Chapter 137

"At one point, our entire island—the Republic of Pasad—nearly became one enormous Gate."

The president of the Republic of Pasad's speech was broadcast on the news to the citizens of Pasad who had fled to countries all over the world.

"But citizens of Pasad! You can rest easy now. The ice age is over!"

Just as the speech said, from the moment the apostle of Itarim was annihilated, the countless Gates that had riddled Pasad like holes in a rag began closing rapidly. The bitter cold that had poured through those holes vanished without a trace, and the field dungeon's mana-corrupted territory rapidly shrank.

"The ice age is over!"

As the president proclaimed, Pasad was now safe. Of course, that did not mean every Gate had closed.

One remained. Even after the dimension stabilized, a single Gate leading to the Glacier Dungeon was still there.

Closing that Gate would require exterminating the magic beasts in the Glacier Dungeon. But now that Suho had purchased exclusive rights to it, no one would be allowed to set foot inside without his permission. In short, the Glacier Dungeon would remain an autonomous territory for the ice elves.

Still, the citizens of Pasad could hardly help feeling uneasy about that arrangement. They would be living with a ticking time bomb, never knowing when another dungeon break might occur. That was where the Scavenger Guild came in.

The Scavenger Guild, the largest guild in the United States, had publicly announced that it would guard the entrance to the Glacier Dungeon while conducting mining operations. Now all the citizens of Pasad who had fled overseas could return home without fear.

"On behalf of all our citizens, I extend my gratitude to the Scavenger Guild for saving the Republic of Pasad."

["Kieeek! Those ignorant fools!"]

All the way to the airport, Beru ground his teeth, evidently displeased with the president's speech.

["Their insolence truly knows no bounds!"]

["Exactly, Master. They don't even know who really saved them, and they're thanking the wrong people!"]

"That was the deal from the start. Besides, this works better for us, too."

Suho could only chuckle at how well Beru and Quay got along, fuming together despite knowing the terms of the agreement perfectly well.

The Scavenger Guild had immediately issued an official announcement claiming that it had conquered the Glacier Dungeon. This would be only the first of the sweet intangible benefits it would enjoy. Just as Laura had planned, taking on all the dungeon's miscellaneous tasks had paid off by greatly boosting Scavenger's brand value.

Meanwhile, Cha Haein, who had actually played the decisive role in resolving the Glacier Dungeon crisis, and Suho, who now held its exclusive rights, were kept completely out of the public eye. This was entirely at their own request. Neither enjoyed attracting attention, and for the time being, they also needed to divert it elsewhere.

"Don't complain so much. If another apostle of Itarim is plotting somewhere in the shadows, this will turn its attention toward the Scavenger Guild."

Thomas Andre, who had come to the airport to see Suho off, grinned as he soothed Beru and Quay. Then he pointed a thumb at Suho beside him.

"Leave it to me. Until this kid gets as strong as his father, I'll make sure to be his shield. I embarrassingly ended up causing trouble this time, but believe it or not, I used to be humanity's strongest tank."

Indeed, Thomas Andre was a tank who had withstood the breath of the red dragon Kamish, once called the strongest magic beast, with his own body. He was more than worthy of calling himself humanity's strongest tank.

["Humanity's strongest, my foot."]

["Just don't go getting yourself possessed again."]

"Well, listen to you two! Are you going to keep bringing that up and embarrassing me? Don't shadow soldiers these days know how to respect their elders?"

Thomas Andre merely chuckled at Beru and Quay's immediate, unyielding retorts.

Then he said, "Suho."

Thomas Andre extended his large, rough hand to him.

"Thank you."

Sensing the emotion packed into those two words, Suho raised his head to look at him. A carefree expression rested on the muscular old man's face beneath his slicked-back white hair. His eyes belonged to a man who had finally settled a long-standing problem and decided which path to take.

Suho chuckled and clasped that enormous hand.

"Yes. Thank you, too."

The hand was as hard as stone, which surprised Suho a little. Its thick calluses were a badge of honor, hinting at the grueling training this man had put himself through over the years. At the same time, those calluses were weapons, developed to the extreme so he could seize an opponent or keep hold of a weapon in battle.

But that was not what had surprised Suho.

'Dad's hands... were like this, too.'

No, if anything, his father's had been even rougher, never less so. Suho briefly looked down at his own hand, still so soft by comparison.

Laura pushed her glasses up and addressed him.

"Hunter Sung Suho, please establish your guild as soon as possible once you return to Korea."

"Oh, right."

"Please make sure you do. As you know, our agreement is a contract between guilds. It will only take full effect once you have founded yours."

In principle, individuals could not purchase exclusive rights to a dungeon. Scavenger had made temporary arrangements for now, but there would be all sorts of complications unless Suho formally established a guild.

"I understand that founding a guild in Korea requires experience in at least twenty dungeon raids. If there's anything we can do to help with that..."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I've found another good way."

"...?"

Laura looked puzzled for a moment before recalling a particular piece of information. Though rarely used, there was indeed a way to meet Korea's guild-founding requirements through experience other than dungeon raids.

"Surely you don't intend to fulfill the experience requirement by hunting villains?"

"Yes, exactly."

