Anyway, the day it was discovered that he had neither conscience nor magic, he wondered what kind of treatment that employee would give him.
“Whoo.”
Having confirmed the enhancement effects of Blue Shell, it was time to head back with a lighter heart.
With that brief thought, Giryeo crossed the crosswalk.
***
Meanwhile, news that Kim Giryeo had purchased Blueshell also reached Kang Changho’s ears.
To be precise, he learned of it while receiving a report that the black market had been destroyed.
– No, Changho-ssi. Even so, telling the police about a black market they were going to raid just one day later was a bit much, don’t you think?
– I didn’t know either.
– Still, considering your reputation as the person who introduced me, I made sure to save the most important A-rank shop owner. And don’t ask why I sided with the police in there. Frankly, I did everything I could. If I hadn’t cooperated with them, I would’ve been arrested too.
Giryeo, worried that Kang Changho might take offense, had reported what happened in the black market before anything else.
It could also be seen as an attempt to prevent any backlash over his actions.
However, Kang Changho showed little reaction.
After all, that black market was a place whose membership had barely been kept alive in the first place. He did not particularly care what became of it.
“Hmm.”
What interested Kang Changho was solely the item Giryeo had purchased.
He had secretly been curious about what the contractor would choose from the black market.
But once he learned what the item was, things became rather complicated.
“Blueshell?”
In other words, it was a doping drug that could only be used by low-level Awakeners.
And that raised a problem.
In fact, the theory proposed by the employee Seonwoo Yeon—that it had been purchased as a substitute for painkillers—was fundamentally incorrect.
The blue fruit was originally known to provide pain-relieving effects even to higher-level Awakeners.
However, when clinical trials were conducted on hunters of the highest tier, those who had already surpassed ordinary human standards—namely S-rank hunters—the results were different.
“This is...”
Kang Changho had taken Blueshell before.
“It’s useless to people like us.”
And that had made one thing clear.
The highest-level Awakeners could not even benefit from the blue fruit’s analgesic effects.
Then why had Korea’s fourth S-rank purchased the fruit?
Had he simply been curious and wanted to analyze it?
That could not be the case.
After all, this was not Kim Giryeo’s first encounter with Blueshell.
“If he were interested in it, he would’ve examined the sample back when he visited those thugs’ warehouse.”
So what did this mean?
Kang Changho, whose imposing frame always seemed to loom over everyone around him, leaned back against the sofa and pondered.
“Oh my.”
The fourth top-tier hunter could not simply be grouped together with someone like him.
“This guy really might not be S-rank after all.”
Even from the perspective of another S-rank, Giryeo was an exceedingly suspicious individual.
And because Kang Changho had a tendency to observe others with almost stalker-like persistence, the sense that something was wrong only grew stronger.
Korea’s third S-rank had now drawn closer to the truth.
“That still doesn’t mean he’s the F-rank I kept insisting he was. So what exactly is his real rank?”
Of course, far too many uncertainties still remained.
– Ding!
At that moment, Kang Changho turned his head toward the sound beside the sofa.
He picked up the eight-inch tablet displaying a new message notification.
[From: mbrookly@email...]
It was a message from Brooklyn Morgan.
Apparently, in accordance with their previous agreement, she wanted information regarding Kim Giryeo.
Without hesitation, Kang Changho began typing a reply.
Sorry, but the offer he had made at the motel had merely been a ploy to keep the other party in check at the time.
[Sorry, I don’t have any information to share yet. Once I have something definite...]
He had no particular desire to maintain contact with an American hunter.
So Kang Changho brushed off the message with a vague response, saying he had nothing definite to share yet.
Of course, it was not entirely a lie.
For reference, Kang Changho lived by the belief that nothing in this world was absolute.
Ironically enough, however, he was also someone who pursued certainty more obsessively than anyone else.
“Well, there’s still no proof that he bought the Blueshell for himself...”
Tuk.
After finishing his reply, Kang Changho tossed the tablet back onto the sofa.
For now, there was still nothing he could state with absolute certainty.
And so he cautiously postponed his conclusion.
***
...However, the people here seemed to hold quite a different opinion.
“Hello.”
A few hours later.
