Just Compensation

The Hunter Association.

I don't know how other Koreans feel about the organization, but at the very least, I considered them competent. From a Korean's standpoint they're the kind of outfit that earns a curse word on every visit, yet when it came to raw administrative muscle, Korea's government offices could claim superiority over most of the world's without much exaggeration.

Thanks to that, they'd moved fast to stabilize things from the earliest days, back when the Towers first appeared — Korea was, after all, one of the quickest nations to put a whole system in place around awakeners and the Tower.

Well. From my current position, though, they were something of an obstacle.

First of all, I was a potentially dangerous awakener. Carrying an Outer God artifact around? That was practically the same as walking the streets with a grenade whose pin could pop loose at any moment.

Of course, I was the one arguing the bomb wouldn't go off. But to the Hunter Association — an outfit with a habit of rounding up anyone who so much as touched, let alone tried to carry, an Outer God artifact — there was no reason to simply take my word for it. And honestly, that seemed fair enough; cases of someone toting an Outer God artifact and staying perfectly unendangered were rare enough to count on one hand.

In that spirit—

"Hm, first, how about a cup of coffee?"

I could understand Response Team Leader Kim Jihoon being this cautious with me. The time flowing through the world may well be endless, but the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time granted to a human being is finite — and I had no intention of spending mine leisurely sipping coffee in here.

"So? What was it you wanted to tell me?"

Which is why I tried to push Kim Jihoon straight to the point, but—

"...The truth is, this is a first for me as well, so I'm currently waiting on instructions from above. I'm truly sorry, Mr. Hanshin, but could I ask you to bear with us just a little longer?"

He put it politely enough that I heaved one sigh after another and waited for them to sort themselves out. Well, judging by the guards posted outside the door, I wasn't going anywhere anyway.

So there was nothing for it. I whiled away the time checking view counts on short-form videos on my phone — and before I knew it, a good hour had passed.

—Knock, knock. The sound came at the door of the Association reception room where I'd been waiting.

"Good afternoon. Park Dongmin, Manager of the Unidentified Artifact Department."

With that, a middle-aged man wearing square-rimmed glasses and a weary face stepped inside.

A manager, hm... I couldn't say exactly how much weight the title carried, but the fact that he'd come here in person meant he ranked high enough for an actual conversation.

So I decided to make a perfectly legitimate demand, as a citizen of the Republic of Korea.

"So. What's the reason I've been left waiting a full hour in here?"

I was extremely dissatisfied at the moment. Bluntly speaking, where on earth do you get parked for an hour at a district office? And not for any sane reason like a queue stretching out the door — they'd simply asked me to wait because they themselves had no idea what to do with me.

I wasn't soft enough to let an opening like that slide.

"...First, allow me to apologize for the discomfort our Association's shortcomings have caused you. This is a highly unusual situation, and our response was delayed accordingly."

Having said his piece, Park Dongmin stepped further into the room, took a seat, and continued carefully.

"Let me say one thing with certainty: I can't speak for the other departments, but ours is extremely well disposed toward Unidentified Artifacts and their users."

"...Hm."

"Well, it's only natural, isn't it? Without people like that, how would we draw our salaries and put food on the table? It's because there are people like you, Mr. Hanshin, that our department has work to do at all."

Honestly, what was with the long-winded small talk? With that thought, I simply said whatever came to mind.

"So. What is it you actually want to say?"

"...Yes. I'll be direct, then. We want to know, definitively, whether it is you, Mr. Hanshin, who is special — or the artifact itself."

"And what do I stand to gain from that? You hold one man here for an hour and call this what, exactly?"

"Whichever of the two it turns out to be, the simple fact that you came here of your own accord means we will grant you ownership of the artifact and the legal right to carry it."

"...Oh ho."

Now that was interesting. It meant, at the very least, that they weren't planning on confiscating it.

"Then what does this testing process look like?"

"That would be—"

That was when it happened.

"—An-nyeong~!"

Someone poked their head into the reception room, then sauntered in, waving.

...Her.

