Chapter 463: Cruising? (4)

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Kang Giringyo clearly noticed someone's strange behavior. For reference, a certain alien was completely unaware of this series of unsettling developments. Even living on a technologically advanced planet with developed social media, there was no way anyone could know his true intentions unless he himself typed them out.

While the body-enhanced skill user was busy browsing the internet, exactly fourteen minutes had passed on the blue, round planet. Around that time, Kim Giryeo had received a question from the curse sorcerer: By the way, the monster that killed the S-rank boss this time seems to be a completely new species that's never appeared before. Do you happen to have any information about it, Giryeo-ssi...?

I... I don't know.

Eventually, their conversation shifted to how they would locate the new monster.

***

I'm doomed. Let me repeat this just to be clear—aliens are still considered people. And as a person, I would now like to carefully confess that something catastrophic has happened in my life.

'I thought I'd finally gotten past one hurdle.'

After a brief overseas business trip, I had returned to my second home. But who would have known that such a massive chaos had erupted while I was away?

'Why is it that I'm always the one facing endless trials?'

Flicker.

Eventually, a snake-shaped object was spotted nearby. I stared at the golem flicking its tongue, my gaze heavy, and fell into thought.

Master! Master! Master... I think I'm getting hungry.

That cheerful object, speaking in Alphauri... actually showing off its abilities in front of Earthlings.

[New Species Monster That Killed S-Rank Boss Goes Missing]

[A Sleepless Night for the Citizens]

[To report an unidentified monster, dial 1149 without an area code.]

'A master like that, a golem like this.'

The incident caused by a single prototype was already dominating the front pages of every news website. Something had fired a massive beam from its mouth—far too large for its body—and melted an S-rank monster in a single strike before leaving the scene, so it was no wonder things had gotten chaotic. The main issue, as I had already noticed at the airport, lay in the raw materials.

'If it had been made by dismantling Jeong Haseong's [Sword of Sunset], it could've attacked in a much quieter way...'

Honestly, the idea of a golem using an optical attack wasn't entirely unreasonable. But this time, the S-rank gate happened to be red.

'My body is still young. But what is going to happen to my fortune during this age of ahopsu that things are already like this?'

It's all ruined.

Tuk, tuk.

Next came the sound of tapping on my phone. As my fingertips made contact, the black-tinged screen of the device briefly lit up, switching to a broadcast.

[[Replay] Citizen Report Video]

As soon as I heard the news from Esther, I hurriedly gathered information about the incident, and the video I found on an online platform was playing a spectacular scene.

Thud, boom.

A red giant, as tall as an eight-story apartment building, emerging from the gate.

Flash!

So much light was emitted that the video quality dropped drastically.

Kwaaaah.

And after about a second, accompanied by a deafening roar I had never heard before, the red giant vanished without a trace, leaving the cityscape of Seoul on the video.

[[Auto-subtitles] Viewers, can you see it?

The area circled in red is where the light in question was pouring out.]

[The camera quality is too poor!]

[Yes. Looks like the informant has been conserving their phone for a long time.

Even looking through glasses like this,

honestly, you can barely make out anything beyond a vague shadow.]

My loyal subordinate, "Dragon," had arrived at the scene before any hunter and immediately killed the S-rank monster.

'I was worried my Earth friend might get hurt if the safety lock was left loose. Of course I'd given that order from the very beginning.'

[Live Chat [Replay]]

[Oh wow, I can see something]

[A branch??]

[I can see it]

[Gray?]

[Isn't that a worm?]

As you can tell from the public's reactions... fortunately, the Golem's exact form still hasn't been revealed.

'Powerful light, shooting distance, and the low-resolution camera lens—thanks to all that, I just barely avoided a disaster.'

Even though luck was on my side, I didn't feel any better. If this was how it was going to be, why didn't the incident just not happen in the first place? All the commotion's already been caused, and now they just cover the culprit's face at the last minute—does that make it okay?

[Live Chat [Replay]]

[But I heard the monster still hasn't been caught... What happens if they can't track its location??]

[We'll just have to hide under our blankets every day, worried about when the monster might pop up again. What else can we do.]

[Wow, it's crazy:)]

As they said, it was far too early to feel safe. With countless citizens in a state of anxiety, it was obvious that the government would throw all its resources into dealing with the root cause of this incident. So I willingly paid the taxi fare, eager to take care of this matter as quickly as possible.

o ^ o

A golem that had thrown all of South Korea into chaos looked up at the people with a dazed expression.

Aren't you going to give me a magic stone?

