Why Do You Kill Me?
Flash! Flash! Flash!
A barrage of camera flashes rained down on us.
Blinding lights strobed continuously.
I'm going to go blind at this rate.
"Are—are they acquaintances? With Leo White?"
"Who the hell is that guy?!"
"Wa—wait! It's Lee Taepyeong! That's Lee Taepyeong!"
"What? That's Lee Taepyeong?!"
"The Lee Taepyeong from the Typhoon Guild?!"
Amidst the flustered voices of the reporters, another wave of camera flashes erupted.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
"...Gasp, Hunter Lee!"
A familiar voice rang out.
It was Kang Mina.
"Let go! Let go of him!"
Sprinting out of nowhere, Kang Mina pried the foreigner off me.
Impeccable timing.
A second later, and my fist would have flown straight into his face.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A man who looked like a bodyguard grabbed Kang Mina's arm.
"Do you have any idea who this gentleman is—"
"Excuse me, do you have any idea who this gentleman is?!"
Huffing with rage, Kang Mina yanked her arm out of the bodyguard's grip.
The bodyguard looked back and forth between Kang Mina and me, utterly dumbfounded.
Before he could even open his mouth to speak, Kang Mina raised her voice again.
"You're the ones who approached Hunter Lee Taepyeong without permission!"
Wow.
She looked ready to shoot lasers from her eyes.
She was like a combat Chihuahua.
"Permission? Mr. White is..."
"It seems you don't quite grasp the situation."
Kang Mina glared coldly at the bodyguard.
"This is South Korea, and the one under 'special management' here is Hunter Lee Taepyeong, not Mr. Leo White."
"...!"
"I wonder if you're just too ignorant to understand that without me spelling it out, or if you're prepared to take responsibility for whatever happens next?"
"T-that is..."
Cold sweat began to bead on the bodyguard's forehead.
Oh.
I had no idea Kang Mina had this side to her.
She's terrifying!
Should I step in and stop her now?
"Sorry."
It was then.
The foreigner spoke in awkward, accented Korean.
He bowed, clasping his hands together politely.
"Manners. I did not keep them."
"..."
"Because I was happy to see you."
Huh?
Happy to see me?
Why?
Who?
As I stared at him with a thoroughly bewildered expression, the foreigner extended his hand toward me.
"Mr. Lee."
Wait, is he talking to...
"Taepyeong."
...me?
Caught off guard, I shook his hand.
The foreigner beamed, giving my hand a firm shake.
"I really wanted to meet you!"
Leo White.
It was no exaggeration to say he carried the burden of clearing America's towers on his shoulders.
He was a twenty-something American hunter who held the glorious title of World No. 1.
Yes.
The actual World No. 1.
In short, he was the strongest human on Earth.
And a guy like that wanted to meet me?
Why on earth?
I had absolutely no clue.
Sure, I'd gotten a bit famous lately, but that was strictly within South Korea.
It wasn't like I was ranked in the global top ten like Choi Muryeong.
My only notable achievement on a larger scale was clearing the special floor in China.
Even then, it only drew attention within Asia; it wasn't something that would make me famous worldwide.
So, at best, I was just a name occasionally whispered in this tiny corner of the world called Korea.
On top of that, I actively avoided media exposure, so very few people actually recognized my face.
The fact that even the reporters here hadn't recognized me right away said it all.
Yet, Leo White, the World No. 1, had traveled all the way to Korea just to meet me?
"We thought it was strange too," Kang Mina said, her face still flushed with anger.
"They claimed the visit was for Korea-US cooperation in clearing the tower, but..."
Click, click.
Kang Mina bit her nails anxiously.
"It felt like he had some other motive..."
Another motive, huh?
"I never imagined that motive would be you, Hunter Lee."
"Could it be a smokescreen?"
Kang Mina shook her head vigorously.
"You said you don't know much about Leo White, right?"
"Yeah. I never really cared."
I knew his name, of course.
But since I didn't care, I didn't know what he looked like.
Besides, I was terrible at telling foreigners apart anyway.
"He is not a polite man," Kang Mina said with a heavy sigh.
"Quite the opposite, actually."
"He seemed pretty well-mannered earlier."
"Arrogant, untouchable, and reckless."
"..."
"That is the kind of person Leo White is."
Those words didn't match the man who had clasped his hands and bowed in apology at all.
"He goes rogue and enters raids alone even during international joint operations."
Oh.
"It's a famous incident how he openly insulted the French President during an official summit."
I felt like I'd heard about that before.
"He treats fellow hunters the same way. He even called Jang Wonryong the 'Fork Master'..."
"Fork Master?"
"Yes. Mocking him for only poking at monsters instead of killing them."
"Pfft."
A chuckle escaped my lips before I could stop it.
But Kang Mina remained dead serious.
"The biggest problem is..."
"..."
"Even when he wreaks havoc like that, he always delivers results."
Well, yeah.
That's probably why he's World No. 1.
"He's never faced official disciplinary action."
"Really?"
"It means even the US government can't control Leo White."
Ah.
So it wasn't that he didn't cause trouble, but that it didn't matter even if he did.
"The Leo White I saw earlier didn't seem like that at all, though."
How should I put it?
Rather than an arrogant, world-ranking superstar hunter, he felt more like a clumsy foreign tourist saying, "I love Korea!"
"That's exactly why it's so suspicious," Kang Mina gritted her teeth.
"It's glaringly obvious that he's giving you special treatment, Hunter Lee."
Special treatment.
"You have to be careful."
Kang Mina lowered her voice, her expression grave.
