Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Mad Demon Park Jin-ho

Thanks to Kim Eun-ji's feat, Saebit Guild's fame was piercing the sky. News and communities were decorated all day with headlines about Kim Eun-ji.

But.

"No requests?"

I sat in Saebit Guild's office with an empty face and muttered. The contacts that had flooded in had stopped long ago.

Gates were opening without number, and the requests assigned to Saebit Guild were zero.

Broadcast appearance inquiries were still many, but Kim Eun-ji refused, saying she wanted to fulfill her duty as a hunter.

'Rather, good.'

I too think a hunter's duty is gate clears more than broadcast shoots, so I respected her choice. And still, not a single gate-related request to Saebit Guild.

"Why?"

I had no choice but to show my question, looking at Kim Eun-ji sitting still on the sofa opposite.

A kid that pretty and young killed a demon first in the world. Why is only the hunter industry this quiet?

'No way?'

The Sword Saint. Did that old man move? Even so, this makes no sense. A retired old man has that much influence?

'The Sword Saint can't beat a demon either.'

It made no sense. There is some reason besides the Sword Saint. But that didn't matter. We couldn't waste time like this.

"Guild Master."

"...Yes?"

Lee Mi-seon, sitting in a chair with a sunken face, looked at me. I asked her one question with a firm face.

"You kept a child this talented tied up for two years, didn't you?"

At that, Lee Mi-seon glanced at Kim Eun-ji with a sorry face, then nodded.

"Then now, Guild Master, please move. For our guild and Eun-ji's career."

"...I've been putting out contacts here and there too, but they all say no."

"One place is left."

Given Lee Mi-seon's character, she probably hadn't contacted there. And this is not the time for us to pick hot rice from cold.

"The Hunter Association. Gates the guilds can't handle all pile up there anyway. Emergency or whatever, ask them for a few."

"Ah..."

Fair and square. No flexibility. In fact Lee Mi-seon was the worst as head of a private company. Even so, she had one strength.

"If we're to feed the family, we have to do something. All right!"

A strong sense of responsibility.

"Eun-ji. Get ready."

"...Already?"

Kim Eun-ji, sitting on the sofa, quietly looked at me. Usually, when she's blank like that, you could believe she was an idol, not a hunter.

"From the Association's side, they'd rather be grateful? Handling just the guild zones is already heavy, and if we take the lead and help with Association work too, they'll welcome us with both hands."

"Hmm."

A second-year, but in fact Kim Eun-ji was no different from a new hire. Against that, I'm a full ten-year.

A guild master from the Association, bringing in work like this is the standard. Given Lee Mi-seon's character, maybe she just couldn't bring herself to call. Thinking that, we started preparing to move out.

"Oh. Thank you! If there's another like that? Mm. Handle this first! Yes!"

Lee Mi-seon, just finished with a call, opened her mouth with a bright face.

"C-rank gate mutation! Looks like an incident during the <​Beyond the Gate> shoot. Asterion Guild moved out first, but civilians are involved, so they want us out too!"

"Hmm..."

"I'll send the location by text now! If I'd known work would come this easy, I should have called earlier! Thank you, Si-u!"

Next time I should tell her the difference between a honey gate and a hell gate. Well, this isn't the time for us to pick.

"We'll be back."

"Go safely!"

-Creak.

Opening the office door that seemed about to crumble and coming outside, we got in the company car. A compact on the verge of scrap, but still.

"They film inside gates too?"

Then, at Kim Eun-ji's question from the passenger seat, I gave a bitter smile. Unlike the past, much has changed now. Gates were not objects of fear, and hunters were no longer monsters.

Gates are views, and hunters are a new kind of celebrity. That was modern society.

So filming inside gates was happening more than you'd think.

"It comes up a lot on TV and Nutube. Never seen it?"

Strange enough that Kim Eun-ji, younger than me, didn't know.

"Getting stronger comes first for me. For a hunter, that's everything."

At her answer, I could only admire. A hard-working talent rare these days.

Most chase stronger skills, higher popularity. And the pile of money from that.

"Admirable. Anyway, there are some now and then. They take a high-rank hunter team as escort into a low-rank gate, so the accident rate isn't high. Still dangerous, though. Like now."

Ageil Guild Team 1 is a fairly elite group of at least C-rank hunters. And a gate cleared for broadcast filming is D-rank at the highest.

Even if a gate mutation happens, there shouldn't particularly be a problem.

"But we're going out too?"

