Chapter 33
Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: A New Journey
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Busy days continued, shuttling between the Azelan Continent and Earth.
On the Azelan Continent, he prepared a new identity for Oh Min-jae, and on Earth, he focused on the growth of the Hunter Management Bureau.
As he spent his time in such a whirlwind, the final day of the six months he had promised the Hunter Management Bureau arrived.
“You only have one life! Stay sharp!”
This was the phrase Wang-sik had repeated most over the past month.
After instilling confidence in them, he had spent the last month teaching them caution.
“Dungeon cleared!”
The team leader, having defeated the boss monster of the A-rank gate, shouted louder than usual.
Cheers erupted from all around at the thought that it was finally over.
Amid the celebration, the team leader approached Wang-sik, who had been watching from the side.
“Thank you.”
The team leader extended his hand, and Wang-sik accepted the handshake.
“You’ve all worked hard.”
The agents swarmed Wang-sik.
At first, they had cursed him endlessly, but at some point, they had begun to accept everything without complaint.
They had grown, and the results were undeniable.
Now, they would be able to conquer A-rank gates even without Wang-sik.
“Thanks, you bastard!”
“Thank you!”
“Let me get one punch in, too! Thanks!”
Wang-sik took all their playful blows. But then, they suddenly stopped and formed a line.
At the team leader’s command, they performed a military salute.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
The agents’ voices echoed loudly inside the gate, which was filled with monster carcasses.
* * *
Having finished all his duties, Wang-sik sat across from Kang Il-seop.
Normally, Kang Il-seop would have been cracking jokes and telling stories, but not today.
Wang-sik, too, silently drank his tea.
After a long silence, it was Kang Il-seop who spoke first.
“Are you quitting?”
His low, serious question held a hint of hope that he would be refused. Wang-sik was not oblivious to this.
Wang-sik remained silent for a while. The wait was agonizingly tense for Kang Il-seop, but he endured it.
“Pfft.”
“Hm? Why are you laughing?”
“Your serious expression is just funny.”
“Are you mocking my feelings? You know how fond I am of you! Having to let you go is...”
“Who said I was quitting?”
“What? Aren’t you leaving the Hunter Management Bureau? Isn’t that why you trained the agents?”
“Did the Chief Secretary say that?”
“When you first offered to be an instructor, she said it seemed like that was your intention.”
Wang-sik nodded.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered it.
“You wanted to focus on the Azelan Continent. Wasn’t this supposed to be your final task?”
“That’s right. But that doesn’t mean I have to quit the Bureau.”
“Exactly!”
The Bureau Director agreed so loudly that his bottom lifted off the sofa.
“Still, please don’t call me unless it’s absolutely necessary. They can handle A-rank gates without me now.”
“It feels like you’re taking a long vacation.”
“That’s right.”
“You’ve earned that much. Haha. I feel so much better now. To celebrate, how about a company dinner...”
“I don’t have time for that.”
Wang-sik refused with an unusually serious expression.
“Has the situation become urgent?”
“Not urgent, but I feel I need to hurry.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“It’s a little different. Your inability to see the difference is why you’re not cut out for politics.”
“That feels vague and a bit unfair, but I understand.”
“I’ll be going then.”
A wave of disappointment washed over him as Wang-sik announced his departure.
He had been greatly relieved to hear Wang-sik wasn’t leaving the Bureau, but they were now in a position where they couldn’t easily contact each other.
“Thank you for everything.”
Kang Il-seop wanted to say more, but he couldn’t.
“I’m grateful, too.”
Wang-sik took a notebook from his pocket and handed it to Kang Il-seop.
“It’s a list of each agent’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Reading the contents of the notebook, Kang Il-seop could only nod, speechless for a long moment.
“I can call you when something truly important comes up, right?”
“Yes. If it’s absolutely necessary.”
“What about coming over to your place to chat and relax?”
“That’s absolutely necessary. For the safety of the Republic of Korea.”
“This is why I like you.”
Kang Il-seop let go of his lingering attachment.
“Thank you for your efforts for the Republic of Korea.”
