Chapter 62 – Raid Preparation (1)

Eleven years have passed since the gates opened.

The world was now inhabited by two kinds of people.

Those connected to the System, and those who were not.

The former lived ordinary lives, while the latter became the Awakened, either registering as Hunters or simply living as civilians with abilities.

Heroes, the kind you’d only see in sci-fi movies, now existed, and a ranking system was established based on a Hunter’s abilities.

Hunters became a mainstream presence, and the number of Awakened individuals grew accordingly. For better or for worse.

“Kyaaah!”

A woman’s sharp scream echoed, drawing the gazes of people going about their day.

A random assault in broad daylight during rush hour. No, it was murder.

The woman, suddenly stabbed, gasped for breath and clutched her abdomen. As she felt the warmth drain from her body, she sensed the premonition of her impending death.

*What did I do to deserve this?*

Tears welled in her eyes.

She had done nothing wrong. She was just unlucky.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaah!”

Without even checking if the woman was alive, the assailant turned and targeted someone else.

Another victim fell, and people fled from the attacker who was rampaging with a kitchen knife. Someone inside a building reported the sudden killing spree on the street, and chaos erupted.

“F-Freeze!”

A nearby patrol car noticed the incident, and an officer aimed a taser.

The assailant, far from feeling threatened by the police, grinned, revealing yellowed teeth.

*An Awakened.*

The officer knew it instantly.

Just as he predicted, the vagrant lunged. At a speed the eye couldn’t follow.

*Thwip!*

The taser fired, and in that same instant, the vagrant swung the kitchen knife at the officer’s neck.

The officer squeezed his eyes shut without thinking. But he felt none of the pain a blade should have delivered.

“Aegis?”

The officer muttered to himself. The vagrant’s kitchen knife, which had been aimed at his neck, was blocked by a shield-shaped light of bluish hue.

He had seen that mystical light before in a news report.

The name of the person who possessed this absolute shield was…

“It’s… It’s Seol Ji-hoon!”

One of only five S-rank Hunters in the country. It belonged to the man called the strongest tanker, the Paladin, Seol Ji-hoon.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yes. Yes!”

Seeing the famous Hunter right before his eyes, the officer felt his mind go blank.

The silver-haired nobleman, often called a “face genius” by the younger generation, smiled gently.

“Hehehe.”

The vagrant laughed, even as he saw the shield blocking his kitchen knife.

As if he had no idea who stood before him.

“H-Hunter Seol!”

The vagrant, with his characteristic speed, launched a surprise attack on Seol Ji-hoon, whose back was turned.

Despite the officer’s urgent cry, Seol Ji-hoon remained composed.

He lightly flicked his fingers. And the shield of light, commonly known as Aegis, his ability, materialized behind his back.

The vagrant slammed his face into the suddenly formed shield and tumbled to the ground.

With a frustrated look, he tried to charge again but felt something was wrong.

His body wouldn’t move.

Front, back, left, and right.

All sides were enclosed by elongated shields of blue light. Seeing the now-trapped vagrant begin to struggle, Seol Ji-hoon tended to the injured.

“*Heup, heup*… I don’t want to die…”

“Don’t worry. I’m here now.”

The woman with the stab wound in her abdomen felt a strange sense of relief as Seol Ji-hoon whispered in a gentle voice.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling; the searing pain began to vanish in an instant.

Seol Ji-hoon prayed beside her. And the miracle dwelling within his body began to transfer to her.

The blood that had been gushing out like a sewer backflow slowly stopped, and a scab began to form.

Witnessing the miracle, people took out their phones and started recording. Some began to chant Seol Ji-hoon’s name.

Police reinforcements soon arrived, and the weakened vagrant was handcuffed.

“I could have taken him in myself.”

“Oh, no, sir. We couldn’t possibly take up more of your time when you’re so busy.”

A man who started as an E-rank healer supporter, then reawakened his tanking abilities to become an S-rank.

