"I'd already bought all the groceries I needed to hole up at home."
Urgh.
I pulled the phone away from my mouth and ground my teeth in frustration. Then I straightened up and asked again.
"...Just to make sure, should I assume the reason you're suddenly going to China is to participate in that international competition?"
That's right. The Hunter Tournament.
That alone made it obvious just how impressive the rewards China was offering must be. S-class Hunters were already top earners who could rake in money without much effort, so persuading them to participate in something like this was usually difficult. Whether Kang Changho simply didn't care about footage of his abilities being made public, or whether the tournament was offering a prize he genuinely wanted, he had agreed to leave the country far more readily than expected. What's more, he'd already notified the Chinese side of his participation, so apparently articles with his name splashed across the headlines would be appearing by this evening.
"Securing the participation of a top-tier Awakener... Even to an alien like me, that certainly sounds like a spectacle worth cashing in on."
Still, as the conversation continued, a small doubt suddenly occurred to me. I understood why he needed to go to China for the competition, and why he wanted to take me along so he could ensure the safety of the person under contract who would otherwise remain in Korea. But then Kang Changho mentioned that he was already standing in front of my studio apartment, and I couldn't quite understand why.
"Was that supposed to be some vague threat? No, wait... No. His mana really is nearby."
THUNK.
I rolled my eyes as I traced the presence of someone's mana, then casually set the packaged tofu in my hand down on the counter.
"Anyway, I understand. I'll keep my schedule open."
Yeah.
"But you said earlier that you're in front of my studio apartment. Is there something else you need...?"
The elevator's here.
CLICK.
A moment later, I heard the distinct mechanical tone of the call being disconnected.
Why did he suddenly hang up? I've got a bad feeling about this. He's obviously coming over for a reason, but knowing my contractor's personality, the odds of it being anything pleasant are pretty low.
I hurriedly prepared to receive my unexpected guest. I kicked the blanket sprawled across the floor out of the way and headed toward the desk drawer.
DING-DONG, DING-DONG.
The doorbell, worn down after who knew how many years without replacement, had sunk inward and was difficult to press properly. By the time the creaking button was pushed once again, the front door—plastered with advertisements for locksmith services—swung open from the inside.
The resident finally appeared.
"Hello."
The blond man was dressed casually, unlike the way he usually appeared during public engagements. But the visitor paid little attention to that predictable detail. Something else had already caught his eye.
"Hmm."
Through the gap in the doorway, the shabby interior of the studio apartment was clearly visible. Faded wallpaper. Cheap wooden flooring worn down by years of use, damaged here and there.
"When was the last time floral wallpaper like this was fashionable?"
"Hmm?"
"Anyway, take the chain off. I brought something."
Is he trying to make fun of me...? Or is this Earthling really just that stingy...?
Kim Giryeo stared flatly at the cheap box of drinks in the other man's hand.
Then the front door shut.
As much as he wanted to turn the man away right there on the doorstep, he knew better. Pulling something like that on a genuine S-rank Hunter would undoubtedly have serious consequences.
CLICK.
As usual, Giryeo released the safety latch and opened the front door wide.
What happened next, however, was unexpected.
The moment the door swung past a certain angle, Kang Changho caught it with one hand to keep it from closing. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he shifted his weight and drove a sharp kick straight toward the homeowner's shin.
To put it bluntly, he was trying to "crack his joint."
"This is what I get for letting things slide... Now you've even started messing with people's sleeping hours..."
This time, however, Kang Changho had his reasons.
Had it really been so long since the orbital fracture that this man had already started lowering his guard again?
Lately, his contractor had done nothing but notify him of things after the fact.
The irregular F-rank gate that had appeared at Korea's Magic Tower.
Fine.
He could overlook that one. Giryeo had entered with Esther, after all, and the gate's danger level had been the lowest possible.
But the [Mimic City] incident a few days ago?
That was another matter entirely.
The Knight's Oath clause prevented Kim Giryeo from leaving the country without permission, so there was no chance of him secretly slipping overseas on his own.
But that only meant Kim Giryeo couldn't leave of his own volition.
What if something unexpected happened inside a gate, and some deranged Awakener forcibly shoved a Korean through the wrong exit?
[Dragon's Eye] had a limited range.
Once Giryeo went beyond it, things would become complicated.
That was why Kang Changho had intended to give him a warning—by force, if necessary—and make it absolutely clear that entering gates without permission would no longer be tolerated.
THUD.
What the hell?
He'd held back somewhat, taking his opponent's durability into account.
Even so, he had been certain that, at the very least, the Awakener's bones would break.
"_...!"
"_."
He froze.
The tip of his shoe had barely grazed the man's shin.
Kang Changho's kick had struck what felt like an invisible wall. The attack was stopped cold, without leaving so much as a mark.
