Chapter 52

The first batter was the guild he had just established.

Except for himself, the entire guild was made up of orcs!

The Blue Axe Tribe of Afroxia would surely make a remarkable impact even on Earth.

Taehyung had no doubts about that.

“Hmm. By the way, what should we name the group?”

He had come up with a name off the top of his head for now, but he was willing to change it if there was a better one.

The name he came up with was ‘Orc Empire’. It was a name that came to him in exactly one second.

“Oh, is it too cheesy a name?”

Naming things was always difficult.

That’s what Taehyung thought.

Office of the Special Ability Management Bureau. Chief Choi, who was clicking his mouse and fiddling with his computer with the same boredom-filled expression as usual, suddenly muttered a question.

“What’s this?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, but…”

Chief Choi widened his eyes and leaned closer to the monitor.

What Chief Choi was looking at was a list of registered hunter organizations. He had a habit of checking the list of newly registered hunter organizations whenever he had time, a habit formed from the unique work of the Special Ability Management Bureau, dealing with awakened individuals and ability users.

Checking new organizations could sometimes lead to unexpected gains. He could find talented and skilled newcomers, or even villains disguised as hunters.

It was a good habit in many ways.

Something caught Chief Choi’s eye.

“What kind of guild name is this?”

“What’s wrong with the name?”

“Orc Empire.”

“Huh.”

Chief Choi clicked on the [Orc Empire (NEW!)] button. Then, the details of the organization appeared.

What could there be to see in a newly formed organization? The details only showed the date of establishment and the number of members.

However, the composition of members was quite peculiar.

“One hunter and fifty-one beings from another world. A total of fifty-two? Is this correct?”

A thin man sitting on the guest sofa in the corner of the office, who had been talking to Chief Choi, became interested.

“Oh, were you serious about that? I thought you were just saying something for me to hear.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, I thought I was bothering you a bit. So, I thought I’d tease you.”

“Fair enough. You know what’s up.”

Chief Choi shook his head.

The thin man’s name was Kim Gap-cheol. He was the vice-captain of the famous hunter organization, the Steel Knights, and he was close to Chief Choi like a brother.

It was his close brotherly relationship that was the problem.

His close brother was causing trouble by trying to extract information from the Special Ability Management Bureau using his connections.

He had been like that originally, but recently, it had gotten worse.

Ten or so Orc hunters who had cleaned up the black market. They had been pestering him for days to reveal their identities, and it was getting extremely annoying.

What did he say? If the talents were decent, he wanted to recruit them into the Steel Knights?

“But aren’t you going?”

“Oh, why are you saying that? I have plenty of time anyway. Besides, let’s look at it together.”

Kim Gap-cheol approached and looked at the monitor. Soon, his face lit up with interest.

“Is this for real?”

Immediately, the thin man chuckled.

Orc Empire.

The name itself was ridiculous, but the composition of members was even more astounding.

One hunter and fifty-one beings from another world. And all fifty-one of those beings were Orcs?

Since such a guild had never existed before, it could only be more intriguing.

“Wait, did someone make this after drinking?”

“Well, they could have had some drinks. But seriously, do you think they made it as a joke? It’s not like it’s named after someone’s pet. It might seem like a joke to you with your overflowing wealth, but not to others.”

“Ugh, you have to be straight. Not to others, but to other Orcs. Since there are only Orcs among the fifty-one.”

Saying so, Kim Gap-cheol looked at the monitor with an interested expression.

“Really?”

He then raised an eyebrow.

“Could it be?”

“Could what?”

“Aren’t these Orcs those Orcs?”

“Huh?”

“The Orcs who cleaned up the black market. The ones you are hiding.”

“Huh, hiding.”

He wasn’t hiding them. He was just following the regulations.

If the informant wanted secrecy, it was the regulation to provide it. The informant wanted secrecy, so he provided it.

“It smells fishy.”

Kim Gap-cheol stroked his chin.

“Brother, don’t you have anything to tell me?”

“What? I don’t know, this rascal.”

No, he knew.

The hunter registered with the Orc Empire. The hunter’s name was Kim Taehyung.

It matched the name of the hunter who had cleaned up the black market.

But he didn’t say anything.

In fact, Chief Choi suspected that this hunter named Kim Taehyung might not be a villain.

Upon investigation, the information on this Kim Taehyung was peculiar. Orphaned, not engaging in any economic activity, and living as a recluse at home. A typical shut-in loner.

How could such a person, who had barely awakened, possess such tremendous abilities to clean up the black market?

No matter how you thought about it, something was off.

‘Well, if he awakened as a unique class, that level of growth would be understandable.’

But how easy was that?

‘That’s ridiculous.’

It was better to suspect him as a villain.

Maybe, a villain had defeated another villain.

By swallowing up the bounty and living disguised as a hunter, it would be easy to evade the attention of bounty hunters and government agencies.

Wasn’t that a very plausible possibility?

However, he had no intention of telling this to Kim Gap-cheol.

“Hmm. Brother, it seems like you’re hiding something.”

Kim Gap-cheol looked at Chief Choi with a suspicious gaze.

“Brother, don’t do that. I’ll buy you something delicious, so speak nicely, okay?”

“Shut up, you rascal.”

Chief Choi kicked Kim Gap-cheol’s butt with his foot.

“Ow!”

“Get lost! Don’t disturb me while I’m working!”

