In front of the Korean Hunters Association main building.
The sea of reporters showing up to cover Lee Minsung’s rank assignment test had set up a camp in front of the Association building.
South Korea’s own Lee Minsung, often referred to as Asia’s top superstar, becoming a Hunter!
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the cameras from the entire world were being focused here today.
With space being such a premium, the reporters began a war of nerves with each other.
“Excuse me! We already reserved this spot!”
“Hey, man! Are you blind? Can’t you see how many people showed up today? Who cares about your spot or mine?! Your spot is where you’re standing.”
“Dang it….”
Meanwhile, a full-blown smile was forming on Lee Minsung’s face as he stared through the window at the sea of reporters extending as far as the access road while standing inside the Association building.
“Indeed, this many people showing up sounds about right.”
Deliberately wasting time and attracting the attention of the public definitely paid off today.
“Excuse me, Mister Minsung? This will be tomorrow’s headline, but what do you think about it?”
South Korea’s top newspaper reporter showed Lee Minsung the manuscript for tomorrow’s front page and asked.
“Don’t you think using that as the headline is a bit dull?”
“You think so?”
“Hmm…. How about this one? ‘The man who has everything, Lee Minsung. He now grasps power transcending humanity!’. Well?”
“But, if we use a strong lead-in like that, don’t you think a portion of the readers will feel uncomfortable?”
“Well, I’m not exaggerating here, and besides, no one in their right mind would talk rubbish about me in South Korea, anyway. I mean, both the media and my fans are watching closely with their eyes wide open, after all.”
“Okay. Got it. We’ll go with that one.”
“I’ll be in your care.”
Lee Minsung bowed his head good-naturedly, but when he raised it again, a deep frown was etched on his face.
‘He’s going to do what I told him in the end, so why does he have to yap on about so much crap?’
It was then, that two imported luxury sedans arrived at the parking lot of the Association.
Two men climbed out of their respective cars almost at the same time – they were none other than Baek Yoonho from the White Tiger Guild, and Choi Jong-In from the Hunters Guild.
“Uh? Look at that!”
“It’s Baek Yoonho!”
“Choi Jong-In’s here too!”
The reporters blocking the front entrance of the Association building all rushed towards the side of these two men. Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-In both frowned unhappily.
‘What is up with these reporters?’
‘Why is it so chaotic today?’
The noises of camera flashes going off were ringing out loudly. Countless reporters surrounded these two men and began their barrage of questions.
“Are you two visiting the Association to scout Mister Lee Minsung?”
“As the Hunters representing South Korea, what do you think about Mister Lee Minsung potentially retiring from the entertainment industry?”
“What do you think will be Mister Lee Minsung’s rank?”
“Please share your thoughts on Mister Lee Minsung.”
The famously short-tempered Baek Yoonho waved his hands around as if he found all this annoying.
“I’m not here because of that man. I’ve nothing else to say.”
….While Choi Jong-In emotionlessly stated the facts.
“Anyone related to this matter would know by now that Mister Lee Minsung has already signed up with the Reapers Guild. I’m visiting the Association today on an unrelated matter.”
After hearing answers that didn’t meet their expectations, the reporters inwardly grumbled and turned around.
‘Eii, what the hell.’
‘And I thought I might have a juicy new story.’
‘I got excited for no dang justification.’
Still, none of them dared to express their dissatisfaction in front of a pair of S-rank Hunters. Reporters returned to their spots and began their waiting for Lee Minsung’s emergence once more.
Once the reporters left them alone, Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-In met each other’s glare. Baek Yoonho greeted his counterpart first.
“I heard the story. Hunters Guild almost got into a big tangle yesterday, too. Or so I hear.”
He even deliberately emphasized the word ‘too’ as well.
“Well, it wasn’t much of a big ‘tangle’, compared to how the White Tiger had to lose their newbie A-rank.”
The two men’s war of nerves was just as fierce as the one taking place among the reporters. Baek Yoonho was incensed for a little bit there, but eventually, he sighed softly and spoke up.
