I was Mistaken for a Noble Hunter – Chapter 57

Author: Cireng

Light and Darkness (2)

Song Sangmin, a director of the UHN Safety Management Committee and a former A-rank hunter.

‘The mage’ Song Sangmin was quite busy for someone who had already retired from hunting.

UHN was an international organization founded on the ideology of protecting peace from gates and monsters.

Since he belonged to a place like that, it was only natural that he would be busy.

Still, Song Sangmin thought he liked his current life a little more than his old life as a hunter who simply chased money.

He had already earned more than enough money.

Now he could do something more rewarding.

But recently, that wasn’t the case.

Had there ever been days this busy in his life?

His phone kept ringing nonstop.

“Y-yes, yes. Secretary-General. Ah, the meeting. Of course, I’ll attend. But I’m currently in Korea, so it looks like I’ll only be able to join through video… Yes. I should go, but I still have an important appointment here in Korea… Ah, you’re telling me to leave the country immediately. Yes, yes. I’ll wrap things up as quickly as possible and depart…”

He was scolded for quite a while by the Secretary-General, the head of UHN.

An emergency meeting had been called due to the incident where a monster appeared at the forum, and Song Sangmin was the person responsible for managing that location. Naturally, it didn’t look good when he said he would only participate through video.

Moreover, while he was on the call with the Secretary-General, missed calls continued piling up.

The callers came from all sorts of places.

The Blue House Secretariat, the National Assembly, the Hunter Association, various large guilds, and major corporations…

Song Sangmin was spending his days in a frenzy of work.

In truth, at times like this, he should focus solely on his job.

That was why he had asked Kang Hoopung for understanding, saying he couldn’t do the task they had planned together beforehand…

“Ugh. That pig. He could’ve done it alone, but I’m busy as hell, and he keeps insisting I come along with him…”

Kang Hoopung had sulked, saying, Is this all our friendship amounts to? Despite his massive frame, the act looks completely ridiculous.

He kept insisting they meet, saying it had been a long time since they’d gathered like this.

Of course, stubbornness was that guy’s specialty, but reason didn’t work on him.

To be honest, Song Sangmin also felt extremely disappointed.

How hard was it to meet friends once you got older?

If this fell through like this, it would be difficult to match schedules again and set another appointment.

‘I’m bringing a promising rookie along, too. Remember I told you? A buffer. So you have to come! It’ll be fun!’

Even at the very end, Kang Hoopung had insisted like that.

And so, in the end, Song Sangmin carved out some time from his busy schedule and arrived at the meeting place in front of Mount Yebong in Paldang.

But then…

‘Was the rookie the pig mentioned, Hunter Kang Ian?’

After seeing Kang Ian, he was shocked.

Who would have thought he’d meet him in a place like this?

If that were the case, then the situation would be completely different.

Song Sangmin owed Kang Ian a great debt.

If it hadn’t been for Kang Ian, society would have been thrown into enormous chaos.

It wasn’t something Song Sangmin personally should thank him for.

UHN itself needed to officially express its gratitude.

In fact, at an upcoming meeting hosted by the Secretary-General, there were plans to discuss awarding Kang Ian a plaque of appreciation.

In any case, if he was going to be with Kang Ian, it was worth pushing aside all his other schedules to come here.

Wasn’t this something he had to do officially as a UHN director?

“Hunter Kang Ian. We meet again in a place like this.”

Song Sangmin and Kang Ian were moving forward shoulder-to-shoulder, as if being dragged along by Kang Hoopung.

Even so, Song Sangmin bowed politely.

Kang Ian did the same.

“I had no idea that Brother Hoopung’s friend was Director Song.”

“Friend? Please call him a bad friend.”

Song Sangmin shook his head.

Between them, Kang Hoopung grinned mischievously.

“Hehe. So? Surprised?”

“You punk. If the rookie you were bringing was Hunter Kang Ian, you should’ve told me beforehand.”

“I hid it for fun. Don’t nag me so much.”

“Good grief… And you know you need a buffer to go in here, right? That’s why you said you were bringing a rookie buffer, but what kind of buffer is Hunter Kang Ian…”

Song Sangmin suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

The video of Kang Ian defeating the Giant Mantis… after performing even better than John Gibson and Nakao Ryusei, still lingered in his mind.

