Chapter 900: Hope City (1)

As I’ve said before, Hunters get quite busy with outdoor activities around the end of the year and the beginning of the new year. Because the various special abilities of Hunters are often needed in many ways at large-scale event venues and festivals.

Thanks to that, last year’s Sky Shield also had a history of temporarily suspending activities from the end of the year to the beginning of this year, and naturally, it was the same this year.

In any case, being a Hunter is something everyone does to make money. It’s only natural to seek out jobs that actually pay well when things get busy.

It wasn’t like I was being neglected or abandoned just because Sky Shield was taking a temporary break. Rather, I also had things to do at the end of this year, so it was a perfectly timed break.

At the end of this year, I also had to wrap up various tasks related to the ‘Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. Chuncheon Branch’ opening in Chuncheon City.

‘Honestly, I’m not too fond of the guild name yet.’

Operating it like a branch of a company guild is one thing, but the guild name really should be changed. No matter how I think about it, ‘Eun & Ok Co., Ltd. Chuncheon Branch’ just sounds way too wordy.

I’ll think about that if a suitable idea comes to mind, but for today, I dropped by Chuncheon City for the first time in a while.

I needed to check on the remodeling status of the old Chuncheon City Hall, which will be used as the guild building, and also meet briefly with the ‘Chuncheon City politicians’ who emerged after Chuncheon City was liberated.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Taking the warp gate from the company to Chuncheon City, what caught my eye was construction sites that seemed to be in full swing everywhere I looked.

Area B, where the company gate is located, used to be an amusement park, but now it looks like most of the facilities have been demolished to build new structures.

Since it was originally an area where large monsters roamed, the demolition itself had already begun to some extent due to the aftermath, making it akin to ongoing construction.

The buildings that looked relatively intact seemed like they would be reinforced and reused. Well, I’m no expert when it comes to architecture, so I wouldn’t really know even if I looked.

The expert I know in this field is probably swamped with large apartment complex construction these days, so they likely wouldn’t have time to see me. The reason I could ask Do Yehee to remodel the Chuncheon City Hall building included a lucrative deal that allowed me to develop an apartment business based on the land I own in Chuncheon City.

As I was casually looking around and walking towards the meeting place, I heard the voice of a woman of a certain age.

“Ah, isn’t that Hunter Sung Taekyung!”

“…Are you Mayor Park Hee-sun’s secretary?”

“Wow, it’s an honor that you remember me, Hunter Sung Taekyung-nim. You’re here regarding the Chuncheon City Hall development meeting, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I’ll escort you to the meeting room. Please get in.”

“Then I’ll be in your care.”

Arriving in the sedan driven by Mayor Park Hee-sun’s secretary, the ‘New Chuncheon City Hall’ was in better condition than I expected.

Even though it’s only been a few months since redevelopment began, it already had the appearance of a proper building. It probably wasn’t rebuilt from scratch; they seem to be renovating and constructing using the intact buildings from the amusement park.

Of course, amusement park buildings rarely exceed five stories, so it was a bit cramped to be used as a city hall. Perhaps knowing this, they were expanding the building through construction.

Actually, the best option would have been to reuse the old Chuncheon City Hall, which was mostly intact, but that building was already designated for my use as a Hunter guild. If they tried to take that guild building away from me now, they’d face public outcry, so this was the only way it could work out.

“It’s been a while, Hunter Sung Taekyung.”

“Ah, yes. Mayor Park Hee-sun, have you been well?”

“Thanks to you. With the redevelopment of Chuncheon City, things are really looking up lately. Should I call this turning misfortune into a blessing? Haha….”

Mayor Park Hee-sun.

I heard last time that she was a figure who got pushed out in the party’s political competition and was exiled to the Chuncheon City district. Apparently, she almost won the party leadership primary but fell into a trap and was completely eliminated. Thinking it would cause various public relations issues if they immediately expelled her for winning the primary, they sent her to this Chuncheon City Mayor position.

After the ‘Chuncheon City Monster Wave Incident’ over a decade ago, Chuncheon City had become a district that served as a sort of temporary exile for mayors. Even if elected in the district, there was no actual area to govern, so the extent of their duties was limited to monitoring whether the monster barrier surrounding Chuncheon City was properly maintained. It was somewhat like South Korea appointing governors for North Korea’s Hamgyong or Pyongan provinces in a past life.