"Huh."
There hadn't even been the sound of a proper impact.
Despite taking a superhuman kick from an S-rank Hunter, the landlord hadn't budged an inch. He stood there like a boulder rooted deep in the earth.
Kang Changho glanced down again to make sure.
Not a single mark.
Not even a scratch on the landlord's leg.
"Defense..."
Kang Changho's eyes widened slightly.
In a situation like this, the first possibility that came to mind was an item.
But within seconds, clear evidence appeared to disprove that assumption.
Dark, vivid, and cold.
A familiar shade of blue—one Kang Changho had seen countless times before—suddenly burst into view before his eyes.
"No, but if you're going to kick someone out of nowhere..."
While the victim stood there in bewilderment, the massive visitor's eyes moved rapidly as he examined the energy directly in front of him.
Kim Giryeo's internal mana had instantly swelled to a level befitting an S-rank Hunter...
And when viewed through the magical organ known as the [Dragon's Eye], there was only one possible interpretation.
What on earth was going on?
To explain the drastic change Kang Changho was now witnessing, a certain someone else's trickery had to be taken into account.
"Judging by how frantically his pupils are moving... It seems to have worked pretty well."
Simply put, the alien had pulled yet another trick.
"If it's this convincing, there's no need to improve it any further."
In fact, the past few days had been an unusually long stretch of downtime for the archmage.
He had spent most of it holed up in his studio apartment, creating decoys to prevent himself from being tracked.
And since he had some time to spare, he had decided to clear his head with a little light research on the side.
The result of that research was the situation unfolding right now.
He had taken the external-attribute energy contained within the inorganic substance known as a magic stone, carefully processed it, swallowed it, and disguised it so that it appeared to be biological mana.
The comparison wasn't perfect, but if he had to put it into familiar terms, it was like trying to cure anemia by swallowing steel balls.
Just as there was an enormous difference between elemental iron and iron supplements, there was also a fundamental gap between internal mana and external mana.
"By the way..."
"Kang Changho-ssi, why do you look so surprised?"
"Because you look like a Hunter of the same rank as me."
"I see."
Having confirmed the potion's effectiveness, Kim Giryeo smoothly moved the conversation along.
"However, I apologize, but I don't recall ever saying this year that I wasn't an S-rank..."
According to Giryeo's own investigations, items on Earth capable of reproducing S-rank-level defensive power were exceedingly rare.
More importantly, equipment like the [Divine Tree Sapling]—which gave no visible indication that it was even being worn—wasn't something he'd encountered so much as a rumor about.
So if he wanted to explain this sudden surge in defensive ability according to Earth's common sense, there was only one option.
He would have to return to the story he'd been maintaining since January.
"I'm definitely S-rank."
In other words, he was claiming that the Awakening rank officially announced by the Association had never been wrong.
"What did you say?"
"As you can see, I really am an S-rank Hunter."
If he openly admitted that he was actually a low-tier Awakener whose body could give out at any moment, Kang Changho would never have any reason to lower his guard around him.
And since Giryeo intended to secretly replace his body eventually anyway, establishing this image now would actually work in his favor.
Once he'd finished running the calculations in his head, Giryeo put on a carefully manufactured look of surprise, complete with a faint sheen of cold sweat, and deceived his contractor.
"Wait."
Of course, the more convincing Giryeo's performance became, the more bewildered Kang Changho grew.
"So you're saying you've had this kind of solid defense all along, and you've just been pretending to be weak until now?"
"Hmm."
"And last time, you deliberately let yourself get hit by that slow punch of mine?"
Giryeo remained calm under the continued interrogation.
"No, it's not as though I deliberately tried to mislead anyone about my rank..."
Then what was it?
His explanation had gotten somewhat long-winded because he'd started speaking before fully organizing his thoughts.
Giryeo quickly added a few words to make his meaning clearer.
"I wasn't in good condition for a while."
"Condition."
Even the extraordinary new humans who had awakened to magic weren't immune to something as mundane as illness.
Jung Haseong was a perfect example. He had once pushed himself for forty-three hours straight, only for his immune system to collapse and leave him vulnerable to an attack that an ordinary person could have carried out.
A wizard, too, could become unexpectedly vulnerable depending on their physical condition or even their mental state.
And the current resident of this one-room apartment was someone who, thanks to the circumstances of his previous life, knew of at least tens of thousands of health problems capable of afflicting a wizard.
"To be precise, I had to suppress my mana because I was sick. Uh... Actually, I made a mistake a long time ago and injured something. Ever since then, whenever I let my mana circulate normally, it reacts with the injury and makes my body feel unwell."
"Where exactly were you injured?"
"Somewhere around the abdomen. But even the doctor couldn't determine the cause, so I don't know which organ was responsible either."
Breaking promises.