The Celestial Returned From Hell - Chapter 423

Chapter 423

Fortunately, due to the circumstances, the good of sloth didn’t ask Choi Yeonseung any more questions.

Choi Yeonseung confirmed the information about the household members serving the Goddess of Discord and Estrangement.

“So are you going to get them?”

“Yeah. Collect the artifacts separately and secure them. I’ll check them later.”

After speaking, Choi Yeonseung looked the hunters from the factory in the eye. They averted their gaze because they were afraid that Choi Yeonseung would catch and punish them.

“Go.”

“…Th-thank you!”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

[The ‘Giant with the First Flame’ expresses his gratitude.]

‘Ah. They were the subordinates of that constellation. I’ve got to stop them…’

–

Isn’t that too petty?

‘You think so?’

–

It think it’s best to just leave them be.

‘I think it’d be more effective to capture them and hold them hostage.’

-…

The goddess of sloth admired Choi Yeonseung’s desire to capture these low-level hunters to get something out of them.

That was a valid option, but the goddess of sloth thought it was better to let them go. The constellation wouldn’t offer much in exchange for these low-level hunters. Thus, it was more beneficial to let the hunters go and gain the favor of the constellations.

It would be surprisingly useful for Choi Yeonseung to have these constellations owe him one.

‘Is it? I don’t know if I need anything from them.’

-Just have some faith.

The criminal hunters rushed out of the factory like rats, but a few of them stayed behind.

“What?”

“Uhm… We have nowhere to go…”

Several hunters, including Hunter Lee Cheolgyu, looked at each other and cautiously told Choi Yeonseung why they chose to stay.

Unlike the organizations that had invested their own capital to run the factory, these hunters had just joined the company because they had some useful skills for production.

They had come here with no money, so naturally they had nowhere else to turn to.

“Are they technicians who repair artifacts?”

“Just tell them to grab their passports and return to their own counties. I don’t think anyone will come after technicians unless they’re crazy.”

Even though these hunters had been busted by A-grade hunters, they had no regrets. Given the circumstances, having to return to their countries was a slap on the wrist.

Choi Yeonseung said, “So… No, wait.”

“?”

“You might prove to be useful. Repairing artifacts sounds like a good skill to have. Would you like to continue working for me?”

“???”

“Huh??”

Everyone around Choi Yeonseung was taken aback. Nobody had expected him to make such an offer.

“Excuse me, Chairman? You can always find hunters with better skills than those who work in places like this.”

“You dumbass. You think he doesn’t know that? Such hunters are expensive. The chairman is trying to hire some hunters for cheap. Think about it. They committed a crime, so they can’t say anything even if we make them work for free.”

“As expected…! Managing labor costs is the basis of management!”

“No, you morons…”

Choi Yeonseung looked at the Icarus hunters as though they were pitiful.

Of course, he could do something like that, but forcing someone to work wouldn’t prove very efficient. He had made this suggestion purely because he thought that the production skills of these hunters were decent.

‘This company managed to find some pretty good workers, considering that they randomly recruited people from all over the world.’

The company had scraped together many low-grade production hunters from South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, Vietnam, and other countries. However, Choi Yeonseung was surprised by how good these hunters were.

Honestly, if he were the owner of this company, he wouldn’t have left these hunters just to repair artifacts.

“There are a lot of vacant positions around the Demon clan. I guess you can work there. What do you say?”

The hunters who received the offer were just as baffled as the hunters of the Icarus clan.

“W-what are you saying?”

“Hunter Cheolgyu, is this legit?”

They would’ve expected Choi Yeonseung to hand them over to the Russian police, who in turn would deport them. However, they instead received a shocking offer.

Lee Cheolgyu was just as flustered as the rest of his colleagues. They all asked him whether he thought the offer was genuine because he was Korean, but how could he know?

“Aren’t we going to get arrested?”

“I don’t think Hunter Choi Yeonseung is the type to do that.”

“That’s right. He’s from the same country as Cheolgyu.”

