Chapter 210

Sometimes, a spark casually flicked away can create a massive blaze.

After a day, two days, three… about a week, the tiny spark had spread into a forest fire—and I was standing at its center.

[Korea Daily] The Rise of an F-Rank Hunter. “I trained exactly according to the manual.”

[Goryeo Daily] The Birth of a New Hero. “S-Rank Hunters, watch out!”

[Happy Thoughts] A Man in His Twenties Who Prevented a Major Disaster. “I only did what anyone should have done.”

[Current Hot Topic] Two Gates Open in a Single Day… An Unprecedented Crisis, and a Fierce Clash Between the Ruling and Opposition Parties Over National Defense and Security

[Parliament’s Words of the Day] Freedom Patriot Party Chairman’s Outrageous Remark Becomes a Hot Topic: “Jin Taekyung’s Arms are Thick, so He’s Obviously Conservative. Conservatives Saved the Country.”

Daily newspapers, weekly magazines, current-affairs publications, lifestyle magazines, and more.

If all the newspapers and magazines piled high on the table had one thing in common, it was that my face and name were plastered across them.

Even looking at them was enough to make me feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

Why are there so many?

How many interviews had I done over the past week?

All kinds of media outlets, starving for an exclusive, had flooded the world with articles as though they had been waiting for this moment.

Reporters had staked out the Guild House and my home, while my personal information, past activities, and photographs circulated across the internet.

Wow. These people are fucking insane.

I had thought I was somewhat used to being famous after enjoying a fair amount of recognition in the Murim, but compared to this, that had been nothing.

Korea had been an internet powerhouse for a long time, and the respectable, gray-haired people in their fifties had actually been keyboard warriors in their younger days.

The saying that you could meet the entire nation just by browsing a few major online communities was not baseless nonsense.

“Why is everyone so interested in other people’s business?”

At my mutter, Hyung Jinho shrugged while eating bibimbap from a large metal bowl.

“It’s a good thing. You’re famous for doing something good.”

“I don’t know about that. There are all kinds of lunatics out there.”

“Ah, right. What happened with your family…”

Hyung Jinho quietly shut his mouth when he saw my expression. I had not looked in a mirror, but I was sure my face looked pretty frightening.

They had nobody else to mess with, so they went after my family?

The world really was a big place, and there were a lot of lunatics in it.

After I appeared on the KPS Nine O’Clock News, the public reaction exploded, and reporters hungry for a fresh scoop combed through everything connected to me with a fine-tooth comb.

The problem was that my family’s personal information had been exposed in the process.

“You know Hayeon called a few days ago, right? She ordered delivery because reporters kept following her whenever she went outside—and the delivery person turned out to be a reporter in disguise.”

“Ah, that guy really was a hack reporter. I’d only ever heard stories about people like that, but I never imagined they’d really go that far.”

“There were even people who hired Familiar mages.”

Sometimes I wondered if this was what hack reporters and paparazzi were supposed to be.

When I first heard about it, I saw red. But before I could personally go after the reporter and the media outlet, netizens rose up like wildfire.

Several massive online communities, each claiming more than a million registered members, were still blazing away, using hack reporters as firewood.

Top Comment: LOL, these fucking hack reporters are crossing the line again. A few people are alive because of Taekyung, and they’re pulling this shit? I’m embarrassed for them.

└ They would’ve done the same thing if their own families had been there. They’re just fucking crazy.

└ What company is it? Post the article link.

└ Hailey News. Reporter B.H.Y. The original’s been deleted, but it’s already too late, LOL.

└ Let’s turn it into Hell News.

└ It already is. The site’s been shut down.

Top Comment: I heard there was another media outlet that hired a wiretapping mage and a Familiar mage. What happened to them?

└ The people involved are having a reunion in the holding cells. Their lives are probably over.

└ The person above doesn’t know Hell Joseon.¹ The ones who gave the orders will get suspended sentences at worst, LOL.

└ Nope. A national petition went up about it, and it passed three million yesterday. The Blue House is supposedly preparing legislation. Looks like they’re going to overhaul the whole system this time.

└ We’ll have to wait for the results, but I really hope they do.

└ They’re probably going to clean house while they’re at it. Blinded by their hunger for an exclusive, they messed with someone they never should have touched.

