"Hmm."
A few minutes later, once I had recovered enough, I exchanged a brief farewell with Esther and headed outside. Just as I was about to descend the steps at the main entrance of the Korean Magic Tower, a familiar sensation brushed against my senses.
An intense magical presence, strong enough to overwhelm an ordinary fainthearted person.
Blink. Blink. Blink.
An SUV parked in front of the entrance flashed its turn signal to announce its presence. Soon afterward, the large man in the driver's seat leaned over, rolled down the passenger-side window, and spoke.
"Hello, Kim Gryeo."
"..."
"It's been exactly four days and five hours since I sent you the message saying, 'I'll just take a quick look at the Blue Gate that appeared at the Magic Tower Guild. Since it's F-rank, there's no need for you to come.'"
"I'm sorry."
"Shall we get going for now? If you haven't had lunch yet, we can grab something to eat."
"I'm sorry."
"How about sushi?"
"It wasn't intentional, so please... just chalk it up as a lesson learned."
***
Saturday afternoon.
Two people were having a conversation inside a quiet gym.
It was a training facility exclusively for Awakened individuals, located in Seoul. To be precise, calling it a training ground was somewhat misleading, since it wasn't equipped with anything particularly extraordinary. Still, the fact that Awakened could use magic there without worrying about being seen was a considerable advantage. Because of that, the place had long been popular among Awakened individuals.
For example, among famous hunters like the ones currently here.
"We're almost out of time for today."
Jung Haeseong and I were going through our usual routine at the gym we'd rented.
However, by the sixth week of skill training, we had encountered our first minor problem.
Haeseong was having trouble mastering the application of the Full Combustion technique I'd taught him during the fourth week.
"Something feels a little off."
Fire magic could be strengthened not only by pouring more mana into it, but also by altering the combustion process itself to increase the temperature of the flames.
Surprisingly, Jung Haeseong was struggling with the process of turning his flames blue.
But that was fine.
In fact, I welcomed this period of stagnation.
"I might be able to keep charging him for lessons longer than I expected."
Unlike his instructor, however, who viewed the situation rather positively, the primitive magician in front of me grew increasingly dejected with each passing day.
"Ha..."
Now that he couldn't even suppress the sigh escaping from deep inside him, he seemed genuinely frustrated.
"Hmm."
From my experience teaching countless students in my previous life, I knew people like Jung Haeseong well.
He was someone who had always excelled in life—I'd recently learned that he'd even attended veterinary school before dropping out—and people like that tended to be especially vulnerable when they encountered this sort of obstacle.
If you've spent your entire life succeeding, it's almost inevitable that you'll unconsciously come to believe you're better than others.
And when failure suddenly begins piling up, the shock of that unfamiliar defeat tends to hit harder than it would for most people.
A rigid expression.
Tense shoulders.
Even a national hero was still human. If he kept seeing no results, there might eventually come a day when he lost interest and decided to quit altogether.
So, for the sake of my future job security, I knew this was the perfect time to butter him up with a little praise.
"Jung Haeseong."
Still, despite everything, that S-rank had always been a kindhearted person who stood up for the weak, so I couldn't help feeling somewhat concerned for him.
That was why I chose my words with a little more consideration than usual.
"You know something?"
"Yes?"
"Your awakening ability. It's called Pyrokinesis."
"Yes."
"The media often downplays it because it's one of the most common abilities on Earth."
Fire.
A primordial concept symbolizing the very origin of civilization on Earth.
The people here could barely do more than play around with little flames, but having witnessed the pinnacle of ignition magic in my previous life, I could say this with certainty.
"But from my perspective, if someone has enough mana, it's actually one of the best abilities you can have. If you keep training, you might not even need armor someday."
Jung Haeseong tilted his head.
"Armor?"
I suppose it sounded ridiculous to say that an ability seemingly devoted entirely to offense could eventually make armor unnecessary.
But someday, the people of this planet would understand.
No matter how worthless an attribute might appear, if it was honed and refined far enough, it would eventually achieve a perfect balance between offense and defense.
Throwing stones at the sun wouldn't change anything.
Though I wasn't sure whether Jung Haeseong could actually reach the level I had in mind.
"Anyway... you've still got a long way to go before you reach the limit of your potential. So don't get too hung up on every little success or failure. Just take it easy and keep at it."
I did my best to encourage him, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
But Haeseong was someone whose expressions were nearly as scarce as mine, so his face remained stiff.
Looking at him like this, I had absolutely no idea what was going through his head.
"Anyway, shall we wrap things up and head out?"
Still, we'd come quite a long way.
I could vividly remember the moment our dear national hero had swung [Sunset Sword] straight at me.
And yet, after all the trouble I'd gone through, I'd somehow reached the point where I could stand face-to-face with Korea's number one hunter like this.
"Yes. Thank you for today."
But then a thought suddenly occurred to me.
When the day came that my hidden rank was exposed, this guy was probably going to tear me apart, wasn't he?
Not only had I been steadily siphoning away his money, but I'd also been pretending to be an S-rank while badmouthing him at every opportunity.
"I hope the day never comes when I have to personally experience the sharpness of a legendary weapon..."
I glanced at the red sword hanging from my disciple's waist, then stepped outside the gym.
But what was this?
On any other day, the empty lot behind the building would have been all that greeted me.
Today, however, an unexpected sight awaited us outside the rear exit.
"Hmm?"
Someone was standing there blankly.
"Um, excuse me."
It looked as though she'd been waiting specifically for us to come out...
"What is it?"
