Chapter 440 – Return After Long Absence
“That’s a good idea. Let’s do it that way.”
So while Seong-il didn’t know it, the situation was going the way he intended.
***
“Is this…?”
Seong-il arrived at the place Min Ye-jin contacted and she said. He muttered as he looked at the five-story building in front of his eyes.
‘The number of floors itself is not large, but the width is very wide, isn’t it? Just looking at it, it seems like an important building… But this must be the right place.’
The scene of the ark where large buildings are very rare due to the limited living area. Seeing a large building, which is rare in such places, Seong-il is convinced that this is the building he was guided to.
As soon as you enter, you see quite a lot of people. A man and a woman who appeared to be staff were taking her seats at four rows of tables and serving her customers.
‘Hey… It’s also installed with a resting room? Is it some kind of complex?’
The inside of the building is furnished with tables, chairs, TVs, etc., As if made for hunters to rest comfortably in the corner of the building, as well as simple drinks and convenience foods. In fact, several men and women were seated at a table and chatting.
‘The information desk over there is empty…? Shall we go over there…’
Since only one desk was empty, Seong-il naturally moved there. He greets an ordinary-looking woman who is seated there.
“Uh… How are you?”
“Yes. Hello. What are you doing?”
When the woman asks about her business, Seong-il takes out the card she received from Min Ye-jin, hands it to her and asks questions.
“By any chance, is this the Under Hunter Association?”
“Ah, that’s right. You must be a new Hunter, right?”
“Yes.”
After saying that, Seong-il inserts the card into a strange-looking machine, and the female employee starts checking his identity on the monitor.
“Ah, you’re the hot new hunter who’s going to be registered this time? You’re only 20 years old, but you’re not even double-powered, so you soloed a level 7 dungeon.”
“…!!”
At the muttering of the information staff, all eyes focused on Seong-il. Hearing the words ‘young age’, ‘double’, and ‘soloing’, they look at Seong-il with an interesting expression.
‘What?’
Seong-il is puzzled by the gazes that are suddenly focused on him. Although it is weak in the eyes of some talented people who can be felt through emotion, it is also felt that ‘envy’ is felt.
“…Is that guy that guy?”
“I think so? This time, I broke the core with my body strengthening ability…”
“Isn’t that, you broke it with a different ability than your other physical ability? A double? You must have broken it with that. I know it’s impossible to destroy the dungeon core with pure physical power…”
“That’s absolutely not the case, that guy’s other ability was ’emotion’. Impression is a perfect non-combat ability, but there’s no way it could destroy the core. It was destroyed by strengthening the body.”
“…Is that okay?”
Seong-il listened to the conversation flowing from the corner and roughly understood what they were talking about.
‘I know roughly what’s going on. I guess I was mistaken for an irregular who broke through the limits of a body-enhancing psychic.’
In fact, rather than breaking the core with physical strengthening abilities, Seong-il used the strength and strength he had learned in the martial arts world to break the core.
But, of course, Seong-il, who had no intention of causing a stir after telling the truth around, quietly shuts up, ignores the hunters’ words, and focuses on the conversation with the guide.
“…Because of that process, Han Seong-il’s current hunter rank is B-. With that rank, he can receive missions up to a maximum of 7 dungeons.”
“I see. How do you get team members? Personally? Or, are you looking for them here?”
“Oh, when you apply for a normal mission, you can apply jointly with the person you want to join. If not, you have to wait until the mission applicants are randomly filled through the queue.”
“Ah… By the way, what if there are no applicants? Surprisingly, there are cases like that.”
“Ah, first of all, if we can’t fill the number of people after waiting as long as possible, we proceed by forcibly assigning the mission to a hunter who hasn’t been on a mission for a long time. It’s a very rare case, but it’s often executed in really urgent cases.”
“Ohh… By the way, do the hunters calmly accept the forced distribution mission?”
“Umm… Of course, in the case of compulsory assignment missions, there is resistance from hunters. However, the situation isn’t good enough for our ark to take care of everyone’s convenience…”
“But…”
For a long time after that, the guide explained the contents of the mission application, such as registration and team matching methods. After all the explanations, she starts talking about the reward.
