Chapter 355

The Chairman happily took the documents and started flipping through them one by one. There were, in fact, a few things mixed in that could cause a decent amount of damage. Cases where Haeseong had taken first priority on a clear but failed, resulting in actual casualties, for example. Things like Haeseong’s mistakes that could be found if someone went looking but had slipped by without attracting media attention.

'If I’m going to play spy, I might as well do it properly.'

Haeseong wasn’t some one-person guild belonging solely to Im Haekyung, and Im Haekyung obviously couldn’t control absolutely everything either, so once you started digging, plenty of things worth criticizing came spilling out.

Of course, none of them were serious enough to damage Im Haekyung’s position.

Either way, as long as there was something in it for him, the Chairman worked diligently enough.

That included no longer searching the area around the Dungeon where I’d locked up Kwon Taehan.

'Though he’s probably planning to cut me loose whenever he needs to.'

Well, that wasn’t particularly important, so I didn’t care.

“Ahem.... I’m surprised. This is much more thoroughly investigated than I expected. You weren’t just some low-level Hunter after all.”

“Yes.”

The Chairman, who had been completely absorbed in the documents, finally put them down and tried to look serious.

After repeatedly glancing back at the papers, he suddenly lowered his voice and asked,

“Someone told me... that you’re close with the Guild Master of Haeseong. Is that not true?”

“Yes, of course not. I don’t know what kind of ridiculous rumor you heard.”

The Chairman smiled as though he had expected that answer, then nodded and gave me a warning.

“If these documents turn out to be false, even if you are an awakened person, I won’t be able to let it slide easily.”

“Yes.”

“If there’s anything you need, tell me anytime.”

“Ah, there’s a lot.”

“.......”

Things I needed from the Chairman of the Hunter Association?

There were a fucking lot of them.

I kindly started unfolding my fingers one by one as I spoke.

“First, Haeseong has a lot of power, so if they find out I’ve been spying for the Hunter Association, I’d be in serious trouble, wouldn’t I? In that sense, I need some kind of proof that the Association guarantees my position. It’d also be nice if I had an official post here. I originally thought I didn’t need one, but I changed my mind.”

“.......”

“It’d be nice if you could give me some financial support too. I need to buy artifacts, and it feels like a waste to pay for them out of my own pocket. I’m going to use them to clear Dungeons anyway, so you could cover the cost out of the goodness of your heart, right? If that’s a little difficult, you could just buy them under your name, Guild Master, then drop them on the ground and I’ll pick them up. I’ll make sure to pay the taxes.”

“.......”

“And about Gate acquisition rights, I’d like to use those a few more times going forward. Ah, could I also get the attendee list for K-Hub? There’s something I want to check. It’d be even better if you could explain how things work internally in the Association too. That one’s just in case, you know?”

“.......”

“And the guild subsidies....”

“Enough!”

The Chairman rudely cut me off, grabbed his head, and hurriedly spoke as though a headache had started pounding through his skull.

“Enough, enough! What exactly are you doing right now?!”

This bastard clearly hadn’t been listening properly.

“Y-You need to keep your demands within reason. No, first of all, I can’t remember all of this, so later... talk to me about it later. What was the first thing? A position in the Hunter Association? Fine, I’ll talk to someone about that.”

“Yes. I’ll send you the rest later.”

“Right. Ahem, it’s already gotten this late today, so you should get going. If we spend too much time in contact, people will notice... anyway. Yes. It wouldn’t be good.”

“Yes.”

When I obediently stood up at the Chairman’s words, he offered me a perfunctory handshake, patted my arm a couple of times as though encouraging me, then hurriedly opened the door.

“Right, Hunter Seo. Get home safely.”

“I’ll send over the list of demands.”

“Take care.”

“Just check them and handle them one by one.”

When I let go of the door I had been holding open for the conversation, apparently the Chairman had been pushing it from the other side, because it slammed shut with a bang.

“Ugh!”

What the hell?

Something hit the door from the other side, and it shook violently.

I stared at the fluttering door for a moment before turning around and leaving.

***

I was counting down the days while keeping in mind that Kwon Taehan could come out at any time, but everyday life still needed a reasonable amount of breathing room.

After finishing my early-morning workout and taking a shower, I woke Do Yehyun up and had breakfast with him.

Do Yehyun had been blinking sleepily until just a moment ago, but once food entered his system, his eyes opened properly.

“Are we going somewhere today? You woke me up early....”

“There’s somewhere I need to go today.”

“Ah....”

Do Yehyun obediently nodded, then hesitated for a moment before asking,

“We’re not going to Haeseong?”

“No. Today I’m going straight to work at a Dungeon.”

“Is it a business trip?”

“Something like that.”

For Do Yehyun, who tilted his head at the phrase something like that, I added,

“But we’re sneaking in.”

“...Sneaking in?”

