Chapter 209

Ten in the morning.

Im Kkeokjeong, a D-rank Hunter of the Peace Guild who had come to work after spending a vacation as sweet as honey, stood there with his mouth hanging open.

“Whoa. What is this?”

It was understandable.

Before his vacation—in other words, just a week ago—the Guild House had been nothing more than a rundown neighborhood corner store.

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

“Wow. They went all out with the remodeling.”

Just as Im Kkeokjeong was admiring the exterior, a familiar voice came from somewhere.

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

Startled, he looked around. But when he saw neither the usual CCTV nor even an intercom, he cautiously opened his mouth.

“Te-Team Leader Choi? Is that you?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

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

The reply came without the slightest hesitation, as though he had been waiting for that exact question.

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

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

“Oh. Then, if you open the mahogany door wrapped in salamander leather resistant to flames and come inside…”

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

“…Yes.”

Click.

Along with that somehow dejected voice, the locked door slid open.

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

“Welcome.”

“Hunter Im.”

“Uncle’s here?”

Team Leader Choi, the practical owner of the Peace Guild; Butler Kim, who nominally served as its Guild Master; and Song Song, the guild’s lone woman.

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 so long, but it’s good to see you all. Did you get plenty of rest during your vacation?”

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

After a brief silence, Song Song spoke.

“I rested. But there were so many bugs in the house that it bothered me.”

“Bugs?”

“Yes. Weren’t there any bugs at your place, Uncle?”

At Song Song’s question, Im Kkeokjeong tilted his head.

Come to think of it, his wife had complained about something similar several 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. They were the most well-behaved flies I’ve ever seen.”

Song Song shuddered uneasily.

“There were so many that I felt too uncomfortable even to shower. It felt like the bugs were watching me.”

“The bugs? Ha-ha-ha! Miss Song, you’re quite the joker.”

“…”

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

He doesn’t seem to know.

Looks like he didn’t notice.

Wow. Is this guy seriously that dense?

Unlike the three people who had been watched throughout their vacation by Familiars sent by the Sangdong Guild, Im Kkeokjeong had returned from a truly blissful vacation without knowing a thing.

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

The saying ignorance is bliss could not have been more fitting.

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

If the mages of the Sangdong Guild had heard Song Song muttering those words, they would have felt the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

Im Kkeokjeong’s laughter abruptly stopped.

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

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

“Is it still that bad? I know someone who works for a company in that field. 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 put in a lot of effort. Especially Butler Kim.”

“Really? Kim hyung—I mean, Guild Master. Looks like you know a thing or two about that sort of thing.”

Butler Kim answered with an awkward smile.

“Not at all. I happened to know a junior who worked in that field.”

“Oh, exterminating pests?”

“…Yes, something like that.”

In a way, monsters were just enormous pests, so he was not technically wrong.

Im Kkeokjeong, who had effectively turned one of Bucheon’s leading Hunter Guilds into Cesco,¹ continued in all seriousness.

“Your junior must be pretty skilled.”

“Ah, yes. He’s quite good.”

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 nothing more than one of the trainees he had once worked like a dog.

“Let’s stop talking about that. More importantly…”

Team Leader Choi had been grimacing as he struggled to hold back his laughter for some time. He hurriedly 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 laughed and chatted, the appointed start time had long since passed.

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

“What happened? That kid Taekyung has never been late 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 thoroughly investigated Jin Taekyung’s past once. Judging by the years of activity recorded in the report and what he had personally witnessed since then, Taekyung’s diligence and persistence were genuine.

The raid starts in two hours…

Had something happened?

As Team Leader Choi pondered the matter and picked up his phone, 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 believe that is indeed Hunter Jin Taekyung.”

Butler Kim was usually calm, but he was so flustered that even he began to stammer.

The guild members, however, had already lost all interest in anything except the caption appearing beneath Jin Taekyung’s face.

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

Live broadcast) Tollgate Hero

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

“It’s muted! It’s in mute mode! 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! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!”

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

“…And that’s how it happened.”

“Yes, I see. Then, finally, could you give us a few 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 the person I like…”

“Yes! I see.”

“W-Wait a second.”

“That concludes our interview due to time constraints. Viewers, you have just watched an interview with Jin Taekyung, the Tollgate Hero!”

The screen showed the reporter’s beaming face one last time before switching to a cosmetics commercial.

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

“Just a moment. I’ll search for it right away. Tollgate Hero, Tollgate Hero… Holy crap.”

“Song-i. What is it?”

Song Song had gone rigid, her eyes round. Without saying 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 inside of the Guild House went silent, as though everyone had been doused with ice water.

No one had expected anything like this. They all sat in silence, unable to find the words.

Then—

“Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!”

“Whoa.”

“No way.”

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

The group hurriedly turned toward the television. They let out sighs when they saw that 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 moment they finished speaking, everyone sprang to their feet.

“Wow, what the hell?”

“Is this the right place?”

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

“Would it be possible to interview the guild members too?”

“No. You cut my interview short earlier.”

“Hunter, about earlier…”

The conversation came through the speaker spell with perfect clarity.

As the guild members watched, 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 Team Leader Choi?”

“Yes.”

“What was that? How did you do that?”

Team Leader Choi opened his mouth without hesitation.

It was an instinct etched deep into his bones.

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

Im 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.

And not merely overnight. I was experiencing it in real time.

“Hey, sibling-on-paper. I just saw something I can’t believe.”

“Sibling-on-paper? Are you trying to die?”

“No, that’s not the issue right now.”

Hayeon’s voice on the other end of the phone was filled with shock and disbelief.

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

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. When I tapped your name, your profile picture even came up under ‘Person in the News.’ Even after seeing that, I thought, No way.”

I had not expected it to cause such a huge reaction, either.

Only a few hours had passed, but if I searched my name online, dozens of clickbait articles came streaming out.

“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 was not 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 to hearing that her son had fought such monsters.

“Damn. You’re right about that.”

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

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

“Interview? Are you doing an interview 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 walked toward the news studio I had only ever seen on television.

Broadcasting Equipment filled the room in every direction, and the eyes of the station staff were fixed on me. My lips went dry, and my legs trembled.

I’d rather fight a hundred ogres.

At a time when every second felt like an eternity, the signal I had been waiting for finally came.

“We’re going live. Stand by… cue!”