The Skill Maker

Rumors about the colorful portal would spread fast and then disappear quickly.

There were members that briefly heard about it.

“Anyways, all of you are the first and only hunters to clear the colorful portal, so I visited to show my respect to the amazing hunters and to thank you all for saving innocent lives.”

It was an extremely grand and embarra.s.sing greeting.

When the politician mentioned that they wanted to thank the hunters, they stood up and bowed.

The members felt stiff due to this uncomfortable meeting, so when the politician bowed, they were shocked, so they stood up from their seats as well and bowed. It was a funny sight.

“We carry-out the request after getting paid. We received additional payments for this request and hunt, so there’s no need for you to thank us like this. Clearing the colorful portal was all business. We didn’t volunteer for this because of our moral principles.”

After the chaos calmed down, Kim Yoo-Na’s calm voice filled the room.

“You’re correct. But despite knowing there would be unknown danger, you took the request and I believe it’s only right that we thank you for it.”

The politician continuously portrayed them as heroes and kept praising them.

‘Did he really only come here to compliment us? I know they’re trying to memorize our faces…I heard that politicians are usually busy, but this one doesn’t seem like it.’

“…Thank you for the compliment. I can’t help but think that that’s not the only reason why you came here though.”

“Haha. I guess I was too obvious. It’s true that I came here to thank you for what you did. And…could I ask you for a favor?”

The politician went through that long introduction just to ask them for a favor.

“What kind of favor?”

“It’s a bit embarra.s.sing to ask this, but…if you’re okay with it, would you mind sharing the information that you obtained regarding the colorful portal that you cleared?”

“Inform…ation?”

They had a database that summarized the types of portals and information about the monsters that appeared in those portals.

Brief information about how it was attacked was also included.

But detailed information on how to attack the monster and about the portal was kept confidential between the guilds and attack groups.

Information provided money and power.

The more information a group had, the more resources they’ll obtain and that gives them power and authority.

In this kind of situation, the information was so valuable that no one would be able to put a price on it.

They experienced much trial and error before entering the portal because there wasn’t enough information.

But this politician is asking them to share that information?

‘Crazy.’

Hyun-Soo decided.

And then thought about it.

All politicians were shameless.

‘I was wondering why they came…….’

Meeting them was a side task. They had a different goal.

They completed the request the moment they cleared it, but they came here asking for information.

“Of course I realize that information is an a.s.set to the clan. I also realize that making this kind of request is rude of me. But, miss. A lot of lives have been lost. Many skilled hunters that protected this land were sacrificed while attacking this kind of portal. I understand that the methods of attacking the portal are confidential, but please think about the skilled hunters that may lose their lives and the innocent people that may die every time a colorful portal pops up.”

The way the politician explained was cunning.

‘They’re asking for help so that more people don’t die.’

It was reasonable and difficult to refuse.

If this continues, they’ll be forced to provide them with information.

But was this politician really requesting for information in order to save the lives of the hunters and innocent people?

‘There’s no way.’

Hyun-Soo voted no.

That was probably one of the reasons.

However, they probably had a different reason for requesting the information.

If they took this kind of information with them, they would be acknowledged for contributing to the public and completing their task.

The politician said it.

That they saved the human race by attacking the colorful portal.

It was an exaggerated expression, but they weren’t wrong.

If ordinary portals popped up too, then it would be too dangerous.

The gray portal had the weakest monsters, but they were dangerous to ordinary people.

What would happen if they didn’t attack the colorful portal because they didn’t know what was behind it?

If it popped up before it was cleared…

‘It would’ve been awful.’

In the recent portal that they cleared, other than going through the correct door, they didn’t know what was within it.

If one high-ranked hunter escaped with nothing in their heads, it wasn’t impossible to make an a.s.sumption on what happened.

So when the politician said that they saved the human race, they weren’t completely wrong.

It was a bit exaggerated though.

Anyways, if the politician were to return with the information that could save the human race…

‘They’ll probably have a more secure position as a politician and will benefit in many ways.’

He didn’t really know much about the political world.

But Hyun-Soo had a vague idea on how these types of people acted.

They’ll never do anything that put them at a disadvantage and will use their power to increase their benefits.

“I understand what you’re saying. But it’s difficult for me to give you an answer right now. It’s not something I can decide on my own and I have to discuss it with the other members.”

