Huh?
“The Hunter from the U.S. was the winner?”
To think that the one who had obtained [Triaina] at the IHT was none other than Enzo Chiano.
“That’s strange. China had no intention of letting the first-place prize fall into the hands of a foreigner.”
Giryeo was momentarily puzzled. The tournament arena he remembered had been riddled with hidden tricks. There were magic stones concealed inside that could be destroyed at any time to raise the ambient concentration of magical energy—provided you knew their exact locations. On top of that, the environmental conditions had clearly been designed to favor certain hunters.
“In other words, the whole thing was rigged.”
The Archmage had naturally assumed that Zuhan would win. And according to Seonwoo Yeon’s account, Enzo had indeed been pushed back considerably during the early stages of the match...
Of course, apparently the tide of battle had turned in an instant—during the brief moment the viewer had gotten distracted doing the dishes.
“Hmm.”
“If I remember correctly, there were definitely a lot of stories and rumors going around about Hunter Enzo Chiano’s victory.”
But then again, did any of that really matter?
Whether it was Triaina or Enzo, in the end, they were all subjects hardly worth an outsider’s attention.
“I guess I must have been mistaken.”
At last, the ice cream was ready. Seonwoo Yeon took the finished cone and handed it to Giryeo.
“Enjoy your ice cream.”
Which meant that from here on out, all that remained was to enjoy the event like any ordinary visitor, ice-cold treat in hand.
It was at that moment.
Without even tasting his ice cream, Giryeo turned to the civil servant and asked her a question.
“By the way, I was too caught up in everything to ask earlier, but how did things go last week?”
“Yes?”
“I heard the scale was confiscated. So that means you met Kang Changho during the process. Are you really okay?”
Their conversation continued.
“The person who came to retrieve the item was someone else, though.”
“Who?”
“Just someone a little older... I’m not really sure who he was, but anyway, he video-called Kang Changho and showed me that he was acting as his representative.”
“I never even thought of doing something like that.”
“Anyway, I handed over the scale, but if he hadn’t kept his promise... I’m not sure what would’ve happened on your end.”
For reference, at the time, all available personnel who were supposed to be protecting Seonwoo Yeon had been redirected to the building-collapse site in Mapo District.
“Did the person who came to retrieve the item really leave quietly after you handed over the scale?”
“To be exact... Hunter Kang’s side was curious about what kind of conversation we’d had.”
“Hmm.”
“But when I dodged the question, they didn’t press me any further. It felt as though they hadn’t expected a clear answer from the beginning.”
“You dodged the question?”
“I kept it hidden.”
Seonwoo Yeon spoke calmly.
“I kept the secret. Because the Hunter asked me to.”
To Giryeo, it was an unexpected reason.
The association employee standing before him spoke without hesitation, letting her sincere thoughts flow naturally. Seonwoo Yeon was focused solely on the fact that she had kept silent because the Hunter had asked her to.
Even now, while discussing it so casually, she gave no thought whatsoever to the terrifying curse behind that request.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
That was Seonwoo Yeon.
This public official’s greatest strength—and at the same time, her weakness—was her unwavering nature.
Once a certain degree of mutual trust had been established, she had always tended to take people’s words exactly as they were given.
Sometimes, to an almost excessive degree.
[As payment, please give me tea leaves.
He didn’t ask for money.
So then, I guess I should give him tea leaves instead of money.]
[This is a secret. So don’t go telling anyone.]
No matter how many times he saw it, she was still like a machine.
Give her a clear proposition, and she would uphold it as though her life depended on it, even if doing so meant taking a loss herself.
Given that disposition, a promise made with Seonwoo Yeon was bound to last for a very long time.
“...”
Kim Giryeo seemed lost in thought for a moment before finally speaking.
“Anyway, as long as you’re in one piece, that’s what matters.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to look around on my own from now on. Anyway, thanks to my friend, I managed to get a return ticket without any trouble.”
“That’s...”
“If I don’t show up at the airport on the last day, then you can worry about me for a little while.”
After noticing the sign asking customers to finish their food inside the store, he quickly devoured his snack.
Didn’t his teeth hurt?
“Wait a minute!”
Just as the man in the suit finished tidying up his trash and was about to head outside, Seonwoo Yeon, finally freed from her duties, called out to stop him.
“Yes?”
But if he had known why she was stopping him, he would have simply ignored her.
“The cost of the ice cream, Hunter. It was about 5,000 won in Korean currency, so you can just transfer it to me later through internet banking.”
“Has the government been delaying civil servants’ salaries lately, by any chance?”
