Yeo Seong-Gu’s words caused a sudden uproar, and the fire in the reporters blazed even further. Other than Lee Jun-Kyeong, the other Hunters were bewildered by the situation and had tired expressions.
“Damn it… I want to rest…” one Hunter murmured.
These poor, hapless Hunters couldn’t even rest immediately after they risked their lives and returned from the gate. As for the Hunter Association, they seemed utterly taken aback, as if it was totally unexpected.
‘Looks like they still have yet to process the entire situation.’
The side characters had returned alive, and the expected main characters had died. They were confused as to how to act in response to the orders they had been given.
‘Looks like this confirms it.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong was now sure the Hunter Association had planned all of this. There was no reason for him to doubt himself. After all, this was something he had seen in the Demon King’s book.
At that time, again, Yeo Seong-Gu had gotten involved.
“The Hunters have returned after raiding a hell-like special gate!”
The bald man continued, “Shouldn’t we give them time to breathe? While you and the public all have a right to know what happened, there is still time. For now…”
He looked at the Hunters. They were exhausted, and there wasn’t a single Hunter who was uninjured.
“Let’s give a word of encouragement to the heroes who came back alive.”
Yeo Seong-Gu’s sincere speech had ended. Someone began to applaud.
It was followed by louder applause. Yeo Seong-Gu was right. No matter what had happened inside, they were still Heroes. In fact, they were Heroes who had returned from a hell-like special gate, where survival had seemed impossible.
Click, click, click, click!
The camera flashes went off again, but it was different from before. The expressions of the Hunters had also changed. The reporters were no longer focused on the ‘single Hunter’ who had raided the special gate. They were now congratulating all of the Hunters who had survived.
“AHHHHHH!! We came back alive!” roared one Hunter who had encouraged the Hunters even while inside the gate.
"Congratulations!"
"Thank you!"
"Let's all let the Hunters rest!"
Finally, the gate attack had ended.
***
Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to have a conversation with Yeo Seong-Gu.
‘How…’
It wasn’t because he was offended or angry by what the bald man had done. Yeo Seong-Gu had corralled the reporters together and revealed his identity at the same time. Lee Jun-Kyeong was mystified by Yeo Seong-Gu’s thought process.
He muttered to himself, “How did he know my intentions?”
After all, the older man’s actions had helped him a lot. Lee Jun-Kyeong had planned it all out. He was going to snatch the role of the protagonist of the ‘Making of a Hero’ event that the Hunter Association had publicized.
The original screenplay had chosen Choi Yeong-Seong as the main character, but after Lee Jun-Kyeong had succeeded in killing Choi Yeong-Seong, he became successfully reborn as the main character who had defeated the river worm.
It was possible that Yeo Seong-Gu hadn’t known the plan and just did it to help him obtain the recognition and the reward.
‘Apparently, I had forgotten about Heimdall’s true strength.’
But it was as if Yeo Seong-Gu had known of his plan from the very beginning. The bald man had all the fame toward Lee Jun-Kyeong, which made his existence more prominent. Lee Jun-Kyeong now remembered a passage he had seen in the Demon King’s book.
[Heimdal's true worth was not his power. What was better than his power, which could be rated at the top of the world…]
He was said to be a master tactician, a strategist superior to the genius Demon King. Simply put, it meant that he was smart. Perhaps it was because Lee Jun-Kyeong was being influenced by his memories of the future Heimdall, who had been acting as the normal Yeo Seong-Gu for too long, but he had forgotten that Heimdall was intelligent.
‘Damn, it’s not like you can just look at Hyung and realize that he’s a genius.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t been looking down on the older man. The Yeo Seong-Gu he had been accustomed to was incomparable with the word genius, even to the point that it was difficult to call him an average person.
After all, this was the man who couldn’t even calculate the prices of goods at his own convenience store and even reduced his earnings in order to give Lee Jun-Kyeong an extra salary by increasing his working hours. Lee Jun-Kyeong struggled to equate the image of his Boss rubbing his shiny bald head while struggling to count with the image of a genius.
