The Hidden Card
Lee Hyun cut straight to the point.
“If the job offer you made before is still open, I’d like to join your company.”
Lim Won-young’s expression brightened at once.
“That’s an excellent deci—”
“I do have conditions, however.”
“Of course. Say whatever you need.”
“There’s a particular team I want to join.”
In an instant, Lim Won-young’s buoyant mood sank like a stone.
“I was hoping to bring you into my A-team, Hunter Jang. Does that not appeal to you? If I’m the issue…”
“No, that’s not it. The reason I decided to join White Burn was largely because of the strong positive impression I received from you, Team Leader Lim.”
Lee Hyun’s gaze fell on the protective talisman she had given him. Without this, controlling the divine power of the Yeouibong would have been far more difficult. It was an item on the level of a holy relic. Not many people would hand over something so valuable without hesitation to a man who might die inside a dungeon and vanish along with it.
“You may or may not know this, but even after my discharge, quite a few organizations sent me offers.”
Lim Won-young nodded. The value she saw in Lee Hyun was in no way inferior to that of any active-duty hunter. In fact, it surpassed it.
“But I turned them all down because what they wanted was my mediocre fame or the expertise I’d gained in Cheongroe. And—”
Lee Hyun paused to steady his breathing.
“I believe White Burn isn’t all that different.”
“I won’t deny it.”
“I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. A company exists to generate profit, after all.”
“Even so, I can confidently say our offer will be far better than anything they could give you.”
Lim Won-young crossed one leg over the other and continued in a calm, measured tone.
“I intend to provide you with unconditional support, Hunter Jang. Anything that helps. Other guilds would treat you like a showroom mannequin for publicity, but we’re different.”
Lee Hyun had felt it before, but Lim Won-young’s voice truly carried weight.
“Since you’ve already recovered your magic power, this is perfect timing. If you wish, we’ll help you return to active duty. We’ll provide every kind of treatment and support, and in the future I can even promise to establish a new team under your command.”
The proposals were so extraordinary that Kim Min-jung, listening quietly beside them, looked visibly shocked. Yet what moved Lee Hyun was the genuine consideration he felt behind every offer.
“…This was the first time you’d ever seen me, Team Leader Lim. How can you trust me enough to offer all this?”
“Trust isn’t measured by time. It’s measured by depth.”
“…”
“And I’m investing in a blue-chip stock that has nowhere to go but up. When an opportunity like this appears, you go all in without looking back. They say a person only gets three major chances in life, don’t they?”
Lim Won-young smiled brightly.
“I simply believe I’ve seized one of them right here.”
Lee Hyun tried to remember when he had last received such boundless goodwill. In his brutal life, it had happened exactly twice—his older brother and his mentor. Both had changed the course of a life that had once been nothing but aimless wandering. Could this woman become someone like them?
“Did this little guy help at all?”
Lim Won-young still had not taken back the protective talisman.
“Yes. It was a tremendous help.”
“If you need it, I can lend it to you indefinitely.”
“That would be far too much of a burden.”
A light joke. Lee Hyun let out a small chuckle. The slightly heavy atmosphere eased.
“I’m grateful for the unconditional support, but I’d like to decline all of it.”
“We’ve come full circle. Is it because it feels burdensome?”
“That’s part of it… but more than anything, I don’t want the accompanying fame.”
This is the real issue.
Lim Won-young studied Lee Hyun’s heavily sunken eyes and nodded.
“Please continue. What exactly do you mean by that?”
“If I receive full support, I’ll eventually have to stand on the front lines, won’t I? I dislike the fame that would follow.”
“If necessary, we can block all media coverage…”
“But everyone in the industry who matters will still find out.”
A flash of understanding crossed Lim Won-young’s face.
“You don’t want your activities known to the outside world?”
“Correct.”
“Even the fact that you’ve recovered your magic power?”
Lee Hyun gave a silent nod.
“I want to be seen as nothing more than ‘an ordinary pathfinder who got lucky and received a special recruitment.’”
“…Then the team you wish to join is?”
Lee Hyun calmly named the team he had in mind. Lim Won-young’s eyes widened slightly.
“That’s a department most people don’t even know exists. It’s practically called a place of exile within headquarters.”
“That’s precisely why I prefer it.”
“May I ask your reason?”
“Dungeon exploration was my original main duty, and I believe it’s the best way to make full use of that experience.”
