Chapter 220: Episode 220

[Breaking News – Tower Master Kim Yusin Announces Bid for World Guild Status!]

[Is South Korea Truly Capable of Joining the M10?]

[Frost’s Attempt on Kim Yusin’s Life Was Actually a Plot to Seize the Magic Tower!]

The entire nation was in an uproar once again. Special reports on the Magic Tower flooded the news, and soon, even those who hadn’t watched the broadcast knew about it. We hurried back to the Tower before the reporters could swarm us.

“We can’t even go outside?” I asked, sprawled on the golden sofa in the first-floor lobby while on the phone with Shin Nara.

“It seems the press is going crazy trying to get into the restricted area in Sanggye-dong,” she said. “The police are holding them back, so it’s probably best to lay low in the Tower for a while.”

“Will do. You worked hard today, Representative Shin.”

“Of course! You should get something to eat too, hunter Kim!”

After ending the call, I took another long sip of my half-finished Spinach Green Juice. Ah, I really loved the unique bitterness of this stuff. Beside me, Eunsol was mimicking me, sucking on a carton of orange juice.

“Sol, want to try some spinach juice? Once you get addicted to this bitter taste…”

“I hate spinach!” she declared, shaking her head emphatically.

“Sunbae!” Jin Bora, who was sitting on the floor checking potion inventory, shot me a glare. “Stop trying to make her eat weird things!”

“…Weird? This stuff is great for you!”

“Speaking of which, you’re the one who hid a bottle of red ginseng tea in the potion warehouse, aren’t you?”

I flinched. “H-How did you know?”

“Who else around here drinks that stuff? We’ve already gotten online reviews complaining that the potion bottles smell like red ginseng.”

Ugh. A wave of embarrassment washed over me. “…I’ll finish it by the day after tomorrow.”

While we were having our pointless conversation, the fourth-floor team was gathered around a laptop, checking the online reactions. Na Daeyong turned around and said, “Master! The internet search rankings are completely dominated by Magic Tower and Kim Yusin! Is this really going to be okay?”

“Yes, it’s fine,” I said with a wave of my hand. “The world knows the Magic Tower exists, but nothing has fundamentally changed. We just need to keep doing our jobs as usual.”

“Understood!” the fourth-floor team replied in unison.

“Oh, and I forgot to mention, I’ve made a change to the Restriction Magic. From now on, you can talk about the Magic Tower outside without suffering from mana backflow.”

“Yes!” Jin Bora’s cheer was the first to be heard.

“Of course, all confidentiality guidelines and security regulations remain in effect. You can reveal where the Magic Tower is and what it is, but information about the facilities on each floor, the documents in the Great Library, and project details must be kept strictly confidential. You all understand, right?”

“Of course!”

“Understood!”

Just then, Cha Doyeon of the fourth-floor team raised her hand.

“Yes, Doyeon. Do you have a question?”

“Does this mean over two hundred people will be flooding into the Magic Tower now?”

“No, no. You don’t have to worry about that for the time being.”

The Magic Tower was, so to speak, the first string, while the new headquarters in Sanggye-dong would be the second string. The mages who could enter the Magic Tower itself would be handpicked by me, chosen only after careful consideration of their skills and trustworthiness.

“Alright, everyone. Discussion is good, but let’s eat first.”

Ea appeared in an apron, plates of food floating in the air all around her. Everyone stared, wide-eyed.

“When did you prepare all this?”

“I went grocery shopping before the banquet.”

After finishing her potion inventory, Jin Bora stood up and announced brightly, “This is a joint celebration—for the Magic Tower’s public debut and for your return!”

“Wow!”

“Let’s drink ourselves half to death again tonight!”

’Right. I’ve already set everything in motion. There’s no avoiding the tide of change now.’

However, I didn’t think the fundamentals would change.

Once we finished setting out the food, we filled our glasses with champagne and raised them high.

“To the Magic Tower’s world debut!”

“Cheers!”

We would keep moving forward.

