A Fanatic's Loyalty

"Get lost."

Having watched Woo Shin's performance, Do-ha turned his back without a shred of mercy.

Had he lost his mind?

Teach this guy something?

Well, teaching him wouldn't really matter either way—he just didn't want to get involved.

"Baek Do-ha-nim!"

The same Woo Shin who had been cursing him as this bastard and that son of a bitch was suddenly addressing him with honorifics.

His spirit was already broken, and beyond that, something like genuine respect for Do-ha had taken root.

"I'll give you my entire fortune—every last bit of it!"

"Don't need it."

"Earlier you mentioned one trillion yuan, so…"

"I said I don't need it."

Do-ha waved him off with a flick of his hand.

At the very beginning, if Woo Shin had actually handed over one trillion yuan, Do-ha would have walked away.

That chance was long gone.

He had been ready to kill Woo Shin.

He only let him live because he had taken the man's telekinesis for himself.

"Ten trillion!"

"?"

"I'll give you my entire fortune—ten trillion yuan!"

"…You actually have ten trillion yuan?"

Do-ha's eyes flickered with mild surprise.

Ten trillion yuan converted to roughly 1,910 trillion, 200 billion won in Korean currency.

An absurd figure by any measure.

Mana stones, monster remains, and the rest—awakened hunters made good money, sure, but ten trillion yuan was a ridiculous fortune.

"How did you even accumulate that much?"

"I extracted it from the government."

"Extracted it?"

"To be honest… I blackmailed them a little and took a portion of the national budget."

"Ah… that explains it."

If it had been siphoned from China's budget, ten trillion yuan was almost modest.

Unlike the past, national budgets had ballooned considerably.

"How exactly did you squeeze it out of them?"

"About five years ago… America offered me citizenship if I was willing to naturalize, so I went straight to the government and negotiated."

"Negotiated? Or blackmailed?"

"…Blackmailed."

He had threatened that if they didn't hand over the budget, he would become an American citizen on the spot.

Back then—and still now—he was China's strongest hunter, and at the time he had been China's only Cheon-oe-cheon.

The government had no choice but to agree.

"Of course they said giving it all at once was too dangerous, so I received it in installments over five years. The rest I built up hunting monsters."

"Hmm. Not bad."

Do-ha stroked his chin.

Maybe he should try something like that himself if he ever needed cash?

Nah. Forget it.

Thanks to the orichalcum mine, he was sitting on a money printer just by existing.

Right now Earth's market still undervalued orichalcum, so the price was low—but in a few months, once people recognized what the mineral was worth, the value would skyrocket without limit.

"I'll give ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you everything I own. So please—take me as your disciple."

"Still no."

"If there's anything you want, just say the word! I'll do whatever I can!"

As Do-ha turned toward the exit, Woo Shin's desperation spiked.

Given Do-ha's personality, this was clearly a one-time chance.

He scrambled forward.

Whoosh!

"I'll do anything for my master!"

Woo Shin blocked Do-ha's path with both arms flung wide.

He looked almost like a child.

"Who the hell is your master, you bastard. Get out of my way! I really might just kill you."

"…"

Even when Do-ha raised his hand, the expression on Woo Shin's face—arms still spread—did not change.

He was that desperate. If he failed to learn Do-ha's telekinetic techniques, he would inevitably fall behind and die.

"Hah… damn it. I never should have come."

Do-ha sighed as he looked at Woo Shin.

What was this?

This feeling… Assemblyman Park Seok-jun?

Looking at Woo Shin felt exactly like looking at Park Seok-jun.

Why did freaks like this keep latching onto him?

"Please…"

"Haa… Fine. All right."

"!!!"

At Do-ha's words, Woo Shin's face lit up.

"I'll teach you. But there's a condition."

"Anything. Just say it."

"Go accomplish something I can actually recognize."

"When you say 'something,' what exactly…"

"That's for you to figure out."

Do-ha furrowed his brow.

He'd already set the table—did he have to spoon-feed him too?

"You could solo an Unknown-rank monster. Or kill the Demon God Cult's Pope. Plenty of options. Bring me some comparable feat I can actually respect. I have no interest in taking a disciple with zero achievements to his name."

"Ah—I understand completely. Understood!"

Only then did Woo Shin nod with a bright expression.

The hardest thing in the world was "anything."

Having a concrete target made it far easier.

"I will definitely bring back achievements that satisfy you!"

"Yeah. Do whatever."

Whoosh.

When Do-ha flicked his hand as if to say move, Woo Shin was the first to leave his own building.

He seemed intent on attempting the things Do-ha had mentioned…

Idiot. You think any of that is possible?

There were no Unknown-rank monsters in the world right now.

They would appear eventually, but at present no Gate held dragons, krakens, or anything of Unknown rank.

And the Demon God Cult's Pope?

Even more absurd.

I told him to do something on that level even if it wasn't those two specifically, but…

As if any of it would be easy.

The whole reason he had set such ridiculous conditions from the start was to brush Woo Shin off with a throwaway line.

Creak.

A faint smirk on his lips, Do-ha opened the front door and stepped outside.

He should stop by a good restaurant nearby and pick up food for his grandfather and Selenia.

"No—gotta get something for Canteas too."

