Association President Kim Rice
Association President Kim Rice.
This time, before the misunderstanding could grow any worse, I quickly added to my story.
“When the Gate opened, orcs and goblins came into my house.”
As I began speaking gently, the branch manager’s expression eased a little and he listened.
“So I blew the house up. With Meonji. Boom!”
My smartphone got caught in the blast and exploded too.
When I finished, the branch manager asked in a flustered tone,
“Um? Is that… everything?”
“Umm… yes.”
I racked my brain for anything more to explain, but there really wasn’t much.
“Understood…. I’ll report it to the Association that way. Ah, and if you have the means, could you buy yourself a smartphone? We may need to contact each other again.”
The branch manager handed me his business card and asked me to call that number once I got a phone.
I said I would, then left the Hunter Association.
“Might as well buy one now while I’m thinking about it.”
When I thought about it, the branch manager was the one who had told me about the Gate in the first place…. Having his contact would be convenient in all sorts of ways.
Luckily there was a carrier store nearby, so I bought a reasonably decent smartphone.
There were all kinds of perks dangling off the deal, and when they said this was the lowest price, I got hooked and bought it on the spot.
On the way back to the hotel I also bought beer and fried chicken.
Warm steam was still rising in golden curls from the freshly fried batter.
The sweet, savory smell filled the spacious hotel room in an instant.
“Waaaah….”
Tears welled up.
Twenty years of living in South Korea.
Only now was I finally tasting capitalism.
I opened my mouth wide and stuffed an entire golden chicken drumstick inside.
Chomp-chomp, munch-munch, slurp-slurp, nom-nom-nom….
The drumstick came out of my mouth completely stripped of meat, leaving only a bare, skinny bone.
I immediately cracked open a beer can.
—Pssshhht!
A cool, refreshing hiss struck my ears.
I grabbed it and gulped it down in big swallows.
“Kyaaaaaah!!!!”
After spending a hot night with chicken and beer, the next day I climbed the Tower again.
Being able to clear two floors every day meant I could earn twice the money every day.
It meant I could enjoy another hot night like yesterday.
Just like that, I climbed the Tower for several days straight.
I had already activated the smartphone, but I left it powered off and tossed on the sofa.
In the middle of it all the Association’s three free days ran out and I moved to a regular room, but even that was more than satisfying.
Then, after cleanly blowing away the ninth floor—seven goblins and two orcs—with Meonji’s explosions,
Congratulations on clearing Floor 9
Reward: Low-grade Magic Stones ×9
A familiar voice rang inside my head.
“Still, my bond with Meonji hasn’t deepened yet….”
Ever since the Gate, no voice had floated into my mind saying the bond with my summon had grown any deeper.
I had already climbed as far as the ninth floor.
Today’s Tower run was over.
“So… tomorrow is the tenth floor, huh.”
The tenth floor was the first one where a boss appeared.
“The tenth floor was… the Goblin Tribe, right?”
The monsters that appeared in the Tower were the same for everyone.
That was why people who had climbed ahead sometimes left strategies on the community boards.
I powered on the neglected smartphone for the first time.
Come to think of it, three whole days had already passed since I received the branch manager’s business card.
I had no family or friends, so the first person I registered in my contacts was the Hunter Association branch manager.
I sent a rough greeting text, then browsed the community.
“Hmm… if you just kill the chieftain first, the rest of the goblins are only regular difficulty….”
I was rolling around on the bed reading the strategy for the Goblin Tribe when the smartphone rang and a call came in.
It was a number I had never seen before, but I answered it anyway.
“Hello? This is a public opinion survey regarding the Hunter Association…”
The moment I heard the mechanical female voice I had grown so sick of even on my junk phone, I hung up.
Then another call from an unknown number.
I ignored it and cut it off without answering.
Three more calls came after that,
“Ha…. Just this once.”
After being courted three times, I finally moved my finger the opposite direction and accepted the call.
“Is this Hunter Han Doa?”
An unfamiliar male voice came through immediately.
He sounded fairly old; a deep, resonant voice flowed from the smartphone.
“…Yes. That’s me.”
The slightly intimidating voice made me sit up properly from my sprawled position on the bed.
“A pleasure to meet you. I am currently serving as the President of the Hunter Association. My name is Kim Rice.”
The man introduced himself as the Association President.
“Uh…. I’m Han Doa. But… Kim Rice?”
Kim Rice?
The Hunter Association President I knew of was named Gu Monggu.
Because shorts, reels, and community boards were always overflowing with curses aimed at Gu Monggu, even I knew the name of the Association President.
In any case, Kim Rice was a name I was hearing for the first time.
And what kind of name was Kim Rice anyway.
Hmm. So this is that voice phishing thing.
Those voice phishing scammers never looked for me when I was a beggar, but the moment I became an S-rank Hunter they came knocking….
This is way too exciting!!
