SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19. A Moment of Leisure with Coffee (1)
1
Murmur, murmur.
“Who actually cleared the 10th floor?”
“I keep checking the news but nothing’s come out. All we have are rumors…….”
“Maybe Black Dragon is deliberately hiding it? They could reveal it dramatically later…….”
“Come on, it’s definitely the Sword Saint!”
The city on the first floor of the Tower. Babylon hummed with excitement.
People were thrilled that the supposedly impregnable 10th floor had finally been cleared. They gathered in outdoor cafes, buzzing with speculation about the identity of the mysterious clearer whose name had yet to be revealed.
I wondered what their reaction would be.
“Hmm.”
If they knew that I—sitting right at the next table—was the one who’d broken through the 10th floor.
“Sweet,” I said.
I sipped my Caramel Macchiato. This outdoor cafe, positioned directly across from the Sangryeon headquarters, was the only coffee chain in Babylon.
It was a Tower you couldn’t leave once you entered, yet someone had the audacity to establish a franchise here—a boldness I had to admire. There was even a fast-food chain with mascots: one red-nosed clown and one portly grandfather.
Ah, the infinite hunger of humankind!
“What do you think, Geomje? Isn’t victory truly sweet? I think I’d taste sweetness even in plain Espresso right now. Don’t you agree?”
-…….
“Hmm? Is the earbud broken? That’s strange. I can’t hear you at all.”
I pulled out the earbud tucked against my ear and tapped it—tap, tap. Nothing came through.
Pure theater, naturally.
Talking to yourself without props made you look insane, so I was wearing an earbud to give the impression of a phone call. It worked surprisingly well. No one in the cafe gave me a second glance.
“Geomje? Geomje, sir? Hey there, psychopath. Listen, you madman.”
-…Yes?
“Finally! I was getting worried you’d gone deaf on me. Tsk tsk, making someone as heavenly as I am worry. That’s not how humans should behave.”
-…….
“Oh right, you’re not human—you’re a ghost. Forgive me, my mind’s turning to mush. Anyway, Geomje, can I drop the formal speech now? You call me gongja and I’m stuck with formal pronouns. It’s awkward, no? Right?”
-Sir… stop…….
The Specter hovering across the table began to tremble violently.
-Never in my life—not in life, at least—did I endure such humiliation. The Sword Emperor, the one they called the Sword Emperor himself, now reduced to this… this catastrophe in death…….
“Oh, I’m joking, joking. There’s no way I’d drop formality with someone far my senior in the Hunter profession, even if I’m called gongja. Could I? Sure, technically I could. But for the sake of my personal dignity, I’ll keep calling you Geomje, alright? Does that satisfy you?”
-Just kill me!
The Specter wailed.
-Get a new skill and overwrite the Sword Constellation slot! That’d do it, you bastard! Please, just end me!
“Now, now—you shouldn’t say such terrible things. We’re partners, after all. Partners, lifelong friends, best friends! What kind of person kills their best friend? We’re going to stay together forever and ever.”
-Ughhhh. Fine… I’ll say nothing more. Marcus, Grandfather… I want to go back to you…….
Sweet, so sweet.
I sipped my coffee and gazed up at the sky.
[22:32:50]
The clock in the sky showed an hour and a half had passed.
She ought to be arriving soon, I thought.
-Meow.
“Hmm?”
A brown cat crept toward me. Too well-groomed to be a stray. The peculiar thing was the pair of Gold Coins hanging from its neck instead of a bell.
“…….”
I swallowed.
I took a moment to figure out how to respond.
‘The Gold Coin cat.’
-Meow?
‘The Gold Coin cat. Incredibly famous… but of course, people don’t know that yet.’
This was no ordinary pet.
In about five years, this mascot would become a household name.
‘…I never expected someone this significant to approach me directly.’
I had no choice but to play dumb.
I gazed down at the cat calmly, keeping my expression neutral.
“Lost your way, little one?”
-Meow.
The brown cat rubbed its head against my leg. I held back my amazement. Without knowing its true nature, it was indistinguishable from a normal, affectionate cat.
“Want to stay with me for a bit until your owner comes looking?”
-Meowww.
“There we go.”
