As Choi Minseok sat sprawled on his backside and blankly lifted his head, a man whose face was cast in deep shadow by the backlight was looking down at him.
“Wh-who are you…?”
Minseok’s voice was trembling with terror.
Hollow eyes, gaunt cheeks as if he had gone hungry for days, and an unkempt beard.
The misery of a man driven to the edge of life clung to his entire body.
Sensing the deep fear and despair in Minseok’s eyes, Siwoo let out a small sigh, crouched down, and met his gaze.
Then he took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and held it out.
“I’m not a debt collector. Let’s just say I’m passerby number one.”
“……”
“Do you know the saying, ‘scraping together even your soul’?”
Siwoo looked at the dark blue river water surging beneath the railing and continued in an even voice.
“I was like that too. I spent every penny I had, put my house up as collateral, and when that still wasn’t enough, I even borrowed from loan sharks. I’ve been driven all the way to the edge before. You looked exactly like me just a few days ago, so I couldn’t simply walk past.”
There was a strange resonance in Siwoo’s voice.
Not lies, but the bitter empathy and comfort that could only come from someone who had truly hit rock bottom.
That sincerity opened Minseok’s tightly shut heart, if only a little.
“Why… did you stop me? I have no more… options.”
Minseok lowered his head and sobbed.
“Why would you have no options? As long as you’re alive, an opportunity will come. Without fail.”
“An opportunity? Haha…”
Minseok let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“What opportunity could there be for an F-rank porter? There are plenty of young, healthy guys out there. No place will hire an old, useless man like me. If I hadn’t been an Awakened, I could at least have worked construction…”
Under the Hunter Act, Awakened individuals could not be employed at ordinary manual labor sites.
The reason was that they might cause accidents by failing to control their strength.
Even though F-rank porters merely possessed physical abilities slightly better than ordinary people, this law left them with nowhere to go except the hunter industry.
It was truly a cursed yoke.
“Then come to our company.”
When Siwoo suddenly made the offer, Minseok stared at him with tear-filled eyes gone round.
“Pardon? Com… pany?”
“Yes. As it happens, our management agency is a little short on manpower. As you can see, we’re a new company…”
Siwoo took out his business card and handed it to Minseok.
“Management…?”
“To be honest, we had a rather unpleasant incident recently. There were threats from a competitor, and we’re concerned about the safety of our employees. We urgently need security personnel to guard the company building.”
Siwoo put on a troubled expression and continued.
“But as you know, we’re a new company that’s only just getting settled, so our finances aren’t exactly abundant. Hiring a professional security firm would cost quite a bit, but hiring ordinary people feels unreliable.”
He stared directly at Minseok.
“That’s why a hunter like you would be perfect. No matter how you look at it, even an F-rank is far stronger than an ordinary person, aren’t you? Besides, the ones threatening us aren’t monsters. At most, they’re office workers in suits. Someone of your level would be more than enough to subdue them.”
It was a plausible line of reasoning.
Minseok sat dazed for a moment, then asked back in a trembling voice.
“Would someone like me… really be all right? I’m F-rank… and old…”
“What does age matter? If anything, your years of experience make you more reliable. And if you worked as a porter, your stamina must be good too.”
Siwoo smiled softly and rose to his feet.
“Don’t stay there like that. Come with me and have a warm cup of coffee. You can warm yourself up.”
When Siwoo held out his hand, Minseok stared blankly at it.
The realization that no one had ever reached out a hand to him until now struck him so deeply that his eyes grew hot.
As if entranced, he clasped Siwoo’s hand.
A firm, warm heat came through his hand.
“Thank you… Thank you so much…”
Minseok held on tightly to Siwoo’s hand without letting go.
He had thought the whole world had abandoned him, but the mere fact that there was still somewhere that needed him made him feel as though he could breathe again.
**
The place they arrived at in Siwoo’s car was the office of Miracle Management.
Minseok could not close his mouth when he saw the sign hanging at the office entrance.
‘Mi-Miracle?’
Only then did he take out the business card Siwoo had given him and check it again.
Among Awakened people—no, among any South Korean citizens who watched the news—there was likely no one who did not know Miracle Management at the moment.
It was the place making headlines day after day because of the Lee Jia incident.
And that was where he was about to be employed.
