Chapter 444: Big Shots Flock to the Gym (2)

“All right! Everyone, everyone. A gym does not seem like the best place to have a conversation, so let us move somewhere else first!”

At Choi Kanghyuk’s urgent suggestion, the Association President laughed good-naturedly.

“Hohoho. What does the location matter? Oh. There happens to be an office over there, so let us talk inside.”

The gazes of those gathered around the Association President all turned toward the office.

Toward the place where the gate stood wide open.

Cold sweat ran down Choi Kanghyuk’s back.

“H-ha. Haha. That place is far too small and shabby. Let us, let us go outside first. Yes!”

Choi Kanghyuk practically shoved everyone out of the gym by force.

After leaving the gym, they headed to a nearby café.

On the way into the café.

Kim Jicheol spoke.

“You appear to be busy, Gym Owner, so we will visit you again later.”

“Senior? What do you mean, we?”

“Are all of us leaving too?”

The other clients looked puzzled, but Kim Jicheol dragged them away as though he were half arresting them.

“Take care on your way home. I will contact you soon.”

“Yes, Association President. I will see you next time.”

After exchanging farewells with Kim Jicheol’s departing group, the Association President spoke to Choi Kanghyuk and the people from the hunter guilds.

“You must all wish to speak privately with Hunter Choi Kanghyuk. Would it not be uncomfortable to have the Association present?”

The scouts from the hunter guilds did not bother denying it.

“Then I will have one of the Association’s conference rooms cleared. You may speak there.”

***

A short while later.

Inside one of the Hunter Association’s empty conference rooms.

“Hmm.”

Choi Kanghyuk sat with his arms crossed, wearing a displeased expression.

At that moment, a knock came from the conference-room entrance.

“It is the Association President.”

“Yes. Come in.”

At the Association President’s suggestion, each conversation with Choi Kanghyuk was to be held privately.

Whether it was the Association President or the scouts sent by the guilds, none of them wanted to reveal their cards to the others.

The Association President entered and took a seat across from Choi Kanghyuk.

“Hunter Choi Kanghyuk.”

“Yes.”

“The truth is, I visited your gym today simply to express my gratitude.”

Choi Kanghyuk looked puzzled.

“You wanted to thank me?”

He could not recall doing anything that deserved thanks.

“My inadequate preparations nearly caused an accident for the D-rank hunters. You resolved the situation, so I should thank you a hundred times over. Of course.”

“It is nothing. I only did it because I wanted to survive as well.”

“That is precisely why I am saying this. My failure placed you in a dangerous situation. So once again, thank you.”

The Association President rose and bowed deeply.

Being bowed to by an old man with a head full of white hair made Choi Kanghyuk feel strangely uncomfortable.

After expressing his gratitude, the Association President sat back down.

“And although this was not originally planned, may I shamelessly ask you for one favor?”

“Before hearing your request, may I ask you for one favor as well?”

The Association President smiled generously.

“Hahaha. Tell me anything you wish. Since Hunter Choi Kanghyuk helped me, what could I possibly refuse?”

Choi Kanghyuk answered with an extremely earnest expression.

“Please order me a lunchbox.”

“.......”

The Association President stared blankly for a moment.

However, this was an extremely serious issue for Choi Kanghyuk.

'Haa. What am I even doing, unable to eat since morning?'

An empty stomach.

A lack of protein.

Muscle loss.

What problem could possibly be more serious than that?

“I would appreciate it if it mainly contained chicken breast.”

“V-very well.”

The Association President took out his phone and called his secretary.

“Please order a protein lunchbox. Bring it to the conference room as soon as it arrives.”

Watching the Association President make the call, Choi Kanghyuk let out a sigh of relief.

The pressure and anxiety caused by the threat of muscle loss seemed to ease slightly.

With a much gentler expression, Choi Kanghyuk asked.

“Could you tell me what favor you were going to ask?”

The Association President cautiously spoke.

“Could you explain that qi treatment Kim Jicheol mentioned a moment ago?”

“It is a treatment that uses qi to remove turbid energy from the acupoints. I learned it long ago when I attended Shaolin.”

“Then is it also true that this qi treatment can heal injured hunters?”

