Chapter 45: When the City Turned Into a Battlefield

Eunbyeol losing on the music charts was a painful thing.

Although the final rankings weren’t out yet, being behind in the initial performance didn’t feel good.

The words that initial performance mostly fixes the final ranking kept bothering me.

Still, I didn’t show it to Eunbyeol.

I was worried that she might get heartbroken.

So, I deliberately tried to act brighter toward Eunbyeol and avoided showing her things like the Melon chart.

I tried to keep her in a good mood by taking her to delicious food, cute dolls, or fun places.

As we spent our days like that, I walked toward my workplace, the Myth Guild headquarters, today as well.

But…

” Hunter Seo Juwon?”

When I was near the Myth Guild headquarters, someone called me.

I turned my head and saw a man getting out of a black sedan approaching me.

His hair was neatly parted without a single strand out of place, and his suit was impeccably clean.

The man looked like a salesman.

“Who are you?”

I asked with some caution.

The salesman-like man smiled and said.

“Haha, I’m not a bad person, so no need to be on guard. I’m this kind of person.”

The man in the suit handed me a business card.

Under the company name ‘HunterLink’ was written the name ‘Kim Taegon’.

“Kim Taegon from HunterLink? By the way, what is HunterLink?”

“It’s simple. It’s a headhunting company.”

“Headhunting?”

“Yes. Our HunterLink is a company that helps hunters transfer. The fees are reasonable, and member satisfaction is high too.”

“You’re saying you came to find me from such a place? Why? I never requested anything.”

“Haha, that’s right. The one who requested wasn’t Hunter Seo Juwon. The clients are guild masters from other guilds.”

“Guild masters from other guilds?”

I asked with a puzzled expression.

Because it was hard to understand.

Then Kim Taegon from HunterLink said.

“Hunter Seo Juwon, you attended the Night of Transcendents event last time, right?”

“Uh, yes. How do you know?”

“Haha, of course I know. The Night of Transcendents is a big event in the hunter world, and Hunter Seo Juwon did something quite impressive there.”

“If you mean impressive…”

“Yes. The fact that you sparred with Hunter Dokgo Young from the Baekho Guild and won.”

It was true.

I fought and beat Dokgo Young from the Baekho Guild there.

In front of many people, too.

Kim Taegon continued.

“Because of that, it seems the big guild masters have taken a great interest in Hunter Seo Juwon.”

“In me?”

“Yes. From what I’ve heard, they were originally skeptical, but after seeing the spar with Hunter Dokgo Young, they fell for you hard. That’s why they collectively requested our HunterLink. To bring Hunter Seo Juwon to their guild.”

At Kim Taegon’s words, I recalled what happened at the Night of Transcendents event.

In fact, at the beginning, the big guild masters looked at me with disapproving eyes.

They even complained to Guild Master Shin Daeho about why he brought someone like me.

After the spar, their gazes definitely changed.

But those disdainful looks changed after I knocked down Dokgo Young.

From contempt to admiration.

In fact, after the spar, the big guild masters showed interest in me and asked various questions.

Their eyes sparkled brightly as they looked at me.

That led to requests to a headhunting company.

But I never imagined they would so openly want me to transfer.

Lost in thought, Kim Taegon said.

“So, do you have any interest in transferring?”

“Hmm, honestly, I don’t know. It’s too sudden.”

“Haha, I suppose so.”

“Yes. Above all, I wonder if there’s a reason to move. As you know, Myth Guild is the number 1 ranked guild in the country, and accordingly, I’m satisfied with the salary.”

“I understand. Moving from Myth Guild, of all places, to another guild would be like a downgrade. However, for the salary part, we can offer better conditions.”

“Better conditions?”

“Yes. The guild masters who want Hunter Seo Juwon’s transfer have proposed 5 times your current salary.”

“…What? 5 times?”

I was startled by the words “5 times the salary.”

“That’s right. I believe Hunter Seo Juwon is currently receiving around 5 billion, is that correct?”

“Sorry, but salary is confidential, so it’s hard to say.”

“Haha, is that so? Anyway, assuming 5 billion, they’re offering up to 25 billion. Of course, welfare and incentives are separate.”

“Huh…”

I was genuinely shocked.

5 times.

A whopping 25 billion annual salary.

And if incentives are separate, at least over 30 billion.

I was astonished by an amount I had never even imagined in my life.

“Haha, it seems Hunter Seo Juwon is quite surprised. Your mouth is even open.”

“Ahem, the amount is large, so I was a bit shocked.”

“Of course. To poach someone from Myth Guild, they need to offer a tempting amount.”

I nodded.

Indeed, to steal someone from Myth Guild, a huge sum would be needed to tempt them.

“Hunter Seo Juwon, what will you do? Shall we go to our HunterLink office and talk in more detail?”

At Kim Taegon’s words, I hesitated for a moment.

I like Myth Guild.

Guild Master Shin Daeho is good, and I like the hunters in Myth Guild too.

There’s pride in being part of the number 1 ranked guild.

But 25 billion…

However, 25 billion.

If it’s money easily exceeding 30 billion including incentives.

