###
As always, Kang Hyun clocked in for work.
“Ugh, this is awkward. Maybe I should just start wearing black clothes like everyone else.”
“I looked into some stores on the way here, but all the black clothes were sold out. It seems they’re completely gone.”
When did Korea become this united?
Weren’t people always fighting online?
‘The fact that I feel pressured to cosplay as Ghost is ridiculous.’
Still, I had to admit, it was nice of them.
All of this was for the sake of covering for Ghost.
“Hey, Mister, you’re here?”
“…And you’re dressed like that too?”
Even Mar was in black.
An oversized black hoodie paired with tight black pants.
The rapier sheath at her waist was also black.
But with her legs so thin, anyone could tell she wasn’t Ghost.
“Do you think I’m the only one?”
Upon closer inspection, everyone in the office was in black.
On the streets, about 70% of people wore black.
But here, not a single person missed the memo.
“You know, Mister, you’re too stiff! Seonghwa owes a lot to Ghost, so the least you could do is wear black clothes.”
“…Should I go buy some?”
“Even if you don’t, no one can really complain. You’re the Doctor of Abnormalities, after all.”
Kang Hyun’s ability to distinguish abnormalities had been as much a boon to Seonghwa as Ghost himself.
In fact, they were one and the same person.
“Isn’t there something black in the academy? Like that one with the skull design.”
“…No, absolutely not.”
“Oh, right.”
That was the uniform of an S-Rank Word Mage.
Wearing that would definitely cause a bigger problem.
“By the way, Sister Chae-young was looking for you.”
“Why now?”
“She seemed to be in a good mood this time.”
Kang Hyun headed to Yoo Chae-young’s office.
“Oh, my, I didn’t expect you to come before I could even call for you. Sorry for making you run around.”
“Well, it’s not that far. Someone lower in rank should be the one moving, anyway.”
Together, they headed to the guild’s storage facility.
Not the dusty storage rooms but the real storage where Seonghwa’s valuable items were kept.
“A gift has arrived.”
“A gift?”
“Some guilds in urgent need of abnormality evaluations sent them.”
“Oh, I see. Where are they? Do I need to go somewhere today?”
“You already did.”
“Huh?”
It turned out that some of the urgent requests had been deliberately pushed down the queue.
“In those cases, they bribe you along with lobbying for a faster evaluation.”
“Seonghwa must’ve had some fun with that.”
“Of course not. I told them to only bribe you directly.”
“Really? You could’ve taken a cut for yourself.”
“With what face would I do that?”
Yoo Chae-young certainly had a way with things.
“Here it is.”
Most of the gifts were tangible assets, like gold.
“How did they know I’ve been collecting gold lately?”
“Really? I’ll keep that in mind. There are also some potions, though they might not be as significant as the ones from Gwangmyeong.”
“True. Out of all this, there’s only one thing actually useful.”
Kang Hyun opened a small box.
[Essence of a Natural Low-Rank Golem]
[Naturally occurring golems are rare. This is the essence of a natural low-rank golem. Increases durability stat by 1 if it’s below E+.]
“Nice. I’ll make good use of it.”
It looked like a small glass marble.
Without hesitation, Kang Hyun swallowed it whole.
It was sturdy, so he didn’t chew, just gulped it down.
Ding!
[‘Endurance’ increased. (E+ → D-)]
“…Don’t just gulp down potions in front of others like that. It’s shocking.”
“Come on, not between us.”
“But only one potion was effective? That doesn’t make sense. There should be strength and agility potions usable up to the E range.”
“Those two are already at D.”
“What?”
Yoo Chae-young widened her eyes.
“That can’t be. When you joined, both stats were in the F range. Was the report wrong?”
“I just trained really hard.”
His growth had indeed been exceptionally fast.
The essence of a “Low-Rank Natural Golem” was actually a bit of a close call.
I’d gained one durability after getting pummeled by Park Cheol-woong.
‘Let’s keep the rest for later.’
If properly refined, these could be used to craft higher-grade potions.
Only for top-quality materials like these.
This was one of the trade secrets of Kyle, the potion expert.
“When bringing me potions in the future, keep this in mind. Strength: D-, Endurance: D, Durability: D-, Stamina: E+…”
“Wait! Hold on! How can you just blurt out your personal stats like that? That’s life-or-death information!”
“Just listen. It won’t matter soon anyway; they’ll all increase again soon. Mana: D.”
Yoo Chae-young stared at me in a daze.
“Almost all your stats are in the D range…? And it hasn’t even been a month since you joined!”
“Don’t try to understand it. Just accept it and adapt.”
“Even your mana stat is at D? Seonghwa was preparing an E-grade magic potion for you…”
“Ah, that’s unfortunate.”
Feeling a bit regretful, I rummaged through the basket of bribes.
‘Let’s see here… This one’s for strength… Only works in the F range.’
It was a potion from the 26th-ranked Guild, Detain.
A bit disappointing, but a gift is a gift.
I’ll just give it to Aden.
###
“I refuse! I heard potions taste terrible!”
“You ungrateful brat! Potions are so rare that people fight over them!”
This kid’s gotten spoiled, earning money through entertainment gigs instead of running dungeons.
“Then… maybe if you grind it into powder and mix it with water…”
“Ugh, who drinks potions like that?”
“Or coat it in chocolate…”
I was losing my mind.
“If you drink this, I’ll give you three days off training.”
“Give it here, Master!”
“Hold up. If you drink a potion recklessly, it’ll mess you up. I’ll assist with the ritual. Follow me.”
