Chapter 131 - Chapter 131 (1/2)

Her name was Norma Selner.

An African-American woman of 46 years of age, and often referred to as Madam Selner or Mrs Selner, the Hunter Bureau offered her a higher degree of protection than the President of the country.

Meaning, if both her and the President's lives were under threat, then the Hunter Bureau would prioritise in rescuing her first and then worry about the President later.

But, how could such a thing even be possible?

When the previous director of the Hunter Bureau retired from the office and handed over the responsibility to his successor, he described her with the following words.

- "Doesn't matter who becomes our next President, our position as the world's greatest Hunter nation on Earth will never change. But, if she's no longer with us, then America will start worrying about the Gates appearing in smaller cities around the remote regions of our country."

That's how it was.

Because she managed to attract the world's elite rank S Hunters here, the American citizens were able to rest easy every night knowing that they didn't need to worry about high-ranking Gates opening up somewhere within this massive country of theirs.

The top-ranked Hunters who changed their nationality because of her was already 26.

This was already a number far exceeding other so-called Hunter superpower nations and their roster of rank S Hunters. The Hunter Bureau also carefully selected their targets as well, so it went without saying that their Hunters were of far superior quality, as well.

So, one could say that Madam Selner was the guardian angel looking after America from behind the scenes.

Regardless of how high a rank S Hunter's position was, or the treatment he or she received, none of them were seen as being as important as Madam Selner at the end of the day.

She was the top classified secret that not even the American President could easily approach. Quite obviously, the rank S Hunters allowed to meet her were selected via the most strict, rigorous vetting process.

They were the specially chosen few, as coined by Agent Adam White earlier.

["We certainly will get something in return by revealing this information to an exclusive group of a specially chosen few."]

At first, Jin-Woo had no clue what it meant to be included in that exclusive group of the chosen few. Not just him, but most of the rank S Hunters, too.

However, they would come to a realisation after Madam Selner broke open their limits – the realisation of who chose them, and what it meant to be chosen!

One of the Hunters was so moved by the overflowing power coursing through his body, he even knelt down before her to shed tears of gratitude. On the following day, his nationality changed from Congo to America.

'That always happened, didn't it?'

And that was why the current serving deputy director of the Hunter Bureau, Michael Conner, didn't believe that anything would go wrong.

He was sure that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would cry out in alternating emotions of elation and shock, maybe even search for his God, just as everyone else before him did.

Then, he'd beg for more.

Was there any other, more fitting description than that?

He confidently thought like that, not even a hint of suspicion within his mind. But, then....

The cry of shock actually came out from someone else's mouth.

"Uaaahhk?!"

Madam Selner stared deep into Jin-Woo's eyes for a long time, before she screamed at the top of her lungs as if she had seen something she shouldn't have. She fell off the chair on to the floor.

Almost right away, two agents here to guard her whipped their pistols out and took aim at Jin-Woo.

"Stop!! Have you all lost your minds?!"

The deputy director witnessed the agents and their recklessness, and cried out in alarm. Loud cussing exploded out of his mouth as he jumped up from his sitting position to push down the pointed pistols of the agents.

"Do you not know who this person is? How dare you point at him with such a thing?!"

"But, sir, the Madam is...."

"You idiots! If you're that worried about Madam Selner, then check up on her first!!"

"M-my apologies."

The agents quickly put their guns away and supported the shivering Madam Selner off from the ground. Her complexion had become so pale that she looked quite pitiful right now.

Meanwhile, the deputy director bowed his back 90 degrees to Jin-Woo.

"I'm truly sorry, Hunter-nim. My agents committed a grave blunder."

Judging from the previously-relaxed voice of the deputy director tremble like that, he must've been frightened out of his wits rather greatly just now.

'They are trained to put the safety of the Madam above all else, but to think, they'd be stupid enough to point a gun at a rank S Hunter!'

If their opponent possessed a fiery temper, then never mind the two foolish agents, even their boss's neck wouldn't have remained in its original place.

He couldn't even come up with an excuse to explain away the agents shoving guns in the face of a top-ranked Hunter in a country where carrying firearms was illegal.

The deputy director's heart still loudly pounded in his chest, unable to calm down from the fright he felt when Madam Selner screamed and fell, and also, when the agents pulled their guns out without any warning.

Funnily enough, though, Jin-Woo was also deeply flustered by what transpired just now.

'Just what the hell is up with this situation?'

That lady suddenly screamed out and fell down, the Hunter Bureau's agents pointed guns at him, and finally, their deputy director jumped up and down in a huff before apologising with a deep bow of his head.

At first, he was dumbfounded. Next up, he was speechless, and finally....

"....It's fine. No one got hurt, after all."

He didn't even feel like getting angry here.

He kinda figured that angrily threatening the other party was a pretty disgraceful thing to do, especially when the second most powerful man from another country's top organisation was quick to admit the mistakes of his subordinates and apologised like this.

