Chapter 32

Chapter 32

This was something the Administrator had never explicitly stated in any of the quests given so far, but it had been revealed through the records of quests completed and rewards received up to now.

‘Of course, since it’s not openly listed as a reward, nothing amazing comes out of it.’

Generally, contribution-based rewards tend to be consumables. Things like high-grade potions, which are common for people with high contribution, or a portable base camp that can be used inside a dungeon, small enough to hold in your hand.

Naturally, since they’re consumables, they can’t compare to expensive equipment that might come as a dungeon reward… but if even a high-grade potion showed up, that would be a different story.

‘Please, please!’

Clinging desperately to that last shred of hope, I immediately pulled up the blue window related to the rewards. Dungeon rewards, set aside. Quest rewards, set aside. Contribution, contribution reward…

“There it is!”

Panting, I tapped the blue window labeled ‘Contribution Reward.’ As always, the Awakener Management System, which never lagged even once, immediately showed me what I wanted.

<Contribution Reward Rankings>

1st: Sacred Flame Kim Miju

2nd: Sword Emperor Jeong Seojin

3rd: Shadow Yoon Juyeong

…

21st: Yoon Seohee

…

28th: Kim Chino

“Ah… aah… Congratulations on getting a title in the middle of all this, Mr. Yoon Juyeong… Ugh, sob…”

“M-Master…!”

As expected, and all too obviously, my name was near the very bottom. Considering there were seven C-Rank hunters out of the total twenty-eight participants in this quest, I was actually at the top among the C-Rank hunters.

In other words, that was exactly where I stood. Naturally, it was far too low a rank to hope for good rewards.

“B-but still, let’s check the reward…!”

“Ugh… Right, you never know, you never know… Even if it’s just a mid-grade potion worth a million won…”

[Contribution Reward: Low-Grade Potion X5]

And I died mentally.

Damn the manager. Damn the librarian. Is this… is this really reality? What kind of luck-based, doomed-to-fail reality is this!

Fine, one thing is clear now. The fact that my reward is absolute garbage is one hundred percent the librarian’s fault.

The only thing that really makes me suspect the librarian is the ‘Gardener’s Scissors of Life,’ but whatever, this is all the librarian’s fault. If I don’t think that, I’ll choke on my rage and die.

“Master, let me support you. No, please accept my support. If it’s too burdensome, we can set it as an interest-free loan over about a hundred years, and you can pay it back…”

—Katok!

“Huuuh, huuuh, th-thank… Huh?”

I was just about to give up and accept Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s long-term loan since I couldn’t afford to be picky anymore, when suddenly a katok notification rang out. Sniffling my reddened nose, I pulled my smartphone out of my pocket.

“…Ah.”

“Master?”

“How the hell did this guy get my number…?”

On the smartphone screen, which didn’t even have a basic pattern lock, the contents of the just-received KakaoTalk message were fully visible, and an extremely familiar name was written on it.

Jeong Seojin.

[Jeong Seojin:

Join ☞Huiwon★Guild☜ now and get ≪a whopping≫!! $2,000 won$ in support funds?!]

[10:02 AM]

Wait, who actually sent this KakaoTalk? No matter how I look at it, that bastard didn’t send this.

I stared blankly at the festival of special symbols on my screen.

* * *

Huiwon Guild.

The top guild in South Korea, boasting overwhelming scale and military power among all existing guilds.

Naturally, no one living in Korea doesn’t know the Huiwon Guild, and even if you don’t limit it to Korea and look at the whole world, its presence is far from small—it’s a major guild.

Honestly, saying it like this doesn’t really convey how impressive the Huiwon Guild is. That’s because, for people with the profession of hunter, there’s an explanation that works much more easily than talking about how much money they have or how big their scale is.

The Huiwon Guild possesses a whopping three S-Rank hunters domestically.

What kind of beings are S-Rank hunters? They’re called inhuman because they’re not human, and one-man armies because they can take on a military force with just their human bodies.

And in a situation like now, where individual human strength is especially important, possessing three such beings is bound to be immense power in itself.

Especially when one of the S-Rank hunters they ‘possess’ is none other than the number one S-Rank, Jeong Seojin.

“Welcome to the Huiwon Guild. Are you Yoon Juyeong, S-Rank Hunter, and Yoon Seohee, C-Rank Hunter, respectively?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“Thank you for cooperating with identity verification. I’ll escort you to the Guild Master’s office right away.”

And in the hunter industry, where there’s a basic atmosphere of revering strength, a guild that has the nation’s strongest being — none other than that person — as a member carries immense influence in itself.

