Chapter 139 – Authority

What if he thinks I’m weird?

That was Seo Hyun-ji’s first thought.

‘The Team Leader is the weirder one, though.’

So it should be fine.

After constructing this ridiculous line of reasoning, Seo Hyun-ji opened her mouth.

“Team Leader, you were a Hero before, right?”

“I went through hell and back.”

“So, I was just wondering. Just in case.”

“Come on, what is it?”

“Do you happen to… like little children?”

The moment the words left her mouth, Seo Hyun-ji realized she’d phrased the question poorly.

“Why are you suddenly asking that…?”

“Ah, no. That’s not what I meant. You said you defeated a Demon King or something in the past, right?”

“Yes.”

“Was that Demon King’s name Dantalian?”

The name of the Demon King the Hero went to fight was Dantalian.

She’d heard that the Hero killed the Demon King, but that his own life had ended as well.

“Yes, it was. Haven’t my companions told you?”

Hyunbin said it casually, as if it were nothing.

The image of the Hero from her childhood and the Team Leader standing before her began to overlap.

A parallel world? Or a distortion in spacetime?

This world was strange enough for anything to be possible.

After all, it was a world where Gates opened, spilling out monsters or revealing dungeons within.

In this day and age, where dimensional travel was practically a daily occurrence, something like this wasn’t out of the question.

“But… didn’t they say you died along with the Demon King?”

Seo Hyun-ji felt her lips go dry.

It was just a shot in the dark.

But this was important. If he was the Hero who had died with the Demon King, then he had to be the Hero she had spent time with as a child.

“With the Demon King? Ah, that. I was the one who started that rumor.”

“What…?”

Seo Hyun-ji blinked, dumbfounded by Hyunbin’s words.

“It’s a long story. At the time, people from other kingdoms were preparing to attack me from behind, so I needed to lay low for a bit. It was epic. You should have seen how those old geezers trembled when they saw I was alive later.”

Hyunbin was chuckling, clearly amused.

For some reason, Seo Hyun-ji felt a surge of irritation.

She remembered sobbing as a child, begging the Hero not to go.

Back then, the Hero had promised to see her again. He had made a clear promise, but he never returned.

After that, Seo Hyun-ji had crossed over to the modern world, so she didn’t know the rest of the story. But for a whole year, the Hero had not kept his promise.

“Why would you hide? What about… your promises? Don’t you keep them?”

“What promise?”

“Didn’t you say you’d return to the capital later?”

“I did?”

Hyunbin blinked, as if he had no memory of it at all.

“Ah, right. I think there was a promise like that.”

The Hero stroked his chin, an infuriatingly sly look on his face.

It had been a huge shock to her young heart, yet the person responsible was so nonchalant about it.

“I think I promised a little kid who used to bring me rock-hard bread. But setting aside the fact that I couldn’t go to the capital because I had to hide, that bread the kid brought me was just unbelievably bad.”

“…!”

“I was so surprised the first time I tried it. I thought she was telling me to eat a rock. I couldn’t hurt a child’s feelings, so I had a hard time secretly throwing it away.”

“You… you threw it away?”

Seo Hyun-ji wracked her brain.

Come to think of it, the Hero had only ever pretended to eat the bread. She’d seen him on the street, devouring a huge order of barbecue and rye bread at a restaurant.

At the time, she’d just thought he had a big appetite, but he had actually been completely ignoring her heartfelt gesture.

“But how do you know all that? Do you talk about things like that with your companions?”

At the Hero’s words, Seo Hyun-ji felt a vein pop on her forehead.

“Ah, right. You used your wish, didn’t you? You did. You definitely used it. Don’t try to take it back later.”

Hyunbin laughed cheerfully. Annoyed, Seo Hyun-ji glared at him with narrowed eyes and muttered coldly.

“Just die. That’s my wish.”

“I told you not to wish for the impossible.”

“Then should I help you?”

“Whoa, Ms. Seo Hyun-ji. That flame got bigger. It looks even larger than when you were burning those bees… Hyun-ji?”

A sphere of fire surged toward Hyunbin, intent on burning him.

“So annoying.”

Back home, Seo Hyun-ji had attacked Hyunbin out of sheer irritation.

