Chapter 901: Hope City (2)

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

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

After Mayor Park Hee-sun’s secretary brought up the last agenda item, the commotion from moments before died down, and the room became as quiet as a tomb. Perhaps because it was an agenda item difficult to offer opinions on easily, everyone seemed hesitant to speak up.

It seemed that since they were changing the name of the district, people couldn’t just blurt out any old idea. If they happened to choose a bad name, they’d face repercussions for a long time to come, so everyone found it hard to hastily propose anything.

“Can’t we just keep it as Chuncheon City? Why change it and cause confusion….”

“It’s because the perception of Chuncheon City as a whole worsened due to the Monster Wave incident, that’s why they want to change it. Even now, 15 years later, most people think of the Monster Wave when they hear Chuncheon City; we need to change the name first for Chuncheon City to have a chance to recover.”

“Resurrection City! Let’s make it Resurrection City! Since it died and came back to life, Resurrection City is perfect!”

“Aish, what is this, a rock band? Resurrection City? They want to fix a name ruined by the Monster Wave, but the very concept of resurrection is like bragging about having died once!”

“Then why don’t you come up with a decent suggestion!”

“If it’s about being reborn anew, isn’t reincarnation better than resurrection?”

“That’s no different either!!”

“What?! Resurrection and reincarnation are different, you Ahjumma!!”

“Haaah, hhhhhh….”

Mayor Park Hee-sun let out a deep sigh at the meeting, which had once again devolved into a chaotic argument. Seeing this scene, it looked like they’d spend another ten-odd minutes arguing before vaguely concluding the agenda item.

Feeling that it was a bit of a waste of time to be stuck in meetings like this, I casually blurted out the idea that popped into my head, thinking ‘whatever happens, happens’.

“…Then, how about ‘Hope City’?”

“Huh?”

“Wha?”

“Yes? Why ‘Hope City’?”

“It just sounds nice, doesn’t it? It also implies moving forward positively. Besides, just hearing the word ‘hope’ wouldn’t make most people think of the Monster Wave.”

“…….”

“…….”

After all, the reason I awakened as a Hunter was, ultimately, because I didn’t give up and held onto hope until the very end. This town was the biggest motivation for me to become a Hunter and the place that gave me my greatest achievement as one, so I just casually thought it would be nice if it were named Hope City.

Thinking that an opinion voiced by a mere Hunter among these council members wouldn’t possibly be accepted, I’d given a half-hearted answer, but surprisingly, the response was quite favorable.

“…That’s right. Hope City sounds good, Hope City.”

“…Hmm?”

“Wow, young men’s opinions are always the best! Hope City! How pretty is the name itself! Right?”

“Then, for now, we will proceed with ‘Hope City’. Thank you all for your hard work during the meeting.”

“…Huh?”

“””Thank you for your hard work!”””

“…….”

The people readily accepted my casually voiced opinion and concluded the meeting, leaving me slightly bewildered by how quickly it ended. It was an absurd ending… but well, looking only at the result, they did listen to my opinion, so it wasn’t too bad.

It was the moment the Chuncheon City district’s new name was changed to Hope City.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After the meeting, I learned from Mayor Park Hee-sun that deciding on a name for the new administrative district wasn’t that important from the start. It seemed that council members belonged to different parties, so they would automatically oppose any suggestion from the opposing party. The reason they constantly picked fights and engaged in power struggles over almost every issue during the meeting was for that very reason.

There were twenty city council members assigned to Chuncheon City, which was already in an awkward position, and their political party affiliations spanned a whopping eight different parties. It was only natural that they’d clump together and break apart like a bowl of scattered beans; in that situation, since I, who didn’t belong to any particular faction, offered a reasonable suggestion, they apparently reached an unspoken agreement to just approve it and end the meeting, as I was later told.

‘Seriously, the political maneuvering of these politicians is damn exhausting.’

It was a moment that made me resolve not to pay any attention to politics, no matter how high I climbed as a Hunter. Though I didn’t particularly like it before, either.

