Click.

The association president turned the metal door handle halfway to leave the meeting room. But suddenly, he felt his heart drop with a sinking sensation. This feeling, which made ordinary people instinctively cower, was unmistakable.

"The magic power of an S-class hunter?"

The thought didn't last long. Immediately after, the door to the meeting room swung open in the opposite direction, revealing the figure of the person.

"Heuk!"

Drrrk.

The green eyes, resembling those of a reptile, slowly followed the association president. Standing at the door was none other than S-rank Awakened Hunter, Kang Changho.

"Hi, Hunter Kang Changho?"

The president was momentarily flustered by the new S-class that suddenly appeared, but at that moment, Kim Giryeo's voice cut in from behind him.

"Ah, president. Just so you know, that person will be going along on this expedition as well."

"What did you say?"

"From the beginning, that's the condition for participating in the raid. Just so you know."

That stubborn troublemaker, who wouldn't even listen to the Hunter Association's orders, suddenly decided to go to Japan?

"What, what, what on earth is his true identity?"

The doubts gradually deepened. Why did Kim Giryeo respond to the call? Why did Kang Changho show his face to the Association? The president of the Association couldn't figure out any of it, but one thing he was certain of was that the fourth S-class was no ordinary person.

***

Dragon Raid. To begin with, I generally have two options I can use in combat.

First, the unique-grade weapon, [Scream Stake].

Second, the area-wide stun item, [Surprise Box].

But these two weapons each have a flaw, making them somewhat unsuitable for dragon hunting. Since [Scream Stake] is a dagger, it has a short attack range, so if I try to close the distance, I'll probably get hit by the enemy and end up dead. Plus, there are limits to using it like a poison dart.

Then, what about the [Surprise Box]? I don't really want to use this one either. That's because it knocks out everyone except me.

'If the hunters who are supposed to catch the dragon fall, there's nothing I can do alone...'

No. These tools aren't epic-grade, they're only unique-grade, so there's a high chance they won't even affect an S-rank to begin with.

Anyway, the defense ring enhanced by Gu Seohyeong and the hidden funds of about 3 billion won in my bank account. With the strength I've built up so far, none of these could stand against a dragon. So, I decided to use a new method for this S-rank hunt.

"Hmm."

I had no use for it so I just left it in the corner of the room, but actually, I got this reward from the last arrest of Su Yehwi.

[Infinite Power Core x 5]

Five cores, each worth hundreds of millions! These were the cores I seized from the hideout where Su Yehwi was hiding. I had sneakily swiped the contents from the mind control wizard's item box.

Well, the great wizard personally cleaned up the villains on behalf of the country, so this level of compensation is only natural.

'Come to think of it, Esther said she would sell the recovered items to help the victims of the Rakshasa Temple... Well, that's not something I exactly agreed to. I'll just leave her portion and let her handle it on her own.'

A large number of magic power sources. Originally, I brought them to maintain the barrier of the one-room apartment, but the plan changed. I was planning to use the [Infinite Power Core] recovered from Su Yehwi's hideout to set a trap to catch the dragon.

'With five Infinite Power Cores, catching a lizard is nothing!'

Now that I've come up with a way to contribute to the dragon hunt, all that's left is to take care of a few minor issues...

A few minutes later.

Korea Hunter Association.

"Kim Giryeo."

I stood up while organizing the materials the association had given me.

"Are you really thinking of going to the S-class gate?"

In the quiet meeting room, where the association staff had left, only two Awakened remained. One was me, standing up from the table. The other was that stalker leaning against the door.

Kang Changho was looking down with his arms crossed, and he tilted his head as he continued asking questions.

"You really have to risk your life to go into a place like that."

"Is that so?"

"It's not just the usual experience of an A-rank hunter facing an A-rank monster. Especially with an S-rank boss... It's powerful enough to say the balance of the world feels broken."

So that means the Gismche seriously failed at balancing the difficulty last time. I listened to Kang Changho's words with considerable interest, but a small question also came to mind.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, but Hunter Kang Changho knows the level of S-class monsters pretty well."

"Hmm."

"You've been to Hawaii, right?"

It wasn't hard to get an answer. Kang Changho explained it willingly, saying it wasn't much of a secret.

"Yeah. I was there when the S-class dungeon break happened in America."

"Aha."

"It wasn't anything formal like this; it was just for personal reasons."

I guess he was enjoying a vacation abroad since he's rich.

"But do you know what I saw back then?"

"What was it?"

"An S-rank hunter who was doing pretty well in the U.S. had his torso blown apart by a single roar from a [Nuckelavee]."

"..."

"It happened because he got hit at close range, but seeing that made me not want to attack the boss recklessly."

Ugh.

After hearing the vivid experience, I suddenly felt scared. If it was a monster that cut America's top-class hunter in half, its power must have been incredible.

"Huh, should I call the association president now and tell them I'm not going to Japan?"

But what Kang Changho was describing was the Hawaii dungeon break from four years ago. And where I was headed was a Japanese gate with a lower difficulty level than that. I gathered my thoughts and asked the contractor who had made the knight's oath again.

"But as I told you earlier, I'm not going to catch an S-class myself."

"..."

