Chapter 51
Yoo Juncheol and Do Deungsoo hadn't been interested in Yoon Seo initially, but ever since his involvement in the "Highest Contributor" incident, they had started paying a lot of attention to him. On the other hand, the Hunter Association President and Vice President still showed no interest in Yoon Seo.
Unlike them, Kwon Jihan, who had shown interest in Yoon Seo from the beginning, spoke indifferently.
"Nothing happened."
The moment Yoon Seo saw the dagger, his expression grew emotional, and he briefly covered his eyes with his hand. At that moment, the item's aura created a strange ripple, as if resonating with something. However, Kwon Jihan didn't mention this to anyone, not because the President and Vice President were present, but because even if they weren't, he wouldn't have shared it.
For some reason, he felt satisfied knowing he was the only one who had seen that rare expression on Yoon Seo's face.
***
As they continued discussing how to draw Seo Chaeyoon out and what to say when they met him, they soon realized it was getting late and prepared to leave.
The group in the lounge stood up and headed down on the escalator, passing through the first-floor lobby. Suddenly, Kwon Jihan, who was walking in front, stopped and turned to Yoo Juncheol.
"Check the safe."
"What?"
"Check if Seo Chaeyoon's weapon is still intact in the safe."
"Right now? You mean check it now?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? Are you going deaf?"
Kwon Jihan's expression wasn't a joke; he looked genuinely serious. Yoo Juncheol, Do Deungsoo, the President, and Vice President exchanged uneasy glances, their eyes filled with anxiety and apprehension.
"Why are you suddenly asking to check it now? You're making us nervous."
"I can't see 'Existing Spirit' with
"…What?"
Everyone jumped in shock at his words. Upon closer inspection, a golden hue was shimmering in Kwon Jihan's gray eyes, indicating he was using a skill.
They knew Kwon Jihan possessed an L-rank skill named after Gaia.
This skill can reveal everything in an awakened's system profile, item descriptions, hidden traps, and treasure chests within dungeons. It can even detect whether a piece of fruit is poisonous.
In short,
Since it's an L-rank skill, anything up to S-rank is fully visible, though anything S+ and above appears distorted, like when Kwon Jihan tried to view Yoon Seo's profile. However, if Kwon Jihan were to acquire a rank-up item, nothing in the world would be hidden from him. But to date, no item exists that upgrades an L-rank skill.
What's even more remarkable is that this skill allows him to view system windows of things that aren't physically present.
For example, even items in a safe located far away in Africa.
Kwon Jihan had kept the system window for 'Existing Spirit' open ever since he first saw it, continuously observing it with
"It was perfectly fine, but just now, it suddenly closed."
"J-just a moment, Hunter Kwon Jihan. When it says the item profile is closed…."
"It means the profile has changed or it's been moved into the inventory."
"Are you sure you saw it correctly? Couldn't it have just been obscured by another window? Hunter Kwon Jihan, you always have so many windows open. Check again."
"I closed all the open windows, and it's not there."
Kwon Jihan replied nonchalantly, but the others were on the verge of fainting, especially the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master of Seokyoung.
They couldn't believe it. Could it be that Seo Chaeyoon had taken it back? But how would he know? Only three people here knew its location, so how could he possibly know?
"Guild Master, shall I go check?"
"Yes, go quickly."
With a "whoosh," Do Deungsoo disappeared. Kwon Jihan leaned against the doorway, while Yoo Juncheol, his legs weak, sat squatting, anxiously waiting for Do Deungsoo's message. The Association President and Vice President watched Yoo Juncheol nervously.
A few minutes later, a call came from Do Deungsoo.
– The 'Existing Spirit'… it's gone.
"Damn it!"
Yoo Juncheol clutched his forehead as if he had a headache.
The Association President and Vice President witnessed Seokyoung's major setback, but they couldn't feel happy about it.
The loss of 30 billion won was a secondary issue. The bigger problem was that they had just lost the only means to bring Seo Chaeyoon out of hiding.
"We were planning to use this to lure Seo Chaeyoon out, but instead, it's been stolen."
"Technically, the owner just reclaimed what's his."
"Jihan, how can you be so calm? Huh? Ah, wait…! Can you still see the profile window if Seo Chaeyoon retrieves the item from his inventory? Isn't that right? Am I right?"
"If it stays in its original form, yes. But Seo Chaeyoon will definitely change its form. Then I won't be able to see it remotely anymore."
