Chapter 113: Unofficial SS-Rank Hunter
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 113: Unofficial SS-Rank Hunter
“Not long. The last thing I heard was you saying I was in your dream.”
[…Please forget about it.]
She told me to forget, so I decided to.
It seemed like she was finally starting to wake up.
“Already forgotten. Hear that? That was the sound of me hitting my head. I don't remember a thing now.”
[Hehe, are you okay? You didn't actually hurt yourself, did you?]
I smiled at the sound of Eva’s voice, playing along with my joke.
“Sorry for calling while you were sleeping.”
[It's fine. I was about to get up anyway. Is something wrong? I doubt you'd call without a reason, Domi.]
“Maybe I just called because I wanted to talk?”
[That might work on Ahyu, but not on me.]
Is that so.
[…Not yet, anyway.]
I tilted my head, wondering why her voice trailed off, but decided to get to the point.
“Have you heard the news about Alterz?”
[You mean the S-rank hunter organization? I have. Some of the high-rank hunters on our side mentioned it.]
“I recently heard a few things about them from Seo-ho. Ah, Seo-ho is Si-ho's older brother. Ha Seo-ho, the Snow Mountain Wolf.”
After that, I immediately started explaining what had happened.
After hearing my whole story, she seemed lost in thought for a moment.
[So Alterz is treating the Korean hunters as an enemy?]
“Not right away, but there's a good chance it could head that way. I don't see any reason to be hostile with Alterz, but I'm not sure if they feel the same.”
[That's how established powers always act when their turf is threatened, even slightly. I know from personal experience. They'll definitely try to infiltrate Korea by any means necessary. Vicious bastards.]
For some reason, it seemed like Eva was overlapping Alterz with some other group, but I didn't disagree.
From what I've heard from Seo-ho and Jo Si-a, Alterz wasn't exactly an organization known for its good deeds.
[In that case, let's just push them out.]
“You mean Alterz?”
[Yes. They're going to hate us no matter what we do anyway.]
“But if we do that, they'll hit back with some serious sanctions.”
[They would. I suspect the first thing they'll do is try to reduce the import of resources from dimensional entities coming into Korea. Rather than targeting the hunter market directly, they'll go after the country itself.]
I wondered if they'd really go that far, but then I recalled countries in the past that had imposed import sanctions by exploiting national sentiments.
There were even boycotts back then. It was a huge mess.
I had a feeling they'd try to shift the blame, claiming that the Korean hunters started the trouble, leaving them no choice but to impose these sanctions.
[The Korean hunter market still relies heavily on foreign countries. It's a clear attempt to suppress it.]
“And since it's the hunter market, the World Returnee Association can't just step in carelessly.”
[Right. They'd react immediately, claiming the World Returnee Association is threatening the hunters' livelihood. The perception of returnees among international hunters isn't very good.]
The relationship between hunters and returnees in Korea was relatively amicable thanks to the returnee hero, Geumgangho, Gye Du-sik.
Thanks to his past deeds, fighting on the front lines alongside hunters, Korea was unique in how often its hunters and returnees cooperated.
Of course, it's also true that many still hated returnees because of the damage caused by their returns.
But even that situation had improved recently, with the World Returnee Association providing immediate compensation and follow-up measures.
However, that was only the story in our country; things were different elsewhere.
In China's case, countless hunters had died after the Beijing Massacre, so the hatred for returnees remained strong.
As for Europe, Russia had once used returnees to wage a war of invasion.
Europe, which had relatively few returnees, had to fight Russia with its hunters, leading to a massacre of hunters and an extremely poor relationship between the two groups.
There were some countries like the United States where hunters and returnees cooperated, similar to Korea.
But on a global scale, the reality was that the relationship between hunters and returnees was far from good.
‘Seol-hyang must know that, which is probably why she only established her hunter company in Korea.’
A deep rift can't be mended overnight.
I suspected Seol-hyang's intention was to use the Rodri Company as a positive example of cooperation between returnees and hunters, and then gradually expand globally.
After all, hunters and returnees couldn't keep hating each other forever.
[But if they do impose resource sanctions, it's not like we don't have our own methods.]
“You have a solution?”
[Artificial dimensional gates.]
My eyes widened at her words.
I never expected the topic of artificial dimensional gates to come up.
“Eva, isn't that incredibly dangerous? My knowledge of dimensional analysis is limited, but I heard there were more than a few problems with it.”
[It is dangerous. Girasung's dimensional research has advanced beyond the global standard, yet the reality is that it's still unstable.]
“But then…”
[But Korea has Miss Ha Si-ho.]
Si-ho.
The moment her name was mentioned, I was at a loss for words.
“Eva, I don't want to use Si-ho like that again.”
[Domi, I know you have a negative preconception of artificial gates because Girasung's intentions were impure.]
She then began to explain slowly.
[But you just need to look at it from a different perspective. It's a simple matter of officially hiring Miss Ha Si-ho. Girasung's artificial gate was just a byproduct of their preparations for a dimensional invasion. Since their primary goal was different, they never considered the option of employing her.]
“That's true.”
They were trying to maximize Si-ho's power to launch an invasion.
The artificial gate itself might not be that much of a burden for Si-ho.
[Besides, what we'd be asking of Miss Ha Si-ho is to help with the research. The real goal is to be able to open artificial gates without any issues even when she isn't present, isn't it?]
“That's definitely worth discussing. As long as it doesn't put a burden on Si-ho, I don't think it's a bad idea.”
[Right? Girasung was just reckless. If this becomes possible, the benefits for Miss Ha Si-ho will be enormous. And as a bonus, the very sovereignty of the hunter market will be overturned.]
