X
Two days later.
Ion and Jin Seong-ha were inspecting items made by Horizon’s crafters when—
[Ryu Terminal] We have located Luzantin Dio.
The message from Sun Curator contained exactly the information they needed.
“Wait a second.”
They hurried to Jin Seong-ha’s private office and listened.
While Ion was in Idea, rumors spread that Horizon and D-NATE were merging—they had grown that close.
Meanwhile, the former #3 guild Unimbara expanded overseas, aggressively opening branches and recruiting foreign hunters.
One of them was…
“Luzantin Dio…”
Ryu had even discovered that Luzantin’s awakening rank was estimated S-rank.
He had originally worked solo as a mercenary, so his exact skills were unknown. After joining Unimbara, he cut contact with family and vanished.
In the fake <Hunter and Hero>, Unimbara becomes a friendly rival in the latter half.
But in the real <Hunter and Hero>, it seems to be a major villain.
“Wait.”
Ion stopped Sun Curator from hanging up.
“I have information for you.”
“No. A gift. Consider it thanks for all your hard work.”
Ryu had tracked the <Telepathy> skill user, the presumed high-ranking System Age member, and the silver entity believed to be Luzantin Dio.
Thanks to the special skills of Ryu’s founders, Sa Ji-woon and Neji Sarié.
Their skills were near-absolute in information-gathering tools.
Once full Idea–Earth exchange began, one would develop Ryu in Idea, the other on Earth.
If not for that incident, Ryu would’ve become the undisputed #1 information guild in both worlds.
Sa Ji-woon’s assassination.
Their skills required fusion activation, so Neji Sarié alone couldn’t run Ryu.
Ryu nearly collapsed and was eventually absorbed by the black market, shifting focus from information to special-item smuggling.
Age probably planted Do-jin in Ryu from the start to take over the information guild.
To keep receiving quality intel and prevent Age from seizing Ryu, they needed to maintain good relations.
To maintain good relations, they had to show Ryu that they trusted them too.
“Recently, your employee Lee Do-jin went missing, right?”
“He was a System Age cultist.”
A sharp inhale came through.
“We were looking for Luzantin Dio because he’s presumed high-ranking in Age. Do-jin appears to have been under Luzantin Dio’s mental domination.”
Silence.
Breathing betrayed shock and panic.
The voice wasn’t fully calm yet, but polite.
Unexpected question. The worry in the voice was surprising.
Were they close?
Come to think of it, Do-jin had been with Ryu since its founding. Even with a stiff personality, two years together would create some human connection.
The novel didn’t describe such things, so Ion hadn’t expected it.
“He’s alive. I can’t tell you where, though.”
Love and worry dripped from the voice. Ion wondered if Sun Curator knew Do-jin was a woman in disguise.
Also…
He’s not angry about the hidden identity.
Either holding back anger in front of Ion, or the mental domination explanation calmed him.
Ion ended the call and left the office.
In the elevator with Jin Seong-ha, Ion pressed the item research floor; Jin Seong-ha pressed the cafeteria floor.
“What? Why the cafeteria?”
“Leader, look at the time. Ppuru is hungry, I’m hungry. We eat first. Koreans live on rice power.”
“Mister! Give me rice, rice. Illiand people live on rice power!”
Just like Sara Harundas. Ion laughed.
“Then you go eat. I’ll keep looking at items.”
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you eat anything proper. Not in dungeons, not on Earth—only bread or drinks.”
“Do I have an obligation to show you?”
“I’ll take the other elevator—go enjoy your meal.”
As Ion tried to step out, Jin Seong-ha grabbed the back of his hood. Ion dangled.
“Breeder’s teaching, right?”
“…”
“‘The moment you reveal the most weakness to a natural enemy is while eating’—that’s why, isn’t it?”
“Did Sa-on tell you?”
“Think simply. Eating together isn’t as dangerous or hard as you think. Even six-year-olds do it three times a day. Isn’t our Leader stronger than a six-year-old?”
Ion pouted.
He really likes calling me “our Leader.”
“Fine. But let go of my hood. If it stretches, you’re buying me a new one. This is Idea-made.”
“Of course I’ll buy it. Do you know today’s cafeteria menu?”
“Not interested.”
“Mountain-vegetable stone-pot bibimbap. Eight kinds of wild greens—gosari, doraji, shredded radish… whatever. Amazing we can have wild greens bibimbap in winter. Kimchi stew as soup.”
Ion’s movement stopped.
