Chapter 19. Baeksu Guild (1)
“Who did the Special Division arrest?”
Baek Hyeong-gyu asked, releasing a savage aura.
He was a survivor of the Aeso Gate, the place once called hell.
A Gate where humans were forced to hunt other humans.
It was estimated that Baek Hyeong-gyu had killed more than five hundred people there.
That didn't mean he was treated as a criminal Hunter who murdered people as casually as eating meals.
The Gate had been an unavoidable disaster.
And after surviving it, Baek Hyeong-gyu became an S-Rank Hunter, one of the nation's strategic assets.
Still...
He had undeniably killed hundreds of people.
“Guh...! G-Guild Master! Please calm down...!”
The killing intent he released was incomparable to that of ordinary Hunters.
Whoosh!
Baek Hyeong-gyu withdrew his killing intent.
The Vice Guild Master reporting to him collapsed.
“Haah... haah...”
No matter how many times he experienced it, he could never get used to this insane pressure.
He himself was an A-Rank Hunter.
And yet Baek Hyeong-gyu's killing intent could still squeeze the air from his lungs.
“T-The one arrested by the Special Division is a man named Choi Yoon-seo.”
“Choi Yoon-seo? Did I ask his name?”
“W-Well...”
The Vice Guild Master turned pale.
“The arrested party is the group we transferred the mining Gate clearing rights to. Their party leader used to belong to our Guild. He had too much pride and too little ability, so we expelled him.”
“...”
Baek Hyeong-gyu silently stared at him.
For an instant, the Vice Guild Master touched his neck, wondering if his head had already been cut off.
“An abnormal Gate appeared there! That's why the Special Division became involved!”
Terrified, he started blurting out information Baek Hyeong-gyu hadn't even asked for.
Finally, Baek Hyeong-gyu spoke.
“...Understood. Leave.”
“What?”
“I said leave.”
“Yes!”
The Vice Guild Master escaped the room the instant permission was given.
“...An abnormal Gate.”
Baek Hyeong-gyu muttered thoughtfully.
He didn't remember who Choi Yoon-seo was.
But he did remember the Gate he had sold.
The Special Division. This is going to be annoying.
Those lunatics were difficult to reason with.
“Of all people, it had to involve those irritating bastards.”
Transferring clearing rights was already close to illegal.
And now an abnormal Gate had appeared there.
There was no chance that Choi Yoon-seo, the man arrested by the Special Division, hadn't mentioned Baeksu's name.
Baek Hyeong-gyu didn't remember the man.
But if Choi Yoon-seo had enough courage to keep his mouth shut in front of Special Division Hunters, Baeksu never would've thrown him out in the first place.
“Looks like... we'll have visitors after a long time.”
Baek Hyeong-gyu's eyes changed.
Like a predator waiting for prey.
Meanwhile...
Special Division Team Leader Choi Ji-woong raised a thumb toward Kim Si-hyeon.
“I-It suits you very well!”
He meant every word.
Kim Si-hyeon stood in front of a mirror.
He looked completely different from usual.
After arriving in this world, Kim Si-hyeon normally wore simple short-sleeved shirts and long pants because they were easy to move in.
With his height and muscular build, even those looked surprisingly good.
But now...
Calling it a complete transformation wouldn't be an exaggeration.
“...Really?”
“Y-Yes! I'm completely serious! It looks incredible!”
After Kim Si-hyeon's recent disappearance, the Association came up with a plan.
Even with Yoo-seong's massive sponsorship, Kim Si-hyeon might still feel dissatisfied.
So they wanted to give him a stronger sense of belonging.
“Why don't we just let him work as a real Special Division Hunter?”
“Give him proper clothes and proper equipment. Make him actually feel like one of us.”
“If he develops a sense of belonging, maybe he won't cause a huge incident or suddenly leave.”
Honestly, Choi Ji-woong wasn't sure it would work.
Putting a lion inside a cage and painting stripes on it didn't turn it into a zebra.
Still, they wanted to try something.
So they created official Special Division uniforms for the first time.
Combat suits that cost more than one billion won per set.
Without Yoo-seong's sponsorship, they never could have afforded them.
And Kim Si-hyeon standing before him was the result.
He looked like a completely different person in the suit.
His natural sharpness and raw danger remained.
But it now felt refined.
Cleaner.
More controlled.
“Interesting. It's easy to move in.”
“Of course!”
The clothing was made from monster materials and thread woven with mana stones.
Most importantly...
They said Hunter Kim Si-hyeon's is special, right?
A normal Special Division combat suit cost around one billion won.
Kim Si-hyeon's was different.
Yoo-seong's prototype.
A masterpiece created by Yoo-seong Octacore, the corporation's item-development division.
Not a commercial product.
A concept item created using every piece of technology they possessed.
Hadn't they said the development cost alone was over one hundred billion won?
“...It suits you.”
Someone appeared.
It was the person who had brought Kim Si-hyeon's suit.
“Thanks.”
Yoo So-ha.
The older Yoo-seong twin.
She seemed genuinely surprised by Kim Si-hyeon's changed appearance.
“If you don't mind... may I explain it?”
She sounded impressed.
“The clothing is made from special materials, so we're confident in its durability. Even if an ordinary person wore it, it could block one or two attacks from a B-Rank monster.”
“I-Is that really true?”
Unlike Kim Si-hyeon, Choi Ji-woong looked shocked.
“Yes. And if you inject mana into it, its durability becomes even higher.”
Twitch.
Kim Si-hyeon flinched at the word mana.
“It also has self-repair, so you won't need to worry much about maintenance. The belt can hold potions, and...”
