Chapter 105

When I looked into it later, I discovered that the article had been published by a third-rate outlet notorious for its lack of credibility. Most people would probably realize soon enough that the story was fabricated.

But...

‘Damn it.’

The real problem was the wording of the headline.

Kim Kiryeo.

The name belonging to this body had finally been exposed by the media.

And the world did not even give me time to process that revelation. Almost immediately, a new message arrived on the phone in my hand.

‘Don’t tell me my number has been leaked too.’

I examined the screen cautiously.

The sender was identified only by an unusual eight-digit number. After a moment, I remembered which organization it belonged to.

‘I called this number once during the Flower Baron incident.’

Wasn’t this the main number of the Korean Hunter Association?

***

A short while later, Kim Kiryeo arrived at the Hunter Association in response to the call.

What he had not expected was for the summons to have come from someone so high up in the organization.

The man waiting for him was none other than Chairman Ko Byeongdo, the head of the Association himself.

“Please, make yourself comfortable and have a seat.”

The chairman welcomed his visitor with a mild, amiable expression.

“Ah, it’s rather chilly outside today. Weren’t you cold coming all this way dressed like that?”

“Not really...”

“I see. You’re still in your twenties, after all. I suppose young people naturally run warm. Haha.”

His attitude was completely different from their previous encounter, when the matter of the enchanter had left his face red with anger.

This time, Chairman Ko treated Kim Kiryeo with easy familiarity, even exchanging a few meaningless pleasantries with him.

Yet amid the light laughter, the true purpose of the meeting quietly surfaced.

“Anyway, Hunter Kim Kiryeo, there is a particular reason I asked you to come here today.”

The chairman continued in the same calm voice.

“You saw today’s articles, I assume? People are making quite a commotion. It seems our Hunter Kim Kiryeo has accomplished a great many impressive things without anyone knowing.”

Although his tone remained gentle, his slightly raised eyebrows carried a trace of reproach.

“Whether it was the Flower Baron or the Inevitable Malice, none of that is a problem. After all, who would try to stop a hunter from hunting?”

“......”

“But concealing your rank is another matter entirely.”

Tap. Tap.

Still smiling, the chairman lightly drummed his fingers against the table.

“I don’t know what circumstances led you to do it, but from today onward, we will register your Awakening rank properly.”

“Register it properly?”

The young man sitting opposite him tilted his head, unable to understand what he meant.

“If you agree to have your Awakening level correctly registered this time, I am prepared to overlook everything that has happened until now.”

“Yes?”

“I’m saying that the Association will not hold you responsible for your previous actions.”

The Association was offering Kiryeo a deal.

“If it became known that a newly emerged S-Class had falsified his rank, it would only damage everyone’s reputation. Would it not be better to settle the matter quietly?”

“......”

“We could say that your rank was concealed under my direct orders. If we explain it that way, the public will accept it readily enough.”

In summary, the chairman’s proposal amounted to this:

“So, Kiryeo, from now on, you may simply continue as you have been. If another dungeon break occurs, you can step in and help, just as you did yesterday. All right?”

Chairman Ko believed he was making a perfectly reasonable request, one grounded in the law itself.

That was why he could not possibly have anticipated the answer he received.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

The blond hunter rejected the accusation the moment the chairman finished speaking.

“I’m not an S-Class.”

Kim Kiryeo politely explained that he had only defeated the Inevitable Malice by exploiting the weaknesses of an already weakened monster through a carefully chosen trick.

The Flower Baron incident, likewise, had been nothing more than good fortune.

Nothing he had done was particularly extraordinary.

“The rumors circulating online are all exaggerated. The claims that I fought Jung Haseong and the rest of that nonsense are completely baseless.”

It was, in fact, a perfectly honest explanation.

But how did the Association respond?

“Haa, honestly!”

The chairman let out an incredulous sigh.

“Even with all this evidence in front of you, you still insist that you’re an F-Class?”

His reasoning was not entirely irrational.

Everything Kiryeo had said was technically true, leaving very little in his explanation that could be directly challenged.

Even so, Chairman Ko could not bring himself to believe him.

There were other suspicious incidents in this man’s past—incidents that had never been properly explained.

“Then what about the time you secretly entered an A-Class gate? Explain that as well.”

“What?”

