A-Rank Hunter
A police car quietly pulled into the lot.
We stood facing each other between the cargo truck and the patrol car.
Three men plus Hansik stepped down.
“Where’s Park Wonchang?”
“They picked him up in Changwon. But what happened? Did you catch him?”
“He suddenly took off, smashed his ankle monitor, and took off. I was chasing him because I heard he was a dangerous rapist.”
“Good work. But still, how did you manage to catch Park Wonchang?”
“I don’t know, but he got caught anyway.”
“Caught by accident? Explain it slowly, from the beginning. Talk it out.”
I spilled the whole story in a rush.
Even though it was messy, Tess-hyung, the detective, got the general picture.
“The phone. Park Wonchang’s phone is in the swamp!”
“Oh-ho, the phone. Anything else?”
“He suddenly ran to a five-ton truck and started writing a bloody serial number on it.”
“A bloody serial number?”
“Hansik.”
Hansik answered through sign language.
“INCU9283121.”
“I-n-c-u… Next? Bloody? This must’ve been recovered from Changwon.”
Tess-hyung carefully scribbled it all down.
“Hey, but how did you even fight Park Wonchang? Even if he was bare-handed and level nearly 500, you two combined would barely hit 20, right?”
That was common sense, but…
I was a little different.
“Hyung, it’s me, the Doosik who used to pick up scraps. I’ve gotten pretty strong now.”
“Hmph. Even so, your growth rate is insane. Only a month in.”
It really was fast.
“And there’s the treasure, too…”
“Really? Hmph… must be because of the Fibonacci?”
Tess-hyung stared at Hansik.
Hansik shyly hid behind me.
“But hyung, what do we do with this truck? We can’t leave the Throne of the Immortal King behind, so we brought it anyway. What now?”
“Better than getting arrested by the cops. The law is bullshit, so you might’ve ended up in jail as a PK.”
“Phew, that was close.”
“First, run. If we linger and the Changwon Hunter Guild catches us, it’ll be a problem. Those guys are crazy about results. Is the truck’s black box there?”
“Oh right. I’ve got the SD card from the truck’s black box. Something might’ve been recorded.”
Tess-hyung crushed the SD card without mercy.
At times like this, you really start wondering if he’s even a cop.
“Uh… and the spam text on Park Wonchang’s phone! That needs to be checked. Maybe.”
“Spam text?”
“It looked like spam, but he was staring at it super carefully. The bloody serial number came from there too.”
“He wrote a bloody serial number while looking at spam… something’s definitely off. Damn, we were one step behind because Park Wonchang got taken in Changwon.”
In the cop world, clear territorial lines were strictly enforced.
Crossing another organization’s territory was treated as a violation.
It was a culture born from results.
“Did you leave any evidence? Fingerprints or something?”
“What do you think we are?”
I was already wearing rubber gloves, and Hyun-do had on a normal-grade item.
“CCTV only caught the tops, right?”
“Doesn’t matter. The old swamp power lines got shot anyway. Nobody lives here. If Park Wonchang had just run off, you’d still be chasing him.”
“Good thing. But more than that, we loaded the Throne of the Immortal King onto this truck. That truck belongs to Park Wonchang…”
“I’ll take the truck as evidence later. You can’t use it. Buy another one. Hey, what’s your name?”
Tess-hyung finally addressed Hyun-do.
Hyun-do bowed, as if the honor was his.
“I am Choi! Hyun-do! Hyung!”
Tess-hyung gently extended a credit card.
“Go buy a truck anywhere.”
“A truck? Now? You want me to buy one?”
“You’re the one who said ‘truck’?”
“Buy one and I’ll use it when I need it. Idiot.”
One ton or more. Expensive.
Hyun-do stared at the black card, stunned.
“Real truck? A car? Like that?”
“What do you want me to do? Hurry up.”
“Buy a decent one. Not some junk. Something like Optimus Prime. Got it?”