She hadn’t truly meant to harm him, but Hyunbin wasn’t even grazed by the magic.

Instead, when he punched it, the magic dissipated completely.

‘Is he a monster or what?’

He did strange things that others couldn’t, without even using any special skills or items.

Of course, that might be why he was called the strongest Hero.

‘Next time, I’ll have to use an attack he can’t dodge.’

Instead of one big attack, a multi-pronged, overwhelming assault might be more effective.

As she plotted how to get back at Hyunbin, Seo Hyun-ji punched the teddy bear lying on her bed in the stomach.

Watching the teddy bear’s head and legs fly up as if in agony, Seo Hyun-ji let out a few snickers, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

Whatever the reason, the Hero she thought was dead was actually by her side.

Even if he didn’t remember her.

If you wanted to call it fate, it was fate.

‘Well, I was just a little kid, so it’s understandable he doesn’t remember. I didn’t recognize him either, even though his face is the same.’

Thinking about it that way, she felt a little bad for being upset with the Team Leader.

Somehow, that thought made her feel a bit better.

Instead, Seo Hyun-ji took it out on the innocent teddy bear.

With every punch, the teddy bear’s legs jerked up.

* * *

“Something’s weird.”

When I got home, Katrinne was the one to break the silence.

“What is?”

“It seems like you’re getting along well with women lately, Mister.”

What nonsense is she spouting now?

The only women around me are people I meet for work.

And even then, they’re all drenched in sweat, so all I smell is sweat.

“I think I can smell perfume on you.”

“Perfume?”

I lifted my arm and sniffed, but there was nothing.

Besides, for perfume to rub off on me, we’d have to have some kind of physical contact, wouldn’t we?

“If you said I smelled like something burning, I’d believe you.”

“Burning?”

“Yeah. I was attacked by a wild mage.”

Does she not realize that even though I’m strong, an attack from an S-rank mage could be dangerous?

Then again, S-rank means superhuman.

It means a person beyond the normal ranks.

But shouldn’t I, who has surpassed S-rank, be classified under a different rank?

Like SSS-rank, or EX-rank.

“Hyun-ji?”

“How did you know?”

“Who else around you could be called a wild mage but her?”

Katrinne muttered, then shot me a suspicious look.

“What did she wish for?”

“It wasn’t much of a wish. She just asked about the old days.”

“The old days?”

A question mark formed on Katrinne’s face.

I took off my shirt as I headed into the shower. Katrinne, apparently eager to hear the rest, scurried to the shower door and pressed her ear against it.

“What about the old days?”

“It was nothing important.”

“What was it?”

Why is she so curious about it?

“She was probably curious if I remembered what she was like as a kid.”

“???”

Leaving the curious Katrinne behind, I stepped into the shower.

Whether it was the little Seo Hyun-ji or the adult Seo Hyun-ji, she hadn’t changed much, so it wasn’t hard to recognize her.

Her impudent behavior and gaze were the spitting image of how she used to be.

I had also witnessed my team members’ growth firsthand.

They would never be pushed back by Villains again.

The stream of water beat against my body, soaking my hair and pattering onto the floor.

As I watched the water swirl down the drain, a thought occurred to me.

Having a partner who shares the same dream is incredibly convenient.

In the other world, I had to watch others be sacrificed solely for my ideals. But now, it’s convenient having someone by my side to handle the aftermath.

-Current divinity is 881.

The more my reputation spreads, the more my divinity rises, and the more influence I can exert on the dimension.

There’s still a long way to go.

To take a leap forward, I need to build a solid foundation.

‘It’s about to begin.’

Now that my team and my guild’s power base have been established, it’s time to start the real cleanup.

* * *

A month passed after my conversation with the Demon King.

-The Hwarang Guild Gate Incident.

-Hwarang Guild Goes Up for Urgent Sale.

The Hwarang Guild Gate incident, which had only been a rumor bubbling beneath the surface, finally exploded.

It became public knowledge that they had been winning dungeon bids, selling them to lower-tier guilds for a 30% profit, and deceiving their regular hunters and supporters, excluding the top-ranked ones, on their payouts.