And yet, he was always gentle and never arrogant. For that reason, he was a Hunter often compared to Hwang Jae-yeon, the nation’s first S-rank.

Though some sneered at Hunters, calling them miners, that label was never applied to this man.

“Take up my time? Ensuring the safety of our citizens is something we do together.”

The police officer, who had in fact done nothing, looked deeply moved by Seol Ji-hoon’s words.

He was certainly a handsome man with a good personality; it was understandable why he had a fan club.

“Thank you. We have to earn our keep, after all.”

Seol Ji-hoon offered a wry smile at the officer’s words.

The officer unconsciously extended his hand.

Though younger than him, this man was righteous and benevolent. He was someone who deserved the title of hero more than hunter.

Seol Ji-hoon’s eyes stiffened for a moment. The officer felt a strange, inexplicable sense of unease.

“Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

Seol Ji-hoon shook his hand, smiling unassumingly.

As Seol Ji-hoon turned to leave after his farewell, a cloud of fans who had gathered swarmed toward him.

The police officers let out a bitter laugh as they watched Seol Ji-hoon and his manager smile awkwardly while asking for passage.

“You can’t tell if that guy is a celebrity or a Hunter.”

“Still, you can understand why they act like that.”

“He’s got it all, hasn’t he?”

The officers grumbled as they pushed the suspect into the car, bringing the scene to a close.

“Seriously, they’re so rabid. Blocking the car and everything. It’s insane.”

Seol Ji-hoon’s manager muttered, cursing under his breath.

“Sorry, hyung.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Though I guess being born handsome is a sin.”

“Should I get plastic surgery?”

“What, you want to look like me?”

“I’d be fine with that.”

The manager’s looks could by no means be described as handsome.

“You’re dissing me with such a straight face.”

The manager laughed cheerfully, and Seol Ji-hoon gave a wry smile. He took off the white gloves he was wearing. He tossed them into the trash can in the car and put on a new pair.

There were some things he just couldn’t tolerate, no matter how hard he tried.

A physiologically suffocating unpleasantness.

“Hey, changing your gloves again?”

“Yeah.”

“You know that’s a sickness, right? Ever heard of mysophobia?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, at least you’re not too extreme about it.”

“It’s hard to fix.”

Seol Ji-hoon said gently, his eyes crinkling into a smile.

His manager was gravely mistaken.

He didn’t have anything like mysophobia.

“So, the high-level dungeon raid is tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

The vehicle stopped in front of the Tushin Guild headquarters.

The reason for visiting the guild today was for tomorrow’s dungeon raid.

It was a regular occurrence, but this time the guild was being unusually sensitive about it.

“Wow, look at all those reporters.”

The guild’s underground parking lot was no exception. The reporters hiding to get a scoop on Seol Ji-hoon were practically ninjas at this point.

“Hunter Seol! As the key to tomorrow’s dungeon raid, please give us a word!”

“This is the first time S-rank guilds from both sides are competing in a high-level dungeon…”

“What are these people doing sneaking in here? Is this the time for an interview? Aren’t you going to leave?”

“Hunter Seol, just one word!”

Seol Ji-hoon didn’t respond to the reporters’ shouts as they were chased away by the security team.

*Disgusting creatures.*

Disgusting.

Their attention was utterly disgusting.

The security team, pretending to handle things well, was disgusting. The manager, sticking close and acting friendly, was disgusting.

It was the primal feeling a human gets when looking at a cockroach.

Seol Ji-hoon was feeling it, but he exercised superhuman patience.

“It’s Hunter Seol.”

“Wow, look at that face working hard again today.”

Seeing the vile creatures wagging their tails, Seol Ji-hoon felt like the corners of his mouth would crack. But he…

“Hello.”

“Kyaa, hello!”

“Hunter-nim, you look handsome today too!”

…was good at smiling.

Because when he smiled, everyone reacted to the outer shell, not his true self.

When he entered the conference room, all eyes turned to him. Some stood up to greet him, others gave a light wave; the reactions varied.