* * *

A few days after Hunter’s Day, a major week-long conference was held at the Global Hunter Alliance headquarters.

I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, home to the Alliance’s headquarters.

And I did it by—

“Urgh!”

—riding the Association President’s personal combat jet.

“Honestly, you’re a grown man. Try not to be such a mess.”

“President, comments like that will get you crucified by the media these days… Urgh!”

My head finally cleared after I spent a while emptying my stomach. We got into the car that had come to pick us up and headed for the Alliance headquarters.

Watching the streets of Switzerland whip by outside the window, I spoke up.

“This is my first time at the Alliance headquarters.”

In truth, I was a little excited.

The Global Hunter Alliance was the most influential hunter organization on the planet. How many hunters went their whole lives without ever setting foot inside the main building? I was one of the lucky ones.

“There’s nothing special about it. It’s just another place full of people.”

The Association President, on the other hand, was completely indifferent. It was obvious that coming to the Alliance headquarters was not her idea of fun. For her, coming here probably meant listening to the same nagging every time about sending more hunters for deployment.

We chatted as we rode, and before long, we arrived at our destination.

The World Alliance headquarters was, as its reputation suggested, enormous. It wasn’t just a single building; the grounds were laid out like an entire city. It had everything—parks, restaurant districts, hotels, hospitals, and every other amenity you could imagine.

At the entrance, we presented our official IDs. Only after going through a series of tedious biometric scans were we allowed to pass through the heavily guarded security zone.

Our car stopped in front of the most luxurious building on the grounds.

“Let’s go, Yusin.”

She spoke as she slipped on her suit jacket.

“Yes, ma’am!”

The moment we stepped inside, the sheer scale of the place was overwhelming.

The abnormally high ceiling and the massive statue of a hunter dominating the center of the hall were awe-inspiring. The vast space was so packed with people from all over the world that there was barely room to stand.

Ties flapped as people rushed by with toast in their mouths, phones wedged between their shoulders and ears, both hands hammering away at tablet keyboards. The whole scene looked like a war zone.

“All right, watch yourself in here. You really do get all kinds of people.”

“Understood.”

I casually smoothed down my hair, straightened my tie, and followed her.

“I already registered us at the hotel. Just hand over your ID at the front desk, and they’ll take care of everything. I have to head out soon for the World Association Presidents’ meeting.”

“I have my World Guild evaluation, too. Are we splitting up here?”

“No, there’s an important issue we need to deal with first.”

“What is it?”

She turned back to look at me.

“Your promotion to certified rank 2.”

“Ah…!”

“If some rank 3 nobody steps up to lead a World Guild, they’ll tear you to shreds. I already submitted the promotion request, so let’s go see how it turned out.”

“Yes!”

I had finally made it this far.

This was the highest echelon a human could reach, the line that marked the very top. It was a position that not even national associations had the authority to grant; you could only rise to it by passing the World Alliance’s evaluation.

’Am I really going to become an Official rank 2 today?’

We took the elevator up.

Even in this place overflowing with rooms and people, her stride never faltered. She clearly knew the layout of this building like the back of her hand.

“Here we are.”

Without warning, she kicked the door open and stormed into the room.

“Hey, Nick! You in here?”

The blond, pot-bellied man called Nick blinked at the Association President barging into his office.

“Oh, I was wondering which lunatic that was. Turns out it’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s me. Let’s skip the small talk. How did that favor I asked for turn out?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Look at this old geezer playing dumb again. I’m asking what happened with our Yusin’s Official rank 2 processing!”

Nick’s gaze shifted to me for a moment. He looked important, so I quickly bowed my head in greeting.

“Ahem, well…”

“Don’t dodge the question. Just say it. Did it go through or not?”

“It… it was rejected.”

The Association President’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Why. The. Hell?”

“The conclusion was that his achievements are insufficient for promotion to rank 2.”

Nick glanced down at the documents on his desk as he spoke.