└ I’m a man in my twenties. Everyone my age. Loves Jin Taekyung.

The reactions of people like that left me more bewildered than anything else. I was happy, but at the same time, I felt burdened.

I really only did what anyone should have done.

It had been an accident that nobody could have predicted.

The news kept calling me a hero who had prevented a major disaster, but every now and then, I found myself wondering whether, if I had been just a little faster, there might have been even one fewer casualty.

“What’s with that expression?”

“Huh? Nothing.”

“Someone with nothing wrong isn’t supposed to pick at his food like that.”

“I’ve already eaten three bowls.”

“You normally eat at least five.”

“…That’s true.”

“Hey, Taekyung. I’m not really qualified to give you advice, but let me say one thing.”

It was the first time in a while that I had heard such a serious tone from him.

Hyung Jinho set down his spoon covered in red pepper paste and continued slowly.

“Don’t try to become a hero.”

“…”

“You’re not a god. How can you save everyone? Even gods can’t do that.”

He was right.

I wasn’t denying the existence or power of a god, but that didn’t mean I could reconcile myself to it, either.

The only things I knew for certain were the hundreds of millions of people who had died during the Great Cataclysm, my father’s death in an accident, and the poor, fiercely difficult life my family had endured.

“What was your dream again?”

“To make sure my family could live without envying anyone else. To protect the people precious to me.”

“Sum it up in one word.”

A quiet laugh slipped out of me.

Instead of the word landlord, which I had parroted day after day, an unexpected word came to mind.

The greatest under heaven… no, the greatest of all time?

I was briefly lost in my own thoughts, but when I saw Hyung Jinho looking puzzled, I hurriedly answered.

“Hmm. A strong Hunter landlord?”

“Exactly. That’s enough. You’ve practically achieved your dream already, so don’t drive yourself into the ground with pointless greed and guilt.”

“Pointless greed…”

“Let me ask you one thing. Taekyung, did you fight those monsters because you wanted this?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then that’s enough.”

Hyung Jinho grinned and picked up his spoon again.

“Just enjoy it. Wouldn’t you feel more at ease if you thought of it as a reward for all the hardship you endured and the good you did?”

A reward.

I had already received plenty of rewards through the System, but the reward Hyung Jinho was talking about meant something completely different.

Not a material reward or power, but a reward for the mind.

In other words, he was telling me to find contentment and breathing room.

Contentment and breathing room.

The words felt unfamiliar as I repeated them silently.

When I had been an F-rank Hunter, I fought monsters for money. Now, I worked even harder to become stronger.

Thinking about it carefully, I realized what a greedy bastard I really was.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Nothing. Just… thanks.”

Hyung Jinho, who had been scooping up a spoonful of bibimbap, froze.

“Really?”

“I mean it.”

“Then lend me one hundred thousand won.”

“Don’t start talking about money just because things got awkward.”

“I mean it, too.”

“…”

What the hell was this guy?

Just as I was staring at him in disbelief, the phone resting on the table began vibrating violently, and a text message arrived.

Team Leader Choi

Team Leader Choi

I’ve arrived. Come down to the underground parking garage right away.

Just as the message said, Team Leader Choi was waiting for me in the underground parking garage.

The problem was that he was not alone.

“Oh my God News! Could you give us just one word about the current situation?”

“Mr. Jin Taekyung, I’m Reporter Hong from Housewives’ Daily. You were chosen as the number-one ideal man by married women in their forties this week, and…”

“This is Vivid Current-Affairs Talk! What do you think about the remark made in Parliament about the size of your arms?”

“Where are you headed right now? What did you have for lunch?”

More than twenty people were thrusting cameras and microphones at me. It was absolute chaos.

Unlike me, who let out a deep sigh, Team Leader Choi remained calm as he pushed back the enemy forces.

“Please step aside.”

“Just a moment. It’ll only take a second.”

“Mr. Jin Taekyung is a member of the Peace Guild. Please leave interview inquiries through the Guild’s official website.”

When had they even made an official website?

Not long ago, they had posted a massive recruitment notice for new Guild members as well. It seemed they intended to row this boat as hard as they could while they had the chance.

