Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 07
Chapter Title: Friend or Foe Identification (3)
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Iowa branch chief's office.
David was in the middle of his evening paperwork when an out-of-the-blue text popped up.
"What kind of nonsense is this?"
An 'S-Rank hunter' was in the top 0.000001% of all awakened people worldwide.
National power-level was a rank above that, with only four such hunters in the entire world right now.
Finding even a hunter with S-Rank potential would be shocking enough. Claiming to have found a national power-level one was just too hard to believe.
"Am I stressed out lately or something?"
A hunter with that kind of talent living as a farmer in some backwater rural area?
It was like saying basketball legend Michael Jordan was out there cheering at games.
Another text came in.
David read the text from Kyle and furrowed his brow.
"Didn't know he had this side to him."
Before becoming branch chief, David had been the interviewer who got Kyle hired at the Hunter Association.
He was always so serious and quick to judge situations, yet here he was sending something this ridiculous.
'No way...'
At this point, David was starting to wonder if the guy was on drugs.
Ring ring—
Speak of the devil—Kyle called right then.
David picked up, about to chew him out for whatever nonsense he was pulling.
- David! Didn't you see my texts?!
Kyle jumped right in with his name, yelling at David instead.
"I saw them."
"Then why haven't you replied or made any preparations?!"
David was a bit thrown off.
'Hang on... I'm still his boss, you know.'
Kyle had felt David's authority both directly and indirectly, but right now, he was too hyped to care about rank.
While Seo Dae-hyun chatted briefly with Hyun-jun's parents, Kyle had stepped out to the yard and called the branch chief.
He'd learned Seo Dae-hyun wasn't a US citizen and was worried some other country might snatch him away.
Before he could return home or get naturalized elsewhere, the US had to secure him.
Right now, hierarchy meant nothing to Kyle.
"Uh, no..."
"Everything in that text is true. He's an S-Rank—no, beyond that!"
David swallowed hard at Kyle's words.
"...You're saying that last message was legit?"
He'd initially thought Kyle might be high.
"But it might not be S-Rank—"
Kyle cut him off.
"Branch Chief. I stake everything on it—he's the real deal."
If Kyle was going this far, it had to be true.
But whether he was truly national power-level? David would judge that with his own eyes.
To push naturalization for an S-Rank talent, David tossed aside the work he'd been doing.
The Iowa branch was abuzz at the news of a new S-Rank hunter.
Who cared about paperwork? He could pull an all-nighter and handle it at dawn.
Right now, recruiting a hunter with S-Rank potential was top priority.
David pulled up Seo Dae-hyun's info using his branch chief privileges.
*
The four who died in that incident would get funerals and modest insurance payouts courtesy of the Hunter Association.
They were his first colleagues—and friends—here.
Saying goodbye to the precious never got easier, no matter how many times you'd done it.
It hit even harder for him, with his history of losing comrades.
"...Hyung."
Kim Hyun-jun gripped his shoulder and offered a brief word of comfort.
"Thanks."
Kim Hyun-jun smiled.
Seo Dae-hyun could faintly sense his emotions.
"You stay here. Your parents are worried."
"Ah, no... hyung."
Seo Dae-hyun glanced at Kyle.
"Mind if I go alone?"
"Of course."
Seo Dae-hyun rode in a black van to the branch office.
A young woman in her early twenties stared openly at him.
Her orange hair and freckles suited her well.
"Asians that novel to you?"
May looked flustered at his words.
She waved her hands and shook her head in denial.
"N-No, not because you're Asian... it's just, that ability—"
Kyle, in the driver's seat, called her name sharply.
"May!"
He was worried it might offend him.
Seo Dae-hyun's powers were probably just the tip of the iceberg.
May apologized profusely.
"Sorry. Your ability's just so impressive."
"Kidding. You were staring so hard."
He'd said it to break the ice, but her apologies made things awkward.
'No need to apologize.'
Seo Dae-hyun wasn't great at jokes anyway.
He wasn't heading to the association because he'd done something wrong.
He was the sole survivor, there to give his statement on the incident.
He wasn't intimidated or scared.
If anything, the two agents were tiptoeing around him.
Seo Dae-hyun knew his abilities were something special.
The agents' shocked faces when they saw his soldiers were proof.
He just didn't know the exact extent.
'Maybe I'll find out at the association.'
[Necromancer]
There were combat classes like swordsman or knight, magic ones like wizard or spirit summoner.
Necromancer let him wield both combat and magic.
Increase the soldiers, assign ranks and roles, and the possibilities expanded.
Hearing Seo Dae-hyun was Korean, Kyle casually mentioned US naturalization perks.
"We'll talk about that later."
It was pretty obvious what he was after.
Seo Dae-hyun had been thrown straight into the front lines after awakening; he was clueless about industry stuff.
He chatted lightly with May.
"What'd you do in Korea?"
"I was a soldier."
May's eyes went wide hearing he was ex-military.
Kyle, who'd been quietly listening, looked startled too.
Hunters with military backgrounds were the toughest to naturalize.
Korea was locked in war with the new enemy spawned by monster waves from the North.
"With a military background, you could've gone somewhere better. Why farming?"
"May. Drop it."
Kyle cut her off.
Asking about personal history on first meeting was rude.
Seo Dae-hyun gave a wry smile.
"It's fine."