Naturally, most people living as active hunters hope to be affiliated with the Huiwon Guild, and for that reason, wearing the golden badge that symbolizes the Huiwon Guild becomes a kind of shallow power in itself.

And I received a scout offer from that very Huiwon Guild. With a condition of giving me a whopping 2,000 won.

‘I came because I’m desperate for money right now, but…’

I sat side by side with Yoon Juyeong on the guest sofa set up in the Guild Master’s office, blankly staring at the ceiling lights while waiting for the Guild Master and Jeong Seojin to arrive.

‘Am I even someone who should be here…? It’s not a scam or a lie… is it? No one would do something like that under the Huiwon Guild’s name… I really don’t know what’s going on. What does Jeong Seojin even want to do with me? Was that scout offer back then sincere? Not just some nonsense to pry the truth out of me?’

Actually, I already know that someone like Jeong Seojin has no reason to tell pointless lies. Why would a person who’s the number one S-Rank bother messing around with a C-Rank hunter like me with something like that?

But even so, it was still hard to believe that a place like the Huiwon Guild would offer a scout with a support fund of 2,000 won to a hunter with a total C-Rank level of combat power like me.

Unlike me, groaning and pressing my forehead over this reality I couldn’t believe, Yoon Juyeong had a perfectly clear face with not a trace of confusion.

Actually, at first, seeing Yoon Juyeong looking so unfazed, I thought, ‘Well, unlike a mere C-Rank hunter like me, he’s a whopping S-Rank, so he’d naturally take a scout offer of this level for granted…’

“When Jeong Seojin suddenly came with a scout offer, I couldn’t bring myself to say it because I doubted whether it was sincere… but seeing this now, it seems the Huiwon Guild has good eyes too. They recognized someone of Master’s caliber.”

The moment Yoon Juyeong opened his mouth, my thoughts didn’t just shatter — they completely smashed into pieces and turned to sand.

I looked at Yoon Juyeong, who was spouting nonsense with a perfectly straight face, with very pitying eyes and nudged his side with my elbow.

“The title.”

“Ah, I forgot for a moment. Sorry, Seohee.”

‘Forgot my ass.’ It was common knowledge that once you reached S-Rank, not only your combat power but your memory also became vastly superior.

I opened my mouth to immediately point out Hunter Yoon Juyeong’s shamelessness, but then noticed the firmly closed wooden door opening right at that moment and promptly shut my mouth.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

The person who entered through the open door was a man with black hair neatly swept back, someone I’d seen a few times before on TV screens.

I secretly muttered the man’s alias and name under my breath. S-Rank 3rd place, Kang Mujin, the Fortress.

South Korea’s top defense-type S-Rank hunter.

“I am the Guild Master of Huiwon Guild, and though I am but a humble body, I am ranked S-Rank 3rd place, Kang Mujin.”

Hunter Kang Mujin used his characteristically long legs to stride over to where I was and immediately extended his hand.

Even in my dazed state, I somehow managed to grasp his hand. Actually, calling it a handshake was a bit off — because his hand was so large, it was more accurate to say his big hand completely enveloped mine.

“Ah, hello. I am… though it’s a bit embarrassing to say in front of such a distinguished person, I’m Yoon Seohee, a C-Rank hunter. And this is—”

“I’m Yoon Juyeong, who just became S-Rank. Please think of me as a newbie and treat me comfortably.”

Hunter Kang Mujin carefully let go of my hand, then immediately exchanged a light handshake with Yoon Juyeong as well.

‘…He really… has quite an imposing presence. Well, I did hear she’s the oldest among the current S-Rank hunters after Hunter Kim Miju, the 2nd place…’

After the 2nd place S-Rank, Seonghwa Kim Miju, who was in her mid-60s, the next oldest was Hunter Kang Mujin. I heard he was in his 40s and had a wife and children.

‘Honestly, his face doesn’t look it though.’

Even if his heavy atmosphere and styling made him look older, if you just looked at his actual face, it wouldn’t be strange to say he was in his 20s.

Do S-Rank hunters age slowly or something?

I mulled over that fairly plausible guess as I waited for Hunter Kang Mujin to speak.

“First of all… I apologize for not going through the official scouting process. We were originally planning to send an official letter stamped with the Heewon Guild seal to extend a scouting offer, but… one of our S-Rank hunters took an interest in you, Miss Yoon Seohee… and it seems they played a bit of a mischievous prank.”

“Ah… so that KakaoTalk really wasn’t from Hunter Jeong Seojin after all.”

“Yes. It was the work of Hunter Joo Minjeong, the ‘Archer,’ one of the three S-Rank hunters affiliated with our Heewon Guild.”