“Ah, do you hate wild greens? I talked to the nutritionist earlier—she said many people dislike them, so way more is left than expected after lunch. If so much is left, we might not see wild greens in the cafeteria again. Such a shame.”
“…”
Jin Seong-ha knew exactly how to get to Ion.
And so the two ended up eating face-to-face…
Jin Seong-ha happily dumped in tons of gochujang; Ion added nothing.
It was Ion’s first meal with someone who wasn’t an orphan. (Sebi didn’t count—he was Breeder’s disciple.)
Ion’s impression:
It’s… really no big deal.
Eating with someone else—no huge tension, no huge excitement.
Just… surprisingly simple.
Jin Seong-ha didn’t talk much during the meal, just occasionally fed Ppuru and ate normally.
Only one nag:
“Leader… this is rice.”
“…?
“This is water.”
…?
“What are you doing?”
“Water is for drinking. Rice is for chewing and swallowing. Just in case you didn’t know. You have to chew rice before swallowing. Don’t drink it like water. Got it?”
“…”
Of course Ion cleanly ignored the ridiculous advice.
Sometimes he really treats me like I’m eleven.
He’d be twenty-one next year.
Still, Ion finished the meal maintaining tension.
“Shall we go look at items now?”
“Yes.”
They were heading back to schedule when Jin Seong-ha’s phone buzzed.
[Guild Master Ji Pyeong-seop] Failed. Yoon Bi-ga apparently has an A-rank dungeon scheduled.
Jin Seong-ha showed Ion the message. Ion nodded calmly.
“Told you it would end like this. Why bother with pointless effort?”
Jin Seong-ha had planned bloodless entry to Unimbara’s Cheorwon warehouse.
If Unimbara guild master Yoon Bi-ga and Horizon guild master Ji Pyeong-seop officially agreed to cooperate, they could visit the warehouse openly.
But Unimbara ultimately rejected Horizon’s proposal.
Ion had predicted this and said not to bother, but Jin Seong-ha insisted on trying peaceful methods.
“Leader, fighting should always be the last resort.”
“And it still failed.”
“Even if it fails, we should always attempt peaceful solutions first. We’re not doing this to hurt anyone.”
Jin Seong-ha smiled, not looking upset at all.
Ion silently turned away.
“Life-detection artifact…”
To infiltrate the warehouse, Jin Seong-ha and Ion visited Harry Strange.
True to his prickly personality, Harry was curt even to the two world-famous figures.
But he showed interest when he heard about the life-detection artifact.
“I’ve handled one artifact before. British government found one in a dungeon and showed me.”
They had luckily picked up a giant-habitat artifact in Britain.
Horizon also possessed two artifacts for research—obtained long ago by pre-Special Team 1 raid parties “Astro” and “Pegasus.”
One guild owning two artifacts was extremely lucky. Probably [Joy]’s arrangement for the protagonist’s smooth path.
“What kind was the British one? Combat? They showed you, so special type?”
“Can’t tell you. Anyway, you want to fool a life-detection artifact? Why? What for?”
“We can’t tell you either. Name your price—we’ll meet it as much as possible.”
Harry stroked his chin with a “hmm.” He didn’t look like he’d refuse.
“Payment in monit.”
Though monit and its development rights were handed to the Korean government, Horizon still owned the raw material monit.
Jin Seong-ha immediately messaged Guild Master Ji Pyeong-seop.
After a quick reply, he said,
“He accepts.”
“…Giving away monit this easily? Harry now looked uneasy.
Deal done. Now to brainstorm how to fool the artifact.
Ion casually asked, wondering if Harry knew,
“Is the life-detection artifact similar to a thermal camera? Does it trigger an alarm above a certain body temperature?”
“Hmph, testing me? If it was just body heat, you wouldn’t need me.”
Curt but confident tone.
“After Level 4, evolved skills started revealing materials usable for item crafting. One was life force.”
“Life force?”
“Earth has magic power, Idea has aura, nature has mana—and one more: life force. The life-detection artifact probably senses this life force. It probably alarms when life force exceeds a threshold.”
Jin Seong-ha opened his system profile in the air and pointed.
“Is it the HP bar that appeared in Level 4?”
“Different from HP. The primal energy every living being is born with—that’s life force. Deplete HP and you faint; deplete life force and you die. Showing you is faster.”
Harry pulled out a thermometer-like device from inventory.
“LF Bar. Item that quantifies life force.”
An item not in the novel.
They made all sorts of things…
Ion felt uneasy… but also a little curious about his own number.
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