Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"The Void?"

Ha-min told Baek Cheon-myeong about the Void,

but Baek Cheon-myeong gave him an uncertain reaction.

Anyone could tell that it was the first time he had ever heard of it.

"Was there such a god?"

Even Baek Cheon-myeong didn't know?

That made it even scarier.

"It was probably just some god playing a prank."

Baek Cheon-myeong treated it like nothing important.

Kang Ha-min felt differently.

He had felt absolute malice from that thing.

A horrible desire to torment someone.

He absolutely couldn't get involved with something like that.

"Is there no way to block only one specific god?"

"If you achieve Tower Ascension and become a demigod, it should not be impossible. Before that, I do not know."

Ugh.

So in the end,

he had to climb the Tower if he wanted to solve it.

His head hurt, but there was nothing he could do.

That thing was a god.

And he was just an Estrogen Man.

They were completely different kinds of existences.

"I really hope I never have to see it again."

But the more immediate problem was his house.

His home had been completely destroyed overnight.

By his own hands.

He couldn't even complain to anyone.

Kang Ha-min trudged toward a real estate agency.

Fortunately, his rental contract had already been close to ending anyway.

After contacting the landlord, things were settled with Ha-min covering the repair costs and moving expenses.

His house was gone.

What else could he do?

He had to find another one.

Just as he opened the door to a real estate office to meet an agent,

a ringtone suddenly echoed from inside his shadow.

It wasn't his phone.

Baek Cheon-myeong's phone was ringing.

Ha-min flinched and moved into a quiet corner.

Baek Cheon-myeong slowly emerged from his shadow.

Baek Cheon-myeong could remain within the shadow that formed the boundary between Grave Mountain and reality.

Because of that, he normally stayed inside Ha-min's shadow to protect him.

The name displayed on Baek Cheon-myeong's phone was Shin No-seop.

He had insisted that Baek Cheon-myeong save his number and contact him if anything happened.

Ah, right. I cleared the Second Floor.

Ha-min had forgotten because he had destroyed his own house.

For now, Kang Ha-min sent a text.

A reply arrived immediately.

[Shin No-seop: Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong, this is Shin No-seop, Department Head of the Hunter General Administration Headquarters! I hope you've been doing well!]

They had only seen each other yesterday.

Why was he so cheerful?

Ha-min replied that everything was fine.

[Shin No-seop: Haha, that's a relief! First, I contacted you to congratulate you. It seems you challenged the Second Floor immediately and cleared it with another new record.]

By this point,

Kang Ha-min was starting to understand.

I guess Hunter achievements are a much bigger deal than I thought.

Shin No-seop sounded like he was celebrating.

[Shin No-seop: As expected of Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong! Thanks to you, South Korea's national standing continues to rise!]

Apparently, he had raised South Korea's national status without realizing it.

It sounded a little exaggerated, but Shin No-seop genuinely seemed to mean it.

[Shin No-seop: That is why I contacted you. I've been feeling uneasy because we sent you away last time without properly giving you anything.]

Ha-min hurriedly replied in panic.

They had already given him tax exemptions and plenty of other benefits.

What more were they planning to do?

[Shin No-seop: Absolutely not. What we gave you cannot even be compared to what other Hunters receive.]

[If people outside learned that this was all we gave you, we'd be cursed from every direction.]

W, was that so?

If Shin No-seop himself said it, Ha-min couldn't really argue.

[Shin No-seop: That is why we normally provide housing benefits to Hunters who work hard.]

...Housing benefits?

Considering that his home had just been destroyed,

Ha-min's ears immediately perked up.

[Shin No-seop: Housing is already a major problem in Korean society.]

[Hunters need to focus completely on the Tower. We cannot allow housing problems to distract them, so naturally, we provide benefits.]

Hmm.

Good policy.

Yes.

Harsh modern society needed at least a few policies like this.

This was how you protected people's livelihoods.

[Shin No-seop: So I contacted you because I thought we should explain the housing benefits available to you as well, Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong.]

Perfect timing.

He already needed to move.

[Baek Cheon-myeong: Explain them.]

Ha-min did his best to text in Baek Cheon-myeong's way of speaking.

Talking casually to such a high-ranking official was surprisingly difficult.

[Shin No-seop: Then I'll send you an address. Could you come here?]

Shin No-seop immediately sent the location.

It wasn't very far.

Kang Ha-min ended the conversation and called a taxi to the address.

"Ah, right. I shouldn't be the one going."

Kang Ha-min quickly entered Baek Cheon-myeong's shadow.

They switched places.

"Hmm. A carriage that moves without horses."

It was time for Baek Cheon-myeong to experience modern technology again.

His eyes shone throughout the entire taxi ride.

He looked as though he wanted to keep riding even after they arrived,

but Kang Ha-min urged him to get out.

Inside the shadow,

Kang Ha-min's eyes trembled violently.

Wait.

This was Gangnam.

Sarnoel?

Wasn't this famous for being one of the most expensive apartment complexes in South Korea?

"Ah, Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong! You've arrived!"

At that moment, Shin No-seop came running toward him from a distance.

He wore his brightest business smile and immediately guided him forward.

"This way, please."

"Very well."

Wait.

Don't tell me this place itself is the benefit?

While Kang Ha-min was panicking,

Shin No-seop continued guiding them inside.

