Interview
“Han Hye, would you mind taking a look at my swordsmanship?”
“Your sword?”
“We meet up for guild training anyway. Since you always do your personal drills beforehand, maybe right after you finish?”
Lee Shinhee watched my expression carefully before quickly adding, “If it’s inconvenient, I can find an instructor on my own.”
“No, it’s not an inconvenience at all.”
Giving a few pointers on swordplay wasn't difficult in itself. What gave me pause was whether I was qualified to teach anyone in the first place. Honestly speaking, I had barely held a real blade for more than a few months. Divine Spear, who instructed me, had gripped a spear since the gates first emerged, and Sang-yeop had wielded a sword for years. Still, if it was just the basics for a novice like Shinhee, I figured I could manage without leading her astray.
“I can look over your form,” I offered. “Just keep in mind that I don’t know all that much myself. Once you get down the fundamentals, it’d probably be better to learn under a proper instructor.”
I spoke with utter sincerity, but Shinhee let out an incredulous chuckle.
“How am I supposed to take that from someone who cleaved a high-tier ogre in half with a single stroke?”
“Ah, well… that was mostly carrying by skills and top-tier gear…”
Shinhee stared at me with completely flat eyes. Wait, did I just accidentally humblebrag again? That really wasn’t my intention.
“Well, whatever,” she said with a shrug. “Won't your skills have improved even more by then anyway? You are learning under Divine Spear, after all.”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
Come to think of it, she had a point. In the time it took Shinhee, a dedicated healer, to raise her swordsmanship by one level, my own mastery would have bounded several steps ahead.
“So it’s a deal?”
“Of course.”
The following day, I arrived at the training ground at the agreed-upon time and found myself genuinely startled. Lee Shinhee was already drenched from head to toe in sweat, fiercely swinging her blade as though she had been at it for hours.
“When did you get here?”
“About two hours ago?”
“Isn’t that a bit too early?”
“I have to take this seriously. Especially after receiving a B-rank swordsmanship manual from you.”
It caught me off guard. I had assumed that with the manual in hand, she would simply practice casually to get a feel for the motions. Reading my expression, Shinhee gave an easy shrug.
“Besides, with one person soaring through the skies on a dragon and the other blinking across dimensions, I need to pull my own weight. If only to take some of the worry off our backline.”
She hit the nail on the head. That was precisely our party’s greatest flaw—or perhaps, its most peculiar headache.
Both Uncle Chulgi and I possessed exceptional combat prowess, meaning either of us could hold the vanguard or hang back to protect the rear. But looking at it from another angle, because we were both so devastatingly potent, our clearing speed multiplied tenfold when we both tore through the enemy ranks at the front. The only reason we held back was that doing so left our rear squishies vulnerable to ambush.
If we do recruit a new member, I've been thinking someone who can solidly hold down the fort in the rear would be far better than another damage dealer.
It was a dilemma I had pondered for quite some time, though circumstances hadn’t made it easy. Ever since the Dinosaur Guild rose to prominence, a staggering flood of hunters had reached out to us.
Inquiries arrived endlessly through our official reception desk and mutual acquaintances, hailing from domestic circles and abroad alike. But frankly, the vast majority were opportunists or middling talents. While a few individuals seemed decent on paper, none possessed the profile of a dependable, unyielding tank.
Dedicated tanks rarely switch teams, after all.
Just like in games where most players gravitate toward flashy damage dealers over meat shields, hunters followed the exact same pattern. Frontline vanguards were typically warriors, where personal strength and lethal skills directly defined their reputation. Even among warriors, tanks bore an exponentially higher risk, resulting in abysmal survival rates.
Of course, there were pure defense-oriented awakeners—rare classes like Shield Bearer or Fortress Knight. But such classes were exceedingly precious, on par with Spirit Summoners in terms of rarity. The moment their class was revealed, top-tier syndicates snatched them up just as they once tried to do with me, grooming them with lavish support from their lowest levels. Finding someone of that caliber who was a free agent capable of matching our guild's pace was next to impossible. Hunters raised on a guild’s dime from day one couldn't easily pack their bags and leave.