A part of him also didn't feel much of anything when guns were being pointed at him. Rather than weapons, they looked more like children's toys to him now. That was how wide the gap between them and Jin-Woo was.

"Thank you for your understanding, Hunter-nim."

Only after Jin-Woo let it go did the deputy director raise his head back up again. He then sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo's face and confirmed that the Korean wasn't being sarcastic or anything. He felt that he had really dodged a bullet here.

'If something like this happened in front of either Thomas Andre or China's Liu Zhigeng, then....'

The hearts of those two agents pulling out their guns would have stopped beating long before he had the chance to apologise. What a relief that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was such an understanding gentleman.

'Whew-.'

The deputy director sighed out in relief and wiped the pooled sweat off his nose. He managed to put out the most pressing flames first. Next, it was time to focus on the other matter.

The deputy director bowed his head one more time and then, urgently checked up on Madam Selner's current condition.

"Madam? What happened?"

"M-Michael...."

"Madam? You're sweating so much... are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

The deputy director may have shed a few cold sweat drops over the volatile situation just now, but she was completely soaked from head to toe at the moment.

'What's going on here?'

Worried about her condition, Jin-Woo got up from the chair and cautiously made his approach, but she didn't want to look him in the eye and began shivering even harder. Seeing her react like this, the deputy director could only chew on his lower lip.

'With her condition, we can't....'

He had succeeded in bringing Hunter Seong Jin-Woo to the table with much difficulty, but now, the most important negotiating hand was no longer available to him. Madam was in no condition whatsoever to use her ability.

The deputy director turned around and while carrying a heavy, distressed expression, spoke to Jin-Woo.

"Madam Selner's condition isn't very good today. May I give you a call at another time?"

***

Around the same time.

An important guest was waiting inside the President's office of the Korean Hunter's Association. It was none other than the President of the Japanese Association, Matsumoto Shigeo.

Two Presidents of the respective organisations settled down on the opposite sides, with no one else except their interpreters accompanying them.

Goh Gun-Hui was the first to open his mouth.

"I've heard about what happened to Mister Goto."

"It's truly a lamentable thing."

An expression of bitterness briefly flashed past Matsumoto Shigeo, before his complexion recovered.

"However, I didn't come here to discuss what happened in the past, but to talk about the way forward."

Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head. There were a few matters between these two men – no, between the nations of Korea and Japan, that needed to be settled.

First of all, splitting up of the magic crystals. The original plan was to divide the loot one year later, when all the ant monsters would've have died out on the island. But Jin-Woo had completely exterminated every single one of them before that.

Japan did discover his utterly unbelievable actions through their spy satellite and its high-tech camera, so they were aware of this fact, too.

- W-what is that man trying to do?

- The ants.... The ants near Seong Jin-Woo are disappearing one by one?!

- The summons he controls have begun hunting down the ant monsters!

- His summons are spreading to all corners of the island.

- Could he be...??

The old idiom said that uncertainty would kill a man.

In the proverbial blink of an eye, all traces of magic energy disappeared from the island of Jeju.

With the sole exception of one, that was – the massive bundle of magic energy suspected to be that of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.

'Incredible physical strength. Unpredictable movement patterns. And the ruthless streak to hunt down every single monster, even though it's no longer necessary....'

Where would one find a Hunter more suited to a life in Japan than that man in this wide world?

Matsumoto Shigeo smirked to himself after recalling the atmosphere of the mission control room back then. He then pushed forward several documents to Goh Gun-Hui.

"And these are?"

Goh Gun-Hui asked as he picked them up.

"This is the official declaration that Japan will give up on the rights to our share of magic crystals from the Jeju Island."

".....?"

Feeling not entirely convinced, Goh Gun-Hui browsed through the documents, and eventually, his brows gradually rose up higher. Matsumoto Shigeo was telling the truth.

"But, why?"

Why was the Japanese Association, who had suffered heavy losses themselves, willing to give up on such a massive revenue source?

His answer arrived soon enough.

"In return, hand Mister Seong Jin-Woo over to us."

"....Huhuh."

Goh Gun-Hui guffawed out and leaned against the back of the couch.

"Regretfully, he's not affiliated with the Korean Hunter's Association."

Of course, even if he was, Goh Gun-Hui never planned to 'hand over' such a Hunter to anyone, to begin with.

"We know."

Matsumoto Shigeo replied as if he was waiting for this moment.

"However, he has a very close relationship with the Korean Association. And it's currently impossible to get in contact with him unless it's through your Association."

It was truly unfortunate, but the Japanese didn't enjoy the kind of information network the American Hunter Bureau did. Which meant that, if Matsumoto Shigeo wanted to get in touch with Jin-Woo, then he needed to get permission from the Korean Association first.

"I didn't mean to imply that you are being forced to do something. No, just give me an opportunity to negotiate with him, that's all."

"Are you throwing away this astronomical sum just for that chance?"