Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Identity (2)
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This was already my third visit to the officetel.
I pressed the doorbell, heavy bag slung over my shoulder.
The door opened, and the broker greeted me—a menacing vibe leaking out from behind his sunglasses.
“You’re here.”
I stepped inside without a word and set the sack down on the table with a thud.
A heavy sound rang out, and the sack’s mouth loosened just a bit. A few mana stones gleaming with iridescent light tumbled out from within.
The broker’s brow twitched.
He adjusted his sunglasses slightly and gave the sack a once-over.
“…What the hell is all this?”
Unmistakable surprise colored his voice.
It was a full 8kg.
Even for him, this quantity had to be disorienting.
“You’re not seriously planning to claim you gathered all this alone, right?”
“Of course I gathered it myself. Who’d dump something like this on me?”
“That does make sense, but…”
I shrugged it off casually.
The broker let out a short sigh and pinched his forehead.
I could sense the gears turning furiously in his head.
But I didn’t give him time to collect his thoughts.
“Sit down already. I didn’t come just to sell these today.”
I took a seat and cut to the chase.
The broker sat wordlessly across from me and fixed me with his gaze.
“I need to buy something.”
I got straight to the point.
“I need an identity. A brand-new one.”
“Yeah, you said that before… But why?”
“I want to buy a house and register as an official Hunter… but I can’t as a minor. So I want an adult identity.”
The broker’s lip curled up with a smirk.
“Kid. The law changed—minors can be Hunters now. The world’s gotten that harsh.”
“Huh? What?”
“Started at 17, then dropped to 15. Might hit 10 in a few years.”
It was news to me. My eyes went wide.
Amused by my reaction, the broker leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“Anyway, spill the details. Why no identity?”
A pointed question.
But I didn’t flinch.
I’d seen this coming.
I had a backstory prepared.
Switching to polite speech to seem as pitiful as possible.
I’d practiced on the cops yesterday—lies poured out smooth as butter.
“Truth is, I lost my parents five years ago… Right when the Tower first appeared.”
“But there’d still be a birth record, no?”
The broker sliced through my words coldly.
No, wasn’t this guy supposed to be a sucker for sob stories?
Why so heartless?
Caught off guard on that point, I stammered through my excuse.
“W-well, the shock made me lose my memories? Forgot their names too… Wait, five years ago I’d have been 8…? Anyway, that age, it’s possible to forget!”
I patched it together desperately.
But anyone could see how flimsy it was.
The broker shook his head in pity.
“You really think that flies?”
His icy retort left me speechless.
My mind blanked.
But it was fine.
When words fail, rage takes over.
That’s just how the world works.
“Ah! So are you gonna do it or not?!”
I slammed my palm on the table and shouted.
“You’re a broker! Money makes it happen!”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not some two-bit hack.”
“Wha…”
The broker fell silent after that.
My clumsy fury crashed against his solid sunglasses and vanished into nothing.
He sat utterly still for a stretch.
The silence dragged on, ratcheting my anxiety higher.
***
Meanwhile, the broker’s head swirled with tangled theories.
‘What the hell is this kid?’
Her story was pure amateur hour.
A child’s lie, plain and simple.
The issue was this little one kept showing up with absurd hauls of mana stones and items.
‘Where’s she sourcing these?’
The sack on the table—no way a solo act pulls that off.
A C-rank guild, aka organized mobsters, might scrape that much in a full month—if they’re lucky.
‘Pinched it from somewhere?’
The most reasonable guess.
So now on the run from pursuit?
Hence the new identity?
But it didn’t quite add up.
A bounty that size would’ve reached his ears as a broker.
‘…No use dwelling.’
In the end, the broker shelved understanding it.
Piecing together this kid’s history was futile.
Too few puzzle bits, and the ones there didn’t mesh.
He cleared the clutter from his mind. His eyes shifted back to the girl before him.
Right—reasons didn’t matter.
A frail frame missing one hand.
A girl the age of his own daughter.
Her situation hit the broker like reality itself.
‘Needs a house, huh… So she’s been roughing it on the streets?’
Picturing her spending nights exposed twisted something in his chest.
Her pallor, even worse than last time—maybe that was why.
‘Can’t just abandon her.’
The broker resolved to help this kid.
Whatever her past, it was irrelevant.
What counted was how precarious her present was.
