Volume 1, Episode 5
005
Seoul Special City, Dongdaemun District.
Trudge.
A place surrounded by buildings that looked ready to collapse at any moment.
Trudge.
I Seojun and Gim Juwon directed their steps toward an alley reeking with gloom, where cigarette butts were scattered all across the ground.
‘Haesin.’
The place they were heading was Haesin, a fairly major Resolution Office where a famously skilled hacker was said to be.
Then.
Tap.
They stopped in front of a place that appeared to be an abandoned building.
Two letters written on a signboard swaying precariously atop the building, as though it might fall off at any moment: Haesin.
They had arrived at their destination.
“That place is….”
Gim Juwon, sporting a frightened expression, opened his mouth.
“It’s run by a B-rank Hunter, I Yeongwon.”
B-rank Hunter.
He was virtually the Maginot Line—the limit of what ordinary people could readily see.
If one was B-rank, they could be called an extremely rare powerhouse, numbering close to single digits among the total Hunter population.
From A-rank onward, they were practically treated like celebrities, astounding individuals who could easily secure a raid leader position in any decent guild.
Swish.
Gim Juwon looked at I Seojun.
‘What rank is this person?’
He had registered as D-rank, but there was no way he believed that.
No matter how much he thought about it, that was simply absurd.
Gim Juwon thought I Seojun’s rank was B.
—Krragh! Krraaagh!
Watching him slaughter the employees of Samil Resolution Office, who had been C-rank Hunters, had given him that thought.
How could someone that powerful be D-rank?
This was something easily understood by thinking back on what had happened then.
‘Perhaps…’
He was high B-rank, or perhaps truly….
Gulp.
He might be A-rank.
Gim Juwon, who had seen and experienced his power firsthand, thought it was sufficiently possible.
“Are you really… going to do this?”
Gim Juwon asked cautiously.
“Because it’s necessary.”
I Seojun replied without hesitation.
“Huu….”
At that, Gim Juwon let out a short sigh.
‘That’s right. This is the price of sin.’
The price for setting foot in a place that did things no human should do, whether by choice or not.
Also….
“This is taking out the trash….”
It was also the hope he placed on I Seojun, who accomplished things he himself could not do with utter nonchalance.
“But… you must be careful.”
Gim Juwon spoke to I Seojun in a tone that seemed somewhat worried.
He knew full well that he was strong.
“From B-rank onward, they are truly different.”
It was clear that they would be markedly different from when he had faced the C-rank employees.
That was why Gim Juwon said this, just in case.
Trudge.
But without answering, I Seojun walked out.
“You must be careful….”
Gim Juwon, who had been following, trailed off.
“If you’re worried, stay here. You are helpful.”
Gim Juwon stopped.
He watched I Seojun’s back as it grew distant.
—Krraaagh!
The Samil Resolution Office employees who had died that day came to mind from I Seojun’s back.
Truthfully, I Seojun was also a murderer who had killed several humans these past few days.
His track record was such that calling him a villain would not be strange at all.
But….
Clench.
It seemed that such villains were also necessary in this world.
Things he himself could not do.
A villain who could accomplish such things without a care.
“I-I’ll go with you!”
Gim Juwon belatedly caught up behind I Seojun.
* * *
Squeak. Squeak.
A man leaned his body far back in a chair, feet propped on the desk.
He wore a pleasant smile.
“What did you say this month’s revenue is?”
It was I Yeongwon, owner of Haesin Resolution Office.
“It’s approximately 5 billion won.”
The employee standing before him answered immediately at his question.
Grin.
Five billion a month.
That was an enormous sum of money no different from a dream to ordinary people and most Hunters alike.
It was an amount that only A-rank Hunters—or rather, those belonging to major guilds among them—would typically be able to touch.
But that money was being handled by B-rank Hunter I Yeongwon.
“I guess working like a dog paid off.”
It might have been a double entendre.
Because it was true both that he had worked hard and that he had done things not even a dog would do.
—“I’ll give you as much money as you want, so please just get that back from him. You can do anything. In return, I hope no traces are left.”
Theft.
—“Hey. Chairman. It’s nothing much. There’s this guy who got on my nerves… If you trample him so hard he can never hold his head up again, I’ll compensate you generously.”
Assault.
—“I don’t need anything else. Every day. Day by day, if you could just visit and apply pressure.”
Intimidation.
—“Hiss… Huu. Very quietly, without a whisper. There’s a guy I want cleanly eliminated… How about it? Can you do it? Chairman.”
Murder, and so on.
He didn’t discriminate against anything as long as it made money.
Human lives were worth less than 100 million won before him.
“This is all thanks to our Hyeonu.”
A faint light emanated from a room in one corner that looked like a prison.
“That kid is a real treasure! A treasure!”
F-rank Hunter.
The lowest of the low, incomparable to ordinary people yet insufficient to be called superhuman.
But his ability was separate from being a Hunter.
‘Hacking.’
That kid, discovered through a job taken by chance, was a treasure that had recently brought enormous money to the Resolution Office.
Because with the kid around, his Resolution Office could do even more.
“But did they really vanish?”
