Chapter 2

First, Establish a Guild

“In all my life, I've never seen someone make the newspaper because of a video game! And on the front page of a daily newspaper, no less!”

With my father's furious voice serving as background music, I continued reading the newspaper article.

[Third-Generation Chaebol Heir Brings Bodyguards to Gaming Dispute... 'Humiliated' After Confronting B-Rank Hunter]

Baek Dohyeon, the second son of Baekmyeong Group's chairman, has once again caused trouble, this time over an argument in a video game...

He brought more than ten bodyguards to confront the other party, only to discover that his opponent was a B-rank hunter, prompting him to 'flee with his tail between his legs.'

Baek Dohyeon's repeated scandals have also sparked criticism of the Baek family's inadequate management of its successors.

Ah, right. So it was that incident.

The so-called 'Baekmyeong Group Second Son's Real-Life Fight Incident.'

There was a time when I'd gotten into an argument with a teammate while playing an FPS game called Underwatch.

The team's tank and I, the damage dealer, had started arguing over voice chat.

-Hey, give me your address, motherfucker.

In the end, the argument led to an agreement to fight in person.

It's a little embarrassing to admit, but the tank's voice coming through voice chat had clearly belonged to a woman.

So I'd underestimated her and confidently challenged her to a real-life fight first.

Of course, when she actually gave me her address and the time came to meet her, I got scared and brought my bodyguards along.

Anyway, when I arrived at the agreed meeting place, my opponent really was waiting there.

She had short-cropped hair, wore casual sportswear, and looked to be a woman in her early twenties, around my age.

Oh, she's pretty cute. Should I try hitting on her? Just as I was thinking that, one of my bodyguards whispered urgently.

-Executive Director! That woman is a B-rank hunter...!

-What?

I only learned later that my opponent was Yun Sol, a B-rank hunter.

Although her rank wasn't particularly high, she was a hunter with three years of experience who had already gained considerable fame thanks to her pretty face.

The exact moment I thought, 'I'm fuck—'—not even managing to finish the thought—there was a flash, and the bodyguards around me went flying.

-Hey.

-Eek, eeeeek...

-Ah. You pathetic little bastard... You came out to fight a woman and brought other people with you? And judging by the look of them, you must've hired some security company or something...

-U-uh...

-At first, I was planning to settle this peacefully through conversation, but looking at you now, I think you need a little lesson.

Step, step.

-How about you take just one punch too?

-Aaaaaaah!!!

I don't remember what happened after I fled in complete terror.

I went home, pulled the blanket over my head, and spent the entire night trembling...

It was only when I discovered that someone had recorded the incident and the video had gone viral on social media that I realized things had gotten much bigger than I'd expected.

Afterward, the people in the video were identified as Yun Sol and me, and when she revealed the full story to the media investigating the incident, the situation spiraled completely out of control.

It had gone beyond being a personal problem and was threatening to damage the image of the entire group.

Which was why my father had personally summoned me to reprimand me now.

“What a fine job you've done. Really, a fine job! You spent every waking day drinking and causing trouble, so I banned you from alcohol, and now you're making trouble over video games?”

Wow... Talk about nostalgia.

That's right. I remember everything. Even getting thoroughly chewed out by my father.

Though I still had no idea how I'd ended up returning to this point in time.

“You could've at least abused your authority! Or beaten someone up! But what? You got into an argument while playing a game? And then you got beaten up by some twenty-year-old rookie hunter and ran away? You're truly opening a whole new chapter in owner-related scandals!”

I stared at my father's face, contorted with rage.

-...Run, Dohyeon. Hurry. At least you have to survive...

For a moment, the image of my father's final moments overlapped with the face before me.

While fleeing from 'those things' invading Seoul, my father had thrown himself in harm's way to protect me, leaving him covered in blood.

Even as he lay dying, he'd worried about my safety.

“...This has gotten so big that bribing a few reporters won't even come close to fixing it! What are you going to do? How are you going to take responsibility?!”

If what I was experiencing now wasn't an illusion but reality...

Then, from my perspective, my father had come back from the dead.

As I looked at his face, a warm smile unconsciously spread across my lips, and my eyes began to sting with emotion.

I'm truly happy to see you again, Father—

“Are you smiling?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you find this funny right now?”

“Ah.”

Oh, crap.

“Fine. Let's settle this once and for all today.”

“W-wait a moment. Please calm down...”

“DO I LOOK LIKE I'M IN ANY MOOD TO CALM DOWN?!”

