Chapter 23
At the entrance to the Dimensional Break known as the Mist Zone,
a man suddenly appeared.
For a brief moment,
the shadow beneath his feet seemed to move strangely.
But nobody noticed.
Instead,
everyone's attention went straight to the man's appearance.
He was handsome enough to look as though he had just stepped out of a television drama.
Women and men alike unconsciously held their breaths.
The man calmly walked toward the restricted area sign.
"W, wait!"
Administrator Ji Yong-hu panicked and blocked his path.
An unidentified person was trying to enter a Dimensional Break.
Of course a government administrator had to stop him.
"This is a Dimensional Break zone! You can't just enter whenever you want!"
"Did you not say Dimensional Breaks are places Hunters enter?"
The man looked confused.
Ji Yong-hu tilted his head.
There shouldn't have been any more Hunters coming as reinforcements.
Was this someone who had arrived late?
"Are you one of the Hunters sent as support? What is your name and Rank?"
"S Rank..."
A female Hunter suddenly muttered in a daze.
A press conference video was playing on her phone.
It showed Baek Cheon-myeong declaring his challenge toward Deus.
"S Rank Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong..."
"B, Baek Cheon-myeong?"
"That man, no, that person is him?!"
The Hunters shouted in shock.
Ji Yong-hu's eyes slowly widened too.
Baek Cheon-myeong.
The newly appeared S Rank Hunter who had recently caused an enormous sensation.
At this point,
anyone in South Korea who didn't know Baek Cheon-myeong would practically have to be a spy.
"W, why are you here?"
Why had an S Rank Hunter come to this place?
"Did I not just say it?"
Baek Cheon-myeong continued walking with an indifferent expression.
"Dimensional Breaks are places where Hunters are supposed to go."
Ji Yong-hu's eyes widened.
No way.
Did this man come simply because a Dimensional Break had appeared,
even though he was an S Rank Hunter?
Ji Yong-hu hadn't been an administrator for long.
But even as a rookie,
he already understood that Hunters weren't exactly saints.
Hunters cared about profit.
They valued themselves highly,
and they weren't shy about demanding compensation.
That's capitalism.
To move people who possessed power,
you needed money worthy of that power.
Without money,
you couldn't move Hunters.
And in recent days,
the number of Dimensional Breaks had been increasing.
Naturally,
demand for Hunters had increased too.
Demand was rising while supply remained limited.
So Hunter prices continued climbing.
A Rank Hunters could demand tens of millions of won.
S Rank Hunters cost hundreds of millions.
Dimensional Breaks had long since become a major source of income for Hunters.
Hunters don't risk their lives to save people for nothing.
That was the conclusion rookie administrator Ji Yong-hu had reached.
But what had Baek Cheon-myeong just said?
"Did I not just say it? Dimensional Breaks are places where Hunters are supposed to go."
Baek Cheon-myeong was an S Rank Hunter.
And not just any S Rank Hunter.
He was the Hunter currently breaking Tower records one after another.
His value was at its absolute highest.
Naturally,
his appearance fee should have been enormous.
Yet an S Rank Hunter had personally arrived at a B Rank Dimensional Break.
And he had done so while saying that closing Dimensional Breaks was simply what Hunters were supposed to do.
Ji Yong-hu quietly trembled.
When he was younger,
he had viewed Hunters as symbols of justice.
For the first time,
it felt as though that childhood belief had been rewarded.
"...What are all of you doing?"
Unable to contain his emotions,
Ji Yong-hu turned toward the other Hunters.
Baek Cheon-myeong had already disappeared into the mist.
Ji Yong-hu swallowed his tears and spoke.
"I know how hard all of you work every day."
"I know you risk your lives."
The Hunters glanced at one another.
Some wanted to argue.
But an S Rank Hunter had just entered for almost no money to save people.
If they had any shame,
it was difficult to keep complaining.
More importantly,
they had all saved people before.
They knew what it felt like when someone sincerely thanked them for saving their life.
That feeling had value too.
"But the ordinary civilians trapped inside didn't choose this danger."
"They're victims who were caught inside a Dimensional Break."
Everyone trapped inside was a victim.
Ordinary people forced to tremble in fear because of something they never asked for.
They were someone's family.
And every Hunter standing here had family too.
There was no guarantee their own loved ones would always remain safe from Dimensional Breaks.
Dimensional Breaks could appear anywhere.
They were ticking bombs.
"You don't have to kill the monsters."
"You don't even have to close the Dimensional Break immediately."
"But..."
Ji Yong-hu looked at the Hunters desperately.
"Please, could you at least save the civilians?"
Why had the Hunter system been created in the first place?
To protect powerless people trapped inside Dimensional Breaks.
Ji Yong-hu's desperate request,
combined with the example Baek Cheon-myeong had shown as an S Rank Hunter,
finally moved them.
"Damn it. Fine. This is definitely a terrible deal, though."
One Hunter began walking.
Then others followed.
"If even an S Rank Hunter is stepping forward, we'll embarrass ourselves if we do nothing."
"Let's go. An S Rank is already inside anyway, so it'll probably be cleaned up quickly."
"We might as well earn some easy money."
Hunters who had refused to move moments earlier finally started entering.
Ji Yong-hu clenched his fist while watching them.
Baek Cheon-myeong.
One S Rank Hunter had changed the actions of everyone around him simply by moving first.
Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong, thank you.
Ji Yong-hu silently expressed his gratitude.
Then he promised himself that he would do his absolute best as a government administrator.
Naturally,
Baek Cheon-myeong and Kang Ha-min had no idea any of this had happened.
The two men had accidentally inspired the Hunters and administrator outside.
