Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 199 : He Who Opens the Way (2)

He Who Opens the Way (2)

"Wow."

Alencia marveled as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes.

The rift, condensed down to a single point, vanished in one blow.

As a result, the dark clouds in the sky split apart, bringing light back to the once-dark heavens.

"What about the demons?"

Soo-ah frowned as she noticed the red wind that had been swirling around had disappeared.

Soo-ah, who could directly see the flow of magic power, knew that a demon related to Sol Mayer had been present.

The scent of blood and thick demonic energy that had mingled with the wind was now completely gone.

"Hmph, they must've bolted."

It was Yeon-ji, with a tired face, who answered Soo-ah's words.

She had not yet fully recovered from the fatigue of fighting Sol Mayer.

"Who in their right mind would even think of facing that person head-on?"

And besides, Jung-woo was not the only one here.

There were other S-rank hunters too.

Even Soo-ah and Alencia had barely managed to hold their ground against them.

Most of the monsters that had poured out of the gate had already been subjugated, so if the demons hadn't run, they'd have had to deal with all of them as well.

'I don't think that's all the power of a top-rank demon, though.'

They were not in perfect condition either.

Because Yeon-ji shared Yuria's memories, she was acutely aware of that fact.

There had been three top-rank demons here.

Among them, only Cade had demonstrated his true power.

As none were in a complete state, they chose to escape rather than continue a hopeless fight as soon as the rift closed.

'It's really absurd. Blowing away the rift completely.'

Yeon-ji couldn't help but feel pure admiration.

Jung-woo's power, which blew away the rift gathered into a single point in one stroke, was truly astonishing.

'The same goes for Shin Ah-yeon, who merged the rifts.'

A rift is not a physical phenomenon.

To move it or merge it into one was, in essence, to tear apart space itself.

Something far beyond the framework of magic—a miracle in its own right.

"Everyone's watching."

Soo-ah spoke as she pulled out the sword she had lodged in the last monster's neck.

Everyone present was watching Jung-woo and Shin Ah-yeon.

A catastrophe had been narrowly averted by just two people.

There was no one here who didn't know how incredible that was.

"Are you okay?"

Yet, Jung-woo and Shin Ah-yeon themselves seemed entirely unaware of such gazes directed at them.

"Of course. This much is nothing. It actually hurt a lot more when I closed the rift three years ago."

Shin Ah-yeon said, holding her throbbing head.

Her back was no longer burning hot.

'That power.'

To be honest, Shin Ah-yeon felt more humiliation than a sense of achievement.

'It's completely different from magic.'

The circle magic Jung-woo had taught her, and the improved spells she had developed from it—

None of that even came close to Estella's authority.

The fact that Estella was her past life didn't seem very important.

What mattered was that her own power did not measure up.

"I wanted to take care of those bastards in one go, though."

Jung-woo spoke, sounding genuinely disappointed.

He hadn't been able to handle the Demon King's power to the extent necessary to wipe them out together with the rift, and by the time the rift was gone, the demons had already fled.

Still, it was certain that they'd suffered significant damage from the aftermath.

"I cast a tracking spell in advance, but it was interrupted along the way."

"Interrupted? Did they notice?"

"No, I think they just went somewhere out of range."

Somewhere out of reach of tracking spells.

There were only a handful of places like that.

Unless it was land oversaturated with magic power, it was usually impossible.

"... The demonic zone, then."

"They can travel that far?"

"It could be an artifact, or maybe it's just the demon's power."

The demon called Sebin came to mind.

Considering she traveled through shadows, it wouldn't be impossible for her to travel great distances.

Ordinary demons might not manage it, but these were clearly top-rank demons.

"The demonic zone... Yes, it would make sense for them to use it as a base."

The demonic zone was the land closest to the Demon Realm.

Countless monsters lived there, and magic power and demonic energy floated through the air like oxygen.

Humans who weren't awakened couldn't even breathe properly there.

If they failed to adapt to the supersaturated magic power and demonic energy, they'd simply lose their lives.

And the demons' goal was to transform all the lands on Earth into demonic zones.

'Still, to think to cast a tracking spell in that situation...'

Jung-woo inwardly admired Shin Ah-yeon's decision.

Her judgment must have been dulled after using Estella's power.

On top of that, since using magic was nearly impossible with the rift present, she must have targeted the demons with her spell right after the rift disappeared.

"But things are about to get really messy now."

"What, because of the demons?"

At Jung-woo's words, Shin Ah-yeon gave him a half-lidded, exasperated look, as if asking whether he was serious.

"Of course it's because of you. You even closed the rift..."

"But the only witnesses are the people here."

The ones present here were just the members of Unique and the S-rank hunters who had come as representatives.

'There are also agents from the Bureau of Paranormal Phenomena, but we don't have to worry about them.'

It wasn't the first time they had worked with Jung-woo, after all.

Seeing Jung-woo take it lightly, Shin Ah-yeon almost spoke up but closed her mouth in the end.

'It's probably better for him to experience it himself.'

S-rank hunters weren't all tight-lipped.

Jung-woo would definitely come to realize that from this incident.

***

The abnormal phenomenon that occurred at the Grand Canyon—

Cities in nearby Arizona could witness it directly with their own eyes.

Everyone who saw it at the time said the same thing.

The sky split open, they said.

"There was a storm, then dark clouds suddenly gathered, and it was so scary."

"I thought the world was ending."

"Suddenly, birds started flying away... the sky just darkened..."

At first, they thought it was a hurricane, but it was completely different.