But…

‘…Hunter Kang Ian really is a buffer, isn’t he?’

Kang Ian had definitely used buff skills.

Later, when he asked John and Ryusei about it, they said the buffet was quite good.

‘A tanker, a dealer, and a buffer… That’s completely a cheat character.’

If UHN released the full CCTV footage, the large guilds would probably start a massive recruitment war.

Currently, Kang Ian belonged to an agency, but there were surely many guilds waiting for that contract to expire.

“This kid’s talent is incredible, I’m telling you.”

“…That much I already know.”

“He even works out with me. I’ve never seen a young guy this decent these days.”

At that, Song Sangmin’s eyes widened.

He worked out with Kang Hoopung?

Knowing his training style, Song Sangmin immediately turned his gaze to Kang Ian.

“…Hunter Kang Ian. Are you okay? Most people can’t endure working out with this lump.”

“Haha… I’m fine.”

“Huh. Then you really must be the world’s greatest prospect.”

While chatting like that, the last member arrived.

“Oh, there he is.”

Kang Hoopung pointed to a luxury sedan approaching from afar.

The expensive car stopped nearby.

A middle-aged man in a suit stepped out.

It seemed to be a tailored suit. Even Kang Ian, who knew nothing about clothes, could tell at a glance that it was expensive.

“Sorry. I’m a little late. Something urgent came up at the company.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You’re a chairman, after all. Of course you’d be busy. We also just arrived. Feels like a class reunion.”

Kang Hoopung laughed heartily.

He started walking first.

“Alright. Let’s get going.”

With that, Kang Hoopung headed into the mountain.

A B-grade danger zone.

Mount Yebong in Paldang… where Kang Ian and the three retired hunters were about to enter, was classified as such.

***

Kang Isol could say with confidence:

If you ranked all college students by how busy they were, she would definitely be in the top 0.1%!

Medical students had a murderous workload.

Exams, exams, exams… and more exams.

The endless tests and things to memorize felt like they would make her head explode.

Yet she didn’t want to lose her position as the top student, so she worked hard.

At the same time, she didn’t want to ask her parents for living expenses, so she squeezed time out of her schedule to tutor students.

Today was the day she had a tutoring session with a third-year high school student.

They were currently reviewing incorrect answers from a mock exam.

“Alright. Let’s try solving this problem.”

“Unni~”

“Shh.”

“Hehe. Teacher~ Can we take a little break first?”

The student had apparently lost her concentration and practically sprawled over the desk while acting cute.

Knowing it would be hard to continue like this, Kang Isol sighed softly.

“Then we’ll only rest for five minutes.”

“Okay~!”

The student beamed brightly.

“Oh, right, teacher. Did you see that thing?”

Because she was at that energetic age, whenever they took a break like this, her eyes would sparkle, and words would spill out of her mouth nonstop.

Kang Isol knew that if she responded to her chatter appropriately, the student would regain her energy.

Let’s just chat for five minutes.

“What thing?”

“Hunter Kang Ian!”

“….”

Cough.

‘Why is my brother’s name coming up here…?’

Kang Isol nearly choked.

Hearing a family member’s name unexpectedly was truly startling.

“Isn’t he so cool? You saw that news too, right?”

“Uh… which news? I did see a few.”

“The one where he saved the Hunter Forum! Seriously, saving people even in a place full of hunters… doesn’t that mean he’s the hero of heroes? Even in those shaky photos, his handsomeness was bursting out. Don’t you think so too, teacher?”

“….”

What kind of question was that?

Her lips trembled.

At that moment, the allowance she had received came to mind.

Several thick yellow bills.

Altogether, it was close to 1.5 million won.

Instantly, her heart warmed.

Right. If it was an older brother who gave her that much allowance, of course, he was handsome!

“Of course~. Hunter Kang Ian might be the most handsome person I’ve ever seen.”

“Hehe. I knew it! I thought you’d think so too, teacher. But no way!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The spot as Hunter Kang Ian’s girlfriend is mine. If you feel the same way, teacher… starting today, we’re rivals!”

“…I’ll pass. You can have him.”

What a terrifying thing to say…!

