Sua blinked in surprise at the congratulations, glancing back at the golem. “An A-rank hunter can’t beat that?”

“If we assembled twenty of us at the top of our game with a good leader, we could.” Amusement was plain on Haneul’s face now that Sua was actually paying attention to her rather than replaying the fight in her mind’s eye. “Forgive my lack of professionalism, but it seems like you’ve been living under a rock, not in a village.”

“You could say it was similar to that.” Sua mused.

Haneul started toward the main entrance to the testing gym, gesturing for Sua to follow, “You’re going to have a difficult time returning to a normal life. S-rank hunters are the biggest celebrities in the world.”

“I guess going to a hotel is a bad idea?”

A frown crossed Haneul’s face, “Are you currently homeless, Sua-ssi?”

“Ah, well… yes.”

“If you’d like, you can stay on the Association’s campus while you look for somewhere to stay. The security for our dorms is very tight, and the meals are delicious.”

They stepped into a processing area, the staff members at the desk doing a horrible job pretending not to stare as Haneul walked Sua through getting her photo taken in front of a white backdrop. 

Within minutes, Haneul was picking up a freshly printed ID and offering it Sua. “Your Hunter’s license. Honestly, it’s more important than your civilian ID will be, so make sure you keep track of it. Call us immediately if it gets lost.”

Sua accepted her license without glancing at it, slipping it into her pocket. “Does this mean I can go into gates now?”

“You can, but I’d recommend getting some armor first, maybe a party too. Do you mind a detour on the way to the dorms? The chairman wants to meet with you.”

“I’m not in a rush.” It was not as if Sua had any plans for how her first day back on Earth was supposed to go. 

She followed Haneul down the hall and out of the building, shielding her eyes when she was greeted with a barrage of camera flashes. Sua had forgotten the reporters that were camped outside, much less the board that explained why they were calling for her by name as they shouted questions over each other. 

“Have you signed with a guild yet, Hunter Ahn Sua?”

“Will you be staying in Korea?”

“What sort of hunter are you classified as?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Sua glanced at Haneul, who merely gave her a smile, raising her fist in encouragement. 

Swallowing a sigh, Sua held out her hand in a request for quiet that (surprisingly) got heeded quickly. Doing her best to ignore the cameras, she addressed the reporters, “I’m just as surprised as everyone else at my evaluation score, and I haven’t had time to make any plans. All I can confirm right now is that I will be staying in Korea: this is my home.”

“Are you aiming for guild membership?” A reporter asked as soon as she stopped talking. 

“I don’t know much about guilds: I didn’t have any access to the internet due to the circumstances of my childhood. I plan to learn more about them before making a decision like that.”

“Please excuse us,” Haneul slipped up beside Sua with a polite (and seemingly well-practiced) smile for the press. “Hunter Ahn Sua has a meeting regarding the gate break earlier today.”

With a hand at Sua’s back, Haneul guided her through the throng of reporters and into the center building of the complex, security forming a blockade at the entrance so they weren’t followed inside.

Stepping away from Haneul’s  touch, Sua glanced at her sidelong, “Some people would call that ‘being thrown to the wolves’, Lee-nim.”

“Please don’t be so cold to me about it: it’s better to talk in easily accessible spaces so they don’t resort to more invasive methods.” Once again, Haneul had to use her badge in the elevator, selecting the top floor of the building.

Sua sighed slightly, “It’s just a lot to process all at once. I didn’t know things would be like this so quickly.” 

They step off the elevator at the top floor, Haneul knocking lightly on a set of double doors. “I’ve brought Ahn Sua.”

The door opened quickly, a tall man stepping aside as he pulled glasses off of his face to dangle them from his shirt pocket. He looked like a man that spent most of his time at work: hair slightly mused from dragging his fingers through it and his tie a bit too loose despite his crisply ironed shirt. Freckles of gray were peeking through black hair and there were slight bags under his eyes, but he still looked welcoming, greeting Sua with a smile and a polite bow. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Ahn Sua-ssi. I am Kim Dae-Hyon, the Association’s chairman.”

Returning the greeting, Sua stepped inside his office, attempting a small smile of her own, the corners of her mouth quirking up the slightest bit, “I’m honored to be invited.”

“Would you mind if the team leader joins us?” He asked as he waved her to a sitting area several feet from his desk.

“I would prefer it, actually.” Sua sank into a seat on one of the two couches while Haneul and the chairman settled opposite her.

The door opened again, another suited man stepping inside with a cart of snacks and juice that were quickly spread across the coffee table between the two sofas. 

The chairman gave the man a word of thanks before turning back to Sua, “Haneul mentioned you may not have had the chance to eat lunch today. Please, dig in.”

Sua could tell when she was being buttered up, but she certainly didn’t mind it. She reached for a piece of mini kimbap with a polite nod. “I imagine we have a lot to discuss.”

“To put things mildly.” He agreed. “First and foremost, the results of your evaluation are more extraordinary than has been disclosed thus far. If you would, Haneul?”

“There are six classifications a hunter can fall under that informs on their skill set, like the Creators I mentioned earlier.” Sua nodded her understanding as she continued to eat. “Creators are one of the rarest classes, with about 5% of hunters falling into it. Tied with Creators for the rarest class is a group of hunters whose abilities fall outside of the five primary classes, either because they have special skills or can use attributes from more than one class. That’s been coined the Unique class.”