“…”
“If you’re disappointed or sense any impure motives, feel free to refuse.”
Lim Won-young stared at him, trying to read his true intentions, but his expression remained perfectly composed. From their conversation alone, it almost sounded as if he were circling around the idea of “I just want to comfortably ride a big company’s payroll,” yet…
No. He’s not the type to settle for that.
If that had truly been his goal, he would have lived that way from the beginning.
Could that rumor be true after all…?
Lim Won-young thought her guess held water. But at the same time—
It doesn’t feel like that’s the only reason.
There was something more. Something else.
“Very well. I’ll discuss this with the higher-ups and contact you again shortly.”
Lim Won-young rose from her seat. Kim Min-jung followed suit.
“Aren’t you taking this ring?”
The protective talisman remained on the table. Lim Won-young winked.
“You can give it to me the next time we meet. Consider the rewards from the Monkey’s Den my joining gift.”
Click, click—
Kim Min-jung glanced back and forth between her departing superior and the former senior from school she hadn’t seen in years. She offered Lee Hyun a quick bow, then hurried after her boss.
“…Haha.”
Lee Hyun gave a light, hollow laugh as he picked up the protective talisman. It seemed returning it wouldn’t be easy. And on top of that, she’d called it a joining gift. The ring sparkled brilliantly under the café lights.
The Relic: Hwaan Geumjeong is searching for the myths of ■■■■.
......
Please proceed to Hoengseong, Gangwon Province.
The currently discovered myth is already a completed dungeon.
* * *
Vroom!
A striking yellow sports car bearing a bull emblem roared along Cheongdam Bridge.
“…You’re going way too fast, Team Leader. Shouldn’t you slow down?”
“What’s the problem? When else can you drive like this in the middle of Seoul?”
“Because it feels like we’re about to crash! Car ahead! There’s a car ahead!”
The sports car executed a perfectly timed maneuver and effortlessly overtook the slow-moving compact in front.
Kim Min-jung felt as if her soul might leave her body.
“…Riding in your car is scarier than exploring a three-star dungeon.”
“Such a drama queen.”
“You call this drama!?”
Kim Min-jung forcibly swallowed her frustration. She could tell Lim Won-young was lost in thought.
“Deputy Kim.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sulking? Your tone is getting disrespectful.”
“You do realize this counts as workplace harassment, right?”
“As expected, our Deputy Kim is sharp-tongued. That’s exactly why I like you more.”
“Your tone right now sounds exactly like one of those old men.”
“Would you like to attend those executive meetings packed with old men every day with me, Deputy Kim? Then you’d understand.”
Lim Won-young gave a small laugh and changed the subject.
“This morning when the team members were talking, you mentioned that Hunter Jang once had a long-term girlfriend, didn’t you?”
Kim Min-jung smiled awkwardly.
“…Yes. They were a very famous couple.”
“Does that girlfriend have any connection to Xu Changyou?”
“…”
“So the rumor was true.”
Xu Changyou. Seo Chang-woo.
The man better known by the nickname Absolute Zero. He was a former Cheongroe ranker who had suddenly announced his naturalization to China the day after the Ice Palace incident. Public opinion now simply condemned him as a traitor, but within the Korean hunter industry he was still classified as a dangerous individual. Rumors claimed he had stolen the holy relic that emerged from the Snow Queen. The government had immediately denied it, yet—
Does it make any sense that only junk items dropped from a four-star dungeon boss that appeared after twenty years?
Still, the government had never officially acknowledged the suspicion.
“Then his aversion to fame might be connected to this as well?”
“…”
“Since he was directly involved.”
“…”
“It’s obvious that Seo Chang-woo remains conscious of Cheongroe. There were rumors he’s trying to replicate the same thing in China. I’ve also heard he’s been secretly contacting former colleagues.”
“…”
“But where is that girlfriend now? I haven’t heard any other rumors besides Seo Chang-woo.”
Kim Min-jung let out a long sigh.
“Everything you’re asking is classified. The kind of information that can get you prison time if leaked… You really only dig up the most troublesome things, don’t you?”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking. Otherwise why would I bother?”
“…”
Kim Min-jung was rendered speechless by her boss’s shameless reply.
“Still,” Lim Won-young continued, “that means his entire life is veiled in secrecy. He has no personal life at all.”