“Uh… He won’t give me special treatment just because we’re from the same country, but…”

Lee Cheolgyu was flustered, but the hunters from the other countries were surprised and convinced themselves.

If they were being honest with themselves, their ranks were so low that no clans would recruit them if they returned to their countries. Thus, they had no choice but to gamble on this offer.

‘…Is this really okay??’

Lee Cheolgyu was anxious about this. What if he got arrested as soon as he arrived at the airport…?

‘No… Would an A-grade hunter lie like this just to have me arrested? I don’t think so.’

Even though Lee Cheolgyu was almost convinced that Choi Yeonseung wouldn’t set them up, he still didn’t understand why he had made them such a compelling offer.

What could he gain out of hiring people like them? What was he after?

Even though Choi Yeonseung’s offer was certainly advantageous for Lee Cheolgyu, part of him still wanted to turn it down because it seemed too good to be true.

***

Boris, the retired A-grade hunter of the Shilka clan, got up from his seat. He normally wouldn’t do that even if the ace of a clan came to see him, but it was a different story this time.

“It’s been a while.”

“Indeed.”

A stout hunter, evocative of a brown bear, came in. He was as old as Boris, and after exchanging greetings and shaking hands, he took a seat.

“How’s the Shilka clan doing?”

“I’d say it’s easier to manage a clan than to rule a country.”

“Both are equally difficult.”

If there had been people around them who knew the details of the situation, they would’ve been surprised.

The man sitting in front of Boris wasn’t just an ordinary hunter. He was Bashirov, a retired A-grade hunter and the current president of Russia!

Many hunters rose to prominence, but few managed to gain enough power to precome the president of a powerful country.

Moreover, powerful clans constantly clashed in Russia, which made it even more difficult for a hunter to stand out and reach a position of power.

Bashirov had proved himself as a hunter just by getting past all those obstacles and becoming president.

“The foreigners did a great job this time.”

“Yeah. You know those lunatics I encountered in South Korea before?”

“Lunatics… Ah, I think I know who you’re talking about.”

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung was one of those lunatics back then.”

“Really?? Is that true?”

Bashirov was surprised.

It was during the so-called Battle of Busan, when a monster wave had surged throughout the city. All hunters had been immediately mobilized and a state of emergency had been declared.

Even some of the most courageous hunters had fled in fear. But of course, some hunters had stayed behind and fought fiercely to defend Busan.

The situation had seemed bleak, many people thinking that the hunters would quickly fall…

“Surviving in a raid like that… No wonder he’s become A-grade.”

“Yeah. It used to be that A-grade hunters were those who survived when a hundred others died, but it’s a bit different these days.”

“Now, the most important thing is how easily you can find shortcuts and manipulate the system. In any case, thanks to that lunatic, we managed to avert a disaster. I’m grateful.”

“That’s true. I didn’t expect it either…”

Boris suddenly trailed off, and Bashirov looked at him in a puzzled manner. He realized that there was something else on Boris’ mind.

“What is it?”

“We’ve been getting a lot of complaints from clan hunters lately… Did you know?”

“Yes, I know.”

After the gate opened, countries with vast territories were met with both turmoil and prosperity.

The more dungeons appeared in the country, the more rewards they would get. If the hunters managed to deal with it, they would make a huge profit.

After getting past the initial chaos of the Abyssal gate, Russia also made enormous profits by attacking dungeons.

Even though the clan hunters had basically become aristocrats, the citizens weren’t dissatisfied because their lives also benefited from the dungeon riches.

However, the clans had recently realized that things were taking a turn for the worst. Compared to the increase in the number of hunters, there were significantly less dungeons these days.

Unexplored dungeons were also being rapidly cleared. Not enough dungeons emerged to meet the high demands of the hunter clans.

Thanks to international agreements, hunters from other countries were able to travel from place to place and pursue their own interests. However, Russian clans were more or less left out in that regard, so it was very difficult for them to participate in dungeon raids in other countries.

