To England (4)

‘Only one Constellation came to mind anyway, but looking at the condition, only one Constellation qualifies.’

Kang-hoo gave a faint laugh after seeing the fifth privilege. It was because he thought it felt like a privilege that had already decided the correct answer.

Of course, even if he had seen the privilege without any conditions, the fact that he would have thought of the Dimension Plunderer remained unchanged.

Just one thing.

It was surprising that the Demon Tracker Constellation had enough divine power to strengthen another Constellation’s ability.

It made him think that it really was not an existence the Dimension Plunderer had brought along for nothing. That meant it had that much power.

Kang-hoo immediately overlaid the Demon Tracker’s fifth privilege onto the Dimension Plunderer. The strengthening ended quickly, and the related tooltip changed right away as well.

According to the filtering method Kang-hoo had set, only the newly added content from the strengthening was placed in parentheses.

‘Now I can take a total of three skills from one dungeon. One from the middle boss, two from the main boss. That’s insane.’

It was obvious, but the options for attractive skills were overwhelmingly more plentiful among main boss monsters than middle bosses.

What often troubled him was when there were 2 skills he wanted to plunder, but he had to choose one of them.

But thanks to the Demon Tracker, the options had increased to 2, so the reason to agonize had also disappeared.

His skill expandability had increased by a huge margin.

Considering that the place where Kang-hoo mainly obtained skills was dungeons, even by simple calculation, his expandability had doubled.

Every time he strengthened and obtained a reward, the Demon Tracker’s divine power would probably be consumed.

Even so, the fact that it could be set as a privilege probably also meant it could procure that much divine power.

In many ways, Kang-hoo could only continue admiring the Demon Tracker’s ability. A true benefactor had come.

England, where he arrived before he knew it.

From the airport onward, Kang-hoo moved under the extremely courteous escort of Spitfire Guild personnel.

And at the place promised in advance, he was able to meet Ganiere and Melissa. It had been a long time.

The place where the three gathered was in front of the grave where the couple’s son, ‘Park Min-sung,’ was buried. It was a meaningful place.

The one who suggested meeting here was not the Ganiere couple, but Kang-hoo. It was because he sincerely wanted to pay his respects.

So as soon as he landed, he bought flowers at the airport, and came here with a solemn heart in his own way.

He had never lost a child, but as a son who had lost his parents, he could understand them through the painful feeling he had experienced.

That was why he wanted to pray for the soul of Park Min-sung, who had returned to his parents’ embrace and been buried. He hoped…… he would surely be at peace.

A not-so-brief time of mourning.

The time that once again engraved the first beginning of the bond that allowed Kang-hoo and the couple to meet soon came to an end.

Kang-hoo also moved together with them in the limousine Ganiere and Melissa had prepared.

The destination was Spitfire Tower, the building of the Spitfire Guild. It was their base in London.

As they moved through downtown London, the three first lightly exchanged updates.

They were ordinary stories about life, as if the things they truly wanted to say were somewhere else.

Just as Kang-hoo was about to begin speaking in response to Ganiere’s conversation, which seemed meant to ease the awkwardness of meeting after so long.

“Hm?”

A chaotic scene in downtown London came into view. More than several dozen agents of the British Public Safety Bureau were out in force.

Not only that, but because most of the road had been blocked off, it was even causing unexpected congestion.

“I thought the traffic was unusually terrible compared to normal……. I’m sorry. It wasn’t like this even a little while ago.”

Melissa lowered her head.

Since they were serving an honored guest, and the trip itself was already running into trouble, she seemed ashamed.

But for Kang-hoo, who had come to England for the first time, it merely felt about the same as Seoul during commute hours, so he did not think much of it.

On the other hand, since he could take in England’s scenery this way, he thought that was fine in its own way.

For a brief moment, a situation occurred where the movement of all vehicles was temporarily brought under full control.

Ganiere, who was just as curious as Kang-hoo about what was happening, personally went to the scene and asked.

It was a scene made possible because he had many acquaintances in the British Public Safety Bureau. It was also not an easy thing to do.

After a little time passed like that.

Ganiere, who returned to the limousine, relayed everything he understood about the situation to Kang-hoo without adding or subtracting anything.

“There is a guild made up of a small elite group of radical hunters. They say that guild was annihilated.”

“You mean they all died?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

At Ganiere’s words, Kang-hoo’s gaze deepened.

The expression “small elite” implied that it was a place where hunters with commensurately high skill had gathered.

In other words, it also meant it was not an organization that would easily collapse or disappear. Like Myeongga Guild in Korea.

But if all of them had died without even time for one or two escapees or survivors to appear, there was only one reason.

They had been crushed by an overwhelming difference in ability and had not even had time to flee. Other than that, there was no way to explain it.

“What happened?”

“It seems they tried to force their way into an underground dungeon that the British Public Safety Bureau had been managing as a Class-1 secret. From the beginning, they were a guild formed by conspiracy theorists, so there had been a lot of talk about them.”

“So they died while trying to enter a dungeon the state had not permitted entry into?”