In the end, I had no choice but to flee the chairman's office as my father swung a golf club at me.

“Phew...”

I threw myself onto the bed.

An absurdly spacious luxury apartment, state-of-the-art furniture, and a wardrobe filled with designer brands.

It was exactly as I remembered my home from fifteen years ago.

“Have I really come back?”

I had definitely died at the hands of 'those things.'

At that moment, the ring on my finger had glowed, and when I regained consciousness, I had returned fifteen years into the past.

“And the ring... is gone.”

My left hand was empty. Though my twenty-four-year-old self hadn't worn rings in the first place.

“What on earth happened?”

Turning back time was impossible even in the future fifteen years from now. Neither scientific technology, hunters' skills, nor equipment discovered in Towers and Gates could accomplish such a thing.

Even among artifacts, relics from other dimensions, those capable of interfering with time were exceedingly rare. And I'd certainly never heard of an artifact that could rewind time by fifteen years.

“...”

I thought about it on my own and even took out my phone to search for answers, but I couldn't find anything useful.

“Then I'll have to put it aside for now.”

There was no way I'd find an answer by worrying about it alone without any clues. I'd figure it out later.

“More importantly... the question is what I should do from now on.”

I took out my smartphone and checked the date. The year was 2030.

I had regressed fifteen years into the past.

From the last survivor of a destroyed South Korea, an S-rank hunter, to the second son of the chairman of Baekmyeong Group, the country's third-largest conglomerate.

“...”

I opened the browser and tapped the news section of a portal site.

Among the articles covering society, economics, politics, and various other fields, the ones that stood out most were undoubtedly those concerning hunters.

-[Special Feature] Rising Rookie Hunters Making Headlines: Who Will Be the Next S-Rank?

-'Taehyeon Gate' Scandal Rocks Hunter Association; Association President Denies Receiving Bribes...

-[In-Depth Report] Ten Years Since Towers and Gates Appeared on the Korean Peninsula: How Has South Korea Changed?

In 2020, numerous unidentified structures known as Towers and Gates appeared around the world.

The Towers and Gates connected to other dimensions filled with creatures called 'monsters,' which did not exist on Earth.

Status windows suddenly appeared before humanity's eyes, warning that disaster would strike if the Towers and Gates were not cleared.

However, almost all modern firearms proved ineffective against monsters.

As if to solve this problem on humanity's behalf, people who awakened special abilities began appearing shortly after the Towers and Gates emerged.

They were given the name 'hunters,' meaning those who hunted monsters.

Hunters, monsters, Towers, Gates... These suddenly emerging concepts completely overturned the existing social order.

But now, ten years later, these concepts had become familiar, and the world had reached a point where terms like 'Hunter Association' and 'Gate攻略' appeared naturally in the news.

“Well, in the end, they failed to manage the Towers, and everyone was wiped out.”

“...”

Destruction, huh.

Actually, what I had to do was already decided.

“I have to prevent it. The destruction of the world.”

It sounded like something the protagonist of some old-fashioned anime from the eighties would say, which made me cringe a little, but I couldn't think of any other goal.

It wasn't because I was some hero overflowing with a sense of justice.

My family, my company, my comrades... My everyday life had collapsed. The world I'd known had disappeared overnight.

An heir to a chaebol family? What good was that if everyone ended up dead?

So whether it was coincidence or fate that had brought me back fifteen years, I wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

The world. If not that, then Korea. And if even that was impossible, then at least the people around me. I had to protect them.

“...The goal is set.”

I got up from the bed and began pacing around the room.

Now that I'd decided what needed to be done, my mind felt clearer.

“Then how exactly should I go about it...?”

Those things had appeared when the United States failed to clear its Tower.

Although the United States had been the first to fail, other countries, including Korea, had also been struggling to climb their Towers.

To put it plainly, the hunters' strength at the time had already fallen behind the difficulty of the Towers.

“Then the answer is simple.”

If the hunters couldn't climb the Towers because they weren't strong enough, all I had to do was raise their level.

Then those things wouldn't appear in the first place, and even if they did, we'd be able to fight back.

Those things were absurdly powerful, but they weren't invincible. Hadn't I managed to land an effective blow on one of them before I died?

Of course, I'd have to become stronger than I had been back then, too.

Good. The basic premise was established.

“Raise the overall strength of hunters, including myself.”

But I had only seven short years.

Then how could I make the hunters stronger within that time?

Better training methods, equipment, and systematic support. But...

“Providing all of that to every hunter in the world... is impossible right now.”