Wang-sik smiled and stood up from his seat.
Suppressing his bittersweet feelings, he left the Bureau Director’s office and was greeted by another person.
“I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Thanks to you, I’ve completed a major task.”
“But now you’ve lost your reason to visit a friend’s house.”
The Chief Secretary had misunderstood.
Seeing the look on his face as he left, she had concluded that he was quitting the Hunter Management Bureau.
‘No need to correct her.’
Wang-sik intentionally kept his words brief and nodded.
“Come visit anytime. I’m not just saying that.”
“I will. Can I give you a hug?”
It was something she would never normally say. But thinking it was the last time, the Chief Secretary gave Wang-sik a warm hug.
‘The burden he carries is too heavy. The poor man.’
The Chief Secretary felt genuinely sorry.
“I’ll be going.”
Wang-sik took a step back and bowed politely.
The Chief Secretary responded with an even deeper bow.
Thirty minutes later.
Deciding that enough time had passed for Kang Il-seop to collect his thoughts, the Chief Secretary opened the door to his office.
Entering the office with tea, she finally learned the truth.
“So, you’re saying he didn’t quit?”
The Chief Secretary’s face turned bright red.
“Hm? That expression of yours...”
It was an expression that overlapped with an old memory of Kang Il-seop’s.
“You had the same look on your face when you stormed my office in full combat gear back in the military.”
She had been tricked by a senior officer’s prank and had broken down the door.
—The commander is currently engaged in a brawl with the North Korean delegation.
It had been her birthday, and they had sent a fake radio call for a surprise party.
“You nearly shot all your own unit members.”
She had burst through the door and was about to pull the trigger when she finally recognized Kang Il-seop and stopped.
“So something like that happened again. Who was it this time? Who tricked you?”
“N-No, sir.”
The Chief Secretary hastily bowed and exited the office.
“Phew.”
Her flushed face quickly returned to normal. All that remained was a smile.
“What a relief.”
She was the one who had planned the six-month gate conquest strategy.
If Wang-sik had quit, she would have carried that heavy burden for the rest of her life.
“Something good always seems to happen after I get embarrassed.”
The Chief Secretary was able to completely set down her heavy burden.
—Bureau Director Kang Il-seop. Reappointed as Director of the Hunter Management Bureau.
—Major Guild Leaders, once sidelined, meet at the Hunter Management Bureau.
—Hunter Management Bureau Reward Amendment Bill Passed.
—Hunter Management Bureau Authority Expansion Bill Passed.
These were the events that unfolded after Wang-sik took his indefinite leave.
Afterward, the Hunter Management Bureau changed its gate assignment method, and the frequency of gate conquests decreased compared to before.
However, no guild dared to ignore the Hunter Management Bureau.
It was the difference between assigning a gate because it was impossible to conquer and assigning one that they could have conquered themselves.
And so, with the public’s support as its foundation, the Hunter Management Bureau solidified its position.
Guseong Gate Exchange.
Guided by an employee, Wang-sik entered the VIP waiting room.
In front of the director, who was already waiting for him, Wang-sik took out sacks filled with mana stones.
There were five sacks in total.
One hundred kilograms worth.
“Are you planning to store these in the warehouse?”
“Please sell them all. I need some money.”
“Understood.”
The director was worried but didn’t show it. As if sensing his concern, Wang-sik added a remark.
“If you’re short on gold, silver is fine too.”
“Ah, is that so? I will try my best to acquire gold, and I’ll substitute silver for any shortfall.”
Recently, Wang-sik had sold the S-rank ring he received from Russia in a special auction.
Although it was S-rank, it was a ring focused on special options rather than combat, and he personally needed a lot of money.
The exchange had been in a state of emergency for several days trying to convert the payment into gold.
Now, trying to procure another hundred kilograms of gold was problematic for the company.
“How long will it take?”
“I’ll have it ready within a week.”
“Then I’ll be counting on you.”
As Wang-sik turned to leave, the director held out an envelope.
“I was asked to make sure you received this.”
The sender’s name was written on the envelope.