Korea Hunter Association.
A pair of polished brown shoes gleamed in the spotless floor.
The greeting had come from a representative of the Spectrum Guild from the United States.
She soon took a seat across from Chairman Go Byeongdo, and the two began exchanging cordial pleasantries.
“No, wait.”
Yet the foreign guests who had arrived wearing pleasant smiles made a shocking statement only a few minutes later.
“W, what did you say?”
Kim Giryeo wasn’t an S-rank hunter?!
“To be precise, we’re saying there’s a high possibility that he isn’t.”
Brooklyn Morgan’s previous visit to Korea had ended in disappointment.
Brooklyn had failed to verify Kim Giryeo’s strength with her own eyes.
On top of that, even the S-rank hunter who had promised to share information with her had broken his word.
However, the Spectrum Guild to which Brooklyn belonged believed they already possessed enough leverage to pressure Korea.
Because...
“By the way, filling your ranks with a fake S-rank... Have you considered how serious this could become if word reaches the international community?”
“What are you talking about? That he isn’t an S-rank—I’ve never heard anything like that! This is the first I’m hearing of it!”
“Are you claiming that the president of the Association had nothing to do with manipulating that hunter’s rank?”
“Yes. That’s right!”
They had managed to obtain some information in the meantime.
“We conducted our own investigation and discovered evidence of hundreds of millions in cash being transferred from your secret accounts, Go Byeongdo.”
“Huh?”
“And the money you transferred was ultimately delivered, under your instructions, to a certain studio apartment. Hmm.”
Spectrum attempted to probe the other party with the information they had gathered.
“From our perspective, those billions look very much like payment for someone pretending to be an S-rank.”
“Th, that’s not it. It’s nothing like that...”
Chairman Go Byeongdo reacted fiercely.
An S-rank hunter he had gone through great lengths to register was suddenly being called a fraud.
Worse still, he had no easy way to explain the whereabouts of the three billion won the foreigners had brought up.
“Damn it!”
The agreement he had signed during the Inevitable Malice incident included a clause forbidding disclosure of the contract’s details.
“No, why the hell are those bastards digging through someone else’s bank transactions without permission?!”
How could they do something so unethical?
He wanted to lash out at them.
But if he lost his temper here, he would only reinforce their suspicions.
So the chairman swallowed his anger and forced himself to speak.
“I, I swear to the heavens, I have nothing to do with anything like that. Whatever you may think, Kim Giryeo’s rank has nothing to do with me...”
However, the response he received was nothing like what he had hoped for.
“Even if you truly didn’t know.”
The middle-aged woman in the silk shirt straightened her posture as she spoke.
The interpreter standing beside her immediately rendered her words into Korean.
“Then the only conclusion is that you lacked the qualifications to lead this institution.”
“Qualifications?! It must have been a malfunction in the Awakening detector. Everyone uses the same PIXY machines! How is that solely a matter of my competence?”
“If you suspected an error in the examination, you should have attempted another method of verification. From what we discovered, that hunter has never even undergone a separate assessment of his offensive-type skills, has he?”
“Th, you only say that because you don’t understand! At the time, there was absolutely no reason to conduct such procedures!”
The argument continued for some time.
“Kim Giryeo is the hunter who defeated the Inevitable Malice. How could I possibly have doubted him?”
The Association president complained in frustration, but the representatives of America’s Spectrum Guild remained cold and unmoved.
“In any case, based on the information we’ve gathered so far, we intend to submit a request to the international organization for Hunter Kim Giryeo to undergo a re-evaluation.”
“W, what?!”
“This time, there will be no possibility of manipulation. The evaluation will take place directly before [Justitia].”
“–...”
“But if you truly don’t want us to pursue this accusation... perhaps we could be persuaded to withdraw it, provided you showed us a little sincerity.”
“Sincerity?”
“For example, by transferring ownership of several Gates.”
“This country may be small in terms of landmass, but its dungeon resources are hardly poor.”
“If that hunter is declared a fraud in court, then regardless of how much you insist you knew nothing, you won’t escape criticism. Of course, Korea will also bear the cost of using Justitia—”
“Listen here! A mere guild dares to speak to me like this...?”
