Episode 38
Jonghyeon had pondered greatly over what he would do once he became stronger.
Should he create a guild? Accumulate massive wealth, quit being a Hunter, and live a carefree life?
But he no longer harbored any interest in such things. Jonghyeon had fallen for Raven.
A dignity overflowing, yet a strength that conceded to none. However, if there was one thing that displeased him, it was that she already belonged to the nation called America.
‘I will not belong anywhere. I will simply possess a strength that no one can touch and use it solely for myself.’
Of course, even now, ordinary guilds could not touch him. But what if he clashed with the world’s number one guild?
At that time, neither Chairman Yi nor the nation would be able to serve as his shield. While his own life was precious, it was Jonghyeon’s resolution—that if he lacked the strength to protect what he cherished, he would rather not have it at all—that gave rise to these thoughts.
Having consumed the inner pill and overflowing with power throughout his body, Jonghyeon went ahead and hunted down all the dinosaur monsters in the dungeon.
He had already cleared most of them during the day, so the remaining monsters were not many, and Jonghyeon could handle them at his leisure.
After he finished off all the monsters, he watched the dungeon sky crumble bit by bit. He exited and called the administrator.
“Administrator. Sorry to call at dawn, but I’ve cleared the dungeon completely. Please dispatch the processing team.”
“No way, Jonghyeon. What kind of talk is this so early in the morning? You cleared that entire dungeon in just two days?”
To be exact, it had taken only about a day. But there was no need to kindly mention even that much.
The administrator, speaking with a slightly hoarse voice as if freshly awakened from sleep, said she understood for now and hung up.
‘Since I’m already here, I should have breakfast before I go.’
Jonghyeon thought so while looking at the orphanage lights slowly coming on.
Though a bit sleepy, Jonghyeon had breakfast at the orphanage, stopped by a sauna to wash up, came out around lunchtime, went to the bank, and checked his balance.
4.7 billion.
That was the number stamped on Jonghyeon’s passbook. A figure that showed only the two large digits in front, excluding the small change.
It seemed a transfer had just been made; the sum combined money received from the state and the annual salary Chairman Yi had given him previously.
Honestly, it didn’t feel real. In just one day, he had taken in over 2 billion won even after taxes.
‘First, I need to set up my own household.’
He couldn’t live at Chairman Yi’s house forever. Partly because of Bori, but fundamentally, Jonghyeon detested belonging to anyone.
Of course, he did not hate Chairman Yi, but becoming a hothouse flower under his care was something Jonghyeon wished to decline. If he continued to stay at Chairman Yi’s house, it was clear that the initiative would eventually pass to the chairman whether he intended it or not.
An ordinary person would have chosen to live in comfort under Chairman Yi, but Jonghyeon was different. He had now set his sights higher.
And unexpectedly, it was Chairman Yi who addressed that matter. Having spotted Jonghyeon returning after clearing the dungeon, Chairman Yi called him into the reception room and spoke.
“You are preparing to gradually leave my house, are you not?”
Jonghyeon could not fathom what this old man was thinking.
How did he match his thoughts so perfectly?
“Well, I cannot impose on your kindness forever. It is not as if I am doing anything for you anymore.”
Jonghyeon expressed his intention to leave politely but circuitously.
“Yes. I rather expected as much. I know it too. You are not one meant to remain beneath me.”
Chairman Yi seemed to approve of Jonghyeon even more than Jonghyeon had thought.
“I assigned you a secretary and a driver partly because of my connection with you, but it was also repayment for helping Bori. I gave them to you in advance. However, having observed you, I know you would not stay by my side forever, and I cannot deny that I did so to keep our connection alive.”
Jonghyeon had already expected as much. Still, he was curious why Chairman Yi would bother bringing up this topic.
“I am deeply grateful. You forgave me for learning the secret manual without permission, and on top of that, you treat me so well that I do not know what to do with myself.”