May's innocent question stabbed right at a raw nerve, sending a sharp pain through him.
Kyle and May looked shocked to hear he'd come to the US because Korea's job market was brutal.
Overseas, guilds snapped up ex-military hunters on Korean dispatch, even low-rank ones.
Even without a guild, good spots were open.
But killing monsters in war zones didn't count as experience back home.
Korea had scrapped military service points in the name of equality, forcing ex-military hunters back into the battlefield of society to compete.
They'd answered the nation's call, burned their youth on the front lines, barely survived—only to come home with dead comrades and severe PTSD.
He'd quit being a hunter in Korea and come to America just to make money farming.
Then reawakening gave him another shot.
*
They arrived at the Iowa Hunter Association branch.
This one branch in America was bigger than the Hunter Association building in Seoul.
Seo Dae-hyun had come here before to get his hunter ID.
Even without entering dungeons, all awakened had to renew their IDs for safety reasons.
Unless you hit S-Rank—that was the exception.
"This way, Mr. Seo Dae-hyun."
With Kyle's polite guidance, Seo Dae-hyun took the elevator to the top floor.
"There's someone here who wanted to meet you over this incident."
Kyle hadn't called him just as a witness—he wanted to scout him.
Seo Dae-hyun had suspected as much from the start.
The elevator doors opened on the top floor.
A middle-aged man with neatly combed-back brown hair stood waiting.
"Branch Chief David."
The highest-ranking person here had come to greet Seo Dae-hyun personally.
This was a bigger deal than expected.
"First, my regrets for the unfortunate incident before you arrived here."
He bowed his head in apology.
"The association will handle your colleagues' funerals and insurance to the end."
The association wasn't at fault.
The agents had done their best.
The dungeon break was a disaster.
As long as they took full responsibility for the dead, that was enough for peace of mind.
Seo Dae-hyun bowed.
"Thank you."
He meant it.
"Not looking for thanks. It's what the nation ordered—only right we do it."
Dungeon break fatalities got state funerals and insurance.
Worlds apart from how fallen soldiers were treated.
"Did I... do something wrong?"
Reading Seo Dae-hyun's expression, David asked carefully.
"No. Just some sad thoughts."
David assumed he was grieving his former coworkers.
"...They surely went to a better place."
David had lost colleagues in his hunter days too.
He couldn't fully empathize, but his comfort was sincere.
"I've kept my guest standing too long. Please, have a seat."
Seo Dae-hyun sank into the plush chair.
It cradled his back and hips perfectly.
"Cola, coffee, tea? Oh, we have zero-sugar cola too."
"Regular cola, please."
David buzzed for cola.
His secretary brought three glasses with ice and fizzy cola.
The carbonation tingled his throat, refreshing.
"I heard you reawakened because of this incident."
Hunter reawakenings were rarer than winning the lottery—and way harder odds.
He'd heard the process, so no congrats.
"Yes."
Seo Dae-hyun nodded.
He didn't deny the reawakening.
Multiple people had seen his powers, and he'd been upfront from the start.
"While reviewing your info as a witness to this incident, I noticed something odd."
Seo Dae-hyun had registered his info when visiting the US branch.
The chief had accessed his rank and class.
Seo Dae-hyun didn't mind.
Hunter ranks were public if you wanted to check.
Military service records got blinded sometimes.
'Something odd?'
Kyle tilted his head at the chief's words.
He hadn't noticed anything off while with him.
Even knowing he'd become an S-Rank later, Seo Dae-hyun never got arrogant or changed his demeanor.
To Kyle, he was a warm young man who cared for his comrades.
"Records say your awakening class is Healer, but the agents' testimonies contradict that."
He'd heard the rank but not the class.
Reawakening upgraded your existing powers.
But Seo Dae-hyun's reawakening was unprecedented.
Healer, who saved lives, and Necromancer, who commanded the dead.
Like light and shadow—opposites.
"Any unavoidable reason you're hiding your class?"
David thought he'd concealed it on purpose.
He wasn't accusing or blaming.
In this job, he dealt with people more than monsters.
A short chat showed Seo Dae-hyun was good-hearted.
There had to be extenuating circumstances.
If his powers checked out, bending rules like this was no issue.
"I'm not hiding it."
Seo Dae-hyun said.
"Healer was my class before reawakening."
To clear up the misunderstanding, he summoned his soldiers.
Sometimes showing once beat explaining a hundred times.
With a wave of his hand, soldiers appeared.
David's eyes widened in shock at the summoned soldiers.
'Low rank, but summoning ten at once!'
Even more astonishing—they included a human.
Nine wolves and one human among them.
'He can really control humans too?'
David hadn't fully bought Kyle's report.
Now he saw it himself and judged.
Honestly? It scared him.
If that power turned elsewhere...
Chills ran down his spine.
Thwack!
One-Eyed slashed at a Bear Wolf's face.
The summons suddenly fighting threw David and Kyle into panic.
"Can't control them yet?"
New reawakening power—he might not have full mastery.
"No."
[Necromancer (Commander)]
Soldiers obeyed his orders absolutely.
They only hesitated if their lives were at stake.
One-Eyed attacking the Bear Wolf? That was on Seo Dae-hyun's command.
The torn gash on the Bear Wolf's face healed in seconds.
Seo Dae-hyun proved his previous class was Healer.