It was a woman calling him right in the middle of his day off. He answered, stating that he was off duty, and told her to get straight to the point.
On the other end was the department's lackey, who snapped back that she didn't care, and commented that he was probably just slacking off at the park anyway. She said it was great that he was off, because it meant he had plenty of time to use his skills — and then she asked whether he could track someone down for her.
This was Lee Jung-hae, from the monitoring department.
He just went dead silent, because he had pulled the phone away from his face. He began to think that he probably didn't need to recreate every single monster in the dungeon after all, and that he could cut down on his expenses a bit. If necessary, it would honestly be faster if he just stepped in and intervened personally. If it really came down to that.
For God's sake. He flat-out told the woman to shut her mouth, right to her face, considering she had been rambling non-stop until that very moment. He told her that if she was from the monitoring department, she should track the person down on her own.
Lee Jung-hae fired back, begging him politely and promising that she would buy him food. She questioned whether that was really how he responded when a beautiful and delicate young lady was pleading with him.
He asked, highly suspicious, about the beautiful and delicate part.
Lee Jung-hae affirmed that she absolutely was, adding that as soon as he heard who the target was, he would want to look for him personally.
Then she revealed that it was Kang Tae-san.
Seo-yul confirmed the name, and admitted that honestly, he would love to see him one more time. If the target was someone of that guy's caliber, he would find him in no time.
Later on, he was still at the plaza, watching some old men play Go. Of course, he wasn't actually watching the game. He was just completely lost in thought.
He could feel it from a distance, but up close it was no joke. One of the old men had a dark red aura, the kind that only incredibly powerful awakened individuals possessed. But setting the aura aside, he wondered whether it was really this guy, because he looked completely different from what he had imagined. He just looked like a regular old man.
One of the elderly men asked Seo-yul whether by any chance he knew how to play Go.
He replied that yes, he knew a little bit.
The old man asked whether he had a tip to help him win right then and there.
The moment he went to help, his sixth sense kicked in. An explosion rocked a tree in the background, because the other old-timer had literally fired the Go pieces, blasting a crater right into the trunk.
The first old man told him he could just ignore anyone who approached him with ulterior motives.
But that was simply impossible. Seo-yul realized that it really was him — one of South Korea's only rank S hunters, a man notorious for turning absolutely anything in his hands into a deadly weapon.
Kang Tae-san, the rank S hunter and master of weapons, spoke up, saying that he couldn't just ignore the kid's useless backseat driving regarding the game.
Right after that, however, Lee Jung-hae showed up to call for her master.
Kang Tae-san asked whether the brat was from the monitoring department.
He answered no — that he was just a rescue tracker.
Kang Tae-san remarked that he had pretty arrogant movements for a kid, commenting that the boy's only flaw was being entirely too talented.
Lee Jung-hae asked where on earth he had been, since she had been looking for him everywhere.
He merely replied that he had just needed a moment.
She answered that the trainees were already gathered, and that he needed to get back. Then she asked Seo-yul how he had managed to find a person that even the department couldn't track down.
He replied that he was just highly qualified, that was all, and that the job was done.
But before he could leave, Kang Tae-san asked where the arrogant punk thought he was going, reminding him that he was also a hunter from the department. He ordered the boy to follow him, as he wanted to verify whether he was actually as good as he seemed.
Later, at the department, the old man was lecturing.
Awakened individuals possess a fixed maximum capacity, he said. That meant that no matter how hard a rank C tried, they would never escape being a rank C. However, the system didn't define everything. Martial arts couldn't be measured with numbers alone.
He drew his sword and explained that, in other words, someone could become much stronger depending on their proficiency. That was exactly why everyone from the department was gathered there today.
Except that one of the people standing up on the stage for the demonstration was Seo-yul. In reality, he didn't want to be there at all.
Master Kang Tae-san asked one of the recruits how long he had been receiving his training.
He answered that it had been four months.
The people in the audience whispered that he was one of the department's few rank B guys.
The master noted that he had potential, which was why he was standing there now. Then he posed a question. What did the recruit think was necessary to wield a sword properly?
The recruit answered that it required unstoppable strength and a complete understanding of one's own skills.
Then the master asked the arrogant brat what he thought.
Seo-yul answered without hesitation. It was simply the will to wield a sword.
An uproar broke out in the crowd, because everyone thought his answer was absolute garbage.
Kang Tae-san fired back, saying that he had answered carelessly.
But Seo-yul was completely certain of his answer, thinking to himself that the master, as expected, was remarkably sharp for a rank S.
Kang Tae-san explained that for someone with such a careless expression, he truly was an arrogant boy. But that was indeed the correct answer.
Naturally, the other apprentice got furiously irritated, demanding to know how that could possibly be the right answer, completely setting aside the fact that Seo-yul wasn't even an actual trainee and was just standing there.
Seo-yul wondered why this guy was throwing such a tantrum over a single question. He acted like a total child.