“Since becoming rank 3, he has one overseas deployment, one resolved domestic catastrophe, and one case of capturing Frost that has not yet been officially closed. With only this level of achievement, granting rank 2 qualifications is a bit…”

The Association President strode forward with a terrifying expression and slammed her foot down on Nick’s desk.

He jerked back in shock as she leaned her face in closer.

“Try saying that again.”

The corner of her mouth twisted.

“It wasn’t just some overseas deployment. He liberated the entire African continent from a cataclysm. And he’s the one who stopped an entire country from being handed over to a traitorous piece of trash. What other rank 3 out there has a career like that?”

I kept my mouth shut and stayed behind her. This felt exactly like watching a furious parent storm into the principal’s office over their kid’s grades.

“B-but the rejection has already been processed. It’s outside my authority…”

“Bullshit. It’s always ‘outside my authority’ or ‘not my jurisdiction’ with you people! Is this seriously how you handle your jobs?”

“Whoa, President!”

When she started rolling up her sleeves, I hurried over and grabbed her to pull her back.

“I’m fine! I can just complete one more overseas deployment and come back.”

“I’m the one who’s not fine!”

She thrashed and shouted as I held both her arms, her elbows slamming into my face.

It hurt. Even with my suit’s force field active, it hurt like hell.

“Screw this, I can’t take it!”

After kicking Nick’s desk several more times, she turned to me.

“These Alliance bastards have been quiet for a while, and now they think they can walk all over me.”

’…No, seriously, who in their right mind would underestimate you?’

“Today, I’m going to flip this whole damn Alliance upside down.”

“President, please calm down!”

“Oh, I can see it clear as day. Japan or Canada or some other assholes who don’t want us getting into the M10 must have been slipping them bribes. They know they’ll be at a disadvantage if we add one more rank 2 to our side.”

She snatched a pen from the desk and hurled it. It stabbed straight into Nick’s desk with a sharp THUNK.

Nick let out a high-pitched squeal and recoiled.

“Tell me I’m wrong, you son of a bitch.”

“N-no! Absolutely not…!”

“Get lost. Yusin, follow me.”

She kicked open Nick’s door and strode out.

Even here at headquarters, our Association President was completely unstoppable. I could finally understand why people all over the world called her a nutcase and a menace.

Worried she might cause some kind of incident, I stuck close to her heels.

“Whoa! Isn’t that Hong Yul?”

“Looks like her.”

Maybe it was her striking red hair, but people recognized her and started murmuring.

“Hey!”

A Westerner who seemed to know her came over, waving.

“Hunter Hong Yul! Long time no see! Remember me from the New Zealand front? Flash—”

“Fuck off! All of you, get lost!”

She barked and walked right past him. The guy—Flash-something—drooped his head, crestfallen after being blown off so completely.

’Sorry. Our President is not in the mood for pleasantries right now.’

She marched into the elevator and down the corridor like a runaway locomotive. The atmosphere around her screamed that anyone who touched her would die, and no one dared approach.

We crossed a passageway connecting two buildings and entered a completely different structure.

She asked an employee where the Hunter Rank Evaluation Committee was located. The employee initially said it was classified information, then, after sensing a very direct and vivid death threat, spilled everything.

And finally—

“Get your asses out here, you bastards!”

She kicked open the doors of a large conference room and stormed in.

Inside, about ten men wearing Alliance badges were seated. Just from looking at them, you could tell they were the “I’m a very important person” type.

One of them started to say, “What is the meaning of this discourtesy—” then stopped mid-sentence when he saw Hong Yul and let out a knowing laugh.

’…Just how used to this are they?’

“Now, calm yourself, Hunter Hong Yul.”

The elderly gentleman with a dignified air sitting in the center spoke up.

I checked the nameplate next to his Alliance badge: [Hunter Rank Evaluation Committee Chair, Steven Collins].

“Do I look like I’m in any state to calm down?”

Hong Yul’s eyes blazed. Collins smiled pleasantly, but he didn’t look away.

Sparks practically flew between them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep