"Hello, President."

A neatly dressed man bowed politely.

"Come in."

A cold voice responded. The Hunter Association president didn’t even glance at the person entering, continuing with her work.

"What is it?"

"I’ve been looking into recent guild activity..."

"And?"

"It seems... quite strange."

The man scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It looked like he had put in a lot of effort preparing for this meeting.

"Although we’ve had a new S-rank hunter join recently, it doesn’t seem like much. I met him myself."

"Oh, really?"

"In my opinion, he doesn’t seem like a threat, nor anything special."

The president still didn’t look at him. She was sure of herself. After meeting Baek Ji-hoon, she had concluded that he posed no real threat.

"I see, but..."

The man hesitated slightly.

"What is it?"

"Well... it seems that the other S-rank hunters have been acting strangely lately, too."

"How so?"

The president paused slightly. While Baek Ji-hoon didn’t concern her, the behavior of the other S-rank hunters appeared to be more of a potential issue.

"There are rumors that S-rank hunters have been grouping together to clear dungeons."

"S-rank hunters... grouping together?"

She furrowed her brow slightly, clearly thinking the rumor was absurd.

"Yes..."

"Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Why would they group together?"

She briefly glanced at the man, now showing a slight interest, though her expression was still displeased. She quickly returned to her work.

"It seems like it’s related to Baek Ji-hoon..."

"There’s no way. It’s not because of him."

She cut him off sharply.

"Recently, Yoo Hana rejoined the Blue Guild, and Cha Isul transferred, didn’t they?"

The president stopped flipping through the pages she was reading.

"So? Isn’t that just a coincidence?"

She seemed eager to dismiss it as nothing.

"Well, there are rumors that those events are connected to Baek Ji-hoon..."

"Connected to him?"

"Yes..."

The president, now somewhat intrigued, closed the document she had been reading. It was rare for her to stop mid-task.

"Go on. What else?"

"I’m not sure why, but Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana have been going wild, clearing dungeons together since the beginning of this week. Based on the reports we’ve received, their activity is more than ten times their usual."

"Ten times?"

The president’s expression soured. Clearly irritated by what she thought were ridiculous claims, her face scrunched up in displeasure.

"Moreover, yesterday, they brought in six more S-rank hunters and started tackling even more difficult dungeons."

"Six more?"

"Yes. Lee Haru, Lee Yeji, Lee Areum, Cha Ayeon, Park Yeo-eun, and Jo Suji."

"Why would these hunters abandon their own guilds and follow Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana?"

"I’m not sure."

The mention of eight S-rank hunters acting together made the president’s expression more serious. What had started as a seemingly insignificant report now seemed to hold more weight.

"And you believe this is because of Baek Ji-hoon?"

"Yes, that’s right."

'What’s going on? He seemed so ordinary... Sure, he’s an S-rank hunter, but he didn’t give off that kind of vibe...'

The president felt something was off and grew more interested. The hunter industry had been unusually quiet lately, so this piqued her curiosity.

"And..."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the Fragment of a Tormented Soul that caused such a stir at the auction?"

"Yes."

"I suspect that Baek Ji-hoon was the one who acquired it."

"And why do you think that?"

"Well, based on the current state of the S-rank hunter scene, the only new additions have been Cha Soo-hyun and Baek Ji-hoon. However, Cha Soo-hyun has been inactive due to health issues. So that leaves Baek Ji-hoon as the most likely suspect."

"Hmm... That makes sense. Let’s keep an eye on this."

"Understood."

The man bowed and left.

'Hmm... Baek Ji-hoon...'

The Hunter Association president leaned back in her chair, thinking about Baek Ji-hoon.

'When I met him, he didn’t seem all that impressive. Could he have been acting?'

The president wasn’t on good terms with S-rank hunters due to the high fees and taxes imposed on them. This was a common problem, not just in Korea but around the world, and there wasn’t much she could do about it.

Given her strained relations with S-rank hunters, she began to wonder if Baek Ji-hoon had been wary of her as well.

