Chapter 13

Just say he’s my disciple

“Start when you’re ready.”

The staff member placed a cylindrical weight on the marked line.

The test would be over once I moved it into the circle on the opposite side.

‘They definitely said it was the same size as the one from last night...’

No matter how I looked at it, the weight used for the test seemed lighter than the lump of metal I had dragged around until dawn.

For a moment, all the hardships and suffering I had endured yesterday flashed through my mind, but.

“Why? Hurry up.”

“...Yes. Noona.”

I swallowed it down and simply reached my hand forward.

Whoosh—.

The weight slowly rose from the floor, angled around the obstacle standing in the middle, and settled inside the circle without touching a single line.

If this had been a competition rather than a verification test, it would have been a trick worthy of a perfect score.

Something at this level wasn’t particularly difficult anymore.

Maybe because the weight left me plenty of room to spare, controlling it was manageable too.

“Yes. You’re finished. Good work.”

“...That’s it?”

“Yes. Rank evaluations for C-rank and below only require a simple practical verification. If you’d like, you can immediately challenge D-rank as well. Would you like to apply?”

“N-No.”

I hurriedly waved my hands before Hunter Baek Seorin could hear.

It wasn’t that I had no ambition, but I didn’t have a hobby of walking into hell with my own two feet either.

“Here is your E-rank Hunter ID. From now on, be sure to carry it whenever you enter a gate, and if you lose it, contact the Association immediately.”

“Ah... Thank you.”

Ahh. The cool, heavy sensation of this Hunter ID in my palm.

At long last, I had escaped my lowly status as a porter and become an official Hunter, a member of the nobility.

‘Even if I’m only E-rank...’

Still, this was something.

Honestly, I was more than grateful.

Now that I was officially a Hunter, it was time to start making some real money.

I’d earn a lot as quickly as possible, move into a respectable home, and live with some breathing room.

“Ah. We also plan to settle the compensation from the gate you entered two days ago sometime today. Would you like to review the breakdown first?”

‘Compensation?!’

The screen I hurriedly looked over was packed with everything from the reward for rescuing Doa to the emergency entry cooperation fee for the Yeonhwa Gate and the hazard allowance for entering a sealed area.

On top of that, all the money from the magic stones of the monsters Hunter Baek Seorin had killed was listed as mine too.

“I’m receiving all of the money from these magic stones too?”

“Yes. Hunter Baek Seorin transferred the entire amount to you.”

When I turned around, Hunter Baek Seorin casually shrugged.

“You carried all of them around. If you hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have brought them out anyway.”

“Still, noona killed all of them. How could I possibly take all of this—”

“If you hate it that much, give it back.”

“— Rather than doing that, I’ll gratefully accept it.”

I bowed my head faster than anyone.

Was it because I had become an Awakened?

I somehow felt much lighter than I had just moments ago.

“Ahahaha. You’re seriously hilarious. How do you switch attitudes that fast?”

I glanced at Hunter Baek Seorin laughing at me, then turned my eyes back to the screen.

The expected pre-tax payment after fees was 684,320,000 won.

I counted the digits from the right, then counted them again just in case.

The number still didn’t change.

“...Wow.”

At this point, I figured a respectable house was basically taken care of.

Since things had turned out this way, should I buy a car too?

A pretty nice one at that.

It was nearly 700 million won.

It seemed like I could buy a house, buy a car, and even pick up some of the things I had always wanted, with plenty left over—

“You’re that happy? You know almost half of that will go to taxes, right?”

“... Of course. I’d be incredibly grateful even if only half remained.”

Hmm. I should buy the car later.

For now, it seemed better to find a house first.

It had only been last week that I had resolved to save and save until I earned just 100 million won within a year.

And yet I was already about to get more than three times that amount.

The money hadn’t even entered my account yet, but somehow my side already felt completely healed.

The employee brought up another screen on the tablet, looking slightly envious.

“There’s one more matter we need the three of you to confirm.”

The screen showed a press release about Han Doa’s return.

The detailed measurement result was S-rank. The scheduled announcement time was 11 a.m. tomorrow.

But much of the main text was still blank.

“We need to decide how much to reveal about the circumstances of Hunter Han Doa’s return. And also Hunter Yoon Jaemin’s identity.”

