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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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He understood their feelings to some extent.
It was undeniably a generous offer, almost unbelievable for a B-rank Hunter.
But the problem was the contract period: a whopping three years.
From Sungjoon Lee’s perspective, confident he could reach SS-rank within a year, there was no reason to accept a contract that was merely at the top tier of S-rank.
“Thankfully, the Association offered me a better contract than the one you proposed.”
Jaehoon Im’s eyes widened.
‘The Association offered a better deal?’
It was absurd.
There was no way the Association, a public institution with limited funds, could offer a better deal.
However, he couldn’t dismiss Sungjoon Lee as lying.
‘There’s no reason for him to maintain a contract with the Association at a loss.’
The Association must have offered some special terms that he was unaware of.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t grasp their intentions at the moment.
‘No, there’s no need to understand.’
Hwansung never let go of prey they had targeted.
Either they acquired it, or they destroyed it. There was no in-between.
A sinister smile spread across Jaehoon Im’s lips.
“I understand your intentions, Hunter Lee Sung-joon. But… you seem to cherish your family very much. I wonder if the declining Association can continue to protect them, unlike in the past.”
Sungjoon Lee’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just saying this out of concern because villains have been appearing frequently within the safe zones lately. You might already know, but the Association is no different from a toothless tiger right now.”
Jaehoon Im shrugged nonchalantly.
But he couldn’t deceive Sungjoon Lee’s eyes.
Having reigned as the ruler of the Thousand Continents and a Demon God, Sungjoon could read emotions to some extent just by looking at someone’s eyes.
‘He’s sinister.’
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jaehoon Im standing before him was the kind of person who would resort to any heinous act if it served his needs.
“But we at Hwansung can definitely protect your family. So if you change your mind, please call the number on my business card. I hope you’ll make a wise decision.”
Jaehoon Im nodded briefly as a greeting, turned around, and left.
Sungjoon Lee’s gaze, fixed on his retreating figure, was ice-cold.
There was no immediate danger.
However, as it involved his family, he couldn’t just let it go.
‘…I’ll have to be busy for a while.’
Fortunately, under the Association’s protection, they wouldn’t be able to act rashly.
However, judging by Jaehoon Im’s attitude, it was only a matter of time before they extended their wicked hands towards his family.
‘The Association will definitely have its limitations.’
This meant that a situation where he would have to resolve things on his own would eventually arise.
‘Therefore… I, myself, have to become stronger.’
Strong enough that even the five major guilds representing Korea, like Hwansung, wouldn’t dare to act recklessly against him.
Of course, achieving such growth in a short period wasn’t easy.
But for Sungjoon Lee, who was once called the Demon God, nothing was impossible.
Moreover, Earth now had a very helpful growth aid called the Force system.
Therefore, he could confidently assert that within the short time frame afforded by the Association, he would become strong enough to surpass even Hwansung, one of the five major guilds.
‘I’ll teach them exactly what happens when they try to touch my family.’
Sungjoon Lee, filled with cold fury, took a step and lifted his smartphone.
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47 years ago.
Monsters, believed to exist only in imagination, appeared on Earth.
Naturally, encountering monsters filled with murderous intent wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Countless people died in just one day.
As the world plunged into despair, a miracle occurred, and beings called Awakened were born.
Thus began the Great War, and for a decade, countless lives were extinguished.
However, it wasn’t enough to deal with the endless stream of monsters pouring out from the constantly opening gates.
In the end, humanity, pushed to the brink, faced a decisive battle for their fate on the final front line.
Just as everyone was contemplating their demise, another miracle appeared on Earth.
Once again, gates opened around the world, and intelligent heterogeneous races emerged.
Elves with pointed ears, beast-kin with half-human, half-animal appearances, orcs and goblins who, unlike the typical monsters that only exuded murderous intent, possessed reason and showed a friendly attitude towards humans.
They were all amicable towards humanity and willingly joined the war against the monsters.
Naturally, the beacon of counterattack was raised, and the Awakened, led by the Allied Forces of Heterogeneous Races, were able to reclaim some of the lost human territories.
But that was it.
Even the valiant Allied Forces of Heterogeneous Races hesitated to advance against the beings revered as gods or kings by the monsters.
The Awakened had no choice but to agree.
They weren’t ordinary monsters.
They were rulers and dominators who had lived for ages.
It was premature; they had to wait for the future.
It wasn’t a completely unfounded hope.
In the midst of the ongoing war, in 2055, the vanished people returned as returnees from another world, igniting a spark of hope.
Not immediately, but in the near future, if humanity’s power grew stronger, they could reclaim the lost lands.
Thus, humanity brainwashed themselves, adapted to the changed world, and went with the flow.
The same was true for the Awakened and Returnees, those who now called themselves Hunters.
Since humans were social animals, they too formed their own factions and societies, seeking stability.
Thus, the World Hunter Association was created.
A law was quickly passed stating that any country with even a single Hunter had to join this association.
