chapter 159

Episode 159

There were a few people here who recognized “Hunter Seo Gio.”

- It’s Hunter Seo Gio

- Hunter Seo Gio T_T finally showing your face?

- Our hunter is official now anyway, so yeah

They were civilians who had been helped back during the S-rank dungeon “Temple of the Deep Sea.”

- That hunter’s name is Seo Gio?

↳ Y-yesyesyesyes back then too they said he was a tamer

- OP, come and check if it’s really him

- Is it right to post only “beauty that could topple a nation”

↳ If you’re gonna tell us, tell us everything

- Hey, why doesn’t anything come up even if I search

- Unofficial hunters, seriously, they act like they’ll die if their face gets known...

- Hunter Seo Gio is under the Collector, isn’t there any reaction from that side

↳ Ah, the Collector??? The Collector????

↳?? That sunshine pretty boy is the Collector??

↳ Did the Visabel guildmaster’s tastes change

↳ No no, it might only be sunshine on the outside

↳ How can that smile not be sunshine that comes from the soul

- Why are you all freaking out over someone else’s face

- Republic of Korea citizens’ level, sucking up just because a face is nice tsk tsk

↳ So what

And soon.

Sunshine necromancy hunter: personal info dropped on the Collector

Title says it all

On the Collector’s website, “Hunter Seo Gio”’s personal information was officially posted.

- What’s a sunshine necromancy hunter?

↳ OP: They say he’s a sunshine pretty boy but he’s the hunter who caused the ghost commotion so there was nothing to say

↳ lolololololololol it’s not that there was nothing to say, there must’ve been too much

↳ Not “advent” but “necromancy,” it’s pointlessly funny

↳ sunshine-necromancy-hunter lololol

↳ Ah, stop giving our hunter weird nicknames

↳↳?What is this, why are you freaking out

↳↳ Since when did you see him, that he’s “our hunter”

People who read that post soon ran to the Collector’s website, and they could tell the poster was telling the truth. It was because a photo just as clear as the previous confirmer Choi Ra-on’s was uploaded.

And some people were dumbfounded.

- Hey, but why do they only tell us this much

- It’s my first time stanning a hunter, is it usually like this T_T T_T T_T T_T

↳ It’s not like that;;

↳ Ignore the comment above, hunters’ info is usually kind of stingy

↳ Right, it’s generally normal not to reveal much about a hunter’s personal details

It was because the only information given was his name, height, and age, but since it was a tradition for Korean hunters to not reveal much personal information in the first place, most people understood and moved on.

Still, there were people getting excited.

So does that mean we can proudly stan now?

The country acknowledged my stanning??

It was good manners not to mess with unofficial hunters or underground-type hunters if possible, but once official activities became frequent, that line was bound to crumble quickly. Those who had been keeping an eye on Seo Gio since the “Temple of the Deep Sea” were delighted.

Among them was Choi Ra-on, who had been teased all day at work as “Splat Girl.”

‘In my life, I’ll never see a face like this again.’

After getting off work and returning home, she twitched her itchy fingers.

“A fan cafe... if I make a fan cafe... I can get photos or schedules shared too...”

On Choi Ra-on’s worn-out computer screen was the two-shot she’d taken with Hunter Seo Gio. It was quite a gloomy-looking scene for such a late evening, but she was desperate in her own way.

‘...A face like this isn’t common, but a face like this with a personality like that is even less common.’

The reason Korea managed to maintain public safety wasn’t because Koreans were kind, but because all sorts of strict laws and novel punishments made them kind—so it was an era where the average moral sense was quite low, to the point that treating people as means was taken for granted.

To that extent, the character of public figures who could become someone’s stanning target wasn’t the same as before the Great Catastrophe either. Especially if they were a hunter, it was a world where, as long as they were popular enough, even if they killed someone in broad daylight, people would just go, ‘That can happen,’ and let it slide.

Of course, there were many hunters who kept acting gentle and kind while swallowing down their filthy personalities for the sake of that popularity, but Choi Ra-on was confident.

‘I know faces pretty well, and this well is the real deal... It’s real pure water that was barely pulled up from deep underground.’

Her instincts, honed from stanning countless celebrities and hunters, were telling her. That this was a scoop she couldn’t miss. A natural monument. She even felt a kind of mission born from that.

‘That day, wasn’t it fate that I ran into the hunter?’

It was a 100% pure handmade fate that Gio himself had crafted, but Choi Ra-on didn’t notice that far.

