**Lich Becomes a Hunter! Episode 5**
**1st Circle (1)**
"Gim Minsik?"
"Yes, that's my name. Here's my business card."
After glancing at the business card offered along with the introduction and tucking it away, Choe Jinhyeok spoke to Gim Minsik.
"So, are we going to keep standing here?"
"Oops, I forgot you just came out of the dungeon. My apologies. Please come this way."
Leaving the area where the reporters had been and following Gim Minsik for a moment, it wasn't long before a building bearing the name KH (Korea Hunter) appeared.
"Where is this?"
"Ah, this is our Association. The Association's. Don't worry and feel free to enter. It's free."
At those words, Choe Jinhyeok reluctantly entered the building.
He needed to relieve the fatigue from inside the dungeon, and in order to create the first circle with the magic stones in his bag, he needed a place where he could rest easy.
Gim Minsik blocked such a Choe Jinhyeok.
"Can't you do something about those?"
"What are you talking ab— ...ah, I see."
At the sight of the Knight and Bone Hound standing where Gim Minsik's fingertips pointed, Choe Jinhyeok nodded as if he understood and flicked his finger.
Snap!
Along with that, the Bone Hound and Knight, which had been larger than an average adult man, turned into bone fragments.
Although he himself had said it, perhaps because he truly hadn't known how it would be handled, Gim Minsik's eyes went round, but he soon returned to his original expression.
"That's a fascinating ability. Is that the ability Mr. Choe Jinhyeok awakened?"
Saying 'I have it because I traversed dimensions' would have been problematic, so Choe Jinhyeok just nodded roughly, and Gim Minsik, thinking Choe Jinhyeok was doing so because he was tired, guided him to the lodging prepared inside the building.
And upon seeing the interior of the lodging Gim Minsik guided him to, Choe Jinhyeok was quite surprised.
"...It's quite luxurious."
The interior of the lodging was luxurious and refined enough to satisfy even the eyes of Choe Jinhyeok, who had lived as a noble on the Armaladin Continent, surpassing that of an ordinary noble's room.
As if pleased by that reaction from Choe Jinhyeok, Gim Minsik puffed out his chest proudly.
Leaving such a Gim Minsik be, Choe Jinhyeok plopped down onto the bed placed in the room.
"Right? This is the best room inside this building."
"So tell me the reason you brought me here first."
"You're straightforward. The reason I brought Mr. Choe Jinhyeok here is partly because of information regarding the dungeon you entered, but... above all, it's because of Mr. Choe Jinhyeok's might."
At Gim Minsik's words, Choe Jinhyeok thought 'as expected' and nodded. It was a gesture telling him to say more.
Despite Choe Jinhyeok's attitude, overflowing with confidence to the point of arrogance, Gim Minsik showed no reaction and continued explaining.
"As you may know, our Association is currently in a position opposing the large guilds. The guild masters of those large guilds are people who wouldn't bat an eye at grinding up the Hunters under them if it's for their own interests and authority."
"...Continue."
"That is why our Association is parched for talent. Precisely someone like you, Mr. Choe Jinhyeok. Immediately after your first Awakening, you solo-cleared a dungeon with C-rank monsters as boss monsters, and two of them at that? Just by looking at this, you are at least a C-rank Hunter. On top of that, you can even tame monsters? At this level, you are not a rookie but can be compared to active Hunters."
To Gim Minsik's words, which were slightly off but roughly correct, Choe Jinhyeok nodded and replied.
"So that's why you need me? To raise me as a counterweight against the large guilds?"
"Exactly. We need a needle to stab into the necks of the large guilds at a critical moment. And a hidden needle is far more threatening than a visible one."
However, Gim Minsik, making such a proposal, would not have known.
That the rookie before his eyes, and a freshly awakened one at that, was not a mere needle for show but a tiger capable of biting off even the heads of the large guilds.
And such a tiger was carefully turning over Gim Minsik's proposal in his mind. He soon finished his calculations.
"First, what do you want from me? If it means working under this Association while taking orders from your boss, I refuse."
As Choe Jinhyeok blocked that in advance, Gim Minsik scratched his head as if embarrassed.
