It was an easy task to win the two of them over.
After joining Baeguncheon, which executive did they see the most?
And which senior was there to comfort them when they struggled as new recruits in an A-rank guild?
It was none other than me.
I gently coaxed them with the attitude of “I know how you guys feel,” and they gave in easily.
That wasn’t all.
As soon as the owner of the barbecue restaurant brought soju, Lee Jaewook and Kim Sangcheol each downed two or three shots in one go, let out deep sighs, and began to pour out their grievances.
“Ughh! Dohee noona is way too scary!”
“Phew, the White-haired Witch…”
“Dohee’s definitely scary. That’s why I saved her in my phone as ‘Don’t Answer’.”
That’s right.
We quickly bonded as comrades sharing a common foe(?).
The funny thing was, once they started drinking, their personalities swapped.
Lee Jaewook, who usually spoke formally, became soft and casual, while Kim Sangcheol, normally mild, turned serious and heavy.
“Hey, hey. If you drink only soju, your stomach will hurt. Eat this too.”
Using tongs, I grabbed a couple pieces of meat and placed them in their bowls.
It was ‘Fire Boar’ pork belly, a D-rank monster—famous for its chewy, delicious texture.
A mid-sized Korean guild developed a way to process it for consumption half a year ago, and since then, it spread rapidly, becoming one of Korea’s most popular dishes.
Knowing both Lee Jaewook and Kim Sangcheol liked it, I’d brought them here.
I remembered how they had chased after us during company dinners with the dismantling team, raving about how delicious it was.
Now, the two of them chewed the meat with slumped shoulders.
Even though they were tired, their appetites seemed alive and well, as they kept reaching for more meat.
At this rate, they’d eat at least six more servings.
“Auntie, six more servings of Fire Boar pork belly here!”
“Huh? Isn’t that already more than enough…?”
When I ordered more meat, Lee Jaewook and Kim Sangcheol’s eyes went wide.
They tried to refuse, but I brushed it off, saying, “It’s already ordered, so just eat it.”
With lowered heads, they said they’d eat it gratefully.
If they’d just swallowed their drool and insisted they were full, maybe I’d have believed them.
At times like this, they didn’t seem like B-rank Hunters at all—just kids.
“It’s fine even if you eat a lot, so order more if you want.”
“Thank you…”
Pouring soju, I glanced around.
People watching our table quickly turned their gazes away.
“……”
There’d been people sneaking glances at us for a while now.
Were Lee Jaewook and Kim Sangcheol really famous enough for people to stare so openly?
There are only a thousand or so B-rank Hunters in Korea.
Aside from Lee Yeonji, they’re the only new recruits in Baeguncheon, so they’re more known than your average B-rank Hunter.
But are they really so popular that people would recognize and gawk at them?
If you asked me, I’d definitely say no.
There are thousands of A-rank Hunters people are more interested in.
Unless you’re a beauty or have a powerful background, no one bothers with an average B-rank Hunter.
So why are people staring at us?
Bzzz.
At that moment, my smartphone vibrated.
On top of the sprout icon, the name ‘Kim Jaesik’ appeared.
“I’ll take this outside. Keep eating.”
“Yup! We’ll keep enjoying the food!”
“Order more if you need to.”
“Yup! Thank you!”
As I stood up, the two gave a salute and shouted “Chungseong!” even though they’d never served in the army.
Well, I hadn’t served either.
Instead, I’d done two years of alternative service as a state-assigned E-rank Hunter.
With my phone pressed to my ear, I walked out of the restaurant.
“Hello?”
Hyung, I mean, bro! Are you busy right now?
“Not busy. Just eating with some friends. What’s up?”
I thought so. Seems like you don’t know yet.
“Don’t know what?”
The Tower of Trials test video from this morning got uploaded.
“Tower of Trials?”
Unlike other Gates, cameras don’t get weathered away and disappear in the Tower of Trials.
Some internet streamers exploit this, filming Hunters taking the test.
They’re after easy views by playing on people’s interest in Hunters.
I guess lugging around cameras and filming is effort, in a way.
But since they film without permission, they get all kinds of criticism.
It’s a constant issue, but nothing ever happens except a slap on the wrist, so those guys never stop.
Well, there are always people who enjoy being filmed without permission.
Ji Sangwook is exactly that type.
“So what?”
Well, the thing is…
It’s not newsworthy enough to warrant a call.
Those videos get uploaded every time there’s a Tower of Trials test, usually the very next day.
This time, it was probably Woo Chaeyeon’s video.
She’s famous as a chaebol’s daughter, and even though she’s still young, she’s so pretty people naturally call her a beauty…
Ah, you idiot.
You got filmed, hyung.
“Knew it…”
I let out a deep sigh and scratched my forehead.
I could hear Jaesik’s awkward laughter in my ear.
Whew, why didn’t I think of that.
Of course a video of Woo Chaeyeon would go up.
Naturally, I’d be in it, too, since I was right next to her.
“I didn’t even notice they were filming…”
Come on, they filmed from 500 meters away. How could you notice?
“What meters?”
500 meters.
“They filmed me from that far away?”
Why do you think they carry around those giant cameras?
He’s right.
At 500 meters, there’s no way you’d notice.
Unless you have some detection skill, there’s just no way.
No wonder celebrities get their private lives snapped by paparazzi.
You’re even trending on real-time search. Didn’t you know?
“Trending? Me?”
Yeah. Hold on. I’ll send you the link.
As soon as he finished, a message arrived.
Clicking the link, a video popped up right away.
The view count had already reached several million for a video uploaded just this morning.
