TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

This was his second visit to the Blue House. The first time he went to the Blue House, he had been conferred a magic sword. It had been a novel experience as the entire nation’s attention had been focused upon him.

Sung Joon played with his phone in his studio apartment parking lot while waiting for the car that the Blue House promised to send. It would be more comfortable taking someone else’s car than his own.

“They should be here soon..”

Ahn Kyung Chul was responsible for attending to him this time.It had been ten minutes since Kyung Chul’s estimated arrival time, so Sung Joon was in the middle of contacting him, but then..

A car stopped in front of Sung Joon and a familiar face stepped out from the passenger seat. The man had short hair, and wore glasses; he was the Blue House Administrator, Ahn Kyung Chul.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon? I apologize for being late. There was a lot of traffic, you see,” Kyung Chul said. Sung Joon checked the time. There shouldn’t have been much traffic at this time, but Sung Joon let it go.

“That’s alright. Do I just need to sit in the back?”

“Of course. We’ll take you to the Blue House immediately.”

Kyung Chul helped Sung Joon open the door and ensured he sat comfortably in the rear passenger seat. After he got into the car, Kyung Chul sat in the front passenger seat and the chauffeur drove the car to the Blue House.

As soon as they exited the parking lot, two motorcycles and two black sedans followed closely behind them; it was if they were treating his car like the president’s.

“We’ll restrict the road now.”

It wasn’t done earlier since Sung Joon hadn’t been riding in the car, but it was now. The road opened completely, and the two motorcycles as well as the two bulletproof sedans accompanied his car to the blue House; it didn’t take long to reach the Blue House.

Sung Joon’s thoughts were briefly elsewhere. By the time he had refocused himself, they were entering the Blue House gates.

“We’ve arrived.”

Kyung Chul got out first, and opened the rear passenger seat door so that Sung Joon could get out easily. As Sung Joon got out, he surveyed his surroundings.

It was only his second visit to the Blue House, but whenever he came, it would evoke a new sense of charm.

“I’ll take you to the banquet hall.”

Kyung Chul began walking first, and the two walked into the President’s residence. The further they got, the fewer workers they saw, as well as the more guards they saw.

“There are also some Hunters here as well,” Rishubalt said. It was only natural that there would be some Hunters stationed here. It wasn’t like Raids wouldn’t occur here just because it was the Blue House; Hunters stationed at the Blue House were a precaution for Raids.

These Hunters were a part of the Bureau, the National Police Agency’s Armed Policemen, or were under the direct authority of the Blue House; as long as they weren’t part of the regular army, it didn’t violate the international treaty.

‘Well, since the appearance of Hunters and dungeons were so sudden, there ought to be several loopholes in the international treaty..’

Sung Joon was well aware of how imperfect the international treaty was. He shook his head with a calm expression, and continued to walk.

“We’ve arrived,” Kyung Chul said. They arrived at a garden that was directly connected to the President’s residence. Beside the garden’s pond, there was a large table set up, and there were three seats next to the table.

Sung Joon turned his attention to Kyung Chul.

“Two of the seats are for me, and the President, but who’s occupying the last seat?”

“The Director of the Bureau, Lee Seung Tae will be coming,” Kyung Chul replied.

“Lee Seung Tae.. are you talking about the one responsible for the Hunter Bureau as well as the Dungeon Bureau?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Kyung Chul affirmed.

“I see.” Sung Joon nodded his head. He’s never met Seung Tae in person, but he had heard a lot about him. He held the highest position amongst those in charge of Hunters, so there was sometimes bulletin board messages about him uploaded onto Hunter.com.

“Could you please sit down and wait for them?”

“I really hate waiting for a long time. Please tell them to come as soon as possible,” Sung Joon said politely. Kyung Chul nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“I’ll relay that to them. I believe they’ll come within five minutes.”

Just like he said, the President and Seung Tae arrived at the garden banquet hall in less than five minutes.

Since it was the President of his country, he paid the President his respects, unlike how he treated Kim Jang Woon in North Korea.

It seemed as though the President hadn’t expected that Sung Joon would pay his respects, as he smiled.

Because most Hunters were extremely prideful, their respect towards the higher ups were lacking.

That was especially true for A-rank Hunters or higher.

“You have such good manners, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

It seemed as though the President was satisfied with Sung Joon’s attitude. He didn’t have a chance to talk to him personally during the magic sword conferment ceremony, as there were several people there and he didn’t have any spare time.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m the Director of the Bureau, Lee Seung Tae. I was at the magic sword conferment ceremony, do you remember me?”

As soon as the President seated himself, Seung Tae came closer and joyfully greeted him. Sung Joon grasped at his memories, trying to remember Seung Tae from the magic sword conferment ceremony, but he couldn’t remember him as there were so many people that he had conversed with on that day.

“Hahaha. It seems like you can’t remember. Since it’s not like there was just one or two people who were interested in you back then.”

Sung Joon looked like he couldn’t remember, but Seung Tae just let it go. After Seung Tae had seated himself, Sung Joon sat down. Then, a suited man approached them and placed plates with food on top of the table.

“We’ve prepared food that we think you’ll enjoy, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. Please enjoy it.”