"I understand one condition for now. No one will be above you. And are there any other conditions you need? We'll match your conditions as best we can."
"The second is that I need things like these. And a great many of them."
At the sight of Choe Jinhyeok pulling out low-grade magic stones from his bag and showing them as he spoke, Gim Minsik snickered.
"The second condition was an extremely easy one."
"The Association is filled with ones much better than those. Then we accept the second condition as well."
"Third."
"...There's a third?"
When the word 'third' came out of Choe Jinhyeok's mouth, Gim Minsik's face, which had thought the second would be the end, wrinkled slightly.
From the Association's standpoint, even the two conditions mentioned earlier were considerable concessions.
The first was simply operating Choe Jinhyeok in a one-man guild format.
They would give orders, but he could refuse up to three times, and after three refusals, he would accept one order—this was a compromise possible with Choe Jinhyeok.
And the second was the same. The magic stones the Association itself extracted from the large guilds were enormous, and the number of magic stones mined by Association-affiliated Hunters was considerable, so even if mid-grade magic stones were expensive, to the Association they were no different from the price of chewing gum.
No, since their warehouses were stacked to the brim with magic stones in the first place, even more so.
These alone were enormous conditions for a freshly awakened rookie, so when a third condition came out of Choe Jinhyeok's mouth, Gim Minsik slightly grimaced.
At such a sight of Gim Minsik, Choe Jinhyeok sneered.
"Why? Is it a waste? Are you thinking that you have to accept and walk through three conditions for someone like me...?"
"...To be honest, yes. From our standpoint, although Mr. Choe Jinhyeok is a talent worthy of receiving C-rank from the start..."
"A-rank."
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
"That Hunter rank you assess. I'll get an A-rank. How about it, is it worth doing then? Doesn't it feel like your investment value is gushing forth?"
"...You drive a hard bargain. You even know how to inflate your price."
At Choe Jinhyeok's words, Gim Minsik spoke with a smile creeping to his lips as if amused.
To Gim Minsik's smile, Choe Jinhyeok also responded with a smile and added more conditions.
"If I bring back an A-rank, you guys will have to find me a house to live in on top of the three conditions I mentioned. No, I'll take the house as a down payment."
"Hoo... you seem overflowing with confidence? But if we give you a house in advance and you fail to obtain an A-rank..."
"Then I'll do everything you say without any conditions. Whether it's assassination or cutting off the heads of whatever large guilds. How about it? Does it tickle your fancy?"
"...Perfect."
"You've bought something much greater than a needle for a very cheap price. No, I suppose 'leased' is the correct word."
At Choe Jinhyeok's bold words, Gim Minsik snickered. This contract was overwhelmingly favorable to Gim Minsik's side.
In any case, a talent of Choe Jinhyeok's level was not common, and the Hunter exam was not that easy.
To the extent that not a single person had taken an A-rank from the start. And not just in our country, but worldwide.
Therefore, if—really, if—Choe Jinhyeok took an A-rank, even if they brought up conditions greater than those mentioned earlier, the Association would benefit.
But what if he failed to obtain it? It was still a gain. Because they could work a C-rank Hunter like Choe Jinhyeok from the start without any conditions. At worst, he was a free needle, so there was no loss.
With the thought that he had completed a successful contract, Gim Minsik grinned and asked Choe Jinhyeok for the last condition.
"Then let us hear the final, third condition. What is it?"
"Corpses."
"...Excuse me?"
"I need the corpses of very powerful ones. It doesn't matter if they're human or monster."
When the final condition was added, the scales bearing the conditions of Gim Minsik and Choe Jinhyeok reached equilibrium.
The stiffly hardened face of Gim Minsik was a bonus.
"A group where I don't have to take anyone's orders and I am the head. There, an infinite supply of magic stones to draw mana from. And finally, powerful corpses."
A wicked smile formed on the lips of Choe Jinhyeok, who had secured conditions satisfying all three requirements for a Necromancer to become most powerful.
"I'll suck them down to the marrow."
The two, having concluded a mutually satisfactory(?) contract, looked at each other and clasped hands.