Chapter 209

Ten in the morning.

Im Kkeokjeong, a D-rank Hunter with the Peace Guild, arrived at work after a blissful vacation and stopped dead, his mouth hanging open.

“Whoa. What is this?”

His reaction was understandable.

Before his vacation—just one week ago—the Guild House had looked like a run-down neighborhood corner store on the verge of collapse.

But now, right before his eyes, stood a sign made of gleaming marble and luxurious lettering.

“Wow. They really went all out on the remodeling.”

As Kkeokjeong admired the exterior, a familiar voice came from somewhere.

“Why are you standing outside instead of coming in?”

Startled, he looked around. But there wasn’t so much as an ordinary security camera or intercom in sight, so he cautiously spoke up.

“Te-Team Leader Choi? Is that you?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

“What is this? How are you talking to me?”

The reply came without a moment’s hesitation, as though he had been waiting for that exact question.

“It’s nothing special. We commissioned Vercheni, a venerable Italian family of artisans, to custom-make it for us. It incorporates message, observation, and alarm magic…”

“Ah, no. You don’t have to explain all that.”

“Oh. Then simply open the mahogany door, which is covered in the hide of a fire-resistant salamander, and come inside…”

“I’m coming in! I said I’m coming in!”

“…Yes.”

Click.

The locked door slid open along with the strangely dejected reply.

The interior of the Guild House had changed just as dramatically as the exterior. Three people were waiting for Kkeokjeong inside.

“Welcome back.”

“Hunter Im.”

“Uncle, you’re here?”

There was Team Leader Choi, the true power behind the Peace Guild; Butler Kim, its nominal Guild Master; and Song Song, the guild’s sole female member.

The three of them were seated around a round table. As they greeted him in turn, Im Kkeokjeong let out a good-natured laugh.

“Maybe it’s because it’s been a while, but it’s good to see you all. Did everyone get plenty of rest over the vacation?”

The moment he finished speaking, the expressions of all three changed strangely.

After a brief silence, Song Song spoke.

“I got some rest. There were so many bugs at home that they kept bothering me, though.”

“Bugs?”

“Yes. Didn’t you have any bugs at your place, Uncle?”

Kkeokjeong tilted his head.

Come to think of it, his wife had complained about something similar a few times during their vacation.

“Nothing much, just a fly or two. She said they kept coming in no matter how many she caught, so I left them alone, and then they quieted down. They hardly flew around, either.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen such well-behaved flies.”

Song Song shuddered uneasily.

“There were so many of them that I felt too creeped out to shower. It was like the bugs were watching me.”

“The bugs? Hahaha! Miss Song, you sure know how to joke around.”

“…”

Im Kkeokjeong threw his head back and laughed. He failed to notice the other three exchanging meaningful looks and words he could not hear.

Hunter Im doesn’t seem to know.

Looks like he didn’t notice.

Wow. How can this guy be so oblivious?

Unlike the other three, who had spent their entire vacation under surveillance by Familiars sent by the Sangdong Guild, Kkeokjeong had enjoyed a truly blissful break without knowing a thing.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been watched. He had been watched; he simply didn’t know it.

Ignorance truly was bliss.

“Those fucking perverts. If I catch them later, I’m going to rip their balls off.”

Song Song’s muttering would have sent chills down the spines of the Sangdong Guild’s mages if they had heard it.

Kkeokjeong abruptly stopped laughing.

“Huh? What did you just say? Perverts?”

“No. I just said the bugs were disgusting.”

“Is it still bad? I know someone who works in that line of business. Want me to ask them about it?”

Song Song gave a quiet laugh at his genuine concern, then pressed her lips together and pointed at the two people sitting beside her.

“They’re all gone now. Those two took care of it. Especially Butler Kim.”

“Really? Kim hyung¹—I mean, Guild Master. I guess you know a thing or two about that kind of work.”

Butler Kim answered with an awkward smile.

“Not really. It just so happens that a junior of mine works in that field.”

“Ah, pest control?”

“…Yes. Something like that.”

In a way, monsters were merely enormous pests, so that wasn’t entirely wrong.

Im Kkeokjeong, who had effectively turned one of Bucheon’s leading Hunter Guilds into Cesco,² continued in all seriousness.

“Your junior must be pretty good at his job.”

“Oh, he is.”

He was so good at beating them down that he was one of the war heroes of the Great Cataclysm.

Of course, to Butler Kim, Sangdong Guild Master Im Chunsoo was merely one of the trainees he had once worked like a dog.

“Let’s leave it at that. More importantly…”

Team Leader Choi had been grimacing for some time as he struggled to hold back his laughter. He quickly changed the subject.

There happened to be one person who made for a much more suitable topic.

“Why isn’t Jin Taekyung here?”

While they had been chatting and laughing, their scheduled start time had long since passed.

Only now realizing Jin Taekyung’s absence, Im Kkeokjeong nervously stroked his beard.

“What’s going on? Taekyung’s never done this before. When it comes to diligence, he’s the best person I know.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

Team Leader Choi nodded.

He had already investigated Taekyung’s past thoroughly. Judging by the several years documented in the report and everything he had personally witnessed since, Taekyung’s diligence and tenacity were genuine.

The raid starts in two hours…

Had something happened?

Team Leader Choi was still considering the possibilities as he picked up his phone when Song Song, who had been quiet for a while, suddenly spoke.

“Taurus—I mean, Jin Taekyung.”

“…”

“He’s right there.”

Her pale, slender finger pointed over Team Leader Choi’s shoulder.

The next moment, the guild members naturally turned in the direction she indicated, and their mouths fell open.

A familiar face filled the eighty-inch television screen mounted on the wall of the Guild House.