I lifted the cat and set it on my lap. The brown tabby settled into a coil as if it had been aiming for this spot all along, purring contentedly. It even yawned mid-meow—the audacity.
‘So this is the person they say is obsessed with cats. Quite the acting talent.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly and stroked the cat’s head.
Mrrrow.
I’d been enjoying the cat’s rumbling purr for a while when a group of Hunters approached the café. One of them spoke to me first.
“Pardon me. Are you Kim Gongja?”
“Yes.”
Even a glance told me their gear was top-tier. These weren’t small-time operators. At minimum, they were guild officers, if not guild masters themselves. Such people didn’t usually congregate at an outdoor café.
I pulled out my ID with one hand and showed it to them.
“I was curious how long it would take. Exactly one hour and thirty minutes.”
“…!”
The Hunters’ eyes widened as they stared at my ID. Shock rippled through the group. They frantically pulled out their smartphones and began making calls in all directions.
“Yes, we found him!”
“At the café right across from the bank….”
“No, the other guilds are all gathering too… Yes, yes! Understood, Commander.”
“Don’t worry, sir. We absolutely won’t let another guild take him!”
The calm before the storm, indeed.
I watched the chaos unfold before me with quiet satisfaction.
‘Feels like I’ve become a VIP.’
—Damn right. Nearly every guild worth its salt will be burning with the desire to recruit you. You cleared the tenth floor solo, and nobody else has managed that. You’re the real deal VIP.
‘True. I mean, even someone who’s cleared up to the ninety-ninth floor gets called “sir” by people addressing those with ninety-nine clears. So if this isn’t VIP status, something’s off.’
—Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!
The Hunters finished their calls one by one.
Then they all turned their tense faces toward me.
As I waited to see which guild would make the first move, a burly blond Hunter stepped forward.
“I’m the Head of Recruitment for the Jagyeongdan Guild. As you know, Hunter Kim Gongja, Jagyeongdan is the most prestigious guild in Babylon. If you would only join us…!”
“Hold on a moment, please.”
I raised my hand. The Jagyeongdan recruiter paused.
“I apologize for interrupting. But let me clarify two things before we continue this conversation.”
“….”
“First, don’t leak this to the press yet.”
I swept my gaze slowly across all the Hunters. I’d stake my life that not a single one of them ranked lower than me. These were Hunters I wouldn’t have dared to look up to before my return in time.
But I didn’t feel intimidated in the slightest.
Achievement.
I had the distinction of being the first human to clear the tenth floor of the Tower.
That was a golden accomplishment no one could tarnish, regardless of rank.
Competent Hunters prized achievement above all else. If these people were truly skilled, they couldn’t afford to treat me carelessly.
“If any guild leaks my name to the press, I won’t sign with that guild. Not now, not ever. Remember that.”
“But… ah, until when are we talking?”
Another Hunter raised his hand and asked.
“The reporters from Hwanmun Newspaper have been shaking down every guild imaginable…. Kim Gongja, even if we try to keep this secret, I honestly can’t promise how long we can maintain an embargo on this information.”
“No, I’m not asking you to keep it hidden for long.”
I pointed upward at the sky.
The Hunters looked up in unison.
[22:25:31]
“Just until midnight. Until that clock reads 00:00:00. Just keep the embargo until then.”
“Ah! Yes, if that’s all we need to manage… understood.”
The Hunters let out sighs of relief.
I smiled.
‘I can’t afford to be upstaged by journalists. The moment the eleventh floor opens, I need to make a run for it.’
I spoke again.
“That’s the first condition. And the second—”
“….”
The Hunters watched me with rigid expressions, clearly bracing themselves for whatever difficult demand I might make.
I let out a slight smile and gestured around me.
“—this is a public place. Let’s show some consideration to the other customers.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t you notice all the other patrons staring? You all came charging in suddenly, and everyone’s flustered.”
I was right about that.
The other customers seated at the outdoor café were stealing glances in our direction. Whispers. Most of them exchanged hushed remarks and looked at us with suspicion. Some even seemed about to turn on their smartphones to record.
“This is causing a disturbance.”
……
“I can imagine everyone’s been frantic looking for me, but let’s take our time. It’s not as though I’m going to run off.”