Well, we'll figure it out as we go.
It would be nice if an S-rank shield warrior miraculously dropped from the sky, but there was no immediate solution. I couldn't let my mind wander any longer, as Shinhee finished catching her breath and rose to her feet.
“Shall we begin?”
And so, my very first swordsmanship lesson got underway. Having thought it over yesterday, the instruction went surprisingly smoothly. Naturally, I threw Shin Chang's teaching method right out the window. A style where silence stretched far longer than spoken words was completely useless for teaching a beginner. Instead, I modeled my approach on Sang-yeop’s workshop. Even though I had practiced independently during those sessions, I had watched closely as Sang-yeop patiently guided the rookie awakeners.
“Oh? That’s actually really good.”
“Really?”
Her earlier claim that she felt more comfortable with a sword than a blunt mace proved to be no exaggeration. Shinhee grasped the forms far quicker than I anticipated. Come to think of it, she had held her ground admirably against the sand soldiers back then, too. At this rate, her blade work already surpassed the novice warriors from the workshop. No, wait, that's underestimating her. Given her level and the private tutoring she had received from high-ranking hunters when she first awakened, comparing her to complete rookies was unfair.
“Try easing the tension in your wrist just a bit more.”
“Like this?”
“Not quite. Keep the grip firm, but let the motion flow smoothly.”
“I’m not quite getting the feel for it. Could you guide my stance once?”
One way or another, yet another task was added to my already packed daily routine. Still, until we managed to secure a proper shield specialist, bolstering the personal defense of our rear guard was an absolute necessity.
“Hmm. It’s actually pretty decent, but…”
For the first time in a while, our guild members gathered in the common room of the guild house. It wasn't for a dungeon raid, but rather to fulfill a few favors requested by the Hunter Association.
“Still feels a bit awkward, doesn't it?”
“Well, it’s hard for us to be objective,” Minjae remarked. “We spend all our time traveling alongside Hye-hyung, after all.”
The first item on the agenda was testing miniaturized and lightweight supply gear—the very project into which the United States had poured hundreds of billions of dollars. Spread out before us were various pieces of standard hunter equipment that had been magically condensed and shrunk. The Americans had shared a batch of samples with their allied nations, and a portion had made its way to the Dinosaur Guild.
Some items were compressed to roughly half their original size, while others were reduced to two-thirds, with varying degrees of weight reduction depending on the material.
“Even if the difference doesn't feel groundbreaking to us, isn't it still pretty impressive?”
“That's true. Imagine shoving all that into an ordinary backpack. It'd be a lifesaver. The real problem is cost efficiency…”
“Right.”
From what I understood, the process wasn't automated. Mages had to manually enchant each item by channeling mana through magic stones to apply compression and weight-lightening spells. Worse yet, the magic wasn't permanent; its duration was notoriously brief.
“They say using high-grade magic stones extends the duration significantly, but… wasting high-grade stones on routine supply packaging feels like a huge stretch.”
“Not necessarily,” Uncle Chulgi countered. “If it's reserved strictly for Vanguard teams diving into high-danger ruins, it's well worth the investment.”
Seo Woong, who had accompanied the delivery, listened intently to our exchange. South Korea was conducting its own research in the same field, so gauging our immediate feedback was entirely natural. After all, practical feedback from active hunters was essential to steer their development and justify increased budgetary allocation.
Leaving aside the astronomical costs, the concept itself was undeniably sound. Anything that reduced volume and allowed for agile movement was a massive boon in combat.
“It’s actually quite useful for me too,” I noted. “It means I can optimize my Subspace even further.”
If anything, I stood to benefit more than anyone else. I had been feeling the pinch of spatial limits lately; though unlocking the fourth zone had expanded my capacity, shrinking bulky cargo would make organization vastly more efficient.
