The Contract

Director Raymond's proposal had caught us completely off guard. He pressed on from there, laying out every item in careful detail, presenting us with the full shape of their offer.

Reduced to their essence, their demands were these:

We had steeled ourselves to surrender a great many of the nation's interests, the way China had. What they wanted, unexpectedly, was a three-year lease of an S-class hunter.

There is a saying that a nation's hunters — their numbers and their strength — are its national power, and an S-class hunter is worth a great deal. But I was a support-type, Korea was in no position to refuse, and this was a three-year lease rather than a permanent transfer. Association President Park Geon-hui found himself tempted.

For my part, the proposal put me at ease as well. I hadn't been strong enough to protect the citizens from the dungeon. By going to America, I would be securing their safety.

This is my fault... so I should be the one to take responsibility.

Even though the shape of the treaty was that I was being sold, I felt relieved. Once he had confirmed my agreement, the Association President signed on the terms they had offered, and we boarded a plane for Korea with the American hunters almost at once.

A heavy crash rolled through the chamber as the dragon — the master of the S-class dungeon — went down beneath Kyle's fist.

I stood there catching my breath, staring at the scene in front of me. We had entered the S-class dungeon the moment we arrived in Korea. Inside, our raid party had come face to face with a dragon, fought it for three hours, and won.

Kyle stood atop the dragon's corpse, drenched in its blood, combat knuckles still fitted to his hands. He was looking at me. Before I could even wonder what that look meant, voices rose from beside me.

"Nice work."

"Those abilities of yours are incredible."

Two men in their thirties, both with distinctly foreign features — the S-class hunters who had fought with a bow and a spear. The one who had used the spear added something more.

"We made it through without a scratch, thanks to you. Thank you!"

"It's nothing. They're not that impressive..."

He was praising me because he had never experienced my abilities before. My old party members had been the same. The first time always drew surprise — and then they learned that I couldn't kill a monster and I couldn't stop one, that a party with me in it was a party running on a half-measure of an ability that did them no real good. I knew that. I couldn't accept his recognition, or his thanks.

"That's not—"

"We're leaving."

The spear hunter looked as though he wanted to say something else, but Kyle cut him off and ordered the return. I started walking toward the dungeon exit, the treaty from that day rising unbidden in my mind.

So this is it. I'm leaving for America...

I thought about everything that lay ahead, never noticing the man behind me, staring at my back without looking away.

Kyle Andre. An American S-class hunter, and the man they called the strongest in the world. Even among S-class, his raw power was so overwhelming that no one could stand against him. If he wanted something dead, he killed it. If he wanted something, he took it — by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠force, if he had to. And no one could say a word about it.

That was the man who now stood watching a woman's retreating back, and did not look away.

At first it had been curiosity. The world's first support-type hunter. How much stronger would he become if he received her buffs — the ones that raised strength, that raised speed? To have those buffs as often as he wanted, he had attached a single condition to the deal and cleared Korea's S-class dungeon himself: that she would operate with him.

The raid was over now, and Kyle found himself turning over their first meeting in his mind. She was tall for a woman, with beautiful proportions. A beautiful face, and eyes that looked faintly sharp. She seemed cold, and yet there was something strangely wilted about her — something that stirred a fierce, unwelcome urge to protect. He felt an impulse to pull her into his arms and hold her tight.

It wasn't only her face he wanted.

He had felt her abilities in the fight against the dragon. A shield that arrived at the perfect instant, every time he committed to a devastating attack and left himself open. Her buffs landing at the exact moment he unleashed everything he had. Thanks to her, he had driven his empowered fists into the dragon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as hard as he wanted, without taking a scratch.

The more he turned it over, the more he wanted that power for himself. A party? If he had her, he didn't need anyone else. It would be a waste to let other people use her. Her abilities belonged with him, and him alone — the strongest human being alive. She was his.

Watching her walk out of the dungeon, he made up his mind.

On the plane bound for America, Director ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Raymond held a sheaf of papers out for me to see and told me I was now a citizen of the United States.