That damn skeleton sulked endlessly if he was left out of a meal.

So Canteas needed food as well.

"Come to think of it, the Association President and Han Jeong-soo are around too…"

Do-ha scratched his head.

Gathering people one by one, he had somehow ended up with quite a few to look after.

Before, it had only been a handful of friends. Now his circle of comrades had grown considerably larger.

"Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Step by step.

Despite the grumbling, a smile began to form at the corner of Do-ha's mouth.

Having more comrades… didn't feel all that bad.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Clink.

"…"

Mid-meal, Do-ha saw the television and dropped his spoon.

Han Jeong-soo, Kang Ji-hwan, Han Se-ah.

And his grandfather and Selenia as well.

They had all gathered in the yard for a rare shared meal—and something utterly shocking was playing on the TV.

Before thousands of reporters, Woo Shin sat with his legs crossed, answering questions.

At Woo Shin's fanatical words, the reporters were struck speechless as one.

In truth, the reporters already knew.

Woo Shin had been cosplaying as a good person.

Most of them were well aware that his true nature was arrogant, vicious, and completely self-serving.

But with over ninety percent of Chinese citizens adoring and praising him, they had never been able to report the truth.

The reporters kept firing questions, and without missing a single one, Woo Shin praised Do-ha.

No—beyond praise, he worshipped him.

In the end, public opinion inside China plummeted, and throngs of citizens gathered around the building where Woo Shin was staying to protest.

Calling China's Premier "some Premier," accepting the nation's love only to announce he could leave at any moment—

Citizens who had held their tongues finally exploded.

Ten million people hung suspended in the air under his telekinesis.

No matter how easily Do-ha had crushed him, he was still Cheon-oe-cheon.

Even among those floating were A-rank and S-rank hunters, yet none of them could offer the slightest resistance.

Beep.

Click.

"…"

In the end, Do-ha shut off the television.

What the hell had he just watched…?

Some ultra-hilarious hidden-camera prank?

Or a dream?

"Do… Do-ha-nim, what exactly did we just see…?"

"Do-ha-ssi… why would that man act like that…"

"Hey. What the hell have you been doing out there."

"…"

Equally stunned, everyone around him bombarded Do-ha with questions at once.

Out of nowhere, China's Cheon-oe-cheon had sworn loyalty to Do-ha.

Not merely as a fan—he had worshipped Do-ha like a cultist.

Worse, a Chinese hunter had turned the entirety of China into his enemy.

Was this even a situation that made sense?

"You—are you controlling this Woo Shin guy somehow?"

"Of course not."

Do-ha sighed at Canteas's question.

He wasn't a lunatic. He would never do something like that.

Haa… that crazy bastard…

Do-ha pressed his throbbing forehead and let out another breath.

Surely he hadn't done all that because Do-ha told him to bring back an achievement…?

Nah. No way…

What kind of achievement was that?

It was just a declaration of war against his own country.

Then—

Footsteps approached.

"Do… Do-ha-nim."

"Ah, Association President. You're here?"

Do-ha, who had been staring at the floor, turned his head toward the Association President.

He had said he had a meeting in London and couldn't join the meal—clearly he had come because of Do-ha.

"About how that happened…"

"A… a guest… has arrived."

"A guest?"

Whoosh.

Sweating, the Association President activated the coordinate anchor.

This place had a coordinate scrambler; without it, no one could enter.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

"You…!!"

"Do-ha-nim!"

Guided by the Association President, Woo Shin stepped through.

"You fucking bastard!!"

The moment Do-ha laid eyes on him, he exploded.

Grab!

"What the hell did you just pull?! I told you to make an achievement—did I tell you to turn an entire nation into your enemy?!"

Shake-shake-shake-shake.

Closing the distance in a blink, Do-ha seized Woo Shin by the collar and rattled him.

Because this idiot had praised him so enthusiastically in front of the press, Do-ha had gotten dragged into the mess too!

"Ghk…! Do… Do-ha-nim! Please calm down for a moment…"

"Do I look calm to you?! If my grandfather gets so much as insulted because of you, that day will be the day you—"

"I… I've already resolved everything!"

"Resolved?"

"Yes! So please let go of me!"

Whoosh.

"Cough… cough…"

When Do-ha released the collar and stepped back, Woo Shin coughed.

"Talk. How exactly did you 'resolve' it."

"Didn't you tell me yourself, Do-ha-nim? To bring back an achievement worthy of recognition. So I made one."

"So what did you make."

"In exchange for not naturalizing to another country, I secured national budget funding for the next twenty years! The five trillion yuan I received before is pocket change by comparison! And I will give all of it to you, Do-ha-nim! Well?! Isn't that an achievement worth recognizing?! Originally I wanted to catch a dragon for you, but there was no Gate. The cult bastards have gone into hiding somewhere and I can't find them… so I decided—better to just bring a massive sum of money! Everything I did—floating the reporters and citizens into the air and threatening them—was calculated. That way the government would think my heart had already left and panic. Hahahaha!"

"…Haa."

As Woo Shin laughed without a shred of tact, Do-ha looked up at the sky and sighed.

Who was there to blame?

He was the one who had chosen his words poorly…

Goddamn it.

Another Park Seok-jun type had latched onto him.