“I see. I ask that you think positively about this. I’m not looking down on the powers that the hunters have, but wouldn’t it benefit the hunters if the country is well-maintained?”

A warm smile appeared on the politician’s face as they expressed their disappointment.

“I also prepared something to help you make your decision…”

The politician signaled their secretary and after grabbing a thin envelope from them, they handed it to Kim Yoo-Na.

“Please check.”

Kim Yoo-Na’s expression completely changed when she checked inside the envelope.

Others may think her expression hasn’t changed a bit, but since the members knew her for a long time, it was obvious that it was a big change.

Her expression turned cold and after checking inside the envelope, she looked back at the politician.

“I’ll act like I didn’t see it. And regarding the information, I’ll discuss with the members and decide. Since you said it’ll benefit the public, if we do decide to share it, we’ll share it based on that request, so we won’t personally contact you regarding it.”

This time, the politician’s expression changed.

Since they were an experienced politician, they displayed their warm smile again and laughed.

“I would appreciate it. Anyways, I hope to hear some good news.”

Even though Kim Yoo-Na clearly stated that she wouldn’t contact them, the politician said they would be waiting. Their intention was clear.

But both Kim Yoo-Na and the politician acted like they didn’t notice.

After the politician left, the members gathered around Kim Yoo-Na.

“Yoo-Na, did something happen?”

“That politician guy. I had a bad feeling about them and I was right.”

The members were busy asking her questions and also talking badly about the politician.

Because of their position as a politician, they made the members stand around in the room, made useless threats and in the end, provoked their leader.

There was a reason why they didn’t like them.

“That politician. They’re really dirty. They were threatening by using people’s lives, right? They said it as if it was going to be our responsibility if innocent lives were lost just because we didn’t share our information!”

There weren’t any laws or policies that said that they had to share their information.

They probably wouldn’t share it even if they were offered money and valuable items, but this politician threatened them.

Some of the members were extremely mad.

After they completed the request they received, they were suddenly labeled as potential murderers.

“What are you going to do about the information? Do we have to share it?”

“Honestly, we don’t even have information to share. All we did was walk through doors.”

“And thanks to the rookie, we were able to walk through the correct doors. If the correct doors weren’t chosen, it wouldn’t really be helpful, right?”

“It’s better than nothing. At least nothing came out from the correct doors, so they’ll be able to tell the difference between the real and fake doors. But this…shouldn’t the rookie decide it? All we did was follow him.”

Jack, who was in the same group, started talking after David.

“……? Why are you looking at me?”

Hyun-Soo was surprised because everyone suddenly looked at him.

“He’s a blessing.”

“Yup, definitely a blessing.”

“Our leader is pretty amazing. She keeps bringing these rare creatures from somewhere…”

Hyun-Soo was suddenly called a blessing and looked at them with a confused look.

He didn’t understand what the point of this conversation was.

Katrina, who was beside Hyun-Soo, giggled as she looked at his expression.

“Hyon-Ssoo heard it too. All the other teams failed. The request wasn’t made to just any guilds or groups. You can tell since we received the request. But they failed and we succeeded. Do you know why?”

Katrina asked as if she was asking a question, but the answer was already there.

‘Is it…me?’

Katrina nodded as if she knew what Hyun-Soo was thinking.

“I’m not the only one that thinks that. It might’ve been a coincidence the first time, but if it happens seven times in a row, then that’s skills. And we returned safely thanks to Hyon-Ssoo’s skill. That’s why you’re a blessing!”

“You’re right. A lot changed after the rookie joined.”

The other members agreed with Katrina and all of them nodded their heads in agreement.

“I’m confident that I won’t be surprised by the rookie’s actions any more.”

“You too? I feel the same.”

Hyun-Soo didn’t know what he did in order to make them react that way.

All he did was make medicine for the members, strengthened their skills and guided them when they were in the colorful portal.

‘…I guess it’s natural for them to react like that.’

When thinking about all the things that he did, he did do some interesting things.

“Anyways, he’s a blessing. His nickname should be lucky. The food that we ate yesterday wasn’t an ordinary dish. Well thanks to that, I was able to meet Halle yesterday.”

“No one cares about your personal life, so shut up.”

David yelled at Ismael when he mentioned that he met his girlfriend.

And then Ismael made fun of David by calling him single.

Thanks to that, all the attention that was on Hyun-Soo slowly disappeared.