A young, energetic council member might go into a ‘forsaken village’ as a Hunter and hunt monsters, but even that would be a burden for a middle-aged politician over 50. And now, with Chuncheon City liberated, the amount of work has increased significantly, presenting her with ample opportunities to build her record.

“When I was told to run in this district, I thought my political career was over, but thanks to Hunter Sung Taekyung, I have another chance, so I have to cling to it desperately.”

“I’ve also received various kinds of help thanks to you, Mayor Park Hee-sun. I sincerely thank you for granting permission regarding the reuse of the old Chuncheon City Hall building the other day.”

“If it weren’t for Hunter Sung Taekyung, that building would have just become a monster habitat anyway. If Hunter Sung Taekyung wants it, of course, I should let you use it. Especially since you mentioned establishing a Hunter guild there, I have no reason to obstruct Hunter Sung Taekyung’s plan.”

Establishing a Hunter guild would be beneficial for Chuncheon City too. Even if it’s a small guild at the moment, attracting it would be necessary for her as the Mayor of Chuncheon. And for me, getting along with her would be beneficial to receive various administrative conveniences while operating based in Chuncheon City. Her term as Mayor of Chuncheon still had two years left.

“As I mentioned before, if any issues arise with your work in Chuncheon City, please tell me anytime. If I believe it contributes to Chuncheon City’s development, I will help as much as I can within my capabilities.”

“Understood, Mayor Park Hee-sun-nim.”

“It’s reassuring to have the Hunter of the hour operating in our region. It’s almost time for the meeting, so let’s head in.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The meeting at the New Chuncheon City Hall went on much longer than expected.

Perhaps because it was a region recently reclaimed from monsters, it was a meeting attended by council members who were incredibly enthusiastic, at least.

…The problem was, despite all their enthusiasm, they all seemed like rather incompetent people, even to me, who knows nothing about politics.

“So, to revive Chuncheon City, we need to develop tourism facilities first….”

“The entire infrastructure was wiped out by the monster wave, what are you talking about, tourism facilities? Do you, ahjumma, want to visit a place that was ravaged by monsters?”

“What? Ahjumma?! How old are you?!”

“First, we need to rebuild the roads. Whether monsters appeared or not, people need to travel, so let’s rebuild the Yangyang Expressway first, and make National Route 5 an expressway too….”

“Um… I hear AI is all the rage these days… Couldn’t we do something with AI too…?”

“What AI are you talking about, old hag, you can’t even use a computer…”

As I mentioned earlier, Chuncheon City had long been a dumping ground for politicians from each party, so naturally, there wasn’t a single competent individual among the council members gathered. If there were even one or two local elders who had lived in the area for a long time, maybe, but Chuncheon City was entirely occupied by monsters. Regrettably, there were no council members who knew the region intimately like in other cities, so most of the meeting’s content was just trivial, pie-in-the-sky talk.

The topics jumped around haphazardly, and there were hardly any proper opinions offered; the only salvageable point from the two-hour meeting was the need to rebuild the roads. Occasionally, some people directed questions to me, the only non-council member present, but I chose to remain tight-lipped instead of engaging in lengthy discussions. It was obvious that anyone who spoke up unnecessarily in a situation like this would end up doing more work.

“Sigh. Then, let’s proceed with the budget proposal prioritizing the reconstruction of the Yangyang Expressway for now. We’ll deal with National Route 5 reconstruction a bit later….”

It was fortunate that Mayor Park Hee-sun, the only reliable person there, managed to steer the meeting with some weight; otherwise, it would have truly ended after two hours of meaningless nonsense and arguments. This meeting solidified my resolve: if I needed anything related to my activities in Chuncheon City going forward, I should contact Mayor Park Hee-sun directly rather than getting entangled with other council members.

“Sigh, well then, let’s move on to the final agenda item.”

Mayor Park Hee-sun, looking visibly exhausted, brought up the final agenda item for the day, and the other council members turned their attention to her.

“The final agenda item is a proposal to change the name of Chuncheon City’s district. Does anyone have any good suggestions?”