Chapter 18: 18

Chapter 18 – Raison D’être (2)

“What kind of question is that? Of course I can’t.”

[You’re really shameless, aren’t you?]

Yoo Ji-han put his hands in his pockets and lightly shrugged. Honestly, I hadn’t been expecting much when I asked anyways, so I wasn’t too bothered by this.

‘Of course there’s no Korean high schooler out there who would know things like how to kill monsters using a sword.’

As soon as I thought that, Choi Soo-hyun weirdly came to mind. If it was the youngest Awakened Choi Soo-hyun, it wasn’t that strange to imagine him slaying monsters in a dungeon wearing a school uniform.

‘Anyways, that’s just because that world is weird like that.’

The correct and normal response to this situation was the same as Yoo Ji-han’s.

[Then do you have a god you worship?]

“A god I worship? Ah, is that what those guys were talking about?”

Yoo Ji-han muttered that he’d overheard some people talking about that for a moment. Because of his uncertain tone, I gathered that he didn’t have an exact idea of what was going on.

I could see Yoo Ji-han’s Merit Points, and I could gift him items. From the amount of Merit Points he had, I wasn’t sure if I could recruit him under me.

‘It’s probably fine, right?’

No matter how deep we were in the distortions of spacetime, I wasn’t convinced that something like this was even possible.

‘Ah, whatever.’

On top of this, even if I did make him my devotee, there was no guarantee that Yoo Ji-han would survive for a long time. I was just increasing his chances. After all, it’d be better than leaving him here to die a pitiful death.

“Hey, so what are you asking me to do?”

[Hold on. I’m thinking.]

Whatever. To hell with it. There’s no way anything could possibly go that wrong by just recruiting Yoo Ji-han.

[Inviting ‘Yoo Ji-han’ as a devotee.]

As soon as I pressed the Confirm button, a status window appeared in front of Yoo Ji-han. Of course, I could also see what he saw on the status window.

[The god Soter wishes for you to become his devotee. If you accept, you will become a follower of Soter.]

“This is…”

[I won’t force you.]

This part I said point-blank. I wouldn’t be disappointed either way, there was no need for me to forcefully drag Yoo Ji-han along if he didn’t want to become my devotee.

‘This is purely because I want to be meddlesome.’

This was just returning the favor for what someone had done for me in the past.

I thought that it would take him some time to come up with his answer, but Yoo Ji-han’s decision was quick.

[Yoo Ji-han has become your devotee.]

[Congratulations! You have gained your first devotee!]

[A Guardian is available to be appointed. 0/1]

[Would you like to appoint Yoo Ji-han as a Guardian? They will be appointed as soon as they accept.]

For now, I just pressed the “Yes” button. I could see that a notification had also popped up on his end.

[Yoo Ji-han has become your Guardian.]

I quickly went to check Yoo Ji-han’s status window.

[Yoo Ji-han (Soter)]

Job Title: Guardian

Strength: A- (11%)

Stamina: B- (30%)

Mana: C+ (70%)

Healing: B (5%)

Merit Points: 720

Skills:

Talents:

It was basically what I’d been expecting, but I was surprised to see his stats. They were all in great shape.

While I was busy worrying over this and that, Yoo Ji-han spoke out.

“I’ve accepted it. Now, back to the topic. You were talking about swords or something? Talk to me. It’s stressing me out that I don’t know where you are.”

[You really won’t regret it?]

“Regret what? Becoming your devotee? It looked like those other guys also all had gods that they followed anyways. Even before you offered, I was a little dejected that I didn’t have anyone to follow. I don’t know about other gods, but you’re pretty human-like, so it already sounds better to me than the alternative.”

Man, I didn’t know whether I should be happy to hear this or not. I opened up Yoo Ji-han’s status window.

[Special Gift]

You can gift items that you’ve brought yourself.

However, when gifting items, Merit Points will be consumed corresponding to the value of the item.

– Available gift targets: Yoo Ji-han

– Items that can be gifted: Sword (620)

‘Ah, that’s more than I thought.’