“Yeah. Without getting caught.”

“Where are we going?”

It was a little funny that instead of asking why we were sneaking in, he asked where we were going.

I kindly answered him.

“Well, you’ll find that out once we get there too.”

Once again, Do Yehyun obediently nodded.

And so, the place I secretly headed to with Do Yehyun wasn’t so much a clearly defined destination as it was a clearly defined target.

Director Choi of the Hunter Association, who had originally been a team leader in the Special Response Team before being more or less forced out for some reason, was a fairly famous Hunter when considered on his own.

He was also one of the Association’s representative figures, and practically the only member of its working-level leadership who frequently entered Gates.

Of course, he almost never entered high-rank Gates, and whenever he did go in, he always brought Hunter Association Hunters along to use as cannon fodder.

Either way, he knew how to put himself in the spotlight.

The Gate he had entered this time was a D-rank Gate where he had gone to provide support alongside three Hunters affiliated with the Association.

Beautiful Mine (D)

A place filled with toxic minerals.

Beware the deadly danger hidden beneath the beautiful minerals.

Dungeon Boss - Underground Monster

Other Dungeon creature information...... See More

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I could see three police officers guarding the area in front of the Gate and one vehicle that probably belonged to a reporter.

“Not many people here.”

Muttering to myself, I put a stealth item on Do Yehyun.

I carefully wrapped the robe-like cloth around him, then deliberately tied it into a ribbon beneath his chin.

“You could sell matches like this.”

“...Do you really have to tie it into a ribbon?”

Maybe because I had snickered, Do Yehyun asked in a faintly dissatisfied voice.

“Why? Got a problem with it?”

“No.”

“Good. Let’s go sell matches.”

“.......”

It would inevitably reduce his range of movement, but even then, there was no chance Do Yehyun would end up in danger, so it didn’t matter.

I lightly tapped his cheek, then explained.

“The goal is to meet one Hunter Association employee inside the Gate. In other words, whether we clear the Gate or not doesn’t particularly matter.”

“We’re just meeting him?”

“Mm. We need to meet him inside the 'Gate.'”

When I raised an eyebrow, Do Yehyun seemed to understand what I meant a moment later and slowly nodded.

“Is it a dangerous Gate?”

“Not really. It’s not the kind of Gate where someone would normally die, but....”

I paused for a moment, then grinned and whispered,

“No matter the situation, unexpected accidents can always happen.”

I nodded toward Do Yehyun, then put the Stealth Orb into my mouth.

Getting inside the Gate wasn’t difficult at all.

The police were there to control civilian access. The idea that a Hunter wearing a stealth item might sneak inside clearly hadn’t crossed their minds in the first place, so even the guards were lax.

'Slacking off like this. Thanks.'

The moment I stepped inside the Gate, a cave-like interior shimmering faintly with light spread out before me.

It was dark overall, but because of the dim glow, the mine packed with minerals scattered light in every direction and glittered.

After visiting strange places like this so many times, it was starting to feel perfectly natural.

I rotated the wrist that had finally been freed from the mana suppressor after a long time.

Even though the suppressor probably hadn’t weighed much, my whole arm felt lighter without it.

Well, it wasn’t entirely just my imagination either.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had come in with my arm completely bare.

I was still wearing the artifact processed by Seong Eunha that helped regulate my mana.

'Just in case.'

After confirming that no one was nearby, I spat out the Stealth Orb and explained to Do Yehyun,

“The minerals are toxic. They probably aren’t strong enough to kill you, but be careful.”

“I’ll support you from beside you.”

“Good. I might not notice you, so give me a signal.”

“How?”

“My wrist or shoulder... anywhere you can reach. Just grab me.”

At that, Do Yehyun whispered in a serious tone,

“Wouldn’t it be better to make a specific signal? You might not realize it’s me grabbing you....”

“I don’t know. I don’t think there’s any chance I wouldn’t recognize you.”

“.......”

It wasn’t like we had only spent a day or two together.

Someone like Do Yehyun, I could recognize just from the sound of his footsteps.

At my words, Do Yehyun answered quietly.

“Okay, then... I’ll do it your way, hyung.”

“Good.”

With that explanation finished, I put the Stealth Orb back in my mouth and calmly followed the single path downward.

The farther underground we went, the fainter the light became.

'Should I take out a light item after all?'

I wanted to avoid using anything luminous as much as possible because it could reveal our position.

Then, along with a thunderous crash, voices came from beyond the wall.

Baaang-!!!

“We need to go back and find Hunter Lee, Director!”

“Think about it carefully. This is only a D-rank Gate.... Do you want to die in a D-rank Gate? You really want that kind of disgrace attached to your name? We’re better off just leaving like this. Look, it’s quiet again. The Boss must be dead too, I’m telling you.”

Hm....

This place is already a fucking disaster, isn’t it?