‘Thinking back on it, could that just have been his way of making it easier for me?’
Had his Hyung been trying to give him more money in a sly way? No, he couldn’t be sure of anything.
‘I could have been manipulated like a fool for some plans that I wasn’t even a part of.’
Heimdall was clearly not someone who was stupid or brain-dead. Either way, Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to have a discussion about what had just happened. However, Yeo Seong-Gu had drawn the attention of the crowd of reporters to himself and stepped forward as a spokesperson. It was to help the Hunters, no, to help him escape from that place. Although he hadn’t been able to speak with Yeo Seong-Gu because of that.
–Let’s meet tomorrow.
A text had already arrived from Yeo Seong-Gu asking to meet tomorrow.
‘That’s handled then.’
For the first time in a long while, Lee Jun-Kyeong lay in his soft bed. Then, as he sunk deeper into the luxurious bed, he began to think.
“Who are you, really?” he said while looking at the ceiling that was only lit by the light of the light bulbs. Of course, he was talking to <The Sky of the Apocalypse>.
But still, he did not receive any answer. The way that <The Sky of the Apocalypse> had acted at the Rhine Gate was nothing but shock and horror itself.
‘To think it was able to…’
It had murdered a Sponsor, which was basically the only way he was able to express what had happened in human terms, even though it sounded crude. It may have been something much more complex or different for the Sponsors, who were thought to be something beyond humans.
‘<The Ruler of the Riverside> can no longer support Hunters.’
That was completely unheard of, so much so that Lee Jun-Kyeong really thought that it might have meant the death of the Sponsor. Just as the term Sponsor entailed, sponsoring someone could be seen as proof that the Sponsors were alive. Furthermore, he had only gotten that notification after he had killed Choi Yeong-Seong.
No one had ever heard of a Sponsor’s death before. Very few people even believed that the concept of death applied to them as the Sponsors were widely thought to be transcendent. But he had seen it, felt it, and even heard it.
‘How…’
He wondered what <The Sky of the Apocalypse> really was, and, as if by fate, a voice spoke to him.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> smiles at you.]
***
There were piles of documents in the room. A man’s hands and eyes were scanning through the piled documents as fast as they could reach them. But he wasn’t just fast.
Scritch-scratch.
He signed consistently, and every signature was placed in the exact same spot. The man seemed to grasp the entire contents of the documents with just a single scan, even with only one eye. His single eye was moving as if it needed but a moment to capture everything.
Scritch-scratch.
By the time he had signed an incredible amount of documents, he heard something outside his window.
Knock knock.
As he turned his head, something flapping its wings from outside jumped and entered the room. It was as black as the night sky.
“Huginn.”
It was a crow.
"You’re late."
The man greeted the crow with a sagely benevolent smile. Then, as if bursting with joy, the crow sat on the man’s shoulder and placed its beak by the man’s ear.
"Hmm..."
Though there was no sound, the man nodded as if he was listening to the crow, at times his brow furrowing.
Poof.
As if the jet-black crow had burst open, it soon disappeared, leaving only black feathers. The black feathers turned into black liquid, flowing from the bottom of the man’s feet and seeping into his chest. Within the blink of an eye, the man was alone in the room again observing the documents.
However, he was smiling this time.
“He’s entertaining. He knew that I could control the river worm, but to think he also knew about the ‘Making a Hero’ script,” the man muttered to himself after organizing the paperwork.
The crow had added additional information to the report he had already heard. Just the fact that ‘that punk’ had defeated Choi Yeong-Seong, killed the river worm and even repelled the Northern Army Guild while raiding the gate was enough to draw his interest. But, the information Huginn brought only served to excite him further.
“To think he can grow stronger by hunting monsters…”
That punk had spoken as if he was speaking directly to the man. He must have known who the man behind the crow was, calling out to him. He was a provocative little punk.