“Seol Ji-hoon. Ji-hoon.”

Kim Shin, the HR Team Leader of the Tushin Guild, looked as if a great weight had been lifted the moment he saw Seol Ji-hoon’s face.

“Hyung, I mean, Team Leader-nim.”

“Hey, you can just call me hyung.”

The notoriously prickly Team Leader Kim Shin only ever became gentle in front of Seol Ji-hoon.

It was a well-known fact.

Seol Ji-hoon sighed inwardly as Kim Shin approached and put an arm around his shoulder.

It looked like he would have to change his clothes later.

“Just seeing our Ji-hoon relieves my stress, you know? You know that, right?”

“Am I some kind of digestive aid?”

“Of course, our Ji-hoon is a digestive aid. The best brand.”

Kim Shin, even cracking a dad joke he normally wouldn’t, addressed everyone.

“Tomorrow, let’s show those Hanul lackeys what’s what.”

The Hanul Guild had been the source of Kim Shin’s stress for a while.

Once outside the top 20, a place where thugs just made pocket money, they had shot up and entered the top 10 in no time.

“Let’s show them the difference in class.”

Recently, they had been losing market share because of Hanul, no, because of that damn deliveryman, Lee Hyunbin.

They needed to demonstrate the difference in power with this dungeon raid.

Seol Ji-hoon looked at the deliveryman’s profile and combat footage displayed on the conference room monitor.

*He’s better than I thought.*

He was secretly filmed skillfully handling a one-handed sword, a two-handed sword, a spear, and special weapons.

*But he doesn’t look like much.*

A smirk unknowingly crept onto Seol Ji-hoon’s lips.

It was amusing how his people were making such a fuss.

***

Lately, the town was abuzz with the Tushin versus Hanul raid showdown.

More than the competition between guilds, it was the clash of S-ranks that was capturing public interest.

The majority predicted an overwhelming victory for Tushin. Illegal betting sites were apparently hot because of it.

Should I go all-in on a bet, too?

On Hanul—no, on me winning. The payout would probably be pretty good.

I was heading up to the guild’s royal floor. I’d been told that what I requested had been confirmed.

As I was about to open the door to the guild master’s office, I heard cheerful voices.

“Wow, I really love this!”

“It’s our guild’s masterpiece.”

Inside the office were three people in Justice Armor.

“By the light of salvation, Yellow!”

The yellow Justice struck a pose as if measuring height.

“Executor of darkness, Black!”

The black, horned Justice struck a pose as if measuring width.

“Cool, Beauty, Chic Pink! Ah, um, but… do I really have to do this?”

The pink Justice struck a pose as if measuring thickness, trembling from head to toe.

I closed the door. I took a deep breath and opened it again.

I had hoped that what I just saw was all a dream, but reality was harsh.

*Creeak—*

“It’s okay. It’s just because you’re not used to it at first.”

“No, what if someone sees us like this…”

“Don’t worry. The Hero is busy with tomorrow’s raid, so he probably won’t be able to come today.”

No, I’m here now. I just got here. What the hell are you all doing?

“If he shows up, I’ll sear my own palm.”

Your palm is mine now.

But that Yellow over there looks strangely familiar.

Could it be Karin?

“But wearing this Justice Armor makes me super hungry.”

It’s Karin.

Seriously, would wearing that really make you hungry? You just have a big appetite.

Anyway, what are you doing to a perfectly normal kid? Has the Demon King lost his mind?

“Demon King Ajeossi. Is there a combination move?”

Watching Karin seriously contemplate a combination pose, I took back what I just thought.

She’s enjoying this.

“It just doesn’t look right without Red.”

“I heard it’s trendy for guys to combine these days.”

“……”

What exactly do you want to combine?

Seeing the former Demon King and the former Saintess of the God of Light getting into character and having fun is quite a sight. Such a great sight I want to smash it all.

“I wish they would all just disappear.”