Here's an Opportunity-Chapter 10: Preparation (2)

On the first of June, Kim Ki-Rok said goodbye to Lee Ji-Yeon, who was about to start the day's task. "Well then, I'll be on my way to make money."

With a Greater Elemental of Fire sitting on her shoulder, she waved him off. "Yes, and I'll be on my way to level up."

"I will come to pick you up at 4 p.m."

"We finally get to see it today."

"That's right. We'll be able to see our guild building."

After establishing the DG Guild, Kim Ki-Rok engaged in Gate activities with Lee Ji-Yeon. They visited efficient Gates together since the more rewarding Gates had yet to appear. As a result, Lee Ji-Yeon had reached Level 61.

Although Kim Ki-Rok only remained at Level 1, they went together and adjusted the Gate difficulty between 50 and 60 to match Lee Ji-Yeon's level.

The reason Kim Ki-Rok's level did not increase was very simple. Even though they visited these Gates together, he had let Lee Ji-Yeon engage in all the battles.

Kim Ki-Rok guided from the back, teaching Lee Ji-Yeon Elemental Magic and providing information about the monsters they encountered. He even taught her how to move in specific ways. His methods were tailored perfectly to support Lee Ji-Yeon's growth.

At first, Lee Ji-Yeon had been very reluctant to receive all the benefits, but she eventually accepted it.

"I don't need to level up right now," Kim Ki-Rok would say as he taught her how to loot the monsters' dead bodies.

Confirming that Lee Ji-Yeon passed through the Gate alone, Kim Ki-Rok stretched and headed to the parking lot.

"Well, I should also get to work," he said to himself.

His task today was to report, though not to the Hunters Association, of course.

"If I wanted to report to the Association, I would have done it back then~♪" Humming in a nasally tone, Kim Ki-Rok entered a van parked in the parking lot. It was a large van that celebrities usually rode in.

He initially had no intention of buying a car—well, not yet. But because he had dragged Lee Ji-Yeon too early into his plans, he needed a car to drive her around to various Gates. After brief consideration, he decided to purchase a practical car.

Kim Ki-Rok skillfully drove out of the parking lot. It was time to recruit his third guild member. The problem was that there were too many obstacles to overcome before getting there.

"Why, why, why you only call me when you're hiiiighhh~♪"

After driving for a while, Kim Ki-Rok parked the car in front of his destination, a massive five-story building. All eyes converged on the vehicle, one that was commonly recognized as a celebrity van. To the disappointment of everyone watching, it was Kim Ki-Rok who got out of the car. Some didn't give up hope and waited for the van's back door to open. To their dismay, Kim Ki-Rok headed straight toward the building without waiting for anyone else.

"What brings you here?" an Awakened said, blocking his way.

Kim Ki-Rok smoothly took out his business card and handed it to him. "Oh, hello there. I am Kim Ki-Rok, the Guildmaster of DG Guild."

The Awakened introduced himself. "Ah, yes. My name is Yoo Dong-Kwon, and I'm a C-Class Awakened affiliated with Shine Guild."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Awakened Yoo Dong-Kwon."

Yoo Dong-Kwon stared at him in silence.

Kim Ki-Rok stared back.

The Awakened finally broke the awkward silence. "Oh, I'm sorry. So, what brings you here?"

"Is the Guildmaster here?"

"Did you come to see the Guildmaster?"

"That's right." Kim Ki-Rok nodded.

"May I ask why?"

"Please tell the Guildmaster that the matter is related to Tae-Hoon."

Awakened Yoo Dong-Kwon tilted his head, as it was a name he had heard for the first time. He looked back at his colleague guarding the guild entrance just in case the latter knew who Kim Ki-Rok was talking about, but they also shook their head.

"Is Tae-Hoon a member of Shine Guild?"

"No." Kim Ki-Rok shook his head while smiling. "Cha Tae-Hoon is the Guildmaster's son."

Cha Tae-Hoon was the name of Lee Yeon-Hwa's son, who had gone missing five years ago. A-Class Hunter Lee Yeon-Hwa had lost her son under an attack carried out by Awakened criminals who raided the hospital when her son was not even three years old.

That same mother was now walking past the entrance of the building, where many guild members bowed and greeted her. Unperturbed, Lee Yeon-Hwa walked stiffly with a hardened expression and got on the elevator.

"There is a possibility that this is a trap," said a man wearing a black suit, glasses, and white gloves.

It was B-Class Hunter Kang Ho.

Lee Yeon-Hwa replied with a stern expression, "I know."