That was the last conversation they had on the first day.
It felt strangely hollow.
.
.
.
.
“lol. What happened?”
“Whew.”
“That Korean guy didn’t blow up Haneda Airport, right? Huh? And where’s Ito? Is he dead?”
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the upper exhibition hall of Building A.
“Calm down. Your guild master just went to greet a member of the National Assembly who’s visiting the expo hall.”
A group of Hunters had gathered in a staff-only corridor where few people passed by, talking among themselves.
“And fortunately, the airport built with the entire nation’s hard-earned tax money is still perfectly intact.”
“Really?”
“Mr. Kim Giryeo was very calm.”
The one leading most of the conversation was Yamazaka Iori, an S-rank hunter with the wind attribute.
“Considering what you guys did, it wouldn’t be surprising if he caused a scene at any moment. Still, he really is quite the gentleman, isn’t he?”
What if he was merely hiding a dagger behind his smile?
Was it really appropriate to bad-mouth Imabari so carelessly and sneer like that, especially when a Legendary-class item had been involved?
“You don’t have to go that far. You know exactly what situation we’re in.”
“That’s precisely why I’m criticizing you.”
The shorter man shrugged.
However, their argument did not last long. Despite what was being said, Iori’s side had no intention of completely turning their backs on their fellow countrymen.
“No matter how much you dislike me, make sure you give that Korean a proper apology.”
“Ha...”
“Last time, he left the country first, so all we could do was bow our heads in front of a monitor.”
“True.”
“If he’s come all the way to Tokyo, the least you can do is meet him face-to-face. I’ll do my best to act as a buffer between you, so please try to settle things properly this time.”
Iori continued.
“The domestic situation is extremely unstable right now. Even this much of an increase in the number of awakened individuals is dangerous... If things go badly, we may actually have to ask Korea for help again.”
They passed the time idly, chatting about subjects peculiar to people in their position.
The main event of the expo would take place on the second day, so naturally, there was not much to worry about today.
“Iori, by the way—did you manage to get the item secured safely?”
One of the Imabari guild members sitting against the corridor wall asked the question, and Iori replied.
“The item? Oh—ah, you mean the artifact?”
“Mhm.”
“If that’s what you mean, I put it into storage at dawn.”
Tokyo possessed one of the most secure item vaults in the world.
Its underground storage facility offered even greater security than keeping an item constantly inside an S-rank hunter’s item box.
“An auction for [Triaina], huh.”
He had never imagined that, in his lifetime, he would end up brokering the sale of an item like this.
“By the way, that Hunter Enzo is quite a peculiar one too.”
Before the 3rd Tokyo Expo was held, a hunter living in the United States had seen the announcement for the Japanese event and immediately registered the item in his possession for sale.
“If I sell my item to hunters from all over the world, I’ll get a much higher price? Naha, that’s great!”
But somehow, his behavior was strange.
[I don’t need this kind of thing anyway! Since I got it, I was planning to sell it and spend the money on alcohol, so let’s just hand it over.]
Why had he fought so fiercely in the tournament for something he intended to discard so casually?
During the previous IHT (International Hunter Tournament), most spectators had actually predicted Zuhan’s victory.
Even setting aside his status as China’s representative hunter, Zuhan was objectively an extremely powerful ranger—easily among the top 0.01% of hunters worldwide.
And yet, despite every home-ground advantage at his disposal, Zuhan ultimately lost.
The result had been so unexpected that some Japanese netizens had even joked—perhaps only half-jokingly—that China might punish Zuhan with forced labor or something equally severe for damaging the nation’s pride.
“In a way, that one victory single-handedly restored the United States’ declining prestige.”
To win the duel despite all those unfavorable conditions...
“He’s an absolute monster.”
Ever since Brooklyn went missing, and after the numerous incidents that followed, an American named Enzo had effectively risen to the top of the hunter world.
In other words, the ability he had displayed during the tournament had been formidable enough to shake the entire world.
But for some reason, Iori did not find that development particularly welcome.
“I liked Brooklyn Morgan much better.”
Brooklyn was said to have suppressed an awakened faction that had staged an unlawful coup and indiscriminately massacred civilians in his own country.
In any case, the world’s number-one ranked hunter had accomplished so many deeds for the benefit of humanity that he had even earned the nickname “angel.”
Brooklyn was someone worthy of respect.
The new figure who had risen to the top of the industry, however, was his complete opposite.
He had no dignity whatsoever.
“Hmm.”