While everyone was trembling in fear over the incident, suddenly the world became bright again.

"All of a sudden, the sky split open."

"The gathered dark clouds split right down the middle."

Far from being a tall tale, there were plenty of photos left behind.

The gathered dark clouds parted in two, and sunlight poured through.

The photos looked surreal, but with so many eye-witnesses, it was hard to call them fakes.

The impact was such that it even overshadowed the half-finished final round of Odyssey.

"It's unfortunate. For the finals of Odyssey to end like that..."

"Well, nothing anyone could do about it."

Gong Je-hun looked genuinely regretful.

This was the first time Korea had made it to the Odyssey finals, after all.

"Officially, it was handled as a joint championship, but the public won't see it that way."

It was basically considered null and void.

But there were all kinds of problems with continuing Odyssey at this point.

"Still, at least the team competition brought meaningful results."

"We made it to the team finals, but unfortunately we lost."

Unlike the main winnrer-stays tournament, which ended inconclusively, the results of the team battle were determined.

For reference, team Ghost made it to the semifinals.

Our Unique's team, point, unfortunately lost in the semis.

'Just making it to the semifinals was an impressive achievement.'

Point was a team that had only been formed a few months prior.

For a newly-minted A-rank party like them to defeat established A-rank teams and make it to the semifinals was a big deal.

In fact, Unique's reputation was about to rise even further after this.

Not just for S-rankers, but as a management that could train outstanding A-rank hunters and support teams.

For me, it was a better outcome than I'd expected.

"It's all because of those damn demons... Hah. If not for them, we could have won the main event for sure!"

Officially, they said it was due to repeated abnormal incidents in the U. S., but the real problem was the demons.

"Any problems with the association?"

"Of course. The Korean Hunter Association received an official notice. ... They said we need to root out anyone associated with the demons."

Apparently, someone thought it necessary to secretly identify those entangled with the demons.

Now that the existence of the demons was globally known, it was inevitable.

"Manager Park, you must be disappointed."

"Excuse me?"

"You could've revealed to the public that you're No Name, the famous manager."

"Well... I suppose that's true."

But I wasn't really disappointed.

I already earned plenty of money, so the duties and attention that came with being an S-rank hunter would've just been a nuisance.

Honestly, even if it became public, I had no real plans to officially register as a hunter, but apparently Gong Je-hun thought I'd eventually pursue S-rank activities.

"In any case, I have to get going. There's a lot I have to take care of."

"Ah, yes! Then I'll make sure I explain everything to the Korean Hunter Association."

I left Gong Je-hun, who bowed deeply at the waist, and walked out of the room.

Partly, it was because I saw no need to talk with him further, but also because I was simply busy.

"Hmm?"

As I left the association building and headed toward the parking lot, I saw a huge crowd.

"Are they shooting something here?"

Strangely, the crowd had gathered near where my car was parked, but I didn't think much of it.

It had been almost a week since I'd returned to Korea.

I'd spent an unusually long time in America, so I'd needed to rush back.

There was a lot of leftover work as a manager, and plenty of matters to handle with Chairman Song and the Hunter Association.

'There were a few requests for interviews.'

That was thanks to us reaching the finals of Odyssey.

But most of the attention went to the S-rank hunters who participated, so things were relatively calm for me.

In the first place, for a manager or coach in a tournament like Odyssey, their role wasn't a big focal point.

At least, that's what I'd thought.

"Hey, it's Park Jung-woo!"

It was a reporter who shouted as he saw me.

At that, I felt a strange sense of unease.

Somehow, the reporters' eyes looked like wild animals closing in on their prey.

'What's going on?'

It wasn't as if I'd never experienced things like this.

They'd acted the same way when I came back from the airport after Odyssey.

But there was a difference compared to then: this time, the subject of their attention had changed.

Back then, I was just the "manager of popular S-rank hunters"—someone speaking on their behalf.

But now, something was different.

"Is what Hunter Hugo said true?!"

"Is it true that Hunter Eugene said Manager Park Jung-woo is several levels above himself as an awakener?!"

"We heard Manager Park was involved in the abnormal incident that happened in America. Can you give us the details...!"

Bristling under the reporters who rushed at me like a storm, I had no choice but to take a step back.

Instinctively, I thought: if I got caught here, my workday was over.

'Hunter Hugo?'

I remembered.

He was the S-rank hunter from France who'd been in the dungeon with Owen.

I had no idea why his name was coming up here.

And as for Eugene, it was clearly referring to Eugene Garland.

"Manager!"

Just then, Alencia appeared next to me, waving her hand.

She was holding a phone with a foreign news site open.

Only then did I understand why.

Some overseas news story must have just broken.

Alencia must have rushed over as soon as she saw it.

The crackling electricity around her proved her haste.

"Should I help?"

Fortunately, Alencia seemed to instantly guess what I wanted and smiled brightly.

"Please."

"Okay, then hold still for a moment."

Blue electricity sparked.

Alencia reached me in a flash and grabbed my wrist and waist.

"You're tough, so let's go fast."

"Wait, not too fast..."

Her words made me uneasy, so I tried to speak up in a hurry.

Sure, I was tough, but nowhere near on the level of a Saintess.

More importantly, I was wearing regular clothes, not the special gear that awakeners wear.

If Alencia ran at her full speed, a disaster was inevitable.

"... Please don't."

But by the time I opened my mouth, I was already in front of Shin Ah-yeon's mansion.

With my clothes charred by lightning.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Instant Transmission Technique.

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