“Thank you. It looks delicious.” Sung Joon smiled and replied. Then, he grabbed some of the salad with his fork and began eating. It was delicious, perhaps because a talented chef had used the best of ingredients.

As the meal progressed, the main dish arrived and they all drank a glass of wine together. When the mood seemed to brighten, Seung Tae cautiously opened his mouth.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon, do you have any thoughts about working for the government?”

He wasn’t the type to beat around the bush. Because he had asked honestly, Sung Joon didn’t look displeased.

“If you’re talking about work regarding the Armed Policemen Department, then I respectfully decline,” Sung Joon said. Immediately after he became an S-rank Hunter, he had been offered a high-rank executive position for the Armed Police Department. Because of his past life memories, he didn’t like working under other people, so Sung Joon obviously declined the offer.

“It seems like you’re misunderstanding; you’re not rejecting a high-rank executive position for the Armed Police Department.”

“Then are you asking me to become a Hunter for the Bureau?”

“That’s not it either.” Seung Tae shook his head. His attitude made Sung Joon curious. He thought that the only places where S-rank Hunters could work were either the Bureau or the Armed Police Department.

“Is it perhaps the Blue House?”

Sung Joon utilized all his knowledge and attempted to guess what he was offering, but Seung Tae shook his head once again.

“Strictly speaking, you could say that you would be working for the Blue House, but.. unfortunately, that’s not it either.”

“I really don’t like a game of twenty questions,” Sung Joon said.

“I’ll tell you since it seems like you’re really curious. However, you must keep it a secret. It’s still confidential information at this stage.” Seung Tae didn’t really like beating around the bush either. But because it was confidential information, he couldn’t thoughtlessly talk about it.

However, he decided that it was more important to foster a good relationship with Sung Joon, rather than keep the information secret. And thus, Seung Tae opened his mouth with a calm expression.

“You’ve probably heard about it before, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, but there have been more and more Hunters being recruited in secret intelligence agencies worldwide.”

“I think I’ve heard about that before.”

He had heard Hunter.com talking about this subject before; powerful countries were either forming armed intelligence agencies consisting of Hunters, or they were increasing the size of said agencies.

“The South Korean government is planning on making one of those agencies as well.”

“Don’t you already have the National Intelligence Service?” Sung Joon asked. It wasn’t precise information, but it was to his understanding that the National Intelligence Service possessed a team consisting of Hunters. The existence of that team also wasn’t a secret.

“The National Intelligence Service isn’t enough. We would like to form a more active organization,” Seung Tae said. Seung Tae thought that there were limitations to the National Intelligence Service. It seemed as though the President was also in agreement as he nodded his head.

“North Korea has collapsed, so is there really a need for such an organization?”

North Korea had not only sustained critical damage, but it had changed regimes and was maintaining friendly relations with South Korea. Therefore, Sung Joon didn’t understand why they really insisted on forming a new armed intelligence agency.

“North Korea has indeed collapsed, but there’s still China and Russia. Since we cannot recruit Hunters into the army due to the international treaty, so we’re going to resort to an expedient and actively use an armed intelligence agency,” Seung Tae said, and Sung Joon nodded his head.

“You did something that no one could even imagine happening. That’s what’s amazing. If we establish an armed intelligence agency, we believe that you’re plentifully qualified to be the head of the organization.”

The president, who had been maintaining his silence, complimented Sung Joon and expressed his opinion.

“North Korea probably gave you an amazing offer. I believe that the fact that you weren’t swayed by such temptation is another feat in it of itself,” Seung Tae said. Though North Korea had indeed given him an offer, it wasn’t attractive enough to call it ‘amazing’. However, Sung Joon didn’t explain that to them in order to not diminish his value in their eyes.

A moderate misunderstanding could be helpful.

“Through the event, you have proven your abilities as well as your patriotism to South Korea,” the President said.

“The President is correct. That’s why such a decision has been made,” Seung Tae continued. Sung Joon wiped his mouth. The empty plates were being removed and dessert was being served.

After tasting the dessert, Sung Joon looked at both the President and Seung Tae and opened his mouth.

“Please explain a little more in depth.”

Once it seemed as though Sung Joon was interested, Seung Tae smiled.

“It’ll be the organization that has the most authority in all of South Korea,” Seung Tae said, and Sung Joon began to organize his thoughts.

Sung Joon was indeed a bit swayed by the mention that the organization would have the most power in South Korea. However, he soon shook his head. Contrary to getting the Blue Dragon Group’s help and founding a guild as the Guild Leader, he would have to follow the President’s order if he were to head the intelligence agency. He certainly didn’t want that.

“I apologize, but I respectfully decline the offer. Since you’ve seen several S-rank Hunters before, you should know that I, like them, don’t like to work under other people,” Sung Joon said. The fact that he didn’t like working underneath other people was a common similarity amongst S-rank Hunters. But contrary to South Korea, Russia, America, and China treated their Hunters much more favorably, so there were many S-rank Hunters in their organizations.

“But you might change your mind if you hear the conditions.”

“Then, please tell me the conditions.”

Sung Joon nodded his head and replied. Seung Tae told him the conditions, but it wasn’t enticing to him.

“I’m sorry. As I thought, I’ll have to decline,” Sung Joon firmly said. He had to be firm in his refusal. If he wasn’t it would come back to bite him.