At that moment, the languid face of a certain S-rank Hunter came to mind.
If Esther were here now, she would probably chatter away in that clear, distinctive voice of hers.
"See? You should've known better and stepped down when you had the chance."
"F-Fuck... How did things end up like this? Why the hell...?"
But no matter how much he regretted it now, the train had already left the station.
This was precisely why Alphauri had always taken great care not to provoke curse-type magicians.
Their revenge was always passionate.
Relentless.
And it never ended until their enemy had been utterly destroyed.
***
Bubble, bubble, bubble...
Click.
Morning sunlight streamed across New York, the largest city in the United States.
Somewhere amid the forest of skyscrapers painted in shades of dark blue, a young woman stood by a window holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee.
It was still quite early, yet a handful of pedestrians were already strolling through Bryant Park below.
The woman with the golden bob watched them for a long while, tourists and Americans alike moving like ants in the distance.
"Haam."
It was a monotonous morning routine, no different from that of an ordinary office worker.
There was, however, one notable difference.
The cup in her hand did not contain ordinary coffee.
It held an extremely high-caffeine beverage formulated specifically for Awakened individuals.
Brooklyn Morgan moistened her dry throat with the steaming drink and shifted her gaze.
In her other hand was the latest model of the tablet PC she always used.
[The head of South Korea's Hunter Association...]
Today's digital newspaper contained something unusually interesting.
While Brooklyn had been asleep, a sensational scandal had erupted in South Korea.
Hunter Association President Go Byeongdo had allegedly been deceiving Hunters in order to create a slush fund.
Moreover, Asia's only enchanter had apparently been working under the Association on an astonishingly lenient condition: that she merely be allowed to choose which requests received priority.
Yet even that minimal condition had been violated.
It had been revealed that President Go Byeongdo selectively concealed enchantment requests entering Korea whenever doing so suited his own interests.
In response, the enchanter declared a strike.
And now, citizens had begun a movement demanding the Association President's resignation.
"Wow."
In short, the whole country was in chaos.
The international news site Brooklyn was reading displayed a photograph of an elderly Korean man bowing apologetically at a press conference.
But after scrolling only a little farther down, she discovered that even the apology had been exposed as insincere.
A second recording had revealed him cursing Gu Seohyeong behind the scenes, adding even more fuel to the fire.
"How did something this interesting happen?"
Could there be some kind of political power struggle going on in that country?
And so, Brooklyn began her Wednesday morning with far more interest than usual.
In reality, the source of this entire uproar lay within the Spectrum Guild affiliated with a certain someone.
But she had no way of realizing that.
***
Beep, beep, beep.
Beep, beep, beep.
Then came Thursday, when he finally returned.
"Hmm."
Jung Haseong, the S-rank Hunter who represented South Korea, glanced at his phone with a dry expression.
[Association President]
After finishing his shower, Haseong dried the water from his body and casually flipped his phone facedown.
In the past, he would have answered before the second ring.
Now, he simply ignored the call.
And for a certain middle-aged man, that alone was enough to drive him completely insane.
"Damn it! Now even this bastard is ignoring my calls?"
Unlike the week before, the atmosphere inside the study in Seoul had become considerably more chaotic.
To get straight to the point—
Surprisingly, it had not taken long at all for Association President Go Byeongdo to fall.
A certain curse sorcerer had shaken public opinion by exposing the Association President's dirty secrets.
Then, amid the chaos, the enchanter's testimony had delivered the decisive blow.
Eventually, even members of his own political faction began publicly calling for his voluntary resignation.
What an absurd sight.
Who would have imagined that beings as otherworldly as the Awakened would wage a full-scale battle of public opinion instead of settling matters with magic?
And throughout this entire affair, Go Byeongdo had essentially been tied down and forced to take a one-sided beating.
Esther had made it clear that if she chose to publicly carry out her own brand of justice, she could simply kill him with her abilities.
