Oh Hyunseong spent his days diligently.

He farmed with the spirits, occasionally went down to the village to mingle with the locals, shared meals with Kwon Gyeongmin’s family, and sometimes visited the Yoo siblings’ farm to lend a hand.

When he returned home, he enjoyed a delicious meal, then spent his free time lying comfortably and admiring the scenery.

His days were leisurely yet fulfilling.

But once his work for the day was finished, he continued his training without fail or exception.

The more he trained, the better his physical condition became, and so far, at least, he had yet to reach his limit.

Thanks to that, his body had improved considerably.

Tap-tap-tap-tap!

"Phew!"

Coming to a stop, Oh Hyunseong glanced down at his left leg.

After running hard through the mountain behind his house, his muscles throbbed, but his leg no longer gave out on its own as it once had.

As long as he endured a certain amount of pain, he could now build up a respectable amount of speed.

It had also become much easier to maintain his balance during strenuous movements that would previously have been impossible for him.

At this point, I could manage a fight. Not that I’ll ever get involved with Gates or monsters again.

Oh Hyunseong could not have been more satisfied with his current life.

He had absolutely no intention of returning to the blood-soaked battlefields of a hunter.

Even so, it was better to retain enough ability to defend himself.

The world might not be nearly as dangerous as it had been during the early days of the Gate crisis, but it remained a perilous place in many respects.

No matter how well the system had been established, it could never compare to a world without monsters or awakened people altogether.

This village, however, seemed one step removed from such troubles.

It was as peaceful as ever.

As a former hunter, he sometimes found himself wondering whether it was truly all right for him to live like this.

Creak.

Oh Hyunseong returned home.

He set the firewood he had gathered down in one corner of the yard.

He had prepared it for sitting around a fire during the winter.

It was a little embarrassing, but it had been a dream of his ever since childhood.

After roughly arranging the wood, Oh Hyunseong dusted off his hands and turned around.

"You’re back?"

Joo Jihye came ambling out onto the porch of the annex.

At the sight of her moving like a sloth, Oh Hyunseong stared at her incredulously.

"I figured you were here when I saw the car outside... but you’ve practically moved in."

"It’s cold out. I couldn’t exactly wait for you outside."

"Why did you suddenly come here? I told you to call when you ran out of strawberries and I’d ship more to you right away."

"I’m not here for strawberries! We happened to be filming nearby this time, so I drove straight here once we wrapped."

Joo Jihye smiled brightly.

"The shoot went amazingly! The drama premieres soon, so make sure you watch it live. It’s going to be a huge success."

"Good to see you’re confident. Anyway, you’re saying you just dropped by because you were nearby?"

"That, and I wanted to show you how much better I’ve gotten. I don’t spend my nights tossing and turning anymore. It’s all thanks to you, Master."

"I told you not to call me Instructor, so now I’m your master?"

"Uh... Would you prefer Teacher?"

"No. Just don’t call me anything."

Leaving her behind, Oh Hyunseong headed toward the storage shed.

Joo Jihye poked her head out and called after him.

"Have you been well while I was gone? I brought you a present, too."

"I’ve been fine."

"What about Master Suyeon? She doesn’t seem to be here."

"She’s always busy. She left with you the day you went back."

"Oh, so she hasn’t visited again since then. I was just curious because of all that news lately."

"What news?"

"You know, that terrifying rumor going around. They say it wasn’t the prosecution that tore the Daesung Group apart. The Disaster Management Agency supposedly went after them with everything it had."

"Oh."

Oh Hyunseong nodded at Joo Jihye’s words.

He had also heard the recent news about the Daesung Group that had caused such an uproar.

In an attempt to undermine Hankyung’s food business, they had committed all manner of crimes, resulting in even the chairman being indicted.

They never identified the exact target, but considering the timing, it was probably the strawberries I supplied. Still, I didn’t expect them to go that far. They must have been fairly desperate from a business standpoint. That could’ve become a nuisance.

The hunter forces commanded by a major corporation could never be taken lightly.

They did not merely employ dozens of hunters directly at headquarters. It was common for them to establish separate security companies and operate large hunter units through them.