The man smirked. "Looks like I’ll have to meet him soon.”
Just like what Huginn had said to the punk while acting according to the one-eyed man’s will, the man really hoped to meet him soon. Wait.
Knock knock.
“Come in.” The man who had opened the door bowed deeply and said, “Association President, about the Rhine River Gate…”
“Ah, perfect timing. I had something to tell you about that as well,” replied the Association President. The man raised his head in surprise. The Association President smiled in a lively manner.
“It looks like it's time for me to meet the survivors.”
The man immediately nodded. Even without any other interference, the media’s interest exceeded all expectations due to the events that had occurred. Once the news got involved, the situation would explode even further. For something of this magnitude, it needed to be handled by at least a high-ranking official from the Association, if not the president himself.
“Ah, by the way…” the Association President hadn’t finished yet.
“You got the information on the crimes committed by the Northern Army Guild members, correct?” he said with a sinister smile. The Association President had issued another death sentence for the already deceased.
***
"…"
A slightly skinny man was standing in front of a building with the words [Northern Army Guild] written on it, signifying that the building was the office of the Northern Army Guild.
"…"
However, like the man who stood there silently, the building was also devoid of noise. In the past, the always boisterous voices of the guild members or even the loud stomping that always accompanied their footsteps could always be heard. But now, he couldn’t hear a single thing. He didn’t have hearing problems. After all, Hunters had sensitive ears, and his hearing had grown exceptionally sensitive from the opportunities he had earned in the dungeon. The building was actually empty.
Completely empty.
"I..."
Finally, the man who was looking at the building muttered to himself.
“Did I make the right choice…”
The man was Jeong In-Chang, who had a fitting title: traitor. He had led the Northern Army Guild to defeat. Not only that, but he had even killed Choi Yong-Su, an old friend of his and a fellow deputy guild master, with his own hands. The sight of his fallen friend was stuck in his head. His eyes shook whenever he recalled it. "Ha…"
He let out a sigh. They had raided the gate and received a lot of support from the Sponsors. The compensation from the Association was guaranteed, and no one could deny that he had made an outstanding achievement as a Hunter.
However, he felt conflicted.
Crack.
Why did he feel as though something was pricking his conscience?
A thought struck his mind.
‘Why is this less painful than it was when I was with them?’
Compared to how much it weighed on his conscience at every moment he had been with the Northern Army Guild, the pain he felt now was minuscule. Jeong In-Chang couldn’t define the indescribable feeling in his mind.
He wondered what he was supposed to do from this point.
He had lost his guild. He had never desired fame or to be the strongest. He had become a Hunter by chance, and only worked as a Hunter by following Yong-Su and his older brother Choi Yeong-Seong. He had only become strong because he had talent and support.
Being a Hunter was tiresome for him. He could no longer feel the need to continue living as a Hunter.
As soon as that thought hit him, he heard a voice behind him.
“Deputy Guild Master.”
Jeong In-Chang stiffened. He turned his head slowly. Behind him was a large group of people standing in silence. They were the Northern Army Guild members, the surviving members.
He grimaced. “You guys…”
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Deputy Guild Master,” someone from the group interjected before Jeong In-Chang could finish speaking.
“Deputy Guild Master Choi Yong-Su and Guild Master Choi Yeong-Seong have paid the price for their sins.”
They were the members of the Northern Army Guild that Jeong In-Chang had saved, and were the very same members that Choi Yeong-Seong meant to sacrifice. These members had also had similar doubts and were dissatisfied with the guild’s behavior as Jeong In-Chang had been.
Furthermore, they had come to find someone with a different value that took precedence over strength. In the battle that had taken place in the tenth wave, Jeong In-Chang had quickly subdued Choi Yong-Su and moved to save them.
“Please don’t give up. Please don’t give up on the Northern Army Guild.”
They bowed their heads as they said things that flustered Jeong In-Chang.
“We will follow you, Deputy Guild Master.”
