The S-rank Hunters who had returned from their clearing operation successfully raided and destroyed the Gate that appeared at the Agency.
Reports were released claiming that the large-scale Villain attack had been suppressed with minimal damage, but no one believed it at face value.
The Government declared a war against the Villains.
They launched a massive search operation and captured additional criminals through the interrogation of the apprehended Villains. However, the Agency was left in ruins after being caught in a counterattack by the Villains’ secret organization, resulting in many casualties.
While the media ran articles claiming a victory in the war against the Villains, the citizens’ fear of them only grew.
Mana Stone bombs could go off anywhere at any time. The terrorism was terrifying enough, but the fact that they could create Gates made the citizens tremble with fear. Until now, Gates had been nothing more than mysterious phenomena that occurred naturally. Even those had been preventable through the disaster prediction system, which mitigated the risks in advance.
Now, that was no longer the case.
—Gate Terrorism: What Are the Government’s Countermeasures?
A Gate could appear anytime, anywhere.
That single sentence placed an enormous amount of stress on the public. Interviews with citizens played on the news.
“The fire alarm went off in the mall, and then monsters suddenly appeared… and today, I saw a second Gate.”
“A monster called a goblin suddenly jumped into the road; I thought it was a small child.”
“I hope there are no more victims like our Ho-jae.”
Testimonies from victims and witnesses continued. The reporter looked into the camera for the closing remarks.
“Hunter. It literally means a profession that hunts. But what do Hunters represent in our current era? At the very least, it shouldn’t mean people who treat Dungeons like mines to excavate wealth and build skyscrapers.”
The reporter’s words were scathing.
“In this lawless age, is it merely the public’s greed to wish for a hero? This has been Baek Dae-gi from SBC.”
The public’s distrust toward Hunters began to rear its head. Despite having the power to protect others, the reality was that they only used that power as a means to make money.
The only S-rank Hunter who was an exception to this sentiment was one man.
A person who served as a team leader for the rapidly growing Hanul Guild and even possessed judicial power as a Special Guarder.
It was the National Hunter, the Delivery Man, Lee Hyunbin.
Although his career as a Hunter was short, he was also the Hunter who donated the most. Rather than acting for the sake of money, he appeared to prioritize the safety of the citizens above all else.
In contrast to him was another Special Guarder, Lucky Boy Hanseong Lee. Although he was known as a hero full of justice, he was currently being lambasted by the public for his lack of activity since the drunk flying incident.
This was largely because the performance of his fellow Special Guarder, Lee Hyunbin, was so dazzling.
News broke that the Hanul Guild, which Lee Hyunbin belonged to, was preparing to relocate. The saying that places like Gangnam were prime real estate was already a thing of the past. Nowadays, the areas surrounding major Guilds were the most coveted locations.
The area where a major Guild established itself became their de facto territory, as they took responsibility for the defense of the local residents. In other words, being near a major Guild was the safest place to be. This was because the respective Guild was granted priority raiding rights for any Gate that appeared within their protected zone.
The Hanul Guild had reached fifth in the Guild rankings. Considering they had been outside the top 20 and on a downward trend previously, it was nothing short of a miracle.
Thanks to this, Hanul was now preparing a new home for themselves. Originally, the Guild Town was a base formed by lower-ranked Guilds gathering together. Now that Hanul had grown to a significant scale, they were looking for a new hometown.
Because of this, many people were paying close attention. Excluding Seongnam, where the Guild Town was currently located, the regions with major Guilds were two locations in Seoul, as well as Gwangju, Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu, and Changwon. No one would hate having a major Guild move into their region.
***
“This taste is too extraordinary.”
“As expected of the Land of Ramen. The taste of the source is different.”
To be precise, this wasn’t the country where ramen originated, but…
“I cannot believe it. This is the food of the gods.”
*Slurp, slurp.*
Look at our knights from another world, slurping up the ramen noodles as if they were inhaling them.
A Black person, a white person, and an Asian person. Seeing the three of them with different skin colors gathered together made it feel like they had been assembled on purpose.
“They’re at the age where they eat a lot. Yes.”
Karin smiled warmly as she watched her knights frantically devour the ramen. Occasionally, she giggled when she saw them blowing air out of their mouths because the kimchi was too spicy.
‘Don’t you remember how you only looked for water because your face turned red when you first ate kimchi?’
Even she had been obsessed with ramen when she first arrived. These days, after falling in love with delivery food, it seemed her interest in ramen had faded. Perhaps she had grown tired of standard soup ramen, as she was eating black bean noodles by herself.
“My Lord. You are eating something different from us.”
“That is black. Why is it black?”
“Phew… honestly, you guys haven’t put in enough time to eat this yet. I’ll let you try it once you’ve gained more experience.”
Vincent, the Black knight, stared at the black noodles and swallowed his saliva. Perhaps it was because the colors matched.
Now that the earnings were decent, I could feed them something better, but they insisted on wanting ramen. Even more than meat. Thanks to Karin, everyone on the Floating Island had become a ramen enthusiast. Sometimes, even when I saw the footage of the Floating Island’s interior that Karin showed me, I often witnessed people eating ramen here and there.
“I’ll have to find a new house. You guys will have to live here for a while.”
The place was suitable for Karin and me to live together, but if the family grew by three more, the house would become too cramped.
“…”
“…”
Whenever I said things like this, the three of them inevitably went silent. They started reading the room.
“Why? Are you going to say ‘fuck’ again?”
“…!”
I thought these guys were happy to see me after a long time, but they were actually trying to run away. I almost split them in half out of disappointment.
“In our hometown, we greet people we are glad to see by saying ‘fuck.’ Is that an insult here?”
Vincent, the Black man, asked with a confused expression.
