Clearing the mutated S-rank gate. Once again, having overcome yet another hurdle, I returned to my daily life.
According to Seo Esther, the Guild Leader of the Magic Tower, the recent abnormal mutation gate in Seoul, despite being classified as S-rank, had posed an unusually low level of danger—so much so that the real commotion ended up coming from an entirely unexpected quarter.
– Uh... Hello, Hunter Iori. First of all, thank you... for coming all this way.
From what I'd heard, it seemed he was no longer affiliated with Imabari, yet he had still responded to the request with incredible speed.
– Of course! It's simply my way of repaying what I've received from Hunter Kim Giryeo. Besides, just because my affiliation has changed doesn't mean I'd ever forget a promise. Haha. Doing something like that would be disgraceful for an S-ranker whose face is already so well-known. I'm sure you've had plenty to worry about since the Imabari Guild collapsed, but please don't worry!
– Aah!
– The four S-rankers of Japan will keep our promises no matter what happens. We've already convinced the management bureau as well.
– That...
– But I'm sorry to ask this—could you give us a little more time? Japan is going through some internal turmoil at the moment, and the new Imabari S-rank team, including Ito-kun, is currently inside the Mt. Fuji Gate. So... I was the only one able to move on such short notice.
– Yes, well, I understand the situation for now, but...
After a short wait, word arrived that the minor conflict had been resolved without incident.
– Mr. Iori. I'm sorry, but while you were on the plane, we actually managed to clear the S-rank gate here in Korea with domestic personnel. So we no longer need outside support. It looks like you'll have to return home just like this.
– Huh? Lies...
When Esther, who was fluent in Japanese, personally explained the situation, the Japanese ranker showed a trace of disappointment, but quickly said that it was a relief the gate had been safely closed and reassured them not to worry about the matter.
Naturally, the dispatch of an S-rank hunter, as mentioned through Montake's words, had come with the understanding that he would be participating in combat against monsters.
Apparently, Iori firmly declared that he would not cowardly count this as a wasted trip before returning to Japan.
He did, however, buy a large quantity of roasted seaweed from a local food company and some Korean cosmetics before leaving, but that hardly seemed like information worth paying much attention to.
“Hmm.”
And so, the abnormal mutation incident involving Neo Sisters' third official team came to an almost uneventful conclusion.
However, a certain alien living in a studio apartment still had one rather serious matter to consider.
Thud.
I set down my phone and sank into thought.
‘Should I try looking at it from his perspective?’
First of all, I was a sorcerer who possessed [Improvement], a spell that required killing the strong.
And suppose one of those so-called ‘powerhouses’ was, in reality, nothing more than an F-rank—yet happened to possess a single, exceptionally rare living skill.
In that case, honestly, the Archmage from another world would never have guaranteed such a trivial target's freedom.
That was something I'd been thinking ever since we signed the contract.
Especially if it had been me in my prime, I definitely would have done it.
Imagine possessing a miracle that allowed you to steal magic merely by killing the target, and having that miracle flowing through your own blood.
On top of that, the sacrifice who actually possessed the skill you wanted was a weakling whose body might break at any moment?
I wouldn't have been able to simply leave them alone. It would have made me too anxious.
Getting hit by a car.
Dying in a gas explosion.
Or, to use a more refined and recent example—an F-rank could die at any moment in a dungeon break.
So I could understand why Kang Changho acknowledged that my skill was ethically problematic and, out of moral consideration, granted me a ten-year grace period.
But I couldn't possibly imitate the generosity Kang Changho had shown me.
‘Honestly, compared to the Alphaurins, someone like Kang Changho actually seems pretty decent in terms of personality.’
If this had happened in the distant past, I probably would have done exactly what Kang Changho did—assuming I lacked the ability to create my own spells.
I would have captured the target with the rare skill and then attempted negotiations far more unreasonable than his.
‘With high-speed internet, tasty food, and high-spec electronic devices, wouldn't it be possible to raise humans too?’
If you told them they would be perfectly protected from every possible threat for a full hundred years...
Then maybe, just maybe, one in a million might willingly step onto the testing platform.
Instead of relying on the flimsy method known as [Dragon's Eye], I briefly imagined an observation enclosure for mammals, its walls covered in CCTVs and audio recorders.