“…”
“He devoted his youth to the nation, yet even that was classified. Even after suffering painful losses, he has to keep hiding everything and living in the shadows…”
“…”
“What a pitiful man. Hunter Jang.”
She had seemed deep in thought since earlier. So this was why.
“Deputy Kim, could you tell me what kind of person Hunter Jang was during his academy days?”
“Normally I really shouldn’t… but enough time has passed and the security clearance has been lowered considerably. Just keep it to yourself, Team Leader.”
Where should she even begin?
Kim Min-jung thought for a moment, then spoke.
“He was a monster from the day he enrolled.”
She slowly sank into the past. She belonged to the 18th class of awakened military cadets—one year below Lee Hyun—and had been a member of Cheongroe who participated in the Ice Palace incident under his command.
Vroom!
Amid the rough roar of the engine, Kim Min-jung began to calmly recount those days.
* * *
The moment she reached the company, Lim Won-young headed straight to the 13th floor where the chairman’s office was located.
“Grandmother… I mean, Chairman. Is she in?”
“Yes, she is, but she’s currently meeting with the representative from KAL Guild who flew in from the United States.”
“I’ll wait here until they’re finished. Please let her know.”
Lim Won-young’s eyes gleamed with resolve.
“Tell her I’m trying to scout a very interesting person.”
* * *
Lee Hyun left the café and boarded the subway home. Sun Wukong sat atop his head, happily devouring walnut cookies.
「Ooh, the red bean and walnut chewing together is fascinating! To think a flavor like this exists. Ooh, ooh!」
At this rate the monkey might devour every snack culture Korea had to offer.
Lee Hyun shook his head and quietly examined his magic circulation. The two-headed demon’s sigh that had once wandered without finding a route now finally seemed to be settling into place. His magic circuits were adapting, gaining new attributes to match.
No matter how I look at it, this is all thanks to the Yeouibong. It constantly adjusts my metabolism so my senses don’t become disordered every time I gain something new.
What he had thought was mere recovery was actually the staff’s true ability—maintaining peak condition. Thanks to it, Lee Hyun could always think with cold clarity.
「More importantly, are you sure you’ll be fine? You said you hated fame, yet you’re joining an organization? Anyone who matters will figure it out soon enough.」
“No. Team Leader Lim is trustworthy. She’ll probably even keep her own team members in check.”
「What makes you trust her? Even my Hwaan Geumjeong can’t see that far.」
“I have confidence in my eye for people.”
Lee Hyun recalled Mun Su-chan’s repeated advice to develop that very ability.
“Besides, maintaining this position will actually benefit White Burn in the long run as well.”
「Well, that’s true. It could serve as their hidden trump card. Plus—」
Sun Wukong recalled the team Lee Hyun had requested and gave a dry laugh. The more he thought about it, the more brilliant the choice seemed.
「They’ll finally clear all those headache-inducing unsolved dungeons, and they might even gain new loot in the process.」
“And… I’ll be able to locate the Great Sage’s dungeons with ease.”
「Haha! That’s the most important point of all!」
Lee Hyun recalled the second myth dungeon the Hwaan Geumjeong had discovered.
The Relic: Hwaan Geumjeong is searching for the myths of ■■■■.
......
Please proceed to Hoengseong, Gangwon Province.
The currently discovered myth is already a completed dungeon.
If it’s the dungeon in Hoengseong, it’s one of the unsolved ones that another guild used to manage before White Burn took it over after repeated failure.
Unlike the instant-type dungeon in the yellow desert, most dungeons were managed by guilds contracted by government agencies. That was also why Lee Hyun had accepted White Burn’s request to enter the Monkey’s Den.
In the end—
To move in earnest, I have no choice but to join some organization.
That was why he had chosen White Burn, with whom he had recently built rapport.
Because Lim Won-young will keep my secrets. And I can aim for the second dungeon without worry.
Furthermore—
This won’t be the only one. All future myth dungeons I discover will be approached under White Burn’s name.
Since it was a rear-line unit rather than the front lines, it was also the perfect place to avoid attention. It was the ideal team for Lee Hyun.
Indeed.
The team he had hoped for was none other than…
His phone vibrated.
Lim Won-young.
Lee Hyun answered the call.
“As you requested, you’ve been assigned to the ‘Long-term Unsolved Dungeon Exploration Team.’ When can you start coming in?”
“I can start tomorrow.”
A faint smile formed on Lee Hyun’s lips.