Afterward, they finished administering basic treatment on the sandy beach and immediately returned to the Garion Building in Seoul.
During the drive, the Rank #1 Hunter behind the wheel asked Giryeo quite a few questions, but no meaningful conversation followed.
“I’m only lying low for a while because my lungs were injured by that trap in the S-rank gate. Once I recover completely, Kang Changho will be nothing to worry about. So Haseong, you really don’t need to concern yourself with this anymore.”
Giryeo did not reveal that he was actually an F-rank hunter. Instead, he reinforced the bluff he had already established.
After making several remarks meant to emphasize his supposed abilities, he calmly informed Haseong that they would have to suspend their lessons for a while. He told him not to send the tutoring fee for the following month yet and to wait until further notice.
***
A few hours later.
For reference, this was Kim Giryeo’s studio apartment.
Just before returning home, I had a rather lengthy conversation with Esther of the Korean Magic Tower.
[Now I finally get to see your face. Welcome back, Giryeo-ssi. I was really worried about you. So, what on earth happened earlier?]
[To put it simply, I got caught trying to scam Hunter Kang Changho.]
[Oh.]
For what was about to come, the assistance of the capable Rank #2 Hunter was indispensable.
[Anyway, there’s no point explaining a contract that’s already half-broken. To summarize the situation, an S-rank hunter is extremely angry because of something I did.]
[Anyone with their head screwed on straight wouldn’t beat someone up just because they were angry. It sounds like Giryeo-ssi and Hunter Haseong went through quite an ordeal this time.]
[Uhm....]
[Anyway, what are you planning to do?]
[Because of various circumstances, I wasn’t able to subdue him on the spot. Before he has a chance to retaliate, I want to somehow get Kang Changho into custody first. Is that possible?]
[I’ll do everything I can. At the very least, I’ll make sure you get back the equivalent of what you paid for back then.]
For the moment, I had safely returned home under Jung Haseong’s protection.
Not long afterward, a progress report from Esther arrived on my phone.
“Hmm.”
The most effective way to restrict the movements of an S-rank Awakener was to involve public authority.
But South Korea was still a country governed by law. Even the leader of a major guild couldn’t simply declare another top-tier hunter a fugitive without proper cause.
“Well, no one has died yet, after all.”
The only realistic way to involve the police was to report the S-rank fight on the beach as a case of mutual assault.
That would allow the police to summon Kang Changho for questioning as one of the parties involved.
However, such a summons was noncompulsory and could easily be ignored.
So, with Jung Haseong’s consent, Esther decided to file an assault report and push the process toward obtaining an arrest warrant as quickly as possible.
At the same time, she planned to use Awakeners and private errand services to pursue additional measures behind the scenes.
[I’m sorry <(??? )>.]
“I don’t think this is something you need to apologize for... But what are those strange symbols at the end? This time, I genuinely have no idea.”
As expected, it wasn’t long before Esther sent me news that struck like a thunderbolt.
Despite using every method available to her, she had ultimately failed to determine Kang Changho’s whereabouts.
“Right. What was I expecting from primitive magicians? Earth’s [Searcher] skill has excellent range for something that developed naturally, but it gets blocked by all sorts of things.”
A complete disappearance.
Frankly, there was nothing more disturbing than an unidentified danger lurking somewhere in the dark, with no way of knowing when or where it might reappear.
“Hmm.”
It wasn’t realistic to demand that S-rank hunters, who were responsible for the nation’s safety, devote themselves to protecting me twenty-four hours a day.
So, within reasonable limits, I asked the leaders of the Magic Tower and the Garion Guild to take the following additional precautions.
① From now on, Association staff or other security personnel should be stationed at the entrance whenever either of them enters a gate.
② The two of them must not enter a dungeon at the same time. One should always remain outside and wait.
③ Esther should maintain a low-intensity curse on Kang Changho in order to restrict his mobility as much as possible.
④ And, if possible, the Magic Tower should also keep watch over the following individuals.
“Let’s see.”
I included the names corresponding to number four in the message.
[Ahn Yoonseung, Gu Seohyeong]
Honestly, one of them had become such a distant acquaintance lately that our relationship was practically nonexistent.
Still, because of their connection to the original owner of this body, they were relatively more likely than anyone else to be placed in danger.
“Kang Changho is an Earthling I personally watched crush the skulls of five members of his own species. A merciless bastard like that wouldn’t hesitate to take a hostage.”
Fortunately, Seo Esther was an influential capitalist.
As a result, she always had plenty of people at her disposal, and when I asked her to discreetly arrange protection for two acquaintances, she was able to comply without difficulty.
[After checking, it seems Ms. Seohyeong is currently spending her summer vacation overseas, partly because her skill is on cooldown. Apparently, an S-rank hunter there is already providing her with VIP-level protection as a state guest. So at least that location should be safe until the end of the month.]
Good.
Now that the external precautions were more or less in place, it was time to work on a more fundamental solution.
“Whew.”
I lowered my smartphone and looked around the room.
The studio apartment I had once made an effort to keep tidy was now cluttered with all kinds of dungeon materials.
And just as its present condition suggested, despite everything that had happened, I had ultimately come back here again—
to this noisy, cramped five-pyeong room of mine.
