Episode 12: The Abyss

9 PM, the sun long since swallowed by the horizon.

Early evening, when the neon signs had begun to cast their strange glow into every alley and corner of the city.

Even at that hour, Chairman Lee Jin-sung was still at the office, buried in work.

The longer he stared at the documents spread across his desk, the deeper the wrinkles on his forehead seemed to carve themselves.

The research that Cheonseong had undertaken with such grand ambition had ended in failure.

The goal of Project Re had been the development of a recording device capable of capturing the interior of a gate.

After pouring in a staggering amount of capital and manpower, they had actually succeeded in *recording* the environment within a gate.

But then—

The final stage.

At the technology required to transmit the data captured by the recorder, Cheonseong had collapsed.

No matter what methods they threw at it, they could not fully extract the information stored inside the device.

In the end, they judged that continuing Project Re was sheer recklessness, and resolved it with failure and termination.

Failure.

What they reaped from that result was a long stretch of stagnation, a tainted reputation, and a stock price sliding lower by the day.

Cheonseong, once the very emblem of innovation, was now being written off as no different from any other corporation—a gray-faced mega-conglomerate content to rest on its laurels, scrambling to save face.

"Hoo…"

Lee Jin-sung pulled his gaze from the monitor for a moment and looked at the picture frame sitting beside it.

A family photo of five members.

Of the portraits taken in grand celebration of Chae-rin's birth as their youngest, it held the one he liked best.

Chae-rin, nestled in her mother's arms, nodding off with her head drooping.

Si-hyun and Tae-hyun, each clutching one of Lee Jin-sung's hands, wearing awkward little smiles.

And himself, looking happier than he had ever been.

"…"

Lee Jin-sung had heard the news as well.

That Lee Tae-hyun had cleared a C-rank gate in under five hours and returned alive and whole.

Honestly, I didn't expect anything.

When it came to gates and hunters, his own knowledge was on par with the experts.

Which was precisely why he understood just how absurd the record his son had set truly was.

If he could simply come out alive… if he could understand the hardships of the hunters who had wandered that deathtrap alone and died inside, I thought that would be more than enough.

Lee Jin-sung, too, had considered Tae-hyun's gate clear impossible.

That was why he'd only sought to verify whether the boy had enough strength to survive a C-rank gate.

Originally, it should have been Si-hyun procuring him a D-rank spear—but Lee Jin-sung had gone and secured a B-rank one himself, handing it over personally.

He had believed that was the only way the boy would keep his life.

Lee Jin-sung was a realist.

Even after seeing the confidence blazing in Lee Tae-hyun's eyes that day,

he had coolly, rationally, arrived at the conclusion of failure.

I will clear the C-rank gate alone.

"…I was wrong, wasn't I."

As he said it, a faint smile had risen to the corners of Lee Jin-sung's mouth.

He didn't know what had happened in the meantime, but Tae-hyun had closed a C-rank gate on his own.

There were still plenty of suspicions clinging to it, but… the fact itself remained unchanged.

And this could be exploited in any number of ways.

Image rehabilitation, marketing, and so on. If he wanted to use it, the possibilities were endless.

But he set those thoughts aside.

For now, he was simply a father, praising and cheering on his son's achievement…

"Mr. Chairman!!!"

That was when Secretary Kim kicked the door open and burst inside.

The warmth that had uncharacteristically softened Lee Jin-sung's face snapped back to ice.

"…You're still not off work?"

"Th-that's not what matters right now!"

Secretary Kim wiped the sweat streaming down his face and thrust a tablet in front of Lee Jin-sung.

What on earth could make the man act this unhinged?

Intending to scold him if it was nothing, Lee Jin-sung looked at the screen—

"Th-this… what in the world…?!"

—and could only recoil in shock.

A sudden bombshell statement, and a press conference scheduled without consulting anyone.

He wasn't merely trampling on the chance for image redemption this incident had created—he was dousing it in gasoline and setting the whole thing ablaze.

Tap, tap.

Burning up nicely, indeed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU CRAZED LUNATIC!"

The father was gone.

