Crunch.
I bit into the golden-fried chicken.
Sitting cross-legged on the dining chair, I chewed mechanically.
My left hand tore off pieces of chicken while my right hand held a tissue, wiping the grease from my lips.
My gaze was fixed on empty air.
A smartphone wrapped in blue mana floated at eye level.
As I chewed the meat, I swiped up the screen with subtle mana waves.
The display scrolled smoothly.
Even with both hands busy, operating the smartphone posed no problem.
A perfect, comfortable meal—eating while browsing the web without lifting a finger.
Just then, a hand crept across from the other side of the table and snatched the remaining drumstick.
"Hey. That's my drumstick."
It was Kang Ha-eun.
The brat grinned mischievously as she took a big bite of my precious drumstick.
"Your little sister's hungry and wants one piece—don't be so stingy."
"If you had any conscience, you'd take a wing or breast. How can you steal the drumstick, the core of the whole chicken?"
"You're so petty, seriously. Oh, right. Oppa, did you see the internet?"
Ha-eun tossed out casually while munching on the chicken.
"You rescued those bald uncles and slashed import prices, so now they're treating you like the Second Coming of Jesus? There are tons of fanatics saying they'll hang your photo in their living rooms."
At my sister's exaggerated words, I lazily swiped through the floating smartphone screen.
Taking a sip of cola, I replied dryly.
"Not my problem. As long as they don't bother me directly or cause me trouble, I don't care."
Who cares if people call me the Messiah or whatever.
Just as I was about to pop the last piece of chicken into my mouth—
The floating smartphone screen switched to an incoming call notification and vibrated.
Caller: Association President Park Jin-cheol.
"Ah, they say even dogs don't get bothered during meals."
I exhaled an irritated sigh.
Using mana, I pressed the answer button and switched to speakerphone.
"What is it? I'm eating."
—Sorry to interrupt your meal, Tae-ho. It's about the Bulgasari report you sent.
The old man's voice through the receiver was unusually heavy and sunken.
This wasn't the excited tone of someone suggesting we go out drinking.
"What about the report? I wrote that it burned to nothing but ashes."
—Yes, I confirmed there's no loot. But the association research team just finished compiling their investigation into that thing's ecology and weaknesses.
I heard the old man swallow dryly through the speaker.
—I need you to come to the association's underground research lab right now. There are things you need to see with your own eyes.
A clear whiff of work.
The prelude to a troublesome incident.
"Ugh."
I pulled out a tissue and roughly wiped the grease from my lips.
I hopped down from the chair.
The moment my toes touched the floor, I jerked my chin toward my sister.
"I might be late today. When Mom gets home, tell her to clean up the chicken bones."
"Huh? You're going out? Be careful!"
Instead of answering, I roughly opened the veranda window.
Cool night air rushed in.
Gathering mana at my toes, I kicked hard off empty air and soared up.
Central Gangnam, Hunter Association Headquarters.
The underground special security research lab inaccessible by regular elevator.
I pushed open the heavy iron door with mana.
The sharp smell of formalin and disinfectant hit my nose.
"You're here."
The old man in a white coat approached.
His usual suit with a lab coat hastily thrown over it made him look quite tired.
Behind him, under cold white lighting, I could see two massive dissection tables.
I approached and looked down at the tables.
My short stature forced me to stand on tiptoe to barely see inside.
"What's this?"
I asked dryly.
On the first dissection table lay a monster of familiar form.
Green skin, a protruding belly, blunt fangs.
A typical beast commonly seen in Gates—an orc.
The second dissection table was the problem.
"This is the corpse recovered from a new Gate a few days ago."
The old man picked up a scalpel and pointed to the second corpse.
The skeleton had the form of a giant bear.
But dozens of grotesque dark red tentacles protruded through its back hide, tangled hideously.
Too bizarre to be a simple mutant.
The appearance looked like something from the martial arts novels I'd read in the past—as if a fierce beast or fiend steeped in energy had been made real.
"An orc and a tentacle bear. What's the difference besides looking different?"
As I crossed my arms and asked, the old man sighed and pulled over a stainless steel chair to sit.
"Tae-ho. It's been three years since the Gate Shock."
The old man stared into space with eyes caked in fatigue.