“Aha. So in your hometown, you say ‘fuck’ even when you meet friends or family.”
‘I’ve got you now.’
His face momentarily turned sour before he quickly tried to force a bright smile.
“There is no need to move. We must return anyway.”
“That is true. We are knights who protect the territory. Our help will be needed.”
Karin smiled brightly at the knights’ words.
“But you guys can’t go back.”
“Why can we not?”
“It’s not something you can just pull in and out. I sent the children over there and brought you guys here. An equivalent exchange. Oh, did you just glare at me? Vincent, did you just use your hometown greeting?”
Under Karin’s threat, the foreigners hurriedly focused on their meal. Fortunately, these guys didn’t eat quite as much as Karin did.
“Then the kids can’t come back here either?”
I heard the story later—all the children who had undergone the Mana Stone surgery had been moved to the Floating Island. In exchange, the knights had been brought here through equivalent exchange. It was confusing at first, but if I thought about it, there was nothing to be surprised about in an age where Gates opened.
“Yeah. It’s safe there. The dimensions are completely severed, so there’s no Mana Stone resonance or explosions.”
“I see. They’re doing well, right?”
“Of course. The kids love chicken. I caught a chicken and fed it to them today, and they ate well. But they don’t have fried chicken there. Hmm, should I send a deep fryer? No, there’s no electricity.”
A bitter smile naturally formed on my lips as I watched Karin worry. Even if she didn’t say it, her expression hadn’t been good when she saw the poor children. Especially when she realized she couldn’t treat them. Living in the Rania Territory without the threat of Villains… perhaps they could find a treatment method there.
“Look at this. The reason this one’s name is Lee Ho is because they were named One, Two, Three, and Four. So I want to give them new names, but I’m worried. What should I name them? Do you have any good names?”
“Good names?”
Karin pulled out the Territory Monitor window like it was a habit. Inside, people were visible as dots against a 3D-rendered background. Looking at the children playing in the territory, they all looked bright.
Karin smiled warmly at the sight. After finishing their meal, the three foreign brothers also looked on with fascinated faces as they monitored the territory where they used to live. Either way, the conclusion was that these guys had to live here now.
Well, that worked out well. I needed more team members anyway, so I could just work with these guys.
**[Running Knight Order Skill]**
**[The Lord cannot become a Knight]**
**[Knight Order candidates identified]**
**[Rawin Blycen, Leon Michael, Vincent Zabsi]**
As expected of former knights, they suited me well. I immediately applied to recruit the three of them into the Knight Order. I saw the eyes of the three men, who were linked to the System, dilate almost simultaneously.
‘Do you see it?’
The three of them suddenly averted their eyes.
‘I know you can see it. Press it.’
“The weather seems very nice today.”
“Indeed. I feel the need to take a walk.”
‘Press it.’
The three foreign brothers began to break into a cold sweat as they met my eyes.
“My Lord. Didn’t you have something for us to do earlier?”
“Me? I didn’t.”
“Please… no, didn’t you have something for us to do earlier?”
“Hmm? I didn’t.”
The three foreign brothers looked as if they were watching their last lifeline snap. I gave them a bright smile. The three of them began to tremble simultaneously.
Welcome to my Knight Order.
***
One week had passed since the Villain incident concluded.
—Today, individual A murdered their boss, individual B, and in order to cover it up…
—L has been identified as a teenage Awakened and is known to have participated in a teenage Villain organization composed of former school bullies. The school has completely denied this and…
Villains were sprouting up all over the world. In fact, it wasn’t as if Villain organizations hadn’t been active before. Even before the Gate Incident, there were at least 1,000 violent crimes occurring every day.
Awakened individuals emerged, and dangerous seeds with a chosen-people complex appeared. It turned into the worst-case scenario specifically when teenagers acquired Awakened abilities.
That was why the number of students at Raon Academy, where Karin attended, was steadily increasing. Seeing student crimes running rampant, I even felt an impulse to personally provide them with some mental discipline. Only by having a healthy body and a clear mind could one use their strength honestly.
In any case, Villains began to rear their heads, and the damage caused by Gates started to increase gradually. It had only been one week since the Villain organization attacked the Agency.
According to rumors, the Wizard System operated by the Agency had been damaged and was currently being restored. In other words, the Agency was currently unable to predict disasters. This meant that the citizens were left exposed to danger with no protection.
‘It’s quiet.’
While the world was noisy due to the Awakened criminals and Villains appearing everywhere, to me, it felt like the calm before the storm. The Villain organization—specifically, the main players—hadn’t stepped forward yet.
I didn’t know what they were thinking, but I heard that the Fighting God Guild’s Holy Knight Seol Jihoon and the Office Worker were also busy just clearing Dungeons.
Hmm, where was it? Was it Room 706?
I checked the contents of the text message I received and took the elevator. Upon entering the hospital room, I smelled the characteristic scent of disinfectant.
“How can I help you?”
The nurse at the desk spoke while looking at me, but her expression gradually changed.
“Oh my.”
“Hello.”
“You’re the Delivery Man—no, Hunter Lee Hyunbin, aren’t you?”
A bashful smile escaped me. It seemed there were quite a few people who recognized me now.
“I’m here to visit the patient in Room 706.”
“Ah, it’s this way. I’ll guide you.”
Did they usually provide an escort? I didn’t think so.
Following the nurse into Room 706, I saw the man waiting for me in the middle of hitting on a nurse. Honestly, for a guy whose body wasn’t even fully intact, why was he trying to seduce a nurse?
“Let’s talk more later. My savior has arrived, you see.”
The nurse was startled when she noticed my presence and hurried out of the room.
“Hello.”
In the hospital room, Mr. Cutting Board, the S-rank Hunter from the Shinwa Guild, was welcoming me.
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