Minseok suddenly straightened his clothes, extremely nervous.
His old suit felt even shabbier.
“Welcome.”
When they stepped into the office, he saw neatly arranged desks and employees moving busily about.
The dozen or so employees all looked like elites and were full of energy.
Minseok kept shrinking back, wondering if it was all right for a scruffy porter like himself to enter.
“Let’s go to the CEO’s office.”
Siwoo led Minseok into the CEO’s office.
He seated Minseok on the sofa and served him a cup of warm tea.
Even while holding the teacup, Minseok’s hands trembled.
Tap, tap. The dry sound of typing heightened the tension.
A short while later, Siwoo’s brow furrowed as he looked at the monitor.
“Hmm… 420 million…”
Minseok’s shoulders flinched.
The amount Siwoo had muttered was the amount of his debt.
Had he run a credit check?
He lowered his head deeply and let his shoulders droop powerlessly.
‘It won’t work.’
There was no way anyone would hire a person hounded by debt collectors.
But even so, thinking that he could not give up, Minseok raised his head and began explaining his situation.
“C-CEO. I’ll explain. No, I can explain. I absolutely did not go into debt because of gambling or entertainment. My daughter… my daughter Jiyu is suffering from a rare disease called ‘Mana Reflux Syndrome.’ The hospital bills aren’t covered by insurance, and while trying to handle those costs…”
Trembling, he watched Siwoo’s expression.
“But it won’t interfere with my work! I don’t care if my wages are garnished. If you’ll just let me work…”
Siwoo rested his chin on his hand and stared intently at Minseok.
His gaze was coldly rational.
“420 million. With an F-rank porter’s daily wage, it’s money you couldn’t repay even if you spent your entire life doing it. You must already be struggling just to pay the interest.”
“……”
“I’ll be honest. Let’s say I hire you. But you’re hounded by debt collectors, and your daughter’s hospital bills keep piling up. Can you guarantee that life won’t become so difficult that you think of suicide again?”
Siwoo’s question struck the heart of the matter like a sharp dagger.
Minseok bit his lip.
“Never! I will never do that!”
He cried out desperately.
“The reason I tried to die… was because there was nowhere left that would take me, because I had no hope. I was trying to secure my daughter’s hospital fees even if it meant using the price of my life. But if you give me a chance, CEO… I will fight with everything I have to live. I will never leave my daughter behind and go first. I swear it on my life.”
In his eyes burned the desperate venom of the head of a household.
The single-minded resolve to save his daughter. That was his only reason for living and his driving force.
After confirming that look in his eyes, Siwoo faintly raised the corners of his mouth.
‘So he has a reason to endure, at least.’
With that level of desperation and attachment to life, it was enough of a mental foundation to withstand the rampage of reawakening.
Inwardly, Siwoo revised his evaluation of Minseok in a positive direction.
“Very well. I’ll trust that oath.”
Siwoo took a smartphone from his drawer and pressed the record button.
Then he placed it on the desk.
“From this point on, I will record our conversation as evidence of the contract. Do you consent?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes. I consent.”
Not understanding what was going on, Minseok nodded.
Siwoo took out a document and slid it in front of Minseok.
“Choi Minseok. I do not intend to hire you as a mere security guard.”
“Pardon? What do you mean…”
“An official hunter affiliated with Miracle Management. That is the position I’m offering you.”
Minseok’s eyes widened.
“A h-hunter? But I’m an F-rank porter. I don’t have any combat ability…”
“For the time being, that may be true. But you can prove your worth by working steadily. The conditions are as follows.”
Siwoo picked up a pen and wrote a number on the paper.
“A signing bonus of 500 million.”
“……!!”
Minseok thought his breath had stopped.
Five hundred million. It was an enormous sum that would allow him to clear all his debts and still pay for his daughter’s hospital bills comfortably for the time being.
“Use this money to settle your debts first. Then use what remains to move your daughter into a private room. Hire a caregiver as well.”
“C-CEO…”
“In return, there are conditions. First, the profit split is nine to one. You receive nine.”
“Nine??”
Minseok doubted his own ears.
Normally, in exchange for paying off someone’s debts, the way things worked at the bottom was to sign them to a slave contract of fifty-fifty, or in severe cases, thirty-seventy.
But he was offering him nine.