The platinum-blond hair on the screen looked almost like silver hair, perhaps because it had been photographed under a yellow streetlamp. The wavy hair looked soft like silk, and the smile that seemed warm just from looking at it really did resemble sunshine.

“Seriously a fucking insane face...”

Choi Ra-on, who had seen him up close, recalled that moment. The cool atmosphere that somehow seemed to carry the scent of a forest, and the cheerful, manly smile he’d shown when seeing her off at the end.

‘Yeah, that’s the key.’

What had been hidden inside Hunter Seo Gio, whom she’d thought was a gentle priest, was none other than the fresh citrus scent of a sports-club captain.

“Ha.”

Life was harsh as it was; life needed light and salt to endure it.

‘Last time’s light and salt fell into the abyss over a huge personality controversy.’

Since hunters had to live such rough lives, quite a lot of them found it hard to avoid personality controversies. Most of the time it was exaggerated, but even so, there was nothing to be done about how worn down you felt when they ended up on the rumor mill.

‘I know I’m more extreme than other people... but what am I supposed to do about my heart going cold the moment I’m disappointed in my kid’s personality?’

Choi Ra-on was the type of person whose heart cooled sharply if she saw flaws in the character of the “kid” she believed in. Like if they bullied someone else, or killed someone for a half-assed reason.

Up until before the Great Catastrophe, it wouldn’t have made sense for even ordinary people—let alone public figures—to do such things in the first place, but now, it was the era after the Great Catastrophe. The moral standards Choi Ra-on expected were on the strict side.

“...No, it’s not like I committed a sin. Right? A person can be a bit picky, you know.”

Because of that, Choi Ra-on naturally had a fairly large number of past stanning targets. The moment she saw a flaw in their character, her heart would leave.

On top of that, last time’s light and salt had been taken away by none other than the Black Cloak. Most of the fans still liked and waited for that bastard, but no matter what, Choi Ra-on didn’t feel like stanning a certified bastard recognized by a monster—she liked good people and hated bad people.

“...”

Staring so hard at the computer screen it looked like she might bore a hole through it, Choi Ra-on muttered softly.

“...But with a face like this...”

Even if his personality had some flaws, it felt like it would just be thrilling and that would be it.

“...Yeah, how hard must it be to live as a hunter. Things like that can happen in life.”

Most fans whose main genre was stanning hunters didn’t cool off just because there were a few controversies. In that sense, Choi Ra-on was an unusual case. Given the nature of the job, a hunter couldn’t always speak and act nicely every time.

But the limit of what Choi Ra-on could tolerate as flaws in her “kid” was in the target’s face and behavior. More precisely, it was mostly in the face.

‘In that sense...’

This time’s light and salt, she probably wouldn’t be able to let go even if personality controversies happened 66 times in a row. If that face came with that personality, then even God was being fair.

‘But what if even his personality is excellent?’

That would be a natural monument that would never come again.

“I hope some bait drops soon.”

In front of the monitor, Choi Ra-on wore a satisfied smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, Juhyeon, who had received the handoff, was a little flustered.

“Of all times, you’re handing the work over to me right now?”

“I’m busy enough just handling one ‘Black Cloak.’ And as you know, ‘Mr. Seo Gio’ is your assignment, Juhyeon.”

“You’re the one who stirred all this up from the Collector, so why are you doing this to me?”

“If you were under the Collector, you’d be even busier than this—what a shame.”

“No, Mr. Yoo Seong-woon.”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

Passing over documents that compiled various community reactions, Yoo Seong-woon expressed his regret.

“I stepped in because this job had to be reworked on a grand scale, but from now on, whenever ‘Hunter Seo Gio’ does external activities, you have to be by his side.”

“Because a hunter and a manager have to be tied together as one set. I do know that, but...”

“Looks like you learned well in the secretariat. And as you know, this is when people will be the most noisy, and when attention will be focused. And I am an unofficial underground hunter.”

An unofficial hunter refers to a hunter who doesn’t publicly reveal their personal details, and an underground-type hunter refers to a hunter who doesn’t operate publicly.

“A person like me can’t be stamped as ‘Hunter Seo Gio’’s official manager.”

He didn’t even know how much work he already had.

“If that happens, I’ll have no choice but to become a human who never sleeps.”

“...Just how much work are you doing?”

“Remember this: the more capable a hunter is, the more they get ground down.”

“I’m a non-awakened person, though.”

“But Hunter Seo Gio isn’t.”

“Ah.”

“The church side seems very interested too... Before long, collaboration requests will come flooding in.”

A high-profile hunter gets work even if they do nothing.

“As you know, Juhyeon.”

“Yes, I learned that.”