[Having trouble hunting Cyclops? Just get a better weapon!]
The video thumbnail featured my face with a mosaic blur.
Even with the mosaic, I could see why people recognized me.
That fish-tail-like hair was just too distinctive.
I pressed play, and heard, “Hello, subscribers of ‘Tower TV’!”
The video, disguised as an informational piece, was delivered in the stiff, monotone female AI voice typical of such channels.
[Let’s watch the controversial Hunter video now.]
Hyung? You watching?
“Yeah, I’m watching. Hold on.”
Ah, okay.
Jaesik kept quiet so I could watch the video.
On screen, I was fighting the giant blue-bladed Cyclops with my Arkaro.
It was no wonder I stood out, stabbing and swinging something like that around.
I probably would’ve caught attention even if I hadn’t been next to Woo Chaeyeon.
“Huh?”
The video was clearly edited.
It didn’t show the whole battle from start to finish.
Most of the footage was of me being pushed back by the Cyclops’ strength or defending its attacks.
It made it look like I was lacking in skill and only managed to take down the Cyclops because of my weapon.
It’s true I couldn’t have hunted it without my passive physical enhancement skill…
But this was way too malicious.
“Did I do something to tick them off?”
You done watching?
“Yeah, just finished.”
You okay?
“Yeah, doesn’t really bother me.”
….
From his silence, I could tell he didn’t believe me.
He probably thought I was pretending to be fine when I wasn’t.
But I really didn’t care.
Because,
“What do you think?”
Of course it’s a malicious edit! All you do is defend, but the Cyclops is already injured. Plus, I know how strong you are!
“Exactly.”
Huh?
“If you think that way, why care what random others think?”
Ah…
That’s also why I never really corrected people who called me by those derogatory nicknames.
People close to me didn’t think that way anyway.
Trying to manage my image with strangers I’d never even met was too much trouble.
Rather than worry about that, I’d rather tap my phone screen a few more times.
Isn’t the world busy enough just looking at cute and nice things?
So you’re just going to let it go?
“As if.”
Then what?
“I should at least teach them not to mess with the wrong person.”
Trash that leeches onto any incident like parasites.
If you leave these guys alone, they get bolder.
Eventually, it won’t just affect me—it’ll spread to the people around me.
I can already picture how things’ll turn out.
Given a bit of time, I’d be painted as some shameless guy flaunting overpowered items without any real skill.
Taecheon would become the senseless friend of that kind of guy, and Dohee would be the pitiful younger sister with thoughtless brothers.
Should I help?
“You?”
I watch a lot of streams as a hobby, so I know my way around. I’m pretty active on a few communities, too. You can tell just by watching the video—it’s clearly maliciously edited.
“True.”
While watching the video, I really felt like I’d become their sworn enemy.
It was obvious they meant to screw me over.
That’s what felt off.
Tower TV?
No matter how famous, to me it’s just some nobody channel.
I have no connection to them, so why are they doing this?
I am curious about that.
“Alright. I’ll leave it to you this time.”
Oh, good decision! If I find out anything, I’ll contact you right away!
“Thanks.”
Nah, not at all! I’m happy to help!
With that, Jaesik hung up.
He actually said he was happy to help. What a good guy.
Now, time to deal with the other two good guys inside.
Tapping my smartphone, I walked back into the barbecue place.
The two of them were rubbing their stomachs contentedly.
Just as I predicted, they’d eaten exactly six more servings of Fire Boar pork belly.
“Did everyone eat well?”
“Yes, thanks to you, Team Leader.”
Lee Jaewook’s formal tone had returned, maybe because he’d sobered up.
“But are you really going to keep calling me Team Leader? I already quit Baeguncheon.”
“Ah…”
“Now that the undercover stuff is over, aren’t you going back to Baeguncheon?”
“Yeah, we were really looking forward to it…”
The two of them slumped their shoulders again.
So they still thought I was undercover.
“Come on, we’re allies now. We can just go to Gates together without Dohee knowing.”
“…Wait, you’re right?”
“You promised!”
Both of their shoulders perked right up again.
Seeing how pleased they were, they really must’ve looked forward to working together.
Well, they’ll be chasing after me anyway, so there’ll be plenty of chances to team up.
When the time comes, we can just do a Gate together.
“Sure, next time let’s definitely go through a Gate together.”
“Thank you!”
…Thank you, huh.
I couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly at how absurdly grateful they were.
After making this kind of strange promise, we wrapped things up.
It was nearly midnight, after all.
I’d left things to Jaesik, but I planned to look into Tower TV myself, too.
As I headed toward the barbecue joint’s parking lot, the two of them called out to me energetically.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Get home safe!”
I waved back gently at their enthusiastic goodbyes.
They kept waving until I was out of sight.
Not like we wouldn’t see each other again in a few hours anyway.
Still, the gloom they’d shown when we entered was nowhere to be seen now. That was a relief.
Truly, there’s nothing better than meat to lift someone’s spirits.
“Alright, time for me to go home—”
Just as I went to open the car door, a message window popped up.
[‘Special Event’ triggered!]
[It has been ten days since World Tree Caretaker Baek Doun gently nurtured the World Tree sprout with a warm hand.]
[The previous World Tree is holding a special event out of gratitude!]
“A special event?”
What now?
[You will be automatically transported to the event space in 10 seconds!]
[10, 9, 8, 7, 6….]
Wait, whatever this is, at least give me time to mentally prepare!
But the numbers on the message window kept counting down without stopping.
[3, 2, 1.]
[Commencing transport.]
A stream of white light began to pour out from my smartphone.