The situation was regrettable in many ways, but now was hardly the time to concern himself with such matters.
“Kim Giryeo is in Tokyo right now.”
Hunter Iori once again turned his attention to the problem immediately before him.
“Anyway, shall we get going?”
Just a few minutes earlier, four of Japan’s S-rank hunters had decided to offer a face-to-face apology in the hope of repairing their relationship with the person involved.
When they asked whether it would be all right to visit him briefly, the Korean hunter had replied:
“Sure. But since you’re taking up my time anyway, at least let me have a look at the item. I came to Tokyo because of the photo in that article, you know.”
To think he had left the country solely because of a promotional photograph for the World Artifact Expo.
“Isn’t that fortunate?”
So Kim Giryeo hadn’t come because of the compensation issue!
A former colleague from Imabari, who had once worked closely with him, spoke in a cheerful voice.
But Iori merely stiffened further and muttered under his breath.
“What does he even like? That answer is exactly why I’m so nervous right now.”
“Huh?”
“There are three S-rank hunters in our country who once tried to kill him. And yet Kim Giryeo came here almost completely alone this time.”
“...”
“Wouldn’t that naturally mean that what happened during the Dragon Raid wasn’t even remotely stressful for him?”
His attitude was almost unnervingly casual, as though he were saying that the confrontations of the past could be repeated at any moment and he would not care in the slightest.
Having read that implication into Giryeo’s behavior, Iori spoke gravely, warning them to exercise the utmost caution.
At that, the companion walking beside him covered their mouth in shock.
Well, now that he thought about it, the fact that the Korean man had come to Tokyo at all really was a terrifying display of confidence.
“Oh my God. Just how confident must he be in his own abilities...?”
That was the moment.
“Step, step, step.”
The sudden sound of footsteps echoed through the corridor connecting Halls A and B of the expo center.
Normally, the approach of an awakened individual could be sensed through their mana.
However, the man who now appeared in the corridor rendered such methods of detection completely useless.
Like a crawling snake.
Like an owl gliding silently through the night.
A new breed of predator that gave its prey no warning whatsoever.
“Hi, Hunter Kim Giryeo.”
The dyed-haired hunter from across the sea soon stopped in front of them.
Then, through PIXY’s device, the other party answered in a voice so stiff that it could only have been machine-translated.
“Hello.”
They had exchanged nothing more than a greeting, yet the tension was already suffocating.
In the end, as always, everything in this world came down to wealth.
Looking back, what kind of reckless resolve had possessed them to try to bring down such a terrifying man last time...?
***
“Wow, the kid beside him has picked up some seriously good gear in the meantime. I was fine when it was just Iori, but seeing all four of them lined up together... Their magical power is pretty intimidating.”
Hmm.
“Well, I’m basically broke now and don’t even have a single Legendary item left, so they probably won’t bother picking a fight with me, right?”
As expected, I really shouldn’t have come to Tokyo.
“You’re not... going to attack me, are you, my friends from Earth?”
About forty-five minutes after arriving at the Artifact Expo, I received a message from a Japanese hunter named Iori and headed toward the agreed meeting place—Hall A of the Tokyo venue.
There, I once again came face-to-face with four top-ranked awakened individuals, led by Ito.
However, the moment I saw those stubborn-looking Earthling faces, regret washed over me.
“If a fight breaks out, I’m as good as dead...”
The four Japanese S-rank hunters gathered before me once again offered sincere apologies for what had happened during the Dragon Raid.
But from the weaker party’s perspective, their apologies felt like a venomous snake bowing its head before a frog.
It was hardly reassuring.
“Uh... that’s enough of that. Just show me the item already, please.”
They kept bringing up things that were already in the past, and for some reason that only made me more uneasy.
So I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.
Strangely enough, the moment Hunter Iori heard my request, he reacted almost excessively, hurriedly leading me toward the storage area where the item featured in the online article had been placed.
“If it’s the item from the photograph you showed us, Mr. Kim Giryeo, then this should be it. We set it up for an early exhibition before the event had even officially begun.”
The room we entered was a dimly lit exhibition hall.
Only the transparent object at its center was illuminated by a separate light.
The item itself was enclosed inside a display case, but the moment I saw it in person, I knew with absolute certainty what it was.
It was exactly the artifact I had been searching for.
“As expected, that’s exactly what it is!”
But no matter how good my appraisal abilities might be, there was no way I could receive some divine revelation telling me the item’s name.
So I should check it, just to be sure.
“I bought this device before leaving the country, so I’m not sure whether it’ll work properly overseas.”
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