Suho's answer only deepened her bewilderment.

"Wouldn't that take even longer? Villains with bounties high enough to count toward the requirement aren't exactly wandering the streets..."

"Actually, they are. These days, anyway."

"...?"

* * *

He was back in Korea. From the moment Suho stepped off Yoo Jinho's private jet, he could sense that the atmosphere in the country had changed.

"Our next story concerns Jisan Prison."

Screens throughout the airport showed a grave-faced newscaster delivering breaking news.

"Jisan Prison is a specialized detention facility for villains established by the Hunters Association two years ago, as part of Chairman Woo Jinchul's tough measures against villains at the time..."

"Good grief. That whole mess has the country in an uproar right now."

Walking beside Suho, Yoo Jinho clicked his tongue at the news.

Korea had long been known worldwide for its public safety. That was all thanks to the anti-villain measures Chairman Woo Jinchul had focused on implementing as soon as he established the Association. Jisan Prison was a prime example.

"Suho, you probably don't know much about this since you were never very interested in these things, but Jisan Prison wasn't originally a prison exclusively for villains."

As the CEO of a major corporation, Yoo Jinho had to stay abreast of world affairs. As such, he knew very well what Jisan Prison had been like in its early days under Chairman Woo Jinchul.

"Prisons in our country are classified from S1 to S5 according to their security level. Jisan Prison was an S5 facility for prisoners serving the longest sentences."

"So it wasn't specifically meant to hold villains."

"Right. But strangely enough, the prisoners Chairman Woo Jinchul put there started awakening inside, one after another."

At first, everyone dismissed it as coincidence. There was no rule saying prisoners could not awaken. But the awakenings continued until, before anyone knew it, most of Jisan Prison's inmates had become awakened people.

"There was quite a stir back then. People said there was something special about the site, or that there was some secret hidden inside that could turn ordinary people into awakened people..."

It reached the point where some criminals who wanted to awaken actually came forward and demanded to be locked up in Jisan Prison.

But after most of the criminals Chairman Woo Jinchul had personally imprisoned in the early days of the Cataclysm awakened, those incarcerated afterward never awakened, no matter how long they waited. Having foolishly volunteered to be locked up in Jisan Prison, they were left to serve their sentences trembling among vicious villains.

As that absurd story spread, rumors arose that it wasn't the prison's location that was special. Perhaps Chairman Woo Jinchul had a skill that let him identify people who would awaken...

"Who would've guessed he couldn't identify them—he simply knew already."

Yoo Jinho chuckled to himself.

It took only a little cross-checking to confirm that those who had awakened as hunters in the erased timeline would awaken as hunters in this one as well. Even their ranks were the same: former S-rank hunters awakened as S-ranks, and former E-ranks awakened as E-ranks. That made it easy to be certain.

That was why Chairman Woo Jinchul had identified the criminals who would awaken as hunters and gathered them all in Jisan Prison. Even if they awakened later, he would have them in one place where he could keep them firmly under control.

"The problem must have been that even Chairman Woo Jinchul couldn't know every detail of the criminals' abilities."

And this was the result.

"The awakened inmates who staged a simultaneous riot and escaped from Jisan Prison two days ago remain at large."

"The Association has formally designated them as villains and issued an emergency request for cooperation to all hunters nationwide..."

"... I never imagined all the villains locked up in Jisan Prison would escape."

"Maybe word leaked that the chairman had gone to North Korea to provide support. Apparently, the Association's S-rank hunter was deployed there with him, too, so they must have thought this was their chance."

Naturally, information would have been tightly controlled in a facility housing dangerous villains. But there was no telling what abilities those villains had awakened, so they might have had some means of obtaining it. And if they had learned through that means that Chairman Woo Jinchul and the Association's S-rank hunter were both away? They would very likely have decided that this was the perfect time to break out.

"That is our assessment as well, Hunter Sung Suho."

A familiar voice suddenly sounded behind them. Suho and Yoo Jinho turned to find Team Leader Han Jaehyuk of the Association, who had come to meet Suho.

"I'm so glad you've returned safely."

Han Jaehyuk let out a relieved sigh the moment he saw Suho.

Major overseas guilds had already been poaching promising Korean talent with increasing frequency lately. Having witnessed Suho being abducted(?) by Thomas Andre right before his eyes, Han Jaehyuk had feared he might simply join America's Scavenger Guild. That prospect had been a bitter pill to swallow. He had even seen Suho match Thomas Andre in a contest of strength. Losing a hunter like that to America would have been a terrible waste.

'The Scavenger Guild must have made him an incredible offer, yet he turned it down and came back.'

Laboring under that misconception, Han Jaehyuk silently thanked Suho for his patriotism.

"I'm glad you made it here on time."

"Of course I came. At a time like this, none other than Hunter Sung Suho has offered to help us as a bounty hunter."

Han Jaehyuk looked as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Meanwhile, the news continued reporting on Jisan Prison.

"The individual who led the mass escape has been identified as the C-rank villain Hwang Dongsuk. He is currently..."

"All right, then."

With the news playing behind him, Suho looked at Han Jaehyuk. His eyes had already become those of a hunter stalking his prey.

"How many of them do I need to catch to become a guildmaster?"