It wasn't entirely clear where they had obtained this information, but many people had approached her using her son as bait as Shine Guild gained a reputation for various reasons, both good and bad. There had been scammers and many Awakened criminals who had tried to take advantage of her, but despite the countless physical and mental wounds she had endured, she could not give up. After all, they were matters relating to her son.

"Phew!" The man sighed as if in trouble, checked the floor number, and spoke again, "Shall we contact the elder?"

"Let's see what happens first and then contact them after. It could be a trap, as you mentioned."

"Understood."

Ding.

Lee Yeon-Hwa and Kang Ho got off the elevator. Walking past the bowing secretary, they quickly opened the office door. A man in a tracksuit was sitting on the sofa, enjoying the tea and snacks on the table.

"Hm?"

Was it the sound of the door opening, or was it because of the mana that they were unconsciously emitting? The man who was sitting in the home office turned his head.

With a coffee-flavored cookie in his mouth, the man nodded as if nothing was wrong. "Hello."

Lee Yeon-Hwa ignored the man's greeting and sat on the sofa across from him. "Do you have information about Tae-Hoon?"

"Yes."

"How do you know about Tae-Hoon?"

"First, let me introduce myself. I am the Guildmaster of DG Guild, Kim Ki-Rok."

"My name is Lee Yeon-Hwa," she replied curtly.

Even without any further introduction from her, Kim Ki-Rok's smile did not waver.

"Then I will tell you right away. Currently, Cha Tae-Hoon is" Ignoring the frosty killing intent in the air, he continued, "at an orphanage."

"An orphanage?"

"Yes. He is at an orphanage."

Thud!

Lee Yeon-Hwa stood up from her seat and looked down at the man. She seemed ready to use her abilities at any moment. However, the man who had revealed himself as the Guildmaster of DG Guild was calmly enjoying his snack.

"Why is he at an orphanage? No, how do you even know about this, Guildmaster Kim Ki-Rok?"

"To clarify, the person I was interested in was not Cha Tae-Hoon, but the director of this orphanage. While investigating the director, I found a boy at the orphanage who was suspected to be Cha Tae-Hoon."

Kim Ki-Rok shrugged and put his hand into the subspace pocket.

Then, realizing he had forgotten to mention something, he spoke to Kang Ho, who had been emitting more and more mana behind Lee Yeon-Hwa. "You don't need to be so cautious about me trying to bring out evidence. You must have already confirmed that DG Guild is registered with the Association."

"I apologize." Kang Ho said after some thought.

He had indeed confirmed that the recently established guild was legitimate. There were various rumors in the Hunter world due to this new guild's peculiar background. The guild member was a Greater Elementalist who had contracted with a Greater Elemental, and the Guildmaster was a Hunter who had awakened an ability called Discernment.

Kim Ki-Rok smiled. "No, it's all right. It's only natural to be cautious if someone mentioned Cha Tae-Hoon's name out of the blue."

He pulled out a picture from the subspace pocket. It was a picture of a young boy playing with friends. Kim Ki-Rok pointed to the necklace the boy wore around his neck.

"I don't know what Cha Tae-Hoon looks like. But I know this. This is the necklace you wore at your wedding, right?"

Lee Yeon-Hwa stared blankly at the picture of the boy and his necklace.

She nodded. "Yes. This is the necklace I gave to my son. Tae-Hoon used to cry every time we parted on a rainy day. He would always stop crying once he held onto this necklace."

"As expected."

"Where is this orphanage?"

Kim Ki-Rok scratched his cheek and looked at Lee Yeon-Hwa. "Oh, that's "

He looked at Lee Yeon-Hwa, who was looking back at him with trembling eyes, and opened his mouth again. "I mentioned it earlier, didn't I?"

"Pardon?" She was confused.

Lee Yeon-Hwa had been processing only the news about her son and missed what Kim Ki-Rok had said earlier.

Kang Ho, who had been paying attention to the whole story, answered instead. "You said that you found a boy suspected to be Cha Tae-Hoon while investigating the orphanage director."

"Ah" She remembered now.

Lee Yeon-Hwa looked at Kim Ki-Rok with a stern expression. "Investigation?"

That word gave her a sinking feeling.

Slurp.

Kim Ki-Rok took a sip of his tea and began to explain. "In the past, there was an Awakened criminal group called Viper's Blood. You must have heard about them, Guildmaster Lee Yeon-Hwa."

"I have. I wasn't a participant in the operation to suppress them, though."

She remembered them because they had been a very famous Awakened criminal group.

"Then you must also remember that the leader of that criminal group, Viper's Blood, was never caught."

