As time passed, public opinion grew increasingly vicious.
‘Well, there’s no one to stop it, so I guess that’s only natural.’
If I’d still had the SH Guild behind me, they probably could’ve defended me to some extent, but right now there wasn’t really anyone around who could steer public opinion about me in a better direction.
Well, sure, if I really tried sucking up to Haeseong’s side, it felt like I could probably work something out, but after that day Im Haekyung hadn’t contacted me recklessly either. Then again, a scandal-like mess had broken out around that side too, in a different way, so it made sense they’d be keeping their distance.
Kwon Taehan cleanly billed me only for the cost of the car under the name of a settlement. He’d seemed pretty pissed, so I thought he might try to throw me in jail or something, but apparently he just didn’t want to keep dragging things out. In the first place, it seemed like the reason he accepted the cost of the car was because refusing it would only make the whole thing bigger.
‘Honestly, it’d be better if we stayed tangled up.’
I did feel a little regret...... but now, well, I had the excuse of an “apology” to go see him, so it wasn’t like I was crushed with regret either.
‘Public opinion, huh.’
To be honest, even if my reputation got worse, I didn’t really feel anything from it directly. There weren’t any bastards openly blocking my path and cursing me out to my face, and in any case, setting aside the friction with Kwon Taehan, a B-rank Hunter was valuable manpower, so no one stopped me if I wanted to enter a Dungeon.
And since the settlement was already finished, there wasn’t really any reason for legal problems to arise either...... well, not really.
I naturally moved on to the next step. Because beyond the tips on usurpation I’d gotten from Jin Haedo, I was planning to inherit Jin Haedo’s stupid little scheme exactly as it was.
As a result, I was meeting the followers of the Church of Heavenly Decree in a very unique way.
‘There’s a small room prepared for the followers’ concerns. I meet them there, listen to their troubles... and try to deal with them very appropriately.’
‘Understood. So it’s basically a scam, right. Easy.’
‘.......’
If I were to summarize Jin Haedo’s explanation roughly, first he’d have them spill their personal information, then vaguely listen to their worries, and like some sham shaman, casually nail a few details about their troubles to ease their guard toward the Church of Heavenly Decree. In other words, it felt like a light little con job.
It was a perfect summary, but Jin Haedo’s reaction after hearing my summary hadn’t been very pleased.
‘Not my problem!’
Anyway, to get to the point, I was sitting in the counseling room Jin Haedo had prepared, listening to the followers’ concerns and starting the groundwork for “swallowing the Church of Heavenly Decree.”
Of course, I couldn’t let anyone figure out I was Seo Jehyun, so I was wearing the identity-concealing mask Im Haekyung had used at the night market.
Outside, I was getting cursed out as some batshit insane psychopath bastard, and in here I was counseling the worries of these batshit insane cult freaks. Handling both saint and fucking bastard in a single day wasn’t exactly easy.
The moment I sat down for the first time today, people came pouring in as though they’d been waiting for it, eager to pour out their concerns.
I stared blankly at the middle-aged woman sitting across from me, sniffling as she explained her problem.
“...So then, hhk... my son went into a Dungeon, and something went wrong with his power.... At the hospital, all they say is, hhk, that there’s been no improvement....”
“That’s unfortunate. Is his life in danger?”
“Khk, th-thank God, his life is....”
The first customer... no, follower, was a mother who had come to me saying something was wrong with her son’s magic power. I pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to the mother crying in front of me, offering comfort.
“It’s pretty lucky he didn’t die.”
“...Hhk!”
After comfort came the time for useful advice. She couldn’t see my face anyway, but I looked at her with a sincere expression and gave calm, kind advice.
“And if something’s gone wrong with your son’s magic power, the best thing is to give up. I mean, it’s not going to work anyway, so if you keep running around here and there, all you’ll do is waste time and money, right?”
“...What? B-but here, surely....”
“Ahhh.... Well, we’re not exactly all-powerful either. Sometimes we do a bit of false and exaggerated advertising.”
“Then what are we supposed to do! Our family...! Our family lives off my son’s income... hhk, and the child’s father isn’t even healthy....”
Leaving the mother to sniffle and finally burst into tears, I skimmed her Status Window out of habit.
Name: Yang Jinsuk
Age: 61
Rank: -
Title: -
Primary Skills: -
Growth Limit: C
And there really was something there that would help even more.
‘Oh, nice?’
Judging by the fact that she had a Growth Limit, she was currently unawakened, but if the trigger came along, she could absolutely awaken. And with a C-rank, as long as she didn’t wander somewhere weird, that was basically winning the lottery.
I came to a clean conclusion.
“Do you happen to have a job?”
“...No! After I had my child, I never did anything....”
In that case, there was no reason to hesitate. Sensing the solution to her worry, I smiled brightly and said,
“Then it sounds like it would be perfect for you to become a Hunter, ma’am!”
But the mother just stared at me blankly, as if she hadn’t properly understood what I was saying.
“...Excuse me? What are you even...?”
I kindly elaborated for the benefit of this unawakened person.