The profile of the 'Existing Spirit' included the description, "You can modify it into any form you desire without restrictions." It was also labeled as a "dagger form." If Seo Chaeyoon managed to obtain it, he would certainly change its form.
"Argh!" Yoo Juncheol shouted, ruffling his hair in frustration. On the other end of the phone, Do Deungsoo wailed about how he'd have to go all the way back to Korea. The Hunter Association President and Vice President cleared their throats, suggesting they still had the visitor list to check.
Kwon Jihan strode out of the mansion.
It was intriguing.
How on earth did Seo Chaeyoon discover the item's location? Even with all the skills and items Kwon Jihan knew, there was no way to pinpoint that place. That could only mean there was a specific special skill involved, and Kwon Jihan suspected it might be a Gaia skill….
'Could he also be a 'Chosen One'?'
[O Virtuous and Righteous One]
When the Gaia system selected Kwon Jihan, it used that expression: "O virtuous and righteous one."
It was an established fact that the Gaia system did not awaken those with a criminal record.
'Yoon Seo.'
On a midsummer night, under the vivid yellow moonlight, Kwon Jihan smiled.
Today, he had learned a lot about Yoon Seo.
First, Yoon Seo was astonished by the "Heavenly Sea," as if he were staring at a hidden explanation window. He kept signaling with his eyes to buy it, and he didn't even try to hide it.
Second, Yoon Seo clearly resonated with Seo Chaeyoon's weapon. 'Existing Spirit' trembled ever so slightly under Yoon Seo's gaze.
And third, though perhaps no one noticed…
When the shield covering the entire Yangpyeong vanished, Yoon Seo's eyes were a complete blue before they slowly returned to brown.
All of this led to a single conclusion.
'Are you Seo Chaeyoon?'
Kwon Jihan had no intention of directly asking Yoon Seo that question.
Normally, he would be the type to ask bluntly, but this time he decided to hold back. It seemed like it would be more fun that way. So, he chose not to mention any of Yoon Seo's suspicious traits to Yoo Juncheol or Do Deungsoo either.
'Whether you're Seo Chaeyoon or not, it'll take time to bring you over to our side.'
He was the kind of person who would say that 'justice is a fictional term created to impose an unfair duty on the strong.'
In the past, he had been chosen as a righteous and good person by the Gaia System, but now Yoon Seo held nothing but contempt for justice.
In his brown eyes, there was sadness and regret as he spoke those words.
His indifferent and calm voice held an undeniable sense of remorse and yearning.
This only piqued Kwon Jihan's curiosity further. What had happened? What events could have led him to make such an anguished expression as he said he didn't want to make any more sacrifices?
Why… had he come to believe that justice was not righteous?
Of course, it's impossible to simply label injustice as evil or call the just righteous. However, Kwon Jihan knew one thing for sure, that Yoon Seo was not an evil person. Didn't Soo Jaehee's
He was curious about what could have happened for a good person to turn away from justice.
It didn't matter to Kwon Jihan whether Yoon Seo was Seo Chaeyoon or not. He just wanted to know.
***
He had never wanted to use this skill. He intended to live as if it didn't exist until the day he died.
But now was not the time for such stubbornness.
[The
The familiar message appeared before his eyes after a long time. Yoon Seo quietly closed his eyes and sensed where 'Existing Spirit' had moved.
Due to his resentment toward the Gaia System, he had pretended this skill didn't exist and vowed never to use it, but now he had no choice but to rely on it to retrieve the spirit.
This L-rank skill had multiple abilities, and the ones Yoon Seo used this time were "Detection" and "Teleportation."
As long as he was connected to the earth, he could detect any item and teleport to any location on the earth.
With
Yoon Seo wanted to go directly to where the Spirit was, but he acted cautiously. He checked the distribution of people around the Spirit, the structure of the building, and even confirmed Kwon Jihan's location just in case. Only then did he use the skill and quickly stored the Spirit in his inventory as soon as he found it.
[The
After using the skill again to return to his comfortable hideout, Yoon Seo collapsed in the middle of the living room, gasping for breath.
"Wow… this is exhausting."
His heart was racing heavily.
"Hah… I'm seriously done…"
From the end of the exhibition hall terror incident to recovering the spirit, he had used the L-rank skill continuously for five straight hours. Even Yoon Seo, who rarely felt exhausted, was now experiencing a rare case of mana exhaustion, something he hadn't faced since the Great Dungeon.