Minor. No identity. Wealth beyond her grasp.
The future that trio spelled out was predictable.
That cash would turn into shackles.
D- or C-rank Hunters—your average lowlife thugs—would come sniffing.
A kid with no means to defend herself or savvy to navigate the world would end up stripped bare and tossed aside.
The broker sighed.
His decision hardened.
***
At the end of the long silence, the broker finally spoke, like he’d made up his mind.
He stared at me wordlessly for a moment, then—with a deep sigh—slipped off his sunglasses.
First time locking eyes with him bare.
Sharp, fatigued eyes.
But an unexpected warmth lurked within.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
His steady words threw me off instead.
“First, let’s unload those mana stones.”
He scooped up one that had rolled onto the table and inspected it closely.
The gaze of a pro.
A beat later, he gauged the sack’s full weight and named a price.
“180 million. Bumped it up over market a touch.”
About what I’d figured.
I nodded.
He whipped out his phone and transferred the funds on the spot.
Once my phone pinged with the deposit notice, he moved on.
“I’ll scout a house too. Any must-haves?”
“Standalone near the Tower.”
“Hmm, Hunter-exclusive digs? Demanding…”
“No go?”
“Nah, doable. Just eats most of your stash.”
“I’m braced for it…”
“Fair enough—I’d push that option too. Safer that way.”
Last and biggest: the identity.
“ID cards… We comb missing persons from the Tower collapse five years back. Pull one matching your description. Frankly, your build’s gonna make it a slog…”
I mulled his words.
‘Build, huh… Practice reshaping?’
Never tried it, but doable?
Sand to bulk height and bust—could pass for adult woman.
Male form still out of reach.
‘Ah, legs are all I can stretch so far. Kinda freaky-looking.’
Drifting in whimsy for a sec.
The broker’s cool voice snapped me back.
“But heads-up in advance…”
His tone dipped low.
“This’ll only get you past a convenience store for smokes or booze.”
He paused, then met my eyes dead-on.
“Hunter Association signup, real estate deals, bank stuff… Forget it. One database check, and it’s busted as fake.”
“Yeah, thought so…”
“I can front the property buy… Hunter reg’s a no-go there.”
“It’s cool. I’ve got a workaround.”
“Which you’re not sharing, I take it?”
“Well…”
“Forget it. You’ve got your reasons. Spill whenever you feel like.”
“…”
No comeback for that.
It pricked oddly at my chest.
Come to think of it, this illegal broker was a decent soul.
Showering me with steady goodwill.
‘But no choice.’
Even if Korea’s one-and-only S-rank Hunter was set to fix my mess, spilling unverified beans was tough.
Couldn’t go blabbing future nothings without Beetle—Kim Suho’s—okay.
Yeah—once it’s all wrapped and registered, lay out the truth.
If the guy still doesn’t buy it then, nothing for it.
That’s what I vowed.
***
Back home, I planted myself at the computer.
One option only.
Logged into the Mage Gallery.
After the usual waffling, I posted anew.
[Title: Beetle-nim. Remember yesterday’s talk?]
Author: ㅇㅇ (33K.333)
Hunter registration help you offered. Still on the table now?
My post hit, and a reply dropped in less than a second.
ㄴ Beetle: Obviously. When’re you aiming for?
Felt like he’d been lying in wait for it.
Stunned by the speed, I hammered the keys.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ (33K.333): Thing is, I can’t have eyes on me.
ㄴ Beetle: No sweat. Just give me the date and time. I’ll clear out everything within 3km of the Association by then.
“3km?!”
I stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
Empty out the whole zone around the Seoul Association?
Was that even feasible?
It drove home the sheer clout of an S-rank Hunter.
Beyond raw combat power.
Influence rippling across society on a mind-boggling scale.
Every reply was floored.
ㄴ Magic is Firepower: S-rank class….
ㄴ pkkatjju: S-rank’s going ham. We gotta push back.
ㄴ Fridge: 3km covers my place too. Stuck indoors that day then?
ㄴ Beetle: Could be? Sorry about that.
ㄴ Fridge: Nah, it was a joke—just roll with it….
I pondered a moment, then committed.
No more putting it off.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ (33K.333): OK. Will punch through 20th floor today or tomorrow, then ping you.
It was real now, right in front of me. I headed for the Tower to breach the 20th.