“It’s a letter from Miss Han Yu-ra. Next week is Children’s Day, so it seems even the Chairman couldn’t refuse her. She said she really wanted to give you this letter as a Children’s Day gift.”
The daughter of Han Young-im, whom Wang-sik had saved.
He hadn’t contacted her once since they met in the chairman’s office.
‘I feel a little bad.’
Wang-sik accepted the letter.
“Thank you.”
The director’s expression brightened as if he had completed a major task.
Wang-sik walked down the hallway, reading the letter.
He couldn’t help but smile at the phrases, full of a child’s sensibility, and stopped to sit on a nearby chair.
—Mom put up a poster of you by my bed. I look at it for five minutes before I sleep, and then I’m not scared anymore.
His existence was giving the girl strength.
Wang-sik read the next line with a pleasant feeling.
—I thought my mom was the busiest person in the world, but I heard you’re even busier, so I don’t think I can marry you. It’s really hard to love someone you can’t see.
He’d been rejected without even confessing. But Han Yu-ra’s pain seemed even greater.
—Thank you. From your loving Yu-ra.
For someone who had only paused for a moment, he received an unexpectedly large amount of joy.
Wang-sik carefully tucked the letter away and started walking again.
It was a moment of great comfort to his heart, which had been weary from his busy schedule.
* * *
A week later.
With his inventory full of gold and silver from the Guseong Exchange, Wang-sik stood before a gate with Oh Min-jae.
“Wear this.”
Wang-sik handed Oh Min-jae the clothes he had prepared in advance.
The silk clothes were not flashy, but they had a luxurious feel.
“You’re going to be a wealthy merchant. One who inherited his father’s fortune.”
“What about you?”
“A mercenary hired as your escort.”
“That’s reassuring.”
The two changed their clothes and passed through the gate.
Arriving at the familiar but unpleasant laboratory, Wang-sik studied Oh Min-jae’s expression.
Amid the musty smell and dark atmosphere, he could see Oh Min-jae’s eyes wavering.
“If you want to back out, even now, you can.”
“No. I’m fine.”
The fear vanished from Oh Min-jae’s face.
“This is a place I overcame with you. I’ll overcome other places, too.”
Upon leaving the laboratory, the Decartes Mountains appeared, and Wang-sik moved in a different direction than usual.
“Let’s go through a route without guard posts, even if it takes a little longer.”
If Wang-sik were alone, he could have gone to where the soldiers were and used the gate immediately.
But he had no way of explaining Oh Min-jae’s presence.
Less than five minutes after Wang-sik took the lead, a pack of giant wolves blocked their path.
“Stay sharp. This is the land where you’ll be living from now on.”
Wang-sik no longer tried to break Oh Min-jae’s will. If a decision had been made, he intended to see it through.
The ten wolves employed a brilliant strategy, visible at a glance.
They formed an encirclement and attacked simultaneously, and knowing Oh Min-jae was weak, they targeted him first. Then, if Wang-sik showed an opening, the one that appeared to be the leader would charge relentlessly.
Their strategy was excellent, but their opponent was a bad matchup.
While perfectly protecting Oh Min-jae, Wang-sik dispatched the wolves without difficulty.
After showing him how to cut open the wolves’ bellies and retrieve the mana stones, Wang-sik started walking again, his hands sticky with blood.
Before they completely left the Decartes Mountains, they fought over twenty battles.
Fortunately, as they moved south, weaker monsters appeared, so there were no major crises.
After they dealt with the last humanoid monster, called a Keltrak, Oh Min-jae took on the butchering himself.
“Hyung. Let me try.”
He was going to find the mana stone himself.
“This is the place I have to live, after all.”
Wang-sik could clearly sense Oh Min-jae’s determination.
‘I’ll trust him.’
Only then could Wang-sik shake off the worries he had been harboring.
When they reached the point where the valley stream met the river, the two washed the blood from their bodies.
“From here on, it’s the Empire’s territory. If we take a carriage to the nearest city, there should be a gate.”
Once they reached a city with a gate, travel would be quick.
“It’s the same kind of gate, but it means something different now.”
Min-jae smiled bitterly.