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Was there any reason to doubt him?

President Kim confirmed that Woo Jin-Cheol was being dead serious and hurriedly muttered out an answer, not even giving himself enough time to spin this situation to his advantage.

"O-of course. A Hunter needs to do a Hunter's job. My thoughts were too rash. It was a slip of the tongue on my part."

Woo Jin-Cheol watched the pale-faced president nodding his head non-stop, and stood up from his seat to leave. Even after he was long gone, though, both the president and the high-ranking government official couldn't get up from their seats, their legs having turned to jelly a long time ago.

"..."

"..."

Only now did they awake to the reality of how scary the existences called Hunters could be.

***

"Did something good happen in there, sir?"

As the car was about to drive away, the escort driving the vehicle asked Woo Jin-Cheol sitting in the backseat.

"Does it look that way to you?"

"Yes, sir. It does."

His escort was also an agent of the Monitoring Division.

Woo Jin-Cheol glanced at the baby-faced newbie, effectively his junior from the same department, and ended up recalling his own newbie days and he let a content smile sneak up on his lips.

"Well, it feels like I've performed the duty of the Association President for the first time since I got the job, that's all."

Woo Jin-Cheol reclined against the back of the seat that Goh Gun-Hui used to occupy. He then looked back fondly at the late Association President, who would've been sitting in places like this, out of everyone's gazes and earning the ire and hatred of many powerful men in high places, all for the sake of other Hunters.

'....What a relief.'

Thanks to Woo Jin-Cheol's angry-looking eyes and his large frame, he was used to being hated and feared already. If that was part of being the Association's President, then he'd gladly accept it.

The moment he decided to take over from Goh Gun-Hui, he had prepared himself to a certain extent for this kind of rubbish, anyway.

"Where should we go next, sir?"

"....To the Association."

He dearly wanted to go home and take a break, but he actually came running here after abandoning his job back in the office. He still had a mountain of work to go through.

"Then, we'll get going, sir."

The escort seemed to understand Woo Jin-Cheol's mind as he stepped on the accelerator. The vehicle carrying the two men easily slipped out of the Blue House's grounds.

How long had passed by like that?

Woo Jin-Cheol drifted off to sleep while staring at the passing scenery, only to abruptly wake up again. He could see an endless ocean of cars filling up the road, not going anywhere fast.

Even though Seoul was infamous for its clogged roadways, such a traffic jam seemed improbable in the middle of a weekday.

'Did another Gate pop up in the middle of the road again?'

Feeling a bit worried now, Woo Jin-Cheol scanned his surroundings. Unfortunately, the overall atmosphere of the road seemed far too suspicious for something as simple as that. In fact, all the drivers had stopped their cars and stepped outside to look up into the sky.

It wasn't just the drivers, either.

Even the pedestrians on the sidewalks, people on the zebra crossings, every single one had come to a dead stop and was looking up at the sky above their heads. That included the escort in the driver's seat, who was also craning his neck forward to look at the sky.

'What on earth is going on here....?'

Now feeling genuinely alarmed, Woo Jin-Cheol quickly grabbed the escort's shoulder and shook him around.

"Hey. What's going on?"

"A-Association President..."

The escort spoke with a trembling voice, leaned out of the way and pointed up at the top of the windscreen.

"T-there, sir...."

In an instant, Woo Jin-Cheol's expression stiffened.

Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

No, if that was the case, then everyone shouldn't be looking at the sky with the exact same expression etched on their faces. He didn't want to believe what he just saw, but just like with everyone else on the road, he leapt out of the car.

His eyes weren't lying to him.

Woo Jin-Cheol dazedly stared at the sky before a look of pure, unadulterated shock took over his face.

"How... how can something like that be....?!"

***

The result of the test proved to be very satisfying. Jin-Woo's steps taking him back home were cheerier than ever before.

Beru had become really strong. A lot stronger than his initial expectation, even.

It was unfortunate that Igrit couldn't advance, but Beru's advancement alone was already an excellent result. Without a doubt, the elites of the Hunters Guild should be unable to shut their slack jaws from the spectacle laid out within that dungeon by now.

Jin-Woo imagined Cha Hae-In and her wide-open eyes, and a smirk formed on his lips.

It had been a while since they saw each other and he wanted to talk to her for a bit longer, but regrettably, he still had guests waiting for him. Jin-Woo pondered his options between Thomas Andre and Lennart Niermann before giving the American the call first.

He could pretty much guess what the German was here for, but he simply couldn't figure out what the Hunter ranked No.2 in the world was thinking of by showing up unannounced like this.

The call got through in no time at all.

- "Mister Seong!"

Worried that Jin-Woo would cut him off again, Thomas Andre was quick to pour out what he wanted to say.

- "I came bearing a fantastic gift for you, Mister Seong."

A gift?

"What the heck. If you had something like that, you should've told me earlier."

Jin-Woo spoke to the American half-jokingly and half-seriously, but then, he was suddenly faced with silence from the other side of the line.

A short while later, Thomas Andre spoke with a kind of voice belonging to someone suppressing his swelling emotions.

- "....I'm really happy to hear that you're looking forward to my gift. Okay, then. Where will we meet? I want to hand over the gift as soon as possible."

"Wherever it's convenient for you."

- "Can you come to where I am? These guys are a bit too dangerous to walk around in the open, you see."