Her hair was bleached white in streaks, the black left in it reading almost like highlights. Both her eyes were glassy and hollow, dark circles pooled beneath them — and yet the ever-present smile on her face sat at eerie odds with the rest of the picture.

Even so, she'd clearly put some care into her clothes, which looked expensive enough, and there was a refined grace to her every gesture. She came across as a woman who knew exactly how much she was worth, with a self-esteem risen to match.

And I knew her all too well.

A-rank Hunter, Lee Miso.

A woman who had lived a life stitched together from scandal and incident — and there she stood, bold as brass, right in front of me.

"Oh? Looks like he knows me."

"Of course he does. How could he not? You were all over the news just a week ago."

Now, what had that one been about again? Ah, right.

Illegally popping sleeping pills. Announcing out of nowhere on social media that she'd expose the Hunter Association, claiming they owed her two trillion won in unpaid settlement money. Ranting that the National Intelligence Service had her under surveillance, that the president was an alien and the entire populace brainwashed — right up until she got herself thrown out of her guild.

I remembered with perfect clarity that she was one genuinely unhinged woman.

But that wasn't the only reason she was famous. Well, plenty of celebrities pull stunts like that, no? Korean society, if anything, had seen worse.

The real bedrock of her fame ran deeper: she was an 'Outer God artifact user.'

Which made the reason she was here perfectly obvious.

"You're saying you'll be the one testing me, Ms. Lee Miso?"

"Bingo. I do like a sharp one, you know?"

She answered, then began slowly closing the distance between us.

Park Dongmin wasn't lifting a finger to stop her — which meant the test had already begun.

Well, I wanted this settled and myself out the door anyway, so I was about to pull [Severance] from inside my coat and present it for inspection when—

"Wait, if you take that out here—"

Park Dongmin moved to stop me. And Lee Miso—

"—It's fine, it's fine. They said this one's got Mental Resistance, right? Then we've gotta verify that part too, no? And above all, this is a shielded room."

she said, planting both hands on the table in front of me as if to say hurry up and show me already, those eyes locked onto mine.

"...Well, that is true. Still, wouldn't it have been better to discuss the procedure in advance?"

"Dongmin, sorry, but I'm a busy woman. You call me in, we do this quick and I go. 'Kay? Am I wrong?"

"...Whew. Understood. Mr. Hanshin, then?"

What kind of outfit runs an Association this slapdash? Feeling, once again, that anything Outer God-related in Korea was stuck a decade behind, I drew out [Severance] then and there.

"Here it is — my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠[Severance]."

Lee Miso looked down at the dagger, and with a composure she hadn't shown once until now, studied the [Severance] resting on the table.

"..."

She stared at it for a moment, then reached out her hand.

—Clack.

The instant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her fingertips met the dagger—

"—Ghk...!"

Where had that composure gone? She clutched at her own throat as though her breath had been severed—

"Eh, ah, aaaah———"

—and, letting out meaningless sounds, she began to weep blood, drop by drop, from her bloodshot eyes.

"Huh."

Watching her, I found the whole thing quite fascinating.

To be honest, I'd still been uncertain about the side effects of Outer God artifacts. And no wonder — the only test subject I'd ever run was the hypnosis uncle, no? Unlike a man who'd already been half out of his mind, this was my first time watching someone still capable of ordinary conversation take hold of [Severance].

But I couldn't afford to just stand by and watch. I wanted proof of my qualification, and I wanted it now.

"Uh, aaah—?! What are you about to do—"

"—Ms. Miso's artifact was probably that, right? That bracelet."

"You must not touch that so carelessly!!"

Park Dongmin's face drained white, and even the guards posted outside the door tried to rush in.

But that was none of my concern — and my hands were faster.

"Look at the state Ms. Miso is in. How long was I supposed to wait ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for her to come back to her senses before testing? Let's do this quick and finish it quick."

And with that, I slipped the bracelet off Lee Miso and put it on straight away.

The same message I'd seen when I first gripped [Severance] scrolled past again and again — and with it, proof that nothing whatsoever was affecting me.

"There. Perfectly fine, aren't I?"

At the same time, I checked the bracelet's tooltip.