Jonghyeon deliberately adopted an extremely humble posture. In negotiations, unless one held absolute advantage, it was better to lower oneself.
It was a habit that had surfaced unconsciously.
“Yes. I am thankful you think so. Please continue to look after Bori. Hehehe.”
Saying so with a hearty laugh, Chairman Yi handed Jonghyeon an envelope that had been on the desk.
‘House… documents?’
Taking the envelope, Jonghyeon was startled.
Inside was a property deed already fully transferred into Jonghyeon’s name.
‘I must not accept this.’
The moment he accepted this house, he would never be able to break free from Chairman Yi’s grasp even if he died. He might have thought it did not matter if he took it lightly, but receiving compensation without having done anything made Jonghyeon feel uneasy.
Especially if it was a house, it would mean receiving patronage from Chairman Yi. But by now, Jonghyeon was at a level where merely maintaining a relationship with the chairman was sufficient.
Thinking so, Jonghyeon placed the documents back into the envelope and returned it to Chairman Yi.
“I cannot accept this. I have never done anything worthy of receiving such a thing from you, Chairman Yi.”
Chairman Yi gave a bitter smile at Jonghyeon’s reaction and tried not to accept the envelope.
“It is merely a small token. Can you not think of it as pocket money and accept it?”
Of course, had it been a small studio apartment, Jonghyeon was now in a position to accept it without burden.
At that level, it was now a trivial sum for both Jonghyeon and Chairman Yi. By ordinary standards, it would be like buying a round of drinks.
But Jonghyeon had clearly seen the address written on the deed.
Samseong-dong.
It was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, countable on one hand.
The address on the deed Jonghyeon saw was none other than Samseong-dong. Moreover, as it was a detached house, it was clearly worth at least several tens of billions of won.
“Even so, I cannot accept it. Even if it is compensation for teaching Bori, I have yet to produce any results. I would rather receive it once I have achieved something.”
Jonghyeon refused with a wave of his hand, and Chairman Yi took the envelope back with evident regret.
“If that is your firm wish, so be it. It seems I have overstepped. So, when do you plan to leave?”
“I plan to leave as soon as I find a house.”
At Jonghyeon’s words, Chairman Yi laughed heartily and joked, “Then you should have just taken this house,” and only then did the atmosphere return to what it had been before.
A few days later, Jonghyeon bought a small two-story house near Bundang for 2.4 billion won.
It had a small front yard, and while it was not spacious being two stories, it was quite a cozy house. He could have obtained a better house by moving to a different area, but Jonghyeon liked where he had been living. Familiar scenery and neighborhoods brought him comfort.
Jonghyeon suddenly wondered what scale the house Chairman Yi had offered was, but only for a moment. Such things no longer mattered.
If he worked for just about a year, he could easily buy a penthouse.
Money could no longer constrain Jonghyeon in any way.
Instead, a different goal had emerged.
★ ★ ★
Afterward, Jonghyeon cleared several more C-Rank dungeons over the course of about a month.
And he finally figured out how to use the third button on the watch.
Instead of activating automatically upon entering a dungeon, simply pressing the button allowed him to turn the hidden boss into the dungeon’s original boss.
The bosses that appeared in C-Rank included a King Goblin and a hippo monster called Big Hippo.
Jonghyeon experimentally pressed the cancel button, and a confirmation window activated on the watch as a hologram.
[Terminate function? Y/N
A penalty of 3 days will be applied upon function termination.]
As Jonghyeon had expected, there was indeed a penalty. However, hidden bosses from C-Rank were not particularly dangerous to him, so he cleared them all.
He did obtain a few items, but they were useless at Jonghyeon’s level, so he sold them all off.
But a problem arose. Dungeons and requests were no issue, but sparks flew from an unexpected place.
The culprit was none other than—
charity organizations hoping for even crumbs, and people approaching him claiming to be various acquaintances.
Though Jonghyeon was an orphan, distant relatives by marriage appeared, and some exploited his faint memories of elementary school to claim they were classmates.
