A terrible atmosphere that comes in an instant.

“….”

“….”

Tak.

Esther silently placed her hand on the coffee cup, causing small ripples to form inside the cup. And with this slight movement, a remarkable scene unfolded on the top floor of the Magic Tower.

“L, let me give you a gift.”

“What?”

“I, I suddenly feel an overwhelming urge to give you a present, Kiryeo-ssi. So, could you spare a moment for me?”

That a day would come when a top-tier Korean S-Class hunter would so desperately cling to an F-Class awakened…

“Everything I’m saying is for your benefit, Kiryeo-ssi! This is the internet era, and once a photo is taken, it spreads internationally!”

“Yes?”

“But what kind of mess will happen if a person who is suspected of being an S -class hunter is holding a press conference like that…!”

“Esther-ssi?”

“I mean, there’s a limit to being frugal. How can you even think about going in front of the cameras dressed like that?”

Esther jumped up and said. He will buy clothes right away.

“Oh, there’s really no need for that. If it’s really an issue, I’ll just go buy something new right now.”

Kiryeo politely refused the curse wizard because he didn’t want to owe her anything, but…

‘I can’t trust you!’

Esther’s attitude was firm. The chicken-themed t-shirt worn by Kim Kiryeo made the whole doubt of the other person’s aesthetic sense.

“Please let me buy you some clothes. I’ll beg you.”

“W, why are you doing this?”

“Oh, right. My brother runs a clothing store, you know? So I can get them at a cheap price, so don’t worry about it…! Huh?!”

As such, Esther begged Kim Kiryeo, eventually securing the right to choose his clothes. She decided to dress Kim Kiryeo in clothes of her choosing before the press conference.

And at this moment, the assistant, who had been quietly observing the entire process from the corner, thought to herself.

‘It’s really scary.’

Honestly, that sweatshirt had such a significant influence that even she would be willing to open her wallet for it. It almost seemed like it should be treated as a dungeon item…

‘Hunters have good income, right? But to think that someone would specifically choose to wear something like that is quite surprising.’

The secretary of the Magic Tower clicked her tongue and followed their employer out of the room.

‘Well, S-Class awakeners are highly likely to be eccentric.’

After arriving at a store in Apgujeong, Kiryeo, being new to Earth’s clothing shops, looked around with curiosity. Soon, the store manager greeted them.

“Welcome.”

With a neatly styled pomade hairstyle and silver glasses, it’s hard to believe that this person is related to the hunter just by looking.

“Oppa!”

“I told you not to pretend to know me outside.”

“Today, I can’t tell Oppa how grateful I am that you’re in the clothing business! Thanks to you, I’m really saved.”

However, checking the name tag on his chest makes the relationship more apparent.

[Seo Yohan.]

Dalseong Seo.

And religious naming.

These two conditions overlapping at once is quite a rare occurrence.

‘He’s from an S-Class bloodline, but is that side just a non-awakened person?’

Kiryeo observed the store owner with interest, and at that moment, Esther’s voice erupted from the side.

“Hunter Kim Kiryeo?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Please pick something you like from these. I’ll try to consider your taste a little.”

He wasn’t particularly interested in clothing since he had lived on an alien planet where clothing culture wasn’t developed.

“Hmm.”

So, Kiryeo, with a nonchalant expression, rummaged through the hangers…

“Are you selling that too?”

After a while, he stopped sifting through the hangers and pointed to a mannequin in the distance. On it was a plain black suit without any patterns.

“Huh? You like that one?”

“Maybe…”

“It turns out you prefer a more formal style than I thought, huh?”

Esther couldn’t hide her surprise. With so many clothes around, if he can choose a suit right away, it shows that he has a good eye. How did he end up with such a gift?

‘Moreover, why does he have five of them?’

She briefly covered her head, then soon said with a bright expression.

“If you like the suit, you can choose as many as you want! But are you sure you want to go with that one? It looks so neat that it seems more like something for an interview.”

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

However, this F-class hunter was indifferent to the other suits she offered. The reason he chose the mannequin’s clothes wasn’t because of himself, but because…

‘This is the one that most closely resembles what Kim Kiryeo’s corpse was wearing.’

It was a selection that suited the real owner of this body.

‘If he wore it until his death, it must have been his favorite outfit, right?’

The black suit was essentially mourning clothes for Kim Kiryeo. So, he chose to wear something that the deceased owner had favored in life, as a mark of respect for the soul.

Of course, this is a pointless thing that no one will recognize…

But isn’t there a certain courtesy that a magician should show?

‘When you inherit a corpse, it’s only right to honor the wishes of its original owner, even if just a little.’

The store employees brought out items identical to what was on the mannequin in the storage. Now, all that was left was to check if the sizes were correct.

“Here! Try them all on. Oh, since it’s cold outside, this coat will be perfect. Also this one!”

“Try them on? Here?”

“There’s a changing room over there.”

She pointed to the screen on the other side and turned her gaze back to the clothes hangers. Since they had come this far, she was determined to find clothes that would suit him well.

“Hunter Esther.”

However, Esther soon stopped her actions. A few minutes later, the sound of a man’s shoes echoed from the direction of the fitting room.

“The clothes fit, but the shoes are a bit…”

Kim Kiryeo slowly walked towards him wearing a three-piece suit. Esther gasped in surprise when she saw him. In fact, she would have been happy with anything as long as it wasn’t that awful hoodie, but as expected, clothes make the man.