The person who spoke was an unfamiliar Earthling.
A woman in her thirties wearing glasses.
Curious about her identity, I stared at her, and she quickly continued.
"What is this..."
"I'm sorry for showing up without warning. But I couldn't get in touch with you at all, and I heard that you usually train here on weekends, so I had no choice but to come in person."
She couldn't get in touch with me?
At that, I pulled my phone from my pocket.
There were no missed calls.
If someone had called recently, I definitely would have noticed.
"I haven't received any calls."
"Pardon? I left a message. Didn't you receive it?"
"No."
"Oh no. Did the agency give me the wrong number...?"
In any case, the woman promptly took a business card from her wallet and held it out.
[Korea Dungeon Resource Research Institute]
[Kim OO]
[Senior Researcher / Doctor of Science]
Before I could even finish reading it, she launched into an explanation.
"Anyway! The reason I came all this way is because... I'd like to request your cooperation with a national research project, Hunter Gryeo! More specifically, we'd like to hire you for security detail!"
What an absurd situation.
This Earthling had suddenly appeared and was now asking me to serve as her bodyguard.
Of course, it wasn't difficult to guess the reason.
Dungeon resources.
If ordinary people wanted to conduct research on materials from another world, they would naturally need someone to protect them.
"Our institute recently began researching a high-difficulty A-rank gate called [Sanctuary of Verdure]. I'm the project leader."
"So?"
"We need an Awakened individual to assist us with the research, but the A-rank hunters we hired before had considerable difficulty. It seems we'll need the strength of an S-rank hunter."
The researcher continued.
"We hadn't originally planned to contact you this urgently. We were going to approach you more formally through official documents, but... well, the monsters in the dungeon we're scheduled to investigate are reproducing faster than expected..."
All right.
I'd understood everything perfectly well up to this point.
The problem was what came next.
"Yeah, but why did you come looking specifically for me?"
I understood why they wanted an S-rank bodyguard for a safe dungeon expedition.
But among Korea's S-rank hunters, weren't there plenty of better choices than me?
For example, the Rank 1 hunter standing right beside me, or the purple-haired sorcerer living in the Tower.
As for the other one...
"Right. Let's just pretend that one doesn't exist."
There were some exceptions.
Anyway, I couldn't understand why she'd passed over the first- and second-ranked hunters and specifically sought out the ninth-ranked one.
Shouldn't Jung Haeseong have been the first person they contacted?
"His public image is good too."
I turned my head toward the S-rank standing idly behind me.
The national hero, with his neatly parted hair and agreeable features, looked slightly flustered as he awkwardly watched the situation unfold.
"If you need a powerful Awakened, wouldn't Hunter Jung Haeseong be a good choice?"
But at my suggestion, the Earthling shook her head.
"We can't."
"Why?"
"That dungeon is structured like a series of small rooms, each about four pyeong, connected together like train cars. That makes it difficult to work with hunters whose awakened abilities cause significant collateral damage."
"Hmm."
"Besides, I heard that Hunter Kim is already very skilled at VIP protection. And apparently, your actual personality is very good as well."
Wait.
What was that supposed to mean?
"What? Where on earth did you hear that?"
I'd never escorted another human being in my life, so where had this suspiciously [N O V E L I G H T] favorable reputation come from?
"Uh, well... from my father, actually. My father has quite a wide network in the hunter industry, and he said he'd been hearing a lot of good things about you lately, Hunter Gryeo. So when I told him I was looking for a bodyguard, he suggested that I speak with you..."
"What's your father's name?"
"Kim Beomsik."
Who the hell was Kim Beomsik...?
Every answer only dragged me deeper into the mystery.
Apparently, someone had been going around telling people that I had a wonderful personality.
"Could this be some distorted version of those weird rumors Ahn Yoonseung spread?"
I tilted my head.
The woman in front of me, however, merely gave a bright, hearty laugh.
"Actually, whenever I saw you, Hunter, I always thought you looked like someone who'd handle his work very meticulously. And to think you have such a good reputation even in the difficult field of personal security..."
"..."
"No matter how many times I think about it, I'd really like to ask Hunter Kim, who already has experience in the field, for his cooperation! If it's all right with you, could you spare some time around Monday so we can discuss the details?"
It felt a little awkward, like I was spitting in the face of someone smiling at me...
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline."
"Pardon?"
Still, it was about time I made my position clear.
I firmly rejected her request.
Why?
Well, because I was a defective-grade ability user who could barely protect myself, much less anyone else.
If anything, I was the one who needed protection.
So being suddenly asked to guard a researcher was completely absurd.
"But... Hunter, you've even participated in investigations at the national level..."
"I don't know what you've heard, but..."
I cut her off before she could finish.
"I've never done anything like protecting researchers before. Besides, my awakened ability isn't suited to that kind of work."
In reality, I was just an F-rank.
Of course I couldn't do it.
"I-Is that so?"
The researcher immediately looked visibly startled.
Judging by her reaction, she'd apparently been completely convinced that I would accept.
"Uh... I see. It seems there was some kind of... misunderstanding on my end. I think I'll need to double-check a few things. Um, well, thank you for your time. Have a nice afternoon."
Tap, tap.
I watched the researcher's back as she walked away dejectedly, then spoke.
"Jung Haeseong, have you heard any weird nonsense lately? Like people saying I'm good at bodyguard work?"
The great wizard's disciple answered in his usual flat voice.
"...No. But I have heard rumors that you used to be a loan shark."
Yeah.
If it was something like that, I could at least have seen it coming.