Episode 13
A reception room about the size of a typical studio apartment.
With a simpler design than expected, it held a table and four plush chairs, while various artworks and windows adorned the surrounding area.
Chairman Lee, who had been holding his tea, set down the teacup and spoke as Jonghyeon opened the door and entered.
“So you’ve come.”
Chairman Lee looked like any middle-aged man in his fifties one might see on the street.
A moderate head of hair and a moderate build.
He had the appearance of a kind uncle to whom the word “moderate” could be applied to everything about him, but only his eyes were truly alive.
“It’s been a while.”
Jonghyeon gave a light nod in greeting.
“Yes, sit down.”
Having taken his seat, Jonghyeon pulled an envelope from his clothes.
“Here it is.”
“Good. Was the drug fun?”
Chairman Lee spoke with a hint of laughter, but since when had Jonghyeon been one to smile easily at others’ words?
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
Chairman Lee put on an awkward smile and held out the envelope of money in front of him to Jonghyeon.
“I put in a bit more than usual. I heard the government cut support funds for the orphanage recently?”
“Who would care about orphans these days?”
“Yes, the world has changed a lot.”
He had no use for pointless small talk, but occasionally important information would come up, so Jonghyeon listened attentively until the end.
“Dad!”
Turning at the sound from behind, he saw Chairman Lee’s daughter there.
“Oh, our Bori is here.”
Lee Bori.
She was Chairman Lee’s daughter, having just turned twenty.
Chairman Lee treasured his daughter terribly.
In fact, Jonghyeon had once accepted a truly absurd commission to beat up a boy who had been bothering her.
‘Even now, he sometimes makes those absurd jokes about commissioning me if it seems like she’s gotten a boyfriend.’
But sometimes, it seemed he was actually serious.
“Dad, did you donate to our school again?”
“No, well, it’s just a way of asking them to take good care of you…”
“Do you know how burdensome that is?”
Chairman Lee floundered before his college-student daughter.
While Chairman Lee was arguing with his daughter, Jonghyeon pocketed the envelope and stood up.
Only then did Bori notice Jonghyeon and greet him.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Well, this chair is rather large. It’s quite soft, though.”
Bori smiled slightly at Jonghyeon’s words, then told her father they’d talk later, scolded him, and went outside.
“You’re the same as ever.”
“Yes… I suppose… I am.”
At Jonghyeon’s words, Chairman Lee sighed as well.
Jonghyeon stared blankly at Chairman Lee, then rose from his seat and spoke.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Already? We should have dinner together after so long. I was thinking of eating with Bori, what do you say?”
“With a father-daughter quarrel going on, how would a grain of rice go down my throat? I’ll just go home and eat some kimchi. I’ve been abroad, so I’m craving kimchi.”
Saying so, Jonghyeon took his leave, gave another light bow, and went out.
“Tsk tsk. That friend, really.”
Chairman Lee watched him with a gaze of mild affection mixed with exasperation.
If it hadn’t been for Jonghyeon, he wouldn’t have been able to rise to this position so quickly.
Knowing that full well, Chairman Lee cherished Jonghyeon even more.
★ ★ ★
Having returned home, Jonghyeon immediately prepared a meal.
He really had been craving kimchi.
For the first time in a while, Jonghyeon’s house was filled with a delicious aroma.
Thinking about practicing martial arts after eating, Jonghyeon was quite excited.
‘I’ve been too arrogant until now.’
It was the right thought.
Because of his existing strength, he hadn’t yet met anyone stronger than himself.
It was partly due to his rank, but also because he had handled almost nothing but requests at a civilian level.
Even national commissions had never involved capturing a martial artist from another country.
Almost all of them had been dungeon commissions.
Thinking about this Black Dave incident, Jonghyeon felt the necessity of martial arts.
‘The opponent was clearly said to be incomplete. Even so, he had been more than threatening enough to me.’
He didn’t know what would have happened if they had fought one-on-one, but how often in this world does one fight one-on-one?
Jonghyeon’s desire to become stronger was far more desperate than before, and what would solve that problem was,
‘this secret manual right here.’
During the rest of his time in America, Jonghyeon had tried to learn the secret manual to some extent.
But Jonghyeon was in a position of being targeted by someone.
He still didn’t know the enemy’s identity, but there had been warnings in America, and people had actually come to the orphanage looking for him.
To circulate internal energy, he had to meditate.
So Jonghyeon had made up his mind to train in a safe place—that is, his personal dungeon—and had returned to Korea for the time being.
Jonghyeon looked at the secret manual even while eating.
‘As expected, it’s difficult.’
He had understood it to some degree, but there was still far more that he didn’t understand.
That was what a secret manual was.
Thus, except for sleeping and washing, Jonghyeon constantly had the secret manual in his hands.
He had even memorized the characters, but still couldn’t understand them.
‘Am I stupid?’
The moment Jonghyeon, having finished his meal, was about to press the first button on his watch, a sudden thought struck him.
‘Could the condition for obtaining a skill that uses shadows be… a life-and-death crisis?’
He only thought of it now, but clearing this personal dungeon was in fact impossible for an ordinary person.
Jonghyeon began to think from the beginning.
‘First, it gives usable weapons and skills there too. If it’s someone who knows martial arts or at least basically knows how to fight, someone who wanders dungeons, they should be able to handle up to the second night.’
But the elephant on the last day was impossible to solve.
Even someone who had learned some martial arts would likely be the same.
When his thoughts reached that point, he remembered that the skill he had obtained on the second night was 《One Accustomed to Darkness》.
He didn’t know how it would be for other classes, but Jonghyeon had thought that skill merely raised his physical stats a bit at night.
But what if he hadn’t been able to come up with that idea?