Lee Jin-sung, back in his role as Chairman of Cheonseong Group, roared at the top of his lungs.

"So what you're telling me is that you intend to swallow whole the intel I nearly died to bring back?"

"That's not the intent, but…"

"I am not a hunter affiliated with the Hunter Bureau. I have no obligation to provide information."

Seong Ju-ah's cheeks were growing visibly paler by the second.

"Unless there's evidence of murder or criminal activity inside a gate, the information within it belongs, as private property, to the hunter who cleared it—does it not?"

I had gone into that gate alone.

There wasn't a speck of evidence suggesting a crime.

In other words, they had no right whatsoever to demand I share my information with them for free.

Granted, it's rare for anyone to actually treasure the intel from a cleared gate like this.

Set aside this one special case, and the contents of an already-cleared gate are worthless.

"Ugh…"

Seong Ju-ah's lips worked soundlessly.

She clearly hadn't expected me to come out swinging like this.

I smiled, relaxed, and steered the conversation onto my terms.

"That said, I have no intention of clutching the information to my chest like a miser. Information, after all, shines brightest when it's shared."

"Then…?"

"Let's get straight to the point."

This had been a deal aimed at this from the very beginning.

An elixir—one stepping stone in the preparations needed to fully absorb the thing that would soon be discovered.

"I want the Scarlet Flame Jade (Hongyeom-ok) that the Hunter Bureau has in storage."

At my words, Seong Ju-ah's expression turned peculiar.

Naturally it would.

Right now, the Scarlet Flame Jade was nothing but a troublesome ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠white elephant nobody knew how to dispose of.

This was an exchange only possible at this point in time—before its true, hidden value came to light.

"Let me just confirm… that's really all you want?"

"On top of that, I'd like the right of first refusal on skill books coming into the Hunter Bureau. I'll, of course, pay full market price."

All sorts of skill books flowed into the Hunter Bureau for various reasons.

A few of them were sold off externally.

Most were worthless E-rank skills, so demand was dismal—but that was exactly the level I needed right now.

For the Bureau, too, being able to offload unsellable skill inventory at proper value made this far from a bad offer.

"That… isn't something I can decide on my own authority, I'm afraid."

Seong Ju-ah's eyes sharpened.

She looked composed, but I could guarantee her mind was racing at full speed.

"First of all, there's a high chance the deal itself falls through. The difficulty mutation of gates is being taken seriously within the Bureau, yes—but."

She looked at me dead-on.

"Some quarters are writing it off as a simple equipment malfunction."

"Is that so?"

"And their evidence is your successful clear itself."

The fact that an F-rank hunter had cleared a C-rank gate was not in dispute.

But whether he could clear anything above C-rank was a matter entirely open to re-examination.

A C-rank gate clear? Fine, I'll grant it. But honestly, anything beyond that is beyond him, right?

Out of generosity, they'd concede the C-rank clear—but from that grade onward, it was deemed practically impossible.

"Hmm…"

Truthfully, I hadn't predicted the difficulty-change angle either.

After all, the appearance of those mutation gates was still a little ways off.

"And what happens if I can prove I have the strength to clear a gate above C-rank, solo?"

At my question, Seong Ju-ah's shoulders flinched slightly, as if startled.

"But… aren't you an F-rank awakened, Hunter Tae-hyun?"

"An awakening rank doesn't necessarily decide a hunter's actual strength. There's precedent, isn't there?"

If I remembered right, around this time they'd started calling them Irregulars.

That Japanese swordsman, and that Russian gorilla of a man.

The saint… well, she was a slightly different case.

"The F-rank record-holder of a C-rank gate clear. I'd say that alone shows plenty of potential."

"…"

Seong Ju-ah bit her lip, her eyes flicking back and forth.

Above her expressionless face, the faintest tremor of emotion showed through.

"Can you prove it?"

"Given the opportunity, any time."

My brazen confidence seemed to throw her into even deeper disarray.

Her deliberation stretched on and on, but I wasn't anxious in the slightest.

As far as I remembered, she was exactly the sort of person who threw the dice at moments like this.