“…Huh.”

“Taekyung! Isn’t that Taekyung?”

“I-I believe that is indeed Hunter Jin Taekyung.”

Even the perpetually composed Butler Kim was so flustered that he stammered.

By then, however, the guild members’ attention had already been seized by the caption beneath Taekyung’s face.

Jin Taekyung (Wonmi-gu, Bucheon. C-rank Hunter)

Live: Tollgate Hero

“Tollgate Hero? What’s that supposed to mean? Why can’t we hear anything?”

“It’s muted! The TV’s on mute! Turn the sound on, quick!”

Only after someone hurriedly fiddled with the television did the blocked sound begin to spill out.

Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh! Rat-a-tat-a-tat!

Along with some incomprehensible noise, Jin Taekyung’s voice continued.

“…And that’s how it happened.”

“I see. Then could you give us a few final words about how you feel?”

“Uh, first of all, I love my family very much, and I’m incredibly grateful to all the members of the Peace Guild. And to the person I like…”

“Yes! I see.”

“W-Wait a second.”

“That’s all the time we have. Viewers, this has been our interview with Jin Taekyung, the Tollgate Hero!”

After one last shot of the reporter’s beaming face, the screen switched to a cosmetics commercial.

Im Kkeokjeong shouted, “What the hell was that? I couldn’t hear anything!”

“Hold on. I’ll search for it right now. Tollgate Hero, Tollgate Hero… Holy crap.”

“Song-i. What is it?”

Song Song had frozen, her eyes wide. Without a word, she held out her phone.

The main page of the web portal was displayed on the screen. The three syllables of Jin Taekyung’s name were plastered across it.

“Jin Taekyung is number one on the real-time search rankings.”

The Guild House fell silent as though someone had dumped ice water over everyone inside.

No one knew what to say about this completely unexpected turn of events.

Then—

Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh! Rat-a-tat-a-tat!

“Whoa.”

“No way.”

It was the same sound they had heard during Jin Taekyung’s interview only a few dozen seconds earlier.

Everyone whipped around to look at the television, only to sigh when they saw the cosmetics commercial was still playing.

But only for a moment.

“Wait. Then why can we still hear it?”

Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim were the first to realize where the noise was coming from. They shouted together.

“Outside!”

“It’s outside! It isn’t the television!”

Crash!

The words had barely left their mouths when everyone sprang to their feet.

“Whoa, what is this?”

“Is this the right place?”

“Yeah, this is the Peace Guild. I heard they remodeled, but it looks incredible.”

“Would it be possible to interview the other guild members as well?”

“No. You cut my interview short earlier.”

“Hunter, about earlier…”

The speaker spell relayed the conversation with perfect clarity.

With the other guild members watching, Team Leader Choi steadied his breathing and brought the message-magic Equipment to his mouth.

“Jin Taekyung. It’s me.”

“Whoa, what the hell? Sound Transmission? Is that you, Team Leader Choi?”

“Yes.”

“What was that? How did you do it?”

Team Leader Choi opened his mouth without hesitation.

It was an instinct etched deep into his bones.

“It’s nothing special. We commissioned Vercheni, a venerable Italian family of artisans, to custom-make it for us…”

Kkeokjeong muttered a string of vicious curses under his breath.

I went to sleep and woke up a star.

I had never imagined I would experience that saying for real in my lifetime.

Especially not in real time like this.

“Hey, registered sibling.³ I just saw something I can’t believe.”

“Registered sibling? You want to die?”

“No, that’s not the point right now.”

Hayeon’s voice over the phone was filled with shock and disbelief.

“Oppa,⁴ your name is on Naver’s real-time search rankings…”

I could easily guess what she was about to say.

I had already received dozens of calls with similar questions over the past few hours.

I cut Hayeon off before she could continue.

“Number one on the real-time search rankings. Yeah, that’s me. It really is.”

“…Seriously? The Seoul Outer Ring Expressway Tollgate Hero? That’s you?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m dying of embarrassment.”

“Wow. I guess it really is you. The second I tapped your name, your profile picture popped up under ‘Person in the News.’ Even after seeing it, I still thought there was no way.”

Even I hadn’t expected it to cause such a huge stir.

Only a few hours had passed, but searching my name online already brought up dozens of clickbait articles.

“What on earth happened? I read the articles, and it sounded insane. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“I didn’t even get a scratch, and it’d take too long to tell you the whole story. What about Mom? Has she heard the news about me?”

“Not yet. But if she finds out you fought monsters like that, she’ll faint.”

Hayeon wasn’t exaggerating.

What kind of creature was an ogre?

Even someone who knew nothing about monsters could search a few times and learn that they were every bit as powerful as their grotesque appearance suggested.

I could already picture how Mom would react when she heard her son had fought such monsters.

“Damn. You’re right.”

“Ugh, I don’t even know anymore. Get home before everything blows up and at least show her your face.”

“Okay. I’ll stop by after the interview.”

“Interview? Are you doing one right now?”

“Yeah.”

“Where? For a women’s magazine or something?”

“The KPS Nine O’Clock News Desk. I’m waiting for my turn.”

“…Holy crap.”

Just as I was about to answer Hayeon, a television-station producer weighed down with Equipment urgently waved at me.

“This is live, so I have to go. See you at home later.”

“Uh-huh? O-Okay…”

I hung up and headed toward a news studio I had only ever seen on television.

Recording Equipment filled the place, and the station staff were all watching me. My mouth went dry, and my legs began to shake.

I’d rather fight a hundred ogres.

Each second felt like an eternity, but at last, the signal I had been waiting for came.

“We’re going live. Stand by… cue!”