“Just leave him out.”

“Ah... That has become somewhat difficult.”

When the employee changed screens, photos taken in front of the foundation and photos from when we exited the Yeonhwa Gate appeared one after another.

My face was clearer in both than I had expected.

“These are materials secured by the Association. They were leaked at the scene and have already reached reporters, so if we conceal your name, the reporters will instead start digging into your identity.”

“You can just blur his face.”

“We can do that with materials released by the Association and cooperative media outlets, but...”

“You’re saying the others won’t listen, right? Fine.”

Hunter Baek Seorin crossed her arms and tapped the floor with the tip of her foot.

‘They really took a lot of pictures. I had no idea.’

Not one of the many photos showed me looking normal.

In one, I was clutching my side, and in another, they must have caught me while I was staggering because my posture looked pretty ridiculous.

‘Of all things, why did they only take pictures like that?’

“Fine. Then let’s release his name.”

“Yes. However, we’ll also need an explanation for why Hunter Yoon Jaemin was accompanying Hunter Baek Seorin.”

“Just say he’s my disciple.”

Thinking I had misheard, I turned my head.

“I’m your disciple, noona?”

“I taught you personally last night, so it’s not exactly wrong. And it’ll make it easier to bring you around with me from now on.”

The Association employee checked Hunter Baek Seorin’s intention one more time, as though asking if she really wanted it written that way.

And a little while later. A bold new phrase appeared beside my name.

[Baek Seorin’s Disciple]

And just like that, overnight, I became the disciple of an S-rank Hunter.

“Then should we say he’s my disciple too? Having more masters is a good thing, isn’t it!”

Doa, who had been listening from the side, casually joined in.

‘Was having more masters actually a good thing?’

My eyes suddenly met Doa’s.

She was clearly smiling brightly, yet strangely, her gaze showed no intention of leaving me.

The way her eyes slowly seemed to cling to me sent a chill down my spine for no reason.

“If you want reporters chasing him for the rest of his life, go ahead.”

“... Tsk. I guess not for now.”

... For now?

‘Hmm...’

Anyway, it seemed the situation had been avoided where I would have two S-rank Hunters as my masters at the same time.

“That resolves the issue of Hunter Yoon Jaemin’s identity... Then how should we announce the circumstances of Hunter Han Doa’s return?”

“Let’s just say Seorin unni rescued me. Say she used the method she escaped with to bring me out too. And Jaemin oppa was simply there as her disciple.”

“Then regarding the method you used to escape...”

“There’s no need to think about that. Who would dare ask Seorin unni about it in the first place? I don’t think anyone would.”

‘True.’

Who would dare ask Baek Seorin such a question?

In a way, it was a question directly tied to her trauma.

Unless someone had two lives. It was safe to assume no one would.

“Fine. Do it that way.”

The employee’s hands moved busily across the tablet.

The person who rescued Hunter Han Doa was Baek Seorin.

I was Baek Seorin’s disciple who had happened to accompany her to the scene.

It wasn’t as though we were inventing a completely nonexistent story.

It was true that Hunter Baek Seorin had entered the Yeonhwa Gate, and it was also true that I had emerged together with Doa.

“We’ll keep Hunter Yoon Jaemin’s personal information private. All outside contact will also go through the Association.”

“Make sure things like his address and family relations are completely blocked.”

“Yes. We’ll request the highest level of protection.”

The mention of family relations bothered me slightly.

‘There wouldn’t be anyone to find even if they dug into it anyway.’

Maybe it would be better to openly spread the story and at least see their faces once.

The thought crossed my mind briefly, but I soon shook my head.

I didn’t need parents who would only come back after seeing rumors big enough to make the news.

After finishing the press release, the employee closed the tablet.

“Then we’ll make the announcement at 11 a.m. exactly as you decided.”

________

I had been at the Association since morning because of new Hunter training.

[Returned Sword Saint. Another missing person rescued from Yeonhwa Gate]

[Hunter Han Doa, missing for 5 years, returns alive... Detailed measurement result: S-rank]

[Sword Saint Baek Seorin reveals first disciple]

[Two S-rank Hunters at once?... Unprecedented Casanova ‘Mysterious Man’ identity draws attention!]

Just as the employee had said, articles poured out at 11.