"I'll be very careful about safety, so can you please come with me? Of course, if I feel like it's not right, I'll leave right away. I won't even go to the front lines."

It was a little dangerous, but this was a really big opportunity. Dungeons where dragons appear are rare to begin with, and if the gate was created overseas, it would be like a pie in the sky for foreigners.

'Dragons are so valuable that countries prioritize sending in their own hunters. Cases like Japan's, where they're actually asking for outside help, are rare.'

I cautiously kept an eye on Kang Changho's expression.

"Okay."

But what's this? I hadn't even tried to flatter him yet, but he suddenly agreed.

"If you're that confident, I should let you go. Besides, as we just discussed, it's on the condition that I accompany you."

"..."

"Besides, you mentioned something like that before."

What kind of thing?

"I can't enter the S-class gate 'right now'."

I'm sorry, but even the most genius magician doesn't memorize everything he says. That's why I couldn't even remember if I really said that.

It was then. As I remained silent, Kang Changho straightened up from his relaxed posture and started staring at me directly.

"Kim Giryeo, can I ask you one thing?"

It's not like it's impossible.

"That's what you said before, and you don't seem nervous about going to Japan. You act like you've already experienced the S-class gate."

"..."

"Have you ever caught any other S-class monsters besides the inevitable Malice?"

That's an unnecessary misunderstanding. I denied Kang Changho's baseless assumption. There was nothing to gain from lying in a situation like this, anyway.

"No."

However, the S-class hunter just rolled his eyes and remained silent. For some reason, he didn't accept my argument right away. Also, it seemed like there was a reason for his hesitation.

"Let me change the question."

"Yes?"

"The truth is, the Nuckelavee could have wiped out all the hunters in the U.S."

"..."

"It was that powerful of a monster."

"..."

"But then, out of nowhere... an unknown hunter suddenly appeared and mercilessly cut down that demon. For the record, that mysterious hunter quietly vanished after completing the raid."

Drumroll, drumroll.

Kang Changho approached me and looked me up and down as if checking something.

"If it hadn't been for that hunter, the Nuckelavee would probably still be alive in Hawaii."

I asked out of pure curiosity.

"What's the point?"

Then the S-class slowly answered.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. It's just that the hunter who took down the Nuckelavee was wearing a dark, beast-like mask at the time."

"Mask?"

"On top of that, they had black leather all over their clothes and shoes. In the end, it became impossible to tell whether they were a man or a woman."

Kang Changho tapped around his eyes as he added. During the Hawaii dungeon break, he hadn't yet acquired the Dragon's Eye, so he said it was impossible for him to distinguish people by their magical energy.

"But now that I look back, I remember this one thing."

Ssk.

Kang Changho lightly placed his palm on my shoulder.

"Yeah."

As if he was measuring something.

"If I think about it, that hunter had exactly this kind of physique."

Kang Changho then mumbled softly.

To sum it up, is he suspecting me as the hunter who killed the Nuckelavee or something? It's an interesting theory, but unfortunately, that's not possible. I'm grateful that everyone's been tricked, but the body I'm over is actually just a lowly F-rank.

"That was just a coincidence."

When I said that confidently, Kang Changho fell silent for a moment, then eventually stepped aside.

"Okay. Then prepare well for departure."

"Yes."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what skills you'll show."

"You know, no matter what you see, you'll have to wait until ten years from now, right?"

After I left the meeting room, Kang Changho said something from behind, but it was something I didn't need to respond to.

"It's been 9 years now."

***

At the Japanese airport, a large crowd had gathered today.

An unprecedented situation where an S-class gate occurred in Japan. While many countries were worried about losing their own hunters and ignored requests for help, a single nation finally expressed its willingness to cooperate in the dungeon raid.

"They're here!"

Click click click click click.

As soon as the entry gate opened, several cameras went off at once, flashing brightly. I followed the flickering lights with my eyes and moved forward.

"They're really here..."

"The Korean rankers!"

Two top-tier hunters, the backbone of the nation, have appeared! As Kang Changho and I showed up, the crowd at the airport burst into brief cheers. At first, many were skeptical when they heard that Korea would send hunters. On the internet, there were plenty of mocking comments and dismissive remarks.

[Isn't there some kind of sinister plan?]

[I don't think they're going to help properly.]

[Would the hunters from that country be helpful in the first place?]

However, these criticisms have long since disappeared with one declaration from me.

~ I don't plan on receiving any compensation from Japan if the boss monster is not defeated.

I had carefully packaged the usual contract conditions and was playing the role of the ideal S-rank hunter that the citizens most wanted to see. In the first place, all I could do at an S-rank gate was to handle the containment of a single boss monster. If I failed at that, then not getting paid would be the least of my worries.

"Wow!"

"Welcome to Japan!"

But to those who didn't know the truth, this must have felt like a cool expression of confidence.

"Welcome."

After the barrage of flashes ended, someone approached us. With a neatly combed hairstyle and a somewhat stern expression, he was Japan's S-rank hunter, an awakener who ran the country's representative 'Imaban' guild.

"It's nice to meet you. Korean S-classes. My name is Moritake Ito."

I lightly shook hands with Ito, who had requested a handshake.