-like, then make off with his savings. Or they'd ask for his help with some problem, he'd lend a hand, and it would turn out they'd been guzzling alcohol behind his back the whole time.
Treating kindness like some God-given right, huh?
"Very well, then."
"R-really!?"
"Of course. Though — would you mind if I added a few conditions of my own?"
He still didn't know much about Earth's guilds. Get tangled up with the wrong crowd now, and he'd just end up getting pushed around.
Better Baek Kang-hyun, the Bureau's own Branch Manager. Blundering into the spotlight without knowing anything would only leave him jerked in every direction.
This was, after all, the man who'd been dragged through the wringer over Abel's contract back in Hell.
Ji-hoon's eyes began to gleam, sharp and glittering — like a griffin's, determined to extort every last scrap he could claw out of this deal.
Or rather, to win every last scrap.
"Okay, then we have a deal."
To the original terms, Ji-hoon added three clauses of his own: the right to freely enter any A-Rank or higher gate the moment it appeared, double the standard monthly salary paid to Bureau-affiliated hunters, and full Bureau control over all affairs inside the dungeons.
And then, finally, the single most important point.
"One condition, though — I'll keep operating as an F-Rank, just like I am now. Don't go conspicuously helping me out or making a fuss about it."
He made sure the contract explicitly stated that the Bureau shall respect the activities and judgment of F-Rank hunter Lee Ji-hoon.
In other words: he would never, ever be pushed around by the Bureau.
Baek Kang-hyun smiled brightly, as if to say this was only natural.
"You needn't worry on that front. I'll take full responsibility for keeping it confidential."
And once again, Hunter Baek Kang-hyun bowed his head deeply.
Seriously? First Poppi, now everyone — is talking like a gangster and bowing like this some kind of trend?
[Boss! How— how DARE this wretched human presume to bow to you the way I do! It is unbearable, Boss! Demand his obeisance at once!]
"Easy, Poppi. Please, just… easy."
And so the conversation carried on for some time, until at last Ji-hoon and Poppi signed the contract and were finally free to head home.
Right on cue, the television was airing the evening news.