“In any case, both the Hunters and us are in that man’s debt.”
“We really were kissed by Lady Luck yesterday. If he wasn’t there, my second elite team would’ve been wiped out.”
Even though both men knew that person’s name, not mentioning it could be considered the final act of their war of nerves. Choi Jong-In took a step closer.
“That is why, out of principle, I’d like to ‘definitely’ bring that man over to our Guild.”
Baek Yoonho didn’t back down. He and Choi Jong-In got close enough for their foreheads to nearly butt against each other.
“We even had suffered casualties. Looking at the need to replenish our combat force, wouldn’t you agree that a person joining us makes more sense?”
“Just what are you planning to do by recruiting an S-rank to shore up your combat force? Are you thinking of invading North Korea or something?”
“What about you? Since when did you worry about principals and the like to talk about your principals here?”
Flames erupted out from the eyes of the two men.
‘….Huh?’
Master of the Reapers Guild, Lim Tae-Gyu, was arriving at the Association building just now to match the timing of the press conference. When he saw those two growling at one another, a mocking smirk formed on his face.
Wasn’t there an old saying for that?
Didn’t it go, counting chickens before hatching or something like that?
For Lim Tae-Gyu, this sure was an exciting development, since he always lost out to their two Guilds when trying to secure resources until now. He did his best not to let the corners of his lips arch up and approached the two men.
“Oiii, two Guild chairmen over there. I hope you aren’t acting like that over my Minsung, no?”
And then, both Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-In’s heads spun at the same time towards Lim Tae-Gyu. It was hard to tell who was first, really.
‘What the hell is up with this moron?’
‘I don’t give a rat’s ass about this Lee Minsung or Rhee Min-Gun or whatever.’
Lim Tae-Gyu flinched in surprise and took a step back when two rather terrifying glares landed squarely on him.
‘What is up with these two bastards all of a sudden?!’
‘What’s this? Choi Jong-In, and Baek Yoonho, too?’
Lee Minsung grinned deeply.
He was already familiar with Chairman Lim Tae-Gyu when they met during the signing of the contract.
Lee Minsung signing up with the Reapers Guild, which had been criticized for being a shell of its former glory, while disregarding the country’s top two Guilds, was a calculated move on his part.
‘I mean, with this, I’ll enjoy the image of someone willing to stand up for the underdogs.’
Crudely speaking, celebrities survived on their public image. And Lee Minsung was really meticulous about maintaining his.
‘The best Guilds in Korea are fighting over me….’
He wasn’t thinking of carrying on this Hunter lifestyle for long, but still, that sight naturally made him feel even better about himself. Soon afterward, his manager entered the reception area.
“Lee Minsung, they say they are ready now. Let’s go and do the press conference.”
“Alright.”
The manager took the lead. He opened the glass front entrance and allowed Lee Minsung to emerge from the Association building; camera flashes exploded in a scary cacophony of endless shutter clicks.
As he would do every day, Lee Minsung formed a fake smile towards the hundreds of lenses surrounding him.
It was then.
Jin Woo had finally arrived at the front of the Association.
‘……??’
Just like he’d been told, he was stopping by the Association three days later.
‘Why is it so noisy here?’
However, it didn’t look like he’d be able to enter the Association at all under the current circumstances. Of course, there were plenty of ways to go around these people, such as using ‘Stealth’, or jumping over the reporters, or even finding a back entrance.
But then again, his re-evaluation test had been reserved in advance three days ago, so he didn’t feel like going through the back entrance just to avoid this wall of reporters.
‘It’s not like I committed a crime or something anyway.’
He had no reason not to use the front door at all. Jin Woo then proceeded to push away the tightly packed throngs of reporters and made a path for himself.
“Excuse me, I’m coming through.”
“Oii, what are you doing??”
“What the hell?”
“What’s wrong with you?!”
This was the physical strength of an S-rank Hunter. Reporters were all helplessly pushed away, deep frowns etched on their faces.