“You said you wanted to do only missions for awakening, mainly clearing dungeons, so I’ll explain only the contents related to that mission first.”
“Yes.”
“In the case of dungeon clearing, you must bring the dungeon core to receive public points. If you lose the core outside or do not bring it, even if there is evidence of clearing, such as video recording, you will receive 1/10 of the originally assigned public points. You have no choice but to be careful.”
‘I guess the dungeon core is important.’
As Yu Jun-kyung said, a guardian of reason who seems to value the dungeon core. As he explained, in order to prevent additional dungeons from appearing, they seemed to be betting their lives on recovering cores.
“And… Someday, when you become A- rank, you have to carry out missions other than clearing dungeons. In reality, A-rank talents usually perform outside missions, except for clearing the highest-rank dungeons. … Seongil-sama will have to go on an outside mission someday.”
“But, anyway, you mean you don’t have to do it now?”
“Yeah…Until Grade A.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.”
Seong-il nods lightly and agrees with the information staff’s words. He thinks to himself as he reads the reward statement she gave her for clearing the dungeon.
‘Well… I can leave this place anyway after awakening, so I don’t have to consider that issue yet.’
Seong-il’s reason for returning to reality in the first place was to clear the dungeon and absorb the causal rate emanating from the core. He decides to exclude consideration of what will happen later.
“For reference, the public point distribution method is a system in which a certain amount of public points are paid based on the grade of the dungeon core you bring. And it is a system that is divided among the people who have cleared the public points.”
“…Is it possible to carry out the mission with a smaller number of people than the prescribed number?”
“Yes. In the case of those with outstanding skills, they sometimes apply in groups of three and clear the dungeon. However, in this case, the application itself is very rare, and even if there is one, the association does not approve.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Yes. It’s a really urgent situation, but unless there is a shortage of workers, we’re good… It’s dangerous, right? There is.”
“…”
The guide’s voice is sincere. Seong-il replaces her answer with a nod of her head.
“Now… I transferred the public points to the card you gave me a moment ago, so you can use it like money! I’ll take care of the others!”
“Ah… Yes, thank you. But are public points only used to buy daily necessities?”
“Ah! I didn’t tell you something important. If you go up to the second floor of the building here, you can use the public point to buy hunter equipment. Even if you don’t buy it, I recommend you to go and see it.”
“Ohh… Thank you!”
A holy day to express gratitude for the kind guide’s answers. After that, he leaves the Under Hunter Association after hearing miscellaneous things from the guide, such as buying equipment and using public stores.
***
“Oh… This place sells equipment…”
The interior scene of the Hunter Association, which has items on the second floor comparable to those of a large mart. Seong-il examines the interior with an interesting expression.
“What… Is it a gun?”
In reality, the appearance of firearms designated as prohibited items.
‘…Since low-level powers are vulnerable to firearms, civilians were thoroughly prevented from owning firearms in order to prevent any possible loss of psychic powers who had to fight before the fight with the aliens, right?’
However, when Seong-il thinks about it now, he realizes that the government forbade the possession of old-fashioned weapons, such as firearms, for a completely different reason.
‘Damn you bastard aliens… The reason why guns were strictly banned was because they were afraid that trash ‘normal people’ would hurt precious guinea pigs ‘psychic’, so they took such measures.’
Seong-il feels annoyed at the truth that has surfaced without his knowledge. In order to alleviate his unpleasant feelings, he deliberately begins to examine the objects around him.
“What is this…?”
A machine the size of an adult’s head. The machine, which looked like a robot vacuum cleaner, had helicopter rotor-like devices installed on either side.
“It’s a drone.”
“Hmm? Ah, hello, Instructor.”
“Yeah. You said you came here to look around after earning credit points?”
“Yes.”
For some reason, Yoo Jun-kyung seemed to have come on purpose after hearing that Seong-il had come to the Hunter Association. He comes up to Seong-il and sits next to him, explaining the device.
“This is a reconnaissance drone used in the old days.”
“Ohh… Is it useful?”
“This? It’s garbage.”
“…Why?”
“That’s it, because it’s a machine made with the latest technology in the ‘pre-destruction’ world. At the time, it might have been state-of-the-art military equipment, but now that humanity has acquired alien technology, albeit weakly, it’s just a mediocre machine.”
