“Overpower..? He’s talking as though he’s an S-rank Hunter.”

One of the Hunters sneered at Sung Joon.

Perhaps it was because he was wearing the non-prescription glasses and the hat, but they didn’t recognize him as an S-rank Hunter. Plus, Sung Joon’s ability to conceal his mana was on the level of a high-rank Mage, so it wasn’t easy for them to estimate his ability that way either.

“You can look forward to it.”

“What are you talking about.. ah..?”

The Hunter couldn’t finish. He felt a stinging pain in his chest, and when he bowed his head, he saw a dagger that had shattered his rib and lodged deeply into his body.

This had happened instantaneously.

“Ugh!”

“W-What’s going on!”

The Hunter with the dagger lodged in his chest fell weakly. The two remaining Hunters couldn’t hide their confusion. That’s because they hadn’t even seen Sung Joon drawing the dagger.

Sung Joon witnessed their confusion and smiled icily.

“I told you. I would show you what it means to be overpowered,” Sung Joon said, and raised Roel. As soon as he drew his mana, a clear aura gleamed and danced around his blade.

“Shit!”

One of the Hunters cursed, and activated his own aura. It seemed like the other Hunter wasn’t an aura-user.

“I’ll buy you some time. Hurry and tell the young master what happened.”

“I understand.”

The Hunter, who had activated his aura, said hastily. They needed to relay a message that their pursuer’s skills were much greater than they had expected.

The Hunter, whose face had paled, turned his body around to escape. However, Sung Joon had already gotten in front and blocked him.

“Who said you could leave?”

Sung Joon grasped his sword and smirked. It was a minor movement, but it was enough to terrify the two remaining Hunters.

“A-AH!”

The Hunter who couldn’t utilize aura swung his sword first. He swung his sword gallantly, but Sung Joon lazily dodged it.

And immediately counterattacked.

“U-Ugh..!”

He didn’t even realize that Sung Joon had swung his sword until he felt the severe pain at his neck; the fatal wound spurted blood and the Hunter collapsed.

Now, the aura-user was the only one remaining.

“S-Shit!”

He couldn’t do anything besides spit out a curse. He was ruled by an overpowering fear. It wasn’t simply the possibility that Sung Joon could kill him.

‘I’ll definitely die.’

His death was all but confirmed. He tried to overcome his fear and firmly gripped his sword, but to no avail.

He had several thoughts in a short second. However, the result didn’t change.

“AH!”

Sung Joon stabbed with his sword, piercing through his chest. He didn’t even see when he struck, let alone avoiding it, and the pain of a punctured heart spread throughout his body.

As soon as he pulled out the sword lodged in the Hunter’s chest, the Hunter weakly fell.

Sung Joon swept the blood off his sword in a single stroke, and changed his sword back into his ring. He started walking in order to get out of the alley.

Rishubalt was following them, so he should hear news from him soon. He got out of the alley, waited for around two hours, and sure enough, Rishubalt reappeared.

“My lord.”

“Let’s go somewhere quiet,” Sung Joon said quietly, and started walking first. He left the crowded main street, and looked at Rishubalt and opened his mouth.

“What about your tailing?”

“They stopped by various places in order to seemingly throw people off, but I followed them to their final destination.”

“Where is it?”

“I’ll lead you there. You must go there by car,” Rishubalt said, and Sung Joon drove his car over. Rishubalt began to guide him, and it didn’t take long before Sung Joon arrived within the vicinity of a ten-story building.

“It’s here.”

“Are you sure?” Sung Joon asked, and Rishubalt firmly nodded his head, affirming his certainty. Sung Joon parked his car nearby, and examined the building.

“It seems like tycoons are more involved than I had expected..”

When Sung Joon discovered the words, ‘Il Sung guild house’, his eyebrows furrowed, and muttered to himself.

The Il Sung guild was supported by the Il Sung Group*, a major corporation that had a hold over South Korea’s financial circle, and was ranked fourteenth. (*Reminder. These guys are South Korea’s top corporation and are even greater than the Blue Dragon Group in this world.)

“It seems to be the guild that participated in your magic sword conferment ceremony.”

“Yeah.”

Sung Joon narrowed his eyes, and examined the Il Sung guild house. The building even had ten floors, and although it was early, there were several armed guards patrolling the first floor.

“What about the inside?” Sung Joon asked. Rishubalt bowed his head and opened his mouth.

“It was a normal guild house.”

“Anything peculiar?”

“There were a few restricted areas. However, the mana interference was severe, so I couldn’t scout them out.”

“Are they magic circles..?”

Sung Joon furrowed his eyebrows.

They had engraved magic circles that wouldn’t even allow Rishubalt to enter. And just a little while ago, the man who had transported the item of mass destruction also had a expensive and rare stealth detection item.

It seemed like the guild house would also have it installed.

‘What exactly are they trying to hide..?’

Sung Joon looked the building up and down with a grave expression. And drove his car someplace else again. Sung Joon, who had gotten far away from the Il Sung guild house, parked his car nearby, and raised his phone.

And called someone.

“Yes, this is Park Jung Chul.”

“I have something to tell you regarding what we talked about before. Let’s meet up first.”

“I understand. I’ll tell you the location through a message.”

Sung Joon hadn’t even given him a brief explanation, but Jung Chul knew what he was talking about. After he told him that he’d sent him the location through a message, he hung up.

Eventually, Jung Chul sent him a message with the address written down.