“A mere guild?”
The negotiator dispatched by Spectrum scoffed at Chairman Go Byeongdo’s words.
“We are a guild that possesses no fewer than three S-rank hunters, including Brooklyn Morgan. Naturally, that means we also maintain close relations with our country’s Gate Management Agency.”
Clink.
She set her coffee cup onto its saucer.
“Which means that a single word from this ‘mere guild’ could put your position in jeopardy.”
My goodness.
To think they would threaten to have him removed from his position as Association president merely because a fake S-rank had slipped through.
How could something so absurd become the reason he lost such a prestigious post, a position he had struggled so hard to obtain?
“Unfortunately, we are neither family nor friends. We are merely business associates working in the same industry.”
“–...”
“So if you expect any consideration from us, there is no other option but to demonstrate the appropriate sincerity.”
Ssak.
With those words, the Spectrum Guild representatives placed the documents they had prepared onto the table.
Listed across them were several dungeons believed to occur only in Korea.
“I hope this deal becomes an opportunity to strengthen our relationship.”
And just like that, they thoroughly intimidated the foreign country’s authority figure before departing.
Whether Kim Giryeo was genuine or fake, they still did not know.
But judging by the Association president’s reaction, it was obvious that he had something to hide.
And they intended to exploit that fact for their own benefit.
Left alone, Go Byeongdo nervously gulped down the cold coffee, trembling...
“Whoo.”
Soon, his face flushed bright red, as though scorched by fire.
“T, those... those damn b*stards...?”
Kim Giryeo wasn’t an S-rank?
Then had he been deceived by him?
At that moment, the Association president internally reached a conclusion.
A certain hunter was a fraud.
If foreign authorities had come all the way here and caused this much commotion, then surely they must already possess solid evidence.
They must have uncovered all of Kim Giryeo’s secrets and come here specifically to threaten him.
Perhaps because of the powerful image associated with American intelligence °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° agencies such as the FBI and CIA, a misunderstanding firmly took root in his mind.
“Ha, what the hell is this...”
The Association chairman drew a deep breath, then hurriedly opened a copy of the agreement that had been stored in a secure file.
####################
Kim Giryeo shall not intentionally harm Go Byeongdo or his family in the future.####################
Originally, this clause had been intended to protect only Go Byeongdo himself, but after he had desperately pleaded, it had been amended.
This clause alone was the reason they had paid such an enormous sum.
‘I thought it wasn’t a bad deal if it guaranteed my complete safety from a dangerous S-rank hunter. No, I even thought I’d gotten the better end of it.’
But if Kim Giryeo had deceived him, then hadn’t he simply thrown away three billion won in slush funds for nothing?
If Giryeo was not actually an S-rank, then naturally there had never been any real threat to his safety in the first place.
‘I already have two A-rank Awakeners among my bodyguards.’
Thud.
Chairman Go sank deep into the sofa and paused to catch his breath.
Yet his face quickly began shifting between red and blue once again.
“How dare that young brat think he can deceive the head of the Association!”
Go Byeongdo groaned in frustration as his thoughts churned.
Because of the other party’s deception, he was the one who had been placed in a difficult position.
He had done nothing wrong.
No, if anything, he was the victim here, having lost three billion won.
And yet now he was about to be condemned as incompetent even if he genuinely had known nothing.
At this rate, he might not even survive until the end of his term before being dismissed.
‘But if I hand those Gates over to another country, there’ll definitely be backlash later.’
Sssak.
That still was not enough to cool his anger.
He could not stand it unless he gave that bastard Kim Giryeo a proper scolding.
However, Go Byeongdo had no idea what he could possibly do at the moment.
At the time of the Knight’s Oath, the Association had promised Giryeo that it would not exercise absolute authority over him.
Because of that, they could not impose administrative punishments such as suspending his hunter qualification...
“Huh?”
But then, at that very moment, the Association president’s eyes once again fell upon the clause from earlier.
####################
Kim Giryeo shall not intentionally harm Go Byeongdo or his family in the future.####################
A magical artifact that, unlike lower-grade contract items, had no method of nullification.
If the promise was broken, the price had to be paid unconditionally with death.
The Knight’s Oath.