49

The next day, Ho left with his fellow Hunters.

I did go to the airport with him, but I couldn’t help but worry about him. Gi-Hoon, as if he had just seen something interesting, came over to me and said.

“It’s a bit odd.”

“What do you mean?”

“Seeing master being worried for someone.”

I was sure that my expression had turned strange after hearing that, but Jeong Gi-Hoon ignored it and continued what he was saying.

“From the beginning, he has worked excessively. Everyone was worried about him, and some people even wondered why he was working so hard.”

I drank my coffee and continued listening.

“It was usual for his arms and legs to be chopped off during fights. He even lost his eye one time, and he spent twenty percent of the money he earned for a cure. Can you believe it?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

At this, Jeong Gi-Hoon smiled.

“Everyone who was with him, after seeing that, said that the master is the kind of man who could be a king.”

“That’s quite cringy.”

“It’s true, though.”

“Hm…”

“A lot of people idolized him, both ordinary people and Hunters. They gathered together and built the largest company in this country. To them, the master was some kind of religious symbol.”

There was a word that I had to react to.

“Religious symbol?”

“Yes. He had a lot of fans. Some of them even considered him as a divine existence.”

“…I’ve never heard of that.”

“That’s right, because Master Lee stopped them by himself.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. He emphasized that he is not a god. He told them to put their faith in other religions instead and stabbed himself in the arm.”

I wondered about what he would say next.

“He showed them that he bled like ordinary people and that he wasn’t some sort of divine being.”

That was cringy but appropriate at the same time.

“He announced that he would not lend a helping hand to someone who worships and idolizes him, so that was the end of that religion.”

Interesting.

“Oh, but they still loved the master and became the first employees of Cheon-Myeong. That is why I’m surprised. Master was a perfect man who fulfilled everyone’s expectations, but suddenly his brother came back to worry him.”

His father, Lee Myeon-Seong, never made him feel worried. That was quite obvious. That man should not even be called Lee Ho’s father. Did he actually think I would show a similar reaction as Ho? That was a bit disappointing to hear, but I ignored that feeling and asked him.

“Why are you still here? Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job?”

“I’m off today.”

Off? What would be the reason behind this?

“Is there a problem?”

“Well, you’re going to find out anyway. It’s Mr. Han’s funeral today.”

“Oh…”

“Would you like to come with me?”

I wasn’t sure about it, but Hyeok had asked me to come. With this, I quickly finished my coffee and made my decision.

“Let’s go.”

***

As with others, I didn’t like funerals.

I had to say a lot of goodbyes in Valhalla, so I was no stranger to funerals.

In Valhalla, the traditional way of funerals was to burn the dead body. Here on Earth, it was similar. The only difference was the location and environment, but everything else was the same.

I could see other Hunters from the Ko-gu-Rea guild, but there was no one I knew. I had only met these people once before at that gate.

I looked around. There were a lot of people inside the funeral home, all strangers to me. But in the smoking room, I caught sight of a tall man who I knew well.

It was Jang Hyeok.

I signaled to Jeong Gi-Hoon to wait for me. He nodded and proceeded to the back. With this, I walked toward the smoking-room to talk to Hyeok.

***

To Jang Hyeok, everything seemed like a nightmare. Even before the change in the world, he had known Mr. Han for twenty years already. Today was a hard day for him.

As he had mentioned before, he never thought that he would live a long life. Hunters always had to risk their lives for their job. Despite that, Hyeok still wanted to be a Hunter and be stronger than ordinary people. He felt like a superhero from an action movie. Even if it seemed childish, Hyeok wanted to be like those heroes.

That was the way of life Hyeok wanted to live.

The death of Mr. Han came earlier than he expected, but that was life. He had to face it and overcome the challenges it brought.

However, that meant his heart was broken.

Only those who had experienced a similar loss know that feeling.

Even as he smoked, he didn’t know where his cigarette was. Was it in his mouth? His nose? The tears he was expecting didn’t drop from his eyes. He had already cried a lot.

He brought out another cigarette, and that was when he sensed that somebody else was there with him. He turned his head and saw Lee Hwan approaching him.

“You smoke a lot. You know that’s harmful to your health.”

“Oh…”

Jang Hyeok then tried to put his cigarette away, but Hwan shook his head, making his meaning clear. Hyeok handed him a new cigarette and lit it before lighting his up as well. They smoked together for a while in silence.

Then, Hyeok opened his mouth.

“…Thank you for saving us and coming here.”

Hwan smiled lightly.

“It seems like I just wasted my time.”

Jang Hyeok raised his eyebrows. What was that supposed to mean?

“Were some of the staff members rude to you?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then why…?”