A few seconds later, a somewhat cheeky remark was heard. Of course, it was from the golem that had just dealt with the Red Gate boss. Well, considering it still had plenty of energy left in its body, that would have been stranger if it hadn't been so bold.

'Just like Earth's electronic devices, being small means its usable time isn't very long.'

Sigh.

I lifted the clay doll in front of me with both hands.

Is there anything else you want me to do? Honestly, I'd rather you give me the magic stone first, Master.

Just so you know, giving a hungry Golem a magic stone is easy. The problem, however, is that the place we're standing...

[AF - Kim Giryeo Guild Office [Temporary]]

It was a place marked by a sign like this. To be precise, it was an alley just about 20 meters away from that area.

"Hmm."

Come to think of it, I had compared the Golem to a robot vacuum back when I first arrived on Earth. In any case, being the genius mage that I am, I had set up a sort of automation. In other words, once this Golem finished a dungeon run, it would automatically return to the temporary guild office and feed itself a magic stone out of habit.

Feed me!

But at a time when the entire nation is focused on the S-Rank Red Gate incident, what if the creature that killed the boss is spotted returning to my office? Moreover, even without such concerns, once its true form is revealed through CCTV analysis and the like, it would be a complete disaster in every way.

'From that moment on, the [Searchers] will immediately start exerting their power.'

So my thoughts didn't go any further. I immediately pried open the Golem's abdomen with [Telekinesis] magic. This was the scene of a veteran scholar skillfully dismantling a weapon—and a very swift destruction of evidence!

'The tracking magic of these primitives is still inferior, so doing just this should be fine.'

I split the snake-like Golem perfectly into its inner and outer parts, and swiftly transferred the most important component, the [Legendary Core], into my item box.

Flap flap flap flap.

If only that sound hadn't suddenly come from nowhere, everything would have truly been fine.

"What is it?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar vibration was detected nearby. Therefore, I lifted my head and assessed the situation with a sense of tension.

'Is someone shaking out a blanket from the top of the building or something?'

The thing that appeared along with this sound, which was almost like a very slow helicopter, was another piece of information that stimulated the archmage's intuition as if piercing it.

Magic.

Moreover, a rare presence, one of only four in all of Korea, was suddenly felt very close by.

'Ah, damn it! It's too insignificant in size for me now, so I can't even pay attention to it over there...!'

What fell from above was a mammal with extremely curly fur.

Thud!

Seo Esther fell through the gap between buildings from a height of 40 meters. It seemed she made that choice because she could no longer lower the altitude of the [White Bird] item.

"Giryeo-ssi!"

Moreover, the moment she appeared in the alley, she loudly called out her name. In other words, it was now impossible to pretend not to see Seo Esther and run away.

"As expected, you came straight to Seoul! But we just got a report from the Hunter Association—apparently, the video analysis is finally complete, and the search hunters have pinpointed the location of the new-type monster...!"

Standing tall.

A woman with slightly reddish hair looked in this direction.

"I..."

An S-rank hunter, unable to even finish the simple ending of 'I will,' had come to a complete stop. At that moment, this scene was reflected in Esther's eyes.

Someone's dyed hair, in stark contrast to her own, was poorly maintained. Yet the summer clothes, which she had personally chosen as gifts, had at least no design flaws. And even a snake-shaped robot was clinging to a person dressed like that.

"Am I screwed?"

The location of the light-element golem that had thrown downtown Seoul into terror was revealed. I started to break out in a cold sweat, wondering how I was supposed to explain this to the humans, but fortunately, one factor here was on my side.

"It, But I was wondering what you were holding earlier... and now I see, is the prey in your hand the monster from the news?"

This is because its bones and flesh are completely separated. At the very least, the dragon wouldn't appear to be a 'machine' created by an intelligent being.

"Y- yeah... I... I didn't know when I saw the report either. Some strong monster suddenly tried to attack people on the street..."

"Oh my! Oh my, my goodness."

"I killed this in one blow..."

It hurt my heart to say this after dismantling a prototype that was like my own child. But, in order to finish the government's golem search as soon as possible, I shamelessly lied.

Some of its organs are missing from battle damage—legendary-grade parts—but if it's okay, hand over this shell—the cheap monster material I temporarily patched it with—to the experts. I'm not a monster specialist, so I still have no idea what its classification would be. When I explained this way, Esther nodded with respect, without a hint of doubt.

"I'm sorry you had to go through such a serious incident right after entering the country. I was trying to resolve it without bothering you in any way, even pushing the [White Bird] to its limits while I was patrolling..."