"Very well. I accept."

Just like that.

"I'll finalize the details after internal consultation and get back to you."

I extended my hand with my business smile firmly in place.

"Sounds good to me."

"…Yes."

Her hand shot out on reflex and clasped mine.

At the same moment, I felt the sensation of a tiny needle pricking my skin.

Ah. So this is what it feels like.

The corner of my mouth twitched into a crooked smirk.

"So? Do I look a little different ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to you now?"

"…Huh?"

I left Seong Ju-ah floundering in bewilderment and strolled out of the café.

At the same time, I deactivated the skill I'd had running the entire time.

"Fun."

Now I was a little curious myself.

The me reflected in her eyes—had I changed at all from before?

So the Scarlet Flame Jade is as good as mine.

The hour when the sun lingered, slouching low on the horizon.

It was about time to detonate the next job.

Did you know when people consume news and current events the most?

Right at the end of the workday.

The commute home—subway, bus, taxi, or the bar.

Whatever breaks during those hours sets the all-night internet forums on fire.

Since the C-rank gate clear, I hadn't shown my face in public once, and public interest in me had been slowly rising, ripening like fruit on the vine.

"Hello, is this the journalist?"

— Who's this?

"It's Lee Tae-hyun."

— …Who?

The time had come to harvest that interest.

Her forehead glistened with cold sweat.

Seong Ju-ah forced herself to calm down and gulped down the coffee in front of her.

So? Do I look a little different to you now?

"What was he playing at…?"

Taken purely at face value, those words seemed to carry no special meaning.

Only, the timing had been bad.

Seong Ju-ah.

She was an awakened one.

The sort of E-rank awakened you could find anywhere.

Her stats were so pitiful she hadn't even registered as an awakened—registration only became mandatory from D-rank and up.

But the moment she'd awakened, she had gained one skill.

Keen Insight (A).

An eye that saw through all things—exactly as the name implied.

When she looked at someone through this eye, everything about them was distilled and condensed into a visible form, appearing as an aura.

It didn't simply measure strength or weakness.

That person's character, personality, potential, talent, disposition—every abstract quality about them took shape and bloomed across her vision.

She had deliberately kept the existence of this skill hidden.

Partly because the flood of love calls that would pour in from every guild and nation once it was revealed was a headache she didn't need.

And partly because if the wrong people took an interest, it could put her in serious danger.

And so she had buried the skill's existence completely, dressing up her results as mere sharp judgment and foresight—

"Did he notice…? No, maybe he knew all along…"

It had been a long, long time since she'd found herself in a situation like this.

Walking into a battle of wits, a battle of information, and being utterly crushed from the opening move.

No—forget that for now.

Having her Keen Insight read was a massive event in itself, but the Lee Tae-hyun reflected in that eye was something else entirely… something stupendous.

Is that… a human being?

The aura she'd witnessed from Lee Tae-hyun long ago had been hazy and negligible.

So small and shabby it was hard to even see—this dim-witted fellow who didn't even rank as ordinary.

But the Lee Tae-hyun she had just seen…

"…Uuorgh!"

Seong Ju-ah clapped a hand over her mouth and retched.

Lee Tae-hyun's aura was the abyss itself.

A bottomless pit plunging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down without end. An infinite darkness that devoured anyone who dared to look into it.

Like a man who had glimpsed the form of an Outer God, Seong Ju-ah clutched her throbbing head and fought to keep her mind from splintering.

I'm certain of it.

Lee Tae-hyun was an Irregular.

And not just any—he would become one of the greatest of all time.

A bearer of overwhelming presence, too vast for even Keen Insight to fully contain.

"I have to… buy in… no matter what…!"

Right now, while everyone had written him off as rotten and looked away—

This was the perfect moment to buy up the stock called Lee Tae-hyun.

"Heheh… I really am lucky, aren't I— uurk!"

In the end, Seong Ju-ah sprinted to the bathroom and threw it all up, spectacularly.

It was the moment Lee Tae-hyun unknowingly gained the finest ally he could never have imagined.