Such people were annoying but ultimately irrelevant. They could not pressure Jonghyeon, and he could simply ignore them.
The real problem was—
“Haha. Hello. I am Liquid of the Elias Guild. The reason I am here is that our guild…”
“Are you Ryu Jonghyeon? We are the PR team of LB Corporation. The reason we are here is for this commercial…”
“We are the security team of Saseong Enterprise. We wish to appoint you as the chairman’s bodyguard…”
These people, who had been eyeing him even when he merely passed the neighborhood convenience store, appeared like ghosts to strike up conversations.
“Please, all of you go back. I have no such plans yet. For details, please consult Secretary Jang.”
The problem was precisely the contact from guilds and political circles. Many companies reached out as well, but Jonghyeon no longer had much interest in money.
Yet even the moment they were rejected, they resorted to threats and begging, troubling Jonghyeon in various ways.
Since Jonghyeon could not refuse them outright carelessly, he delegated everything to Secretary Jang, who was barely holding them all off with her own resourcefulness.
In another sense, it was a massive battle.
But in the midst of it all, the most decisive event erupted.
The fact that Jonghyeon had cleared a B-Rank dungeon alone had accidentally spread across the internet.
‘I definitely ordered them to keep their mouths shut back then.’
Once the fact that he had solo-cleared a B-Rank dungeon was revealed, even foreign media came to cover the story.
Jonghyeon and Secretary Jang evaded the claims, saying they were groundless.
But perhaps because of the astonishing feats Jonghyeon continued to bring about, the frenzy resembling a syndrome showed no signs of stopping.
Fan clubs, anti-fan clubs, and all sorts of things related to Jonghyeon sprang up, and his mailbox was piled into mountains with lecture invitations and all kinds of letters.
To find out the reason, Jonghyeon called Chairman Yi.
“Why are people so needlessly fanatical about me? I simply cannot understand. There are many famous guild members, and though I am not particularly well-known, I am aware there are quite a few rankers who clear dungeons alone. So why only me?”
His tone was somewhat mixed with irritation, and also slightly laced with grievance. It was his first time experiencing people making life unbearable simply because of his name.
Of course, there was nothing to hate about being popular, but it had reached the point where he could not even go out to a convenience store to buy a lunchbox.
Yet to Jonghyeon’s tone, Chairman Yi spoke as if he found it cute.
“Do you know what public image you possess? Mystique, pure mystique. That is precisely what drives people mad. What is that person thinking? He does not seem to want money or fame. What is he? Such thoughts have lodged themselves in people’s heads. Hehehe. If you truly hate it, hold a press conference. Then perhaps half of it would die down?”
Of course, Jonghyeon had no intention of doing so. What press conference could he hold when he had nothing to say, no content to reveal?
To Jonghyeon’s tone mixed with grievance and pent-up frustration, Chairman Yi merely continued to jest.
‘Hoo… This is no help at all.’
And this morning, Secretary Jang’s words were the deciding blow.
“There are even people trying to sneak into your house. I think you should hire some bodyguards.”
Jonghyeon was now in a state where he could not casually use force on ordinary people. His own personality had changed considerably, but with more than just a couple of people casting greedy eyes near his home, how could he use violence before them?
It was Secretary Jang’s opinion that he needed people who could legally use force and restrain them.
And Jonghyeon could not help but agree with her. He could not very well beat up and send back someone trying to sneak into his house.
Having grown tired of going out to buy things, Jonghyeon had been making do with instant noodles for lunch when, upon Secretary Jang’s suggestion, he very casually posted an announcement that he was hiring bodyguards.
There was no need to use an agency. A few people to guard the house would be enough. Moreover, it was obvious that picking one specific company to use would become a rather awkward battle of keeping up appearances.
But Jonghyeon had no idea that a single such announcement would become a tremendous storm.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------=
Continuing diligently!