"These are your American citizenship papers. All you need to do for the next three years is operate alongside Hunter Kyle. As for a guild, I'd recommend Ares, where Kyle is—"

He went on to recommend that I join Ares, the guild Kyle led. It was the greatest guild in the world, he said, and the treatment and the comfort would be well worth it. I was going to be operating with Kyle anyway. I thought that sounded fine, and nodded.

"When we land, you're coming with me."

Kyle said it while looking at me, at the nod I had just given.

The airport came soon enough. Kyle and I climbed into a car that had been waiting for us and rode it to a building that rose high over the heart of the city. Ares. His guild.

"We're going up."

He said it and led me inside. A short walk through the lobby brought us to an elevator. Kyle tapped a card against the reader, and a space far too large for two people slid open. I followed him in. He pressed the only button on the panel, and the elevator began to rise.

Silence filled the car. I stood still for what felt like a long time, and then the elevator stopped. A chime sounded, and the doors opened onto his office. The furniture was enormous, scaled to his frame — a vast desk, a wide seat in front of it. Kyle gestured for me to sit.

I did as I was told. He took the seat across from me and began to talk about joining the guild. The compensation paid out every time we cleared a dungeon together was staggering, and the raid schedule was almost leisurely. The pay and the conditions were so good I wondered if it could possibly be real — and no sooner had the thought crossed my mind than he attached three conditions.

The moment I heard those conditions I pushed back, questions spilling out of me. Why did I have to change my name? Why was he trying to control my abilities? He answered in a voice with no rise or fall in it at all.

"Hunters who come to America from other countries always change their names. And from now on you'll only be entering dungeons with me, so what's the problem?"

"They do? ... And what do you mean, just the two of us entering dungeons?"

"Except for S-class dungeons, there's no dungeon the two of us can't clear. You'll only be with me. There's no reason for care that's meant for me to go to anyone else."

Even after hearing his reasons, I still couldn't accept a word of it. And the third condition — living in his house — was something I told him I would never agree to.

"If you want to do it your way, it'll be difficult for me to help when another S-class dungeon appears in Korea."

He turned the threat around and handed it back to me.

"That was settled when I became an American hunter. How can you use that to—"

"The strong... that's just how it is. They can even go back on the promises they already made. You'd do well to sign this contract while I'm still asking nicely."

He was right. Because I was weak...

Unable to withstand the pressure, I signed the papers. Kyle stood with a smile on his face.

"..."

"You should answer."

"...Yes."

And that was how life under the same roof as him began.

Once the contract was finished, Kyle led me to his home. A staircase at the back of the office climbed into his private floors — the same high ceilings as the office below, the same enormous furniture built to his scale.

"Where is my room?"

I asked it while looking around his house, and he led me to a room behind the living area. A single bed sat in a vast space. The fact that there was a bed at all told me he had planned to bring me here from the start.

"Please leave now."

The huge man showed no sign of going, even after I had been standing in my room for some time. I was only here because he had threatened me, and I wanted him gone. I said it bluntly. I had admired him at first — that overwhelming strength, just like the protagonists in the novels I used to read. Now he just looked like a thug who used his power to threaten the weak.

I was starting to resent him, worrying over the life that lay ahead of me, when he spoke.

"You did well. We took down that dragon thanks to your abilities."

His encouragement, his recognition — I went blank for a moment. Acknowledgment from the strongest hunter in the world. My mouth wanted to curve. I caught myself and held it still.

"You don't have to say something nice just to be considerate. You worked hard too, Guildmaster."

He was only saying it because he had never seen my abilities before. Once he got used to them, he would evaluate me the same way my old party members had. Convenient if I was there. Irrelevant if I wasn't. A person who couldn't attack a monster and couldn't stop one, and so was of no real help to anyone. I knew that, so I refused to believe him, and I pushed him away. He opened his mouth again.

"I don't invent things that aren't true. I helped Korea because I wanted your abilities... Anyway. I'll go. Get some rest."

He left those words behind him and walked out of my room. Even after he was gone, they kept turning over in my head.

That night, in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a place that was still completely strange to me, I slept easily.