55

“Oh…”

“I already talked to Yoo-Jeong. I’m planning to bring you, So-Eun, and Ee-Na as well. Will you come?”

Gi-Hoon readily answered. “Of course. After all, we are inseparable.”

I chuckled and said, “Then wake Sophie up. Let’s get this over with quickly.”

Gi-Hoon stood up and hurried out. After a while, Sophie entered the room. She was delighted to hear my decision.

“Would you like to come to our country?”

However, what I said was not related to the topic at hand.

“Did you drink a lot?”

“Oh… Can you smell it?”

“Yes, so brush your teeth. Also…”

I looked around. Two men were standing in the doorway.

“I suppose these men are your bodyguards, but get them out of here.”

“May I ask why?”

My answer was clear. “I don’t like people watching over me.”

She stopped for a bit, realizing what kind of man I was. Sophie observed me for a while, and it was I who made her move.

“What are you doing? Get them out of here.”

Sophie nodded. With a wave of her hand, the men nodded and left the room. This made her smile. Everything was settled.

Hm… The UK…

***

Sophie brushed her teeth inside a nearby bathroom.

She couldn’t help but smile.

Gi-Hoon had already confirmed that they would be accepting her request to go to the UK with her.

To be honest, Gi-Hoon possessed talent. His current power was at about 240,000, and his potential power was about five times higher than that. That was strong among other S-rated Hunters.

However, there are already a lot of Hunters like him in the UK. Gi-Hoon was not the reason why she was that happy. It was because of Lee Hwan’s words, saying that they would go to the UK.

It all worked well that Sophie couldn’t help but exclaim.

There were only ten SS-rated Hunters around the world. People called them the Elite Ten. The Big Three were different from them because the Elite Ten were those who had unique skills in the world. Sophie was also a unique skill holder, but she was not SS-rated. Instead, she was an S-rated Hunter.

She had checked herself and seen that her current power was about 1.5 million. SS-rated Hunters had the power of at least five million. She was far behind.

However, she was still one of the Big Three.

The Big Three referred to the three Hunters who were contributing the most to the world. Sophie, as well as Lee Ho, used their abilities to help others voluntarily.

The UK didn’t have any SS-rated Hunters, but they did have a lot of S-rated Hunters. That was why the UK was surviving for such a long time. But as an SS-rated gate suddenly appeared, the situation has changed.

Furthermore, they only had two days until a dungeon break.

To clear it in such a short time, SS-rated Hunters were needed. Sophie’s other purpose of this tour was to get support from other SS-rated Hunters.

She sighed. As Lee Hwan mentioned, she had drunk a lot. She usually doesn’t drink like this, but yesterday was an exception.

She had drunk after her meeting with Raul Albanes, the SS-rated Hunter who was considered the strongest Hunter in the world.

She had called to ask for his help, but his response was ridiculous.

‘Sleep with me, then I’ll clear the gate for you.’

She couldn’t believe her ears, but his response showed that he meant it.

‘What are you waiting for? Take your clothes off.”

The president of the USA and the director of the CIA were there as well; he had said that in front of them. That was an embarrassing and terrible incident.

The President and the director of the CIA apologized, but what was the point? She felt ashamed for even considering that as an option for a while.

She only had three days left. Sophie had to get other SS-rated Hunters quickly.

She knew that she was attractive. Compared to the potential danger the UK was facing, what he asked for was virtually nothing.

When she was leaving, Raul had told her.

‘If you change your mind, come to me, but since you rejected me once, I’ll go harsh on you.’

Sophie clenched her teeth and quickly left the place.

The UK needed an ally. A strong ally that they could rely on. At first, Sophie thought of Lee Ho, but he was in China’s SS-rated gate. Even if he managed to clear the gate quickly, it would be rude for her to ask for his help right after.

She moved around the world to ask for help. No one answered her request. They also wanted to have two other SS-rated Hunters to be on their team, but no one responded to that request as well. It was already impossible to get help.

That was why she was drunk.

Lee Hwan had told her yesterday that he would think about it. That was her only hope. If he said no, then she would have had to accept Raul’s suggestion.

The gate was in London, the capital of the UK. A lot of people would die if the gate was not cleared. It must be cleared soon.

She drank a lot yesterday. Gi-Hoon, staying the night for work, talked with her for a bit. Despite her offer, he did not drink any drinks.

He said that his boss hated irresponsible people, and that was Lee Hwan.

She tried to smile. The man was undoubtedly a strong person.

Of course, she was thinking about the reward for him. Sophie was not the kind of person who would ask someone for help without any reward.

She decided to find out what he needed from them.

Sophie made a promise to herself that she would do anything to repay his help. The entire UK would help support him.

***

Lee Ho returned to his private plane. The other Hunters from Cheon-Myeong as well as Jong-Geun were already there.

“Have you finished your task?”

“I have, sir. We did everything you asked. The anti-Hunter organization’s members were killed, and we burned their building. There is no evidence left.”

“I appreciate your work.”

Lee Ho then sat down and leaned back on his chair.

This was how a Hunter’s life was. Lee Ho thought about today’s events carefully.

He was not a fool. The people he killed deserved to die. They were members of an anti-Hunter organization that invaded his country and did some harm at the back. The anti-Hunter organization was larger than he had thought. The people he killed were just those who were related to his country.

“And master, the Chinese government is requesting a recorded video.”

They were asking for the recorded file showing how the gate was cleared and how Shao Wei was killed. To be honest, it was unnatural for no one to have recorded a video. Shao Wei and his guild members did have recordings, but Ho had crushed and burned all their files.

“There are no videos. Tell them.”

Jong-Geun nodded. Lee Ho then closed his eyes.

