Published at 21st of September 2020 6:10 pm

Chapter 145: Removing Hives (2)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“Like…a very rare item, like an SSS class weapon.”

I added an explanation while facing stinging gazes. The looting skill would be that valuable if itemized. It would be an S class skill now, and there was a possibility that it would be an SS class around the time Taewon Song died.

Also, I estimated that being able to give away the ability was the effect of an SS class looting skill. While the skill only decreased the opponent’s skill level now, it could steal other people’s skills if leveled up. Taewon Song could have handed the skill over to someone if he used it on himself.

‘Then, Hyunjae Sung was telling the truth when he said he received it as a present.’

However, it was only an assumption I had made.

“I have nothing that the Sesung Guild leader would want to have.”

“You might get one someday.”

“The possibility is very low. A hunter who belongs to the government cannot claim ownership over items he or she had gained in dungeons. While he or she would be able to flag priority, I cannot buy an item such as the one you have mentioned.”

“You don’t own the items? Why? Don’t hunters have the right to own items that come straight to their inventories?”

While teams in the private sector add up the group rewards, magic stones, and other items and divide them into a ratio agreed beforehand, individual rewards were a different matter. What one gets, one keeps. It wasn’t easy to know who got what for items that went straight to personal inventories.

If one was in an ill-natured guild or team, others might threaten the hunter to cough up their inventories, but it was a crime. How can a hunter not be able to own items because they belonged to the government?

“I heard that the dungeon profit rate you can receive was low. Isn’t this too much?”

“That’s why there are only a few hunters who belong to the Awakened Office, and it’s also one of the main reasons why the Hunter Association is in charge of managing the awakened.”

Taewon Song’s tone was indifferent. While the Association had stricter rules compared to guilds, the basic conditions were met, and they were dialed down for high-class hunters.

“And they say it’s a governmental institution. Or is that the reason? You should at least receive individual rewards since the equipment is the most expensive.”

I remembered that Taewon Song had not taken out a weapon fit for his class. He had fought well using low to mid-grade weapons, but did he really do so because he did not have any? I hoped it was because he found the low-grade weapons sufficient.

“You do have an S class weapon, right?”

“I have an A class.”

I felt like I could cry. At least he had an A class, as there were only a few S class weapons in Korea. However, there were also only eight S class hunters, and the government should appropriate a suitable budget to get him an S class weapon if they were using an S class awakened at a low price.

“I feel my patriotism going sour.”

“It’s because I did not act the way I was expected to.”

Taewon Song continued on as if he was talking about someone else. There had been another person for the head of the hastily made Awakened Office, but things had gone unexpectedly when an S class awakened did not resign from his public post.

An S class awakened could not be mistreated, as he was of national value, and there were eyes from other countries and hunters. Moreover, Taewon Song was an S class hunter who belonged to the government in a chaotic era. It would be stupid not to use him as an advertisement that screamed that Korea was reliable.

So, Taewon Song became the Head of the Awakened Office, but there had been many people who were bothered that a young man without any strings became a high-class public official. Someone in Taewon Song’s position would be over fifty and have an illustrative career for better or for worse. Furthermore, for them, the reason Taewon Song became the head was mere luck.

A young man now sits above adults who had built their foundation because he was an S class. It’s actually no surprise that Taewon Song would become a common enemy for them.

‘I thought he was bearing inhospitable treatment because he was not ambitious.’

Of course, if Taewon Song showed his ambitions, no one would be able to stop him. People would only talk behind his back, and he would not be in the field.

“While the current government wanted to reinforce the Awakened Office, the Association had more strings to pull.”

So, the Association now manages the awakened, and Taewon Song was being used as a pawn who cleaned after high-class hunters. I did not know politics, but there seemed to have been several power plays.

‘Is the fact the high-ranking officials in the Association had been changed relevant?’

The current government worked well, since being this stable in three years meant that the initial response had been efficient. Other countries had not fared so well, and after things calmed down a little people who wanted to profit appeared, and the rest would have been a repeat of past history.