If he hadn’t even thought of making a ballista?
Naturally, he would have faced a life-or-death threat from the elephant, and would have definitely awakened.
It was sudden, but Jonghyeon felt frustrated.
‘They could have at least explained.’
The hunting happened every night, and shadows were definite at night.
If Jonghyeon had awakened then, he would have been able to wield greater power now.
And he thought of the subsequent dungeons bound to him.
If he had been able to control shadows, wouldn’t the absurd difficulty of stages 1, 2, and 3 have been manageable?
Now he understood.
He had taken the long way around for no reason.
Thinking that he must definitely learn to control shadows skillfully while building up his internal energy, Jonghyeon entered the dungeon.
★ ★ ★
As soon as Jonghyeon entered the dungeon system, he first checked whether he could enter the room he had already cleared.
But as expected, this dungeon wasn’t easy on him.
—Ding!
—This is a dungeon you have already cleared.
“Damn it.”
Since he hadn’t made progress in building internal energy, it was a decision born of wanting to at least handle his shadow ability better.
Thinking he would have no choice but to train his shadows first, Jonghyeon entered the 4th stage.
And he did nothing, waiting for the desert night to come.
‘With my current strength, clearing it is impossible anyway.’
Having found a giant scorpion by nightfall, Jonghyeon practiced catching it with his shadow.
But the shadow kept swaying and was hard to control.
Despite feeling no different from his own body, it moved surprisingly poorly.
Having no choice but to finish it off with his short blade, Jonghyeon intuited that this wouldn’t work and exited the dungeon.
‘The training isn’t completely without effect, but it’s too slow.’
That was exactly right.
He thought that handling internal energy could be done slowly.
It was the most important thing to him, but there was no rush.
The mindset of trying things until one achieved enlightenment had already faded away.
He definitely had to approach martial arts slowly.
But shadows were different.
They could be used like a part of his own body.
They had certainly cooperated to some extent even after the rampage ended, but now they were harder to handle than back then.
Once outside, Jonghyeon gulped down water first.
Having been to the desert, he was thirsty.
—Ring, ring!
Jonghyeon’s phone rang.
Setting down the cup he was drinking from, Jonghyeon answered.
“Ahh, you there. When on earth are you going to come by?”
It was the Director.
After a moment’s thought, Jonghyeon replied.
“For now, the urgent matters are done. Since I’ll be returning to Hunter work next week, I’ll come by within this week.”
“Good. Just let me know beforehand when you’re coming.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Jonghyeon, having hung up, looked at the calendar.
He had to return to work next week.
Of course, since it wasn’t official work, he didn’t know how much of a break would be given to him.
The government was certain to assign him more unofficial work.
‘Thinking about seeing that smug agent again suddenly gives me a headache.’
Though he felt anew that he had returned to everyday life, too many things had happened in the past month.
Moreover, the threat hadn’t ended yet.
Unable to let his guard down, Jonghyeon was mentally quite exhausted, and he thought a visit to the orphanage was just the thing to relieve it.
For three days when he couldn’t enter the dungeon due to the penalty, Jonghyeon practiced controlling shadows at home.
He broke four plates while trying to cook with shadows.
He spilled food on his clothes or poured water while trying to eat with shadows, ruining five sets of clothes.
After training like that, even if just a little, Jonghyeon became able to control the shadows freely.
‘But it’s still too weak to use in combat.’
Thinking this, Jonghyeon got dressed.
Today was the day he would go to the orphanage.
★ ★ ★
“It’s been a while.”
The orphanage reflected in Jonghyeon’s eyes was quite a welcome sight.
The orphanage was larger than expected; it was not what it had looked like when Jonghyeon was young.
But as orphanages around the country began closing one by one, repeated expansions had resulted in an orphanage rivaling a decent-sized school.
Of course, a considerable portion of the funds used there had come from Jonghyeon’s own pocket.
Because of that, Jonghyeon was considered something of a success story at the orphanage.
“Oh, you’ve come.”
The Director was quite old now.
In his sixties, the Director—who could now rightfully be called an old man—was the benefactor who had guided Jonghyeon.
“Yes, I’ve come. Have you eaten?”
Jonghyeon was always meticulously polite to the Director.
At the Director’s pure smile, Jonghyeon felt his worries wash away.
Because he was the one who had helped Jonghyeon open his heart when he hadn’t opened it to anyone else in the world.
“Let’s eat together.”
He said that thanks to Jonghyeon’s support, the orphanage was operating fairly well.
“I was quite surprised when you said you would support the orphanage.”
“Oh, that again.”
Jonghyeon spoke as if embarrassed.
“But thanks to you, we’re all living like this. You have no idea how fortunate it is that you’ve decided to turn over a new leaf.”
“Not at all. Compared to the grace I’ve received from you.”
“Haha. What have I done? It’s a relief you grew up well on your own.”
A conversation no different from usual.
At the Director’s continuous praise, Jonghyeon didn’t know what to do with himself.
But rarely, Jonghyeon put on a genuine smile that couldn’t normally be seen.
Because the Director was the only person with whom Jonghyeon felt comfortable.
Once the conversation had ripened, the Director slowly brought up the main topic.
“You. Are you doing something dangerous these days?”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
Jonghyeon felt a pang, but he didn’t want to cause the Director needless worry.
“No. There were people who came looking for you again around last week.”
“Is that so?”
For a moment, Jonghyeon’s expression hardened, and the Director took something out of his pocket.
“Yes. So I wondered if they had something to say, but they asked me to deliver this note to you. I didn’t read it.”
Jonghyeon took the note.
---------Author's Note---------
Jonghyeon and Chairman Lee's relationship will be explained as the story progresses.