“Shut up.”
He got a smack on the butt.
Hyun-do saluted Tess-hyung and took off with the card.
Alone now, Tess-hyung lit a cigarette and spoke seriously.
“I looked into the Mir Guild too.”
“Yeah. Why did they want me?”
“Nothing special. They said they wanted to recruit you.”
“Recruit me?”
“Whoa, that’s huge.”
The Mir Guild was one of the big three guilds in Korea.
Babylon of wealth, Universe of power, and the rising star Mir.
Some debated whether to include Mir or Hanrang, but Mir was still elite.
‘This is too good to be true?’
Especially Mir was famous for giving top equipment to loyal members and attracting young, high-morale people.
“But have you ever bragged about your power?”
“Never. I’m starting to feel like I can’t handle it myself…”
“Insane. The Mir Guild leader, Choi Kang, has his eye on you. How does he even know about you?”
“Uh… actually…”
“Hah, you sneaky bastard. You kept something else hidden.”
I told him about the negotiation with the user nicknamed Riverchoi for the legendary [Tigrial’s Bundle].
“So the guy who accepted my three million won offer is Choi Kang?”
“Yep. Riverchoi, Choi Kang. Sounds right?”
“I know a little English.”
“And the Mir Guild isn’t after Doosik. They’re after the Hunter 365 skeleton hunter.”
Tess-hyung nodded in understanding.
“But why did you buy the bundle? Is that the reason for recruitment?”
“I don’t know. I have no connection with Choi Kang except that. I don’t even know if he knows I’m a hunter.”
“No. My gut says Riverchoi is definitely Choi Kang. Nothing else. What were the bundle’s options?”
I listed them honestly.
“Unbelievable. What kind of trash is this… If you’re not actually a genius, why gather this junk?”
“That’s a business secret…”
I had to explain my unique trait [Fortitude].
“Does Choi Kang know about your business secret?”
Tess-hyung didn’t pry.
But a detective is a detective.
Choi Kang knows my [Fortitude] trait?
“So he wants to recruit you because he knows it’s a scam.”
“Wow, even a detective can be this sharp.”
“But the problem is he doesn’t know your skeleton army multiplies through Fibonacci. That alone is insanely scammy. But you won’t tell him the secret?”
“Um…”
Should I tell him?
Tess-hyung took out a cigarette and asked.
Then he sighed deeply.
“You caught Park Wonchang, level 500. There’s definitely something. If you judged your own grade, what would it be?”
“I got E-minus.”
“No, not the grades the management office assigns with those old fossils. If you were level 500 like Park Wonchang.”
500.
The max level.
You could go higher, but the experience needed for 501 was five times what you’d need to reach 500. Impossible on paper, but people had done it.
In the hunter world, the saying was still “500 is where this game starts.”
Tess-hyung himself was already over 500.
“500? How would I even reach 500?”
But that was another world.
Catching leeches…
500 was impossible.
“What if I somehow hit 500?”
“I’ve never thought of it…”
“How strong would that make you? I think we should judge grades based on potential, not like those old fossils who put newbies at zero and interview them.”
It made sense.
“Wait a minute…”
I started calculating in my head.
To reach 500, I would only raise my Luck stat.
Items stayed the same.
Luck would be 1503.
Tigrial’s Bundle gave +25% multiplication.
That became 1897.
Blood Luck +20.
Total 1917.
All other stats at least 1917.
And mental power would also hit 1917.
My skeleton army inherited stats based on 1% of my mental power.
“Insane…”
Each skeleton would inherit 19 times my stats…
Their strength alone would be over 35,000? That’s enough to punch through a wall.
What?
Did I calculate right?
Double-check…
Correct.
“Hyung, when you hit level 500, how many unique skills do you usually get?”
“Usually four or five.”
Max five, I capped.
How many skeletons would we have?
“Hansik, Fibonacci 50.”
Hansik answered instantly.
12,586,269,025 skeletons.
