The Hideous Hybrid Born When Money and Power Invaded Art
The contracts offered to Black Hunters fell into two broad categories.
Protecting something. Taking something.
What needed protecting could be money or goods, a region — territory, in other words — or, in some cases, a person: a bodyguard assignment. And the same held true for taking. Seizing cash or valuables. Reclaiming another faction's holdings. Taking a life.
Either way, hiring elite combat personnel like Hunters meant the work almost inevitably involved fighting, and most jobs required you to be prepared for everything from subduing enemies to, at the extreme, killing them.
And among those options, the missions I chose…
Most of them shared the quality of "protecting" something — for a reason that was genuinely simple, and in its own way, important.
Even so, jobs where we throw the first punch just don't sit right with me…
In situations where a blood-soaked fight was already likely, I still couldn't stomach being the side that opened fire first. Of course, the fundamentals of combat said preemptive strikes won battles, and I preferred that approach when planning operations myself — but that only applied when the enemy was something like the Abyss. Monsters.
Against other people, I couldn't help favoring the defensive side, where at least you could claim self-defense.
That said… there are a lot more places looking to hire Hunters than I expected. Most of them overseas rather than domestic, though…
Even with the country still effectively at war, sharing a direct border with the Abyss, Korea's internal security remained surprisingly solid. Or perhaps precisely because the nation stood nose-to-nose with that kind of threat, its domestic law enforcement was stricter than most.
Well… our country never had particularly powerful criminal organizations to begin with. South American drug cartels and European mafias don't exactly have a reason to set their sights on a place already locked in a snarling match with the Abyss.
With that thought, I began filtering through the available contracts with Are and Glass's help.
Of course, the process wasn't driven purely by constructive motives — finding good jobs, making money, helping the company. Far from it.
"What about this one? Museum security work in Florence, Italy."
"The pay's decent, but Italy carries a serious risk burden no matter what else you say. Fire one shot wrong in a city and the damages can outstrip the contract fee."
"Not long ago, a Hunter firm nearly went bankrupt paying reparations after scratching a sculpture at the Trevi Fountain during a firefight in Rome."
"Italy's extremely sensitive about cultural property damage, and the streets are full of that kind of thing to begin with. That's why it's best to avoid contracts there whenever possible. Too often the belly ends up costing more than the meal."
"R-right… Then what about this? Multinational conference security in Spain."
"The job itself isn't bad, but the fee is a bit low. The risk level isn't high enough that they need anyone particularly skilled. Contracts like this are more economical if you let a B-class Hunter team handle them on their own."
"In other words, the numbers don't work out for us to go personally."
"Hmm…"
Watching the jobs I actually wanted — the ones that caught my eye — get rejected one after another, I started feeling a quiet disappointment.
Whenever A-class Hunters took a contract, I was expected to accompany them in a supervisory capacity. I could refuse based on risk assessments, of course, but unlike Abyss combat, these situations offered no real-time satellite observation or remote command. Without being on-site, my role would be severely limited.
That meant any incentive pay went straight out the window — and I had no interest in that kind of dereliction of duty either. If I was going to earn my keep by working the field directly, going along was the better option. In principle, it was the correct one.
And I intended to use that fact.
If I was going anyway, I figured I might as well pick somewhere safe and good for sightseeing — places I'd always wanted to visit. Unfortunately, for the reasons already mentioned, nearly every one of those suggestions got shot down.
"How about this? Defending oil facilities in the Middle East against ISSS. Whatever else you say about it, they're offering an enormous amount of money."
"…Even so, that's a bit…"
"There's also a rebel suppression mission in Africa. What do you think, Aide? This one pays fairly well too."
"Look… let's try to avoid large-scale battlefields between human beings whenever we can. Even if it's a war, I can't bring myself to plan bloodless, tearless tactics against other people the way I would against the Abyss. I'd sleep badly, for one thing."
"Hmm… but chaos like this is exactly where you make a killing…"
Glass said it with genuine regret. For all her usual easygoing nature, her passion for missions was showing itself again.
And so we went back and forth for a while — weighing difficulty against pay against the moral questions — until the remaining contracts finally narrowed to three.
They shared a few things in common. First, all three offered solid compensation. Second, none of them were large-scale war zones; all three were personal security jobs. And last…
All three clients were hiring people for the same reason, in the same place.
"So in the end, all three of them are tied to this."
"That massive art exhibition opening in Paris, France, right? I hear every moneyed person on the planet is gathering there. Makes sense they'd spend enough to hire A-class Hunters for security."
Looking over the remaining contracts, I began dredging up what I knew about this "art exhibition" I'd only ever heard about in passing.
The Paris Art Exhibition.
It had originally started as a way to revive the arts after the war against the Abyss had driven them into decline — a grand showcase by the masters of every nation's art world, held in the French capital as a prayer for humanity's victory.
But over the years of annual exhibitions, its character and purpose had drifted far from those beginnings.
An artist's exhibition was never only about showing work to the public; it was also about selling it. In that sense, the Paris Art Exhibition was nothing less than a vast marketplace where everyone from celebrated masters to unknowns could put their pieces in front of buyers.
That commercial dimension gradually drew the attention of people with money and power, and the exhibition's nature changed.
Works by renowned artists. Hidden posthumous pieces by the dead. Bold new experiments by newcomers. The competition among those willing to spare no expense for whatever caught their eye — or whatever the public deemed valuable — grew more feverish with every year.
What had begun as an artists' festival celebrating humanity's triumph became a power game, a stage where the powerful flaunted their wealth and influence.
And wherever force and authority gathered, dirty violence tended to follow in the shadows. Not mere posturing — but genuine attempts to permanently eliminate rivals who had exposed themselves by attending.
Naturally, both the side hunting an assassination target and the side defending against one often involved Black Hunters: beings whose power transcended ordinary humanity.
An art exhibition sparked by the Abyss, with Hunters created to stop the Abyss getting involved… Looking at the combination alone, it almost fits.
With that thought, I turned back to the information on the three clients in front of me.
In that moment, I failed to notice Kwon Soon — who had been showing nothing but indifference the entire time — quietly shift her gaze in our direction.