"We still have no idea what principle creates those rifts or what kind of space exists inside them. When they open, monsters pop out, and we just stop them. It's completely unknown territory."
An obvious statement.
I too had spent two years just smashing beasts' heads—I didn't care about the essence of Gates.
"But recently, while analyzing data from monster corpses submitted to the association, we discovered one bizarre pattern."
The old man pointed to the orc on the first dissection table.
"Orcs, goblins, dragons. Creatures we commonly see in Western fantasy media. We call this category Fantasy-Type for convenience. Without exception, these guys have mineral-form Mana Stones in their hearts or brains."
The old man's finger moved to the tentacle bear on the second table.
"And then there are things like the Bulgasari you killed in China or this tentacle bear. Eastern monsters, yokai, creatures that would pop out of martial arts novels—we've classified these as Martial Arts-Type. This is our researchers' hypothesis, though."
The old man lowered his voice, meeting my eyes precisely.
"In Martial Arts-Type corpses, mineral-form Mana Stones have never been found even once. So if we assume—"
The old man gulped.
"—that among Martial Arts-Types, higher-grade upper-tier monsters or spiritual creatures would likely contain something like the Inner Cores from legends instead of Mana Stones."
My heart sank slightly.
I maintained a perfectly expressionless face, but my mind began racing.
The red orb from the Bulgasari I'd secretly absorbed in the training ground not long ago.
That had been an Inner Core.
Chilling insight.
From mere corpse data and similarities to legends, he was approaching the truth perfectly.
But I kept my mouth shut.
There was absolutely no reason to reveal that the Bulgasari had dropped an Inner Core and that I'd swallowed it to maximize my mana operation efficiency.
The moment the existence of Inner Cores became known to the world, Hunters would enter an era of survival of the fittest—hunting each other not for money but for martial evolution.
"Sounds like a novel. So did you cut open the bear's belly and find some martial arts elixir?"
"No. This one's grade was too low—just full of blood. But we can't rule out the possibility."
The old man smiled bitterly and shook his head.
He stood and placed his hand on my shoulder.
"That's why I called you."
The old man's eyes grew heavy.
"The association's direct forces have limits in collecting and investigating specimens. Only if the major guilds transparently hand over aberrant monster corpses and combat data from dungeons so we can compile the information can we predict even a little of what this damn phenomenon is."
"Will those guild bastards hand over profitable information for free?"
"That's why you need to step up. Even those who ignore government or association administrative orders won't dare refuse when you, South Korea's greatest power, request guild cooperation."
Ah. Suffocatingly annoying.
Frustration welled up from my solar plexus.
So basically, he wanted me to meet with major guild masters and play the enforcer, demanding they hand over data.
Just as I opened my mouth to refuse outright, a nagging question crossed my mind.
I was curious too.
What exactly were those Gates? Why were fantasy and martial arts novel monsters appearing and emerging as if from subculture media?
And whether there were others besides me who'd figured out the identity of Inner Cores.
If I left these unknown variables alone, they might someday return as a massive storm that would shatter my comfortable life.
Annoying matters should be nipped in the bud.
"...Haah. Fine. I'll at least try contacting the major guilds."
"Thank you, Tae-ho! As expected, you're..."
"Don't add annoying words. I'm leaving."
I cut off the old man's words with distaste.
Turning around, I walked toward the research lab door.
As soon as I opened the iron door and stepped into the cold corridor, I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket.
The major guild master who was easiest to talk to and had the widest connections.
I found Park So-jin in my contacts and pressed the call button.
The call connected before the ringtone could sound even three times.
—Oh my, what's this? Our tiny hero is calling first?
Park So-jin's smooth voice came through the receiver.
Monster screams mixed in from behind her.
"Are you busy? I need to look at your Crimson Lotus Guild's data."
—What? Why do you suddenly need our guild's classified information?
"Let's do business. I'll buy you meat for dinner."
—Oho. Meat? Good. Come to the headquarters building in an hour. I'll leave the door open.
The call cut off abruptly.
I shoved the phone into my pocket.
I felt like I was getting my feet stuck in increasingly tiresome and messy work.
With a deep sigh, I left the Hunter Association building and soared into the night sky.
An extension of endless labor.
