Chapter 134

“Mr. Woo Jinchul?”

A news anchor had once interviewed people who knew Woo Jinchul about the man. Invariably, their first question was this:

“Are you asking about before the Cataclysm or after?”

The response was the same no matter whom the anchor asked. Any account of the life Woo Jinchul had led differed dramatically depending on whether it concerned the years before or after the Cataclysm.

“Before the Cataclysm, Mr. Woo was a police chief. At Jungbu Police Station, I think?”

Jungbu Police Station was legendary among police officers. For over twenty years, it had boasted the highest criminal arrest rate in the country.

Of course, Woo Jinchul wasn't the man who had built that legend. At the time, Jungbu's violent crimes division had a legendary detective known as the “Ghost.” His arrest rate was a staggering 200 percent.

The Ghost caught not only the criminals in his own cases, but even those from old, unsolved cases. Before him, even the most vicious criminals and gangsters became meek as lambs.

Yet despite those incredible achievements, he was an oddball who stubbornly refused every promotion. His reasons were downright absurd, too. To concentrate on fieldwork. To catch more criminals himself.

The officer who offered those predictable yet perfectly reasonable explanations and remained a violent crimes detective was none other than Sung Jinwoo—the Shadow Monarch now waging war against the Itarim in the outer universe.

Woo Jinchul was his immediate superior and closest colleague, the man who had followed him around since he was in high school and finally persuaded him to take the police entrance exam.

Because Sung Jinwoo kept passing the credit for his accomplishments to Woo Jinchul, Woo alone somehow found himself being promoted at breakneck speed. By the time he finally became police chief, plenty of people were jealously talking behind his back.

“He sold out his colleague to get promoted.”

“Why is he taking credit for his subordinate's work?”

“Does Woo Jinchul have something on Detective Sung Jinwoo?”

However, after a private conversation with Sung Jinwoo one day, the people spreading that gossip never said such things again.

A different rumor began circulating instead: Detective Sung Jinwoo was the real power at Jungbu Police Station. Of course, that had always been the case, so it was hardly news. More than a few people had witnessed Woo Jinchul treating his direct subordinate with unfailing deference.

But at some point, that tremendously famous station stopped being a topic of conversation among police officers. To be precise, it began when Detective Sung Jinwoo suddenly stopped coming to work.

“There were all sorts of rumors. That the Ghost Detective had gone missing, that he'd quit the force, that he was on an extended vacation... What was his name again?”

Strangely enough, the Ghost Detective's name had never really become known to the general public. Whether that was what he wanted was unclear, but oddly, the only name that ever appeared in the media was Woo Jinchul.

Among his fellow officers, however, Sung Jinwoo was so famous that his sudden absence spawned endless rumors. Yet Chief Woo Jinchul offered no particular explanation, merely recording him as being on leave—as though he took it for granted that Jinwoo would return someday.

And so... the name Sung Jinwoo quickly faded from his colleagues' minds.

It was inevitable. The void he had left was simply too great. All the detectives at Jungbu Police Station, who had enjoyed solving cases with ease thanks to him, were now frantically rushing about to deal with incidents cropping up everywhere.

“And around then, the Cataclysm suddenly struck.”

This was where the interview really began.

“And with the Cataclysm, Mr. Woo showed his true colors.”

Once the Cataclysm struck, no one believed the rumors that he had earned his promotions on the back of his subordinate's work anymore.

“I can't say for certain, but Mr. Woo may have been the first person in our country to awaken.”

Indeed. During the Cataclysm, that turbulent period when Gates and magic beasts suddenly appeared all over the world, the then police chief Woo Jinchul awakened his mana faster than anyone.

But above all, it was what he did after awakening that earned him the reverence people held for him today. Unlike other awakened people, Woo Jinchul never showed any wonder or bewilderment at his newfound supernatural abilities. Instead, like a fish taking to water, he began using them as naturally as if he had always possessed them.

Though the public never learned this, the very first thing he did upon awakening was calmly close his eyes and gauge his strength.

“... A-rank. The same as before.”

At that point, the United States had yet to announce hunter ranks based on mana capacity. Even mana-measuring devices had not been invented, yet he could assess his own rank from the outset.

It was only natural. Under Sung Jinwoo's influence, he had already recovered all his memories of his previous life decades ago.

Before the Cataclysm, those memories had been utterly useless. But when Earth suddenly entered an age of hunters as it had in the past, he effectively became a hunter living his life for the second time. At the same time, he realized how dire the situation was.

'This is bad. Earth is in this state again, and Hunter Sung Jinwoo isn't here.'

Even before the Cataclysm, he had known that Sung Jinwoo occasionally went away to fend off enemies from other worlds. Each time, he had supported him by putting him down as being on vacation or leave. But this time, for some unknown reason, years had passed without Jinwoo returning.

Still, he did not lose hope.