“When a Dungeon breaks out nearby, don’t evacuate right away. Just stroll around slowly like you’re taking a walk. Then the energy waves coming out of the Dungeon will react with the waves in your body, and you’ll awaken. After that, go register as an awakened person and start running Dungeons. Don’t look for anywhere with too high a Rank. D or lower.”
“...What? What are you even...?”
“From what I can see, you’ve got talent as a Hunter. Why don’t you return to work as one, even now?”
“Ar-are you... are you making fun of me right now?!”
Seeing the mother shoot to her feet and slam both hands down on the table, she definitely looked like she had the makings to clear Dungeons. To calm her down, I poured some water into a cup, set it in front of her seat, and kindly added,
“Once you actually get into a Dungeon, you’ll probably have a lot of fun. You’ll get a dopamine rush. Sometimes if you’re unlucky during an event you might get hurt, but if you put potion on it, you heal fast.”
“Are you serious right now...?!”
“From what I can see, I think you could absolutely become a high-rank Hunter too. You’ve got the aptitude. Please really take my words to heart.”
“Hey, you little bastard!”
“All right, next!”
As I waved at the mother leaving before she could even finish her water, the weak, sniffling woman from before was gone, leaving only someone with the makings of a Hunter.
‘This is easier than I expected?’
With a Status Window, giving concern counseling wasn’t all that hard.
I leaned back in the chair and received the next follower.
A guy in a school uniform swaggered in, dropped into the chair, stretched his body back, and said,
“How do I awaken? I wanna drop out of school and make easy money running Dungeons.”
Name: Kim Hayul
Age: 17
Rank: -
Title: -
Primary Skills: -
Growth Limit: -
“Well, who knows? From what I can see, you’ve got fuck-all talent, so I really couldn’t tell you. Hang around in front of Dungeons or something.”
Well, if he died doing that, I guess his problem would be solved too. I answered indifferently after glancing over the bastard’s Status Window.
“What...? Why the fuck is your answer so half-assed....”
“All right, next.”
“Fuck, what’s your name?”
“Im Haekyung.”
“You kidding? Even I know the name of Haeseong’s guild master!”
“I thought you might fall for it since we’re about the same height. Too bad. Get out, you worthless little piece of shit.”
“What, what? What kind of—”
I waved again at the male bastard getting dragged out this time too. I could hear him yelling something, but the pronunciation was so unclear it didn’t really bother me.
After giving excellent advice to four people in a row like that, I calmly waited for the next follower.
“Next?”
Because the previous follower had flailed around in the seat and uselessly tried to dig into my personal information, the desk was a mess. I left the spilled water on the table as it was and called in the next follower.
Click, the door opened...... and surprisingly enough, someone familiar stepped inside.
‘Well, shit.’
Ryu Taeyoung, who had completely cut off contact after our last phone call, stood by the door with a quiet expression.
After confirming it was me, Ryu Taeyoung gave a short bow and walked over with steady steps, pulled out the chair in front of me, and sat down.
“Hello.”
“This is....”
Ryu Taeyoung started to return the greeting, then paused for a moment. His gaze drifted to the spilled water spread across the desk. I spoke in an even tone.
“The previous follower spilled the water, so there isn’t any drinking water.”
“...Yes, that’s fine.”
“Ah, of course, it’s also fine if you drink the spilled water.”
I’d only just poured it, so it probably wasn’t dirty. Of course, even if he drank dirty water, it wouldn’t do anything to a B-rank Hunter’s body anyway.
“...Excuse me?”
Ryu Taeyoung looked at me with a baffled expression and asked again. When I just sat there blankly without any particular reaction, Ryu Taeyoung shook his head once like he was trying to gather himself, gave a dry cough, and subtly pulled his body back to avoid the water.
Then after staring at me silently for a while as though measuring me up, Ryu Taeyoung slowly began.
“...First, there’s something I need to say.”
“Go ahead.”
Everybody who comes here is some bastard here to talk anyway. What, did you come here to dance?
I nodded, taking Ryu Taeyoung’s words with mild curiosity.
Well, even though Ryu Taeyoung hadn’t started the real point yet, there was one thing I could roughly predict he was going to say. There was only one member of the Church of Heavenly Decree connected to Ryu Taeyoung.
‘Ryu Taejun.’
Was that idiot bastard still alive? If so, that’d be impressive.
As I calmly waited for Ryu Taeyoung to continue, he spoke in an even voice.
“I am not a follower of the Church of Heavenly Decree. Nor do I believe in the doctrines of that religion.”
“That can happen. This is a country with freedom of religion.”
When I humored him with that response, Ryu Taeyoung’s expression turned even more peculiar. But though he hesitated, once he had started speaking, he finished what he meant to say.
“However, the reason I came here is because I wondered whether someone I’m looking for might be inside the Church of Heavenly Decree....”
“Who are you looking for?”
Ryu Taeyoung fumbled with the phone in his pocket and brought up the screen. Then he pulled it close enough for me to see it clearly.
The words came right after that.
“I don’t know whether you’ll know.”
“.......”
“Is Hunter Seo Jehyun, by any chance, inside the Church of Heavenly Decree?”
The eyes of the Special Response Team captain, whom I was seeing again for the first time in a while, seemed... a little more tired than before.