"Because there are civilians? The Association is sensitive about this."

**

"Please wait until support arrives!"

Ageil Guild Team 1 leader Park Ji-hyeok shouted toward the <​Beyond the Gate> staff.

"Hey! Don't freeze! Support's coming!"

Park Ji-hyeok glared at the B-rank monster ogres surrounding them from the sudden gate mutation. One or two he could handle well enough, but the ones that had appeared suddenly numbered at least a hundred.

"It's fine. Don't be scared, just do as I say."

At that, main MC and first-generation hunter Park Jin-ho reassured the staff and calmly looked around. The more a situation like this, the more you must not panic.

An iron rule carved in blood still remained with Park Jin-ho.

"A gate mutation is a difference of one or two ranks at most."

A gate mutation rises about one or two from the original rank. A gate rampage changes rank at random.

Right now it was a gate mutation. But as Park Jin-ho saw it, mighty mana was whipping around, too much to call a D-rank gate.

'What situation is this?'

Not a rampage, clearly. Inferring from the change in the surrounding environment, this was a mutation. But the rise in rank was not ordinary.

"Support!"

Then Park Ji-hyeok's voice, facing the rampaging monsters, rang loud.

'A relief.'

Gates had been occurring more often lately and he had worried a little, but it was a relief. Just as Park Jin-ho let out a sigh of relief.

-Kwaaaang!!!

From a distance, with an intense explosion, one hunter approaching. He entered Park Jin-ho's vision.

At present. S-rank Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok, called Korea's next number one.

He had appeared as the support hunter.

"Enough that an S-rank comes?"

Park Jin-ho muttered with his eyes wide, and the staff who heard him raised both hands and cheered.

"We're saved!"

"If it's an S-rank hunter, we're alive for sure?!"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Then Kwon Do-hyeok, arriving while handling monsters from a distance, came right up to Park Jin-ho's nose.

"Aigoo, Senior. What kind of state is this? Hm?"

Watching Kwon Do-hyeok meet his eyes with a fishy smile, a bitter smile formed at Park Jin-ho's mouth.

"Thank you. For coming."

"...Yes. Leave it to me. A retired old man, step aside."

Kwon Do-hyeok, wearing a look of contempt and yet of pleasure together, then began spraying skills at the monsters surrounding them.

-Kwaaaaang!!

Explosion A-rank. Mana amplification A-rank. Fire affinity S-rank. An S-rank hunter settled inside world rank 30, beyond Korea. Kwon Do-hyeok's ability was certainly overwhelming.

The flame rising from his fingertips burned away in a breath the ogre pack that looked at least B-rank.

"Wa..."

Someone among Ageil Guild Team 1, who had come as escort, opened their mouth watching that. A realm of a superhuman, clearly different to call the same hunter.

"I'm grateful, but his manners are filthy. Don't mind it too much."

Then the youngest writer whispered in a very small voice at Park Jin-ho's ear. As she saw it, Kwon Do-hyeok's attitude toward Park Jin-ho must not have sat well.

He was grateful for the heart, but Park Jin-ho could only give an awkward smile.

"Hey! What did you say! You!"

An S-rank hunter's physical ability surpasses common sense. A whisper at this distance was no different from shouting right beside him.

"Do-hyeok. I'm sorry. I'll apologize. Hm?"

"Old man, get out! Hey! You! Say it again!"

Kwon Do-hyeok, still bursting flame around him, turned only his head and glared at the youngest writer.

The youngest writer, just turned twenty, didn't know what to do and bowed her head.

"...I'm sorry!"

"I came all this way to save you when you almost died, and you talk like that? Hm? Should I leave you? I can! Who's the one without manners here? Hm?!"

From Kwon Do-hyeok's side, his feelings could well be hurt. But this was a live situation. You can't handle it carelessly like this.

Park Jin-ho, who knew that fact better than anyone, stepped forward.

"Do-hyeok. Let's get out of the gate first and talk. Hm?"

"I said get out! You think I can't clear a gate like this? Hey! Girl! Lift your head! Say it again!!"

The only savior in the present situation was Kwon Do-hyeok. So Ageil Guild Team 1 too. The <​Beyond the Gate> staff too had no choice but to avoid their eyes and keep silent.

But Park Jin-ho could not stay still. He had not lived that kind of life. Hunters' strength is not simply an individual's.

It must be used for the powerless and the weak.

And so.

"Kwon Do-hyeok! Listen! What are you doing right now!"