Since he could become a ‘mask,’ broadcasting stations might contact them, and since a new tamer—one of very few in the country—had appeared, there could also be raid-collaboration requests that wanted to verify his abilities.

Yoo Seong-woon smiled awkwardly.

“The secretariat will cut off the small contacts on their own. They’ll handle things that aren’t even worth passing on to Hunter Seo Gio, but for the rest, you’ll have to convey them yourself.”

At that, Juhyeon asked.

“I’ve been curious, but how am I supposed to go find ‘Hunter Seo Gio’...?”

“As for that part, I already talked it over with Gio.”

“Could I hear what you talked over?”

“At exactly 12 o’clock, Gio will stop by our apartment corridor...”

“...”

Juhyeon gave a resigned smile.

“So the Visabel guildmaster finally decided to take care of me.”

“N-no, it’s not that, calm down. There are reasons it ended up that way.”

“I really want to hear those reasons.”

“To begin with, humans have no way to contact Gio.”

It would be ridiculous for a mere human to contact a god whenever they wanted, after all.

“To explain more simply, it’s because you can’t install a phone in Gio’s house.”

“That’s true. It’d be in a completely different dimension.”

“So I also used to set a time and meet Gio.”

At around 4 a.m., that is.

“And if Gio wanted to call me otherwise, I handled it by receiving a letter and moving.”

“I do receive letters, but I can’t even interpret them, and more than anything, I don’t think I can go to the Collector’s gallery...”

“It would be difficult for a non-awakened person like you, Juhyeon, to endure the aura of the B5 gallery.”

“So you arranged it so that Gio can come this way?”

Juhyeon asked with her characteristically polite smile.

“Not because the guildmaster hasn’t given up on the dream of being roommates?”

“As for that part, I really have no room to make excuses.”

Yoo Seong-woon laughed bitterly.

“I’m in Unit 1, Juhyeon is in Unit 2, and Gio is in the corridor between us... perfect.”

“Is it okay for the Collector to occupy the 46th floor like this?”

“Every residence on the 46th floor has already been purchased, so legally there’s no problem.”

“But something that’s either an evil god or a monster is moving in between those residences.”

“Gio was always good at going anywhere in the first place. There’s nothing the law can do about that.”

“Ah, it’s not wrong, but still, ah.”

Juhyeon felt a little stifled.

“It feels like I’ve been put in charge of a part of overturning the world...”

“It could be an overturning in a good sense.”

“You’re not denying the fact of it being overturned itself.”

“It’s only at the level of possibility, and it might not be realized, so don’t worry too much.”

“I’m getting even more unsettled.”

“It’ll be fine.”

Yoo Seong-woon showed an easygoing smile.

“Because for the most part, there won’t be anyone who drops by the 46th-floor corridor exactly at 12 o’clock.”

It was an apartment with only two households per floor. If someone visited a place that wasn’t even their own home at 12 o’clock, it could be considered that their purpose was impure.

“So even if an incident happens, you can brush it off as self-defense.”

“What on earth are you trying to brush off.”

“This is the power a conglomerate has.”

Yoo Seong-woon let out a laugh.

“And in the first place, even if it’s via the stairs, if you’re not a resident of that unit, you can’t visit that floor.”

“Ah, it’s the same as the elevator. I didn’t know the stairs worked that way too.”

“Most people who’ve never used the stairs directly don’t know. But even the stairs require that unit’s card key to enter.”

“Then there won’t be a victim who accidentally runs into the Black Cloak and faints.”

“That would have to be seen as a stunt done under the name of a ‘mistake.’ Unless someone is determined, it’s impossible for an unrelated person to come onto this floor.”

Of course, apartment management staff or regular inspection technicians could come in as much as they wanted, but that also wouldn’t happen exactly at 12 o’clock. Since it was an apartment with thorough management, they wouldn’t leave any room to even slightly disturb residents’ rest.

“So I meant you shouldn’t worry too much.”

“Mm, I understand.”

“Thanks to that, my meeting time with Gio was moved up too.”

“Ah, you too at 12 o’clock, Mr. Yoo Seong-woon...?”

“The guildmaster said it wouldn’t be more convenient to handle it all at once.”

“...That...”

“Is indeed a stunt.”

Visabel was a superior Yoo Seong-woon respected, but he still had to say what needed to be said.

“It seems he wants the three of us to become more closely connected.”

“May I resist with all my strength?”

“I think you’ll still be fine. Let’s do our best together.”

And so, in a place where the person himself wasn’t even present, Seo Gio’s hunter life began.

(To be continued in the next episode)