“Yes. The problem is that the Public Safety Bureau was not the one that eliminated them. Naturally, they shouldn’t have done so either.”

“Were there any common points found among the dead hunters? For example, that their corpses couldn’t be found, or that they were torn to death like paper…….”

“Paper! That’s right. They said all of them were torn to death like paper. It wasn’t that a monster appeared, but that they seemed to have been forcibly separated by brutal strength…… that’s what I heard.”

“I see.”

Kang-hoo nodded for now and did not continue speaking any further.

Unlike his calm appearance on the outside, his mind was busily working.

The moment he heard the story, what Kang-hoo thought of was ‘Blue Eyes.’ Yes, the blue eyes.

He had a mark.

A mark with the power to tear a target to pieces and kill them. It was also one of the seven marks.

‘The existence of the dungeon may have touched Blue Eyes’ reverse scale. Or it may have been a collision that happened by coincidence, overlapping with the time when they happened to learn of the dungeon…….’

Whatever the reason, it seemed certain that they had been killed by Blue Eyes.

Only then could the annihilation of every elite guild member be explained. They had apparently died without even being able to make a report.

England.

The first piece of news he encountered here was on a far larger scale than Kang-hoo had thought.

Was Europe different after all?

However one looked at it, for Kang-hoo, whose main stage was still only around Korea and Japan, England was another world entirely.

The limousine began moving again.

Ganiere removed the topic of the murder case from the conversation and naturally turned the arrow toward Kang-hoo.

Since it would take some time to reach Spitfire Tower, conversation to fill the gap in between was essential.

“We always keep a close eye on the situation in Korea as well. Do you happen to know this? That hunters in England tend to support the warlord group The Abyss more than Jeonghwa Guild, I mean.”

“Is it an underdog mentality?”

“There is that too. But more than that, it is because they know very well that Jeonghwa Guild is a rather shady place behind the scenes.”

“That’s a statement Jeonghwa Guild would be extremely displeased to hear if they found out.”

“I suppose so. But it is not a place we particularly have any reason to look good to, hahaha.”

At Kang-hoo’s joke, Ganiere burst into hearty laughter and replied.

Evil deeds could not be hidden.

Jeonghwa Guild had covered up many large and small incidents so far, but it was not as if their cleanup had been neat.

Information that could not be hidden eventually sprouted wings and flew freely anywhere.

England would hardly be an exception. There was no material gossipmongers would be more interested in than the secret evils of a large guild.

Of course. For that reason, many stories were usually dismissed as conspiracy theories or fake news and disappeared.

But if someone of Ganiere’s level judged it and brought it up, it would absolutely not be a joke.

It was 100% sincerity disguised as a joke. He disliked Jeonghwa Guild.

Was that why?

Ganiere, whom Kang-hoo had thought would wrap up the topic of Jeonghwa Guild with a passing remark, added more.

“I believe the fact that the highly reputed Shin Kang-hoo-nim does not belong to Jeonghwa Guild alone shows your wisdom.”

“Aren’t you praising me too much?”

“No. That is the privilege of a person of ability. Not leaning toward any one side. And because of that, becoming even more valuable. It is a benefit only a skilled person can enjoy.”

It was slightly embarrassing that Ganiere had used him as the example, but his words were not wrong. They were absolutely correct.

That was also why Kang-hoo did not try to place himself under a specific force, despite being able to choose an easier path.

Simply by not leaning toward one side, he could greatly increase the demand for himself and the price that came with it.

Even right now, the Spitfire Guild had put up a reward of 100 billion won to raid a single dungeon.

On top of that, they had agreed to lend him one dungeon license free of charge, and they had already given him observer status long ago.

In this way, they had no choice but to add privileges in line with his increased value. It meant his ability was being acknowledged.

“Mm.”

“I am not trying to say anything grand. I simply hope that whenever you have business in England like this, you will seek out our Spitfire Guild first.”

“Do I need to give you an answer?”

“No. It is an appeal. It is also our earnest wish that you please seek out our guild. We will certainly treat you as an observer. No, it may even be more than that. Haha.”

Feeling that it was not a business-like remark but a purely humble stance, Kang-hoo also gave a faint laugh.

It was fascinating to see Ganiere, who must have gone through all sorts of hardships on land, sea, and air, not playing push and pull.

It also made him wonder whether his existence felt that great to him.

But if the master operating one of England’s leading guilds called him a skilled person, he had no choice but to accept it.

It felt strange that his overseas reputation seemed much better than he had expected. Just how far had the rumors spread?

Before he knew it, time had passed.

Kang-hoo got out of the limousine that had arrived at Spitfire Tower.

Until just before he got out, he had not known.

But from the moment he got out in front of the lobby, Kang-hoo’s gaze wavered at the scene that unfolded.

“Finally……! To think I would get to see Korea’s genius assassin like this! It is an honor!”

“We sincerely welcome our honored guest! Welcome to Spitfire Guild! We have been waiting for you!”

The fervent cheers poured out nonstop from the entrance! It was clearly an expression of respect directed toward Kang-hoo.