“Ugh, strapping on a pack after so long feels bizarre,” Minjae grumbled, rolling his shoulders as he tested a makeshift loadout.
“Stop whining,” Uncle chided with a hearty grin. “It’s not like you walk into gates completely empty-handed.”
“Ayy, that's totally different! Put it on yourself, Uncle. Try it, quick.”
“Ahem. Well… it is rather cumbersome.”
“Didn't someone say the Americans spent three hundred trillion won on this project?”
“Something like that.”
“That just proves Hye-hyung’s Subspace is literally an ability worth hundreds of trillions. Forget just hauling cargo… it’s in a completely different dimension.” Minjae stumbled over his words for a second, likely remembering the staggering treasures that periodically materialized inside my domain. Considering the mountains of pristine gold and ancient relics, the comparison wasn't even close.
“Can’t argue with that,” Uncle agreed. “Remember the hunters who joined us for the Trial of Mana? They couldn't stop raving about how ridiculously comfortable it was traveling with his inventory.”
That topic had dominated our celebratory dinner. Sang-yeop had even turned to his own guild members and proudly declared, See that? The level of comfort isn't even in the same league!
“Thank you all for the valuable feedback,” Seo Woong said smoothly. “Please feel free to keep the supplied gear for personal use.”
Having gathered the frontline impressions he needed, Seo Woong checked his watch.
“Shall we move to the next room?”
The second task requested by the Association was a full-guild media interview. While our guild generally shunned the public spotlight, public fascination had reached a fever pitch. Setting aside the Han River Outbreak Gate, our recent conquer of the Trial of Mana had sent shockwaves across the globe. It was a competitive gate that manifested simultaneously across thirty countries, and our team had secured the world-first clear.
Carried almost entirely by Uncle and me.
Given the immense diplomatic and cultural prestige, the Association had strongly encouraged a formal interview, and we had no reason to refuse. Bolstering our guild’s public image was strictly advantageous. Now that our core members were crossing beyond Level 30, it was time to claim the privileges and influence due to an elite guild.
“Hello, everyone!”
The interviewer was a celebrated news anchor whose face was recognizable even to someone like me who rarely watched television. She was exceptionally beautiful, and the moment she walked in, Minjae’s jaw dropped in dazed admiration. I discreetly nudged his thigh.
“Minjae. Snap out of it. Your girlfriend might watch this broadcast.”
“We broke up, hyung.”
“Huh? Didn’t you two just start dating?”
“She demanded that I take her on a dragon ride. Told me that if I couldn't arrange a ride on Yong-yong, it meant I didn't truly love her. So I told her if that's how she felt, we should just call it quits.”
“Uh…”
He broke up with her over that? Taken aback by the sudden revelation, I gathered my thoughts and replied, “You could have just asked. If it was for you, I would've gladly set it up.”
“Nah, I couldn’t burden you and Uncle with something petty like that. And honestly… while I really liked her, it felt like she was more interested in my connections than in me.”
Ah. In that case, breaking it off had been the right call. The warning that hunters needed to be wary of romantic partners wasn't an empty platitude; plenty of opportunists circled awakeners purely for their fame and wealth, though some hunters admittedly enjoyed the attention.
“Next time you meet someone genuine and she asks, let me know,” I offered. “I can make it happen.”
“Thanks, hyung. If she’s someone I want to marry, I’ll bring her right to you.” Minjae’s grin returned as he turned his gaze back toward the anchor, his eyes practically sparkling. “And honestly, I think she might be the one.”
Good grief, this hopeless romantic. Just seconds ago he had sounded mature and guarded, only to tumble head over heels at the first pretty face. I shook my head in disbelief.
“Ahem.”
Behind us, Uncle cleared his throat and leaned in, whispering so only I could hear. “Hye. You might need to buy Minjae a drink tonight.”
“Pardon? Why so suddenly?”
“Because that anchor hasn't taken her eyes off you since she walked through the door.”
Before I could process that, the studio lights clicked on, and the interview officially began.