Lee Hwan sat down on a chair and explained.

“We haven’t known each other for a long time.”

“That’s true…”

“But I don’t like how you are now.”

“…May I ask your reason for saying that?”

“It’s just your behavior. It’s pathetic.”

Pathetic? Those were not the words Hyeok was expecting.

Lee Hwan continued. “Aren’t you the deputy president of this guild?”

“……….”

“You are the one who should be smoothing this over.”

Jang Hyeok didn’t know what to say. Meanwhile, Hwan sighed.

“If the King is dead, the prince takes over. You have to settle everything before you lose any more. I know that you are close to Mr. Han, but you are also responsible for your guild.”

“………”

“Think of the people who trust you. If you still want to wallow in your grief…”

Lee Hwan threw his cigarette away.

“Then better just die.”

Hyeok’s eyes widened in shock.

“If you are afraid of the responsibility and continuing to live, then you should just die. That will make you more comfortable.”

“………”

“Your guild might become disorganized. Someone else might try to take over Mr. Han’s position. You can evade those instances like a child.”

Lee Hwan’s eyes were still, but Hyeok’s eyes were shaking with emotion.

“If you don’t want to give up, wash your face and headbutt toward the wall. It will hurt, but that means that you are surviving. If you are surviving, do something about it.”

Hwan stood up.

“If you need a supervisor, come to me with money.”

That was it. Hwan stood and turned away. Hyeok was still speechless, and Hwan sensed him crying at the back.

He wondered what this man would do. would he stand tall? Or would he collapse? Hwan wanted him to stand tall. He liked this man.

That was it. Hwan left the smoking-room without another word. He went to meet up with Jeong Gi-Hoon outside the funeral home and saw a lady standing beside him. She had blonde hair and stood at about five feet and ten inches. She was a white woman.

When he approached them, her eyes glittered for a bit. She looked over at him, her eyes filled with surprise.

It seemed that she was Sophie Winsted, a woman that Ho had told Hwan about.

However, she showed an interesting reaction. Upon seeing Hwan’s approach, she suddenly fell to the ground, her eyes shaking as she faced me.

What did she see? Lee Hwan wasn’t so sure about it.

Gi-Hoon also looked at her in surprise.

What was happening?

***

The Winsted family was a famous name in the UK. First of all, they were a family of leaders. They had a lot of politicians within the family and owned a large castle.

Sophie was their second-born child. She was an intelligent student who went to Oxford when she was just seventeen.

At first, she had wanted to be a politician like some of her relatives. That was why she had majored in political studies. But then the gate incident occurred.

She was one of those who awakened their power right from the beginning. She was another unique skill holder and had ‘measuring’ skills. Using this, Sophie could measure the power of a gate just by looking at it.

Her skill was simple; she could see everything in numbers. For instance, if she were to use her ability on a certain gate, a number would appear that will indicate what level that gate was.

[ B-rated gate ]

[ 10,482 ]

That was how it worked.

She had already seen a lot of gates. That was why she was able to organize the ranking of the gates by just looking at their number. A-rated gates had a minimum number of one hundred thousand and a maximum of one million.

S-rated gates started from one million to about fifty million.

Beyond that number, a gate was already considered an SS-rated one.

The number indicated the amount of people that could die inside the gate. Sophie had managed to learn that through a ton of experience.

Aside from gates, her ability also worked on Hunters, but with a different numerical scale.

One S-rated Hunter could be assigned a number of about one hundred and ten thousand. That meant that that specific Hunter alone could kill a hundred and ten thousand creatures inside a dungeon.

That was probably true. S-rated Hunters didn’t get killed by bullets, after all.

But as irregular gates began to appear, her ability also changed.

[ Hunter A ]

[ 110,000 (160,000) ]

The second number in parenthesis indicated their potential. This showed the maximum level that Hunters could grow to achieve. Gates also showed potential change. As a responsible person, Sophie went to the different gates to assess them and prevent accidents from happening.

That was why she chose to tour the world and check each and every gate that existed.

She came to Korea first because she was curious about Lee Hwan, the man who was now famous in the UK. He was the brother of Lee Ho, one of the big three and strongest SS-rated Hunters in the world.

She knew what really happened at that gate, and that was why she was curious. She also wanted to request his help, so when she saw him approaching her from the funeral home, she used her ability to check his power.

The number was astonishing.

[ Lee Hwan ]

[?0?,?00,?00 (??????????)]

Everything was a question mark.

How could this be possible?!

A single person had managed to crush the power of the entire gate. What was more jarring was that his potential was much larger than anyone could imagine.

Even the system couldn’t judge his strength.

Who exactly was this man?