The moment artificial gates become viable, the supply of resources from dimensional entities will stabilize.
Naturally, the market itself would be completely transformed.
There was a reason Girasung tried to distribute artificial gates to hunter companies around the world back then.
“Seriously, is there anything Si-ho can't do?”
[That spatial ability of hers is just broken.]
I nodded, once again realizing just how incredible Si-ho was.
[By the way, this whole conversation started because someone suspected of being from Alterz showed up near you, right, Domi?]
“Ah, yeah, that's right.”
The conversation really went off on a tangent.
I couldn't believe we ended up discussing how to completely overturn the hunter market.
The scale of our call just now felt like it was on par with a world summit.
It was in moments like these that I caught a glimpse of Eva's past as a leader in her world before she returned.
[I'll talk to the Iron-Blooded Empress about what we just discussed—no, she's probably already thinking about it. We'll deal with that gradually. For now, what do you want to do, Domi?]
“I'm thinking of keeping her close. I don't want Alterz to think we're making a move because we've figured something out.”
Besides, if Baeksan was right, Yu U-jeong was an S-rank hunter.
I'd feel more at ease keeping an eye on her than letting her cause trouble where I can't see her.
[That's not a bad idea. If they're watching you, Domi, it means they've already gathered some information and are making their move.]
Eva agreed with my opinion.
[Then please just tell our employee you sorted things out and sent him on his way.]
“Got it. Thanks, nuna.”
[Compared to what you've done for me, Domi, you don't need to thank me. Come visit Beom next time. I'll treat you to something delicious.]
“Can't say no to that. I'll be there soon.”
With that, I ended the call with Eva and called over David, who was waiting in the distance.
I explained the situation to him, and we said our goodbyes.
He bowed his head until the very end, sweating profusely.
I felt bad for him in many ways.
‘Alright, then.’
Thanks to my discussion with Eva, I now had a potential solution for whatever Alterz might throw at us.
Now, it was time for me to do my job.
*
Camila Agasa, an S-rank hunter from the favelas of Brazil. A member of Alterz who operated in the shadows.
Perhaps because of her childhood spent in the slums, she had a hobby of feigning an air of sophistication, aspiring to high-class positions and beautiful things.
She would pretend to read books, though she had little interest in them, and drink coffee she didn't like. She was the type who enjoyed playing the part of a lady, often letting out a delicate, “Oh, my.”
The mission she'd been assigned was none other than to investigate a man named Kang Ha-chan, who had recently caught Alterz's attention.
According to their investigation, there were many suspicious circumstances surrounding the man named Kang Ha-chan.
‘It must have started with the incident at the Hunter Training Academy.’
Alterz had an agent planted in the Hunter Training Academy to spy on the Korean hunter market, and that agent had reported Kang Ha-chan's abnormally high energy output.
One thing was certain: he was hiding his power. And the Snow Mountain Wolf, Ha Seo-ho, was helping him do it.
From that point on, Kang Ha-chan was on Alterz's radar.
Their suspicions reached a peak during the recent large-scale, rapid-growth dimensional gate in Jung-gu, Seoul, where a bolt of red lightning wiped out every dimensional entity in the sky.
An utterly abnormal output.
After confirming it for themselves, Alterz came to a conclusion. A hunter stronger than an S-rank had appeared.
That output couldn't possibly be classified as S-rank.
Therefore, Alterz had temporarily designated him as SS-rank.
The world's first hunter rank beyond S had been born.
‘Knowing this, the Korean Hunter Management Bureau has been deliberately hiding Kang Ha-chan.’
Thinking of it that way, it made sense why Ha Seo-ho had treated him like a state guest.
He must have coordinated with the Hunter Management Bureau beforehand.
Alterz was now convinced that Korea, having secured an SS-rank hunter, was trying to break away from them and become self-sufficient by joining hands with the returnees.
A small country, sandwiched between Japan and China, was attempting such a revolution.
And so, to monitor Korea's movements and decide on future actions—and furthermore, to persuade or even coax Kang Ha-chan into joining Alterz—Camila Agasa, under the alias Yu U-jeong, had infiltrated this place.
Yu U-jeong's first impression of Ha-chan was… well, she felt he wasn't anything special.
‘He feels… lacking somehow.’
Compared to the destructive, high-energy output he'd displayed, the man himself seemed rather ordinary.
She couldn't sense the sharp edge that high-rank hunters naturally possessed.
His actions were a bit clumsy, and he was slightly wary.
But there was also the possibility that he was intentionally hiding his true self.
‘He's an SS-rank hunter, so he might have received training for this.’
Hadn't she also mastered the art of acting so skillfully for the sake of infiltration?
There was no reason her target couldn't do the same.
‘One thing's for sure.’
He seemed to be quite fond of women.
He seemed to have already seduced his teammates, the Snow Mountain Wolf's younger sister Ha Si-ho, and Yoon Ji-eun.
Both of them were head over heels for Ha-chan.
‘Does he like younger women? A mistake on my part.’
She hadn't chosen a minor's identity because of the various restrictions, starting with parental consent. A shame.
‘Still, I'm only two years older than them.’
From their behavior, it seemed that even if he had charmed them, he hadn't crossed the line yet.
The way the three of them acted together gave off the scent of relational immaturity.
On top of that, there was his strange relationship with Beom just a moment ago.
Skills worthy of an SS-rank hunter. Beautiful women surrounding him. Connections that made Beom, a ruler of the underworld, grovel.
The moment these three conditions aligned, a bad habit of hers began to surface.
‘Ah, I want him.’
She slowly licked her lips.