It was clear that a very unpleasant story was about to unfold. When Kim Ki-Rok saw the pale Lee Yeon-Hwa, he gestured to Kang Ho with his eyes. The latter immediately placed his hand on Lee Yeon-Hwa's shoulder. After receiving some of Kang Ho's mana, the color slowly returned to her face.

"Shall we take a break and continue later?" Kim Ki-Rok asked, considering the state that Lee Yeon-Hwa was in.

"No. Please continue," she insisted.

"Alright." Kim Ki-Rok went on. "I had a reason for chasing after the leader of Viper's Blood, and that prevented me from reporting my Awakening right away."

Although he had gone to the Association long after the fact to take care of several matters at once, this provided a valid argument for Shine Guild, who had been investigating everything about Kim Ki-Rok.

Lee Yeon-Hwa turned her head to face Kang Ho. Upon seeing him nod, she turned her head back at Kim Ki-Rok.

"Anyway, searching for their leader led me to the orphanage. Peculiar, right? An orphanage? So, I kept watch. However, while quietly observing, I had the opportunity to see who the orphanage director was. Taking advantage of that opportunity, I discovered he was the Awakened leading Viper's Blood."

"Why would an Awakened criminal be in an orphanage?" she wondered.

"Hmm, well..." Kim Ki-Rok hesitated as if he knew something.

Lee Yeon-Hwa had to find out. "Please. Tell me why he is running an orphanage."

"It might be a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps taking a break"

Kim Ki-Rok tried to consider Lee Yeon-Hwa's feelings but was adamantly refused.

Eventually, Kim Ki-Rok sighed deeply and looked toward the distant sky as he continued to explain, "There is a group of Awakened criminals. And they are currently researching psychic abilities."

This was an unexpected piece of knowledge relating to Awakened criminals. Lee Yeon-Hwa had been anxious and wanted him to get straight to the point, but she soon realized the significance of his explanation and listened attentively.

"The current theory being thrown around about abilities is that it's a superpower bestowed upon humans by Earth as a self-defense mechanism, but those who exploit it for crime have always existed. Among them, no ability was as useful for crime as psychic abilities, therefore these criminals have started researching precisely that."

There were many Awakened with psychic abilities. However, those abilities did not have much of an effect on beings with intelligence, surprisingly. This was also the case for Awakened with S-Class psychic abilities. The chances of intellectual beings being affected by such abilities were around 10%, and even then, the duration of these effects did not exceed ten minutes.

Kim Ki-Rok continued his explanation. "The Hunters Association officially announced that they had researched psychic abilities and discovered a way to induce those abilities in sentient beings."

"What method is that?" Lee Yeon-Hwa inquired.

"Through the usage of mana stones."

"Are you talking about the stones that monsters drop once they are slayed?"

"Yes. Well, not from ordinary monsters, but those from higher species or mutants" Trailing off, Kim Ki-Rok moved his hand toward the subspace pocket. Then, he pulled out a black stone and extended it. "Check it out."

"Appraisal." Lee Yeon-Hwa said.

[Infected Mana Stone (C)]

Description: A stone containing the mana of an orc warrior

A high-class infected mana stone could be obtained from monsters that had evolved into orc warriors, orc mages, and so on.

"An infected mana stone?"

"Yes."

"They grind these stones that contain monster mana and feed them to humans."

Lee Yeon-Hwa's eyes widened. "What?"

Kang Ho was listening from behind and had the same reaction.

"Feeding humans stones that contain monster mana will induce psychic abilities in them. Of course, you have to grind the stones and feed them very slowly. If you feed too much at once, the human will die," he explained further. "Anyway, the Awakened criminals thought that if they used this method, people would also develop psychic abilities, so they decided to try it."

The criminals had to repeatedly feed small amounts of stone powder without arousing suspicion from the Hunters Association.

"They thought about what they could do, and at that moment, a former Awakened criminal who had been active as a cult leader in the past spoke up. He said, 'What about orphanages?'"

She had expected this explanation, but once she heard Kim Ki-Rok's words, Lee Yeon-Hwa's hand trembled.

"And so, the orphanage that raised Awakened criminals was born," Kim Ki-Rok concluded.

It was at that moment Kang Ho instantly appeared in front of Kim Ki-Rok and grabbed him by the collar.

"Since when..."

"I started my investigation five years ago. By the way, I estimate that the criminals discovered the connection between psychic abilities and the infected mana stones this year."

"Why didn't you report this even though you knew?"

"I had just confirmed it this year. To be precise, on April 1, 2040. And..." Kim Ki-Rok paused momentarily, looking straight at Kang Ho without any change in expression. "If I had reported them, they would have covered up all their tracks and disappeared. I had to find another way."