“It cannot heal every injury, but....... there should be some people it can help. Client Kim Jicheol benefited from it as well.”

After Choi Kanghyuk finished answering, the Association President appeared to ponder for a moment.

Once he had organized his thoughts, the Association President spoke.

“Whichever guild Hunter Choi Kanghyuk chooses is a matter of personal freedom, so I will not interfere. However, regardless of the guild you join in the future, could you provide that qi treatment to injured hunters?”

The Association President looked as though he were grasping at straws.

Qi treatment.

Under normal circumstances, it was the sort of claim that would first make someone wonder whether the speaker was a fraud.

However, there was a witness.

Kim Jicheol.

The Kim Jicheol the Association President remembered was not someone who would speak nonsense.

Moreover, the times were what they were.

“Five years ago, when the first gate crisis began, the entire country fell into chaos. Yet before we knew it, people became accustomed to gates.”

The Association President himself had been the same.

Although he had felt a sense of crisis regarding the abnormal gate phenomena, he had not acted particularly aggressively.

“I have begun to think that the abnormal gate phenomena occurring around the world may be warning signs.”

Chaos like that of five years ago might return.

As Association President, he wished to prepare for it.

“Of course, the Association will move actively to help hunters. Apart from that, however, we need the strength of the heroes who retired.”

After finishing his explanation, the Association President once again bowed his head deeply to Choi Kanghyuk.

“So I am shamelessly asking for your help.”

Choi Kanghyuk could not bring himself to refuse.

The man’s desire to save even a few more people was clearly genuine.

'If this man is not a chivalrous hero, then who is?'

Moreover, he had even ordered a protein lunchbox for him.

Where could one find a greater chivalrous hero than that?

However, Choi Kanghyuk could not accept the request unconditionally.

“I am also willing to help retired hunters. But there are several problems.”

“Tell me whatever the problems are. The Association will cooperate as much as possible.”

“First, qi treatment is not something I can perform endlessly. There is a limit to how many treatments I can provide in a day.”

There were even several clients whose treatments were still ongoing.

“Then could you tell me approximately how many additional people you can treat for now?”

“I will calculate it and tell you later.”

“Then we will also look into retired hunters who wish to receive treatment.”

Not every hunter who had retired because of an injury wished to return.

There were also some who suffered from trauma.

“Then let us discuss the specific details at a later date.”

“Yes. Take care, Association President.”

Watching the Association President leave the conference room, Choi Kanghyuk thought.

'Why do my clients keep increasing?'

When business had been poor, he had begged for customers, yet now that he was trying to close the business, clients kept appearing.

The ways of the world were truly impossible to understand.

At that moment, another knock came from the conference-room entrance.

“Yes. Come in.”

The door opened, and a middle-aged man entered.

“Good day. I am Choi Hyeontae, head of the scouting team at the HK Guild.”

HK Guild.

Even Choi Kanghyuk had heard of that name.

It was one of the major hunter guilds counted among Korea’s top ten.

The head of the scouting team from such a large guild had personally come to see him.

And he was staring at Choi Kanghyuk as though looking at an extremely desirable prospect.

“Our HK Guild can promise the very best support for a promising hunter such as yourself, Hunter Choi Kanghyuk.”

Team Leader Choi Hyeontae emphasized that he had already discovered and nurtured several promising hunters.

“Especially considering that Hunter Choi Kanghyuk’s awakened ability is a growth-type ability, we can make you at least an A-rank hunter within three years!”

Cold sweat ran down Team Leader Choi Hyeontae’s back as he continued his lengthy explanation.

'Damn it. What is missing?'

Hunter Choi Kanghyuk’s expression looked terrible.

He appeared completely uninterested.

Just as Choi Hyeontae was about to keep talking in an attempt to persuade him, a knock came from the conference-room entrance.

Knock. Knock.

“Our HK Guild’s turn is not over yet.”

At Choi Hyeontae’s urgent shout, an unexpected reply came from outside.

“Um, the Association President sent me. I have Hunter Choi Kanghyuk’s lunchbox delivery.”

A lunchbox delivery?

While Team Leader Choi Hyeontae looked puzzled.