The Hwarang Guild, which had been in denial about the possibility of such a scandal, was thrown into chaos. This incident triggered investigations into other guilds as well.

Hanul’s leadership, as if expecting this, had already taken care of any potential problems.

However, several other guilds were being swept away by the tide of a massive corruption scandal.

The Gate incidents, which used to occur dozens of time a day, had now subsided to the point where maybe one would occur a week.

Thanks to this, the government was reporting that the end of the Gate crisis was in sight.

As the appearance of Gates and dungeons decreased, it was only natural that hunters’ income would dwindle.

-Hanul to Absorb Hwarang!

-Hwarang Guild Sold to Hanul… All Hwarang Hunters, Supporters, and Staff Contracts Finalized.

-Hanul’s Move to Expand Despite Decreased Productivity. Shareholders Are Furious.

Hwarang didn’t have any special-rank hunters, but it had many highly active hunters who performed without issue.

Their loyalty to the guild was also quite high.

Because the Mana Stone industry was so lucrative, the more hunters and supporters you had, the more profit you could rake in.

However, with the number of dungeons decreasing and the government publicly anticipating the end of the Gate crisis, absorbing a guild of that size was an enormous risk.

After all, they would have to support hundreds of guild members with no income.

It was like a restaurant packed with staff but with no customers.

Because of this, the news was flooded with reports that Hanul’s guild master, Im Jae-joon, who had been doing so well, had made a huge blunder.

Well, Im Jae-joon wouldn’t have acquired an entire guild without a plan.

The Gate situation has calmed down for now because the Undying Demon King has been defeated.

Sooner or later, the Gate crisis will erupt again.

Both Im Jae-joon and I know this, which is why we are working to further strengthen the guild’s numbers.

‘Looks like I’ll have a lot more people to spar with.’

The thought of beating up the Hwarang Guild’s rookies brought a smile to my face.

Come to think of it, I’ll get to train with that Mad Dog hunter, Kim Cheol-su, again. He really packed a punch.

I’m looking forward to it.

-Hunter on the Rise in the Global Market: Hanul’s Lee Hyunbin Mentioned.

-Hanul’s Lee Hyunbin Earns the Nickname ‘Dragon Slayer.’

-Deliveryman? No. It Seems He Should Be Called the Villain Killer. Team Leader of Hanul Guild and Korea’s One and Only Specialized Gader, Lee Hyunbin, Apprehends His 300th Villain.

During that time, I had been rounding up Villains left and right.

How did I catch them?

[Ria: Sir Hero, I’ve now unified twenty organizations. Hehe.]

Our gym-rat elf has been recruiting like crazy.

She’s been absorbing and integrating organizations from other regions one by one, apparently growing into a big shot in the underworld.

All I did was say one word, and she’s truly becoming the queen of the underworld.

In any case, thanks to her, I’ve gained access to the underworld’s information network.

In other words, I can now track down Villains who haven’t surfaced yet.

[Ria: I spread the word of the Hero Cult today too ^0^]

That’s what she says, but I know full well it’s “proselytizing (physical).”

To be more precise, she’s operating under the strange name of the “Hero Faction” rather than the Hero Cult.

She’s a real piece of work.

In this moment, I know how Cao Cao felt.

-Current influence is 1,231.

While Im Jae-joon was busy expanding the guild, I was beating down Villains and growing my influence.

[Hero Cult’s First Apostle, Ismail: Sir Hero. I will return before this protein shake gets warm.]

The believer connected to me… I can call her a believer, right?

Anyway, among my followers working hard in the other world, there’s a special existence.

Apostle Ismail has been proselytizing relentlessly.

Thanks to her, the remaining cities that had been firmly locked down have surrendered—no, have been successfully converted.

In other words, the five cities of the other world are now connected, and their status is visible in my system.

Thanks to that, I had to buy and send a ton of additional fitness equipment to the cities that joined my sphere of influence.

It costs a fair bit of money, but for some reason, it doesn’t feel like a waste.

Watching the pixelated characters build muscle like crazy makes me feel like I’m the one making gains, and it feels good.

Of course, I wasn’t just playing SimCity.

-Congratulations! You have acquired the Ruler’s Authority.

Due to my growing faith, I had gained a special right granted by the system.