“Aha…”
Yoo Jun-kyung’s answer to quickly understand Seong-il. Seong-il quickly loses interest and turns to other equipment.
“Wouldn’t it mean a lot to see?”
“Eh? Why?”
Seong-il frowns at Yoo Jun-kyung’s words as he blows candles.
“Actually… This place is equipped with only the most advanced equipment from the entire world. The real one is upstairs.”
“Oh… Really? Then go upstairs now…”
“No, no. You have to be a platinum level hunter to enter there. Therefore, you cannot enter.”
“Huh!? Didn’t you hear that at the information desk on the first floor?!”
He puts on a puzzled look at the sudden appearance of a restriction that he has never heard of before. Yoo Jun-kyung starts to answer him with a smirk.
“That’s right… Miss Mijoo probably didn’t explain it because it’s a long story for you, who are still intermediate hunters.”
‘Was the female employee’s name Mijoo?’
“Upstairs, the low-level equipment used by aliens is mainly set up. It’s low-level equipment as you say, but it’s super-high-end equipment that’s hard to find in the general society.”
“Ohh… I see. How do I enter it? Can I just upgrade to a high-tier hunter?”
“Well… Half of it.”
“…?”
Seong-il frowned when he talked as if he would be able to use the store when he became a high-level hunter. Yoo Jun-kyung answers him with a smile like a salesperson.
“Promotion to A-class hunter… Is the minimum requirement, and the additional requirement is that you pledge not to leave this place.”
“…”
Seong-il glares at Yoo Jun-kyung with a reluctant expression. Sensing his gaze, he hurriedly continues to talk to Seong-il as if persuading him.
“It’s not a condition only for you! It’s really a condition that applies equally to all Hunters!”
“Shit… Selling your freedom to buy equipment?”
“Only freedom!! You know this because you lived in the ark, our base with the guardians of our reason! This is a really livable city! It smells like real humans!! It’s only about belonging to such a place!!”
“Well… That’s right.”
Seong-il, who has a rough sense that the guardian of reason is hiding something, but does not deny the positive aspects of the ‘ark’ and society they have just created.
“Isn’t it? How about Kim?”
“What?”
“From now on, you are joining our ‘Guardians of Reason’ organization as a real member!”
“!!”
“If you accept, I’ll let you enjoy all the privileges that you can only get with A rank right now!!”
“Hmm…”
“It’s not only that! The amount of mandatory work is reduced by half, and the merit points are also monthly…”
Yoo Jun-kyung seems to be trying to invite Seong-il to be the guardian of reason by coating Seong-il with all sorts of candy. Seong-il is not only a highly rare double-skilled person, but he seems to have evaluated his future very highly after seeing the overwhelming fighting ability he showed in the dungeon earlier.
‘If you catch me there, Lee Ah-hyun will also come with 1+1.’
Seong-il easily read Yu Jun-kyung’s thoughts. However, he had no intention of giving up his freedom for alien technology and a few in-ark privileges.
‘Are you giving up your freedom just because I’m crazy? What am I sorry about…’
Thinking so, Seong-il looks at Yoo Jun-kyung with a cold expression and replies.
“I don’t really… I don’t hate this place, but I don’t want to be forced into it.”
“Uhh…Don’t do that.”
Yoo Jun-kyung, who seems to have liked Seong-il quite a bit, tries to convince him with all kinds of candy coating. After arguing with him for a while, Seong-il leaves with a tired expression.
“Hmm… I’m sure the ark is good…”
A family enjoying a picnic in a spacious park. A couple whispering their love while sitting on a bench with thick bushes and buildings blocking their view.
Seong-il, who was feeling all the scenery with emotion, begins to overlap the miserable appearance of the Under City he saw this time.
‘…How few people can live such a ‘human’ life.’
Some live underground for freedom and live like animals. A situation in which someone is slowly being bred within the fence of a fake civilization without even knowing they are livestock.
‘…’
Seong-il falls into a strange feeling as he recalls how they escape from invisible oppression and gain freedom.
Weeing!!
“…?”
Meanwhile, a message rings on Seongil’s phone. He now uses augmented reality using nanomachines to check the message very naturally, so as not to be suspicious from outside eyes.