As a senior. As a first-generation hunter who, unlike Kwon Do-hyeok, had properly experienced the age of the end, he could not let a situation like this pass.

But.

"Ha! I treated you as a senior, and you climb up?"

Kwon Do-hyeok was an S-rank hunter, and Park Jin-ho was a retired B-rank hunter. One who had taken a serious curse on his mana core, at that.

"You can't even use mana properly now, can you? Hm? How are you any different from an ordinary person? Ah. Going to the Association President to tattle? You're doing this to me with that?"

Kwon Do-hyeok, withdrawing the hand stretched toward the monsters, turned his back and walked straight toward Park Jin-ho.

The monsters surrounding them, Ageil Guild Team 1 blocked in a rush, but no one blocked Kwon Do-hyeok.

-Smack!

The cheek of Park Jin-ho, past fifty, reddened. At that sound, the shocked staff had no choice but to quietly bow their heads at Kwon Do-hyeok's cold eyes.

"Hey. If you're old and retired, step out when you should, with some sense. What are you trying to do? Got a little popularity and think you're something? You were a B-rank hunter even when active, so why mouth off at me like this?"

A situation an ordinary person couldn't understand, but in the hunter industry it was different. Age is only a number. Only the rank given to them was everything.

So Park Jin-ho could say nothing. He only clenched his fist tight. But this was enough. He had turned Kwon Do-hyeok's interest, aimed at the youngest writer, onto himself.

"Anyway, old-fogey types only come to their senses if they get hit."

Sneering and stroking Park Jin-ho's head, Kwon Do-hyeok then turned his back and aimed both hands at the sky.

Then.

-Fwoom!

A huge flame shot from his hand and lit the surroundings. Like a sun.

-Kwaaaaang!!!!

And the flame risen into the sky like a sun, as if given life, began to move freely and smash the ogres' heads.

"Let's go."

At Kwon Do-hyeok's order, having handled the monster pack surrounding them, just as the people meant to move.

[Kekeke!]

A sound that should not be heard rang around them.

"Uh...?"

A mighty presence, enough for even Kwon Do-hyeok to break into a cold sweat, suddenly began to spread around.

[The woman... who killed... us... wh... ere...?]

"Crazy. You guys could talk?"

Kwon Do-hyeok glared at the demon that had suddenly revealed itself, face tense to the full. Until now he had never heard information that a demon spoke human words.

But that wasn't what mattered.

[Wh... ere...? Don't... know...?]

"Don't know. You bastard."

One condition for becoming an S-rank hunter is whether you can face a demon alone. Of course, what matters is not killing it, but whether you can buy time.

Kwon Do-hyeok was an S-rank hunter. So even if there was a demon, he could buy enough time, but.

"A demon has never come out inside a gate...!"

This was not this world, but inside a gate. Buying time hoping the demon would return on its own had no meaning.

Demons appear at random only in a gate rampage. The moment that common sense collapsed.

-Kwaaaang!!

"Keuhp...!"

On top of that, unlike when fighting outside a gate, the demon's strength overwhelmingly surpassed S-rank Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok.

At Kwon Do-hyeok flying through the air, coughing blood, the faces of Park Jin-ho and the others dyed with despair.

"Ah...?!"

"Please!!"

"What do we do?! Save us. Someone!!"

Even the demon that blocked the flame Kwon Do-hyeok had sent to counter in his own way was not one.

"Crazy..."

Park Jin-ho spat a curse, watching the sight of two demons surrounding Kwon Do-hyeok.

A sight even Park Jin-ho, who had experienced the age of the end, was seeing for the first time.

Then, in Park Jin-ho's vision, someone running from a distance was visible.

"Huh?"

Looking closely, there were Lee Si-u and Kim Eun-ji, whom he had filmed with not long ago.

"I wish!"

With a familiar signature line.

"Show me what lies beyond the hidden boundary!"

-Kwaaaaang!!

A current of violet mana surpassing S-rank swept the demons. Then Kim Eun-ji advanced toward the two demons.

And Lee Si-u ran toward Park Jin-ho with an urgent face.

"Senior!"

"Kwon Do-hyeok can't continue combat, and don't worry about us!"

"That's not it! Designate target, Park Jin-ho!"

And a status window rose before Park Jin-ho's eyes. With a skill he was seeing for the first time.

"If there are two demons, Eun-ji alone has it heavy! Senior, you have to help!"

Ten years since retirement. The awakening of Mad Demon Park Jin-ho, who had retired from a demon's curse, began.