Unease (2)
The next day at the guild office, Park Jihun received the settlement payment from the recent Lizardman Gate.
“After the guild’s cut and taxes, the final amount is 51.12 million won. There—deposit complete.”
Lizardmen scales were in moderate demand, so after ripping a few off and selling them on top of everything else, the deposit that came in after the guild’s share still exceeded fifty million won in one lump sum.
“Whoa… D-rank really does bring in a completely different level of profit.”
“Yes. That’s the rank where byproduct sales finally start adding up.”
Back during his F-rank days it had been about ten million won per run. E-rank brought in twenty to twenty-five million. Now it had suddenly shot up into the fifty-million range. Of course, if it had been split six ways it wouldn’t even have reached ten million, but since Park Jihun had essentially solo-cleared the gate—aside from Shin Jiyeon occasionally helping pick off one or two monsters—he was able to receive the entire massive sum at once.
‘At this rate, there’s no way people won’t cry foul over special treatment.’
He was earning five or six times what others of the same rank made in an entire month, all in a single day. If there wasn’t controversy, that would have been even stranger.
Even after subtracting the house contract fee, renovation costs, new furniture, electronics, and all the miscellaneous purchases, he still had roughly three to four hundred million won left. On top of that, every gate run brought in thousands more. Most of his expenses were covered by sponsorships now, so his outflows had shrunk dramatically. Money was literally piling up faster than he could spend it.
“Want to go grab something tasty?”
“Ah… I’m sorry, Sunbae. I have a gate schedule today…”
“Oh, for real?”
He had been thinking of spending some of that excess cash on a proper date-like outing with Shin Jiyeon, but she already had plans. Although she had entered quite a few gates with him recently, she had mostly just tagged along without doing much heavy lifting. Even during the department store gate incident, while she had been one of the key figures in resolving it, the physical toll hadn’t been bad enough to exhaust her beyond the endless barrage of reporter questions. Thanks to that, she was still able to lead the C-rank gate raid she had originally been scheduled for, gathering B- through D-rank hunters from Another Guild.
“Be careful out there.”
“I’ll be fine. I know how to take care of myself.”
She shrugged her shoulders with a reliable little smile. It was easy to forget because of her cute, gorgeous face, but Shin Jiyeon was a veteran B-rank hunter. For a C-rank gate one tier below her, nothing short of a catastrophic accident would put her in real danger.
“You’re the one who needs to slow down, Sunbae. You’ve been running yourself ragged these past few days. You’re not some incubus that recovers stamina by fucking, you know. Going into gates nonstop and still pounding away like that… A person needs rest.”
“......”
Her words made Park Jihun seriously wonder whether the Alpha Male skill came with some hidden incubus-like ability to restore stamina through sex. Otherwise there was no way he could still feel this fresh after everything he had put his body through.
“Okay, Sunbae?”
When she saw him staring blankly instead of answering, Shin Jiyeon puffed out her cheeks, stepped right up to him, and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Uh, yeah.”
Startled by the sudden embrace, he nodded on reflex.
“Mm. Good.”
Satisfied, she flashed a bright smile, stood on her toes, and gave him a light kiss.
“See you later~”
She waved as she skipped away.
“......”
His heart still fluttering from the kiss, Park Jihun waved back in a daze.
“Master, how youthful.”
“Hehe! Owner, it’s youth! Youth! …But what’s youth?”
Briana and Kar watched the scene with warm, fond expressions.
Steve Hammer: Gordon. Are you really going to do this?
Michael Gordon: For the reactivation of the AM Project, I will do whatever it takes.
Steve Hammer: If he refuses, you’ll take him by force?
Michael Gordon: Yes.
Steve Hammer: (sigh…) The claim that monsters cannot be tamed was only an excuse on the surface. You know that as well as I do. The real reason the project was shut down—
Michael Gordon: …
Steve Hammer: The hunters were terrified of losing the massive ‘Gate’ industry. A monster army that could clear gates efficiently and safely would be welcomed by the government with open arms. It would reduce hunter workloads, cut the need for massive compensation packages, and shrink tax benefits. The hunters opposed the project from the very beginning for exactly that reason. When it was ultimately deemed impossible, they beat the government over the head with accusations of wasting tax dollars. So while the taming failure was the official trigger, the project was dismantled because the hunters refused to let it continue.
Steve Hammer: And now a Tamer has appeared. The moment they learned that you—the S-rank hunter who oversaw the AM Project and supported it more passionately than anyone—were heading to meet that Tamer, the American hunters grew tense and began watching our every move.
Steve Hammer: If you forcibly drag Hunter Park Jihun to America in this climate, we will be crucified by the Korean media, shamed internationally, and torn apart by our own hunters at home. Neither the government nor the Association wants that outcome. So please, refrain from hardline measures.
