Put the Great Sage On

Bulmyeol Headquarters, Seoul.

Rrrr…….

The Bulmyeol staffer working at his computer lifted the receiver, his face sagging with exhaustion.

"Thank you for calling. We destroy evil, but never loyalty or passion. This is Bulmyeol."

He delivered the set line in a dry voice, then abruptly narrowed his eyes. It wasn't that the slogan had only now struck him as hopelessly corny. Something else was wrong.

"……Yes?"

He broke off and stared at the receiver with a baffled look, and the colleagues around him stole glances his way. A prank call?

Now and then children rang up to say they wanted to arm-wrestle the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Drunks, television reporters, even fans calling from overseas—the calls that reached Bulmyeol Headquarters came in every variety imaginable.

……But no one, until now, had ever called out of the blue and demanded to be transferred to the Great Sage. The master of the Bulmyeol Guild, an S-rank hunter of the Republic of Korea, was obviously not the sort of man you rang for a chat.

Ha.

The staffer swallowed a deep sigh. Lately the prank calls had multiplied until he could feel it in his bones. How had this person even gotten the internal extension? He would have to speak to the vice-master and get the number changed.

"I'm sorry, but the master is away from his desk and can't take calls. I'll send an address to the number you're calling from, so if you have a fan letter or a gift, please send it—"

"……."

He slid another look at the receiver. Judging by the voice, this was no child. And that calm cadence didn't sound drunk, either.

"……I'm sorry, but may I have your name? No—your alias?"

Princess of Dark Flare? An alias he had only ever heard in ghost stories. He thought he might have heard that a hunter by that name had been in the news recently. Then again, maybe he hadn't.

He pushed the glasses that had slid down his nose back into place and answered without much interest.

"Please hold."

Wedging the receiver against one shoulder, he set both hands free and started clattering at the keyboard. Let's see. Princess of Dark Flare……. Found her. The staffer scrolling the mouse wheel stopped dead on a single page.

"An F-rank hunter registered with the Association in May of 2031. Am I speaking with the Princess of Dark Flare herself?"

The extra weight he put on F-rank was, to be honest, deliberate.

The answer that came back through the receiver was perfectly calm.

"Understood. I'll pass that along."

Click. He hung up and raked his fingers through his hair. The Great Sage had been visiting the Association more and more often lately, and the workload had already swollen. He didn't have a minute to waste on a useless call like this.

"That job I asked for—still not done?"

The office door banged open. Bulmyeol's number two and number three: Heo Jaemin and Do Seongyun.

"We've more or less finished sorting it."

One of the staff shot to his feet and held out the compiled papers. Jaemin skimmed them, clicked his tongue, and made no effort to hide his displeasure.

"Do we really have this few fire-attribute hunters in the guild? And dark-attribute—five? Five?"

"Special recruitment for physical enhancers. What do you expect? It's Master's taste."

Seongyun said it as if the answer were obvious.

"Even if we scrape up every last soul, we'll be lucky to get ten or so. We'll have to stick at least these ones on the list. Physical-enhancer hunters are useless anyway."

"Says the man who's a physical enhancer himself."

"……Must be nice for you. You're a normal enhancer. All you do is enhance arrows."

While the two of them bickered over nothing, the staffer who had taken the Princess of Dark Flare's call sidled over.

"Um, Vice-Master……."

"Hm?"

Jaemin, mid-growl at Seongyun, whipped his head around.

"Prank calls have been getting worse lately, and it's becoming a real problem. Would it be all right if we changed the number?"

"Prank calls? On the internal line?"

"Yes. Just now someone called out of nowhere and asked us to put them through to the Great Sage……."

"What? Who's spouting garbage like that?"

Was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven somebody's neighborhood uncle? Jaemin's thick brows shot up. Even Seongyun, usually mild in the face, tightened his mouth and shot the staffer a look.

The man drew his neck in like a turtle and chose his words with care.

"Well…… I looked it up, and it seems to be a rookie F-rank hunter who only just registered with the Association this year."

He handed Jaemin the printout. He had run it off in advance, expecting exactly this.