Yeo Seong-Gu’s words caused a sudden uproar, and the fire in the reporters blazed even further. Other than Lee Jun-Kyeong, the other Hunters were bewildered by the situation and had tired expressions.
“Damn it… I want to rest…” one Hunter murmured.
These poor, hapless Hunters couldn’t even rest immediately after they risked their lives and returned from the gate. As for the Hunter Association, they seemed utterly taken aback, as if it was totally unexpected.
‘Looks like they still have yet to process the entire situation.’
The side characters had returned alive, and the expected main characters had died. They were confused as to how to act in response to the orders they had been given.
‘Looks like this confirms it.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong was now sure the Hunter Association had planned all of this. There was no reason for him to doubt himself. After all, this was something he had seen in the Demon King’s book.
At that time, again, Yeo Seong-Gu had gotten involved.
“The Hunters have returned after raiding a hell-like special gate!”
The bald man continued, “Shouldn’t we give them time to breathe? While you and the public all have a right to know what happened, there is still time. For now…”
He looked at the Hunters. They were exhausted, and there wasn’t a single Hunter who was uninjured.
“Let’s give a word of encouragement to the heroes who came back alive.”
Yeo Seong-Gu’s sincere speech had ended. Someone began to applaud.
It was followed by louder applause. Yeo Seong-Gu was right. No matter what had happened inside, they were still Heroes. In fact, they were Heroes who had returned from a hell-like special gate, where survival had seemed impossible.
Click, click, click, click!
The camera flashes went off again, but it was different from before. The expressions of the Hunters had also changed. The reporters were no longer focused on the ‘single Hunter’ who had raided the special gate. They were now congratulating all of the Hunters who had survived.
“AHHHHHH!! We came back alive!” roared one Hunter who had encouraged the Hunters even while inside the gate.
"Congratulations!"
"Thank you!"
"Let's all let the Hunters rest!"
Finally, the gate attack had ended.
***
Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to have a conversation with Yeo Seong-Gu.
‘How…’
It wasn’t because he was offended or angry by what the bald man had done. Yeo Seong-Gu had corralled the reporters together and revealed his identity at the same time. Lee Jun-Kyeong was mystified by Yeo Seong-Gu’s thought process.
He muttered to himself, “How did he know my intentions?”
After all, the older man’s actions had helped him a lot. Lee Jun-Kyeong had planned it all out. He was going to snatch the role of the protagonist of the ‘Making of a Hero’ event that the Hunter Association had publicized.
The original screenplay had chosen Choi Yeong-Seong as the main character, but after Lee Jun-Kyeong had succeeded in killing Choi Yeong-Seong, he became successfully reborn as the main character who had defeated the river worm.
It was possible that Yeo Seong-Gu hadn’t known the plan and just did it to help him obtain the recognition and the reward.
‘Apparently, I had forgotten about Heimdall’s true strength.’
But it was as if Yeo Seong-Gu had known of his plan from the very beginning. The bald man had all the fame toward Lee Jun-Kyeong, which made his existence more prominent. Lee Jun-Kyeong now remembered a passage he had seen in the Demon King’s book.
[Heimdal's true worth was not his power. What was better than his power, which could be rated at the top of the world…]
He was said to be a master tactician, a strategist superior to the genius Demon King. Simply put, it meant that he was smart. Perhaps it was because Lee Jun-Kyeong was being influenced by his memories of the future Heimdall, who had been acting as the normal Yeo Seong-Gu for too long, but he had forgotten that Heimdall was intelligent.
‘Damn, it’s not like you can just look at Hyung and realize that he’s a genius.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t been looking down on the older man. The Yeo Seong-Gu he had been accustomed to was incomparable with the word genius, even to the point that it was difficult to call him an average person.
After all, this was the man who couldn’t even calculate the prices of goods at his own convenience store and even reduced his earnings in order to give Lee Jun-Kyeong an extra salary by increasing his working hours. Lee Jun-Kyeong struggled to equate the image of his Boss rubbing his shiny bald head while struggling to count with the image of a genius.