Even using Sarnoel's elevator required a special access card.

The elevator rose.

And kept rising.

And rising.

The higher it went,

the stiffer Kang Ha-min's expression became.

Ding.

After a long time, the elevator finally stopped.

There was only one front door on the entire floor.

Shin No-seop opened it using a key card and password.

Beyond it,

a palace appeared.

Kang Ha-min had never entered a place like this in his life.

It had to be at least three hundred square meters.

And the entire place was already filled with furniture and electronics.

"All the furniture and electronic appliances inside will also be registered under Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong's name, so please use them comfortably."

"Naturally, you may bring anyone else to live here with you."

"Everything has been prepared under the best possible conditions, but if there is any problem, contact us and we will replace it immediately."

"I see."

"Here is the key card and password. After I leave, you may change the password whenever you wish."

Before anyone could even say anything,

Shin No-seop handed over the key card.

Baek Cheon-myeong calmly accepted it.

Meanwhile,

inside his shadow, Kang Ha-min could only stare blankly.

"The apartment itself has also been placed under Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong's name, so please live here without worrying. Naturally, the housing-related taxes are exempt as well."

Then Shin No-seop hurried away.

Overnight,

they had somehow acquired an apartment in Sarnoel.

[Kang Ha-min]

● Level: 18

● Class: Gravekeeper of a Ruined World

● Rank: Mythic (神話)

■ Unique Skills: Enter Grave Mountain / Rise of the Dead (亡者起立) / Protection of the Dead / Grave King's Aura (墓王氣勢) / NEW! Army of Ash

■ Paths: Corpse Reconstruction / Soul Binding

Wow.

Eighteen!

Level 18!

After clearing the Second Floor, he had gained another eight levels.

Was leveling up really supposed to be this easy?

On top of that,

he had gained another new skill.

[Army of Ash]

• Raises beings that died on the battlefield for a limited time using the energy of death.

• Destroyed soldiers return to ash and can regenerate.

He hadn't even properly used most of his previous skills yet.

And now he had another one.

Haha.

Kang Ha-min raised his head with mixed feelings.

The bed he was lying on was so large that it wouldn't have even fit inside his old studio apartment.

And it was unbelievably soft.

His entire body sank into it.

So softness like this actually existed in the world.

Every time he lay down, he immediately started feeling sleepy.

But while his body was comfortable,

his heart felt heavy.

This is too much.

By now, even he had started understanding his position.

This was the treatment given to an S Rank Hunter.

No.

Maybe even better.

He had searched the internet,

but he couldn't find a single Hunter who had received treatment this extreme.

Of course being treated well felt good!

Who in the world hated receiving special treatment?

S Rank Hunters were valuable weapons and national treasures.

Kang Ha-min had worked in a Hunter-related department, so he knew exactly how valuable S Rank Hunters were.

But this is still too much! Seriously, it's way too much!

Yes.

He understood all of that.

But simply giving him an apartment in Sarnoel was excessive.

Didn't modern society revolve entirely around money?

Money was power.

And yet they were handing out this much wealth so easily.

The pressure suddenly hit him,

and his stomach began to hurt.

Somehow, his stomach had gotten worse after leaving government work.

If I'd gathered materials and sold them myself, I don't think I'd feel this bad.

But the government was simply throwing benefits at him first.

It made him dizzy.

...Right. This is basically responsibility.

Nothing in this world was free.

That was something Kang Ha-min had learned throughout his life.

And because of the law, civil servants in particular were never supposed to accept free gifts.

I'm technically not a civil servant anymore.

Either way,

anything given for free would eventually return like a boomerang.

There would eventually come a day when he had to repay the value of everything he had received.

What could the government possibly demand in exchange for benefits like this?

Just imagining it made Ha-min's tiny courage scream in terror.

What if his real identity was discovered later?

There was no telling how large the situation would become.

They might even ask him to help in a war.

The thought of standing on a battlefield filled with bullets made his knees weak.

I said I'd protect the world, but still!

And Baek Cheon-myeong was technically doing almost all of that anyway!

He absolutely did not plan to go that far for the country.

Of course he liked South Korea.

It was the country he had to live in.

What was the point of hating it?

But that was only the mild patriotism of someone born here.

He didn't want to fight a war for the country.

Even if it's selfish, my own life is more important.

Kang Ha-min was an ordinary little citizen.

A coward.

There was no way he could handle something this heavy.

Honestly,

just lying in this room made him more stressed.

"This really isn't right."

Kang Ha-min finally got out of bed.

He had never experienced such a comfortable bed in his life,

but he decided to say goodbye.

"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong. I think..."

When he walked out of the bedroom,

Baek Cheon-myeong was watching the massive television that covered most of the wall.

Was this a movie theater?

And why was the picture quality so ridiculously good?

Ha-min wondered what he was watching.

It was the news.

Baek Cheon-myeong was adapting to modern society frighteningly quickly.

[This is the nine o'clock news. A Dimensional Break has currently occurred near Donghwa Hospital.]

[Patients are currently being evacuated, but the number of Hunters who have arrived as support is...]

"Huh?"

Donghwa Hospital?

Kang Ha-min's eyes slowly widened.

"Master, did you not say that was the hospital where your father is staying?"

Yes.

That was his father's hospital.