"Kids these days don't just lack manners. They've eaten common sense for break—"

Snatch! Jaemin took the page as if ripping it out of his hands, and his eyes flew wide.

"What's wrong?"

Seongyun, who had been watching in silence, stepped in close and glanced at the printout.

"Who is it, that you're this shock—"

Then his eyes went even wider than Jaemin's. The two of them locked their gazes on the page and, as if they had promised each other, froze stiff and did not move.

"……?"

The staffer blinked at them, utterly lost. Did they know this hunter? No. There was no way two famous hunters would be acquainted with an F-rank like that. Maybe the woman in the ID photo was dressed so out of step with the times that the sight had struck them dumb. The same way it had struck him, the first time he saw it.

"For now I more or less told her I'd pass it along and hung up…… whoa?!"

The world spun. The hand that seized him roughly by the collar did not belong to the short-tempered Jaemin.

"Call her back. Right now."

It was Seongyun, standing beside him.

"Y-yes?!"

He could only gape, and Seongyun—veins standing out on his neck, nothing like his usual self—raised his voice.

"The incoming number's still there, isn't it? No—give me the contact. No, forget that. Call first and apologize!"

Now! he barked. He did not seem to be in his right mind. He couldn't stand still, as if his feet had caught fire.

Jaemin, too, chewed a fingernail, his face tight with anxiety.

"First we tell Master. Right now. He isn't back from the Association yet?"

"He left two hours ago, so for him to get back it would still be……."

Before the staffer could finish, Seongyun lost what patience he had left and stormed out.

"Damn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it, I'll go fetch him myself. What are you all standing around for? Get up to the reception room! Get it ready!"

Bang! The door slammed.

Did I…… mess up?

He had a bad feeling about this. The staffer awkwardly retrieved the printout from the floor and quietly broke into a cold sweat.

At that same moment, the Hunter Association Headquarters of Korea.

"So in the end it was just the two of us."

Yu Hwan muttered it while he held the conference-room door, waiting until Rose came out after him.

"We expected as much."

Rose followed with a faint smile. Only then did he shut the door with a click and walk with her toward the elevator.

Only two people had answered the emergency summons for S-rank hunters: Yu Hwan, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and Geum Rose, Dr. Plant. Trickster Song Minju had yet to regain consciousness, so anything important was being passed to Bae Junhwan, Legion's vice-master and Minju's acting proxy.

Yu Hwan jabbed the elevator button and muttered.

"The old dog laid up in the hospital is one thing, but that Phantom Thief brat doesn't even seem inclined to come and gawk."

"She isn't interested."

"……And Baekrang, the last one to join the S-ranks. Is he even a real person?"

"Pfft. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know."

Rose let out a small laugh and nodded as if she felt the same. Baekrang. They were genuinely curious about him. Word was that he was nature-type. Yu Hwan had heard he was an ice-worker so overwhelming that, if he felt like it, he could turn Seoul into Alaska. But rumors were made to swell. Neither of them had seen the man with their own eyes, so there was no judging how much of it was true.

In fact, Baekrang—Shin Siwoo—had already promised the Association his help. But because his side had demanded absolute silence, the Association president had not told Rose or Yu Hwan. From where the two of them stood, the forces they could count on were the Rose Guild, Bulmyeol, and a handful of Association agents.

Legion would support them with information and resources, as far as their strength allowed…….

What moves Legion isn't patriotism, or justice, or the public mood. It's loyalty.

At the Pohang Unknown Gate they had nearly lost their leader. One of the Legion members had even hurled that grief, that rage and resentment, straight at Rose. The mere mention of an Unknown Gate would jolt them awake in the middle of the night. Their fierce loyalty and their patriotism as citizens of Korea could not be set on the same line. Yu Hwan thought it was the sort of question that had never had a right answer to begin with.

Only one person could decide whether Legion would take a direct part in the Namhae Coast gate operation: their master, Song Minju. And even if his condition had improved, he still had not opened his eyes. In short, Legion's participation was, for all practical purposes, on hold.