There were two reasons.
“Esther suggested I stay at the Magic Tower until Kang Changho’s whereabouts are confirmed, but...”
First, it was difficult to concentrate on research in a shared space full of Earthlings. I would constantly be distracted.
More importantly, even a slight expansion of the ‘barrier’ caused the amount of magic power required to maintain it to increase exponentially.
“Just try coming any closer. I’ll fry you like a bug in an electric flytrap.”
Thump thump.
I checked the defensive magic I had newly installed throughout the studio apartment.
[2.0.10 Changes]
• New barrier installed
• Strength increased 5 times compared to the previous spell
• Electric shock function activated in the event of intrusion
• Surface invisibility treatment applied (Despite being much stronger, the barrier looks identical to the previous one)
It had been a long time since I’d made an upgrade like this.
Indeed.
The newly reinforced barrier, equipped with its own security function, possessed enough power to stop even an S-rank hunter capable of surviving a direct lightning strike in his tracks.
Of course, such monstrous performance came with equally monstrous energy consumption.
I had hurriedly connected two [Infinite Power Cores] to the spell, but even then, the barrier could only remain active for approximately fifteen days.
“I really am grateful to Esther for lending me such expensive items without even demanding payment upfront. Ah, right. Before I forget, I should transfer the money for the cores. I received another three billion in tutoring fees last month, after all.”
I turned my phone back on and transferred the money to Esther through mobile banking.
Then I resumed thinking.
“...Somehow, I feel like a general preparing for a defensive siege.”
Who would have thought that being exposed as a fraud would force me to awaken my desire for self-improvement this early?
Faced with such a desperate crisis, the first solution that came to mind was simple.
Counterattack.
Kill Kang Changho when he came seeking revenge.
Fortunately, that Earthling still hadn’t caught me using a decoy to mislead him about my location.
“For Kang Changho, the only thing that really matters is the fluctuation caused by my mana. Compared to the Korean Magic Tower, where people constantly come and go, this shabby studio apartment should be much easier for him to approach.”
On the other hand, I couldn’t quite convince myself that an S-rank would fall into such an obvious trap.
I had no concrete evidence.
But somehow...
I had a feeling.
“Something about this whole situation feels wrong. Huh? Kim Giryeo. Even you think this is way too strange, don’t you...?”
Somehow, it felt as though Kang Changho knew something the other S-ranks didn’t.
And unfortunately, my instincts—perhaps sharpened by my experience as an Archmage—were rarely wrong.
“Stuck in the body of an F-rank hunter, I’m practically forced to rely on fixed spells powered by the cores whenever I fight. Still, it looks like I’ll have to come up with another way to lure Kang Changho in.”
There was still work left to do.
As I had explained many times before, the [Infinite Power Core] supported only a limited range of spells.
Even if several cores were connected to a single spell, they merely operated in parallel. They did not simply multiply the spell’s output.
In other words, this Earth-style high-capacity battery alone was not enough to kill an S-rank hunter.
So when the time came to stop Kang Changho’s breathing for good, I would need another method as well.
“Wait until the barrier’s defensive function incapacitates him, then detonate a bomb he can’t avoid while he’s at his weakest.”
Seriously, what kind of suffering was this, all because of one bad contract?
Old habits died hard.
Even though I had deliberately tried to devise a plan that excluded Jung Haseong from the situation, part of me still found itself slipping back into that typically Alphaurtian habit of shifting responsibility onto someone else.
It was all Kang Changho’s fault.
No—
if an F-rank hunter genuinely feared for his life, was creating a fake contract really that unreasonable?
How could someone refuse an apology and become that angry over it?
If I hadn’t been exposed by that damned [Dragon’s Eye] observation device, none of this would ever have escalated into such a total disaster...
“Phew.”
Enough.
Somehow, things would work themselves out with time.
I forced myself into a more optimistic frame of mind and continued considering which magical tools I would need for the next stage of the plan.
“Ah~ Fine. If it really comes down to it, I’ll just say I had a good time traveling around Earth and accept death gracefully.”
As a soul living its second life, there was a certain boldness rooted deep within me.
***
...And so, after spending several days unexpectedly absorbed in artifact research, the moment finally came when both Jung Haseong—who had entered a gate to gather the materials necessary for the experiment—and Esther—who had promised to report immediately if she discovered any movement from the missing S-rank hunter—fell silent.
Ding dong.
Someone had arrived at the studio apartment.
I held my breath and bent down, pressing one eye against the peephole in the door.
But even after looking directly at the visitor, I still couldn’t understand who it was.
“Excuse me... Hello.”
A white T-shirt.
Jeans stretched at the knees.
The outfit looked almost identical to the cheap clothes the original owner of this body used to wear.
In other words, it was the kind of clothing common among Earthlings who seemed to have little interest in their appearance.
I silently studied the figure beyond the lens.
“I’m really sorry to bother you... I’m Seonwoo Yeon. Would you mind opening the door for a moment?”
The person standing outside was a B-rank Awakener who worked for the Hunter Association.
But there was something strange about this in more ways than one.
Today was a day marked in red on the calendar.
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