“What?”
125 billion, rounded to 126 billion?
I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m done for.”
“Why?”
I scratched my head.
I double-checked multiple times. It was right.
“Hyung, probably…”
Nobody could handle this.
Even killing one per second would take 400 years.
They even stacked teleports?
“I don’t think I should go to level 500.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If I did…”
The world might end.
I… was an A-rank hunter.
* * *
Vroom vroom vroom.
Hyun-do pulled a container trailer with a Mercedes-Benz Mark attached.
A full 40-foot container hung from it.
Impressive.
“Hah, look at the big guy. Unbelievable.”
Tess-hyung looked startled too.
“Whoa! Hyun-do, how much did you pay for this? You bought a 40-foot container with a credit card?”
“Car 260 million, 40-foot container 6.6 million won. Water, sleep aids, random stuff 120,000 won. Sorry, no Optimus Prime.”
Hyun-do’s spending limit really was unlimited.
“Sorry. Good job, good job.”
I made sure not to hand Hyun-do the card.
“Whoa, container! But how do we do this?”
“I’ll handle it.”
Hyun-do opened the 40-foot container hanging from the huge trailer.
Krring… kugugung…
“Bought the one with lights. Spacious, right?”
“Wow… I could live here.”
The awe didn’t stop.
Tess-hyung came over to check too.
“This idiot is crazy. He actually bought Optimus Prime? Young people these days don’t understand ‘enough’?”
“S-sorry.”
Hyun-do shrank. I stepped in.
“Back off, old man mode. This isn’t Optimus Prime, hyung. You didn’t watch Transformers? It’s bigger and cooler.”
“Is that important? You’re not even using your own money and you’re picking at it? Like buying convenience-store triangle kimbap?”
Wasn’t Tess-hyung the one who ordered the kimbap?
“S-sorry. Here’s the card and receipt. I paid in full.”
I defended Hyun-do.
“Hyun-do, don’t get discouraged. Tess-hyung didn’t give you proper instructions.”
“Those two are in sync…”
Tess-hyung checked his pockets for cigarettes but found nothing. He angrily crumpled the empty pack.
“It’s not bad, though. Let’s put a couch here. Nice one. TV too. Wall-mounted so it doesn’t shake. Whole interior and it’ll be like an eight- pyeong studio.”
He spoke like that but couldn’t hide the satisfaction.
He was just making excuses.
Honestly, a truck that big was every man’s dream. You could drive it on the road and nothing would scare you.
“Oh! My dad does interior work! Can I handle that too?”
“Sure. Tell him to go all out. I’ll give you sales.”
Hansik, watching from over my shoulder, suddenly cheered.
He must be liking it too.
“Oh! You’re the one who fires the truck, hyung! Real men have big engines.”
“Hmph.”
“Cool.”
“Ahem.”
Tess-hyung was secretly weak to praise.
But Busan full course was…
“I have my own camper. We can install a bathroom.”
Hyun-do jumped in.
“Then you all stay on the expressway. I’ll handle the cleanup.”
The right choice was to stick to the original plan even if the Mir Guild wanted recruitment and had no evil intent. When sitting at the negotiation table, you needed the initiative.
“What will you do, hyung?”
“Busy. I have to recover Park Wonchang’s phone from the swamp, report the truck found, and meet him. Find out what that serial number means.”
Tess-hyung waved the mysterious serial number.
“You think it’s related to Bae Hyeongsin?”
“Definitely.”
Well, the credibility was low since Tess-hyung had sworn the Night Fang was inside Calid’s nose, but it felt like he was seeing his old passion again.
I hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed.
The Throne of the Immortal King was loaded into the 40-foot cargo container.
“Whoa. This is eye-opening.”
“About two meters high, right? Wow.”
From the trailer passenger seat, the world looked higher than the Throne of the Immortal King.
A clear view.
“We’re departing.”
“Let’s go! But I need one call.”