‘Thinking back on it, could that just have been his way of making it easier for me?’
Had his Hyung been trying to give him more money in a sly way? No, he couldn’t be sure of anything.
‘I could have been manipulated like a fool for some plans that I wasn’t even a part of.’
Heimdall was clearly not someone who was stupid or brain-dead. Either way, Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to have a discussion about what had just happened. However, Yeo Seong-Gu had drawn the attention of the crowd of reporters to himself and stepped forward as a spokesperson. It was to help the Hunters, no, to help him escape from that place. Although he hadn’t been able to speak with Yeo Seong-Gu because of that.
–Let’s meet tomorrow.
A text had already arrived from Yeo Seong-Gu asking to meet tomorrow.
‘That’s handled then.’
For the first time in a long while, Lee Jun-Kyeong lay in his soft bed. Then, as he sunk deeper into the luxurious bed, he began to think.
“Who are you, really?” he said while looking at the ceiling that was only lit by the light of the light bulbs. Of course, he was talking to <The Sky of the Apocalypse>.
But still, he did not receive any answer. The way that <The Sky of the Apocalypse> had acted at the Rhine Gate was nothing but shock and horror itself.
‘To think it was able to…’
It had murdered a Sponsor, which was basically the only way he was able to express what had happened in human terms, even though it sounded crude. It may have been something much more complex or different for the Sponsors, who were thought to be something beyond humans.
‘<The Ruler of the Riverside> can no longer support Hunters.’
That was completely unheard of, so much so that Lee Jun-Kyeong really thought that it might have meant the death of the Sponsor. Just as the term Sponsor entailed, sponsoring someone could be seen as proof that the Sponsors were alive. Furthermore, he had only gotten that notification after he had killed Choi Yeong-Seong.
No one had ever heard of a Sponsor’s death before. Very few people even believed that the concept of death applied to them as the Sponsors were widely thought to be transcendent. But he had seen it, felt it, and even heard it.
‘How…’
He wondered what <The Sky of the Apocalypse> really was, and, as if by fate, a voice spoke to him.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> smiles at you.]
***
There were piles of documents in the room. A man’s hands and eyes were scanning through the piled documents as fast as they could reach them. But he wasn’t just fast.
Scritch-scratch.
He signed consistently, and every signature was placed in the exact same spot. The man seemed to grasp the entire contents of the documents with just a single scan, even with only one eye. His single eye was moving as if it needed but a moment to capture everything.
Scritch-scratch.
By the time he had signed an incredible amount of documents, he heard something outside his window.
Knock knock.
As he turned his head, something flapping its wings from outside jumped and entered the room. It was as black as the night sky.
“Huginn.”
It was a crow.
"You’re late."
The man greeted the crow with a sagely benevolent smile. Then, as if bursting with joy, the crow sat on the man’s shoulder and placed its beak by the man’s ear.
"Hmm..."
Though there was no sound, the man nodded as if he was listening to the crow, at times his brow furrowing.
Poof.
As if the jet-black crow had burst open, it soon disappeared, leaving only black feathers. The black feathers turned into black liquid, flowing from the bottom of the man’s feet and seeping into his chest. Within the blink of an eye, the man was alone in the room again observing the documents.
However, he was smiling this time.
“He’s entertaining. He knew that I could control the river worm, but to think he also knew about the ‘Making a Hero’ script,” the man muttered to himself after organizing the paperwork.
The crow had added additional information to the report he had already heard. Just the fact that ‘that punk’ had defeated Choi Yeong-Seong, killed the river worm and even repelled the Northern Army Guild while raiding the gate was enough to draw his interest. But, the information Huginn brought only served to excite him further.
“To think he can grow stronger by hunting monsters…”
That punk had spoken as if he was speaking directly to the man. He must have known who the man behind the crow was, calling out to him. He was a provocative little punk.