In the current age, the need for hunters was growing in every industry.

If Daesung’s hunters had made a concerted move, even Oh Hyunseong would have found them quite troublesome.

Of course, there was no longer any need to worry.

The Disaster Management Agency had subdued every hunter involved in the crimes and thrown them all into detention.

Whether the chairman would actually serve time remained uncertain, but knowing Han Suyeon, she had probably secured a few weaknesses and forced Daesung into a humiliating settlement. Daesung would never want to so much as look at the strawberry issue again.

Those potatoes certainly did the trick.

Oh Hyunseong nodded in satisfaction.

Since he had asked for her help before, Han Suyeon had probably taken measures not only against Daesung but within the Hankyung Group as well, raising the security classification and tightening control over the information.

With her watching his back, he had no reason to worry about a leak.

"Heh. Imagine having someone powerful enough to crush the chairman of a conglomerate among my connections."

"Since when were you close enough to call her a connection?"

"We formed a profound bond during those seven days together. The kind of bond only comrades-in-arms can share..."

Thud!

A heavy sound came from the storage shed.

Joo Jihye shuddered reflexively.

"How is Jeongil doing?"

"H-He’s doing well. He seemed thrilled when he saw that I’d recovered. He never used to show anything on his face, but the CEO seems a little more cheerful these days..."

"That’s good."

Oh Hyunseong returned from the storage shed carrying several weight pouches.

Joo Jihye flinched at the sight of that unforgettable training equipment and backed away.

"They’re not for you, so don’t worry."

Oh Hyunseong strapped the pouches all over his body.

They were far heavier than those he had used when he first started. Joo Jihye’s eyes widened as she watched him.

The numbers written on them were no laughing matter.

"You’re going to wear all that?"

"I’m undergoing rehabilitation training too. I’ve been at it ever since you left. Thanks to that, I’m already up to five Joo Jihyes."

"F-Five what? Why are you using my name like that?"

"Hup...!"

Oh Hyunseong began his training as usual.

He could hardly skip it entirely just because he had a guest.

But Joo Jihye’s gaze grew increasingly intense as she watched him.

That’s impossible. He strapped that much weight all over his body, yet he can still execute those movements perfectly?

It was not merely the weight.

There was no wasted motion in anything he did. He targeted the exact muscles he intended to work without so much as the slightest tremor.

His movements possessed the precision of a machine.

He’s really a hunter who retired years ago...?

A body left unused would inevitably rust.

Hunters were sometimes called superhuman, but in the end, they were no different from ordinary people.

If they stayed out of the field, their senses inevitably dulled, and an untrained body deteriorated.

That was why such a vast gulf existed between active hunters and retirees.

Yet the intensity of Oh Hyunseong’s current training regimen rivaled that of almost any top-tier hunter.

Even if we gathered every close-combat hunter in Aegis, only a handful could do that much!

She had known only that he was Han Suyeon and Choi Jeongil’s senior.

She had never heard anything about his career or achievements as a hunter, nor had she ever had an opportunity to witness his abilities firsthand, making the sight even more startling.

And it left Joo Jihye with an even greater question.

Why was there no record of Oh Hyunseong at all?

"Wait."

Oh Hyunseong suddenly stopped in the middle of his training.

He turned and met Joo Jihye’s eyes.

"Why are you just standing there watching?"

"...What?"

"You haven’t fully recovered yet. Are you planning to do nothing but eat strawberries without training until every last aftereffect disappears?"

"Uh...? B-But it’s been so long since I came down here..."

Joo Jihye’s face went pale.

She belatedly began waving her hands frantically, but naturally, that did her no good.

"Ueegh..."

Clinging to the wall, Joo Jihye retched.

Her trembling legs made her look like a newborn fawn.

"If you’re going to throw up, go to the bathroom. If you do it there, I’m making you run another lap."

"Th-There’s nothing left to come up..."

Joo Jihye barely managed to lower herself onto the porch.

The world spun before her eyes, leaving her unable to move.

Between the heavier weights and the effort of matching Oh Hyunseong’s pace, she felt as though she had caught a brief glimpse of the afterlife.