He was the only one who knew what would happen in the future. A gate that was much stronger than an SS-rated would soon appear.

Tiamat would appear soon. He needed some more time to be ready for it.

Suddenly, his smartwatch rang, alerting him to a call. It was from Lee Hwan.

Ho froze for a bit. His brother’s presence was so powerful that he could not even begin to imagine how strong he really was.

He took a deep breath and answered the call.

[ You accepted the call late. Are you dead? ]

“If I’m dead, then I wouldn’t be able to accept your call.”

[ That’s true. Well, how was the job? ]

“I just finished it.”

To be more specific, he was almost done. He needed to do something more to make it perfect. He had accomplished the goal of visiting China; what he needed to do next was to find the leader. He was ready for the next step.

As he nodded, Lee Hwan asked.

[ Is that for North Korea? ]

Lee Ho, again, froze for a bit. How did he know that? Meanwhile, Hwan chuckled through the watch.

[ You are bolder than I thought. That’s the spirit. ]

He could see that Gi-Hoon was smiling awkwardly next to Hwan, realizing that Gi-Hoon had told him about it.

“Secrets are meant to be known to only very few people, you know.”

Lee Hwan burst into laughter, and Gi-Hoon was now nervous.

Ho observed his brother’s hologram and smiled. Even while he was manifesting, he knew that his brother was a trustworthy man.

[ What’s with that smile? It’s not like you. ]

“It is indeed. I don’t know the reason.”

[ Anyway, I’m going to the UK. ]

Ho doubted his ears for a while. The UK? What is he up to?

“…THE UK?”

[ I want to observe their SS-rated gate. ]

Why would he? Ho thought there was no need for that. He was puzzled, but Hwan’s response cleared everything up.

[ I heard that the UK could be a big help to you. ]

“For the political aspect, it can. Are you going there to make me an ally?”

At this, Lee Hwan nodded.

[ Also, you seem tired. ]

Lee Ho couldn’t hide that, even he himself noticed it. It was impossible to hide it from his brother.

[ Anyway, take care while I’m out. ]

“Hang on.”

Ho then took out the smartwatch from his pocket. It was the one he had gotten from the gate. He turned it on and sent some files to Hwan.

[ Something was just sent to my watch. Is that porn? ]

Lee Ho was speechless for a while. His brother sometimes made jokes that were hard to respond to.

“Of course not.”

[ Then what is it? ]

“It’s a video about the Demon King’s gate, the SS-rated gate that appeared six years ago. Gi-Hoon should help you with this technology.”

[ What’s that for? ]

“The gate I just cleared is linked with the gate of the Demon King. In short, an SSS-rated gate will appear soon.”

Lee Hwan was still smiling.

[ Is that it? ]

“Yes.”

[ Alright. I’ll see you in two days. ]

That was the end of their call. Ho leaned back in his chair.

To obtain more power, one must know. To possess more power, it was natural for one to keep important knowledge a secret.

However, this information was different. This should be shared. Lee Ho turned his head and called out to Jong-Geun.

“Mr. Hong.”

“Yes, master.”

He handed Jong-Geun the smartwatch that he had gotten in the gate.

“There’s a video inside this watch. Share it with everyone.”

He tried to hide his condition, but he couldn’t. He had overused his power. He used his ability to manifest an SS-rated boss monster and his brother. In addition, he had also manifested the other teams from the Cheon-Myeong guild.

It was natural for him to be tired.

Jong-Geun sighed. This young man sacrificed himself for the world. That type of man was very rare.

Lee Ho didn’t care and continued to give instructions.

“Also, send these files to the news media outlets.”

“Ah… Yes, I’ll do that.”

It might be better for him to just share this with a few people he can trust. At first, he had thought of that, but the situation was different. People thought that they were safe now. They needed a warning.

Since they weren’t aware of how dangerous the world is now, they had made anti-Hunter organizations and tried to do as they wished.

Lee Ho decided to spread the news and instructed Jong-Geun to do so.

Soon, he was receiving a lot of calls from different people. He ignored them and gave his smartwatch to Jong-Geun.

“Should I leave a simple message for them?”

Ho thought for a while and nodded.

“Tell them to visit Cheon-Myeong guild tomorrow.”

Lee Ho was the one who was providing the information. It was up to them to show respect and visit his place.

His name was more influential than ever. He had just cleared an SS-rated gate in less than a day.

There was no evidence, but many might think that he had killed Shao Wei. At least, those who were wondering what exactly had happened there would come.

Jong-Geun then updated Lee Ho.

“Four of them said that they would come, and the others did not respond.”

That was enough. He was sure that all of them would come. They were not idiots who would want to miss this information.

“Let’s go home.”

Soon, the plane started to lift off.

Lee Ho was inside his private room. As mentioned before, this was his private plane, which had a private room for him.

He lay on the sofa and touched the screen.

It was showing a video of him. To be more specific, it was him inside the gate of Basmu.

In the video, Shao Wei was bleeding. His legs and arms had been chopped off, but he smirked and lifted his head. Lee Ho was standing in front of him.

[ You’ve been playing hide and seek, haven’t you? ]

Shao Wei smirked. Ho approached him, holding his dagger.

[ Try to find the target. If not, then it’s you who will be hunted. ]

In an instant, the dagger had stabbed Shao Wei in the heart.

There was no need to see his eyes. Hide and seek? Those were just laughable words. With the press of a button, Lee Ho deleted the video recorded by Shao Wei’s watch.

He was alone, as always. He was, after all, used to isolation.

Even though his brother has returned, he has been isolated for a long time now.

He closed his eyes. Despite the pain he was feeling, he didn’t show how hurt he was. That was his duty. Today’s event was just another task for him.

For the future, Lee Ho chose to take a rest.