VSP 5

Sejun clenched his teeth.

He knew where the meeting room was, so his steps did not falter. He thought about taking the elevator, but since there were too many people, he just took up the stairs and went straight into the meeting room.

Because he had been delayed downstairs scuffling with Cha Dogyeong, several hunters were already inside.

At the sound of the door opening, heads turned his way, and their expressions immediately soured. The only one who stayed indifferent was the Association President, Ryu Sehyun.

“What the hell? Why did you call that bastard?”

Among them, the one who disliked Sejun the most, Lee Dohun, pointed his finger at him and nearly shouted. But Ryu Sehyun replied without even a change of expression.

“Sejun has the right to be here.”

“Right, but there are limits! He’s the weakest of the S-ranks, he’s useless in a fight, so why bring him?”

“Dohun, stop.”

Maybe thinking Dohun’s words had crossed the line, Na Yookyung, who sat beside him, cut in to stop him.

It wasn’t because she liked Sejun and wanted to defend him. She just didn’t want Dohun to go too far.

Sejun snorted and walked further inside without caring. He had long gotten used to being disliked by everyone.

[Well, you are the author-certified villain, after all…]

“Shut it.”

Sejun muttered with annoyance as he moved forward, and Dohun, who thought the words were aimed at him, furrowed his eyebrow, only to realize Sejun had been talking to his system. Dohun laughef.

“Look at him, talking to his system again.”

“So what. None of your business. Why do you always pick fights?”

Because of where they were, Sejun had been trying to hold it in, but he could not ignore it anymore and retorted. Honestly, no matter what Sejun had done in the past, this time it was Dohun who had started it and kept it going.

Dohun crossed his arms and sneered.

“You’re the only one who actually plays around talking to a system with self-awareness. Stop showing off that you’ve got no friends.”

Most hunters, even if their system had self-awareness, would disable it and only check logs. According to a poll on Hunternet, the biggest hunter community, many found it uncomfortable, it felt like they were being watched.

But Sejun actually preferred his system to have self-awareness.

[But you really don’t have friends.]

Except in moments like this.

“Whose side are you on, damn it?”

Sejun growled.

Just then, the Association President Ryu Sehyun, who had stayed quiet until now, finally spoke.

“Dohun, that’s enough.”

“But…”

“I called him. That’s enough.”

His firm tone made it clear that no more argument would be accepted.

In the end, Dohun shut his mouth. Sejun scoffed and went to sit at a chair as far away from them as possible. Not long after, Cha Dogyeong, who Sejun had run into downstairs, entered the meeting room.

“Dogyeong-ah!”

“Cha Dogyeong~”

The reaction was completely different from when Sejun had walked in.

It was the protagonist’s arrival, plain and simple.

In the past, Sejun would have just gone “hmph” and ignored it, but now that he knew the truth, it was even more irritating. Instead of greeting like the others, he turned his head to the side.

Dogyeong, noticing the stiff atmosphere in the room, glanced briefly at Sejun with a knowing look before taking a seat.

Sejun felt it was unfair. It was Dohun who had started picking fights, not him!

But because of where he had sat, a little further back, the impression was strong that he was on the outs. If someone asked “Pick who is currently in conflict,” most would probably point at Sejun.

All eight S-rank hunters were present today. Seven sat at the front, and only Sejun had ended up alone in the back.

So his position stood out too much. He should have at least sat two or three seats back, not all the way.

[You always find ways to stand out alone.]

“……”

He wanted to tell the system to shut it, but he bit his tongue. If he muttered to himself again, someone would use it to mock him.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of Dohun, but hunters like Ryu Sehyun and Na Yookyung clearly wanted no unnecessary trouble, so there was no reason to stir things up.

“We’re going to form an assault team.”

The meeting began with Ryu Sehyun, sitting at the head of the table, speaking.

Ryu Sehyun. President of the Hunter Association.

He was only thirty-two, young to be leading the Association, but aside from his age, there was nothing lacking.