“Oh, come on! Is this how a civil servant treats a citizen? I’ll report you! I’ll file a complaint!”

Kim Gap-cheol fled in disarray.

Suddenly, the ground shook. Taehyung staggered for a moment before steadying himself.

“What’s this? An earthquake?”

Checking the unexpected alarm on his phone, it wasn’t an earthquake. It was because of monsters. Probably because of a monster nest.

[Monster Appearance Alert!]

He clicked for more details.

The appearing monsters were five grade-5 Scapters. The location was Paju. It wasn’t too severe.

If it’s Paju, it’s where the specialized military unit for dealing with monsters, composed of awakened individuals, is located. With just five monsters, they should be able to handle it without much damage.

“Monsters keep popping up these days.”

But the problem was that it had been happening like this for days now.

Even though society had become threatened by monsters, Korea was still considered a country with relatively low monster damage.

In the early days, there were considerable sacrifices, but now that response infrastructure was established, some level of monster appearance was considered routine.

After the Day of Great Connection, it became legally mandatory to set up one or more shelters in every administrative area. Just like earthquakes were familiar to the Japanese, swiftly moving to shelters upon receiving a monster appearance alert became commonplace.

The recent Cerberus incident was quite significant, but there were almost no casualties. Of course, there was some property damage.

Some had their cars damaged, and some even had their houses destroyed. The complaints from affected residents about why proper measures weren’t taken were all over the news.

As far as Taehyung knew, the situation was resolved with active assistance from the international monster relief organization to the affected residents.

Anyway.

So, such monster appearance alerts were not considered significant.

But if monsters appeared every day, that’s a different story.

Naturally, anxiety would arise.

Various discussions about anxiety were happening in online communities.

On TV, related news was being broadcasted.

The news felt more like a talk show, inviting famous hunters, monster researchers, professors of monster ecology, etc., but to Taehyung, it didn’t seem very informative.

It was all about self-promotion and showing off knowledge. It wasn’t entertaining, touching, or informative, so he just turned it off.

Well, watching the news wasn’t entirely pointless. Thanks to it, he learned that the origin of these monsters was a new monster den in North Korea.

But, that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?

The fact that monsters appeared every day meant that the monster nests weren’t eradicated.

Usually, monster nests are formed due to the collapse of dungeons. When a dungeon collapses, temporary dimensional portals open, and monsters that emerge from those portals form nests. That’s a monster nest.

Naturally, eliminating monster nests is the top priority. Not only would leaving a dungeon collapse unattended be unthinkable, but even if a monster nest were to form in Korean territory due to a real collapse, it would be quickly removed by hunters.

So, the fact that monster nests weren’t eradicated for so long meant that, naturally, they were in a place where monster nests couldn’t be swiftly dealt with.

There was no such place in South Korea except for North Korea.

North Korea had already lost much of its form as a state, so things like the DMZ (demilitarized zone) or the ceasefire line had almost lost their meaning.

The future story was unfolding.

The investigation team had already been dispatched. A large-scale expedition would be organized soon. Major guilds would surely step forward, and the monster suppression would likely proceed smoothly.

Taehyung muttered to himself, tapping his foot.

“Hmm. They say you make good money wiping out a monster nest.”

The major guilds weren’t just rushing into expedition teams for no reason. It was all because it was profitable.

“How about I give it a try too?”

There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

Now he had even established his own hunter organization.

Its name was the grand Orc Empire!

Perhaps, it could be an opportunity to showcase the prowess of sturdy orcs to the world.

‘Besides, it’ll be quite profitable.’

Then, suddenly, the ground shook heavily.

“Whoa!”

Taehyung staggered and soon grabbed onto the wall.

“Wait, isn’t this really an earthquake?”

He quickly turned on his phone. Under the monster appearance alert, there was another alarm.

[Nest Mutation Alert!]

He pressed it to read the detailed explanation.

‘The monster nest mutated?’

It was estimated to be near the Oryu Mountain in the Cheorwon Plain near North Korea’s Pyeonggang City (The real name was changed for the novel). The suspected cause was the fusion of monster nests due to excessive mana concentration.

When multiple monster nests merge into one, it’s called fusion, and if it’s more than three nests, it’s called ‘great’ fusion.

[At least four monster nests estimated.]

So, the phrase ‘at least four’ means…

“This is serious, isn’t it?”

In short, it meant trouble.

If left alone, the size of the monsters crawling out of the nest and descending could increase, perhaps forming a large-scale army of thousands.

[The government has ordered the swift organization of suppression teams…]

He turned on his computer and browsed the internet. Sure enough, all sorts of communities were in an uproar.

There were those worrying about safety, those seeing this as an opportunity to join the suppression teams, doomsayers claiming it as a sign of the end of the world, proponents of exploring other dimensions, and just plain trolls spewing curses.

“Hmm.”

Not only the specialized monster suppression units but also famous guilds like the Phoenix Guild, the Steel Knights, the War Monks, and the World Tree Union were said to be organizing suppression teams.

“How about giving this a try?”

Taehyung felt a strong urge.

Where else could there be a better debut than this?

Not just eliminating the black market, but showing off the true strength of orcs to the world would be an excellent debut.

He used to think it wasn’t the right time yet and kept it hidden, but not anymore.

Orcs were strong, and the power of Gorgon’s giant was also formidable. Taehyung himself had developed the ability to protect at least this body.

‘Alright, let’s give it a shot.’

Taehyung smiled slyly.