“Oh, right, I forgot.”
In the end, I made her drink it.
Even for a mage, endurance is essential.
If she dies, her A-rank mana won’t mean anything.
This time, Mar started whining next to me.
“I’m so jealous… I want a potion too…”
“Is that something a mentor says to their student?”
“Fine! I’m quitting as a mentor! I’ll become your student, Master, and mooch potions off you!”
“What?! No way!”
“See? That’s the normal reaction.”
After the squabble with Aden, the three of us headed to the guild cafeteria.
But once we sat down, all anyone talked about was Ghost.
This was giving me a complex.
“Hey, Mister, did you hear? About Ghost.”
“Ugh.”
“Huh? What’s that reaction about?”
“…Nothing, go on.”
Still, I had to hear it.
After all, no one needed to know this more than Ghost himself.
At the very least, I needed to keep track of the government’s response.
“Ghost has officially been designated as an S-Rank Villain.”
“Well, he did kill an S-Rank.”
“Why are you so nonchalant about this? This is huge—our country just got a new S-Rank!”
Ah, right.
A new S-Rank is big news.
It was the same back when the S-Rank Word Mage appeared.
‘Since every S-Rank news story is about me, I’ve gotten used to it.’
At this point, I barely flinch at most headlines.
“I heard it too! Apparently, Ghost is the first S-Rank Villain in Korea’s history.”
“They say this one’s drawing global attention.”
“Why does the world care so much about another country’s problem? Other countries have plenty of S-Ranks.”
“Because S-Rank Villains are rare worldwide—there are only a handful of them.”
And S-Rank Villains always had catastrophic international consequences.
“…Really?”
Things seemed to be escalating.
Dammit, why did he have to throw the first punch?
‘Hah… This is starting to feel a little unnerving.’
I checked my phone to browse the internet.
└ Ghost is S-Rank now… Absolute legend.
└ The only country with an S-Rank dark hero. Makes me proud.
└ Can’t believe people are praising a criminal who halved our S-Rank forces.
└ Well, he made up for it by proving himself as S-Rank. Now we have three: Word Mage, Ghost, and the Elementalist.
└ But Ghost isn’t a joke—this is serious business.
Villain ranks weren’t determined by raw power but by the severity of their threat.
Only four S-Rank Villains had ever existed worldwide.
However, the only S-Rank Villain whose raw power was also at an S-Rank level was Ghost.
“Why’s that?”
“Why else? Because there’s no reason for it.”
An S-Rank stands at the pinnacle in every aspect.
Even as a regular Awakened, they are showered with immense wealth and fame.
But becoming a Villain makes you the world’s number one target.
That fact lent significant weight to the “Dark Hero Theory” surrounding Ghost.
And there was another reason people believed in the Dark Hero Theory.
“Imagine a Villain wielding holy power—unheard of!”
“Well, that’s… hmm…”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Ghost’s own power.
Kang Hyun chose to keep quiet.
There were leaked photographs of Ghost.
A blade of holy light piercing through a building.
Sacred light descending in the night sky.
And standing beneath it all, the dark, ominous figure of Ghost.
Park Cheol-woong, seemingly lifeless, fell from above, crashing to the ground.
The scene was enough to make anyone shudder—a vision of divine judgment.
‘It really is my best photo.’
Apparently, there had been a photojournalist at the scene.
Holy power was extraordinarily rare.
One didn’t need to believe in a deity to wield it.
But evil beings couldn’t use it.
“Still, doesn’t calling him a ‘good person’ feel like a stretch? The morality of holy power isn’t based on societal standards but on one’s personal conviction.”
“That’s what makes it so cool! Unshaken conviction, even in the face of the guilt of murder!”
Clearly, people were utterly captivated.
Of course, there were also concerns about how dangerous he could be.
└ If he’s so deluded about his righteousness that he commits mass murder, doesn’t that make him a serious threat? He’s basically a lunatic, isn’t he?
└ Oh, here come the blue troll brigade.
└ The lunatics are Park Cheol-woong and Oh Hyuk-jun, who committed mass slaughter, you idiot.
└ Is the blue brigade still getting paid even though your party is collapsing?
└ Young people are easily swept up in fanaticism. Murder can’t be justified, no matter what.
└ Fact: Holy power users have a crime rate below 0.1%.
Criticism popped up here and there.
But it was quickly buried under waves of support.
To be fair, the incident with the dungeon was an unprecedented catastrophe.
Too many lives had been lost, and the situation was still ongoing.
However, what Kang Hyun was truly curious about was something else.
“What about the government? Any reaction?”
Mar giggled.
“Oh, the government? They’ve made complete fools of themselves. Would you believe they retreated after just a single day?”
The protestors seen on the news hadn’t disappeared.
They had simply shifted into demonstrations calling for the withdrawal of anti-Ghost policies.
Even so, the government hesitated.
They wanted to catch Ghost.
After all, their own survival was on the line.
But if they kept pushing, their political careers would be the ones on the chopping block.
And then, the final nail in the coffin came.
Mar held up her phone with a grin.
“Ta-da!”
“What’s this now?”
The screen displayed a flood of social media posts.
<Today’s schedule for Assemblyman Kim Guk-jang, who supported the Ghost bounty proposal. Please share this post. #SupportGhost>
<Assemblyman Yang Won spotted eating at Netta Sushi in Cheongdam-dong, Room 3. This info came straight from a friend working there. #SupportGhost>
<Assemblyman Yi Seong-jin will be attending a regional event tomorrow. Here’s the photo session schedule. #SupportGhost>