Sua sipped at a bottle of juice, barely batting an eyelash at the line of discussion. She hardly needed classifications to understand how unusual her skill set had to be here. “I assume that’s my class?”

“Correct.” Haneul laughed slightly at Sua’s nonchalance. “The ability you used to teleport during your fight with the last golem defied our attempts to measure and quantify. It is not magic or powered by mana in any way, but it seems to serve a similar function…”

Both of them looked expectantly at Sua, waiting for some sort of explanation. It was an expectation that Sua ignored entirely. “Is this public information?”

While the chairman looked slightly disappointed by the response, Haneul answered the question immediately, “It is, but we don’t release classifications until the end of each week since some hunters require more than one test to verify their class.”

“Then I’ll lay low on Friday.” Sua tried the candied sweet potatoes next, picking up a napkin to wipe her fingers clean. “Is this food from the kitchens here? It’s good.”

Kim Dae-Hyon nodded, smiling slightly, “It is, yes. You’ll be able to enjoy it free-of-charge while you’re staying here. We’re considering the lodging part of your reward for containing the Guryong Village gate break. The rest of the reward will be four million won, wired to your bank account. If you don’t have access to one, the Association can register an account for you.”

She almost choked on her next bite of food at the amount of the reward, especially considering that she hadn’t even gotten to kill the boss. Sua took a quick sip of water to clear her throat, “I’d appreciate the Association’s help with that.”

“Then we’ll have that handled for you before the end of business tomorrow.”

She paused while reaching for her next snack, suddenly remembering the others from her morning. “What happened to the hunters I entered the gate with? They killed seven of the escaped ogres.”

“They are also getting a reward and will be discharged from the hospital this afternoon. If you’d like, we could provide you with their contact information.”

Sua shook her head, “I was just making sure they were alright.”

The chairman clasped his hands together with a nod of understanding, leaning forward slightly as his attitude grew more solemn. “I believe you already know a little bit about the Association’s position currently: a hunter of your strength would be invaluable here if you were willing to sign a contract with us rather than a guild.”

“I’ve heard that Nightfall has been signing most of the high-ranked hunters this year.” Sua confirmed. “Something about the Association not being as glorious?”

A soft laugh left Dae-Hyon, “That’s true. Guilds are created for money, community, or power. The majority of them spend their time sending combat teams into stasis or uncleared gates, where they make money off of monster byproducts and resources that are exclusive to the worlds inside gates. The value of those items is so high that those guilds are able to offer strong hunters multi-billion won contracts. There are other guilds that are made to support specific classes, so we can’t compete with the dedicated resources they provide those hunters.

“Unlike the guilds, our work is to maintain order among hunters and manage the gates to prevent civilian casualties. Hunters working for us are usually sent into the gates that none of the guilds were willing to bid on for access, or they maintain safety in the low-level stasis gates frequented by new or weaker hunters.”

“The rapid response team is also mobilized when a dungeon clearing attempt has gone sideways,” Haneul added. “Much like gate breaks, we enter volatile situations without much time to prepare.”

Sua couldn’t help the little laugh that escaped her, “This is not a very convincing pitch so far.”

Dae-Hyun’s smile was small, “It is our policy to be transparent about these things when negotiating. We need hunters who fully understand what they’re signing up for. As for the nicer side of things, we would like to offer you a three-year exclusive contract—to be extended if both parties find it reasonable—with a salary of 100 million won per year. This would include a 10% high-risk bonus for gate breaks and rescue attempts ranked B or higher.”

Compared to the four million won that had surprised her earlier, this was an amount of money almost too difficult to visualize as a woman from the slums. It was difficult to fathom what she would do with so much money, much less the billions of won offered by the guilds.

Since a reply from Sua was clearly not forthcoming, the chairman continued, “While that’s the most we can afford to offer in salary, we will also give you access to our collection of high-grade equipment and weapons, and full access to our training facilities. A dormitory will remain ready for your use at any time, regardless of your housing decision, and you will have first access to information gathered about new gates. We will also give you the final say over any hunters that may be assigned to your team.”

Pausing in her snacking, Sua’s gaze dropped to her lap as she considered everything they had said. While her interactions with the Association had been positive all day, she really didn’t know much about how things worked here or if there was a seedy underbelly to be concerned about.

There was also the factor of Jae-sung being with Nightfall.

Based on what she'd heard thus far, it would be incredibly unlikely that his guild didn't give her an offer. Working at the same place as him might be her best course of action.

After a long moment, she looked back up to meet Dae-Hyun’s gaze, “To be honest, I’m not in the position to make a decision right now because I don’t have a frame of reference to say if this is a good spot for me. My main hesitation at the moment is that I want chances to clear gates. However, I’d also like to be called if an emergency arises. Is there a way to do both of those at the Association?”

The chairman thought it over for a moment before nodding. “With your rank, we can certainly bend the rules a bit and create a small raid team. In all honesty, having someone go inside the gates would also be helpful to monitor some of the more ambitious guilds, but that could make things tense for you inside.”

“That’s alright. Could I get a written copy of this entire proposal? I’ll give you my answer by next week.”

“We’ll have a copy at your dorm by tomorrow afternoon, thank you for considering it.” He got to his feet with a small smile, “I imagine you’re ready to rest, your room should be ready by now. Since you are getting along well, Haneul will be your primary contact while you’re here as our guest, she can show you to the dorms.”

“Thank you for the hospitality.” Sua bowed slightly before slipping out of the office.