"-We are live from the HQ of the Korean Hunters Association, where the man that everyone is trying to see since yesterday's announcement is in talks about-"
"-How can they just give the National Rank to someone based on their mana alone? Isn't there a basic requirement-"
"-There he is! The very first National-Rank hunter of Korea-"
"-Mr. Hudson! What do you have to say about what our viewers from the USA are saying in the comments about you being-"
The students in the cafeteria continued to stare at the TV as Jinha frantically tried to change the channels, only to land on one media channel after another, all showing the same news.
Of her Uncle's new status as a National-Rank hunter, which caused everyone who knew her relationship with the man in question to stare at her with awe and jealousy.
Jinah always knew that her uncle was hiding his power, but she could never have imagined that it would be this exaggerated. Nor did she imagine that her school life would become this difficult after the announcement.
Under the stares of her classmates and teachers, the teenager sullenly walked back to her table and continued to eat in silence with her friends, who also felt the stares to be uncomfortable.
All the while. Jinah cursed her Uncle in her mind for troubling her again.
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"….I knew things would become difficult for a while, but I did not expect it to become like this."
"What did you expect was going to happen? James. You should already know by now how much the common people care about anything that has to do with Hunters."
I grimaced at those words as I continued to stare down at the horde of reporters at the entrance of the building.
"This much can be considered pretty tame for the level of information revealed. You should have seen the aftermath of the incident four years ago back home."
I raised an eyebrow at Alicia as she stared down at the press with me.
"Worse than this literal hoard of reporters?"
"Oh! Yes. Instead of a hoard, it was a sea of them, swarming our Guild building, the homes of our hunters, and even the schools and colleges of their children. It took several lawsuits against the media companies to tone down those vultures. Even then, they still follow us around in secret all the time, hoping to find a chink in our armor to tear us down for the sake of their own entertainment. As expected of weaklings like them."
The clear disdain on her face for the common people was something that made Gunhee very uncomfortable, as I saw his face twitch at her words and expressions.
However, I really can't back up my old friend on this issue since I share the same sentiment as this young woman.
The common people of this world really did not deserve people like Gunhee risking his life for them. Especially after what I saw at the Humanoid Monster incident in France four years ago, all the way to the latest dungeon break incident near Hapjeong.
Just reading those reports and listening to the words of those people who were recorded by the soldier's body camera near Hapjeong was enough to make my blood boil at how uncaring they were about the lives of the Hunters who struggled desperately to keep them safe.
If I had my way, I would never get involved with all this and keep the children out of it as well.
Unfortunately, Jinwoo has already chosen his path and has already faced the darkness of human nature, if the incident yesterday was anything to go by.
After the announcement of my rank and the short press meet, I arrived home yesterday night to a Jinwoo who looked as if he had lost something important.
The talk that followed was something that I hoped we would never have to have, but were forced to.
After all, I never wanted the child to experience the feeling of killing a man as I did.
Turns out, the team he went with yesterday for a dungeon raid were all scum who wanted to kill him and a fellow temporary party member to take their gear and mine the Mana Crystals within the dungeon.
To defend himself and his fellow new members, Jinwoo had no choice but to kill all the members of that party who took part in the assault.
In the end, he ended up covering the incident up by saying that they were all killed by the Boss monster.
While I will give him points for creativity, even a child can spot the holes in his story and call bull on it.
Fortunately, those people were already primary suspects in many unexplained murders and crimes throughout the city and many dungeon raids, but got off scot-free because of the lack of evidence and the connection they had to an S-Rank hunter.
This meant that it was relatively easy for me and Gunhee to manipulate things and come up with a better cover story, although I still expected Hwang Dongsoo, the S-Rank hunter who lives in America and the brother of the team's captain, Hwang Dongsuk, to dig deeper into things and probably cause trouble for us.
However, I am already prepared for this inevitability. If he is reasonable enough, I will compensate him for his loss in any way I can. But if he dares to harm those I care about.
I will eradicate him, body and soul.
I have lost enough friends and family. I will not lose any more of them, no matter the cost.
"I guess we have no choice but to wait out this problem."
"That would be for the best. Incidentally, the prospects for Project Covenant are here."