Hunters from other countries could attack Russian dungeons, but Russian hunters couldn’t really attack the dungeons in other countries.

“There were many complaints about outsiders attacking the Chort dungeon this time, but the results were successful. This could be an opportunity.”

“Boris, I heard you opposed it though?”

At Bashirov’s words, Boris cleared his throat embarrassingly.

“Outside hunters will only look out for their own interests and be selfish during an emergency… That’s what I thought at first. But after watching this Chort raid, I realized that as long as we can find reliable clans, we can do anything.”

Establishing close agreements with trustworthy clans—that was Boris’ plan. Even the disgruntled hunters would change their minds after experiencing the benefits for themselves.

“In the case of Hunter Choi Yeonseung, it would be very helpful if we could work together with him, given that he has several clans…”

Boris was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Irritated, Boris asked the uninvited guests, “What? Don’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”

“We apologize, but we only interrupted because we have something really important to tell you.”

Two Russian A-grade hunters walked through the door. There was Tikhonov, who was known as the Thunder Emperor, and Alentova, who was known as the Bronze Doll.

Since they were both A-grade hunters, Boris merely asked them why they had interrupted him instead of kicking them out right away.

“Is it important enough to interrupt a conversation with Mr. President?”

“Uhm, speaking of Mr. President… We need his power.”

“…?”

Boris realized that something was wrong. He had retired due to old age, but his keen senses, honed through decades of experience in the field, had yet to dull out.

“Step back! There’s something wrong with them!”

Their vacant eyes made it clear that they were under hypnosis. Boris immediately cast magic, not caring about his frail body.

He had been caught off guard because he hadn’t expected A-grade hunters to fall to mind control magic…!

However, even though both he and the president were A-grade, they had retired a long time ago, whereas the two A-grade hunters in front of him were still active.

–

Spear of Lightning!

Tikhonov cast 5h circle magic, paralyzing Boris.

It was hard to believe he could cast 5th circle magic fast enough so that his opponent couldn’t even react. After all, Tikhonov wasn’t known for his speed.

“Agh…!”

Boris gritted his teeth as he couldn’t feel his limbs at all.

In a fight between hunters, attacking first was the most important thing.

Boris wasn’t facing a monster but a hunter, so one hit was enough to severely compromise his combat power.

Even though the other party was an active A-grade hunter…

“Do you realize what you’re doing?” Bashirov said calmly, seizing the opportunity to reason with the hunters.

However, the two A-grade hunters responded bluntly, their expressions blank.

“Yes. We are going to send a nuke to where the evil god constellations are located. All the hunters are in favor of it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” blurted Bashirov. “That would cause an all-out war with the constellations, and Russia isn’t ready for something like that. You haven’t even experienced a major invasion…!”

Bashirov completely lost his cool.

These hunters had never experienced a large-scale invasion of the constellations, so they didn’t know what they were talking about. They wouldn’t say such things if they had.

“You are an old and weak tiger. You… Ghah!”

Bang!

Tikhonov was sent flying, crashing into the wall, and Alentova was slammed face-first into the floor.

“Got ‘em! I’m glad I got to them before it was too late!” exclaimed Choi Yeonseung with a relieved expression.

Since both these hunters were A-grade, the city could’ve been destroyed if they had started a fight or managed to run away. Fortunately, Choi Yeonseung had managed to subdue each of them with one blow.

He was lucky that his opponents knew nothing about martial arts and hadn’t been able to react.

“…”

“Oh, you’re here… I’m sorry.”

Choi Yeonseung apologized to Boris. He knew how urgent the situation was, but Boris and the man next to him were probably baffled, finding all of this absurd.

Boris wanted to say something but couldn’t because he was still paralyzed due to the magic he had previously been hit with.

“By the way, who’s this?”

“…”

The president replied on Boris’ behalf, “I’m… a retired hunter.”

“Ah, is that so? Nice to meet you.”

Boris blinked hard and emphatically, but Choi Yeonseung didn’t notice.