Oh Hyunseong, on the other hand, still had energy remaining.

Ordinarily, he would have immediately begun another cycle to exhaust every last bit of it.

But today, he stopped there.

Thud!

The weight pouches attached all over his body fell to the ground with a dull crash.

Relishing the lightness of his body, he sat down.

I’ve improved my physical condition considerably. It’s about time I started working on my mana.

Crackle!

Mana rippled around Oh Hyunseong.

Maintaining calm, steady breaths, he slowly began circulating it.

Joo Jihye, who had been sprawled out, hurriedly pushed herself upright and stared at him.

What? I thought he didn’t have any mana.

Astonishment filled her eyes.

Hunters could sense mana.

They could feel and interpret not only the mana they used themselves, but also the mana accumulated within others.

Most references to detecting another hunter’s “presence” meant sensing their mana.

That was also one of the primary weaknesses of ability-type hunters, despite their superior firepower: their presence was easily detected.

The more mana a hunter possessed, the more difficult it was for them to erase their presence.

This was a clear disadvantage compared to close-combat hunters, who stored much less mana and relied primarily on their physical abilities.

Yet Joo Jihye had never sensed any mana from Oh Hyunseong.

He had not merely concealed his presence for a moment. They had lived under the same roof for an entire week, making it impossible for him to deceive her throughout that time.

And yet the amount of mana she now sensed from him was far beyond anything a close-combat hunter would possess.

Hummm!

It’s been a long time since I felt mana filling my body.

Oh Hyunseong was neither a close-combat hunter nor an ability-type hunter.

Even during his active years, he had never been classified as either.

If he had possessed no mana to begin with, there was no way he could have maintained contracts with hundreds of spirits.

Joo Jihye had been unable to sense any from him because he had kept himself in a state where all his mana was depleted.

Oh Hyunseong had sealed away everything except the mana allocated to and consumed by his contracts with the spirits.

The reason was simple.

His body, weakened by his injuries, had been unable to contain it.

His physical recovery had stalled at a certain point due to his lasting injuries.

If he had stored the vast amount of mana he originally possessed within that weakened body, the strain would inevitably have been tremendous.

In other words, he had deliberately kept himself empty to avoid burdening his debilitated body.

But things were different now.

His physical condition had improved enough to withstand a certain amount of mana, so he intended to draw out a portion of what he had isolated.

"Phew."

Oh Hyunseong stopped circulating his mana and exhaled.

He could feel it filling his body.

After forming a single ring within his mana core, he now held more mana in reserve than most ability-type hunters.

Well, none of the spirits I’m currently contracted with possess any combat ability, so I can’t use Spirit Communion with them. But mana has plenty of uses even through basic manipulation, so it’s better to draw some out in advance.

His body remained stable.

Fortunately, there was no need to expel the mana he had gone to the trouble of releasing.

But at that moment—

Hummm!

"What...?"

Both of them turned at once.

Joo Jihye was already dumbfounded, but even Oh Hyunseong had not anticipated what happened next.

The air around them suddenly seemed to freeze, and mana whipped into a violent vortex amid a flood of pure white cold.

A hazy figure appeared within it.

"Y-You..."

Oh Hyunseong’s voice trembled in astonishment.

Albern, the water spirit.

His former partner, whom he had believed had vanished, appeared before him.

Crash!

An employee shot to his feet as an alarm suddenly blared.

The Disaster Management Agency’s Gate detection system had registered an anomaly, and this was no ordinary alarm.

Sure enough, the employee’s face went pale when he checked the screen.

"Energy waves exceeding the system’s measurement range detected! An S-rank... It’s an S-rank Gate!"

He hurriedly grabbed the microphone and reported the situation.

After frantically carrying out the necessary procedures, the employee looked back at the screen.

Then he found himself doubting his own eyes.

The intense energy waves that had covered the entire map only moments earlier were gone.

"...It disappeared?"

Faced with an event unprecedented in the entire history of the Disaster Management Agency’s observations, the employee stood frozen for a long time.

Chapter 23

Comments