“You’re working hard.”

I had to relate since I had a brother who would have heard people say he was an obnoxious young man. I glanced at Yoohyun, and he was touching the straw he had not taken the wrapping off like he had no interest in what we were saying. He had not even touched the coffee.

“Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

Taewon Song shook his head despite the fact that I knew he liked coffee. Should I have bought something else since caffeine would have little effect on these two? I had automatically assumed that coffee was the appropriate drink during office hours.

“Anyway, it’s only a supposition. If you were to give the Sesung Guild leader a present,”

“His birthday is not far away.”

Taewon Song’s face looked like he did not want to admit it. I had not expected this kind of response since I had assumed that he would not care when Hyunjae Sung’s birthday was.

“It’s not that. You wouldn’t give him a birthday present.”

“I do because he would bother me if I did not.”

What did Hyunjae Sung do if someone did not celebrate his birthday?

“It’s better to celebrate it just to not give him a pretext.”

Yoohyun also spoke in a sour voice next to me. What did he do?

“You, I mean the Haeyeon Guild-“

“Just act comfortably. I will pretend not to notice.”

Taewon Song spoke like he knew that Minyui Kim was Yoohyun. He would have to know the trivial habits of S class hunters as a manager of them.

“Is he childish enough to hold a grudge if his birthday is not celebrated?”

“No, but he does use it as an excuse.”

“It’s to prevent him from making you sorry that you had not given him a gift on his last birthday on an unrelated affair.”

Yoohyun and Taewon Song both had similar tired faces as if they had already experienced it. I was exasperated, but maybe I also needed to give him a gift. That looting skill had better not have been a birthday present.

Anyway, asking Taewon Song outright pertaining to why Hyunjae Sung had said you had given him your skill would only result in him saying he did not know and asking me to stop saying such nonsense. What was the situation? Why did he give it? Did some affection spout after all those years?

I asked him a different question.

“Can you use the looting skill on yourself?”

“I don’t know since I have never used it in that way.”

If it worked, the probability was high that Taewon Song had given the skill by himself, and if not, another person or an item would have been used. It would be too much to ask him to use it on himself now, as his skill levels would fall.

“It works.”

He used it on himself!

“I now know how long the skill continues on an S class hunter. Thank you for your insight.”

“Ah, it’s all right.”

Well, there would have been a skill that Taewon Song found unnecessary. Does being able to use it on himself mean he had handed it over to Hyunjae Sung by himself?

“Can you cancel the skill? It’s inconvenient.”

“No. I think feeling it inconvenient should be a p problem. You’re moving as you had before despite the skill.”

Taewon Song looked at my glasses as he spoke. No, I’m going through unnecessary inconvenience right now. I would have to use the glasses for at least three to four days if it could not be canceled.

We went to Hamin Do’s Happy Hamster after quickly discussing future plans with Taewon Song. The sign from the previous store was leaning against the wall next to the door. I went in and saw stacks of parcel boxes all around the place.

“Lord is better when he is far away!”

Hamin Do sulked as he organized products. It was true that the landlord or the real lord should be far away. The latter especially meant that one had gone over to the afterlife.

“Mr. Hamin, I’ll thank you in advance for your work.”

“I’m busy taking care of them.”

Hamin Do spoke as he grabbed bags filled to the brim with something like hay. Did hamsters eat grass?

“The contract said you’ll help when needed. I need the locations of about six people in an hourly interval.”

Hamin Do frowned as I said that there might be more.

“Even one tires me out.”

Hamin Do’s skill, the Connected Skein, does not show the location of those tracked immediately after use. He had said that there were certain rules, and he needed to calculate according to the unique [phone] number of an object the tracked had used for over a year.

So, using the skill often for a short period led him to feel worn out. Also, he had said having the items made things more manageable, and when he worked at the detective agency, he used only the [phone] numbers often because he had to search for missing people that could not give him objects.

“I should have set a limit on times and people you can ask me to use my skill!”

“I’ll get [as many] (the) real items [as i can] for you (as much as I can.)”