Meanwhile, Gu Seohyeong—the person he had intended to use as a hostage—had seemingly sensed his intentions in advance and struck first with the speed of an angry hornet.
In fact, Gu Seohyeong's revelation may have caused even more devastating damage.
As a result, the Association President had spent his time running around frantically, desperately trying to silence the enchanter.
[In front of all these reporters, I hereby declare that if this revelation causes even the slightest disadvantage to our country's enchanter, I will go on strike that very same day!
Go ahead! Try revealing her identity!
Do you really think I'm going to stand by and watch?
Honestly, it's not as though she's demanding a raise. She's simply asking that matters involving people's lives be prioritized over everything else.
Is it right to obstruct someone like that for personal gain?
What do all of you think?]
Even that avenue had been cut off once the Guild Leader of the Korean Magic Tower stepped forward to protect Seohyeong.
Miserable.
A truly disastrous outcome.
In the end, it was all because of that damned Awakening phenomenon.
If only this era—where people suddenly began performing bizarre forms of sorcery—had never arrived, he would never have been so absurdly outmaneuvered.
"Ugh!"
Go Byeongdo had attempted to reverse the situation by reaching out to a Hunter with a heroic public image.
A national hero.
If he could secure that Hunter's support, he might have been able to turn public opinion back in his favor almost instantly.
But as was now obvious, Jung Haseong was also deeply connected to 'that Hunter' and had already been informed of the entire situation.
He refused every attempt at negotiation from the Association President.
Esther.
Jung Haseong.
Even the only enchanter in all of Asia.
To think that all these influential figures were willing to take action despite the potential losses involved.
"This damn..."
At this point, didn't Kim Giryeo practically possess the ability to manipulate people's minds?
For a moment, the Association President felt genuinely wronged.
After all, hadn't he merely been deceived by false information from the Spectrum Guild?
And now, because of one mistake, he had been driven all the way into a corner.
A sudden wave of indignation rose within him.
Would anything change if he apologized to Korea's fourth S-rank now?
No.
Go Byeongdo would rather surrender his power in disgrace than kneel before that young man.
Even in defeat, he refused to accept such a humiliating end.
Besides, his position as Association President was not the only source of power he possessed.
In this world, money was everything.
Even if he gave up his authority, he calculated that his entire life would hardly collapse.
Therefore—
"Ha."
With his resignation already all but inevitable, Go Byeongdo decided to make one final desperate move.
He would drag his opponent's name through the mud.
It was nothing more than petty revenge, born from his sheer unwillingness to stand by and watch that Hunter bask in victory.
.
.
.
Today was Saturday.
"The weather's a little gloomy. Feels like the humidity's gone up too... Is summer finally coming?"
As usual, I spent Saturday working with Jung Haseong until around six in the evening before finally leaving the gym.
Standing in my usual spot, I switched on my phone and briefly contacted Esther to make sure everything involving the Association President was progressing smoothly.
That was when someone approached me.
"Kim Giryeo."
"You're here?"
It was the very bodyguard I had hired at the cost of ten years of lifespan.
It hadn't been long since my encounter with the foreign mercenary Ally.
Ever since then, I had been calling this S-rank Hunter to accompany me whenever I went out, just in case the Association President tried anything strange again.
"By the way, I guess those rumors about you two sparring every weekend were nonsense after all, huh?"
"Yes?"
"I've been watching the gym for a while. But from what I could see, Jung Haseong was the only one using any skills."
And the very first thing Kang Changho said upon seeing me was exactly the sort of remark one would expect from a stalker.
"What exactly are you doing here with the country's number-one-ranked Hunter?"
"I get paid to sit beside him and give him a few words of advice."
"Advice?"
"Well, you know... this and that..."
I didn't particularly care.
After all, I had never intended to hide my schedule with Jung Haseong.
I simply told the truth, hoping that a certain criminal wouldn't add another offense to his record.
For a while, I indulged Kang Changho's curiosity and exchanged a few meaningless pleasantries with him.
"Hmm. Then I'll pay you. Think I could get some of that advice too?"