Then I returned to reality.
My contemplation continued for a while longer, but in the end, all that thinking led me to one conclusion.
The S-ranker in question appeared to possess a conscience.
If Kang Changho really was someone more capable of reasonable communication than I'd expected, then perhaps things could proceed in that direction after all.
‘Should I try negotiating?’
An additional deal.
If such a deal could completely sever this troublesome entanglement with an excessively ambitious individual, then perhaps there was no need for me to remain shackled to that short ten-year deadline.
The [Knight's Oath] had been written inside a high-end restaurant.
At the time I signed it, I hadn't cared much about the wording because the oath's effects wouldn't apply to me anyway.
But thinking about it again, depending on how the modern-day transfer of bodily rights was interpreted, there might have been a loophole that could invalidate the contract.
[I, Kim Giryeo, upon turning 34, transfers all rights to their body to Kang Changho, and Kang Changho agrees not to use the transferred rights for any purpose other than the activation of Improvement.]
If the contract was written like this, then...
[Additional oath to be added] Kang Chang-ho will not use Kim Giryeo as a sacrifice for his Improvement.
If I added just one clause like that, the previous contract would become worthless in an instant.
Furthermore.
‘It seems that Earthling surprisingly thinks it's fine to simply give up on the first offering if push comes to shove.’
I sat there and thought about it some more.
‘His attitude during the Kagoshima raid was like that, and judging by the mercy he showed yesterday, it seems to follow the same pattern. Maybe ever since he secured that backup offering from China, his overall approach has become more relaxed?’
The answer came to me soon enough.
It seemed the best way to dissolve the contract concerning Improvement would simply be to have a proper conversation with the person involved.
Breaking the contract.
Breaking the contract.
Of course, to actually turn this plan into reality, I would need to prepare a sufficiently powerful price—something valuable enough to make Kang Chang-ho abandon his original goal and choose this alternative instead.
Money.
Power.
And furthermore, if I wanted to tempt an outsider to society who had shown no desire for even such trivial things as relationships, recognition, or a sense of belonging, then rather than wasting time on pointless persuasion, it would be better to simply prepare the very thing he had wanted from the beginning.
‘If I can prepare something capable of replacing this lump of flesh with its potential for growth...’
Now that I thought about it, both the [Dragon's Eye] and the fact that he had targeted Kim Gi-ryeo's life...
That guy, Kang Changho, seemed strangely interested in methods that fundamentally increased his internal mana.
For an S-rank, his mana reserves were on the lower side.
Could it be that he had some sort of complex about that?
‘Hmm. Personally, I don't think there's any reason for him to worry about it.’
It was around the time countless thoughts were running through my head.
–Dingdong, dingdong.
–Knock knock knock.
Suddenly, the sound of knocking and the doorbell came from the entrance.
However, even before those sounds fully reached my ears, my gaze had already turned toward the door, half a beat ahead.
The primitive sorcerers of this planet were clumsy when it came to concealing their presence.
High-ranking hunters in particular, unless they had some additional means of assistance, practically scattered their presence everywhere whether they wanted to or not.
–Ding dong, ding...
The doorbell rang again.
I skipped all the usual questions, such as “Who is it?”, and immediately opened the front door.
“Huh?”
“Today isn't a class day, so what brings you here?”
The awakened person standing in the hallway briefly looked surprised.
However, he quickly regained his composure and continued in a calm voice.
“Hello, Hunter Kim Giryeo. As I mentioned in the message this morning, I had a personal matter to attend to, so I came by for a brief visit. I apologize if this is inconvenient.”
The visitor was none other than the famous national hero.
However, when I shifted my gaze, I noticed an unfamiliar sorcerer standing silently beside him.
“Ah! Hello...”
The unfamiliar man greeted me awkwardly.
As he'd mentioned, the national hero had contacted me by text only a few hours earlier to confirm my exact address and ask whether he could visit.
Why he had brought along a magician who appeared to be at least B-rank, however, remained unclear.
“Yes. Hello. Would you like to come in? It's quite hot outside.”
I pressed down on the doorknob and opened the front door wider.
Whiling, whiling...
From somewhere in the distance came the faint chirping of summer cicadas.
***
Beep.