“Yes! Please come in immediately!!!”

Hunter Choi Kanghyuk shouted with a brighter expression than he had shown at any point before.

A moment later, the Association President’s secretary placed the delivered lunchbox in front of Choi Kanghyuk.

Immediately after the secretary left, Choi Kanghyuk spoke with a restless expression.

“I apologize, but I will listen while eating.”

He looked as though disaster would immediately erupt if anyone told him he could not.

“Ah, yes. P-please eat.”

Before Team Leader Choi Hyeontae could even finish answering, Choi Kanghyuk was already demolishing the lunchbox.

Choi Hyeontae watched speechlessly for a moment as Choi Kanghyuk dismantled the chicken breast.

“Ah.”

Having realized something, Team Leader Choi Hyeontae cautiously added.

“Ahem. If you join our guild, we will provide you with unlimited chicken breast as well.”

Choi Kanghyuk, whose face had been buried in the lunchbox, violently snapped his head up.

His eyes sparkled.

“.......”

Team Leader Choi Hyeontae was suddenly hit by a sense of futility.

'His reaction is completely different from before, isn’t it?'

All the conditions he had offered while working so hard to persuade him suddenly made him feel like a fool.

At that moment, Choi Kanghyuk roughly swallowed the chicken breast in his mouth and asked.

“Then do you also guarantee personal lifting time?”

“.......”

***

After the protein lunchbox consumption period.

No, after the meeting with Team Leader Choi Hyeontae ended.

The meetings with the other hunter guild scouts continued one after another.

Some of them even presented rather absurd conditions.

“We will turn Hunter Choi Kanghyuk into a superstar!”

Several years had passed since the hunter industry became established.

Among famous hunters, there were some who appeared on variety shows or filmed advertisements.

Naturally, hunter guilds also performed a role similar to entertainment management companies or agencies for professional athletes.

In that sense, Choi Kanghyuk was indeed an extremely attractive prospect.

'He became famous through yesterday’s incident, so we will not even need to spend money promoting him!'

He had already become a public issue.

He was even someone the Association President had personally praised as a hero.

The circumstances were perfect for turning him into a star.

Choi Kanghyuk gave a hollow laugh at the greed shining in the scout’s eyes.

'They want me to become a superstar? Why?'

He had never even considered it, and it did not particularly appeal to him.

Choi Kanghyuk had little desire for fame.

It had never been particularly strong to begin with, but now it had practically vanished altogether.

That was because of his experiences from when he had been Mujin.

He had lived as Leader of the Martial Alliance.

Later, he had even lived as a close associate of the emperor.

There had been too many responsibilities, and he had simply been pointlessly busy.

Whenever some major incident occurred, there were even times when he could not lift iron for days.

Another scout made this proposal.

“If you join our guild, you will never experience an accident like this again! We will do everything possible to support Hunter Choi Kanghyuk’s safe growth!”

Apparently, they would provide him with a top-grade leather suit free of charge.

'No. I already told you it would only interfere with my Iron Shirt training.'

He was a scout whose reason for coming was difficult to understand.

How long had Choi Kanghyuk been tormented by more than a dozen scouts?

After listening to a little of each explanation, he repeated the same answer.

“Yes. I will think about it and contact you.”

After quickly finishing his meetings with every guild scout who had been waiting, Choi Kanghyuk left the conference room.

“Ah.”

Beginning with Team Leader Choi Hyeontae, who had met him first, all the scouts were still waiting outside.

“I will contact you later.”

Leaving behind only those words, Choi Kanghyuk quickly departed the Association.

For a moment, he had been tempted by Team Leader Choi Hyeontae’s offer of unlimited chicken breast, but that had been while he was in a protein-deprived state.

Once he regained his senses, Choi Kanghyuk was not someone who would easily fall for such bait.

'A guild, huh. I should at least look into them.'

Rather than the sweet bait they had offered, he needed to learn what guilds were truly like.

He could search the internet.

Or ask an acquaintance.

Having organized his thoughts, Choi Kanghyuk took out his phone.

Fortunately, he knew several current and former hunters.

The clients currently receiving personal training from him.