The man smirked. "Looks like I’ll have to meet him soon.”
Just like what Huginn had said to the punk while acting according to the one-eyed man’s will, the man really hoped to meet him soon. Wait.
Knock knock.
“Come in.” The man who had opened the door bowed deeply and said, “Association President, about the Rhine River Gate…”
“Ah, perfect timing. I had something to tell you about that as well,” replied the Association President. The man raised his head in surprise. The Association President smiled in a lively manner.
“It looks like it's time for me to meet the survivors.”
The man immediately nodded. Even without any other interference, the media’s interest exceeded all expectations due to the events that had occurred. Once the news got involved, the situation would explode even further. For something of this magnitude, it needed to be handled by at least a high-ranking official from the Association, if not the president himself.
“Ah, by the way…” the Association President hadn’t finished yet.
“You got the information on the crimes committed by the Northern Army Guild members, correct?” he said with a sinister smile. The Association President had issued another death sentence for the already deceased.
***
"…"
A slightly skinny man was standing in front of a building with the words [Northern Army Guild] written on it, signifying that the building was the office of the Northern Army Guild.
"…"
However, like the man who stood there silently, the building was also devoid of noise. In the past, the always boisterous voices of the guild members or even the loud stomping that always accompanied their footsteps could always be heard. But now, he couldn’t hear a single thing. He didn’t have hearing problems. After all, Hunters had sensitive ears, and his hearing had grown exceptionally sensitive from the opportunities he had earned in the dungeon. The building was actually empty.
Completely empty.
"I..."
Finally, the man who was looking at the building muttered to himself.
“Did I make the right choice…”
The man was Jeong In-Chang, who had a fitting title: traitor. He had led the Northern Army Guild to defeat. Not only that, but he had even killed Choi Yong-Su, an old friend of his and a fellow deputy guild master, with his own hands. The sight of his fallen friend was stuck in his head. His eyes shook whenever he recalled it. "Ha…"
He let out a sigh. They had raided the gate and received a lot of support from the Sponsors. The compensation from the Association was guaranteed, and no one could deny that he had made an outstanding achievement as a Hunter.
However, he felt conflicted.
Crack.
Why did he feel as though something was pricking his conscience?
A thought struck his mind.
‘Why is this less painful than it was when I was with them?’
Compared to how much it weighed on his conscience at every moment he had been with the Northern Army Guild, the pain he felt now was minuscule. Jeong In-Chang couldn’t define the indescribable feeling in his mind.
He wondered what he was supposed to do from this point.
He had lost his guild. He had never desired fame or to be the strongest. He had become a Hunter by chance, and only worked as a Hunter by following Yong-Su and his older brother Choi Yeong-Seong. He had only become strong because he had talent and support.
Being a Hunter was tiresome for him. He could no longer feel the need to continue living as a Hunter.
As soon as that thought hit him, he heard a voice behind him.
“Deputy Guild Master.”
Jeong In-Chang stiffened. He turned his head slowly. Behind him was a large group of people standing in silence. They were the Northern Army Guild members, the surviving members.
He grimaced. “You guys…”
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Deputy Guild Master,” someone from the group interjected before Jeong In-Chang could finish speaking.
“Deputy Guild Master Choi Yong-Su and Guild Master Choi Yeong-Seong have paid the price for their sins.”
They were the members of the Northern Army Guild that Jeong In-Chang had saved, and were the very same members that Choi Yeong-Seong meant to sacrifice. These members had also had similar doubts and were dissatisfied with the guild’s behavior as Jeong In-Chang had been.
Furthermore, they had come to find someone with a different value that took precedence over strength. In the battle that had taken place in the tenth wave, Jeong In-Chang had quickly subdued Choi Yong-Su and moved to save them.
“Please don’t give up. Please don’t give up on the Northern Army Guild.”
They bowed their heads as they said things that flustered Jeong In-Chang.
“We will follow you, Deputy Guild Master.”