Daeyeong Resolution Office, which had taken his treasure, I Hyeonu, without permission, saying they would register someone’s identity anew.
“Yes.”
They had all disappeared from this world without a trace.
“How dare they use our cutie as they pleased to extract extra fees. Tsk.”
In this underworld, Resolution Offices being wiped out were a dime a dozen.
Since they were places that would stop at nothing for money and committed all manner of illegal acts, there were more than one or two that held grudges against them.
Especially since they couldn’t receive protection from the Association or the government, these Resolution Offices could vanish at any time due to conflicts between offices or trivial matters.
To avoid that, one had to be at least….
“My level.”
A B-rank Hunter.
He himself was a rare powerhouse even in the Resolution Office world.
“Hey. Go feed our cutie.”
I Yeongwon said with a smile.
A cold gaze.
“Make sure he doesn’t run anywhere. Train him thoroughly today, too.”
He spoke to the employee, looking toward the room where I Hyeonu was.
“Understood.”
“Then this big brother is heading out.”
Hearing the employee’s words, I Yeongwon rose from his seat.
Trudge. Trudge.
Just as I Yeongwon stepped forward and was about to open the door.
“Hmm…?”
At the cold sensation crawling up his spine, I Yeongwon stopped.
“Hyung-nim, why…?”
The employee seeing him off asked in a puzzled tone at his sudden halt.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
I Yeongwon grabbed the neck of the employee standing beside him and threw him forward.
Kwaaang!
The employee’s body exploded along with the bursting door.
“Who goes there.”
It was the moment I Yeongwon spoke, his demeanor changed in an instant.
Tat-tat!
Along with the sound of feet kicking off the ground.
Ssweaek!
A sharp fist flew toward him.
* * *
What needed to be checked before going to the tutorial.
‘Where do I stand here?’
Planet Lumer, teeming with all sorts of monsters.
He had obtained the body of Aion, King of Lumer, who reigned supreme at the very top with overwhelming power there, but.
[Stats have been downgraded.]
To think that the power this body currently possessed was Aion’s was an understatement to the point of being pathetic.
In one word, it was a tin can, nothing more.
The stats he had checked while growing somewhat accustomed to this system were.
[Level 1]
Everything else was obscured and blurred.
That was why he needed to know.
He needed to grasp it.
To what extent this was, and what he could do.
‘B-rank.’
Those treated as considerable powerhouses in this world.
What level they were at, and to what extent he himself was capable.
Grasping one’s full strength was the most fundamental of basics.
‘Full strength.’
Only then could he fight efficiently in the battles to come.
Fighting without any information was no different from foolishness.
It was the same as throwing away one’s life.
Crack.
But he felt it would be fine even if he couldn’t know these things for certain right now.
Because he had a certain degree of confidence.
He had found out through Gim Juwon, and had gauged the energy he felt while registering as a Hunter at the Association.
Now that he was certain.
“…….”
He stood here.
Creak.
I Seojun added more strength to his grip with an expressionless face.
“K-kurk.”
At that, I Yeongwon let out a scream filled with pain.
“Kur… kuk! P-please….”
How many times had the B-rank Hunter felt such pain?
He had probably almost never.
Hadn’t Gim Juwon said so?
—“From B-rank onward, they are truly different.”
That they were truly different from B-rank onward.
Hadn’t he told him to be careful because they were an extremely rare minority of the strong, numbering close to single digits among the total Hunter population?
“Please… please!”
That was why the times he had felt pain were probably few and far between.
No, perhaps none.
Because the place he mainly operated was not Gates, but Resolution Offices.
“If it’s money…!”
I Yeongwon looked at I Seojun with bloodshot eyes, begging and pleading.
‘Just who…’
Who was this man?
Who on earth was he that a B-rank Hunter like himself was being beaten without even being able to use his strength?
He had never heard of such a person in the Resolution Office world.
“J-just what do you want?”
But now was not the time to be thinking about such things.
If this went on, everything he had built would become bubbles.
“I’ll give you everything, whatever it is….”
In this dark world of Resolution Offices, he hadn’t seen eyes like that for just a day or two.
That was why I Yeongwon knew.
“So please, at least my life…!”
That his opponent truly intended to kill him.
At that moment.
Kwadeuk!
A heavy noise filled the interior.
Swhaak!
It was the sound of I Yeongwon’s head exploding.
Crimson blood burst out in an instant, splattering everywhere.
Thud.
The corpse of I Yeongwon collapsed powerlessly to the floor.
It could be called the miserable end of I Yeongwon, who had committed countless crimes and made countless people shed tears.
“Hmm.”
And I Seojun, who had done such a deed, stood there with a face devoid of any emotion.
“At this level, where do I stand.”
I Seojun’s voice was utterly dry.
“I-I don’t really….”
Gim Juwon, standing behind him, spoke with cold sweat.
Gulp.
He had known I Seojun was strong, but he had never dreamt that he would subdue the famous I Yeongwon in this world in just a few moves.
“I don’t know for sure, but if it’s to this extent….”
Just as Gim Juwon spoke in a slightly trembling voice.
“A-rank. Probably mid-tier.”
A boy’s voice was heard from beyond the iron-barred door.
The strongest villain in history has returned.