“I’ll fall ill for a few days if I have [to] track six people in an hourly interval.”

“I’ll pay you well and if you cooperate-“

I remembered something and spoke in a friendly voice to Hamin Do as he sat face down on the table.

“I’ll get you a gold hamster.”

“I have many golden hamsters here.”

“Not golden, but a hamster with real gold fur. It’s a D class dungeon boss in Central Africa and has bright golden fur and is two to three times bigger than the average hamster. It has silver fur around its neck, bright blue eyes, and is very smart.”

However, it was fierce and [had] strong attack skills compared to its size and defense skills, which made the hamster a tough monster to capture. So, only its fur would be sold at a high price now. About two years later, it became a popular and expensive pet.

“A gold hamster? But that’s a monster.”

“It’s a D class, so taming is possible. While the price tag would be tremendous, you are valuable enough to warrant it. So, how about it?”

“Wild hamsters would be happiest in their natural habitats.”

“It will be hunted because it’s a boss monster.”

“All right, I accept.”

“Then you’ll help without any complaints?”

“Let me live.”

I would, of course, have to protect his health and thought about asking where Mr. Sunghan got the restoratives. I would have to send some to Team Seokhayan.

Bringing a hamster alive from a Central Africa dungeon would be a difficult task. Since it is a region already messed up before dungeons appeared, securing the rights to the dungeon in question would not be easy. Also, a tamer would have to go into the dungeon to tame it since it was a boss monster, as simply capturing it would not result in the dungeon being conquered.

“I would have to ask for an alive gold hamster for breeding the first overseas riding beast.”

A guild who I would assign a high-class riding beast would manage the mission, and I wished whoever it would be good luck.

It soon became evening after contacting Simyeong Seok and training Blue. Noah had been wary when he [saw] (had considered) Yoohyun as Minyui Kim, but he calmed down once he knew who it was. I asked Noah to have dinner with us.

“So, he will stay as Minyui Kim until the dungeon conquest ends.”

“With you?”

“He can’t go to his house.”

It would be strange if Minyui Kim stayed at the guild leader’s house. While a B class supporter would be able to guard me since I was an F class, being a bodyguard for an S class guild leader would raise questions.

I did not take out the food Myeongwoo had prepared and instead cooked some simple dishes by myself. They both tried to help, but I asked them not to since they were guests.

“You would need to conquer an S class dungeon if you officially wanted to be a hunter belonging to Korea. How about doing it with Yoohyun?”

Since the lake dungeon was an A class, it would not result in being qualified as an S class. For a foreign hunter to move his affiliation to Korea without any guild connections, the individual needed to be the leader in a dungeon conquest of a level he or she desired to be qualified. While Noah was an S class, he was a supporter and did not have any team members, so it would be difficult for him to conquer an S class dungeon alone. While lower dungeons would not be an impossible task, he did not have to go through unnecessary suffering.

“No, it’s all right. I don’t need to be recognized as an S class right now.”

Noah looked at Yoohyun in disdain and raised his chopsticks. He used them well(,)[.] (and) I thought they would become closer like Peace [did] if they went in dungeons together. Well, they might not like each other as their [compatibility] (synastry) was not good, Noah’s being poison and Yoohyun’s being fire.

We finished our dinner and night came without any news. I took the chick and lay on the bed, but it was tough for me to close my eyes. I wanted Peace with me since the chick was too small. Also, my eyes became blurry after I removed my glasses, which made me feel [uncomfortable] (more discomfort).

‘I really need that fear resistance right now…’

I stood up after tossing and turning. I had to sleep because there was a busy day ahead. I pondered over the problem and held the chick in one hand and the pillow in the other and went to the guest room where my brother was sleeping.

“Let’s sleep together.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t sleep because I can’t see well.”

I made up a feeble excuse because I could not say I would see you die in my dreams again. I thought having my brother alive next to me would solve the problem. It worked, and I did not dream that night.

The next day, Sesung sent me material regarding the honey and a hunter who could read information from a corpse.

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