Just as the president said. We don't have nearly enough people.

Had Korea always been this short on talent? Waiting for the elevator, Yu Hwan folded his arms and drew his brows tight.

"Rose. At this point, it might be faster to go looking on Cheonwangbong."

At his words, Rose went still.

Cheonwangbong was the highest peak of Jirisan, one of Korea's famous mountains. But Yu Hwan was not proposing a hike.

"You're saying you mean to contact the Mountain Lords?"

The Mountain Lords. Hermits, by another name. In plain terms, the eccentrics who insisted on a secluded life somewhere in the ravines of Cheonwangbong. They were made up only of the unawakened, or of those who had awakened but had no wish to become hunters. Because of that, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠some people guessed that the faceless S-rank, Baekrang, was one of them as well.

Rose shook her head, firm, as if telling him to give it up.

"Don't. They won't so much as pretend to listen. And even if, by some chance, they did offer support, it wouldn't be much help."

They were people who cultivated themselves in the mountains. Their discipline and training would be high, but they would have almost no combat experience. Could people like that really be counted as fighting strength? No. Absolutely not.

"Yu Hwan, think it through. It would make more sense to bring that many more healing hunters instead."

"……."

Yu Hwan, who had been listening in silence, stared straight through her. A sense of wrongness. It was that feeling again, come over him without warning.

Now and then, talking with Rose, he felt this inexplicable dissonance. He had turned the strange sensation over in his mind before. It was definitely odd. Rose's daughter had been swept into an Unknown Gate eight years ago. Ever since, Rose had been researching Unknown Gates for a single purpose: to find her daughter.

Yu Hwan was unmarried and had no children of his own, but if he had been in Rose's place he would have torn through every Unknown Gate by every means he had, eyes blazing. Rose had not. She was desperate, and yet also cold and rational. Just as she was now. The proof was that she had investigated Unknown Gates on the strength of Bulmyeol, Legion, and the Rose Guild alone, without a shred of help from the Association, from foreign hunters, or from mercenaries.

But Yu Hwan had never asked her, in any detail, why. He couldn't. He knew that so much as bringing up her daughter would be too cruel.

"More importantly, what happened with the Princess of Dark Flare?"

Rose asked. Only then did Yu Hwan pull free of his thoughts.

"That person's matter……."

He unfolded his arms, and his lips had just begun to move when—

The ringtone blared. At the melody she had heard until she was sick of it, a not-unpleasant crease formed across the bridge of Rose's nose. How many years had that ringtone been the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same?

"Hm. A classic stays a classic, even after decades."

Yu Hwan muttered it, a little awkward, cleared his throat, turned his back a fraction, and answered.

"Yeah, what. ……Waiting nearby, you said? For me?"

She was fairly sure that ringtone had been the same the first time they met……. A man who truly never changed. Rose let out a small laugh and had just looked away from him when the elevator arrived and the doors opened.

She stepped in first, held the door-open button, and tipped her chin at Yu Hwan to get on. But—

"What—what did you say—!"

The man on the phone suddenly shouted. His voice was so powerful it rang through the entire top-floor corridor of the Association.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I'm going ahead."

"What? Yu Hwan, wait……."

Before Rose could get another word out, Yu Hwan abandoned the perfectly good elevator and shot off toward the emergency stairs.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud…….

The tremendous sound of feet hammering down the stairs went on and on, even after the elevator doors had closed. Without breaking stride, Yu Hwan tossed his words at the phone's speaker.

"I'm running, so make your own way to headquarters."

That would be faster. With that, he hung up.

From the Association to Bulmyeol Headquarters was about a thirty-minute drive. Jaemin had a car waiting in the Association parking lot, but at this hour the roads would be jammed, and running would be far quicker. Yu Hwan tucked the phone deep into his clothes so he wouldn't drop it and stretched his legs into a light warm-up.

Right. That was how it ought to come out.

A thoroughly satisfied smile caught at Yu Hwan's mouth as he recalled the call from a moment ago.

Flash! His eyes lit for an instant.

In less than a second, his figure could no longer be found on the emergency stairs.