I perked up at those words and nodded at Gunhee, who got up from his seat.
Walking out of the room, we headed deep into the HQ, where a massive training space for hunters is located.
In the room, I spotted the two hunters that I had handpicked to be part of the project that would serve as the prototype for the new format of Guilds I proposed to Gunhee.
Just like the Covenants of Lordran, this group would be loyal to no one but their leader and would be something akin to soldiers or warriors who followed a specific code.
That is why I named it Project Covenant.
However, for something like this to work, I will need hunters who have shown that they have the virtues that I am looking for and have the drive to improve themselves.
Walking through the room, I mentally ticked the checkboxes on the people.
Ming Byung-Gyu. The independent S-Rank hunter.
This handsome young man with black hair and eyes is someone with a compassionate heart and a pacifist who hates fighting. This suited his status as a Healer and Buff magic user quite well.
Originally, he had already retired from his career as a Hunter and became a History teacher, wishing to live a simple life away from all the violence.
However, when we proposed our plans and what we wished to accomplish with this project, he willingly jumped back into his former career out of his sense of duty to his country.
Han Se-Mi. Another Healer whom we poached from the Hunters Guild.
As an A-Rank healer, her powers are very useful for the plans we have in mind. However, convincing her to part from the Hunters Guild was really hard due to her sense of loyalty and her considerations for looking after her siblings with her pay.
In the end, it took us offering to triple the amount of money she earned from her raids, along with promising our full support, including my status as a newly titled National Rank, in finding the truth behind the disappearance of her parents in a dungeon break incident.
We definitely made the Hunters Guild mad with this particular poaching, since they would not stop complaining about it for days on end.
Out of this group, which would be made of four hunters, including me, only these two are of Korean origin. Gunhee and Woo Jinchul were somewhat concerned that a group consisting of two foreign individuals and two Koreans might create PR problems, but they soon looked past the issue and identified the advantage of having such powerful and unaffiliated Hunters in the group.
The last member of the group was none other than Alicia.
I was just as surprised as Gunhee to find out that her father had given her free rein to do whatever she wanted when she came to Korea to negotiate a deal between the Hunters Association and Blanche's Guild.
Part of the deal that she struck with Gunhee is that she must be a part of any team that I make for raiding dungeons in exchange for getting Korean citizenship and staying here for at least ten years as an active Hunter.
Being as obsessive as she is, she easily agreed to such an extreme deal. That is why she got included in Project Covenant.
As an S-Rank Mage, she will be the ranged Damage Dealer in the team and will be named the leader of the team once I deem them suitably trained to take on dungeons on their own.
With me being the tank and main Damage Dealer, the team is made up of two Damage Dealers and two Healers. A well-balanced team.
A sentiment that Gunhee shared as well, if the approving look he gave us was anything to go by.
Hopefully, this project will succeed, and the Hunters Association will have a team of hunters that it can rely on to clear any kind of extreme danger, just like Gunhee wants after I am done training them.
If this prototype team is deemed successful enough, more will be formed under Gunhee's description in the future.
Walking up to the stage, I took out the tablet where Gunhee and Jinchul had written an introductory speech for this project.
Well, here goes nothing.
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"Oh! Come on!! Not again!!"
Jinwoo's frustrated shouts rang out across the dungeon as it started to warp, and his system once again reacted to something that he got from his uncle.
This time, however, it was not an incident he could chalk up to the system's peculiarities, as he was not the only one caught up in this problem.
Behind him, his former team leader, Song Chi-Yul, stood in front of Lee Joohee as the dungeon started to change around them.
It was right after the Hunter from the Association, Kang Taeshik, was dealt with, along with the Boss monster of the Dungeon, that things went to shit just like how it happened at Hapjeong station.
This time, it was the sword that he obtained from his Uncle to replace the dagger he lost in the fight against the Asylum Demon last time.
Just like last time, Jinwoo felt a pull from the sword as the System glitched out and turned a similar shade of yellow and orange like last time, with only one objective.
To Survive.
And this time, the location was also different.
The Valley of Drakes.
'Fuck, I really need to talk to Uncle about whatever is going on here!!'
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1