Chapter 14
It had only been thirty-five years since Gates first appeared.
Even less time had passed since society returned to anything resembling normal.
These days, people dressed up the era by calling it the Hunter Era.
But if you looked at it honestly, it was really an era of bereaved families.
And among the countless people carrying graves inside their hearts, some gave themselves over to their boiling emotions and became protesters.
"That demon's skeleton is my father! We never even found his body!"
"That summon has to be my daughter! I lost her when she was young!"
People with no graves to visit screamed until their voices went hoarse.
Those who had held funerals in front of empty coffins couldn't properly let go of their dead, so their grief turned into anger.
Their claims lacked logic.
But nobody tried particularly hard to stop them.
Maybe, somewhere deep inside, even other people thought,
What if they're right?
An S-Class Hunter, one of the country's most valuable assets, was being publicly attacked.
Naturally, the government couldn't ignore it forever.
They tested the DNA of Seol Ga-hyeon's summons.
The result was clear.
They were not from Earth.
But...
That result became poison for Seol Ga-hyeon and Badger Guild instead.
The protesters grew even angrier and accused the government of being involved in a cover-up.
Apparently, some of them had even committed acts far more extreme than I'd imagined.
Extreme enough that the government had hurriedly released public explanations.
By now, public anger toward the government itself seemed to have died down.
But Badger Guild's situation remained unchanged.
Judging by the circumstances, the government had clearly washed its hands of the issue.
Badger Guild had every reason to feel wronged.
Honestly, even the short amount of research I'd done over the past few days had been enough to show me that at least half the rumors I'd heard about the guild were completely ridiculous.
And even now, people who didn't care enough to investigate, people like the old me, probably still believed those malicious rumors were true.
Unless something gave them a reason to look deeper...
They might believe them forever.
With those thoughts in mind, I told Yoon Jamok what had happened outside the main entrance.
I asked whether this was what she'd wanted me to see when she told me to visit the guild personally.
But Yoon Jamok's expression darkened slightly.
"...So something like that happened. You must have been startled. I invited you here as a guest, only to show you something unpleasant."
So she hadn't wanted me to see Badger Guild suffering because of the protesters?
I tried reading her expression, then gave up.
I'd only met her twice, but she really was difficult to understand.
In a way, that suited the public image of her as a cold and ambitious giant of the Hunter industry.
Still, considering the building's interior and the kind of sculpture she's commissioning, the rumor that she's constantly fighting for dominance with her guild members must be false.
If anything, Yoon Jamok seemed to care deeply about them.
She took several sips of coffee before continuing.
"This is... difficult for me to speak about openly because it involves the private lives of my guild members."
"I understand."
"But if I explain it in broad terms..."
Yoon Jamok began.
"What I wanted to show you wasn't the protesters. It was my guild members. If you walk around the building, you'll easily find people sitting around looking exhausted and lifeless."
"I noticed..."
"Hunters are always surrounded by blood. We kill one kind of life to save another."
"You mean killing monsters to save people?"
"Yes. That's right."
There was a faint smile in her eyes.
For some reason, I instinctively looked away.
It felt like there was something else behind the words not just monsters.
I didn't particularly want to know.
"Anyway. When you spend your life constantly killing things, even if those things are monsters, you sometimes start wondering what exactly you are."
"...What do you mean?"
"Whether you're a hero, a butcher... or perhaps a gladiator."
"...Is that how it feels?"
"When you return covered in blood and people cheer for you, the world can start looking strange."
Her gaze lowered toward some point on the table, as though she were remembering a distant past.
"Especially when the world before you entered a Gate and the world after you come back from one look exactly the same."
"..."
"You start wondering, Did I really protect this world by staining my hands with blood? In the past, at least you could feel that you'd saved someone. These days, it's harder to feel that."
For a moment, Yoon Jamok's A-Class mana swelled in presence.
Then it faded.
Swelled again.
And finally disappeared completely.
For a brief instant, the air felt heavy, almost as though I'd been submerged underwater.
It somehow seemed to reveal the weight of her thoughts.
Only after a moment did Yoon Jamok realize she'd lost control of her mana.
She gave me and the guards behind me a slight bow in apology.
I accepted it casually and thought about what she'd said.
She was right.
The world during Yoon Jamok's most active years and the world now were completely different.
The stability of society.
The vitality of civilization.
Even the concentration of peace in everyday life.
I had been born around the time society was finally stabilizing.
I only knew the era before that through records.
But even the short passages in textbooks made one thing obvious.
Back then, both Hunters and ordinary people had been desperate.
They clung to one another just to survive.
They supported each other because they had no other choice.
That desperation was woven into every word used to describe the period.