“Oh my, you look like an actor! An actor!”

Esther praised him. The secretary next to her also looked at Kiryeo as if she was possessed and started to talk.

“Oh, he really looks like an actor….”

“Right? I told you so.”

However, Kim Kiryeo didn’t understand their compliments. From the perspective of an alien with gaps in common knowledge, ‘actor’ simply referred to someone who performs in entertainment, without deeper context.

‘You’re suddenly saying I look like someone who does a play?’

Kiryeo soon fell silent. The conversation that had been interrupted continued after the manager here brought new shoes.

“I looked around and these seem to be the best.”

“Is that so?”

He doesn’t have any taste anyway, so what’s the point of dragging it out? Kiryeo found changing clothes troublesome and just threw on what he had, but Esther cheerfully nodded and headed to the checkout counter.

“Oppa, come here for a moment!”

But the checkout, which he thought would be simple, took longer than expected…

‘Hmm?’

Esther grabbed the owner of the clothing store and chatted for a while, and Kim Kiryeo took a moment to look around. He idly rummaged through the belt display and observed the women’s clothing.

“Sir, will you be leaving the store in these clothes? Should I remove the tags for you?”

“Yes, thank you.”

And during this process, as the clerk approached and removed the clothing tags, Kim Kiryeo tried to check how much the suit he was wearing cost. However, just as he was about to look at the removed price tag, a small commotion occurred.

– Diriririring.

Someone’s cell phone rang.

“That’s my call. I’ll take this call for a moment, so use this card to pay for everything.”

“Everything you mentioned?”

“Yeah, all of it.”

She checked the caller ID on her screen and immediately answered the call.

“Hello~”

But somehow, the atmosphere was not good.

“Yes?”

As time passed, Esther’s expression rapidly darkened.

“Yes. Yes. I understand…”

The call ended soon. freeweɓnøvel.com

Swoosh.

Esther, who had removed the phone from her ear, had a dazed expression on her face. Seeing this, Kiryeo briefly asked a question.

“What was the call?”

Esther rolled her eyes and answered cautiously.

“It’s a call from the guild’s secretary office.”

“Aha.”

“To be exact, it’s news that Jung Haseong is on the news right now.”

There’s nothing strange up to this point. It’s normal for S-Class hunters to appear in the news, happening almost daily.

“Is that so?”

Kiryeo asked out of pure curiosity what the problem was.

“First of all, I heard that Jung Haseong has declared his return to hunter work following this incident…”

“Already?”

“That’s not the important part right now. What matters is that he mentioned you in the interview.”

But who would have thought she would answer like this?

‘Me?’

Kiryeo’s eyes widened at the news that the top-ranked hunter had mentioned him. Of course, Esther was also shaken. She had been nervous since she heard the news.

“Kiryeo, have you known Hunter Jung Haseong before?”

“Didn’t you see the articles circulating online?”

“I, I can’t keep track of every piece of public opinion.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, just tell me that. Do you really know Jung Haseong?”

Does he know him?

“I know him, but why?”

Kim Kiryeo scratched the back of his neck and answered unwillingly. However, Esther blurted out with a flustered face as soon as she heard this.

“Then tell me what exactly happened between you two.”

“Yes?”

“Because Jung Haseong just said on air that he would burn you down.”

[[●LIVE] YTV News Mobile Live ┃ Jung Haseong Interview]

[Reporter: This S-class dungeon break incident! Thank you for your hard work in handling it.]

[Jung Haseong: It’s nothing.]

[Reporter: But the real culprit, the Inevitable Malice, was actually hunted down by another hunter. Aren’t you a bit disappointed about this?]

[Jung Haseong: I am very disappointed in that hunter.]

[Reporter: Disappointed?]

[Jung Haseong: I vaguely knew that he was strong, but no matter what, it was really too much to lie about an S-Class being an F-Class.]

[Reporter: (bringing the microphone closer)]

[Jung Haseong: Personally, I hope that hunter will quickly clarify his true rank.]

[Reporter: I see.]

[Jung Haseong: If he doesn’t admit to manipulating his awakening rank, I’m willing to personally verify the facts.]

[Reporter: Yes?]

[Jung Haseong: Now that things have come to this, if he still keeps talking nonsense about being an F-class, I plan on going to find him and setting him on fire.]

[Jung Haseong: To be honest, there are limits to people. How could you have kept such an awakening value and kept it quiet all this time…(omitted)]

I dropped the phone I was holding. Esther suddenly asked me to check the news, and as I quickly turned on the video, I never expected such shocking conversation.

‘Damn it!’

At one point, I thought it was good that Jung Haseong was easy to fool… Now that I think about it, bragging in front of an S-class was completely crazy. Because the other person believed in that boast, a major accident occurred.

‘That damned guy should have just rested quietly in the mountains instead of making such nonsense on TV!’

What if I keep getting labeled as an S-Class hunter? If that happens, I’ll be obligated to handle high-level gates as well.

‘What’s worse is if I disobey my duty, there’ll be a significant penalty…’

But isn’t it also impossible to remain as an F-rank? If such a declaration is made, the top-ranked Hunter who was mentioned in the interview earlier will surely come running right away.

‘Huh? No matter what I choose, it’s over?’

I was in a corner. I was in a really absurd situation where I couldn’t choose between the strong and the weak.