"Sorry, but that might be difficult for you, Hunter."
"Why?"
"Because you're already controlling your mana properly. I'm not joking. There really isn't anything for me to teach you."
"Really?"
"Honestly, if there had been a way for me to squeeze money out of Hunter Kang, I would've told you ages ago."
After that, I got into the bodyguard's private car and headed home...
"Hmm?"
It should have been an uneventful arrival.
But for some reason, the moment we reached the front of my building, something felt wrong.
The alley was already infamous for illegal parking, making it difficult for even a single car to pass through.
Yet today, groups of unfamiliar people were gathered around the entrance.
They shifted restlessly from foot to foot, as though waiting for someone.
And judging by the small black microphones clipped to several of their collars, there was no doubt what they were.
"They're reporters."
Kang Changho, sitting beside me with his hands on the steering wheel, answered before I could say anything.
But so what if they were reporters?
The situation would probably be the same even if I tried sneaking in through the back entrance.
So I decided to simply push through the crowd in front.
I was exhausted after spending the entire day teaching Jung Haseong.
All I wanted was to get home as quickly as possible.
"He's here."
"Hunter Kim Giryeo!"
"Hunter-nim!"
The moment I stepped out of the car and headed toward the entrance, the reporters swarmed around me.
I merely nodded once, as though telling them to hurry up and say whatever they had come to say.
The questions that followed, however, were unexpectedly interesting.
"We came to verify some information. We recently heard that the enchanter who exposed Association President Go Byeongdo was actually a very close classmate of Hunter Kim Giryeo. Is it true that—"
"Hunter! SBC here! We just received a tip claiming that you incited the enchanter to turn against the Association and that you intend to exploit private enchantment requests for personal gain. What is your response to these allegations?"
"Hunter! SBC! We received information claiming that you encouraged the enchanter to create conflict with the Association so that you could use her enchantments for your own benefit. How do you respond?"
Go Byeongdo...
Even after so many of his dirty secrets had been exposed, he still refused to give up.
Now he was trying to turn the whole affair into a mudslinging contest.
And this time, he was targeting the connection between a certain S-rank Hunter and Gu Seohyeong.
Judging by the direction of the questions, it was easy enough to tell that these reporters were associated with the pro-Association faction.
But there was no reason to be frightened by something like that.
If I had started this entire incident on my own, perhaps things would have been different.
But in this case, I had the powerful backing of the Guild Leader of the Korean Magic Tower.
'I'll leave the battle for public opinion to Esther, the Earthling. If I stay quiet, that curse sorcerer will handle everything on her own.'
I casually admitted that Gu Seohyeong and I had once been classmates, while firmly denying every other allegation.
Then I motioned for the reporters to move aside so I could enter the building.
"Hunter Kim Giryeo! Just one more question!"
However, among all the reporters gathered there, one man—and only one—refused to lower his recorder.
He blocked my path until the very end.
For some reason, his face looked strangely familiar.
Just as I was trying to remember where I had seen him before, he finally spoke.
"Shockingly, we've learned that you weren't raised in an ordinary household, but grew up as an orphan in a childcare facility. Is that true as well?"
I stopped walking.
"Furthermore, according to our investigation... despite earning a tremendous fortune from the Siren raid earlier this year, it appears you haven't donated a single penny to the institution that cared for you in place of your parents."
The reporters from the other broadcasting stations had already turned their heads toward the man who asked the question.
After all, the revelation that Korea's fourth S-rank Hunter was actually a solitary individual with no family to rely on was information that had never before been disclosed to the media.
"Don't you feel ashamed of yourself for turning your back on the other orphans from the institution?"
The reporter, his hair neatly combed into place, raised a small microphone toward me.
And then I remembered.
['Beasts' Without Ability?... Shocking Remarks from the New S-Rank]
Come to think of it...
Wasn't this the reporter named Yang?
The journalist who had been the most relentless in publishing negative articles about me back when I first defeated the Inevitable Malice?