The path forward was opened up in the blink of an eye, and Jin Woo could walk up the steps leading to the front entrance of the Association.
However, even before he could take another step, a large, muscular dude suddenly blocked Jin Woo’s path.
“Oii!!”
He was Lee Minsung’s manager. His eyebrows rose up as he growled menacingly.
“Who the hell are you? You work for the Association or something?’
Jin Woo didn’t bother to avert his gaze and met this manager’s glare squarely, before shaking his head.
‘Huh? Would you look at this bastard?’
The manager’s thick eyebrows quivered.
“Can’t you see all those reporters behind you?!”
Jin Woo took a short glance at the reporters. They were all shooting him with unhappy glares.
Even Jin Woo could understand that they were trying to do a press conference here. However, it wasn’t as if they had rented out the whole entrance, now had they?
A private individual had no right to chase away the reporters, and conversely, they had no right to chase him away, either. That was common knowledge.
There were plenty of eyes watching and Jin Woo didn’t particularly want to raise his voice here, so he was going to ignore this idiot and walk right by, but at that moment….
“Go back to where you came from. You can’t go through here. Get lost, punk.”
The manager blocked the path again and tried to shove Jin Woo’s chest away. The light in Jin Woo’s eyes changed immediately.
‘….What was that?!’
The manager was taken by a huge surprise.
He was a melee-type, D-rank Awakened, and pushed this young punk away with the full intention of embarrassing him, but the guy didn’t even budge from the spot as if his legs were nailed to the ground.
The manager had used enough force that would’ve injured a regular person greatly. Jin Woo also knew that fact very well.
“…..”
That was why he wordlessly glared, and that alone was enough to gradually drain the manager’s face of all color.
“What the heck? What’s the matter with that guy?”
“What happened? Are they going to fight?”
The reporters present all sensed the atmosphere becoming rather strange, and they became noisy quite quickly.
Cold sweat was pouring out of the manager.
If there was no one watching, he’d have conceded already and stepped aside. However, never mind the reporters, his employer Lee Minsung was watching him from behind at the moment.
Lee Minsung walked closer to the manager and whispered with a deep frown.
“Argh, hyung, what are you doing? Hurry up and get rid of this loser already.”
“Uh, uh….. S-sure thing.”
If he showed a shameful sight here, then he’d lose his job without a doubt. The manager’s expression crumpled unsightly and he raised his voice high.
“You can’t pass by here, so get lost already!”
“And just who said you can block the entrance like this?”
‘Uh?’
The reply didn’t come from the manager’s front but from his back. The manager quickly spun his head around.
The Hunter’s Association President Go Gunhee stood tall in front of the glass doors. The eyes of the reporters grew extra round. They were so shocked that they even forgot to operate their cameras.
“Go Gunhee?!”
“President Go Gunhee’s here?”
The once-chaotic bustling atmosphere immediately cooled down with the entrance of someone completely unexpected. Go Gunhee walked right up to the steps and spoke up.
“This gentleman is my guest.”
And then, Go Gunhee stared at Lee Minsung.
“I hope you haven’t forgotten who gave you the permission to hold a press conference in this place, Mister Lee Minsung.”
Lee Minsung recovered his wits right away.
“O-of course, sir.”
On his first day as a Hunter, he fell out of favor with the Association President and lost the location of the press conference – Lee Minsung couldn’t afford to suffer such a humiliation when there were so many eyes watching him right now.
Lee Minsung frowned and quickly signaled his manager; the burly guy bowed slightly to both Go Gunhee and Jin Woo and voluntarily stepped aside.
“Please, follow me, Hunter-nim Sung Jin Woo.”
Even until Jin Woo disappeared into the Association building under the guidance of Go Gunhee, the gathered reporters couldn’t hide their confusion at all.
“What was that all about?”
“Who was that man, and why is the Association President personally coming out to greet him?”
“Does anyone know who that man is?”
Reporters felt frustrated and raised their voices, but there was no one answering them.
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