“The gate where the golem appeared. You entered it with a hunter named Ahn Yoonseung.”

Kiryeo flinched.

For a moment, he looked genuinely bewildered, as though the chairman had dragged up an event he had completely forgotten.

“...Wasn’t it already determined that my porter designation had been omitted by mistake?”

Could an innocent F-Class truly react that way?

At that moment, the chairman became certain.

The man sitting before him was unquestionably a high-level Awakener. His recent explanations were nothing more than an elaborate performance intended to conceal his true rank.

‘You really have prepared an excuse for everything!’

Bang!

The chairman slammed his fist down on the table, frustration plainly visible across his face.

“Listen carefully. The Association is giving you an opportunity. Why do you insist on continuing this lie?”

“What?”

“If you keep this up, we will have no choice but to take stronger measures. We cannot continue turning a blind eye to deliberate rank falsification.”

Yet the more aggressively they pressed him, the more wronged the hunter felt.

After all, he truly was nothing more than an F-Class with no genuine power to speak of.

“No, do you actually have any evidence that I falsified my rank?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything circulating online is nothing more than vague speculation. Ultimately, the only way to establish my Awakening level is through the Association’s testing equipment.”

Declaring someone a criminal based entirely on circumstantial evidence, without a single piece of conclusive proof?

That was absurdly unjust, especially on a planet with such a well-developed legal system.

“Chairman, even if I underwent another examination right now, the result would still say I’m F-Class. I mean that sincerely.”

Kiryeo therefore stated with complete confidence that he could not comply with the Association’s demand.

No matter how many tests they conducted, every one of them would identify him as an F-Class.

“So I suggest that you stop wasting your time worrying about someone as insignificant as me and return your attention to more important matters...”

Sweating heavily from embarrassment, Kiryeo attempted to reason with the Association officials.

Unfortunately, a person’s true intentions were not always easy for others to understand.

“Ha!”

The chairman began to interpret every word spoken by the Awakener before him in the worst possible way.

With Kiryeo’s three-white eyes fixed sharply upon him and his face twisted by discomfort, it was difficult to perceive his remarks as harmless.

‘Evidence? He’s demanding evidence?’

Chairman Ko’s thoughts seethed.

‘Is he mocking us? Is he saying we should keep quiet because our technology will never be capable of exposing his disguise?’

He was on the verge of raising his voice when an unexpected sound interrupted him.

Ding♩

The notification seemed far too important to ignore.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Rustle.

Kiryeo glanced down at his phone, then abruptly rose from his seat.

Whatever message he had just received appeared to be urgent.

“Um... have you finished saying what you needed to say? I’m sorry, but something important has come up, so I need to leave.”

With that, Kiryeo hurried out of the room.

Chairman Ko stared after him, practically choking with outrage.

“Th-That...! That selfish bastard! I knew I disliked him from the very beginning!”

Had he stopped there, it might have amounted to nothing more than ordinary grumbling behind someone’s back.

The problem was what he said next.

“As I thought, people like him start believing they’re entitled to everything the moment someone treats them with a little kindness...!”

The chairman of the Association pulled out his phone and placed a call.

[Reporter Yang]

.

.

.

On the top floor of the Magic Tower Guild, a young woman sat on a sofa, repeatedly checking her watch and sighing.

She was anxiously awaiting a visitor.

Creak!

“Ah!”

“Excuse me.”

At last, an Awakener with vivid yellow hair appeared at the entrance.

The moment Esther saw him step through the door, her face brightened into a broad smile.

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo!”

That was right.

The message Kim Kiryeo had received earlier had been a summons from Esther.

When an S-Class curse sorcerer called for him, an F-Class like Kiryeo had little choice but to come running without hesitation.

“Hunter Esther, are you feeling all right?”

“I’m perfectly fine, as you can see.”

The question, then, was why Esther had called him.

Thud.

Kiryeo assumed the matter concerned the cursed sword and placed the piece of equipment on the table.

Esther, however, barely spared the unique-grade item a glance.

Instead, she immediately launched into another subject.

“More importantly, I saw the article! It said you were the one who defeated the S-Class monster. Is that true?”

She was visibly astonished.

The Inevitable Malice, which everyone had assumed would be slain by Jung Haseong, had instead been brought down by an F-Class hunter.