But I’d decided to give it to him, so I had no intention of canceling the gift now.

‘That guy has a lot of swords anyways.’

Before I’d reentered the Tower of Trials, I’d visited Choi Soo-hyun’s personal vault. I decided that it wouldn’t be a big issue if I said I’d lost just one thing, so I gifted the sword to Yoo Ji-han.

[620 Merit Points will be consumed to gift this sword to ‘Yoo Ji-han’.]

The sword in my hands disappeared and was transferred over to Yoo Ji-han’s inventory. After receiving it, Yoo Ji-han pulled the sword out of his inventory.

“What’s this about?”

[Well, call it my first gift to you as a new devotee.]

It was a bit much to call it a gift, considering it was a used item and Yoo Ji-han had to use his own Merit Points to get it. 

Even so, I was patronizing him a little bit to cover up for the parts that were lacking.

The sword appeared in Yoo Ji-han’s hands.

“It’s pretty sharp.”

Yoo Ji-han muttered hesitantly after lightly touching the blade.

[Well, if you want to give up…]

“Stop talking about giving up. You were the one who told me not to give up, so don’t try to act like you’re being considerate.”

Yoo Ji-han spoke firmly, as if to say that he understood my intentions. Ji-han already knew from experience in the lobby that strength made a difference.

Why did the other guys that came into the lobby with Ji-han all die at the hands of the Central Guild? Why did those who were kicked out of the lobby die on the 1st Floor without being able to clear it? It’s because they lacked strength. They lacked the resolve to kill those monsters. That was the only reason.

[Don’t think that you’re going to be able to shake me off in the end just because you can’t see me.]

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

Ji-han gripped the sword tightly.

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The Korean Hunters Association, Jongno Headquarters Office.

With his stuff spread out over two desks, Choi Soo-hyun was doing work with headphones on. A song by an idol group that was popular at the moment leaked through the wireless headset.

On one side of the desk was a half-finished beer can and beef jerky, and on the other side was a double monitor setup on which a webtoon that had nothing to do with his work was pulled up. 

This looked more like a home office than a company work desk. Even though this was an Association, a company was a company.

Who the hell shows up to their company’s office to work while listening to music, reading webtoons, and drinking alcohol? It was well beyond the realm of common sense.

However, no one rebuked, criticized, or even thought to be offended by Choi Soo-hyun’s attitude. Everyone just accepted it as if it were normal. 

They probably wouldn’t have paid any attention even if Choi Soo-hyun put on a headset and started yelling at teammates while playing an online game. For a Hunter at Choi Soo-hyun’s level, simply coming into work every day and sitting in his office was amazing enough.

A man in his early 20s approached Choi Soo-hyun’s side.

“Manager, manager, sir?”

“Hm? What?”

He came closer to where Choi Soo-hyun was sitting and pointed at the monitor opposite him.

“Please check your email.”

“Give me a sec.”

Choi Soo-hyun quickly finished watching the episode he was on before he turned to check the email sent by one of his team members.

“Another dungeon break in Sindorim? Wasn’t there one close there last week too?”

“Near Yeongdeungpo, sir. There was a fake dungeon issue last time, so the higher-ups said to avoid it if any more problems came up. We decided to move the scheduled dungeon practice from Boramae Park to near Maebongsan Mountain. We just need you to sign off on this, Manager.”

“Alright, alright.”

Choi Soo-hyun picked up a tablet pen connected to his PC and signed on one side of the document on his monitor before sending it in an email.

“Thank you.”

After the team member returned to his seat, Choi Soo-hyun turned to the second monitor that didn’t have a webtoon on it.

‘Number of dungeon breaks in the last 3 months. Aria Guild. Aria… Aria… What? Why are there so many of these?”

A messenger notification rang out on Choi Soo-hyun’s computer.

“Who’s messaging… Ah.”

At the sight of the relatively short reply, Choi Soo-hyun picked up his cell phone and went into an empty conference room.

– Heyyy, friend. Did your dungeon expedition end safely?

– Your reason for calling me?

– I’m just calling to say hi. We’re not so distant that we can’t even have a casual phone conversation, right?