'I didn’t think much of him at first, but now it seems odd... He joined Blue Guild when he was just an E-rank, didn’t he?'

She started reviewing Baek Ji-hoon’s documents more carefully. Something indeed felt off.

'Why did Blue Guild recruit him as an E-rank? And then, within just a week, he quickly rose in rank... He jumped four levels at once with S-rank backing... Hmm.'

Her perspective was shifting. While she hadn’t considered him a threat before, she now thought she might need to keep an eye on him.

'This guy... he’s strange...'

She tapped her fingers on the photos of the S-rank hunters surrounding Baek Ji-hoon, narrowing her eyes.

Then she picked up the phone and called Blue Guild.

"Hello. I’d like to ask you some questions about Baek Ji-hoon, the hunter..."

"Hmmm."

Cha Manager scratched his head, looking a bit troubled as he entered the room.

"What’s wrong?"

"Well, it seems the Hunter Association is starting to take an interest in you, Ji-hoon."

"What?"

I didn’t know much about the Hunter Association.

"So what happens now?"

"It’s going to be a headache."

Cha Manager looked disappointed.

"A headache?"

"Yeah. The official reason will be to maintain order in the hunter world, but in reality, it’s more like the Hunter Association is trying to keep the S-rank hunters under control."

His expression made it clear how much he disliked the situation.

'I’ve heard the rumors. The Hunter Association is notorious for cracking down on S-rank hunters. But has word about me already reached them?'

I wasn’t particularly fond of the Hunter Association.

'Ugh. The taxes and fees are just too high.'

While I was now making more than enough to not be too bothered by it, I still thought it was excessive.

'90%... It’s basically extortion.'

Of course, I understood that this wasn’t unique to Korea. The government’s reasoning was that hunter items entering the market caused too much inflation, so they had to control it somehow.

'Still, it’s over the top...'

Anyway, my first impression of the Hunter Association president wasn’t great. She seemed suspicious of everything.

'Hmm. Whatever the Hunter Association says, it doesn’t matter now. I’m earning money my way, and even Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana are starting to listen to me. Who knows, I might even become the president of the Hunter Association someday.'

The thought amused me.

"Anyway, Ji-hoon, when the Hunter Association president calls, don’t say anything unnecessary, okay?"

"Unnecessary?"

"Yeah, don’t brag about how easy it is to get items or how much money you’re making. If you do, they’ll definitely come after our guild with an audit."

"I’m not that stupid."

Cha Manager just stared at me in silence.

'Jeez...'

"Hmm... Could it be... Does Ji-hoon oppa really still think about me...? He must, right...?"

Cha Soo-hyun was lost in her thoughts, filled with happiness. She had been going through hell recently, so she had created this fantasy in her head.

Bang.

"Huh? What are you so happy about?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Why?"

Cha Soo-hyun snapped at Lee Jin-hyuk. She was starting to find him more annoying than anything. Now that she believed Baek Ji-hoon hadn’t forgotten her, Lee Jin-hyuk felt irrelevant.

'Ugh. Ji-hoon oppa is so much better than Jin-hyuk. At least Ji-hoon never treated me badly. Jin-hyuk, on the other hand, is always too harsh with me.'

Cha Soo-hyun frowned, irritated by Lee Jin-hyuk’s constant pressure.

"By the way, we managed to snag the Fragment of a Tormented Soul. No one else could compete when we threw money at it."

"Huh? You actually got it?"

"Yeah. I’m not sure how many more will come up, but we need to sweep them all up. We have to corner the market on high-tier items."

Lee Jin-hyuk spoke confidently. He firmly believed that gear was the key to everything, and he placed a huge emphasis on capital.

'Ugh. So much money. Well, it’s fine. Once I get back with Ji-hoon oppa, I’ll be rich in no time. If I can just run S-rank dungeons with him, we can get those items easily, right?'

Cha Soo-hyun glanced at Lee Jin-hyuk and scoffed softly.