Of course, since many were concerned about the concentration of power in one place, countries with a large number of Hunters were granted the right to create their own national Hunter Associations.
Up to this point, it was about world stability and Hunter control, but what followed was different.
Now, corporations seeking profit began to make their moves.
Although “Hunter” was a profession that hadn’t existed before, its value in the current world was immeasurable.
This was because magic stones, items obtained from monsters, offered humanity the potential to surpass even nuclear power.
Therefore, the Hunter profession was a new stepping stone for the development of Earth’s science, chemistry, and other fields.
As it represented an opportunity to accumulate vast wealth, astute businessmen, ambitious Hunters, and even large corporations with existing influence all showed interest.
It was inevitable, as in human society, money equaled power.
No matter how powerful a Hunter was, if they used their power recklessly or resorted to violence, they would be sanctioned by their country’s military, police, the Hunter Association, or even the World Hunter Association if they exceeded even that.
However, in a capitalist society, the free spending of money couldn’t be restricted.
Moreover, the current Earth was a world where, with enough money, one could control people’s hearts, power, and even take another’s life if they offered sufficient compensation.
Since everyone knew this, competition in the Hunter business was fierce.
As a result, many companies and guilds were born in Korea.
However, only five guilds stood out as representatives of Korea.
Sasin, Nuri, Bulsae, Baekho, and Hwansung.
Although all were guilds of immense prestige, representing Korea, there was still a ranking among them, a strongest and a weakest.
First, the honor of being called the strongest belonged to Nuri, led by the SSS-rank Hunter and Sword Master, Minsoo Yoon.
And occupying the most dishonorable position of the weakest was Hwansung.
The reason was simple.
Unlike Sasin, Baekho, and Bulsae, Hwansung had only one Hunter above SS-rank: their Guild Master, Donghyun Kim.
In fact, it was a miracle that Hwansung was even considered one of the five major guilds.
This was because Hwansung was the latest starter among the current five major guilds.
Starting late was an overwhelming disadvantage, especially when everyone was a startup.
Despite this, they were able to proudly list their name among the five major guilds thanks to the massive financial power of their sponsor, the Myungye Group.
Hwansung, receiving Myungye’s support and pouring money like water, recruited a massive number of Hunters, rapidly expanding their influence.
However, they couldn’t resolve their lack of Hunters above SS-rank even with their vast financial resources.
It was only natural.
No matter how much money and time they invested, it was a rank that couldn’t be reached without talent.
Therefore, Hwansung also considered their lack of Hunters above SS-rank their only weakness, a difficult problem to solve.
However, Returnee Lee Sung-joon, a talent with considerable potential to reach SSS-rank, had appeared on Hwansung’s radar.
Confident that they could recruit him with an offer he couldn’t refuse, considering their overflowing funds, they had been waiting.
But then, unexpected words came from Jaehoon Im, the head of the personnel team.
“…I’m sorry, the recruitment failed.”
“What?”
Donghyun Kim’s eyes narrowed. Just then,
A large man sitting next to him, Dongjun Kim, yelled as if he had been waiting.
“Brother, didn’t I tell you? That Lee Sung-joon is incredibly arrogant! Because of his talent, the Association is treating him a little better, and he’s gotten completely conceited!”
Donghyun Kim’s face crumpled.
‘…This incompetent fool is just noisy.’
But he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.
Although temporarily suspended, Dongjun Kim held the position of Director of the Returnee Management Department at the Hunter Association.
This meant he could access information on returnees with exceptional talent in advance.
In fact, they had succeeded in recruiting numerous returnees to Hwansung through Dongjun Kim’s information, and this was one of the driving forces behind Hwansung’s rapid growth.
‘He’s been bringing in some useful information lately… But trash is trash after all.’
He had missed the most crucial, the most important talent.
‘It can’t be helped.’
It wasn’t for nothing that Dongjun Kim had been the first to be eliminated from the succession fight.
He was the epitome of incompetence, a collection of inferiority complexes.
His siblings knew this, so they had focused their attacks on him first, eliminating him from the succession fight.
‘Come to think of it, it was my mistake to use such a person as an informant.’
Donghyun Kim, irritated to no end, quickly regained his composure.
What was important now wasn’t the past but the future course of action.
“It would be quite troublesome if another guild were to recruit him.”
It was no exaggeration to say that Hwansung was currently at the bottom of the five major guilds.
If Sungjoon Lee went to a large guild like Kingdom or Pegasus, which were chasing them from behind, they might have to give up their place among the five major guilds.
If he considered the worst-case scenario resulting from that…
‘I could be completely pushed out of the succession fight, just like Dongjun Kim.’
However, he was too tempted by Sungjoon Lee’s talent to just eliminate him.
‘If Sungjoon Lee grows to meet my expectations…’
Hwansung would be in contention for the top spot in Korea.
It meant he could cleanly conclude the complicated succession fight.
“Hmm…”
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