If the story that just came out were true, and the mammals had encountered Alphauri artifacts first, I wouldn't even have dared to give a bitter laugh. I quietly wiped the cold sweat from my brow and wrapped up the incident. Moreover, I he brief commotion caused by the prototype's activity unintentionally brought some additional benefits.

[Viewer Bulletin Board]

[So, when are you going to explain about the artificial awakening??]

[... = = Are you really worried about whether it's artificial or fake right now? That new S-rank monster, tiny enough to hide in someone's house, was caught by that hunter, wasn't it?]

[... Anyway, those basement-dwelling haters are always like that = =. They put so much effort into making pointless controversies = =. He's so capable, so what if it's artificial?]

When the news aired that the fourth S-rank had captured a powerful monster, the faction that had been attacking people over the artificial awakening issue lost their momentum. Riding the wave, I also went ahead with the delayed explanatory interview.

[[On-site Interview] Kim, 'S-rank Awakener, explains return to hunter duties. Additionally, he also stated that the rumors about artificial procedures were completely groundless...]]

As expected, the atmosphere in society quickly stabilized.

Anyway, it's best to let things be. In an era where there's a clear enemy like the Dungeon Break, how far can people really go slandering an S-rank Awakener? Everything worked out well.

'When I build Prototype 2, I should definitely add an invisibility function.'

A soul that's never had a proper family ended up with far too many parents named Failure, but that part isn't really important, so let's set it aside.

***

One day later. Inside the fourth floor of a certain building, with the words "Math Tutoring Academy" written on the window.

"Hmm."

This was the office floor of my guild, established under Kim Giryeo's name. The traces of the previous tenant printed outside had just been left because it was too much trouble to remove them. I stared intently at the Korean sticker on the window, then discreetly checked my phone.

[Current Time - 8:35]

No matter who they are in this universe, once someone they're waiting for exists, they tend to check the clock more often than usual.

'I wonder when that Earthling will come to the office?'

You could tell just by seeing me here on a clear morning. Today was the day to restart the [Kim Giryeo Guild], which had been closed for a long time. I, as the representative, had fully returned to South Korea, and conveniently, Gu Seohyun's enchantment work had all been completed at just the right time.

'Gu Seohyun told me she'd kill me if I didn't buy her a nice meal later. Let's put this on our calendar...'

'This second exploration rod can search materials over a much wider range.'

Moreover, today I planned to distribute this to the guild members, aiming to speed up the creation of the observation lenses dedicated to Gisimche even just a little.

'I need to brief Choi Jin as soon as possible.'

For reference, Choi Jin is practically a squad leader in our guild. In other words, whenever there's something to convey to the field team, it usually goes through that black-haired mammal.

'It's better to expose peculiar the that alien naturally reveals to as few people as possible.'

Finally, the sound of footsteps was heard. After waiting a few minutes, Choi Jin's magic was finally detected near the office.

'Looks like she came on a motorcycle today as well.'

Well, at least I safely met the head of the field team.

Knock knock knock.

"Yes, come in."

I met with Choi Jin, the overall manager of the field team, and had a conversation. Then, handing over the new exploration rod I had designed during the guild's downtime, I started the day as usual.

"This is a weapon that's already been enchanted. Make sure everyone retrieves their own before heading out on dungeon assignments."

"Yes, Hunter Kim Giryeo."

"That's all for now."

Moreover, as mentioned just now, the employees of this company were now equipped with even stronger gear. Recently, the only thing I had increased was the staff's basic salary. The incentive system was still utterly lacking, and more importantly, this time, simply "doing nothing" was enough to earn a few rewards. After putting in all this effort to stimulate the humans' laziness DNA, could it be possible that those who are at least a hundred times smarter than lab rats would still give the boss a headache?

.

.

.

Swoosh.

A few days later. It was Friday morning, with the week already coming to an end. I trudged through the pouring summer rain to the office, and at this moment—already sitting at my cluttered desk—my mood was even worse.

[Rising.]

A message arrived on the remote communication device.

[Verified Message]

[KDBA]

Hello, Hunter Kim Giryeo.

We will take the lead in establishing a culture of integrity in the hunting business.

Greetings from the Korea Dungeon Business Association.]

The opening lines were tediously familiar. Skipping past the initial greetings, I could get straight to the main point.

[The guild you manage has been selected as the "Outstanding" exemplary organization for this quarter. Congratulations. Accordingly, we would like to inform you of the schedule related to the award—]

Shivering.

In response, I let out a voice that seemed like it would only come when the flame of life was about to go out.