Then, I thought maybe transferring to another guild wouldn’t be bad.

Honestly, the reason I hunt is solely for money.

“Um, sorry, but I’ll think about it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s a bit hard to decide right now. You gave me your card, so I’ll contact you after thinking.”

“Haha, understood. Then please do contact me.”

Kim Taegon from HunterLink said that and left with a cheerful greeting.

The black sedan quickly drove away with a vroom sound.

I blankly watched it and then turned my gaze to the pure white business card in my hand.

“Eunbyeol, what should Daddy do?”

I thought of Eunbyeol’s face, round like the moon, and pondered for a long time.

After spending quite a while on the street, I rode the elevator up to Myth Guild.

In fact, even after long deliberation, I couldn’t reach an answer.

Both choices are good.

Staying in Myth Guild, the number 1 ranked guild in Korea, is a good choice, and going to another guild to receive hundreds of billions in salary and become a building owner dad for Eunbyeol is also a good choice.

Anyway, I decided to think about it over a long time and entered the office.

But…

“Huh?”

The senior team members were busily moving around, equipping their gear.

As if a dispatch order had come down.

“Team Leader, what’s going on?”

I went to Team Leader Cha Jihye, who had just put down the intercom, and asked.

“Ah, Hunter Seo Juwon. You’re here?”

“Yes. Is something happening? As far as I know, there’s no gate raid today.”

“That’s right. But something just came up.”

“Just now?”

“Yes. It was originally a gate assigned to another guild, but the raid was delayed, and a dungeon break occurred!”

“What? Dungeon break?”

Dungeon break.

It means the monsters inside the gate spill out into the human world.

“Yes. It seems stronger monsters than expected appeared. Other guilds went for support, but it looks like the raid isn’t going well.”

“So the support request came to our Myth Guild too?”

“Yes. So Hunter Seo Juwon, prepare quickly. We’re leaving right now.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

I answered and quickly prepared.

Contact from a headhunting company, and now a dungeon break.

This day was really dynamic.

In fact, I had never experienced a dungeon break.

I had only heard about it.

So I wasn’t particularly worried about the words “dungeon break.”

I just thought it was like a usual gate raid.

But it wasn’t.

Upon arriving at the scene, I realized how horrific a dungeon break truly is.

“Th-this is…”

The place we arrived at was in the middle of the city.

A wide open road with tall buildings on both sides.

But at this moment, the glamorous city had truly become a ‘war zone’.

And sadly, in this war zone-like place, corpses were strewn everywhere.

Not metaphorically—hundreds of real corpses were scattered here and there.

“C-crazy. What is all this?”

“Good god. It looks like office workers got caught while evacuating.”

“There are a lot of hunter corpses too? Damn. They were horribly killed.”

“Those damn monster bastards. Even if they’re monsters, is it okay to mutilate people like this?”

“There are corpses of children and elderly too. How could this happen…”

The Nova team members looked at the scattered corpses and said a word each.

Corpses with limbs cut off were mild; there were plenty with heads or torsos severed.

Not to mention hunter corpses, there were tons of women and children’s corpses too.

“Th-there! They’re still fighting over there!”

At one senior team member’s words, everyone’s gaze turned that way.

Indeed, monsters and hunters were fighting amid half-collapsed buildings and in the air.

“Huh? They’re from Baekho Guild?”

“Yeah. The armbands are tiger-shaped.”

“Damn. Even Baekho Guild is being pushed back.”

“There are a lot of Baekho Guild member corpses too.”

“Ha, Team Leader. Are you sure we can stop this?”

As the team members said, the ones fighting the monsters were indeed from Baekho Guild.

The guild led by Baek Inha, whom I met at the Night of Transcendents—ranked 2nd in Korea.

But as the team said, even Baekho Guild members were helplessly falling.

Corpses in Baekho Guild uniforms were scattered around.

The beings that turned the hunters of Korea’s strong rank 2 guild into cold corpses.

The name of those monsters.

[Manticore].

None other than ‘manticores’.

A manticore’s appearance is like a lion with wings.

But it’s troublesome to simply call it a winged lion.

Surprisingly, manticores have ‘human’ faces.

“Grrrrr!”

One manticore roared bravely like a lion.

What was astonishing was that the hunter in front of it was torn to shreds.

It killed a hunter just with its roar…?

I was horrified watching the rag-like corpse fall.

But the surprising things about manticores weren’t just that.

Manticores severed hunters’ waists with a single swing of their tail.

They burst heads like tomatoes with teeth shaped like human mouths.

And they cut off hunters’ breath just by ramming with their bodies.

“…!”

At the truly terrifying power, all team members were horrified.

Perhaps that’s why.

No one talked about subjugating them.

Even Team Leader Cha Jihye.

At that moment, I threw countless bones from my pocket.

In that instant.

Clatter! Clatter!

The bones scattered everywhere instantly grew into a skeleton army.

Over 100 azure-blue skeletons.

Having an army of skeletons thanks to level-ups, I said to Cha Jihye and the team members.

“Seniors, let’s go. I’ll take the lead.”

Manticores were immensely powerful.

But with over 100 skeletons in my army, I feared nothing.