"If Leo White is approaching you, I doubt his goal is something simple like scouting you to emigrate."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know..."
Kang Mina scratched her head in frustration.
"Don't worry too much," I said, patting her shoulder to reassure her.
I had absolutely no intention of emigrating anyway.
I'd already set up my base and laid all my groundwork here; why would I move to another country?
Besides, I didn't even speak English.
Well, whatever.
Since he came all this way to meet me, it wouldn't hurt to at least have a chat.
"If anything happens, make sure to contact me immediately."
"Haha, to rescue me like you did earlier?"
"Of course!"
I recalled how she had charged in like an angry hornet to yell at Leo White.
She really was a combat Chihuahua.
"We're meeting inside the Hunter Administration Office anyway."
"Yes..."
"With so many people around, what could possibly happen?"
...I said that, but in truth, I knew better.
If I wanted to, I could slaughter everyone inside this building in the blink of an eye.
The same went for Leo White.
For Awakened who reached a certain threshold of power, the presence of witnesses wasn't much of a deterrent.
That was likely the source of Kang Mina's anxiety.
"It'll be fine, right...?"
"Of course it will."
I offered her a reassuring grin.
"Besides, we won't know what he wants until we talk to him."
"...I suppose you're right."
"Alright, stop worrying."
I patted Kang Mina's shoulder and stood up.
"Woof!"
Black hopped down from the sofa, following close behind.
"If worst comes to worst, I have Black with me."
"...True."
"Woof, woof!"
"Well, I'll be back."
I headed toward the reception room where Leo White was waiting.
Two of Leo White's bodyguards stood outside the reception room door.
One of them was the guy who had argued with Kang Mina earlier.
He glared at me.
What's with the attitude?
Before I could say anything, Do Sangjin stepped forward.
Even against a bodyguard standing nearly two meters tall, Do Sangjin's massive physique didn't yield an inch.
Usually, Do Sangjin was all smiles, gently telling me to enjoy my meals. But in front of Leo White's bodyguard, his face hardened, and his voice turned stiff and cold.
"Step aside."
"Before you meet the Hunter, we must conduct a security check—"
"The Administration Office has already completed all security checks."
"We have our own independent protocol."
"I believe your side was the one who requested this meeting with Hunter Lee."
"Be that as it may..."
"What is your true intention in inviting someone you don't trust enough to meet without a search?"
"...!"
Do Sangjin stared down the bodyguard with icy eyes.
Oh.
This was completely different from Kang Mina.
If Kang Mina was a combat Chihuahua, Do Sangjin felt like a military Doberman.
It was then.
The heavy door slid open without a sound.
And the man who revealed himself from within was...
"Taepyeong!"
Leo White.
"Come in! Come in!"
He gestured with a bright, casual smile.
Just as we were about to step inside.
"Wait."
Huh?
"The one I invited in is Taepyeong," Leo White said, pointing at Do Sangjin.
"Not you."
Well, then.
I looked at Do Sangjin with a bewildered expression.
But Do Sangjin simply nodded, unfazed.
"It is fine."
"I will wait out here, Hunter Lee."
Do Sangjin took his post by the door, standing opposite Leo White's bodyguards.
Man.
He's so reliable!
"Alright. I'll be right back."
Stepping into the reception room, a panoramic view of the city skyline unfolded before me.
"Taepyeong. Sit here!" Leo White said, pointing to the sofa.
As I sat down, he handed me a cold iced Americano.
"I ordered this for you."
He himself was sipping on some drink piled high with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
"Woof!"
Black's eyes sparkled as he stared at the mountain of whipped cream.
"Wow."
Leo White took off his sunglasses, revealing violet eyes that locked onto Black.
"It really is a Cerberus."
Grrr...
When Leo reached out to pet him, Black immediately growled, baring his teeth.
"Sorry. My bad," Leo said, pulling his hand back. Only then did Black stop growling.
"Wow, amazing. I went to the [Banquet of the Gods] too, but I just killed mine."
Ah.
I recalled hearing that Leo White had also used a [Tower Coin] to attend the [Banquet of the Gods].
However, he had supposedly killed the Golden Eagle and only obtained a weapon item.
"If I hadn't killed it, would I have gotten a cute pet like this too?"
"Probably."
"Isn't your ability focused on 'slaughter'?"
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't you kill the Cerberus?"
"My choice."
Leo White grinned at my blunt response.
"Taepyeong, you are funny."
"Thanks."
"But why do you speak casually to me?"
"My choice."
Kang Mina had told me we were the same age.
But that wasn't the only reason.
If I tried to speak formally, I'd probably make mistakes anyway.
It was intentional.
Besides, casual speech was easier for him to understand.
Or was it?
Whatever.
My choice.
"Why did you come to see me?"
I cut straight to the chase.
Beating around the bush wasn't my style.
"Taepyeong, you are too impatient!"
"I'm not as free as you are."
That was a lie.
The moment I got home, I was going to lie down and turn on the TV.
"So get to the point."
Even though he was smiling like an idiot right now, Leo White was still the World No. 1, the strongest hunter on Earth.
He wouldn't have come all this way just to shoot the breeze.
"Aww, they said Koreans were friendly..."
That's only when you're a regular tourist eating chicken soup.
When I remained completely unfazed and just stared at him, the smile slowly faded from Leo White's face.
"Alright. If that is what Taepyeong wants..."
Without the smile, his face looked remarkably cold.
I waited in silence for him to speak.
A moment later.
"Mr. Lee."
From Leo White's mouth came a question I could never have anticipated.
"Why do you kill me?"