And on top of that, the same F-Class hunter had apparently been concealing his true rank all along.

‘What if he’s angry?’

In a sense, this entire situation had arisen because Esther had failed to kill the boss monster in a single attack.

She therefore felt vaguely apologetic toward the hunter standing before her.

Of course, there was nothing particularly strange about him fleeing from the Imoogi.

Those who approached S-Class strength often found it difficult to cooperate effectively with others precisely because their abilities were so overwhelming.

He must have had no choice but to keep his distance.

‘It wasn’t that my curse failed. There was simply no guarantee that I would be safe from that man’s ability either...’

Perhaps, after retreating from the main battlefield, Kim Kiryeo had quietly reduced the number of enemies while remaining out of everyone’s sight.

‘That must be it. Considering the scale of the incident, the number of casualties was remarkably low!’

Esther did not fully understand Kang Changho’s behavior, and that incomplete understanding led her to a somewhat distorted conclusion.

She believed the hunter before her had performed his role from the shadows, only for his identity to be exposed because he had been cleaning up the Magic Tower’s mistake.

“Let me get straight to the point.”

Esther’s expression turned serious.

“We need to deal with these rumors as quickly as possible.”

“Yes?”

“If the rumors about you being an S-Class continue spreading, you’ll be placed in a very difficult position, won’t you, Kiryeo-ssi?”

“That’s true.”

“So, provided you have no objection, I think we should hold a press conference.”

From what she explained afterward, Esther had several journalists among her acquaintances.

She could gather them together and use the opportunity to steer public opinion in a more favorable direction.

‘A press conference?’

Kim Kiryeo could not have asked for anything better.

He desperately needed a public opportunity to explain himself.

“Don’t worry, Kim Kiryeo-ssi. I’ll make certain this matter is resolved.”

“But why are you going this far for me?”

“Because the incident became so serious due to the monster the Magic Tower allowed to escape. I want to take responsibility for that.”

Esther went on to explain that the sooner the press conference took place, the easier it would be to control the situation.

Kiryeo replied that he already possessed more than enough information to defend himself.

“Can you arrange it immediately?”

“Immediately? Of course, I—!”

Esther, who had been speaking brightly until that moment, abruptly closed her mouth.

“Esther-ssi?”

Why had the sorcerer suddenly fallen silent?

The answer was standing directly in front of her.

Kim Kiryeo had spent the entire day dressed exactly as he was now.

“...Preparing the venue itself won’t be difficult, so I’ll give you some time to stop by your home first.”

“Do I really need to?”

“Y-You don’t? Ah, well... it’s just...”

A strangely designed rooster mascot.

A pale green background that offended every sense of aesthetics.

And, as if that were not enough, a gaudy slogan printed across the front in curling script.

The sweatshirt Kim Kiryeo was wearing was a promotional giveaway from an event run by a fried-chicken brand.

Its quality was exactly what one might expect.

“O-Of course, presenting yourself to the public with a friendly image is not necessarily a bad idea, but don’t you think this particular concept may be a little excessive...?”

The rooster was giving a thumbs-up while smiling with disturbing enthusiasm.

Who in the world had designed such an unpleasant character?

“Wouldn’t it be better to wear something else for the press conference?”

Realizing that she could not allow matters to continue like this, Esther courageously voiced her concern.

However, Kim Kiryeo had circumstances of his own.

“I don’t have any other clothes.”

It was not as though he wore these things because he liked them.

“Huh?”

An encounter with the Beginner Killer.

Abduction.

Hunter hunting.

Terrorism.

Kim Kiryeo had faced one dangerous incident after another, and with every new disaster, the number of wearable clothes in his possession had steadily diminished.

Scratched, torn, pierced.

Physical injuries were usually accompanied by damaged clothing.

“I suppose it’s an occupational hazard. I don’t have any clothes left.”

The only other outfit still in his possession was the one he had discarded on the asphalt while fleeing from the Inevitable Malice—and both sleeves had been torn away.

In other words, the chicken-themed sweatshirt was the only intact shirt Kim Kiryeo had left.

“But it’s all right. I still have five brand-new ones at home.”

As an alien soul, he possessed absolutely no understanding of fashion trends on Earth.

He had only just managed to grasp the basic principle that human skin was supposed to be covered with cloth.