But despite Team Leader Choi’s efforts to stop them, the reporters clung to us stubbornly. Apparently, not getting a single interview over the past few days had eaten away at them.

“You’re the Team Leader of the Peace Guild, right? We weren’t asking you, so step aside!”

“Yeah! Move! Your website is a piece of garbage, too. How long are we supposed to wait before we can send an inquiry and get an interview?”

“It’s just one word. Why are you acting so precious?”

“Are you looking down on us because we’re a tiny second-rate media outlet?”

“Mr. Jin Taekyung is my team member, and I am currently the Guild’s spokesperson, so I have every right to intervene. The website is functioning normally, I have never played hard to get, and the reason I ignored you is that you failed to follow the proper procedure.”

Team Leader Choi answered without even blinking as he smoothly pushed the reporters and cameramen aside.

He looked slender, but an incredible amount of strength was hidden inside that body. He was using only one arm, yet the people blocking our path were pushed back in a line.

“Whoa!”

“Hey, he’s using force now?”

“A Hunter! The Hunter is beating people up!”

Go on, make a whole fucking scene…

I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat.

Just by looking at them, I could tell the reporters in front of us were low quality.

Team Leader Choi had arranged dozens of interviews over the past week as the Guild’s spokesperson. The fact that he was filtering these people out was enough to tell me they were shit, not soybean paste.

Why are their questions such garbage in the first place?

They were questions not worth answering. Even if I responded, they would obviously twist my words maliciously before publishing them.

“We’re passing through.”

That was when Team Leader Choi began forcing his way forward without paying them any attention.

“Whoops!”

Crack!

A camera that had slipped from someone’s hand struck the parking-garage floor and shattered.

The problem was that the entire sequence of events felt deliberately staged.

“My camera! Oh, no!”

His voice sounded heartbroken, but his eyes flashed with the look of someone who had finally caught his prey.

Team Leader Choi stared at the cameraman’s terrible acting. Then he bent down and reached for the broken device.

The cameraman angrily slapped his arm away.

“Don’t touch it! I recorded everything you did, so you’d better prepare yourself—”

Smack! Crack.

Everyone’s eyes dropped to the floor.

The wristwatch that had fallen from Team Leader Choi’s wrist was rolling across the parking-garage floor.

More than ten watch hands. Jewels set densely across its surface. And a face cracked like a spiderweb.

“…”

“…”

Gulp.

The cameraman’s swallow echoed through the parking garage.

Then Team Leader Choi’s quiet voice pierced everyone’s ears.

“The Universe-302, the final masterpiece personally crafted late in the life of Peter Philip, Switzerland’s greatest watchmaker. The pinnacle of automatic mechanical watches, this beautiful timepiece survived even the Great Cataclysm, only to be damaged so pointlessly.”

“…”

With sad eyes, Team Leader Choi picked up the watch—Universe, School Bus, or whatever it was—and delivered the final blow.

“I’m suing you.”

At Choi Moses’s miracle, the crowd parted in two.

Vroom.

A luxury sedan glided smoothly across the asphalt.

Team Leader Choi glanced at the rearview mirror and spoke.

“They aren’t following us anymore.”

“…I wouldn’t follow us, either. How much is that watch?”

“It’s worth more than you imagine. Of course, that’s assuming it’s genuine.”

“Oh, it’s an imitation? No wonder. I thought it was strange that you would throw away such a valuable luxury item so easily.”

“You noticed?”

“If a wristwatch came loose that easily, that would be even stranger.”

“I only scared them a little. I wore it in case something like this happened. It was a good choice.”

Wasn’t this basically Zhuge Liang?

I was admiring Team Leader Choi’s clever trick when something suddenly sprang out in front of the sedan, which was just leaving the entrance to the officetel neighborhood.

“Team Leader Choi!”

Screeeeeech!

Team Leader Choi hit the brakes half a beat ahead of my shout. He stared at the person visible through the windshield and muttered,

“He doesn’t look like a reporter.”

I thought so, too.

An ordinary person could not wear such a relaxed smile in a situation like this.

And…

Even without activating Qi Sense, I could feel the considerable energy coiled inside the man smiling at us.

A Hunter. And a pretty high-level one at that.

The uninvited guest, a man in his early thirties wearing a suit, tapped on the window and spoke.

“Let’s talk.”