– The reason.

– So cold.

– If you change the subject, I’m hanging up.

Another employee who was about to use the conference room entered and immediately jumped back at the sight of Choi Soo-hyun. As Choi Soo-hyun waved his hand dismissively, he had no choice but to move to a different conference room.

Representative of the Aria Guild, Park Si-woo.

As one of the three co-representatives, he was also Choi Soo-hyun’s high school classmate.

– It’s nothing, I’ve just got a Hunter here that doesn’t have anywhere to go that would fit him, so can you take him on?

– So it’s something after all.

– It’s just because I kind of like this guy.

– If you like him, then that Hunter must also not be someone in his right mind. What are you up to?

While listening to the words of Park Si-woo, Choi Soo-hyun scratched at his cheek with one hand.

The Aria Guild wasn’t a guild that had a special main god. It was a guild made up of Hunters that worshiped various gods, and getting in the guild was pretty easy as long as you weren’t Unaffiliated.

He didn’t know who this Hunter that Choi Soo-hyun wanted to introduce to him was, but there was no need to go through such a cumbersome process just for that. 

But the heaven-blessed honored one Choi Soo-hyun was coming to ask guild representative Park Si-woo a favor with his tail between his legs?

He had no choice but to think that there was some ulterior motive to his request to take on this Hunter.

– I’m not planning on asking you to watch over him like a hawk or anything like that. You obviously wouldn’t do that even if I asked. Just let me know every so often what he’s up to while he’s in your guild.

– You’re asking me, the guild representative, to spy on the Hunter that you recommended? You know that’s highly unprofessional, right?

– You guys have had a lot of dungeon accidents lately, huh? I took a peek earlier and it wasn’t just one or two things. You know we’re especially sensitive right now because of the fake dungeon incident, right?

– Isn’t it a plain fact that the deaths of those trainees were due to your side’s unreliable management? I can’t claim to say I know why you’re going after a guild that’s doing just fine.

– Call it a favor then. I’ve been at this job for a while, and you know I’ll help out if you do this for me.

– Just send me his profile.

– Okay.

Choi Soo-hyun hung up and went back to his desk. He leaned back on his chair and polished off the rest of the beer before chewing on the jerky. He sent a quick text to Han-kyul.

[Your guild is all set now.]

[Oh, thank you.]

He opened the messaging app on his computer, and he was about to ask if he wanted to grab dinner right when Han-kyul’s next message popped up onto Soo-hyun’s huge monitor screen.

[Oh yeah, hyung.]

[I lost my weapon.]

Choi Soo-hyun’s fingers paused in the middle of typing and hovered over the keyboard for a couple of seconds.

After holding up one hand to shoo away another team member who approached him about signing off on some other thing, he sent a reply to Han-kyul.

[Hey.]

[Do you even know how much that cost?]

“Ahhh… My blood pressure.”

The sudden threatening mood that came down over the office made the atmosphere unnervingly chilly.

Choi Soo-hyun’s hands shook as he typed on the keyboard.

After helping Ji-han as much as I could, I left the Tower of Trials. While I was waiting for a pot of ramen to boil, I muttered to myself as I looked at Choi Soo-hyun’s reply.

“Geez, he’s making such a big deal over 8 million won.”

TL/N: About 6.5K USD

It was my fault for losing a sword within two days, and I wouldn’t be able to make 8 million won appear even if I sold everything that I owned.

I’d taken into account that I would get some light scolding, but I didn’t think he’d get this angry, so I just stared at my phone for a while, unsure as to how to respond.

When I didn’t reply after a while, I got a call from Choi Soo-hyun. The second that I touched the accept call button, I could hear his furious voice through the receiver.

– Hey. HEY! Kang Han-kyul! Are you fucking with me right now? Are you insane?

– I mean, I’m sorry that I lost it. But I told you I would repay the 8 million won, so there’s no need for you to get this angry, right?

– It’s dollars.

– Huh?

– It’s 8.5 million dollars. Not Korean won.

Hmmm… How much was 8.5 million dollars in won again?

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