My name appeared without exception in every article.

‘That last one is probably coming down soon...’

Anyway, Yoon Jaemin, E-rank Hunter, Sword Saint Baek Seorin’s first disciple, and so on.

There were now quite a lot of titles people used for me.

Fine. I had all these titles, but why did the photo have to...

‘Couldn’t they seriously have used a different picture?’

The photo plastered across the first breaking-news article showed the moment I had been staggering while clutching my side.

Apparently it had become the representative photo afterward, because it appeared without fail in every article that mentioned me.

I understood they were doing it for views. Still, if reporters had even a shred of human sympathy, they wouldn’t do this.

‘What kind of species are reporters, anyway...’

It was a thought I had been having unusually often lately.

At least people’s attention was focused more on the word ‘disciple’ than on the photo.

Baek Seorin had personally accepted a newly Awakened E-rank Hunter as her disciple.

That single fact led to every kind of speculation imaginable.

That I had some hidden ability.

That I wasn’t actually E-rank, but a strategic weapon whose identity the government had concealed.

There was even nonsense saying Baek Seorin and I had known each other for a long time, and I was the one true love she had waited and yearned for throughout those seven years.

‘We haven’t even known each other for a week yet...’

If we really had known each other for a long time like the comments claimed, maybe I wouldn’t have felt this wronged.

I tried swiping past the screen several times while telling myself not to care, but once the posts entered my eyes, they stubbornly refused to leave my head.

“Hunter Yoon Jaemin.”

While I was absorbed in my phone, an Association employee came to the waiting room.

“We’ve received requests for interviews and television appearances. Four top guilds have also sent special recruitment offers. For reference, we ignored all offers from small and medium-sized guilds.”

“Please reject all interviews and broadcast appearances. Just leave me the guild proposals.”

“We also have three advertising inquiries. Should we reject those as well?”

“Yes. Reject them right away... Actually, before you do, could I see how much they’re offering?”

At that moment, Doa, who had been playing a game on her phone beside me, quietly raised her head.

The look she gave me was strangely pathetic.

‘...’

No. I was an official Hunter now, so of course I needed to make money.

Interviews and broadcasts would be troublesome if they asked questions about my ability, but advertisements were different.

They would pay me just to take a few photos or shoot a bit of video.

Why would I refuse?

“Here they are.”

“Thank you.”

I decided to look over the advertisements once I got home and began going through the proposals sent by the guilds one by one.

Some offered signing bonuses in the tens of millions of won. Others offered amounts in the hundreds of millions.

These weren’t sums you would normally offer an E-rank Hunter who had just finished registering.

‘In the end, I’m probably not what they really want.’

At the moment, Hunter Baek Seorin wasn’t affiliated with any guild.

They couldn’t exactly approach her directly with recruitment offers either. It seemed they thought pulling me in first, as her disciple, might give them even a slight advantage.

No matter how much I wanted money, I had absolutely no intention of signing any of these offers right now.

“I’ll take them home and look them over first.”

Still, since they had gone through the trouble of bringing them, I took the proposals with me and stood up.

Now I really wanted to go home and get some proper rest.

I had been abandoned inside a gate and barely returned alive, then immediately dragged to the foundation, then straight into another gate where I rescued one more person, then trained all night to raise my rank, and had my rank measured first thing in the morning.

At this point, no one could complain if I went home and immediately collapsed.

“Hunter Yoon Jaemin. You can’t leave through the front entrance right now.”

Or so I thought.

Before I could even reach the front entrance, an employee stepped in front of me.

“What’s going on?”

“Reporters are blocking the entrance. By Hunter Baek Seorin’s orders, we’ll guide you through a separate route.”

Thinking surely not, I looked down toward the front entrance through the window.

The area in front of the Association was completely black with reporters.

Mixed among them were quite a few people who were difficult to mistake for reporters.

Among all the cameras and microphones, signs with my face printed large on them especially stood out.

The messages were all vicious.

[Don’t leech off Seorin unni]

[Get away from Lady Doa, you parasite]

[Don’t think you can get famous riding on our unnies’ backs]

‘Parasite?’

No. When did I ever cling to them?

If anything, I was the one being held onto.

Whatever else they said, that one was a little unfair.