“I, I apologize for the intrusion.”
The Hunters belatedly came to their senses and dispersed to the edges.
“My apologies. I cannot explain the circumstances, but if you wouldn’t mind vacating the space….”
“Proprietor, I’d like to rent out this café for an hour. What would that cost?”
“Everyone, thank you so much for your understanding! If you visit Cheonmuumun later, we’ll express our gratitude in a more proper manner…….”
Executive officers from major guilds truly were different.
Five minutes from bowing to the customers to renting out the shop from the proprietor. In less than five minutes, the café had been emptied out completely.
“Now then.”
We moved from the outdoor area into the café interior and resumed our conversation.
“So let’s begin negotiations. State your conditions.”
Interestingly, each of the Hunters was holding a coffee cup. My remark about the disturbance had prompted them all to order. How endearing.
“…Our Jagyeongdan offers a Contract Fee of 10,000 Gold.”
That was the starting point.
“10,000 Gold? Good grief. Showing your poverty at a time like this. Hunter Kim Gongja! Join the Moheommeng. We’ll provide 20,000 Gold as a Contract Fee, and I promise you an executive position.”
“Come to Cheonmuumun, Hunter. Our guild is Babylon’s most righteous institution for cultivating combat-specialist Hunters. We’ll immediately appoint you as an instructor and offer 25,000 Gold as a Contract Fee.”
“Titles like instructor are merely burdensome, you understand. Think carefully. Hunter Kim Gongja! If you join our Mansinjeon, we guarantee you an honorary position. To be honest, we’d like you to take on the role of promoting Mansinjeon to the public. We offer 30,000 Gold as a Contract Fee, with additional payment per completed task……!”
“The Administrative Bureau! Come be our publicity ambassador!”
A clamor.
The personnel directors courted him desperately. I understood their position well. Until now, all the top guilds had been subtly weighed down by the name ‘Sword Saint.’
A Ranking 1 Hunter who belonged to no guild and stood alone in uncontested supremacy!
Because such a being existed, people began to wonder. Was there truly a need to join a guild? Didn’t that suggest that solo play was the true answer for Hunters?
‘Though the Sword Saint is simply special, nothing more.’
The guilds’ image certainly took a hit from this.
‘What if a new hero rose to prominence in this situation, rivaling even the Sword Saint?’
I smiled.
‘We must recruit him by any means necessary.’
At minimum, we cannot allow him to be snatched away by another guild!
Likely the personnel directors had received such an order. It was predictable.
“Well, the Jagyeongdan can… provide 36,000 Gold as a Contract Fee…….”
“Come now, let the poor guilds step back. Yes?”
“Competing in thousand-Gold increments? What’s this? You can’t read the room?”
“From Yeongeumseong, we……!”
That was when it happened.
“Sangryeon.”
A deep voice echoed from somewhere.
“500,000 Gold.”
……
All the Hunters turned their heads at once. Their gaze fell not on a person, but on my lap—more precisely, on the cat coiled there.
The cat meowed once, then leaped up. Until the moment it had padded against my knee, its hind legs had been the soft paws of an animal. But as it landed on the café floor, they were not. The cat’s hind legs had become human feet in shoes, landing lightly against the ground.
“500,000 Gold as Contract Fee alone. If you wish, I’ll hand it over right here.”
The person turned around. Jingle. Two Gold Coins hanging from a necklace struck each other with a clear ring.
“And I’ll grant you the position of sub-guild master of Sangryeon.”
Ranking 3 Hunter.
Guild Master of the Merchant Coalition. Baekjak.
“500,000 Gold and sub-guild master. What do you say.”
The woman with the Transformation skill spoke with a bright smile. Though she must have been over forty, her appearance was that of someone in her twenties. She was surely acquiring and drinking the finest Elixir of Immortality daily.
She had the wealth of a Hunter who possessed the most resources in the Tower by far.
“Hm.”
In my previous life, I would never have stood in the same room as such a person of influence.
I maintained my composure and smiled deliberately.
“Now that’s what I call a proper negotiation.”
Phase one of the valuation negotiation had ended.
SSS-Grade Hunter: Die to Live (Serialized)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publishing House │ J-Ple Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 1st)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Shin Noah 2019
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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