'Hunter Sung Jinwoo will return. Until then, I'll... do what I can.'

That was when Woo Jinchul began making full use of the memories of his previous life.

Immediately after the Cataclysm, the world was in chaos. Not only magic beasts but awakened people were appearing in droves, bringing countless incidents in their wake.

Woo Jinchul, still a police chief at the time, used his authority and every connection he had to establish the Hunters Association first. Then he became its inaugural chairman and began negotiations with government officials.

“I think ours was the first country in the world to establish a Hunters Association.”

“Thanks to that, hunter legislation was revised incredibly quickly, too.”

Introducing new laws required many procedures and a great deal of time. Knowing that full well, Chairman Woo Jinchul steadily worked to pass the most important laws first.

One of those was the Villain Punishment Act, targeting the people causing the greatest social disruption immediately after the Cataclysm. Armed with that law, he began rounding up villains who let their newfound power go to their heads and caused trouble.

'Magic beasts are enough of a headache. We can't have humans fighting each other, too.'

Of course, still only A-rank in this life, Woo Jinchul lacked the strength to eliminate every villain. But...

'If I don't have enough strength, I'll just have to make up for it.'

As the first step toward strengthening the Association, he decided to recruit the S-rank hunters he remembered. In particular, he targeted the S-rank hunter nicknamed the “Ultimate Weapon.” Feigning a chance encounter, he successfully befriended Choi Jongin, formerly guildmaster of South Korea's top guild, before he even awakened his mana. The moment Choi became an S-rank hunter again in this life, Woo politely offered him his business card.

“For this country, for justice, and to protect the world, would you join me?”

“... Very well.”

From that day forward, Choi Jongin began serving as the S-rank hunter representing the Korean Hunters Association.

Thanks to Woo Jinchul's efforts, a country plunged into chaos rapidly regained its stability. The speed of its recovery was remarkable enough to earn worldwide recognition, and Chairman Woo Jinchul shot to stardom.

“Woo Jinchul, a national hero!”

But he never let the attention and popularity sway him or go to his head. Instead, the sight of him focusing solely on his work, as though it were nothing special, endeared him to the public all the more.

It was only natural. Woo Jinchul was, quite literally, a hunter living his life for the second time. Moreover, he was an experienced chairman, having succeeded Chairman Go Gunhee in his previous life. He brought hunters together and restored public order with such practiced skill that he seemed born for the role.

By this point, not a single South Korean would deny that he was a national hero. His power was still only that of an A-rank hunter, yet even S-rank hunters dared not flaunt their status before him.

“Over the last two years, every step Chairman Woo Jinchul has taken as a hunter in public service has been the history of South Korea's hunter community.”

The final interviewee left with those words. Having concluded the interviews, the news anchor nodded in satisfaction and moved on.

“That concludes our interviews. Our next story concerns Jisan Prison. Established by the Hunters Association two years ago, Jisan Prison is a detention facility exclusively for villains...”

“So Mr. Woo became the Association chairman in Korea. What a relief.”

Having emerged from the Glacier Dungeon, Cha Haein was checking the news from Korea online. She let out a relieved sigh.

With an Association established by Woo Jinchul, Korea was in safe hands. She could scarcely imagine how much he must have prepared over the past two years to fill the void Sung Jinwoo had left, or all the effort and hardship it must have taken. Feeling an unexpected ache in her heart, she offered Suho some advice.

“Mr. Woo is an old friend who knows about your father. He's apparently away providing assistance in North Korea right now, so go see him as soon as he returns and explain the situation. He'll be able to help you a great deal.”

“... What about you, Mother?”

Sensing something amiss in her words, Suho looked at her, his expression hardening.

“I can't go with you.”

Surprisingly, Cha Haein intended to return to the Glacier Dungeon she had struggled so hard to escape. With a sorrowful expression, she stroked the head of Kaisel, who had shrunk to the size of a parrot and was sitting quietly on her shoulder.

“At this rate, Kaisel will disappear soon. I can't let that happen.”

The wyvern Kaisel was precious to her, having protected her for the past five years. That was why she intended to return to the depths of Echo Forest, where the “gray snow” fell.

“Strangely enough, the farther we went into the areas where that gray snow fell heavily, the more Kaisel's depleted strength recovered, little by little.”

[“That is probably... because the gray snow is actually dragon ash.”]

Cha Haein nodded at Beru's words.

“Yes. That's what I think, too.”

She still remembered a story Sung Jinwoo had once told her as they watched white snow falling from the sky. The Dragon Emperor had been one of the most threatening enemies he had ever faced. On the day he killed all the countless berserk dragons under the emperor's command, gray ash from those multitudes of dragonkind had drifted down from the heavens. He said that whenever he saw white snow falling, he remembered that ash.

“And beyond that gray snow, there must be...”

[“A dimensional rift leading to the graveyard of the berserk dragons.”]