“However, company security duties or miscellaneous work will be excluded from the profit split. Those will be paid separately as salary. And…”
Siwoo stopped his pen and looked straight at Minseok.
“There is a special clause. Party B, Choi Minseok, may never transfer to another agency without the permission of Party A, Han Siwoo. If he leaves without authorization during the contract period or contacts another guild, the penalty shall be one hundred times the signing bonus paid.”
This was a shackle.
A firm declaration of Siwoo’s will that he would not let Minseok go.
But to Minseok, it did not feel like a shackle. It felt like a safety belt that guaranteed him for life.
There was no way he would leave on his own two feet when a place was hiring him on such good terms.
Minseok sprang up from his seat and dropped to his knees.
“CEO… thank you so much… I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life.”
“Please get up. This is burdensome.”
“I… But, CEO. I know I have no shame, but may I ask one favor?”
Without lifting his head, Minseok asked in a trembling voice.
“Go ahead.”
“Could you make the contract period… a little longer?”
“The period?”
Ordinarily, hunters preferred short-term contracts in preparation for their market value rising.
But Minseok was different.
What he needed was not a jackpot, but continued stability that would allow him to protect his sick daughter.
To keep working at this miracle-like workplace for a long, long time without being cast out.
That was his only wish.
“Five years… No, if possible, ten years… A five-year contract, and if the company wants it, extend it by another five years… Please, I beg you. I can work until my bones break. Cleaning, driving, porter work, anything at all. Please…”
He pleaded, tears falling in drops.
Siwoo stroked his chin, pretending to be deep in thought.
‘A five-plus-five-year contract with an F-rank hunter.’
If people in the industry found out, they would call him insane.
But to Siwoo, there could be no more perfect slave… no, lifetime employment contract than this.
If the reawakening succeeded, it meant he could tie down an S-rank hunter for ten years.
Suppressing the laughter that threatened to burst out, Siwoo nodded as though magnanimously granting a favor.
“This is difficult. A long-term contract with an F-rank hunter carries a great deal of risk, after all.”
“……”
“But I will trust in your paternal love and diligence, and specially accept it. However, depending on your work attitude, the five-year extension may not happen.”
“Th-thank you! Thank you, CEO!”
“Now, sign here.”
When Siwoo held out the contract, Minseok took the pen with shaking hands.
Then, without hesitation, he wrote the three characters of his name: Choi Minseok.
The tears falling from his eyes spread over the signature.
Ding—
[The contract has been established.]
[Contract target: Choi Minseok]
[Passive skill “Growth Synchronization” will be applied.]
[You will share 3% of the target’s acquired experience points.]
Siwoo put away the contract and gave him a warm smile.
“You’re part of our family now. Congratulations, Hunter Choi Minseok.”
“Hngh… Huuugh…”
Minseok sobbed like a child.
Salvation, encountered at the very end of life.
To this man who had treated him like a human being and opened a path to save his daughter, Minseok swore.
As long as there was breath in his body, he would live for this man.
“Now, save the crying for later. Hurry and go to the hospital first. Your daughter must be waiting. I’ve transferred the signing bonus to you just now.”
At Siwoo’s words, Minseok hurriedly checked his phone.
[Deposit: 500,000,000 won]
After confirming the number, he bowed to Siwoo once more at a ninety-degree angle.
“I’ll be back! CEO! I’ll come to work at the crack of dawn tomorrow!”
“You can take your time coming in.”
Wiping his tears, Minseok rushed out of the CEO’s office.
His back as he ran to his daughter was no longer marked by the sagging shoulders he had shown when he came in.
It was the sturdy back of a head of household bearing hope.
After confirming that the door had closed, Siwoo fixed his gaze on the air.
[Name: Choi Minseok]
[Rank: F]
[Potential: S-rank reawakening / D-30]
[Special Notes: Reawakening due to shock from a specific incident. Extremely high possibility of rampage (98%). Current life expectancy: 30 days.]
The red letters remained unchanged. A 98% chance of rampage.
He had solved the debt with money, but the shock of the scheduled reawakening and the resulting physical collapse were not problems that could be solved with money.
Thirty days from now, the trial that would befall him was inevitable.
‘But. Just like with Lee Jia, as long as I manage him well, he can overcome it. It’s possible.’
Siwoo’s eyes narrowed.