I'd known Lee Miso used an Outer God artifact, but which one had never been made public. Besides, unlike 'Severance,' which drove you out of your mind at a glance, her usual conduct suggested it produced side effects of an entirely different flavor — a curiosity I'd been itching to resolve.

"...Let's see."

I peered at the bracelet, slowly this time.

And what came up was exactly that: Bewitchment.

An ability to bewitch others? Or one that bewitched its user into the bracelet itself? Just as those questions began to itch—

—Goooo...

Something — an unknown, blood-red mana — began to cloak the bracelet.

"Hm?"

"P-Please, absolutely do not attempt to use it. We may be forced to respond at once...!!"

Nothing about my condition had changed. Only their reactions had grown more frantic.

But what was I to do? Curiosity was welling up from somewhere deep in my chest.

"Didn't you say you wanted to confirm whether my Mental Resistance was real? You called me here to run a test, didn't you?"

"Y-Yes...! It's already been proven, right this moment! So there's truly no need to go any further...!!"

"No, this isn't enough. The side effects get worse when you actually wield an Outer God artifact, no? Then let's verify that part as well. If something goes wrong, you can subdue me on the spot."

"N-No—"

With that, I gave myself over to the red mana.

I poured my will to use it into the bracelet, and watched the world for whatever change would come.

And, astonishingly, the space around me began to brim with that crimson mana. Fine, thin wisps of red — whether to call them threads or currents of wind, I couldn't say — spread out wide through the room.

"—Ghh, ugh, aaaah..."

Park Dongmin, who'd been trying to restrain me only moments before, and the guards alike, now stared at me, souls gone from their eyes.

No — even 'staring blankly' didn't cover it. With nothing left of their intelligence, they watched me like beasts running on instinct alone, both eyes glowing scarlet.

"...Hm. Have a seat."

—Thud.

The moment I issued the command on something close to pure instinct, every last one of them dropped to their knees in unison — all except one guard who looked reasonably capable.

"...Aha."

So this was, in effect, a debuff of sorts — something like enforced fascination. An artifact that bewitched people and left them with no choice but to be captivated by me.

In a way, a far more powerful artifact than the hypnosis uncle I'd crossed today.

But that was precisely why it left me cold.

It's just an area-of-effect debuff, that's all.

If the hypnosis uncle had been a little sharper upstairs — if he'd managed to grow — he could have handled this much without breaking a sweat.

Perhaps because I'd already seen a similar ability, my interest had largely drained away — and the moment I reached to take the bracelet off—

—...

"...?"

A gaze. I could feel a gaze on me.

No — 'a gaze' didn't begin to cover it. A powerful conviction was being carved into my mind: something was looking at me.

I looked around.

But no matter how I searched, there was nothing. Only Lee Miso, unconscious, and the other Association staff.

For a moment the thought flickered through me that this, too, might be some kind of bewitchment laid upon me—

...And yet Mental Immunity isn't activating.

The conclusion was settling into place: someone — some existence I could not fathom — truly was watching me.

And that was when it happened.

An unknown voice sounded.

The voice was promptly transposed within my mind, rewritten into something I could comprehend.

And the place that voice came from... was 'above.'

From somewhere that I — that no person, that nothing existing on this Earth — could ever observe. From there, someone was looking at me.

And then, at last, when what it was saying finally traveled from my ears into my brain—

—FWOOOSH———!!

The red mana poured back into the bracelet.

"Hah... hah...!!"

Park Dongmin and the swarm of guards alike gulped down air, clutching their chests and bracing themselves against the floor, half dead with exhaustion.

And there, one rather interesting hypothesis came to me: that this [Bewitchment] bracelet might work by luring in the gaze of an Outer God and wielding its influence.

Well — in the here and now, I had no time to spare for questions like that. Honestly, what good would researching the mechanics of Outer God artifacts do me?

Having settled on that, I looked at them and opened my mouth.

"Now then — we've proven what needed proving, so let's talk payment. You said there was something you could do for me, didn't you?"

That's right — my days of 'passion pay' were over.

Knocking out Lee Miso and hypnotizing the Association staff into obedience: proof positive of my greatness!

Now was the time to claim my just compensation.