The homeowner switched on the air conditioner.
As cool air swept away the muggy atmosphere, Giryeo finally learned the purpose of his guests' visit.
“This concludes the skill treatment. I've treated the injuries as much as I can within my capabilities... Surprisingly, the wounds have already regenerated quite a bit, so I don't think you'll need to see me again. You're in good enough condition that even low-level medicine should be sufficient for a full recovery. I'm glad.”
Not long ago, the appraiser had stepped on a trap inside the mutated gate called [Six-Legged Corridor], leaving his body riddled with holes.
From an outsider's perspective, the injuries he had suffered were clearly not the sort of thing that could be dealt with using only a potion or two.
And so, worried about the deep wounds that would surely torment him for days, the hero had ultimately brought the guild's recovery specialist here to treat him.
‘Well, in terms of stability, the magic that was cast is better than a potion.’
There was a good reason he had brought a sorcerer directly instead of simply gifting him potions.
Regeneration-type potions generally entered a phase in which their effectiveness dropped sharply once a certain volume (mL) had been consumed within a short period of time.
The same phenomenon had existed on Alphauri, where it was commonly referred to as the “critical point.”
And if a creature continued taking the medicine after reaching that critical point, a terrible fate awaited it.
‘The pharmacologists on Earth aren't fools. It seems they've already completed their research on recovery potions.’
Healing magic had the advantage of being relatively free from the problem of resistance.
Of course, because it required a person to cast it manually, it came with disadvantages of its own compared to potions.
Moreover, the healing techniques of this world were still primitive and crude, making them quite different from Alphauri's regenerative magic.
After organizing his thoughts, Giryeo rose from his seat and served tea.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Wow— Is it green tea? It smells good.”
The usual high-quality tea was served to the guests.
Fidgeting.
The national hero seemed to have something he wanted to say.
Holding his teacup, he glanced around the room for a while before finally opening his mouth.
It was light conversation, clearly intended to break the ice before he moved on to the real subject.
“Hunter Kim Giryeo, actually, aside from this matter, there's something else I'd like to deliver to you later.”
“Deliver?”
“It's called [Carp Elixir]... It's an item that's good for improving physical strength. Each individual portion isn't very large, but whenever it drops, you usually get quite a lot of them.”
In truth, that wasn't what the hero was really curious about.
He simply refrained from asking the obvious question.
Is it really alright?
What good would there be in repeating those words over and over like a machine?
The black-haired hunter swallowed those pointless questions several times inside his mind.
Even now, a conversation that had taken place inside a certain gate resurfaced in his memory.
During the raid on the sudden S-rank gate, there had been the issue of Improvement.
To prevent that abstractly named time bomb from being triggered, Kim Giryeo had tried to conceal the fact that he was injured.
That was why he had told every hunter present inside the dungeon:
“Even if you leave this place, do not let anyone know that I got hurt.”
The raiders had asked why he was going to such lengths when hiding the injury would do nothing to help him recover from it.
Kim Giryeo had paused to think.
Then, as though a suitable excuse had suddenly occurred to him, he spoke in a somewhat cheerful tone.
– Hmm, copying Jung Haseong?
The unwavering number one hunter, Jung Haseong.
That top-ranking hunter had long concealed every negative condition he suffered from the public.
After all, it was only natural for a person to suffer minor scratches from time to time.
Yet the hero would spend hundreds of thousands of won on potions, always making certain that even the smallest flaw in his condition remained hidden.
‘Jung Haseong did it too, so my behavior isn't strange, right?’
The extraterrestrial from Alphauri had shamelessly borrowed that justification, using someone else's efforts as an excuse for his own behavior.
And for the hero himself, that revelation had been unexpectedly shocking.
Kim Giryeo imitated me.
“That person, too, was just trying to avoid causing chaos in whatever way he could...”
Ever since gaining power, he had always tried to make the right choice.
So why did learning that someone had imitated him leave him feeling so unsettled?
Slurp.
Haseong took a sip of green tea, struggling to continue.
“This studio must be somewhere you use temporarily for work. If you don't mind me asking, where is your main residence? I'll send the package there.”
However, as the other hunter continued speaking, the pyromancer's gaze began to tremble.
“What are you talking about? This is my only home?”