In that case, I needed to narrow the scope. First, I had to make Korea's hunters stronger, at least.

“It would solve everything neatly if I could take over the Hunter Association.”

Then I'd be able to run the association however I wanted and reform the hunter world using the knowledge I'd acquired in the future, fifteen years from now.

“...I need a foothold.”

But the gap between my current position and taking control of the Hunter Association was far too wide.

I needed an intermediate step.

To exert influence over the association, I first needed a voice in the hunter community and a faction that would support what I had to say.

“...”

I didn't have to think about it for long. The answer was simple.

“First, let's establish a guild.”

A hunter guild. An organization that managed and trained its affiliated hunters.

Was there a faster way to secure influence in the hunter community than personally leading a major guild?

And I already possessed all the qualities necessary to operate a hunter guild.

Because in the resistance, I'd served not only as a combatant but had also handled management and support.

-Hey, silver spoon. You said you've run a company before, right? Then starting now, you're the vice president of the association.

-Pardon?

-You're in charge of running our resistance in my place.

-...No, what kind of nonsense is that...? What does being the president of an ordinary company have to do with managing a hunter organization?

-Haven't you served in the military, you brat? Organizations always run more or less like this.

The position of vice president had practically been forced upon me by the Association President.

Looking back now, I think it might have been his way of showing consideration for me, since my combat abilities were relatively lacking compared to the other S-ranks.

Anyway, even though my role was to support everyone from a step behind, I did my very best.

Starting with basic tasks like supplying hunters with necessary materials and managing facilities, I went on to provide full-scale support after learning about each hunter's abilities and condition.

From treating injuries and assisting with training to ultimately suggesting new ways to utilize their abilities and optimized combat tactics.

-I thought you were just an arrogant silver-spoon brat, but you're actually pretty good at this.

As a result, even the hunters who had initially doubted me eventually acknowledged my abilities and accepted me as one of their own.

In other words, I knew everything about guild management, training methods for hunters with different abilities, monster information, suitable equipment, and so on.

And not just ordinary knowledge, either. It was the latest, most practical, condensed knowledge from the future, acquired through eight years of actually managing an organization of top-tier hunters and experiencing the battlefield firsthand.

And there was one more thing.

I already knew which hunters would distinguish themselves in the future.

Seven years later, when South Korea fell into crisis, there were heroes who appeared like comets and performed remarkable feats in battle against those things.

Conversely, among the hunters who had already made names for themselves as S-ranks and the like, some were helplessly defeated, while others gave up fighting entirely and fled to save their own skins.

The ability to distinguish promising talent destined for greatness from rotten individuals who needed to be cut loose. Could there be any ability more important for the leader of an organization?

Recruit the hunters who would rise to the very top in the future and build a guild around them.

Successfully operate the guild, properly nurture its affiliated hunters, and bring out their full potential.

That way, I'd have powerful hunters I could trust even if the apocalypse came, and my own standing in the hunter community would rise as the leader of the guild those hunters belonged to.

It would be killing two birds with one stone: nurturing promising talent while gaining the driving force needed to reform the hunter community.

No. There was one more thing. A goal more immediate than preventing the world's destruction or training hunters, and perhaps the one closest to my true feelings.

The hunters of the resistance who had fought alongside me.

Now that I'd returned fifteen years into the past, if I could teach them knowledge from the future in advance, allowing them to overcome their weaknesses and limitations and grow stronger...

Even if those things invaded again, wouldn't my comrades at least be able to survive this time?

“...Good.”

Anyway, now that the first step had been decided, it was time to act without delay.

I immediately opened the contacts on my smartphone.

[Secretary Yun Seohyeon]

I called the number, and the call connected shortly afterward.

-Yes, Executive Director.

She was my secretary.

More precisely, she was someone my father had personally assigned to keep an eye on me and prevent me from causing trouble.

“Ah, Ms. Seohyeon. Is this a good time to talk?”

-...

“? Is something wrong?”

-...That's unusual. You've never once called and asked whether it was a convenient time to talk before.

“Ah...”

That's right. At this point, I was notorious for my reckless, spoiled behavior.

Whenever I called my secretary, I'd probably started barking orders like 'Do this' the moment she answered.

“Ahem. Well, people can change. Anyway, I called because there's something I'd like to ask.”

-Yes, please go ahead.

“By any chance, is there anyone in the Hunter Association who has connections with Baekmyeong Group?”

-...Pardon?

-...May I ask why first?

“Ah, it's nothing much. I'm planning to establish a hunter guild.”