Hunters really were national heroes back then.
Now, they were viewed more like businesspeople.
A stable country was obviously a good thing.
But the atmosphere surrounding Hunters had undeniably changed.
Even ordinary civilians could feel it just by watching the news.
The way anchors spoke about Hunters had gradually become lighter.
And often more negative.
Hunters were changing.
And so were the people looking at them.
Yoon Jamok's gaze, now free of those distant thoughts, met mine directly again.
"The world we have now is the result of half a lifetime of my effort. Of course I'm proud of that."
"..."
"But when I look at my guild members, I still worry."
Her expression hardened slightly.
"Especially because... if receiving nothing but praise can already confuse you, what do you think happens when all you receive is condemnation?"
Because she was carefully avoiding specific details about her guild members' private lives, the conversation naturally centered more on Yoon Jamok's own perspective.
But the point was ultimately simple.
She wants a work that can raise her guild members' morale.
The criticism outside wasn't going to disappear immediately.
The protesters would remain.
And people who had once been protected by Hunters would probably continue condemning Badger Guild.
But Yoon Jamok couldn't simply leave her guild members to sink further into depression.
That was why she wanted a work that could soothe them, even just a little.
If she'd explained it this way during our first meeting, I probably wouldn't have understood.
Only after seeing Badger Guild's situation and atmosphere with my own eyes could I fully grasp what she meant.
"I think I understand why you commissioned me now. I also have a rough idea of what kind of work you're looking for."
"Does that mean you'll accept the commission?"
I nodded lightly.
If that was the reason, I wanted to help.
I also felt slightly guilty for misunderstanding Badger Guild.
More importantly, I now understood why Yoon Jamok had looked at Yeonwoo's sculpture and decided she wanted me.
Shin Ha-gyeon's expression has been noticeably brighter lately.
If she believed that had something to do with Yeonwoo's sculpture...
Then her decision made sense.
Since I'd already reviewed most of the terms beforehand, the contract was signed quickly.
Once the paperwork was finished, Yoon Jamok pulled out a sheet of paper.
"I've been thinking about where inside the guild building we might install the sculpture."
The paper contained a map of the guild building.
Three locations had been circled in red.
Each was numbered and labeled:
[Candidate Location for Sculpture Installation]
"I assume you'll want to inspect them personally. I'll guide you."
"...Actually, if you don't mind, could I look around by myself?"
After looking at the candidate locations, I decided it would be better to walk around alone.
I could already guess why she'd selected each place based on what she'd told me.
And if the guild master followed me around, I wouldn't have many chances to talk naturally with the guild members.
Yoon Jamok's explanation alone wasn't quite enough for me to sketch the work.
The lobby, the clinic, and the rest area on the floor where all the team meeting rooms are located.
Fortunately, Yoon Jamok told me to do whatever was most comfortable and sent me on my way.
The moment I left the guild master's office, I used the excuse of inspecting the candidate installation locations to wander around Badger Guild.
Along the way, I approached guild members who recognized me and tried speaking with them.
Most recognized me as the production-type Hunter from the news.
A smaller number had apparently heard from Yoon Jamok that she'd commissioned a sculpture from me.
Those people tended to be team leaders or people holding other positions of responsibility.
Yoon Jamok might have expected me to build the sculpture based only on what she'd told me.
Unfortunately, that wasn't possible.
Not for a sculpture at the level she wanted.
This commission was different from Shin Ha-gyeon's.
His situation had been deeply personal.
But at the same time, his grief was something shared by countless people of this era.
I didn't know exactly how deep Shin Ha-gyeon's sorrow or despair ran.
I didn't know every memory he'd shared with the child or every moment of happiness between them.
But his grief was still a grief that ran through the entire age.
Badger Guild's commission was different.
There were parts of it that nobody outside Badger Guild could truly understand.
More importantly, this work wasn't meant for one person or for some vague general public.
It was for Badger Guild's members.
The real subjects of the sculpture weren't Yoon Jamok, the client.
They were the guild members beneath her.
Unfortunately, my attempts at interviewing them didn't go particularly smoothly.
Even the people who had first approached me casually became visibly guarded the moment I asked,
"What has been the hardest thing for you lately?"
Isn't that a pretty ordinary question?
For once, fame wasn't helping me much.
Still, I wasn't completely unsuccessful.
A handful of guild members eventually told me bits and pieces.
And once I gathered those hesitant answers together...
So, in summary, a lot of Badger Guild members gathered here because they respected Yoon Jamok. That's why they're much closer than I expected. The protests are exhausting, but nobody seemed to blame Seol Ga-hyeon or want her expelled.
I'd assumed at least some of them secretly resented Seol Ga-hyeon.