***

Kang Hoopung, Song Sangmin, and Oh Youngjun.

The three of them were friends for several decades and hunters who once dominated Korea.

Kang Hoopung was still an A-rank hunter.

Song Sangmin was a former A-rank hunter who had now retired.

Oh Youngjun had been a B-rank hunter in his prime, slightly below the other two.

However, his reputation had skyrocketed after retirement.

He had more talent for business management than monster hunting.

Using his experience as a former hunter, he founded a company dealing with materials obtained from gates.

Now he had become a successful businessman.

“You run YJ Company? Don’t tell me… you’re CEO, Oh Youngjun?”

“Yes. That would be me.”

Oh Youngjun nodded calmly.

YJ Company.

It held nearly 60% of the domestic hunter equipment market share.

For high-end items, the share exceeded 90%.

The expensive equipment Kang Ian had once seen at a hunter shop… so pricey that he left shaking his head, had all been produced by YJ Company.

“Nice to meet you. I’ve seen the news about Hunter Kang Ian.”

“You know me?”

“Of course. Aren’t you the most famous hunter these days?”

CEO Oh Youngjun smiled gently.

“Personally, I’ve been a fan since I heard about the good things you’ve been doing. I didn’t expect we’d end up meeting like this. Looks like that friend of mine can be useful sometimes.”

Oh Youngjun glanced at Kang Hoopung.

Hoopung grinned and puffed out his already massive, muscle-packed chest even more.

“Coming here today was my suggestion, but I’m glad I brought it up to my friends.”

“But why did you want to come here?”

Kang Ian asked while looking around.

This place was Mount Yebong in Paldang.

That was the name marked on the map.

However, almost no one called it that anymore.

Instead, it was known as a B-grade danger zone.

A danger zone meant an area where access was prohibited.

There were many such places all over the world.

How did they come into existence?

It was simple.

When a gate rampaged and the monsters that emerged from it couldn’t be exterminated, the nearby area became dominated by monsters.

That was how a danger zone was formed.

Depending on the level of danger, it would be labeled A-grade, B-grade, and so on.

Even though things had calmed down recently, in the early days when gates first appeared, there weren’t enough forces to respond.

Because of that, many danger zones had been created.

Mount Yebong was one such place.

Naturally, people didn’t approach it.

Why would they come to a place like this?

Dangerous monsters swarmed the area, yet unlike inside the gates, there were no mana stones or other resources to obtain.

Nor was Mount Yebong a particularly valuable piece of land.

Additionally, monsters had a peculiar habit of not wanting to stray far from the gate they originally came out of.

For that reason, such places were usually left alone.

However, unusually enough, Oh Youngjun had asked his friends to come here.

“Our company is planning to produce a new armor using Skeleton Tigers as material. We need some samples, but recently, skeleton tiger byproducts haven’t appeared on the market. With the situation like this, what choice do we have? We have to get our hands dirty ourselves.”

It was a project YJ Company was secretly pushing forward.

“You’re the CEO. Couldn’t you just have your employees do it?”

“And how would the company run if I did that? The CEO should be the busiest.”

Oh Youngjun shook his head.

They needed to maintain secrecy while also having strong combat power.

The person most capable of both was the CEO himself.

So what could he do?

Like a proper CEO, he had to move the most.

At that moment!

“Shaaat!”

As they climbed the mountain path, a monster appeared before them.

A D-rank monster. A spotted lion.

The creature bared its fangs fearlessly, but none of them looked even slightly alarmed.

Kang Hoopung rolled his fists and called out to Kang Ian.

“Brother.”

“Yes?”

“Since we’re testing your buff, could you cast one on me? You said you can use fire and light attributes, right? And the fire attribute has no cooldown.”

“Yes.”

“Then give me the fire attribute.”

“Understood.”

Without hesitation, Kang Ian cast “Blessing of the Judgment Flame.”

Since it had no cooldown, he could keep applying it continuously.

A clear flame ignited around Kang Hoopung’s fists.

“Ohh. So this is it. Now then…”

Kang Hoopung leapt forward and instantly closed the distance with the spotted lion.

Then he threw a single punch.

Thud!

It looked like a light tap, but the creature’s skull shattered.

Kang Hoopung tilted his head.