‘It’s close.’

It was about twenty minutes away by car. Sung Joon drove his car to that location without any hesitation. He arrived at the address, parked his car nearby, and waited for Jung Chul.

“He’s coming,” Rishubalt said.

Since he was always beside Sung Joon, he was also familiar with Jung Chul’s face. Sung Joon nodded his head, and not long after, the passenger seat door opened, and he got in.

“You came faster than I had expected,” Jung Chul said.

“I was in the neighborhood,” Sung Joon replied, and focused his attention on him.

“Did you acquire an item of mass destruction?” Jung Chul asked.

“No, that’s not it,” Sung Joon said, shaking his head.

“However, I know where they secured them.”

“It shouldn’t have been easy to follow them.”

The inside of the VIP auction house was equipped with not only a stealth detection item, but was also guarded by several skilled Hunters.

And the auction participants mostly brought along skilled attendants with them, so following them wouldn’t be easy.

Honestly, Jung Chul was also well aware of this, so he was astonished that Sung Joon had successfully tailed them.

“It’s because I have a helper who’s skilled at following people.”

He was obviously talking about Rishubalt.

“That helper, can you trust him?”

“He’ll never betray me. I can guarantee it.”

Sung Joon remembered that his loyal spirit aide, Rishubalt, hadn’t betrayed him, even until the very end, so he was able to reply with certainty.

“That’s a relief,” Jung Chul said, and nodded his head.

“I followed the individual who successfully bid for the S-rank item, ‘Feast of Poison’.”

“I heard that the ‘Feast of Poison’ would be appearing in the auction today. So.. who made the winning bid?”

“The final destination of the ‘Feast of Poison’ was the Il Sung guild house. Perhaps the Il Sung Group is involved in this matter,” Sung Joon said. Jung Chul opened his mouth with a grave expression.

“I had thought that tycoons would be involved, but I didn’t know it was the Il Sung Group.”

“We don’t know for sure yet. Wouldn’t it be possible for the guild to have acted arbitrarily?”

“To my understanding, the Il Sung Group meddles with the guild quite a lot. At the very least, it’s highly likely that a group executive was involved.”

Jung Chul speculated carefully.

“What will you do now?” Jung Chul asked cautiously.

Sung Joon narrowed his eyes and was locked in thought. At the start, he had acted out of curiosity, but it seemed like they were involved in some huge conspiracy, so he really didn’t want to get involved.

“For now, I’ll stop here. I also have a lot of things to do,” Sung Joon answered politely. Jung Chul nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“I understand. But if you change your mind, please feel free to contact me at any time.”

He sounded disappointed, but Jung Chul looked like he understood Sung Joon. Sung Joon merely nodded in response.

“I’ll get going now.”

Jung Chul disembarked from the passenger seat, and Sung Joon drove back to his studio apartment.

* * *

– Verifying assault, measurement complete. B-rank dungeon, clear.

The measuring tool responded.

Sung Joon turned his sight towards Rishubalt. Rishubalt said nothing, and shook his head.

Though he had cleared a B-rank dungeon alone, his synchronization rate didn’t even go up by 1%. As his synchronization rate rose, it became harder to increase it further. However, the higher his synchronization rate, the more powerful he would become.* (*He’s saying that it’s harder to increase his synchronization rate the higher it gets, but he also gets way stronger from say a 1% increase to 51% than from a 1% increase at like 20%. It mimics the leveling process in a game.)

“Let’s get going.”

After Sung Joon put his disappointment behind him, he left the dungeon. He reported to the worker on standby and sold his magic stones at the Dungeon Bureau.

He sat in his parked Hunter sedan, and belatedly realized that he had gotten a message. He then checked his messages.

[It seems like you’re in a dungeon right now. When you come out, please call me.]

It was Seol Ah.

He was maintaining a good cooperative relationship with her. Before he departed, Sung Joon called her in order to check what she wanted.

“So you’ve gotten out of the dungeon?”

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

“It just seems like you haven’t kept in touch for a while. If you have the time, would you like to see a movie together?”

“Is this official business?” Sung Joon asked, and for a short while, Seol Ah was silent.

“Yes, it’s formal business.”

However, her voice was soon transmitted through the phone. He caught her briefly hesitating, but Sung Joon didn’t know the reason for that.

“Alright. I was going to rest for a few days anyway. When are you free?”

“Tomorrow’s ok with me,” Seol Ah replied.

Her grandfather, the Blue Dragon Group’s Chairman, Tae Seok, was highly accommodating in matters concerning Sung Joon.

“If that’s the case, let’s go tomorrow. Do you have a movie you’d like to see?”

“I heard that it’s the writer, Jung Kyu Hyun’s premiere.. I’ve heard that it’s pretty good.”

“Writer Jung Kyu Hyun, huh..”

Sung Joon ended weakly. To be honest, he didn’t really know much about movies. He hadn’t had any interest in movies until now.

When he was poor, movies were a luxury.

‘It’s alright now, though.’

He didn’t really remember, and his past felt dim. However, he didn’t really want to think back to his past very often. He smiled softly, shook his head, and took the wheel.

“Sounds good. I’ll make the reservation.”

“No. I’ll make the reservation.”

“Okay.”

That was one hassle gone. Sung Joon’s voice was filled with joy. As soon as he arrived at his studio apartment, he received a message that had the appointed place and the time.

“Can I even call this a date..?”

He checked the message and Sung Joon’s thoughts became complicated.