Steve Hammer: Besides, he’s only F-rank. He isn’t worth that kind of trouble.
Steve Hammer: I just received a call from Hunter Lee Jeonghyeon. You know him, right? Korea’s S-rank.
Michael Gordon: …I do.
Steve Hammer: He said he’s keeping an eye on Hunter Park Jihun. In other words, it’s not just the Korean government and media. The Yongwang Guild will move as well.
Steve Hammer: We are not barbarians like the Black Society. It would be best to build a friendly, cooperative relationship.
Michael Gordon, the large blond man with blue eyes, was on the phone with the chairman of the American Hunter Association, Steve Hammer—the very person who had tried to stop him from insisting on meeting the Tamer.
Because of Michael Gordon’s uncompromising attitude, the chairman was doing everything he could to persuade him otherwise. After all, the man had poured his entire life into the AM Project. Still, this was crossing the line.
Unable to refute the chairman’s points, Michael Gordon remained silent. He knew the truth. The real reason the project had been scrapped wasn’t simply because monsters couldn’t be tamed—it was because the hunters feared losing their lucrative monopoly.
Now that a real Tamer had appeared and the man in charge of the AM Project was flying to meet him, the American hunters were on high alert.
After listening to the chairman’s warnings, Michael Gordon finally relented.
“Understood. I will meet with him and talk first.”
“Good. Take care of yourself.”
Ending the call, Michael Gordon headed straight for the Another Guild office where he expected to find Park Jihun.
“I’m bored.”
After Shin Jiyeon left, Park Jihun sat alone in the guild master’s office, spinning idly in the swivel chair.
‘Should I head home and fuck the girls?’
He had lined up four beauties yesterday and taken them in sequence—an orgy most people couldn’t even imagine. Yet his lower body was still raring to go. Still, he hesitated.
‘No, I’ve been overdoing it lately. Their waists were shaking like crazy afterward.’
He was fine, but he was genuinely worried about his familiars’ physical health, so he scrapped that idea.
“Hmm… Maybe I should go buy the girls some clothes?”
Especially for their newest member, Serina. But then he remembered his terrible fashion sense.
‘Yeah, no. Who knows what kind of monstrosity I’d pick out.’
He decided it would be better to go shopping with Shin Jiyeon next time.
“What should I do…”
Having nothing to do on a day off felt strangely uncomfortable. He wondered what other hunters did with their free time and decided to look it up online since Shin Jiyeon was the only hunter he really knew.
“Gym, sports… exercise stuff? Oh, they play games too. Well, with that much money they’re probably whaling like crazy.”
While he was browsing hunters’ hobbies online, a guild employee knocked and entered.
“Um… Hunter Park Jihun, sir. You have a visitor.”
“Huh?”
‘Who the hell is coming to see me all of a sudden?’
He wasn’t even the official guild master. After thinking for a moment, he figured it might be someone from the Association or a sponsor and told the employee to let the guest in.
“Nice to meet you, Hunter Park Jihun. We finally meet.”
The man who entered was a massive Westerner with blond hair and blue eyes, speaking somewhat broken Korean.
‘Was there a foreign company among the sponsors…?’
“I am Michael Gordon. American hunter. Please take care of me.”
His polite and casual speech were mixed together, but since he was a foreigner Park Jihun let it slide and nodded.
“Ah, yes. Nice to meet you. But what brings an American hunter all the way here…”
He briefly considered switching to English, but since the man had spoken Korean first, he continued in Korean. The foreigner seemed to understand perfectly and began explaining in his stiff, broken Korean who he was and why he had come.
To summarize: There had been a project called the AM Project—short for Active Monster Project—designed to raise monsters as an army that could safely clear gates without human casualties. Michael Gordon, an S-rank hunter from America, had been the one in charge. The project had been shut down after it was declared that monsters could not be tamed. However, upon hearing that a hunter capable of taming monsters had appeared in Korea, he had flown here immediately to ask for Park Jihun’s participation in the project—or at the very least, his cooperation.
“Hmm…”
After listening to the whole story, Park Jihun thought to himself.
‘But I’m just using one weird skill to tame them. I don’t think I can actually help with any of this.’
He had zero intention of following the man back to America. The idea of treating the beautiful women he had worked so hard to conquer and turn into loyal familiars like disposable soldiers was completely unacceptable.
At the same time, refusing outright might create unnecessary enemies. He was still growing. He didn’t have the power to handle the backlash from American S-rank hunters yet.
“Well… I’m not sure if there’s anything I can actually help with, but let’s at least get along for now.”
“Good.”
Hearing the positive response, Michael Gordon’s previously stiff expression softened slightly.
“Ah, right. There is something I should tell you.”
Having finished the main purpose of his visit, Michael Gordon opened his mouth once more, clearly intending to say something else.