After concluding the entire meeting and having dinner with Mayor Park Hee-sun at the experimental restaurant operating in the new Chuncheon City Hall, I headed straight for the old Chuncheon City Hall building. Because I thought it would be good to take a quick look around before returning to Seoul.

“Ah, please drop me off here.”

“Understood, Hunter Sung Taekyung-nim.”

“Thank you for the ride. Drive safely.”

“Yes. You worked hard today.”

Riding in the car driven by Mayor Park Hee-sun’s secretary back to the old Chuncheon City Hall, I was greeted by an 8-story building with a rather sophisticated appearance. The exterior looked quite impressive, as if a significant portion of the construction had already progressed. Damaged or chipped parts were restored as if new, and the cracked or missing windows scattered throughout had all been replaced. Seeing that the signs of neglect, like rust or dirt stains, had also been neatly cleaned up, it was clear that Do Yehee had taken care of various details.

“As expected, leaving it to Dokyung Construction means the work gets done reliably.”

Especially since I entrusted it directly to Do Yehee, the next CEO of Dokyung Construction. Of course, it was unreasonable for a major construction company like Dokyung to dedicate manpower to merely remodeling a Hunter Guild, but that was an achievement secured through my personal friendship with Do Yehee.

“…I guess I can go inside, right?”

Since I had come all this way after a long time, it felt like a waste to just look at the exterior and leave. Anyway, the construction seemed almost finished, and according to Do Yehee, they planned to complete it before the year ended, so it should realistically be done within a week. Since it was getting late, it seemed the construction workers had all gone home. Besides, the exterior work seemed almost complete anyway.

Using the spare key I had made earlier, I unlocked the glass door and stepped inside, immediately hit by the fresh scent of a new building.

“Well, the inside seems almost done too….”

The interior paint, flooring reinforcement, and any wall stains or cracks were all neatly filled or repaired. Just in case, I checked various facilities, and even the tiles and basic fixtures in the restrooms and cafeteria seemed mostly completed. Seeing such meticulous details, the thought that they weren’t called a major construction company for nothing casually crossed my mind.

‘I’ll have to thank Do Yehee properly later.’

It wasn’t for nothing that Sihee felt threatened by her older sister. If she put her best effort into remodeling even a small city hall building like this, imagine how much effort she’d put into constructing buildings like apartments or skyscrapers. Of course, Sihee also demonstrates professional skills in her own field. Just recently, she appeared on the news and caused quite a stir by announcing a new material synthesis method using monster components. Compared to the successors of the Geumhyang Group, who were constantly looking for opportunities to tear each other down, the sisters from the Dokyung Group were definitely the more reasonable ones.

“My office… it’s probably on the 8th floor.”

I had requested it be built on the top floor if possible, so if the construction is nearly finished, it should be roughly set up on the 8th floor. Thinking I’d just take a look at my office while I was here, I started climbing the stairs, floor by floor. There wasn’t an elevator yet, so I had to use the stairs, but it wasn’t too bad. Since I was taking the stairs anyway, I looked around as I went, thinking about how to utilize the space.

“The cafeteria and bank can probably be set up on the 1st floor again, just like before, and maintain the cafe on the 2nd floor… Maybe the material settlement department should be on the 3rd floor, like in a company?”

As I moved up each floor, thinking about the facilities that would go into my guild, I felt quite satisfied. The thought that I would soon become the owner of a guild truly filled me with anticipation.

“It feels like time has passed both incredibly quickly and incredibly slowly.”

Strictly speaking in terms of time, I was establishing a guild less than two years after awakening as a Hunter. Right after obtaining the awakening ability ‘Hunter Lust Manager’, I had my first time with Hye-eun, then cultivated my awakening ability and debuted as a Hunter for the first time. I raised my Hunter rank to B-class, changed jobs to a company, and then, through the incident in the abandoned village, jumped straight to S-class. The path I walked, step by step, meeting countless people, building various connections, receiving and giving help along the way, was just two years. Although I say ‘just two years’, the past two years were far more valuable than the previous 20 years of my life. Because those two years were the most concentrated period of my life.