After the previous President resigned in disgrace, the Association had struggled for a long time to find a successor.

Who would even want the position in that situation? The last President had turned out to be a traitor to humanity, nearly destroying Korea.

It was an honorary role with plenty of work, heavy responsibility after what happened, and very little to gain.

Naturally, no one wanted it.

With the previous President’s scandal, the next leader had to be clean. On top of that, most of the current S-ranks were in their twenties or thirties, considered too young, and there was no one at the A-rank level capable of handling such a burden either.

So in the end, the position was passed around with everyone saying “not me,” and the uproar only settled once Ryu Sehyun stepped forward himself.

Given his reliable nature despite his age, no one opposed his appointment. There was no better choice, and Ryu Sehyun was a great hunter, recognized even by Sejun.

“Roughly speaking I understand the reason… but do we really need an assault team?”

Na Yookyung asked.

Since the Final Dungeon that had worsened the state of dungeons had disappeared ― of course the protagonist Cha Dogyeong’s role had been the biggest ― there were no longer dungeons appearing so dangerous that even if all hunters charged in they would still struggle. So the mention of an assault team felt a little out of place.

But Ryu Sehyun nodded.

“It hasn’t been long since I took office, and because the former President stepped down in disgrace, everyone knows the Association’s reputation isn’t good.”

Lee Dohun groaned.

“It’s true something disgraceful happened, but we were the ones who resolved it.”

“It was the hunters who defeated him, but it was also hunters who created the problem in the first place.”

Hunters were not government officials. The Association was an independent private organization separate from the state, and hunters moved only for money.

If hunters did not raid dungeons, the monsters inside could come out and cause casualties.

Because of that, hunters were indispensable, but whether fortunate or not, there were too many hunters compared to the number of dungeons.

In fact, if even an E-rank dungeon appeared, everyone would rush with shining eyes to secure the right to raid it, so dungeon overflows were rare.

After the disappearance of the massive dungeon, even more so. Korea had become one of the few dungeon-clean regions in the world.

It had become harder for lower-rank hunters to make money, but the benefit was increased safety.

But high-rank dungeons were a different story.

It might sound strange to say it this way, but high-rank hunters, meaning A-rank and above, were few in number, and since they were wealthy, unless they wanted new items, they were reluctant to be drafted.

If lower-rank hunters were forced into A-rank or higher dungeons and casualties occurred, it would be a disaster.

So if a dungeon was not cleared and was about to overflow, the Association had to directly assign hunters to clear it.

That, more than anything, was the Association’s reason for existing, aside from distributing rights to raid lower-rank dungeons.

“Right now, with the regime change, there are many looking for excuses. It’s convenient to stir public sentiment by talking about dungeon-related accidents. In any case, for a while, I plan to put all effort into dungeon management to make sure no problems arise.”

When Ryu Sehyun said this, he looked tired. No doubt there were many issues he hadn’t even mentioned weighing him down.

The other hunters groaned too, but no one voiced opposition.

“A-ranks or below, if something goes wrong, it doesn’t matter, but you know. If there’s an accident, things get messy.”

“So you’re saying it’s cleaner to just use the S-ranks? I get it.”

Na Yookyung agreed.

Dungeons were never easy, but if it wasn’t an S-rank dungeon, the S-ranks would not get injured, so it was relatively safe.

And since there weren’t many of them, it wasn’t like they had to coordinate schedules with a huge number of people.

In short, it meant they would put S-ranks into the assault teams for efficiency. Like a company minimizing risks before going public, they would move as safely and efficiently as possible.

“Other than me, there are seven S-rank hunters, so we’ll split into groups of two, two, and three.”

Since Ryu Sehyun had many duties as President, he excluded himself. That left seven, which meant groups of two, two, and three.

Of course, any S-rank hunter alone could clear an A-rank dungeon easily. But since a dungeon was an unknown space where anything could happen, international law required at least two people to enter B-rank dungeons or higher. So they too had to be in groups of at least two.