My brain was marinated in dopamine shorts titled things like “Voice Phishing Public Execution,” so there was no way I was going to let this opportunity slip by.
I started rolling around on the bed again.
“Yes. The name is a little unusual, isn’t it? I’m mixed. My mother is British.”
Voice phishing criminal Kim Rice, completely oblivious to my thoughts, diligently laid out the role-play he had prepared.
“Heh heh. True. Kim Rice… in Korean that would be Kimbap, right?”
I held back the laughter leaking out and began teasing him slyly.
“Haha…. You’re an interesting person.”
Voice phishing criminal Mr. Kimbap seemed flustered and gave an awkward laugh.
“Listen. I already know everything. Mr. Kimbap? Stop the voice phishing and go out and work hard. Quit scams like this already.”
This time I threw out some provocative lines to shake him up.
“Excuse me…? What are you talking about?”
The man had clearly lost his composure; his voice trembled a little.
“The Association President right now is ‘Gu Monggu,’ you know. If you’re going to run a scam, at least research it properly. Tsk tsk.”
The moment I finished speaking, he returned to a calm voice.
“The Association President changed a few weeks ago. All the little wrongs the Hunter Association had been committing finally came to light before the public.”
“What?”
No way… a role-play this thorough…? It would all fall apart with a single search….
I switched to speakerphone and searched “Kim Rice” online.
I believe it. Kimbap… no, Kim Rice really was the Association President.
“But how am I supposed to know that you’re actually Kim Rice?”
“…I’ll switch to a video call.”
I already knew Kim Rice’s face from the news articles just now.
“W-wait a second!”
I panicked at the first video call switch request I had ever received, and accidentally accepted it.
The screen changed, and the face that appeared was the real Kim Rice’s face.
His black hair had gray mixed in here and there, and he had a stubbly beard.
One eye was covered by a black eye patch, as if it had been injured.
And I could also see how I looked to Kim Rice.
I was wearing a baggy tracksuit, and sauce from the tomato spaghetti I had eaten earlier was stuck around my mouth.
“…Do you believe me now?”
Kim Rice looked at me.
“…….”
I did believe him, but… just in case, what if this was AI?
There really were scams where they overlaid a famous person’s face with AI….
Deep down I was desperately hoping it wasn’t real.
I made fun of the Association President’s name, told him not to scam people, and even treated him like a criminal….
Right…. Since I already doubted him, I had to take the doubt all the way to the end.
Then maybe the Association President would just think, Aha! This one is simply a very cautious Hunter, and let it slide…!
So I spat out words I could never take back.
“Please move the camera farther back so your whole body is visible.”
Kim Rice made a flustered face, then sighed and moved the camera back.
He stood up from his chair and stood in front of his desk.
On the desk sat a nameplate that read [Association President Kim Rice].
“Please jump in place. Then I’ll believe you.”
I had already gone too far.
I didn’t have the courage to stop midway, so I had no choice but to fully commit to the role of the distrustful skeptic.
With an expression that said he was thoroughly done with life, Kim Rice hopped in place.
Thud.
His black hair mixed with gray fell off.
And his clean, shiny scalp was fully revealed.
“Huh?”
A sound slipped out of my mouth at the completely unexpected event.
Kim Rice picked up the fallen wig and stepped closer to the camera.
His eyes were dead.
“Well…. I understand. Scams have been increasing lately. Do you believe me now?”
Even so, he spoke to me with a broad, encompassing understanding.
His voice was trembling faintly.
It wasn’t anger.
It was closer to sorrow.
“Yes…. I believe you….”
After going this far, even if he weren’t the real Association President, I would have had to believe he was.
“For now…. It’s late, so I’ll contact you again next time….”
It was already 2 a.m.
After the call with the Association President ended, I felt afraid of the future ahead… but I decided not to regret it.
“For now, let’s focus on the tenth floor tomorrow!”
Then I lay down and tried to sleep, and I dreamed.
It was a dream of the Association President chasing after me under a crimson sky, kicking off the ground, holding a sword in one hand and a wig in the other, tears of bitter resentment streaming down his face.
“Uuuuugh….”
I woke from the nightmare when Meonji started rolling all over my face and stomach.
“Hah. It was just a dream….”
I washed my face with cold water and headed to the Tower with the Meonjis.
I kept glancing around warily, wondering if Kim Rice might come after me, but there was no one near the Tower.
Enter.
When I entered the Tower, it was a dark cave.
The rest area has never been like this before.
Until now the rest areas had always been bright and warm.
This was the first time the space felt damp and dark.
After walking a little farther, I found a massive door unlike any before.
A huge double door that opened to both sides.
“This is it.”
I pushed the creaking door open, and a voice rang inside my head.
— Confirming request from ■■.
— Accepted.
— Testing the Queen’s qualifications.
— Temporarily reconstructing the corresponding floor.
The space beyond the door was ash-gray.
Neither bright nor dark, an unnaturally silent space.
In the center of it stood a single small black chair.